Episode 2 - Miami GP Review, New Regulations Helping, V8's Returning By 2030?!

Jack and Ryan dive into the Miami GP. What we liked, what we didnt, and discuss how the technical regulation tweaks over the 5 week break affected the racing.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to episode two of the Undercut Podcast, the Miami Review episode. We have finally returned from our long geopolitical mandated five-week break. And there's a lot to get into. Jack, how are you doing today, buddy?

SPEAKER_03 0:21

I'm good. Just happy to be back and happy to have Formula One, finally. Um, I know we have a bit of a break after this, but you know what? I think this race being a sprint weekend also kind of helps. It'll hold me over for a bit. Um, but yeah, I mean, these there's just so many breaks. And I know they they have some issues with trying to get the travel to make sense, and it's a global sport, so I get it, but man, it's annoying. It's like you get so revved up for a weekend, it's a great race, and then you gotta sit and wait for another three weeks or two weeks or whatever it is, and it's just a little annoying at times, but it was a great race. You know what? It's all good.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

We we virtually watched it together yesterday, and it was a great, great time. Um I thought it was great. What did you think? Uh uh, what are your overall thoughts on the whole the whole race weekend as a whole?

SPEAKER_03 1:11

Yeah, I mean, I think similar to the first couple races for me, I know we differ on this opinion, but I kind of split it into thirds. Like the first third, I thought was fantastic, and then the middle third for me was a little boring because it's just kind of there was nothing happening for a while, that everyone was pretty spaced out, and then the final third, well not really the final third, the final like two percent all hell broke loose with Charlotte, um, which we'll get to later on. But yeah, for me it was still, you know, opening section fantastic, middle section a little boring to me, and then um the ending was pretty exciting, but I think overall I'd still give it a nine out of ten to be honest for the race. Um sprint didn't do much for me, but the race I thought was fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

I still think it was more entertaining than most of the races I watched last year.

unknown 1:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

Um fair. I I would agree overall for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Last year it was just a lot of uh DRS trains and you know, hour and a half long processionals around the track. So uh we're gonna have to once again talk about how bad the F1 TV coverage is.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

It's horrible. It's it's honestly the worst of any sporting event that I watch. It is so, so bad. I think it was it took us what there was eight laps, was when the first main cautions came out, I think. And then even then we had three or four laps under car or under safety car, I should say, sorry, not caution, under safety car until we finally got a replay. I think they replayed the two crashes first before they even replayed the start of the race, which is just I mean crazy.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

The start, which was bananas, uh you had two like giant lockups going into T1, which is Kimmy and Charles, I think.

SPEAKER_03 2:56

Kimmy and Max.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Kimmy and Max, yeah, just flat spotting their tires immediately. And then Max Immediately. And then Max turning his car into a Beyblade uh coming out of turn two. And yeah, it took us 15 minutes, 15, 20 minutes into the race, it felt like, just to get some, you know, some some coverage for them to even like acknowledge that it happened. It was really funny.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Yeah, yeah, it's shocking. And then I think there were portions too throughout the race where we had a little bit of battling, and it was like as soon as the car got within like a tenth or two, they'd be like, Oh, we're done with that battle. Let's cut over to see how you know Lance Stroll is doing in in 29th place on his third set of soft tires. Like, it's just it's ridiculous how how they do the race direction. I'm sorry, it's just it's terrible.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Yeah, uh when Oscar was kind of hunting down Charles towards the end of the race, they were like, for whatever reason, they had that little like pop-up window of just like Kimmy's rear wing.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

Yeah. For some reason.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

It's not even like Lando was close. You couldn't even see Lando in the frame. It's just we're just getting a a quick uh view of the action of Kimmy Antonelli's rear wing for an unknown reason.

SPEAKER_03 4:08

And they had the the battle of of Charles and Oscar on the main screen right up until right before Oscar passed, and they switched over to something else, and they came back and Oscar was in second all of a sudden, or third, sorry, third all of a sudden. It's like, why didn't we just stay on it to see the path? It just it makes no sense.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

I know.

SPEAKER_03 4:26

It's when they cut back again, like a third time, and Charles facing the wrong direction. It's just the race direction is just unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

I'm sure they're doing their best, but man.

SPEAKER_03 4:39

I feel like it's been like this for at least two or three seasons now. Like it's been bad for a while. And I don't know if that's you know, I I know they switched to Apple this year, but in theory, everything's essentially the same. It's just what channel they're showing it on, right or what streaming service they're showing it on. But like the camera angles are the same, the TV director's the same, the producers are the same. Yeah, and somehow it's still just getting worse every year. It's I think they honestly might have ex-Ferrari strategists running the TV direction because it's just terrible.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

There's a good there's a good argument to be made there, for sure. Um, so we had unfortunately another Mercedes win. Uh it's getting a little boring already, if you ask me. But um the new regs, they seem to be heading in the right direction.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

Yeah, I think so. I think definitely you can notice it in quality for sure. I know Charles Leclerc specifically had a lot of things to say about qualifying in the first couple weekends. Um, but it seemed like in this quality it was way more intense, which is a good thing. It wasn't just about harvesting as much as they can, they were actually pushing, it felt like.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

Um, so I think the quality was you definitely saw it there. I think you saw it in the race too. Um there was some yo-yoing, but not quite as much as I think there was in the first couple races. Yeah. Um, it seems like once you earned that position, they held on to it for the most part, which is a good thing. Once you earn it, you should have it. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I think overall, I I it's definitely a step in the right direction for me. There's still a lot of a lot of room for improvement, um, but it's definitely a huge step, and I think they did a good job. I didn't hear a lot of complaining post-race um or post-quali from the drivers or post-sprint or anything like that. So I'd give it a thumbs up.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

It kind of helps that the lead complainer had a really good quality, so you probably weren't gonna hear much from him anyway.

SPEAKER_03 6:32

Yeah, suddenly, suddenly he's a he's a top three or four car, and and suddenly he's not complaining as much. Crazy how that works.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Yeah. Oh Max.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

But Hajar was was pretty far off of him, though, to be fair, all weekend. So maybe you're starting to see. I I read a couple articles that said um, you know, they didn't quite understand the car at first, and then finally Max sort of figured it out. They tried it with both cars, and Hajar couldn't couldn't run the same setups.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Well, like, yeah, and like a lot of included them cheating, but a lot of the the issue was that the the way the battery was deploying and basically just the dependence on the battery kind of took away a lot of what made driver which made individual drivers unique. Like it kind of forced them all into the same driving style because they just they couldn't they couldn't race any other way. So it seems like we're starting to come out of that a little bit. Obviously, Max all of a sudden qualiing you know, qualifying P2 would say that he's probably feeling a little more comfortable in there, feeling like he can drive the car the way he wants to. And we know Lando Norris a lot of time. We know Lando Norris was driving the way he wants to, too, because he just sat in Kimmy's wake the whole time and then complained after the race that uh and then asked his team why he couldn't pass him. Did you see that?

SPEAKER_03 7:54

Like talent, I would assume, would be the main answer to that. But I don't know if they can say that to him over the radio. But that would be my my guess. Well, that would be a gap of talent. That would be an what that was.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

That would be an all-timer right there if they did.

SPEAKER_03 8:07

Yeah. Like at least he was able to follow though. You know, he wasn't just as soon as the dirty air hit, his tires fall off a cliff and he's suddenly eight seconds back. You know, he stayed within what almost it was like eight tenths to about second and a half for the last 15 laps or so.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

I think he fell.

SPEAKER_03 8:23

Even though he couldn't pass, he at least got there.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Yeah, I think he fell away kind of at the end. I think he f his final gap was like 2.3 or something. Something like that.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

But uh did he hit before Kimmy or after onto the hards? I can't remember who had the better advantage. I don't know. I feel like McLaren stayed out pretty long, but I could be wrong.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

They did.

SPEAKER_03 8:43

So he should have had the advantage in theory, but again, maybe Mercedes is better on their tire management with the way their car is set up. So maybe. Yeah, well, I mean they are cheating, so well, the only team that has actually gotten busted for cheating so far is Red Bull.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

So what did I miss? What did when did Red Bull cheat?

SPEAKER_03 9:04

Well, Hadjar got disqualified after quality. I think they were running, they were running too low or the planks were too thin or something like that. Um so he had to start from the pit lane, and then I mean his race was over in like seven corners anyways, so um just nipped the wall there in that little underp over pass section. Um then that started the yep, yep. So short race for him. Um I got out qualified by Max. I don't and he had a bad start in the sprint, right? It's a pretty rough weekend overall. Finished out of the points in the spurt. He was behind an Alpine. So I didn't know. Rough weekend for him.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

I did not get a chance to watch any of the sprint. I was uh I was a little tied up. But um That's okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:48

You didn't miss much, to be honest. I think everyone finished where they started in the top ten. Um besides I think Hadjar and Gasly flop flipped positions between eight and nine, but it really wasn't wasn't much to write home about.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:02

The main race where all the action was.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Yep, yep, yep, yep. Um well we can't unfortunately talk about Miami without talking about your boy and the unfortunate heinous act of violence that was committed upon him.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

Yeah, he turned into Pier. Oh no, I can't say that actually. I was gonna try to replace the gaz with air, and then you can say that out loud to yourself, and it's not the right word to say. Um, but he went airborne and did a little flip. Uh apparently it came out that Liam had gearbox issues at the exact moment that he was breaking, going into that corner, allegedly. Um, but again, to me, looked like a loss of talent, just locked up um and hit him. And then I saw some onboards on Twitter they posted later uh where he did the entire lap and then boxed and then did another lap and then retired the car, and not once did he ask if Gazley was okay. And they showed onboard radios of other drivers, like Alban, who was right behind it, and Science was right behind it, asking if he was okay, like immediately. And Liam said nothing the entire time, and nothing in his post race or anything like that. He just blamed it on the car.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

He's such a punk, which is just I know.

SPEAKER_03 11:15

He's very entitled for someone who's not very good.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Not very good. Yeah. When he first did the whole like flipping off Checko thing, I thought it was really funny.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

But yeah, I enjoyed the rivalry, but you gotta earn that, you know. You gotta earn that.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Yeah, you do.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

He's who else flipped someone off in this race was Lewis. Sir Lewis flipped off Franco. Sir Lewis Sir Lewis Hamilton. I I don't know if you lose your nighthood for flipping someone off, but he flipped off Franco for allegedly running into him um on lap like one or two or something. Not allegedly. Felt like a racing incident to me, but you know, it is what it is. Okay. Was it not right? Were they not racing for position? Trying to go side by side. Would you rather them not fight side by side?

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Um, I would show that. I would rather Franco not run into other drivers. Yeah, I would.

SPEAKER_03 12:11

Hey, you can't say anything bad about Franco, or else a certain population from a certain country will come and burn your house down.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Well, I looked at our downloads last week and there were not a single one from Argentina, Argentina, so I think we're gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

Okay, we haven't reached that market yet, so we can say whatever we want. Yeah, not how the Falkbuns are still owned by the British.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Yeah. Yeah, we can talk about that too. Talk about whatever we want. Eleven people downloaded our first episode.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

Hey, well, thank you to those 11 people. Let's get 12. That's fun.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Let's do it. Let's get 12.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

Yeah, so Lewis flips off Franco, Liam flips Pierre, Max spins. Pretty entertaining opening opening a couple laps.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Yeah, it was. But it was again, it was kind of like it's kind of like Melbourne. Like you're like you said, the whole thirds thing. It's just everyone kind of settles in eventually. Um, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I I don't want to say it was more exciting than any of the races last year, but like it was definitely if you compare it to all the races from last year, I think it was definitely up there.

SPEAKER_03 13:15

I think, yeah, oh, for sure. On average, it was definitely better than most of the races last year, I would think. I mean, there was definitely one specific storyline going on in the middle of the race, and that was when will the rain come? And it didn't at all. Nope. Ever. The entire day, I'm pretty sure. I don't think it even rained in Miami at the original start time. I saw some people saying online that it like sprinkled north of Miami, but it never even hit the track. Um, so they moved it up, which I'm sure some people across the pond probably weren't too excited about. So they had to get up even earlier or stay up even later. I don't know the time difference, but either way it got moved. Um and it never rained. And that was pretty much the entire storyline of the whole middle part of the race was people that came on the radio 44 laps away, five minutes away, 15 minutes away, maybe some light sprinkles, nothing the entire time. Um, but we did get some good Ferrari radio, which was exciting.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Oh my gosh, dude. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Charles is always good for some really, really good sound bites because you can just tell that at least once per race, he is just going through it. He's just going through it.

SPEAKER_03 14:26

You can't blame him. He's at a rough seven years.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

No, I yeah, he's the what did he say?

SPEAKER_03 14:35

Oh, yeah, he was like, a laugh before it's supposed to rain. Yeah, he was like, he's like, Why did we booked it? If there's rain, why are we booked again? It's just every time, man, with them. But to be fair, to their credit, they were right for once. They actually did a good job by accident.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

I think if anyone got the strategy exactly right, it was probably McLaren.

unknown 15:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

They held it. They held as long as they could waiting for that rain, and then as soon as it was like, alright, it's not, then they brought him in, and I don't think Oscar or Orlando really had any tire issues at the end. Like, I think they they were probably in a two or three lap window of what ended up being like perfect for if you're gonna do a one-stop to put them on the hard tire and and let it let it ride for the rest of the race. So I think they nailed that too. And yeah, Ferrari didn't, not too bad, but like it, dude, if it had rained, that would have been a whole it'd be the only thing we're talking about on this episode is like you know, Miami 2026, same as Melbourne 2025.

SPEAKER_03 15:41

Yep, yeah. I wish it had rained. I was telling you the entire time we're watching the race, I was like, I need some rain. Where is the rain? Where is it? And it never came.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Yeah. Um Silverstone last year was just so fun because of the rain.

SPEAKER_03 15:54

Oh, it was fantastic. Yeah, and I mean Brazil 24, I mean I think Zanborg in 23, I want to say, was when they had that crazy rain race. Um, it just makes it's just so exciting. You know, you just throw everything, every notebook you had, you just throw it out, and then all hell breaks loose.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:11

So I I love I love rain races, I really do.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Um disappointed we didn't get one, but I like when it's like I mean, like spa last year, that wasn't great because it just rains so hard that they just delayed the start of the race. And that was like that was kind of weird.

SPEAKER_03 16:30

Yeah, well, there's been afraid. Literally wet tiber, wet tire phobia is what full wet phobia. I know full wetophobia. We saw that to create a new word for it.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

We saw it what one time last year, and that was quality in Vegas. The only time we saw the wet tires.

SPEAKER_03 16:46

Yeah, Vegas quality, and then we saw it, I think like two or three years ago in Canada. Holkenberg started on on full wet when everyone else started on inters, got up to like fourth place, and then they fell off a cliff immediately, and he finished like P18 or something in Canada. Um yeah, it's just such a shame we never see him.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Did the rain stop and then everybody went back and then he just couldn't hold it or what?

SPEAKER_03 17:08

Yeah, it ended up um it crossed over to where they weren't useful anymore, and then he tried to stay out because pitting would have been detrimental, and then they just fell off a cliff, and then it went to went to dries at one point, and then I think it there's probably some famous clips out there too, but uh LeClaire was on hards when everyone else was on inters at one point during that race. Um and he dropped back to literally last on the grid, and then unfortunately Logan Sargent crashed. I don't know why I remember that race so well, but it was a great race if you ever want to go watch a replay.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Um is this Canada 23? Canada 23.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

Yes, I believe so. I believe it was 23. Was that? Yeah. Yeah, 23. Yeah, Logan was there, so yeah, 23. Um, great race if you want a good replay. So yeah, the wet tires, man. Full wet, so we'll never see them.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

I know. That's why I'm hoping Pirelli does come up with something like this like hybrid tire that they're trying to come up with with the uh you know, because they want the tra I think they said they what do they want the they want the traction of the wet, but they want the low spray of the inter. Which I believe is what they were testing out when Red Bull and I believe one other team stayed back in Suzuka.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

There was a bunch of Was that when Arvid Arvid crafts during that test, right? Yes he did. If I remember correctly, yeah, okay interesting.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Red Bull and racing.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

I mean, look, I'm Good. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I I'm always open to innovation, whatever they want to try. Um I mean, anything to to get them to race in the rain. I just I just think it's so interesting. I know. Um the red flag is always great storylines.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Yeah, I mean we got no one wants to sit on the Hulkenberg, the Hulkenberg podium last year was because of the rain.

SPEAKER_03 18:51

Like Yep, that is true. I mean we almost got a Lance Stroll podium, could you imagine? Uh the goat.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

I'm so glad we didn't. He it really upsets me that you support him.

SPEAKER_03 19:03

I don't support him, I just think he gets hated on way too much. Considering 90% of the grid are pay drivers, also.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Um okay, so pay drivers, right? But they're good. Lance, pay driver, not good. There's neither here nor there.

SPEAKER_03 19:23

He's trying, he's trying his hardest. Okay, his eyebrows weigh him down. He has a weight disadvantage. Okay, give him a break.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

And he's Canadian. That doesn't help, does it? Doesn't help. Not in the slightest, dude. Um so you have here in our notes um the first point here, I believe, reads Charles sucks. Would you care to elaborate on that?

SPEAKER_03 19:48

I would just like to say that he spun by himself, and then he ran into the wall, and then he broke about 17 rules, um, almost killed George Russell on the last corner, and then got penalized and finished behind Franco Calapinto.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:00

And I think that pretty much sums up my Charles Sucks note. Um look, he's a perfectly adequate driver. Is he the formula Jesus that everyone and Ferrari fans and Italians and everyone seems to think he is? In my opinion, no. Um I don't think he's won or even won a sprint race. I think both Carlos and Lewis have more sprint wins and race wins in the last two and a half years than he does uh for Ferrari, which is interesting.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

That would be correct. His last win was uh Monaco 24.

SPEAKER_03 20:37

Yeah, and he didn't win any sprints last year, did he? Because I know Lewis won the sprint in Shanghai.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

And then fell off a cliff.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 20:45

But I think he at least won something. Um I know Charles is apparently the greatest qualifier of all time, I've been told, but he has the worst poll to win conversion percentage in the history of Formula One. Are we sure? 18%.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

Are we sure that's not Lando?

SPEAKER_03 21:02

Uh I don't think he No, I don't think so. The internet says it's Charl at 18%. The average is 43% poll to win. Umikes. But maybe we we can look that one up and double check. But I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure Charlotte's the worst poll to pull the P1 conversion percentage.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Let's see.

SPEAKER_03 21:21

Um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Pull worst. I have to do this on my phone because I can't click off of this window or our faces will get all jacked up. Let's see. In history, it's a driver named Rene Arnoux.

SPEAKER_03 21:45

Okay, but does he have like one poll and zero wins? Because that doesn't there has to be like a minimum number of poles to qualify or something.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Um two wins from 18 poles.

unknown 21:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

So fine. Renee. What's his name can be can be the worst, and then Charles can be the worst currently. How about that?

SPEAKER_01 22:07

David Coulthard is percentage-wise, there's four drivers that are worse than Charles.

SPEAKER_03 22:12

Okay, please tell me those four.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

David Coulthard.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

Renee, what's his nut? Yeah. David Coulthard.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

David Coulthard, uh, 16.6%, 12 poles and two wins. Don't care. Jean-Pierre Jaboui.

SPEAKER_03 22:27

Don't care.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Same percentage as Coulthard, um, six poles, one win. Ralph Schumacher, six poles, one win. And then Charles, 27 poles, five wins.

SPEAKER_03 22:37

So were any of those other four ever heralded as Formula Jesus?

SPEAKER_01 22:42

No.

SPEAKER_03 22:43

An entire country?

SPEAKER_01 22:44

No, I don't believe so.

SPEAKER_03 22:46

Right. Charles isn't a bad driver. I just think he's a little bit overrated. That's all. I'm sure if anyone ever hears this, I'd get crucified for it, but I just think he's a little overrated.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Yeah, you you better hope they don't listen to too many Formula One podcasts in Monaco.

SPEAKER_03 23:02

Hey, you know what? Sometimes they say hater, a hate watch is the best.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:08

So come at me. Blow us up. Let me know. Blow us out. Tell me why he's amazing. Yeah, tell me why Ferrari should have kept him over Carlos Science. Please let me know. I don't even like Carlos Sainz.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

They should have just not signed Lewis Hamilton.

SPEAKER_03 23:22

That would have been a great decision. Although I'm sure they've made their money back on whatever they're going to pay him. Of course. And whatever they've already paid him.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Of course.

SPEAKER_03 23:29

Just by even saying his name and putting it in Reb font. So it's all about business and marketing, to be fair, in Formula One. But no doubt. Well, Ollie Barron will be in the seat next year anyway, so who cares?

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Next year, you think so? I mean they're they're both.

SPEAKER_03 23:45

I think if Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

They're both out of contract this year. I believe.

SPEAKER_03 23:51

I think everyone's out of contract besides the McLaren drivers, Pierre, and Max and Charles. I think those are the only five people that actually have contracts for next year.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_03 24:04

Maybe Isaac does too.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

I don't think so. I think Charles is out of contract too.

SPEAKER_03 24:09

Is he out?

SPEAKER_01 24:10

I think so.

SPEAKER_03 24:11

I'm surprised I didn't sign him to like a lifetime till he dies contract, to be honest. Since he's formula Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Okay, never mind.

SPEAKER_03 24:19

Despite not having one in like two years.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Reports indicate this contract lasts through the 29 season, so you're correct.

SPEAKER_03 24:26

Through 29, Jesus Christ. We're like 106. Yeah, I think there's literally only five or six drivers that have contracts for next year. So I think silly season or mid season. Oh, the other um the Cadillacs, they both have contracts through next year. Of course. Botas and Perez. They do as well. So it's them, the McLaren's. I believe I know Max does for sure, unless he opts out. I think they give Isaac two years. So the Cadillacs, McLaren's, Red Bulls, and I know Pierre does for sure. And then Charles. So I think it's eight. I think that's it.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Yeah, I believe Lando is through next year and Oscars is through 2028. But I mean, I don't see any reason for either of those guys to leave. They'll probably extend again sometime soon.

SPEAKER_03 25:12

Yeah. The only thing I could see is if like if Max does somehow do a crazy retirement, um, I could see Oscar going to Red Bull. I mean, he's not gonna go to Mercedes, he's not gonna go to Front, because he wants to be number one, and he deserves to be a number one. He shouldn't be a number two behind Lando, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

I guess so. But now that Lando's got his title, I mean, do you really think they're gonna keep doing that?

SPEAKER_03 25:35

I don't know. We'll see. If if if the McLaren continues to be competitive like it looked this past weekend, then they'll have to start making some choices. Um but I don't I don't know if they truly are competitive yet, or if it's just, you know, their typical Miami greatness, because they've been unstoppable at Miami in the last two or three years.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

Yeah, but these are these are completely new cars, man.

SPEAKER_03 25:58

Like Yeah, but still sometimes you just you just know a track. You know, you just understand somehow that this little bit that's light green in the wind tunnel would be better if it was turned one eighteenth of a millimeter because we know this track or something. I don't know. I'm not a aero engineer person spaceman, so I don't know, but clearly they do. Um I g I guess they would go to Japan to be fair. Um Oscar Fletcher won that race, but Lando was nowhere in Japan, and they really weren't that great in Melbourne, and they really weren't that great in China. Um they didn't even start to be fair. They didn't. But even in the spring race, they weren't that great.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

No.

SPEAKER_03 26:35

So um we'll see. Um we have another three weeks to wait, see if they can make some more upgrades.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Um, I want to talk about this a little more because um the the the McLaren Renaissance this season has been something very, very enjoyable for me. And mostly because of the fact that Oscar overall looks better than Lando does, which makes me very happy.

SPEAKER_03 26:59

Overall, I agree. This past weekend wasn't great, but yes, overall for sure Oscar's been wait. I mean, when he's started the race, 100% podium, when he starts the race. Yep. So hard to argue with that. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

He'll get some, he'll win, he'll win a race or two this year for sure.

SPEAKER_03 27:18

I hope so. I do. I think I think the Mercedes dominance obviously was not as extreme this weekend. I think that was obvious to everyone. Um I wonder if that's just other cars catching up or if it's Mercedes. I know they they had to change a couple things on on how they qualified um with some of the rules, but is that every everyone else catching up, or is that Mercedes maybe tried some things for this weekend that didn't work and it slowed them down a bit?

SPEAKER_01 27:45

If I had to guess, again, neither one of us are arrow, arrow engineers, so we don't know, but like if I had to guess, it was all the other teams took that five-week break and were like, we're so off the pace, we gotta bring as much as we can. And they did, and for the like the McLaren and the Red Bulls, it seems to have been they got a lot more performance out of the car. And I think Mercedes just was like we're good. Let's not let's not mess with anything because you know there's no you don't know when you put a new part on the car if it's gonna make it better or worse. I mean they probably have a feeling one way or another, but I think they probably were like, you know, we've been dominant so far this season until we haven't actually have a reason to. Let's just keep, you know, let's just run it back. So I think that's probably what we're doing.

SPEAKER_03 28:37

Yeah, but don't don't fix don't fix it if it isn't broke, kind of kind of thought process.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Yeah, and and and I think that mentality is actually kind of what doomed Oscar last year. Um, because I was talking to one of my friends who is really, really, really more into the the technical side of Formula One. I actually really want to get him on here one of these days and he can just like talk our ears off about like arrow and all I mean he's I don't know what he's saying half the time, but just let him just let him go because he's it's entertaining and it's i you can learn learn some stuff. Most of the stuff I know about this, I learned from him. Um but um he was saying that when part of the reason that Oscar kind of fell off was towards that midseason, like before Baku, um you know, McLaren went back to the drawing board, came up with um God, I can't remember. I don't know if it was a suspension change. I believe it was a suspension redesign. And Lando took the upgrade and Oscar didn't. And it was mostly because he and maybe it was just Mark Weber speaking for him, but he was basically like things are going well, I'm leading the championship, I'm driving great, let's just leave it as is. And then that suspension took Lando, you know, over the top. And Oscar, you know, I feel like the pressure just really got to him. He's still he's still so young. It was his first his first taste of like a championship battle. So yeah, I mean, there's we can we've seen how it can not work out. We'll see if Mercedes continues to just kind of rest on their laurels. We'll see how it works for them. If it ends up being the same, we'll have a pretty interesting championship fight on our hands, I think.

unknown 30:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:21

I mean, I I hope it gets closer. I I I would like to see a championship fight. I think you know, everyone coming into the year thought Mercedes were gonna run away with it and you know win every race by three laps or something. Um, so I I'm I'm excited with what we saw this weekend with McLaren getting obviously a lot better and Ferrari too, to be fair. I know Lewis allegedly had some down force loss from his contact with Franco. That's because Franco took off half his front wing. Yeah, well, you know, Robin's racing, okay. Okay. So just elbows out, it's all good.

SPEAKER_00 30:56

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:56

I'd rather see that than than them not fight, in my opinion. I agree with you. I'd always rather them go for it.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Of course. Of course. Yeah, I'm I'm with you.

SPEAKER_03 31:04

I know a lot of Formula One fans probably wouldn't want to see that because they'd rather them just be super polite and say, here you go, please take the position. But um, no, go for it.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Well, there's a there's a balance there. There's a balance there, right? Like there's there's there's battling, and then there's what Max Verstappen did in the first, I don't know, 20 laps of the race on Sunday.

SPEAKER_03 31:27

I mean I think he he genuinely might have made contact with every car that he passed. Like, was there a was there a non was there a contact free pass that he attempted? I don't know. The only time he didn't make contact with a car, funny enough, was when he was doing a 360 in the middle of the track.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Yeah, somehow. Great avoidance skills. He's such a menace, dude. It's it's actually crazy to watch. When yeah, I think I I don't know if it's go ahead I was legit nervous when Oscar was coming up on him at the end of the race. I was like, I was like, Max is gonna Max is gonna end his race right now because he's gonna be upset about getting past. There's no one that gets more upset about getting past than Max. Yeah, he takes it so personally.

SPEAKER_03 32:16

Yeah, he thinks it's because he thinks everyone's coming for him, which to be fair, they kind of are, but also it's just it's definitely a bit of an arrogance thing.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:24

Um, which you have to have some edge to you to be a Formula One driver, of course. Like all these guys are extremely competitive, which makes them the best drivers in the world. But there's still a line. I mean, you can't just push everyone off the track and claim you were ahead every single corner. It doesn't work that way. At some point, you're gonna lose the benefit of the doubt. Um but yeah, I I can't tell. I mean, he's always been sort of like this, but this year feels to a different level, and I I just don't know if it's just because the car is not you know where he wants it to be, that he feels like he has to push a little bit harder, and that's causing some of these mistakes, or if it's just frustration, he's saying, Screw it, I don't want to take three laps to set you up for a pass. I'm just gonna push you off the track. I mean, we saw it on lap one or two when he pushed Liam all the way off the track, and then somehow Liam had to give the place back.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:15

I'm not the biggest Liam Lawson fan in the world, but that seemed very strange to me. Yeah. Um it seemed like Red Bull came over and said, Hey, give it back to Max. He's behind you, and you don't want to lose your seat again. Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

Yep, yep, I agree. Well, overall, I think we were both pretty happy with um with what we saw in Miami. And um next is a race that you know you've just said that you like quite a bit, and that's Canada. Uh I unfortunately didn't get to see Canada last year. Um I can't remember what I was doing. Oh, it was at Warp Tour. That's why. That's what happened.

SPEAKER_03 33:48

That's a good excuse.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Yeah, yeah. That's a totally good excuse. It was a good time. So I should be around for Canada this year. Um overall, I think we're both pretty stoked on the direction that we're that we're headed. Um just touch on real quick. It's pretty much been all been all but confirmed by the president of the FIA that V8s are coming back.

SPEAKER_03 34:08

In I did see that.

SPEAKER_01 34:10

He said by 2030. So that's something to look forward to also. If we can get through this set of regulations and you know get to a point where everyone's kind of happy with it, then I mean freaking V8s are back, dude. How can you be upset about that?

SPEAKER_03 34:25

Well, because if anyone can find a way to ruin it, it's the FIA. So even if they bring it back, they're gonna be like, yeah, it's a V8, but we're actually doing like an 80-20 split electric hybrid V8s, and it's actually just gonna be terrible.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

How would that even work? How would that even work?

SPEAKER_03 34:42

They're much smarter than we are, they'd find a way to make it not work. Um Yeah, I mean look, if they want to bring V8 back, I'm here for it. Do it. Do it, please.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Yeah, I I believe the thing that I saw, they said they were targeting like a 65-35 split between um the internal combustion and the battery. Um and I believe you said that the did you say that the the the ground effect arrow was 7030 or did you say it was 8020?

SPEAKER_03 35:11

It was eighty twenty, I believe. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

So we're not quite back there yet.

SPEAKER_03 35:15

But no. I mean I don't think they'll ever be able to go back, to be honest. Probably not.

SPEAKER_00 35:21

Probably not.

SPEAKER_03 35:22

It'll be interesting to see too how uh Audi reacts um to the engines changing and GM too, to be fair, because I mean GM with Cadillac, they're gonna build their own engines by 28, I believe. So they'll have done all this work, build their own engines for this era, and then have to change it immediately. So honestly, if they were smart, they'd probably be working on both somehow in the background.

SPEAKER_01 35:43

Yeah, that and they knew what they were getting into. They knew what they were getting into.

SPEAKER_03 35:48

I mean, they're in every single motorsport possible GM or Cadillac in one way or another. Yep. Um so yeah, they're they're totally fine. Um hopefully they they can you know start to do some maybe maybe get near the top ten on true speed at some point towards the end of the year. It'd be nice to see. Um versus just getting there based on attrition. But yeah, be cool. We'll see.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 36:13

Look forward to.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

Anything else you wanted to uh touch on before we jump out of here?

SPEAKER_03 36:18

Nope, just complain one more time that we have another three-week break.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 36:22

Well, the breaks are absurd.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

Yeah, they are.

SPEAKER_03 36:26

Um well that's because it it is Canada next you said, right? Yes. Which is directly north of Miami?

SPEAKER_01 36:34

Sure is. And then they're gonna come back across to Canada.

unknown 36:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:46

That's very that's very green and and environmentally conscious of them to do that.

SPEAKER_01 36:50

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 36:52

Yeah, crazy. Wild. Oh well.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

Alright. Well, anyone who's tuned in last week, thank you very much. We're happy to have you here. And um yeah, hopefully you listen again this week and pass it on to your friends and hopefully get this get this train rolling a little bit. Um so thanks a lot. We'll be back with probably a preview of Canada and you know, we'll talk about any news that happens between now and then. But uh Yeah, for now that's gonna be it for us. So thanks again for tuning in and we'll see you next time.