Charles Leclerc Breaks Through

Tashia and Alisha recap a wild Silverstone weekend: Charles Leclerc's long-awaited win, a Ferrari podium double, a controversial late safety car that cost Lewis Hamilton, and a growing list of grievances with the FIA. Plus: sprint race fatigue and a deep dive into F1's brewing silly season.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to the newest episode of the Into the Chicane podcast. We are your hosts. I'm Tasha. And I have I'm Alicia. Yeah, we had Silverstone that happened a couple weeks ago. And Silverstone never disappoints, does it? Yeah, absolutely. I feel like in our last episode, we were talking about how Silverstone is one of our favorite races of the year, both of us. And yeah, it was another really exciting race, but I think not for the reasons that we would have predicted. So let's just jump right into it with a little bit of a recap. And the podium for Silverstone, we had Charles Leclerc of all drivers, shockingly winning the race, which I'm very happy to see, but unbelievable. I definitely could not have predicted that at all. Yeah. So that was hugely impressive. That was unreal to see the Ferrari back on top after all the flack. I will I will say for sure all the flack that I've given Char this season and just, you know, all the things I've said. He proved me wrong. And I'm I'm really glad he did. Yeah. Huge kudos to him. And uh we'll get into a little bit more of his performance. But quick shout out to our uh race winner. We had George Russell taking home P2 and Lewis Hamilton on the podium as well in P3. So actually a double podium day for Ferrari, which is made the driver's championship as well as the constructor's championship uh really interesting. So I think we have a pretty good battle for both championships at this point as we head closer to the summer break. Absolutely. It's uh it's really nice to see two British drivers up on the podium at Silverstone, um, at double Ferrari Podium, just just an incredible weekend all around. Um you know, I I would have loved to see Ferrari P1, P2, which we'll get into everything that happened, but uh for a while there it looked like that that that really should have been what happened, in my opinion. But FIA is gonna FIA, so uh P1 and P3, I guess. Oh yeah, I actually have some grievances to air with the FIA as well. So looking forward to that discussion uh when we get into that. Um but yeah, starting off with a great performance from Leclerc, I think that from the race that we saw him put together, it's very clear that whatever his struggles have been don't have to do with his skills and abilities. It's about whether or not he can put the performance together on the day. And there's been just, I don't know if it's mental or something that's been kind of limiting that performance from coming together. But I noticed that as soon as he had crossed the check and flag and it was official, and also on his Instagram, their mantra seemed to be Tough Times Never Last, only Tough People Last, which is a meme, I guess, that has really resonated with him. But I think that really just sums up his time in Ferrari, especially over the last couple years and from the beginning of the season for sure. Just like a breakthrough moment that he was super overdue for. So really glad to see that he was able to put that together and maybe this will unlock some more performance for him for the rest of this season, which I would love to see. Yeah, absolutely. I think I I would agree, right? I think we've seen Char struggling, and I I don't know what the struggle is. Is it the car setup that he has going on? Is it just a mental thing? Is it just the the new the new car is not working for him? Like I don't know what it is, and it's maybe it's a combination of all of those things, right? Um, but whatever he did at Silverstone worked, and hopefully he can continue doing that. And we we get to see, you know, both Ferraris really fighting for the podium. Um, because for a while there, you know, like of course Lewis has been performing really well and being really consistent with it, but it would be really nice for Char to be there too, right? And to have both the Ferraris doing what what they clearly can do, and they're really gonna, if they can both do that and both pull that performance out of that car, and Shar's pace was absolutely incredible this weekend, right? Like Lewis just didn't have the same pace in in the in the car that Char did this weekend or last weekend. But if they can both do that, then one, you're right. I think there's gonna be a real challenge for the drivers championship. But two, I I could see Ferrari taking um constructors because we're seeing a lot of issues with the Mercedes and and things happening consistently with the Mercedes engine that uh that I think Ferrari could could come out on top there. Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, this was another race where we only had one Mercedes and the points, right? So that's happening more often than not, especially over the past few races. So that's a real vulnerability for Mercedes. And Ferrari was having problems kind of stemming from a different uh reason with Char not getting up into like the high points as consistently as he should. So if they're able to kind of eliminate that as a risk for them, Ferrari has a really solid chance of winning. And I think Shar's performance was very complete. Like it really felt like he had everything just running very smoothly. His pace was there, he was making like smart decisions in the car, the strategy was there, the pit stops were pretty clean. Like, I I think this was a really good, complete performance for the whole team and especially for Char. So definitely something that should be a huge boost to uh Ferrari. And if I were Mercedes, I would start probably feeling like really vulnerable when it comes to securing that title. Like they just have not looked as dominant as we would have expected at this point in the season. Certainly. We're like at the halfway point of the season almost, and uh, they're not looking like they have a lead that's going to hold. 100%. They're they, you know, it's funny, you like you see the car and you see what the car can do, and you're like, that's the rocket ship, right? Like it was, it's basically the McLaren of last year and the Red Bull of the year before, right? Of like this is the dominant car, and and it's just incredible. But they're just the holes are starting to to show, right? We're starting to see the gaps there, and it's a really good opportunity for for the Ferrari, for the McLaren, for the Red Bull, I don't know, to to find their way into those, into those gaps there, right? And and overtake the Mercedes. Yeah, absolutely. I think it'll be really interesting to see how Mercedes can respond to that, if they can respond to that. And we'll see the next couple races, we might have a new team leading constructors. So I won't say anything more than that. Don't want to jinx anything, but the possibility is there, certainly. Yeah, we we we've said a lot of things and then they don't they don't pan out. So we're just gonna true tight lip. Yeah, yeah. We we're not making this is not a prediction. Not a prediction, not at all. Pure speculation. So we had a pretty decent weekend for Ferrari still, but definitely a race that Hamilton, Lewis Hamilton, will have some like overall just not a great day for him. Not a complete disaster by any means. He was P3, and like that's a great finish, but just a little bit off. And it started kind of from the very beginning of the race. He received a penalty for like not going early when the like before the lights had gone, which is such a weird penalty for him to receive. Like, Hamilton knows what to do at a race start. So I found that a little weird. And then as we already mentioned, his pace was just not comparable to Leclerc's. And he was just kind of fighting a little, like it was a lot of fight to stay with things. Um, there were a couple DNFs and a couple like mechanical problems for other drivers that I think helped him out a little bit to secure that P3. And then he was also potentially going to face a penalty after the race as well, because the FIA was investigating a yellow flag infringement, which was found to be no concern at the end and there was no further action taken, but just kind of a race that I think he'll uh want back. You know, like it's it's a race that maybe he could have executed a little bit better on, not a disaster, but just not up to his usual standard. Yeah, I I agree. I I don't know what kind of changed essentially from Lewis in the last couple of races, but but I just I hope it's a little bit of a blimp there. Maybe just certain settings weren't there, he just kind of wasn't in the right headspace, whatever it was. But hopefully that doesn't become a consistent thing for him. Like again, he was on the podium, so it was a great, great outcome overall, but we've we've seen we've seen glimpses of the old Lewis this season, and uh, and it would just be nice to to have him back a little bit more consistently. But I will say, kind of at the end of that race there, right? So we we had a a safety car that came out right at the end, was giving PTSD from 2021 Abu Dhabi. But uh we had a a a safety car come out because that was Mash m Max's uh Max. Yeah, Max's run into the gravel. Yeah, into the wall there. And uh did he crash into the wall or was it just did he just end up with so the gravel kind of took him off course and it wasn't like a huge impact into the wall, but he kind of just ended up crashing into the wall, not in a super intense way, but that's ultimately what ended his race. Yeah, yeah. I thought it was like I I couldn't remember if he'd actually crashed into the wall, but you're right, it kind of like skid across the the gravel there. Yeah. So they safety card, and this was near the end, like we were nearing the end of the race. Yeah, only four laps to go, I think, when when that crash happened. So yeah, and so that happens, and safety car comes out, and we have I think it it was Shar P1, Lewis P2, and George P3, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, and George was on newer tires than Lewis. So Ferrari is like, all right, let's pit Lewis, get him on better tires, because everybody's under the assumption here that the safety guards are gonna come in on the last lap and it's gonna be a one-lap shootout, which we've seen happen before. And if your tires aren't as good as the guy behind you, you're probably gonna lose that pace, right? So it was definitely no one knows that more than Lewis.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Exactly, right? So so it's uh all right, we're gonna pit, we're gonna change the tires.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Lewis comes up P3, no problem. We're going into the final lap. Everybody's saying, All right, safety cars ending. Safety car does not end. Safety car doesn't come in, it just continues going. And so we're gonna finish the race under the safety car, which I I don't I don't know, because I think all the all the teams were told safety cars coming in, all the drivers were told safety cars coming in, we as the audience are being told safety cars coming in, safety car doesn't come in, so that was yeah, I like I felt so bad for Lewis in that situation because George didn't come in taking the gamble. Yeah, yeah, it was a really weird and kind of anticlimactic end to the race. And I think it was made even weirder by the fact that we've seen almost this exact scenario play out very recently. Abu Dhabi 2021, obviously, is that most recent time where we've seen a scenario like this. And also everybody, like you said, the drivers, the teams, the broadcasts, everyone was told that there would be one lap of racing. The safety car was gonna end as a last lap that would get started. And so it was just kind of a weird like application of the rules. But from what I understand, this is actually technically correct. So, what is supposed to happen is any lapped cars have to unlap themselves, and then you have one lap to be completed after that has happened. But interestingly, I what I understand is that on the driver's like dash essentially, the message had displayed by mistake to say safety car in this lap on the penultimate lap, so the second last lap. And then that message was quickly canceled because it was a mistake. And so they realized that the message was sent and then they took it away. But at that point, all the drivers had seen it. So it was very weird. And then the safety car had just continued to start the final lap. I don't know, it was very weird. In a way, I'm like, we were kind of robbed of a really exciting end to the race, but I guess it is what it is. Yeah, I did find it really funny because Toto, in his comments to the media or just his general comments, he was very quick to note that I'm very glad that the protocols were followed correctly this time. So I found that a little hilarious, even though it probably would have been better just for the race outcome and the fun of it all for us to have gotten that last lap of racing.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Yeah, but it's so was Lewis.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

When we didn't follow Lewis, Lewis gets screwed. When we don't follow the rules, Lewis still gets screwed, right? So I yeah, I I'm a little I'm a little annoyed about that. But you know, you're right. Like if if that's what's in the rule book and we follow the rules, okay, great. But also, like, how do how do we send out something by mistake? You know, like like it's yeah, it's not amateur hour, right? It's F1. And like Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and I think this is where my grievances with how the race was run and and the FIA in general have really started from this past weekend. Yeah, we had that incident. We had also a few races ago, or maybe the race just before this, was the uh speeding the pit lane debacle. I feel like there's just been a lot of Monaco, yeah. Monaco, there's been a lot of just slip-ups by the FIA that are just really starting to bother me. And also for Kimmy Antonelli last weekend as well, it was just such a weird, annoying thing. So at around like lap 41, lap 42, Kimmy starts having car troubles. And, you know, he's really slowing down, he's having problems, and he's clearly kind of out of it at this point. He's not really that competitive. And so he starts kind of cutting his corners and he's technically violating track limits. Yeah. So he gets a track limits penalty. Now, yes, he is in breach of that. But what I find really odd is that when you apply a penalty for track limits or any penalty, right, there's a document that's submitted that says, here's a description of what happened, here's why the penalty was applied. And they had applied the track limits penalty for Kimmy because he left the track without a justifiable reason, which I find not to be true if the reason is that his car was not drivable, essentially, and he was having mechanical issues. And he even said that over the radio too to Bono. And Bono was like, hey man, noted, but you you still have a penalty. And I just find that a really silly and arbitrary application of the rules. Like it made no difference to what was going on with him. And so why are you saying that there's no justifiable reason to his I I don't know. I I find it really dumb personally. Yeah, I you know, another rough race for Kimmy. It's hard to see because, like, again, he's raced so well all season, just completely dominating every race. And these last two races have just been awful for him. Uh two races in a row of not being in the points, a DNF, and I think he I think he finished like P16 or something like that, right? Like that's right. So he finished, but not in the race, or not in the points this time. And it's just it's hard to see because I just I I hope he has the right supports and stuff around him because that's like mentally really tough. And like we've talked a lot about how F1 is a pretty cutthroat sport. Now, I don't see Kimmy going anywhere. I don't think I think, you know, Toto and Mercedes have invested a lot of money in Kimmy, and and I don't I don't see that, you know, anything breaking down there. But it's just like mentally it's gotta be really hard on him to have two back-to-back races. I think in his post-race interview, he seemed he seemed in pretty good spirits, but that's just just a shitty situation to be in for him. And that penalty on top of it, yeah, I completely agree. That's just like let's use some common sense here, right? Like, yes, he's violating track limits, but it's because his car physically cannot cannot make those turns, so he has to. And he came into the pits to I think they replaced his front wing, or they they were doing something, right? Or they had to unlaw something, or I can't remember what it was, but they had to do something to his car at that point, right? Like, it's just let's let's let's use our brains, everybody. Yeah, I feel like the FIA is just making everybody take these L's for no reason, right? We had the whole speeding of the pit lane situation, which affected almost every driver on the grid. We had a huge reshuffling of the the finishing and like the the points distribution. Uh, we had these right of reviews that were opened, like it was just a huge mess. Now we have another weekend where we're seeing like so many penalties being handed out and also just such a silly application of the rules that are not really affecting the race outcome anyway. So why are we doing it? Like you said, let's have some common sense and let's understand that if a driver cannot drive the car properly, yeah, they're gonna be in violation of track limits, and we know why they're in violation of track limits. So yeah, a little annoying. But yeah, on the Kimmy front, I agree with you. I think it is probably very mentally jarring to win five races in a row and be the youngest driver to be winning all of these races. He's breaking all of these records, and everybody is just focusing their attention on him. He's quickly becoming the story of the season. And now two races in a row where he has had really poor outcomes for reasons kind of beyond his control in a lot of ways. Yeah. And like that's kind of also just, I guess, part of the sport sometimes. But like he's experienced high highs and also pretty low lows this season. And I think that is a lot for someone to handle, any driver, but especially somebody who is so early on in their F1 career. So I hope he has, like you said, some good people around him to kind of help weather the storm and just stay focused on the bigger picture. 100%. You're right. Really high highs, really low lows. And we'll see how, you know, we're like you said, we're almost halfway through the season, so we'll see how the second half kind of pans out here. And again, what Mercedes is gonna do during the summer break to to see how they can help build some more consistency in getting both of their cars to finish in the points, which is a crazy thing to say for the the car of of the year, right? Like this is supposed to be the dominant car of the year, but they're struggling to get both cars to finish in the points every race. I I can't, I honestly I don't even remember what the last race was that both of them finished in the points. They did both finish in the points in Austria, but that had that was the first race in a while where both of them had finished in the points. We had Barcelona where Lewis won. You're right, yeah, they were one in the yeah, Kimmy was not having a great race. I think he might have DNF'd. Yeah, he DNF'd that race. Yeah. And then we had a whole slew of George and his problems before that. So yeah, there's really only been a few races this season. And we're we've had we're on like what the tenth, not maybe not tenth, like the ninth, eighth, or ninth race of the season. Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy. So you're right, yeah. So it's not in a row that he hasn't finished. It feels like so long ago, but again, it's just they they haven't been able to be consistent in that. And I I think that's gotta be really tough on on Kimmy. And and on George, right? It's almost like a coin toss week by week, right? Of like, all right, what driver's gonna finish this race, which one isn't? And uh yeah, or you know, who's gonna end up on the points and who's not, and that's not what you want to see from from the the one the car that's at the top of the constructors, right? That's that's not what you expect. Yeah, definitely. More often than not, we have one of them having a really good race and then one of them that's like completely out of it. Like one is up and then one has to suffer because of it. It's it's not a great track record they have so far with two good races for both drivers. So hopefully we can start to get out of that pattern. Yeah, absolutely. But I will say it was this race was a really good showing for I think all of the British drivers. I think everybody had a a pretty good race, right? Like George P2, like the winner of the race wasn't British, but everybody else finished pretty well. George P2, Lewis P3, Lando was P4. Arvid in his first uh home Grand Prix finished in the points. I think he was P six, P7. Yeah, I think so. I think both Liam and Arvid were P6 and P7. Yeah. So great Liam and Psyche. Yeah. But yeah, Arvid was uh P7, uh Bearman. Bearman had a rough day, unfortunately. He did. Granted, he's not in the mix as much as the rest of the Brits this season, um, but he had that early contact with Albon and just like didn't really recover after that. Not that I was expecting Haas to do too much. Yeah. But yeah, not not a great weekend for him. Just kind of like another forgettable, mediocre race for them.

unknown 22:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Yeah. You know, I will say though, with even with like, yeah, like with what we've seen from Ollie early on, it's been, you know, a sharp, a sharp decline there. But, you know, after being in a in a in a bit of an accident there right at the beginning, to finish P12 in a race where you didn't have like six, seven cars, not for like DNFing, right? We had, I think, three DNFs this time to to kind of make your way back up to P12. Not not bad. Like it's not great, but it's also not bad. So I I will I will give him that because I have a a little bit of soft spot for for Ollie. Yeah, actually, that is a fair point. It wasn't a complete implosion by any means. He did his best to recover. So yeah, I I would agree. Given how competitive they've been this season, which is not very much, and given the early contact, yeah, I would say you're right. It's it's more respectable than I initially thought. Yeah. But I, you know, shout out again to the racing bulls, both finishing in the points. Uh, we're seeing that consistently. I think both Alpenes did finish in the points as well. I think they were P9, P10, but P6, P7 for the Racing Bulls. I think they're like a point difference now between Alpine and Racing Bulls. I think it's like Alpine is 60 and Racing Bulls are at 59 in constructors. So if I'm not mistaken, but I think it's pretty. You're right. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just one point with Alpine at 60, racing bowls at 59. Yeah. Which is that's really heating up. That is, right? And and I think they're really if they can keep being consistent and they don't even have to be at the top of the podium, right? Like if they can consistently be finishing P6, P7, P7, P8, whatever, right? In that in that mix there, I can see them kind of winning, winning in the middle. And I honestly think that's a pretty repeatable result for them for a good chunk of the rest of the season. Like if we have Mercedes or Ferrari, one of them with a double podium, we have maybe McLaren in the mix. That's only six spots, right? And we're not seeing that there's teams that are very close to Racing Bulls and Alpine. Uh, we've seen kind of like inconsistent results from Red Bull, so they're not as much of a factor as Mercedes and Ferrari have been. So Racing Bulls really just needs a little bit of trouble from one of the big teams to get in the points consistently and and not just like P10, but like you said, P6, P7, those are pretty solid finishes. Yeah. So if we continue to see this type of trend where one of the big teams is having some problems, then they can definitely be in there almost every single time.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

And I'm I'm excited to see what they do. It's it's nice to see that for you know, Arvid being the rookie and Liam, who I think is still very young in in the sport and fresh to it. I I I'm really happy for for him because he's obviously had a little bit of a rough go around here. And uh and to be somewhere where he's actually performing and and doing well is is really exciting. So I'm excited to see how Racing Bulls continues doing this. But it's really interesting because they're I mean, I shouldn't say they're performing better, but they're performing a hell of a lot more consistently than their top team of a Red Bull. Shout out to Isaac, P5. Ezac, I think may have broken the second Red Bull seed curse, but I think that curse may have somehow transferred over to Max. Don't know how that happened, but I I think I think something happened there. Yeah, it's been so rocky for Max. He's had, is it just one podium this year? I think so. That's he's had no wins. And I think no wins. His only podium was uh Austria. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think that's the only Red Bull Ring is the only podium. I think you're oh no, no. He was in the podium in Canada. He was uh P3. Okay, I mean Canada was a while ago though. Like it's just been Yeah, that's it. So it's the two kind of kind of rough. Like he crashed so late into the race, and I I truly gasped when they cut to his car, like going through the gravel, just because like this is Max Verstappen we're talking about, right? Like, what is what is going on if we're not able to get what like maybe one of the best drivers of all time up in on the boat podium consistently? Like to me, that really is indicative of larger problems within Red Bull. Like, we know that there's been some choice words that Max has shared about his overall assessment of the year, his feelings about fun and whether he's enjoying himself, but also just the the Red Bull and Max relationship seems like it's been better than it is right now. It's it's not looking like like a nice positive relationship. We've had a lot of movement out of the team. We've had a lot of personnel changes in the last couple years, so that might be affecting things as well, but they just seem like kind of a shell of themselves. Yeah, I I don't know what's happening. And yeah, this isn't the Red Bull that that we we know, right? And I I I want to say we know and love, but like it's not the Red Bull we know and hate, or at least on my like for me, right? Like I I was like, like Red Bull was just like that that team, right? They were so good. Um we we had all the things that happened between the Mercedes and the Red Bull and and all the fights, you know, on on the track with Lewis and Max and stuff, and it was like infuriating, but it was exciting to watch that, right? And then you had Red Bull's dominance, and I just like I feel like there have been so many changes at Red Bull, and they just like I don't know, was it Christian Horner leaving? Was it like I don't know what it was, but something happened at Red Bull and it's it's been a huge decline. And I just I can't imagine what's going through Max's head because he is a fantastic driver, right? I think Max and in a dominant car, like Max Max could be up there challenging Lewis's seven, right? Like that's the kind of driver he is. So I don't know. I don't know what's happening, and I just I can't imagine Max is is happy right now. Yeah, definitely. I think he is certainly unhappy. Red Bull almost seems like it's like when your op doesn't want to be in the game anymore, is is how it feels to me. I always thought of Red Bull as someone who's not a Red Bull fan, but you know, appreciates greatness in the sport. They were a very fun and exciting like rival to have. Yeah. And it just seemed like the wind is just out of their sails. Where it's like not even fun to root against them anymore because it's like you're just kicking them while they're down. Like, what's the fun in that? Yeah. And then on the Mac side, you know, we're starting to get into the silly season part of the season. We're really starting to hear the rumors pick up about him leaving Red Bull. We're not really hearing that many flat denials either, which has been very interesting. All the comments have been very much focused on, you know, like where do we go from here and how do we recover? Instead of reassuring people that Max is here to stay, which we've seen in the past. We're not seeing that this time around. Yeah. And because he has no wins and he's in seventh place in the driver's championship, and summer break is coming up, it comes back to that exit clause that we know that he's had. Yeah. Could it be activated? And currently on paper, it it would be activated. Yeah, it would be. I think the question is where does Max go? Right. I uh we're hearing a lot of McLaren, and we do know a lot of Red Bull people have gone to McLaren. We know Oscar is not happy at McLaren. Nobody's, you know, outright saying anything, but you know, the there's no there's no smoke without fire. So we're hearing all these things. But does Max want to go to McLaren? That's not, again, not showing dominance or consistency. It's starting to get up there, but it's still not comparable to the Mercedes and the Ferrari consistently. He's not going to Ferrari right now because Lewis is locked in for another year and charge assigned an extension. We know Toto really likes Max and Mercedes is the dominant car. Would you who do you drop? Because you have you have a whole roster. And it's it's between George and Kimmy. George who's given you everything, right? George who who's who's, you know, been there through it all and now finally is in a car that is performing well and stuff. But I don't think you're getting rid of Kimmy because you've, like I said earlier, right? You've poured way too much money into Kimmy to drop him as a driver. Yeah, it's it's a really interesting question because if I'm George, is it worse to stay, have Max join Mercedes and him be the number one driver and play second fiddle to Max? Or is it worse to be lower on the totem pole than Kimmy and get booted? And I I would expect, you know, he would definitely get picked up by another team. He's pretty talented, they would want his expertise. But neither of those situations, I feel like, results in a good outcome for George, to be honest. Like you're either second to a baby in Kimmy, or you're second to Max for Stappen. And who wants to be second to Max? That's just basically guaranteeing that you're not winning a driver's championship. 100%. And like historically, George and Max don't get along. So you how would you put those two on the same team together? Like they would they would never follow team orders, like ever, right? We we've had this happen in the past with that with Nico and Lewis, but like at least they started out as like best friends and it started out really well. This would be terrible from the get-go, right? So I I feel like the only logical option in my brain would be McLaren and Oscar maybe goes to Red Bull. I I don't know. I don't know what would happen there. But I also don't really see Max wanting a non-dominant car. I think Max wants to win championships. And I don't know if the McLaren can give him a championship right now or next year, maybe in a few years, but as of the car and what it currently looks like, it it's not giving you a championship. Yeah, I agree with you. I think if it's a choice between a car that's not going to be competitive enough or leaving the sport, he would leave the sport. Maybe he would leave and come back in a couple years. That's I guess possible. But I don't see a world where Max is still in F1 and isn't driving for a top team just because he's made it very clear that that's not what he's looking for out of his career. Granted, McLaren have had some moments this year where I've thought, oh, okay, maybe they are like back and and ready to contend. But the way that the season has panned out, there's a pretty big gap, I think, between you have Mercedes and Ferrari, one, two, and then you have a sizable gap before we have McLaren. So I don't really see them making up significant enough ground where they could be in that conversation. And so if McLaren is the only team that has an opening and that makes any sense, it's it's hard to say whether Max would actually want to commit and and stick with them if he's not going to be fighting for a title or constructors. Yeah. I I don't know because in my brom in my mind, I'm like, yeah, McLaren is doing better than Red Bull, but like, is it right? Like on paper, yeah, it is. Like, yeah, you're a little bit higher than the constructors, but again, you're not fighting one, two, three really for drivers championship. Like things would have to go catastrophically wrong at uh at Mercedes and Ferrari for Lando to to to win a second one, right? Or for Oscar to to to make his you know impact at the top there. I just don't see that happening throughout the season. So yeah, I feel like there's an opening at McLaren. I just I don't I I don't know if that's what Max is looking for, because why would you leave a t a team that's not performing for another team that's not performing on the top? Yeah, I completely agree. I think it's a very different situation for Max than it is for maybe your average silly season candidate because he doesn't really care about just if there's an opening or not. It's if he wants to drive for them or not. He's not here to just, you know, collect his money, not saying that other drivers are, but you only really have so many good years to capitalize on your skill and and stay in F1. And Max has kind of proven everything he needs to prove. He doesn't really need to stick around for that purpose. So it's it's kind of a different approach, I think, that he'll take when it comes to the like making his decision. And then on the McLaren front, I mean, as we know, Oscar has not had the greatest time at McLaren. So I'd be really shocked to see him stick around. But interestingly, his manager has now fully shut down any rumors that Piastri is leaving. And I find that to be super interesting because you're you're telling me that Oscar wants to stay with this team when we know everything, or at least everything that we could see that happened last year. Like you're trying to tell me that he's happy there, please. Yeah. We we can we can we can read through the lines here. Like we we know what's happening. There's no chance. And like I know everybody's just playing the PR game, right? And uh and trying to not ruffle feathers and stuff like that, because in case I I can almost guarantee Oscar's Oscar's team is out negotiating contracts with other teams and stuff like that. And in case something doesn't pan out, obviously you don't want to piss off McLaren. But it yeah, it's like it's incredibly apparent how unhappy Oscar is at McLaren. And I I just I'm I don't know, my brain's just like spiraling on what the grid would look like if we had one of these big changes happen. I think if you had Max leave Red Bull, I think my brain automatically would be like Oscar would then, you know, potentially end up at Red Bull. But Red Bull has said that they want to bring up their their F2 driver that they have. And so who do you like you would keep Isaac in the Red Bull seat that he's in? Promote Liam again? I I don't know if Arvid is ready. Maybe they promote Arvid, but I don't think he's ready to be in the Red Bull seat. I think he's doing well in Racing Bowls, and I I think another year at Racing Bowls would do wonders for him. But okay, so you promote Liam to that and bring up your F2 drip, but those are all your red Red Bull seats gone. So where does Oscar? If something happens with Mercedes and Max's, you know, all the teams can say, oh, Toto has said I'm very happy with, you know, my uh my drivers, we're not gonna, we're not gonna entertain any talks, but like yes, you are. It's Max Verstappen. And we know Toto's love of Max. So yes, you are gonna entertain it, but for whose seat, right? I would venture to say it's probably George's seat, but where does that leave George? And if George somehow ends up back at Williams, I think he truly may crash out. Honestly, I will crash out on behalf of him if he ends up back with Williams. No disrespect to Williams, but like, come on, we've been there, we've done that, he suffered enough. Yeah, so I just I don't know. I feel like it could be a radical shift in in F1 if that happens, right? Like maybe you have George going to McLaren and Oscar, Oscar going to like I don't I don't know, right? Maybe Alonzo is like, screw this, I'm out of here, and something happens with Aston, and you know, just like there's I feel like there's so many things that would change with that one. And I I think silly season this year is going to be, I think, somehow potentially even more shocking than Lewis leaving Mercedes and going to Ferrari because you had you had shifts that happened, but it was really like Lewis going to Ferrari and then Carlos going to Williams. You didn't have any, I don't I don't think you had a huge like wave that happened, right? You had a couple of moves that happened. Um, and Kimmy then being brought up to to the Mercedes seat, which Toto wanted to do. I think he was just trying to figure out how that was gonna happen. But I think this one would cause way more changes in in the current drivers lineup that we have. Yes, I definitely agree with you. I mean, last year we basically didn't really have a silly season, and then the year before, like you said, the biggest domino was Lewis. But once that had been sorted out, the rest of the moves were not nearly as dramatic. They were they were definitely smaller. This year, I think we're going to see significant cascading effects just based on the players involved, right? Piastri, Verstappen, George Russell, like those are big names in the sport. So there's a lot of potential for some serious, serious shuffling. Like there's like we could have a completely different lineup at Red Bull, McLaren, and potentially changes at Mercedes too. Like that would be really, really significant and definitely one of the more like the one of the silliest silly seasons in in the last little while. Um we just we're we're just waiting for that first domino to fall. And it's I think it's gonna be Max. I'm convinced that first domino is gonna be Max. And as soon as that happens, it's just everything's gonna go from there. Yeah, most definitely. I yeah, I'm I'm very I'm very intrigued to see what's going to happen. It's it's hard to make predictions at this point, but I think Max is going to be, like you said, the biggest factor. I agree there. And Piastri, if he's still with McLaren, I will be shocked, shocked by that. So expecting big mix-ups there. Yeah, absolutely. I think it'll be interesting. I also think it'll be really interesting to see what happens to the Red Bull fan base because I feel like a lot of the Red Bull fan base are Max fans. And if Max goes to a different team, I'm curious to see what what their fan base is gonna look like. I think you saw a clearer sort of shift. I mean, Ferrari is Ferrari, and in the wise words of uh have Sebastian Vettel, everybody's a Ferrari fan. But um, you know, you you kind of saw a bit of that shift when Lewis moved to Ferrari and and me included, right? I I really always cheered for Mercedes because of Lewis, but Lewis left and I was like feeling a bit conflicted because yes, I like Ferrari, but Ferrari, my lord, Ferrari strategy just gives me an aneurysm. And so it was a lot easier to cheer for Mercedes because they didn't do what Ferrari did, but now it's just like you're you're you're just locked in with Ferrari, right? Because of Lewis. So I'm curious to see what happens with uh with Max moving and and what that's gonna do to Red Bull. Yeah, the prospect of Max Verstappen fans becoming locked in with McLaren is insane. That would be just truly baffling, also really funny. If that happens, that that'll be very odd, I think, for for the fans involved, for the for the diehard Max fans and also the Brad Bull fans that were following Max. But I mean, that's kind of how it goes in the sport. So let's see what happens. Yeah, we'll see. I think it'll be a fun one. So at Silverstone, we also had a sprint race, which Kimmy won the sprint. We had Lewison at P2 and then Lando taking home P3. But I wanted to kind of see what you were thinking about how sprint races have gone so far this year. We had Fernando Alonso after the race make some kind of general comments, and I'm paraphrasing here, but his take-home messaging was essentially that previously F1 used to be more about skill and driver ability, and now you just push push a button to overtake. And I think we're seeing that play out more so in the sprint. Like it was just so much passing and repassing, and like the battle of the batteries, if you will. And just to me, it felt like a little weird watching. I think because you have obviously less laps in a sprint, you're seeing that play out in a much more condensed way. So everything is amplified in terms of the battery management and the overtake approach and all of that. But I j I feel like on reflection, I don't know if I've really enjoyed the sprint format too too much with these new regulations. And I'm not really seeing that change. at this point in the season. Yeah, same. I have not enjoyed sprint races this year. They've either been like super boring or you're right, it's it's just kind of been a battle of of the battery, right? Of who can deploy when and they just kind of deploy back and forth and and it's just that yo yoing of of cars not passing each other and falling back and passing each other and falling back. So I I'm not enjoying it with the new regulations. I think I enjoyed them more last year. But this year, yeah, it's just it's I mean I I don't think I'd go as far as Alonzo being like it's not snow driver skill. It's just pressing buttons but it does feel like it it feels a lot more like Mario Kart in the sprints than than what I'm used to watching in in F1. So I it is the first year with these regulations. I wonder if next year they might make some changes for the sprints and stuff, but I think overall they're just not being well received by the audience and also by the drivers and the teams. Yeah I agree that maybe Alonzo's comments are a little bit uh extreme. So I don't know that I would take it that far. But yeah, I just feel like the sprints have been so forgettable for the most part. And we also have more sprint races this season than we've ever had which to me like is not appealing anymore. The sprints are not doing it for me. And so if we're not seeing changes happen in terms of how the sprints play out do we look at cutting down some of the sprints from a viewership enjoyability perspective?

SPEAKER_01 45:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

Because I think that's that was one of the reasons to increase the number of sprints as well was because it's fast paced. It's supposed to be fun to watch obviously it also offers a chance for drivers to gain more points and whatnot too. But ultimately F1 is is for entertainment as well. It's a business and so if the the fans are not being as entertained, I feel like there's less of a reason to keep the current number of sprints that we have which is quite a bit.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

Yeah I agreed it's it is quite a bit and I'd love to see them be a little bit more rare. Just go back to last year's sprint schedule right like it's it it's just a little bit too much and they're just not enjoyable. So find some sort of way maybe of making them enjoyable I I I don't know but it's just it's not it's not been it's not been ideal. Yeah yeah I don't know if we need to go back to them feeling more like a novelty um because that had a lot more appeal to me at least but yeah something just feels a little off about them so would like to see that change for sure. Yeah agreed. All right so we are at a very exciting time in the F1 calendar two of my favorite races back to back with Silverstone a couple weeks ago and now looking forward to the Belgian GP on July 19th. So this upcoming weekend spa is just a really fun and kind of an unpredictable race typically so really looking forward to that. We're also very much at the midway point of the season we have the summer break coming up after this so kind of like that last one of the last opportunities to make an impact before a month long break. So I'm sure we'll see all the drivers really trying to bring their best. Yeah it'll be exciting um I grease pa's always fun and unpredictable so I uh I'm excited to see what it has in store for us this coming weekend and yeah we'll we'll see how things shake up in the uh the driver's championship and the constructors after the end of the weekend. Yes and I think this year there's five overtake zones on the circuit. Yeah so really anything can happen with that many overtake zones. So really looking forward to it. Okay so that brings us to the end of another episode. Thank you so much for tuning in. Don't forget to rate and review us on the podcast listening platform of your choice. We will be back next week with another episode recapping Spa and giving some more F1 updates. Hopefully we have some more silly season updates by then and thanks so much for listening. Bye