Abu Dhabi GP: Lando’s Glory, Red Bull’s Reset & F1’s New Era Begins

This week on Two Soft Compounds, Rick and Damien Reid wrap up one of the wildest Formula One seasons in years, as Lando Norris clinches his first world title after a nerve-shredding showdown in Abu Dhabi.

They break down how McLaren turned their Qatar disaster into a championship-winning strategy, why Verstappen’s two-point heartbreak may reshape Red Bull’s future, and how Norris proved that “nice guys can, in fact, win.”

The duo also reflect on the end of an era: Renault’s farewell, Sauber’s rebrand to Audi, DRS gone, and a radical 2026 rulebook that could change everything from aero to power balance.

It’s been an incredible season, and the next one starts in just 34 days.

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

Chapters

• 0:00 Title Showdown In Abu Dhabi
• 1:02 McLaren’s Qatar Lessons And Strategy Reset
• 2:47 Piastri’s Start, Team Tactics, And Tyre Games
• 4:55 Norris Under Pressure From Leclerc
• 7:40 Hard Tyres Shine And Softs As Wildcard
• 9:55 A Popular Champion And Podium Calm
• 12:20 Pit Stop Peril, Traffic, And Clean Overtakes
• 15:30 Yuki’s Blocks, Penalties, And Close Calls
• 18:20 Commentator’s Curse And Safety Car Jeopardy
• 21:00 Red Bull Upheaval And Near-Miss Frustrations
• 24:00 Celebrations, Paddock Respect, And Media Marathon
• 27:00 Mercedes Fade, Ferrari Grains, Missed Spoilers
• 30:00 Farewells: Renault, DRS, And Ground Effect

Transcript

Rick Houghton: 0:02

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.

Damien Reid: 0:14

Hey, welcome to another Two Soft Compounds episode with me, Rick, and him, Damien Reed, motoring journalist and Formula One commentator. And that's it, the season's over. We'll see you next year. Goodbye. Good night. No. So listen, it was a showdown in the desert. It was billed as a thrilling race with three drivers having the potential of winning the World Drivers Championship. Of course, we now know that Lando Norris was the man that won it. But let's talk about how he got to that position. I think, you know, McLaren couldn't have made any more mistakes than they did in Qatar in terms of strategy. So I'm I'm sure they had many in-depth meetings in the week between races. But they nailed their strategy, it was bang on. Even though it was a little bit squeaky bum time at times for Lando, he performed flawlessly.

Rick Houghton: 1:03

They got the strategy bang on correct, I think. And uh yeah, there were a few moments there where I thought Charles Leclerc might spoil a party because finishing third is great. You just as long as you didn't finish fourth, the way things were currently laid out. And Charles Leclerc was for a while there was within his DRS, and I thought he was going to be the spoiler. I thought he was going to get in there and get his elbows out and and push. But uh Lando managed to uh to find some new life with those tires and and sort of you know keep him out behind him. But there was a moment there where it was uh there was about three cars behind him that were muscling in, and this is the last thing you need when you're trying to try to just nurse a car home and win a world championship, is to have a marauding crowd behind you, and that's exactly what he had off the start.

Damien Reid: 1:47

Yeah, so Lando, like most of the front runners, started on the medium tires. Oscar Piastri, who started in third position, started on the hard tire, which is traditionally slower, but then on the opening lap, Piastri overtakes Lando. I was thinking, was that in the plan? You know what?

Rick Houghton: 2:02

I was thinking about that today, and I have a feeling that maybe that was in the plan. Maybe there was a discussion before the race saying, listen, if uh you know, if if Max disappears into the distance and uh and you're up next to next to Lando, if you can get around him and Lando don't interfere, because that was a gutsy move around the outside, and I think Lando may have seen him and went, okay, off you go, and then maybe use Oscar as the hair to put a bit of pressure onto Max to either potentially make a mistake or to potentially get his crew to make a mistake in a pit stop. Because if Max had dropped back or had gone off through the through the error that that Oscar would have applied, Oscar would have won the race, so he would have been happy. Um, but but it would have meant that Lando then could have had the the luxury of finishing as far back as sixth if if Max was out of the picture. So I'm just wondering whether that was actually part of a bit of a pre-race chat anyway, and Lando saw Rossi come up and thought, okay, away you go. Uh off go go and chase Max and I'll try and sit here in third.

Damien Reid: 3:00

Because when the the race sort of got to lap two or three, I was thinking, like you, I suppose, I was thinking, wow, Leclerc, for the first time all season, Ferrari have pace, uh, which was which was remarkable. But I thought Leclerc was going to spoil the party, and I got the impression that Lando was desperately trying to drive conservatively to save his tires. So that takes a lot of uh commitment because he's going for the world championship. The first thing he wants to do is cross the line ahead of everyone else and make sure that he is world champion, but then he was lifting and coasting in those opening laps and he was saving his tires. I thought Leclerc was going to get him. Um he came close to well, he did have DRS for a number of laps, and then uh his medium tires started to fade because obviously Leclerc was pushing harder than Lando was to try and get that third place. Uh, but it was fascinating the way Lando kept his composure because we've seen in the past he's not always dealt with pressure uh superbly, but this weekend he certainly did. Yeah, yeah, absolutely did, and I think you're right.

Rick Houghton: 3:55

I think you know, in the in the days leading up to it, Friday and Saturday, McLaren were having front-end issues with the tyres. They were graining and they were going through them. However, they were also the only team to have two new sets of hards for the race. If they needed to go to a two-stop strategy, they had two brand new sets of hard tires, and that the hard compound tyre turned out to be the better tire in the course of the race when you saw the way Oscar you know squeezed what he could out of it. And what I also found interesting too was from a uh a Red Bull strategy, and maybe they had this in the back of their mind as well, is on Friday during free practice one, when Arvid Lindblad stepped in for uh for Max in his car, he did 24 laps on a set of soft tyres. That's that's over half the race distance. And in the back of my mind, I just kept it in the back of my mind, thinking, okay, they've obviously got a strategy that if there's a safety car coming out with, say, 12 or 15 laps to go, they could go onto a set of softs. And that was potentially an option for Oscar as well. He pitted so late that he could have actually got onto a set of softs. Now, I don't know whether they had any spares in the in the in the bank, but but the way Arvid did with the Red Bull, there was 24 laps in those soft highs, which I found astounding around that track.

Damien Reid: 5:05

Yeah, I mean we haven't had a safety car in Abu Dhabi, including this weekend, just gone for five races, which is which is quite phenomenal when you think about it. If you go back to 21, they were going off all over the place. Um but yeah, I mean I I was on the edge of my seat for most of it because I desperately wanted Lando to win. I think he thoroughly deserves it. And if you looked at social media in the last 24 hours, I mean what a popular win it was. All drivers congratulating him, uh all pundits can congratulating him. He's a popular guy, and he proves, um, of course, that nice guys can win world championships. We have often said on this podcast, and other people have said it too, you've got to be ruthless, you've got to get your elbows out. And Lando hasn't always done that. And he came out earlier in the year and said, Listen, I believe that nice guys can win. You don't have to be ruthless, you don't have to be nasty, you don't have to have a uh a nasty mentality, and he's proved them all right. Yeah, for sure.

Rick Houghton: 5:55

You know what I found really nice at at this at this Grand Prix on the weekend is it's nice to have uh three people on the podium who were all pretty much happy with what they got. You know, Max was happy with the win, um, you know, Oscar obviously a little bit disappointed, but you know, he he knew the reality of the situation. So he was, I think by and large, was okay with the situation and finishing second. Of course, Lando being a first-time world champion and third. And what I also found really nice and and interesting was we had nice team bosses fighting for the championship for the first time in quite a while. So Zach Brown and Laurent Mekis, you know, we're showing a lot of mutual respect for each other instead of all the the silly handbags that we've had with with Tater Wolfe and Christian Horner the last couple of years. And uh, and I just thought the uh the overall atmosphere was actually for the for the the top three in the race and the top three in the championship and their respective team bosses, a lot of mutual respect, as you say, from from other competitors as well, but amongst themselves. And uh, you know, the fact that Max only lost by two points, and I know he kept saying, Look, I'm not in the tunt for the championship, I'm gonna do whatever, I'm just gonna go for a win, and if it happens, happy days, if not. But in the cooldown room, you could tell the frustration was starting to creep in because just the funny little comments he was making to Lando, he's saying, right, you know, uh, they're taking a while to set up the podium. And he's like, They're taking a long time to set up the podium, Lando, you know, are they? And and and he guessed like, let's get out of here, let's go. He he just wanted to be done with it and go, and Lando's sort of got this smile going, I want to soak it up, I want to be here forever, you know. So yeah, it was probably starting to hit Max at that point that he let it go for two points, but uh, but overall, yeah, it was a a good result for the championship, a good result for Formula One. Um, and it was a popular result for pretty for pretty much everyone, I think.

Damien Reid: 7:39

Yeah, I think so. There were so many smiles and uh high fives at the end of the race, it was uh it was beautiful to see, actually. It was great. Um, so of course Lando makes his pit stop and he comes out in traffic, which I don't think was probably the plan. Uh but a pit stop went like clockwork, they didn't make any mistakes, which we've seen McLaren make from time to time. Uh, so that was good. So I was literally on the edge of my seat for the pit stop. He came out in traffic. I thought he's right at the back of a DRS chain here. Uh, this could be a nightmare, this could really hamper his attempts. But over the next few laps, he just went through that field like a knife through butter. I mean, it was amazing to watch him committing to overtakes. I suppose most of the drivers he was passing weren't going to block him because that's not in their nature, and they were, you know, as we saw afterwards, they were probably quite happy that he was on his way to a world championship drive. Um, but he got through the the traffic so easily.

Rick Houghton: 8:28

Yeah, he did, he did. And you're right, when he when they boxed him, I thought, oh, here we go, he's coming out in traffic. This is a potential nightmare scenario. Um, but he managed to cut through, and I think, you know, to be fair with to Lando and the other competitors, the other competitors knew what was going on. And uh, you know, unless they were sacrificing their own position in the world championship, they were going to let him through, with the exception of Yuki Sonoda, which I thought was just uh a ridiculous move by by Yuki. Uh I can't even believe there's even people questioning whether Lando should have been penalised for that. You know, Yuki he he moved twice, which in itself is against the rule, and and blocked him. So I thought that the penalty was absolutely thoroughly deserved. Lando didn't have a choice except to avoid running into the back of him, um, and and you know, went through. So, yeah, I mean you know, mate, it makes me wonder now, Rick, whether whether there's a certain Sergei Perez who's just quietly giggling saying, if you had had me there, we could have we could have got this done.

Damien Reid: 9:26

Yeah, I mean, uh Yuki was stupid on a couple of occasions. The the first thing, and the the the second third of that track in Abu Dhabi is very tight, the hotel section, it's called. Yuki could have literally slammed the brakes on and gone really slow through that section. There would be very little Lando could have done about it. He didn't, he carried on at normal pace, and then of course he said on the radio, leave me alone, I know what I'm doing, and then he did something which no one expected because that could have been the end of the world championship. If Lando had clipped him, that would have been it all over. And that's again another edge of the seat moment for me watching that. And I thought Lando committed to running slightly off track to get the overtake done. Again, it was brave from him, it was careless from Yuki, who no he moved, I think it was more than twice, you know. I think it was three times he moved, um, which is exceptionally dangerous. So we got the penalty, and then the FIA have confirmed today that he's got a point on his uh super licence today as an added penalty. Not that he'll care because he won't be using it much uh anymore because he's uh going to be test driver and reserve driver for Red Bull next year. Uh but that was another moment, and then towards the end of the Grand Prix yesterday, uh David Croft, who's commentated on Sky Sports F1, who's normal, in my opinion, is a great commentator. Um, but it got to 10 laps to go, and he was talking about Lando Norris as world champion. And I'm going, what are you it's the commentator's curse. He's going, Oh, his family and friends are going to be so elated, you know, he's winning the world championship for Glastonbury, and this is amazing. Even uh Martin Brundle had to come on and say, uh, hang on a minute, Crofty, um, there's still 10 laps to go here. Anything could happen. And as we've seen so many times in Formula One, anything could happen. I mean, a late safety car could have changed everything. Uh, there was a there was a window at one point where if a safety car came out, it could have gone brilliantly for Max Verstappen. Um, it could have gone disastrously wrong for some of the others, including Lando Norris. Uh, and that window had me on the edge of my seat as well. And it wasn't until he crossed the line in third place that I thought, wow, I can breathe now because it was really quite stressful up until that point.

Rick Houghton: 11:33

Yeah, you never, never, you know, sort of uh preempt anything like that, especially as a commentator, you just you just don't because you're just asking for trouble. And 10 laps to go around the asthma in a circuit is an awful lot of uh potential for for disaster as we've seen previous in previous years. Um and also, you know, the situation with Yuki, just to go back to that for a second. I mean, you know, had he come together with Lando Norris, could you imagine the Furor to Red aimed at Red Bull when you think back to 2021 and it's happening again, there'll be all sorts of you know conspiracy theories coming out. At the time when Red Bull don't need any of this, as I said, they've got a new management at Lauren Meckies, they've got a uh a new head of comms, Paul Smith, who's out there. Adrian Newy's left. Uh, and I heard just just tonight to Helmut Marco is uh going to announce his or has announced his departure as well. So apparently, I'm not sure whether that's been officially announced yet, but Helmut Marco, um, Dutch media are reporting that he had a uh had a meeting with Red Bull, Austria CEO Oliver Mitzlev um tonight in Abu Dhabi, and uh it's understood they've agreed to terms for him to lead the team. So there's a wholesale change going on at Red Bull, and uh yeah, I think you know Yuki would have just stirred up a whole lot of bad memories, but uh but yeah, you never ever count your chickens until that checkered flag is out and the car has crossed the line, that's for sure.

Damien Reid: 12:50

Uh we saw the celebrations on the podium and on the track. Uh Lando was in floods of tears. Uh he was hugging his mum and dad. I thought that was a lovely moment. Uh the fans paid him utmost respect. Uh there was no booing on the podium, which was fantastic. Uh, we all know that Max Verstappen has probably the most passionate fans in Formula One, uh, but they seemed to accept it, as did Max. I mean, he had a beaming smile on his face when he went over and congratulated Lando Norris. So did Lewis Hamilton. The bit with with Lando and Carlos Sainz, I thought, was really lovely when he went over and they were hugging each other, uh, because they they, of course, were great mates when they both raced at McLaren. Um, I just thought, as we've mentioned, the whole paddock, the whole pit lane was absolutely thrilled uh for young Lando getting his his first world championship. And of course, and as they said, David Coulthard mentioned it, he said, uh, you've won this, and they can never take that away from you. You will forever be a world champion in Formula One.

Rick Houghton: 13:43

Absolutely, he's the 35th Formula One world champion now since 1950. And uh yeah, one of our one of the guests I had on my show uh yesterday when we're calling the race on Sunday was uh was Robert Dornboss, ex um Red Bull F1 drover, but he's also Dutch, he's a friend of of the Verstappen's. And he was saying to me after the race, he said, Look, honestly, Max is genuinely happy with the result of the way things turned out. If anything, probably JP, his engineer, is more upset about what could have happened earlier in the year to write a few issues, and JP was looking at the numbers, you know, being two points. Whereas Max was just happy that he pulled 102 points back in in what six races. Um, you know, it was it was amazing. And and you know, Lando didn't leave the circuit until after 11 p.m. last night. He was he just kept hanging around and talking to people and volunteering media commitments. Normally they want to get out as quickly as they can. Uh, in fact, in the in the press conference straight after, when they get the the top three into into the uh you know on the couch with um uh in the press conference, um they had they waited around for uh for for for Lando to come in. So you had uh Max and Oscar who are in there. Uh they waited for what 35 minutes before Lando even turned up. And so by which time the questions just started flowing to to uh Max and Oscar, and they went, Well, we're done. So Max and Oscar actually left the press conference. Uh Tom Clarkson, the MC, even got up and work walked out to the corridor to find, to look for Lando. Eventually he came in because he was giving such long extended TV interviews in the pen before he went inside and did the did the conference with the with the rest of the media. He was just soaking up every second with it with his family and other team members, and as he say, you know, Charles Leclerc went down to him and Carlos Sainz and Max and Lewis and just a popular, just a popular result. I'm really happy.

Damien Reid: 15:32

Yeah, and going back to the race, the chances of Red Bull pulling something out of the bag really relied on um on other teams because Yuki Sonoda was never gonna have the pace to uh to help Max as a teammate should. Uh, we've already discussed um Yuki's stupid block on the back straight. Um, but I think Red Bull were kind of hoping that George Russell was going to have more pace. George was kind of in no man's land for most of the race. And they were hoping that Leclerc would have had you know more pace than he did. He looked pretty feisty at the start of the race, but as his tires grained off, uh he just lost that momentum, and it happened twice after after both pit stops.

Rick Houghton: 16:09

Yes, it's it's it's amazing, isn't it, how the race changed for these guys and the weekend changed for Mercedes. You know, Charles Leclerc, uh sorry, uh Kimi Antonelli and uh George Russell were looking reasonably okay Friday and Saturday. And during the course of the year, and we said it last week that they could be the they could be the spoilers in all of this, and you know, George uh you know has done very well with that. Kimmy Antonelli knows how to put his elbows out and uh and hold people up when it's required. And I was definitely expecting Mercedes to be a spoiler in that. At the start of the race, it looked like that was the way it was going to go, but at the end of it, in the pen afterwards, both the drivers, George and Kimmy, said afterwards they just had no pace. The car just dropped away. It's probably one of the worst results for Mercedes this year. And they they don't know why, it just fell off the pace. And Charlotte Clerk likewise. I mean, you know, he was on fire, as I said. He was within Lendo's DRS, he set the fastest lap of the race, um, which which is amazing that Ferrari could actually pull that one out of the hat this year, but uh, but it just it just dropped away. And you know, he said again, or likewise, he said after after the race that uh you know uh there was just nothing in it. Um and when you consider this time last year in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari were one of the teams fighting to win the constructors' championship. I how how far they've fallen in the space of one season is remarkable.

Damien Reid: 17:24

Well, uh it was uh it was a a number of goodbyes uh yesterday, and I was uh sitting there after the race thinking, wow, there's a lot of goodbyes. Uh so first of all, uh Yuki Sunoda, we're not gonna see him in a drive seat next year. So he's the only one of the current lineup who's not gonna drive for next year. He's gonna be test and development driver and reserve driver for the Red Bull team. Um, it was goodbye to Renault. You think about how many years and how much success Renault have had, and it was their final race yesterday.

Rick Houghton: 17:54

Amazing, isn't it? I mean, you know, that I find it I find it bizarre that a car manufacturer admits by the contract they're signing that their own power unit is so bad that they're going to go and buy one from another company. I just find that absolutely bizarre. But but yeah, I mean, Renault is one of the stalwarts of Formula One, going right back to almost the beginning, Grand Prix racing back in the early 1900s, and the first team to use turbocharging back in the 70s. And you know, um think of the Williams era with Damon Hill and um and uh and all that, you know, such a powerhouse uh company and huge budget. Uh, but they they they they've just dropped, you know, they're what last and second last in the championship. Franco Colapinto, the only driver this season who failed to score a championship point, and they're they're disappearing with with the engine, going to another engine. So um, yeah, I I find that bizarre. It was goodbye to DRS. Yes, yeah. I I'm in mixed minds about it. I think it's I think hopeful well DRS creates artificial overtaking, but unfortunately it's being dropped to bring in another system that also creates artificial overtaking with the push to pass button that they use in IndyCar. Um and it and they're bringing in like a DRS style front wing that also opens and closes as well. So uh, but you know, yeah, it's it's uh it's it's it's gonna be it's it's it's gonna be different for a lot of people. There's a lot of drivers in Formula One who haven't driven a car without DRS.

Damien Reid: 19:19

Yeah, that's very true. We we also say goodbye to the ground effect cars after only a few years, really, when you think about it. I think Mercedes will be the one team that's quite glad to see the back of the uh the uh ground effect cars.

Rick Houghton: 19:32

I'm wondering if that means we'll see the end of the timber plank under the car. I um I hope that we don't have that kind of silliness that we've had over the last couple of years with so many drivers, most recently, obviously, in Qatar with the two McLaren's, but the two Ferraris, uh um, in fact Hamilton twice and Holkenberg and Bahrain, and last year we had it um getting disqualified for being, you know, fractions of a millimeter worn down. I'm hoping that all goes now because it that we're not reliant on on the ground effects for the uh for the aero on the car next year.

Damien Reid: 20:02

Yep, so lots of good buys yesterday, including as you've just revealed, Helmut Marco looks as though we won't be in the Red Bull garage uh next year. Um that dynamic's going to change significantly. And of course we've got new cars for next year which is a massive talking point. Uh you say they haven't got that long off. I think the first test is in January, is that correct?

Rick Houghton: 20:21

Uh 34 days at the checked flag. So uh yeah though they will be testing in in Barcelona which is on the uh on the the 11th of January is the date that's in my diary for them to be for day one of testing. So it's a very short turnaround for the for the Christmas pudding and then back into the gym and then straight down to Barcelona.

Damien Reid: 20:40

Wow that is a very short turnaround I don't think it's ever been that um that short in the history of Formula One from the from the way I I can think about it. So we got the new cars next year. No one really knows who's going to do do well I've heard as many have different rumours I've heard Ferrari are super confident their car's going to perform next year which is one of the reasons uh Lewis Hamilton hasn't stormed off because I think they've given him some reassurance and he's been in the simulator. I also heard the rumour that Red Bull perhaps were having issues with their power system for next year.

Rick Houghton: 21:11

Yeah it's going to be really interesting because as you say Ferrari uh are feeling a bit confident about it so is Mercedes they're feeling a bit confident about it and I'm also I'm excited to see what Aston Martin are going to do whether they've been laying low quietly and and working hard on next year's car with with Adrian Williams is another team to keep an eye on for next year that they might come out and do something. And then you've got Cadillac you know coming in as well now Cadillac have have done the the full season this year just no one's known about it. They've set up a complete simulated run of every Grand Prix weekend starting from the Thursday press conference through to Sunday night they've simulated the press conferences the times that they need for the conferences they've they've done dry runs with the cars they've had the full team back in uh in in Charlotte Carolina and also in the UK and they've basically they've timed themselves to the minute to the way a Grand Prix weekend runs so there'll be no surprises when they get to Melbourne next year. So I'm really keen to see how Cadillac come out of the box as well with with Valtery and Sergio.

Damien Reid: 22:16

Yeah it's going to be I suppose it's going to be the same for every driver with Valtery and Sergio have had a year out of Formula One or racing competitively in Formula One. But it's going to be the same for the other drivers too they've got to learn a whole new set of controls a whole new set of the steering wheels will all be different the electronics are going to be different the way they as we as we said the way DRS is not going to be there anymore but they've got this X and Y button that's they're going to press one for the front wing and one for the rear and it's you know it's going to be a complicated set of things for these drivers to learn. I know most of them have been in the simulators this year already trying to grapple with these things. But it's going to be a hell of a change for the drivers and the mechanics isn't it it's going to be massively massively massively different.

Rick Houghton: 22:59

I can't underestimate that enough it's you know we're talking about a car that's going to be lighter which which is a good thing but you know the the uh internal combustion engine component of the power unit is only going to be about 400 430 horsepower there's a lot of road cars in the road with around with more than that these days but you're going to get 550 horsepower out of the uh the battery unit so there's a lot more dependence on the on the EV side of things with the car um the MGUH MG UK there that's also gone and uh and as you say the front wing it's it's it's a three-piece front wing now where the you're going to have it's kind of like a DRS on the left and right elements of the front wing so you'll be you'll be able to adjust those planes. The bit that concerns me about that is that they're hydraulically operated whereas a DRS currently now is a cable it's just a cable to the back pop you know opens and close. When you bring in when you're introducing hydraulics into the front end of the most vulnerable card of a car it means clipping your front wing in a turn one takes on a whole new meaning because it means that firstly you're going to put hydraulic fluid on the track and secondly you can't just you won't be able to I doubt you anyway we'll wait and see but I doubt you're able to just bring the car in with a busted nose and off with the old one and on with the new one and out you go again it might be a much more complicated problem to fix.

Damien Reid: 24:15

Yeah that's a really interesting point actually I know we talked about the uh the fact that we we can expect reliability issues next year a because you know the whole thing's brand new and we always get reliability with that um but with these these new systems being so vulnerable to that sort of thing I mean it's crazy to me that they they wouldn't be able to continue if they uh if they took a wing tip off the front wing. I mean it's it's just uh unthinkable really but you know that is a strong possibility it's going to be really interesting to see um how all of these regulation changes rule changes and equipment changes pan out oh and another goodbye of course one of the biggest names in Formula One is is Sauber is no more they're becoming Audi next year so that name goes as well.

Rick Houghton: 24:54

Yeah Peter Sauber he's been around in Formula 1 for over 30 years now and uh he was at the track on the weekend which is good to see he doesn't go to races very often these days but he came out to Abu Dhabi for the last one. It's the second time we've said goodbye to Sauber because they did disappear uh back in the uh very early 2000s if you remember when BMW bought the team uh with Robert Kibitza and then uh sauba came back after BMW you know went to I think they went to Williams after that um and then bailed out altogether so um so you never say never maybe maybe old Pete will come back again one day but yeah it's uh it's one of the storied names that's of of now Formula One and of course going back to the group C era before that with Jochen Mas driving at the Sauba Mercedes C eights and nines at at Le Mont uh one of the great names of of European motorsports so uh um that'll be sad but we'll see what Audi can bring into the into the mix for next season I'm excited about that they've certainly got no shortage of money either um and the way Jonathan Wheatley has managed to pull that team together this year with with Gabby Bortoletto and uh you know uh particularly as a rookie he's done some uh done some really good things and and of course yeah Nico Holkenberg the old man of of F1 now as well um did did a great job in fact I think it was uh uh Hulk's 250th Grand Prix start on Sunday night too so you know the old man's still got it Fernando Alonso says he's gonna um if the car is performing well last uh next year sorry that that will probably be his final year in Formula One if it takes two years for Adrian Newy to get up to speed with the new rag changes he may stick around a little bit longer and of course we've got Isa Isaac Hadjar who's gonna partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull can he finally break the curse of the Red Bull teammate? You know what I think I think Laka's on Isaac's side this time around um in terms of the number two seat at Red Bull because of all the things we've just been talking about a few seconds ago new rules new car we're all off off the same bat it's a brand new formula so so he's he's not going to have to learn how to adapt to a Max Verstappen car um because there isn't such a thing now it's going to be from from square one and uh you know he he might adapt to that also too this will be the first Red Bull ever that's been designed without Adrian Newy as part of the operation. So and as we know Adrian designs the best cars in the world to be as fast as possible and doesn't care whether the driver is comfortable or not or fits or not. It doesn't matter so you know over the years speaking to people like Seb Vettel and Mark Weber and various others they don't like driving Adrian Newy cars. They they can admit it actually they've left because he doesn't make nice cars to drive he makes cars that are fast. So there might be a little bit more tolerance now for the new driver to come in. So I'm I've I've I'm a little bit hopeful that Isaac might be able to be uh a closer a closer running mate to Max also to one of the old engineers at Red Bull who's been there for many many years I spoke to him on on Tuesday and he said there's his words he said Isaac is probably the closest driver he's met in terms of Max's style in the whole 20 years that he's been working for Red Bull. So if you build one car for both of them that Isaac's probably got a better chance of of driving in a similar style to Max.

Damien Reid: 28:09

Wow okay um difficult to do this but can you make any predictions or hopes for 2026?

Rick Houghton: 28:15

Oh it's it's the toughest one. It really is the toughest one. I you know just going on on the on what people have been doing in the lead up so far I think you would have to say that Aston Martin would have to be better than next year. I'm I'm I'm hoping that they've they've taken a fall this year in order to put one in the bank for next year and that all this year has been a ruse to get ready for next year because the money they have spent if you've seen their factory down at Silverston how big it was five years ago and how big it is now it's ridiculous. They've even got a mini track of Silverston inside their own property of the track that's across the road um it's nuts. So I'm hoping that yeah Aston Martin will do something and I think Fernando's on the right boat if it's good for next year he'll hang around if not bye bye. And I'm hoping Ferrari will pull one out of the bag as well. But going back to what I was saying before um I'm keeping an eye on Williams in particular and what what they might do and the uh and the Mercedes power units.

Damien Reid: 29:12

Yeah I've got I've got a little sneaky feeling that Williams are going to be fighting for a constructor's championship next year. Don't ask me why it just feels as though that team has probably the most forward momentum at the moment even more so than Aston Martin perhaps I just think James Fowle's been building and building to this rag change and I just think they're gonna do really good things next year. And they've got two good drivers you know Carlos Sainz has had a a pretty remarkable season this year when you consider their limitations.

Rick Houghton: 29:39

Same I I've got the same feeling and uh I know people have been saying this there's the Carlos Sainz effect which I think has has a bit of a rub off you know whether he's at McLaren or at Renault or at Ferrari he's lifted that or the team has lifted in the constructors when he's been there. But also too the investment of the that that's been going on down at Williams you know as this I think we said before you know they've there's been like a 60% uh change in staff but not turnover in additions so they've actually you know they've they've they've spent a lot of money bringing people on James Vows um is the pupil of Toto Wolf during the glory years of Mercedes so you know he was he was with him when Lewis won all those championships and Nico won in 2016 and he's a very smart clued up clued up guy so you know and then you've got Atlassian who is the you know the the the richest sponsor currently in Formula One whether that'll change next year I don't know but certainly for this season they have been so there's money there's there's development there's investment there's two good drivers alex Albon is is an underrated driver in my books I think he he still brings a lot to the team brings a lot of calm a lot of analytical thoughts and Carlos Sainz as well um I'm with you I think Williams is is going to be it's they're going back to the old days when they were you know dominating constructors and drivers championships. Fascinating uh to see what happens it's been a pleasure presenting the uh two Soft Compounds podcast with you this season Damo thank you so much for your input thank you mate I've I've loved every second of it it's been uh it's been one of the best seasons to uh to to commentate and talk about as well I've really enjoyed the season I've enjoyed having our our banner here on Two Soft Compounds and just analyzing and looking forward to the next race and got to wait now till well I'm not sure I'll go to Barcelona but we've got to wait now till uh Australia and when is it March uh before it all kicks off again.

Damien Reid: 31:25

Well hopefully we'll be back on Two Soft Compounds to uh call the shots when we get into the 2026 season I want to give a special mention to our producer Roy who is leaving the company he's not going to be with us next season it's goodbye from Roy who's been superb and has been communicating with us and helping us out and fixing technical problems and all the stuff that comes with the podcast. So Roy uh from me and Damo thank you very much indeed. Cheers Roy thanks very much I didn't realise that um yeah thank you so much for everything you've done mate okay well it's uh it's time to end it's time to say happy Christmas to everyone and happy winter break to everyone and uh hopefully you won't be pining for Formula One for too much longer. We're gonna get headlines as early as the 11th of January so it's not too long to wait. Damo thanks very much from me and him have a great Christmas and new year and we'll see you in 2026 on Two Stuff Compounds. Cheers guys Two Stuff Compounds was presented by myself Rick Gorton alongside Damien Reed. The studio engineer and editor was Roy Damonte the executive producer was Ian Carlos don't forget if you want to join in the conversation leave a comment on our Instagram page at TwoStoff Compounds and if you haven't done so already please do click that follow or subscribe button. See you next time