Season Review Part 2 of probably 3

Spanners and Stevens are joined by F1 media breakout star Antonia Rankin

 and legendary streamer and sim racer Scott Tuffey as they continue to take a leisurely stroll through the 2023 season. From the mercurial Mercedes, to the astonishing Astons to the, no getting around it, horrible HAAS no CFD correlation goes uncalculated in this, the latest episode of Missed Apex Podcast.

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**Missed Apex Podcast: Season Review Part 2**

**Haas F1:**

* A season marked by unfulfilled expectations and unremarkable performances.
* The team's struggles attributed to tire management issues and correlation problems with upgrades.
* Haas' unique team structure, involving Dallara, Ferrari, and multiple locations, may hinder efficient operations.
* The lack of resources and budget limitations under the cost cap restrict the team's ability to make significant improvements.
* The team's focus on qualifying performance may be driven by the need for sponsor exposure, given their struggles in race pace.
* The question of Gunther Steiner's long-term suitability as team principal arises, with differing opinions on his management style and impact on the team's performance.

**Aston Martin:**

* Aston Martin's resurgence in 2023, securing sixth place in the Constructors' Championship.
* The team's success attributed to the leadership of Mike Krack and the recruitment of experienced personnel.
* The AMR23 car's strengths in high-speed corners and wet weather conditions.
* Fernando Alonso's impressive performances, including podium finishes and a pole position.
* The team's struggles in certain races due to reliability issues and strategic errors.
* The departure of Sebastian Vettel and the arrival of Felipe Drugovich for 2024.

**Mercedes:**

* A challenging season for Mercedes, finishing third in the Constructors' Championship behind Red Bull and Ferrari.
* The team's initial struggles with the W13 car's porpoising and overall lack of pace.
* The team's recovery in the second half of the season, with upgrades and improved understanding of the car.
* Lewis Hamilton's consistent performances, securing podiums and a race win in Brazil.
* George Russell's impressive debut season with Mercedes, outperforming Hamilton in qualifying and scoring more points.
* The team's focus on developing the W14 car for 2024, with the hope of returning to championship contention. **Missed Apex Podcast Transcript Analysis**

**Episode:** Aston Martin and Haas F1 Teams Review

**Hosts:**

- SpannersReady
- Chris Stevens
- Antonia Rankin
- Stuffey

**Summary:**

The podcast begins with a discussion about the Haas F1 team and its drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg. The hosts debate whether there is a clear difference in performance between the two drivers, and whether either of them has the potential to move up the grid. They also discuss the team's overall performance in the 2023 season, and whether they have the potential to improve in the future.

Next, the hosts turn their attention to the Aston Martin F1 team. They discuss the team's strong start to the season, and how they were able to challenge Mercedes and Ferrari for podium finishes. However, they also discuss the team's decline in performance as the season progressed, and whether they have the potential to return to the front of the grid in the future.

The hosts also discuss the team's driver lineup, and whether Lance Stroll is a suitable teammate for Fernando Alonso. They debate whether Stroll has the potential to improve his performance, or whether he should be replaced by another driver.

Finally, the hosts discuss the Aston Martin team's car design, and whether they have been able to successfully copy the designs of other teams. They also discuss the team's development strategy, and whether they are able to keep up with the other top teams in Formula One.

**Key Insights and Perspectives:**

* There is no clear consensus among the hosts about whether Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg are equally matched in terms of performance. Some hosts believe that Magnussen is the stronger driver, while others believe that Hulkenberg has the potential to be just as good.
* The hosts agree that the Haas F1 team has the potential to improve in the future, but they also acknowledge that the team has a number of weaknesses that need to be addressed.
* The hosts are divided on whether Lance Stroll is a suitable teammate for Fernando Alonso. Some hosts believe that Stroll is capable of improving his performance, while others believe that he should be replaced by another driver.
* The hosts agree that the Aston Martin F1 team has a strong car design, but they also acknowledge that the team has struggled to keep up with the development of the other top teams in Formula One.

**Controversies and Particularly Insightful Moments:**

* The hosts have a heated debate about whether Lance Stroll is a good enough driver to be in Formula One. Some hosts believe that he is not a top-level driver and should be replaced, while others believe that he has the potential to improve.
* The hosts also have a discussion about the Aston Martin team's car design, and whether they have been able to successfully copy the designs of other teams. Some hosts believe that the team has been able to do this successfully, while others believe that they have not been able to keep up with the development of the other top teams.

**Overall Message and Takeaway:**

The overall message of the podcast is that the Haas and Aston Martin F1 teams have both had a mixed season in 2023. Both teams have shown flashes of brilliance, but they have also struggled with consistency. The hosts believe that both teams have the potential to improve in the future, but they also acknowledge that they have a number of weaknesses that need to be addressed. 1. **Mercedes' Zero-Pod Concept:**

- Mercedes' decision to stick with the zero-pod concept proved disastrous, resulting in a car with excessive drag and insufficient downforce.
- Despite recognizing the concept's flaws during testing, Mercedes persisted with it, leading to frustration within the team.
- Lewis Hamilton openly criticized the concept throughout the season, expressing eagerness for a change in 2024.
- The mid-season concept shift highlighted the design's shortcomings, demonstrating the immense faith some team members had in the zero-pod idea.

2. **Aston Martin's Strong Performance:**

- Aston Martin had a phenomenal season, finishing sixth in the Constructors' Championship and challenging Ferrari and Mercedes at times.
- Their success can be attributed to the hiring of top-level engineers and the time it took for these personnel to integrate their expertise into the car's design.
- The team's performance surge coincided with Ferrari and Mercedes encountering development issues, allowing Aston Martin to capitalize on their misfortunes.
- However, the team's performance dipped after a rumored technical directive targeted at their car, suggesting they may have been exploiting a loophole.

3. **Fernando Alonso's Season:**

- Alonso's performances were impressive, but it remains unclear how he would fare against top drivers like Hamilton or Verstappen.
- His performance against Lance Stroll is not a true test of his abilities, and his TikTok popularity may have overshadowed his on-track achievements.
- While he has shown glimpses of his former brilliance, it is difficult to determine his true level in this era of Formula 1.

4. **Mercedes' Concept Shift:**

- Mercedes' mid-season concept shift was a significant undertaking, requiring immense resources and effort.
- The fact that they were able to execute such a major change demonstrates the team's technical capabilities and determination to improve.
- However, the shift also highlights the shortcomings of the zero-pod concept and the team's initial misjudgment.

5. **Aston Martin's Future Prospects:**

- Aston Martin's new factory and production facilities are expected to enhance their competitiveness in 2024.
- The team's strong showing in 2023 suggests they have the potential to challenge for podiums and even race wins in the future.
- However, they need to maintain consistency and avoid the performance fluctuations that plagued them in 2023.

6. **Mercedes' Technical Struggles:**

- Mercedes faced significant technical challenges throughout the season, particularly with their power unit.
- These issues hindered their performance and contributed to their disappointing results.
- The team's struggles underscore the complexities of Formula 1 engineering and the challenges of developing a competitive car within the cost cap regulations.

7. **Aston Martin's Technical Directive:**

- The rumored technical directive aimed at Aston Martin's car remains a controversial topic.
- Some believe it was justified, while others see it as an attempt to stifle their progress.
- The directive's impact on Aston Martin's performance is unclear, but it may have played a role in their mid-season decline.

8. **Mercedes' 2024 Prospects:**

- Mercedes has a strong track record of success and is expected to bounce back in 2024.
- The team has already begun work on their 2024 car and is determined to regain their dominance.
- However, the increasing competitiveness of the midfield teams means that Mercedes cannot afford to rest on their laurels.

9. **Aston Martin's Long-Term Goals:**

- Aston Martin's ultimate goal is to become a championship-contending team.
- The team has the resources and ambition to achieve this, but it will require sustained effort and investment.
- Their performance in 2023 provides a solid foundation for future success, but they need to build on it and make further progress in 2024.

10. **Mercedes' Legacy:**

- Mercedes' dominance in recent years has cemented their status as one of the greatest Formula 1 teams of all time.
- Their success is a testament to their technical prowess, strategic decision-making, and driver talent.
- While they may have faced challenges in 2023, their legacy remains intact, and they are poised to return to the forefront in 2024. # Missed Apex: Episode Transcript
## Mercedes Review 2023

**Mercedes and the W14**

* Mercedes had a difficult 2023 season, finishing second in the Constructors' Championship behind Red Bull.
* The team struggled with the W14 car, which was plagued by porpoising and other issues.
* Lewis Hamilton and George Russell both had inconsistent seasons, with Hamilton failing to win a race for the first time since 2011.
* Mercedes' struggles were compounded by the cost cap, which limited their ability to develop the W14.

**Mercedes' Future**

* Mercedes is optimistic that they can bounce back in 2024.
* The team has already begun work on the W15, and they are confident that they have learned from their mistakes this season.
* Mercedes is also hoping that the cost cap will be more evenly enforced in 2024, which will give them a better chance of competing with Red Bull.

**Other Topics Discussed**

* The performance of Aston Martin in 2023.
* The struggles of Haas in 2023.
* The impact of the cost cap on Formula One.
* The future of Lewis Hamilton.

**Overall**

This episode of Missed Apex provides a comprehensive review of Mercedes' 2023 season. The hosts discuss the team's struggles, their hopes for the future, and a variety of other topics related to Formula One. The episode is informative and engaging, and it is a must-listen for any fan of the sport. # Missed Apex Podcast Episode Transcript Summary

## Introduction

* The podcast episode features Spanners, Chris Stevens, Antonia Rankin, and Scott Tuffey.
* They discuss the 2023 Formula One season and give their perspectives on various teams and drivers.

## Mercedes

* The team's performance in 2023 has been inconsistent.
* George Russell has shown potential but has also had some disappointing races.
* Lewis Hamilton remains the team's number one driver, but there could be a shift in dynamics if Russell continues to perform well.

## Aston Martin

* The team has shown signs of improvement in 2023.
* Fernando Alonso has been a standout performer for the team.
* The team's car has been reliable, which has allowed them to score points consistently.

## Haas

* The team has struggled for pace and reliability in 2023.
* Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg have both had frustrating seasons.
* The team's lack of correlation between CFD and on-track performance has been a major issue.

## Other Teams

* The podcasters also discuss the performances of other teams, including Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, and Alpine.
* They analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each team and make predictions for the remainder of the season.

## George Russell's Future

* The podcasters debate whether George Russell can become the number one driver at Mercedes in the future.
* They consider the factors that could influence Russell's success, such as the performance of the car and the team's strategy.
* They also discuss the possibility of Russell moving to another team, such as Ferrari, if he does not get the机会 at Mercedes.

## Season Outlook

* The podcasters conclude the episode by discussing their overall outlook for the 2024 Formula One season.
* They remain optimistic that the new regulations will lead to closer racing and more exciting battles.
* They also hope that the teams will be able to resolve their technical issues and produce more reliable cars.

## Conclusion

* The podcast episode provides an informative and engaging discussion of the 2023 Formula One season.
* The podcasters offer insightful analysis and predictions, and they also inject some humor and personality into the conversation.
* Overall, the episode is a must-listen for any fan of Formula One racing.

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[02:14.160 -> 02:17.560] You are listening to Missed Apex Podcast.
[02:17.560 -> 02:36.280] We live F1. Welcome to Missed Apex Podcast. I'm your host Richard Ready, but my friends call me Spanners.
[02:36.280 -> 02:42.880] So let's be friends. Welcome to part two of our season review. Yes, I know the season's
[02:42.880 -> 02:46.080] been over for some time, but we are being leisurely,
[02:46.080 -> 02:51.200] we're taking our time, there is no rush. Last week we were massively ambitious,
[02:51.200 -> 02:55.920] thinking we'd get through half the grid and we barely got through three teams. So this week
[02:55.920 -> 03:03.520] we're aiming for three teams to review and may God have mercy on our bandwidth. This week we tackle
[03:03.520 -> 03:05.760] the runners-up Mercedes and we're going
[03:05.760 -> 03:10.800] to tackle the team who were probably the most media present over the season. They had their
[03:10.800 -> 03:16.400] eyes on the top three. We're going to zone in on Aston Martin and we'll also talk about the blur of
[03:16.400 -> 03:22.240] disappointment that is Haas F1. But let me tell you first, we are, because of you, an independent
[03:22.240 -> 03:28.480] podcast produced in the podcasting shed with the kind permission of our better halves, we aim to bring you a race review before your Monday morning
[03:28.480 -> 03:30.960] commute. We might be wrong, but we're first.
[03:38.320 -> 03:43.680] Joining me in the shed playing the role of Matt Trumpets is Chris Stevens. Hello, Chris.
[03:43.680 -> 03:45.600] Hello, Spanners. Yes, a British Matt Trumpets for Chris Stevens. Hello Chris. Hello Spanners, yes a British
[03:45.600 -> 03:50.040] Matt Trumpets for this weekend. A terrifying prospect. Yeah an all-British
[03:50.040 -> 03:54.720] panel for the first time in ages. Yeah we'll show those Americans how
[03:54.720 -> 03:59.040] dare they come in with a passionate love of our sport and vastly increase the
[03:59.040 -> 04:03.000] audience and grow our community. I mean frankly they shouldn't have more than
[04:03.000 -> 04:05.840] one race. I mean it's just being greedy.
[04:05.840 -> 04:10.480] There's loads of them. I think, do you know what, it's quite, we do need to pander to the
[04:10.480 -> 04:16.240] American market. I think they should have eight races Chris. Yeah can I just say that was a joke.
[04:17.040 -> 04:23.600] Anybody, any doubt out there that was a joke. Okay because when I'm looking at the calendar
[04:23.600 -> 04:26.000] next May and looking at an American
[04:26.720 -> 04:30.960] Missed Apex karting event, it's actually quite hard to pin down on our listenership, yes there's
[04:30.960 -> 04:36.080] lots of Americans, but they're so spread out, why can't they all agree and just live in one bit
[04:36.080 -> 04:41.360] instead of spreading out all over the place? It needs to be more like Canada, where like 100%
[04:41.360 -> 04:48.520] of the population only live in like 10% of the land mass. Yeah, so if you could sort that America, but if you want a little bit of a teaser, think
[04:48.520 -> 04:53.160] Miami area and time and think about whether you want to come go-karting with us. We're
[04:53.160 -> 04:56.960] also joined by Antonia Rankin. Hello, Antonia.
[04:56.960 -> 05:01.560] Hi, yeah, I can't figure out whether all this winter break nonsense is a blessing or a curse
[05:01.560 -> 05:07.560] because of course it's given me time to meet up with my friends, enjoy my hobbies but I've realized I don't really want
[05:07.560 -> 05:11.840] any new friends and I don't really want any new hobbies. Yeah, wait till you get
[05:11.840 -> 05:15.960] to like 43 and you've probably got about two friends and that's enough and if
[05:15.960 -> 05:20.160] anyone comes in even remotely suggesting that they make plans you have to have a
[05:20.160 -> 05:25.500] robust system of avoiding plans. So you're too young right now but I will
[05:25.500 -> 05:29.660] teach you how to avoid ever making a plan whilst looking reasonably social.
[05:29.660 -> 05:33.260] I'll bear that in mind because you're like what 10 years into that phase now
[05:33.260 -> 05:38.840] since you were 43 so you know you must be in pretty good pretty good exercise
[05:38.840 -> 05:44.000] of life. Don't give away my real age I only go by my media age of 34 which is roughly the
[05:44.000 -> 05:47.680] age of our next panelist Scott Stuffy Tuffy. How's it going Scott?
[05:47.680 -> 05:52.880] Do you know what I used to like you until you just assumed my age. How dare you?
[05:52.880 -> 05:56.560] Well I was gonna say this is quite a young dynamic crew but you're like
[05:56.560 -> 05:59.920] you're well over 30 so you're letting the rest of us down.
[05:59.920 -> 06:04.760] I'm 32 and yes for those who have the pleasure of watching this stream live I
[06:04.760 -> 06:06.560] know I don't look at guys. I know
[06:07.380 -> 06:09.620] Yes, looking forward to reviewing that these
[06:10.320 -> 06:16.160] Teams for what has been a very very long season. It certainly has felt that way
[06:16.160 -> 06:20.700] Let's make sure that our race review only isn't long but only goes our traditional
[06:21.200 -> 06:22.680] 60 minutes
[06:22.680 -> 06:25.960] We've never yet exceeded an hour and that's something to
[06:25.960 -> 06:31.360] be proud of. So we are gonna start with Haas. Now this was the hardest one to
[06:31.360 -> 06:35.640] actually research and look into Chris because when you said to me like oh Haas
[06:35.640 -> 06:42.280] for 2023 nothing really leaped into my head like maybe the odd qualifying
[06:42.280 -> 06:45.680] performance from Nico Hülkenberg, but that's about it.
[06:51.040 -> 06:57.360] Yeah, that's the thing, when you think of what Haas done this year, the things that come to mind are Magnussen's crash in Mexico, that's about it, for me anyway, just off the top of my head.
[06:57.360 -> 07:01.360] So am I being unkind because some of our other panelists might have spent the whole season
[07:01.360 -> 07:04.320] like cheering Haas on, have you been watching them like a hawks got?
[07:03.780 -> 07:12.020] have spent the whole season like cheering has on. Have you been watching them like a hawk Scott? Vividly, absolutely vividly. And I was actually it not excited, but I was looking
[07:12.020 -> 07:17.100] forward to seeing how Hulkenberg would get on coming back into the team. And to be fair,
[07:17.100 -> 07:23.820] I thought it was actually I'm gonna take that back. I was kind of a little bit negative
[07:23.820 -> 07:26.520] on him coming back. I thought, maybe they should have gone for someone
[07:26.520 -> 07:27.480] who's a little bit younger.
[07:27.480 -> 07:29.320] We've got some good up and coming drivers.
[07:29.320 -> 07:30.680] But then I quickly flipped on that
[07:30.680 -> 07:32.800] because he started putting in some great performances
[07:32.800 -> 07:34.000] in qualifying.
[07:34.000 -> 07:36.720] But then that's kind of as big a,
[07:36.720 -> 07:38.440] the amount of praise that I could give them this year,
[07:38.440 -> 07:40.080] because when it came to the race,
[07:40.080 -> 07:43.200] they just always fell back down the grid
[07:43.200 -> 07:45.280] to kind of where they belonged.
[07:46.280 -> 07:47.280] Wow. Yeah.
[07:47.280 -> 07:48.680] You're not far off the mark there.
[07:48.680 -> 07:52.680] And I do agree with your change of heart
[07:53.200 -> 07:55.920] about Hulkingberg, because they tried the young driver route, didn't they?
[07:55.920 -> 07:59.400] With Nikita and with Mick and with two other drivers.
[07:59.400 -> 08:01.240] They tried the pay driver route.
[08:01.240 -> 08:02.560] OK, fine. They tried that.
[08:02.560 -> 08:04.800] But even Mick wasn't delivering the goods.
[08:04.800 -> 08:09.520] Wait, hang on, hang on. Whoa. What do you mean, even Mick? Well, Mick wasn't a pay driver,. Okay fine, they tried that but even Mick wasn't delivering the goods. Wait hang on, whoa, what do you mean even Mick? Well Mick wasn't a pay driver was he?
[08:09.520 -> 08:17.040] Oh god. He was an F2 champion. Surely we're not, we're not classing Schumacher as a, as a, okay
[08:17.040 -> 08:20.720] well maybe he didn't come in with like a bundle of cash but Schumacher's there because he's Schumacher.
[08:21.280 -> 08:28.400] Yeah, I'm with you on that. Oh okay. But he But as much as I think he didn't get a fair shot of it
[08:28.400 -> 08:33.920] at Haas, the fact that Magnussen came in and kind of wiped the floor with him does kind of prove that
[08:34.560 -> 08:39.520] going down the young driver route didn't work for them. That's why they leaned on experience and
[08:39.520 -> 08:52.360] partnered Hulkenberg with Magnussen. And when you think about the fact that Magnussen wiped the floor with Mick, Hulkenberg came out the blocks swinging, and I lost interest in the battle
[08:52.360 -> 08:56.920] that further way through the season, but it always seemed to be Hulkenberg more often
[08:56.920 -> 09:08.080] than not ahead of Magnussen. Even though I think Magnussen maybe got the bigger result in the end, maybe like a ninth place
[09:08.080 -> 09:14.160] instead of just a tenth. Well Hulkenberg got seventh in Australia, I think that was their
[09:14.160 -> 09:19.360] biggest result of the season. I don't think Australia really counts as a good barometer.
[09:19.360 -> 09:23.520] Because there was eight red flags wasn't there. Antonio I know you wanted to come in on the,
[09:23.520 -> 09:26.560] because I sort of want to argue with Chris a little bit more about the
[09:26.560 -> 09:33.120] Haas tried the young driver route. Oh fine. Yeah, there's a lot to pick apart with Haas and by that
[09:33.120 -> 09:37.520] I mean nothing at all. If we continue to spend too much time talking about Haas I fear our dear
[09:37.520 -> 09:41.440] listeners will fall asleep because that's how their season has gone. It's been completely
[09:41.440 -> 09:45.440] unremarkable, not much to talk about, little to analyze.
[09:45.440 -> 09:50.040] They've got two fantastic drivers who have proven themselves multiple times for a long
[09:50.040 -> 09:54.920] time in F1. On the young driver route, did they give Schumacher a fair chance? No, but
[09:54.920 -> 09:58.240] they were running out of money they needed to bring in the old faithfuls. I'm going
[09:58.240 -> 10:03.360] to summarize this whole HASS talk very quickly for our dear listeners. So yeah, no, they
[10:03.360 -> 10:05.360] didn't try the young driver route fairly,
[10:05.360 -> 10:09.680] could have given Schumacher more time. That's the summary of that. In terms of their season,
[10:09.680 -> 10:14.240] they're a bang average team who put in a slightly better than last year performance. I don't know
[10:14.240 -> 10:17.920] if there's much to analyze there. You know, they're at the bottom of the grid most of the
[10:17.920 -> 10:21.680] time. They'll occasionally have a good quali performance. And as Chris said, during the race,
[10:21.680 -> 10:29.600] their race pace will let them down. They'll slip down lower in the grid to where they belong or where they naturally would sit given their pace. So yeah, they've had
[10:29.600 -> 10:34.560] a pretty unremarkable season but so far from what we've seen, they've been a pretty unremarkable team.
[10:35.680 -> 10:41.200] I totally agree with Antonia and I'd just like to add that it was kind of after seeing the Drive
[10:41.200 -> 10:46.600] to Survive series the previous season, it was really astonishing
[10:46.600 -> 10:52.700] to see how Gunther Steiner's lack of management was on Mick Schumacher. And I think he was
[10:52.700 -> 11:00.160] totally unfairly treated, Mick Schumacher, during that full year. Obviously, with Nikita
[11:00.160 -> 11:05.520] Mazepin, you can kind of write that off because their car was absolutely horrendous. And do you know what?
[11:05.520 -> 11:08.440] It's kind of a sweetness to them
[11:08.440 -> 11:10.720] having such a poor performance this year.
[11:10.720 -> 11:13.400] And Gunther Steiner has been a big, big,
[11:14.760 -> 11:15.680] what's the right word?
[11:15.680 -> 11:18.040] He's been massively against Andretti
[11:18.040 -> 11:20.280] or an 11th team joining F1.
[11:20.280 -> 11:23.080] And I feel like he's like, oh, they need to bring value.
[11:23.080 -> 11:24.880] Like what value are they going to bring?
[11:24.880 -> 11:27.240] And I've said this a number of times throughout the year.
[11:27.240 -> 11:29.000] Welcome for Steiner, I put it back to you.
[11:29.000 -> 11:32.500] What value do you bring and Haas bring to this grid?
[11:32.500 -> 11:34.100] Because you finished last,
[11:34.100 -> 11:35.900] you have the odds qualifying performance,
[11:35.900 -> 11:38.000] and then you just drop further down the grid,
[11:38.000 -> 11:40.060] cause some crashes, and that's about it.
[11:40.060 -> 11:42.340] Antonio, then I know Chris is queued up,
[11:42.340 -> 11:44.300] ready like a coiled spring.
[11:44.300 -> 11:49.120] But that's the thing though, like, and I genuinely have nothing against Huss. I'd love to see
[11:49.120 -> 11:53.840] them do well because I, as you guys will know, I love an underdog. It's so great to see teams
[11:53.840 -> 11:57.620] performing well when they have historically been at the back of the grid. And especially
[11:57.620 -> 12:02.120] when you see kind of the behind the scenes that a documentary like Drive to Survival
[12:02.120 -> 12:06.320] for sort of documentary is a bit of a loose term for such a sensationalised series, but I digress.
[12:07.000 -> 12:08.680] You want them to do well, you do.
[12:08.760 -> 12:11.040] Gunter Steiner is such a likeable guy.
[12:11.120 -> 12:14.560] The drivers are trialled and tested F1 people
[12:14.640 -> 12:16.560] who have been in the sport for a long time,
[12:16.640 -> 12:17.840] and I wanted them to do well.
[12:17.920 -> 12:19.520] I don't want that to be miscommunicated.
[12:19.600 -> 12:21.640] I do like them as a team,
[12:21.720 -> 12:24.760] but we're expecting a horse jump show
[12:24.840 -> 12:27.120] and dressage out of a Shetland pony.
[12:27.680 -> 12:30.560] Wow, that is a reference that we can all relate to.
[12:31.680 -> 12:35.440] Yeah, that my childhood was filled with dressage. Chris?
[12:36.240 -> 12:40.320] So, okay, if we're done just beating hearse with a stick...
[12:40.320 -> 12:40.960] Nope, not quite.
[12:40.960 -> 12:41.840] ...for a while.
[12:42.880 -> 12:45.120] We'll get back to that. We'll get back to beating you with
[12:45.120 -> 12:51.360] the stick. Okay, fine, but I'd like to add some context to this because we know for years they've
[12:51.360 -> 12:57.120] had issues with tyre management. This is something that has persisted. They have had correlation
[12:57.120 -> 13:02.880] issues with their upgrades. They don't have the resources to bring that many upgrades to the car
[13:02.880 -> 13:07.440] in the first place and so when they did bring some
[13:07.440 -> 13:09.600] and they actually made the car worse,
[13:09.600 -> 13:12.480] then you've thrown away six months of good work there
[13:12.480 -> 13:15.080] and you're basically back at square one.
[13:15.080 -> 13:18.720] The dynamic of the team has changed a lot
[13:18.720 -> 13:21.760] in the last couple of years since A, the new regulations
[13:21.760 -> 13:23.520] and B, the cost cap was introduced.
[13:23.520 -> 13:29.520] Because before the cost cap, Gene Haas wasn't putting any more money into that team for
[13:29.520 -> 13:34.080] two or three years, and they were basically on a development freeze at that point, hence
[13:34.080 -> 13:38.760] why they were so far down the order during those years.
[13:38.760 -> 13:44.040] But we all know they have a very close relationship with Dallara, who basically design and build
[13:44.040 -> 13:46.720] their car, and then the team in Banbury runs it.
[13:46.720 -> 13:50.880] But that has shifted somewhat to be more of a relationship
[13:50.880 -> 13:52.200] with Ferrari.
[13:52.200 -> 13:53.880] While Dallara still plays their role,
[13:53.880 -> 13:58.400] the actual makeup of the team is now more former Ferrari
[13:58.400 -> 14:02.140] engineers who have had to be moved on from Ferrari
[14:02.140 -> 14:04.840] as a result of the cost cap, because they couldn't retain
[14:04.840 -> 14:05.960] the same number of staff,
[14:05.960 -> 14:06.800] so they gave them to Haas.
[14:06.800 -> 14:09.380] So in theory, that's good for F1,
[14:09.380 -> 14:12.180] if the bigger teams are having to spread out that talent.
[14:12.180 -> 14:15.580] That's the thing, the makeup is there.
[14:15.580 -> 14:17.120] Dallara are not slouches.
[14:17.120 -> 14:21.580] They make chassis for almost every junior single seater
[14:21.580 -> 14:25.080] you can think of, and in prototype racing as well.
[14:25.080 -> 14:29.440] And of course, since the new era of sports car racing started,
[14:29.440 -> 14:32.520] they're now at the top class of sports car racing and endurance
[14:32.520 -> 14:33.160] racing as well.
[14:33.160 -> 14:35.480] So they know what they're doing.
[14:35.480 -> 14:38.840] But I think there are inherent limitations to just taking
[14:38.840 -> 14:40.480] parts from Ferrari.
[14:40.480 -> 14:43.080] They have a sort of Frankenstein car
[14:43.080 -> 14:48.920] where these bits are just sort of meshed together. And I don't think everything kind of molds together very nicely.
[14:48.920 -> 14:53.140] I'm sure Summers has done a deeper dive on this than what I'm giving right now.
[14:53.140 -> 15:00.320] But I think the other issue they have as well is that they've got too many, you know, different
[15:00.320 -> 15:04.800] locations where things are happening, because you've got parts coming out of Marinelli,
[15:04.800 -> 15:06.360] you've got parts coming out of Dallara,
[15:06.360 -> 15:09.280] you've then got the race team in Banbury as well.
[15:10.160 -> 15:13.440] Having to work across all those different things,
[15:13.440 -> 15:15.400] we talk about the relationship
[15:15.400 -> 15:17.040] between manufacturers and customer teams
[15:17.040 -> 15:19.280] and why it's an advantage to be a manufacturer,
[15:19.280 -> 15:21.640] because you can mold, say, the power unit
[15:21.640 -> 15:28.920] and the chassis together out of one building. But when you're already
[15:28.920 -> 15:32.480] a customer team and then your chassis is being designed in one place and you've got upgrades
[15:32.480 -> 15:37.160] coming from another place, it doesn't seem like an efficient system.
[15:37.160 -> 15:40.200] Just a quick one on, you said, you know, they don't have the budget and they don't have
[15:40.200 -> 15:45.760] the resources. In our Patreon live chat, Viteze says, when are Gene Haas and Gunter
[15:45.760 -> 15:51.160] Stein going to get together to drive the team forward? From what I can tell, Haas do generate
[15:51.160 -> 15:58.040] a profit and there are resources in the bigger parent group. So it's not like, oh, well,
[15:58.040 -> 16:01.900] they're coming in with absolutely zero resources, like they're choosing how much money they
[16:01.900 -> 16:08.220] put in to a certain extent. So it is still like ambition. But I think one of the real big problems we're having under
[16:08.220 -> 16:12.900] the cost cap now, problems, not for the teams, is that they all make money. So if they've
[16:12.900 -> 16:16.360] got a board and there's a certain amount of profit coming in and you go, well, actually,
[16:16.360 -> 16:21.440] I would like to pour half of that profit into extra development, they kind of go, well,
[16:21.440 -> 16:25.400] why? Where's that going to get you in the championship? Like you really have to go, right,
[16:25.400 -> 16:27.400] make a big leap up to third
[16:27.400 -> 16:29.680] to make that prize money worthwhile.
[16:29.680 -> 16:31.880] So what you've got is you've got a back end of the grid
[16:31.880 -> 16:34.560] where they can be profitable, not doing anything.
[16:34.560 -> 16:37.000] Like I could read you through
[16:37.000 -> 16:39.320] Haas's points total on most weekends.
[16:39.320 -> 16:42.280] The vast, vast majority of their weekends
[16:42.280 -> 16:43.260] have been pointless.
[16:43.260 -> 16:45.360] You know, you've got Australia, six points,
[16:45.360 -> 16:50.080] and then it's just a bunch of zeros with the odd one. It's one of the worst performances from a
[16:50.080 -> 16:54.400] team in the last sort of 12 years. Antonia, sorry, you were trying to get in, then Scott.
[16:54.400 -> 16:58.960] Well, that's, and that's the exact thing about a team like HASS. They could push and push and push
[16:58.960 -> 17:05.360] and get what's out of it, two points. It's, for them, I can understand the frustration within the team because it's
[17:05.360 -> 17:11.440] almost a thankless battle. However, going back to Chris's point about them being very
[17:11.440 -> 17:17.440] disjointed, how much can we realistically expect of Haas when the parent team, so-called
[17:17.440 -> 17:22.280] Ferrari, can't even get themselves together? They're working with broken parts as it is
[17:22.280 -> 17:25.360] per se, but the thing is with Haas and
[17:25.360 -> 17:29.000] with every Formula One team, they all have the ingredients for success.
[17:29.000 -> 17:33.920] You know, the engineers at Haas aren't any less qualified than those at Mercedes and
[17:33.920 -> 17:36.600] you know, let's give the credit where it's due.
[17:36.600 -> 17:40.200] All of these people are very intelligent, are working on the car, they all know what
[17:40.200 -> 17:44.320] they're doing, they all know how to build an F1 car, but there's a key thing missing
[17:44.320 -> 17:51.520] and that will be in the money. But like you said, they can pour money in in a team like Cass and keep pushing and
[17:51.520 -> 17:58.560] pushing and pushing to gain two points which in the grand scheme of things isn't going to get the
[17:58.560 -> 18:03.200] outcome money-wise for what they've put in. If they had to fight against relegation for example
[18:03.200 -> 18:10.240] Chris that would be a different story but they know know they're safe. Yeah, that's very true. Just a final point on
[18:10.240 -> 18:17.040] being a sort of Ferrari B team as it were, being a B team in general, it is a knife edge because
[18:17.040 -> 18:25.520] when Haas first came in they were a great midfield team. They were coming out of the blocks really, really well.
[18:25.800 -> 18:30.200] To the point where the other teams complained about their team model, about
[18:30.200 -> 18:32.000] the fact that they were a Ferrari B team.
[18:32.000 -> 18:34.620] And they said, this is not fair on the other midfield teams.
[18:34.620 -> 18:36.340] And we want to change the regulations about it.
[18:36.340 -> 18:39.960] And little things have changed about it in terms of the number of parts that
[18:39.960 -> 18:43.940] can be shared between teams or can be bought from other teams, for example.
[18:44.260 -> 18:46.620] But just to give you the other end of that as well,
[18:46.620 -> 18:48.360] look at AlphaTauri this year,
[18:48.360 -> 18:52.000] where Red Bull has had one of the best Formula One cars
[18:52.000 -> 18:55.920] ever produced, and AlphaTauri, for the majority of the year,
[18:55.920 -> 18:58.480] was skulking it at the back end with Haas.
[18:58.480 -> 19:00.400] Yeah, I just wanted to add onto that,
[19:00.400 -> 19:03.000] but in regards to the money,
[19:03.000 -> 19:07.160] maybe that's why their qualifying performances and why they focused on qualifying so
[19:07.160 -> 19:09.760] much is that they was able to get some airtime for their
[19:09.760 -> 19:14.400] sponsors. They quite probably recognized earlier on that they
[19:14.400 -> 19:17.840] had a car that could get into Q3 over a single lap pace, but
[19:18.040 -> 19:21.800] when it came to a race distance, similar performance to Ferrari,
[19:21.800 -> 19:24.080] they struggled with their tire management. Of course, they're
[19:24.080 -> 19:27.440] not anywhere near as quick as Ferrari as well, because
[19:27.500 -> 19:29.800] they're not obviously getting that engine.
[19:29.800 -> 19:32.600] They're not creating the engine is coming from Ferrari.
[19:32.980 -> 19:37.020] So it's kind of secondhand in an essence and it's able to get them
[19:37.020 -> 19:38.780] some airtime for their sponsors.
[19:38.780 -> 19:43.640] And the thing is, I think there's something, as you say, Spanners a bit.
[19:44.300 -> 19:47.240] A bit dodgy, maybe with how much is actually being put into the
[19:47.240 -> 19:50.800] team, because there was a lot of talk that when money gram came
[19:50.800 -> 19:54.080] in as a title sponsor, or the main sponsor for the car, that
[19:54.080 -> 19:57.720] was going to allow them to operate at the top of the cost
[19:57.720 -> 20:00.960] cap. But I think what we're seeing in this cost cap era now,
[20:00.960 -> 20:04.600] and it's very pertinent with Mercedes is that if teams are
[20:04.640 -> 20:05.420] very quickly
[20:05.420 -> 20:10.560] realizing that they have made an error in the direction of their development or their
[20:10.560 -> 20:16.460] concepts, they kind of have to go back to the drawing board and write the season off.
[20:16.460 -> 20:20.620] They have to make that conscious decision of do we continue down this development path
[20:20.620 -> 20:25.040] and stick to it and stick to our guns or do we go back to
[20:25.040 -> 20:28.320] the drawing board and just start working on next season
[20:28.320 -> 20:32.480] and use this season as another test year. For Haas, that's
[20:32.480 -> 20:34.960] really bad for them because they just had tapped the
[20:34.960 -> 20:38.640] previous year or that year with Nikita Mazepin and Mick
[20:38.640 -> 20:41.120] Schumacher. They was hoping they were gonna make massive
[20:41.120 -> 20:45.160] strides in this new ground for ground effect era.
[20:49.740 -> 20:52.000] And so far it hasn't worked out for them because their parent company in an essence, Ferrari has also struggled.
[20:52.520 -> 20:53.120] Well, exactly.
[20:53.120 -> 20:58.460] I actually specifically remember a few years ago asking my dad, like, you know,
[20:58.460 -> 21:02.780] there's some teams that just go out all weekend, they get no points, no nothing.
[21:02.860 -> 21:05.200] It's almost, there's no reason for them to be out
[21:05.200 -> 21:09.280] there. Why do they even bother? Why don't they just save their money? And it's for the sponsor.
[21:09.280 -> 21:14.240] And of course, in the cost cap area, especially where these teams are so dependent on their
[21:14.240 -> 21:18.880] sponsorships, that's why we're still seeing them go out and do it. Because obviously the cars need
[21:18.880 -> 21:23.200] to have a run out, the drivers need to have a run out, but it almost feels like just taking the dog
[21:23.200 -> 21:30.560] for a walk for these teams. Exactly like Scott said, Haas have tapped out before. They've had a season where they've gone,
[21:30.560 -> 21:36.080] we've completely screwed up this car and we need to go back to the drawing board. But it's such
[21:36.080 -> 21:41.120] a tragedy almost that the teams have to do this, that they have no more money left in their
[21:41.120 -> 21:46.320] allocated money to adapt the car and improve it. Yeah, they can't panic spend, can they?
[21:46.320 -> 21:50.360] But it's such a shame that they can't. You know, they can't go for a Boxing Day, Black
[21:50.360 -> 21:55.140] Friday, whatever shop because their car is, the car story is not a doubt. And we've seen
[21:55.140 -> 21:59.640] it with Mercedes with their zero side pods idea. They kind of had to go back to the drawing
[21:59.640 -> 22:04.240] board and be like, well, what do we actually have the ability to do? Because our first
[22:04.240 -> 22:05.200] idea hasn't worked out,
[22:05.200 -> 22:10.160] we need to completely reconceptualise the car. We don't really have the money to do so and it's
[22:10.160 -> 22:16.320] robbing us of potentially really great comeback stories. Okay, so whilst it might seem like we're
[22:16.320 -> 22:22.640] being quite negative, this is the bottom of the table team at the moment. So to put that into
[22:22.640 -> 22:25.800] context, last year that was Williams, Williams on 8
[22:25.800 -> 22:30.400] points, Haas this year 12 points. And so no one was shy about talking about that being
[22:30.400 -> 22:36.400] a disaster for Williams. Haas' season is on the same scale as Williams last season. And
[22:36.400 -> 22:41.800] I think our expectations for Haas hadn't quite disappeared at the beginning of this season,
[22:41.800 -> 22:46.320] Chris. So they came in with optimism and like you said, this partnership with Ferrari,
[22:46.320 -> 22:49.720] this racing legacy with Gene Haas,
[22:49.720 -> 22:52.300] and I think that's actually even ruined some of the perception
[22:52.300 -> 22:53.360] for Andretti coming in.
[22:53.360 -> 22:55.440] Because everyone looks at Andretti and goes, well,
[22:55.440 -> 22:57.640] why wouldn't that be another Haas?
[22:57.640 -> 23:00.280] Well, there's a number of reasons, Spanners.
[23:00.280 -> 23:04.120] I will give them to you in full at some point.
[23:04.120 -> 23:09.440] But the trend for Haas, just to kind of wrap things up on them really, is that they've
[23:09.440 -> 23:15.540] started the season quite well, especially over the last few years, give or take the
[23:15.540 -> 23:18.040] development freeze era that they had.
[23:18.040 -> 23:21.640] Okay, well 2021 they got zero points in the season, so I mean...
[23:21.640 -> 23:22.640] Yeah, yeah, exactly.
[23:22.640 -> 23:24.240] So just ignore that one.
[23:24.240 -> 23:25.280] So apart from the seasons where they didn't score any points, so you want me to ignore the season before that where mean. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So just ignore that one. So apart from the seasons
[23:25.280 -> 23:26.680] where they didn't score any points.
[23:26.680 -> 23:28.360] So you want me to ignore the season before that
[23:28.360 -> 23:29.640] where they only got three points.
[23:29.640 -> 23:31.920] Stop being deliberately facetious, okay?
[23:31.920 -> 23:35.280] In the early stages
[23:35.280 -> 23:37.720] and then in the last couple of years as well,
[23:37.720 -> 23:40.460] they've come out the blocks quite well.
[23:40.460 -> 23:42.000] But it's the development
[23:42.000 -> 23:44.400] that they really do struggle with.
[23:44.400 -> 23:47.320] And if you look, they only got overtaken by AlphaTauri
[23:47.320 -> 23:49.760] in the last sort of couple of races of the season
[23:49.760 -> 23:52.640] when they had a big development spurt.
[23:52.640 -> 23:57.160] So had a couple of things gone a different way,
[23:57.160 -> 23:58.880] we could well be having this conversation
[23:58.880 -> 24:01.280] about AlphaTauri, for example.
[24:01.280 -> 24:04.020] So I would expect next season,
[24:04.020 -> 24:09.180] that trend to continue a little bit, unless're able to a so out there the tire
[24:10.260 -> 24:12.260] wear issues be
[24:12.980 -> 24:15.260] provide good consistent and
[24:16.860 -> 24:19.540] Actually working upgrades to the car I
[24:20.740 -> 24:26.440] Want to know really how long has Gunther Steiner got at Haas?
[24:26.440 -> 24:31.180] Because I think you could arguably say now that they've got an experience and a good
[24:31.180 -> 24:32.180] driver partnership.
[24:32.180 -> 24:37.200] If you give them a good car, they'd be able to score points on the regular, maybe even
[24:37.200 -> 24:40.860] give them a high-performing car, fight for points.
[24:40.860 -> 24:48.880] But Gunther Steiner, I know people love him as this sweary character because of Drive to Survive. But from what
[24:48.880 -> 24:52.600] I've seen, he's poor at man management, the team has gone
[24:52.600 -> 24:56.320] backwards. Him and Gene Haas seem to have this relationship
[24:56.360 -> 25:00.680] that, I don't know, is more so driving the team into the
[25:00.680 -> 25:08.600] grounds and backwards rather than forwards. From a performance perspective, from a business perspective,
[25:08.600 -> 25:11.600] maybe their books are okay and they're making loads of profit.
[25:11.600 -> 25:13.900] But I think from a performance perspective,
[25:13.900 -> 25:16.600] I don't think Haas are going to get any better under Gunther Steiner.
[25:16.600 -> 25:19.800] And how long is he going to last there for?
[25:19.800 -> 25:22.300] I think this is actually a really interesting conversation to have
[25:22.300 -> 25:29.320] because I myself, back between different opinions on this, I can't decide whether Gunter Steiner is fantastic
[25:29.320 -> 25:33.920] or whether he's kind of time to go because he does what Haas would need, which is bring
[25:33.920 -> 25:38.320] people to support the team. People like Gunter and it makes people want to pay attention
[25:38.320 -> 25:45.680] to Haas, which ordinarily is, like we've all been saying, a bottom of the table team who no one would really
[25:45.680 -> 25:54.160] ordinarily pay attention to. And his management style, on a good day, is fantastic. He motivates
[25:54.160 -> 25:59.360] the drivers and he supports them. However, we have also seen the bad side of Gunter,
[25:59.360 -> 26:04.240] where he lets good drivers slip through the cracks by not supporting them properly. And
[26:04.240 -> 26:09.020] it's exactly what happened with Schumacher, where he completely lost faith in himself, completely
[26:09.020 -> 26:14.200] lost his sense of his own ability, and he completely just dropped off the edge at the
[26:14.200 -> 26:20.960] end of his season. So I personally don't know whether I like him or dislike him, but on
[26:20.960 -> 26:25.400] a good day, I do think Gunter Steiner is one of the best team principals in the
[26:25.400 -> 26:26.400] sport.
[26:26.400 -> 26:27.400] That's interesting.
[26:27.400 -> 26:30.880] I'm just going to guess that Scott doesn't agree with that, that sentiment overall.
[26:30.880 -> 26:35.160] But from a marketing point of view, he's brought way more attention to Haas than they ordinarily
[26:35.160 -> 26:36.200] would have had.
[26:36.200 -> 26:42.560] And if sponsorship is a big concern, he's certainly been good in that respect.
[26:42.560 -> 26:45.760] So yeah, he just needs to come in, you know, drop some F-bombs,
[26:46.400 -> 26:51.600] throw some stuff around, and the sponsors are probably happy, because that has proved a massive
[26:51.600 -> 26:58.480] hit with fans. But when I was looking at the drivers, it's really hard to pick those two apart
[26:58.480 -> 27:07.240] because they've had so little to work with. And when a team is struggling this much, it's so hard to put anything at
[27:07.240 -> 27:11.400] the feet of the drivers. So really all you can do is point to some results and go, well
[27:11.400 -> 27:18.360] actually Hulkenberg has come in and I thought Magnussen might gap him a little bit but that
[27:18.360 -> 27:22.440] hasn't happened. If anything, Hulkenberg's looked like the stronger qualifier and he's
[27:22.440 -> 27:25.360] got the most results. Obviously that Australia result
[27:25.360 -> 27:31.120] is quite a heavy points thing. I think so that gave them something like that's half their total
[27:31.120 -> 27:34.560] points for the season. But it's really hard to pick between them when you go through the race
[27:34.560 -> 27:38.960] performances. They're usually within a couple of places of each other and I think they've kind of
[27:38.960 -> 27:44.640] been ahead of each other or had bad luck or had DNFs as much as the other. There's not a lot you
[27:44.640 -> 27:46.160] can point to Antonia to go right this driver's head as much as the other. There's not a lot you can point to, Antonia, to go,
[27:46.160 -> 27:48.480] right, this driver's head and shoulders above the other.
[27:48.480 -> 27:53.200] Yeah, I think they are both in their own ways drivers with a lot of merit.
[27:53.200 -> 27:57.120] And like I've said, both with quite a lot of experience in an F1 car
[27:57.120 -> 28:03.600] and generally speaking, driving in all sorts of racing competitive formats.
[28:03.600 -> 28:06.400] I mean, Magnussen's got a fair amount of experience
[28:06.400 -> 28:12.080] in rally cars. He's generally very, very good in the more challenging conditions that separate good
[28:12.080 -> 28:16.720] drivers from great drivers. I've spoken about this before. Magnussen in the wet is actually
[28:16.720 -> 28:21.600] pretty reliable, pretty good driver aside from, I can't remember which race he had a stinker,
[28:21.600 -> 28:27.080] but both drivers are genuinely very good drivers. And that's
[28:27.080 -> 28:31.560] why I think Haas do have a lot of potential to do very well if they have the car there,
[28:31.560 -> 28:38.680] if they sort out their issues with the coherability of the team with the tyre degradation. I mean,
[28:38.680 -> 28:43.580] I don't think coherability is a word, but I'm going to pretend it is. Okay. But I think
[28:43.580 -> 28:45.920] there is so much potential there and both drivers
[28:45.920 -> 28:51.200] they are so genuinely in it you know they've got their own families going on they don't need to be
[28:51.840 -> 28:56.080] in F1 right now but they're there because they believe in the team so there must be something
[28:56.080 -> 29:07.180] we're missing with Haas truly because to bring two dudes who are what mid 40s early 40s I'm such a bad judge of age they're like not the
[29:07.180 -> 29:11.420] youngest on the grid but to bring them away from their families into the sport
[29:11.420 -> 29:15.120] there must be something that they see in Haas where they think we could have a
[29:15.120 -> 29:19.860] great career here. I think they're both in their mid 30s though I'm not gonna
[29:19.860 -> 29:25.000] look it up right now. Oh guys I'm so sorry. That's fine but But they're both, they're both dads. They're both
[29:25.000 -> 29:30.040] dads and they're both picking up a paycheck at the end of the day. So like either of them,
[29:30.040 -> 29:33.960] both of them, they probably know at this point in their careers, they're not particularly
[29:33.960 -> 29:40.000] looking up the grid. This is probably both their last contracts in Formula One. So Magnussen
[29:40.000 -> 29:44.360] is just keeps multiplying. He's like a rabbit. I think he's got eight children now. And I
[29:44.360 -> 29:50.280] think Hulkenberg's a dad as well. So, you know, they're in there with a reasonable paycheck.
[29:50.280 -> 29:56.920] So I looked up the wages and Hulkenberg's on two million a year. So if you look at that,
[29:56.920 -> 30:02.680] that's like 38 grand a week. That's comparable to like a Premier League centre back or something
[30:02.680 -> 30:05.520] like that. Do you know what I mean, he's picking up like a top sporting salary
[30:05.800 -> 30:10.100] It's not really affecting his day whether or not the highest finish
[30:10.480 -> 30:14.200] 16th or 17th or even 18th because he's gonna go home with the same paycheck
[30:14.280 -> 30:22.120] No one expects anything of them and neither of them are being judged particularly harshly against their teammate any top
[30:22.680 -> 30:26.560] F1 driver in the top teams if you put them against Hulkenberg or
[30:26.560 -> 30:30.960] Magnussen, we would say you have to beat that driver or your reputation is going to take a big
[30:30.960 -> 30:36.080] hit. So they're both in pretty good positions. Spanners, I will disagree with that ever so
[30:36.080 -> 30:40.960] slightly. Even though Hulkenberg and Magnussen, between the two of them, have one podium finish
[30:40.960 -> 30:45.000] to their names, there will be, I'm sure, and I'm sure this will
[30:45.000 -> 30:50.020] be true for every team, there will be some sort of performance clause in there where
[30:50.020 -> 30:55.080] if we finish in this position in the Constructors' Championship, everyone gets a bonus. If you
[30:55.080 -> 31:02.340] score a podium, you know, you will get this reward for it as well. So there is financial
[31:02.340 -> 31:05.000] impetus for them to push forward.
[31:06.000 -> 31:07.000] I completely agree.
[31:07.560 -> 31:12.080] And I think you might have just kind of struck gold on what Haas's problem is.
[31:12.520 -> 31:18.440] Is the issue that whilst these drivers are experienced, they actually have no drive or
[31:18.440 -> 31:22.480] reason to be putting it all out there on the track each weekend.
[31:22.920 -> 31:26.800] They don't need to be pushing for these crazy,
[31:26.800 -> 31:31.400] or for them at least, seventh positions every weekend because it makes barely any difference
[31:31.400 -> 31:35.980] to them. It doesn't impact their career particularly, they don't really mind if they don't have
[31:35.980 -> 31:42.760] a seat next season. Is the issue actually that the Haas drivers themselves aren't necessarily
[31:42.760 -> 31:46.320] putting everything out there in the same way that, for example,
[31:46.320 -> 31:52.640] Oscar Piastri might be in that McLaren. I think it's hard for them personally to get motivated
[31:52.640 -> 31:58.560] when they know that they're in a car that is just going to always go backwards in the race.
[31:59.200 -> 32:09.480] Like it's probably fun for them seeing how far up the grid they can get in qualifying, because Magnussen had a couple of Q3s, so did Hulkenberg, and for them coming to
[32:09.480 -> 32:13.980] the race time, it's like, oh, well, let's just see how many positions we're going
[32:13.980 -> 32:18.240] to lose today. And then there's a possibility they may be fighting an
[32:18.240 -> 32:24.680] AlphaTauri or an Alpha Romeo for no points, because points is all that
[32:24.680 -> 32:26.400] matters in the championship because
[32:26.400 -> 32:33.040] obviously that goes to the prize fund in the end. But I think there's a lack of
[32:34.320 -> 32:42.000] a lack of drive probably from that perspective because they need other drivers
[32:42.000 -> 32:46.240] to have something go wrong for them to finish in the points.
[32:46.880 -> 32:51.840] Yeah, well, I'd hate to be negative and do give us feedback at missapecs.net
[32:51.840 -> 32:55.920] if you want to make the case for Haas and we might address that during the course of the
[32:56.640 -> 33:01.840] off-season. But at the moment you have to say, you're bottom of the table, if you're gonna get
[33:01.840 -> 33:05.840] reviewed poorly and don't want that then you have to move
[33:05.840 -> 33:11.240] up one or two places. So what constitutes success for Haas? Looking forward, really
[33:11.240 -> 33:15.420] you're looking above, you're looking at Williams who look like they're on the up, you're looking
[33:15.420 -> 33:21.760] at Alpha Tauri who are going to be Red Bull like, can't believe it's not Red Bull. So
[33:21.760 -> 33:26.720] really all they're fighting for next season is for ninth place against
[33:26.720 -> 33:32.680] Sauber and they might not get that. So they are in a titanic battle for ninth in next
[33:32.680 -> 33:33.680] season.
[33:33.680 -> 33:39.200] Do you know what, just final thought on this. We're in a position with Formula One now where
[33:39.200 -> 33:45.080] we don't have clear back market teams in the same way we used to have with like Caterham and Mercier
[33:45.080 -> 33:50.080] and HRT, right? Where it was once every four years, they might score a point.
[33:50.080 -> 33:52.080] And it was a miracle. Yeah.
[33:52.080 -> 33:57.040] Exactly. Exactly. Right. Yeah. It took remarkable circumstances. We're in an era of Formula
[33:57.040 -> 34:08.000] One now where someone has to finish 10th. And it's maybe not as indicative, you know, towards the team performance as it maybe used to be.
[34:08.000 -> 34:12.000] Someone has to finish in that 10th position, and you said yourself Spanis,
[34:12.000 -> 34:16.000] they scored more points than Williams did last year when they finished 10th in the championship,
[34:16.000 -> 34:19.000] and you know, they were able to bump up themselves a few places on the grid next year.
[34:19.000 -> 34:25.200] So I think that there is still hope and potential within that team.
[34:25.200 -> 34:31.520] So I guess to summarise all of our thoughts on the HASS debacle that has been unfolding
[34:31.520 -> 34:36.920] very slowly and very boringly over the last few seasons, we want you to do well.
[34:36.920 -> 34:39.840] Please just try and be a bit more interesting and we will root for you.
[34:39.840 -> 34:49.440] We really will. Well you cannot accuse the next team we're talking about of not being interesting. It
[34:49.440 -> 34:56.080] has been a massive return to relevance right at the very top for the team that was for a long time
[34:56.080 -> 35:07.440] Force India and then Racing Point and now Aston Martin started the season as the clear second best car, fell down the grid with their package,
[35:07.440 -> 35:13.840] went the wrong way on many upgrades and had a lopsided garage performance-wise. So,
[35:14.400 -> 35:20.880] Aston Martin. Is there such thing as an Aston Martin fan? Are there people cladding themselves
[35:20.880 -> 35:28.480] in green on an F1 weekend? You, Christopher? Yes, yeah. Oh, well, I don't clad myself in green because I don't clad myself in any
[35:28.480 -> 35:34.560] particular colour for a Grand Prix weekend, but I do like seeing Aston Martin do well. I really
[35:34.560 -> 35:41.280] did enjoy the resurgence of that team that was had at the start of this year in particular. I think a
[35:41.280 -> 35:45.440] lot of people still like that team from the Force India Racing point days, because they were
[35:45.440 -> 35:48.560] the plucky underdogs. They were the pound for pound best team in
[35:48.560 -> 35:55.360] Formula One. And they are moving towards a stage of having
[35:55.360 -> 35:58.520] resources that can match some of the top teams, right with all
[35:58.520 -> 36:00.520] the all the infrastructure that's being built and the
[36:00.520 -> 36:03.360] investment that's being put into the team. And when they came out
[36:03.360 -> 36:11.520] the blocks, at the start of this year with the second best car and challenging Mercedes and challenging Ferrari
[36:11.520 -> 36:16.080] and occasionally giving Red Bull something to think about as well. The way in which they did
[36:16.080 -> 36:26.160] it as well, I think a lot of people liked it to see Fernando Alonso working as hard as he did in Bahrain to make passes because he didn't just...
[36:27.520 -> 36:31.600] we talked about it in Formula One now, overtaking is just wait, press button,
[36:31.600 -> 36:34.320] free overtake, right? That's not what Fernando did in Bahrain.
[36:34.320 -> 36:36.000] No, he did a great one, didn't he?
[36:36.000 -> 36:40.560] He tried absolutely everything. He was doing classic up and unders, changing lines,
[36:40.560 -> 36:45.080] proper actual race craft, and he displayed that again in Brazil as well. These are like
[36:45.080 -> 36:50.160] standout moments from the season, right? And these are the ones that people remember. And
[36:50.160 -> 36:57.640] I think that's given a lot of good attention to the team. What has been made abundantly
[36:57.640 -> 37:08.320] clear though this season is that they need to focus more on the mid-season development because they were curtailed a
[37:08.320 -> 37:13.760] little bit but even then some upgrades they did put on didn't quite work. How were they curtailed, Chris?
[37:14.800 -> 37:20.720] With a technical directive. Did that affect them, do you think? I think potentially it might
[37:20.720 -> 37:25.200] have done. Okay, we'll dig into that in a bit. There's like a timing issue
[37:25.200 -> 37:28.800] there that you have to look at. The lawyers have just pressed the pause button on that one but
[37:28.800 -> 37:35.120] we'll circle back around to it. Scott. I am not a Aston Martin fan per se but I think it was nice
[37:35.120 -> 37:41.280] to see a team while Red Bull were so far ahead of everyone it was nice to see another team spoil
[37:41.280 -> 37:45.000] that apple cart or is it join the apple cart? I can't remember which
[37:45.000 -> 37:46.000] what is the correct saying.
[37:46.000 -> 37:47.000] Dance with the apple cart.
[37:47.000 -> 37:53.120] They, is that the one? I'm not entirely sure, but see another team join the front of the
[37:53.120 -> 37:58.280] pack because for so long we've seen it be Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, and Aston Martin,
[37:58.280 -> 38:05.000] as you said, formerly Force India with Fernando Alonso, of course, the man who's in his 40s,
[38:05.040 -> 38:08.560] shouldn't really be racing an F1, a lot of people believe,
[38:08.560 -> 38:11.520] but he's obviously still tip top shape,
[38:11.520 -> 38:13.960] being able to take it to the young guns,
[38:13.960 -> 38:18.000] which was great to see, kind of like a blast from the past.
[38:18.000 -> 38:19.360] I think it's always great to see,
[38:19.360 -> 38:21.520] not necessarily an underdog, but someone else,
[38:21.520 -> 38:29.120] another team in any sport, join the front. And we're not seeing the same old names fight out for
[38:29.180 -> 38:33.080] podiums week in week out. But yeah, unfortunately, it wasn't
[38:33.120 -> 38:37.820] very long lived because of that lack of or the lack of
[38:37.820 -> 38:40.100] performance throughout the middle of the season while the
[38:40.100 -> 38:46.800] other teams made gains. And I still think they have something to, I don't think they're
[38:46.800 -> 38:51.520] going to go away next year or in the coming years. They've definitely got the back in.
[38:51.520 -> 38:58.080] Even if I think Stroll one day leaves, I think that's, Aston Martin is a synonymous name
[38:58.080 -> 39:08.320] in motorsport and just the car industry as a whole. I think it will be very popular to any potential stakeholder.
[39:08.960 -> 39:09.520] Ranking!
[39:09.520 -> 39:16.240] Absolutely. There is a real warmth to Aston Martin just in their presence in F1, obviously being such
[39:16.240 -> 39:27.180] an established, not only car manufacturer, but they've been as a car itself in F1 a long time and it's so nice to see them having a relevance and
[39:27.180 -> 39:31.360] a real presence in the sport.
[39:31.360 -> 39:37.960] I think having Fernando Alonso, yes, he absolutely has his sceptics and his people from back
[39:37.960 -> 39:42.660] in the day who perhaps aren't his biggest fans, but I think he's fantastic and exactly
[39:42.660 -> 39:48.320] like you said, he's bringing the fight to the young guns. He absolutely deserves his place in that car, he's not
[39:48.320 -> 39:53.740] just there as a name, he's not just there as the old F1 world champion who they
[39:53.740 -> 39:59.040] brought back to be the old faithful, he's fantastic. He's really still got that
[39:59.040 -> 40:03.840] spark in him and he really genuinely wants to be there and you can tell when
[40:03.840 -> 40:06.000] you're watching and it's so,
[40:06.000 -> 40:11.280] so nice that they kind of started to bring a bit of a battle to the front of the grid that
[40:11.840 -> 40:16.800] at that time, at the start of the season, we hadn't seen in so long against Red Bull.
[40:17.440 -> 40:20.880] I think it is a shame that they started to slip down the order a little bit. Yeah,
[40:20.880 -> 40:28.080] their performance upgrades just weren't there, they weren't developing the car at the same rate and it's kind of what you see with a lot of teams. They come in really strong
[40:28.080 -> 40:34.000] and they slip down the order but it's really promising and I really do sincerely hope that
[40:34.000 -> 40:39.760] in next season and the coming seasons we do still see them up and fighting because having them on
[40:39.760 -> 40:45.760] the podium was fantastic. It's all really positive so far, which means I've got to be the mean
[40:45.760 -> 40:48.640] one. Hang on, let's get Scott in first and then we'll flip the script.
[40:48.640 -> 40:53.960] Well, I just want to say, yeah, in all the positiveness of Fernando Alonso and the team
[40:53.960 -> 40:59.720] kind of joining the front of the pack, it would have been so, so much better if they
[40:59.720 -> 41:06.320] actually had a proper second driver, not in the form of Lance Stroll. Because Fernando Alonso this year,
[41:07.120 -> 41:14.720] even after that car started to struggle with performance, he only failed to make it into two,
[41:14.720 -> 41:23.200] is it two or three Q3s all year. And Lance Stroll, well he was putting it in the barrier, he was
[41:22.880 -> 41:27.800] stroll. Well, he was getting, he was putting it in the barrier. He was not making it out of Q1. Well, Fernando Alonso was just
[41:27.800 -> 41:32.720] showing exactly what a proper driver with a half decent car,
[41:32.720 -> 41:36.120] even towards the end of the year, can do. And I'm just
[41:36.120 -> 41:39.320] looking at the finishing table. Now they finished 22 points
[41:39.320 -> 41:44.720] behind McLaren. If they had a second driver, putting it on the
[41:44.720 -> 41:47.440] podium, when they had that high performing
[41:47.440 -> 41:51.800] car at the start of the season, they definitely would have finished a lot higher and we'd
[41:51.800 -> 41:55.680] be speaking even, we'd be speaking very positively about Aston Martin.
[41:55.680 -> 41:59.600] I'm going to do what I've kind of become a bit infamous for and just absolutely rip this
[41:59.600 -> 42:09.200] point to shreds. So, um, go on mute guys if you don't want to hear this. I firmly believe that he's had his
[42:09.200 -> 42:15.440] time now Lance Stroll. I do not want to hear any more comments about but he's up against a two-time
[42:15.440 -> 42:22.080] world champion who's been in F1 for a really long time. I don't care. Nobody cares. That's the issue.
[42:22.080 -> 42:26.900] There are so many fans of Aston Martin and there could be so many...
[42:26.900 -> 42:28.260] Put your hands down, Scott.
[42:28.260 -> 42:29.020] I'm talking.
[42:29.480 -> 42:35.000] I just think they could have so much more support if they had a sparky pair.
[42:35.000 -> 42:38.600] Because unfortunately, because Lance has had his time, there
[42:38.600 -> 42:39.920] isn't that support behind him.
[42:39.920 -> 42:43.840] There are very, very few people other than the occasional Canadian who are
[42:43.840 -> 42:50.080] excited to watch Lance Stroll race because he doesn't have that energy, that pure racing spark to
[42:50.080 -> 42:52.840] him that, for example, Fernando Alonso has.
[42:52.840 -> 42:57.280] And I know you can't compare Felipe Drogovic, for example, if he came in Aston Martin's
[42:57.280 -> 43:01.400] development driver, you wouldn't be able to compare him fairly to Fernando Alonso.
[43:01.400 -> 43:09.440] He'd need some time, but gosh, wouldn't it be exciting to have a young driver in that seat, a seat like we've said, that has potential. So I will
[43:09.440 -> 43:15.720] not hear of, oh, but it's been so hard for Lance up against Fernando Alonso. He's this
[43:15.720 -> 43:21.300] racing great. But so Lance should be by now. He's had season after season to prove himself
[43:21.300 -> 43:27.800] and he has not. And I think we all know the reason that he's in that car and it is not because of his ability.
[43:27.800 -> 43:28.800] Tranquilo, tranquilo.
[43:28.800 -> 43:35.720] Antonio, I totally agree with you. I wasn't saying Lance Stroll is a good driver. I was
[43:35.720 -> 43:40.280] saying if they had a decent second driver, they would have been much better. I totally
[43:40.280 -> 43:45.240] agree. He's had his time. He's only still in F1 because of daddy's stroll.
[43:45.240 -> 43:48.280] So I agree with you there, we're on the same page.
[43:48.280 -> 43:49.480] Then nod.
[43:49.480 -> 43:51.760] Antonio, remember what we talked about before the show
[43:51.760 -> 43:53.800] about how easily irked you might be?
[43:54.940 -> 43:58.400] I'm gonna get it in the neck after the show for that one.
[43:58.400 -> 44:03.400] Just to add some statistics to this argument
[44:03.580 -> 44:06.880] is that Fernando Alonso scored three quarters of Aston Martin's
[44:06.880 -> 44:14.380] points total for the season. That says everything in and of itself. In terms of the relative
[44:14.380 -> 44:20.760] performance throughout the season of the car, if you'd have told that team last year that
[44:20.760 -> 44:24.140] we're going to finish 10th in this race and we're going to consider that a bad result,
[44:24.140 -> 44:29.760] they would have grabbed that with both hands because it's been such a leap forward. And
[44:29.760 -> 44:35.660] when the car did fall away, that's when we did see some odd performances between the
[44:35.660 -> 44:41.760] drivers start to creep in because oddly enough, Lance Stroll was kind of at his best when
[44:41.760 -> 44:45.800] he just broken his hands and ankles or whatever he broke
[44:45.800 -> 44:52.520] a week before the season started. Oddly enough, that was his best time. And not just actually
[44:52.520 -> 45:00.120] in terms of the speed, his racecraft was better then as well, I'd argue. The move he put on
[45:00.120 -> 45:10.160] science on the first lap in Jeddah still actually sticks in my mind as genuinely one of the better moves of the season. But that's a very rare moment for Lance, it happens once a season
[45:10.160 -> 45:14.880] maybe and he had that, he got it in quite early. And then you would see in the middle
[45:14.880 -> 45:18.240] of the season when the car wasn't performing so well, sometimes Lance would be on Alonso's
[45:18.240 -> 45:23.200] shoulders and other times he would be stuffing it in the wall and be miles off the pace.
[45:23.200 -> 45:26.640] And what is very clear to the team now,
[45:26.640 -> 45:33.040] what should be very clear, whether they actually will act on this, is that they need a different
[45:33.040 -> 45:38.960] second driver in that car to fully realize the potential of that team and of the car that they
[45:38.960 -> 45:42.640] have. Because with a better second driver, they would have finished higher up in the
[45:42.640 -> 45:47.960] Constructors' Championship. I don't think you can easily argue that point.
[45:47.960 -> 45:52.200] I think you'd really struggle to argue that point, given how close they were with McLaren.
[45:52.200 -> 45:59.920] Yes, McLaren had a very difficult start to the season, but it's just, I think it's an
[45:59.920 -> 46:05.520] inherent fact that they would have finished, potentially even in the top three of the constructs.
[46:05.520 -> 46:10.280] No, they could have finished second. If Lance Stroll had matched the points of Fernando
[46:10.280 -> 46:11.760] Alonso, they would have finished second.
[46:11.760 -> 46:16.000] But he's got to finish behind him, even if he's matching him, he'll finish behind him.
[46:16.000 -> 46:22.040] You know what, Chris? It's not preposterous that Lance Stroll might beat his teammate
[46:22.040 -> 46:26.040] from time to time. He's so so far, he's so far off.
[46:26.040 -> 46:27.720] Yeah, he is, but he's so far off.
[46:27.720 -> 46:29.520] He got that poll that one time, remember that.
[46:29.520 -> 46:30.480] And this is what happens.
[46:30.480 -> 46:33.720] So he gets a few good results and like every now and then
[46:33.720 -> 46:37.200] when, you know, almost by statistical chance,
[46:37.200 -> 46:41.680] a result will pop up, but like Logan Sargent and Latifi
[46:41.680 -> 46:43.480] and all these other pay drivers,
[46:43.480 -> 46:46.440] the second they get a somewhat decent
[46:46.440 -> 46:51.760] result, like Sergeant was getting praise for that point when he finished behind Albon.
[46:51.760 -> 46:55.960] So basically everyone was celebrating the least far away from his teammate he'd been
[46:55.960 -> 47:00.600] all season. And the bar for that success is so much lower that that was treated like a
[47:00.600 -> 47:06.160] victory. The bar for Stroll's success isn't consistently doing well. He's
[47:06.160 -> 47:11.820] never ever judged on consistently doing well. He's judged by that one qualifying or a sprint
[47:11.820 -> 47:17.040] race where the result is okay. But it hasn't been spectacular. So you could point to earlier
[47:17.040 -> 47:21.360] in his career and say, well, he nicked a podium or two. That kind of thing hasn't been happening,
[47:21.360 -> 47:25.160] has it? That's a podium car this season and he hasn't been anywhere near it.
[47:25.160 -> 47:30.320] So let's be completely honest, Lance Stroll is nowhere near a top level driver.
[47:30.320 -> 47:31.460] He's an out and out pay driver.
[47:31.460 -> 47:36.280] So when you talk about his performance, it is purely in the context of his dad literally
[47:36.280 -> 47:38.400] bought him an F1 team.
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[49:44.120 -> 49:49.120] Chris made a great point that he performed best at the start of the year after his injury.
[49:49.120 -> 49:53.480] And I think if you look at his performances throughout the year, his best performances
[49:53.480 -> 49:57.640] have been when he's not under pressure. When he's not under pressure and he has very low
[49:57.640 -> 50:02.400] expectations, he performs best. When the pressure is getting to him, when there was through
[50:02.400 -> 50:07.500] the middle of the year when he was crashing and there was a lot of media pressure on top of him,
[50:07.500 -> 50:10.740] a lot of comparisons, rightly so, between him and Alonzo.
[50:10.740 -> 50:14.260] He was losing it, losing his head.
[50:14.260 -> 50:16.060] He was being very horrible.
[50:16.060 -> 50:19.740] He's aggressive, being aggressive in interviews,
[50:19.740 -> 50:22.420] being very short with interviewers,
[50:22.420 -> 50:28.200] obviously the incident with the tantrum in the in the garage with his coach, performance
[50:28.200 -> 50:32.360] coach, all of these happen because the pressure is building
[50:32.360 -> 50:35.900] up on top of him. And then what we saw, in my opinion, was a
[50:35.900 -> 50:39.260] concerted effort at the end of the towards the end of the
[50:39.260 -> 50:43.060] season to completely sway the public's opinion of him. There
[50:43.060 -> 50:47.600] was a PR drive in regards to, or PR tactic,
[50:47.600 -> 50:51.280] to try and change the perception of Lance Stroll.
[50:51.280 -> 50:53.920] Because he started getting all the upgrades
[50:53.920 -> 50:56.220] before Fernando Alonso, which arguably,
[50:56.220 -> 50:59.060] when your dad owns a team, is gonna happen.
[50:59.060 -> 51:02.080] He was still getting outperformed by Alonso,
[51:02.080 -> 51:04.280] but then Alonso conveniently had to retire
[51:04.280 -> 51:10.740] a few races in a row because of engine and floor issues and he ended up sneaking
[51:10.740 -> 51:15.060] into the points because of some DNFs and because of some disqualifications and
[51:15.060 -> 51:18.900] stuff and then all of a sudden everyone's like look at this PR drive
[51:18.900 -> 51:24.060] Lance Stroll's now scored in the points it's not how he scored those points but
[51:24.060 -> 51:26.320] throughout the whole season, and the same will
[51:26.320 -> 51:32.640] be next year as well, if he is put under any sort of pressure, he will fold. And some guys just have
[51:32.640 -> 51:36.640] it or they don't. Yeah, you're right about that PR campaign. There was a concerted push to kind of
[51:36.640 -> 51:42.640] let's save the tenability and the plausibility of Lance Stroll still being a Formula One driver.
[51:42.640 -> 51:46.360] So he crashed at Singapore and poor Mike Crack
[51:46.360 -> 51:49.200] had to get wheeled out to say,
[51:49.200 -> 51:50.760] well that crash into the barrier,
[51:50.760 -> 51:53.400] that just shows, that shows how committed he is,
[51:53.400 -> 51:54.840] that shows how great he is.
[51:54.840 -> 51:57.020] And yeah, so the PR around Lance Stroll is insane.
[51:57.020 -> 51:58.920] But what would you expect from, you know,
[51:58.920 -> 52:02.160] the son of the team owner, Antonia?
[52:03.440 -> 52:05.440] Wha, wha, the drivers are under pressure. Oh,
[52:05.440 -> 52:11.920] does he not do very well under pressure? You're one of 20 in the world. Get used to it. You're
[52:11.920 -> 52:19.680] one of 20 in the whole world who get to drive these cars at this level. Yeah, you're under
[52:19.680 -> 52:24.640] pressure. Get used to it and perform. He's been in the sport long enough now. I will not hear of,
[52:24.640 -> 52:28.400] oh, well, maybe we just need to put less pressure on him. He's not seven.
[52:28.400 -> 52:30.800] Antonio will not have, will have no truck with it.
[52:30.800 -> 52:36.080] He's not a 15 year old about to sit his GCSEs, but he's got really pushy parents.
[52:36.080 -> 52:39.960] He's a fully grown man in an incredibly demanding environment.
[52:39.960 -> 52:45.160] So if the issue is that he's cracking under pressure, find a driver who doesn't.
[52:45.160 -> 52:51.920] Chris, if we get that invite to Aston Martin Hospitality, I'm going to let you be my plus
[52:51.920 -> 52:53.760] one instead of Antonia.
[52:53.760 -> 52:56.200] I think that's just, it's just safer that way.
[52:56.200 -> 52:57.200] Okay.
[52:57.200 -> 52:58.200] Then, yeah.
[52:58.200 -> 53:01.320] But I will say for my career, I really respect Lance Stroll as a driver.
[53:01.320 -> 53:04.200] I think he's had a great career leading up to this.
[53:04.200 -> 53:06.720] No one ever talks about his charity work.
[53:06.720 -> 53:09.120] You know, why are we focusing on that, you know?
[53:09.120 -> 53:10.120] Chris?
[53:10.120 -> 53:17.520] Well, just to twist the knife a little bit more, I can't wait for us to do that 2023
[53:17.520 -> 53:27.360] without Red Bull look that we talked about, because I think that highlights even more how far off
[53:27.360 -> 53:32.720] Fernando that Lance Stroll actually is. Yeah, no, no, it's definitely worse than it ended up
[53:32.720 -> 53:38.560] looking statistically, but without Red Bull in there, there is an argument to say that one of
[53:38.560 -> 53:47.040] the championship trophies could have gone to Aston Martin. Oh, oh, uh, well, I don't want to spoil it.
[53:47.040 -> 53:48.040] Okay.
[53:48.040 -> 53:49.040] I don't want to spoil it.
[53:49.040 -> 53:50.040] But they're up there.
[53:50.040 -> 53:51.040] They're up there.
[53:51.040 -> 53:55.920] Let's just say, even though, even in this scenario where there's no Red Bull, right,
[53:55.920 -> 54:02.280] that we're, that we've, the hypothetical that we've started, even in that, Lance still
[54:02.280 -> 54:08.560] does not pick up many podiums. Okay, so I think I've spent enough time
[54:08.560 -> 54:13.040] talking about the Lance Stroll situation. Let's talk about the car itself. From an engineering
[54:13.040 -> 54:20.320] point of view, why did they drop off so dramatically? Is there something inherent
[54:20.320 -> 54:29.480] about the way they go about their off-season development which front loads the performance to the start of the season. Because although they had some flashes towards the end of the season,
[54:29.480 -> 54:34.800] they weren't back to where they were. They didn't come back to be the clear second fastest car,
[54:34.800 -> 54:42.160] and with all the will in the world, they have been pinged for copying other car designs. So it's much,
[54:42.160 -> 54:45.200] much easier to copy a car design at the start of the
[54:45.200 -> 54:50.280] season than it is to copy one mid-season and have you copy someone's development.
[54:50.280 -> 54:54.800] That's much harder. So is there an inherent issue where they're taking
[54:54.800 -> 54:59.200] inspiration from other car designs, which I think is smart, but then that
[54:59.200 -> 55:04.880] handicaps them in their development? I think there is a more of a balance,
[55:04.880 -> 55:05.520] certainly,
[55:05.520 -> 55:06.520] what they're aiming for.
[55:06.520 -> 55:08.360] Because we have seen that team in the past,
[55:08.360 -> 55:11.400] when it was Force India and a bit more strapped for cash,
[55:11.400 -> 55:13.680] that they brought in a completely new car halfway
[55:13.680 -> 55:18.760] through the show, like a B-spec chassis,
[55:18.760 -> 55:20.960] like midway through the season.
[55:20.960 -> 55:23.320] So I don't think it's necessarily an attempt
[55:23.320 -> 55:26.280] to front load and let's take full advantage of the good car at the beginning of the season. So I don't think it's necessarily an attempt to front load and let's take full advantage
[55:26.280 -> 55:28.640] of the good car at the beginning of the season.
[55:28.640 -> 55:33.080] They want to keep a good car for the whole year if they can.
[55:33.080 -> 55:36.640] But there are external factors.
[55:36.640 -> 55:39.000] And I think they have been helped a little bit
[55:39.000 -> 55:41.640] by Mercedes and Ferrari dropping the ball.
[55:41.640 -> 55:46.640] Because let's be honest, they have. So that probably plays into the
[55:46.640 -> 55:50.480] narrative particularly at the start of the season and what especially once Mercedes was
[55:51.920 -> 55:54.880] sort of getting its act together a little bit in the second half of the season
[55:55.440 -> 56:03.040] that started to like fill up one of the slots that Aston could could fill and and the reason for the
[56:06.560 -> 56:11.480] fill. And the reason for the return of Formal getting closer to that start of season form towards the end of the year, was
[56:11.480 -> 56:14.440] that they were taking parts off the car that they had put in
[56:14.880 -> 56:18.720] throughout the year. So I think there is a bit of work to be
[56:18.720 -> 56:24.520] done there. The fact that I think this year, or sorry, 2024
[56:24.520 -> 56:31.000] will be the first full year of their new factory and production and everything,
[56:31.000 -> 56:37.840] which is quite a huge landmark for them, the fact that it opened midway through this season.
[56:37.840 -> 56:49.960] So I would expect a more consistent challenge from them next year? I think we saw a car this year come out of the blocks that was a result of some great
[56:49.960 -> 56:58.400] personnel hires by Aston Martin. There was a number of top level engineers that they
[56:58.400 -> 57:05.840] poached from Red Bull and I can't remember where else it was, who've been in F1 for quite an amount of time.
[57:05.840 -> 57:12.560] And of course, there's always a delay with the experience of those guys incorporating that onto
[57:12.560 -> 57:16.640] a car because you've got the six month gardening leave. And then of course, whenever they join,
[57:16.640 -> 57:21.120] they're then working on the next year's car and so forth. And I think we saw that and Chris is
[57:21.680 -> 57:26.640] rightfully so that we saw them fighting so
[57:26.640 -> 57:29.800] far up the grid because Ferrari and Mercedes dropped the ball
[57:29.800 -> 57:34.160] compared to Red Bull this year. And then as a development game
[57:34.200 -> 57:36.840] happened throughout the year, Mercedes and Ferrari started to
[57:36.840 -> 57:39.880] get their act together and get quicker. McLaren, of course,
[57:39.880 -> 57:44.240] included within that. And Aston Martin were before the
[57:44.680 -> 57:48.280] questionable technical directive. And Aston Martin were before the questionable technical directive,
[57:48.280 -> 57:54.580] even before that, they were starting to slip back in performance. McLaren were consistently
[57:54.580 -> 57:59.040] beating them or looking quicker than them. So were Ferrari, so were Mercedes. And then
[57:59.040 -> 58:08.240] I think the technical directive, obviously that rumor, was it the flexi wing or floor? I can't remember which one it was. Rumor has it, allegedly,
[58:08.800 -> 58:12.720] allegedly, being the key word here, is that it was predominant.
[58:12.720 -> 58:15.800] While the rumors were, oh, it's at Red Bull, it's at Red Bull,
[58:16.280 -> 58:19.360] it was allegedly directed predominantly at Aston Martin.
[58:19.800 -> 58:24.680] So that, I think, really gave them a kick in the butt or a
[58:24.680 -> 58:26.180] kick in the stomach, sorry.
[58:26.180 -> 58:30.460] And they were losing in the performance and the development game anyway.
[58:30.460 -> 58:35.820] And yeah, they maybe directed focus elsewhere for the rest of the season.
[58:35.820 -> 58:41.340] So if that is true, that there was a technical directive aimed at them, you know, they're
[58:41.340 -> 58:44.660] lucky then that it was later in the season.
[58:44.660 -> 58:48.360] Because obviously, if they weren't able to take advantage of that early on or it had
[58:48.360 -> 58:52.240] been found earlier in the season, you know, that would have taken some points
[58:52.240 -> 58:56.760] away. But it is a phenomenal leap from where they came. I think the previous
[58:56.760 -> 59:00.400] season they came seventh, which is why I was so skeptical about them being the
[59:00.400 -> 59:11.760] second biggest car and you're right, they did go into the Mercedes and Ferrari gap if you like Chris but it's not a bad tactic from a midfield team to do what they've done.
[59:11.760 -> 59:16.880] If you want to do something spectacular and something different with lesser resources or
[59:16.880 -> 59:21.840] lesser history or you've not had those years of recruitment to get up to a Mercedes level
[59:22.560 -> 59:25.680] you've got to you know put all your eggs in one particular basket.
[59:25.680 -> 59:32.920] The sponsors certainly enjoyed knowing what life is like, what the air is like on the top of the
[59:32.920 -> 59:38.200] mountain for a little while, so I don't blame them for that. The only downside is the expectation is
[59:38.200 -> 59:43.360] now so high that if they don't turn up as the second best car or best car next season, everyone's
[59:43.360 -> 59:50.240] going to be disappointed. But if they're consistently the fourth best car for example and they maintain that through the season
[59:50.240 -> 59:55.600] that would be a kind of almost better season than what they did this year. Chris? That's the thing
[59:55.600 -> 01:00:02.800] that strategy is not sustainable I think. What it has done is it's drummed up a lot of hype about
[01:00:02.800 -> 01:00:05.680] the team. Yeah. Which is a lot of people,
[01:00:11.680 -> 01:00:15.520] it is great in every way, shape or form, because they are, they were actually delivering on track, which is great for media attention, it's great for sponsors, it's great to get more interest.
[01:00:15.520 -> 01:00:19.840] Yeah, I know who Cognizant are, I don't know what they do yet, but I've heard that name a lot,
[01:00:19.840 -> 01:00:26.560] it's burned into my brain. What I know is they are not like an Aston Martin Formula One car because they
[01:00:26.560 -> 01:00:30.160] don't wear helmets. They don't wear helmets, okay, they need to change that advert. There's an advert
[01:00:30.160 -> 01:00:36.640] where cognizant say, we're not like F1 drivers, we don't wear helmets. It's like that came out
[01:00:36.640 -> 01:00:41.760] out of an ad room at 1am. It's not a good ad, change it. But I definitely know who they are.
[01:00:41.760 -> 01:00:52.480] And I'll next I'll learn what they do. I'm going to do it now in fact. Okay you do that as well. But yeah, so the point is you have to build on that right and
[01:00:52.480 -> 01:00:59.040] that requires a change of strategy, I think personally anyway. So they need to make sure
[01:00:59.040 -> 01:01:06.560] they stay there is the key thing now. Definitely, they need to concentrate on consistency next year,
[01:01:06.560 -> 01:01:11.180] but how they still had to beat Ferrari and beat Mercedes
[01:01:11.180 -> 01:01:12.600] and get within that group,
[01:01:12.600 -> 01:01:15.160] even if it was for a few races throughout the year.
[01:01:15.160 -> 01:01:17.600] I mean, how long have we been talking about
[01:01:17.600 -> 01:01:21.720] Alpine potentially challenging Ferrari and Mercedes
[01:01:21.720 -> 01:01:26.720] next year or Red Bull and launching themselves back up to where
[01:01:26.720 -> 01:01:32.680] they have been in the past under, obviously, the guise of Renault. They haven't. So Aston
[01:01:32.680 -> 01:01:38.320] Martin, even if it was for half a year, that's a massive improvement for them. And I'm sure
[01:01:38.320 -> 01:01:45.560] there'll be massive lessons learned. And yes, next year, totally agree. If they're the full fastest car consistently,
[01:01:45.560 -> 01:01:49.320] outbeating McLaren and, of course,
[01:01:49.320 -> 01:01:51.800] Alpine, who we always expect, once again, every year
[01:01:51.800 -> 01:01:55.040] to improve, if they can create an engine that doesn't blow up
[01:01:55.040 -> 01:01:56.560] every five laps.
[01:01:56.560 -> 01:01:57.240] Oh, you'll do.
[01:01:57.240 -> 01:01:59.120] That's 2014 slander, Scott.
[01:01:59.120 -> 01:02:01.400] That hasn't happened for a decade.
[01:02:01.400 -> 01:02:02.560] That hasn't been the case.
[01:02:02.560 -> 01:02:03.480] But yeah.
[01:02:03.480 -> 01:02:05.000] How many DNFs did they have this year?
[01:02:05.400 -> 01:02:05.900] Some.
[01:02:06.600 -> 01:02:07.700] I can't have quite a few.
[01:02:07.700 -> 01:02:08.800] So yeah,
[01:02:09.000 -> 01:02:10.500] good thing Matt's not on this podcast.
[01:02:11.100 -> 01:02:12.500] But he yeah,
[01:02:12.500 -> 01:02:13.000] they
[01:02:13.700 -> 01:02:15.000] they still did it.
[01:02:15.100 -> 01:02:18.700] So it's a positive from them compared to where they were last year.
[01:02:18.900 -> 01:02:19.400] Next year,
[01:02:19.400 -> 01:02:19.700] of course,
[01:02:19.700 -> 01:02:20.500] consistency,
[01:02:20.800 -> 01:02:21.900] but fair play to him.
[01:02:21.900 -> 01:02:22.900] And I'm looking forward,
[01:02:22.900 -> 01:02:24.200] even with Lance Strong on that team,
[01:02:24.200 -> 01:02:26.920] to hopefully making gains.
[01:02:26.920 -> 01:02:31.200] So I've only got one last thing really on Aston Martin, but I will tell you that if
[01:02:31.200 -> 01:02:37.520] I ever need help modernising my technology and reimagining my processes and transforming
[01:02:37.520 -> 01:02:43.200] my experiences to stay ahead in a fast changing world, then I'm going straight to Cognizant.
[01:02:43.200 -> 01:02:45.200] That is what I will do. I still
[01:02:45.200 -> 01:02:46.720] don't know what they do as a company.
[01:02:46.720 -> 01:02:49.400] It kind of sounds like Aston Martin should use their services.
[01:02:49.400 -> 01:02:54.200] Yeah, well, they're future ready AI, just like everything else on the internet at the
[01:02:54.200 -> 01:02:56.860] moment. AI will solve everything.
[01:02:56.860 -> 01:02:58.360] This is not sponsored.
[01:02:58.360 -> 01:03:02.880] It's not, but I mean, again, I'm cheap. So, you know, just send me that gift basket and
[01:03:02.880 -> 01:03:11.480] I'll be like, oh, Cognizant AI, sick sick And can Aston send us some peronies as well? I don't after what Rankin's been saying on here
[01:03:11.480 -> 01:03:13.480] No, I don't think it's gonna happen. Not for her, after an Astral Slander
[01:03:13.480 -> 01:03:15.480] What did I do? Why do I not get peronies?
[01:03:15.480 -> 01:03:20.400] I mean I could just run the podcast back if that's what you want me to do
[01:03:20.400 -> 01:03:25.280] I've got a replay button here, but we will sack Rankin for money as well. So we'll just
[01:03:25.280 -> 01:03:31.440] put that out there. We're completely... Right, patrons in the Slack group, you better be jumping
[01:03:31.440 -> 01:03:34.480] to... I can't see what you're saying right now because I've been logged out, but you better be
[01:03:34.480 -> 01:03:38.560] jumping to my honour right now. All right. Not even that much money, by the way. Spanners,
[01:03:38.560 -> 01:03:41.920] because me and Chris were actually talking about this. We were saying, we're just going to
[01:03:41.920 -> 01:03:51.120] completely take over your show without you, and we'll do it better. So you'll get overthrown. If you're listening, babe, we're
[01:03:51.120 -> 01:03:56.400] here. I was not part of this. You're not young anymore, Scott. Very wise, Scott. Right. You
[01:03:56.400 -> 01:04:00.440] were there. You were complicit. That's it, Chris. Now I'm on Spanners' side. Spanners.
[01:04:00.440 -> 01:04:06.520] Let's go. Internal mistake war. Last point. And this isn't going to be popular. I am an Antonio and Antonio
[01:04:06.520 -> 01:04:07.480] I am a
[01:04:07.480 -> 01:04:09.480] Fernando Alonso
[01:04:09.480 -> 01:04:14.120] Supporter generally I get wound up by him. I think I look at
[01:04:14.680 -> 01:04:18.520] Things he does things he says and I go why am I a fan of Fernando Alonso?
[01:04:18.520 -> 01:04:25.440] But I think I am but everyone has been focusing on saying look he's 48 and he's still really, really good.
[01:04:25.960 -> 01:04:34.520] There is one inescapable truth, which is that he was up against Ocon last season and you would expect to be faster than Ocon.
[01:04:34.520 -> 01:04:35.520] Glad Matt's not here.
[01:04:36.000 -> 01:04:38.520] But this season he's up against Lance Stroll.
[01:04:39.000 -> 01:04:44.560] We don't actually know how good Fernando Alonso is up against a top driver.
[01:04:46.160 -> 01:04:52.960] So there could have been even more potential in that car. Alonso has not been tested up against a Hamilton or a Verstappen
[01:04:52.960 -> 01:04:59.280] or a Kobayashi at this age. Okay? Shut up, Kobayashi! He won an IndyCar race, I think,
[01:04:59.280 -> 01:05:03.760] or a NASCAR race. He's good, he's great. So Scott, that would be my one caveat, is
[01:05:04.400 -> 01:05:05.400] he's looked really good, he's been really racy, that would be my one caveat, he's looked really good,
[01:05:05.400 -> 01:05:10.760] he's been really racy, he looked great against Perez at Interlagos, but we don't really know
[01:05:10.760 -> 01:05:15.240] if he's at that top, top, top, top, top level. Put him up against George Russell, that would
[01:05:15.240 -> 01:05:18.080] be a good test. Does he go and rinse George Russell?
[01:05:18.080 -> 01:05:24.000] Yeah, when you said against a top driver, before you said everything, I was thinking
[01:05:24.000 -> 01:05:26.960] Perez and then you said against a top driver and I
[01:05:26.960 -> 01:05:30.280] went, Oh, yeah, you're right. That Perez moment was great.
[01:05:30.680 -> 01:05:34.040] But Perez, while in obviously arguably the most dominant car
[01:05:34.040 -> 01:05:40.560] in history, is not a top top driver yet. But I don't know, I
[01:05:40.560 -> 01:05:44.440] disagree somewhat, because I think we saw at the start of the
[01:05:44.440 -> 01:06:06.240] season him go against Hamilton, will to will fairly. That was, of course, Louis will say he wasn't exactly happy with the car, but he still went will to will with him with Louis kind of not necessarily giving no hard, no bars hold, was that the saying again? I'm buttering my sayings today. But no, I think
[01:06:06.240 -> 01:06:10.640] he's still got it. And I think there's been instances throughout this year as well, where
[01:06:11.360 -> 01:06:17.520] you would arguably say the older you get, well, nature really, the older you get, the slower your
[01:06:17.520 -> 01:06:21.280] reactions are. And there's been plenty of instances this year where I think Fernando Alonso has shown
[01:06:21.280 -> 01:06:25.600] that he hasn't lost any of that reaction time whatsoever.
[01:06:25.600 -> 01:06:32.160] And I think even Macar that yeah, can win races. I'd love to see a Max Verstappen,
[01:06:32.160 -> 01:06:36.720] Lewis Hamilton, yeah, George Russell, any of those young guns go up against Fernando because
[01:06:37.280 -> 01:06:46.080] the worry old fox, I think would beat them. Yeah, I think that Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton at this age could still fight
[01:06:46.080 -> 01:06:53.040] for a world championship. And again, a little teaser for the 2023 without Red Bull story
[01:06:53.040 -> 01:06:58.200] there. But there is one thing that we haven't mentioned about Fernando Alonso so far this
[01:06:58.200 -> 01:07:05.000] year. And it is that he was TikTok's public figure of the year, 2023.
[01:07:05.700 -> 01:07:09.060] Yeah, when he was briefly supposedly dating Taylor Swift.
[01:07:09.060 -> 01:07:11.340] No, no, no, no, no, no, no,
[01:07:11.340 -> 01:07:15.540] because this is some absolute genius marketing from Aston
[01:07:15.540 -> 01:07:20.420] and Spanish, you know, I am a former slash slightly
[01:07:20.420 -> 01:07:23.460] still current marketer, right?
[01:07:23.460 -> 01:07:28.680] What Aston has done with TikTok this year is just pure genius.
[01:07:28.680 -> 01:07:30.320] It's a chef's kiss.
[01:07:30.320 -> 01:07:32.080] All right, we might look into that, Chris.
[01:07:32.080 -> 01:07:36.200] And while you're looking into Aston Martin on TikTok, join Missed Apex.
[01:07:36.200 -> 01:07:39.120] How do you see, do you join people on TikTok?
[01:07:39.120 -> 01:07:44.400] No, you follow Missed Apex F1 on TikTok.
[01:07:44.400 -> 01:07:47.100] We've been pretty regularly posting clips on there
[01:07:47.100 -> 01:07:48.460] and they've proved reasonably,
[01:07:48.460 -> 01:07:50.660] like not zero people have seen them.
[01:07:50.660 -> 01:07:52.580] We're also doing the YouTube shorts.
[01:07:52.580 -> 01:07:54.660] So go and search for mistapex on those platforms.
[01:07:54.660 -> 01:07:56.380] I know you've already seen the show,
[01:07:56.380 -> 01:08:01.380] but if you like it, heart it, and re-TikTok it,
[01:08:01.500 -> 01:08:03.420] then that will help or make a comment,
[01:08:03.420 -> 01:08:04.980] be like, oh, how handsome.
[01:08:04.980 -> 01:08:06.400] Who is this Spanners guy?
[01:08:06.400 -> 01:08:08.640] Just anything like that really, really helps.
[01:08:08.640 -> 01:08:10.160] Do you know what? That's the most important thing.
[01:08:10.160 -> 01:08:15.600] Comment, leave a comment, even if it's just great video or just an emoji,
[01:08:15.600 -> 01:08:19.520] or even just tell us how much you hate us, because that helps us in the algorithm.
[01:08:19.520 -> 01:08:21.680] Don't do that. I'm not secure enough.
[01:08:21.680 -> 01:08:23.840] Darn it, Chris. You know I'm not.
[01:08:23.840 -> 01:08:24.340] Okay.
[01:08:24.240 -> 01:08:28.960] that I'm not secure enough. Darn it, Chris. You know I'm not. Okay.
[01:08:34.320 -> 01:08:38.480] We're moving on to Mercedes, but before you do, let's just do a round of quick plugs here. Of course, we'd love it if you'd support us at patreon.com forward slash MrApex. And if you're
[01:08:38.480 -> 01:08:44.240] one of our patrons who's listening right now, can I just say thank you? Because normally we get a
[01:08:44.240 -> 01:08:45.440] huge drop off of Patreon support in the winter, because normally we get a huge drop off
[01:08:45.440 -> 01:08:47.360] of Patreon support in the winter,
[01:08:47.360 -> 01:08:49.880] and there's been hardly any dropping off.
[01:08:49.880 -> 01:08:51.960] So I hope this doesn't serve as a reminder
[01:08:51.960 -> 01:08:53.400] to people who are like, oh yeah,
[01:08:53.400 -> 01:08:55.280] thanks, I was gonna drop off over winter,
[01:08:55.280 -> 01:08:57.800] but so far people are supporting us fantastically.
[01:08:57.800 -> 01:09:00.880] So we are more than able to keep pushing out content.
[01:09:00.880 -> 01:09:04.160] And I had the time yesterday, on Friday, sorry,
[01:09:04.160 -> 01:09:05.400] to have Joe Saywood come
[01:09:05.400 -> 01:09:10.040] on and react to that whole FIA debacle. So if you want to give us time to keep doing
[01:09:10.040 -> 01:09:15.800] this kind of thing, money does equal time. Patreon.com forward slash Missed Apex. And
[01:09:15.800 -> 01:09:22.600] Scott, you have been incredibly impressive with your TikTok, where you, I mean, you've
[01:09:22.600 -> 01:09:31.200] put me off ever doing the Super Formula series on iRacing, but the way you like dissect your racing experiences and crashes and like go through
[01:09:31.200 -> 01:09:36.480] and at the end of the race, look at people's disasters, just the way it's all been done in
[01:09:36.480 -> 01:09:42.720] the vertical video, you have become a maestro of TikTok, Scott. Oh, thank you, Spanners. Yeah,
[01:09:42.720 -> 01:09:47.340] I do try. The shorts and TikTok Instagram reels are kind of all one in
[01:09:47.340 -> 01:09:50.320] the same to me to be honest across all platforms. Yeah, I
[01:09:50.320 -> 01:09:53.260] try and cut the highlights down the funny moments. Unfortunately,
[01:09:53.260 -> 01:09:56.100] there's a lot of crashes. I do a lot of sim racing. You're
[01:09:56.100 -> 01:10:01.100] always nearby. The crashes get views. What can I say? Lots of
[01:10:01.100 -> 01:10:04.060] people do comment and go all I ever see is this guy crashing.
[01:10:04.500 -> 01:10:08.000] So I'm just like, well, yeah, pretty much.
[01:10:08.000 -> 01:10:10.000] So, it's good fun.
[01:10:10.000 -> 01:10:12.000] But no, I've thoroughly enjoyed the season as well
[01:10:12.000 -> 01:10:14.000] on my YouTube channel,
[01:10:14.000 -> 01:10:16.000] where I've been doing the F1 watch-alongs as well,
[01:10:16.000 -> 01:10:19.000] kind of my own unfiltered opinions
[01:10:19.000 -> 01:10:22.000] and alternative commentary that you would get,
[01:10:22.000 -> 01:10:23.000] say, from Sky Sports.
[01:10:23.000 -> 01:10:25.400] All right, still waiting for my invite.
[01:10:25.400 -> 01:10:27.200] Well, you went on another watch-along.
[01:10:27.200 -> 01:10:28.800] Oh, I did, didn't I? I went on Tomo's one.
[01:10:28.800 -> 01:10:30.000] So, you are a traitor.
[01:10:30.000 -> 01:10:33.800] But they've disbanded now, so there's room in my heart for the Stuffy watch-along.
[01:10:33.800 -> 01:10:35.000] How can we find your TikTok, Scott?
[01:10:35.000 -> 01:10:37.200] Because they are, even if you're not into sim racing,
[01:10:37.200 -> 01:10:39.200] they're definitely worth checking out.
[01:10:39.200 -> 01:10:43.200] Yeah, on all platforms, guys, I am at Stuffy.
[01:10:43.200 -> 01:10:46.080] At Stuffy, and you spell it weird.
[01:10:46.080 -> 01:10:48.800] It's my last name. You tell it's telling me my last name's weird.
[01:10:48.800 -> 01:10:54.520] Yep. Okay, cool. Moving on. We have another TikTok star on a grand scale actually. Your
[01:10:54.520 -> 01:11:01.480] growth isn't stopping Antonio Rankin and your recent TikToks, you seem to have made a sway
[01:11:01.480 -> 01:11:06.760] into a much sort of warmer tone and you're funny, they're fun videos.
[01:11:06.760 -> 01:11:11.520] You sound so surprised, now that there's less tech to talk about which it turns out people
[01:11:11.520 -> 01:11:15.080] don't really care too much about which is kind of sad because I love tech.
[01:11:15.080 -> 01:11:19.440] Our Tech Time shows I think they're some of the best produced shows with Matt and Summers
[01:11:19.440 -> 01:11:27.780] but they maybe get just over half the downloads of like a normal news show, it's crazy. Yeah, that's the thing. I wish people would get more into the tech and if you
[01:11:27.780 -> 01:11:32.820] guys are feeling a little bit tech-phobic, give it a go. Seriously, I feel
[01:11:32.820 -> 01:11:38.140] like since I've understood more about F1 tech, it makes watching
[01:11:38.140 -> 01:11:42.740] the races so much more interesting and exciting. But yeah, I've started
[01:11:42.740 -> 01:11:46.560] allowing people to actually know my personality, which has really changed things for me.
[01:11:46.560 -> 01:11:47.520] But not too much more.
[01:11:47.520 -> 01:11:48.560] So it's been quite nice.
[01:11:48.560 -> 01:11:54.320] Don't go all the way. I would hold it back, you know, just get 20% is probably enough.
[01:11:54.320 -> 01:11:59.440] But go and follow Antonia at Antonia F1 on TikTok. No?
[01:11:59.440 -> 01:12:01.920] F1 Antonia. You get us every time.
[01:12:01.920 -> 01:12:06.640] F1 Antonia, sorry. And on Twitter,, Antonio J Rankin. I remember that one.
[01:12:06.640 -> 01:12:10.800] Follow Chris, at Chris on Racing. Chris, you're not producing anything of note, but you are here
[01:12:10.800 -> 01:12:17.680] sometimes. Well, I do, I am making social media clips every now and again. Not for you, not with
[01:12:17.680 -> 01:12:23.840] your face on it, for others, for money. You're a corporate shill and no more. I do commentate a cam.
[01:12:23.840 -> 01:12:25.120] Ah, yes. Oh, yeah.
[01:12:25.120 -> 01:12:25.800] On the social.
[01:12:25.800 -> 01:12:27.960] Oh, so you're on the TikTok and the Reels as well.
[01:12:27.960 -> 01:12:28.600] So, yes.
[01:12:28.600 -> 01:12:30.400] At ChrisOnRacing everywhere.
[01:12:30.400 -> 01:12:33.800] At ChrisOnRacing on anything you want to follow me on.
[01:12:33.800 -> 01:12:35.640] Follow my commentary journey.
[01:12:35.640 -> 01:12:36.640] I'm in the off season.
[01:12:36.640 -> 01:12:39.560] I'm desperately trying to find work for next year.
[01:12:39.560 -> 01:12:41.840] If you are a producer and you need a commentator,
[01:12:41.840 -> 01:12:43.320] please hire me.
[01:12:43.320 -> 01:12:44.240] No, I'm just kidding.
[01:12:44.240 -> 01:12:45.720] But yeah, follow the commentary journey,
[01:12:45.720 -> 01:12:47.080] follow my weight loss journey,
[01:12:47.080 -> 01:12:49.840] follow my journey towards enlightenment
[01:12:49.840 -> 01:12:51.200] and becoming a better person.
[01:12:51.200 -> 01:12:52.040] You've gone too far.
[01:12:52.040 -> 01:12:52.960] So follow Chris on racing.
[01:12:52.960 -> 01:12:54.040] He's also doing the TikToks,
[01:12:54.040 -> 01:12:56.080] not as good as the other two, but fine.
[01:12:56.080 -> 01:12:56.920] Definitely.
[01:12:56.920 -> 01:13:01.480] Okay, Mercedes.
[01:13:01.480 -> 01:13:03.680] Where I want to start with Mercedes is,
[01:13:03.680 -> 01:13:07.560] we'll start from the badness and go forward.
[01:13:07.560 -> 01:13:12.000] So the sticking to the zero pod concept
[01:13:12.000 -> 01:13:14.520] was something of just a disaster.
[01:13:14.520 -> 01:13:17.400] And the thing with this particular disaster
[01:13:17.400 -> 01:13:20.900] is you could see it unfolding from testing.
[01:13:20.900 -> 01:13:23.760] So even in the testing, you could see,
[01:13:23.760 -> 01:13:25.840] well, you can't tell anything from the times,
[01:13:25.840 -> 01:13:31.600] but clearly things weren't going well. No one was looking happy. There was the odd day where I think
[01:13:31.600 -> 01:13:37.120] they got through a run plan and that was celebrated. But more and more, you were hearing kind of anger
[01:13:37.120 -> 01:13:42.560] coming from Toto Wolff, and you had Mike Elliott being pushed to the front to kind of explain,
[01:13:42.560 -> 01:13:49.060] well, it's not going very well now, but we know what direction we're going to go in and we can definitely fix this.
[01:13:49.060 -> 01:13:51.520] And obviously it wasn't fixed at all.
[01:13:51.520 -> 01:13:56.840] Mike Elliott was treated respectfully in that he was kind of swapped roles.
[01:13:56.840 -> 01:14:02.560] And then when the media attention was away from that, he then eventually left the organization.
[01:14:02.560 -> 01:14:10.960] But I think it's very clear to me, Chris, that they really put their eggs in the ZeroPod concept and then when it didn't work in 2022,
[01:14:10.960 -> 01:14:17.200] they must have blamed it on not being able to get the ride height. But they really were sure,
[01:14:17.200 -> 01:14:23.680] 2023, and you've got to think driven by one person, 2023, we're going to nail it. And it was
[01:14:23.680 -> 01:14:25.880] immediately obvious that they hadn't
[01:14:25.880 -> 01:14:29.780] nailed it and everyone knew. So it's like every head in the Mercedes garage turned to
[01:14:29.780 -> 01:14:35.840] one person and went, like, we told you so. And Lewis Hamilton, all season has said, it's
[01:14:35.840 -> 01:14:40.280] the concept, the concept sucks, can't wait till next season. So I think it feels clear
[01:14:40.280 -> 01:14:44.600] what happened. Someone was like, I got this, you got to keep the faith with me, I've got
[01:14:44.600 -> 01:14:49.000] this chief, you know, and you know, they've watched too many movies maybe, but it just
[01:14:49.000 -> 01:14:50.480] slapped them hard in the face.
[01:14:50.480 -> 01:14:56.040] I don't know how many people had their faith in that concept, but the people who did had
[01:14:56.040 -> 01:15:07.200] mega, mega faith in this concept to try and carry it over for this year. The fact that they did do a complete concept shift in the middle of the season
[01:15:08.080 -> 01:15:14.080] is indicative of the design's flaws, which of course was an immense amount of drag and actually
[01:15:14.080 -> 01:15:18.800] it wasn't producing the downforce numbers that they anticipated it to be. Okay, so quickly then
[01:15:18.800 -> 01:15:30.640] Chris, what was ZeroPod meant to do? ZeroPod was just a solution to a problem that is all aerodynamics on an F1 car. But
[01:15:30.640 -> 01:15:36.040] they just thought it was going to produce more downforce than a car with side pods.
[01:15:36.040 -> 01:15:40.240] I'm sure there are better explanations about specifically how they would do this, but they
[01:15:40.240 -> 01:15:46.480] thought it was going to produce them a lot of downforce. And it didn't end up being the case,
[01:15:46.480 -> 01:15:53.920] and it came with a massive drawback of being exceptionally draggy. So it didn't work,
[01:15:54.560 -> 01:15:59.520] and because we're in this cost cap era now where development funds are restricted,
[01:15:59.520 -> 01:16:04.640] they can't just spend their way out of- Yes, I know, but it already didn't work in 2022.
[01:16:04.640 -> 01:16:05.440] So I think it's
[01:16:05.440 -> 01:16:10.720] the doubling down that will go down as a massive disaster in the end. Most definitely, I agree with
[01:16:10.720 -> 01:16:16.560] that, and the fact as well that even though they've had the concept shift, right, but they
[01:16:16.560 -> 01:16:23.040] haven't been able to execute the full shift, right, until they get to this year's car. So they're
[01:16:23.040 -> 01:16:25.840] having to redesign a redesign and hopefully get it right third time around. Yeah this year's car. So they're having to redesign a redesign
[01:16:25.840 -> 01:16:29.240] and hopefully get it right third time round.
[01:16:29.240 -> 01:16:31.040] Yeah, it's like they're remodeling clay
[01:16:31.040 -> 01:16:33.240] that's already kind of dried out a little bit.
[01:16:33.240 -> 01:16:36.320] You know, they've gone with a concept that didn't work
[01:16:36.320 -> 01:16:37.920] and doubled down on it.
[01:16:37.920 -> 01:16:41.280] And unsurprisingly, it has continued not to work.
[01:16:41.280 -> 01:16:44.200] You know, it's a difficult one with Mercedes
[01:16:44.200 -> 01:16:50.720] because like you said, Spence, we've been watching it unfold slowly and it was never getting any better, was it? But
[01:16:50.720 -> 01:16:55.920] it speaks again to this cost cap issue where if a team does want to change their whole
[01:16:55.920 -> 01:17:01.640] car's concept, they have to work within such limited parameters in order to do so. And
[01:17:01.640 -> 01:17:05.960] it's always going to be a kind of not as good half attempt
[01:17:05.960 -> 01:17:10.160] compared to if they had the money and the ability to completely redo it.
[01:17:10.160 -> 01:17:19.040] Yeah, so yeah, so they can't tear it up and start again, but they were all sort of so
[01:17:19.040 -> 01:17:23.120] desperate to try and salvage something from the season. So when you look at, right, they
[01:17:23.120 -> 01:17:27.960] had a platform that was never going to get them the championship, yet they were still striving to improve and
[01:17:27.960 -> 01:17:33.840] trying to use that car as a testbed for 2024. It shows to me a little bit that that team,
[01:17:33.840 -> 01:17:39.840] finishing second in the championship, is still a good team. So somebody said to me, someone
[01:17:39.840 -> 01:17:46.160] in the Slack group, sorry I missed it, is this the same as the McLaren 2013 slide towards oblivion?
[01:17:46.160 -> 01:17:51.680] I don't think so. It does seem like they just got one major thing wrong. So Chris then Scott.
[01:17:51.680 -> 01:17:58.120] Yeah, no, I do think they'll still be able to fight up towards the front of the field.
[01:17:58.120 -> 01:18:02.280] I think expecting a Red Bull Challenge straight out of the blocks would be a little bit ambitious,
[01:18:02.280 -> 01:18:06.080] but certainly closer should be a realistic
[01:18:06.080 -> 01:18:07.080] expectation.
[01:18:07.080 -> 01:18:10.480] It's funny, they have been found out now in some other ways.
[01:18:10.480 -> 01:18:14.680] I know we've talked about this over the last couple of years, because since they haven't
[01:18:14.680 -> 01:18:21.240] had a proper championship winning or even championship dominating car at times, there
[01:18:21.240 -> 01:18:26.800] have been cracks in the armor that have been revealed a little bit in terms of other
[01:18:26.800 -> 01:18:32.720] aspects, but the way they address it and then still going on to finish second in the championship
[01:18:32.720 -> 01:18:39.840] is a frankly a remarkable achievement and I think it speaks volumes about not only the performance
[01:18:39.840 -> 01:18:46.880] of the team but also the drivers. And I know that George has had a difficult year to say the least.
[01:18:47.920 -> 01:18:52.480] And it's odd because the performance swings between the two drivers seems to be
[01:18:53.440 -> 01:18:58.720] bigger than any other on the grid I would almost say. And going into this year we say George
[01:18:58.720 -> 01:19:03.520] Russell and Lewis Hamilton, that's the best driver pairing on the grid. I don't know if we can still
[01:19:03.520 -> 01:19:05.920] make that argument anymore because it always seems to be one of them is up grid. I don't know if we can still make that argument anymore because it
[01:19:05.920 -> 01:19:10.960] always seems to be one of them is up there. I can't think of too many times where you've seen
[01:19:10.960 -> 01:19:15.680] both Mercedes right up towards the front of the field. It's always been one or the other. One of
[01:19:15.680 -> 01:19:22.880] them struggling with something always which hasn't helped their case. I think it's the Mercedes issue
[01:19:22.880 -> 01:19:26.000] is that, well of course we know the issue was a zero pod concept,
[01:19:26.000 -> 01:19:28.740] but they acknowledged that after race one,
[01:19:28.740 -> 01:19:30.800] Toto Wolf went, we've made a mistake,
[01:19:30.800 -> 01:19:31.920] we need to change concept.
[01:19:31.920 -> 01:19:34.040] Like it was that early.
[01:19:34.040 -> 01:19:37.480] Arguably they should have changed it
[01:19:37.480 -> 01:19:40.640] before that testing or after testing.
[01:19:40.640 -> 01:19:46.120] But this year has pretty much been what I like to, it's a kit car. This
[01:19:46.120 -> 01:19:52.560] Mercedes W14 is a kit car because this whole car was built from the ground up for the Zero
[01:19:52.560 -> 01:19:59.100] Pod concept. And there was points in the season where they even explained that on their own
[01:19:59.100 -> 01:20:03.760] YouTube channels and social media platforms that the suspension, when they brought a new
[01:20:03.760 -> 01:20:08.080] suspension, it's actually adjoining the car where it shouldn't do.
[01:20:08.360 -> 01:20:12.940] Next year's car, it will be purpose-built and they've announced already that next
[01:20:12.940 -> 01:20:17.260] year, that pretty much next year's car, every part near enough, every part is
[01:20:17.260 -> 01:20:20.460] going to be brand new, of course, that's probably just lip service, but I bet a
[01:20:20.460 -> 01:20:23.220] fair chunk of it will be, and it will be purpose-built.
[01:20:23.580 -> 01:20:28.820] Now the fact of it, yes, they've still been able to be second in the season is I
[01:20:28.820 -> 01:20:30.320] think a massive achievement for them.
[01:20:30.320 -> 01:20:32.200] Of course, it's not where they want to be.
[01:20:32.440 -> 01:20:33.720] It's not where George wants to be.
[01:20:33.720 -> 01:20:34.860] It's not where Lewis wants to be.
[01:20:34.860 -> 01:20:39.200] It's the second year in a row that Lewis has gone without a race win.
[01:20:39.440 -> 01:20:44.520] And it's the first year since 2011 that Mercedes have gone without a win.
[01:20:46.840 -> 01:20:53.760] year since 2011 that Mercedes have gone without a win. So of course it's not where they want to be but I think this whole year became a testing ground for
[01:20:53.760 -> 01:20:58.880] them. Just a whole season-long testing ground to see if it's not necessarily
[01:20:58.880 -> 01:21:10.000] the whole car but to see if specific parts were doing what they were intended to do and gather data for the 2025 car.
[01:21:10.000 -> 01:21:14.640] I just don't think P2 in the Constructors' Championship is an achievement this season.
[01:21:14.640 -> 01:21:21.840] It's not even best of the rest, it's who can scrape together the most bang average performances consistently.
[01:21:21.840 -> 01:21:27.840] You know, being P2 in the Constructorsors for Mercedes hasn't meant they've been P3
[01:21:27.840 -> 01:21:32.560] every weekend. It hasn't even meant that they've been P4 and 5 every weekend. They've been
[01:21:32.560 -> 01:21:39.040] kind of scraping together a bunch of relatively okay performances that have averaged out better
[01:21:39.040 -> 01:21:44.720] than the rest of the grid. Them being P2 in the championship is absolutely not something
[01:21:44.720 -> 01:21:45.840] they should be celebrating
[01:21:45.840 -> 01:21:50.160] and to be honest I'm glad they're not. It only came down to the wire at the last race because
[01:21:50.160 -> 01:21:56.640] all of the other teams have had such inconsistent seasons that the fact that Mercedes were finally
[01:21:56.640 -> 01:22:03.520] able to just about scrape a P2 was like okay. I think there's some fairness there so for example
[01:22:03.520 -> 01:22:06.400] had McLaren come out with their second
[01:22:06.400 -> 01:22:11.800] concept first, you know, had they not gone awry, McLaren would probably be the clear second
[01:22:11.800 -> 01:22:17.520] as well. Had Aston Martin not allegedly been found to have been doing something allegedly
[01:22:17.520 -> 01:22:23.140] something different outside of the alleged regulations, then they could have been consistently
[01:22:23.140 -> 01:22:29.180] second place. So there is something to be said that this year in particular, no team has kind of driven forward and claimed
[01:22:29.180 -> 01:22:34.200] that second place. So Mercedes have almost kind of defaulted it. So it could have looked
[01:22:34.200 -> 01:22:40.200] a lot worse. I'm just trying to look to the team and go, right, okay, if forgiving them
[01:22:40.200 -> 01:22:46.400] for the concept, if you like, they still seem to have developed well. But operationally,
[01:22:46.400 -> 01:22:50.960] things like deliberately doing slower pit stops. We always complained about the slow
[01:22:50.960 -> 01:22:57.640] pit stops and Total Wolf said, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what we'd rather do, consistent
[01:22:57.640 -> 01:23:02.400] pit stops than go for the very fast pit stops. I think that was quite a surprise. But as
[01:23:02.400 -> 01:23:06.580] Chris said, that is a symptom of having margin up front.
[01:23:06.580 -> 01:23:08.880] So in 2014, 2015, 2016,
[01:23:08.880 -> 01:23:11.200] a three second stop was not gonna hurt them.
[01:23:11.200 -> 01:23:14.840] Whereas now, obviously, now they're losing positions.
[01:23:14.840 -> 01:23:16.160] If they're in a fight,
[01:23:16.160 -> 01:23:18.760] Hamilton can't rely on staying ahead
[01:23:18.760 -> 01:23:19.720] or avoiding an undercut
[01:23:19.720 -> 01:23:21.920] or getting an undercut from those pit stops.
[01:23:21.920 -> 01:23:24.400] Yeah, Red Bull have raised the bar.
[01:23:24.400 -> 01:23:25.680] They've just totally raised
[01:23:25.680 -> 01:23:30.720] the bar because I don't think Mercedes in any year they was dominant were as faultless with
[01:23:30.720 -> 01:23:35.840] their pit stops, with their strategy, the operational side of things as Red Bull have
[01:23:35.840 -> 01:23:41.200] been this year and arguably last year as well. And Mercedes need to look at what Red Bull have
[01:23:41.200 -> 01:23:46.680] been able to achieve, especially with them be fighting for Ferrari and Aston Martin this year in some
[01:23:46.680 -> 01:23:52.360] close podium battles, that if they had the ruthlessness and of
[01:23:52.380 -> 01:23:55.800] Red Bull with how quick they are with their strategy and with and
[01:23:55.800 -> 01:24:00.160] with their pit stops, then they would have comfortably have
[01:24:00.200 -> 01:24:04.880] achieved a lot more podiums and a lot more probably, potentially
[01:24:04.880 -> 01:24:07.000] a couple of race wins, especially Kota.
[01:24:07.000 -> 01:24:09.120] Circuit Americas is the one that comes to mind,
[01:24:09.120 -> 01:24:12.560] where Lewis could have and should have won that race
[01:24:12.560 -> 01:24:14.560] because of some slow pit stops and arguably
[01:24:14.560 -> 01:24:16.400] dilly-dallying on strategy.
[01:24:16.400 -> 01:24:22.320] So they need to improve all round, in my opinion, Mercedes.
[01:24:22.320 -> 01:24:24.200] But then on the other end of that scale,
[01:24:24.200 -> 01:24:26.400] you have Singapore, right?
[01:24:26.400 -> 01:24:30.360] Where they were getting really punchy with the strategy,
[01:24:30.360 -> 01:24:32.800] which is something that Mercedes traditionally
[01:24:32.800 -> 01:24:35.400] kind of hasn't been.
[01:24:35.400 -> 01:24:38.800] It's been a kind of criticism that safety car comes out
[01:24:38.800 -> 01:24:40.540] and they go, we'd rather have track position
[01:24:40.540 -> 01:24:43.560] than new tires because you can't possibly overtake
[01:24:43.560 -> 01:24:45.980] in Formula One, it's impossible.
[01:24:45.980 -> 01:24:50.720] And then they are proven wrong almost every single time, right?
[01:24:50.720 -> 01:24:57.360] So to see in Singapore, them actually sacrifice track position and say, right, we spy an opportunity
[01:24:57.360 -> 01:25:03.400] for the win here, we're going to go for it 100%, which was really refreshing.
[01:25:03.400 -> 01:25:08.880] And I want to see more of that, especially if we're in tight battles, you know, for the
[01:25:08.880 -> 01:25:14.160] win, because what we ended up getting was the biggest crescendo to a Grand Prix that
[01:25:14.160 -> 01:25:15.960] we had all season long.
[01:25:15.960 -> 01:25:19.800] But that's once in a blue moon that they have that attitude.
[01:25:19.800 -> 01:25:23.320] And secondly, how ruthless could they have been?
[01:25:23.320 -> 01:25:25.800] If that was Red Bull in that situation,
[01:25:25.800 -> 01:25:28.440] Lewis was arguably the quicker driver
[01:25:28.440 -> 01:25:31.960] and stuck behind Russell for quite some time.
[01:25:31.960 -> 01:25:34.940] If they truly wanted to go for that race win,
[01:25:34.940 -> 01:25:36.900] they should have taken the ruthless decision
[01:25:36.900 -> 01:25:41.900] to let George Russell give up that position to Lewis.
[01:25:42.000 -> 01:25:47.680] And I think if Red Bull were in that position,
[01:25:47.680 -> 01:25:52.240] and it was Sergio and Max, they would have swapped positions.
[01:25:52.240 -> 01:25:54.240] OK, but there's a clear number one and number two
[01:25:54.240 -> 01:25:56.120] at Red Bull, whereas there isn't at Mercedes.
[01:25:56.120 -> 01:26:01.000] And in Mercedes' defense, George was faster than Lewis
[01:26:01.000 -> 01:26:04.000] right up until the entire weekend,
[01:26:04.000 -> 01:26:06.720] right up until about three laps to go when
[01:26:06.720 -> 01:26:11.360] Lewis suddenly actually had pace over George. So if he wanted that position he shouldn't
[01:26:11.360 -> 01:26:16.800] have saved that pace. Okay so which leads us which actually he wasn't it's not saving pace right I
[01:26:16.800 -> 01:26:22.400] don't think there's a fundamental difference where Lewis Hamilton is spectacularly faster than George
[01:26:22.400 -> 01:26:25.960] Russell over one lap right he's spectacularly faster than George Russell over one lap. Right, he's spectacularly
[01:26:25.960 -> 01:26:31.760] faster than George Russell over a stint where stint management and tyre management is required.
[01:26:31.760 -> 01:26:35.880] So at the point of the race where in order to go forward and to do well you needed to
[01:26:35.880 -> 01:26:40.880] manage your tyres and manage that stint, Lewis Hamilton was able to do that and George Russell
[01:26:40.880 -> 01:26:45.440] was unable to do that. And then we saw, we really saw that exposed at Interlagos, which was a horrible weekend for Mercedes anyway, but George Russell was unable to do that. And then we really saw that exposed at Interlagos,
[01:26:45.440 -> 01:26:49.840] which was a horrible weekend for Mercedes anyway. But George Russell was insisting that he should
[01:26:49.840 -> 01:26:55.360] be let through, he should be given the track position, and he ended up basically overheating
[01:26:55.360 -> 01:26:59.920] his car completely and overheating his tyres. Whereas Lewis Hamilton didn't have those issues
[01:26:59.920 -> 01:27:07.520] because he was managing temps. So this is the thing where we said George Russell is fast enough, but then when it comes
[01:27:07.520 -> 01:27:12.120] to a stint strategy like that, he then suddenly finds himself in the way.
[01:27:12.120 -> 01:27:14.440] So at the beginning of a stint, he's pushing, he's pushing, he's pushing.
[01:27:14.440 -> 01:27:15.880] Look, I'm so much faster.
[01:27:15.880 -> 01:27:18.440] Then towards the end of the stint, oh, are we working together?
[01:27:18.440 -> 01:27:20.160] Why is he attacking me?
[01:27:20.160 -> 01:27:21.200] Why is he pushing through?
[01:27:21.200 -> 01:27:22.200] So I don't know.
[01:27:22.200 -> 01:27:24.440] They've got a really complicated dynamic there, Scott.
[01:27:24.440 -> 01:27:26.480] And they probably should have a number one driver.
[01:27:26.480 -> 01:27:28.320] Scott Tidwell Yeah, and there was a couple of times this
[01:27:28.320 -> 01:27:33.840] year where Russell was actually asked to let Lewis buy because Lewis was quite clearly showing that
[01:27:33.840 -> 01:27:37.600] his strategy was working. And the amount of times, I'll have to count the amount of times this year
[01:27:37.600 -> 01:27:44.480] that George asked for the alternative strategy to try and mostly get one up over Lewis, which I get,
[01:27:44.480 -> 01:27:45.720] the first person you want to
[01:27:45.720 -> 01:27:50.640] meet is your teammate and I am a fan of George but I think Lewis this year quite
[01:27:50.640 -> 01:27:56.840] evidently showed quite early on that he was more in control of that car, more in
[01:27:56.840 -> 01:28:00.760] control of the performances and had it especially over a race distance. Now
[01:28:00.760 -> 01:28:05.560] George I think focused maybe a little bit more on qualifying to try and
[01:28:05.560 -> 01:28:10.400] get track position and try and get that priority when it came to pit stops and
[01:28:10.400 -> 01:28:11.840] getting in before Hamilton.
[01:28:11.840 -> 01:28:16.960] But a lot of times this year, Lewis got ahead of George into the first corner
[01:28:16.960 -> 01:28:19.400] and then got priority anyway.
[01:28:19.640 -> 01:28:26.060] And so I think Lewis this year definitely realized, I think he actually realized,
[01:28:26.060 -> 01:28:29.740] I'm better than George over a race distance.
[01:28:29.740 -> 01:28:33.260] And I don't need to focus so much on qualifying.
[01:28:33.260 -> 01:28:35.060] Although I think it backfired.
[01:28:35.060 -> 01:28:36.380] Yeah, it's gone the other way.
[01:28:36.380 -> 01:28:37.980] Because there's a couple of times this year
[01:28:37.980 -> 01:28:40.620] where he didn't even get through to Q3
[01:28:40.620 -> 01:28:43.020] and he probably focused too much on the race than qualifying.
[01:28:43.020 -> 01:28:44.580] He lost that balance.
[01:28:44.580 -> 01:28:46.120] But you would say the majority of times he probably focused too much on the race than qualifying. He lost that balance, but
[01:28:46.120 -> 01:28:50.860] you would say the majority of times he probably had that attitude and it did pay off for him
[01:28:50.860 -> 01:28:55.520] because he was comfortably P2 in the championship, sorry P3 in the championship.
[01:28:55.520 -> 01:29:00.240] So it's not something I've tracked in, yeah well George Russell was P8. It's not something
[01:29:00.240 -> 01:29:09.160] I've tracked as much I guess on other teams because yes I'm a Hamilton fan so I've been looking at this but they've run different downforce settings quite a lot this
[01:29:09.160 -> 01:29:15.400] year. So yeah I think it's clear that Hamilton for a long time has prioritised race pace
[01:29:15.400 -> 01:29:18.960] but he hasn't been able to deliver it at all in qualifying and now whether that is down
[01:29:18.960 -> 01:29:25.680] to his ability or overestimating how much of a sacrifice he's going to have to make, or
[01:29:25.680 -> 01:29:29.240] underestimating how much it's going to affect him in qualifying. Plus
[01:29:29.240 -> 01:29:35.360] there's quite a few teams who qualify out of position. So Ferrari qualify out
[01:29:35.360 -> 01:29:39.920] of position, they seem much better on a Saturday. McLaren, to a lesser extent, are
[01:29:39.920 -> 01:29:44.720] much better on a Saturday. And if tyre wear is an issue, McLaren have been
[01:29:44.720 -> 01:29:45.600] suffering.
[01:29:45.600 -> 01:29:51.040] So that's great because as Matt was saying last Sunday qualifying sort of hasn't mattered in that
[01:29:51.040 -> 01:29:56.400] the pack tends to unshuffle itself and the teammates end up together but where that's
[01:29:56.400 -> 01:30:00.480] fouled Lewis Hamilton is then he's been in the pack and he's been getting into these little
[01:30:00.480 -> 01:30:10.880] scrapes. How much carbon fibre has Lewis Hamilton lost on opening laps this season? I think Abu Dhabi hit Gasly twice, you know, amongst other things. So, didn't
[01:30:10.880 -> 01:30:15.180] he hit then Gasly later on in the race as well? So I think like he maybe hit an Alpine
[01:30:15.180 -> 01:30:21.720] four times in that last race. So if that strategy has backfired, will it do him a favour if
[01:30:21.720 -> 01:30:25.920] they have a front running car? Will it then do him a favor to prioritize qualifying
[01:30:25.920 -> 01:30:31.200] then? See, this is the thing, this is a strategy that would have worked two or three years ago.
[01:30:31.200 -> 01:30:38.560] Against Rosberg, 2015. Again, well not even, not even just them. When we had like a top two teams
[01:30:38.560 -> 01:30:46.880] or even a top three teams, and like the worst you would qualify is sixth, right? That's the worst case scenario. And
[01:30:46.880 -> 01:30:51.040] usually then Mercedes had a quick enough car to still be at the worst on the front two rows.
[01:30:51.680 -> 01:30:56.320] That doesn't work in the Formula One we have at the moment where we have a top five teams,
[01:30:56.320 -> 01:31:03.280] for example, and you still get them mishmashing. It's way too close. I know we're saying Red Bull
[01:31:03.280 -> 01:31:09.280] have been miles ahead of the field, but between the other nine teams, it's been far too close to try and run that strategy.
[01:31:09.280 -> 01:31:13.360] And what ends up happening is exactly what you said, Spanners, where he gets put into the pack,
[01:31:13.360 -> 01:31:18.640] and he can't utilize the strategy he's trying to make because he's A, got to try and work his way
[01:31:18.640 -> 01:31:22.160] through the field, and he's running in dirty air for the entire first stint. So he can't
[01:31:22.160 -> 01:31:27.280] utilize his own advantage. And by putting yourself further back in the pack as well,
[01:31:27.920 -> 01:31:32.160] you put yourself on the... you run the risk, and it did happen a few times this season,
[01:31:32.160 -> 01:31:35.600] where you're on the wrong end of a safety car or the wrong end of a red flag.
[01:31:35.600 -> 01:31:41.200] And you come in and pit to try and do the undercut or to get into some clean air,
[01:31:41.760 -> 01:31:47.180] and then red flag comes out and everyone's able to change their tires and your advantage of
[01:31:47.180 -> 01:31:50.060] that undercut has just disappeared. That happened. I
[01:31:50.060 -> 01:31:52.780] think a few times this year and that's the risk you run. So I
[01:31:52.780 -> 01:31:57.820] think that I think that balance he got it right Lewis uh a
[01:31:57.820 -> 01:32:00.940] number of times this year, but then there was a handful of
[01:32:00.940 -> 01:32:03.660] times specifically at the at the latter end of the season. I
[01:32:03.660 -> 01:32:05.680] think Vegas and
[01:32:11.760 -> 01:32:12.320] Abu Dhabi, he failed to make it out of Q2. So it's the last two races of the year,
[01:32:20.400 -> 01:32:32.120] starting 11th, you just run the risk of getting caught in trouble. The percentage of probability of you getting caught in an incident, the more cars are around you, dramatically rises. Okay, so everyone has made the assumption that Red Bull are uncatchable because they've looked
[01:32:32.120 -> 01:32:40.640] so far ahead of the pack. I'm not as pessimistic. So if Mercedes haven't made a fundamental error
[01:32:40.640 -> 01:32:45.440] and then tripled down on it, like they have the last two seasons. I
[01:32:51.840 -> 01:32:54.400] personally don't see any reason why the W15 can't come out and be competitive and go and race Red Bull. I think a little bit much has been made of
[01:32:54.920 -> 01:33:02.120] this kind of elevated god-like status of the the Red Bull car as if it's, you know, completely uncatchable.
[01:33:02.520 -> 01:33:09.000] But in 2021 we sort of forget that really there was only two cars winning races apart from,
[01:33:09.000 -> 01:33:11.400] I've just looked it up to check how accurate that was,
[01:33:11.400 -> 01:33:17.200] Ricciardo got the win at Monza and Hungary were after the Bottas Skittles,
[01:33:17.200 -> 01:33:30.640] Ocon won for Alpine, but really it was those two teams head and shoulders above the rest. So if you look at this season and Mercedes had joined Red Bull with that level of performance, it would have
[01:33:30.640 -> 01:33:35.440] looked normal. It would have looked like a normal F1 season with two teams dominating.
[01:33:35.440 -> 01:33:39.840] It wouldn't have been odd. You wouldn't have gone, oh, why are these two teams so incredibly
[01:33:39.840 -> 01:33:46.560] far ahead? So I think a lot of Red Bull's absolute dominance has been that Mercedes, who have been
[01:33:46.560 -> 01:33:51.600] at the top of the sport for so long, weren't there to challenge them. So I don't know, if they turn
[01:33:51.600 -> 01:33:56.880] up in Australia, in Bahrain, with a competitive package that can go toe-to-toe with Red Bull,
[01:33:56.880 -> 01:34:01.360] I don't think anyone should be completely flabbergasted. It would be almost a reversion
[01:34:01.360 -> 01:34:05.440] to the mean. So the Mercedes average position is at the top.
[01:34:05.440 -> 01:34:11.000] So unless this is a 2013 Mercedes McLaren style slide, I'm actually pretty
[01:34:11.000 -> 01:34:15.400] optimistic for some competition next season. Am I a fool? Am I an optimistic
[01:34:15.400 -> 01:34:21.840] fool? Am I a sweet summer child? Probably. However, I do think it's not just fans
[01:34:21.840 -> 01:34:29.200] who've made the mistake of assuming that Red Bull are undefeatable, it's the teams. We've said it at a few of our race reviews over the course of the season, but
[01:34:29.200 -> 01:34:34.000] a lot of the reason why some of the races have been, unfortunately, this season quite
[01:34:34.000 -> 01:34:39.520] boring, on surface level at least, is because the drivers have realised Max Verstappen is behind
[01:34:39.520 -> 01:34:45.120] them and gone, that's not my problem, my race isn't with him and they basically let him through with very
[01:34:45.120 -> 01:34:50.080] little fight and that's why we've seen so many races where Max has started lower down the grid
[01:34:50.080 -> 01:34:56.560] and just by lap six he's back up in P3 because the drivers and the teams just go don't waste
[01:34:56.560 -> 01:35:02.160] your tyres, don't waste heating up your car too much, let him by. They assume that their battle
[01:35:02.160 -> 01:35:07.820] isn't with Red Bull and Red Bull even within paddock, have created this whole air of being untouchable
[01:35:07.820 -> 01:35:13.440] and undefeatable that we almost need the new season to come in where drivers and teams
[01:35:13.440 -> 01:35:17.700] can go, we've got a shot at this because they've lost faith in themselves.
[01:35:17.700 -> 01:35:20.140] So Maria's putting it down, Ronnie, and that's good.
[01:35:20.140 -> 01:35:24.220] I was looking for someone to kind of oppose it a little bit, saying that have Mercedes
[01:35:24.220 -> 01:35:25.120] lost two years of development? I was looking for someone to kind of oppose it a little bit, saying that, have Mercedes lost
[01:35:25.120 -> 01:35:29.600] two years of development? Well, actually, my sort of theory is they've had to sharpen their
[01:35:29.600 -> 01:35:34.640] development skills because they've been desperately scrambling around. I suppose if they wanted some
[01:35:34.640 -> 01:35:39.440] hope with Red Bull, they would hope that Red Bull are making the same mistake everyone else is,
[01:35:39.440 -> 01:35:44.080] which is also assuming that they are going to be dominant. And I'm sure they're not going to be
[01:35:44.080 -> 01:35:47.640] complacent, but they probably think, you know, well, we've made an improvement from this
[01:35:47.640 -> 01:35:52.800] car for the 2024 car. That's probably going to be enough. And you don't know if it is
[01:35:52.800 -> 01:35:56.680] until you get to pre-season testing. And you know, you get a scenario where you had Braun.
[01:35:56.680 -> 01:35:58.800] Oh, I've not seen the new Braun documentary yet.
[01:35:58.800 -> 01:35:59.800] Oh, it's very good.
[01:35:59.800 -> 01:36:00.800] Is it good?
[01:36:00.800 -> 01:36:01.800] It's terribly good.
[01:36:01.800 -> 01:36:05.680] Is it terribly good? Oh, is it? Okay. So, but I remember,
[01:36:05.680 -> 01:36:10.400] you know, the stories before this documentary were when they went out in testing, they did
[01:36:10.400 -> 01:36:15.120] one incredible run where they suddenly realised how good a car that they had. And they were like,
[01:36:15.120 -> 01:36:19.680] bring it in, bring it in, because we don't want anyone to know. So I don't know. So I think 2024,
[01:36:19.680 -> 01:36:24.560] it's a whole new season. Let's not be pessimistic until there's something to be
[01:36:24.560 -> 01:36:25.680] pessimistic about. In other words, let's all relax pessimistic until there's something to be pessimistic about. In
[01:36:25.680 -> 01:36:31.760] other words, let's all relax into some blind, blind hope that there can be a competitive 2024
[01:36:31.760 -> 01:36:38.480] for Formula One. All right, so lay on the line then, we all have a fan stake in this fight,
[01:36:39.440 -> 01:36:46.320] can George Russell come back next season and stake a claim at Mercedes as the number one driver? I feel like
[01:36:46.320 -> 01:36:51.360] reputation-wise and career-wise it's a real make-or-break season for George Russell because
[01:36:51.360 -> 01:36:57.440] he looked like the number two driver this season. PR-wise he hasn't really come across that well
[01:36:57.440 -> 01:37:05.000] on team radio and some of the stuff on track so is there a way back for him to stamp dominance in Mercedes stuffy? No.
[01:37:05.000 -> 01:37:07.000] Oh, um, Chris.
[01:37:07.000 -> 01:37:09.000] Go on Chris.
[01:37:09.000 -> 01:37:17.360] Okay, right. Well, the thing is, maybe Scott, you were going to make this same point, but
[01:37:17.360 -> 01:37:26.560] I think the issue is that for Mercedes of all teams to declare a number one driver you would have to be like two seconds
[01:37:26.560 -> 01:37:32.240] a lap faster than them. I think that's more the conceptual issue here it's just that it's not in
[01:37:32.240 -> 01:37:37.440] Mercedes nature. Well they never admitted it with Bottas and Bottas was clearly the number two in
[01:37:37.440 -> 01:37:45.680] all but. But that was that was usually um A ended up prioritizing the driver who was leading the championship. But then, you know,
[01:37:45.680 -> 01:37:52.000] there were occasions where Bottas was allowed to have his moment.
[01:37:53.040 -> 01:37:53.920] That makes it sound.
[01:37:54.480 -> 01:37:58.400] But even when Lewis was fighting for the championship with Seb, do you remember in
[01:37:58.400 -> 01:38:03.280] Hungary when Bottas led him through, let him try and have a go at the Ferraris, couldn't do it,
[01:38:03.280 -> 01:38:09.400] so he let Valtteri back through? Maybe that was more of a Lewis decision than a team decision.
[01:38:09.400 -> 01:38:16.760] But you know, I think George has got the potential to start matching Lewis. We've seen he has
[01:38:16.760 -> 01:38:22.580] been able to beat him on occasion this year. I think with a better car, it will reduce
[01:38:22.580 -> 01:38:25.360] those big sways in performance that I was alluding to earlier.
[01:38:26.240 -> 01:38:31.040] I don't know what stuff he's chatting. I don't know what he's talking about.
[01:38:31.040 -> 01:38:31.600] Oh yeah, hang on.
[01:38:32.240 -> 01:38:38.480] I 100% think George Russell can come in and have an absolute screamer of a season. He's a great
[01:38:38.480 -> 01:38:45.800] driver. He's got it in him. I think it's so difficult to know the true potential of a driver when the car
[01:38:45.800 -> 01:38:50.360] isn't there. Like we were saying with with Hass, you know, the car isn't there. You can't
[01:38:50.360 -> 01:38:55.120] blame the drivers for that. With Fernando Alonso, the car hasn't really been there.
[01:38:55.120 -> 01:39:01.840] I really, really think that George Russell has so much potential and he's realized a
[01:39:01.840 -> 01:39:07.600] lot of his potential, how he maximized that Williams, how he can
[01:39:07.600 -> 01:39:11.480] turn around a pretty shocking day and still get a good result. If you guys remember one
[01:39:11.480 -> 01:39:18.240] of his, if not his first ever run in the Mercedes in Bahrain, where it was like, yeah, he got
[01:39:18.240 -> 01:39:27.680] like three punctures and it was only by the final one that he actually slipped down the order. He has such a fighting mindset.
[01:39:27.720 -> 01:39:31.720] And I think as a driver in a team that isn't at the top at the moment,
[01:39:31.960 -> 01:39:36.640] that is the exact mentality you need to be able to come in after a horrible
[01:39:36.640 -> 01:39:39.960] season and still perform exceptionally.
[01:39:39.960 -> 01:39:42.720] So I think if anyone can do it, it will be George.
[01:39:42.840 -> 01:39:48.800] I don't think those gulfs between his performance and Lewis's, to be honest, are as bad as everyone's
[01:39:48.800 -> 01:39:49.800] making out.
[01:39:49.800 -> 01:39:50.800] I don't know.
[01:39:50.800 -> 01:39:52.000] I think they are.
[01:39:52.000 -> 01:39:53.240] I think they are.
[01:39:53.240 -> 01:39:55.000] I think he's quite far off.
[01:39:55.000 -> 01:39:58.000] You know what, there is an argument for this though.
[01:39:58.000 -> 01:40:01.240] And it's because, again, how close the field is.
[01:40:01.240 -> 01:40:05.920] Let's say last year or the year before that you were two tenths off
[01:40:05.920 -> 01:40:11.320] your teammate, that could be one place or two places. Certainly this year, if you're
[01:40:11.320 -> 01:40:15.320] two tenths off, that's five or six places at some races.
[01:40:15.320 -> 01:40:20.560] I actually think Russell's really up against it because Toto Wolff wants Lewis Hamilton
[01:40:20.560 -> 01:40:25.420] to win the eighth championship. I think there's going to be so few excuses
[01:40:25.420 -> 01:40:31.120] needed for them to favour Lewis Hamilton next season. Tell you what, Stuffy, if Carlos Sainz
[01:40:31.120 -> 01:40:36.680] decides to leave F1 to go and be a hair model next season, and he gets off with the Ferrari
[01:40:36.680 -> 01:40:41.600] 2024 drive, if I'm George Russell's manager, I say, yeah, go. Go. Because you've got a
[01:40:41.600 -> 01:40:45.720] better chance of looking good against Leclerc than you have against Hamilton.
[01:40:45.720 -> 01:40:52.000] The worst thing for George Russell was 2021. Lewis not winning the April title, because
[01:40:52.000 -> 01:40:57.520] he would be the number one driver at Mercedes right now. I was fortunate enough to have
[01:40:57.520 -> 01:41:05.520] a tour of the Mercedes factory in April. I know, just dropping that in. But I spoke to a number of the Mercedes employees there
[01:41:06.160 -> 01:41:16.000] and the whole vibe around there is they want to get Lewis that April title. They so love him there.
[01:41:16.000 -> 01:41:28.120] He's been there for over 10 years now. He's got seven world titles, six of them with Mercedes. That's his team. And it would take, yes, George
[01:41:28.120 -> 01:41:34.000] could become the number one driver if Hamilton was unlucky enough to have some DNFs and he
[01:41:34.000 -> 01:41:39.400] was out of the championship fight and it was between George and another. That's the only
[01:41:39.400 -> 01:41:44.260] scenario where George would become the number one. I think unconscious bias, or actually
[01:41:44.260 -> 01:41:46.060] probably conscious bias, even though
[01:41:46.060 -> 01:41:49.620] they won't admit it, Lewis is still that number one driver,
[01:41:49.840 -> 01:41:55.580] but they will give the they will give the image to the outsider
[01:41:55.780 -> 01:41:58.420] that George and Lewis are treated fairly and they
[01:41:58.420 -> 01:42:03.400] probably, possibly do at the start of a season. But I think
[01:42:03.540 -> 01:42:06.400] once Lewis gets that eighth, he would be out of
[01:42:06.400 -> 01:42:12.320] the, he would be out of F1. George probably won, the best way to George is probably to
[01:42:12.320 -> 01:42:13.520] get Lewis to win the eighth title.
[01:42:13.520 -> 01:42:15.840] Yeah, so he can take it.
[01:42:15.840 -> 01:42:21.480] And then he's the number one driver because whoever comes in is, George is then the experienced
[01:42:21.480 -> 01:42:22.480] one there.
[01:42:22.480 -> 01:42:26.280] So it's all about, you know, the twisting the narrative, isn't it?
[01:42:26.280 -> 01:42:32.040] So for example, the British media, if there's a Scottish athlete or sportsman and they're
[01:42:32.040 -> 01:42:35.360] winning, they're British, but when they're not winning, they're Scottish.
[01:42:35.360 -> 01:42:38.760] So you can just a little tweak there and that changes the narrative.
[01:42:38.760 -> 01:42:43.800] So I think if Russell is ahead in the championship early on, they'll say, there's no team orders,
[01:42:43.800 -> 01:42:45.840] we favour both drivers here.
[01:42:45.840 -> 01:42:50.160] If Hamilton is ahead by a third of the way into the season, they go, well look,
[01:42:50.160 -> 01:42:54.240] we've really got a chance here at the Drivers' Championship, we just have to prioritise Lewis
[01:42:54.240 -> 01:42:59.600] Hamilton right now. And I think you're right, Scott, I think the Mercedes mindset is going to be
[01:42:59.600 -> 01:43:04.080] geared towards Lewis Hamilton, which is why I say, if Russell gets a chance at a Ferrari seat,
[01:43:04.080 -> 01:43:05.360] you go take it.
[01:43:05.360 -> 01:43:10.240] All right cool that's been, I know we are just right pushing that one hour limit but
[01:43:10.240 -> 01:43:15.040] we did manage to get through three teams so we will finish off with another race review
[01:43:15.040 -> 01:43:19.200] next Sunday and then we'll dig into our winter content where all these lovely people are
[01:43:19.200 -> 01:43:25.400] going to grace your YouTubes and your podcasts with a specialist subject and then I'm going to
[01:43:25.400 -> 01:43:30.080] talk to them about their lives so you can get to meet my wonderful panel. So
[01:43:30.080 -> 01:43:34.880] follow all these guys the links are in the show notes below and it is Scott is
[01:43:34.880 -> 01:43:43.200] at stuffy which is s-t-u-f-f-e-y-y. Yeah double y at the end. There we go
[01:43:43.200 -> 01:43:47.200] Antonia is at f1Antonia on TikTok and Antonia
[01:43:47.200 -> 01:43:52.720] J Rankin on Twitter and Chris is at Chris on Racing Everywhere. Obviously follow me,
[01:43:52.720 -> 01:43:59.200] I'm the best one. So, at Spanners Ready on Twitter and then Richard Ready on Facebook,
[01:43:59.200 -> 01:44:04.080] Spanners Ready on Instagram. And please check out our TikToks and re-TikTok them and do
[01:44:04.080 -> 01:44:05.640] an emoji and say hello, I think you're nice, good luck with your TikToks and re-TikTok them and do an emoji and say hello
[01:44:05.640 -> 01:44:10.760] I think you're nice. Good luck with your TikToks. Until we see you next, next Sunday, unless there's another
[01:44:11.120 -> 01:44:17.780] Emergency drop-in broadcast. Until then, work hard, be kind and have fun. This was MrApexPodcast
[01:44:18.120 -> 01:44:23.880] Going through the winter. Oh, yeah, we've got our warm jackets on. Always wear a scarf
[01:44:24.520 -> 01:44:26.800] Always make sure that you take your coat off
[01:44:26.800 -> 01:44:30.360] when you go inside or you won't feel the benefit.
[01:44:30.360 -> 01:44:32.600] You won't feel the benefit unless you take your coat off.
[01:44:32.600 -> 01:44:33.920] It's just life advice.
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