The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Could Colapinto REPLACE Doohan at Alpine?!

Episode Date: January 12, 2025

With Colapinto set to join Alpine as reserve driver, the LB boys consider what this could mean for rookie Doohan. They also discuss Spa's rotational contract extension, Mike Krack's surprise demotion, and the latest nonsense from Mohammed Ben Sulayem. They finish with a game of Higher or Lower... FOLLOW us on socials! You can find us on YouTube, Instagram, X (Twitter) and TikTok SUPPORT our Patreon for bonus episodes JOIN our Discord community JOIN our F1 Fantasy League EMAIL us at [e-mail]   & SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking, here for a Sunday episode here in the middle of January. But Sam, the F1 world has actually given us things to talk about today. Yes, thank you. They've realised that January is actually hell on earth.

and we're all struggling through these wonderful cold days. So thank you for bringing us news to actually talk about and we don't have to make stuff up to fill up with your time. It's an hour of goodness, many talking points, and all three of us have decided to turn up. Harry's here and he's got a green door behind him. I know, big changes, big January changes here. Dream jumper, green door.

That's what they're going on, then bars. 10 bars. Get out his LinkedIn profile. It's been really cold lately, isn't it, lads? minus four yesterday. Disgusting. Disgusting. We don't do that here.

We do 13 degrees gray raining. And that's us. With a low of 11 and a high of 17. I had a weird phenomenon of traveling from London back to Cornwall yesterday. And when I left London, I think it was minus four. And when I got back here, it was like eight degrees. Come on now. Sure.

12 degrees shift. Every season. And a 250 mile journey, we've had a 12-degree shift. Yeah. That's Britain for you, baby. Grow up, Britain. Now, why do we all mowing about everything? Speaking of, that's 45 minutes in.

Speaking of moaning about everything, we've got comments from Mohammed Ben Sulean coming up later on. Oh, God. Harry, you wanted it on the schedule, my man. You can't comply. I'm not looking about it being there. I'm just him. Anyway.

We have a special group chat, of course. And Harry's immediate response, we must talk about this on the Sunday. We must talk about it because we'll get on of it. Yes. A reshuffle of some of the senior members at Aston Martin. The Belgian Grand Prix has signed a contract extension to stay on the calendar, but with it rotating in a few years time. But we're going to start with the news of Franco Colopinto joining Alpine as a test and reserve driver after the team reached an agreement with Williams, his former team. Flavio Brio Torre, the executive advisor of Alpine, said the following. Clearly, Franco, Franco and

among the best young talents in motorsport right now. It's fair to say his appearance on the Formula One grid last year caught many, me included by surprise, and his performances have been very impressive for a rookie driver. We have an eye on our future, and his signing means we have a great pool of young drivers to call upon and work with in developing the team for future success. Sam, we'll start with what your immediate reaction to this news was,

and do you anticipate seeing Franco Colopinto, So in a seat this season. You know the seven stages of grief where you lose someone and you go through, you know, all these emotions? I don't. I'm in denial. Ah, very hard. Uh, very good.

Yeah, that's kind of good. That's what I went through. When this news came out, I went through humor first. I thought, ha ha, good joke, everyone. That's not actually happened. And then I went through sadness for Jack Duh and when I realized that he's already essentially on the back. Burner of his Formula One career.

And then the news came out about his testing alongside Pierre Gasly and how he was a second a lap slower than Pierre Gasi through those test laps that they put together, which, you know, that's a big gap. You know, for any rookie, we've seen how well they perform. And now I went through anger. Just how he's been treated, how these rookie drivers at Alpine seem to get, they get no respect, you know, rookie drivers at Alpine, they get no love, they get no promotion.

You see them constantly move to other teams or other areas in motorsport. And it looks like it's going to happen again. Alpine have got such a churning wheel of drivers coming through their academy. You remember the most recent one they had, of course, Oscar Piastri, immediately he never got to drive for Alpine because he was quickly off to what is now the constructors champions. Before that, I think Joe Guangyu was a major contender, never involved in that team as well. And there's a long list of these rookie drivers, these youth drivers that have come through an academy

that never ever appear. So they finally get round to the point where they've actually. actually promoted one. They've actually invested in someone, giving him plenty of time. He's had a good junior career. He's a great testing. He's had practice sessions. He's going to get a season.

And he's not even gotten in the car yet. And you've decided that based on Riz's personality and good looks, Franco Golopinto is going to be there bearing down upon him for at least a whole year. I don't want to foresee him in the car this year. But I think it's almost guaranteed, almost nailed on that the start of 2026, that line up will be Pierre Gassi and Franco Colopinto at an absolute minimum. I don't think doing,

no matter what he does, is going to be keeping that seat for more than 24 Grand Prix. Harry, what was your reaction to this news? And do you anticipate seeing Colopinto in a seat this year? I mean, it's quite clear he's, Colopinto's risced them up. He's rised spritory. Rissotori, yeah.

Rissotory. Terrible. That's awful. I, the wording around this, I'm not buying into any rumors about you know, Jack Dund is going to be out of the sea immediately. He's only signed for a quarter of a season, all that stuff. I don't believe it.

But the wording that Alpin used for the announcement of Colopinto as a reserve driver saying that he joins them on a multi-year deal, no one ever says that for a reserve driver role. When do they say, are they're a reserve driver? They're going to be here for however many years. A lot of reserve drivers just sort of signed one. at one year at time because they don't really want to be a reserve driver for three years or four years or whatever because that would be stupid.

Sorry, I'm going to tears. But yeah, so that alone I think was quite interesting to read. It's clearly they have plans for Colapinto. For Alpine, it's not the worst. This isn't the worst idea in the world because if doing doesn't work out to be good, they've got a known quantity here in Colopinto that can that can replace them

should they need to tell you what would have been a really good idea what's that like oh I can't think what this might be they got they actually had a really good driver he's called Esteban I don't know if you've heard of him do you see Aaron's just quite quite him

yeah he's not him he's called Esteban Okon he's actually got a race win under his belt and I've had a few podium for Alpine slash Renault of him no well they got rid of him but you know that might have been a good idea to keep him. And they wouldn't be in this position.

But yeah. So it's not the worst idea to have collopint on the back burner here. But they've painted themselves into a corner they didn't need to paint themselves into. That is Al-P defined, man. We didn't need to do this to ourselves, but we have. They're just like in a corner and there's no one else in the room. Get away, stay away. It's just them.

You don't need to be here. So unlucky, man. I can't believe this has happened to me. I've lost again. No one else is in the race. Because they didn't need, they didn't need to, they didn't need to have doing in the car in the first place. I don't, I, I, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they're not just signing colapinto

because they're already worried about doing or they want colipinto more. I'll, I'll say that it's a sensible choice to have colipinto as a reserve driver. He is a known quantity now. he's got the speed he's a little bit um he's a little bit crash heavy but he's certainly got the speed to to back up that that uh that slightly uh wild streak but yeah it's not the worst idea and the worst idea to have him having his backup so I don't blame this I just really really hope they give give doing the time and the resource he needs to to prove himself because they can't base anything off I know there's this test to

apparently he did in Qatar with Gassley. There's obviously the last race of the season, which that alone is not anything they can base it off because that's just not fair. So I hope they give to enough time to prove himself, to prove himself because he's been a loyal, he's been a loyal, you know, law driver for them in their young driver program.

And he deserves, he deserves to have this chance in F1. So I hope they aren't going to be Alping about it, but I fear they've got the pain pressure out again. you fear that Alpine might do something that Alpine would normally do. Yes. Fair. Ironically, everything they paint is themselves into a corner because their car ain't getting any. Well, that's the ironic thing, isn't it?

They are the most anti-paint people you can get based on their livery from 2024. I mean, my immediate reaction to this was not a great deal of surprise just based on their interest in colopinto, seemingly going back to last autumn. So it's not like this came out of the blue. As with most F1 news stories nowadays, you get an inkling that's going to happen weeks, sometimes even months before they actually do. So no real surprise. What I sort of mainly took away from this was,

if you were to line up all of the big Alpine news from, say, the last three years, after I was finished laughing my head off, I would then look at them all and say, this is the first spree at all. move. Flavio Privatio Priory has said since he's come back, like, for example, the decision to not use their own power units, he has been quick to say, that wasn't my decision.

I don't know if I'd have done the same thing, but that wasn't on me, direct you hate elsewhere. This feels like the first decision that smells for Priory. Like, it's clinical. And regardless of whether you like him or dislike him or love his methods or hate his methods, This is British Tori all over. He is clinical. He is not afraid to upset the Applecart. And in this instance, the Apple cart is Jack Dewan.

I understand it. There's a lot of speculation about what Dewan's contract actually is. But there's also a lot of what I think is fair comment of does it even matter? We've just had a situation where Sergio Perez, with all of the sponsorship deals he brings in, and having two years of a contract remaining. Red Bull didn't want him anymore. Red Bull found a way to get out of it. Whether he's got a contract for six races, eight races, 24 races,

if at any point they won collarpin, so in that car, they'll get it done. So I think Alpin, like they're trying to create a win-win situation for themselves, whether they have or not is up for discussion, but what they've attempted to do is say, if doing's great, fantastic, you've got a good driver, and then suddenly you've got Doan as a good driver, Gasly is a good driver, and a backup in Colopinto.

Colapinto will be bringing quite a lot of money with him as well, even as a reserve driver. So that's a great situation. And then their hope is that if doing isn't what they want him to be, Colapinto is a rare mixture of experienced, I don't want to say he's experienced, but he has experience, and he's got potential. There aren't many drivers that are free agents that have both,

of those things. So Alpina trying to bolster their ranks in that regards. And to an extent, you can't really blame them for doing so. Is this an opportunity, Sam, for Jack doing to show what he can do? Obviously, there's a lot of pressure on him now, more pressure than would maybe be on the average rookie driver. If he can come out of this looking good, does that do more for his future? future prospects than if he didn't have someone like Colopinto directly behind it.

It's probably raised the stakes, isn't it? He was a rookie that came into a situation. I think before this move was signed, we even said on the show that he can take his time. He's got a good half a season under his belt where he's allowed to kind of put the work in, get used to the car, is he going to get closer to Gasly. You know, that's what we're expecting for a lot of rookies these days is give him a few races and they'll start to get up to speed. Well, that timeframe for Jack Dugel is massively condensed.

He no longer gets a full season to get his kind of feet under the, under the desk, his foot in the door, whatever expression you want to use. And he's actually got to start turning the lapsing within the first couple of Grand Prix, realistically. Tough for him, because if he gets it wrong, he's got someone waiting there, a step straight into his seat immediately, that's already done the job, has stepped into a more high-pressure situation and has performed, has delivered. And he has won the hearts of many fans in Formula One.

But equally, as you've just suggested there, Ben, if he does perform, if he's right next to Gasly, if turns out he's beating Pierre Gasly, who is a very well respected Formula One driver at this point, he's outdone himself massively, and he's raised his value, and he's raised what he brings to Alping, or maybe another constructor that might be looking for a driver who maybe Alpine, they might go,

we don't have faith in you regardless, but you are beating gasoline, so therefore we'll take doing off your hands. He just gives himself far more opportunities if he ends up actually delivering immediately, because he's beating out the odds, far more. He's not sitting there, you know, swimming around in a luxury pool,

going that one day you might have to swim a couple of lengths. Get in the pool. Do your bloody lengths, mate. We're going to race. It's a bizarre analogy. You're right, Ben. The point is that Colopinto being there, I think actually could turn into a massive,

positive for Jack doing, should he deliver much earlier than expected? Equally, there's a much larger chance he can actually end up stumbling, unfortunately. Harry can do and use this as an opportunity to, I don't know, in terms of his mentality going into the season, see what's happening around him

and almost set out to prove absolutely everyone wrong? Yeah, absolutely. I think he, like you said, like Sam says, this is, you know, the fool can be harder here, but also the reward can be bigger for doing because if he does prove himself, then it certainly proves any doubters wrong if their doubters are preatorial,

helping themselves because, yeah, at the moment, again, it seems bizarre to say that, and they are purely, this is all purely rumours, but there's like doubts around his pace, which seemed really unfair, because as we've already said,

he's only had one race and they test. And would you not say as well, based on that, the amount of like free practice sessions he's done for them, the amount of test data, they must have simulated data. Surely that is way more to go on

than just. Exactly. And they signed him. So he must be okay. They can't now be having doubts about him based on that one race. So I do find that quite unfair. But yeah, look, he can use this as an opportunity. You know, he can go into the season.

He's got obviously the testing period. He can go into the season with that mentality. The first race is his home race, which I know is added pressure, but also, you know, that's quite a good place to start his F1 career. Let's ignore Aberdeb. That doesn't count. And it can prove the the doubters wrong. If it is, you know, if the, the rumours are actually founded and they are true,

then obviously that's going to be, it's going to be tough for him to take. But I don't really believe that. I think this is a good opportunity for doing to stick two fingers up to the haters out there. Take my two fingers up. Take my two fingers. And show him what he's made of. because as you say, Ben, there must have seen something in doing and he's proved himself in lower ranks

to give him this shot in the first place over Esteban Okon. Wait, they had an opportunity to keep up that. How long do you think we'll keep that joke going for? Forever. Good. Like all of our jokes. In 2016, when no one even remembers who Esteban Okon is. But I remember who we are in 2016.

No, we're still going. We're still trying to get 10K on YouTube before Silverston. We'll have actually gone down. Eventually. You're on 3K. We'll have so many jokes that have ever died that an episode

will just be a continual flow from one old joke to another until we get to the goodbye moment. We'll be asking about your Asda Pizza, Sam, but Asta would have gone through like six rebrands in that time. People won't know what Azzar is.

Gosh, I really want to them now. Sorry, yeah, my bad. I just, I come out of this thinking, poor Jack Duhin, because if you go through the timeline, of what's happened. It's pretty brutal in that he's promoted from reserve driver to be main driver for the team. And at that point, Alpine signed Paul Aaron to be the reserve driver.

He was in F2 last season, had a pretty good F2 career, but, you know, fine. Alpine need a reserve driver if they're going to promote doing. So there's not a great deal of risk there. And then the Colopinto speculation starts to ramp up quite a lot. It's like, well, we don't need a reserve driver anymore. We've just picked one up, but okay. And then on the 9th of January, it's announced in the morning. Breaking news, Alpine have signed a new reserve driver.

Jack Duhans are, oh, God, here we go. And it's Rio Hira Kawa. Yeah, yeah, no small caliber driver there either. Who is, I think he's 30 years old. He has no F1 experience, but despite his, he's done very well in endurance racing, don't get me wrong, but probably not a threat. and Jack Dewan can breathe a sigh of relief. Like, that's two reserve drivers in the inn.

And then later in the same goddamn day, they announced Colopinto. It's like, we've got three reserve drivers. We've got more reserve drivers than we have in any other department in this whole company. Poor Jack doing. So, yeah, doing so he's not a fool. Like, he understands that, of course, all teams are going to look to bolster their ranks and to ensure that they're future-proofing all of their, all of their lineups. We know, of course, last season, there were just two lineups that are the same going into

this season. So even if you think Gazley's locked for a few years, things can change very quickly in the world of F-1. So it is understandable. But it's like, if you look at it from Colapinto's perspective and why he's signing, it's like, well, there's no, like, increase in job. Like, he's going from reserve driver to reserve driver. so that's not the reason.

It's not current performance because despite Alpine beating Williams in the championship last year, they were battling for most of the year. So that's not really the reason. If it was going from Salba Reserve Driver to McLaren Reserve Driver, that might be a bit different

because if you get the opportunity in the car, you've actually got an opportunity to do something with it. Williams to Alpene's a pretty sideways move. It's not based on historic success because Alpine don't have any of it. So you really narrow it down, okay, what is he actually, why would he move? And you are left with the only reason of he's been told or promised something that makes him think he's going to have a better chance of getting in the car than what he has at Williams. So I absolutely think doing needs to go in with a mentality of I can prove everyone wrong and give Alpine a headache on what to do.

I just, I feel bad for him though because he is going to have to almost from the off. go in with a, I need to impress now, now, now. And that could lead to him overdrive in the car. Like, I know Abu Dhabi wasn't great. Like, he didn't score points. It wasn't a great race. But equally, with so many other things happening around him, we had incidents with Vastappan and Piastri and Bottas had a couple.

Like, Dewan did what exactly he needed to do in Abu Dhabi. He just, he completed a full race. And that's probably what he could use with these first. few races of the 2025 season. And this decision might cause him to rethink that, which could be, could be detrimental. What do you think are the detrimental effects on Williams who have let a driver go? Because that's a loss for them. It is.

I think there is like, there is a question mark on what conditions. Like, is he 100% Alpine? Is there any way they could bring him back? And there is a question there. but there's also like Williams were going to struggle with if another team were willing to put up the cash and give him a potentially better opportunity

signs and Albiner signed for longer than the end of this season it was going to be tricky to keep him if there was significant interest from another team so I'm not sure Williams could have done a huge amount but hey I mean they gave a rookie a chance for half a season and they've probably got a boatload of cash for him

it's not bad just on William's side note and I get why but if you look at their social media they just have one driver at the moment there's only Alex Alborn does not exist he's not there anymore

it's just Carlos finds his team I saw a video of them putting the 55 on the car and it was like oh a work of art was the captioning a little old man who was like don't forget the 23 and I was just like

a tiny 23 you're tiny one Do you reckon Albin's just got one engineer left and everyone else is on sizes car? All of them have taken Duolingo Spanish lessons over the summer. Brueel. Right. Let's take our first break on this episode. On the other side, we're giving our thoughts on the Belgian Grand Prix's contract extension.

Welcome back, everyone. Before we get into the Belgian Grand Prix, we are, of course, just a couple of weeks removed from Christmas and New Year. and I have to say, I've been doing a bit of tidying, a bit of tidying around the house, and I found five stars. Harry, I just, I'm looking for places around the house to put these five stars,

and they just won't go anywhere. Honestly, that is quite the conundrum. I'm often finding five stars just lying around. You know, you just run out of storage space, you don't know where to put them. Exactly. Yeah. Put them on a review.

That's right, folks. We love five-star reviews here at late breaking. We love them more than any other podcast, loves them actually. And that is scientific fact. Fact. Yeah. Fact, as George Russell, yeah, we'll say. Yeah, folks, the off-season is quiet for everyone involved.

January. Before we start recording, we were just saying how much we love January. But, yeah, five-star reviews will really, really help us. They genuinely do. I know we say it's every time, but they genuinely do help us grow. Give us a bit more visibility so that, you know, we can ruin other people's lives with this podcast. I mean, sorry, enhance other people's lives of this podcast. So please leave us a lovely review if you're enjoying what you're hearing.

And as we always say, you can write what you like as long as there's five stars associated with it. And if you don't want to leave a review because you hate us, just walk away. Just walk away. Don't have to say anything. Just be like, sure what, tell my heaven's up, not enjoying this, which I understand. Just walk away. But the five stars are very important. you can write anything you want the code word for this time is Flavio Brissotori.

Nice. Love that. With five stars. Thank you for helping me to declutter my house. I really appreciate that. You're welcome at any time. Oh, God. Should we move on?

Formula One has agreed a new deal with the Belgian Grand Prix, which will keep the race on the schedule until 2031. However, the race will only take place every other year after. to 2027. So we can expect to see F1 at SPAR in 2025, 26, 27, 2029 and then 2031. A statement issued by Formula One gave no explanation as to why there would not be a race in 28 and 30, although the idea of rotating certain races has been spoken about for a while. Stefano Domenicali had the following to say, Spar is rightly lauded by drivers and fans alike as one of the finest racetracks in the world and it's played host to some incredible moments

over its many seasons in F1. Sam, your reaction, we'll get to the whole rotating element of this in a moment, but your reaction to at least it being on the calendar, because that in itself wasn't a guarantee. Yeah, I think this is a real positive, real success for Formula One, for fangs, for drivers. It is a much-loved track.

Although I do think the racing in the last few years around Spar hasn't been as top quality, as we've once seen. It does seem to deliver pretty solid, Grand Prix racing most of the time. The weather often throws up some predicaments that sometimes go too far and you'll remember one of the worst Grand Prix we had in a very long time was only a couple of years ago where essentially

we sat by a safety car for three hours and Pierre Gassie at one point, we smelled sausages cooking. Entertainment for all, a family fun. Speaking of jokes that have never died on this podcast. They still run every single week. But generally Sparta Live is pretty solid

Grand Prix racing. You've got so many famous corners throughout history there. classic Blanchemong, Rouge, Radion, Pouong. There's so many famous callers there, and the list goes on, about how historic and how prestigious this race track is. I would say it is pretty much the step down from the likes of your monses, your silverstones, you're into Lagos, your Suzuki's. Then Spar typically comes next.

So when we're in a world of so many city tracks, you know, coming through to the calendar, and we're almost been taking over by very new, not-purpose-built racetracks, it's good that something with a bit of history is going to stick around for a while. Spar famously doesn't really have the cash to keep itself on the calendar. It's struggle to pay for its place. But it's good that we're finding a way to make sure that tracks like this do get to stay. And if that means we get to see new other brilliant race tracks at the same time,

they can pair up with, or we get increased longevity of other tracks that already exist, for example, if it were to rotate with the likes of Catalonia, which might be at risk with Madrid coming in place, then I am all for it. I'm all for this being the case. So really pleased at Spars stays, really how that we're going to get at least semi-regularly. I just hope it doesn't fall foul of the treatment

that the likes of Hockingheim and the Nürberg ring got when we tried to do some alteration there, some rotation a couple of years ago where we ended up losing both, which is a shame because both are phenomenal racetracks. So really pleased that we found the way to keep it on here for at least the next four or five years. Yeah, I'm happy at sticking around.

we'll get to the way in which it's sticking around shortly. But I'm happy it is sticking around because even though my opinion on spa, I've always thought my opinion of spa is maybe marginally lower than the average F1 fan. And I do mean marginally. I think it's a very good track. But like you, Sam, I don't quite put it in the absolute elite. If you look back at the last, let's say, 10, 15 years, it's delivered its fair share of good and bad races. Like sometimes they're good, sometimes they're not so good.

But I've always said as well, you know, I'm not particularly tied to, I don't know, just because a track has been on the calendar for a long time. That means it has this God given right to stay on the calendar. You know, my view on Monaco should attest to that. But overall, I am in favor of it staying because of what it brings. It brings character. It brings excitement. there is a noticeable difference between the sectors.

You have got teams that will set up slightly differently for a weekend. You do have the prospect of weather, as already mentioned. The elevation changes are maybe some of the best on the F1 calendar too. So overall, very happy this is sticking around. Harry? Yeah, I agree. Spa should be on the F1 calendar full stop in my view. And I am pleased it is staying.

because like we said, there has been risks of it, not saying it had like a one year extension, didn't it previously for, was that for this year, I think? Yeah. So obviously to keep on the calendar, but obviously that was clear the negotiations were around keeping it. The negotiations were keeping it for longer were clearly, clearly complicated ones because as we hear here,

we haven't got it every year for the next, you know, five years. So yeah, I'm glad it is sticking around. because I do, you know, it's one of my favorites. It doesn't always deliver a banger, but as you say, Sam, generally it does. And like you said, Bennett,

you do get quite a lot of variation in terms of setups on cars. We have the weather that comes into play. It still delivers an interesting, an interesting F1 weekend, even if you, you know, not all the time to live as a classic, but a lot of the time it does. So I'm glad it's saying.

It should be on the calendar. Some we've heard rotational races, particularly with European Grand Prix. We've heard it spoken about for a little while now. And I think SPAR was towards the top of the list of circuits we expect to be in line for that. And here we are with two future years where we won't get SPAR on the calendar. What are your thoughts on it rotating? If it means we keep it in some respects, I am very pleased that it's been adding as part of this rotational idea. I still think we should have a core element of the calendar that always stays the same.

So you get those racetracks that always deliver fantastic racing. And I mentioned a few of them already in Silverstone, Monsa, Interlagos. I think these tracks deserve to always be around. And Spar in my mind was one of those. For me, it does deserve to be there on a yearly basis. But if financials are a reason why it can't maintain its position and it's at risk of being essentially how it's place bought by outside influence, at least we get to see every other year

but I just I don't want rotational calendars to end up being an excuse for slowly fading out calendars without almost the shock element of just not going back there anymore equally there is a positive we may see new racetracks

there has been many times a conversation that we might go to South Africa for example in its positional change where that might be a brand new country a continent for us which would be fantastic we might get to see other classic European circuits make a reappearance which had so much success

when we had the COVID period. Turkey, of course, made its comeback and was fantastic. We also went to Portugal, which has had a really, really good resurgence in Formula One as well. So there are positives to this, and I hope that Formula One are doing this to exploit those positives for both fan, driver, and team, and not because they go,

we don't get enough cash, but we don't want to upset everyone. So I just kind of fade it out real slow. And then come 2031, when that other track, whatever it is takes that place, we hear a new deal come alive of 10 years. That track's got that position now. bye-bye spa you didn't have it anyway so you don't miss it as much i hope that's not the case how are your thoughts on it rotating i mean ben you've you've you've mentioned the rotation idea

a couple of times maybe over the over the past few years um i don't know maybe i did maybe quite a new one i think yeah fairly fairly new suggestion um if look as i said it was clear that the the the negotiations around renewing spa were complicated um and obviously financial reasons for spa so if rotation is the way that this means we can still have SPAR, then great. I'm glad that that is the case. I'm with you, Sam. I hope we don't end up with the

Hochenheim-Nerberg-Ring style. That's a bit different because they were rotating between those two just for the German GP, but I hope we don't end up with something there where, you know, the Nurembergings slipped off the calendar and then Hockenheim slipped off after that. And then now we have no German GP, which is ridiculous.

So I hope we don't know about that sort of thing. Also, fine to rotate races, but we can't have 10 years of the crypto.com Miami GP and not have... I'm afraid we can according to his contract. No, I know, but it just does it, that just doesn't, because I'm sorry, Miami sucks. Not the, not the place. The track sucks. All right. If you'd like to invite us to the race track, I'd like to go.

We'd love to go. But it does. I mean, it doesn't deliver. The one in 2024 was good because we had that. It was okay because we had that safety goal. I wouldn't say good. And obviously the interest around Norris's first win. But generally, it has not delivered a good race there.

So we, but we can have 10 years straight of that. We can have 10 years straight of a track we've never been to before with the Madrid's GP. That could be terrible. But a place like SPAR, and I know there's, you know, I get your point, Ben around.

Can't just sign somewhere because of its historical significance. But Spar is more than just the historical significance because it delivers good racing as well. It doesn't sit well with me, then we can't have that. They can't work out of deal for that versus Miami. I don't know it's because cash is king, but I just,

it doesn't sit well. I don't think it looks good for F1 either, to be honest. So I'm glad it's staying in a rotational, rotational calendars of the way to do that, then so be it. But I still don't,

I still don't like it. Yeah, I think I'm unhappy but not mad. And the reason I'm not mad is because it's just such a lack of surprise. This has been coming for so long that it's like now it's here. It's like, yeah, okay, this was always going to happen.

And my annoyance is kind of the same as you, Harry, where I, am fundamentally in favor of rotating Grand Prix and I'm even okay with this one being rotated. The thing is I know that it's annoying whilst we go to so many soulless tracks that Spar is going to be the first to be rotated. You use Miami. That was probably the example I was going to use as well. But we look at other tracks like Qatar with its one overtaking place and Abu Dhabi with its one overtaking place. Jedder was there a move

not made into turn one last year and I think it hasn't helped because we have so many night races now I know this is a comment I've made before on the podcast but when Singapore was the first night race back in 2008 it was special like it was something that we hadn't already got on the calendar

now we've got so many night races that you could probably have a corner of let's say Las Vegas and Jedda and you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference like there's just not to use a word the kids love, there isn't an aura to some of these places. And that,

the SPAR does. So I am in favour of these rotating Grand Prix, but we just know that actually those that are going to be rotated are going to be some of those, some of those favourite tracks on the calendar. Like you look at 17 of the 24 tracks on next year's or this year's calendar

have got a deal until at least 2030. They're not going to be rotated. Like we've got Jeddah until 2030 and Miami until 2013 Madrid until 2035 when we haven't had a race there yet it just feels like some of these should also be in line for rotation and not just the likes of spa. Does Vegas have a number on its contract or is it just forever? Forever.

Vegas's contract technically is up at the end of this year but it's a bit confusing because I think there might be a distinction between the contract it has with F1 and the contract it has with the city possibly. So I think the expectation is that it will be there for another decade, but the official contract is up at the end of this year. So your soul.

It's a thing city. It's just a warning for some other tracks, Sam. I tend to think that Imala, Zandvoort and Barcelona, all of their deals are up either this year or next year. Those three plus spa, I feel like they'll partner up and it'll be two rotating.

and two rotating. What do you think? You've read my mind. Those are the four for me that feel like they get it thrown into a basket together. We'll get some strange concoction of here, there and everywhere between the four. Again, I think there is a risk that one might end up almost buying the place of the other. So we end up down to three. This is the risk with the rotational calendars when the cash is not as free flowing as you're getting somewhere like a Miami or in the Middle East

where they didn't to have these buckets of money that they could just put themselves wherever they want to. like hey cash is king and if you've got it spend it but these classic european tracks which for the most part do deliver very very good racing have so much passion and such a large fan base around them it does mean that we are at severe risk of losing them so those four i think of the immediate candidates where we could see them disappear i actually think those spots might end up being replaced by other tracks in the americas or more in the middle east and we do need to make sure that formula one is not a eurocentric sport It is, I know, classically very Eurocentric and we do get a lot of positives by simply being born in Europe and being a Formula One fan. You get a lot of benefits, a lot of perks. We get to watch most races at the right time.

Most of the teams, apart from one currently, are all based on this continent. It really is a luxury that we have. So we do need to make sure that Formula One as a fandom is spread far and wide. But it is also a shame that what has made Formula One so initially successful in these passionate entertainment-filled venues

that are purpose built for this sport might end up going a ride and might end up going a miss because they simply don't have the extra tens of millions on top of their bank budget to chuck it into Formula One's pockets to go, yeah, we'll have another decade,

thank you very much. So I do think that those are the four obvious ones. I think there's a risk that a few of those could drop off in the next five or six years as it is. Harry, what are your thoughts and how the other tracks might feature into rotating? Yeah, I think, you're right to, you know, single those out.

There was not that long ago. There was a story about Zanvort just dropping off the end of 26 anyway, so maybe that's the way it's going. Although that does baffle me slightly, because as long as Maxfist happens in the sport, you've got what perhaps the most profitable GP in the world there, bar, Silveston. You think it stays if he leaves, though?

Like, you think the moment he retired, if they signed to a 10-year deal and he goes in two. But they weren't signed to him. I'm sure everyone would do that. I think, yeah, I think that's what happens. but whilst he's around, why would they even think about dropping off? Anyway, so Zanvort may not be there at all, but yeah, I can see that. I can see his Anvort spot, that being the spa rotation between those two,

because it's similar times of the year generally, which would be a shame, because Zanvort doesn't tend to deliver a very good, very good race, whereas Spar does. Same with Imala. Yeah, Imola and Barcelona. I mean, Barcelona writing is slightly on the ball already because of the Madrid GP, which well, they will coexist for the first year, right? Correct.

And then after that, we won't know what happens, but you know, you have to suggest that it will become the Spanish GP elsewhere, which Ben will, you know, be protesting about forever. I think I must have to sleep every night. Tears, don't like time one. But yeah, I think they, those are the ones

I do worry for other ones like Monza because don't be silly don't utter the words but it's it's the it's a similar situation I know they're a little bit more safe aren't they because they've already resigned

but you know and as we get as we get towards that time I could see them I think Ferrari would absolutely declare war on Formula One if they got rid of Monza I know but F1

I don't care I don't care but you know who knows we could see but um yeah it is a shame like you said ben the ones that are going to rotate are the are the traditionally more classic tracks it's not going to rotate with a with a miami i mean jesus if it did i don't know if that's better or worse imagine one year you get spar the next year you get miami another wouldn't work with with temperatures and stuff but good god that'd be hell um i tune out every every other year i'm not watching this one it's the belgian gp from

me. Perfect. Sure. There is a risk, though, with this, though, that one year could be a fantastic calendar where every raises a bangering. If they've got the rotation wrong, we could end up having a year where it's all of these dull, soullessing a line. Yeah. Well, we'll see. I'm sure there'll be plenty more news as some of these other contract extensions are due up this year and next year. We're going to take our second break on this episode. On the other side, we're going to give our thoughts on the shuffling that Aston

Martin has done amongst its senior team. Everyone, Andy Cowell, the former Mercedes engine chief who joined Ashton Martin, last July has been named CEO and team principal of the team. Mike Crack, team principals since 2022, will remain with the team, but in the role of, oh God, Harry, what's the role? I've read this somewhere.

It's, it's, oh, it's chief crack side officer. Close. It's Chief Tracksside office No, no, no, it's Crackside. Okay. Astor Martin explained the change was done for clarity of leadership and as part of a shift to a flatter structure. Under its new arrangement,

Astor Martin has grouped its aerodynamics, engineering, and performance division separately, each of which will report to Cal. Enrico Cardile, hired from Ferrari last year, will serve as chief technical officer at the Teams factory. Cal said these organizational changes are a natural evolution of the multi-year plan. that we have scheduled to make

and I'm incredibly excited about the future. Sam, do you understand the moves that have been made here? Is it the right time to make these moves? Yeah, I understand them, but Mike cracks are an absolute stinker, isn't he? This is a really, really... Come on now. You can be mad at me for crackside officer, then drop that one. Oh, he's dropped that one, that's for sure, because it stinks.

The timing on this, for him personally, not good, not good at all. This is essentially like the birth of a... star we're witnessing right now. We're about to enter that with so much energy, so much power, so much money is about to flow through Aston Martin. He had it in his hands. He was at the helm, but the last two seasons have been fueled with uncertainty, no clarity on where they're going, so confused on development, they've stagnated massively. You look at that, the positional change hasn't happened. Of course, they've finished fifth two years in a row, but the points change and their disparity between themselves and the top four teams

become astronomical. Percentage-wise, they're far closer to Haas, Alpine, Williams, behind them than they were the year before. They were much closer with Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, even Red Bull. So it's not been a good couple of years from Mike Crack, and I do understand entirely. I can't look at Harry when I talk about this segment. I just look out on a screen.

Grimis is like a child. So to me, it's been a big of a trick-eat, decision because I think he's been working with the hand tied behind his back where they've been playing so much for 2026 but at the same time you've got to have someone at the helm who is able to harness

so much of this potential, so much brilliance that's coming in at once and we've seen just how brilliant a job Mr. Cal did at Mercedes. He was the mind behind that brilliant Mercedes engine that powered them to such success in the early hybrid era. If he's able to rationalise all

of these brilliant minds with Cardioli who was fantastic job at Ferrari as well and they appear to have taken a McLaren approach in their three pillars with a flat aspect ratio on how they want to lead that team forward. They might actually give them some understanding, some direction, some strategy based on how the team is going to work together to produce brilliance and use Nui,

use the new wind tunnel, use the investment to actually be a competitive unit going into 2026. If they didn't do it now, I fear it would be too late and they would have missed the jump and they would have squanded their chances. going into 26. Harry, did you have any thoughts on Mike Crack being out?

No one's ever going to buy us or sponsor us or do anything. No one's ever going to invest. We're almost 30. I'm 30, a month and a half. This is the right call. I am aligned with you, Sam.

Now is the time because they've got so many a good analogy from you actually Sam I enjoyed the style one that's it's the start of a big time for Aston Martin get your get your ducks in a row now not not after the fact

obviously there's Adrian you're on board but lining all these people up and getting them into the right roles that they need to be in now is is the right cool so I don't know whether people with you this is a as a slight demotion for for my crack but I don't

I don't personally see it as an indictment on his on his time with Aston so far. I think it's just it's being sensible and logical about this and seeing where people's strengths lie and go, look, you do that. You're good at this, do this. You're good at this. You do this. Et cetera, et cetera. And it's, as you said, Sam, it's the sort of McLaren approach with, you know, Andrea Stella. Andrea Stella being team principal, but then you've also got Zach Brown.

there's other people like that. F1 teams are so vast and complicated these days. It's gone of the days where you'd have one person in charge. It's quite rare. You know, Yutoto Wolves and your Christian Horners are a dying breed almost of team principles because there just doesn't exist like that anymore. Can we quickly mention how Freddie Vass is now the third most experienced team principal on the grid? At his current team.

Yes. Yes. Great stuff. Oh yeah, because it was my crack. obviously now lost out of that. That's wild, Freddie Bass during that two years ago. December 2020. Oh dear.

Oh dear. Christian Horn and Toto Wolfe are just like, they wonder they bicker so much because they've just got nothing, no one else to bicker with. Just really, 80% of the team principals on the grid have not been a team, have not been with their current team as team principal

when someone other than Max Verstappen has led the championship. Yeah, that is insane. that's wild that is wild but yeah that it is I think it's a dying brief sorry I'll conclude Freddie Vassan that because he is very much you know ahead of the Ferrari team at the moment

but it does teams that are opting not to work that way and I think this is a sensible move for Ashton Martin with so much investment that's gone in to the wind tunnel to the big factory they're going to be working with Honda come 2026 so having someone like Andy Cowell as you said Sam who's been you know so instrumental in the Mercedes success and their engine I think that's

that's a that's a big sensible move for them to make so I don't I don't view this is a massive and as I say as a massive indictment on on Mike crack I think it's more just about about thank you your services we're just going to we're going to shuffle things about here but this is for the good of the team so if he was fired then obviously yes you'd say that's that's a bit different but I think this is a slightly slightly different situation yeah I agree with you both I think the timing makes a lot of sense and we've been questioning for a while whether they would make any bigger changes heading towards 2026

and making sure that they didn't leave things too late similar to what Audi did, obviously Audi made big change with Andreas Seidel leaving and Jonathan Wheatley and Bonotto joining, but they made sure to do that. I can't remember August, wasn't it? About 18 months or so out from the start of the 2020s season. Similar to this, you know,

they give themselves a full year of this revamp structure, which I think makes a lot of sense. I also completely understand them not making a bit of a rash decision in the middle of 2024. I don't think that would have made a lot of sense. Instead, Andy Cowler's had an opportunity to take three months of reviewing the team in full and making sure that he's conducting a review that comes to the right outcome. There is quite a funny part of it where Andy Cowler's done a three-month review and his

results are, yeah, I should probably just do things. I should probably lead. Look at me, look at. I have conducted my research, and my conclusion is, I'm the man for the job. I think with, when it comes to Mike Crack, like he, he was in a... That was you, that time, Sam. I didn't do anything.

Oh, I'm sorry, it's just bang. When it comes to my crack, I'm sorry, now we don't have to say his name as much anymore. I don't miss banging. negatives on the guy, but I'm so glad it's not going to come up as often. He's had success at BMW, at Porsche, and I think him sticking around at the team is the right call, even if it is in a slightly different position, and he's now reporting to Andy Cowell being the team principal. He has been in this weird transitional phase of like the investment has been made,

but he has not been able to take advantage of any of it. So I do have sympathy for him and I'm glad he's sticking around. And this whole Pillars approach, as we've kind of mentioned before, McClaren have adopted it and, hey, that's worked out pretty well for them. So I understand they're making that cool. Is it all going to work, Sam, with Andy Cowell at the helm? He's a very sensible pair of hands. We've seen that he's delivered success.

as we've mentioned in this conversation. I do think we're in a bit of a tricky place when it comes to these experienced Heggs in Formula One. It's, as you've mentioned already, so many team bosses have shifted around in the last couple of years alone. They does start to feel like these musical chairs. You start to run out of people

who have really big a part of something completely successful. Of course, weekly with Audi is going to be a big change that maybe could have been taking advantage of job. But that's where we're getting to where you don't get the likes of taking. Toto Wool for Christian Horner. Pretty vast was an absolute steal for Ferrari, I think,

but he's already being a part of that kind of Ferrari family for a long time anyway. Cowl is a good shout. Cowell is someone who understands how an organisation works, that is efficient, gets results done, I understand what good looks like, understands what success looks like. So I think it's slim pickings a little bit. So I think they've done a good job at picking up someone who is so well-versed in what a leading team needs to be.

So, yeah, I think whilst it's a bit of a risk, any moving Formula One realistically is a bit of a risk. And this one feels like it's been well put together. Harry, we've had in the past experienced person who has experience going back to the 1990s, who is an expert in engines as team principal. His name is Benosso. It didn't work very well.

How can they ensure that this isn't that? It's a valid comparison. to make um look it's hard you know Bonotto was up against I know Andy Cal

wasn't his uh team against his own team yeah but not some other yeah other issues with just being in charge of Ferrari but um

Andy Cal brings you know world championship winning experience I'm not saying Bonotto didn't but Bonotto was winning championships in the noughties not the not the late teens early 20s so

it's like different he's got more recent experience of of what winning feels like so you know he has to he has to be allowed to use that experience I guess you could say with these pillar approaches are other too many cooks but I think they are very much as they've set out here they're very much in their own roles and it's about they've got so many names now as to Martin like I was just going to say household but they're obviously not household but in the world of f1 household names um in terms of engineering and expertise that they've got a harness. They've got a lot of big brains wandering around Silverston.

Honestly, the combination of Adrian Newey and Andy Cowell, just those two, pretty good. The potential of that as a duo is bigger than the potential of any other team. Yeah. I mean, you have got, yeah, sorry, go on. But yeah, you're right, the potential of that Honda coming in and the rest of the names that they still have Fernando Alonzo in the car. it's it's all the all the stars are aligning they just need to make sure they execute it

and this is what i think and decal is got to be got to be allowed to try it and organize and do um so yeah it you know it remains to be seen but you'd find it hard to see how this can go wrong for them i know it can among your mental implosion but you be you look at it go, how, all the recipe is here for the tastiest cake in the world. If it tastes like crap, they've done something seriously wrong. They fear one man. Rob Marshall.

Wow. Everyone has to fear Rob Marshall. Yeah, I mean, he's... The scaffolding worker is dried up and he's back to a pot. Chief Baker and he's making all the good cakes. I bet he builds them up so well, Ron Marshall. He goes to make a building a structure. Adrian Newey and Andy Cowell was just thinking about this.

They pretty much hold exclusive. exclusively F1 success going back to 2010. Yeah, that's not bad. Yeah, it's pretty good. That's just, that is one long continuous era of even Nui or cow dominating in one way or another. So if you put Hamilton and the Stafford in that team, almost every title for the last 20 years almost is within that team. Yikes. Should we move on to some more successful individuals, namely Mohammed bin Siliyam?

Oh. How did you write him on the on the... schedule, Ben. Sorry, let me rephrase. Mohammed Ben Silly man. Good one. Yeah.

The FIA president, of course, Mohammed Ben Suleim has delivered an attack on the media. Ben Suleim has repeated claims that he feels he has been unfairly criticized by the media. He said, three years of critics against me. Do I care?

Was I elected to listen to the media? No. I like the good media, the positive media. And maybe I made a mistake. come and criticise me in an objective way. When asked about being treated unfairly, he said, unfair, but the world is unfair. Saudi Arabia has reinvested a lot. Bring them into it for no reason.

Why? Pull that out of the bag. Is he able to make sentences based on words he's pulling out of a bag somewhere? I thought I'd written that wrong. Did she know? That's it. You look at some of the British media and they go against Saudi Arabia or me. But one thing I would say, go on and say.

go on and see the British Grand Prix. Is it the British Grand Prix? No, it is the Qatar Airways British Grand Prix. That's not Saudi Arabia! Please, you remove the budget, you remove the money. Sam, what a line? My initial question to you, Sam, was going to be, do you agree or disagree?

But I'm going to change my question. Can you tell me what he means? I was going to say, if you asked me, do I agree? The first words out of my mouth were going to be, with what? What is he saying? Can we go back and revisit the shut up award for the LBs?

Because he's earned it already. Hey, two-time champ coming to the air. Already done. Done, done, done, done. Norris is turning out for the fight. That man is undefeated. It's so contradictory. It's so up and down.

Do I choose to listen to them? Was I employed to listen to the media? No, but you very clearly do because you do not stop talking about the media you get constantly, constant gnatur, yapper, yapper, yapper, thanks a Liam. Yeah, shut it, please. Shut your mouth. You are moving like a rat, okay?

I'm sick of hearing your name in the news. I'm sick of hearing your name in the press. British media are famous for being ruthless. They are horrible in terms of what they will go to. The links will go to to get a story. Famously, you know, the 90s and the noughties, standing outside people's houses, taking photos through windows, right? They will go above and beyond a story.

We are one tiny nation in the whole globe. And yet you seem to focus all of your press releases on this one media outlet. You just do your job well. And then you will get good media, positive media. You'll get constructive criticism. But you seem to not only not do your job. You seem to do your job badly. And then you seem to talk about other people instead of doing your job constantly.

And then for some reason, you brought up Saudi Arabia into this, which has got no relevance at all. It has reinvested a lot. Great. Brilliant. Well done to Saudi Arabia. Not relevant. And then you think of the Saudi Arabia and Qatar are the same nation. Again, not, not that. Also, if Qatar stopped being the sponsor of the British Grand Prix, there would be another sponsor. Find another one, mate. Find another one. They'd be given it. Yeah. Like Breaking Silverstone Grand Prix. We're right here. We can offer no money, but we'll do it. We'll do a comedy scene at the start of the season. It will be bad, but we'll try. nonetheless, if every Middle East

and company pulled out of backing the British Grand Prix, I can assure you that someone with a lot of money will turn around and go, here's a check, put my name on the start of it, because it is the most fantastic spectacle of Formula One. So, why can you reckon? Stop being a silly man and just do your bloody job for once. You used to be called the Foster's British Grand Prix.

Anyone will sponsor it. Doesn't matter. And we'll take anyone. Yeah. We're British. we don't care. Harry, direct quote from you. Please can we talk about this on Sunday's app?

I'm going to assume you have some thoughts on this. I couldn't believe. So I saw this game up in a Twitter. He was Autospo that reported it. And it said, Mohammed Ben Suleim has said some a cryptic message. And I was like, oh, I wonder what he said.

And when I read, nothing could have prepared me for what this quote was. okay, as you said, Sam, the do I care? No. Well, you clearly do, my guy. You clearly do because you're talking to the media now saying how you don't care. It's like when you're a child and you're like, you try to pretend you're not tired or grumpy. I'm not tired.

I'm not. Yes, you are, Ben, your child, you're grumpy. You need to go to bed. That alone was ridiculous. I like the good media is, you. you know, basically autocratic. Why can we only have, what do you mean by good media?

The ones that are nice to you? That's not how this works. If you want them to be nice to you, don't do stupid things. Don't say stupid things. Can I sake. This also, and again, I don't know whether we're missing context here.

This is from the Dakar rally he's being spoken to here. Where is the context for this? He's clearly just got... I don't think there is any. He's just annoyed over the Christmas break and he's like, I really need to say something.

Because no one's provoked him to say this. As you said, wind your neck in Sam. Why are you coming out and slating the media for no reason here? You're at the Dakar rally represented. You are the FIA president. Just shut it. The world is unfair. Yes, the world is unfair.

Saudi Arabia has reinvested a lot. I do not. I cannot for the life for me understand what he means here. He can't keep up his own thought process. He wanted to make two points. Media sucks. And I like Saudi Arabia. I need to get this into one quote,

one quotable sentence for them to write down. That alone is bizarre. And I don't know what he's trying to say here. He clearly doesn't like the British media is the idea. Or gave that away. Yeah. He took up on the show. He was, Ben.

I don't think I don't think I'd have him about the show. We wouldn't know what he's saying. It'd be nonsense. You're bad. You're bad. Yeah, I don't, whether he likes to Saudi Arabian media more, maybe is what his point is here, but I'm unsure. And the budget thing about the British Grand Prix is just absolute nonsense.

As you said, Sam, they'll find another sponsor if Qatar was removed. They've had plenty over the years. I don't really know what his point is. And the final concluding line, what do you mean? what do you mean? You remove the budget, you remove the money. That is quite literally what the fuck is. What do you mean by this?

You remove the sentence, you remove the words. Like, yeah? But it's the, this is the quote, please, you remove the budget, you remove the money. Please what? What do you mean? What do you mean? I think he's got a valid point here because when you think about it, Saudi Arabia has reinvested.

Oh, for God's sake. Also reinvested. Would it not just be invested? Because what are they reinvested? That's a bit of this you're picking on. I'm picking on all of it because it's complete rubbish. It's all nonsense. State of this quote.

Oh, goodness me. Well, the good news is both of you have pretty much gone through 90% of my thoughts on this quote. But I'm going to say it anyway. It is difficult to agree or disagree with him because that involves knowing what the hell he's talking about, and I don't. So the easiest way is to just break this down into individual quotes and hope they make more sense. And to be honest, they still don't.

As you said, Harry, three years of critics against me, do I care? Don't know, mate. Kind of sounds like you do. You come forward every month saying how you don't care what the media thinks. To the media. I think you do. I like the good media, the positive media. And you know what? I apologize. That's my bad because I thought it was entrepreneurial to go after

Susie Wolfe and Toto Wolf for collusion based on an unverified account article in a in an F1 magazine. Yes, that's a when once you start to reframe things actually, you do start to become more positive about them. And the real kicker for me was you look at some of the British media and they go against Saudi Arabia or me, go and see the British GP. It's the Qatar Airways, British GP. Now, I have consulted with industry experts on this. I've done hours of extensive research and I've concluded that Qatar Airways is actually based in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, which is in Qatar, not Saudi Arabia. So I'm not quite sure where he's getting that from. also like yes they're sponsoring three races this year Qatar Airways

MSC cruises is doing the same thing does that mean we should all be massively thanking Switzerland like I mean you should be having a cruise line where you're in Switzerland as well it's just ridiculous our good friend Lucas would say yes true with a ukulele probably shout out the bill Lenovo they're doing two races as a title sponsor this year from China.

Let's all get a laptop. Two races are being done by Heineken. Let's all have a beer. What do you mean? I don't know. But I did have a rethink about all of that. Ah, okay.

And actually, some of it does make sense when you think about the fact that Saudi Arabia has reinvested quite a lot. God's sake. Unfair, but the world is unfair, Saudi Arabia has a reinvested a lot. As a sentence. He answers his own question by going, why do I get all this negative media?

It's unfair. Yep, the world's unfair. So you've just proving your own point. Get on with your day job, mate. We are, as always, very interested to hear from you listeners, wherever on social media on Discord for all of our topics, but particularly that one, because if you disagree with our thoughts and agree with Mohammed Ben Suleam, I'd like to know why. If you can tell us what he means.

Yeah. Also write in. Getting it on Google Translate. Very helpful. Let's take our final break on this episode. On the other side, we've got F1 higher and lower. Welcome back, everyone. It's time for F1 higher and lower. The first appearance of F1 higher and lower in 2025.

Six questions in front of me. The guys will take it in turns to guess the answer. It's always a numeric answer. They get it right, which can be tricky with a lot of these. They get two points. they get it wrong, the other person has the opportunity to say higher or lower than that guess. If they're right, they get a point. But if they're wrong, the person who guessed first gets the point.

So, Harry, kick us off. What number would you like from one to six? Number two, please. Number two. How many races has Oscar Piastri scored points in? 31. It's not 31, which means Sam, higher or. or lower than 31.

Okay, he completed all 24 Grand Prix this year. He's scored a lot of those. I'm going to say it's higher. It is higher, although 31 is not a bad guess at all. 36. Damn. Which means Sam is on the board. Let me go to Sam next.

What number would you like? One, please, Ben. Number one. How many laps has Lewis Hamilton led at the Hungarian Grand Prix? And this is a record, by the way, for any one driver at one circuit. Quite a lot, then. Higher. Correct.

I'll take the point. Okay, he's won there a lot of times. It's also led when he hasn't won. So this is going to be a guess from the deep dark world. 9707. It is not 907. Shockingly, I mean, I'd have thought you'd have got that. That's born.

Harry, higher or lower? Lower. It is lower. 487. Oh, I thought it was like 10 times in a row. So like,

it's like 70-odd lapse. That's where I did that math from. It washed, didn't he really? 10 times 70 is 900. No, but like 700. And age led at other times as well, you know? Yeah. Yeah, 487.

So we're at one all and we're back to Harry. Number, Number four. Number four. What was the points difference between Charler LeCler and Carla Sines as teammates? Over what? Over their Ferrari careers as teammates.

Well, I rule four years. Yes, yeah, it was four years. Not that this will probably change your guess, but Saudi Arabia is not included as part of it. Oh, I've changed all my calculations. Yes. I don't know what to say now. Uh, 47.

It is not 47, higher or lower, Sam? Higher. It is higher. Uh, 112.5. Quite a bit higher. So a little bit higher, yeah. That annoying half point based on the Belgian Grand Prix from 21. I knew it would come back to buy me.

Yep. All right. Two one, Sam, back to you. Six, please, Ben. Number six. How many Austrian Grand Prix have there been? And again, I don't know if this is going to affect anything. The Styrian Grand Prix is not the Austrian Grand Prix.

It took place, obviously, at the Red Bull Ring. But took place in a fantasy land called Styria. I assume we're counting all track variations of names other than Styria then. As long as it's called the Austrian Grand Prix. I don't know now. I'm going to go with 32. It is not 32, Harry, higher or lower. Lower.

It is not lower. It is higher, which means Sam gets the point. A good guess, 32. 37 is the right answer. Lord, Terry. Yeah, I was going down the A1 route, etc. Which means we are at 3-1. And Harry, it's back to you.

You need to get both of these right, or one spot on potentially. Number six. Every week. How many Austrian Grand Prix? Number five. What I just did. Number five.

How many seasons? There's a chance you might get this spot on. We'll see. How many seasons has Kimmy Reichen and got a podium in? Cricke. Now. Terrible. Terrible catchphrase from Zamb.

How many? many's got podium in? Okay. I'm just counting on my fingers, folks, sorry. I told you. Get the fingers out. New game show coming your way. If you've gone past 25, you've done too many.

Fourteen. Sensational. It is sensational. Spot on, 14. I've done. Well done. Did 19 seasons in F1, but five of them he didn't have a podium in which were his first season his first season back at Ferrari and then three years at alpha Romeo so yeah 14 is born we're at three all Sam over to you I'll have number three I don't have it hang on you literally knew it's the only one left

I didn't thank you for the win how many races has Haas competed in? Okay. Let me get the fingers out. Even for someone who was, who grew up in Cornwall. Very good. I'm doing mental math here, folks.

Apologies for the radio silence. It's a big ordeal for me. Yeah, I love that. Hang on. We do get copyrighting every time. just bit of music. Good. That's the you should go.

Copyright. She doesn't help my thinking at all. Copy right. 176. Okay, anybody are. All right. I roll lower than 176. I will go for

I don't think that's a bad guess, actually. I appreciate that, thank you. I'll go for hire. It's an epic comeback from 3-1 down to win 4-3. You were also right in saying it was a good guess. You are not far off at all. 190. 14 off.

I'm fairly at last. I don't mind. Which means, 4-3. Harry, that came your eye in question helping you out there and taking the dub. You know what, I've got no issue alluding to a correct guest and a higher and lower. It's always a good one. Cheers, Kimmy.

Well, that is going to do it for this episode. We're back midweek, of course. Sam, if you wouldn't mind getting us out of here. Folks, thanks for listening, as Ben said, we will be back midweek. But if you want more content, then we do actually have a Patreon. The links in the description below. We are really hoping that Saudi Arabia will decide to reinvest in the Patreon account

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