But the Strong Start on Sunday. Chinese Grand Prix 2026.

Why is Toto Wolff smiling? Wait. Why is Lewis Hamilton smiling? And why is Max threatening to take his toys and go home? Join Brian and Patrick on the Hard Compound for the answers, and more. 

• Kimi Antonelli won his first F1 Grand Prix, but we predict Ollie Bearman will soon become F1's biggest star. 
• We like these new regulations. Don't let the haters convince you otherwise.
• Can F1 ever have the equivalent of an Indy 500?
• Why Toto Wolff should not be allowed to buy Alpine. Why Christian Horner might run Aston Martin. 
• Plus, our praise for Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu. Which big money team will poach him? 

And as always, thank you for listening to everybody's most beloved father and son F1 podcast!  

Transcript

Brian S Hall (00:00.751)
Hey, son.

Patrick (00:02.094)
Howdy.

Brian S Hall (00:04.056)
I I'm having a moment after all these years. Suddenly I see young people walking around, talking about, praising, celebrating F1 and the Beatles. My two favorite things forever, seems like two of them. So good to see, good to see. You like to see it continue on. So, all right, so you ready to go?

Patrick (00:29.102)
I'm ready to go.

Brian S Hall (00:30.938)
Hello, welcome to Hard Compound American Take on Formula One. Today, we saw the China Grand Prix. It good. I liked it. Smile on young Kimmy Antonello's face. Smile on Lewis Hamilton's face. Seems like forever since the podium. We just hardly believe. But that was a good time. Like old times. Mercedes had the whole game back together. There was Lewis, there was George, had Kimmy there, Bono.

That was nice to see. Son, why don't you give me your thoughts on the Chinese Grand Prix and your top five? Because there were at least five cars that didn't finish.

Patrick (01:12.142)
Seems like yeah, we're way back in in 2014 bunch of people not starting not finishing but No, it still still fun a lot of action. We had a sprint race this weekend also which I'm sure most teams

Brian S Hall (01:23.056)
Yeah.

Patrick (01:38.304)
were not happy that they had to compete in a sprint race since most teams seem to be having a bit of a difficult time with their vehicles but nose

Brian S Hall (01:50.192)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, maybe maybe they didn't get the schedule. Who knows? It's like, hey, you know, there's going to be a race. There's one in Australia. There's going to be one in China. You have the slack down. Is it on your calendar? Every car ready?

Patrick (02:04.278)
Yeah, yeah, there I think a few teams that really struggled this weekend with sort of preparation but ultimately I think fans were treated to some very fun racing and you can complain all you want about the new regulations, the power units

it's you know not traditional formula one whatever but it's exciting i mean you gotta give it that at least it is fun to see i am a big fan of watching lewis and charles battle it out with each other because both of them obviously believe that they're

Brian S Hall (02:42.639)
It is.

It is?

Patrick (03:02.134)
better driver or at least currently the number one driver should be considered the number one driver at Ferrari and they clearly have a top two car and man that they are fun to watch. The Mercedes duo yet again at the top it's clear that they just have more speed than basically anybody else but

I don't know. All of it is fun. Midpack is fun. You don't know who's going to start or who's going to finish. We've got a bunch of guys trying to just make a name for themselves. And sometimes it goes well and sometimes it doesn't. Last week it went well for Arvid. This week it didn't. So, you know, I think it's been a lot of fun the first two weeks of the season.

Brian S Hall (03:49.85)
Right, right.

Brian S Hall (04:00.282)
I can't.

Patrick (04:00.622)
This weekend was great. You know, we're going to have to see how the rest of the season plays out. But if we get continued sort of excitement like we have, I think people are going to start to sort of accept the fact that Formula One has changed. And this is what it is now.

Brian S Hall (04:20.42)
Yeah. I think you, you totally hit it there. Two races in to the entirely new regulations, new cars. I've enjoyed the racing. I mean, it's hard to go online because you have nothing but people complaining. Max Verstappen is the loudest and let's say, Hey, I'm sorry. Maybe these cars don't play to your strengths. Suck it up or leave. But most of the fans, know, and there's all this isn't real racing. This isn't real F1.

You're not a real fan. Shut the hell up. You don't know what you're talking about. This is fun. I do think there is some legitimacy to complaints that only the two premier engine manufacturers are doing well. Mercedes and Ferrari. Now they have a bunch of customer teams and they're struggling. to me, everyone, think a lot of people are blaming battery. It's like,

The stupid battery gives them, you know, it's artificial. You shouldn't give them power. It's fake. I like it. I liked watching Charles and Lewis battle. I liked them going up against George. I liked how Kimmy sort of played them off one another. But I mean, to me, think the issue that's causing problems are so many cars are not ready, especially the, you know, the customer cars. McLaren clearly not ready.

Um, Aston, I don't know what to say. Williams, I mean, they kept talking last year like, oh yeah, yeah, nothing's going to happen in 2025 because we're, you know, we're focused on 2026. I'm like, I'm not sure you were, but so anyway, I think it's been fun, fun to watch and I think it'll just get better. So who do you have? Who are your top five?

Patrick (06:08.888)
Yeah, I I think there were a lot of really good drives this weekend, some not so good, but you gotta give flowers to Kimi, wins his first race from pole, youngest ever pole sitter in F1. I mean, just all kinds of superlatives this weekend for him. And there were

flashes so far in his young career that he's fast has a lot of talent but also He's clearly very raw very young makes some mistakes. He did plenty of that last year And You know it all came together for him this weekend won his first race There's only what like a hundred and

just over a hundred people in the history of the world that have ever won a Formula One race. So adds his name to the list and he's 19 years old. That's pretty cool.

Brian S Hall (07:16.078)
Yeah, nice. Yeah, nice. Nice. And I mean, he had lot of difficulties not just last year, but last week. so, yeah, that was good to see.

Patrick (07:27.342)
yeah, then I gotta go Then I gotta go with the exact opposite end of the spectrum Lewis Hamilton He finally seems to be Having fun in Formula One again, which is good to see battled His teammate for most of that race most of the weekend really

battled George and You see when he's comfortable in the car. He is About as good as anybody. I mean He it's not like Leclerc was backing down at all Leclerc got him in the in the sprint Hamilton sort of outlasted Leclerc in the in the GP so I Think he had a great weekend. I hope that battle at Ferrari continues

I think at this point they're aware that they are not quite as good as Mercedes, but they're clearly the number two team. And both of those drivers want that last spot on the podium every single weekend. So I think it'll be fun to see, see how that plays out. Then, back down to, a newer driver. I'm going with Ollie Baerman here.

Brian S Hall (08:37.197)
Yeah.

Patrick (08:57.326)
I mean, speaking of sort of the customer teams, Haas with Ferrari Power Unit, they seem to their shit together. And Olly Behrmann seems to be kind of the best of the rest through two races this season. He was great again and pretty much only

Brian S Hall (09:11.342)
They do.

Patrick (09:26.338)
Gasly among the midfield was able to kind of match him and bareman still was was kind of comfortable coming in fifth and Fifth in Haas, I think it's pretty darn good. So I'm putting them up there

Brian S Hall (09:42.574)
Yeah, in the second year. I mean, he showed up at, he showed up Ocon pretty much since he got there.

Patrick (09:48.71)
Yeah, yep, well speaking of Gasly, I have him in the top five as well. Alpine looks pretty handy this season. I am shocked by this. I am shocked by this. so yeah, I don't know what else to say, but Gasly looks pretty good.

Brian S Hall (10:02.544)
How about this?

Both cars end up points.

Patrick (10:20.014)
Yeah, I think he's having a little bit of fun again this season. So, you know, again, back to our discussion about all formula one is changing and blah, blah, blah. Well, there's a few drivers who seem to be having a little bit of a resurgence in their in their careers. So far this season, I know it's only two races in, but I think it's good to see Hamilton and Gasly and guys like them.

enjoying racing and like actually being able to race where they should be. and lastly, rounding out the top five, I'm going to go with another sort of unheralded driver in Liam Lawson. And the biggest reason I have for this is the fact that he was the top finishing Red Bull.

team driver. So, you know, when you're ahead of the two Red Bulls, including four time world champion Max Verstappen, and then clearly well ahead of your rookie teammate, Arvid Lindblad, I think you're doing something right. And finishing with decent, decent points haul to bring racing bulls, I think level with the Red Bull team in terms of points after two races and a sprint.

Brian S Hall (11:25.39)
Right.

Patrick (11:49.486)
That's pretty good.

Brian S Hall (11:50.608)
That that is. One two races in, entirely new power unit. We'll see though. But that was nice. Racing Bulls even with Red Bull. So your top five were Kimi Lewis, Oli Behrman, Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson. I do not have any... I don't dispute any of that. I might have thrown in Lawson, not Lawson, but maybe replace Lawson with Alonzo. Just because Alonzo basically went to war. He went to war with his car.

You know, you know, you get a purple heart.

Patrick (12:23.438)
Yeah, I mean, it's tough when there's guys that don't finish, right? They drive well, but the car just kind of gives up on them.

Brian S Hall (12:30.8)
Yeah, I didn't give up on him. I tried to murder him, I think. But in the current driver's standings, just two races and a sprint in. It's George and Kimi. George with 51 points, Kimi at 47. Charles and Lewis. Charles at 34 points, Lewis at 33. And then way back in fifth, but it's young Ali Baerman for Haas, which is great to see. Now, George won last week. He won the sprint in China. Kimi, his teammate, won this.

I mean, but George is kind of, that's his team. Does he need to, you know, I don't think Total Wolf is going to have the, the equivalent of the papaya rules. He's not going to let his drivers do anything to each other, but it's going to be all out. George might have to, you know, I don't want to this indictment of George, but he's, he better watch it. It actually, it's the same. think of Ferrari. Look, Lewis Hamilton is Lewis Hamilton.

But Charles has been there for like a decade. And you know, you'd think Charles would be a step ahead. Not so.

Patrick (13:42.974)
Yeah, I mean, I think Kimi finally sort of proved that he's capable and sort of here to really race and compete at Mercedes and given that they obviously have the fastest car, the number one competitor for George is going to be his teammate, Kimi Antonelli. So

He's gotta make sure that, you know, he's prepared for that. I don't think...

Patrick (14:20.806)
I don't expect Kimmy to put up like too much of a roadblock I guess. I think he's gonna race hard but I think he will sort of defer more often than not. Just given how young he is, it feels to me like that's sort of the demeanor.

Brian S Hall (14:46.373)
Yeah.

Patrick (14:49.688)
currently in his career. But I think, you know, if we get to the final, you know, five, six races of the season and he's there, he's definitely going to give it a shot. so George should be on his guard, I think. He can't just give away points to his teammate.

Brian S Hall (15:04.762)
Yeah.

Brian S Hall (15:11.824)
Right. We'll see though. I we mocked the Papai rolls, McLaren's Papai rolls last year, but the fact is Oscar Piazzotti started just to fade down. You know, it's a long season and he just started to fade near the end and I expect Kimmy Antonello to do the same. We'll see. Some of them, like I said, with Charles and Lewis, I would have thought at this point, at this stage of Lewis's career, he might have the smile on his face like he does, like did today, but.

Patrick (15:28.173)
Yeah.

Brian S Hall (15:40.56)
He's ready to challenge Charles.

Patrick (15:44.302)
Yeah, I mean, he's clearly much happier this season in the car than he was last and

has something going. mean, he's obviously an incredible driver. He has been for decades.

Patrick (16:09.262)
It is fun to see them battle each other. I Charles is going to realize this season because Lewis is a lot more competitive in the car that Leclerc is going to need to step it up and make sure that he doesn't give ground to Lewis.

You know, last year I think Lewis was just so frustrated all the time. He wasn't necessarily competing with Charles as much as he would have liked. And it didn't cause too much on track action or difficulties. This year already, two races in a sprint in, it's like they're constantly fighting each other.

and it's been pretty clean so far, a lot of fun, but I think, you know, as the season wears on, those two I think are going to come together, get a little more heated, and I hope we get some extra curriculars maybe.

Brian S Hall (17:28.314)
No

extra drama. That would be nice. Now, Max has just been non-stop complaining about these new power units, the new regulations.

A lot of it is him just being a whiny bitch. It's like, look, you're used to always being in the front. Now you're not. I also just think he's upset because these don't play to his strengths, especially on the corners. think it sort of limits his ability to be fearless on the corners.

Patrick (17:46.766)
you

Brian S Hall (18:06.894)
That said, you know, I think we also should take a step back and accept that this is the first year of a new power unit, new regulations, but it's also the very first year of an engine by Ford Red Bull. Maybe they're, they're going to be bad. For example, regardless of Max's complaints, regardless of any legitimacy of his complaints, it's like, okay, this is the first year we, maybe.

We got a little overexcited last week, I'm not sure what more you could expect. Like even Audi, it's, I mean, it took over Sauber, you know. This is completely new power unit and a whole new team in a sense.

Patrick (18:56.514)
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's going to be difficult and I think there will be growing pains for all of those teams that are essentially new. and.

I think yeah, it's gonna cause frustration, especially with a driver of Max's caliber. He is accustomed to winning.

Constantly and I think he's he recognized pretty much as soon as he got in the car in You know when preseason That it was gonna be hard for him to compete and I think You know all of his comments leading up to the start of the seasons Sort of everybody took with a grain of salt said well, yeah, well, it's Red Bull

It's Max Verstappen. You're gonna compete for wins and two weekends in, it looks unlikely that that will be the case. And that just has to really wear him down. And I think, you know, it's annoying to hear him complain constantly about.

Brian S Hall (20:14.928)
Right.

Patrick (20:30.56)
Everything other than you know, maybe what he can do better but there is I think some it's understandable to kind of See how frustrated he is just because he's been the very best for many years so

Brian S Hall (20:39.641)
See you then.

Brian S Hall (20:49.998)
Right. Now, unrelated note, he turned down potentially an offer to drive for Mercedes. Last year, kept hounding on the fact that McLaren in the final year of those regulations, a customer team got their power unit for Mercedes was just dominant. Like how are they so dominant over Mercedes itself? This year, McLaren can't even get a car on the grid.

And I wonder like, man, Toto, Toto's a vindictive, right? Doesn't he come across as like, like someone who does not forget. And I just, I wonder what these rules are. I know they're supposed to provide the, as the customer, you know, as the works team, you offer your power unit to a customer team like Mercedes, McLaren. It's supposed to be the same, but what are they holding back? What knowledge, what insight?

What software? What trickery? Because, you know, I don't think he like watching a customer team just dominate his team last year, the way McLaren did to Mercedes this year. I don't know. It just seems like, as we said earlier, Mercedes and Ferrari appear well ahead of everyone else. Even their own customer teams, they just appear well ahead of everyone.

Patrick (22:16.302)
Yeah, I mean I think there's a lot of...

additional work to understand the power units for all of these other teams that are basically purchasing them from the actual, you know, works teams. And that takes time. You need to kind of just do a lot of experimenting and data gathering and understand how everything works. And

how to best set up your own vehicle and understand kind of how your gearbox integrates with that, how your chassis integrates with it and sort of everything that goes into developing a Formula One car. There's a lot that you don't really know, I guess.

when you just sort of purchase that power unit. And so right now there are a number of teams that are really struggling to figure out the best way to kind of optimize their cars and even get them out on track. So we'll see. think

this extra month long break that we're going to get this season is going to be really valuable for those teams to sort of catch up. I don't know. I don't know that Toto and Mercedes has done anything untoward, but I think it does certainly make him quite

Patrick (24:18.542)
happy

Brian S Hall (24:19.864)
Right, I just like stirring a pot.

Brian S Hall (24:45.838)
Right.

Patrick (24:47.084)
this is all you're doing losing the last five years? Yeah, that was all you. But now he's back on top. I'm so amazing. I'm the best. McLaren's stupid. Blah, blah, blah.

Brian S Hall (24:57.197)
No.

But you know, we've talked for years now about how, as Americans, we've sort of followed what Liberty Media is doing. And it's always been this NFL playbook of like, hey, we want there to be parody because that makes it more exciting. We don't know who's going to win each race. We don't know who's going to finish on the podium each race. And that's what people want. And they want overtaking even some of its artificial, like the battery boost. mean, it's sort of like, oh, everyone says they want more goals.

It's like, if you widen the net a little bit, you might have more goals, but it seems artificial. But they want parity. We never even though Mercedes looks dominant now, it's not going to be the case where it was in the 2010s, where they were just dominant for nearly a decade. F1 Liberty Media will do something about that. It's just.

there may not be much they can do within a year. So even if Mercedes winds up, let's say this year, just making a supposition, just dominant. Well, that doesn't mean they're going to be dominant every year, these regulations. So you also said, you know, as a customer, you kind of know what you're paying for. Did Aston Martin know what they're paying for? I mean, what an indictment of Aston's owner, Lawrence Stroll of

of his big money design guy, Adrian Newey. How did they not know apparently what they had in this Honda until basically the end of last year? I, I, I, at some point you can't blame Honda.

Patrick (26:40.366)
Yeah, I mean, I... I don't know, I... This team has sort of been...

Patrick (26:53.056)
It's hard to say what they've been for the, the Lawrence stroll sort of rain. because basically they've been a team that likes to wave cash around and then do absolutely nothing on track for pretty much the entirety of his, of his, ownership of this team.

except for one season where all of a sudden they were really good because they basically just made the previous year's Red Bull car that was dominant and that was about it. But, you know, I had mentioned to you well before the season started, like, well...

Brian S Hall (27:34.2)
Right? Right.

Patrick (27:50.926)
You know what happened with Honda the last time there was a power unit regulation change. Yeah, they were garbage They were terrible. They supplied a Power unit to McLaren and that car never fucking finished. It just never did and I don't know what it is about about Fernando Alonso Racing for a Honda team

Brian S Hall (27:58.586)
this.

Patrick (28:18.926)
under new power unit regulations but he seems to do it every time and it does not work out and so i don't know exactly what it is about honda and and sort of they seem to really take their time figuring out uh you know how to optimize their power units and and improve their reliability it's a little bit weird

Brian S Hall (28:23.888)
It does not.

Patrick (28:49.3)
I know why that happens, but the rest of the car isn't necessarily all that drivable anyways. They haven't set up their car in a way that can go fast, that can stay on track, and so I don't know, we'll see. We'll see how they progress throughout the season, but I think

this team and sort of the combination of a new a new power unit provider essentially and you know the addition of Adrian Newey everyone sort of assumes that's an incredible combination but I don't know that they'll work well together there's a lot of stuff that goes into developing these

these cars and, and adjust buying what everybody says is the best isn't necessarily the way to improve your team.

Brian S Hall (29:57.2)
Right. Well, and you said Stroh likes to wave around cash. What if he starts to wave around equity? I mean, that might be a way of getting Christian Horner there. You know, it's like, hey, I'll give you a percentage of the team. I think that, you know, bringing Christian Horner, that might do it. Or, or somebody's got to pick off, who's the team principal? Kamatsu? I mean.

Patrick (30:24.119)
Mm-hmm.

Brian S Hall (30:25.392)
I mean, he is right to that team and make them a legit midfield, know, regularly midfield team.

Patrick (30:34.294)
Yeah, I mean, well, I guess, yeah, if I think the biggest thing for stroll is he needs to get people in to that team who can turn it around and can improve their,

just their car, their setup and ensure that they're competitive. And then he needs to just stay the hell out of it. He seems like a guy that likes to metal. And I think that's the wrong approach because I don't think he will metal appropriately in an F1 team. And yes, speaking of Haas, mean.

What a nice sight to see how consistent they are. I can't imagine that Ali Baerman stays on that team for too much longer in his career, but the car...

Brian S Hall (31:43.888)
Yeah, we said we said a couple weeks ago or a few episodes ago like f1 needs like a the face of f1 globally and we sort of settled on ollie biermann because he's young he's well spoken he's nice very talented

Patrick (31:59.052)
Yeah, I mean, that would be nice to see. Ayo Komatsu has really done a good job with that team, making them kind of a consistent competitor, frequently scoring points. And, you know, last year was a, I think they were far more consistent than most of the other teams around them in.

in the points and unfortunately there were just a couple teams who sort of found their way onto podiums and just got like big hauls of points a couple of times that really sort of pushed Haas down the final finishing order. But I think they looked really good throughout the season and to start off this year they're clearly among the best sort of midfield teams.

sitting in what fourth place in the team standings right now, at least they have cars out there, unlike McLaren, racing. So, you know, they, they look great. it's exciting to see how they've sort of, pushed forward, and you know, future prospects. Big, with big sort of Toyota implications potentially in.

and other things like that. So I think the future is looking pretty good for Haas. And that was not something we could have said even two or three years ago. So.

Brian S Hall (33:41.996)
switching to the soft compound. I'm going to talk briefly.

Las Vegas Grand Prix. Now, F1 has officially cancelled Bahrain and Saudi Arabia April races, so I believe there will be no races in April. Maybe cars will have time to improve. Maybe that shuts down the potential of anybody else to compete with Mercedes or Ferrari. I guess we'll find that out. But those two races have been cancelled. F1 can

fudge with the words and suggest that maybe they'll be back on later in the year or they'll be replaced. That's not going to happen. In the final two races of the year though, I'm wondering if those will happen. That's Qatar and Abu Dhabi, right? So that would make Las Vegas the final race of the year. I saw something interesting. Several IndyCar drivers

Patrick (34:35.726)
Mm-hmm.

Brian S Hall (34:48.656)
were asked the question, would they rather win multiple Indy championships or one Indy 500? And they all said, win one Indy 500. I wonder if there could ever be something like that in F1. I don't think so. I think though, if it could be, it would have to be Las Vegas. That's where F1 is pouring its money into. That's where there's just no brighter light. That's gonna get all the media coverage.

from Vegas, LA, United States, F1, that's gonna be the premier race and the final race of the season, let's say. I don't know, you think it's possible that there could ever be one race where it's like, I'd rather win that race than the championship? It just doesn't seem likely, but I don't know.

Patrick (35:43.2)
Yeah, it seems unlikely. think maybe, many years ago, drivers potentially could have said, you know, Monaco rather when Monaco then, then a championship, but yeah, it feels, it feels very much like the, the drivers title is

is what everybody would sort of dream of rather than sort of a single race on the calendar. So yeah, I think there are few sports or few sporting events that sort of would garner the attention and the desire.

more than a championship. Indy 500, I think is just so, so iconic and historic that it kind of makes sense. You're an Indy 500 winner, you know, and everybody, you know, even if you were to win the championship, I think everybody in their mind that thinks of Indy car, they recognize

the wreath around the Indy 500 winner with the, you know, glass bottle of milk. Like that is the one iconic thing for F1 right now. It's all about the, championship. I think Vegas would be great if they could turn it into, you know, that, that iconic event. But, I think that will take kind of a.

That's more of a long road, I think, for F1. It's an awesome event currently, but I think sort of cementing that event in history is when it will become kind of that iconic win.

Brian S Hall (38:07.376)
or dirty air segment.

There's a rumor. Total Wolf team principal and part owner of Mercedes wants to buy the struggling Alpine team. Alpine is sort of jettison itself from its Renault history is now a Mercedes customer. So it might make sense. And like Red Bull having a sister team in racing bulls, Mercedes Total Wolf would have a sister team in Alpine. And this is the part I especially love.

All these rumors of Total's rival Christian Horner about to buy Alpine and run that team. This would be Total's way of digging him over, keeping him out of F1, which is just glorious. Do you think?

This will happen and do think we should even allow one team to own multiple teams?

Patrick (39:09.154)
I think this is a realistic possibility.

Yeah, it is weird. think Alpine definitely made a good decision taking a Mercedes power unit, but it is, they've been sort of

Patrick (39:39.18)
Just...

I don't know, like running that team into oblivion. and that has been kind of a struggling project for years now. And I think, having selling off the rest of that team to Toto or to, you know, Mercedes makes.

sense in the long run I think for for them. They've sold off parts to a number of sort of small investment groups and kind of selling the last stake I think. Tototo would at least give us something reasonable which would be kind of nice. I think it's funny. Yeah you mentioned

Christian Horner kind of wanting to own that sort of final stake.

We'll see how all of that plays out. I don't like, I think.

Patrick (41:01.752)
having, you know, basically the same owners of multiple teams on the grid. think it's.

It's a little weird, right? Cause you can play these sort of team games, which is not ideal. I think it's better to have to let sort of every team have an equal shot, right?

Brian S Hall (41:34.498)
Right. Right. We don't want raising bulls driver helping out a Red Bull driver, for example, and screwing over McLaren. We think that's unfair. And to be fair to F1, maybe there never should have been a sister team for Red Bull. But at the time, Red Bull was spending money in F1 when nobody else was, you know. And so I'm fine if F1 allows them to continue having that sister team sort of grandfathering in that.

Patrick (41:44.653)
Yeah.

Brian S Hall (42:03.864)
that relationship, but I don't think we should have it again. think everyone has gotten too big, too competitive that we shouldn't allow one team owner to have multiple teams. So speaking of team owner, another rumor in China is BYD, which I believe mass markets electric vehicles in China, rumored to wanting to join F1 and be the 12th team. Now we have argued.

for years that there would be 11th team and that happened and that there by 2030 would be a 12th team and I'm still convinced that's going to happen. I don't believe it will be BYD. I believe it's just, they just wanted some publicity while F1 was in China. What are your thoughts?

Patrick (42:50.178)
I think that's fair. I think of any Chinese auto manufacturer, BYD is pretty sure they're the largest and would make the most sense to join F1, but I would expect several other global automakers.

to join before BYD. So yeah, I think the odds on favorite in Vegas, you know, is not going to be BYD. Though, you know, they're quite large. They make a lot of electric vehicles. They're in that sort of space.

and it does make some sense for them to join but yeah I would expect you know Toyota or Hyundai or you know someone else before BYD though you know speaking of our predictions right I think we mentioned at some point last season that you know the US

Takeover is nearly complete. The next big market is China and we sort of expected that to kind of be the next big hit for F1. So, you know, this is a that's certainly a good way to ingratiate yourself with with a new market to expand into.

Brian S Hall (44:42.762)
the line. That is our segment where we predict the top five for the next race. The next race in Suzuka, Japan, in a week. No, in two weeks, I believe. And across the line, we predict the top five. If our driver does finish in the top five, we get a point. If he finishes in the exact right spot, we get three points.

Patrick, what are the current standings of Across the Line?

Patrick (45:10.518)
Yeah, so this was our first scoring event this season. And top five in the race, if you remember, was Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc and Baerman. Your picks were Hamilton, Hajar, Leclerc, Norris, Baerman.

So you got a point each for Hamilton and Leclerc, both in the top five but not on the spot you picked, and three points for Olli Behrmann, who did come in fifth place as you predicted. So you got five points this week. I had Russell Verstappen Antonelli-Piastri Lindblad. Not great on my part. So I just got a point each for Russell and Antonelli.

Brian S Hall (45:48.176)
Thanks.

Patrick (46:05.294)
so current standings then are five points for you, two points for me.

Brian S Hall (46:10.608)
Nice, and who goes first for Suzuka?

Patrick (46:13.55)
I have first pick for Suzuka.

Brian S Hall (46:16.24)
Well, hold on. So, before you pick. So last year in Japan, it was Max Lando Oscar. I'm not sure either of them make the podium next week.

But I, you know, in our Japan 2025 episode, props to us. It was called The Kids Are Alright. We talked about how well the rookies were doing and that's turned out to be the case. They continue to get better. We said that this will be Make a Break for Yuki in the Red Bull seat. That turned out to be the case, Though...

We also said, is Ferrari regressing? And that turned out to be true. We said, is Christian Horner on the way out? My goodness, we were fired in last year's Japanese episode. However, we also said McLaren should prioritize Oscar Piazzari over Landau. I think I said that. So on that one, that one wasn't so good. Okay. Let's make our picks for the Japan 2026 Grand Prix. You go first.

Patrick (47:28.148)
All right, well, I'm going to be a broken record and I'm a pick George Russell again. I just, we haven't really seen anything that would suggest Mercedes is not going to win a race yet. And I have a little more faith in George Russell for him to pick it back up again in Japan over Kimi. So.

Brian S Hall (47:58.318)
Nice, well I'm going all in on Ferrari. Charles then Lewis.

Patrick (48:01.326)
Oof.

Oof. Nice.

Then,

Well, let's see. Then I'm gonna take, I'm gonna take Kimmy. Let's say he keeps it up. Keeps, keeps driving well. And then, I will...

is tough. I think the Red Bull has looked acceptable, especially Max. I think he's driven quite well for the most part until, you know, it stops driving. So I'm going to assume they finish and I'm going to take Max to get on the podium for, you know, another year in a row.

Brian S Hall (48:55.424)
Nice. Well, I'm going to go with some young guns. Max's teammate had Jar. And then once again, I'm sticking with Olly Behrman.

Patrick (49:02.894)
Nice.

Patrick (49:06.988)
then

I'm going to go ahead and take.

Patrick (49:17.25)
You know? We'll say We'll say they just keep... keep at it. Keep doing well. I'm take Pierre Gasly and an alpine. Who would thought that?

And then...

P5, I'll go with...

Patrick (49:39.912)
I'll go with a McLaren in Lando Norris.

Brian S Hall (49:48.176)
Alright, so you have George, Kimmy, Max, Pierre, and Lando. Let's both give some clear and love. I'm going with Charles Lewis, Isaac Hadjar, Ollie Behrman, and Oscar Piastri.

Patrick (50:04.204)
Nice.

Brian S Hall (50:05.942)
Any crazy predictions, Patrick?

Patrick (50:09.838)
Uh, I have, I don't know how crazy these are, but we are only two races in. So, and we haven't had more than I think 16 finishers in either race. So I'm going to say there will be exactly zero races this season with more than 20 finishers.

So that means at least two drivers who do not finish the race in every single race this season.

Brian S Hall (50:45.392)
agree with you. Yeah. I think it's funny because before Australia, I mean, you predicted less than 16 or no more than 16 finish. They may have been 17 or 18 in Australia and this week it was like, what, 15?

Patrick (50:57.774)
15, yeah. Which means we had, first of all, shout out to Cadillac, two top 15 finishers in Cadillac. So that's pretty good. And Botos, I think, was P13. So I mean, not too bad. They, which means we had two Cadillacs who bested the likes of Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen, I mean...

Brian S Hall (51:06.16)
Nice.

Bye.

Brian S Hall (51:26.51)
Hey, I tell you, I tell you, it looks good. So I have a couple. Number one is with max whining, FIA says they're going to look into changing the contribution of the ice engine from power output from 50 % to 60%.

Patrick (51:26.7)
Cadillacs on the up, okay? my gosh.

Brian S Hall (51:55.36)
so the battery won't be as important. I say they're not going to do that. That this is just they're trying to calm Max down. There's a lot of folks just posting rage bait on the internet. I think the regulations generally are okay. So next one, I'm not sure it's a prediction as much as a conspiracy theory.

but sort of taking the opposite tact. What if the batteries are terrible? What if these power units are terrible? Notice what they're doing. Racing seems fun, but the qualifying is less. The qualifying is just You know, just, no one's going flat out, it seems like in the qualifying. So my prediction or conspiracy theory, let's call it, is that they've deliberately done this because they want to make qualifying boring.

and they want an excuse to have a sprint at every race.

Patrick (52:53.688)
Well, that would be interesting. And I think fun for anybody who doesn't have to work during that time.

Brian S Hall (53:04.431)
Ha

All right, I want to thank you all for listening to everybody's most beloved father and son F1 Podcast. It is much appreciated. And we are lights out.

Patrick (53:16.206)
See you, thanks for listening.