The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Fresh or flop? Our reactions to Ferrari's 2026 livery!

Episode Date: January 25, 2026

The LB boys react to a jam-packed week of car launches from the Big Three: Ferrari, Mercedes… and Alpine! They also discuss why Williams are sitting out the first F1 test, before wrapping up with a classic Back and Forth. Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get: Ad-free listening Full-length bonus episodes Power Rankings after every race Historical race reviews & more exclusive extras! Connect with Late Braking: You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats! Get in touch any time at [e-mail] 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. To the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking. Another Sunday? Another late breaking episode. But Sam, I can't believe this. There is F1 competitive F1 action in six weeks from now.

Yes, time really is starting to fly. Harry Ead made a very good point recently that we only done the last race a month ago, what it was last month, and we're only six weeks away from it starting again. I mean, as an F1 fan, believe it me, love it, but it does feel like time doesn't really exist anymore. It's just always F1 at this point.

Yeah, it's just constant now that there's no winter break. It's just all F1. No, put a present. You start F1 again. It's F1. But yeah, kind of hear for it. We've had, since we last spoke to you, lovely people, we've had more car launches. Yes.

Unbelievably, we have had more car launches. We're very much getting into the meet of this launch season now. And as of tomorrow, there will be cars on track, even if it is a private shakedown that's happening at Circuit to Catalonia. It's a shame. It's not televised. We can't watch all the cars go around turn one. But never mind. We have had plenty of launches this week.

We've already discussed Audi and Hasse earlier on in the week, but we still have Ferrari, Mercedes and Alpine, the big three, to discuss on today's episode. We've also got a bit of back and forth. The first one this year, you'll be glad to hear that's making a return. Let's start with Ferrari because the scuderia revealed their SF 26 at their home track, Fiorano, with both drivers in attendance and behind the wheel of the car. Much like Red Bull, the team have gone back to a.

gloss finish after many years of having a matte finish. The livery features more white than in recent years, perhaps going back to something of a 2016-2017 era of Ferrari. Seen a lot of divided opinion on this one, maybe more so than any other livery so far. Sam, are you positive or negative on this one? Scugaria, more like diarrhea, because this is poop.

Yates, good to start early. No, here again, I. hate it. It's like they've tried to recreate the 312T with Nicolauda with the big white, almost plumage over the top of the car. And that is such an iconic Ferrari car. It might be the best Ferrari car of all time in the way that it looks. The difference in that is, is there's no black on that car. The wings are all white. The colors match up perfectly. They've got little hints of yellow and white across the car. It's absolutely gorgeous. But this car, I am adamant. They've only got the white dollop in the middle because they've got to put the HP logo somewhere that isn't

on red because it looks so bad that they've got to hide that contrast. And I've realized with aerial shots of Lewis Hamilton doing his test run, with his big old yellow helmet in the middle of that white circle, he looks like a bloody frying egg. The man looks like a frying egg. This is what his career has come to looking like a fried egg. He's a fried egg driving around at Italian racetrack. I don't like it. I hate the way that the red just cuts off all the carbon fiber. I think they've done a really bad placement. If the alternate color of the car have been black, not white, I think the carbon fiber had gotten away with it. The wings are obviously completely black with the IBM on the back as well. It's just not working. I've seen a lot of people say they really like it. And a lot of people

have helped it back to almost the Michael Schumacher, Mulbra, Ferrari. I disagree. I don't think it has a lot of resemblance to this at all. I also think the shade of red is too light. for me. I prefer the darker reds that Ferrari were doing a couple of years ago. I think they're more punchy, more angry, more sexy. This is just a bit I don't like it. It feels dated, but badly done for me. Does this one bring more disappointment than...

A lot, because Ferrari have the capacity to be so good, but when they get it wrong, it's so bad. Yeah. Harry, are you more positive than Sam is on this one? Not particularly. I mean, what goes far as to call them diarrhea, Ferrari? It's just a good joke. That's a very huge joke, Harry.

I was surprised you didn't vote it. Yeah, you love a diary a joke. Oh, you know me. Yeah, I'm disappointed with this because it feels like they just haven't, they were so close to like a couple of maybe great liveries and they've they've like bullsed it up right at the death. There's the, as you referenced Sam, there's the like Nicky Lauda Ferrari, which, you know, with the big white airbox.

I looked, because obviously they did the white, that sort of homage that at Monza last year. Yeah. That's better than this. I'm like, you had the blueprint and you've made it worse. So that's really annoying. But then if they hadn't, if they got rid of the white entirely and had the red with the, they've got black front and rear wings, then you're looking at like early 90s Ferrari. And they're pretty cool as well. But no.

In fact, Ferrari's gorgeous. Yeah, we got a big white splodge in the, in the middle of it. and it feels like they really don't know what to do with that HP logo. And they're like, well, why? Which is fair. And there's been a lot of discussion about why can it, why can't it be, you know, integrated with the, with delivery. And I agree.

I would love to see that. It's clear that HP have paid a certain amount of money for that not to happen. And now the Ferrari livery designers are like, oh, what do we do now? so it just feels like they're struggling. It has, yeah, it has the, the bones of being a good livery. And I just think it hasn't, they haven't been able to decide which way to go with it and have sort of almost panicked and done that. There sounds of me being a fried egg that's going to stay with me for the rest of the year.

Every time you see with that yellow helmet and that white circle. Oh, no. What are going to do? Friedelton. No. By the sounds of it, because the early 2000s have been referenced in terms of Ferrari liveries in this chat already, early 2000s, mid-2010s, the early 90s,

the sort of mid-70s, it sounds to me like they do have something there, they've just got too much there, and have almost not honed in on one of those concepts. Early doors, but there's something there, Ferrari, even in the deliverer. I'm not on a train, mate, I bought a ticket to shit. Well, we'll have more predictions about how competitive this car will be in future episodes before the start of the year.

In terms of this livery, it's an improvement on 2025. I hated 2025, so that's a very low bar, but I prefer it to 2025. But overall, I'm afraid I'm in the same camp as both of you. I'm not a massive fan of this one. And I am disappointed because I felt like this was an opportunity to return. turn to a great livery because I think like the last couple of years they've let me down a bit after a few years before that being really good, taking away the mission win-out stuff because goodness me. Positives though. I'm on the other side of the argument to Sam on this one. I prefer

this red personally. This is more the Ferrari red that I like versus the darker red that they've shown in the last couple of years. And the things that I massively hated about last year's car are gone. I'll give them that. So that awful carbon fiber like strike almost that they had at the back of the car, that's no longer there, which is good. And the white strip that they had, I will get onto what they've done instead, but the white strip they had last year, which had the HP logo, I hated, that's gone as well. I think overall HP has been done slightly better. it feels a little less intrusive than it did on last year's car, particularly on the rear wing. Negatives.

And it's pretty much an ongoing thing I say when it comes to Ferrari liveries. If you look at it from the front, I think it looks great. And then if you look at it from the side, I don't think it does. I just, most of this is related to that carbon fibre. Because whilst they have got rid of that strike again, it just, the area around the bargeboard, like towards the front, it just looks horrendous. And whilst I'm not against the white necessarily, like you both, the execution, I think is a little bit off.

I don't love it. Mainly the area just in front of the cockpit, because we've already seen a few on boards. It just doesn't look right that the area directly in front of the driver is not red. That is jarring. So I wish they'd have kept that red. So overall,

I hate to continue the negativity on this first one. I don't love it. Well, on Ferrari, is it a good start to the year? Yeah, starting strong. Well done. Speaking of the start of a new era, Freddie Vass called this the start of a completely new journey. He was very much looking to draw a line under the previous generation

and start this one. Sam, is he right to go with that mentality just based on some of the disappointments of the last era of Ferrari? If he wasn't going with this mentality, I would be quite worried for the future of Ferrari at that point. It wasn't exactly filled with trophies and success, was it, for both Hamilton, LeClaire, science, you know, Vettel, even. They picked up a few wings across the last decade, but it's not being fruitful when it comes to anything close to championships. The last time they even got remotely close, of course, was 1718, where they were fighting alongside Mercedes. They need to have a completely different mindset.

The culture needs to change. They need to shift in the way that they do things. Their understanding of regulations is clearly not particularly up to scratch. It hasn't been now for nigh on 20 years. They've really been struggling to keep up with quite regularly it being Mercedes-powered cars. And obviously, Ferrari are known for their engines. Historically, that seems to be what used to quite literally and figuratively propel them forward in the championship. And that's where they've been missing out a lot of the time, hence the hybrid era being dominated by Mercedes-Power until Honda came along and picked up with Red Bull, only for McLaren, of course, to succeed them again.

within the saying his power unit. They were so close in that 23-24 era where we thought they might start to tip over the edge. It just fell away again. They went to this silly different kind of the poor-roll push-rog system. They had back change last minute. Very complicating the way they suddenly decided to change the whole package when they were right on the cusp of achieving something.

So, yeah, a whole new way of doing things, a whole new mindset, listening to those around them that have had previous success, Angora Lewis Hamilton's been mentioned, is a positive sign. It's a successful sign in the sinks that they're hopefully moving towards people that know what they're doing. And hopefully what harm is that? Instead of just, I don't know, walking around like Muppets, not really unsure. The guy with the blue thing might be back for a Reno.

I don't know. Please. I just got to get it there like a mascot. Bring it back. Yeah, I think this is the right way to go about it because whilst 24 had some really good moments. And we're not saying like the previous era, the previous generation was completely awful for Ferrari. there were 14 points off a constructors title in 2024, just based on the prestige and what we expect from that team,

they were a letdown because they're looking for championships and they didn't win any. You know, the fall off that they had in 2022, only a one win in 23. Last year, as you've just detailed, Sam, was pretty much a disaster. So when Freddie Vassar joined Ferrari a few years ago, he definitely would have been looking at this new, era of F1 as his opportunity to, I don't know, take charge. And that will be his legacy.

Particularly with Charlotte Clare, and we spoke about him in the midweek episode, signing a deal that will take him into this new era as well back in 2023. He would have been targeting 2026 as an opportunity to finally bring Ferrari back to success. I think Ferrari and Freddie Versaer's job in particular is very dependent on what. happens this year. So we'll see how that goes. Harry, focusing a bit more on Lewis Hamilton. He spoke about the, you call it a fascinating process, I think, about how he was involved in the car development from the off this time out. How important could that be for Lewis Hamilton, given last year in his struggles, he didn't have that. Yeah, I think massively important that he's been

involved. He came into that team last year and as you say, he had no involvement in that development of that car whatsoever. Having said that, Charlotte Clare must have had involvement and it was still a crap car. But it's an important for Hamilton. We've seen already that I think a lot of his inputs around the, they've got a brand new steering wheel, which has far less knobs and buttons on it. But no Ferrari logo on it.

Well, yeah, maybe that's Lewis Hamilton's. You see in the up-closed picture of the cockpit, like you make sure with the Y and the steering wheel. It doesn't, you wouldn't know it's a Ferrari. Yeah, that's fair. But I mean, anyway, if there's no Ferrari logo, but Hamilton starts winning, I'm sure he's not going to come. Maybe that's the way to want in a Ferrari.

You don't tell anyone it's a Ferrari. It's a Ferrari. It's a Mercedes, we promise. For a Cedys. But, yeah, so he's clearly had some influence already. You know, and I don't necessarily think he's going to be shaping the aerodynamics. hit all himself. But I think having input, and we see it with, you know, just happening in Red Bull. That's quite an extreme, extreme case of it. But

it works. That car is often built around him and it suits him. And he does very well. So I think, yeah, it's a, it's important thing. He's obviously now had a year at a T at the team. He's, he's been making lists, as we know last year. I'm assuming at the top of it was getting rid of his race engineer. And that's confirmed. So that's gone. So yeah, these are all positive things, he seems in a very positive mood at the start of the start of the season, certainly

versus where he was at the back end of 2025, that's for sure. So he has confidence and optimism, for sure. We'll just see whether Ferrari can crush that. Oh, I have no doubt. Yeah, they'll give it a go. Give it one race. I think when it comes to Hamilton

a driver of his experience in terms of F1 cars rather generally, regulation change, it is very important and significant to have him involved from the off. He has been praised for feedback in the past and he's not afraid to question and to probe and press when it comes to car development. I think that will be particularly helpful at an environment like Ferrari. We know what they're like.

Hamilton last year really struggled with, he struggled generally, but one thing he really struggled with was confidence in the brakes. And you might think of that as a bit of an isolated issue. You might say, well, if he can nail everything else and just struggle on the brakes, he might get away with it. It doesn't quite work like that. These things in F1, they very rarely turn out to be isolated things. Like, as soon as you don't have confidence in the brakes, you are breaking earlier than you probably need to. That's going to affect tire temperatures. Tire temperatures is going to eventually affect balance. All of it is almost a knock-on domino effect. So if he can tailor this car a little bit to what he likes,

there is a chance he turns this around. I'm not saying it will happen, but that seems to be one area it could come from. Sam, last word on this Ferrari, of course, cut off development very early last season, thinking 2025 wasn't going to be an opportunity for a championship. Does that mean they have to start this year really well to prove that that decision was correct?

Yeah, I think they have to be on the front. foot. It would be a real waste of time and effort and resource. If you've committed this early to a whole new set of regulations, arguably trying to get the jump on Red Bull, who we know ended their development of 25 really late in the year, McLaren, who I think they sit around the summer break they only stopped developing at that point. Mercedes, they were around the same time as Ferrari, but they were still bringing up breaks from the car throughout the year. Ferrari, they kind of, by about April May time, they were done. They have to make sure they're gaining something out of this to not have a whole new set of regulations that.

They just down the drain, driving around him, third or fourth overall. It's not good enough. Hamilton is unreal at feedback. They need to make sure they're using him properly and not expecting him to, as you said, Harry, be sat there in the wing tunnel shaping the aerodynamics, although maybe there are some people at Ferrari who think that's the right decision and they don't know what's going on. He is unreal at delivering feedback.

There's a reason that that was saying his car. When the engine started to be matched by competitors, was still so good at performance, so on the top level. It's, does it always work, though? you have to bear that in mind. You go into the new set of regulations, you know, the ground effect cars that we've just gone through.

Well, Mercedes weren't there. They weren't on top of things. And Hamilton had a key part in that. It's important to bear that in mind. So whilst he is incredible at doing what he does when it's going well, you can't rest all your laurels on Lewis Hamilton, you can't put all your eggs in one basket.

You've got to work as a team and play to each other strengths. Yes, all of the laurels, Kirstie. All of the laurels. Well, Ferrari, whether they achieve it or not, is going to be a team with championship aspirations. On the other side of the break, another team with those championship aspirations. Mercedes launched their car. Back, everyone.

On Thursday, Mercedes released the first images of its 2026 challenger before giving it its first runout at Silverstone. Mercedes have maintained elements of silver and black on this car, plus of course its trademark turquoise. Perhaps most notable are the silver stripes, gills, whatever we're calling them on the side of the car. Again, some split opinion I've seen here. Are you a fan of this one?

So my overall thought process was that this one felt sleek, right? They've done well to keep to their traditions in their colours, but I do think they've gotten a little bit confused and got a bit one way than the other with the stars of AMG, also the rogue markings. That's what the stripes are meant to imply. I thought it was Adagas initially. Their team gear is now Adigas.

But then I got a message from Robbie, who's a listener of the show on my Instagram, and she pointed out to me it was really, now I can't unsee it. If you look at the car from the top down, and this is for all my sci-fi nerds out there, that car looks like a face hugger from Alien. The front strip is a big long silver strip, and then it looks like it's got these four fingers that go around the cockpit. And I can't unsee it. And that's what it looks like to me. So they've created a facehugger from Alien. Well done, Mercedes. It's now disgusting in my mind.

And yet, still better than the Ferrari. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Still better than Ferrari. So are you leaning negative? I just think there's too many ideas going on. You've got the reg stars for Nicky on there. You've got the silver stars at the back.

You've got these stripes. You've got the turquoise stripped through there. They don't know whether to go black or silver anymore. Because of the way they really well represented Lewis Hamilton and they did that shift, of course, for Black Lives Matter. and they tried to be really empowering and they did that whole shift of the livery to be black for quite a while.

Oh, that was great. They committed to it really well. And then they went back to silver at the start of the ground effect era and they were fully silver. And now they're kind of a bit half and half with too many patterns going on in the car. I just think it's a bit confusing.

I've seen a few comments wanting them to go properly back to maybe early Mercedes Silver Arrow's era. It was great. Well, true. but with Audi's introduction, of course, they're quite predominantly silver. I wonder if that was at least part of the decision to keep some of the black on the car.

Harry, what are your views on this one? Yeah, I'm unsure. I'm shock, but I'm unsure on this one because, and in the same way that you said this about the, I think it was the Audi Ben, the Audi livery, I just, this not really made me feel anything. I'm just like, nah, cool, that's the one the Mercedes looks like. And you're right, Sam, they just haven't really decided, I guess it's a similar way to fry,

but haven't decided which way to go and have sat on the fence, ironically. I haven't gone fully blackened in the world, they still got the silver, but I've just added more patterns to it. And, yeah, so it's not my favorite thing in the world, but I didn't, I wasn't like, disgusting. I was just a bit like, okay, fine. what I will give them the credit for, by the way, is Mercedes did a post on Instagram, I think, explaining the livery, yeah,

delivery, which maybe they were expecting backlash. We're like, no, guys, come on, we thought about this. But, yeah, you know, that was quite a good thing to be fair for them to do. But yeah, it's just, it's fine. If it starts winning races a lot, it will look better, quite frankly. As liveries always do. Yeah, I'm really, for whatever reason, trying to be a fan of this and I'm just not. Same comments as both of you that there are elements of this I really like and then it's all put together and I just don't like it.

And again, I really feel like I should or I should want to. Not quite. There are positives. The front of the car, I think, looks really slick again. Love the turquoise lines throughout the way in which they've done that. It's really, really clever. and I really like the silver arrows as they regularly feature at the back of the car. I think that's a really nice, unique individual element to Mercedes that they bring to their liveries very well.

I think this is no exception. Sponsorship, I think, is done pretty well throughout the car. There's one notable one, which might chat about in a minute, actually, with Microsoft, because that's the one that kind of stands out and that deal was only done shortly before this livery was announced. But other than that, I think all of the other liveries, they've mainly made them white on black and none of them are overly intrusive. And black on the turquoise, I think, looks great. The silver on the turquoise, I think looks great.

And then that leads me to the same negative that both of you had, which is it feels like two liveries. And if they're just stuck to one of those two, it doesn't matter which one, I think I'd probably like this quite a lot more. I just don't massively love them trying to do both. I can't say I had the same reaction as Sam in terms of it looking like something from Alien. It's very sci-fi. Particularly overhead, I don't like those markings at all.

I don't think they look great. There are some angles, I think it looks better than others. And like you, Sam, I also thought, oh, they're trying to incorporate Adidas. Nope, no, they're not. and yeah Microsoft I don't think it looks as bad as some other title or key sponsors Sam

but they have maintained the colour of the standard Microsoft logo which does make it stand out a bit what it has kind of replaced though is that INEOS isn't really featured on the liveries anymore yeah which is really interesting and that's completely really disappeared because that was obviously red and it was really odd to have a car that was kind of black and silver

with the turquoises their kind of tertiary colour and then just red. It was very much like Ferrari, where you'd have the white and red or the black and red and then blue of HP. And this is of the same ilk where with Audi we saw the green BP

on the back of the livery, we're seeing this multi-colored Microsoft logo sitting on the airbox of a very dark, subtle colored car. I think that's part of the reason why people aren't falling in love with this unless you're a diehard Mercedes fan or someone who goes,

I love every livery because it's Mercedes. I think they're using too many almost tertiary color colours, black, grey and turquoise, especially in how little they've used it, are very subtle colours. All three of them are used to complement or to highlight or to bring out other colours. But these have all been used as their key colours and because of that there's no impact. If it was all black with some turquoise on it, I go, oh, that's cool. But because it's not enough of any of them, you just go a bit, a none of them are bringing the other one out or complimenting it.

And then you whack Microsoft on the side of the airbox with its orange and it's green and it's blue and you're like, oh, okay, random moment of color at the very top of the car. Also, did they nick that off of someone? Wasn't that on a car previously? I know it used to be on the Lotus a long time ago, of course. It was on Kimmy's Lotus. But I thought it was on another car recently. Alpine. It was Alpine. Good to know that Mercedes have decided to take opportunities from the best. They give an engine, they takeeth your sponsor. That's how it works. Yes, that is how it works. Moving away from the livery, Harry, what vibes are you getting from Mercedes more generally?

We obviously saw a video very recently of the trucks leaving Brackley, you know. Champs. Right. People of F1 social media, can we stop? Okay. It's incessant the amount of speculations going on. I talked to these two about this before we started. Someone reposted the video of the trucks leaving the Mercedes factory saying, oh my God, look how confident they are. It's a video of some trucks.

Come on, people. They've cooked. God. Please, the love of God, make testing start now, so we can stop this. No, it'll get worse. Trucks look really stable, I thought. Like, really stable. Big, big solid trucks there.

They know where they're going with the truck set up every rate. It's got a flatbed or a transit van. That's a real lorry, that is. Yeah, I mean, look, Mercedes, they came straight out the blocks with their shakedown, as have other people, for example. So then they're not the only ones,

but, you know, there's reason to believe that they should be confident about this year. They've been aiming towards it for some time, I think basically since the ground of idea

started and they've been so terrible. But yeah, I think they are, they're going to be quietly confident, but as ever an F1, I just, they were, know until we won't know until we get to Melbourne basically we'll have all the testing in the

world so we won't be able to watch but really i don't think anyone's truly going to show their hand until they get to the first race yeah i think that's right and there does seem to be an air of quiet confidence around Mercedes in a way that they they don't know until they get on track like you say that they do appear quietly confident there was a there was a speaking of Mercedes social media there was a clip from George Russell as he was watching Antonelli fly by at Silverstone, and he does like a quick sort of 45 second video to camera. And he is smiling for a good chunk of that 45 seconds, and he looked very, not confident, but just quite comfortable,

which is a good sign. That's where you want to be in a preseason. But we don't know until they get these cards on. If we go on team members smiling, eerily on the side of the track at the start of season. It's like out-peeing and surely got to be the most smug people in the world because those guys be smiling all the time.

Not to, not to again, this is pure speculation, so not to join the party in that one. But have you, the size of the airbox is on the Mercedes and I guess the RB so far, we haven't actually seen the Red Bull on track versus the Air Force on the Ferrari. Ferrari is like a straw.

Well, Red Bull and Mercedes are the ones that allegedly have this compression ratio trick. what a Ferrari forgot to do. They're going to turn up. Melbourne is just going to be an airbox and nothing else, isn't it? Hamilton's running with it over his head. Holding an airbox. The other thing I've noticed, now again,

we're on the rumour train here, but there is a stability rod at the front of the car and the saying is that holds the barge board to the side of the car, and it is one single rod. Classic the saying, it's got the job done. Someone has dug a side-by-side comparison. Now, this is, of course, still,

we don't know if this is how the car is going be. Ferrari have done the same thing, but they've done it with three separate rods to do the same job. And that screams the difference between Ferrari and Mercedes instantly. Why can you do three things when the other scene is done it with one? Why have you made it more complicated? Triple the work. Triple the work. More research. Yeah, sure. Also, do you see the video, so I'm talking more Ferrari now, of the wings, the front and the back wings? Yes. That was weird. It's going to take a lot to get used to a wing going down. Hey.

Yeah, that's going to take a while, I think. That's, yeah, but I have seen that video as well. Back to Mercedes, George Russell finds himself as one of the favorites going into this season. Sam, he's the, if you want to listen to the bookmakers, he's the second favorite behind Max Verstappen. Is he deserving of being one of those favorites? Yeah, I think so. I think he's earned his claim to being one of the best driving Formula One right now. And I think the moment he's giving a car that is genuinely competitive for three quarters of a season,

18% of the season, I think he's got what it takes to deliver. I actually would say, even now after what we saw last season, I have more confidence in him delivering a world title than landing or a Scolskopiastroo. I think it's him and Lecler that could go toe to toe with Max Verstappen for a whole season right now. and if Mercedes can provide, I really think he can deliver. Yeah, even though we haven't seen a title challenge from George Russell yet, I don't think he's had a car that was capable of one. He's less experienced in that regard compared to Vastappen, Piastri now, even, Norris,

Lecler, Hamilton, Fernando Alonzo, who knows. But his performances have been great over the last couple of years, particularly in relation to his teammates, Louis Hamilton, for a couple of years. is Antonelli last year. Even with the hesitancy around what Red Bull are going to do this year, I think Vestappen does deserve his place as the favourite going into the year. But I have no problem with George Russell then as the second favourite. Maybe it's slightly disrespectful to Norris and Piastri,

who will, of course, have the same engine as George Russell will. And if you think it is disrespectful, may I suggest putting some money on either of those two drivers? But, yeah, I think he's fully deserving of being in that conversation. Separate to this, some other news from Mercedes that came out around the same time is the F1 Academy champion, Dorian Pan, is increasing her responsibilities with the team as she becomes one of their development drivers for 2026. So she graduates from the team's junior program and she'll work across simulated development and carry out activities at the factory and trackside at some Grand Prix. She'll attend several Grand Prix, but she will have a racing program alongside that that's yet to be announced. Harry, do you have any thoughts on this news? Of course, F1 Academy's been around for a couple of years now

trying to ensure that the women can progress up the totem pole in terms of single-seaters. We do now have her as a development driver at Mercedes. Do you think it's significant? I think it is significant. I think, and it's a positive thing for her, that she has, there has been some sort of, as you say, graduation into a bigger role here.

and that, in essence, is what F1 Academy is for. It's obviously not done the full jobs. She's not got a race C and F1 or anything quite like that. But it's a step along the way. And for Mercedes, I think it's great that they've put their faith. Because this is not a small role. This is, you know, development drive. Throughout the year, if they're in a championship fight,

she will play a key part in helping develop that car and making sure it's, you know, in the best possible place. We saw when Mick Schumacher was in that similar role, and he did so many nights in the simulator because at the time the car was terrible, and then he'd manage to spend hours in the simulator overnight on like a Friday night, and then they'd have a slightly better set up for the next day.

And so this is, you know, similar sort of role for Dorian. She's going to be entitled to that team. So I think, yes, it's certainly a positive step. I think it will be important that it doesn't necessarily just stop there. But I think it's a good thing for sure that the Mercedes have done this and put their faith in it. Yeah, I have to confess, I've never been overly happy with the way that Mercedes have developed Dorian Pan outside of giving her the opportunity in F1 Academy. You know, the last few years have been really scattered for her. I don't think it's helped a development brilliantly well.

You know, she was making great strides in sports cars a couple of years ago. But a time has since been quite split. So she was obviously doing F1 Academy last year. She was also doing Formula, Formula Regional European Championship last year, too, which is an important series. It's where Antonelli came from and other F1 prospects are coming from as well. But she only did eight of the 20 races in that championship last year

because she was also doing F1 Academy. So I think maybe not fully committing her time one way or the other as maybe hurt her to a little bit. I think if Mercedes were fully invested in her career as a single-seater driver with the possibility of getting to F1, they would have done more in regards to an F3 or an F2 seat. And I know there's still one seat left in both of those championships. So if it comes back that she takes one of those, then I'll take it back, obviously. But it doesn't look like they're trying to progress her. in that respect, which is a bit disappointing.

Sure, being a development driver is better than nothing, and it will be good to have that visibility throughout the year. We know that when it comes to F1 races and development drivers at the track, you'll often get camera shots occasionally of these drivers. And I'm sure that will happen, and just having her on such a big screen for young girls to look up to is important. I just wish that there was something else. you know, they were also backing her in terms of that single seat of career

or committing fully to sports cars because she was doing a great job there a couple of years ago. But we'll see how we pants out. So many thoughts here? Yeah, for her personally, excited. This is a cool opportunity. She's getting involved in a global Goliath when it comes to motor racing.

Really great. I'm just getting really frustrated with how Effron Academy is almost turning out to be a real lack of end product for these young women coming into motorsport. And it's continuing down the same vein that we were struggling with before they came into it. You know, you've had previous women involvement in Formula One. Susie Wolf, of course, was massively involved in the development and testing of Williams,

a good decade ago, over a decade ago now. Jessica Hawking's, of course, came from Refong Academy, was involved heavily in Aston Martin. And that never really went anywhere in terms of actual full-time racing. And now it feels like Dorian Pan is doing the same thing, where she's getting a really good opportunity to be the development driver. But how many of these young women are we seeing actually progressing into hardcore top level single seat of motorsport racing? And this is a good press moment for her.

I think it makes Mercedes better. But you're right. Why aren't they paying outright to get her into an F3C? And I think a major problem with F1 Academy is that a lot of these young women are almost too old going into the F1 Academy season. So by the time they go up against an F3 driver, they're, they're five, six years older sometimes than these F-3 drivers. These F-3 drivers are still 16, 17, you know,

and sometimes the young women are already in their 20s. And we're writing off a lot of young men who are in their 20s at this point. So when you're already on the back foot, as young women so often are, unfortunately, and they need that systemic buildup right from five, six years old in karting, they're at a disadvantage so early on. I just think this is a misstep. I think it's a real shame.

She's a real talent. And I do think that I'd rather see her go and be really successful in something like sports car racing than sitting behind on the sidelines not actually being successful because I think if I was a young girl or if I was the dad of a young girl who was interesting racing, I'd want to see a race winner. I'd want to see a champ. I don't want to see a someone who I see two, three times a year because they're in a simulator. It's a really cool opportunity. I'm really happy for her that she's getting this career. But I think there was more to her and I think they were saying to kill a gunball. And we'll see what that racing program looks like in due course. We'll take our second break on this episode and then on the other side,

we're chatting Williams and them not making that first test in Barcelona. Uh-oh. Oopsies. Back everyone. Williams will miss the first Formula One test at Barcelona due to delays getting his 2026 car ready. Speculation emerged this week that Williams was struggling with its chassis build, with the team now confirming they will miss the first.

test entirely due to delays in the FW48 program as we continue to push for maximum car performance. Instead of going to Barcelona, Williams will test the car virtually. Harry, your reaction to the moves? It's not ideal, is it? No, that's much. I'm not going to say this is an unmitigated disaster and it's not as bad as it was. Was it 2019, I think, under Claire Williams, so they didn't make the... By Patty.

by Paddy I don't think we're at that I don't think we're at that stage or that position same position as Williams were back then but this is still not good it's not a good start

especially given that Williams have had a sole focus on 2026 for so long the fact that they're on the back foot from the start is not a great place to be we don't fully know why there's rumors around that maybe they haven't passed the crash test they've been too aggressive with the chassis etc we don't actually know it's unconfirmed but you know either

way not being there for the shakedown is not great especially when some other teams have already done a shakedown and then are going to do more shaking down next or this week in Barcelona so we're going to be on the back foot the only thing I have seen as a someone's put a positive spin on it is maybe it's not that it's a play but I've seen this more development time out of the car versus because yeah I don't know who knows but it gives him an extra two weeks or a week or so to actually develop that car rather than shaking it down for the most part I know we're expecting reliability problems more so this year than we have have done but I think these cars are still going to run relatively well so maybe it maybe

it is a play it's a it's a it's a trick but it's obviously an unplanned one and they were going to be in Barcelona and now they're not. The only saving grace, or slight saving grace for them, is the fact that we're seeing a few things about McLaren and Aston Martin, for example, that aren't running straight away in Barcelona. So it's not like they're the only ones. I know they're still going to be there. But there's, there are teams that are sacrificing,

have obviously sacrificed runtime over development, getting the car over the line or getting it finished time. So I think that is an intriguing one, but either way, it was unplanned, clearly from Williams' point of view, or at least it appears that way. And that's not a great start to the year. Sam, what do you think? Yeah, I've seen two schools of thought on this. The first is that they actually don't lose too much by not going to the shakedown for two reasons. One is already the development reason that you brought up, Harry.

And I do think that's an interesting one that if they think they can get ahead of the game by almost being experimental. And it's a risk, right? If it goes wrong, they could be in real trouble. but they also could get an extra full week of development timing and then commits just the main test, of course, that we're going to see. Or it's gone the other way and it's completely unplanned and they've announced it's very late and they are having some serious concerns over their car. Now, one thing they don't need to worry about is the engine testing itself.

Because they have the customer of Mercedes, it actually works for them, that Mercedes can go out there, same with McClaring, same with Alpine. They could do all the engine running. If any little bugs come up, any worries come up, that Mercedes can sort out, well, that's why you're a customer. It's one of the perks of being a customer. That factory unit will go and sort it out for you and send you the car once they've tweaked it

because they have to have parity across the engines that they're sending out to their customers. So that's one tick in the box I haven't going to worry about. But when it comes to not being on the racetrack, it's worrying that it was such a late-minute call. And this is why I don't think they're at an advantage. But they were the team that started their development earlier than everyone else. They were the ones that said, you know,

we're focusing on small steady improvements. Our big goal is 26. we're not going to win races or championships before the change in these regulations. We're coming out fighting in 26. That's our time. So to be the team that's come out and said, last minute, yeah, we're not going to be making that.

We won't be there. This is not planned. This is not something they've gone and support, you know what, we're a part of a statement in December that says we won't, whatever shakedown comes out, we won't be attending for reasons that we're keeping confidential. This was a last minute call. And I do think that last minute calls often happened

because something has gone wrong, not because they've had, immediate major breakthrough that they think to win them a championship. You don't often see Formula One teams not turning up to tests because they think they go with the championship. So I'm a little bit nervous for Williams after they've given all that time to it. Ron GP. Thank you for that one example.

Not sure they were doing it on purpose. Carlos signs equals Jensen Button. World Championship incoming. Thank you very much. 2026 over. I'm not entirely surprised that a team has. missed this first test with it taking place as early as January. I know we've mentioned it before, but it is so early in the year. And with more changing this year than any other year for quite

a while, it doesn't surprise me a great deal. I thought it was likely that at least one team would probably miss this test. And if no others do, I think that's probably a success overall for the F1 grid. I didn't think it would be Williams because of only five of the 11 teams on the grid are not changing anything this year in terms of either becoming a new team or getting a new power unit. It's only, you know, themselves, Hasse, McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari. They're the only five teams, I think, that are relatively unchanged year on year. So in theory, I thought, okay, my Cadillat missed the first test or Audi missed the first test. Sure, I could believe that. I didn't think it would be Williams. I don't want to say that this should have been easy because

putting together a new car is not easy. But if every, and we don't know what's happening with McLaren and Aston Martin exactly, but if every other team does make it to Barcelona in some way, that's pretty poor and doesn't look good for you. I know that they're trying to frame this as maximizing performance and there are a few tinfoil hats out there as to what they might be doing. I don't buy it. I think they've just missed it.

I think track time is so important at this point. the year that you take every opportunity you can get. Even if you think in theory, like a couple of weeks extra development might be helpful, I think you just take the track time. You look at early 2014-2015 early hybrid era, the last big change. Mercedes-powered cars looked so good, not only because of what they were doing in terms of lap times, they were just able to do far more laps than anyone else. And they got a lot of experience under their belt early.

I think Williams will have wanted that more than anything. Maybe what's most frustrating is that this just seems to be following a pattern from a couple of years ago when I know we've already mentioned 2019, go more recent than that and say 2024 when they had serious problems over the winter period to the point where you remember Logan Sargent missed the Australian GP because Alex Albin had a big crash in practice, they didn't have enough parts to run two cars. And if they had another crash like that in any of the next two or three races, they'd have been in the same spot. And it just feels like these are the same issues sort of arising again when so much has been put on this era. And James Vowes in particular has so much riding on 2026 being a success. It's not game over, but they have made their job more difficult than it was before this happened.

Well, let's go far more positive and let's talk about Alpine. because they have launched their 2026 car on a cruise ship, which is appropriate, given they are often. Ah, there we go. There we go. I was going to say they're often all at sea. So, you know. Very good.

Hey. Very good. The car has already appeared on track as a result of a shakedown at Silverstone on Wednesday. The livery is relatively unchanged from last year. And from memory, it scored quite well last year. So we'll see what our opinions are of this one. Sam? I don't like it.

I don't like it at all. A number of different reasons. BWT, I know you're pink. I like having some pink on the grid. I've moaned about blue until the cows come home. Have you? Have you? Maybe if you're a new listener, you might have not hurt my hate for the colour

at the moment, despite blue being the colour. But the pink on the side is so, so, so, so badly integrated into this car with BWT. And the fact that, I think you brought this up, but it was spotted by many, that the carbon fiber, the way they placed it, is seemingly slicing through the BWT logo to the point where it doesn't look finished. It looks like the sticker ran out or they had to pull it over the top of the sticker to make sure they can make the weight.

It's just, again, a lot of these teams are really struggling to find one direction to go in with their livery design. Last have smashed it, right? This crisp white liveryoo, the big G.R. on the back, a couple of sleep red lines about it. Done. You know what you're getting. Red Bull have come in with this really deep blue. They've got their logo. It's gloss.

Done. This, again, it just feels messy. It just feels like there's no clear-cut design with what's going on. And it's just screaming, again, Alpine going, we're not really sure. A bit undecided with what we're meant to do. And if that's not Al-Pie, I've done all what is. I looked at their liver when they first. came into Formula 1 before they had

BWT on the car. And it has that lovely blue and, you know, it's mostly blue, but on the back of the car it's got the red and the white with the big A on the side pod. Really sleek, really nice livery, got the job done. And I just think since then they've not got it right sinks. I don't want to brain VWT,

but you are the sole reason why it doesn't look good. That sounds like blaming. Yeah, no, whoa. Whoa, don't jump to conclusions here, but I will let you take away whatever you want from that. Thanks for that. Harry, do you like it? No.

Last year's delivery, it really worked. And I know that this is the same livery, and I fear people will shout at us. But in true Alpine style, they've gone, well, that works, so we'll just do it again. But it's a different shape of car. This, obviously, there's a certain percentage of the car or the top of the car that has to be painted this year,

which other teams have obviously they've abide to, but they've all done it or mostly done it, where this is the bottom, when you look at a side profile for the car, the bottom of the car is just carbon fibre. And as you said, Samma, just cuts through the logo. Yeah, I don't, I'm not, I'm not a massive fan of this. And I don't, like I said, it's very similar to last year,

but it worked on last year's car. This year, I just, it hasn't been executed. as well, I don't think. It's a tricky combo to make work. I think Alpin has struggled with this for years. Trying to make the pink and blue work effectively. Yeah, it's not their worst one

because a couple of years ago, they basically had no delivery. Yeah. I saw a picture of that the other day. I was like, I forgot how bad that was. It was just some stickers on a car. Yeah. Ugly. Also, Alpin deciding to launch it on a cruise ship, fine. I'm here for flashy, ridiculous car launches, and it reeks of flabby, obriotory, quite frankly, that.

But why shake it down in the livery at Silverston, like two days beforehand and the world sees it anyway? But not launch it at Silverstone. But if you're going to do that, shake it down with no livery. Like that can't be that difficult. I know it's going to be shipped off somewhere. But I mean... I think Flav was on a cruise and went just tie into my holiday. Yeah. I can't be able to come to.

It's cold wet. He's probably an MSC ambassador. He's probably got a free room. God put the car on the ship. He's as much of an MSC employee as he is an Alpine employee, to be fair. Yeah, he isn't one of either. No. See, I thought it was very Alpine, the fact that they couldn't even do their...

Why would you do it on a cruise ship? It's so logistically difficult to do that. Why make it harder for yourself? My bigger problem is I'm fine with that As Harry said I don't mind when they go a little bit wacky With these launches, why not But commit to it like this wasn't like streamed anywhere Like it wasn't make a big deal out of it

It's on YouTube man, I watched it on YouTube It was on YouTube gas and they fell down the stairs It was really embarrassing Oh that's good Yeah he was pulling the thing back and there's stairs Because it's like a tiny platform Because it's on a cruise ship He walked while pulling it and trips down the stairs

And Colopinto's there like And it's really awkward. He lost Gassley in the sea. Sorry, like, overbord. They're quite to find him. This might have just been me, but I was, because they launched on Friday morning, and Ferrari launched about an hour before Alpine did. And on F1.com, there was like a live blogs with live updates from Fiorano.

But they were saying, like, the launches of today, which were Ferrari and Alpine. And as soon as Ferrari launched, I feel like, I think the sort of live blog kind of just shut down. But then they brought it back when they realized, oh, hang on a minute. We've still got Alpine to do. Sorry, sorry, Alpine. I know we've been really negative about liveries today. After being so positive about them up until now. And I want to be able to turn the tide and I can't because I'm so frustrated with this livery.

Common with all the liveries of today, potential, but just miss the mark. Because I still like the base concept of this livery. It scored very well last year when we did Pimp My F1 and it's fundamentally not that far different from that. They made such a great recovery after that, the sticker livery of a couple of years ago, but that carbon fibre, man, I just can't get over it. There are some positives.

It's awful. I still like the colour. I still like that it's dynamic. I don't mind that it's a repeat. But yeah, the carbon fibre, the fact that it looks like it is eating into. to the BWT is just embarrassing more than anything. I almost feel sorry for them.

The MSC logo placement as well is a bit weird. It's worse than it was last year. And all of the sponsors kind of just look a bit squashed and incohesive. Like you've also got, I forget, is it ENI. You've got the logo on the rear of the car that is a different color to what it is on the main part of the car. Last year it was exactly the same and it looked quite uniform and quite sleek. this year it just looks random.

Yeah. Why can't you put, they've made it white on the blue, but black on the pink. Right. Yeah. But white on pink works perfectly fine. Which is what they did last year.

I know it does because the Al Ping logo on the pink is in white. Yeah. It was all the same. Why would you not have repeated that? I don't know. I also, I'm just going to come out and say it. I think a copy and paste between eras is really, really boring.

I think it's really lazy. I think you should have come up for something new. I just think a whole new set of cars. do something different. Every other team has done something a bit different. It's not good enough. Even Red Bull, that's like, come on. Even Red Bull.

Even Red Bull. And they've got the art of Control C, Control V. It's down to a T. The best finger placement of that Control C, Control V. They've done it so perfectly for many years. Where that designer is. Does it absolutely? It just smashes it.

One common theme of this launch season has been teams and team principles and drivers, perhaps, tempering expectations and just saying, we're not too sure, bear with us maybe for the first couple of months. We don't know how it's going to go. Flavio Briatore noted non-Alpine employee has not followed suit. He says, I expect the best. This year there is no excuse anymore.

We have a brand new car and we have the same drivers. So Franco is here. I promise you, has done a very good winter and it's ready to compete with Pierre. No pressure Franco Colopinto. We need two drivers compete. for the team, of course. If the car is bad, it is our fault because we haven't had any problems built in this car.

We have the budget and we have the sponsor to defeat it. Wow. What a statement. He's confident. If anyone else says that and it goes wrong in the first 12 weeks, they are fired. They are out the door. But because he doesn't work for them,

say whatever he wants. There's consequences. Can't get rid of me because I don't work for you. I promise you, Franco's had a good winter. Please believe me. Franco's are like, I have a boss. I've been really struggling. I ain't so much turkey.

It'll lose my job. Yeah, it's, that's very flabby. It's sorry. Look, the essence of what he's saying here is kind of correct. I understand. He, Alpine should be after such a, terrible time. Alpine should be good.

Like they've been building up to this for a while. I think saying we're going to be great might be a bit over the top though. They've let's temper our expectations a little bit. Let's look where we were at the end of last year. Okay. And whilst they've got Mercedes engines. And gearboxes, whoa.

And gearbox, sorry. Can't forget the good boxes. That's a lot of things on this car that are brand new and that other teams will be doing differently to Alpin. I just, look, it can't be worse than last year, I don't think, but let's, let's, let's, yeah, if I'm Pierre and Franco, I'd be like, oh, please, shush, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. I think Flav remembers how good Mercedes were in 2014,

and he's gone, that's the key to success, just have a Mercedes engine at the start of a new era, and we will be at least third place overall. I think that, that's it. The car could be a box. Yeah. It doesn't matter. I've got a Mercedes engine.

I'm going to keep up with what I've said about Flavia Breastori since his return, which is he is at, no, I'm not going to know. I think this is a man who, first and foremost, wants to succeed in F1. I do believe that's the primary goal. But I think the main reason he's saying all of this and has been saying, we need to win races in 26 and win championships in 2027, I think it is remaining to set them up to be sold. because if they meet all these expectations,

great, they've won championships, perfect. If they don't meet these very lofty expectations, Flavio Brioatori, whose mandate, I think, was this to begin with, can turn around and say, we just don't have the, we can't meet our targets, we're going to have to sell. And every other team boss, I don't like that either,

but every other team boss is being very careful about what they're saying. I just think Briatore has got maybe the possibility of selling on his mind. Yeah, it's possible. I've just seen what Alping's tagline is on their social media channels. And it is? The rise continues into 2026. When does it start? When did you start rising?

Wait, why have you stopped going down, Alping? Come to be last last year. I'd have gone for rise begins, personally. Yeah. Yeah. Rise is being considered. We might add yeast. Alpine, we might add yeast.

So you get good rise. In fact, it's not the worst thing they've ever done on social media. Remember when they had those bloody NFT monkeys on there a couple years ago? Yes. That was worse. NGFT monkeys. What an era. They make one look like Pierre Gansley.

Yeah. It's not good, is it? Really good. No. If you bought one of those, get in touch. Please do. Get in touch. I'm fascinated.

Let's take our final break on this episode. On the other side, a quick game. We're back and forth. Martha listens to her favorite band all the time. In the car? Jim. Even sleeping. So when they finally went on tour,

Martha bundled her flight and hotel on Expedia to see them live. She saved so much, she got her seat close enough to actually see and hear them. Sort of. You were made to scream from the front row. We were made to quietly save you more. Expedia, made to travel. Savings vary and subject to availability. Welcome back, everyone, to the final part of today's episode.

It's time for back and forth. F1. Back and forth. It's F1. back and forth it goes backwards then goes forth it's F1 back and forth F1 sorry to the one guy who despises that seems on an island

we can't play it forever yes unfortunately so I think first appearance of F1 back and forth in the great year of 2026 Sam and Harry will go back and forth on correct answers to a question until one of them can't think of an answer or gives an incorrect answer. I'll give you two strikes on this one

and there are 19 correct answers to this question, which is, I want you to name the 19 drivers that have shared a podium with Michael Schumacher this century. Oh, how are you? I literally use me as a doormat. Any driver that's been on the podium

with Michael Schumacher since the year 2000. I'll just lie down now. Go on, Harry, kick us off. What is he get to go first? It's an advantage for him to go first. Right, sure. He's got to do more correct answers than you because you go second. Sam's not worked out of the concept of the game.

Again. Mr Chunky, Pablo Montoya. One Pablo Montoya is a correct answer. 18 shared podiums in this stretch of time. in 2001 and last in 2006. Most times they shared a podium was 2002, where they did it eight times. Sam.

Rubens Barrakello. Rubens Barrakello. Not only a correct answer, but the number one answer on this list. They shared a podium 38 times between 2000 and 2005, 10 times in 2002 was the most. Sorry, no, 11 times in 2004. Can't read.

Whoa. Blamey. Harry. Let's see that coming. Ralphie, the Malphi. Yes. Schumacher is a correct answer to this question because the brothers shared a podium

15 times, first in 2000 and then last in 2005. Lovely. So? Fernando Alonso. Fernando Alonzo is a correct answer, 17 times first in 2003, of course, plenty of times in 2006, where they were jockeying for the championship,

and then he shared a podium with him at his last ever podium in 2012. Harry his greatest rival David Cuthard yes well done yes it's a correct answer 22 times

six times in 2000 nine times in 2001 and seven times in 2002 Mika Hacken Mika Hackinen is a correct answer despite his sabbatical towards the beginning of this century we can't wait to welcome you but by the way Mika

10 times seven times in 2000 and three times in 2001 Harry? Felipe Massa. Felipe Massa is a correct answer. They shared a podium four times, all of which in 2006. Sam?

Kimmy Reikinen. Kimi Reikinen is a correct answer. 19 times first in 2002, and then he was the other member of that 2012 podium in Valencia. Harry. Have you written these down? Have you got them all listed there?

Jensen. I've got it. Yeah I got you going by bet I've already gone through and written

all the answers out because he's that good he's just like yeah I'm ready to go I'm going I'm going to go

a pen I'm fine uh jensen button is a correct answer eight times all of which in the same year

2004 I was like is that good is buddy gone yeah knock them all out yeah

it's easy mate don't want to yeah it's me having an hour and like oh boy's

his business over it uh it is my go right it is your go that is unfortunate

It's worth an ask to be fair. Fizzy Keller is on there. Fizzy Keller is on there, yes. Six times twice in 2000, once in 2001, three times in 2006. Harry, back to you. I will say you've got all of the big hitters at this point. How many we got left? You've got another one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine answers left,

but all of them have only shared a podium with him three times or fewer. As many as nine. As many as nine. Jack Villeneuve. Jack Villeneuve is a correct answer. They shared a podium, obviously in the 1990s as well, but they did share a podium in 2001. Only once.

Sam. Oh, surely Mark Weber did it? Surprisingly, no. Oh, poo. I thought he might well be on this list, but no, they never shared a podium. Harry, back to you. Did Qipitzer share a podium with him?

He did. Yes, in 2006. Fair play, because I did not remember this whatsoever when researching this one. But yes, correct answer. Sam. Yarno Trulli. Yarno Trulli is a correct answer.

They shared a podium once in 2004. Only once, surprisingly. Where was it? I didn't write that done. Ticuma Sato. Yeah, Ticumasato is the correct answer. Again, 2004. They shared a podium once.

Eddie Irvine. Eddie Irvine is a correct answer. They shared a podium, again, quite a few times in the 1990s, but they also shared a podium once in 2001 and once in 2002. Harry, there are four answers left. Tiago Montero? Yeah, I was wondering if he would make an appearance because as soon as you remember, the 2005 United States GP,

yes, Tiago Montero is a correct answer. The race, of course, that involved just six cars making the start. Sorry, America. Yeah, we're a lot better now. Let's think of some names who were relatively good in the mid-2000s, who did all right occasionally. Nick Heidefeld Nick Heidfeld is a correct answer

Yes shared a podium Once just once But that means just two answers remain Harry No I think I'm all out of answers Isn't they good No you're not No you're not

You can do it Because if I get the next one wrong It's a strike But I'm still in the game And then you can get the next one right And we've done it And we draw See this is how this works

I'm piggybacking off of your success Um What I know you said Fizzy Is it phizzy's been said, yes Damn it. Oh God, I've I'm all out. I'll go for

Why can I think of no drivers now that we're in the mid-2000? Welcome to my life. Any of school. Welcome to me playing every game we played. How can you get Siago Montero and Tukumisato, but you can't get... But now I just can't think of it.

I knew that they did, but now I can't think of any drivers. Yeah, that is a pain. It will be relevant. I don't know. I'll just move together on. No, it's not right, but Christian Clinton. Big up Christian Cleant.

But as you already know, just get a shout. Not a correct one. Sam, can you name either of these two drivers? The only name I've got in my head is Nico Rosberg. It's not Nico Rosberg. Oh, no. They're going to be stuck on two. I told you, you had to get that one right.

Um, can we have to get that one right? Um, can we have. have the years? Do you have the years? Yes. So one of them only shared a podium of Schumacher once, and that was in 2005. The other one shared a podium with him three times, twice in 2000, and once in 2003. Oh, you could get that one, surely. Come on, you're a massive brain. Once in 2003. That's not helped whatsoever. I don't know. I'll fold. I don't know. I fold my hand of nothing.

Sam, any last guess? No. That game ended with a whimper. Well, it started really strong. I'd still think it's a pretty good effort. 17 out of 19. The two names that you were missing, 2005, it was a fairly rogue one. Alex Verst. I wasn't getting that. I wasn't getting it.

The other one, Argentina's greatest ever driver, Heinz Harold Frensen. Oh my goodness. For anyone who doesn't know the chef, we know he's German, by the way. It's, yeah. Is it in 03?

What, in a salber? Yeah, one, it was his last podium, I think, but I can't remember the race, exactly. Was he in the Jordan in the 2000s? Yeah. I think it was, I think it was the Salba. and maybe he had one for like arrows or something but yeah i can't sorry hines so still a very good effort i think and a good way to finish this episode good news is sam we're going to be back on wednesday

and whilst we don't know exactly what we're going to get from this this shakedown we should have a few things to talk about yeah he doesn't love a shakedown do you used to buy those walkers crisps so you had to put you're insulting it and then shake them. Yeah, like, why are you making me do the manual labour? You just sit yourself, potatoes, mate. That's the point you had a bloody packet of crick.

Anyway, sorry, that's a tangent. Thanks for this good folks. Please join us midweek where we will discuss whatever comes out of this shakedown. It might be Walker's Crisps for all we know. We appreciate you joining us in the winter break. Let's go your thoughts on the livery so far and do join us in the future for our Pimp My F1

episode where we give our formal rankings of thoughts on every single livery throughout F1. You're on the baked drunk. If you're a bit more content, join the Discord if you're having nice little chit-chat with some lovely F1 people. And we will see you in the next one. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking and I've been Harry Ede. And remember, keep breaking late.