On this episode of Around The Outside: The American F1 Podcast
Ian and Mike are back from a summer break. Get caught up on all that happened, and what the boys think will happen
You can watch the full episode, the next day after episode release, on YouTube @ato_usf1
For clips from this show & other shows and more F1 content, check out Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok @ato_usf1
Please remember to like, subscribe and share
If you have the time, a review would be greatly appreciated
Thank you for listening and enjoy the show!
On this episode of Around The Outside: The American F1 Podcast
Ian and Mike are back from a summer break. Get caught up on all that happened, and what the boys think will happen
You can watch the full episode, the next day after episode release, on YouTube @ato_usf1
For clips from this show & other shows and more F1 content, check out Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok @ato_usf1
Please remember to like, subscribe and share
If you have the time, a review would be greatly appreciated
Thank you for listening and enjoy the show!
On this episode of Around the Outside, Ian and Mike talk about, well, everything that happened during the summer break, what we think is going to happen at Zandvoort with a lightning prediction round, and just catching up on some life. Thank you to all our fans from around the world for tuning in. We hope you enjoy the show. This is Ian Shay,
Track 1:Am Mike DuPont?
Ian Shea:your hosts of Around the Outside the American Formula One podcast, and welcome back everybody to, I don't know, Mike, we didn't really have anything too, too much planned for this one, do we?
Track 1:No, not at all. Uh, sorry about the absence of late. Um, my bad. I'm used to having, um, a kid and everything that goes along with that. Ian's been a real, uh, trooper, uh,
Ian Shea:you never,
Track 1:sweetheart.
Ian Shea:you never, have to apologize for being a good father. I grew up, I grew up with a, uh, father to be wanted for, to be nice, and it's wonderful being able to watch you. Step into fatherhood and take such an immediate care and love. And it's something that I behold true and dear to my heart.'cause I didn't really have that. And it's nice to see that.
Track 1:Well, thanks, man.
Ian Shea:And thank you for your kind words. That's very sweet of you,
Track 1:Uh, yeah, yeah. Uh,
Ian Shea:you're also, dude, don't you, aren't you getting, uh, your bathroom redone as well?
Track 1:I'm looking forward to having a shower again. I, it's the little things, you know, I set up a camping toilet in my basement for a couple days. That was an interesting experience.
Ian Shea:you know that that really brings a family together. It really does.
Track 1:Yeah. Yeah. Yes, it does. Uh, We have a toilet and we have a sink, a, a bathroom sink now. So it's moving along.
Ian Shea:Any future hurdles? Any future hurdles are gonna be nothing. That's, so,
Track 1:Now what, what, what's that saying? If you can, if your relationship can survive a, a remodel, you can, you can survive anything. I think I understand that
Ian Shea:yeah.
Track 1:more now than ever before.
Ian Shea:I, over this summer, last, last summer, Mike, I was, uh, in school still. I was taking statistics and I was building, uh, 200,000 square foot warehouses for a couple weeks on my own there. And, uh, it's been, uh, for our listeners, doesn't let you guys know that. I have been, uh, taking a bit of a break as well because I never understood how draining everything really was while it was going on. And then you ever go through that mic when you are able to take a step back and then a month or so later you're like, oh, oh man, I'm kind of tired. right now, know
Track 1:Yes. Yes. Um, yeah. I mean, I took a couple weeks off when Julian was born and didn't work at all, and that was like my first week stretch where I didn't have something work related.
Ian Shea:Mm-hmm.
Track 1:It was very nice. Now, it wasn't exactly a vacation taking care of a. Freshly born, um, baby. But, uh, yeah, I can definitely relate to that exhaustion and I'm sure all of our listeners, uh, can relate as well. Um, I know how important consistency is for the pod and for providing you guys with, uh, with regular content, and we are going to get back to doing that.
Ian Shea:Yes, we appreciate you guys for the allowance of us being human beings for a moment in time, and you all mean the world to us. This podcast is so much more than just talking about Formula One. It's. Mike and I really wanting to build a community of everybody, for everyone who just wants to hear something different from another perspective of Formula One. And I like find it funny, Mike, over the, uh, what I mean by this is over summer break. I'm sure you saw that, uh, Felipe was wanting to recall the 2008 championship.
Track 1:Yes, I saw that
Ian Shea:What I found nice was that we talked about that back in April.
Track 1:yeah, I mean, what, that's, uh, one of the most memorable moments in Formula One history having, you know, Ferrari and Felipe's family celebrating in the garage. And, uh, who was it that that had an issue?
Ian Shea:Team O Glock is that Glock.
Track 1:Yeah, uh, luck is a problem. Yeah. Uh, another Martin Brule golden piece of commentary. Um, what's your take on that?
Ian Shea:Give it up, like I said, back in April. Just give it up, man. It's, it's done. Also, Roman Rojan was on fire for longer than you were a world champion, so give it up.
Track 1:Yeah, it's just like a ridiculous statement, a ridiculous idea that the championship should be contested at all. But we're how many years? Got 15 years or something?
Ian Shea:something like that.
Track 1:craziness. Uh, as some of you may know, uh, Ricardo Danny, Rick broke his hand and Liam Lawson is set to replace him for the Dutch Grand Prix.
Ian Shea:How do you think Liam's gonna do you know more about him than I do, I think,'cause I know the name, but I don't know how he, how he's doing.
Track 1:Well, it was either gonna be Ricardo or Liam to take that seat. Um,
Ian Shea:Dre.
Track 1:think, uh, to take Dre's seat.
Ian Shea:Oh, to take, I didn't know if you meant, uh, by Dre or Liam to take Ricardo's seat. I didn't know if
Track 1:Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, uh, Ricardo or Lawson to take, uh, Dre's seat, uh, when you know Red Bull. Very Quickly decided that Dre was not their guy,
Ian Shea:For good reason.
Track 1:be part of the
Ian Shea:For good reason.
Track 1:Yeah.
Ian Shea:I I, remember people saying, that's harsh. That's harsh. That's harsh. No, it was a performance of a rookie with somebody who's not a rookie. I mean, multiple weekends he crashed in a row. Baku, he just biffed it, biffed into the corner of the wall saying, well, Lance stroll hit so.
Track 1:Yeah. And I mean, when you look at people like, uh, Piore and what they're doing in their rookie year, uh, you know, max had one of the best rookie years. They're looking for another max. Will they find another max? No. But it was pretty obvious that the, I think he's still 28, the 28 year old, the freeze was not going to live up to that standard. And why wait, why delay when you've already made your mind?
Ian Shea:Mm-hmm.
Track 1:Liam Lawson will be replacing Ricardo for the Dutch Grand Prix. Um, how do we think he's gonna do?
Ian Shea:I think he's gonna get swallowed up. Uh, this is a tricky track. It's a, it's a difficult track, in my opinion, to ride on, especially just like the elevation. elevation. changes alone. I'm sure that he's, I mean, he's had to have driven here before, and if he has, well follow the Logan Sergeant Rule. Of you do better at the tracks that you've been to. So he could have that in his bank. I don't know though. That's like a big if to this, no, I one practice, he'll have one practice and then quality to get his feet underneath him. I don't know how much sim time he's had. I'm sure he's had plenty of sim time to get acquainted with the car, but video games and reality are two different things, and I know it's not a video game. That's just the approach I'm taking. I What do you think Mike?
Track 1:Yeah, I mean, you know, sim driving, um, you have to, it's a simulation of racing on track and there are a lot of similarities, but nothing compares to the Gs uh, and the power and breaking capabilities of actually driving the real thing. Uh, I think if he contests Yuki in any way, shape or form, if he's within a couple tenths, then that will be successful for Liam Lawson.
Ian Shea:Up to six tenths, I'd give them up to six tenths. That's a huge
Track 1:I think if he's five six tenths off, it doesn't look, make him look good,
Ian Shea:No,
Track 1:uh, because he was penned as the replacement for Dre and for Danny Rick to step in right away and beat him, beat, uh, Yuki. Um, in, in some of the sessions we've had, I think he's gotta come a little bit closer than that.
Ian Shea:Three to four.
Track 1:I think that's acceptable, but I think he's, he's looking to be under three,
Ian Shea:See, I was trying to highball it. Two tenths would be incredible.
Track 1:I think that's job well done. And he positions himself very well to take a F one C in the near future. And he's, he's doing well in super formula right now and, uh, I think he's second in the standings.
Ian Shea:Well, if you ain't first, you're last, so that means nothing.
Track 1:shake and bake. Um, yeah, so, uh, it definitely adds a little element of, uh, you know, a wild card to the weekend. Uh, I think it still was a little bit of a wild card having Danny Rick back in the grid. And I think most f one fans would rather have Danny Rick on the grid. But, uh, yeah, we get to see how another other, uh, young kid does
Ian Shea:Did you see Lance is gonna be playing tennis? Did you hear that rumor,
Track 1:his ster feeling good.
Ian Shea:I thought of you brother.'cause it was, uh, it was me thinking can his wrists take such a physical sport? Because tennis is unbelievably athletic comparatively.
Track 1:you seen those guys like, like Nadal, when they compare like his left arm to his right arm? It's crazy. It's so demanding of a sport, not only with your wrist, but just with your stamina and your legs, and
Ian Shea:The lateral
Track 1:great workout. Yeah.
Ian Shea:I don't think,
Track 1:but
Ian Shea:don't,
Track 1:I didn't see that though.
Ian Shea:that's the word. It's gonna go play tennis. I threw a tweet out there. I asked if, uh, Lawrence was gonna have to buy Wimbledon in order for him to be able to be able to play Three
Track 1:it like he's trying to do
Ian Shea:I don't
Track 1:something in tennis, like actually, or just for fun.
Ian Shea:Maybe for funsies, this is all, I just read the headline. I didn't really look too into it'cause I just thought it was outlandish and hilarious to
Track 1:the tour.
Ian Shea:tennis.
Track 1:World Rank Top 1000.
Ian Shea:What if he's like one, number one in the world and we just never He was doing formula one for fun.
Track 1:It is secretly the greatest tennis player who's ever lived. Yeah. I'm not gonna hold my breath on that one.
Ian Shea:I was rewatching races over summer break and went back to Australia because it was a great race,
Track 1:Yeah.
Ian Shea:and then watching it the second time over that red flag instead of just letting the race finish with three laps left. I thought that was a good decision. The first one.'cause there were two, correct? Yeah. The first one
Track 1:Yes.
Ian Shea:I didn't really see a point. I understand looking at it now.
Track 1:I.
Ian Shea:cause in the time I was like, oh, this is a great idea. You can get three laps in B, B, B. But the amount of time it took,'cause the race was at an hour 50, and then you look at near the ending, it's two hours 50. You're like, oh yeah, that's like an extra hour was added with three laps to go. It was close to a longer period of time than I was thinking it was, or remembering that it was. And Mike, my opinion is if there's three laps left, just wave to the crowd. Just get, go home, pack it up. And we saw with those crashes too, what can happen with a restart with three, I mean it's just three laps. get a couple p uh, changes in position. But I am now, I. I'm going to say otherwise
Track 1:What if there weren't any crashes
Ian Shea:nah, I wouldn't care. I would just accept the fate. I, I'm fine with just accepting the fate of a race ending under a safety car That's racing to me sometimes you and without of grand finale or some big crazy thing
Track 1:or sometimes in spa you do three laps and call it a race. Uh, there was a whole lot of controversy. Wow. That red was In process, uh, and everybody was sitting in the pits and you know, the commentary saying, are they gonna go out? Are they not? What will the grid order look like? Uh, always remember Fernando, you know, in sector ones kind of stating exactly how it was going to go. Uh,
Ian Shea:After, yeah, after almost getting into an accident or something like that. yeah,
Track 1:yeah, exactly. Um, I, I mean the regulations, I suppose if, if there's a lapse left to complete those laps, as long as the, the time limit has not elapsed. So I understand why they finished the race and went out there for, for a few laps, but, uh, maybe that's something they'd want to change in the future. I think it's such a niche. Situation that's not very likely to happen.
Ian Shea:Mm-hmm.
Track 1:Um, so I mean, let's say 2021, uh, Abu Dhabi, if they would've red flagged Latifee crash, what do you think? Should they have ended the race there or should they have let them go out for a couple more?
Ian Shea:I think that would be an acceptable point in time to Red flag, get everyone to do the Australia procedure at that race because it was that race. wasn't just a, you know, not even mid-season adventure. It was
Track 1:the rules,
Ian Shea:race.
Track 1:the rules don't matter though.
Ian Shea:Well, the rules matter. the rules always
Track 1:comes first.
Ian Shea:The show does not come first, but I. Sometimes the show comes first.
Track 1:Yeah.
Ian Shea:I think I, that situation was so special. We hadn't seen anything like it since 2008, 2007, 2008, and 2010. So those were those three, dude, by the way, from 2004 to 2011, 12 Bananas, formula One was awesome. It was, there was no real dominance going on.
Track 1:Yep.
Ian Shea:And now we've,
Track 1:me back.
Ian Shea:I miss those days. And I was also thinking about rookie seasons because of what Oscar's been doing. And Louis Hamilton, I know you're not, I know he's not your guy, but his rookie season
Track 1:Uh, immense respect for Lewis.
Ian Shea:for like to be one point away, I. From winning a world championship. Your first time out there?
Track 1:Yeah,
Ian Shea:I haven't seen it was Michael Schumacher, I think is the only one I can think of that was remotely close.'cause him and Lewis have like kind of similar careers in an aspect. Both win a title their second year.
Track 1:yeah, absolutely. I mean, max won his first race. They put him in a Red Bull
Ian Shea:Mm-hmm.
Track 1:first time he was in a race winning car. He won.
Ian Shea:Mm-hmm.
Track 1:Um, and we've had some fantastic rookie years, but Lewis's rookie year was spectacular. Uh, and we, we talk all this praise of Fernando Alonzo, uh, and no one expected Alonzo to. Get bested by a rookie. Uh, but he kinda did.
Ian Shea:Oh he got, he got shown up. Drove him outta McLaren.
Track 1:Yeah. Yes Yes he did.
Ian Shea:Great Britain. Bright quick. Orlando leading. Woo. That was pretty sweet.
Track 1:Uh, I still feel so bad for Oscar for not getting that podium. It was so well deserved
Ian Shea:Mm-hmm. It would've been cool to have a papaya. Two, three.
Track 1:and he got the sprint podium. But did they really, does that really mean
Ian Shea:No, no.
Track 1:I mean, it meant a hell of a lot to glee. Uh, and it should. He is not in a car that remotely is remotely close to. A podium deserving car. Um,
Ian Shea:but was it a podium deserving race like you? No.
Track 1:all 10 laps of it.
Ian Shea:Yeah, that's the thing. It's kind of like the safety car. You know? Sometimes you just, do you really wanna run the three laps Do you really wanna change a whole weekend format? I know Stop
Track 1:I don't know if spa is the best sprint race candidate.
Ian Shea:It still
Track 1:just so few laps,
Ian Shea:You know what's weird too, is coming to Zand Fort after Summer Break Spa is where you go to after summer break. That's how you know you're back into Formula One. Obviously the race lets you know, but the location, I'm not trying to be a purist here.'cause I find that disgusting to say I, I don't like that whole, like, we're not changing things. However, however, come on, just keep spy after the break.
Track 1:Come on,
Ian Shea:Make us wait. I loved it because you were just itching for Formula One and then Boom Spa. I'm not saying Zan V isn't a cool track.
Track 1:I don't, mind the, what race we get back to. I mean, Xander's a a very unique and cool racetrack. I don't think we're gonna see an immense amount of overtaking as there really aren't many opportunities to do that. Uh, but qualifying will be. Hopefully, uh, a banger, uh, and hopefully McLaren or the rest of the top runners can challenge or stopping. How do we think Perez is gonna do? He's at a couple weeks out of the car, out of the spotlight, we're gonna see a, a revitalized checko or more of the same. Ian?
Ian Shea:Off of memory from the timing sheets, which were all over the place for this weekend, and I'm very excited to see qualifying because I think that's where the action, it's way the, it's where the action's been all season long and P eight through 12 during the race, going back to checkout, the timing charts off the top of my head, P five in FP one, and then P seven in FP two. That isn't acceptable for him. He could have easily gone P two, P three even to just say, oh, great, he's back in the game. But these P five to seven plays or games that he plays have become a bit too consistent with Checko and Red Bull. It's not what they're looking for, it's obviously what he's not looking for. Like his decline seems to be in in step in parallel with other teammates declines racing with Max for sapen. My question to you, sir, do you think it's because as the season progresses further, the car goes more towards Max's driving style with a very heavy front end that's incredibly sensitive. And my
Track 1:wouldn't they have designed it that way going into the year?
Ian Shea:yes. And.
Track 1:that wouldn't really be something that they would just suddenly change, okay, we've got our car set up now, let's completely engineer it towards Max. Like they would've done that before even showing up for the first race, right.
Ian Shea:Yes. And I think that when you have the beginning of the season, you kind of need to do a carte blanche, if I may, if I'm using that for everything involved, just so you can have feedback from both drivers and whoever provides the strongest feedback or who's the stronger driver in that platform, then you are gonna start leaning towards them because as points go forward, people say that, okay, there's a clear number one and two in this garage for any team, and it seems like whoever is the number one kind of gets more of a preferential treatment. And I think also that the beginning of the season was more of a level playing field for Checko because his performance in 2022, if I'm not mistaken, wasn't like it is this year.
Track 1:It was better in some regards. Um, I just feel like at the beginning of the year, he, you know, the, the things he was saying to the press, uh, I'm trying to win a world championship. And now his entire mindset has shifted, uh, even to the public that that is no longer his objective. So if you no longer think that you're the best or you can be the best, how can you possibly expect to be the best? I don't think you can. So it, I think it's a, a common dynamic that happens to all of Max's teammates thus far. They come to this realization that they're not faster than him, so their expectation of driving faster than him or. Extracting more to, to beat him, just fades away. And the results follow at the, it's a similar, I mean, glee had a very rough time, um, Alban, you know, a little bit of victim to other drivers at time, but also there's a reason why they got rid of both of them. So I don't have a lot of confidence in Checko having the ability to extract the performance he once had at the beginning of the year. Uh, if things continue like this where he's getting beat by the McLaren's, by Mercedes, and Max is winning all the races. I can't see a world where Red Bull won't at least contemplate doing something different. I mean, if there's more competition, look at how close the McLaren's are. Look at how close the Mercedes are. I mean, the Ferrari's are, are generally the, the driver's performances are, are close, is what I mean. Uh, so if, if these teams are able to actually compete with the Red Bull, is it good enough for, for Red Bull to have a driver who finishes first and a driver who finishes seventh? It, it won't be the, the team that finishes second, third consistently will, will beat the team that finishes first and seventh. So it's gonna be interesting to see if, if he can make, uh, a comeback. Um, I just think his confidence has already gone. Ian.
Ian Shea:I didn't think about the mental aspect of it at all. Everything you said does make sense, and if you've already lost in your own mind before you step into the car, you're not gonna win out on track. Marco also said that
Track 1:Just, Yeah. go ahead.
Ian Shea:also said that Checko had finally woken up from his dream. World Championship. Dr. Helme, Marco
Track 1:ho.
Ian Shea:is an animal all season long. This dude just puts his foot on the neck and does not let up
Track 1:That's so hard hear from Chico's perspective. The, the fact is though
Ian Shea:he's right,
Track 1:brutally honest
Ian Shea:he's right.
Track 1:right He's right.
Ian Shea:He just doesn't have any tact, if that's the word.
Track 1:Yeah. I think he could, he's tack for this situation. I mean, he's, he, he's not exactly one who's going to, um, beat around the bush. You know, he's gonna be very direct with the way he feels things are going, and I think generally he's right most of the time,
Ian Shea:I do, he's got a hundred percent kill rate and at his age you don't care. You don't care about certain things anymore. There's a level of freedom that he ha when you are that old and that, right. You can say what Dr. Helme, Marco does. And sir, we say that with all due respect. You are a legend in the sport with what you've done and who you've chosen. So, yeah. Okay. Hungry to go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth from calendar point. The calendar point,
Track 1:Yeah.
Ian Shea:the first turn was miserable by turn three. Lewis Hamilton, P four brother. I wanted to cry and throw up. Second thing about Hungary, my, my, oh my God, he's my, one of my best friends, he was in Hungary with his girlfriend. They were visiting her family and he was on the phone with us and I said, Hey, demand, where are you right now? He's like, oh, I'm in, I'm in Budapest. He's like, are you going to the race? He, there's a race happening, like, yeah, go to the race. He was on the hillside. You could see it. So on the penultimate hairpin
Track 1:Yep.
Ian Shea:look up at to like at the apex when the car starts rotating and you can see that hillside diagonal of if you got like looking up the track that you just drove down. He was on that hillside and I was trying to look for him the whole time and say, Hey, I saw you, but you couldn't, but he got to go to the race and I'm so pumped for him. It was awesome.
Track 1:That's awesome. And I hear it's a reasonably priced, uh, grand Prix weekend to go to, unlike, unlike some of them.
Ian Shea:Yeah, for Formula One? Yeah. He was like, it's expensive. I was like, it's Formula One. Like for Formula One money. It was reasonable.
Track 1:Right. Yeah. But Hungary, uh, was, was, decent. Um, in general, uh, we got to see more of McLaren's performance, um, And I'm, I can't wait to see if they can continue to hopefully challenge, uh, but, uh, with Max winning the race by over 30 seconds, I'm not gonna expect too much I'm, but yeah, we were still in that exciting phase of is McLaren actually this good? Uh, and I thought, yeah, and, and they more or less, uh, affirmed that with Lando finishing second.
Ian Shea:The hit stop. McLaren did. I'm still thinking about they gained nine seconds somehow I'm like, I don't understand the math, because it was a three second gap or something like that when they pit and then coming out and, uh, they did Oscar dirty, by the way, by putting'em on the worse option for pit stops. nine seconds. They gained nine seconds from their pit stop. I don't understand the math, but incredible job by McLaren for that weekend.
Track 1:Yeah, I mean, for some reason some tracks you're better off doing an undercut other tracks. You're better off doing an overcut for. I, I think, you know, there's a variety of factors that go in, uh, your in lap, uh, your out lap, as well as the pit stop timing. Uh, if I remember right, that it's not like they totally butchered Oscar. It was just that Lando crushed it with his in lap and his out lap, and was able to take position. I know there was controversy, uh, over the driver who was not in a more favorable position at that point of the race getting preferential treatment. For, uh, pit stops. But if I'm McLaren, I would be doing everything I could to try to get Landau Norris in the best possible, uh, position. I'm sure Oscar would love to stay there for a couple years. And before McLaren came out in Great Britain and had that tremendous performance, there was a lot of questions going around whether Lando Norris would be willing to stick around, uh, when there was seemingly no light at the end of the tunnel. Uh, I think that has definitely shifted. Uh, Orlando's, you know, likely gonna be happy to stay, but, uh, I can't fault McLaren for wanting to set who's most likely their best driver at this Point in time up for an optimal position.
Ian Shea:And Mike, for our listeners who are new to Formula One, what is an undercut?
Track 1:So an undercut is when you pit and the guy in front of you stays out. Uh, so you pit first. You try to drive very fast. Uh, when you get outta the pits and hopefully, uh, the driver that you were previously behind, you are now ahead. uh, in an overcut, in very, very basic terms and an overcut is when, uh, the driver who didn't pit, uh, pits the next lap and is able to maintain his position or gain more ground.
Ian Shea:Thank you sir.
Track 1:My pleasure.
Ian Shea:Any predictions do you think? Any predictions, anything? Gonna be crazy?
Track 1:Uh, it's hard to say with, um, only seeing P one and P two, um, you know, we had Lando taking the top spot and the first practice session max taking the top spot, um, in the first, I dunno if I said Lando in the first, it was Lando in the second session. If I, sorry if I misspoke. Uh, but everyone is on different run plans and different strategies for, for practice at, at this stage. So it's, you know, it's, it's hard to say. I would, uh, I. The Formula One pessimist in me thinks things are probably gonna be similar to the way things happen with, um, you know, max comfortably winning, followed by some order of McLaren's and Mercedes.
Ian Shea:I, uh, I don't, is there anything that Aston Martin can do to climb themselves out of their holes? Because I think we're gonna see
Track 1:No
Ian Shea:stagnate
Track 1:I really, this should be a track that they excel in. If, you know, with Fernando doing well in Monaco, uh, stating that he thought they would have a great chance at, uh, hungry, which they say is like Monaco without walls, but I, I don't really buy that at all. Um, I just think that they've fallen behind in the development battle, something that that team is famous for doing. And when you're at this stage of the season, you know half to two thirds at the latest, you stop developing your car for the year and you start developing the car for the year to follow. So how much ground can they really make up at this point when they've fallen so far behind?
Ian Shea:I don't think they're gonna be able to. I think the stagnation is gonna set in for them. Haas Alpha. Alpine. Alpine has to, there is no way they're gonna be able to progress this late into the season. New team principle, with that aggressive of a future plan for the team I, they've got,
Track 1:we gonna do predictions?
Ian Shea:oh no, I'm just
Track 1:Yuki. Yuki. Yuki. P 10.
Ian Shea:P 10 for the race, or P 10 for always
Track 1:10. P 10.
Ian Shea:Just strictly P 10
Track 1:Yuki,
Ian Shea:I don't P 10 for what? The race or the season? Qua every.
Track 1:Yuki P 10 for the rest of his life. Yuki P 10, Ted. Yeah,
Ian Shea:All right. Then Alex Alban. He's gonna be a point score consistently.
Track 1:I can see that.
Ian Shea:I
Track 1:see how Alban finishing eighth, ninth.
Ian Shea:I could see Williams being a team that would somehow eke out all the financials to continue. They think they have to continue improving their car all season long. I think they're, they could be in a special situation where they're so underdeveloped that the free track time, I, how much money do they have left?
Track 1:it, it depends on the constructor. Standings. So right now Williams is seventh, they're tied with Haas. So if Williams can get a couple points, finishes and extend that gap, there's no way they're catching Alpine. At sixth, it's 11 points to 57.
Ian Shea:Oh
Track 1:So what's the point in them developing the car to get 30, 40 points for this year? I don't really see it develop it enough So that you secure seventh maybe after.
Ian Shea:For the purse.
Track 1:Yeah, exactly.
Ian Shea:Just keep it in line until you can say, okay, we've got it.
Track 1:Yeah, exactly. Once they're, they feel very confident they're gonna be able to maintain and hold some, which I think is a tremendous accomplishment for them to be quite honest
Ian Shea:Mike. I was blown back. I thought they were eighth, ninth.
Track 1:I think seventh would be fantastic for Williams.
Ian Shea:That's the best they've done in forever.
Track 1:yeah, I mean, there, there were years in recent past where they were racing their own race. So I think if they can maintain seventh, that's fantastic. To, uh, dedicate all of your development, your r and d, all of the, the money you have left to trying to get six or or fifth next year.
Ian Shea:A good, excuse me. That's a good future.
Track 1:I think it's realistic.
Ian Shea:Yeah.
Track 1:You see what VOWS has done so far. Uh,
Ian Shea:Jimmy
Track 1:They have a driver like Albom.
Ian Shea:who's dedicated to the team
Track 1:Yeah,
Ian Shea:J, with Jensen Button as the driver coach and Susie Wolf backing the team. They've got a very bright future ahead. I never, I didn't know if they had an outcome for their plea for more money to develop their building because it's leaking.
Track 1:I think the point of the regulations is that over time, the gap closes. So I think they, they can't start changing the rules now that they've set them. I, I think that they need to continue their test of, okay, red Bull is gonna be first again, that means they're gonna get less development. Wind tunnel time again. Is that gonna be detrimental? Is, is. Will the result of Ferrari potentially finishing forth, which I think they'll, they'll beat, um, Aston Martin. Honestly, I have confidence that McLaren will also surpass Aston Martin. I mean, it's 93 points at this point with half of the season to go. I, I would not be surprised if Aston Martin ends up finishing fifth, which is just crazy when you think about the ginning of the year.
Ian Shea:P two to P five obscene. That's quite the fall. I can't who in recent memory has done something like that? Williams
Track 1:Ferrari uh,
Ian Shea:Ferrari's number one in our hearts though.
Track 1:it's gotta be Ferrari
Ian Shea:number one in our hearts,
Track 1:Who's bottled? X? Oh, Ferrari
Ian Shea:Hey, when you've been around the sport long enough, you're gonna be able to say, I've done it All. You know
Track 1:Yeah. You know, geez, who's fallen from Grace Moore
Ian Shea:is Carlos signs.
Track 1:Ferrari?
Ian Shea:Is Carlos signs. gonna be sticking around next season? Is he looking for a
Track 1:he gonna go? Let's think hypotheticals here. Uh,
Ian Shea:Aston,
Track 1:Checko is doing awful. He continues being seventh and eighth.
Ian Shea:you have Danny,
Track 1:Who's helm? Who, who's helmet calling?
Ian Shea:Danny
Track 1:Who's
Ian Shea:would be the first one I would think of.
Track 1:with, with a broken hand? He's not gonna have much of a rest of the year to prove his worth. Okay, so Danny's on speed dial. Who's who? Who else is. Is he gonna call up Lando?
Ian Shea:Valery,
Track 1:No.
Ian Shea:'cause he worked with Mercedes, but he's a great number two, he's fast. He can handle a championship winning car. He'll take a couple wins, but
Track 1:he getting beaten in the standings right now by Joe?
Ian Shea:I don't think so. I'll bet$5. I'll bet
Track 1:five points and Joe has four.
Ian Shea:win's a win. I'll take that.
Track 1:So I guess
Ian Shea:Win is a win. Yeah, you do. Woo won something this season, but he's got the experience of a top team. He knows what it takes. He, he helped win eight, not eight, but he helped win five, four. Man, math, math is hard. Four constructor champ, half of them, 50%. He's an exceptional qualifier. You already know he is gonna hit a mid-season slump where you don't have to worry about him threatening the championship It's, he's predictable,
Track 1:uh, you know, I didn't even think about checkout. Uh, I think Lando would be number one on the list.
Ian Shea:but, but do you wanna have someone that skill level, that skill level against Max.
Track 1:you do. If, if your helmet, Marco and Christian Orner, you have so much confidence in Max that it doesn't matter who you put in the seat, max will win.
Ian Shea:I would
Track 1:So why wouldn't you try to get potentially the second best driver on the grid, uh, to go alongside? Who wouldn't want to drive for Red Bull? Who? Who doesn't want to be in the fastest car?
Ian Shea:No one in their right mind wouldn't wanna be no one not in their right mind. I'm trying to find a double. Is it a double negative I'm supposed to use to make that work?
Track 1:No one in their right mind.
Ian Shea:Where would Joe go? Where would Joey go?'cause I'm just thinking if Valerie, you would keep Joe, I'm, I'm sticking to my guns. I would call Valerie.
Track 1:he's got that China money.
Ian Shea:You want that and you want that. That's a serious, the amount of sponsors he's brought. he's he's worth so much money.
Track 1:It's like a pay driver who's actually decent.
Ian Shea:I really like him.
Track 1:He's done really well.
Ian Shea:Second season in, I think he's doing great. else could Carlos go? He's not going to, he's not going to Alpine
Track 1:I don't think Carlos goes anywhere.
Ian Shea:now.
Track 1:I think we're looking at the Ferrari lineup for
Ian Shea:quite some time.
Track 1:next couple years. Yeah.
Ian Shea:Are we
Track 1:if you're a Ferrari fan, I think that's fine. I think it's totally fine. Uh,
Ian Shea:doing better this year than Charles, is he not?
Track 1:Charles for some reason has found himself for the last couple years to be a victim of bad strategy and bad luck. I think anyone in their right mind would think that Charles is the better driver, but sometimes the final point standings do not reflect that. And I think that's more to do with the team that they're driving for than anything else.
Ian Shea:Has Charles Le Claire,
Track 1:very consistent. Go ahead.
Ian Shea:has Charles Le Claire's talent fizzled out, or his Ferrari not been able to deliver his talent because.
Track 1:like Lewis with Mercedes last year when you just know your car isn't gonna win and you're of that standard of driving. I think it's easy to slip a little bit.
Ian Shea:Well, he's had, I mean, 2019 and 20 were incredible.
Track 1:Yeah.
Ian Shea:And then 2021, the year of the horrible engine came into play. And what I'm trying to find right now is I'm gonna, I. support Charles, but the fairy dust that was around him when he first entered the seam, that same tenacity is seeming to be missing from four years on Charles LeClaire. And that's what's worrying me about his overall longevity in the sport because he's still relatively new. He's still, I, I would say on the grid you have what he, Carlos has been there long. Louis, Fernando, Lance Valery. You got Danny, Rick, George Russell, same time as him. Okay. So he's, I wouldn't, I don't wanna call him senior, but I want to call him ex, like he's got the experience but his
Track 1:is experienced at
Ian Shea:but his performance isn't showing what it was two years ago. That was a really long way to say his performance has been declining. It's upsetting to see it's
Track 1:Well, it's hard to perform at the peak when you're not on a peak team.
Ian Shea:right.
Track 1:And for his first couple years with Ferrari, he was on a peak team when he was driving for Alpha Romeo. Nothing against Marcus Erickson, but he's no Charles. Uh, so it was easy for him to drastically outperform his teammate. And we still see flashes of Charles's brilliance. I mean, we, his qualifying pace is potentially the fastest on the entire grid, but his confidence in his team is not the same when he first showed up to Ferrari and he had the magical aura of Thema. I've always wanted to be a Ferrari driver and I'm a Ferrari. Well, now he's been there for a couple years and he says, damn, this team kind of sucks
Ian Shea:Yeah.
Track 1:I wanna, I want a better team. I'm pissed off. Uh, my first year in, my second year in at this team, I had a chance of challenging for the title, and now I'm not even close to that. So, yeah, I think if we, if Ferrari has a more competitive car, a consistently competitive car, Charles would outperform science. But some of the strategy decisions that Ferrari has made, they've gambled using Charles and it never worked out like at all. So, Yeah, I think he's been a, a victim of the team making gambles. We'll do the safe strategy with Carlos. We'll do the risky one with Charles and the risky one has just never worked out.
Ian Shea:I don't, I don't have much else in my brain about Formula
Track 1:Do you want to do predictions? We never did the scoring for the Belgian Grand Prix for a spa.
Ian Shea:Yeah. Yeah. Let's bang it out.
Track 1:we, we can, rip through those
Ian Shea:rip through those in seven minutes.
Track 1:yeah.
Ian Shea:Alright. Power through it.
Track 1:All right. Racists, come on. Scroll bar. You can do it, Nikki.
Ian Shea:Is this on the air quote For those of you listening shared Google Sheet that I've never seen. End
Track 1:You go Yes it is. Yes it is. Uh, alright, so qualifying, uh, rapid podcast predictions. Qualifying was Max Charles Checo Lewis. I had Max Lando, Oscar Lewis, one and a Half Points You had Max Lando, George Alonzo,
Ian Shea:Half a point.
Track 1:half a 0.0, sorry. Uh, race. I had Max Oscar Landau. You had Max Lewis Checko, our actual race results, or Max Checko. And who are we just talking about a few moments ago? Uh, who, who, who are we just talking about? That's right. Charles Motherfucking LeClaire. Third.
Ian Shea:It is one podium. It's one podium. All right,
Track 1:don't you be putting no shade on my boy, Charles, don't you be, don't be doing that. So, yeah. Uh, max first. Checo Charles. Looks like we both got half a point. Hey, Checo on there. Maybe that should just be half a point. You got anything right with Checko? Uh, So Scraper award P 10, I had Lance. You had Logan Sergeant P 10 was always P 10. Yuki. Sonota
Ian Shea:yay
Track 1:Biggest Blunder P 20. I had re Bottas. You had Kevin Magnusson
Ian Shea:Holgenburg caught the, he caught the brunt of the magnusson. If I'm not correct or if I'm not mistaken,
Track 1:I guess we gotta count. The PIA three zero app did not finish,
Ian Shea:I, uh, no, no, that, that was it. I forgot about that. I forgot that he dove down the inside and turned one and then was like, oh, wow. That space disappeared.
Track 1:Yeah. Yeah.
Ian Shea:rookie mistake. You never go down the inside ever.
Track 1:Fastest lap
Ian Shea:go?
Track 1:For some reason we both put Checko for fastest
Ian Shea:We were high on
Track 1:have, I have no idea why we decided to do that. Um, the correct answer was Lewis, uh, and what are we looking at for time? Alright, we are getting down to it. Dutch Grand pri. Who you got in call Ian.
Ian Shea:max Orlando, Lewis
Track 1:And the last part, the last spot on the second row
Ian Shea:Alban.
Track 1:who?
Ian Shea:Why not? Let's put a little gusto. Let's put a little salsa on its chip.
Track 1:I also think it will be Max Lando Lewis, just based on, uh, recent form. Um, but when it comes to that fourth spot, I'm gonna throw a checko on there.
Ian Shea:I still believe, I still believe for him,
Track 1:I don't, but his car's so freaking fast that like, who's uh, who's on the podium? Ian?
Ian Shea:Oh,
Track 1:Half a point.
Ian Shea:Half a point. Louis. Oscar.
Track 1:Cool. I will go with Max Lando Oscar.
Ian Shea:Oh, okay.
Track 1:I'm I'm back in McLaren, P 10. I already said I'm going with Yuki. Who are you going with?
Ian Shea:Joe,
Track 1:Show we boy.
Ian Shea:no.
Track 1:no.
Ian Shea:Ocon,
Track 1:Biggest Blunder.
Ian Shea:Joe
Track 1:Oh, I thought you were gonna go with'em. With both. He's, that's, that would be a new strategy.
Ian Shea:P 10
Track 1:the same driver. 10 20. You got, You know,
Ian Shea:Double the points. You gotta take a
Track 1:yeah man. 10% chance, uh, I'm gonna go with Liam Lawson.
Ian Shea:Yeah, it's makes sense. Yeah. That's a safe bet. You, Mike, you know who's getting fastest? Slap checko. Put that one in. Bold old. If you're even typing it into this Google sheet of yours. Fucking is Google. Even a company is
Track 1:I'm putting check on there as well. It's for the meme.
Ian Shea:Just for
Track 1:right. And what are we have for time? Did we do it? Did we do it?
Ian Shea:have one minute.
Track 1:Oh, with
Ian Shea:on What are the points? What are the points?
Track 1:Oh God. You're gonna make me do this right now.
Ian Shea:Are you tallying? Alright,
Track 1:I mean,
Ian Shea:all right,
Track 1:uh,
Ian Shea:here's a disclaimer. I have vacation this weekend, dear listeners, so we will not be recording on Sunday. I come back Wednesday. Mike, are you gonna be available Wednesday? Hope so. Alright, cool. So check us out for Thursday. 30 seconds.
Track 1:Or six.
Ian Shea:Is it the red wire or the green wire? Which one are you gonna have to cut?
Track 1:can, I can try to count all these right now if you really want,
Ian Shea:No,
Track 1:uh,
Ian Shea:I should probably just make a post and put these up for anyone playing along at home, which he should be. Heath had pay attention to that one. It's where it's at. Well, that's all the time we legitimately have. We love you guys. Thank you so much for listening, Mike
Track 1:We'll have a tally for you on Wednesday. Thank you guys. Good to be back, and we will talk to you soon. Enjoy the race.
Ian Shea:Love you guys. Bye.