Episode 1 - 2026 Season (so far), Proposed Regulation Changes, Preview of Miami GP

In this inaugural episode of The Undercut, we introduce ourselves and go over the 2026 F1 Season thus far. We discuss the proposed changes to the much maligned new regulations, chat about new developments across the sport, like Gianpiero Lambiase joining McLaren, and preview the upcoming Miami Grand Prix.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome into the inaugural episode of the Undercut podcast. My name is Ryan, and I'm here with my co-host, Jack. What's going on, Jack?

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hey, you know, it's a beautiful day. Too bad we don't have any Formula One going on, but No, we don't.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

No, we don't, thanks to various geopolitical issues. There are no races this weekend, even though they were supposed to be. Um We're recording this on April 11th, so we would probably be seeing what? Free practice right now?

SPEAKER_00 0:34

FP3 and then quality later tonight, maybe? I don't know what the time difference is, but it's we'd have some on track stuff today for sure, which would have been nice.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Yeah. Yeah, it would have been. I quite like Bahrain too, so I'm kind of I'm kind of upset about this not being uh not happening.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

It would have been a good circuit too for these cars, I think. Which is really really disappointing as well. A lot of break, a lot of breaking zones.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Jetta would have been a disaster. Maybe we're better off without without that one. Um but yeah, I think a lot of breaking zones in Bahrain would have been probably pretty good, pretty good racing. Um so yeah, this is our first episode here. Um we decided a couple weeks ago that we wanted to start a podcast as you know some some American Formula One fans. I know the sport is definitely gaining in popularity over here, but you know, you kind of brought up to me that there's a lot of a lot of the the content and the fan content for Formula One is is a lot of European, so we wanted to, you know, probably provide some analysis, but just be be something a little bit different for specifically for people over here. Um so Yeah, I mean we could just introduce ourselves. Like I said, I'm I'm Ryan. I've been I'm a very new Formula One fan. Um jumped in beginning of last year, right before the Miami Grand Prix. I was hanging out with a friend in Texas, and I'd never watched Formula One before, but he had me watch some of Jeddah, and you know, started really thinking that it was something that I could really get into. Um you accused me of this, but I just want to set the record straight. Obviously, you guys, anybody watching on YouTube can see my McLaren shirt here. I did not pick McLaren because they were first in the standings. I decided that because when I was a kid, I really liked the McLaren F1, it was my favorite car that I was just gonna jump on, and it was only after that that I decided to be a McLaren fan. So you cannot call me a bandwagon, I did not know. Um but my favorite driver, my favorite driver is Oscar. Um I tried for a little bit to be like the because you know I'm a big team sports guy, to just support the team, be happy for either driver, whether they won or lost. But as the title race developed last year, I quickly uh realized that I kind of like Oscar a little bit better, and then that devolved into full-blown hatred for Lando Norris as the title race started shaping up. I I'm kinda over it now. I'm still definitely a primary Oscar fan, but yeah, I I had some some deep-seated hatred for number four last season. Um now. Number Yeah, don't please don't remind me. Um so yeah, so like when we became friends, you know, we kind of bonded over over Formula One. So, Jack, why don't you why don't you tell us a little about yourself, how you became a fan, how long you've been a fan, who do you like, you know, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I've been a fan probably since 2010, 2011, that kind of range. Um when I first got into the sport, I was a huge Kimmy Rikkenin supporter. I just thought his personality was absolutely hilarious. Hilarious hooked me immediately.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Yeah, I just loved that kind of personality and that vibe. Um honestly, I can move I'm a huge racing fan in general. I was always a big NASCAR guy my whole life. And then a little bit of indie car here and there, not as much, but um, you know, checked out Formula One and just got hooked, to be honest. Um just the speed, the sound, the the science, the everything behind it, I think is just fascinating. It's truly the pinnacle of motorsport. Um nowadays, though, I do support Pierre Gasly. I've always been a huge Gasly fan ever since he came in. I don't know why. Truly just just you know what they say, right? You don't pick the driver, the driver picks you kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

They do say that.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

And uh yeah, so unfortunately, for better or worse, um I've been a Gasly supporter this whole time. I did have one incredible moment, obviously, when he won in 2020. Um button.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

He's driving driving for Alpha Atari at that point, I believe.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Yep, yep, that was the year after he got demoted from Red Bull midway through the season and replaced Alex Alban, obviously. Um, but yeah, so that was an incredible high. And then, you know, I think it's it can be fun to support midfield drivers slash back of the pack drivers sometimes because you know a P6 feels like a championship win some weekends.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

So yeah, your stress levels are non-existent, usually.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Exactly, exactly. Right. I either the race is over on lap one or it you know is the best weekend of your life. So that that part of it's kind of nice. Um I would do kind of support Alpine, I guess, just because you know he's on that team now, but um I don't really care much for Franco. I hope he does well because the team can score some points, but um outside of that, really just a Gasly fan for now. Um I do like Oscar as well. I think he's exciting. Um and then I used to really like Daniel Ricardo, so maybe maybe I just like Australians. I don't know, maybe it's just that.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Who doesn't like Australians, man?

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Right, it's hard not to well, I guess the British, because they sent them away to prison camps.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

You know, there's a lot of people in Australia with my namesake because of that. There's a lot of people with my with my surname in Australia, and that's because we were some some knuckleheads back in the day in uh in the UK, and yeah, they sent us they sent us over there. So I'd love to go visit one day and find some of my long lost uh distant cousins or whatever. But yeah, it's funny you bring up you bring up Raikkonen though, because like one of my favorite things, I mean there's there's a ton of memes and sound bites from him, but like the first time I'd ever seen him was that like that clip that got cut up from like DTS, and it's like going back between like all the guys to like it's do or die. And and then it just cuts to Raikon, and he's like, you know, it's just kind of like a hobby for me, so I can stop whenever. That's so funny.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

I'd care less.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

You know that the you know the only reason you know the producers you know the producers hated that too, because they're like they're like, come on, we're trying to build tension, and he's like, I don't care.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Yeah, I'm shocked they put it in, to be honest. But I mean, you know, the only reason Kimmy Riken ever tried in a race was so you could get some free alcohol. I mean, he just wanted to get to the podium and get that champagne. He's like, the faster I get this race over with, the faster I get to drink some champagne.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

So I think we can all relate to that.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

It worked. It worked. I believe it's a world champion.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Yes, he is. Who did he win that title with? As I as I said, new Formula One fans. Y'all gonna have to have to bear with me here. Who do you win that title with?

SPEAKER_00 7:07

You know what? That's a great question. Maybe Lotus. I think it was a black and gold car. Um not a hundred percent sure though, to be completely honest with you. It wasn't Ferrari, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Yeah, Ferrari Skype.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

They don't win anything.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Yeah, got quite a long uh long title drought there for them. So yeah, um, you know, we can get into get into what we're gonna get into here. Um, you know, we can just we're just gonna kind of go over the season so far. Like I said, we're recording this.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Yeah, maybe it was Ferrari, actually. I feel like an idiot. It was Ferrari.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Oh well, it is what it is.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Off to a wonderful start here.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Yeah, brilliant. Good, good. As I said, I joined in 2010.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

So, you know. If the Europeans find this, they're gonna be screaming at us.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Yeah, well, the Europeans aren't really great at fact-checking or understanding what a fact is, so I'm not that concerned about them.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

Off to a great start here. We're just alienating any any potential uh fandom right off the raid.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

You know, they they they say the best way to get to get viewership is is a hate watch.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

So that's a great call. That's a great call.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Starts more conversations, you know? Yeah, arguing starts more conversations than agreeing, or so come argue with us. Let us know down below how stupid we are because we're dumb Americans.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Yep, as soon as this hits uh as soon as this hits uh YouTube, our comments are gonna be loaded.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Good, bring it on.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Heck yeah. My wife has brought me a Slurpee. This is a wonderful, wonderful surprise. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

What uh what flavor did you get?

SPEAKER_01 8:49

I don't know, babe. What flavor did you get me? Pina colada. Pina Colada.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Well, I know you like Pina Colorada.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Oh my god, she's just loaded me up with treats. Wow. This is wonderful. This is wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Must be a lucky day. It is a lucky day. What is this? Are you are you one of those people that goes to 7-Eleven on 7-Eleven and brings like a trash can of Slurpee?

SPEAKER_01 9:11

No, I'm not a psycho.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

You don't you don't take a big bucket and fill out the whole thing of a Slurpee on 7-Eleven?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

No, that's insane behavior, and the people that do that are gonna be the reason that those kind of things go away. Fair. Fair. A fun little promotion getting way taken advantage of is just gonna make them decide that those things are not worth it anymore. But we are getting off topic here. Um we haven't even started our topics yet. Um so yeah, we can, you know, we can go over kind of what's happened so far in the season. Like I said, we're recording this uh April 11th, and it's uh it's the year of Mercedes so far.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Um Yeah, unfortunately it it has been, although I will say it hasn't been quite as dominant as I think a lot of people expected it to be. I you know, I think a lot of people thought it was gonna be them winning by you know lapping up to third place every week and only the Mercedes finish on the lead lap, that kind of thing. I think it hasn't been that extent. Obviously with new regs, it's always going to be some gaps, especially in qualifying. But I think the races, and maybe it's you know, credit to the to the car and and some of the fighting it's it's been able to do, but the races have been a bit closer, I think, than what most people thought coming into the season.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

Yeah, especially because they're effectively cheating. Um compression ratio thing. And it's it's not their fault. It's not their fault.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

If you're not cheating, you're not trying, right? Yeah, I think the whole the beauty of sport, and I mean, I know it's it's American, but you look at NASCAR, it was all it was built on who can sort of cheat the best. That was the whole point of racing back then, was who can cheat the best, and and nowadays it's you know finding every little loophole you possibly can in the regulations. I think that's part of the art of Formula One too, is you know, they hire these lawyers and people to write these rules to an exact T. Yep. And the teams that can you know really figure out the fine print and read between the lines, you know, they get rewarded, and that's why they're the fastest right now. So but there are changes coming that we'll get into a little bit later. Um, or possible changes, I should say. Nothing's confirmed as of yet, but there are some possible things coming that that could narrow the gap, or maybe Mercedes can take advantage of these even more. Who knows? Um we'll yet yet to be seen. Oh hello, Kat. Cat has joined the joined the is that Ollie? Yeah. Not named after Oliver Bearman, though, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

No. I didn't even know who that was when uh when we got him. Yeah, I love his tail just like a shark fin coming to the ball. Just letting you know.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Just hey, I'm hunting here. This is my space.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Yeah, it's because he smells the snacks that are just have just been dropped on my desk.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Yeah, he's gonna get a little nibble.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

He's a fat boy. Um so yeah, as you said, year of year of Mercedes so far. Um the opening weekend in Melbourne, um it was uh George Russell, followed by Kimmy Antonelli, Jean Leclerc on the podium. Um you and I actually were privileged to watch this race together. Uh we happened happened to be down visiting uh you and your lovely wife in South Carolina where you live. And we stayed up super late. You know, time time changes and whatnot. And um I think we were both, you know, kind of hyped at first because of how you know Charles just kind of you know sent it down the inside on Russell right away. And you know, the racing was uh seemingly like so much better than than what we'd had in 2025 and you know, DRS trains and whatnot. But you know, Melbourne certainly showed kind of the limitations of these regulations and the kind of problems that we run into on the more high-speed tracks where drivers don't have a chance to you know recharge and get their batteries up, so you ended up with a lot of what Max Verstappen called artificial overtakes where you know you come into a strait and one guy has a little more battery than the other, and there's nothing that can be done to defend him. But I I still enjoyed the race quite a bit, despite the fact that um Oscar didn't even make it to the grid. Um I feel bad for the guy. He's had some some tough luck in his home race. It's uh it kind of sucks for him because you know it's the it's always the first race of the year. Things are still getting figured out and and all that, so but um you know what did you think of Melbourne?

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Um well first I don't believe that an Australian has ever podiumed. I think the Australian Kurts and in Melbourne is very strong. Um I know Ricardo never has for sure, and obviously Oscar's had a tough couple of years, um, last year with the rain, and then this year with uh the software glitch causing them to spin out um on the formation lap. Sighting lap, formation lap? Whatever it was.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

It was the it was the way it was the c they call it the reconnaissance lap is when they go out to form up on the grid before the formation lap. Because we hadn't even turned it on yet, and we're like an alert on our phone. Yeah, yeah. I apparently he got you know, he blamed it on cold tires, but I think it was I think he got like like you said, it was like a software glitch or something, and he got like Yeah, I think that came out later. He got like full battery power coming out of a turn when he wasn't supposed to, and just sent him into a wall. Yeah. Which is a shame.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Very unfortunate, but I mean overall I think the first 30% of the race was honestly very entertaining, and it was sort of what we were hoping from these regulations. And then after the second virtual safety car from uh I believe it was Botas that was broke down, stuck outside the pit lane. Um that was when you saw the Mercedes just kind of take off, and then it was kind of over at that point. There was a little bit, you know, there was some midfield battling here and there, but for the most part, after that second virtual safety car, when the field spread out, it was pretty clear who who the front runners were at that stage. Um, I guess Max cutting through the field was kind of fun, but outside of that, there really wasn't much going on with the 50% the end of the race.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

So yeah, it really, the excitement really just kind of fell off a cliff for sure. I I agree, it was right around that time, excuse me, of the the virtual safety car. And um Valtore really not doing his old buddy Lewis any favors with where he decided to pull off because we both were like, all right, well, Ferrari has to pit now, right? They have to go in as a virtual safety car.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Shocking, shocking pit decisions and and race management from the Ferrari pit wall there. I just don't understand it. I mean you have two opportunities. You know, you you mess up the first one, fine, first race of the year, maybe you're a little messy, and then they gift you another golden opportunity to take advantage of the virtual safety car and at least pit one car, right? Like if if you don't, if maybe you're 50-50 on the strategy call, pit one and see if it works for one, maybe not the other. But to just do nothing for both cars, it's just classic Ferrari, to be honest with you. There's no other way to explain it.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

And there was a there was a clip that came around of the onboards where as soon as Lewis passed the the pit lane, he knew. He was like he was like, why didn't we pit? They're gonna close it. And then sure enough, before they could get around again, they closed the pit lane. And it's a real shame because I mean Charles was really, really giving George a tough time. And I it it sucks because I really would have liked to see them continue to to go at each other. But after that, because I think the the Mercedes is pit pitted under the uh under the safety car, right? So I mean they had their they had fresh rubber and it was that's kind of when they pissed off into the distance.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Um I always wonder if like in these situations, you know, you can a veteran driver like Lewis, especially, can sort of just override that and make the call himself. I mean, I know you know there's not as much time because of Formula One and how tight the margins are, but you would think a professional team like that would be buttoned up enough to have a last-minute box call and still be able to get at least tires ready and not lose as much time as you would otherwise, you know.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Yeah, because they can they were at least approaching the pit window anyway.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Right. I mean they they ended up hitting, I think, what, six or seven laps after the after the safety car restart, anyways. So maybe less.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

I don't I don't remember exactly, but I think they pitted right after it ended. Which is it makes it even funnier because now it's really no point.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Truly just shocking decision making again from them. But um, I do want to give a quick shout out to Antonelli. I thought he, you know, obviously he crashed um at the very, very end of FP3, and huge shout out to the Mercedes team to get that car ready to go. Yeah. Um and I guess a mini shout out to little snaps to Max Verstappen for crashing right away in SQ1, um, or sorry, Q1, and giving them uh more time for Mercedes to put that car back together. Yeah, Kimmy, I thought did a great job. Um he was good at Australia last year in the rain, but you know, he dropped back on the restart, another tough restart for Mercedes, and then you know, flawed his way back. So good for him. You know, he's still young figuring stuff out, but really, really good first race, I thought. There's a lot of pressure, right? You you you you know you have the best car coming in, you know, you have a senior teammate that's kind of already penciled in for the championship for 2026, and no one sort of cares about you, right? You're you're just the support guy in this situation, but he he was fantastic, I thought, in Melbourne. Um and then as was I thought Arvid Lindbad. He had a great race for his first first ever F1 race. Um qualified well, obviously lost and had a really bad restart, so that dropped him back. But Arvid took advantage and I thought he was fantastic as well. Was he P8, P9?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

I believe it was eight, yeah, getting in the points in his first race. Yeah, yeah, definitely definitely showing. For sure.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

And Gabby, too, to be fair. Bortoletto, um, Audi's first race as well. Um I think he was P9 if Arvid was P8, because it was Behrman, Arvid, Gabby, Gasly. So yeah, Audi could I know Holkenberg didn't even start, so we'll ignore that part of Audi, but yeah. Gabby took advantage for sure and got points on on Audi's uh Audi's first race, so great job by by him as well. Um really only a couple of guys that truly were were bad that weekend.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Um the the Aston Martins come to mind.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Yep, yeah, but I that's that's on the car though. I don't blame the drivers for that at all. It's completely on the car. Um that's you know, totally out of their hands, literally because it's shaking the wheel out of their hands. But really, really tough to see from them and and Honda in general. Honda's been in the sport for a while and you know gave Red Bull a lot of championships. So I that's tough.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

I believe that a lot of that issue comes from I mean, surely Honda has a part to play, but um I think I read or heard that a lot of that came from Nui's design.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Like he really didn't give them the body and the and the PU not fitting together, like enough room to fit it in, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:17

There's a shot, I I I had to try to find it, of like there's a panel off like near where the power unit is. And dude, it's I mean they're basically like compressing the wall, like like when you s like kneel on a suitcase to like zip it up, like that's kind of what they did with the power unit. Like it it it barely fits in there. So, you know, Nui's got some got a part to play in that too. But um do you think do you think Aston's got a late start too? He did. Do you do you think Aston pulls it together? Do you think they're just gonna trudge through this season like this?

SPEAKER_00 20:48

And you know, it would be nice if they could. Um, I mean, I haven't seen anything the last three weeks that tell me they will, but you know, again, Adrian Newy, he's a legend of the of the sport, and he's probably one of the smartest people to ever touch a Formula One car. Um, so you have to at least believe in him a little bit. Uh, but certainly the first three weeks make it really, really hard to do so, to be honest with you, because it is not a pretty picture. I mean, you have drivers talking about permanent nerve damage in their hands. Um it's a mess over there. It's really tough to see from a from a you know a well-run team, I would think. Um I don't think well, I should take that back actually. Making Nui the uh team principal. Team principal was definitely not a great decision, I think, to start with. Um I don't think he ever had any desire in it. Maybe it was for the money, I'm not sure. But um I think that was probably not the greatest decision.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

I think it was uh Lawrence Stroll's perspective. I think it was like a technicality thing where because they have to pay him a bunch of money because he's Adrian Nui, but by making him TP, I think his salary does not cost against the cap.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

Interesting, okay because Would make sense then for a special thing. Because I think drivers now though, now that he's stepping out of that role for someone else to come in. Because isn't the um blanking on his name uh from Audi who who stepped down, there's lots of talks about him coming over to Aston Martin.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Oh, um Jonathan Wheatley.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

Yes, thank you, Wheatley. So I'm not sure that that dynamic will work.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

I guess it'll depend on what role they put him in. Yeah. But yeah, I think that's that was the purpose of that, because it's like drivers and TPs and maybe CEOs or something, don't count against the cost cap. So you can just pay them whatever you want.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

And that's how that would make sense then.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

That's how the big teams are able to maintain their you know their their drivers because they can pay excuse me, Red Bull can pay Max Verstappen 40 million a year or whatever it is that they they pay him at this point. Lewis can get paid 60 million by Ferrari or whatever it is. I don't know those numbers off the top of my head, so don't yell at me in the comments, please.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

That's not even including any of the other endorsement and sponsorship things and stuff like that. Well, yeah, I think Aston Martin, obviously, as you said, chief disappointment. And then Williams. I mean, the James Fowles, you know, promised the signs from a couple years ago, and and you know, the way he spoke for the last what five five years now about what his plans are and stuff. And Williams, man, tough start for them. Overweight, slow, chassis all wrong. Really tough. And you're not going to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

I really thought they would challenge too, because they are a Mercedes-powered team, and it was, like we said, well known that the Mercedes Power Unit was going to be the strongest one off the rip by far. And yeah, they've been nowhere compared to Alpine, who have seemed to be getting everything they can out of that car for the time being, um, particularly Pierre, which is to no surprise because he's he's got tons of experience. Franco's still still finding his footing in in Formula One, but I mean he's looked a lot better than last year, too.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

Yeah, he definitely has for sure. I think he's he's looked strong for you know for the most part. The qualifying is still a huge gap to Pierre, which, you know, again is fine. Pierre's always been great at qualifying, so it is what it is. But I mean, even in the races, he gotten a little unlucky with some poorly timed safety cars, especially the one in um in China and Japan. Um, I think he was in P5, uh P6 in China during the main race. Um, and then you know the safety car came out and he was on he started on hard, so he got kind of screwed with the with the strategy there. But yeah, I mean for the most part, he's been a lot better. For sure definitely improving. But I mean, when you look at other people in the midfield, like you know, Lawson, uh Ocon, like sort of this the second drivers in the midfield for their team specifically, they've been performing much better than Franco. Um and while guys are doing all the heavy lifting, Alpine do want to get points with both cars, and it's not happening so far.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

Well, if you ask the Formula One fans from a certain unnamed South American nation, they would disagree with you.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

And we will get into that later.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Um they certainly would.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

So moving on, the next race was Shanghai. Again, another one that I personally could not watch because I believe it started at two o'clock in the morning, my time.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Yeah, that that was a replay race for me as well. For sure. Unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

Um Shanghai sprint weekend. So we had a another uh another win for George Russell, and Charles Leclerc once again finding himself on the podium with his teammate Lewis Hamilton uh rounding out the third step. Um Ferrari looked, I thought, great in Shanghai. And they continued that form uh into the Grand Prix as well. We once again had Antonelli in his maiden win in Formula One, so big congrats to him for that. Um George coming in right behind him, and then Lewis uh getting finally getting a real Grand Prix podium since his move to Ferrari. So I'm not the biggest fan of Lewis, but um you know, I feel I feel good for him because you know last year was a struggle for him, man. He's not used to not being at the top and you know, winning stuff. I mean he still hasn't won with Ferrari, but you know, he's you gotta feel like this year he feels a lot better about where they're at compared to last because he sounded like a broken man at the end of last year. He he he was hopeless. He him and him and Charles both he really did. Ferrari really failed to give them a good car last year.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

I'm sure you heard it, but the uh the radio message at the end of um the season last year after the final race, where you know he said, Thanks for everyone, I'm gonna you know, I'm gonna keep fighting for the team and thanks for all your hard work and stuff, and absolute crickets from from Ferrari, just no no response at all. So yeah, tough, tough season, uh tough maiden season uh Ferrari for him for sure. But yeah, I mean good for him getting his first true Grand Prix podium. Um and I think you know Shanghai has always been uh one of his favorite tracks. I think he's always been very vocal about that. He's always been extremely good there. So, you know, kind of made sense with this car, then having a chance. Um happy to see him back on the podium. Um, you know, Kimmy, huge congratulations to him for his first win. That's always an amazing feeling that he'll never forget. Um the sprint race could have gone better for him. Um he had the uh the penalty uh for overtaking, um, unfortunately. But I think the safety car kind of messed him up a little bit too. But you know, overall, really strong weekend for him. Um kept the gap close to George, which is all you could ask for. Um yeah, happy for him. You know, he's he's a he's an easy kid to like. So it's it's good to see him actually really given a true challenge. And obviously we'll get into Japan in in a little bit, but um for him to be leading the championship is is incredible at his age and in this stage in the season. So good for him.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

I believe youngest to ever lead the championship.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

I believe so. Yeah, yeah, youngest ever lead the championship. I think he's this was second youngest race winner and youngest pole setter. So he's got two youngest, one second youngest title. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

What is he 19 still? He's not 20 yet, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:20

No, still 19, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

What were you doing at 19?

SPEAKER_00 28:22

He just got his driver's license. Yeah. I was struggling in college.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

Trying to figure out how to get the class still on time.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

Or at all.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Certainly wasn't driving Formula One cars. So yeah. Good for him. Good for the little Italian lad. Uh, it's gonna be it's gonna be nuts when he gets to Monza this year. For sure for them. Um, but yeah, we'll move on to Japan, which I think was kind of uh a boiling point for the issues that the drivers and the fans are having with these new regulations. Um so just the podium was you know, Antonelli winning another race back to back. Our boy, my boy, Oscar Piastri coming home in second with Charles Leclerc rounding out the podium. Charles is really hanging around, man. He's always been solid. But um, it seems like he's getting a little more out of the Ferrari right now uh than Lewis is. But um yeah, uh you and I had a a discussion where I think you one of us sent the other one the video or something of you know, Formula One's a Twitter account always posts the the onboard of the poll app and allegedly allegedly Kimmy's onboard um ceased to function conveniently, right as he was about to exit the spoon, and his car was about to start super clipping for a solid 15 to 30 seconds.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Yeah, I've never seen something like that from Formula One to hide it that badly. I mean it's one thing to hide replies if you want on a post, like I people do that all the time, I guess. On Twitter, they hide replies that they, you know, negative stuff and things like that. But to make it that obvious that you're trying to hide a change the audio and the camera angle at the same time, it just I mean it's not a good look for them, to be honest, because it you're not fooling anyone. Nobody's getting fooled in that situation, right? Um, so but good for Kimmy, got a poll, good for him, happy there. Um, but yeah, absolutely disgraceful in Formula One and their social media pages there to even attempt that one.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Um Kimmy's gonna have to figure out the the race starts, I think. I I don't know too much about what the issues that they're having is with these. I don't know if it's I don't know if the engines are trying to.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

It's the size of the turbos, which is why Ferrari and Haas can get um can get better race starts because their turbos are smaller and don't take as long to fuel up to get to max boost or whatever it is. I don't know all the exact terminology, but I think it does have to do with turbo sizes, and that's why Ferrari's better on the restarts.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

McLaren as well. I mean they figured something out, for sure. Second the lights went out, Oscar was in the lead.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

Like just yeah, incredible.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

Do you think he do you think he hangs on the ones? Do you think he hangs on to the win with not for the um if not for the crash that brings out the the full safety car?

SPEAKER_00 31:25

I think so. Yeah, I like to think so. I mean, I look he's raced, he's done he's made one race and and came in second. So um you can only wonder what would have happened in in Melbourne and Shanghai, but yeah, I I think he would have held on. Um obviously Kimmy was rapid at the second half of the race, but maybe clean air is probably a big proponent of that. So we'll we'll give him a little bit of grace there. But no, I think Oscar for sure could have hung on and and won the race. And who knows how many opportunities we'll get again to see a non-Mercedes win. So that would have been nice, especially for him after the tough start he's had. I mean, no one deserves it more than him in this situation, and obviously last year was heartbreaking too at the second half, so would have been great. Um, although P2 in in your first Grand Prix of the year is is awesome too for him. So happy to see him back on track and and you know back in back on the podium.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Yeah, I was too. I was thrilled to wake up and see that because again, Suzuka is another race that I did not watch. That's the only thing we've got going for us with with no Bahrain and no Jeddah, is once it starts back up, I don't think we'll have another one that's so outlandishly timed that we can't, you know, watch it.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

So not to that extent for sure. We're done that part finally. Yeah. The Oceania region.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

Because even Singapore, I think it starts really early, but it's still manageable because I remember watching Singapore out there.

unknown 32:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

Yeah, it's doable. And then that's a race that's worth watching, to be honest. Even though I know you're not a huge street track um fan, but that one's Singapore is incredible.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Big non-enjoyer of street tracks right here.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

I am quite the opposite huge street track guy over here. I think they're especially especially qualifying at the street tracks. It's it's like nothing else I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

So yeah, now that we've you know we've kind of gone over how things have shaken out so far. Um, I guess the next natural thing to talk about is the meetings and stuff that are coming about.

SPEAKER_00 33:23

You want to touch on the Bearman crash at all?

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Yeah, we can do that.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

But it kind of goes hand in hand to some rule changes.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

It does.

SPEAKER_00 33:31

Some of them I think are becoming more vocalized due to that crash coming happening. Yeah. Um, yeah, I mean it look, my my view on it, it's just it it's the batteries, right? It's just as simple as that for me. You can't have people do an essentially out lap pace and push lap pace during the race like that um in the hopes to recharge. Um, obviously it's unfortunate timing and it sucks for Ollie because he was, you know, the first two races, first two weekends in general were fantastic for him. Um obviously qualifying didn't go very well. Another uh, I believe he was out because of a software issue, as well as there was a software glitch, and then he just couldn't get a second lap in. Um so once again, you know, the battery's causing some issues there on the on the PU side of things. But yeah, I think I think it's just unfortunate timing. I know in in the replay, Calapinto does slightly move over, um, which could have disrupted the view, but at those speeds, I don't know if it was truly reactionary or if it was just you know weird timing. I mean, it's literally the blink of an eye is what's is is the timeline there. Um and obviously we saw him limping when he got out of the car for Ollie, which was which was really, really tough to see, but glad he's okay. It sounds like everything I've I've seen and read that he's gonna be totally 100% for Miami, which is awesome for him. So glad he's safe. Um tough weekend for him overall because he's had a great, great season. Honestly, probably my driver of the season so far, um, since Japan really wasn't his fault between the speeds and between the uh software problems. So I'm glad to see good and hopefully he'll be back in Miami. And you know, the the Bearman Gasly fight and the Haas Alpine fight has been arguably just as good as the Mercedes Ferrari fight so far. So it's been fun to see.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Yeah, I it's hard to argue with Ali as best driver of the year so far. He's doing so much with so little as far as the um the Haas car goes. So yeah, good for him. And he's he's primed for that Ferrari spot when one opens up for sure.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Oh, definitely. Yeah, that'll be the first name.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

No doubt. Um today.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

So what do you think about the Go ahead?

SPEAKER_01 35:35

No, you're you're gonna go.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

I was gonna ask what what you thought about the the PU issues there, and if it was truly just, you know, is that a rules thing that they can change in your opinion, or or are you just sort of like it is what it is?

SPEAKER_01 35:47

I mean, anything can be changed, right? This is we're talking about the governing body here. They can make they could tomorrow make it the you know, whatever they want it to be.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

It is definitely part though, is they can make it whatever they want it to be. They might not make it what's best for you know fans and drivers and and racing itself. They make it what's best for them, which is unfortunately for the most part financially driven. Um, which I get it, it's a business, so fair enough. But um, as a as a viewer and a fan of racing, it's tough to see some of these rule changes.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Yeah, a f a friend of mine kind of put it the best, is and it it might have even been you, I don't know if it was you or my other friend, but is like they tried to please everybody with with these regs. Um and they tried to, you know, do kind of like half-assed uh rules that will kind of appease, I said, everybody. The the big thing was the the fifty-fifty split being because they wanted to entice wasn't it Audi and GM or Cadillac is owned by GM, but yep. Yeah, and I think Porsche too, but Porsche ended up dropping out.

SPEAKER_00 36:55

I think eventually, yeah. I I wouldn't this is sort of a you know a a hot take, or maybe maybe maybe on the Oracle, who knows? But I could very easily see Porsche or BMW, one of them, coming in and um buying the Alpine stakes because I know there's been a lot of rumors about them going up for sale at some point. Um so I could see them coming in taking over the the Alpine uh team, which would be cool. I'd I'd be so happy to see BMW back or or or Porsche in the sport. So but yeah, I think as you said, it it enticing Audi to come in and build their own power units and GM to build them eventually. I know they're not building them right now, they're running Ferrari, but eventually they do plan to build them. I think 2028 or 9, I believe is their goal. Um and a lot of that was because of the 50-50 split, because it's something they can test for you know road cars and and other uh racing series as well. Um technology.

SPEAKER_01 37:48

Yeah, it was the the commonality with road cars because you're seeing a lot of it in these luxury car brands and the you know, like McLaren and Mercedes and all, they're building a lot of these these hybrids like that. Like I think the McLaren Artura is you know a road a road hybrid along those lines. So yeah. Um it's definitely.

SPEAKER_00 38:12

I mean the Ferrari F F40 had a lot of Formula One parts that were similar to the Ferrari F1 car, and I think the F-30 had um like the same transmission as a Formula One car. So this is this has been going on for a long time. Um so this isn't brand new, but I think it is a way, way more apparent and way more obvious um what they're doing nowadays, which I don't know is the right direction.

SPEAKER_01 38:33

I agree. I agree completely. So some of the the the things that have been in discussed is that um you know they're gonna try to uh uh cut the total battery recovery cap to uh from nine megajoules to six and reducing the MGUK power ceiling from 350 to around 200. Um as far as I understand it, again, I'm not an engineer or pretending to have some sort of any sort of technical knowledge that I don't, but as I understand it, this will um kind of reduce the amount that they have to harvest, and it will reduce a lot of the lift and coasting that they're doing just to try to maintain their their batteries and and give them the ability to actually race rather than just going for a drive and staring at their battery the whole time.

SPEAKER_00 39:28

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I I mean I think you know, as you said too, I I'm not an electrical engineer, right? So I I don't know exactly what all of this means, but um, I mean Charles Leclerc for one has been very vocal, especially about qualifying. How it's not even you know, they're not even trying anymore. And I think I think Fernando uh said that you know the average person could jump in and drive this car because it's it's so slow in the corners now, is you know, barely any downsource. He said it feels like his neck doesn't need to work out at this point because of how slow they're going in the corners. Um, maybe maybe that's an Aston thing because they're absolute trash cans, but um in general, yeah, I it it hasn't been, you know, qualifying for Formula One used to be a spectacle, right? It was truly everyone on the edge going 100%, white knuckling it, and and now it's just like they're trying to make sure the battery lasts at the end of the lap. Um and that's really unfortunate to see. But hopefully these changes improve. Um again, I don't know exactly what it means outside of you know it it helping eliminate some of the problems, like the lift and coast, like you mentioned. But yeah, I I think you know, any any changes they want to bring, I'm here for. Let's use this first year as sort of a testing year, to be honest. I mean, there's no reason not to at this stage. Try different things if it you know it doesn't work, doesn't work. Um, but there has to be some way to find a true middle ground. Um, I think are they doing any testing over this five-week break now? At all. I know they're doing some tire tests. But are they doing any any arrow tests or engine tests or anything?

SPEAKER_01 40:56

I know that's there's some power unit testing going on. Okay. Um something with the regulations that gives them gives certain teams um additional development time. I believe it's Ferrari and Honda, maybe. I know Red Bull and Mercedes are not. Um yeah, apparently Mercedes or not Mercedes, uh the the Ford Red Bull powertrain is like second as far as total horsepower output, which means that Red Bull just really screwed the pooch on the arrow this season because you would think if they had Yeah, the chassis is not good so far.

SPEAKER_00 41:38

Yeah. So yeah, if I did you see um I think it was in China the I I don't know if this is real or not, but there was like some fan pictures of the Red Bull going over the scales, and then like the Mercedes went over the scales, and there's someone from the stands had taken it's Japan actually. Uh it was one of the last two races. Um a fan had taken photos of the weights of all the cars and posted them somewhere, and the Red Bull was like I think it was the second heaviest besides Williams or something like that. So they really, really, really messed that one up. Um but the PU seems to be good. So good for Ford, um, you know, coming in and developing that. It's good good luck on them. Um and you know, that also could be a good sign for GM eventually, because they're another American American manufacturer, so that'd be good to see as well.

SPEAKER_01 42:22

No doubt. No doubt.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

I think it'd be interesting if Haas would um ever be a customer team to uh Ford or uh or GM, like the Red Bull or Cadillac, and try to get an American PU in there and they are an American-based team.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

Seems like the most logical next step. I don't know when their contract with Ferrari is over, but yeah, that's definitely seems like the most logical next step for them. Um the other change that I think needs to be needs to be addressed, I don't know if it is or not, is the the mapping of the this is one thing I do kind of understand a little bit about this, is that the the deployment of the batteries is all automated and GPS based. So there's points on the track where their ERS systems will automatically start deploying power. And what's caused a lot of issues with some of these guys is they're getting a burst and it's also it's also not on a curve. Like it doesn't ramp up like like it would if you were like pressing a gas pedal. It's instantaneous 350 kilowatts of power. And so these guys are getting like snaps of oversteer because they're not quite out of the out of the corner yet. Wheels are a little turn, and they're just instantly getting full power from their battery. So that's another thing that should be changed. It seems like a no brainer to me. Uh I mean I feel like the FIA needs to bring like a panel of like ten to fifteen just normal people to say things like this like, Hey, why don't you just make it a curve? You know, make it a ramp up curve of the deployment. Yeah, we'll see. We'll talk about it on here whenever some these are all just proposed, you know, just things that are rumored in in passing that people have heard. I have no idea even the the legitimacy of this stuff. But you know, I I would think that they're gonna have some changes that will come before Miami. Miami's in what two weeks.

SPEAKER_00 44:22

At least the first weekend of May. Two weeks, maybe two or three. Yeah. So not too far out, thankfully, but yeah. So yeah, no, I agree. I think it'll be interesting to see what what ends up actually coming out of some of these meetings. Um, and if it is, you know, how quickly it actually gets instituted, right? Because I mean the teams have to figure out how to institute it into their cars and then give it to their customers and things like that. So there's a lot of steps in this process, right? We we know it's not an overnight thing, obviously, but there are definitely changes needed, and I think the batteries and the software mapping is is the biggest proponent of that. I think it was a little unfair of them to jump so quickly from I think the ground effect error was 80-20, right, between internal combustion and battery, and to jump all the way to 50-50 right away. Yeah. Um, so that was probably a bit of a step too far.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

A little bit of an oversight on their part, no doubt. But again, like we said, they're they're trying to please everybody, and that's just what just what happens when you try to do that.

SPEAKER_00 45:19

So uh it's very political, which is you know understandable, but it's definitely frustrating as a fan and someone that wants to see good racing and safe races and the drivers enjoying it as well. You don't want people, you know, spoil alert, threatening to retire um right at the beginning of the season.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

So who was doing that? Who who would be threatening to retire three races in the season?

SPEAKER_00 45:39

Oh no. I mean, none of the drivers are that much of uh softies, are they, to do that? Would they really? You know? No. No, definitely not. Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 45:49

Never could it also be the same guy whose uh racing engineer has announced that he was leaving this week? Is that is there a chance of that?

SPEAKER_00 45:56

You know, it might there might be a correlation there between the two. Who knows? Um, but yeah, big news. Um GP leaving, Red Bull draw McLaren, 2028, correct?

SPEAKER_01 46:06

By 2028. That is the verbiage that's been no later than 2028. That is what the verbiage that's been used in all of the releases and announcements, which kind of says to me that McLaren and possibly GP think it could happen before before then.

SPEAKER_00 46:25

Well, so I'm curious. I don't know if maybe you know this. Is there a like for Newey, for example, right? When he left Red Bull for Aston Martin, there was that eight-month or twelve-month gardening leave period that they have to go through when they switch teams. Do you know if that applies to race engineers as well? Or is it only people from like the technical side or the team principal side? Because Newie had to wait a year, which is why he got a late start on developing the ASCII for 2026.

SPEAKER_01 46:49

I have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 46:50

So I don't know if that would Yeah, it's interesting. Because like if it if it is, then maybe he leaves after 2026, take that year off in 27, like he's required to, and then start back up in 28. So I'm not sure how how the technicalities work on that. Um, but that'd be interesting to see the the words there and and the verbiage and the contracts.

SPEAKER_01 47:07

Yeah, I I really don't know. But I don't think so. I feel like that's for technical stuff like that, because then you can just bring ideas straight over from from what you had going on before. Um I'm trying to find the article right now. Let's see. Though that McLaren put out. So he's going to be joining uh McLaren as what is the title here? Head of racing? I think. I'm blanking. Head of racing. This is such bad content right now. I'm trying to look I should have had this up before we even started talking about this.

SPEAKER_00 47:52

Isn't Zach Brown the head of racing? Isn't the CEO of the whole company? Zach Brown company the head of racing.

SPEAKER_01 47:58

Yeah, yeah, you're you're right about that. Yeah. I don't know, Jack. Why don't you talk about something while I try to figure this out? Fill the air.

SPEAKER_00 48:06

Yeah, good luck. Keep reading. Um, I'll give my opinion on Max.

SPEAKER_01 48:10

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 48:10

Um yeah, yeah, I could do that. No, you could. I actually got a couple more on the way. I got uh I got the uh the Audi one. I think the new Audi one for 26 should be on the way at some point. And then I got the Apex GP one too, because I'm hoping I can try to figure out a way to turn like between that and the old Salbur one into a Cadillac one and sort of just figure it out. I'd like paint over the stickers. I don't know. I I'll kind of figure it out, but it'd be cool to try to make um get the Cadillac somehow in there rather than just saying it's you know the old Audi or something. But yeah, um hopefully in a couple weeks we'll have all uh all 11 teams on there.

SPEAKER_01 48:48

So I want that Technic MCL39 so bad, dude.

SPEAKER_00 48:52

You have no idea how you got the internet up, just order it. Yeah go for it.

SPEAKER_01 48:58

All right. Throw me throw me 230 bucks, buddy. I'll be glad, I'll be happy to do that.

SPEAKER_00 49:03

Yeah, well please subscribe and like, and then we will we'll have it on the wall for you next time.

SPEAKER_01 49:08

Yeah, like, subscribe, donate money.

SPEAKER_00 49:11

Yeah, follow. Yeah, exactly. Do whatever you want.

SPEAKER_01 49:14

I'll put it right there behind me.

SPEAKER_00 49:17

Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 49:18

Um, so I have I have the information we were looking for. He's joining as chief racing officer.

SPEAKER_00 49:28

Chief racing. And they I feel like they just keep making shit up, to be honest. I mean they definitely made a job.

SPEAKER_01 49:33

They definitely made a job for him for sure.

SPEAKER_00 49:36

It sounds like he's like the team principal of the team principals. Like they report up to him almost, and then he goes up to Zach or something like that. Like maybe maybe Zach's stepping away a little bit from F1 to focus more on like the IndyCar program and other things, but yeah, it's funny that's like a redundant role.

SPEAKER_01 49:54

They specifically pointed out that he will be reporting to TP Andrea Stella.

SPEAKER_00 50:00

Oh, that's weird then. So he's under the TPs, he's not above them.

SPEAKER_01 50:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:05

So does that not feel like a like he's taking a uh not a demotion per se because it's he's moving, but feel like he's taking a step down. Yeah, or down, honestly, like a step down the ladder because it's it's under what he's yeah, it's interesting. I don't know. I'm sure more details will become available as we get more information and gets closer, but that definitely feels like an interesting career decision from his standpoint. Um but man really shows you the turmoil going on in Red Bull that's been there for at least a couple years now.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

Was Christian Horner the glue holding Red Bull together?

SPEAKER_00 50:40

I think he he was the opposite. He was he was the glue dissolver that got rid of everything.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:46

Uh yeah, tough scenes for them for a while now. Even before all the Christian Horner issues started, um they were they were losing people left and right. Uh well, because Wheat Wheatley was Red Bull, correct? Yes. I believe. Yeah, I think he was Red Bull. He was pretty pretty integral to Red Bull. Um, and then he left, obviously. So, yeah. Tough scenes for them. Uh actually not really. They kind of deserve it, but yeah, no.

SPEAKER_01 51:13

Couldn't couldn't happen to a better couldn't happen to a better group.

SPEAKER_00 51:15

Yeah, honestly, screw them. They deserve it. But it is tough in general because there's such a big draw to the sport that you kind of hope just from a viewership standpoint and like a political standpoint, they do stay competitive because it's good for the sport. It brings more eyes, brings more money, and you know, it racing is is I don't want to say dying out per se, but it's definitely becoming less than it used to be, less of a spectacle. So you hope they can stay in and keep keep bringing the money in the viewers. Yeah, so GP leaving, um, and then possibly Max too. Question mark. Who knows?

SPEAKER_01 51:51

He's threatening him already.

SPEAKER_00 51:53

Lots of words. Yep, saying lots of different things. Um I don't think he will, to be honest. Um I think as long as they keep letting him do the the endurance racing stuff, he'll be happy enough to stay there for them. Um, but I mean I know he does have a lot of performance clauses in his contract for Red Bull, and so he could, if he honestly, if he wanted to, he could leave for a year, go do all the endurance stuff he wanted to, see if either Ferrari catch up or Mercedes continue to be dominant and then just come back and pick whatever team he wants to go to, yeah. To be honest. Um I mean, I know it's a different level and and time in their career, but I mean, Fernando, when he retired the first time from that terrible McLaren, stayed out for a year. I think Alpine finished fourth, third or fourth in the constructors the year he was out and he joined Alpine and they tanked immediately. So, you know, but you can see something similar happen, right? Where he takes a year off, does a bunch of endurance racing, does you know, the Rolex, or if he wants to do the ND500 like like Fernando did, um, and then come back to whatever team he wants to.

SPEAKER_01 52:55

Yeah. It's it's crazy when these things happen, like you know, like GP leaving, the way it sparks like rumors and stuff online. Like I can't tell you how many Instagram posts I've seen of like of now of like Max photoshopped into like a McLaren racing suit.

SPEAKER_00 53:11

Yeah, yeah. And well, you saw the same thing happen too a couple years ago when uh all the Horner stuff was going on with him and all those different rumors and problems going on with him. And uh you know, you saw the stuff from Yoast for Staffin was coming out about Mac going to Mercedes and you know Formula One is is like a high school, right? The amount of rumors that get thrown around the paddock are absolutely insane. Just a bunch of divas, you know, complaining about what's going on and who's mistreating them and you know, starting rumors for the fun of it. But yeah, I could see him leaving for a year. I don't think he's done the Formula One completely, but I could see him leave for a year, go do his passion projects and then come back and win another world championship, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_01 53:49

Always a threat, man. Always a threat. Um so if we want to ref start wrapping up over here, uh I think we have what one more topic that we planned on discussing, and that was oh wait, no. You need to talk about Alpine. I forgot.

SPEAKER_00 54:05

I did want to just mention this quickly because I thought it was important. Um Alpine had to release a statement. It was like a 4,500-word statement, um, an official statement from the team about uh certain fans, not going to mention where they're from or who they support, but they had insinuated that the cars were not equal between the two drivers. Um and Alpine pretty much released a whole statement, and the entire gist of it can be summarized in one sentence of Alpine was like, why would we not want to score as many points as possible? Like, why would we purposefully try to make our driver not do well? Because we get, what is it, $20 million between finishing positions or something like that, between fourth and fifth or fifth and sixth. Like, why would they want to leave it on the table? It's just crazy. Um, but I get it. You know, fans are passionate, especially that group specifically, is is some of if not the most passionate in the world, I would say, for any sport. I mean, you see it in you know, world football. Um, so kudos to them for coming in strong, but it's just it's it's ridiculous. I mean, sometimes, yes, they do give certain drivers the upgrade first to test it out, but there's a reason that you have a number one and number two in most teams, right? I mean, McLaren and Ferrari are a little bit different because they have two number ones there that are kind of fighting. But even then, those teams have figured out how to give one driver a certain piece for a weekend or one different piece for the weekend. But it seems pretty clear to me that inside the teams, the drivers do get to pick a little bit of how their cars are still set up, whether they want them more over steer or under steery, or things like that. And it just seems like um Franco and his race engineer have not gotten it correct at all, especially in qualifying. They have been miles, miles off the team. I think the biggest gap by far is is those two. I think they're um I saw an article that another another person did on uh the average qualifying gaps for each each team. I think Al Paines was like 0.8 seconds or something like that, and their closest was like 0.6. So it's it's not been pretty, but the fact that they think you know they had to release this statement to get them to stop complaining is crazy. And of course it probably only makes it worse.

SPEAKER_01 56:08

So of course it does.

SPEAKER_00 56:10

But I just want to touch on that real quick because I thought it was funny. It is funny more than anything else.

SPEAKER_01 56:14

It's funny how it happens every time. This is not the right thing.

SPEAKER_00 56:19

Do you remember I don't know this this is obviously before your time, but I think you've gone back and seen some old DTS stuff. But there was a point where um it was between Mazapin and Mick Schumacher, and Mazapin like had a whole crash about the cars being different, and and Haas literally flipped the cars for them that weekend, and Mazapin was even slower than he was before in his own car. And it's just like, dude, it's a talent problem, it's not a car problem. Get over it. So um but yeah, all right. I'm good there. Just want to get that out.

SPEAKER_01 56:51

Cool. So next on the calendar in I said I believe two weeks is the Miami Grand Prix. This was the first race. And it's a sprint weekend. It is a sprint weekend. It is the first race that I ever watched in full as a Formula One fan, so I am partial to Miami. I know it's not a popular take. A lot of people don't like it. Um, particularly the the European fans. But um I think it's a cool track. I think it's a really cool track. It's got a lot of that the end of the end of Sector 2 is a little weird. I think we've uh we've talked about that before, but it should be kind of fun that maybe, depending on what they do with these regulations, because there is a lot of long streets, which is not good for the battery situation currently, but there's also a lot of big breaking zones for them to recover energy. Um I think it's a fun track. McLaren were unreal there last year. So I'm really, really, really hoping that this could be another good weekend for Oscar. Lando cannot start for all I care. But yeah, I think it's gonna be fun. Um what do you think? Who do you who are you who are you taking? Who do you who's winning the race?

SPEAKER_00 58:03

I mean, the safe bet is one of the Mercedes drivers, but I'm gonna give it to Oscar again, to be honest. I mean, I think he was fantastic in Japan. As you said, McLaren are normally really good at Miami. Um I think Oscar likes this track a lot. So I think it'd be fun you know to go for him. I think let's say the Mercedes win, uh let's say Antonelli wins the sprint and then Oscar wins the main race. Um but yeah, I mean Miami, I think, especially in sector one, you have a lot of medium speed corners, medium to high speed corners. I think that there'll be some really good fighting through there. We saw the Ferraric doing that a lot uh the last couple weekends. But yeah, if they can just get that little section at the very end of the first big long straight, um, where it kind of goes under that overpass and it's like barely wider than even a Formula One car is, they can get that figured out, either just get rid of it and make it straight through there or you know, widen it at least a little bit. I think the whole track could be a lot better. Um but overall, I think Miami's fine. Um I think you know Florida especially has a lot of crazy weather this time of year. So you know there's that element as well. We're still yet to see any weather with these cars, even during a practice session. So we have no idea what they're gonna look like in any kind of adverse condition. So that'll be interesting if if we get some of that too.

SPEAKER_01 59:12

I believe when they did the preseason testing in Barcelona, there was some wet weather runs. Because I think the I remember.

SPEAKER_00 59:21

I think just the track was wet, right? It wasn't really raining, raining, was it?

SPEAKER_01 59:25

Maybe. I don't know. I just I know I saw a lot of pictures of because you know that was right around the time we saw McLaren's car for the first time, and they they put out the like all black, you know, testing livery and everything.

SPEAKER_00 59:34

Yeah, and I think I saw they should have run that liberty, to be honest. They look cool with Batmobile.

SPEAKER_01 59:40

It does look cool, but I I I'm fine with they don't change the livery anymore. I think it's good. They can they can just leave it where it's at. But yeah, I definitely saw some with them with the wet tires on. Um okay.

SPEAKER_00 59:52

Yeah, it'd be interesting to see how they race for sure. Um But yeah, man, that's the only thing we're really missing from the season so far, I think, is uh outside of some maybe rule changes is is weather. We haven't seen that that factor come in. Um because you know they say weather's the it levels the playing field. It's a true equalizer where talent comes out more than car. So it'd be nice to see something different, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:13

Well, we are just about at an hour here, and we just happen to hit the end of our plan topic, so I think it's a good time to wrap up. Um, anybody who's listening, thanks a lot for our first episode. You know, I know it probably wasn't the best, but we'll we'll get better. We'll uh we'll try. We'll try, certainly. Um yeah, make sure you check us out on we're gonna be on YouTube with the videos of the episodes. That'll be youtube.com slash at the the underscore undercut podcast. I need to fix that URL, that is a mouthful, but for now that's what it's gonna be. Um audio only, we're gonna be on Spotify, we're gonna be on Apple, and we're gonna be on, I believe, Amazon. But I think ninety-nine point nine percent of people listen to podcasts on either Apple or Spotify. So um yeah, thanks for tuning in for our very first episode, and we'll see you again soon.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:06

Thank you so much. Like and subscribe, and uh have a great weekend, bye. Bye bye.