The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Looking back at 2026 season hot takes

Episode Date: August 12, 2026

At the beginning of the year, we collected your hot takes for the season ahead and made some of our own. Now, Ben and Sam look back to see which were red hot, which are still in play, and which were a complete miss. They also discuss Red Bull’s latest signing and build some F1 Mount Rushmores… Join us in Amsterdam for pre-Dutch GP drinks! CLICK HERE for event details and to confirm your attendance. Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get:Ad-free listeningFull-length bonus episodesPower Rankings after every raceHistorical race reviews& more exclusive extras!Don't forget! You can also gift a Late Braking Patreon subscription—perfect for loved ones or your own wish list. Choose anything from 1 month up to a full year of top-notch F1 content: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingf1/gift⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Late Braking:You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats!Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and see if you can beat us! LEAGUE CODE: C6Y6R4ZUY02Get in touch any time at [e-mail]  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, here with another summer break episode for you. We've got some excellent F1 chat coming up, even if the F1 world does seem to resist any news at the moment. We've still got a great episode. Sam, how are you? I'm really well.

I want to give a shout out to mango chutney before we start this episode. Okay, yeah, yeah. You said that as if mango chutney's a person, but sure. I'm avoiding mango chutney. I have mango chicken wraps for dinner. Yeah, yeah.

And mango chutney is such an underrated condiment. So tasty, so delicious. Sweet and sour. And I want to devour mango chutney. You know what? You could have given me a thousand guesses. I wouldn't have said mango chutney to start off this podcast.

I disagree. I think you would have got there in a thousand guesses. Like a guess 830 or something. Mango chutney. I'm like, you got there, my guy. I was going to ask you about if you've seen any of the Grill the Grid episodes that they've been doing in the summer break F1. I have caught a few little clips.

I thought Piastri zero to 99 of driving numbers was very good. As soon as I saw that, I was reminded of you because that is a U challenge like down to a T. I think I had to understand the challenge properly. He had to game drivers that had followed a number all the way up, but he couldn't go back or forward, right? So like Maldingardo at 13. I think he did jump between them. I think they might have edited it to jump.

Being older. Yeah, but yeah, he did a very good job with that. It was not to the same quality, but the same style as Vettel doing all the world champions, which is still the most impressive thing I've seen a driver do. I think my favourite was Lewis Hamilton, who got to like, he got to about 10. And then he said, well,

Charles, my teammate's 16, and then just didn't bother with any. There's like 20 minutes of that video. He's not in it because he's clearly gone to the producer. No, that's me done. I thought, I don't, I can't be bothered with this. I'm not, Kim Kardashian outside waiting for me.

Do you think I'm bothering about who's number 11? Sergio Perez, who's that guy? The funny thing is, out of all the drivers, him and a long time, are probably racing against every single one of those numbers more than anyone else. I love Hamilton's attitude to anything that's just like,

I can't be bothered in marketing. To make this intro even longer, we should remind people as well of the Amsterdam meetup that we're doing, which is scarily very close now, So a week, is it? How's that? Yeah, that's crazy.

How's that happened? Anyway, if you haven't already let us know that you're coming along, please do. There is a form that will be in the episode description. Just fill that in. It's not very laborious. You just need to let us know if you're coming along and if you are who you bring in with you. But yeah, just a drinks meet up in Amsterdam, Thursday 20th, starting from 7pm. Very much looking forward to it.

I reckon the form could be a Hall of Fame contender at this week. You know what? It's got a great shout. That and Sibolba might have already locked down two spots. I love that. Also, justice for the long intro. I like a bit of chit chat at the start of the show. Yeah, you know, it's been a while since we've done on it, a really elongated intro. Joyous, long intro.

Good. That's a chapter on Spotify you can find the title for. That's the third Hall of Famer, elongated intro. Right, we've got, we have actually got some F1 chat, some proper F1 chat. We're going to do some Mount Rush Wars later. on in the show, but we're going to kick off with. We recently looked back at our grid predictions from earlier in the year and realized how probably wrong we are with a lot of things.

So we thought we'd follow that again. But this time we're putting the on you lovely people, because if you recall back to, I think it was late January, we did an episode where we were asking you for your hot takes for this 2026 season. We thought we'd go back and revisit some of them. Some of them might still have a chance to be true. Some of them might already be true. A lot of them, very, very wrong.

I've intentionally forgotten all of them, so I'm exciting for the shock. Yeah. We also gave our own predictions that we'll play out a little bit later on. Equally, I've completely forgotten what they are. So we'll see how that goes. But we're just going to have some chit chat about some of these. Again, some of these predictions we're just going to probably laugh at and move on. But, hey, don't take it personally.

We get a lot of predictions wrong, as you will know. Let's start with this one, bit of more of a generic one, not about one team or one driver. We're going to get at least eight different race winners, including sprints in the 2026 season. That's not ridiculous. No.

We're on five at the moment. So you've got Antonelli, you've got Russell, Hamilton, LeClaire and Norris. In theory, Piastri could then pick up a wing if Norris has been able to. It's just whether that Red Bull is going to be able to actually show enough the Grand Prix twice, that both Vastafing, and I suppose Hager, go on to become a victory.

It's probably got to be Hagear, right? The outsider, it feels like it's going to be very unlikely that someone outside those top eight cars, maybe a podium, you know, a wing. Of course, we have a ghastly podium in Monaco, but a wing is a very different story in this era. Yeah, I can see both Vestappen and Piastri. I'm not saying it will definitely happen, but it's plausible that both Vestappen. See Vastappen challenge already. Yeah, Vastappen already has two second place finishes this year.

and certainly Austria was very close to a win. And Piaastri as well, obviously we know what happened in Hungary, but even outside of that, he had second place at Suzuki at Suzuki earlier in the year. Yeah. So I think with both of those, it's possible. I think the key is going to be, can we get to eight? I think we can get to six, maybe even seven, but eight seems a stretch because Hajar, whilst he's not had a terrible first season at Red Bull,

he hasn't really been very close to a win yet. The car isn't helping even, though. No, sure. But where Vestappan has four podiums, Hadjar has, well, he did technically get one podium in Monaco until that was stripped away from him. It was so close to Australia for like the three laps he was in the Grand Prix. That's true. Poor lad. He's going to be petitioning F1 to reinstate a three-lap race of Melbourne in order to get this

prediction right. I'm there with him. A couple of Ferrari ones here. Some of them predicting Ferrari will do okay. Some predicting Ferrari won't do okay. The first of which is on the more positive side of things. Ferrari will win back-to-back races. Now, it hasn't happened yet, but it was very close to happening

because Hamilton won in Barcelona. We then had Austria, I believe, where George Russell won, and then we had Silverstone that LeCleur won. So they won two and three races. It was not impossible to think they could get back to back at some point. As hot takes go, both these first two have been very good. That's, they're both very, if you get them wrong, you've lost by a whisker, I feel like.

So well done for being quite sensible with your hot take, maybe it's just like a jalapino hot, not like a, what they call those Reaper chili hot. Yeah, yeah, probably ghosts or, big, up the Scoville scale. Makes no sense to me. No, no. There's less stars in the sky than there are numbers on the Scoville meter. Sure, okay. I think it is possible this happens.

What 2026 has taught us is that when a team brings an upgrade, there's an extended period of time where they can be really competitive. I know Mercedes have been strong all the way throughout, but as soon as Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari have all introduced upgrades, they've become immediately fighting for a win. So if they can time, and we know there's still upgrades to come for Ferrari, if they can time something like that, maybe they can get two in a row. This isn't necessarily the hot tape

I didn't want to ask you this question that popped in my mind when thinking about this. I think the most likely back-to-back winner from here on out is probably just Antonelli winning two in a row just based on what we've seen

he's already done five in a row, right? But if you had to back a team to win two in a row but they have to come from different drivers, is Ferrari the most likely? Next race, my guy. Piastri at Zanvoy. Well, maybe.

I think there's a real chance that if that upgrade is so good on the high downforce tracks, as we saw with Hungary, of course. And, you know, they get a handle on that Mercedes engine a little more, which is definitely possible. There's a real chance that Piastri can bounce back to forming. It could be a double race wing for, for McLaren. But yes, in theory, Ferrari probably are the next team to do it later in the season, I think. They're the most balanced team, I think. Definitely. Yeah. And that's why someone like Hamilton has score points in every single Grand Prix so far this season, you know, because they, they, aren't the best anywhere, but they are consistent, and they're not making mistakes,

which is a weird thing to say about Ferrari. And across the lineup as well, I mean, like Leclair and Hamilton are fairly extremely matched. We keep talking about how they might be the best driver line up. I think this year they're finally proving that maybe they are the best overall driver lineup. Another one about Ferrari, but more specifically about Lewis Hamilton, Lewis will fight for the championship this year. He's currently 50 points back, so not impossible. He could still be fighting.

In theory, he's the closest fighter to the guy. I'm going to talk about maybe a tank running towards him. and he's standing there with a small knife. It's a fight. It's quite one-sided, but it is a fight. Yeah. I think what he'll need is reliability to, reliability issues for Mercedes and Antonelli to continue.

It needs to come for Ferrari as well. I think you need too many, to the point where it becomes unrealistic to have reliability play a point where Antigone throws away, not just a 50-point lead, but then continues to throw away more points later wrong, the Hamilton stands a chance of winning, plus Russell got beating him as well, plus the Clare not having regular races. There's just too many variables Ferrari need to also upgrade.

Because it is 50 points right now, but again, Antonelli has had two non-scores due to reliability related issues. By my maths, it would be 96 points, if not for those two issues. Yeah, he only lost points in Barcelona, right? Properly to Hamilton if he extended to finish that grandpring. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think Silverstone, you can either say he'd have been first or second there as well. So we could be looking at this nearly at 100 points if it weren't for those reliability issues. So you're right. I think it does need to come from. It probably needs to continue on Mercedes side and maybe some upcoming grid penalties could help Ferrari out, maybe that Mercedes would need to take. But it's also definitely, yeah, on Ferrari as well.

And also what's stopping Hamilton having a reliability problem? Everyone else has. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Both Ferrari drivers outside the top six. What, in a race or across the whole? across the sea, yeah, end of the season. It's not going to happen, is it? No. It's not. And that one is, but that's the worst one so far.

I'm lucky. I see where you were going with it. Many other years you have a chance. Not this time. Yeah. Hamilton's second place at the moment, Lecler fourth, but Lecler on 138 points is 70 clear of Hadjar and 8th.

I don't think that's going to happen. This is a combined one as we're going to move away sort of from Ferrari here and into Aston Martin, which, unsurprisingly, was a hot topic for these hot takes. Aston Martin and Ferrari outside of the top five. You're probably going to be right on one front, not going to be right on the other. Almost too bold.

Actually, if they had hot take saying that Aster Martin would be outside the top five, without knowing what was going to happen with hindsight, of course, I would say that's, well, I wouldn't expect them to be that far down. I'd have put them at worst, maybe sixth or seventh. But, you know, fifth would have been able to be able to be able to happen. vicious. Yeah, yeah, like, I'd be surprised that they're this far down. Yeah, I feel like one of though, if you just said one of them, that's bold in itself.

But saying both of them is really bold because then you need two other midfield teams to really step up. Yeah, and who's filling that gap? Aldia, I suppose, maybe. I mean, your shout outside of this. So obviously, I think this take is, this take is dead. Astor Martin have a point. Racing balls who currently occupy fifth have 66. So 65 point gap. I don't think that's going to be overturned at this. point. Is there a chance that if they started on zero points right now, Racing Bulls and Aster Martin, Aston Martin win from now until the end of the year? It hinges on this Honda upgrade, doesn't it? We saw that they did take a solid step back to normality with the upgrade package that the B-spec car that arrived in Hungary. They are still behind racing balls, as we saw

on overall pace, but a bit more umph in the power unit might put them on equal keel. So who knows? Yeah, it's again, the gap is unassailable, but it's not impossible to think Aston Martin could lead the midfield Could they be harsh, could they beat Williams? They should be able to be both of them, I think. But yeah, I think the key to them

at least beating racing balls and Audi in some of the races is that Honda upgrade and indeed the additional upgrades coming for the team at large. I mean, Audi aren't too far up the road anyway when it comes to the point. So you get that engine working. There's enough race.

that you could bring to that. They could, in theory, finish behind Alpine. Yeah, because you look at Hungary and obviously that's not a track where engine matters as much, and they were still behind Alpine and Aldi in Racing Ball. So if that engine doesn't improve,

they aren't going to be further forward than that at some tracks that really do rely on engine power. Monga is in two races time. Yeah. Oh, God. It's so painful. I really don't know what we're getting there.

history repeats itself. The Honda engine is terrible. Alonzo has to go to rehab. I'm not sure if he's gone to rehab. He's like a baby. Is that the equivalent of rehab these days? I have a theory that he's slowly trying to transport himself into the baby. Oh, it's actually a clone.

He becomes a young version. So that's rehab. I always say that's correct. I think it's fair. I don't know what your opinion on this is in terms of like, again, Honda repeating itself. This is referring to Honda and McLaren from about 10 years ago and that project did not go at all well. I feel like at that point, Alonzo, of course, was still driving for the Honda engine at that point as well. Maybe at that time there was more emphasis on the power unit and we had the GP2 engine comments from Alonzo.

and I don't know, McLaren were maybe slightly shielded and didn't take as much slack in terms of the car that they delivered. It feels more even with Astor Martin. Like, whilst there is a clear admission that that Honda engine isn't good enough, I think everyone's maybe clearer now that that car's not great either. Yeah, we were deceived the first of around. I think so. Went down the route where we were very early in our content creating lives at this point. But we very much went down the road of that engine gets better.

McLaren are probably solid midfield run as if not close to the top end of the midfield. It happened. They stayed pretty much where they were and it was not good signs from McLaurang here. I think if you were going to stick a rocket ship in the back of that, Aston Martin, I think on most tracks it's still probably the bottom three or four cars.

And the chassis needs to improve, vice versa. The chassis takes a massive step forward. The engine is a good enough to compete. Yeah. Yeah, I think maybe we've all learned from that time. It's also as well, Alonzo's attitude where, again, Alonzo, I say Alonzo called the engine a GP2 engine. He did it during a Grand Prix, but not just any Grand Prix,

Honda's Home Grand Prix, the Japanese race. It's so savvy. Right. But he hasn't been like that this year. He hasn't been like that this year. I think it's also because it's the start, if you know what I mean. This is a new set of regulations. It's only half a seasoning.

It is painful. but honda and new to this relationship with the McLaren relationship he endured some pain for a while at that point I wonder if it's to come if it doesn't improve maybe and one more Astor Martin take Adrian Newe will not be with Aston Martin by the end of this season I disagree with that one

even with their slow start I think he's got more than enough respect credibility proof in the bank that he's going to pull something out of the bag I'm going to go with the same logic I did when we responded to this in January, which is he's more invested than just being a technical director. Like he is part owner of Aston Martin. It's going to take more than one poor season for him to walk away from that. He's not to sell shares to make it happen, right?

He's going to be a part of that company and we hope this is a long way away. But until he's not with us anymore, he's in that company for the long haul. One more before we go to a break. And I've actually just put quote here. on my, on my notepad, because this one was the only one that was too long for me to write down. But I wanted to say it in full because it goes to a number of different places, but there might actually be more right here than wrong. Honda will struggle with the engine, and the purest drivers, like Max,

will find all the moving arrow and boost button too gimmicky. Because of this, Max will not only leave Red Bull, but also leave F1 altogether on a sabbatical to go do Weck or run a team somewhere. similar feelings about their immediate prospects and the sports direction overall, Hamilton and Alonzo also retire at the end of 2026, marking a generational change in the sport and a shift that will be debated for decades to come. Oh, and Kimmy World Drivers champion for the lulls. Okay, so it's like a three for three there, I think. There's more right, again, I think there's more right than wrong there. I think it's pretty equal. I think you've gone too far with the Hamilton-Alago

comics. Hamilton, I think, he's now going to stay. Alongso, it's a long-so, he's probably going to stay. still here, right? It might happen, but he's still here for now. But Kimmy, Honda, and there was one other in there that I've completely forgot. Oh, the gimmicky bit, for Stapham being too gimmicky. Yeah. On the head. Great job. Yeah, I think the set, even if the predictions don't come true there, the sentiment is kind of right. Like, whoever this was, was on it in terms of predicting some of the debates we would have in terms of entertainment versus sport, gimmicks, Vastappen, in particular, not enjoying it. Like, very on it. I know he did have a few comments at the beginning of the year, but it's very much carried on.

Yeah, fair point. Good analysis there. Maybe you should have a podcast. Maybe. Maybe it was actually just one of us submitting it. We are not like clever. No. No, we had some different bold predictions,

some different hot takes that we'll get to in a little bit. Let's take our first break. On the other side, we've got some more hot takes we'll be reacting to. Welcome back, everyone. I feel like that first half, Sam, contained a bit of a mix of some that went well and some that didn't. They were closer to being right than I thought. I thought they'd ever be.

When we say hot takes, I'm like, here we go. This is going to be a laugh a minute, ridiculousness. And then they were actually quite good and fair. Yeah. There are some howlers coming up in this part. There are ones, aren't they? Well, maybe. But there are at least balanced out by some from the listeners as well.

Let's go to a couple involving Alpine. Alpine, brackets, Ghazley, will have a podium within the first three races. It really was the power unit. another suggested Alpine would get a win before Ferrari now okay fine that second one good joke nice one funny

the gassy one it wasn't three races but six you're the only person that's predicted the different podium from outside the classic four teams that's fair play that's a great shout yeah yeah it took six races but we'll give you that whoever that was I mean in terms of Alpine

getting a win before Ferrari your reaction at the time was basically it could happen if the engine is like really, really good. 2014 style. Yeah, right. It would be, I feel like we were probably, for that to come true, we would have been envisaging something like Williams 2014 and how they beat Ferrari that year.

Yeah, it would be like that. Mercedes, McLaren, Alpine, Williams were in your top four teams. If the engine was really that good. And whilst it has been very good and probably the best package overall, it just hasn't had the level of dominance where a midfield team can rise up. And I'm glad, singularly glad about that. Yeah.

Do we think that Alpine a bit more generally is still a bit more, it's still a bit reliant on the power unit? I know they had a lot of complaints last, well, last few years about how the engine rules were frozen, but they felt that they were at a disadvantage. I never really bought into that in all honesty. But now that they've kind of got this Mercedes power unit,

it. They started the idea quite well, but they've kind of tailed off. I think what I appreciate about Williams, which Alping aren't doing, is Williams are willing to put in their hands up and saying that the chassis isn't good enough. The aeropackage isn't good enough. They were overweight. They were struggling with balance. Cormaring wasn't good for them. Alpine started off well, and you have to have a complete package for that. We're seeing that with racing balls now, how we know that the four power unit is good,

the battery is clearly delivering, and the car is well balanced. It's not the fastest thing we've ever seen, but it's comfortable. It's a good car. Alpine started really strong. They have not upgraded their chassis properly. They're bringing very few upgrades to the car overall. They are relying on the power unit now pulling them forward, but actually the chasing pack, as it were, who have upgraded,

and now started to pass them with Aero. Audi, for example, have made some radical changes, and I now arguably faster than Alping on a regular basis. So I think this is almost what happened to McLaren 10 years ago, as we mentioned, in reverse, where actually the power unit is already good. And it's maybe hiding a slightly worse than chassis race on race. I think Briatoria had some recent comments as well about the team's success or maybe lack of success, just being like,

I don't understand why we're not better. But you haven't upgraded your car all year. Build a better car, Flav. That is your answer, man. I just worry whenever he says something like that, it's like he's setting the scene for a driver change or something radical to have. I don't know.

We have a new engine again by the end of the season. Someone said Alpine top five in the standings. Now, until very recently, that would have been... That would have been on course for being right. And it's still very much up in the air. Like, they are five points behind racing bulls. I read this and I thought, well, that's not that bold. But then when you think about it, it is.

It is because they were last year, obviously. And we were also expecting Aston Martin to be much better this year. We were expecting Williams to carry on what they did last year. At which point, like, plus the top four teams, that's six teams. So it's pretty bold. I think that's like saying now that Cadillac will be a top five next year. It genuinely is that kind of. They were really slow.

They were really behind. They were last. And now they were fighting and still are fighting for the lead of the midfield. I think it's a great step forward. It's a shame that they're letting it slip. Yeah. I think the line-up can get it done. Yeah.

I'm really pleased with the Colopinto's development. I think he's really settled as a strong Formula One driver now. Yeah. We'll see if they give them the car to get it done. Now, I think of all teams, this is the team that had the most hot takes about it. Williams. Ah, good. I'm just going to read out four hot takes, and I want you to tell me which one's the worst.

Okay, Williams is in the Constructors battle well into October. Are you sure you're sort of comedian? If that's yours, I'm sorry, but you might not be right with that. Alex Albin will win four races and finish fifth in the and Williams will finish fifth in the constructors. He's won four Grand Prix and they're only finishing fifth. Those things don't make sense anyway. That's why I think that might be even bolder because what signs do he?

How bad? Or is how many of every other Grand Prix? They've actually just got 100 points and that's all they're amounting to. Even with Williams not doing the shakedown, you remember the Barcelona shakedown that they didn't make, signs will have more podiums than Hamilton again. Good stuff. Like that one.

It's technically still alive, but it probably ain't going to happen. That's like Al-Pin picking up the more podium throughout the rest of the season. It's not going to happen, is it? And the last one, which I don't think is the answer, but Williams has cooked up an absolute cruise missile that will make Adrian Newey cry into his stupid paper-based aerow drawings. There's more sharks of me doing a pill on the moon than that happening. It wouldn't be the first time, to be fair.

It's true. I need to revisit. Yeah. I mean, he might be crying into his arrow drawings for different reasons, but it's not because of William's success. They'll just get better if he cries on them. I think Williams being in the Constructors battle until October might be the best. That is hilarious.

I understand the optimism about what James Vowers was saying last year. I bought into it. I was with it. We're all going to end up in a situation at the end of the year where we have predicted them to finish higher than what they will finish. We will. We will be wrong. We will be wrong.

but that is bold. That is an intense prediction. Yeah. I think there was so much about that shakedown as well that because Aston Martin were kind of slow in that same way. I think they did turn up to the shakedown, but they were maybe late to it or only turned up on the final day. Yeah. I think because there was some confidence that they both knew what they were doing and they weren't in isolation. And then it turned out neither of them did.

Yeah. Wasn't great, was it? Yeah. Yeah, it tells you a lot, though. That's not that long ago. Those sorts of things were being said about Williams. We were so exciting for Williams as well at this point last year. It was like, get to the end of the year.

You're really progressing. Sites, of course, goes on to pick up two podiums. And then this is so disappointing. A few relating to McLaren. Piastri drops off compared to Norris with the new regulation of car. Now, at the time, you said, I think it might go the other way. I think wrong on both fronts. I think I will

Two wrongs do make a right Good I think I was wrong Norris has proven that he is doing a brilliant job this season picks up that winging hungry of course I know he gets the car and the most assured thing

I've heard from Norris all season is when he was stuck behind Piastri and he's saying you know get him out the way I can go a second to that faster he gets him out the way and he goes a second to that faster

I was like damn boy that is confidence and you've delivered on business son yeah I'll respect that equally Piazri's had a bit of a tough time of it as well. Yes, and he's not been on the same level as Norris,

but I don't think he's fallen off. I think there's more than enough capability. And then we saw with Suzuki, if that safety guard didn't come out, there's a real chance he could go into a Grand Prix very early on in this season. So I think you can look at this both ways. And if you want to view it more positively,

listen to the next 30 seconds. And if you want to look at it more negatively, listen to the 30 seconds that follow it. If you want to say it hasn't been as bad as it looks, there's 36 points between Norris. and Piastri right now, which means it was only 11 going into Hungary because of course Norris won that race where Piastri didn't score. Piastri has had five non-scores this year. Landon Norris is at three. So Piastri's been at the disadvantage there. And qualifying,

whilst Lando Norris does lead six five, it was 1311 last year to Norris. So it's not really any different at all to what we had in 2025. So I think if you look at those stats, you might say, well, Piastri might be second best, but it's been incredibly marginal. But there are a few instances where maybe the points tally doesn't tell the full story. So I'm thinking Miami and Barcelona. So Miami, Lando Norris finishes second, Oscar Piastri finishes third. So Norris only gets three points on his teammate. But Norris does beat him by 24 seconds.

Norris is competing for the win against Antonelli, where Piastri is not in that fight. Barcelona is a bit similar in that Norris was third that day and was going to kind of fighting with the Mercedes for a good chunk of that race. Piastri's fifth, so only two positions behind, but it's 35 seconds behind. So there might have been a few instances where there has actually been a big gap between them, but on track in terms of positions, it's not as bad as it looks. It's lucky we don't score based on time between drivers. Yes.

One McLaren driver will finish outside of the top seven at the end of the season. Piastri is exactly seventh. Yeah, it does still feel unlikely. because Hadjar will be a real turning form and I think the Redboard need to drastically improve especially with hindsight now we've seen what McLaren

can do at this point it feels like there's more chance that Piastri might step forward rather than fall backwards but it's got a ridiculous hot take 24 points between Piastri and Hadjar at the moment I personally can't see him losing that

and again if you take out the five races where Piastri hasn't scored at all this year and you take how many points is he scored on average when he's been in the points. It's just over 12 points per race. So just better than a fourth place finish,

which is pretty good going. Yeah. Compare that to Hadjar. Well, his best finish all year has been fourth, which is good for 12 points. So, yeah. It'll be unlucky.

It will be unlucky on Piastri's part if he ain't up behind. This is an interesting one. No world driver's champion for Ivor McLaren. The Mercedes power unit is going to crush it, but Norris and Piastri

and no match for George Russell when they're all piloting rocket ships. Oh, you were so close. The new regs might be ushering in another era of Mercedes domination. You've just got to change one word, my guy. You were so close to getting that right. The engine, I think, has speculated from pretty much this time last year for Mercedes has been very good, even if it's the second best ICE on pure power, like in terms of the battery as well. I think we can say it is the best.

But maybe we weren't talking enough about the chassis because that's, I think, been equally as good this year. Where they've struggled the last few years as well, we saw in the ground effect era that they were at a real disadvantage with the no pod design that they introduced earlier on, the porpoising that they went through, Lewis Hamilton's back is still in pieces.

It was just a really tricky time for the merid dynamically. And yet, yeah, the engine, the battery are fantastic. But the car is clearly very much up to speed when it comes to delivering on a chassis level. You only have to look at Antingale and Monaco to see just how strong he was going through these heavy downforce areas. Yeah. Yeah, they've been good everywhere,

which I think points to a good chassis as well as a good power unit. And I don't know about you. I'm not going to clown anyone who predicted greatness for George Russell because we were right there. It's very logical. Makes a lot of sense.

I get it, but we are all wrong. Yeah. It's understandable in that he dominated. to Kimmy Antonelli last year. He beat Lewis Hamilton as teammates. If you're a betting person and you play the odds, nine times out of ten, you got this right. This was the one that wasn't right. Yeah. I mean, we asked the question, I think, last year and answered in the affirmative that if George Russell was in a third McLaren last year, he'd have won the title. I stood by that as well. I still got it. That's wrong. I said that. Yeah. Yeah.

George Russell will win 19 races and Thai Vestappen in 2023. That's just audacious. That's so audacious. You must still be laughing like nine months later. The thing is, like, based on how the season started, because George Russell was fastest in all practice sessions in Australia, all three qualifying sessions is in Q1, Q2, Q3, won the race, fastest in practice for the sprint in China, qualified on pole,

and then won the sprint. Like, he did a clean sweep of however many sessions that is. At that point, I'm not saying that 19 was realistic, because that's really ridiculous. But could you imagine saying at that point, like after he'd won the Chinese sprint, he's going to win one more race between now and the summer break? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's such a fall from grace from what, I think it was nine sessions like a row. Yeah, sure. It's because he did the boreout impression. I stand by this theory. He's eternally cursed for doing a BORat impression after winning, I'm afraid. And I don't like to say it. It's deserved for that. No, it is.

It is. If you're going to do it, you've got to take the consequences, and that is being second place to a child. Borat is an Abu Dhabi impression, man. You can't bring that out in Australia. When you won the title four races ago, you crossed the life first of Abu Dhabi, then you go, Nyes, or something along those lines.

Rehash your Flintstones won for that. Like, you've already played. it. Like, save your ball. Two. Come on, we know. Come on. It's there.

It's right there. Yeah. So, not quite. Someone said Russell is absolutely getting replaced. It's got impossible. I assume here, again, going on the Vastappan rumors, Vestappan plus Antonelli. I think we've always been fairly consistent that if Antenelli could match Russell,

let alone beat him, and Vestappen wants to be there. Bye-bye, George. Why not? Yeah, yeah. although George, you just got engaged, so congratulations. There is good things happening this year. Many congratulations to you. That ring, by the way, my guy.

And I'm not talking about the one at your finger. Yikes! What Instagram post did you see? My man's not on Instagram. A few Audi and Cadillac-related predictions here. Audi and Cadillac will get at least one podium this year. Audi will win a race, someone else said. hilarious, good.

Yeah. Audi missed their chance at Monaco. They could have been in Gassley's spot. Yeah, they could have like a podium. The wing in the race, I think, is too far. Oh, yeah. But I mean, a podium in theory, like Imola is possibly coming up. So if that happens, it's a very downforce heavy track,

and you might have developed enough by then. Who knows? I hate to do this to you, whoever this is. My boy Bottas will not get properly lapped on track this season. How good did you think Kallat was going to be? Just go race by race. Australia retired. China he was lapped.

Japan he was lapped. Miami he was lapped twice. The Canada sprint he was lapped. Don't worry. In the race, he was lapped four times. Retired in Monaco, retired in Barcelona, retired in Austria. Not lapped at Silverstone.

So clearly we are the lucky charm. Belgium, he was lapped. In Hungary, he retired. That equates to five retirements. And in the other six races, he was lapped nine times. And he was lapped once in a sprint. He's going to love it when we turn up to Zambl.

Yeah. He's going to see us in the crowd and go, Hell yeah, league lap time. That was a really long-winded say of way of saying, that's not correct. Wrong. Wrong. Never mind.

I say it with chess, because I know mine's coming up, and I'm about to be very wrong. I do not know what we're going to get greeted by. A few miscellaneous ones to finish this off. Christian Horner to land a team principal job before Silverstone. I probably would have said that that was quite likely. With all the rumors that were going,

on. The fact there's photos of him leaving one of the garages out of it. It was a fascinating time, but it's quieted down recently. So no, we know that one for sure isn't going to be right this year. Hasse will get a podium outright. No. That's happened in Australia, right? They ain't ever getting a podium. Yeah, yeah. It's, I mean, the budget is. They got a pole position before they get a podium. Hey, Kevin Magnuson got a pole position, Brazil a couple years ago. Yeah.

They ain't ever getting it. Yeah. There are four driver changes announced by the end of the summer break. Get on with it. You've got one week, folks. Yeah, for that to be true, there's going to have to be a lot of activity between now and a week's time. Arguably, a hive. Yeah, nice to do it.

Last one, Harry wins Elby Fantasy. It's not looking good. He's got us right where he wants us. He keeps saying this, but I actually don't think it's true. I just think he likes looking at us from behind. If I know Harry, he does love an LB Bunda. The being LB is for him. Late Bundering, yeah, yeah.

Yes, he loves for late Bundy. Now, the question is, what on earth did we say? And I'm genuinely saying, I do not know what we said at this point. You have them recorded? I have these on the soundboard. So I really hope these have gone onto the soundboard properly because I did so without listening to them. Oh, God, you've chosen the worst bit.

So, Kirsty, producer Kirsty, has managed. to supply the clips. So I know the clips are fine. I'm just hoping I've recorded them properly again without actually hearing them. Who do you want to hear first? Harry, so he's not here. Okay.

At the end of the 2020, 2020-six season, Carlos Science will still be the last driver to have won a Grand Prix for Ferrari. Oh, no. That will be pretty disastrous. Yeah. Oh, no.

No Ferrari win. We had nothing to be worried. well. Why are we even bothered? Both of them have won a race. They came through. It's good times. Yours or mine?

Let's go mine. Pierre Gastille finishing the top six in the championship. Oh, damn it. We have an F1 stat update from Kirstly. Gassley is on 42 points. He would need 68 points

to knock out the Stappan from P6, who has 109. Are you saying it's still alive? It's on. It's on. It's on like Donkey Kong. We don't know what mine was yet. Goodness for me.

Here we go, Ben. Franco Colopinto wins a Grand Prix this year. Oh, yes. That is a hot take. You know what? That's Argentinian hot. What is that mean? That's Argentinian hot, that.

Yeah, it's right up there on the Scoville scale. Okay. I'm going to take the 5% of that prediction that was correct, which is, I was predicting that Colopinto would be far closer to Gassley this year. And I'm going to stand by that, that he has really improved versus his teammate. The problem is that's a lot of

faith in Alpine that wasn't deserved. You're really trying a grasp of straws for a bit of that one. It's a 5% I mean, we're wrong.

We're all wrong. We're all very wrong. Very wrong. You are very wrong. Yeah, that's the most wrong of the three quite comfortably.

But actually, mine's still possible. Harry's isn't. Harry's is dead. Actually, that is true. Both of ours, in theory,

can come true. They won't, but... And should we set, I mean, do we want to update our bold prediction at all? Do you have one that you'd like to submit instead? Well, mine was very much on the same vein. I always just came upgrade that a wing would come from a car outside the top eight. But other than that, I think my is still enough on,

if it happens, it will be a real hot take. Yeah, there's no real reason for me to switch to a different one because I feel fairly confident that my one's going to come true. But for the sake of the segment, I will actually mention another one. And this is, I mean, it can't be more bold, but it's less bold than the other one. I think Lando Norris might finish runner-up in the driver's championship this year. Okay. All right, you think he passes both Ferraris and Russell?

I think it's possible, yeah. Yeah, I think it is possible, but it's a heart-taking dexter. Yeah, I'm going to go with that. I like it. Rather than Colopinto is going to win a goddamn Grand Prix. Yeah, you're an actual moron. Yeah, I'm trying hard not to swear here. What a moron.

What an idiot. I would argue a plank. Yeah, you know what? that's absolute, like the plank from Ed and Eddie. Yeah, that's you. You don't deserve to be one of the main three. You know what? I really don't. I've been devoted. Equally, writing which one of us is Ed, Ed, and which one is Eddie? Please do. Let's take a quick break. On the other side, we're getting into some news relating to Mercedes and Red Bull.

Welcome back, everyone. Red Bull has secured the services of Mercedes talent scout Gwen LaGrew, who played a key role in discovering Kimmy Antonelli in a move the team believes will strengthen its efforts to return to the front of Formula One. As first reported by BBC Sport, Lagrew has agreed to leave Mercedes after a decade with the team and join Red Bull as director of its junior driver program. At Red Bull, Lagrew will assume many of the responsibilities previously handled by Helmut Marco, who departed the team at the end of last season. The two teams had been discussing the timing of Lagrew's transition, but Red Bull has now confirmed that he will officially join its leadership team in 2027.

How big of a move is this for Red Bull? Well, if you're the moon, you should be willing. worried because Legrew is going to steal it. Steve Carell's in the building, all right? Yeah, I was trying to laugh the whole way through that quote with how many times you said the phrase Legrew. The phrase, his name.

I don't know. I'm going to be real long as with your listeners. This is a really interesting one. And with Red Bull, I would argue that the problem isn't the quality of youth recruitment. The argument that I have and what's wrong with Fredwell is how you handle the youth that you've got within your recruitment. You're too quick to put them on the conveyor belt of success,

and you very quickly shut them off again if they don't look like they can be the next Max Verstappen. And it's only Isaac Hagell, realistically, that's had a moment to actually breathe in both cars and actually adapt. And even now, I'm worried because he isn't scoring right next to Max for Stappen every single Grand Prix. So you've got Limblad, who's great. Lawson's doing a really good job.

Hagear, it's been fantastic. And I think I'm worried that actually, again, they'll tip back into this. We need immediate success rather than it's okay to give a driver two or three years to find full success. So whilst I think he will do a great job and he obviously helped to find the likes of Kimi Antingelli, which is, by the way, a really niche sample size of top tier driver to go undiscover, I am genuinely not too bothered by the drivers they have in their roster, but rather what they're doing with them. I think it's a fairly sizable move.

I mean, first it's probably important to talk about what, not just the impact he could have, but also the impact of the void left by Helmut Marco, because I mean, love him or hate him, and I think there's pretty more in the latter category. Marco was very central to the team. And I think maybe in a similar way to Christian Horner where he had kind of outgrown the team principal role,

Helmut Marco technically was in charge of the Red Bull Junior Academy, but his influence went so far beyond just that, to the point where if, I mean, I'd like to say we know a lot about F1. If we were told on the spot, okay, name all of the other heads of junior program across F1, we've really struggled because they don't have the reputation that Helmut Marco has. So he's got a real role to fill in that regard. I mean, to the point where we remember how Marco last year,

do you remember what happened to Alex Dunn, where he signed him to a contract, or reportedly signed him to a contract, and just didn't tell anyone. He didn't get the approval. A level of audacity that he clearly outgrowing any form of responsibility to anyone other than himself. Yeah.

And I don't envy Mecky's having to replace that because you're not just looking for the next person to fill the role, but you kind of have to do a bit of work of, these are the constraints of the role that weren't followed before. So, yeah, I don't really envy on that. I think it's a great hire. There aren't many other options anyway, right?

If you're a top team, it's not like there's a load of elite individuals who are doing this role right now. So, yeah, picking up, I think you worked with Russell for a bit, and you actually picked up Antingelli. They're solid options, but it's only two drivers. Yeah, I mean, equally it's like Mercedes,

I think, have a bit more of a specialized focus because they don't have the second team in the same way that Red Bull do. I think they focus a bit more on a couple of drivers rather than that sort of spray approach that Red Bull have been known for in the past. I think they're two good drivers to hang your hat on in terms of Russell and Antonelli. Like Antonelli might be in terms of a discovered talent, like since for Stappan, maybe the best one.

Maybe. We'll see how that goes. But also Russell, like that journey from GP, 3 champion. It's that long ago. It was GP3 and not F3. Gp3 champion, F2 champion, Williams driver, and then a race winner. Like, even if Russell doesn't go on to win a title, like that's still a heck of a progression that he's played a part. It's more successful than a lot of drivers will ever be. Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, I think it's an important step on the road to recovery for Red Bull. Is it important in the,

in this season or two seasons of mass exodus of Red Bull where everyone seems to be going elsewhere, this is at least an example of someone who is clearly well respected in the paddock actually moving to Red Bull. Could it encourage others? I think it's a really good step. I think Meckis has brought himself a bigger of confidence in what he's producing at the team. It's been difficult to know if the Red Bull project is properly going in the right way with how much thermal has been going on. You mentioned the mass exigus, of course. We know that the power unit is fantastic, the chassis hasn't been delivering what was expected. And with the errors, of course, that came with the rear wing that caused for Stafford to have two instances,

row as well, it's very hard to know if Red Bull are actually considering themselves successful in terms of rebuilding right now. And you argue with all the staff leaving, maybe not. But having someone who is this well respected, who is this successful, leave the championship leading team who might go on to have a very dominant era right now to come to Red Bull. It's a real mark of respect for the team and also belief in what Mechis is building. I think it's a good sign. And it's a statement of intent in that it's not just fulfilling a I don't know, a technical role or an aerosuror chassis. It's a future building.

Yeah, 100%. This is a signal of intent for years and years to come. So I think that's a great get for Mekis. And who knows, maybe it could prompt other people at Mercedes to move across. We saw what happened with, and I know this isn't the best example because it hasn't worked for them yet, but if you think about Williams, like last year and two years ago, where they really made this massive push in terms. A recruitment drive, right. But with each one that is recruited,

it kind of helps the case for someone else considering joining. And it could be a similar story here at Red Bull, maybe. It's also how Red Bull gained their success at the end of the last year that Hamilton was so done. And they stole, God knows how many employees from Mercedes. And suddenly they went on to win a lot. I feel like it's needed as well, this move, because again, I know it's small sample sizes,

but you think about who might have the best junior academy. They've got different names for it, but best junior academy out there. Well, you've got Mercedes who have progressed Antonelli and Russell through recently-ish. Even if you go to Ferrari and say, Charles LeCler,

that is, I know he hasn't won a title, but that is a success story in terms of winning races. And Behrman looks good. And Behrman looks short. Lando Norris, obviously a championship winner now. Really, Red Bull.

You have to go furthest back to find the success because you do have to go back to Vestappen. I know Hadjar Limblud, juries out, like, it could be fine on their fronts as well, but Vastappen's the only known, like, success at this point. It's also, Red Bull also, in terms of the last 15 years, have the most success, right? Vetter was the same. Vestapper comes straight after.

It's pretty much turned into eight world championships for Red Bull, which is more than all those other teams combined, all the young drivers you just mentioned. So it is a really refined and well-executing young driver program if they find the right talent. Unfortunately, if you're the wrong talent, you're gone before you can even get a drive. And the problem, of course, you've had as well is, like, Carlos Seines has won in F1, not at Red Bull. Gasly has done very well at Alpine after he left Red Bull. Since Ricardo, they haven't been able to find that second reliable driver for them. Yeah, yeah, it really hasn't gone to plan so far.

Yeah, it's going to be interesting as well, because not that he'll have a say in the decision, but there's going to be interesting times coming up at the team in terms of what they do about maybe, F2 potential champion, Nikola Solov, does he get a seat in F1? If he does, what happens at racing balls? What happens at Red Bull? It could be an interesting time. Let's take our final break.

On the other side, we're going to be doing some Mount Rushmore's. Welcome back, everyone. We thought we'd finish today's show with a few Mount Rushmore of some varying categories. I was trying to think of a pun that could get late, you know, like late faking. I was thinking, where could we insert ourselves in terms of Mount Rushmore?

Well, we're weakling, sir. Yeah, yeah. Well, more our name rather than us. I think I'll come back to me. I'll let you go. Yeah, sure. But yeah, before we'd run through some of our options, we'll give our own Mount Rushmore's for each of these categories

and see if we have some similarities or differences. Let's start with a Mount Rushmore of best wet weather drivers in F1 history. So who would you have on an all-time Mount Rushmore, best wet weather drivers. My list is well boring, man. I feel like this one creates itself, but... It really does. I've got Sengar, I've got Schumacher, I've got Hamilton, and I've got Bostappan.

It's easy. Yeah, this one's easy. It writes itself. It writes itself. In terms of like, Etton Center for me is the number one on this list, by the way. He's incredible. He won more races in the wet than he didn't win. That's ridiculous in its own right. But all of these four, I think, have a bit of a standout, at least one standout race.

So Hamilton, I think you would say, 08 Silverstone would probably standout. One of the best world races and performances of all time. It's not the only one, of course, but that's definitely up there. The other one that, and I know we've got Vestappen on this list as well, the other one that gets overlooked from Hamilton's side is 2016 Brazil, because so much attention goes on to what Vestappen did that day. He was so clear. Hamilton was up for winning.

Rossburg was struggling against Vastappen, no match for Hamilton. I mean, Schumacher is literally nicknamed the rain meister like, come on. I know. And you look at this Ferrari crew and you think, okay, great, this is great performances in there. But actually, with Benetton, that's when he really produced some of his electric performances in the rain. Yeah, I mean, his first win was in the rain, 92 Belgium.

He then had a great win in the 1995 Belgian GP, where he came from, I think, 14th on the grid. First win at Monaco was in the wet, 1997. And 1996, Spain could be, in what was a terrible Ferrari, could be the best wet weather driving all times. I think that's his defining web performance. I think so.

And Senna, you, I mean, again, Senna's first one was in the wet, Portuguese Grand Prix in 85, but I think maybe most would go to the first lap that he did at Donington in 1993. Or he basically just cut through a ridiculous level of opposition. Yeah, it goes from fourth to the lead on that one lap, and he's goal. Yeah.

I think this was obviously unanimous across both of us here. I didn't have much trouble with this one. I don't know how to phrase this. I think if I was naming someone who is the best wet weather driver versus what they do in the dry, because all four of these guys are great in the dry as well as in the dry. Large stroll. Do you know what I's not bad show?

Jensen Button. Yeah, he was great in the wet. Really, really good. If I think of the like wet weather specialist, he comes to mind. Yeah, I also, there's a couple of games I did have outside of this list in case we, you know, we're really dull. I had Jackie Stewart on this list.

68 Nurberg Ring, the one that I was thinking of. I've also got, Jim Clark was on here as well, and Prost. I always thought it was pretty solid in the ring as well. So there's a number of names that you could have had. Yeah, but not a bad Mount Rushmore that we've managed to both put together. Next one up. A Mount Rushmore of current drivers who have a championship in their future. I love the idea of creating a Mount Rushmore for some.

I think that hasn't happened. It's entirely a possible prediction. Yes. Cool. I have got Charlotte Claire, Kimmy Antigelli, George Russell, and God, what's my name on the list? I had the list two seconds ago. Oh, Oliver Berman. Interesting.

We've only got two matches there. Okay. So current drivers who I'd have a championship in their future. So Antonelli feels fairly obvious. That probably won't be the case for very long. Oscar Piastri. Yeah, the fifth game on my list. Gabriel Bortoletto and Olibe Bermann is my four.

Bortelotto didn't cross my list. No. No, I think he's an electric driver, really strong, really good. I don't know if it's going to happen for him. I think if he's patient at Audi, it could come together for him. If he stays at Audi, it's not going to come together for him in the next two or three years. Yeah. But could it come together for him?

in five years time. They could. Maybe. I have fears for Leclair and Behrman, being attached to Ferrari. There's a reason I didn't have Lecler on my list. I can't believe he to have LeClau on your list. This isn't like top four most talented drivers who don't have a championship. I just, and the thing is, whatever I say these days ends up being wrong.

So I'm happy to say he's not going to win a title and get proven wrong on this. Yeah. You call me a really ugly man the other day. That is slander. Also wrong. incorrect. Yeah, that's the reason I kept I don't know.

He's so attached to Ferrari and there's a part of me that really worries that eventually Ferrari will get there just in time for Bearman to be in his piece. Literally. LeCloire will be 30-9 and going to go,

you know what, I've had a guy from getting a retired. Bairman's 32 years old wherever it is and steps and wings in his first season. And then Piastri. I think even with we're going into an era now

of maybe lower grip not suiting him quite as much. And you could argue 2025 was the opportunity he needed to take. I still think based on his age, he's going to have more opportunities to come. He is literally the 1% off being on this list for me. It makes total sense that he's on a list. I think I actually went out on my way for Berman because I was so impressed by what he did last season that if he does get a race-winning car, I think he could convert it.

He actually did have a race-willing car and didn't convert it. So that's pretty much the only reason why I slipped from one to the other. Neither of us went the Red Bull route, though. We didn't name Hadchar, for example. I know you've been very high on in the past as well. I still have a lot of love for him. I think it's a fantastic driver, but it's already been proven to me that he can't get close to Max for Stappen.

Okay. If Vastappen goes? Is he good enough if the Stapp is not there? No, my issue is I think someone like Limbaugh could come up and do a good enough job, but there's a real threat there. Sure, understood. I've also got George Russell on my list. Yeah, that was your fourth name.

Yeah. I still think there's an outside chance that, you know, if he stays in Mercedes this year, there's a replacement and he's going to go to the next year, he is so talented. We brought up the point early about if he was in that third McLaur and could he win that title. I do think that if he just adapts through these regulations a little more, has a bit more momentum on his side, the luck doesn't go maybe away from him so early on. I think he could still do it. It might be close.

I don't think it'll be a dominant season. He is more than talented enough to go and win a championship. You don't think Hamilton like you did without being a great driver. You don't win Grand Prix like he has done without being a great driver. I think there's a real chance he could still go and pick up a title. Is it more likely that let's say he does win a championship one day? Is it more likely that he gets there via some real hard work to sort whatever the issues are at the moment? Or one day it just clicks.

I think he's closer to a Rosberg title fight. I think he is to maybe like. Like, I've got it, I've now done it, I'm going to win it all. I think there is a chance, just based on what we've seen from Russell and previous years, that we head to next season or two seasons time. And it just comes together for him. He's a hard worker. You can see he's a hard worker.

He has a silly attitude at times and he makes people laugh in silly ways. But the guy gets his head down and tries to sort things out. Yeah. Next Mount Rushmore, best qualifying drive is this again. we're going back to all time here. So a Mount Rushmore of the best qualifying drivers of all time. Who makes your list? See previous list from first set.

Senga, Hamilton, Schumacher and Vastappen. I wasn't far off doing this as well. So my list is Senna, Schumacher, Hamilton. I've then got Fangio instead of Vestappen. Oh. Now... Did you see many of his labs? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, along with many of Senna's, right? I was there, man. You could leave the rumours. That's fair. I know we didn't see Fanjo, but I couldn't quite leave off a guy that got polled in 57% of the races he took part in. Like, that's ridiculous.

If he wasn't racing against ex-military scrubs, I think I would consider it a nibor. He was racing against bookkeepers and he was racing against... He's a racing against a guy who looked like a bake bean with goggles on, okay? Hey, Gonzalez is an absolute weird. winner. Yeah, winger in the bloody

Higgs bowl. No. He was Ferrari's first ever winner in F1, Gonzales. Yeah, he was the

tastiest meal afterwards as well. Good for you, Gonzalez. Stirling Moss. Fangio, cobbled him up. I mean,

I'm not even going to try and explain that. Just get to Patreon for our most recent bonus episode and you might have a chance of

understanding where on earth this Gonzales thing comes from. The Magdalene Big Bing, Check out Patriot to find that wine. Check out for other reasons as well, but mainly that. Yeah, I think the other three Senna, Schumacher and Hamilton,

their records do speak for themselves. They do. Hamilton, most polls at all time, Sena 65 poles from 161 starts. It's an incredible percentage of what you could do in a Formula One car. Schumacher held that record for Sonal, of course, for most polls until Hamilton came along. And I think Bustaping is that next iteration.

He is relentless when it comes to one lap, performance. So I had Jim Clark as an aim as well I wanted to mention. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wasn't far off at all for how brilliant he was over one lap. I thought Mansell is a bit of an animal over one lap as well. Really, really, really great. Vettel in his Red Bull era,

sensational over one lap as well, but not good enough to make this list. I did have Fangio further down the list as well. I also thought about Prost, but again, they can make that list. Yeah. I think Hamilton, I mean, 104 pole positions, that's 36 clear of anyone else.

He doesn't have the dominance. over teammates in the same way that Schumacher or Senna does. But, I mean, having the most pole positions of all time gets you on this list. Schumacher, it's ridiculous. Like, in his first 192 races, he qualified outside of the top 10 once. That once was the 1995 Belgian Grand Prix that we discussed five minutes ago that he won. His record, particularly in the 90s, was insane. Like, in the 90s, he did 128 races.

He was outqualified six times. Yeah, that's mad. That is madness. And Senna's is very similar. I mean, to out-qualify, Senna was out-qualified 18 times in his career. That's less like a season now. Yeah.

And to out-qualify like... Stuffo Van Dorn got out-qualified 20 times in one season by one. Whoa, don't come after a boy, stuff all like that. It's true, but come on. Yeah, the fact that he out-qualified Alan Pross, like 28-4. Alan Pross. Yeah, yeah. People sometimes say, oh, Pross wasn't a great qualified.

He was. He was. He was. He was. He was not next yourself. Right. Like, Prost dominated against the likes of Damon Hill, Jean-Alazy, Kekke Rosberg, Nikki Lauder. Like, he was far better than all of those guys head-to-head in qualifying, and he got absolutely roasted by Senna, at least on a qualifying lap.

Pross on toast for Sena's breakfast. It was, particularly when they weren't qualifying. Next up, best drivers who never got a chance in a top team. So Mount Rushmore of best drivers who never got a chance in the top team. This could be an interesting one. I think it will be. Yeah. So I've got Chris Aiman on my list.

I've got Robert Kubitsa on my list. I've got Juan Pablo Montoya on my list. And I don't know if this one counts because technically he did. I had Sterling Moss on my list. Oh, okay. But I mean, that's because he was the four-time runner-up, maybe the greatest drafts to ever get a title. and he just never got the opportunity to actually win

because of the relationship that he hang in the car, of course. But if you don't like that one, and I fully understand why you might not like that one, I actually had Nick Heinfeld on the list. Right there with you, buddy. I have Nick Heinfeld on my list. I also have Robert Kubitsa on my list. So I think you could argue maybe that the BMW Salber

was not far off a top team for nearly a year, but I wouldn't call it a top team. No, I agree. Jean-Arette-Vern made my list as well, as did Olivier Pannis, who I think, and that one's maybe more circumstantial because he had an awful leg injury in 1997 that I think cost him a lot of his pace.

He did come back after that, but I think he was better before the injury than after it. So yeah, I didn't go, I didn't go Montoya or Eamon whilst I would definitely associate those names because I think it depends if we're saying top car or top team because they both didn't get, a proper chance in a top car. Maybe you could argue Montoya did in 2005

because Reichenen wasn't too far off the title. But yeah, I mean, Chris Aeman, as we've discussed before, one of the unluckiest drivers in history. Yeah, go check that out if you don't know why. That's crazy. And then, last up, and this is maybe open to interpretation a little bit.

We are focusing a bit more on track here when we say this. So, a Mount Rushmore of the current, most exciting or most entertaining drivers to watch. Okay, I have gone for Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, and Liam Lawson. You know what? My four, my four, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Charles LeClair. I've also put Liam Lawson on my list. The man is crazy and watching a car.

I don't know what's going to happen each and every time we go on board. You could hit Sergio Perez. Sergio Perez can hit him. Who knows what the outcome might be? His teammate might be 10 millimeters away from his front wing, probably. Like, you do get a lot of, you get a lot of entertainment. Yeah, it might always be the best kind of entertainment for him as a driver, but it is entertaining.

I had LeCler, because it always feels like he's on the edge, particularly in qualifying of like either crashing or producing a pole position lap. I love watching LeCler when he's in a car. that suits Charlerclair. This season doesn't work, I don't think. Despite him having some really good form recently, but watching him in a car, he's comfortable. We had that early championship battle with Bostappen in 22.

That was thrilling. He was amazing to watch a car that suits him. I think maybe Hamilton and Vastappen are surprising names for some that have appeared on both of our list because we have seen extended periods of dominance from them that you could maybe not call the most entertaining. But I think Lewis Hamilton, it was proven. by what happened in Barcelona this year,

when he's got the bit between his teeth and he's really in the groove, he's thrilling to watch. He's an incredible tribe. Well, he's got that enthusiasm, that push behind him, the fighting child, LeClaire as well. You know, the wheel-to-wheel capability

he still possesses is one of the best, if not still the best. It's incredible. And an underdog Vestappan is a lot of fun to watch as well. The same as an angry Lewis Hamilton. I love an angry Max Vastappen. I love it when they're like, right,

that's it. I've had enough and it's just like outright pace. Who cares about the ties? They're thrilling. I think I've maybe been influenced by the fact that he hasn't had much to do that so far this year, but Alonzo was fifth on my list. Alonzo, Lap ones, best thing you can watch. Yeah. Oh yeah. Lap ones. Like there's, there's him and stroll. The Astor Martin duo is the goat of lap ones. Terrifying. If you're a car, if you're an Audi going backwards. Yeah, indeed, as they usually are. That's going to round out Mount Rushmore's. Let us know if you you'd have different names that should have been considered for all five of those categories. We just have time before we get out of here to do what I can only really describe as the greatest segment in all of podcasting.

It is time for the... Elby Question of the Week. Oh, a little whisper. A little whisper. It's supposed to start your week. Basically, our question of the week this time was just an outlet for our anger, which is why has nothing happened in this summer break? Why is there no news?

holding it up. Fortunately, we've got some good answers. I mean, we have got some real answers. And we put this up a little later. Loads of you still came along and interacted with it. So thank you to everyone that just jumps on these questions in the weeks, whenever we do them. The first one comes from Kayla for me on Instagram. George has politely asked them to wait until after his engagement. So he could have some of the spotlight. And you know George is asking it politely as well. He would. He would probably write to them with a lovely letter of a quill. It'll be stamped, GR on the wax. And it would have a PowerPoint presentation. Here's why you shouldn't post anything

for the next two weeks. Yours kindly, George Russell. Gary's actually got the correct answer, which is waiting for the day of recording the podcast. I cannot wait for all the news to come out tomorrow. We'll come out tomorrow morning, 9 a.m. And we'll have to cry until Sunday. Pretty much.

This one comes from Cole. They're still trying to get Stoff on out of the Astor-Mine. They are really trying. Come on, Stoff, get out. Blake said it's too hot in Europe to work at the moment. I mean, you're not wrong. You're going to get hotter again, which I'm sick to death of. This one comes from Matt, who said,

oh, the drivers are equally unhappy with their teams. So why move? Oh, good answer. I have to get the customary subalba shout in there. So Drew said everyone is waiting to see where Sir Bulba ends up. He has to be the first domino to fall. It's so true. He is the man that everyone wants to sing.

Everyone wants Subalba. I get it. I get it. I hope he just has to find on Bunta. Go out Bunta read. Eddie. This one comes from Woody. Broadcasters are still in Austria

focusing on the back of that man's head. Great answer. Great throwback. Last one from me is from Lauren. They're all busy having exciting personal lives. We get it all right, Lauren. People have lives outside of LB. Rub it in, man.

Come on. From sweat. It's boiling. I feel miserable. and you've just made it even worse that I'm not a sexy Formula One drug with a great summer life for crying out loud.

Final one from me, this is from Dwayne K on Instagram who said, Gene Hasse hates new people. Gene Hasse famously does hate new people. And as we know, similar to Saba being the first domino, it's really Hasse that's the first domino.

They're setting a room together, refusing to talk. Like Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonzo are just waiting outside of Hasse headquarters to see what happens with Estaban. on to see if they'll get a chance in the house or not. Subbo's there like, ah, Gene! Genevolva!

Give me the drive. Good. Good, good, good, good. Yeah, that's probably an appropriate place to end this episode, if you wouldn't mind until Sunday getting us out of here. Folks, we got one more episode until we are done with the summer break content. Until we are done. That's it.

7-04, whatever it is. We're out. And then we'll be back, of course, next Wednesday for the preview for the Dutch Grand Prix, which again, we're going to be at. So if you want to do the meet and greet, you're gags to fill out the form. And the link is in the description. So checking out, why Gonzalez is a bank being? Patrons available. It's there.

Checking out. It helps to show a lot. Why has he got two goggles? No, Google. Gogol Gonzalez is out there. Being a Blake Bean and you've got to find out why. Join the guest goal. Follow us on social media, late breaking F1.

We will see you on Sunday. for some more great F1 Chick-Shat. In the meantime, I'll be Chang'N Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late.