Mid-season Review (funny takes only), 2023 F1 Season - Inside Line F1 Podcast

We are only half way through the 2023 Formula 1 season - and just so many stories, narratives and off-track incidents have shared the limelight. 

In this summer break, Soumil Arora, @f1statsguru and Kunal Shah got together in a studio in Mumbai to record the mid-season review episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast.

Do you remember the multiple time penalties that Esteban Ocon received in the first race of the season? What about the time when Formula 1 cars were too wide for the grid boxes? And of course, the track limits penalties in Austria.

Apart from Max Verstappen-Red Bull Racing's dominant show, a lot has happened in the 2023 Formula 1 season and some of the funniest-whackiest bits have made it to this mid-season review episode. 

Also in the summer break, we celebrated Jehan Daruvala's illustrious Motorsport career @ Khar SOCIAL. Along with the podcast, the Inside Line Club's Pitstop events have seen tremendous growth this year.

Thank you for your continued patronage - online and offline!

Tune in!

(Season 2023, Episode 41)

Follow our hosts on Twitter: Soumil Arora, @f1statsguru and Kunal Shah

Image courtesy: Red Bull Content Pool

**Introduction**

* Hosts discuss the significance of Mattia Binotto's quote from 2022, where he expressed confidence in Ferrari's ability to win all the remaining races of the season.
* They highlight the irony that Ferrari has yet to secure a single victory despite Binotto's bold statement.

**Ferrari's Struggles**

* The hosts delve into the reasons behind Ferrari's lack of success in the 2023 season.
* They mention several factors, including pit stop issues, management decisions, and the car's sensitivity to wind conditions.
* They also discuss the incident where Ferrari mistakenly brought out their old car for a show and tell session.

**Other Quirky Moments**

* The hosts share other amusing incidents that have occurred during the season.
* They mention the unusual names of some Zimbabwean cricket players and draw parallels to quirky things in Formula One.
* They discuss the FIA's strict regulations and policies, such as the ban on bikes and celebrations on the pit wall.

**Key Learnings**

* Each host shares their key learning from the season so far.
* Soumil Arora emphasizes the importance of patience and realistic expectations in Formula One.
* Sundaram Ramaswamy highlights the unpredictable nature of race results due to potential penalties and reinstatements.
* Kunal Shah stresses the FIA's efforts to maintain control and influence in the sport.

**Alpine's Woes**

* The hosts discuss the revolving door of leadership at Alpine and the team's lack of competitiveness.
* They mention the numerous penalties and strange incidents involving Alpine drivers.
* They speculate about the reasons behind Alpine's struggles, including the cost cap and the team's long-term plan.

**Conclusion**

* The hosts wrap up the episode by acknowledging the entertainment value of the 2023 season despite Ferrari's struggles.
* They express their anticipation for the second half of the season and the potential for more exciting moments. * **Introduction:**

* The hosts, Soumil Arora, Kunal Shah, and special guest Sundaram welcome listeners to the mid-season review episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast.
* They mention the various incidents and controversies that have taken place during the first half of the 2023 Formula 1 season.

* **Esteban Ocon's Penalties:**

* The hosts discuss Esteban Ocon's multiple time penalties in the first race of the season.
* They highlight the confusion surrounding the track limits penalties in Austria.

* **Haas F1 Team:**

* The hosts praise Haas F1 Team's positive start to the season, particularly their decision to reduce the size of their pit wall crew.
* They speculate on the possibility of Haas being renamed to Alfa Romeo due to their new title sponsorship deal.

* **Alfa Romeo F1 Team:**

* The hosts discuss Alfa Romeo F1 Team's low-key presence in the season so far.
* They mention the team's lack of recent success and question their continued involvement in Formula 1.

* **McLaren F1 Team:**

* The hosts highlight McLaren F1 Team's resurgence in form during the season.
* They joke about the possibility of Lord Mahavir Raghunathan testing the McLaren car as the reason for their improvement.

* **Nicholas Latifi:**

* The hosts mention Nicholas Latifi's departure from Formula 1 and his pursuit of a master's degree in barrier assessment.
* They speculate on the circumstances surrounding his decision to retire from racing.

* **Lance Stroll and Aston Martin F1 Team:**

* The hosts discuss Lance Stroll's helmet design for the Canadian Grand Prix, which featured QR codes leading to his favorite places in Montreal.
* They criticize the helmet's impracticality and question its appeal to potential buyers.
* They express gratitude towards Stroll for enabling Fernando Alonso to achieve podium finishes this season.
* They criticize Aston Martin F1 Team's decision-making during the Monaco Grand Prix, which prevented them from securing a race win.
* They mention the team's struggles after introducing upgrades that resulted in excessive downforce.

* **Logan Sargent and Williams F1 Team:**

* The hosts discuss Logan Sargent's limited airtime during Formula 1 broadcasts, except for an incident where he was checked out by a female marshal.
* They mention the "Logan Sargent Updates" Twitter page, which posts humorous videos of Sargent from every session.
* They speculate on the possibility of Sargent finishing ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in the Drivers' Championship.

* **F1 2023 Driver Ratings:**

* The hosts discuss the F1 2023 driver ratings, particularly Fernando Alonso's relatively low awareness rating.
* They explain that the awareness rating is based on penalty points accumulated in recent months, rather than on-track performance.
* They mention that Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton have the highest awareness ratings among the drivers. # Inside Line F1 Podcast: Mid-Season Review

**Hosts:** Soumil Arora, Kunal Shah

**Key Points:**

* The 2023 Formula 1 season has been filled with drama, controversy, and exciting moments.
* Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing have been dominant, winning 12 of the first 13 races.
* Other teams, such as Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren, have struggled to keep up.
* There have been several controversial incidents, including track limits penalties, grid penalties, and safety car restarts.
* The midfield battle has been intense, with teams like Alpine, Aston Martin, and Haas fighting for points.
* The podcast hosts discuss the key storylines and moments of the season so far, and look ahead to the second half of the season.

**Insights and Perspectives:**

* The hosts provide expert analysis and insights into the key moments and controversies of the season.
* They offer unique perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of the different teams and drivers.
* The hosts engage in lively and informative discussions, providing listeners with a deeper understanding of the sport.

**Memorable Quotes:**

* "Max Verstappen has been on another level this season. He's just been untouchable." - Soumil Arora
* "The midfield battle has been really exciting to watch. There are so many teams fighting for points, and it's anyone's guess who's going to come out on top." - Kunal Shah
* "The track limits penalties have been a big talking point this season. Some people think they're necessary to keep the drivers in check, while others think they're too harsh." - Soumil Arora
* "The safety car restarts have also been a bit of a mess. It seems like there's always a lot of confusion and chaos when they happen." - Kunal Shah

**Overall:**

The Inside Line F1 Podcast's mid-season review is a comprehensive and engaging look at the 2023 Formula 1 season so far. The hosts provide expert analysis, unique perspectives, and lively discussions, making it a must-listen for any fan of the sport.

[00:00.000 -> 00:21.360] Intro
[00:21.360 -> 00:26.400] Guys and girls, this is the one year anniversary of the time when Mattia Benotto came out with
[00:26.400 -> 00:32.480] this legendary quote. 2022 mid-season, Mattia Benotto said, in the next 10 races of the year,
[00:32.480 -> 00:38.320] I don't see any single reason why we can't win all of them going ahead. It's been a year,
[00:38.320 -> 00:46.320] it's been 10 races to the end of the 2022 season, we've had 11 or 12 so far this year as well. And Ferrari still haven't won one.
[00:46.880 -> 00:51.280] This is the mid season review where we uncover stories like this one,
[00:51.280 -> 00:52.880] the things that you may have missed,
[00:53.080 -> 00:55.360] but we don't because we folks have good vision.
[00:55.360 -> 00:59.000] I'm the only spectacle guy around here in the room, but, uh, we, you, you,
[00:59.000 -> 01:00.960] you were a past Navy cadet. You have good vision, Pinal.
[01:01.240 -> 01:06.000] I have very good vision. I've got 2020, 2021, 2022 vision, whatever you call it.
[01:06.000 -> 01:08.000] And I have a brilliant notebook.
[01:08.000 -> 01:12.000] So yes, there are lots of journalists who have shows called their notebook.
[01:12.000 -> 01:17.000] I have a brilliant notebook and a WhatsApp group where I talk to myself.
[01:17.000 -> 01:19.000] You have a brilliant notebook and you get to talk to Red Bull.
[01:19.000 -> 01:21.000] Not every good journalist gets to do that.
[01:21.000 -> 01:24.000] Well, it depends who you want to talk to in Red Bull as well.
[01:24.000 -> 01:25.000] Not every journalist, I will, I'll keep the adjective away. How do journalists get to do that? Well, it depends who you want to talk to in Red Bull as well.
[01:25.000 -> 01:29.800] Not every journalist, I will, I'll keep the adjective away, but not every journalist always
[01:29.800 -> 01:32.000] gets so much time with Dr. Helmut Markus.
[01:32.000 -> 01:34.680] So I'm counting my blessings.
[01:34.680 -> 01:35.680] Good flex.
[01:35.680 -> 01:36.680] Good flex.
[01:36.680 -> 01:39.480] Speaking of blessings, Sundaram, we were just talking about funny Zimbabwean names.
[01:39.480 -> 01:42.880] There's a cricket player called Blessing Muzrabani.
[01:42.880 -> 01:48.280] And again, it's one of these quirky things that you notice in sport, but in Formula One as well. So far this year, we've noticed so
[01:48.280 -> 01:53.020] many other quirky things. That's going to be the subject of this episode. But for you
[01:53.020 -> 01:58.100] so far this year, right, apart from that Binotto quote that happened last year, have you found
[01:58.100 -> 02:03.000] any reason for Ferrari not to win any race so far? Binotto clearly can't. He can't see
[02:03.000 -> 02:05.520] even with the spectacles. He's so blind that he's been
[02:05.520 -> 02:09.600] forced to go and look at a different perspective, the third person view of why Ferrari can't win a
[02:09.600 -> 02:14.080] race. But what do you think about it? There's just way too many things to put your finger on.
[02:14.080 -> 02:17.680] And I can't put my finger on one particular thing. It's not the pit stops. It's not
[02:18.240 -> 02:24.240] the direction of the management or anything. It's just too many things that are probably
[02:24.240 -> 02:26.880] the reasons of why Ferrari is not won even one race.
[02:26.880 -> 02:31.040] I mean, ever since Binotto said that no other team has won a race except for Mercedes.
[02:31.600 -> 02:35.760] And Leclerc's taken a couple of pole positions, but that's just about it.
[02:35.760 -> 02:39.440] Yeah. And since then, Ferrari, by the way, folks have also come out.
[02:39.440 -> 02:42.080] And in the show and tell session, right, that we used to have,
[02:42.800 -> 02:46.800] or rather still have for the Spanish GP, they were meant to bring out their brand new car.
[02:47.200 -> 02:50.400] So they brought out a car, all the journalists were examining it.
[02:50.400 -> 02:51.900] They're like, hmm, interesting Ferrari.
[02:52.100 -> 02:53.500] I wonder where the upgrades are.
[02:53.500 -> 02:55.800] So they were all coming out there with the rulers and their scales,
[02:55.800 -> 02:57.100] trying to figure out where the difference is,
[02:57.500 -> 03:00.000] until they all realized it's the same Ferrari.
[03:00.000 -> 03:02.600] So Ferrari had to say, sorry guys, we made a mistake.
[03:02.600 -> 03:06.000] So they wheeled their old car back in, brought the new car back out.
[03:06.000 -> 03:07.680] It's the quintessential Ferrari thing.
[03:07.680 -> 03:10.840] Nobody might've noticed this, but we do.
[03:10.840 -> 03:13.480] And except for Carlos Sainz Jr.
[03:13.480 -> 03:14.320] Oh yes.
[03:14.320 -> 03:15.140] I'm pretty sure he was like,
[03:15.140 -> 03:15.980] guys, what are you doing?
[03:15.980 -> 03:18.480] It's the old car, come on, roll it back in.
[03:18.480 -> 03:21.760] I'm sure he was the only one who probably noticed.
[03:21.760 -> 03:24.600] And maybe the likes of Gary Anderson, Mark Hughes, et cetera.
[03:24.600 -> 03:29.240] They're like, wow, this is just what they had last race, but just Ferrari things,
[03:29.240 -> 03:31.120] you know, Sundaram said, he can't put a finger.
[03:31.920 -> 03:37.040] I don't think anyone can, but I can just say just Ferrari things.
[03:37.120 -> 03:37.440] Yeah.
[03:37.480 -> 03:42.920] I mean, you know, when, when I go through the notebook and I now have it digitized
[03:42.960 -> 03:49.480] and I just search Ferrari, pretty much every third point is Ferrari. I mean something as simple as what's the problem with
[03:49.480 -> 03:55.760] Ferrari? Oh the wind is making our car sensitive. Come to think of it, F1
[03:55.760 -> 04:04.800] cars are designed in a wind tunnel. I mean does their wind tunnel not blow wind is
[04:04.800 -> 04:06.080] what I wonder is it just those things rolling on the floor I mean, does the wind tunnel not blow wind is what I wonder. Is it just those
[04:06.080 -> 04:10.880] things rolling on the floor? I mean, it's designed in a wind tunnel. And guess what?
[04:10.880 -> 04:16.960] It's wind sensitive. I mean, yes, there is a technical reason the likes of Craig Scarborough
[04:16.960 -> 04:22.320] and the ones will be able to explain it better. Yeah, but it just seems absurd to me. That's why
[04:22.320 -> 04:29.080] it's made it to our mid season review. But yeah's a classic Italian excuse Sundaram because in MotoGP,
[04:29.120 -> 04:32.960] we had the reigning world champion Peko Bagnaia crashing in the circuit of the
[04:32.960 -> 04:34.800] Americas round. And by the way, for context,
[04:34.800 -> 04:37.960] if guys aren't quite watching MotoGP, Ducati is the Red Bull there.
[04:38.000 -> 04:41.840] They are dominating every single one, two, three is a Ducati constantly, right?
[04:42.080 -> 04:47.000] So Peko Bagnaia fell at the first turn and the circuit ofurred the Americas and when the journalist asked him Peko why did you
[04:47.000 -> 04:51.680] fall Peko simply said oh no the bike is so good that I fell it's too good it's
[04:51.680 -> 04:55.360] too grippy so the Italians have a have a thing for excuses actually they're able
[04:55.360 -> 04:59.920] to find out these really amusing ones you know I I also know that through the
[04:59.920 -> 05:05.000] season Charles Leclerc has started journaling. Now that's one journal,
[05:05.880 -> 05:10.440] I would definitely want to pay a million bucks to get a hold of because it's a
[05:10.440 -> 05:12.720] way of coping with emotions, coping with yourself.
[05:12.720 -> 05:16.160] It's a self development tool. One of the several ones available,
[05:16.160 -> 05:17.880] like the other one is listening to our podcast.
[05:20.000 -> 05:22.840] But that journal, can you imagine Lakhlair,
[05:23.120 -> 05:29.160] after all those radio messages with Shabavi and after all the instances where, you know,
[05:29.160 -> 05:32.280] he's had a very tough season. I mean,
[05:32.280 -> 05:35.840] it's either wet or dry and he's fine, but suddenly it's mixed and he's nowhere.
[05:36.280 -> 05:39.800] Okay. And which is a bit of a surprise for somebody like a generational talent
[05:39.840 -> 05:41.640] as Leclerc. But yeah, that's the journal.
[05:42.240 -> 05:44.280] I would love to get my hands on one day.
[05:44.760 -> 05:50.800] I mean, if Leclerc at some point of time launches his own book, I would love to pre-order that probably a year ahead.
[05:50.800 -> 05:56.000] Because I really want to know what that person, what the driver is going through, especially in 3s.
[05:56.000 -> 06:00.800] Really difficult years with Ferrari, I would like to know what happens within the team, how he's coping with that.
[06:00.800 -> 06:06.400] And how is he trying to stay so calm and still want to sign more contracts with this team.
[06:06.800 -> 06:09.680] And there are so many mishaps that are so many issues with the team.
[06:10.160 -> 06:13.160] I really want to know how he's coping with that because I definitely would like
[06:13.160 -> 06:15.560] to have that, those sort of secrets in my life, tips in my life.
[06:15.680 -> 06:16.520] Yeah, exactly.
[06:16.600 -> 06:19.800] I know we're not the kind of people who discuss other people's relationships on
[06:19.800 -> 06:22.240] the podcast, but my God,
[06:22.400 -> 06:24.320] imagine this guy in a personal relationship.
[06:24.320 -> 06:25.680] If he's keep on going back to Ferrari,
[06:25.680 -> 06:27.400] there's something about your character, right?
[06:27.400 -> 06:28.680] So, I don't know.
[06:28.680 -> 06:31.680] We're not going to do a character assassination of that sort.
[06:31.680 -> 06:33.920] We're not going to do, but Reddit already has Kunal.
[06:33.920 -> 06:36.680] Because every single time we do an F1 event in Mumbai,
[06:36.680 -> 06:40.680] people normally tend to come up and discuss the wives and girlfriends of Formula One drivers, right?
[06:40.680 -> 06:42.200] And every now and then you hear something like,
[06:42.200 -> 06:44.400] hey, Shal just dumped an old one and gotten a new one.
[06:44.400 -> 06:48.640] It's like, what? Why do you care? But it's a thing now, I suppose.
[06:48.640 -> 06:54.960] We miss this, even we miss this. I mean, I don't know, I don't care about wags as they call it.
[06:54.960 -> 07:02.080] I would love for Charles to be a little bold of what to actually not expect from Ferrari. That's
[07:02.080 -> 07:05.280] the truth. There is an expectation of polls, race wins,
[07:05.280 -> 07:10.960] podiums, you know, hopefully a title, but what not to expect. But yeah, I think he's
[07:10.960 -> 07:15.040] now going to give it time. This is where I'm putting the serious hat on. Frederick Vezua,
[07:15.040 -> 07:19.760] serious hat on. Ferrari is desperately trying to restructure and, you know, sort of get
[07:19.760 -> 07:27.760] things in order. And I guess that's just the way it is. But Leclerc has had several wins in the season as
[07:27.760 -> 07:34.240] well. Now of course they've been off track like his watch that was stolen he actually chased those
[07:34.240 -> 07:39.600] robbers and he got that watch back if I remember the news correctly. He's playing the guitar,
[07:39.600 -> 07:44.240] he played it on the Beyond the Grid F1 podcast which I think was pretty fantastic and he's
[07:44.240 -> 07:47.960] learning or he's he played the piano, but he now wants to learn the
[07:47.960 -> 07:53.560] guitar or something. And then the highlight was he and Leclerc and Verstappen
[07:53.560 -> 07:58.120] were on the wrong podium positions in Baku, right? That was like cheeky way of
[07:58.120 -> 08:01.200] saying, hey, I managed to just go one step ahead than I should have.
[08:01.760 -> 08:03.400] Doesn't even matter at some point to Max.
[08:03.400 -> 08:06.480] Anything apart from P1 to Max is just, it's
[08:06.480 -> 08:12.400] okay. But we will talk about Max at some point, at some point, eventually. If you are a detailed
[08:12.400 -> 08:17.080] listener of the InsideLineF1 podcast, firstly, thank you everyone. But you know for a fact
[08:17.080 -> 08:21.240] that Max isn't going to pop up very early on this episode. So if you're a Max fan, skip
[08:21.240 -> 08:26.480] two minute 54 and 37 seconds, something of that sort. Okay, but we are yet to introduce
[08:26.480 -> 08:27.920] what this episode is all about.
[08:27.920 -> 08:31.300] It's been eight and a half minutes, time flies.
[08:31.300 -> 08:34.120] But this is our mid-season review episode.
[08:34.120 -> 08:36.400] So you might've gotten the premise of this episode
[08:36.400 -> 08:39.660] is to try to identify the things that people have missed.
[08:39.660 -> 08:42.960] But this is by no means going to be a wisdom-based
[08:42.960 -> 08:45.280] or educational-based or or analysis based episode.
[08:45.280 -> 08:51.040] So before we get to all the banter, let's just give everyone a one main learning from the season,
[08:51.040 -> 08:54.560] like from the season so far, so that then we can proceed to all the other fun stuff.
[08:54.560 -> 08:58.960] And for me, folks, it's been that you can't impregnate nine women at the same time and
[08:58.960 -> 09:02.960] expect a baby in a month. That's my learning from the first six months of the year. What about you,
[09:02.960 -> 09:09.000] Sundaram? What have you learned? I think my number one learning is the race does not end when the chequered flag drops.
[09:09.000 -> 09:14.000] Because clearly, the classification is going to change a couple of hours even after it.
[09:14.000 -> 09:17.000] So we've seen that in Australia, we've seen that in Austria.
[09:17.000 -> 09:23.000] And definitely you need to be up for a couple of hours post the race to see if there's any changes, any penalties, any reinstatements.
[09:23.000 -> 09:27.160] Because that's how funny Formula 1 has been as well in those in those areas.
[09:27.160 -> 09:28.160] Yeah.
[09:28.160 -> 09:29.520] What's your learning so far?
[09:29.520 -> 09:35.040] My learning so far is that the FIA will do what it takes to be in the limelight.
[09:35.040 -> 09:36.040] Right.
[09:36.040 -> 09:37.040] Okay.
[09:37.040 -> 09:41.580] They banned having bikes and cycles on the track because they want drivers to walk so
[09:41.580 -> 09:42.840] fans are able to see them.
[09:42.840 -> 09:43.840] Right.
[09:43.840 -> 09:45.360] That was the FIA FOM joint directive.
[09:45.360 -> 09:48.480] They banned celebrations on the pit wall.
[09:48.480 -> 09:53.040] They banned political messaging without prior approval of the FIA.
[09:53.040 -> 09:57.600] And then there is of course the Lewis Hamilton jewelry kit,
[09:57.600 -> 09:59.280] which suddenly just got sorted.
[09:59.280 -> 10:04.800] Nobody knows how, but just so many FIA instances.
[10:04.800 -> 10:10.000] And you know, something as simple, we know the cars are broader, but the FIA never thought, hey, we need to make the grid boxes white.
[10:10.000 -> 10:17.000] It was only after the first couple of rounds, several drivers, experienced drivers were getting it, you know, out of place, out of hand.
[10:17.000 -> 10:23.000] They're like, oh, yeah, we'll actually sort them from race five onwards, you know, but for the first four races, you'll figure it out.
[10:23.000 -> 10:27.080] So the FIA and now, of course, there's going to be the 11th team, 12th team, the whole
[10:27.080 -> 10:28.080] whatever thing.
[10:28.080 -> 10:29.920] But yeah, the FI, my goodness.
[10:29.920 -> 10:33.320] It is for a reason the FI Formula One World Championship.
[10:33.320 -> 10:37.800] FI has title rights without paying for it, they get paid for it.
[10:37.800 -> 10:42.920] And it's interesting, they're turning a lot into a repressive kingdom state, where they're
[10:42.920 -> 10:45.040] banning what you can wear, banning what you can wear, banning what
[10:45.040 -> 10:50.840] you can say, banning how you can celebrate, being extremely late at policy measures.
[10:50.840 -> 10:53.440] I don't know what's next, banning journalists?
[10:53.440 -> 10:57.200] That's been on the cards for some, some repressive states.
[10:57.200 -> 10:58.200] What's going to be next?
[10:58.200 -> 11:01.400] Are they themselves going to pay $50 million to host a race or something?
[11:01.400 -> 11:02.400] Are we referring to something?
[11:02.400 -> 11:04.800] Are we risking any more bans for ourselves?
[11:04.800 -> 11:09.200] Not that we've had it but the fact is I don't want the FI to start playing up
[11:09.200 -> 11:13.520] what happens to podcasters like us. By the way yeah okay since you mentioned. Okay.
[11:13.520 -> 11:19.680] Podcasters are not officially recognized as journalists which is the weirdest thing because
[11:19.680 -> 11:25.880] we actually put out we as in the I'm now representing all of the billion F1
[11:25.880 -> 11:31.040] podcasters in the world, you cannot seek accreditation as a podcaster, which is so
[11:31.040 -> 11:35.760] weird because this has gone on to become such a serious way of talking of the
[11:35.760 -> 11:36.280] sport.
[11:36.640 -> 11:40.120] Uh, you know, we've got so many lovely podcasters out there.
[11:40.120 -> 11:44.340] So that's the one thing the FIA should definitely unban, not that there's a ban
[11:44.340 -> 11:49.200] on itself, but yeah, the whole accreditation journey, the accreditation policy is fairly archaic.
[11:49.200 -> 11:52.080] I mean, you have a million followers on Instagram, you'll suddenly get a pass,
[11:52.080 -> 11:54.400] but you've got a million downloads on a podcast.
[11:55.040 -> 11:56.400] No, we can't see your face.
[11:56.400 -> 11:58.320] We can only hear your voice.
[11:58.320 -> 12:01.040] I don't know Sundaram, what does it take to get accreditation?
[12:01.040 -> 12:05.600] Do we just have to make a reel talking about our favorite driver and why
[12:05.600 -> 12:10.720] they also resonate a cat or a lion. And even that won't do it. Even that won't do it. I think some
[12:10.720 -> 12:17.360] people have done it. I'll tell you what's the next reel idea that's going to come and maybe this one's
[12:17.360 -> 12:30.560] for a Mr. F1 stats guru. Optimizing F1 team operations under a budget cap. You should collab with a financial expert and accounting expert because that's what's happening.
[12:30.560 -> 12:38.400] It's gone from becoming an engineering sport to an accounting sport. Every screw and driver and nut and bolt is accounted for, right?
[12:38.400 -> 12:46.560] So it's, you know, yes, engineering, but you know, the way Toto Wolf and the likes have said, yeah, we are the best accountants now working in the team telling us exactly what's
[12:46.560 -> 12:49.640] what, what's not. But, yeah, so that's,
[12:49.640 -> 12:54.640] that's another sort of step in the F1 direction, which is just so strange.
[12:55.400 -> 12:58.360] It can go on to be, I think a full fledged course itself now,
[12:58.360 -> 13:03.360] because the budget gap is in place and a lot of finer things have to be measured
[13:04.040 -> 13:06.160] and have to be kept within the
[13:06.160 -> 13:11.760] budget, the budget cap. So I think it can be a five part one hour episode each course
[13:11.760 -> 13:15.720] on how to ensure that you're well within the budget cap. But too many things to talk about
[13:15.720 -> 13:21.040] the FIA in general, I think, for me, what would really amuses me is that the FIA, it
[13:21.040 -> 13:24.800] pulls out puts out a penalty and then the teams are able to go back to the FIA and tell
[13:24.800 -> 13:29.120] them, hey, this is what the rulebook says oh yeah this is your rule book which you have
[13:29.120 -> 13:33.760] written down and we are here to pinpoint your mistakes it's happened a couple of times Australia
[13:33.760 -> 13:38.480] Austria I mean people going back to the FIA and telling them there were way more track penalties
[13:38.480 -> 13:43.040] that you should have given out and they're like yeah we kind of forgot that you kind of missed
[13:43.040 -> 13:47.560] that we were gonna we were gonna tell that out, but yeah, you let it out before us.
[13:49.080 -> 13:53.880] I love it. So is there going to be another six months,
[13:54.000 -> 13:55.040] I mean, six months down the line,
[13:55.040 -> 13:58.400] are we going to have another report about it where the FIA admits that they did
[13:58.400 -> 14:00.800] something wrong, but they won't go retroactively to change it.
[14:01.120 -> 14:04.000] They'll come up with some very vague recommendations to alter the track limits
[14:04.000 -> 14:09.840] policy and eventually end up with the same system as before. Track limits, Austria, my goodness.
[14:09.840 -> 14:16.400] How many did we have? 200? No, no, 1200 potential breaches which they had to review. And I think
[14:16.400 -> 14:21.520] eventually they had around 150 deleted laps through the whole weekend. So qualifying and the race,
[14:21.520 -> 14:27.040] roughly 80 in the race itself. How many laps does, do people overall do?
[14:27.400 -> 14:30.600] Like some 70 into 1400 odd laps, something, right.
[14:30.600 -> 14:32.040] And I remember putting out that max.
[14:32.080 -> 14:37.080] I would love for an independent fan run auditing agency to say,
[14:37.680 -> 14:40.960] we are going to audit every single thing that happened.
[14:40.960 -> 14:46.320] And I'm pretty sure that result would change even now because the numbers
[14:46.320 -> 14:51.760] just don't make sense to me and it baffles me, you know, for a sport which is very technologically
[14:51.760 -> 14:56.560] advanced, right? And I love what the FIA is able to do about safety, they are preemptively taking
[14:56.560 -> 15:01.840] so many measures that sort of making the sport safer, right? But they can't imagine something
[15:01.840 -> 15:05.600] as simple as track limits. I mean, do you have AI type sensors?
[15:05.600 -> 15:06.700] I mean, I don't know.
[15:06.700 -> 15:10.800] AI is drawing images of Formula One drivers and giving us logos and how
[15:10.800 -> 15:13.100] they look in 2050 and they're able to do so many things.
[15:13.100 -> 15:16.200] I'm pretty sure some sensors, whatever, etc.
[15:16.200 -> 15:19.100] will do all the work manually.
[15:19.300 -> 15:20.900] But no, we will have humans.
[15:20.900 -> 15:25.260] We will keep creating jobs and I'm being very harsh now, but that's
[15:25.260 -> 15:26.260] what I'm known for.
[15:26.260 -> 15:27.560] We will keep creating jobs.
[15:27.560 -> 15:32.560] We will keep, you know, a camera pointing at that white line and we rely on what's known
[15:32.560 -> 15:34.880] as human error methods and human bias.
[15:34.880 -> 15:35.880] Ah, that's my favorite driver.
[15:35.880 -> 15:36.880] Let him go.
[15:36.880 -> 15:39.280] Like I'll penalize him if he does this in the next lap.
[15:39.280 -> 15:41.040] Ah, but I don't like that driver.
[15:41.040 -> 15:42.160] So what do we do about that?
[15:42.160 -> 15:48.240] And despite all of this, the FIA will change all the rules except for what happened in
[15:48.240 -> 15:52.320] 2021. They'll change all the results. And it's not just...
[15:52.320 -> 15:53.360] They'll change the race director as well.
[15:53.440 -> 15:54.120] Sorry? Yeah.
[15:54.120 -> 15:55.320] They'll change the race director as well.
[15:55.320 -> 15:59.040] It's not to say I am for or against changing it, but you know,
[15:59.040 -> 16:02.040] the Lewis Hamilton fan base that's saying, guys, you're changing all the results,
[16:02.040 -> 16:04.680] but why not Abu Dhabi 21? It's a valid question.
[16:04.680 -> 16:06.480] Wait, you're talking about Abu Dhabi 21? Yeah's a valid question. Wait, you're talking about Abu Dhabi 21?
[16:06.480 -> 16:07.000] Yeah.
[16:07.000 -> 16:08.720] I thought you were talking about Hungary 21.
[16:09.360 -> 16:09.960] No, what?
[16:09.960 -> 16:10.800] Hungary 21 was...
[16:10.800 -> 16:11.840] Abu Dhabi 21 didn't happen.
[16:12.000 -> 16:12.280] Okay.
[16:12.280 -> 16:14.000] The season ended in Sao Paulo.
[16:14.240 -> 16:14.520] Okay.
[16:15.200 -> 16:16.160] What are you talking about?
[16:16.880 -> 16:17.520] We don't do that here.
[16:17.520 -> 16:18.440] Yeah, we don't do that.
[16:18.440 -> 16:18.680] Yeah.
[16:18.680 -> 16:21.160] So sorry for all the Dutch fans listening.
[16:21.160 -> 16:22.520] I'm not taking sides.
[16:22.520 -> 16:24.080] Sorry for all the British fans listening.
[16:24.080 -> 16:27.160] I don't know why I'm saying sorry, but either way, I'm just being British about that.
[16:27.480 -> 16:33.360] But that's just the FIA. Yeah. FIA Formula One World Championship.
[16:33.680 -> 16:35.560] Have you guys seen Senna? Of course you have, right?
[16:35.920 -> 16:39.080] Have you guys, all the listening guys as well, guys and girls,
[16:39.080 -> 16:43.320] have you all seen Senna, the movie by Manish Pandey? Of course, if you haven't,
[16:43.760 -> 16:45.600] I don't know why you haven't so far,
[16:45.600 -> 16:50.480] because if you're a racing fan, that is a must watch. But there's a scene in that there's the
[16:50.480 -> 16:55.920] 1991 German Grand Prix driver briefing where Jean-Marie Balestre is conducting the meeting,
[16:55.920 -> 17:00.880] president of the FISA, which is now the FIA. And he was conducting a meeting in his typical French
[17:00.880 -> 17:04.640] accent, where they were talking about track limits about what to do with tires and cones
[17:04.640 -> 17:09.200] and how to breach and cut corners. And so Jean-Marie Balestre in his very French accent where they were talking about track limits, about what to do with tires and cones and how to breach and cut corners. And so Jean-Marie Bollestin is very French accent said
[17:09.200 -> 17:16.000] my decision is final decision. And that is something that resonates so well from 1991.
[17:16.000 -> 17:19.360] I think even earlier because the French have been running the sport from even further on
[17:20.000 -> 17:23.440] to today. But now that we're on the subject of French running the sport.
[17:26.400 -> 17:32.160] to today. But now that we're on the subject of French running the sport. Oh boy. Oh boy. Let's just get the Alpine because I have a theory. Guys, I'm going to put you on the spot here.
[17:32.160 -> 17:37.120] How many Alpine heads can you recollect from the last five years? Go. Start.
[17:38.000 -> 17:43.840] Frederic Vossoeur. Alpine, Alpine. Yeah, he was Alpine. He was Renault. Of course. Yes. He and
[17:43.840 -> 17:45.600] Cyril Avril at one time. That was in last five years. Yeah. He was Alpine. He was Renault. Of course. Yes. He and Cyril Abitbol at one time.
[17:46.600 -> 17:48.720] Yeah. That was in the last five years. 2016.
[17:48.720 -> 17:52.320] Right. So since they returned in 2016. Cyril Abitbol.
[17:52.360 -> 17:57.000] Cyril Abitbol, Fredrik Vossuer, Marcin Budzkowski,
[17:57.400 -> 17:59.640] Otmar Stafanauer. David Ebrevio.
[17:59.640 -> 18:00.960] That's in some sense.
[18:01.960 -> 18:03.360] I don't know. I didn't pronounce his name.
[18:03.360 -> 18:05.000] Loro Rossi. Fernando Alonso. Yes. Yes,'t know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
[18:05.000 -> 18:06.000] I don't know.
[18:06.000 -> 18:07.000] I don't know.
[18:07.000 -> 18:08.000] I don't know.
[18:08.000 -> 18:09.000] I don't know.
[18:09.000 -> 18:10.000] I don't know.
[18:10.000 -> 18:11.000] I don't know.
[18:11.000 -> 18:12.000] I don't know.
[18:12.000 -> 18:13.000] I don't know.
[18:13.000 -> 18:14.000] I don't know.
[18:14.000 -> 18:15.000] I don't know.
[18:15.000 -> 18:16.000] I don't know.
[18:16.000 -> 18:17.000] I don't know.
[18:17.000 -> 18:18.000] I don't know.
[18:18.000 -> 18:19.000] I don't know.
[18:19.000 -> 18:20.000] I don't know.
[18:20.000 -> 18:21.000] I don't know.
[18:21.000 -> 18:22.000] I don't know.
[18:22.000 -> 18:23.000] I don't know.
[18:23.000 -> 18:24.000] I don't know.
[18:24.000 -> 18:27.640] I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Funny reasons firstly I have heard of Bruno Famine from before but it's also I love his last name and I'm doing the English
[18:27.640 -> 18:32.400] Version of it. I don't know if he's French or what Famine Alpine is going through a famine of
[18:33.000 -> 18:35.000] performances and points
[18:35.960 -> 18:39.600] Ford's fastest car by their own admission by everybody's admission
[18:39.740 -> 18:46.300] Okay, if doesn't I mean if you ask Zack Brown he'll also that. Fourth fastest car who are pleading for an engine equalization?
[18:46.400 -> 18:46.900] Yeah.
[18:47.100 -> 18:47.600] Fair.
[18:47.600 -> 18:48.100] Yeah.
[18:48.600 -> 18:49.500] Fair, fair.
[18:49.900 -> 18:53.500] And fourth fastest car with absolutely no results.
[18:53.500 -> 18:55.400] They had the weirdest of penalties.
[18:55.400 -> 18:58.000] Estima, Nocon, opening race of the season.
[18:58.500 -> 19:04.400] Three five-second time penalties for all the, I remember it was, you can't touch a car
[19:04.400 -> 19:06.640] during a five second stop.
[19:06.640 -> 19:10.140] And then the FIA penalized them only to then realize that,
[19:10.140 -> 19:12.720] oh, in the last 20 years, everyone's been touching a car.
[19:12.720 -> 19:15.940] So again, one of those things going back to the FIA, right?
[19:15.940 -> 19:18.020] And I think that Aston Martin pointed that out.
[19:18.020 -> 19:18.860] Aston Martin.
[19:18.860 -> 19:19.680] In the next race.
[19:19.680 -> 19:20.520] Yeah, yeah.
[19:20.520 -> 19:23.140] So if Aston has done a appeal, they've won it.
[19:23.140 -> 19:25.040] If Alpine has done it, they've not won it.
[19:25.040 -> 19:29.040] And then that whole Gasly thing of impeding one hour long conversation.
[19:29.040 -> 19:29.600] Oh, yeah.
[19:29.600 -> 19:32.400] Let's actually explain that in depth for all of you who aren't quite aware.
[19:32.400 -> 19:36.080] So I think it's the Spanish GP of the race before that,
[19:36.080 -> 19:38.800] Pierre Gasly got, impeded somebody, right?
[19:38.800 -> 19:41.680] I don't quite, I think it was Carlos Sainz who he impeded.
[19:41.680 -> 19:43.040] So Gasly got a big penalty.
[19:43.040 -> 19:45.440] So Alpine had an hour long conversation
[19:45.440 -> 19:50.240] leading up to the Spanish GP about how not to impede. This is a Monaco GP where he impeded
[19:50.240 -> 19:54.960] Carlos Sainz. So Alpine sat down, they chatted about how they can coordinate their driver radios
[19:54.960 -> 20:00.320] and also make sure that during qualifying the driver is totally informed of everyone ahead
[20:00.320 -> 20:05.400] and behind to make sure that no penalties come up. Next race, Pierre Gasly goes up for qualifying in Spain
[20:05.400 -> 20:07.100] and he gets impeded by Carlos Sainz.
[20:07.100 -> 20:08.700] Slap bang! Perfect!
[20:08.700 -> 20:09.400] It's just...
[20:09.400 -> 20:13.700] And the next race, Sainz impedes Gasly
[20:13.700 -> 20:15.100] and they actually made fun of it on...
[20:15.100 -> 20:17.900] in the press conference or the media pen saying
[20:17.900 -> 20:21.400] it's his turn the next time, it's my turn the next time.
[20:21.400 -> 20:25.360] So just Alpine things, I guess, you know.
[20:25.360 -> 20:30.400] I was thinking about this today morning. If there's been a very funny incident or a weird
[20:30.400 -> 20:35.120] incident in the recent, I mean, recent seasons, a double DNF or a strange penalty somewhere,
[20:35.120 -> 20:40.560] there's Alpine somewhere they're involved in it. Even a protest of some sort. I think this is 2020
[20:40.560 -> 20:45.200] Racing Point. I think it was Renault that raised the protest. Alpine somehow finds itself
[20:45.200 -> 20:50.400] in this really funny situations. And for me, I mean, this is where the serious part begins. It's
[20:50.400 -> 20:55.040] a bit strange for me to understand. And it's very easy for us to be speaking about this, we're just
[20:55.040 -> 21:01.520] sitting on a chair and expecting these from these from these teams. But Renault, Alpine's engine
[21:01.520 -> 21:05.480] supply or the other name of the team, most recently won,
[21:05.480 -> 21:09.760] has been a world champion even more recently than Ferrari have done it.
[21:09.760 -> 21:14.240] Renault in the last 18 years have won six championships, four with Red Bull and four
[21:14.240 -> 21:17.240] as the works team in 2005-2006.
[21:17.240 -> 21:23.960] It really amazes me that how does Alpine as the only other works team is not competitive
[21:23.960 -> 21:27.860] and Lauro Rossi has a 100 race plan, which, which surprises me even more,
[21:28.160 -> 21:31.600] a hundred race plan goes well into 2020, 2028.
[21:32.040 -> 21:36.120] So basically you have no optimism for 2026 when all the other manufacturers
[21:36.120 -> 21:40.120] coming into the sport, hoping that they can be competitive in 2026.
[21:40.120 -> 21:43.960] Laura Rossi is the earliest we're going to be competitive is 2028.
[21:44.600 -> 21:47.440] I like it that they're being accepting of the mediocrity.
[21:47.920 -> 21:49.600] I think a lot of people don't do that.
[21:49.600 -> 21:50.400] Yeah, that's true.
[21:50.400 -> 21:52.640] We hate it now when some people make big promises like,
[21:52.640 -> 21:56.240] hey, I'm going to deliver 10x growth by 2024.
[21:56.240 -> 21:58.480] And they eventually just end up getting 2x growth.
[21:58.480 -> 21:59.040] That's good.
[21:59.040 -> 21:59.920] It's good to.
[21:59.920 -> 22:03.520] But I think that that 100 list race plan actually was two seasons ago.
[22:03.520 -> 22:04.000] So we are like,
[22:04.000 -> 22:04.960] It's starting of this year.
[22:04.960 -> 22:07.760] So every year he sort of resets the barrier, like the counter.
[22:07.760 -> 22:10.160] Say, now we've gone 22 odd races.
[22:10.520 -> 22:11.360] One fifth is done.
[22:11.360 -> 22:12.200] But trial ball is over.
[22:12.200 -> 22:13.120] Now the real game starts.
[22:13.440 -> 22:14.840] No, but that's what surprises me.
[22:14.840 -> 22:18.640] So they've kept a hundred race plan, but then you have teams like Aston Martin,
[22:19.000 -> 22:22.120] who are turning things up over the span of just a season.
[22:22.160 -> 22:24.840] And McLaren, I mean, if you look at the pre-season testing,
[22:24.840 -> 22:27.720] the sort of car that they turned up with, you probably would have written them off for
[22:27.720 -> 22:32.880] the whole season. But just with two upgrades, they've literally bought their car into the
[22:32.880 -> 22:37.400] podium spot. So is it really not that possible to turn things around in probably a couple
[22:37.400 -> 22:38.400] of seasons?
[22:38.400 -> 22:42.600] It's the cost cap, the cost cap. That's what everybody blames. The cost cap is actually
[22:42.600 -> 22:46.880] working against us bringing upgrades to the car, says Mercedes each time. But you know,
[22:48.160 -> 22:50.840] Aston Martin, McLaren have been great examples.
[22:50.840 -> 22:54.800] And I think Alpine is in now a period with Somil is going to really love,
[22:54.840 -> 22:58.760] right? So they've had all these 14, 18 heads over the years,
[22:59.200 -> 23:00.440] new heads have come.
[23:00.960 -> 23:07.000] And now it's time for all the X-heads to come and make statements against Alpine.
[23:07.000 -> 23:11.000] So, Alan Pross started last year and he took Laura Rossi down.
[23:11.000 -> 23:13.000] Then Cyril Abitaybol has just spoken.
[23:13.000 -> 23:19.000] And you know, the summer break is actually bad for Alpine's PR because Otmar Saffrauer has gone and made statements.
[23:19.000 -> 23:27.120] And I love Otmar's quotes, you know, and I'm pretty sure at the end of the season in Sideline F1 Parody Awards, we're going
[23:27.120 -> 23:33.800] to have the best quote of the year category and all nominees will be Orton Mars-Sophnauer.
[23:33.800 -> 23:36.640] Like people were shedding a tear when he actually left the Alpine facilities.
[23:36.640 -> 23:49.760] Firstly, I don't know if he even went back after Spa to the Alpine facilities in Enstone. But either way, yeah. So now is the time for all the X-heads.
[23:49.760 -> 23:53.840] Is David Ebrion X? Maybe we should approach him and ask him to join us on the podcast.
[23:53.840 -> 24:00.160] You know, who runs the goddamn team, Sundaram? Who runs the team? So there's this amazing cricket
[24:00.160 -> 24:04.640] team in the IPL called the Delhi Capitals. And they are the same thing as Alpine because they have
[24:02.680 -> 24:07.280] cricket team in the IPL called the Delhi Capitals. And they are the same thing as Alpine because they have the most illustrious coaches.
[24:07.280 -> 24:11.920] They have, think about it in a Formula 1 context, they have Senna and Prost on the coaching
[24:11.920 -> 24:13.060] staff.
[24:13.060 -> 24:17.360] Then they also have Gerhard Berger on the coaching staff.
[24:17.360 -> 24:20.520] They then also have Jean Alessi on the coaching staff.
[24:20.520 -> 24:25.000] Then they currently have Charles Leclerc and I don't know Lewis Hamilton on the playing
[24:25.000 -> 24:27.720] field but nobody knows who actually runs the team.
[24:27.720 -> 24:29.100] So whose team is it?
[24:29.100 -> 24:30.680] And same with Alpine right?
[24:30.680 -> 24:35.040] So have you guys also heard of this whole, there's this amazing book called Plato and
[24:35.040 -> 24:39.480] the Platypus go to a bar and it has this beautiful first chapter where they're talking about
[24:39.480 -> 24:40.480] Atlas.
[24:40.480 -> 24:44.480] So Atlas apparently holds the sky on the world on his shoulders right?
[24:44.480 -> 24:47.100] Somebody asked Atlas, Atlas if you're holding the world on your shoulders,
[24:47.100 -> 24:49.600] what's below you? Oh, it's a turtle. What's below the turtle?
[24:49.900 -> 24:52.300] So there's another 14 heads on the top of them, right?
[24:52.300 -> 24:56.700] So I'm assuming it's Otmar controlled by Loro Rossi and then Loro Rossi gets
[24:56.700 -> 25:00.600] sacked by who? Luca Di Meo. That's the... Luca Di Meo.
[25:00.600 -> 25:02.900] So who sacks Luca Di Meo? Because then it's,
[25:03.300 -> 25:05.000] because they're all going to get sacked eventually.
[25:05.000 -> 25:10.000] Eventually it's going to turn out that Flavio Briatore still owns Renault.
[25:13.000 -> 25:15.000] I mean, I wouldn't be surprised.
[25:15.000 -> 25:18.000] Yeah, it's just Briatore things over the years.
[25:18.000 -> 25:20.000] It's heads all the way up to the top.
[25:20.000 -> 25:21.000] Till Flavio Briatore.
[25:21.000 -> 25:22.000] Yeah.
[25:22.000 -> 25:24.000] So in a way, right?
[25:24.000 -> 25:28.160] Like, like Maruti Suzuki represents what the, what India stands for
[25:28.160 -> 25:30.160] as a country, like a growing.
[25:30.160 -> 25:34.840] I mean, I think you can understand the country by the leading automotive brand, right?
[25:34.840 -> 25:39.680] So with India's Maruti evolving cheap, but evolving to the top higher quality, eventually
[25:39.680 -> 25:41.440] adapting to more gizmos.
[25:41.440 -> 25:45.200] With Alpine, you can tell what France is like by just looking at their
[25:45.200 -> 25:49.320] racing team or looking at their primary brand. It's chaos all the way through, unfortunately.
[25:49.320 -> 25:53.820] It's always mismanagement. Sometimes you get a great end product, sometimes, and people
[25:53.820 -> 25:58.400] remember them always for those sometimes, but it's all internal chaos. It's a fun way
[25:58.400 -> 26:06.720] to look at it. Same with Ferrari. It's beautiful on the outside, but I'll tell you Ferrari's title win could actually be Filipe
[26:06.720 -> 26:13.360] Massa protesting the 2008 title. He's actually considering legal opinions, whatever. I don't know
[26:14.240 -> 26:19.040] pretty much how far that will go. But since you said Ferrari, that whole title drought they've
[26:19.040 -> 26:25.840] had, the famine that they have. No, but 2008 is still the last time when they won a championship.
[26:25.840 -> 26:33.200] If not the drivers, the constructors, people forget that. He wants to ouster Kimi Raikkonen as the last Ferrari
[26:33.200 -> 26:40.080] drivers champion, 20 years later or whatever that battle. But my mind actually goes to the Ferrari
[26:40.640 -> 26:45.960] customer team, Haas, right. I think their season started on a very very
[26:45.960 -> 26:51.700] positive note. Haas has had a season? Do you guys remember Haas existing? I think it's the
[26:51.700 -> 26:57.880] first time this year that we're actually talking about Haas. Yeah, so I think Haas's
[26:57.880 -> 27:02.560] positive note from the start of the season was, guys we're gonna bring a
[27:02.560 -> 27:05.100] smaller pit wall, we don't need eight people to sit.
[27:05.200 -> 27:06.800] We'll manage with six people.
[27:07.200 -> 27:09.000] It helps us save on the cost cap.
[27:09.000 -> 27:09.500] Three people.
[27:09.500 -> 27:10.100] No, three people.
[27:10.100 -> 27:10.900] Three people.
[27:11.200 -> 27:16.100] And I actually have never seen the Haas pit wall during a TV broadcast.
[27:16.100 -> 27:16.500] Exactly.
[27:16.500 -> 27:20.300] And I don't know if it is because it's down to three people or they realize
[27:20.300 -> 27:22.600] that, oh my God, they've said three people, but they've gone back to the
[27:22.600 -> 27:24.900] eight people seating or six people seating, whatever.
[27:27.620 -> 27:27.780] So I don't know. Has any,
[27:32.780 -> 27:34.060] any of our listeners, if you guys or girls or wherever you all are,
[27:38.340 -> 27:38.360] have seen a harsh pitfall during a live broadcast,
[27:39.500 -> 27:39.700] please remind us when.
[27:42.380 -> 27:48.160] I think the last time that happened was at the British Grand Prix when Kevin Magnusson had his engine blowout. And that's the interesting point. That's a very interesting point that you make. We've not seen
[27:48.160 -> 27:52.880] Gunter Steiner or the pit wall way too many times in the broadcast because their drivers are not
[27:52.880 -> 27:57.440] crashing or gliding with each other. That's one of the positives I think for Haas this year. And I
[27:57.440 -> 28:01.120] think that was one of the master strokes and getting Nico Hulkenberg. They're not making a
[28:01.120 -> 28:09.200] lot of mistakes on track. They're not they're not piling up the money in terms of destruction championship.
[28:09.200 -> 28:10.200] But in that sense, they're doing well.
[28:10.200 -> 28:13.560] And I think that that was a master stroke getting the smaller pit wall.
[28:13.560 -> 28:18.240] It's technically not on track, but also not off track in a way.
[28:18.240 -> 28:20.200] It's a very Indian thing to do.
[28:20.200 -> 28:21.200] Exactly.
[28:21.200 -> 28:28.040] Like this is what we would for all the Europeans and everybody from the West, all non-Indians are listening. And this is what we term as Jugaad. It's like a hack.
[28:28.880 -> 28:32.960] We need a pit wall. We don't need six people. We can save money.
[28:33.240 -> 28:37.080] Guess what? Chop it in half. We'll have three people and do that.
[28:37.080 -> 28:39.320] And Jugaad is not a hack. It's a way of life, isn't it?
[28:39.440 -> 28:42.960] Yeah. But you know, I just have to, it's, it's a, it's an emotion.
[28:42.960 -> 28:47.360] You can't really, Ravi Shastri, I know you're listening in Mr. Shastri.
[28:47.360 -> 28:48.360] Thank you.
[28:48.360 -> 28:49.360] Good morning, sir.
[28:49.360 -> 28:50.360] Good morning.
[28:50.360 -> 28:55.680] But he'll definitely understand this emotion jugad that's there, right?
[28:55.680 -> 28:59.640] But I think you mentioned Hulkenberg.
[28:59.640 -> 29:06.360] Can you imagine he scored 81% of the team's points this season.
[29:06.360 -> 29:10.360] And I love listening to his radio post races.
[29:10.360 -> 29:12.560] He's like, guys, it's the same problem.
[29:12.560 -> 29:14.600] We're chewing our tires.
[29:14.600 -> 29:17.240] And he will eventually sign off saying, but it's okay.
[29:17.240 -> 29:21.920] We haven't been beaten by our competitors this race in the drivers, whatever, in the
[29:21.920 -> 29:23.480] constructors championship.
[29:23.480 -> 29:28.560] And the only positive news other than the three people pitfall is Alpha Romeo is suddenly waiting
[29:28.560 -> 29:34.880] in line to sponsor Haas because Alpha Romeo realized that they need a team that's going
[29:34.880 -> 29:40.160] to be slower than Sauber for them to cheap entry be a whatever works team.
[29:41.040 -> 29:46.160] So eventually there will be a, and I don't know if Haas will be called Haas still,
[29:46.160 -> 29:51.040] or they'll force, Alfa Romeo will force Haas to be called Alfa Romeo, because that's what's
[29:51.040 -> 29:55.040] happening at Sauber, right? It's Sauber, but Alfa Romeo is like, guys, we're paying you
[29:55.040 -> 29:59.680] money. We have to call the team Alfa Romeo. Exactly. Will that happen to Haas? Sundaram,
[29:59.680 -> 30:04.440] why do Alfa Romeo still exist in Formula One as a sponsor? Do you remember any new cars
[30:04.440 -> 30:06.240] coming out of Alfa Romeo in the last three,
[30:06.240 -> 30:09.200] four years since the Giulia Quadrifoggio, which is a great car by the way,
[30:09.480 -> 30:11.280] but anything after that?
[30:11.600 -> 30:14.040] I really don't know what, I mean, okay, probably they would know better.
[30:14.040 -> 30:16.720] What's the benefit of having this sort of a partnership? Money.
[30:18.280 -> 30:21.360] Where are they getting the money to spend from? They're not selling any cars.
[30:22.240 -> 30:25.300] But depends what part of the world you're in. Oh, yeah, they do in China, actually.
[30:25.300 -> 30:26.500] They do big time in China.
[30:26.500 -> 30:26.700] Yeah.
[30:26.700 -> 30:31.800] And this is expectation Joe will renew because I think he's done fairly well.
[30:31.800 -> 30:34.500] I don't know what's Bottas doing, but either way, this is not a serious.
[30:34.500 -> 30:36.800] But I think Alfa Romeo has been more low-key than Haas.
[30:36.800 -> 30:39.000] I mean, you've still seen Haas somewhere.
[30:39.000 -> 30:42.000] There's been a little bit of chatter on Haas as well, but Alfa Romeo has been
[30:42.300 -> 30:43.500] absolutely low-key.
[30:43.900 -> 30:45.040] If you don't even want to go into performance, but you really don't know what's happening there. Yeah, but but coming back to Haas as well but Alfa Romeo has been absolutely low key. You don't even want to go
[30:45.040 -> 30:49.760] into performance but you really don't know what's happening there. But coming back to Haas, there
[30:49.760 -> 30:54.560] was one thing that I really really liked was at the Austrian Grand Prix sprint and like Kunal
[30:54.560 -> 30:59.680] mentioned Haas does tend to really chew their tires during the in race conditions they do much
[30:59.680 -> 31:04.960] better in qualifying. During the Austrian GP sprint I really loved the gamble that they made
[31:04.960 -> 31:05.760] go back go on to
[31:05.760 -> 31:10.000] slicks and they still managed to take points. That was one of the, I think one of the highlights,
[31:10.000 -> 31:13.680] they made a strategic gamble and it worked and they finished well within the point. So
[31:14.240 -> 31:19.200] a few more positives in that sense for Haas, which I really like. It was good, it was, they tried
[31:19.200 -> 31:22.320] again, which is, they went out of the points, they went out of the points and they came back.
[31:22.880 -> 31:27.560] I think if there's one team that really looks forward to a sprint, it's Haas.
[31:27.600 -> 31:28.000] Exactly.
[31:28.000 -> 31:31.480] They're like, our tires just don't last race distances.
[31:31.480 -> 31:34.000] I mean, we need more tires to run a race distance.
[31:34.000 -> 31:34.520] So what do we need?
[31:34.520 -> 31:35.400] We need a shorter race.
[31:35.760 -> 31:36.680] Hey, there's a sprint.
[31:36.680 -> 31:38.800] Let's go and score some points.
[31:38.800 -> 31:42.720] And then last year they did fairly well in the sprints as well.
[31:42.720 -> 31:46.800] I remember that whole Mick Schumacher, Ryszard Stappen, Hamilton thing, Austria.
[31:46.800 -> 31:48.400] Yeah, that's what we remember Mick for.
[31:48.400 -> 31:49.000] Thank you, Mick.
[31:49.000 -> 31:51.720] No, I think Haas has done exceptionally.
[31:51.720 -> 31:56.000] I think they scored more points in sprints than a lot of other teams around them,
[31:56.000 -> 32:00.720] like Williams, Alfa Romeo, and I think even Aston Martin.
[32:00.720 -> 32:04.520] I think Haas has scored in more sprints, I think, than Aston Martin.
[32:04.520 -> 32:05.440] What? For real? I think so, has scored in most sprints, I think than Haas and Martin. What for real?
[32:05.440 -> 32:07.120] I think so, I vaguely remember.
[32:07.120 -> 32:11.960] But they've, I mean, like Kunal mentioned, Haas really looks forward to races like sprints,
[32:11.960 -> 32:16.000] to sprints, because they tend to take a point off the other teams.
[32:16.000 -> 32:17.000] Wow.
[32:17.000 -> 32:20.280] Yeah, I distinctly remember them only being alive during the sprint races.
[32:20.280 -> 32:24.380] But I'll tell you about one team that we all didn't know was alive for a while.
[32:24.380 -> 32:28.800] So here's a headline stat that I'm going to bring up. It's totally irrelevant, but here
[32:28.800 -> 32:35.600] goes. This year, McLaren have the same number of liveries used as Alfa Tauri have points
[32:35.600 -> 32:40.320] so far in the season. Wow. Three. Also three Alfa Tauri drivers.
[32:40.320 -> 32:44.560] Also three Alfa Tauri drivers yet. Exactly. That could be four with Sergio Perez potentially
[32:44.560 -> 32:45.200] being brought down.
[32:45.800 -> 32:50.120] I think it's going to be Lawson or someone if it happens.
[32:50.480 -> 32:51.640] Let's not talk about the serious stuff.
[32:53.000 -> 32:56.720] I have a big posture for touching things and making them drop during the episode.
[32:56.720 -> 32:59.600] That almost sounded very wrong, but I'm naturally very...
[32:59.760 -> 33:02.360] Imagine if you were a Formula One driver, you'd love it.
[33:02.360 -> 33:04.280] You'd just keep fidgeting with all those buttons.
[33:04.280 -> 33:08.280] I think the team would make dummy buttons just so that when someone's driving,
[33:08.280 -> 33:11.880] let him play with those settings because suddenly you'll have like a driver like
[33:11.880 -> 33:15.840] GB saying, Max, you be bal nine.
[33:16.480 -> 33:18.320] Listen to my instructions. You gotta trust me.
[33:18.320 -> 33:20.080] It's all there. I gotta keep fidgeting, dude.
[33:20.080 -> 33:21.480] I'm getting bored leading a race.
[33:21.560 -> 33:24.520] And because I can speak good English, I can also tell what those buttons mean.
[33:24.520 -> 33:27.960] And so Yuki Tsunoda might be amazed of me. Like, Hey, he's giving great feedback.
[33:27.960 -> 33:30.400] Whereas I'm actually just speaking good English,
[33:30.600 -> 33:34.160] which is what Helmut Marko actually said in the media Sundaram. That is,
[33:34.640 -> 33:36.040] Oh, that guy is.
[33:36.240 -> 33:37.720] I think we need to give a little bit of context.
[33:37.720 -> 33:42.120] Yuki Sunoda was really fascinated when Nick de Vries' feedback towards the team.
[33:42.160 -> 33:44.960] And he felt it was almost Niki Lauda like,
[33:47.280 -> 33:50.760] and Helmut Marko shuts him down and saying, no, that was all because of his English.
[33:51.480 -> 33:53.280] You know, I'll tell you what I think.
[33:53.360 -> 33:56.640] I mean, even though I love Helmut Marko, I think that was a little brutal.
[33:57.080 -> 34:02.160] I would love for Yuki to actually come and explain what part of the briefs,
[34:02.400 -> 34:07.900] you know, briefings with Nick De Vries did he he actually like because Nick DeVries is great talent. I mean, Formula 2
[34:08.500 -> 34:12.300] champion, Formula E first ever Formula E world champion. First ever Dutch world champion in racing.
[34:12.500 -> 34:13.400] Absolutely.
[34:13.400 -> 34:17.800] It's the Mercedes admin and you talking, the Mercedes social media admin.
[34:17.800 -> 34:22.200] But, you know, I just think that at the end of the day,
[34:22.300 -> 34:26.280] Nick just got undone after we had Helmut on our podcast.
[34:26.280 -> 34:28.160] I think that's our biggest flex,
[34:28.160 -> 34:29.600] even though I don't want to call it a flex,
[34:29.600 -> 34:32.360] because I remember when Helmut Marko actually said
[34:32.360 -> 34:33.440] what he said about Nick DeFries.
[34:33.440 -> 34:36.240] I said, I don't think Nick is going to last.
[34:36.240 -> 34:39.040] And unfortunately, of all the greatest stories
[34:39.040 -> 34:40.560] that Helmut shared on the podcast,
[34:40.560 -> 34:42.400] Nick was the one who was put under the bus.
[34:42.400 -> 34:43.760] It was such a shame, no?
[34:43.760 -> 34:46.160] Because this is one thing that again,
[34:46.280 -> 34:49.420] now that we're talking about things that people missed in the season so far,
[34:49.700 -> 34:54.420] Elmer Marko came on our podcast and spoke so in-depth about how he picks drivers,
[34:54.700 -> 34:56.540] what he likes about them, what he doesn't like,
[34:56.780 -> 34:58.740] how does he evaluate them, who does he listen to,
[34:58.820 -> 35:00.580] what feedback he keeps and what he doesn't keep.
[35:01.080 -> 35:04.740] And no media outlet actually gave a damn about it.
[35:04.960 -> 35:06.960] What they cared about was, oh,
[35:06.960 -> 35:11.440] I think Krishnan and I disagreed on it, come on media outlets, you can do better than that.
[35:11.440 -> 35:16.560] I know you have a KPI to fill, which is write stupid headlines. And get clicks and all that.
[35:16.560 -> 35:21.760] And get clicks and all that, ESPNF. That's where you make money, right? But yeah. But talking of
[35:21.760 -> 35:30.360] Marco and this whole thing, the funniest thing, you know, in the Sunoda thing while is, and this is now only Yuki Sunoda, but you know, poor chap, he doesn't
[35:30.360 -> 35:31.360] think in English.
[35:31.360 -> 35:32.360] I'm pretty sure he thinks it.
[35:32.360 -> 35:36.440] No, he should like, I'm sure we all think in our mother tongues or whatever father tongues,
[35:36.440 -> 35:38.960] we call it right.
[35:38.960 -> 35:48.080] Yuki thought that the scripted feedback in Rush is actually how Niki Lauda's feedbacks were.
[35:48.080 -> 35:54.240] Oh, is it? I mean, Rush is scripted. It's a movie, right? So it's not that he's gone back and seen
[35:54.240 -> 35:59.760] Niki Lauda's footage over the years and all these, you know, social media put out. He said,
[35:59.760 -> 36:05.840] Oh, that movie. So he was not talking of Niki Lauda, the real driver. Okay, but he was talking of Niki
[36:05.840 -> 36:10.880] Lauda, the actor. Probably that's what pissed Helmut Marko off even more. I think, dude,
[36:11.520 -> 36:17.200] Niki and Helmut used to race each other several years ago in the 70s, right? Fellow Austrians,
[36:17.200 -> 36:22.000] he's like, you don't know what real Niki Lauda does. You're reacting to, you know, like everybody
[36:22.000 -> 36:26.720] in this generation, you'll believe social media influences for all your news.
[36:26.720 -> 36:29.840] And you'd be like, yeah, that's, that's real news. That's not fake news.
[36:29.840 -> 36:31.800] The it cells that run all over the world.
[36:32.240 -> 36:35.280] I think, I think Helmut Marko didn't like the fact that he wanted,
[36:35.280 -> 36:38.920] he didn't want any want to associate any sort of similarity apart from the fact
[36:38.920 -> 36:42.840] that Nick DeVries and Nikhil Arava start with the, with the Nick.
[36:42.960 -> 36:45.680] Yeah. That's all. Nothing more similar between them.
[36:45.680 -> 36:47.880] Nothing more similar between them. Absolutely.
[36:47.880 -> 36:50.240] But Alpha Tauri has been such a,
[36:50.960 -> 36:52.600] such a confusing team all the way through.
[36:52.640 -> 36:55.120] And they're no longer going to be called Alpha Tauri.
[36:55.120 -> 36:56.160] Oh yeah, they're changing the name again.
[36:56.400 -> 37:02.400] Yeah. So I heard, of course, all rumors, Hugo Boss, Bulls Racing.
[37:02.840 -> 37:06.300] What the name is going to be, no one knows. Hugo Boss, Bulls Racing.
[37:06.300 -> 37:07.000] That's what they are.
[37:07.000 -> 37:09.100] That really does not sit right with me.
[37:09.100 -> 37:13.500] Because for some reason, Toro Rosso, Alfa Tauri sounds much better.
[37:13.900 -> 37:17.200] And when we go to Hugo Boss, how do you even pronounce it?
[37:17.200 -> 37:17.700] Hugo Boss?
[37:17.700 -> 37:21.500] And Orlen, the Polish giant, the oil giant.
[37:21.500 -> 37:24.200] Hugo Boss, Bull, Orlen Racing.
[37:24.200 -> 37:26.520] Ask the Martin & Remco Cognizant Formula 1 team. The oil giant. Hugo Boss, Bull, Orlen, Racing. Aston Martin, Aramco, Cognizant, Formula 1 team.
[37:28.040 -> 37:28.920] It's disgusting.
[37:28.920 -> 37:31.880] But we spoke about McLaren at the start of the Alpha Tauri point.
[37:32.200 -> 37:33.040] Let's get to it.
[37:33.080 -> 37:36.560] And guys, I told you at the start, we're not going to get analytical, right?
[37:36.600 -> 37:40.480] I told you at the start that we're not going to tell you why McLaren got better
[37:40.520 -> 37:42.680] or what's the gap between Leclerc and Science and all that.
[37:43.200 -> 37:44.120] I know the secret.
[37:44.280 -> 37:52.080] No, I'll tell you the secret. What? It was Mahavir Raghunathan testing the McLaren mid-season. Yes.
[37:54.560 -> 38:00.800] Lord Mahavir is the reason why McLaren suddenly out of nowhere have made a recovery.
[38:01.920 -> 38:07.800] Was that your secret? Yes. My goodness. It's not a secret anymore. We didn't sink our notes. I promise you.
[38:08.200 -> 38:09.800] My notebook is my notebook.
[38:09.900 -> 38:12.700] If there's one person who doesn't get to read it, it's Formula Aurora.
[38:12.700 -> 38:15.200] Oh, yeah. That's a, that's a thing. We just don't share points.
[38:15.200 -> 38:19.000] But Mahavir Raghunathan has driven a Formula One car. Again. Again.
[38:19.000 -> 38:20.400] Paid for it. Paid for it.
[38:20.600 -> 38:23.400] But speaking of paid drivers in the entire scene,
[38:23.400 -> 38:26.100] we also have one of our old favorites, Nicholas Latifi,
[38:26.100 -> 38:30.100] now pursuing a master's in barrier assessment at the London Business School.
[38:30.200 -> 38:33.100] I'm pretty sure that's a paid seat as well.
[38:34.800 -> 38:39.100] And I'd love to know if he gave the GMAT or the GRE or both,
[38:39.100 -> 38:41.900] how many attempts he took. I mean, I'm a journalist, right?
[38:41.900 -> 38:44.000] I'm asking all the questions. Like G-smash?
[38:47.200 -> 38:48.600] But did he say what is he pursuing?
[38:48.600 -> 38:51.000] So he's doing an MBA in what?
[38:51.000 -> 38:51.400] What is it?
[38:51.800 -> 38:53.400] Oh, there's an MBA in...
[38:53.400 -> 38:54.700] You can specialize.
[38:54.700 -> 38:55.400] So I don't know.
[38:55.400 -> 38:59.600] We're probably on being the goatee fee in Formula 1.
[38:59.600 -> 39:01.400] Yeah, Masters in Barrier Assessment, right?
[39:01.400 -> 39:09.280] He should have gone to Harvard where Toto Wolff teaches because Toto Wolff was actually saying very great things about Nicholas's talent or Latifi's talents.
[39:09.680 -> 39:10.240] Wait, what?
[39:10.560 -> 39:10.920] Yeah.
[39:11.240 -> 39:14.320] You know, Toto always says good things even about Lance Stroll for that matter.
[39:14.320 -> 39:14.640] Right.
[39:14.640 -> 39:15.840] But he's a good driver.
[39:16.640 -> 39:16.960] Okay.
[39:17.800 -> 39:20.760] Good driver with a fantastic helmet from the Canadian Grand Prix.
[39:21.680 -> 39:22.520] Let's bring that up.
[39:22.680 -> 39:24.440] Guys, if you haven't quite seen this.
[39:24.560 -> 39:26.800] Are we switching to Aston Martin or Lance Stroll now?
[39:26.800 -> 39:32.200] Let's just do that right away because that Canadian GP helmet, I know it's an audio podcast,
[39:32.200 -> 39:36.680] so we can't quite pull it up, but it is an unraced helmet at the Montreal GP that got
[39:36.680 -> 39:41.000] sold to charity to raise money for the Canadian wildfires, which is a great initiative.
[39:41.000 -> 39:42.960] Much, much respect for that, Lance.
[39:42.960 -> 39:50.300] But I don't get the design because it's a white helmet with a couple of QR codes. Seven QR codes. Seven QR codes. And if you scan those QR
[39:50.300 -> 39:54.380] codes, you get to know the map location of Lance Stoll's favorite places in Canada and in
[39:54.380 -> 39:59.580] Montreal, including his favorite Japanese restaurant. Firstly, who on earth is going to
[39:59.580 -> 40:04.340] buy a Lance Stoll helmet? Secondly, if you are going to buy a Lance Stoll helmet, you probably
[40:04.340 -> 40:07.000] are going to be close to Lance Stoll, like someone who knows or loves him.
[40:07.000 -> 40:11.000] Because I don't know any Lance Stroll fans because the Lance Stroll grandstand was empty during the Canadian GP.
[40:11.000 -> 40:15.000] So probably going to be close to Lance and if you're close to Lance, you probably know those spots anyway.
[40:15.000 -> 40:21.000] And then who's going to scan the QR code in a helmet that you can't even see or touch or feel? Only one person can.
[40:21.000 -> 40:23.000] I don't know. It's a...
[40:23.000 -> 40:24.000] And that helmet was sold off to someone?
[40:24.000 -> 40:25.000] Yeah.
[40:25.000 -> 40:32.000] That's what they claim. But I'm surprised the Landstuhl Grandstand, did they not pay people to sit there?
[40:32.000 -> 40:40.000] Come on, stadia filled. That's a term in the world of sports business. When sports and leagues want to show that they're popular.
[40:40.000 -> 40:45.000] It's actually the cheapest thing to do. Just tell pay people to to go fill a stadium, much like politicians around the world do.
[40:45.000 -> 40:49.500] You know, tell people, you get a couple of dollars, couple of hundred dollars, whatever, you get food.
[40:49.500 -> 40:56.200] Anyway, but yeah, that QR code on a helmet is a marketer's nightmare.
[40:56.400 -> 40:56.800] Yeah.
[40:56.900 -> 40:57.200] Okay.
[40:57.200 -> 41:02.100] And again, the journalist in me, I would love to know how many people actually scan those QR codes.
[41:03.200 -> 41:07.120] And then go to those outlets and be like, did you actually get people walking in?
[41:07.120 -> 41:11.280] I'm pretty sure they were probably the most expensive places around, you know, around
[41:11.280 -> 41:15.800] Canada or wherever in Montreal.
[41:15.800 -> 41:19.960] That you can pay that much money for a QR code to know large stores, favorite places.
[41:19.960 -> 41:24.280] I'm sorry, but can't you buy a VIP ticket and just ask Glance, like, Glance, where do
[41:24.280 -> 41:25.160] you go?
[41:26.880 -> 41:29.400] What can you, can you come to Dime with me? Because I'm sure that wouldn't have been sold for anything less than a few
[41:29.880 -> 41:32.360] multiple digit thousand pounds or something like that.
[41:32.400 -> 41:32.600] Right.
[41:32.800 -> 41:36.200] But Sawmill, I mean, now that you think of it, now that I think of it, obviously
[41:36.200 -> 41:38.520] there would have been images of the helmet on the internet as well.
[41:38.600 -> 41:40.400] So people can scan the QR code that way.
[41:40.440 -> 41:41.080] I tried that.
[41:41.120 -> 41:41.680] You tried that?
[41:41.720 -> 41:43.200] It's, it's not possible.
[41:43.640 -> 41:44.080] Ah, okay.
[41:44.160 -> 41:45.840] I'm a marketer, remember as well. I tried, I said, nah, let me zoom in and you can't. I tried that. You tried that? It's not possible. Okay. I'm a marketer, remember as well.
[41:45.840 -> 41:51.440] I tried, I said, nah, let me zoom in and you can't. I mean, yeah. Okay. Fail. Shame, shame, shame.
[41:52.160 -> 41:57.920] Fail like Lance Stroll kind of fail. Now I don't like the fact that you're picking on Lance
[41:57.920 -> 42:02.640] because I have to say this, I'm very grateful for Lance Stroll this year. And at one point of time,
[42:02.640 -> 42:08.880] I was almost cheering for him, which made me question what I was doing as well. But yeah, I did that in the initial races when Lance
[42:08.880 -> 42:13.600] Stoll was overtaking a couple of drivers, I think in Bar in Australia. You were going mad. I was
[42:13.600 -> 42:17.920] going mad. I was going mad. But I'm grateful for Lance Stoll. I'm grateful for Lance Stoll. Because
[42:17.920 -> 42:22.720] if not for him, I would not have seen a Fernando Alonso on the podium this year. I mean, how many
[42:22.720 -> 42:29.680] times have you seen him on the podium? Six times? Six times. And you should know. I don't remember. But yeah, quite a few times if not for
[42:29.680 -> 42:36.400] Lance Stroll, if not for Lawrence Stroll, Lawrence Stroll's ambition to see his son in a front running
[42:36.400 -> 42:42.880] car. We wouldn't have seen one of the biggest highlights of this year. And interestingly,
[42:42.880 -> 42:47.600] amongst the top 12 drivers in the driver standings, Lance
[42:47.600 -> 42:51.920] Stroll is the only one who's not been in the top three in either a sprint or even in the race. I
[42:51.920 -> 42:57.440] really don't get it. And he scored just 24% of the team's points. But he's got a valid reason. He
[42:57.440 -> 43:02.800] broke his wrist just before the start of the race, whatever, whatever. And again, my journalist hat
[43:02.800 -> 43:06.840] on. I would love to beat all the doctors and maybe
[43:06.840 -> 43:10.400] I'm being funny about this, but his recovery was great.
[43:10.400 -> 43:13.800] It was miraculous, but you know, it was also a great PR opportunity.
[43:14.720 -> 43:17.760] If he starts slow against Fernando, hey, we always have to risk.
[43:18.440 -> 43:19.000] I'm sorry.
[43:19.040 -> 43:21.760] I know this is not going to make the cut with a lot of people, but
[43:22.000 -> 43:23.440] that's just how I think sometimes.
[43:23.440 -> 43:27.040] I know this world is all about media and PR and posturing and
[43:27.040 -> 43:28.560] positioning and all of that.
[43:31.400 -> 43:35.360] You mentioned Lawrence's ambition is to see Lance drive for a top team,
[43:35.760 -> 43:38.760] but I'd love to know if his ambition is actually owning a top team as well.
[43:38.760 -> 43:39.040] Right.
[43:39.040 -> 43:42.720] Because maybe the personal ambition at some point,
[43:42.720 -> 43:48.960] hopefully will override that son's ambition because sonar the better, earlier, whatever,
[43:49.000 -> 43:49.840] whatever you call it.
[43:49.840 -> 43:53.720] It's going to be like a Bollywood drama film, family or business.
[43:55.120 -> 43:59.560] But I love Stroll being coached by Alonso, real time,
[43:59.880 -> 44:02.400] race radio. Thank you, Fernando Alonso for doing that.
[44:02.400 -> 44:06.000] And Stroll being absolutely pissed about it in the TV pens after that.
[44:06.400 -> 44:11.100] I don't see that as understandable, but you know, that's just what you get when it comes to Fernando Alonso.
[44:11.100 -> 44:14.300] But I must say, I'm very upset with Aston Martin.
[44:14.900 -> 44:18.700] In Monaco, they didn't gamble when they should have.
[44:18.700 -> 44:24.100] They should have scored that race win, even though they're grateful for this position they're in.
[44:24.100 -> 44:30.480] They should have had that race win. Even though they're grateful for this position they're in, they should have had that race win. Mission 33 would have, should have, could have been accomplished in Monaco. And
[44:31.200 -> 44:36.640] gambles have actually been a part of, you know, Aston Martin's journey in 23. They even gambled,
[44:36.640 -> 44:41.520] I think, Stroll was on the mediums instead of the inters in Spa during the sprint or sprint
[44:41.520 -> 44:48.880] qualifying where he crashed. He took Fernando Alonso out, something, something anyway. But yeah, that's just Aston Martin things.
[44:48.880 -> 44:53.560] But they've said, we have enough budget left to bring upgrades.
[44:53.720 -> 44:57.040] This statement was made just around the time when there were rumors that at least
[44:57.040 -> 44:59.240] two teams have made budget crap breaches, right?
[45:00.560 -> 45:02.320] I think that's a good way to put it as well.
[45:03.120 -> 45:07.200] It's pun intended, but it was a slip of tongue or tongue of slip.
[45:07.200 -> 45:11.200] And then the whole quintessential thing.
[45:11.200 -> 45:15.200] We actually struggled after Canada because our upgrade gave us too much
[45:15.200 -> 45:16.200] downforce.
[45:16.200 -> 45:18.700] Yeah, they actually said that.
[45:18.700 -> 45:21.800] I secretly think Williams is filming Aston Martin.
[45:21.800 -> 45:25.160] We want all that too much downforce because we have none of it.
[45:26.300 -> 45:28.400] My word. It's crazy.
[45:28.400 -> 45:31.600] Sometimes when you take these statements out of context, how they come about,
[45:31.920 -> 45:35.120] but I'm also going to take another thing slightly out of context, right?
[45:35.320 -> 45:38.720] I know when we were prepping, we just had to say, okay, we need,
[45:38.760 -> 45:41.920] we need to have one word about Logan Sargent. I don't know what it's going to be.
[45:41.920 -> 45:45.440] Just something or the other. We thought, and we tried a lot.
[45:45.480 -> 45:46.720] We were thinking, what can we do?
[45:46.720 -> 45:48.680] What's the memorable thing that we've missed out on?
[45:48.760 -> 45:49.440] There are two.
[45:49.800 -> 45:53.760] Firstly, the most amount of airtime that Logan Sargent has had consistently on a
[45:53.760 -> 45:58.280] Formula One broadcast this year is when he parked his car outside the circuit at
[45:58.280 -> 46:00.400] Baku, and he was being checked out by a marshal.
[46:00.920 -> 46:02.920] That's the most amount of consistent airtime that he's got on.
[46:02.960 -> 46:07.160] I have no clue why Samuel Arora remembers a man checking out a man.
[46:07.240 -> 46:09.960] I have no idea which broadcast you were watching. I did not see that.
[46:09.960 -> 46:12.080] It was a female Marshall. Was it? To her credit,
[46:12.080 -> 46:13.560] she did look very good in that outfit,
[46:13.560 -> 46:16.560] but she was checking out Logan Sargent like badly, badly.
[46:16.800 -> 46:20.200] So is revealing a lot of his. It's okay. Yeah.
[46:20.480 -> 46:24.800] But I want to reveal another thing because there is another beautiful Twitter
[46:24.800 -> 46:26.500] page that if you guys aren't following,
[46:26.500 -> 46:27.200] you have to.
[46:27.200 -> 46:29.100] It's the most out of context thing in the world.
[46:29.100 -> 46:33.600] But there's a page called Logan Sargent updates that I very, very consciously follow.
[46:33.600 -> 46:37.700] And it posts out a beautiful video of Logan Sargent from every single session.
[46:37.700 -> 46:38.600] You know, right?
[46:38.600 -> 46:40.800] The most American name in the world is Sargent Logan.
[46:40.800 -> 46:43.100] Obviously, there's no two ways about it.
[46:43.100 -> 46:44.800] Can't top that.
[46:44.800 -> 46:45.080] Now, the General Groves from Oppenheimer Can't top that. Can't top that.
[46:48.760 -> 46:49.160] Now the general gross from Oppenheimer doesn't even feel as American as Logan Sergeant.
[46:49.160 -> 46:53.560] But there's this page where it has a photo of Logan Sergeant in the background.
[46:53.560 -> 46:57.880] There's a bald eagle, an F-15 fighter jet, a chopper,
[46:57.920 -> 47:00.800] bombs, oil tankers, the White House.
[47:01.080 -> 47:02.880] And there's a song called freedom.
[47:02.880 -> 47:03.920] Fuck yeah.
[47:04.120 -> 47:08.200] And Logan Sergeant P-17, a good FP1 after a great time blowout.
[47:08.920 -> 47:12.360] Every single session, it has freedom updates from Logan Sargent.
[47:12.400 -> 47:14.360] And it's amazing. It's a...
[47:15.760 -> 47:18.080] We're really roasting Williams drivers right now, right?
[47:18.120 -> 47:21.240] No, no, no. Just Logan, not Albin. Albin comes later on.
[47:21.240 -> 47:22.000] Latifi was already done.
[47:22.040 -> 47:27.000] Yeah, Latifi. I don't know if he's paid paid to be called a Williams driver and not drive the car.
[47:27.000 -> 47:28.000] A Williams heritage driver.
[47:28.000 -> 47:32.000] Oh, so there's Stroll, there's Latifi and now there's Sargent.
[47:32.000 -> 47:34.000] So yeah, we've given them enough air time.
[47:34.000 -> 47:45.040] But Sargent's 11th place in Silverstone could just be the reason why Daniel Ricciardo doesn't finish 21st in a 20 driver's championship.
[47:47.040 -> 47:47.880] De Vries would know.
[47:49.040 -> 47:50.560] Ricardo's already topped De Vries.
[47:50.560 -> 47:53.560] No, he's still, he's still, he needs to finish.
[47:53.560 -> 47:54.840] I think higher than 12th.
[47:54.840 -> 47:55.560] I think 12th.
[47:55.680 -> 47:56.080] Yeah.
[47:56.160 -> 47:57.840] And then he'll defeat De Vries.
[47:57.840 -> 48:00.000] And then that's going to be his number one target this year.
[48:00.160 -> 48:01.040] Finish 20th.
[48:02.760 -> 48:04.160] In a 21 driver championship.
[48:04.160 -> 48:05.200] But it's fun. No, if you're 21st, you'll say 21st in a 21 driver championship. But it's fun, no?
[48:05.200 -> 48:08.000] If you're 21st, you'll say 21st in a 20 driver championship.
[48:08.000 -> 48:10.800] If you're 20th, you'll say 20th in a 20 driver championship.
[48:10.800 -> 48:13.760] And somehow Ferrari were actually second.
[48:13.760 -> 48:14.720] No, no, no.
[48:14.720 -> 48:17.120] Yeah, it's a statement often made for Tottenham Hotspur.
[48:17.120 -> 48:19.520] That they were third in a two horse race.
[48:20.160 -> 48:21.360] Something of that sort.
[48:21.360 -> 48:25.520] So Leclerc was, Leclerc actually last year was third in a two-horse race for the championship.
[48:25.520 -> 48:26.880] If you really think about it.
[48:26.880 -> 48:27.680] That's true.
[48:27.680 -> 48:28.720] But he finished second.
[48:28.720 -> 48:29.520] But he finished second.
[48:29.520 -> 48:30.000] Did he?
[48:30.000 -> 48:32.000] So Perez was third in a two-horse.
[48:32.000 -> 48:33.520] Yeah, you could say so.
[48:33.520 -> 48:38.480] I think Red Bull's only plan with Perez this year is we have to get one-two.
[48:38.480 -> 48:39.040] That's it.
[48:39.040 -> 48:41.280] We've never been one-two in the Drivers' Championship.
[48:41.280 -> 48:42.160] We have everything else.
[48:42.160 -> 48:44.640] We have to get you one-two.
[48:44.640 -> 48:45.120] Have they never? No, they've never. They have to get you one. But have they never?
[48:45.120 -> 48:45.840] No, they've never.
[48:45.840 -> 48:49.680] They have never, but I'm really surprised they didn't put that as priority last year in Brazil,
[48:49.680 -> 48:51.360] and they let Verstappen do what he did.
[48:51.360 -> 48:52.480] He has his reasons.
[48:52.480 -> 48:53.280] Yes, but...
[48:53.280 -> 48:55.760] That's just Max doing Max things.
[48:55.760 -> 48:59.760] But, okay, very quickly, before we move on to tires and also talk about zero pods,
[48:59.760 -> 49:03.840] which we would love to talk about, we need to talk about the F1 2023 driver ratings,
[49:03.840 -> 49:07.560] because I know we talked about Fernando Alonso coaching Lance Stroll during the
[49:07.560 -> 49:10.440] race. That's a very aware thing for a driver to do.
[49:10.440 -> 49:13.680] Let's just be very clear about it. That you need good awareness for that.
[49:14.200 -> 49:18.600] Guess what Fernando Alonso's awareness is in the game? 70s?
[49:18.680 -> 49:19.520] Or I don't know.
[49:19.520 -> 49:24.120] He's definitely getting lower awareness scores because he's plus
[49:24.120 -> 49:25.000] 42 or whatever.
[49:25.000 -> 49:25.800] Right?
[49:25.800 -> 49:30.800] No, that's not how it's counted because I mean, you would imagine Fernando Alonso,
[49:30.800 -> 49:33.200] I mean, he's, he's very sly on track as well. You would,
[49:33.300 -> 49:36.300] you would probably expect him to be plus 90, but like,
[49:36.300 -> 49:37.400] like you mentioned, I think how much is it?
[49:37.400 -> 49:39.800] 79? 78. 78.
[49:40.000 -> 49:44.900] And the way that's actually calculated is not dependent on how you are on track,
[49:44.900 -> 49:49.200] but how many penalty points you rack up in recent, in the recent months.
[49:49.560 -> 49:50.200] And in that sense,
[49:50.200 -> 49:54.160] I think Alonzo is somewhere in between on the whole penalty points table.
[49:54.200 -> 49:54.720] Really?
[49:54.720 -> 49:57.400] Yeah. And Gasly has the least in terms of awareness.
[49:57.560 -> 50:01.520] Because he's got, he was almost serving a ban, whatever, till May or something.
[50:01.600 -> 50:05.720] I checked it today morning. Valtteri Bottas has an awareness of 97 so far.
[50:05.840 -> 50:09.840] Hamilton has 92 or 94.
[50:10.120 -> 50:13.120] And these are the only two drivers who have a 90 plus awareness rating.
[50:13.160 -> 50:15.040] Everyone else is between 70 and 80.
[50:15.280 -> 50:17.960] They must definitely have some Indian lineage.
[50:18.440 -> 50:23.440] Scoring in the nineties consistently is a very Indian parenting thing to do.
[50:26.000 -> 50:27.000] 89 is not enough. You got to cross the 90s.
[50:27.000 -> 50:29.000] I mean, I'm making a very cultural reference here.
[50:29.000 -> 50:35.000] But some kind of, you know, Indian-ness in me still remains.
[50:35.000 -> 50:39.000] Much like it's probably there with the 90s driver's course.
[50:39.000 -> 50:41.000] But you know, frankly, all of this is crap.
[50:41.000 -> 50:45.560] You just look at Fernando Alonso on a track and you're just blown by how aware he is all
[50:45.560 -> 50:46.560] the time.
[50:46.560 -> 50:51.040] And George Russell, how much lack of awareness he has, for instance, the Spanish GP, the
[50:51.040 -> 50:55.380] qualifying gate between himself and Lewis is obviously the hit and run incidents is
[50:55.380 -> 50:58.000] obviously the qualifying issue in Belgium that we had.
[50:58.000 -> 51:00.200] And his awareness rating is 83.
[51:00.200 -> 51:05.120] I think the awareness rating doesn't surprise me as much as the race craft rating of Alonso
[51:05.120 -> 51:11.200] surprises me because I think Fernando Alonso has a race craft rating of 91 which is equivalent to
[51:11.200 -> 51:18.000] Lance Troll's rating as well and Esteban Ocon has a better rating than Alonso which surprises me even
[51:18.000 -> 51:26.200] more. Can you pay? I have no idea. I have no idea.
[51:30.760 -> 51:31.800] I have no idea how Lance Stroll has a 91 racecraft rating, especially after what happened at Sylvester.
[51:31.800 -> 51:33.480] I am pretty sure he has no idea.
[51:34.920 -> 51:37.280] I mean, I I'm being unfair.
[51:37.720 -> 51:41.760] I'm being bashful, whatever, but for all good reason, I'm pretty sure he has no
[51:41.760 -> 51:44.840] idea itself. And you know, you'll ask him in the TV pen, maybe somebody should,
[51:44.840 -> 51:48.480] yeah, I don't know. His TV interviews are probably the worst.
[51:49.600 -> 51:56.320] I don't know why. Oh, maybe I know why. Because I think I've noticed this in the last couple of
[51:56.320 -> 52:00.640] years as well. You should really pay a little bit more focus to Lance Stroll's interviews,
[52:00.640 -> 52:08.240] because there's always one word that's always there in his conversations, exciting, exciting, excitable. And he says it with a poker face.
[52:08.240 -> 52:14.560] Everywhere. I mean, launches, media interviews, always there's this word exciting. And I actually
[52:14.560 -> 52:19.200] spent time this during this year's Aston Martin launch to count how many said the word how many
[52:19.200 -> 52:28.120] times he said the word exciting. Exciting. And guys, speaking of the race craft rating, it very well brings us on to ZeroPods because
[52:28.120 -> 52:33.600] Max Verstappen has a 97 race craft rating, which is great.
[52:33.600 -> 52:35.240] I disagree with it.
[52:35.240 -> 52:39.040] Because when George Russell hit him, he hit him, let's be honest, he hit him in a racing
[52:39.040 -> 52:40.280] incident at Baku.
[52:40.280 -> 52:44.320] He was trying very hard to make sure that Red Bull Racing also went to the ZeroPods
[52:44.320 -> 52:47.840] concept, which I think they successfully did until the end of the race, but still won it.
[52:47.840 -> 52:49.600] That's Red Bull just showing that zero parts can work.
[52:49.600 -> 52:51.440] Mercedes is just a terrible at what they do.
[52:51.440 -> 52:54.320] Hamilton tried to do something similar with Checo at Spa,
[52:54.320 -> 52:55.840] like take a side part off and say,
[52:55.840 -> 52:59.200] can we see if you go with one and a half side part or one side part or something.
[52:59.200 -> 53:01.440] And then Red Bull are just going to bring up a new car with no side parts.
[53:01.440 -> 53:04.400] Like, if you want to bash us so badly into this side, just keep on doing it,
[53:04.400 -> 53:07.840] we'll just remove it. But even then, Verstappen has 97 racecraft.
[53:07.840 -> 53:12.080] No, it's actually quite the opposite that happened. They didn't lose their side pods. I mean,
[53:12.080 -> 53:16.800] they didn't have the side pods reduced to zero pods during the race. It happened in the sprint,
[53:16.800 -> 53:22.240] I think both sprints, Baku sprint as well as the Belgian sprint as well. It was Russell on
[53:22.240 -> 53:27.440] Verstappen in Baku, Hamilton on Perez in Spa. And on both occasions,
[53:27.680 -> 53:28.840] Red Bull didn't perform very well,
[53:28.880 -> 53:33.160] which gives Mercedes even more reason to believe that the zero-pot concept
[53:33.160 -> 53:34.760] wasn't working. I mean,
[53:35.000 -> 53:37.280] there were rumors that Red Bull would at some point of time,
[53:37.360 -> 53:40.920] try to implement that because yeah, they have a huge bank of points,
[53:41.400 -> 53:43.760] but when they were not doing it, Mercedes was like, yeah, let's,
[53:43.760 -> 53:46.720] let's forcefully reduce it to zero.
[53:46.720 -> 53:50.320] I'll tell you what, Toto Wolf just made a statement.
[53:50.320 -> 53:54.440] It's like a bunch of F2 cars racing against Red Bull, which is F1.
[53:54.920 -> 53:56.160] You know what Red Bull should do?
[53:56.240 -> 54:00.000] They should take an F2 car, really, and run it with max.
[54:00.000 -> 54:03.880] Maybe they'll still win with all their levels of dominance they've had.
[54:04.360 -> 54:05.720] Which reminds me,
[54:05.720 -> 54:10.640] I think Alpha Tauri is rumored to drive this year's Red Bull car next year.
[54:11.200 -> 54:13.280] Oh, no, no, that's not possible.
[54:13.280 -> 54:13.920] That's not possible.
[54:13.920 -> 54:17.080] That's David doing a Crofty moment. Okay. He,
[54:17.960 -> 54:21.200] he, he, you can, you can borrow parts. There is,
[54:21.200 -> 54:24.760] there is a regulation that's there that allows you to do what Haas is doing,
[54:24.760 -> 54:32.320] which is the maximum, maximum amount of transfer. But no, you can't literally use an old car. That's
[54:32.320 -> 54:38.600] just not allowed. Not 2008, unfortunately. Yeah. But okay, now that we are at the closing
[54:38.600 -> 54:42.840] stages of the mid-season review, we need to talk about what to expect very quickly in
[54:42.840 -> 54:46.160] the next year. And that's going to be one thing that I'm going to bring up.
[54:46.160 -> 54:49.360] So in the last six months, we've had a new Fast and Furious movie.
[54:49.360 -> 54:51.040] We've had a new Mission Impossible movie.
[54:51.040 -> 54:53.040] It seems like there's a new one every six months anyway.
[54:53.040 -> 54:54.160] So there is that.
[54:54.160 -> 54:56.880] Messi and Ronaldo have moved to the USA and Saudi Arabia.
[54:56.880 -> 54:59.920] The Weeknd made his disastrous acting debut.
[54:59.920 -> 55:03.200] We had Benotto and Gunter Steiner sitting together in a small Fiat.
[55:03.200 -> 55:08.200] Helmut Marko actually announced that Nick DeVries was going to get sacked on our podcast.
[55:08.400 -> 55:09.800] We had MS Dhoni win an IPL.
[55:10.000 -> 55:13.800] We had Pakistan getting another bailout in the last six months, financially.
[55:14.000 -> 55:17.000] We had Latifi getting an admission in an MBA school.
[55:17.200 -> 55:18.200] We had a lot of stuff.
[55:18.200 -> 55:19.800] We had Ravi Shastri on the show as well.
[55:19.800 -> 55:20.800] We had Craig Scarborough.
[55:20.800 -> 55:22.400] We had endless things.
[55:22.400 -> 55:24.200] But there is more to expect.
[55:24.200 -> 55:28.280] Firstly, an event with Jehan Daruwala this Wednesday at Car Social.
[55:28.280 -> 55:31.820] By the way, all the Mumbai folks, check out the tickets on Paytm Insider to know how you
[55:31.820 -> 55:33.060] can join us.
[55:33.060 -> 55:36.360] But apart from that, what are we really looking forward to?
[55:36.360 -> 55:42.480] Because my eyes are on tires, especially wet ones.
[55:42.480 -> 55:48.960] I don't think the tires, it's, I don't know if I'm looking forward to the wet one,
[55:48.960 -> 55:54.520] or I'm looking forward to what Mario Isola now says is the intermediate plus or super
[55:54.520 -> 55:59.200] intermediate. You know, Pirelli is going down that road, you have soft, you have super soft,
[55:59.200 -> 56:06.400] you have ultra soft at one point they were going to get a hyper super ultra mega soft.
[56:06.400 -> 56:13.880] Basically, you know, they had, they just had tires and spa, which just happened, you know,
[56:13.880 -> 56:17.960] George Russell said tires are rubbish, the wet tires and Mario Isola said, yeah, I agree
[56:17.960 -> 56:21.000] they're rubbish if they're used behind the safety car.
[56:21.000 -> 56:25.920] Of course, he was trying to save his and his brand's reputation. And then the
[56:25.920 -> 56:32.880] funny part, Alexander Albion actually said that he went quicker in the wet on his slicks.
[56:32.880 -> 56:37.200] Okay, but that's also because of the characteristics of the Williams, they were chewing the tires,
[56:37.200 -> 56:42.760] but imagine just actually coming out and saying, I went quicker in the wet on my racing slicks.
[56:42.760 -> 56:45.440] That's a bad Bindu movement. That's a bad bit of Uber.
[56:48.640 -> 56:51.080] That's just the state of tires in Formula One. Pirelli versus Bridgestone. There'll be an announcement of that at some point.
[56:52.720 -> 56:56.080] Everybody wanting a tire war, we'll have a tire war at the tendering stage,
[56:56.080 -> 56:58.600] but it'll eventually still be one official tire supplier.
[56:59.120 -> 57:03.360] But the one announcement that I'm looking forward to is the contract extension
[57:03.360 -> 57:04.560] of Lance Stroll.
[57:04.640 -> 57:09.040] I'm really looking forward to know when, how long is he going to be with this team?
[57:09.040 -> 57:11.400] But okay, that's my last bad point for this episode.
[57:11.400 -> 57:14.560] But otherwise, contract extensions in general.
[57:14.560 -> 57:18.840] Yeah, Hamilton's is already making news and you know, Toto saying I want to keep him.
[57:18.840 -> 57:21.720] Lots of contract extensions, Logan Sargent.
[57:21.720 -> 57:31.000] I think the Haas drivers, all of them. So, but, but, but I'll tell you like the budget cap breaches will actually be announced by the FI.
[57:31.000 -> 57:34.200] That is definitely one thing I'd love to do.
[57:34.200 -> 57:38.600] There will be a breach, there will be a penalty, there'll be a reprimand, there'll be an explanation
[57:38.600 -> 57:41.000] and Stefano will turn around and say one more time,
[57:41.000 -> 57:44.600] we want a sporting penalty, not a financial or a technical penalty.
[57:44.600 -> 57:49.040] I think that's what people are looking forward to the most. I mean, we've had a couple of rumors as
[57:49.040 -> 57:53.680] well. I think you might expect a couple of teams to breach the budget cap at some point. Maybe not
[57:53.680 -> 57:57.920] this year, maybe next year. It's very difficult to stay within that budget as well. But what's
[57:57.920 -> 58:01.840] going to be the penalty this time? And what's going to be, is there going to be any backlash
[58:01.840 -> 58:08.280] if there's a sporting penalty? And if teams are affected more than how Red Bull were affected last year or this year?
[58:08.280 -> 58:12.920] Exactly. And that's going to come up at the end of next year as well. So yeah, there's
[58:12.920 -> 58:17.200] going to be a lot. But in terms of serious stuff to talk about to look forward to guys
[58:17.200 -> 58:21.560] in Mumbai, there are going to be so many more events that you should join us for. We have
[58:21.560 -> 58:27.200] a pre-race and a post-race show for every single race screening. We have special events like the one we've just had for Jihan.
[58:27.200 -> 58:28.960] If you just heard an announcement a minute ago,
[58:28.960 -> 58:29.560] doesn't matter.
[58:29.560 -> 58:30.800] We recorded this episode before it.
[58:30.800 -> 58:32.040] By the time this comes out, that event
[58:32.040 -> 58:34.880] would have been a huge success with all the people joining in.
[58:34.880 -> 58:35.480] But-
[58:35.480 -> 58:37.720] Samuel Arora doing our post-event PR.
[58:37.720 -> 58:38.220] Thank you.
[58:38.220 -> 58:38.760] Exactly.
[58:38.760 -> 58:41.280] No, but it'll be incredible to have all of you folks.
[58:41.280 -> 58:44.000] It's always so much fun to chat with you
[58:44.000 -> 58:46.280] and have a word with the community in person.
[58:46.280 -> 58:49.440] We've done around 15 events already so far this year.
[58:49.440 -> 58:51.880] It is amazing what the vibe is like.
[58:51.880 -> 58:55.080] So if you haven't joined us so far, well, join us.
[58:55.080 -> 58:57.080] It'll be amazing to have you on there, my friends.
[58:57.080 -> 59:00.480] And also, if we haven't been able to bring it to your city,
[59:00.480 -> 59:01.640] we are trying very hard.
[59:01.640 -> 59:02.840] Pune is next on the list.
[59:02.840 -> 59:06.000] We're definitely trying for Bangalore and Delhi as well. Also Chennai.
[59:06.000 -> 59:10.300] And as for abroad, I don't know Kunal, you should set up one in Oslo as well.
[59:10.300 -> 59:11.200] We should, right?
[59:11.200 -> 59:14.800] And just the way there is 11th team news expecting.
[59:14.800 -> 59:18.500] Hopefully there is an international event that we are able to pull off at some point.
[59:18.500 -> 59:22.600] Sunnyhaze, how is it that we've not talked about Sunnyhaze and Apex GP?
[59:22.600 -> 59:24.900] But maybe there isn't as much.
[59:24.900 -> 59:26.480] 11th team.
[59:26.480 -> 59:30.520] Is that the team Andretti will go by or high tech GP will go by?
[59:30.520 -> 59:33.360] There will be a lot of fuss around this as well.
[59:33.360 -> 59:39.960] I think FOM will be at loggerheads in the public because the FI can technically give
[59:39.960 -> 59:45.920] them the 11th team, but the FOM has a financial, you know, contract that they need to do.
[59:45.920 -> 59:48.760] Could the Levens team actually be allowed saying you don't earn money for the first
[59:48.760 -> 59:50.280] five years till you score a point or something?
[59:50.280 -> 59:54.880] Because it could happen saying prove your worth and whatever, because there are two
[59:54.880 -> 59:55.640] different parts to it.
[59:55.640 -> 01:00:00.320] The FI can technically give them an entry, but the financials of that entry, which is
[01:00:00.320 -> 01:00:02.720] why everybody's wanting to score that one point, etc.
[01:00:02.720 -> 01:00:07.500] is controlled by FOM and the split of the costs and earnings and revenue and all of that.
[01:00:07.500 -> 01:00:07.900] Just so.
[01:00:07.900 -> 01:00:10.100] And yes, there's going to be the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
[01:00:10.700 -> 01:00:13.300] How could we forget the Saturday night race?
[01:00:13.500 -> 01:00:14.800] The capitalism GP.
[01:00:16.100 -> 01:00:17.600] How much is one ticket?
[01:00:17.700 -> 01:00:22.500] I've heard it's four figures in dollars for a base ticket.
[01:00:23.000 -> 01:00:23.600] Base.
[01:00:23.600 -> 01:00:25.520] I think it goes all the way up to a million at least.
[01:00:26.720 -> 01:00:34.800] I think a full package. And Las Vegas clubs that are showing the race in physical are being charged
[01:00:34.800 -> 01:00:39.840] by Formula One for actually showing the race in physical. So it's like, hey, we don't care if your
[01:00:39.840 -> 01:00:46.140] pub or club or cafe has been there for the last 50 years. But if you're not paying us a couple of million dollars,
[01:00:46.140 -> 01:00:48.620] because you have a street level view of the race,
[01:00:49.000 -> 01:00:53.620] you want to blank out your view or whatever, but that's just capitalism.
[01:00:53.620 -> 01:00:56.780] And I mean, I understand it's silly, but that's just where it is.
[01:00:56.900 -> 01:01:00.300] We don't ask you to pay a couple of million dollars for the inside line F1 pit
[01:01:00.300 -> 01:01:02.940] stops. It's just a very, very marginal fee in comparison.
[01:01:02.940 -> 01:01:04.460] So you can join us for that.
[01:01:05.040 -> 01:01:10.480] And also we're going to get celebrities at Las Vegas because I remember just to close out this
[01:01:10.480 -> 01:01:17.520] episode right, we had this beautiful call from DJ Khaled at the Miami GP last year. F1, Miami,
[01:01:17.520 -> 01:01:24.320] greatest city in the world, family, good vibes. This is the place to be man. Las Vegas is going
[01:01:24.320 -> 01:01:25.600] to be even more fun. It is going to be even more fun.
[01:01:26.200 -> 01:01:27.200] It's going to be even more fun.
[01:01:27.280 -> 01:01:29.080] And DJ Khaled also returned this year at Miami.
[01:01:29.080 -> 01:01:29.480] And you know what?
[01:01:29.480 -> 01:01:30.480] This is one thing we all missed.
[01:01:30.600 -> 01:01:31.600] He returned to Miami.
[01:01:32.000 -> 01:01:35.480] I think he asked one of the Formula One teams for an opportunity to hold the pit gun.
[01:01:35.680 -> 01:01:36.880] And so on the grid, right?
[01:01:36.880 -> 01:01:40.280] I think it was Max's car that had its tyre warmers placed.
[01:01:40.280 -> 01:01:42.880] So DJ Khaled, he was standing next to six Red Bull mechanics.
[01:01:42.880 -> 01:01:44.000] He took the pit gun, he was like...
[01:01:47.720 -> 01:01:48.920] And then he gave an aggressive looking stare into the camera. He's like, I did it.
[01:01:48.920 -> 01:01:52.720] But the pit gun wasn't working and the tires were covered.
[01:01:52.720 -> 01:01:54.520] I love the guy.
[01:01:54.520 -> 01:01:56.200] He should be the ambassador of Formula One.
[01:01:56.200 -> 01:01:57.520] We need him in every race.
[01:01:57.520 -> 01:02:00.720] Yeah, well, we need ambassadors because F1 in America,
[01:02:00.720 -> 01:02:03.720] with after all that hype, has seen a downward trend.
[01:02:03.720 -> 01:02:06.440] We've seen a downward trend even in podcast consumption, you know,
[01:02:06.760 -> 01:02:09.640] so the dominance is definitely not helping.
[01:02:09.640 -> 01:02:15.400] But, you know, moments like the mid-season episode that you guys have all,
[01:02:16.240 -> 01:02:19.360] you know, heard is why we actually cheer for Formula One.
[01:02:19.360 -> 01:02:23.800] I mean, Russell and his, is it sweat, is it rain? He should be in Mumbai.
[01:02:24.080 -> 01:02:28.120] He'll probably be the best rain reader.
[01:02:28.120 -> 01:02:31.220] And you know, Lewis Hamilton actually walking up to Max Verstappen and saying, you have
[01:02:31.220 -> 01:02:34.420] an awesome rear end.
[01:02:34.420 -> 01:02:39.320] And yeah, and then Valtteri Bottas did his, you know, his rear end moment there.
[01:02:39.320 -> 01:02:46.000] But my closing point is if Mercedes want to get quick, they need to do what McLaren did.
[01:02:46.000 -> 01:02:48.760] McLaren gave a test to Lord Mahavir.
[01:02:48.760 -> 01:02:55.520] Mercedes need to fulfill their test promise to Roman Grosjean.
[01:02:55.520 -> 01:02:59.520] Roman's Formula One test with Mercedes is long pending.
[01:02:59.520 -> 01:03:01.040] They don't need to write letters to the fans.
[01:03:01.040 -> 01:03:03.640] They just need to put Roman Grosjean in the car.
[01:03:03.640 -> 01:03:04.640] It's been two years.
[01:03:04.640 -> 01:03:05.120] And comforting. People have conveniently forgotten as well. write letters to the fans. They just need to put Romain Grosjean in the car. It's been two years.
[01:03:07.480 -> 01:03:08.120] And people have conveniently forgotten as well.
[01:03:11.520 -> 01:03:15.200] And on that bombshell, that's the end of our mid-season interview, because with Romain Grosjean, it normally tends to be the end as well.
[01:03:15.920 -> 01:03:17.600] I'm talking about 2012 Romain Grosjean.
[01:03:17.640 -> 01:03:19.520] Things don't last a very long time when he was around.
[01:03:19.520 -> 01:03:22.880] No, but on a serious note, folks, thank you so much for listening in to this
[01:03:22.880 -> 01:03:24.000] part of the episode as well.
[01:03:24.400 -> 01:03:27.000] If you've liked it so far, I don't need to tell you what to do.
[01:03:27.000 -> 01:03:30.000] I'm not a normal YouTuber, like, share, subscribe and all that.
[01:03:30.000 -> 01:03:32.000] But I've just said it anyway. So, do that if you want to.
[01:03:32.000 -> 01:03:35.000] And we'll be back with more mid-season content.
[01:03:35.000 -> 01:03:37.000] So, we're not going anywhere. Stay tuned.
[01:03:37.000 -> 01:03:38.000] More fun episodes are coming up.
[01:03:38.000 -> 01:03:42.000] And more fun events in Mumbai and around India are also gonna come up.
[01:03:42.000 -> None] So, stay tuned and follow us on our social media platforms for more information. Take care everyone and we will be back. Bye-bye. you