2 Soft Compounds

Brazil Brilliance & Vegas Chaos: Norris Rising, Piastri Fading, and Ferrari Fractures

• W4 Podcast Studio • Season 1 • Episode 41

Share episode

This week on Two Soft Compounds, Rick and Damien Reid break down the fallout from Brazil - where Verstappen dominated, Norris shone, and Piastri’s confidence cracked.

The guys discuss Red Bull’s bizarre qualifying collapse, McLaren’s growing garage divide, and whether Oscar’s struggles prove that pressure really does break the “Iceman.” They also dive into Ferrari’s latest meltdown, Hamilton’s frustration under Maranello politics, and what the flooded streets of Las Vegas could mean for this weekend’s race.

All that and more, right here on Two Soft Compounds.

Production Credits:

Presented by: Rick Houghton
Studio Engineer & Editor: Roy D'Monte
Executive Producer: Ian Carless
Produced by: W4 Podcast Studio

Rick Houghton:

I don't make mistakes, I make prophecies that immediately turn out to be wrong. Anything can happen in Formula One, and it usually does. Hey, welcome to another edition of Two Soft Compounds, the Formula One podcast with me, Rick, and Damo. Damien Reed, motoring journalist, former Formula One commentator, and all-round good guy. Now, this is a truly international podcast. I am sat in my house in Liverpool, and Damien is sat in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. So you may experience a little bit of a delay on what we're saying today, but hopefully it won't spoil your enjoyment of listening to the podcast. Damo, how are you?

Damien Reed:

I'm good, thanks, Rick. Yes, it's all looking good. I've just been down to Australia for a few days, and we're going to talk about Vegas and Brazil. So you can't get much more international than that.

Rick Houghton:

Let's turn our attention to Sao Paulo. Another win for Lando Norris will come to him soon. I think we have to agree, though, Damo. Just an absolute masterclass in the race from Max Verstappen.

Damien Reed:

Oh, I mean, he did it again, didn't he? I mean, you know, you look back to what he did last year. He came from, what was it, 17th on the grid and barrel his way right through, and he did it, he almost did it again. You just can't write the guy off under any situation. And the way he controlled that race and did what he did was just, it just proves that this guy is he's he's in it right to the end. I know people are sort of saying that, well, if he doesn't do well this weekend, he's out mathematically. I think he still might be in afterwards. You just can't rule him out at all.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, one thing that I I found a little bit unusual about the Brazilian Grand Prix was that we've been we've seen Red Bull arrive at tracks and have a pretty atrocious Friday when he's come to practice. And then overnight, before they get it ready for quality trim, they seem to sort out the gremlins in the car, and then he hits qualifying on a Saturday and he's right up there and he's challenging for pole position and he's putting in some amazing lap times. Uh, this particular weekend they didn't seem to be able to do that because the qualifying was absolutely rubbish, and as Nikki's just mentioned, the first uh double elimination in Q1 for 19 years for the Red Bull team. So, what do you think was going on there?

Damien Reed:

I wasn't surprised at all when they said that they were going to start from Pit Lane and just do a basically a full rebuild of the car and just go top to tail with everything that they had on it for the race, because you know, you're down the end of the pack anyway. In fact, it's quite often it's safer to start from Pit Lane in Brazil because of what we see in turns one, two, and three every single year in that complex, especially with a bit of rain. But that was a wholesale rebuild of the car and that they just dragged every everything they had out of it. And, you know, it gets back to Max's attitude now, is just like, well, he literally has nothing to lose. So he might as well experiment with a few bits and pieces. I understand that a few of them were trialing some little tricks with the barge boards underneath the car, the skid plates under the car, because to stop them from bottoming out. Now, whether they're trying something on that as well, because the right height was one of the issues with the Red Bull leading into the weekend, they clearly got that sorted on the Saturday night.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, very interesting. I noticed that uh Zach Brown has been putting some mental pressure on the Red Bull team this week in the build-up to Vegas, basically saying that everyone in Red Bull is completely afraid of Max and his dad, and that uh anything he wants he gets. And he was basically saying that uh the whole team is subservient to Max Versteppen. I think that is a little bit of mind games going into what could be a crucial race this weekend. Uh let's talk about McLaren then. Lando Norris getting another win, and since this half of the season, since I suppose you could say Monaco, he seems to have ironed out his his Q3 issues. He he was prone to make mistakes in his final qualifying runs, and he seems to have ironed that out now. Don't know whether it's a psychological thing or whether he's got to grips more with the car than everyone else, but he just seems to be flying now.

Damien Reed:

Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, you know, um from them, but also I think, you know, obviously Baker was a turning point for him psychologically as well, made up some ground there. And I think going back to your point about Zach, I think he's also using that to deflect a little heat off himself as well, because he's been copying up from everyone, from Gunther Steiner and everyone else around there, and Jacques Villeneuve, of course, never quite to throw an opinion in here and there. So, you know, I'm sure that that was part of Zach's reasoning to sort of throw a bit of heat back on Red Bull. Yeah, I mean, you know, Lando has has really got it all together and it's just come together. And, you know, I've got to say, I mean, I mean, luck does play a part in all of this. And uh one thing that the that the commentators didn't pick up on in Brazil in the qualifying, uh, the yellow flag that came out on Piastri's fast lap, which which killed his third sector. He was purple in the first two sectors. Yellow flag came out, then gave it away. So, you know, that sort of he rolled out of it and then it went yellow to the end. So, you know, that had a big impact because I think he would have been on pole position, to be honest with you. I don't uh Lando didn't have an answer to it. It was only, what was it, 90 seconds before the checking flag anyway. And then on top of that, obviously, now we'll talk about that 10-second penalty issue as well. So you've got to take it when it comes to you. And Lando has has got the uh mental uh ability now to sort of roll with it and digest it. Whereas I think earlier in the season, he was getting a little bit caught out by the fact that his young teammate was winning races before him and everything else. He's got his head around that, and he's got a really good attitude, I think, Lando, right now, in terms of being a bit more mature about this championship.

Rick Houghton:

Isn't it strange that earlier in the season we were questioning uh Lando's mental ability and the fact that he needed to be stronger, and now it's completely switched the opposite way. And when you look at uh Oscar Piastri, he hasn't been on the podium for the last five races. That is massively telling. And we thought towards the start of this season he was the next Iceman. You know, nothing would uh face him, he would go into every every session on track and just be absolutely cool under the uh helmet, and he would respond to his engineers in a really cool and reassuring way. It just seems to have vanished, doesn't it?

Damien Reed:

You know, I think this is where you can't replace experience of race time and track time and the psychological games that goes with it. You know, you've got to remember that Max Verstappen debuted, was it, 2013? Was his first Formula One race as as a fill-in. Uh, and this is also this is Lando's seventh season in Formula One as well. And this is Oscar's only, it's only his third year. So you can win championships leading up to this to Formula One, uh, which he's done, but then you've got to deal with the mind games and the politics. And what Oscar is saying himself is is that he wasn't he wasn't prepared for the media scrutiny that he's now getting. And whether that's had an impact on him since Baku, you probably say it probably has, because he's had to read the social media and and listen to to take the interviews in the pen and everything else. That's all stuff that I don't think he's been trained probably well enough on. Uh, but then again, probably no one's expecting him to be fighting for a championship so early in his career.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, and we're talking about Lando's improving qualifying uh session. I was reading something the other day that apparently he's removed the delta time from the dashboard from the steering wheel. Uh, and since he's done that, he said, I I used to stare at it every all the way around the lap to make sure I was on a par with the rest of the field. And he said, now I've removed that. It means I just have to concentrate on my driving more than anything else. And that that's a small thing that's produced massive results.

Damien Reed:

Yeah, you know, and I heard him say that, and I was wondering whether that's tied in with the fact that Will Joseph on the on the radio is giving him the verbal coaching more so than we hear from other drivers. And and that might make sense now. That might sort of start to add up. He's taking the the visual cues away and replacing it with audio cues from from Will, who's coaching him through through the earpiece rather than taking his eyes off and looking down at the data on the screen. So, horses for courses. I mean, everyone does it, everyone does things differently, but uh, but that might be a reason as to why you're hearing on the radio in the race so often, you know, he's he's he's coaching him almost through every turn, and that might be part of the reason.

Rick Houghton:

Do you give any value to some of the people who might say that the McLaren team is now basically split down the middle and that uh Norris's engineers are not sharing information with Piastri's engineers and vice versa, because there's a bit of a divide there, and and that basically uh team management have kind of allowed it because they've had this policy all along. They're allowed to race, they're allowed to go at it. Is that an impression you get? Because some people have mentioned over the last few weeks that Lando seems to have more of an engineering advantage than Piastri. For instance, I'm talking about wing changes and chassis tweaks and stuff like that.

Damien Reed:

Yeah, I mean, you know, right from the start of the season, there was upgrades to Lando's car that to help suit his particular style of driving that that wasn't offered to Oscar, and and the balance changed a little bit in terms of the dynamics. That that change was made to both cars, not just to Lando's. That sort of upset things a little bit. But you get to this point of the championship with two two drivers in the same team, and you are going to see this barrier come up down the middle of the garage uh not wanting to share data the way they used to early in the season. That's just that's the nature of the beast. That doesn't matter whether you're Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg or whether you're Ferrari or whomever. But one of the other things, too, that I found was interesting was during the summer break. Now, whether this is to appease Oscar for what happened in with the change of positions at Silverstone or maybe something afterwards, but Oscar's longtime girlfriend, uh, who's an F1 engineer herself, she graduated. They went to college to the motor racing school together. She's been employed by McLaren after the summer break to be Oscar's engineer, or one of Oscar's, so to work on Oscar's car, not his engineer, but to work on his car. Now, whether that I'm hearing that Lando, I don't know, it might have been rumors, I'm not sure, but apparently Lando's like, hang on, is this border on nepotism or not? Uh so yeah, I mean, there's just little tweaks appearing here and there down the line, and we're gonna see more of it as we you know, we've got three races to go. I think, you know, both drivers are gonna be racing for themselves now, and I think uh hopefully we'll see the end of this papaya rules stuff, and it'll be uh team Lando versus Team Oscar.

Rick Houghton:

Okay, let's talk about Oscar Piastri's 10-second penalty, locked up going into turn one. Can I just say as well, by the way, it's worth mentioning. Uh Sao Paulo is a proper traditional uh Formula One truck. Turn one is just a classic, isn't it?

Damien Reed:

It's just one of the best. You know, I you you you look at it and you just salivate on the Friday, you're thinking wait till Sunday afternoon. The the angle, how steep that is. Uh, and the the camera doesn't show how steep that bank is. It's almost like a NASCAR banking when you dip from turn one down the hill. It's the equivalent of something like a seven-story building. It's a huge drop, and that's where you've got the big washers of water that go across it. Plus the fact that extra diamond cuts put in the track this weekend, so no one knew exactly how the tyre was going to handle that. But it's just a bull ring, isn't it? It's just fantastic. There's no room for error. It's old school, and I just hope it always stays.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, me too. Um, let's talk about Oscar's 10-second penalty. Uh, he locked up trying to make a move, took two cars out, one of them that had to retire, which was Charlotte Clerk. Uh, do you think the 10 seconds was justified? Maybe he needed more, maybe less?

Damien Reed:

No, it was completely unjustified. I think I had a close look at it a few times and I I knew he was going to get the penalty because the the way the rules are is that as soon as they notice a brake lock up, as soon as they notice smoke off the tire, that goes straight to race control, saying the driver is no longer in control of the car, and that falls under the 10-second category, and it's kind of black and white. There's no really room for error there. However, when you look at the actual footage and you're looking at it, and even Kimmy and even Charles Leclerc kind of agreed with with Oscar on this one, saying, well, Kimmy was on the racing line. And if you look at the onboard camera of Os of Kimmy's car, you can see him check the left mirror. So he's looking there, he sees Oscar, but he maintains the racing line, even though Oscar's beside him. And then if you look from the overhead camera from above, you can see him move across on Oscar. So, and that's where the brake lockup comes. And I don't think you lost control because you don't see the car under steer or slide or catching, or as a result of catching a slide. It's just purely he just sees a car coming and he pushes that brake pedal a little bit further and the brake locks up. So it's unfortunate. Uh, I don't think 10 seconds was justified. Uh, and and most of the drivers and pundits agree with, you know, from what we saw afterwards. But unfortunately, this is the thing with the rule book. It's it's it's a book where the rules are in black and white, and there's no room to sit there over a coffee and say, listen, what a what if and what there's none of that. It's brake lockup means loss of control, means 10 seconds, doesn't matter what track, what situation.

Rick Houghton:

Okay, uh, let's move it on to Mercedes. Antonelli again, another strong weekend from him. I think George Russell was struggling with setup issues and grip problems for most of the weekend, but Antonelli did a really good job.

Damien Reed:

Yeah, I'll tell you what, the little kid's coming through, isn't he? He showed a lot of maturity despite that little error in the in turn one. But you know, and and now that he's got the taste of being on the podium and now he's got the taste of being up there, I think we're gonna see a lot more out of him. And let's not forget, he wasn't supposed to be in Formula One yet. This is the the his plan has been brought forward a a year early at least. He was part of the you know Team Toto to be to be brought through as a as a build-up to a to being a Formula One driver because Lewis Hammerton still had a year left in his Mercedes contract. So uh even though there was 12 months to get used to the fact, they had to still had to fast-track young Kimmy to get into it. He's still completing his high school and and had to juggle his his school exams while he's racing in Formula One. So the fact that he took all that on board, you could see how the the the kid has developed uh in the first part of the year. He'd been under so much pressure, they even made that Netflix series about him and the whole thing, and he didn't deliver because, you know, fair enough, the kid's 17. But now it's coming through. And uh I think George has got to be on his toes for next year for sure, because he could he could really be the, you know, he he could real he could he could really be a star for the team next year.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see what happens next year. We've we've talked about the future many, many times on this podcast because things are up in the air. One thing that I've I've read a lot of is that Ferrari early sim runs are incredibly promising. Now, whether this is hot air, because they uh they're trying to get a psychological steer on their opponents, but apparently the data they've had from the simulators with both drivers reporting that the car feels great and the the figures look great, um that's all well and good. But in Brazil, another nightmare weekend for Ferrari, not really their fault.

Damien Reed:

Yeah, I mean this is you know this is their third zero-point weekend in a row. Um, and uh, you know, it's just it doesn't matter which way they seem to go. I think they're they're their qualifying strategy, they they just didn't get the window to get the good run, to get the clear run. Uh, and they've made that mistake a few times now. So it's yeah, I mean, it's you know, Lewis Hamilton to be so far down the order is is is demoralizing, I think, for everyone, especially as that's now considered one of his home Grand Prix as the honorary Brazilian. So, yeah, it's it's a tough one. And then, you know, the comments that came out afterwards from John Elkin, the chairman, was bizarre to say the least, to sort of say, well, threw it on his drivers. I mean, where did that come from?

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, and apparently he was specifically referring to Lewis Hamilton, although he didn't make that public. But yeah, saying that uh the drivers need to concentrate on driving and less less talking, which is strange. I mean, I think the impression I get is that Hamilton is the ultimate pro. I think he's been used to having teams around him that have been put in place to serve him, and I think he's gone to Ferrari. And it's that whole uh Marinello attitude of no, we're Ferrari, we do it our way, and you fit in, not the other way around. And it hasn't really worked out for them.

Damien Reed:

That is that is 100% correct. At Ferrari, you are just a number, you're a number, you're a cog in the wheel. Uh you know, it's you're just you're just a digit in a giant machine. And uh you you you look back at other Ferrari drivers that that have you know been through there before, like Nigel Mansell and Nikki Lauder and uh Alan Prost, and some great names that have just walked away disappointed. There's been a couple of hunger around, but they're they're pretty big names that have walked away disenchanted with Ferrari. Um, because you'll never be bigger than the team, um, which I guess in some ways is good. But but you know, John Elkin's comments were proves that, you know, there's here's a a guy in his boardroom in in Marinello, um, you know, who's rarely on pit wall unless it's a um a major event. He'll probably be there this weekend because it's Vegas. But uh but you know, it's you you're not gonna be part of the bigger team. And and on that, that's part of the reason too, why I also think while we're talking Ferrari is that with a speculation about where Christian Horner might turn up. That's why I'm adamant that he'll he won't be part of the Ferrari picture at all, because he clearly wants to be a shareholder of a team and a part owner. He wants to be like Toto um and have a say. That's never gonna happen at Ferrari. The you know, if if if uh Freddie Vasur was you know sitting on the sidelines while John Elkin came over and said that, Freddie had no power. So Lewis has got to look at this and realise that this is this is this is the company he's working with.

Rick Houghton:

I totally agree with you over Christian Horn. I mean, um he's the same age as me, he's 52. If someone said to me, I'm gonna offer you millions of pounds to come and run run a team, which really you're not gonna have much of a say in, oh, and by the way, at the age of 52, please go away and learn Italian, I'd be like, get lost. Uh just you know, he's not gonna move his entire family out to Italy, and that's the only option for working with Ferrari. And like you say, he's gonna get, you know, the team bosses of Ferrari is just as much as a puppet as the driver, you know. It's that's been like that for years. I think the only one who probably stuck his head above the parapet was Ross Braun, but then he was working with the world's best driver, and I think they couldn't ignore the fact that Schumacher was cleaning up at the time.

Damien Reed:

Yeah, I mean, that that is uh that is actually the really good exception, the the Ross Bourne, Braun, uh, Jean-Todd era. Um, Rory Byrne was part of the team as well. And they even experimented with trying to set the chassis up in England. That didn't work back then with the John Barnard design, because John John was as you're saying, he's like, I'm not gonna move to Italy, we'll try and do it there. Famously, it didn't work, but when Michael Schumacher, and that's the power of Michael Schumacher, and this is probably what Lewis perhaps should have done, is say Michael Schumacher moved from Benetton to Ferrari, and he brought the entire team, team Schumacher with him. And I think if uh if Lewis had said, um, you know, look, I want I want Bono to come with me from Mercedes, Pete Bonington, um, and his crew, might be a different situation. You never know.

Rick Houghton:

Totally agree. Um, totally agree with that. And I think Jensen Button and many other ex-drivers have all said in the last few weeks, you know, Ferrari will continue to have problems until they start listening to the experience of their drivers. And, you know, if Lewis says, I need this tweet, he knows what he's talking about. And the the the arrogant, the Italian arrogance, you know, is there as well. We know better than you, Lewis. Hang on a minute, he's won seven world championships.

Damien Reed:

But this goes back, doesn't it? This goes right back to the history of going back to the Enzo's days. And sorry, Nicki Lauda was you know famously for calling the car a shitbox and and and and getting chastised about it. Um Alain Prost was fired. That's why he was fired in Adelaide. I was down there at the time when they pulled the name off the off the side of his car and replaced him with Luca Badoa. Um, I think it was Luca Badoa, wasn't it? Or was it uh but anyway, um, but yeah, um on the spot, bang, out the door. You criticize Ferrari, you lose your drive. And that's not the and and these kind of comments from Elkin is kind of the modern day iteration of that. It's not the way you in you in endear people to to to you know bond as a team together, that's for sure.

Rick Houghton:

Okay, let's uh wrap up our chat on Brazil then and move towards, because we are running out of time actually, move towards this weekend in Viva Las Vegas. It's one of the most expensive Formula One events to attend. I think standard tickets start at 3,000 US dollars for crying out loud. If you want to go outside Caesar's Palace on the grandstand that overlooks the Bellaggio uh fountains, you are talking a minimum of $20,000 per seat per ticket. It's just unbelievable.

Damien Reed:

I heard a figure last year, and I need to go and dig it up and see whether the the offer is up for this year as well. But you could hire the penthouse at the Palacio Versace uh with your butler. Uh, you get the whole penthouse, um, anything on the on the menu that as you'd expect. And it was like a million-dollar ticket for four days of watching Formula One. Insane. I believe they sold that ticket last year as well. Um for but yeah, I mean it's it's you know, it's great, but it's also freezing cold. And uh at least they've brought the race forward by an hour or two this time, so it's not running and it's not gonna finish at midnight. Um, but still, it's it's also one of the coldest tracks, and that's one of the things where we'll see what Pirelli are going to do with these new tires because uh last year and the year before, uh the ambient temperature wasn't at the operating temperature of the tyres. And and that was, you know, it's a fairly major issue. So it's a tricky one. I do enjoy it, but yeah, it's it's it's got its pluses and minuses.

Rick Houghton:

It's a very fast circuit. The the camera they position on the final little kink going on to the very short start-finish straight. Uh, when you see that camera on ground level, you see the way the cars take that little kink. I mean, it is quite something to watch.

Damien Reed:

It's amazing, and it reminds me so much of of Jetta uh as a circuit, you know, in terms of being incredibly fast, concrete walls everywhere, it's under lights, no room for error. Um, and you know, you make a mistake and it's gonna be a big one. But uh, but yeah, I mean, you know, it's it's it's amazing to see how this is gonna work out. Um also, too, the fact that it's a street circuit, not many support races, so it's gonna be a very green track. It'll grip up a lot during the course of the weekend, so times are gonna come tumbling down as as the weekend progresses. But as we've seen on the news just in the last day or two, uh the place is currently underwater. It's been flooded out with torrential storms the last, in fact, even from now, but they assure us that it's gonna be okay. Uh come, you know, FP1 on Friday.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, I saw some video yesterday and I thought that's got to be AI, and it wasn't. It was like literally like the paddock was like a river flowing through it. I mean, hopefully they can uh they can dry it out and there won't be any more rain. I think, and someone else mentioned that it's uh it's a policy in Arizona, they've started to do it in the UAE, don't they, where they cloud seed to try and uh make it rain artificially. Um and someone was saying, oh yeah, that's what that was. So uh if they don't cloud seed for a few days before the event, it'll be totally dry come Sunday.

Damien Reed:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what it was. Also, too, uh, as one of the photographers told me today, he says it's actually a causeway that runs through the middle of it that's designed to carry flood waters, and that's exactly it's doing exactly what it's designed to do. Just that they built a Formula One track right next to the hotels, right there. So um, yeah, but hopefully that'll all get cleared up. Uh, but I'm looking forward to it because this is, you know, this is Max. I think this is Max's big chance to to make a mark because uh, you know, he's he's he did well there last year. Um, he got the fastest lap um I think last year as well. So yeah, it could be a good one for them. I think McLaren are probably going to struggle a little bit if the temperatures are gonna be cool. Uh, but yeah, it's it's I think at the end of the day, is who who is bravest is gonna win.

Rick Houghton:

And George Russell won this race uh last year in a fairly underperforming Mercedes, but they do like the cool conditions, don't they?

Damien Reed:

Yeah, George Russell, the silent assassin, I'll tell you what. Um, you know, I love the fact that he's just getting the job done. He's a he's putting points in the in the bag at each race, and while all the heat and chatter is about McLaren and Max and Oscar and everything else, George is just plugging away. And uh, you know, he is looking good. I mean, if if again, Mercedes, and this is the thing, Mercedes, you know, that the tire temperatures here um would suit Mercedes, especially over a one lap for qualifying, and qualifying here is incredibly important. But having said that, uh at the start of the year, I'd say, yep, this is definitely a Mercedes track. But having said that, the way Mercedes has developed during the course of the year, they've managed to reduce the amount of energy that they put into the rear tire. Um, because we've seen in the more hot races that like Singapore where they've actually done well. So maybe Mercedes have actually brought the brought the package to the to the party right at the right time of the year where they've got a car that runs good in hot and cold weather.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, well, we'll have to wait and see. Uh the Las Vegas Grand Prix is this weekend. Check the times where you are, by the way, because it's it's kind of all over the place. I think it's I'm I haven't even checked myself yet, but I think hang on, let me check. Let me check right now. Uh have to edit this. Uh yeah, you're gonna be alright, Damo, because where you are, the race starts at 8 a.m. Where I am, it starts at 4 a.m., which is no good to anyone.

Damien Reed:

Yeah, yeah. So the action here starts at 4.30 with free practice one on Friday, 4.30, free practice three. But then the real action qualifying is 8 a.m. and the race is at 8 a.m. So yeah, I'll have that with my wee picks, I guess. Um it'd be like being back in Australia watching Formula One again.

Rick Houghton:

Well, I can guarantee you I won't be watching it live at 4 a.m. As dedicated as I am at the weekend I like my lie in. So I'll be turning all my social media off and waiting until I wake to watch the race itself. It's going to be uh thoroughly interesting. Like you say, Max Verstappen could be a big chance for him to dent the McLaren's. Uh, it could be another great chance for Lando to open up even more of a gap, or it could be one of those weekends where Lando has an absolute nightmare and Piastri can score some really healthy points. It's all to play for. We'll be back next time on Two Stoff Compounds to talk about it from Damo and from me. Have a good one. See you soon. Two Stoff Compounds was presented by myself Rick Gorton alongside Damien Reed. The studio engineer and editor was Roy Damonte. The executive producer was Ian Carlisle. Don't forget, if you want to join in the conversation, leave a comment on our Instagram page at Two Stuff Compounds. And if you haven't done so already, please do click that follow or subscribe button. See you next time.