P1 with Matt and Tommy - What F1 fans are looking forward to most in 2024

Episode Date: January 15, 2024

With 2024 in full swing, we can start to get excited about the new season. But what should you be looking forward to? Let's find out!Tommy also tells us about his exclusive contract discussions with Williams as they weigh up potential replacements for Logan Sargeant. You can sign up to our Patreon here! You'll get access to exclusive episodes you won't hear anywhere else, every P1 episode ad-free, full driver interview videos, early access to tickets and more!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everybody! And welcome to the P1 podcast in 2024 with Matt and Tommy. Tommy is ferociously waving. You may have even caught a draft through the microphone because you were going at it, Tommy, and I love to see that. Had to give it the beans for the first one of the year. And we are here.

It's not even the first podcast of the year, but you know what I mean? First F1 podcast is the year. Yeah, it feels like we're finally getting somewhere. We're nearly there. There's still no news about anything. It's the 9th of January. Who are we kidding?

We've still got a long way to go. But we thought we would talk about what we actually should look forward to about Formula One in 2024. After the most dominant season in history, we were like, I think everybody needs a bit of a chirping up. They need a bit of positivity going into 2024. So we've got our own submissions, haven't we, Tommy? And also some of you beautiful people as well

to essentially come up with a lot of reasons as to why we should be excited about Formula One. And I'm ready for it. There is actually a lot of reasons to say that, like you said, it was a very dominant season last year. No regulation change, no driver changes, but there's still lots to look forward to. There certainly is.

Before we dive into it, we have a five-star review. If you want yours to be read out, please leave us a five-star review. Let's know why you would love this podcast. This one comes in from AJ and 18. Rip M India. I got into Formula One this year during my board exams and I kept looking forward to you guys after every race. I gained knowledge about F1 through your podcast,

and I'm forever grateful that I found you guys. I never thought I would love F1 so much because I'm such a huge cricket fan and you guys are one of the reasons I stuck to this sport. Thank you guys so much. Matt, it's your fault. I'm a Ferrari fan now. I'm not sure how have I sold being a Ferrari fan

is an enjoyable experience. I thought that. They're like thanking you for pain, basically. Strange. Yeah, I'm not sure about that one, but thank you so much for your review, AJ Ann. Right, let's get into reasons we should look forward to 2024 Formula One.

First one comes in from Jasmine underscore Sky underscore, hopefully a closer battle at the sharp end. Now this one, it might feel, feel far-fetched. It might feel like we're clutching at straws, Tommy, that anyone is going to challenge Red Bull, however, my delusion, my belief. And there are some reasons to also put two and two together to maybe actually make four. And that's because there's teams like McLaren that really did bring it together towards the end of the season, had a shocking start of last year, but they had a great trajectory,

try and say that fast. And I think that they could do really well next year. And I also think Ferrari, you know, we'll get on to them. But McLaren, I think, is one particular reason why people should look forward to next year because I genuinely believe they could win a race or two next year at the least. This is a strange one because

closer battle at the sharp end is kind of, it's strange because Formula One is actually extremely close. You wouldn't think it based on if you looked at a piece of paper and saw the race winner for every race pretty much being the same for the entire year. And we've seen seasons before where people have won a lot less but have weirdly been more dominant because the amount of times that Vastappen hasn't been on pole or it's only been 10 seconds or sometimes even like under five seconds across the line

and he still managed to do it. It's just been him always winning even no matter like if it's a huge gap or a tiny gap whereas the close battle at the sharp end I think there is hope for it because of the fact that they are close and in the mix and it just needs Maxa Stappen

to somehow have a day off which is very very very very very, very rare. Happened pretty much once last year. And even then, he was still pretty good. So I do think there's a chance. And look, it will be closer even if he wins 18 races. So look at it that way.

No, Tommy, why would you bring that up? Don't say it. Don't say it. This is a positive podcast, Tommy. None of this rubbish about domination because it's not happening, which leads me beautifully. to my reason to tune into 2024. And it is because

Charles LeCler... God's sake. It's started already. Charles LeCleur is going to win the World Drivers Championship. We're not even in predictions yet. You don't even waited for the predictions podcast. Nope. Because I know...

New Year, New DeLooleu. Yeah. Look, it's going to happen. One year it's going to... come true. But if I'm being slightly more realistic, Charlotte Clare's going to win a race, and that'll be great for everyone, including me. But I think Ferrari, I think they have promised, haven't they, that basically the whole car is going to be pretty much new for 2024. At least they were kind of hinting towards at the end of last year. So with that being said, it could go

one way or the other. But I believe in Fred, the Golden Retriever Team Principle that he is, and I fully back it. And I think that Ferrari, Charlerclair, once we saw, once that car is to Charlotte Clare's liking, which it was towards the end of the year again, he can extract some brilliant results. And that isn't just fanboyism coming through.

He was performing very, very well when that car suited the way he likes to drive. he did he had a great end to the year of course Las Vegas being particularly great race for him should have won it should have won it but he didn't did he yeah nice safety car

yeah the thing is with Ferrari the fact that they're changing their car all the time it also means that they chop and change it's crazy to think that you know you went into 2019 where they were really good

and had a really quick car, maybe questionable engine. Sealed document. Sorry, yeah, of course. That's hearsay, whatever you're trying to suggest. And then 2022, they were like really bad. And then they sort of got better again. And then 2022, they were really good.

Wait, you just said 2022 they were really bad? Sorry, 2020, they're really bad. 2020, I hate that day. I was going to say, 2022, they were really bad. And I'm like, sorry, what? At the start of the year. Typically, they were really bad. They car wasn't.

That was the only time it was good was the start of 2022. Yeah, exactly. So they've come out the blocks where sometimes have been absolutely woeful and then sometimes really, really good. So it'd be interesting to see what they can actually deliver. But we know from the start of 2022 that given a good car, particularly at the hands of Charlotte Clay, you know, he can deliver wins.

So he just needs that car because for all the bantering, I do genuinely think it is unfair despite it being hilarious to race to you about his 12... 12 poles now that haven't been converted, which is an insane, like, number of races in a row. It's supposed to be a positive chat.

Well, do you think how good it would be when he finally wins again in 2029, I mean, if we're, shut up. If we're on, if we're on Twitch, that's going to be crazy. I was also thinking, probably for, I just, I just need to safeguard myself slightly. That if, if Ferrari do indeed top testing, then I think you, as a friend of mine, Tommy, you know, a close friend, I feel like you need to, you need to hold me back, okay? Because the belief is what kills you.

I can't go through 2022 again where I got too confident. No, we want to see it. Everyone will want to see it. No, shut up. Stop thinking about content for once in your lifetime and think about my own mental well-being. Anyway, let's not forget as well, Carlos Sines, who did have a decent part to his season.

It wasn't a fully consistent, amazing season, but there were moments where he was outperforming Shal and he was the one that got the victory at Singapore. Yeah, just after he was on the podcast, he was the goat. So let's not count him out either because I think that he's shown that he can beat Jarl LeClaire. So if those two are firing on all cylinders, then Ferrari could definitely be towards the front again. Fingers crossed. Next one, Pfizer car 1, 23 BS. 2024's silly season.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Now this one, this is going to be spicy, isn't it, Tommy? We are looking forward to this immensely because there are so many driver contracts ending at the end of this season, which means we could see a huge amount of musical chairs and who knows where anyone will end up. It only takes that one sort of piece of the domino. That one Sebastian Vetter retirement. The Sebastian Vettel retirement and how that threw everything into absolute carnage. It only takes one of the top drivers retiring, maybe one of them under delivers. Someone decides to jump ship at a different team and then that opens one seat and then that opens another seat and opens another seat. The full list here I've actually got of driver contracts ending and it is Sergio Perez,

Charlerclair, we obviously rumoured that he's going to sign a big old contract, but as time of recording, Charleclair, Carlos Sites, Fernando Alonzo, Lance Stroll, a good one, Ocon, Ocon, Gazli, Che Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Sunoda, Daniel Reconna Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnuson, Alex Halban and Logan Sargent don't have contracts for 2025. So boy, is silly season going to be chaotic. There'll be so many rumors, so many like, it's going to be, it's going to be wild because so many seats need to be filled still. And if drivers underperform, like, they can't just, you know, people will, will make a move

for these drivers that don't have a contract yet. are you eyeing up one of the seats tommy after your formula e-drive yes i am um i was in talks with williams over logy serge but he performed uh superior to me so he he got it did he wow how you taking that there was a clause that if he didn't get that point i'd have got the seat but um sadly that disqualification ruined my hopes and dreams i need to see you in race overalls It's great. If you haven't seen the Formula E Drive that we did go and check out on YouTube, by the way, it's good fun.

Both me and Tommy drove the Gen 3 Formula E car, and it was quite the experience, and Tommy nearly binned it. Right. Let's go to the next one, which is from It's Antinnie. Alonzo winning his first race in almost a decade. Now, we said reasons to be hopeful and looking forward to 2024, and I know I said about Charlotte.

I'm winning the driver's championship. Ignore that for a second. You expect that from me. Is this your burner account, Tommy? And is this actually going to happen? Because for me, I don't think so. I think, if anything, Aston Martin, are going the other way. Yeah, they're going to be fascinating to see what they do in testing

because, of course, they came out the blocks firing. And it was like, oh, my God, they've got a really good car. Lonzo could actually win a race. 33 when and all this kind of stuff and then of course no one other than Science won a race other than Red Bull but so it was a tough tough ass

but even you know the fact that he was finishing second and third all the time and then that kind of plummeted down the order and he started finishing race as bottom end of the points and it was just like what is going on with Aston Martin is this just a team that can copy a car essentially or bring in some Intel but don't know how to develop through the season and improve, which is something that people have said about them. They almost sort of got back to not quite the heights of where

they were before, but certainly improved towards the end. But do I trust Austin Martin to, you know, deliver another car with that much hope going into a new season? I don't know if they'd be top of my list of that the team's you know the team challenging Red Bull if we're going to say that's

McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Aston Martin I'd probably say Aston Martin bottom of that that list and it pains me because if I was in

Deli Lou Moe this would be my obviously one that I'd most want I also wouldn't McLaren fans close your ears don't get too excited

about McLaren just in case they do what they've done the last two years, which is rollout an absolutely awful car at the start of the year and finishing, we're getting knocked out in Q1 and not being able to... And then Lando does his preseason testing during the Bahrain Grand Prix. Yes.

With 6,000 pit stops or whatever... But that's not going to happen this year. Positivity. It's going to happen. McLaren going to start firing quickly. Okay, Tommy, it's now your reason we should be looking forward to 2024. Mine is Alpha Tauri. And they might not even be called Alfa Tauri. I think it's a bit of a rogue choice, but I think they could be the most interesting team

in terms of like storylines and everything. One, we don't know what they're called yet, so they're going to have a new look, which is something to look forward to. Two, they are, they improved throughout the end of the season quite a lot. And there was a lot of controversy over the fact that Helmut Marco was saying

about, you know, they just need to be this Red Bull B team now. And I think, you know, say they appear in F1 testing and they're actually pretty decent, maybe they just, you know, do a replica of last year's Red Bull like Racing Point did or whatever. There'd be a lot of questions over it and it would cause a lot of spice, DTSB rubbing the hands together because that would be exactly the kind of story they'd love. So I think there'll be controversy there. and there's also the driver situation with them because I don't think we got to see the best of Danny Rick

because he had a stop-start season. Yuki Sanoda showed like a lot of promise in a few races and then of course if Perez doesn't perform, one of those is one of those going to be there? Liam Lawson's kind of almost been promised to see it in 2025 as well so like who goes. I think Alva Tauri or racing balls or whatever and if they're going to be called could actually.

give us the most spice this year? If they rock up with a, you know, a B-spec Red Bull, they're probably going to finish second in the championship. And we're going to see Daniel Ricardo podiums. We're going to see Shooey's. How much controversy if Danny Rick's smiling, I'd say it softens the blow slightly for Formula One fans. But it would, I mean, F1 fans are outraged no matter what,

aren't they? That's the thing, right? Especially on social media. For example, there was some news wasn't there recently of a sporting director, was it sporting director getting hired at the FIA, who used to work at Red Bull about five years ago or whatever it was. And you best believe on Twitter went into implosion. Even though literally like the president of the FIA has worked for Ferrari for the last how many times. And it was like, it was a very short amount of time between the moving between Ferrari and the FIA there as well. But yes, there of course will be controversy, especially if Alfort Tari launched themselves up the grid.

But Red Bull will definitely play it by the rules and whatever they're allowed to give or do or share, they will. But yes, I'm sure there will be a bit of outrage. But we don't know. We don't know. They're supposed to be their own entity. But if they're called Racing Bulls, I don't believe it. No, exactly.

it'll have like an accident and they'll rub off a bit of the pain and you can see like the Red Bull livery underneath it or something. What last year's Red Bull livery would be exactly the same as this year? Yeah. Right next one, P1 Patreon member Sir Bacon the Sixth. I'm excited for what Salba and Racing Balls

will do with their livery. So first and foremost, they are now called steak. I am actually excited to see what they will do in particular with their livery just purely because it will be quite a vibrant green, won't it? Yes. By the looks of things. We assume so.

I mean, that's literally the brown colours of steak. So we are assuming that it could look pretty saucy. How would you, Tommy, how would you make a steak livery? What would be your choice of colors? Yeah, they need to do the bright green. I'm one of these people. I guess this probably shows my age and the era I grew up in. But I actually like the fact that teams will bring in a title sponsor

and then just because then it's different every year, whereas obviously we talk about Red Bull Ferrari, in my opinion, get a free pass because, you know, their Ferrari, red. They do. It's iconic, whatever. But now all these teams, racing point became Aston Martin or whatever,

so they're always going to be green now. Then you don't get people changing their liveries and stuff and it kind of makes that car reveal season a little bit less exciting, in my opinion. So the fact that we've got, two new teams, if you like, means they'll be different and it looks like steak F1, not being out for a mayo, so they won't be red and black, hopefully not. And it looks like they're going to go with this like a luminous green, which will,

certainly some people, when you always put like a crazy colour like that, I'm thinking Racing Point with the pink. Some people are like, oh, it's absolutely horrid, it's awful, but it's, stands out on the grid and looks cool. So I'm actually really looking forward to seeing what they do with the livery as well. So an exciting livery season to come with two new teams. And that's the first thing we will actually have an answer to in terms of whether or not it was something we should have looked forward to. Because car launches start at the start of next month.

I don't know how many teams have announced their dates so far. There's four. As time of we've recorded this, it might be different when it's gone out. but we've got Stake and Williams are first on like the 5th of February and then Ferrari and Aston Martin around that usual kind of mid-February date. So yeah, I don't know why the two teams have decided to launch on the same day, although it's a classic thing where they like to do now where they call it a team launch, I think it's called.

So they're not going to reveal the car. It would be like the branding. so it's definitely going to be last year's car painted in that bright green state livery or whatever and same with Williams, no doubt. It's great. Yeah, so it's something, isn't it? It certainly is. Next one comes in from Chrysiel H-4756, Mercedes getting their S together.

We've said this for the last two years now. They can't lose every race. Wow. That's actually crazy. The belief that Mercedes will get it right eventually is still there. But you do wonder how many years it's going to take. Is it going to be 2026, for example, when we get that overhaul of regulations where Mercedes will come back with the power of their engines and whatever?

You've got Hamilton and Russell. It's hard to discount them. You can't discount them. But it's been a while now, and Red Bulls seem to have such an advantage. And I think a lot of people have lost the belief that Mercedes will be the one to, like, you know, at the end of 2021, going into 2020, you go, oh, Mercedes will bounce back. Whereas now you think, okay, well, there's McLaren, there's Ferrari. I would put more of my faith in McLaren at the moment than I would Mercedes in some ways.

It feels like they're a little bit lost. I don't know if that's a sense that many other people have got, but for me, it feels that way. You know, they went the wrong way with their whole car, um, no side pod idea. They stuck in it. They stuck their hills and then they were like, oh God, actually no.

Yeah, no, this didn't work, did it? Then they had, then they're behind everyone else when it comes to the other, but we're having side pods. And it just, yeah, it's felt like they've, they've been lost for the last couple of years. It does. And it's a little bit, I guess the most embarrassing thing for Mercedes is the last couple of years.

They have found themselves. occasionally, start of last year, they got quite fortunate actually that Aston Martin started really well, dropped off, and McLaren started really rubbish and got really good, because the consistency of Mercedes

got them second in the championship, and that shows the kind of how we perceive them, the second in the championship, we're like, oh, God, what are they doing? They need to get their S together, like this person's saying.

But it's true, They didn't win a race last year, which can you imagine at the end of 2021 saying we'd get to 2024 and Mercedes would have won one race in that time over those two years? Absolutely insane. And they have been struggling in this new era. I kind of feel the same way that I don't, I'm sort of losing a little bit of faith in them. And I feel like they will, they won't bounce back until it becomes almost like an engine formula again in 2026. I feel like that will suit them a lot more. This is very much the aerodynamic era, which is unsurprising that it suits Red Bull down to the ground and Adrian Nui.

And Mercedes just seemed to be struggling. And maybe that's because a lot of people, I know Toto Wolf said this. before that some of their personnel got poached to different teams and stuff and they've just it's strange because they're competitive to a point but we know what they can deliver

and I think it's the fact that they're not winning races is just a shock in itself. They're consistent and I think mainly that is due to the having maybe or arguably the best drive lineup in in the sport

and certainly consistency with Hamilton. But they just, they need to start winning. They need to win at least one race next year. It's absolutely insane that they haven't. And we've spoken about this before as well, that they felt like they were learning to fight in the pack again for a while and the strategy is not being bulletproof.

Oh yeah, definitely. It has, they have tripped over themselves. Qatar being obviously one of them that was a massive mess up for Mercedes as a whole and obviously the driver's there as well. Hamilton more so by turning into Russell but it was yeah it wasn't that bulletproof Mercedes that we've come to know and I was going to say love

but I'm sure a lot of people don't love dominance but over so many years it was always our Mercedes always and they do get a lot of points don't get me wrong that the reliability of their car is astonishing and that's where they pick up a lot of their a lot of their points but yeah it's it's one that

fingers crossed for Mercedes fans sake they can pick it up up and win something. It's weird to say that. I'd love to see Hamilton win again. I'd just love to see someone else other than Hamilton win. It's mad.

Right, next one comes in from Hay underscore Elliott. The Return of Shanghai. Yeah. This is your burner account. Yeah, this is my burner account. Shanghai International Circuit. Oh, baby. It's going to produce a banger.

No, no, not even one element of doubt in my mind. What a great circuit. underrated, probably the most underrated circuit in the entirety of Formula One. Can't wait to see Term 1 again. It goes on forever, doesn't it? And then back the other way. I'm looking forward to it.

It's going to be great. It's been a long time since we've been there, but you're right, it does deliver really good races. A lot of the classic races over the last few years seem to have been there, which is really strange, because it doesn't have this reputation, apart from you, but like general fan opinion is like, oh, Shanghai, yeah, it's all right. But it has delivered really good races and, yeah, it'd be good to see it.

And of course, it's going to be a sprint as well. So that's going to be another fascinating thing to see how that pans out on a track like that with an enormous, enormous straight. I'm ready for it. Next one's P1 Patreon member, Nicola. I feel like us McClaren fans are due. a Lando win. I think we've hyped

to McLaren up a lot. Landau, of course, it has to happen eventually, surely. In my head, it makes sense. I can't believe he didn't get a win last year considering the amount of positions he was in where just a little Maxfostapp and slip up,

just a little Red Bull strategy blunt. No, none of that. And Lando would be a race winner. Of course, Oscar Piestri picking up that sprint win. It is possible. I'd love to see Lando not make as many mistakes towards the end of the year. Like he did make a few in qualifying, which were gut-wrenching to watch,

because you just knew that was the opportunity for Lando to win Qatar being a good example of that, where had he been at the front and that crazy three-stop scenario that we had, is it three or four, I think it was three? Mandatory three, yeah. Mandatory three. And that was a great opportunity, but unfortunately, you know, with qualifying,

it just didn't work out. But I think that will just come with time and experience. Lando's not a veteran of Formula One. He's definitely picking up that trajectory, as you can see, and last year was an amazing season for him. And as long as McLaren deliver him a good car from the start of the year, surely. Surely.

Yeah, McLaren really need to just deliver a car from the start and not have this whole messing about turning the first five races into another test session. I think it would be so good for Landos to get a win. I hope he does it and surely next year and I'm losing my voice because clearly we've not podcasting so long. Are you good, bro? No.

Have you got a drink? I've just had no F1 to waffle about and my voice can't hack it. Tommy has spoken about 200 words in the last month and he's now already gone over that quota. I know, I've gone over my quota. That's crazy. But yeah, Lando. he has to get that win next year.

I'd love to see it. I think in terms of a race win, I think that's the one I'd really love to see because he is, I think it's like an unfair criticism that's hanging over him because he has shown that he can deliver at the front because it's all right saying,

oh, he's not won a race, but this year only signs got that that win other than Red Bull. And, you know, Lewis Hamilton didn't get a win. We're not questioning his talent. So it's just the way Formula One is at the moment. Yeah, any other season, he's got a victory last year. Or three or four.

It's bad, isn't it? But yeah, I guess the reason why it's spoken about is because Oscar caught that sprint win, which obviously starts people questioning who's going to be the one to pick up that first win at McLaren. What a hoser comes in with better F1 TV directors and no replays of the start taking up laps three to ten. Okay, this, this has not been confirmed. This is not even, this is not happening probably, because we've had it for so many years, but it's something we're pushing.

Hopefully, look, we don't need better F1 TV directors, we just need the current ones that press all the buttons to not press the replay button on lap three. Please. I beg. When DRS is activated, please just unsynchronize whatever is in that system where that DRS is literally like DRS's active, graphic comes on, and then the next thing in the sort of system is replay time.

Here's 20 replays of the start. I know. He said it so many times. Maybe, I pray this is the year where it's actually, my voice is absolutely screwed. I'm so sorry. Holkenberg isn't. I hope this is the time where actually they realize the error of their ways

because it's something that they've traditionally done since I started watching in 1934. Finally, you admit it. Yeah. Or whenever it was. Fringe Tommy is here, the Oracle of Truth. Oh, God. We got 10 questions in before it's mentioned. But it always has the Twitch.

It should be 11 reasons why we're excited than it's 11th as Tommy Fringe. You're actually cutting it, that's a shame. I know. But yeah, the fact that Formula One has changed so much as a sport and they've introduced an overtaking aid that kicks in on lap 3.

So that, in theory, should be where the cars are closest to get that and they have the overtaking aid. So it's the most important lap of the entire race. And they're like, no, we'll show the start. You don't need to see this. I think you're going to listen to us this year. I think they, I have a feeling.

I hope so. I feel it in my bones. I just need like that. Just think a little bit outside the box. You don't need to do the same thing. They're kind of trying to cover a sport in the same way that's changed so much. You know, if someone that produces golf goes into produce tennis and then does it the same way, it's not going to work.

So like Formula One is a unique. sport that it actually develops so much and is insanely different. Like other sports are quite similar and while it advances, doesn't not to the extent of Formula One, like watching it in 1950 to now is a completely different sport. So much is different. So they need to like use their brain and realize that that's the case. There you go.

Then Tommy got some slandering just at the end there about F1 TV direction. There it is. 2024, he's not changed one bit. So Tommy, what are your final thoughts that aren't to do with TV replays? Final thoughts are looking forward to the fact that I can talk about F1 again and hopefully my voice won't break this time because I'll be training from all this amazing content and all this crazy news that's going to drop

and then I really hope it does. Come on, give us some stuff. Nice. Lots of news. My final thoughts are it's 2024. It's Formula One time-ish, maybe soon. Content will, of course, pick up over the next few weeks as we get closer to car launches and so on and so forth. And, yeah, we've got lots of exciting things this year.

So I look forward to that. Thank you everybody for watching and listening. And we'll see you very soon for another piece of content. Bye. Bye. Bye. is a Stack production and part of the ACAST created network.