The Late Braking F1 Podcast - F1 2025's Final Stretch: 5 Things We’re Excited About!

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

Ben and Sam count down the top 5 things they're most excited to see unfold as the 2025 F1 season heads into its final stretch. They also discuss talks of sprint format changes and Mercedes' moves to chase post-break success, before wrapping it up with some Fill in the Blank... >>> Don't miss out - limited tickets left for our 2025 LIVE SHOW in Austin TX! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CLICK HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to grab yours or for more info!

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 Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, on this midweek, non-F1 race weekend Wednesday. Oh, sad, sad noises. It was so well up again. I can't even complain because it's probably like 10 degrees cooler for me than it is for you right now.

It's still at 8 o'clock at night, 31 degrees. And TMI, there's a bit of sweat in the back of the old knees right now. That's how in this hot room computer lights quite warm. I'll take it. I thought you were going a different direction to knees, so I'm all right with that. No problem. This is a PG show, it's knees. Since Sunday.

I'm just, you know what? I'm just glad we're actually here recorded because, boy, it was a nail bider. Oh, we, folks, we won't go to the details, but it's been a journey. We've been through some tough times. And we're glad to actually bring you a show today. Big up. Today's episode is non-officially brought to you by ASDA. We love ASTA.

We don't do a lot of free marketing, but today, Azda, you get a mention from us. We love ASDA. We hate crime. And we're going to leave it about. Yes, we do. We've got a great episode for you. Well, of course you do. F in the blank is making an appearance. Everyone's favourite that you probably haven't heard for like three years,

unless you're a member of Patreon. Great jingle. We've got some comments from Stefano Domenicali on sprint races. I'm sure that's going to remain civilised. But let's start with a top five list because I feel like we need some positivity in this summer break. So we are going ahead with a top five list of the things we are most looking. looking forward to in the last part of this season. Still got 10 races to go after this summer break is over.

There's plenty out there to look forward to what makes our top five. Kick us off, Sam. Well, you said 10 races, and one of those races is in my top five, and that is Monza. I adore Monza. It's very well-known how much I love that race. It's got my favorite corner on the calendar on it, in Ascari. And I just think with how close the field is at the moment, that's Slipstroom Fest, qualifying. It should be

mega, should be chaotic. And we've seen some real drama over the last few years, of course, Hamilton vastappen going wheel to wheel and having quite a bizarre incident where one and he drove over the top of the other. We had the moves with Hamilton and Piastri, where he really rang him off the road. We had the mugging. Again, on Piastri, but with Norris.

It has produced some real, brilliant moments wheel to wheel. And Monser is always a delight. Rarely do you get a really, really dull Italian Grand Prix. plus Hamilton's first ever Monsa at Ferrari, which should be quite the sight. And hopefully produces an interesting Grand Prix for him as well, a positive one, I hope. So yeah, Monson's the big five on my list. Ben, what about you? That's a fair shout. It's not on my list, but it could very easily be because what a great Grand Prix that is.

I feel like with the calendar the way that it is now with so many races, obviously we've got 24 this year. That's probably going to remain as we go forward as well. it is increasingly difficult for a circuit to be unique and have something that really feels special to itself and nothing else. But Monza absolutely has that. It's just strip away the down force. How fast can you go in a straight line?

I love it. I love it. Good shout. Number five, I've gone with, I'm titling this, Williams fighting off its rivals. Okay. So Williams currently P5 in the championship. they're on 70 points, but

Aston Martin, 18 points behind. Salba, 19 points behind. Also, Salba. That still doesn't sound right, but they are 19 points behind. Why is there on polar bear in Arlington, Texas? There really is. A green polar bear is neon. And racing balls.

So they're only 25 points behind. So you've got three teams that are all chasing Williams. And the most interesting thing is how those other three teams, you feel like they're the ones in the ascendancy and not Williams who have the position that they're all going for. After the first seven races of the season, Williams had 51 points, Aston Martin had 14, racing balls had 10, and Salba had six, and that six was the last place in the championship.

In fact, Williams' closest challenger after seven races was Haas. We aren't even maybe in this discussion anymore. Whereas if you look at the last seven races, Williams 19 points, Aston Martin 38, racing balls 35, and Salba, 45, biggest of all, sure. So it'd be really interesting. Of those three teams, who's going to be the biggest threat? Are they all going to be a big threat to Williams?

And maybe more than anything, I'm just excited to see how the second drivers of each team stack up, because that could be the difference between what all are these finishing. Like Carlos Sines, for example, he's only got four points in the last six races. Can he step it up to give Williams that leg over the others? or will Lawson continue his good form? Bortoletto continue his good form have either got another gear we haven't seen yet. And Lance Stroll, obviously, is always,

can we have some more wild and wacky wet races where suddenly he finds himself in fourth place? I'm really interested to see how that plays out. The enigma that is Lance Stroll. Who knows what will happen? I think I said this one recent episode, but I think Williams have done this the wrong way round. They were good at the wrong moment throughout the season.

because of that they've lost aerotime for the next six months. They're not far enough ahead of their opponents, so it seems like they're really going to reap the benefits of what they've done here. And it seems more and more likely that especially Aston Martin and Salber, the lean green fighting machines, I suppose, are going to likely surpass Williams who can't seem to get a point, you know, to save their lives at the moment. So, yeah, I mean, it should be a very exciting battle for that midfield area.

They always put up a good show. Yeah, it could go any. Like Williams could finish fifth this year, where they are right now. They could finish eighth. And I don't think either would surprise me. Albin has already called it a dog fight that he's expecting amongst those teams. James Vowles, he also commented quite recently saying that he thinks the next three races in particular could be strong ones for Williams. So maybe they need to bank those points early and, I don't know, avoid any, anything weird towards the end of the year.

We'll see how that goes. Number four on your list, Sam. So mine was weirdly related to actually number five, and that is more specifically the driver that I mentioned, his first time at Monswaga Ferrari, that is seeing Lewis Hamilton attempt to overcome the first half of the season challenges and what they could do after this summer break to bring back some normality for the seven-time champ to try and give him some positivity in his game,

to try and see that, okay, I'm not expecting race wings here. I'm not expecting multiple podiums, but let's see if they can reinvigorate him over summer and what changes culturally in terms of, to see how he tackles this challenge that is, I think, mentally weighing on him quite a lot. He has bounced back a number of times in his career. We have seen some loads, extreme highs, but also loads for Lewis Hamilton. And every time he typically has come back with a great success,

the most recent being the wings of Silverstone and Spar after going through so many difficulties in that Mercedes car in the latest era. So can he do it again? Will we see something special from Lewis Hamilton? We know he's got what it takes, but will it wait until 2026 or do we see something special maybe at Monson, which should be really really cool for the last 10 Grand Prix at the season. I was thinking about this when it comes to Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton in particular, how obviously he's got a sprint win under his belt, the Chinese sprint earlier this year,

but obviously not a main race win for Ferrari so far. And then I was also thinking of his last on-track win, which was the British GP. I appreciate you also on Belgium, but not on track. And in both of those instances, I appreciate they are few and far between with Lewis Hamilton's recent four. But when he's on it, he's still got like that China win was seriously impressive, even if it was a sprint. And that Silverstone win, I again appreciate maybe McLaren helped Mercedes to the win that day. But again, he like he overtook George Russell, fair and square on track. Like he was on it.

There is something that seems to, every so often, not as regularly as maybe it used to, it unlocks. There's some sort of performance in there. Yeah, the last 20 laps of Abu Dhabi. in his last race of the seasons. Yes, yeah, he was by far the quickest person on the race. I think he qualified 16th on that race day, beats George Russell at the end of the day. Like, that was a great Grand Prix for him.

He does still have it. He can still unlock it. Just that window of perfect for him is narrowing. So I really want to hope that they can find it for him. Number four on my list as we continue are things we're most looking forward to for the rest of this season. You've already mentioned one circuit. If we're looking at like the extremes, you've gone for the traditional Monzo all the way back to the early 1950s, epic races we've had over the years, slipstreaming galore.

And I've gone to the other extreme when I've picked the circuit at number four, the new glitz and glamour of Las Vegas. Now, this might be a surprise and Harry Ead is probably already sighing somewhere in the ether, but I'm going with Vegas because of, I guess similar to Monza. It is a very unique challenge in today's F1 calendar, to the point where last year, Mercedes were utterly dominant there, despite the fact that at that point in the season, they weren't very competitive elsewhere because of the really cool temperatures of Vegas. And having seen the Hungarian GP last time out before the summer break,

I expected going into that weekend, McLaren were going to walk it. And I don't think they quite got, sure they won fairly convincingly in the end. But if you look at qualifying the early parts of that race, it was cooler than expected. And suddenly, McLaren were brought back a little bit to the rest of the pack. Ferrari were a little bit better. George Russell was a little bit better. It'll be interesting to see what happens at Vegas because if your Ferrari or your Mercedes, particularly Mercedes, you're looking at these last 10 races and saying that might be the one.

So it's a little way into the future. I know it's a newfangled F1, but I'm going, Las Vegas. You know, I'm sorry to all you old school F-1 fangs. I'm a Vegas lover. Viva, Las Vegas. Mm. Okay, all on red or whatever.

I think I want to do over there. I mean, that's one of the two you can have. That's a lot of game. 50-50, I'm pretty going to wrong. I've been to Vegas, and it's a wild time. Not been to the race, just in Vegas. And I would love to go to the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Genuinely, I've enjoyed it a lot the last few times.

I know we had the shambled initially with the staff arrangement, having to get fans out for a session. It wasn't great, right? And I know Formula One is upset a lot of the locals, right? There's being a lot of kind of boarding off of viewpoints. Navigation around the city is tough. It causes some problems for the city. I understand that.

I'm very sympathetic of that. But the pure racing that we get on track at Vegas, I am a big fan of. I love the sphere. So much love for the sphere. You know, me. I love a silly thing. I think the sphere is sillyness in a giant building personified.

But the racing is great. it throws up a mystery, the form that goes out the window, and we've had two Romporeen a row that have been completely different, and I've enjoyed both of them immensely. So, yeah, I agree. Bring on Las Vegas. I'll go straight into number three. It somewhat relates to one of yours already, because you've looked at Lewis Hamilton.

I'm going to just extend that a little bit further to Ferrari. Can Ferrari win a race? We've got 10 more opportunities for them to win a main race. Just to be clear, I know Lewis Hamilton won a sprint. I'm talking about a main race. And maybe there's not too much source of optimism for Ferrari fans this year, given they haven't won a race. But if you look at the same point last year,

it's not like they were flying at the summer break in 2024. They had two wins up until that point in the year. Australia, where they relied on of the Stap and DNF, let's be honest. And Monaco, where Charles LeClaire was, a cut above the rest. That can't be denied. But there's fine margins when it comes to Monaco. that Lecler, if he is a 10th quicker in qualifying this year, you get pole at Monaco, you're golden, all right? You're going to go and win. So they've been a little bit close a few times.

I'm just interested to see if they can find a win somewhere in these 10 races. We are getting to a stage, like they won three out of five races in a stretch last year. I don't think they're going to go on a similar run, but there's a lot of variety in the tracks that we have. coming up. We've got street circuits like Baku and Singapore. We've got sprint weekends, which obviously a little bit different with the lack of preparation with practice time, whether Brazil or Qatar, they could spring a surprise. Vegas that I've already mentioned as well, can they find a weekend where everything just clicks and they can get over the hump? Because they've only had four winless seasons since the start of the century. So it's not something they make a habit of.

You also think with 24 chances to have a go against, surely a team with that much power, manpower, talent, get one over the line. Come on, Ferrari. What's number three for you? Number three for me. This is slightly, I mean, I was a little ambiguous with the top five list here. And the parameters been that you put on this, but I've gone for the Cadillac reveal. I did.

I nearly went for that, but I think the driver line up itself are very excited for. if you know me, if you've been around this show for a long enough, you know that I love livery season, I love seeing how these cars look, I love the design element of it, I'm excited to see what Kallat go for. You'll either hear my groan around planet Earth if it comes out as a white or blue car, but if it's yellow, hello, we're having a great time. So I'm excited to see, I know we've got Haas, but I'm excited to see America properly come to the Formula One grid. Because I'm having a great time. So I'm excited to see how I do. I'm excited to see, I'm excited to see, I'm excited to see, grip because I also don't really do that kind of thing.

They're not really on that, that grey, white and red. It doesn't scream America. I do think Kagalak, with General Motors behind them, will bring something more of a patriotic viewpoint to Formula One. So I'm really excited. A lot of aspects to it. I'm excited to see how they handle it. Ferrari Kagalak as well seems like a really exciting combination until they get their

engine sorted. So, yeah, for me, number three, is the Kagalak reveal. Ben, number two. Oh, I was just going to say, I can see. that going both ways because they could easily go with a, this is our first year. We've just got to make sure that whatever we've got representing us like matches the brand. Like it's just, you see it and you know it's Cadillac and go completely safe. Or they go the other way of, this is our opportunity to really make some noise. We're going to go wild. And I don't,

I could see it being either. Yeah. Please go wild. Number two for me is the rookie of the year race. Now, that's going to sound a bit odd because Antonelli is going to be rookie of the year in terms of points. He's in a Mercedes, like he's, yeah, he's going to be in the clear, even if he continues to struggle as he has done recently. But I'm more interested in the rookie of the year of public opinion. The Elbees. Yes, the Elbeys rookie of the year is not just going to follow the points. And realistically, if you're asking at the end of the season, who's had the best rookie season, it could be a number of drivers at the moment. You've got Bortoletto is really kicked on recently. I think

Berman is still in that fight. Antonelli himself is definitely in the fight. So his eyes are a cadjar. It depends what you call Liam Lawson, whether you think he's a rookie or not. But if you do class him as a rookie, maybe he's in that as well. Who can take that next, you know, big step? Can Oliver Berm, can he make that next big breakthrough? Maybe could Bortoletto catch up to Holcomberg in terms of points, even if he doesn't beat him. Bang, stop dreaming. I don't mind if it doesn't happen. But can he get close to him?

Because that would be a statement. Or could Isaac Hagear lead racing balls to P5? That would stake his claim. Antonelli, of course, maybe has the best opportunity for standout performances like podiums. But I'm interested to see, like at the end of the year, who are we most optimistic about? because we recently, well, I say recently Sunday, we did a segment on who's going to be a world champion in the future. I'd be fascinating to redo that with the rookies at the end of the year

because a lot could change. I won't give too much away. It's third in my rookie standings in my mind. Antonelli? Yes. Interesting. I think that, yeah, you could go with a few different orders here. I think third is valid.

What's number two on your list? This one is purely selfish. trip to the US, seeing Cota live again and then doing our live show. It is our favorite time period, I guess. It's a lot of defined time period. We're in Seattle first, which genuinely I'm so exciting about. I've always wanted to go to Seattle. I want to see the needle.

I am so exciting for that town. Come and see us if you're out there. We're going to see a football match, Ben. Yeah. Yeah. If you're there, we're there for a few days. We'll go on bar. We'll say hello.

It'll be really cool. then we're going to see an actual American football match. Yeah, yeah. We're seeing Washington play Rutgers on the Friday night. Big 10 football, absolutely love it. Not the premiere game, for sure, but I am excited to see Husky Stadium. That is bucket list material, that.

I'm hoping that they ask me to be the mascot because I will 100% dress up as the Husky. Okay, after the show, I'm going to go check that immediately. I cannot be more excited to be the Husky. is what I'm assuming you did. Nailed it. Yeah, and then Cota, I love that racetrack. That race gives us brilliant Grand Prix racing.

We've seen some surprise results. I mean, Sholacla, seems to absolutely love us being there. And yeah, it's been joyful, meeting you all in Texas. And again, I'm so exciting. New venue for us, bigger than you for us, more tickets sold. I love the live show. I'm so excited to do it. So, yeah, for me, number two is Cota.

Absolutely. agree with you there. Number one for me, it's boring. It's the obvious answer, but Piastri versus Norris, like the driving place, just so we're there, we can discuss it. Yeah, I mean, it's the, it's the driver's championship. And we might have the closest driver's championship fight since maybe 2021. I would be, the way it's going, I would be surprised if it is decided before Abu Dhabi. But we'll see. I think it'll be a question of, you know, who makes fewer errors, who can tackle the sprint race is best. I think Piastri might have a bit of an advantage in that to this point in the season.

We've still got another three of those to go. Can Piastri beat Lando Norris at circuits where Norris was quite dominant last year? Zambort straight after the summer break was one of them. Singapore was another, Abidabee. Can he turn the tables in any of those? And also, I guess, if McLaren maintain their advantage, it is probably going to be a very simple Piastri versus Norris fight. and I don't expect at this point in the season, anyone else to be in the driver's

championship fight. But it will be interesting if one of those other teams picks up their competitiveness to the point where they're in the races. And maybe we're not looking at obvious one-two's and instead we get some one-threes or two-fours. That could be very interesting indeed. So I can see it going either way and I'm excited to see. I think it will go all the way to Abu Dhabi. Yeah, I agree. I think it will go away to Mabwe. 10 races to go. a handful of points separating these two young, but ferociously talented young men. I'm excited to see how McLaren play it.

They've not been the smoothest dealing with the differences between their drivers when on track. Portal rules, no. Yeah, this has gone on for more than just this season. You know, remember how we race has come up more than once, which I don't enjoy at all. The Germany situation.

Oh, I hate it. The Germany situation. What about the silent radio? situation. What about the wheel to wheel? Let's just have that situation. I want that one place. That's cool.

That's great. Mentally, I'm interested in how they approach the rest of the season and maybe who could get ahead of the other one in the kind of the mental games, the war games. We've seen that. You know, if you go back to Hamilton-Rosburgh, how they used to play off each other, I wonder if we'll start to see cracks in their friendly approach to the Grand Prix, how they seem to be quite, you know, bro-like at the same time. And it's great to see McLauring.

having this moment right at the top. You know, it's been a while. It's been a long time. We've got that the Seiz and Red Bull back and forth, dominance. And it's good to see McLaren, really, because I've enjoyed their limelight. And I like that Brown.

I like Stella a lot as well. So I'm glad that they get in their moment before the regulation's kicking and maybe everything gets thrown on its head. So, yeah, we have a very fun and exciting final 10 races. Okay, that's our list of top five things we're most excited about to close this season off. Let us know what we've met.

I mean, there's plenty that we, could have said that we haven't done. So please let us know if there's other things, other the races that you're really looking forward to as we head into the 2025 season, 2026 season, excuse me. Right, we'll take a short break at this point. On the other side, we're chatting sprint races. Everyone, check your blood pressure before we go wild. Welcome back, everyone. Stefano Domenicali plans to discuss with teams and drivers the idea of more sprint races in the future, plus a change of format to incorporate a reverse grid element. Now, I don't believe, I could be wrong on this. I believe that the 26th sprint calendar

was leaked, but I don't think we've actually had official confirmation that that is the case. So we'll stay away from that until that is confirmed, but it looks like we are going to get six sprints again next year the same amount that we've had this year and indeed how many we had last year as well. Domenicali cites that more and more venues want sprints. And there is a belief from Domenicali that the previous resistance to a reverse grid element has somewhat disappeared, or at least lessened. Should we start with just the number of sprint races and then we'll get into the reverse grid element of it? What are your thoughts on that? I think he's telling porkies. Yeah, we've had six for a while now. It includes.

Three, Stinglishy, what did we start off with? Four, was it right at the very start? I think it was three. Three? Yeah. And we went up to six very, very quickly. And then it stagnated, abruptly stagnated. And when you hear stories, I mean, COSA is an obvious one where the producer came out

and said, you can't really do anything for us. We didn't really sell any more tickets. We had no more real interest. They didn't drive any more track side interest in the event. Then why would track promoters and track organizers realistically be wanting a sprint race to come of their area, if it means actually they have to do a lot more in terms of the actual race production, but they don't get anything out of it. So that I think is a little bit tricky. Maybe some coming from maybe some of the newer venues that are trying to carry favor with

Formula One to try and be like, hey, we want better, we'll have a deal. We want more time. We want to be more appealing than other countries that are coming in. We'll take a sprint. We know you're interesting in having more sprints. We'll do it. Maybe that's where it's seeing as a bartering technique. But I don't think springs have been the massive success that Formula One have wanted them to be. I don't think they've taken off in the same way that Formula Long have expected them to. You know I dismay about sprint races. The only thing I like about Springs is the reduction in practice time. And you always get the excuse of, when you're out of, I watch the practice session. I don't watch the practice sessions. I just have more time to do other things.

I pay attention to what's going on because I have a full-time job. So I can't watch all the practice sessions. So I just have to pay attention online. And I get all with my life. a sprint race is just a mini race that 95% of the time tends to spoil what goes on in the main race and you don't get too much difference. I do think that a big change that they made that was a success was reopening park ferme between the sprint portion of the weekend and the main portion of the weekend. I think that was better for racing. But overall, I still think these are lacking the overall impact that Formula 1 are wanting them to happen.

I know that you're not loving them or your thoughts? Yes, anyone who is a, I was going to say a long-term listener, but I'll probably downgrade that to medium-term listener of the podcast. We'll know I'm not a massive fan of sprints. And I also acknowledge that there are plenty of people out there that are fans of these sprints. You know, we've asked it a few times. We asked it at our first live show that we did a couple of years ago. We did a quick poll of the room, who likes sprints, who doesn't?

As many people like sprints as don't like sprints. So I don't think we're necessarily in the minority, but it's far more close than maybe our podcast sometimes makes it appear it is in terms of a debate. But yes, from my own personal viewpoint, which is the only one I can talk to, I'm not a fan of this because, well, I don't like the idea of more sprints because I don't like the idea of more of something I don't like. It's really as simple as that. I think maybe, and again, it's tough to say with too much confidence because we don't know what that sprint calendar is going to look like next year. But given it was leaked by the Dutch GP, which doesn't have a sprint this year, and in this calendar, unsurprisingly, was set to have a sprint next year, there were quite a few new sprint venues, which if that happens, then maybe Stefano Domenicali and the Powers that B have the argument in, in 2027 to say, well, we've had nine different venues over the last two years host a sprint race. They all want to host one in 2027. Now is the time to up it from six to eight or six

to ten. I feel sadly we might be heading that way, but I appreciate your skepticism because I hope you're right and they're not as popular as maybe they seem amongst promoters. the real issue I have is that F1 does, and it goes back to this practice versus sprint race debate, F1 makes it an unloosable argument. Like, because they hone in on it's better than a practice session. It's like they've already framed the argument how they want it. Like it's the only conversation you can have. Exactly. And it's not. But, you know, they turn, they can turn to race promoters and say, well, would you rather an extra practice session or would you rather a race where more

people are probably going to be watching, more people around the circuit, more people at merch stands at concession stands. Yeah, I think we'll take the one that has more people. Like you speak to anyone, broadcasters TV, like, would you rather a practice session or would you like another race where more people are going to watch? Yeah, you know what? I think our advertisers are going to prefer the one which has more viewers. So they make it a bit of an unloosable argument. But as you were alluding to, that's not it. There is a part of sprints that ruins what follows it in the weekend. And it feels like F1 is the only sport where we have this debate. And a lot of it is just down to the televised nature of practice sessions. Like, you would never, to use a football reference,

a UK football reference, you would never have a debate of, well, Liverpool's Thursday training session, I'd rather watch a game, to be honest with you. Let's just have a, a sprint match where it's only 30 minutes. Could you imagine Premier League side to play a 30 minute match and the next day playing a 90 minute match on the same pitch, most of the time the same weather with the same players? It would be ludicrous. But that is essentially the debate we have in F1 is people don't think practice sessions, which aren't meant to be entertaining because they're practice sessions.

They point to that not being entertaining enough and then think, well, let's just have a sprint race instead. But like I say, like football, you'd never have that argument. They're being televised. It's a relatively modern change anyway. You need to just have to watch practice going around. You can't even watch testing either. Like testing is different, of course, especially with new regulations. But practice is meant to be something for the real fanatics that want to understand maybe how a weekend can trend.

If I did this podcast full time, I'd have it on while I was doing other bits and pieces. Ben, like you do, you look for the long-term runs, you look how tire wear might progress. you can pick up, if we're giving consent, you can pick up some real key information that helps you understand some trends. It's not meant to be thrilling. Otherwise, we'd all tune in for practice one, wouldn't we? Same with the testing debate that we had a few years ago. They started televising testing and it's like, well, this isn't all that excited. Yeah, it's testing. They're just trying to work out if they can go around the track without anything going to boom. Like, that's testing. Yeah, you're a test race that means nothing either. What do you want?

Who knows? But yeah, I just think. think if you use the same arguments in other sports, you'd just be laughed. Like if, if you had, say, a 30 minute sprint match in football on like a Friday, you would get the argument, rightly so, from people going, well, actually, I really look forward to the full proper match on the Saturday. And this kind of gives away what it might look like tomorrow. That's not great. It's kind of what happens with these sprints. Now, the reverse grid element could, in theory, be a bit of an answer to that. At the moment, sometimes we do get a sprint race, which is just too similar to the race that follows on the Sunday. In theory, a reverse grid element similar to what we have in F2 or F3

might get us to a position where you've got two races that look a little bit different. Are you in favour of this? If we do a sprint race, I want it done differently to the junior formulas. I want the whole grid flipped in championship order is how I want it done. So I want, for example, Right now, Oscar Piastri would start the next sprint race from 20th, Norris would be 19th, and that's how I will see it run down. I know that obviously in the junior formula, it's the top 10 that gets swapped over in current spec. I think it works well for junior formula, but I also think that you see, you would see a different level of chaos in Formula One trying to get Piastri all the way through to maybe score

a point, a really valuable point that might be trying to beat Norris Aga bit, but also you might get drivers. Unfortunately, to go, I'm not making it past 12 cars around whatever. Zanvort, which is hard to overtake as it is. I'm just going to keep the car in one piece. And if I get a couple of places or there's a lucky safety car, sure, I'll take advantage. But then you lose the risk factor. The other issue with any kind of reverse grid is that quite often,

qualifying is the best part of the sprint weekend because the new sprint format, qualifying version, is actually quite good. And I quite enjoy it with a shorting session. It's exciting. It has a bit of jeopardy to it. And so therefore, it's never a perfect scenario. You never get a perfect solution. You might get a different race by having reverse grid.

And I do prefer the idea of reverse grid, whether I'd like it more in practice, I don't know. But you lose, in theory, the qualifying element, which is actually very exciting. But again, could give away something for the main qualifying, which is meant to be very exciting for the normal race. Yes. I'm personally not a fan of reverse grids just generally.

I kind of understand why they're needed. Not even necessarily needed in junior formula, but I understand why they exist because I feel like when it comes to, particularly F2 and F3, you are trying to mould like the next generation of superstars in this sport, right? And you are trying to get them to a point where they are as well-rounded as they can possibly be

when they enter F-1. And maybe it's not particularly helpful for someone absolutely dominating the championship to have basically no experience of having to overtake cars in F2 or F3. Having the reverse grid sort of sprint format does at least put these rookie drivers, these young drivers into different race situations that is then going to help them when they get to F1. So I understand it from an F2 and F3 perspective. I just, I've never quite got round the idea of it from an F1 perspective.

and it's not even about entertainment. Like, we could get seriously entertaining reverse grid sprint races. Like, that could happen. I just fundamentally don't like the unfairness of it. And I know that there is a bit of a, well, everyone plays to the same conditions. So it's the same for everyone. I just can't quite wrap my head around the idea that if someone was lucky enough to be 20th place, but only just 20th place in the championship,

heading into a sprint race where it's pretty difficult to overtake, suddenly they might actually be better off being in 20th rather than being in 17th, because they could pick up maximum points for being really difficult to overtake in that sprint. And that works as well for if you don't do the full grid, if you only do the top 10, which I think is maybe more likely in this scenario, you would rather be, you would massively rather be 10th than 11th,

but you might also prefer to be 10th than 8th. Like, I just, it feels like a bit of a plaster. It feels like a bit of a, an artificial thing when F1 isn't firing on all cylinders to rely back on. Because in theory, like the product should be good enough that we don't need these sorts of gimmicks. I completely appreciate those who do like the idea. And as I say, it could lead some really entertaining scenarios. But it's more the fairness side of things that I come from. So difficult question for you, Ben.

Sprints aren't going anywhere. We will never revert back to having 24 races of just practice qualifying race. What is your solution? What would make it maybe not perfect, but palatable? Unfortunately, I think we're pretty much there. Really? This is as good as it gets. Yeah, I think so.

Because that's the thing. I mean, we've, in this relatively short amount of time, we've had sprints, we've tried quite a lot of different things and find, tweaked it to get to this point, which I would call the best of a possible bad situation. Like we've tried the sprints setting the grid for the main race, and we didn't love that. And then we tried, you know, sprint, the sprint being before, or both qualifying sessions being before the sprint and the main race, and the order was a bit weird. And then we, we didn't have the Park Fermé rule.

And then we did add that, which I think was a really good change to the point where I think all of these small tweaks have kind of got it to the point where I think that that's kind of it. Like, we might actually be at the place where it can be as good as it can get. If there's a way to add a strategic element to these sprint races, I am open for that. But then that does defeat the object of why we've got the sprints in the first place. There's supposed to be this flat out fight to the flag without any strategy. People keep telling me that we don't need strategy for exciting races, but often I think we do. I won't go into it now, but I do wonder if with the new regulations coming through with the cars being smaller, lighter, again, the tyres being smaller, so therefore less weight again, we've got the manual override system replacing DRS.

I do wonder if it may open up something a bit different. We might see some more wheel-to-wheel combat, to quote the F-1 movie again. but who knows? Maybe it's just another six races of just predicting what's going to happen in the main event. Final question. Where do you think the teams are on this? Because Domenicali is talking about previous resistance to at least a reverse grid element. We don't know what the consensus is on increasing the number of sprints amongst the teams.

It hasn't actually been debated all that often, I would say, over the last year or two. But it certainly was before that. Where do you think they are at the moment? I'm really not sure. I'm really not sure. I think it might come down to something about finances. You know, if they could be offered better marketing, revenue, advertising revenue to the fact that I don't know,

they might be able to guarantee a certain percentage income based on watches per hour or watches per session, then sure, Formula One teams are going to enjoy more money. That is how business works. And I think, you know, in theory, they would go for that. Equally, I wouldn't be surprised at quite a few of the teams are like, well, this is still a session where we can crash our car into another car or a wall

and that costs a longer money to repair or sort might knock us out exactly and the cost caps involved you might end up not able to race in the main Grand Prix

or as we've seen in previous races have to sacrifice a car so I would actually be shocked if Dementa Kali has got almost unanimous approval or no resistance

from current Formula One seems about anything to do with sprint races good stuff we'll take our second break at this point in the episode on the other side we're going to be chatting about Mercedes.

Welcome back, everyone. Mercedes is more confident of fighting for victories across the final 10 races of the season following the decision to scrap their revised rear suspension. They introduced this rear suspension back at Imola, and they've had that on the car ever since the Hungarian GP last time out, where they decided to go back to the old spec

and quite a number of races in between the Imala GP and the Hungarian GP, but they've decided to completely revert back to where they were. Your thoughts on the decision? I think it's an intriguing one, but I think it is following a trend that we've seen quite regularly with Formula One teams where upgrades are no longer guaranteed to make a positive impact on the development of the car. We've seen a number of teams having to adjust,

accept their developments haven't worked, take them off, rework them and go back to a previous spec. Or actually, the car they had previously was a bigger foundation to work from. Aster Massing is a very prime example. right now where we've seen them, you know, take a pit-length start and redo a whole floor module, or, you know, the car that is previously set up for the start of the season was being run on one car and the new development was being run on a different car and the old world was faster than the new one. It has happened and I think it will continue to happen. And as we get to the end of a set of regulations, these very experimental, more risky upgrades

are trying to be applied because we're trying to find that really tiny bit of development now right at the end here, becomes more and more risky and becomes less likely to succeed. And I think this is what's happened here with Mercedes, who I think they initially put these upgrades on in Montreal properly. There's a first time they ran them. And I was reading an article, I think it was The Race, who were talking about how the way that Montreal is set up is so unique. And actually, it kind of gave them like a red herring,

kind of gave them like a false read, how the tarmac is so close. And almost every corner, apart from essentially the hairpin and turns one, are identical. You have straight line braking, you accelerate through a chican. Kimi Antigali was saying that it worked perfectly there because the way that this setup allowed him to work was the car felt brilliant when braking in a straight line, felt really comfortable, solid and controlled. And look at the performance they got out of it, right? Antigone's first podium, Russell picks up the wing. They have a fantastic Grand Prix there. The tarmac is much closer at Montreal. It's very unique

there, very unique track surface. But essentially, the setup was safe and it worked for nine. 90% of what's going on. Unfortunately, everywhere else, you almost never apply direct straight line breaking. Monza might be the next closest thing to direct straight line breaking. Probably five or six of the main corners in Monza, you do some proper straight line breaking. But most of it, trail breaking, through the corner, you might need to apply some breaking. Hungary is a bit of a nightmare when you need to do a lot of mid-corga braking or mid-control of speed. and I do think that they unfortunately put that upgrade on a Montreal,

got such a positive reading from Montreal, did it understand why it was so good? And actually it was Montreal specific, not, hey, this upgrade is blooming great, we should do it all the time. And it's only taking them to now to basically go, a car is actually genuinely worse. It's not good.

And in that time, it's damaged Antigal's confidence. I imagine that he has probably had to take a step back in how he's approached racing. and I would not be shocked actually if in the next 10 races now this has been removed and they've gone back to the car setup where he was really good in Miami for example and was regularly picking up strong points finishing you know top sixes top sevens are regular I wouldn't be shocked if in the next two or three races maybe not immediately in Zambor for example we see that and to again come back we see that and it's going to start to reemerge

and I would not be shot if Russell starts to find his way back up regularly onto that podium and fighting with the likes of Leclerc and beating Ferraris now, which they were able to do quite regularly before that upgrade was applying. Essentially, Montreal was the outlier. Before that, they were beating Ferrari semi-regular. After that, they never really seemed to get the better of them, and I'm wondering how if it comes back, unless Ferrari got something up their sleeve,

which is Ferrari's sleeve, they might pull out an arm bill and put it in the back of the car, for all I know. But I would not be surprised him to say he's made this change, and for the last 10 races, they are a far closer competitive match for that second place spot in the championship than what they had been for the last four or five Grand Prix. Ben, what your thoughts?

Yeah, I want to give them limited credit because, I mean, it hasn't worked, obviously, but I do want to give them some credit for not being too stubborn about this and almost understanding internally like this was a misstep. It hasn't worked out. They have completely reverted back to something that was. knew like a number of races before where we're at now. And it does take, it does take something to make that call. So I do want to give them a bit of credit for that. I agree with what you say, like the theory is an interesting one about straight line breaking and it does add up because

if you were heading into the Hungarian GP and you knew that Zanvort was the race after the summer break, they definitely picked the right time to remove the upgrade. Because those two races would have been absolutely awful with that rear suspension. I think this whole episode goes to show that outright performance isn't always what you only need from an upgrade. Obviously, that's what you're looking for. And Andrew Shovelyn, you know, I can't remember his exact title, but obviously leading these upgrades at Mercedes, he, you know, he suggested it was an improvement. And I think what you're saying about Canada kind of proves that. It was on paper, at least, an improvement for the car.

The problem is what you take away from the rest of the setup or the rest of the confidence that the driver has to the point where it doesn't actually end up having a positive benefit in any way. Like, they were so unconfident due to the instability in the high-speed corners that it had a negative effect. And even if you, in theory, can work out on the Sims or whatever, this should go through this corner at this speed and therefore be this amount quicker. If your drivers don't have the confidence to do that, then you're not going to get anything

out of it. And, you know, on one side of the garage, you could say, well, maybe Antonelli doesn't have the experience to make the most of the upgrade. George Russell's pretty experienced at this point. If he's being negatively impacted by this, which he absolutely has been, you can point to the upgrade being the issue rather than the drivers. And I appreciate they get enough credit on this show and I hate to do it again. But props to McLaren because Mercedes and Ferrari and Red Bull are all proving that the concept of just applying an upgrade, it's not easy.

Like Mercedes have applied this massive rear suspension upgrade and they've gone back to something from Imala. Ferrari, their rear suspension upgrade, we've been waiting all year for it, hasn't had the immediate impact. would have hoped. Red Bull, like, look at the last 18 months, have fallen off a cliff. Coming up with these upgrades and making sure they actually work at this point in a development cycle is really difficult. The fact that McLaren keep on against their rivals, they keep on performing. It's very impressive. Is it enough to fight for wins? I think it might be. Very specific conditions. We regularly, you, I regularly use the phrase, before, this upgrade took place actually.

It seemed like Mercedes were a jack of all trades car and a master of young. And actually, they were better in these warm conditions. And we're going through, I think again, also a false reading for them. We're going through the peak of summer, of course, especially in Europe. And so it's very easy to look at what's been happening with Mercedes performance. And after the great performance in Montreal, you go, well, it can't be that upgrade that's causing them this issue. It must be the heat.

They must be struggling in the heat again. I don't think it is. And fortunately for them, whilst, we have got some warm conditions coming up. We're definitely coming out the other side of it. Zanvort is one of those that could be 50-50. We've seen some baking hot Zambor Grand Prix. We've also seen some cool, damp, dank Zanvort Grand Prix,

cloudy, have a lot of rain over the weekend. And if they get their set up right and the confidence comes back, especially for someone like Russell, there's a chance that they can be, I think, again, has to, the conditions have to be right. It's like a wink to me on the cards. Vegas, we've already in this podcast. if it's cool enough for them, they could take that race win. So I do think there's maybe two or three options coming up for the last 10 Grand Prix

that if the confidence comes back, they get the set-ups right. They're in the shout of a race win. They're never the favourites right now, but they're going out of it. I'm interested. I don't know which way it will go because you've got that maybe more positive side of looking at it. And then you've got maybe the worries at Mercedes that, well, we've just spent however many races on this. new upgrade that hasn't worked and we're reverting back to something that was, you know, relevant

to Imola, whereas all these other teams, even if they haven't made massive strides, haven't had to do the same thing. So if they're hoping that maybe the pecking order is the same as it was that many races ago, maybe they'll be disappointed. It's interesting to, it'll be interesting to see how that goes. I did just want to mention one more thing with Antonelli because, obviously, with it being his first season and F1, still very young, very inexperienced. He struggled a lot with that rear suspension, probably more so than George Russell, again understandable. Heading into next season, given that Mercedes aren't fighting for a championship this year,

you know, drivers or constructors, both gone, is getting Antonelli's confidence back the number one priority from here on out of 2025? I mean, if not from Mercedes, definitely for Antonelli. and from his management, from the people around him, because if the rumours are to be believed, and we don't like to believe rumors on this show, you know, we like to wait for the facts. Mercedes has got a monster engine coming through,

and we know that Mercedes, when they get it right aerodynamically, they can develop an absolute beast of a car. You only have to look at the dominance of the Mercedes and Hamilton had over the last three quarters of a decade to understand just how good they can be technically and in the power unit department. So 10 races, 10 races to ensure that that speedy young man gets his confidence back because under the hood, you know, you strip away some of that nervousness,

which I think he expressed after spar especially, he found really, really tricky. You bring that wrongness back to him. Yeah, I think he can get to 2026. I'm not saying he beats Russell, but he definitely hits the ground running fast enough that if they have got a championship competitive car, he needs to be good enough to support Russell in winning one, if he's got both of those titles. I think the decision was at least partly made with that in mind,

with Antonelli in mind, because I think it is the number one thing they need to sort between now and the end of the year. Maybe they fight for a win or two more. Maybe they don't. Maybe they get second in the championship. Maybe they finish third. For them, it doesn't matter too much.

What does matter is ensuring that they are in a position to fight for a championship if their car and engine is good enough in 2026. And the only way they do that is if they've got both drivers firing on all cylinders. From George Russell's perspective, I don't think you need to be too worried. Like he spent a number of years in a bloody awful Williams. He'll be okay with suffering through a couple of bad races at Mercedes. It's not going to knock his confidence. Antonelli is still so young into his career. And that was one of the risks, right, when Mercedes took him on, is that you could get something like this where an upgrade doesn't go their way and he loses a bit of confidence and you have to work that back up.

I think that maybe, like with this revised suspension that they've now got rid of, if Antonelli's not in that car, maybe they do make a slightly different decision and say, we think there's something in there. If we give it a couple more races, maybe we can find whatever that is and compete towards the end of this year. but with Antonelli in one of those seats, I think they've just taken the, I think more sensible, safe option to say, if we can just get Antonelli back to regular P6s, where he was in the first sort of eight races of the year, that will be good for him to rebuild that confidence

going into next year. I think they've made a shrewd decision with it. I also wonder how much that upgrade has anything to do with their 2026 build. If it's purely about winging misconduct, season. Who cares? Who cares, really? You're not gaining a new. You're not winging this title. So why sacrifice the long-term ability and confidence of one of your key drivers for nothing, essentially? Okay, let's take our final break on this episode, on the other side. Everyone's been waiting for it. It's F1 fill in the blank. Cricky. It's been a while.

Welcome back, everyone to the final part of today's episode. The streets have been calling for it. It's time for fill in the blank. Phil in the, who's Phil? F1, fill in the blank. Appreciate we don't play this one very often at all. Three statements, and quite simply, each of those statements has a blank that we need to fill in with our opinion. So a bit of an opinion-driven game this one.

We're going to start with this. The chance that Vostappen wins another race this season is blank percent. 35% is what I'm going for. And that, I think, is showing how tough I think this Red Bull is to drive right now and the combination of how good that McClare and both their drivers are right now. But it's Max Verstappen. There's 10 Grand Prix left. I can't remember the last sign that Max Verstappen went 10 Grand Prix without a race wing.

Wow. Plus the other ones of course going back. Yeah, at least to, was it Imler his last one? Yeah, right? We're getting close to that, but I think it's been a lot, you know, it's been a long time since you really didn't get a wing for that long. I think there's a couple of races that could throw up some curbed balls. You know, Singapore might be an interesting one,

Vegas as we mention again, throws a Wildcock, and he'll have enough South Paulo, Brazil, and Red Bull are a match made in heaven. So let's see how that goes. So I'm quietly confident that he picks up another win. I'm going a little bit higher, but not much higher. I think the chance that Vostappen wins another race this season is 50%. I think there's as much chance it happens than doesn't happen, to be honest, because if Vestappen does have a sniff of a win, there is a very good chance he takes that opportunity.

The question is, is he going to get a sniff of a win? Because the way that Red Bull car has been performing lately, the answer could be no. The one saving grace may be for Red Bull and why I've gone. a little bit higher is it's inconsistent to the point where I'm pretty sure they're going to finish fourth in the Constructors' Championship, and I'm pretty convinced they're not going to fight for regular wins. But I do think there's a chance that there is one race weekend, similar to Suzuki or Imala, where it does kind of all come together. And then the next race, they'll be awful again, and Vastappen will be fighting Ghazly for P7. But there might just be one

weekend. Don't know which one it'll be, where it just all happens. So yeah, 50%. The next statement, McLaren asking their drivers how they would like the team to celebrate is blank. I don't know if you saw, have you seen this one? Give us and the list as some context. Yeah, Zach Brown was asked about this, about how Piastri and Norris would be fighting for the rest of this year. And he said, whilst they haven't had too many discussions, yet. They're not being naive about it. And they're going to, they're going to ask the team, ask the drivers,

how they would like the team to celebrate one of them winning the championship so that the loser is taken into account when they haven't won the championship. Woke. I say that as a joke, but I do think

this is what I meant earlier with McLaren and their communication. This is exactly what I meant, get a grip, grow up. One's a winner, one's a loser. That's the game, that's the sport. Say Piastri Wing, say it carries on as we've got, Piazori wins, is Norris really going to throw an absolute paddy

because the team are celebrating a constructus and a driver's title. You're a grown man in a sport, and there are winners and there are losers. One year you might be a winner, one year you might be a loser. Get over it. Sucking up. And that's what Zach Brown is basically said. He's like, as part of this, he's saying, well, we want to ask the drivers so we know whether we can like jump up and down after we've won. No, you can do that. You've won.

You're a winner. Which is why I've gone with disqualification worthy. Get out of the sport. Like, just if you have to plan like a celebration, you're not really celebrating. The whole point of a celebration is that you just react in the moment when it happens. Like, you've just won. the championship. Yes, we've just won't, woo! It's not supposed to be, how loud should my woo be when this happens? That's not very organic, is it McLaren? So yeah, I think it's

disqualification worthy. It's like having your birthday and then your sibling being upset, and it's not their birthday. You know, go away. You'll get your time. This is my time. I'm celebrating. Go away from my candles. That's literally what's happening. Also, the loser, right, regardless of who it is, I know we talk about how cool and calm, be ashty. is, but he will be devastated if he loses the championship. So will Lando Norris. But they will be devastated regardless of what the team does. Like, that's not going to, if they see that Zach Brown is actually not jumping up and

down, they're not going to go, actually, I feel better about that now. That's okay. You know what? I'd feel worse. Yeah. Pity. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, and also, I'm sure that they are growing enough to realize that they would want their team and their boss to go. Great job. man. You're a great season. Well done. You've come. Next year, it could be your turn. So let's go and get him again. I will see what happens. But yeah, I don't want any subdued celebrations, thank you.

No matter who wins it. It's bad to Zach Proud on Abu Dhabi. Just like the reaction. Just hold up a sign. Well done, driver's name. Congrats, I guess. Straight face. Come on. Last one.

F1 giving the mandatory two-stop rule at Monaco another go is blank. Optimistic, I think, in the sense that it really did not work. And they can't enforce a rule that says you can't do what you did this year. There's no way of saying you can't back up the pack to let your teammate go and get a pit stop and go again. And whilst it created a very different race scenario, I don't think it creates. created a better race scenario than what Monaco would have given us anyway. So it wasn't good racing. It was just farcical strategy.

But I have to congratulate Racing Bulls on for doing it first. They thought of it first. They dig it. Fair play. You played the game. Well done. Doesn't mean I like it. Doesn't mean I want to see it every single time we're going to Monaco anymore.

So it's optimistic in the sense that they think it's going to be different. They think it's going to change. It's better for them. I think they're going to realize their mistake very quickly, unfortunately. I think we should. Morriconing something different, this isn't it? Yeah, I said it's baffling. I don't know what they're expecting.

Like, that is stupidity personified, isn't it? Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. Like, I just don't know why, unless they make a significant rule change about when you can take your pit stops, for example, to eliminate some of these team games. I just don't understand what they think is going to be different. Like the teams will just do the same thing again unless you literally stop them. But it's very difficult to police that because within the rules of F1, what they're doing is fine. And it's very difficult to determine what is a game and what isn't a game when you're doing that sort of thing. So I just, I didn't even mind too much them giving it a go.

I was fine with them trying it. Fine with them trying it once. No issue. Yeah, Monaco has over the last few years, I mean, it's been more than a few years. it's been a tricky Grand Prix to get right. They were trying something different to add to the entertainment, and it didn't work. Just, okay, it didn't work.

Move on. But no, try it again. The only thing I can think of that they could do, even this is ridiculously hard, is make them drive to a minimum delta every single lab. As in like you have to be going like 95% or whatever per second it would end up being, right? You can't drop, unless you have a car problem,

that you can prove, you can't drop below. a certain delta. And that way you wouldn't get this backup issue that we saw previously. But yeah, it's just farcical. And we're over-complicating racing, especially for new people coming to the sport. Okay. That's going to do it for this episode.

Sam, if you wouldn't mind, getting us out of here. Folks, thanks once again for joining us for another non-race weekend, midweek episode. We hope you're enjoying all the F1 Chitchat, the I'll say off-season, but then the mid-season break chat that we go through. It's always fun. to talk about these different topics and doing things at the top five.

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