The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Looking back at F1’s most dominant periods

Episode Date: April 26, 2026

Ben and Sam take you through F1 history, ranking the most dominant streaks where the competition had no answer. They also discuss the teams’ 2026 upgrade programmes, before answering your questions in a Constructors Q&A.   Heading to the Dutch GP and interested in a Thursday meet-up? Fill out this quick form so we can keep you updated: >>> CLICK HERE

Thank you for listening to the late-breaking F-1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. A very warm welcome to the late-breaking F-1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, on what is, thankfully, the final Sunday, before we get some F-1 racing again, Sam. It's the final Sunday. Yeah, I'm really happy. Cheers, Europe. Appreciate that. Obviously, absolute banger, isn't it? Never fails.

No. Miami though we don't know if that's going to fail yet It's so what it's Formula 1 I'll take it at this point Is it just going to be like It doesn't matter if it's an awful race It's F1 so yeah it's great

I mean yeah I have very low standards I'm not sure they're literally on the floor though I found it quite funny because Very random Sky Sports F1 haven't done any classic races For like multiple years I think at this point And then really randomly They put on a few of the

other night. And I watched one, which was the 2010 German Grand Prix, which is quite famous because that's where Fernando Alonzo and Felipe Massa had the Ferrari team orders debacle. And again, given they haven't done a classic race in like years, I think, genuinely years, it is garbage. The Grand Prix is atrocious. I'm like, why are you putting this one on? Yeah, out of all the Grand Prix they could choose from, and we've done many ourselves, there is a plethora of wonderful Grand Prix to watch throughout history. That's the one.

I swear down, apart from that team order thing, nothing happens. It is rubbish. When you said it, I was like, I don't remember that race at all. No, that'll be white.

2010, a lot of good races to go out. They didn't pick one. Well, hopefully the next one we have is a good one. Indeed. But we're also looking ahead to other races that are happening later this year.

A little bit of an LB update. So our summer plans We've got two Grand Prix that we're going to later on in the year. Firstly, British Grand Prix. We're going to be there on the Sunday, on race day. So that's the 5th of July. Hopefully if you're going to go into the British GP,

you already know what dated is anyway. But yes, we're going to be there on the Sunday. We'll announce a few plans closer to the date just in terms of doing a bit of a quick meetup while we're there on the Sunday in terms of where and when that will be. But we'd love to say hello to you if you are at the British GP on that Sunday.

So if you're, just keep listening and we'll announce some plans a little bit closer to the date. But that's not the only venue we're going to this year, because we are also the following month going to the Dutch Grand Prix. Mags, Max, Max, Max, Suba, Max, Max, Max. Yeah, we're going full Orange Army. We're coming over to the Netherlands. LB takes on Europe proper. I've not been to the Netherlands before.

I'm very excited. Very excited. Very excited. We're doing the full weekend, right? We are doing the full weekend. We just love sprint weekend. So we had to go as soon as we heard it was a sprint weekend at Zambor. But yeah, we're going to be there for the entire weekend. So 23rd of August is race day. But because we are there for the full weekend, we're looking to do something on the Thursday

beforehand as well. So Thursday 20th. So that will probably be likely somewhere in Amsterdam. So if you'd like to let us know, we're going to put a form in the description, basically. you can just let us know whether you'd be interested in some drinks or a few different options on there. Let us know. So we have a bit of an idea on how many of you we might expect to see. And hopefully it's a lot of you because we love our Dutch fans. If it's only one of you, you're going to be getting a really intense couple of beers.

Yes. And then for those at the track as well, we'll do something similar to what we said for Silverstone. And yeah, we'll pick a place. We'll pick a time. And we'd just love to say hello to you. probably the best part of doing this show is actually meeting someone in real life that listens to this show. So if you're up for it, you're going to come and say hello. It is the best bit. So please do. So we will be going to those two Grand Prix this year. Sadly, we won't be

making an appearance. No. It's hard for us to say, folks. We won't be making an appearance this year in Austin, Texas for the United States GP, which we've fallen in love with Austin over the last few years. We feel very at home. We feel very at home. Yes. So we, We say that with great resistance, and I am holding back the tears. But it's a great opportunity for us this year to get out some different locations, different parts of the world, meet some, meets more fans. We love meeting you. So, yeah, sad we can't be at Cota this year, but we are already looking at 2027 plans.

So it's not the last that Cote was seeing of late breaking. Coates just got damn. Thought they got rid of them. Fort got rid of them. Yeah, no, no, no, no, yeah. Yes, so hopefully that's covered absolutely everything in terms of those announcements. Reminder of the Dutch GP weekend, if you are interested in seeing us on Thursday the 20th, fill in the form that is in the description to this episode, really helps us out in preparation

for that sort of thing. Thank you. Thank you very much. Indeed. Let's crack on with the show. And we're going to start today with a top five list. We're going to do a top five of the most dominant periods in F1 history. A bit of an interesting one because we've left this quite vague in terms of how many years it might cover for a particular team.

We're opening this up to the full extent of the history of F1, so quite a few that we could go at. We actually found that the top four on our list have essentially ended up exactly the same. So we'll do a bit of a combined list. But we did at least have a bit of difference on what is number five. So we'll start there. And that's where you highlighted the 1990s and Williams. I will admit, I'd completely forgotten to include Williams on my list, but you're absolutely right to because five Constructors' titles in six years

is very worthy of being a place on this list. Yeah, I mean, Williams obviously came into the sport in the 70s, and it didn't take long for them to find success anyway. I think they picked up their first title. I've got my notes here. That's right, folks. I make notes now. New man.

Without a jokes in 1980, right? And I believe they picked up nine constructors and seven drivers titles in only 16 years. So when you think about how new they were into the sport at the time, to win that many titles in a decade and a half was pretty special. And the drivers that they had in their roster at the time that were winning titles are also very special. You know, Alan Jones, Keke-Rosberg, of course, Alan Prost was there, Dr. Nige, was, of course, very, very important to us here. Damon Hill, and he's not here to disagree, but Jacques Villeneuve, of course,

rounding off that set of championship winners. They were pioneers in technology. They were working with many different Asian manoeuvre. factored at the time. And they're also going up against some real Goliath to Formula One, which are the likes of McLaren, who have one of the most famous dominance periods with some of the most famous driver lineups in Formula One history at that same time period. So not one to be forgotten, not one to be skiffed at. They were pretty mega in the late 80s and early 90s. I think I forgot Williams from my list for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because the dominance was

somewhat disturbed over time. Like I'm thinking Benetton and Michael Schumacher in the mid-90s, for example. But when you add up the number of championships they won, they are very worthy of being on the list. The other reason why maybe it didn't immediately spring to mind for me was particularly the early to mid-90s, let's say, when they were maybe at their most dominant. A lot of these other periods of dominance for a team, you can almost assign one particular driver, like Vettel to Red Bull or Hamilton to Mercedes. With Williams in the 90s, you had essentially Mansell won the title in 92, Prost won it in 93, Hill won it in 96, Vilner of 97, like there isn't one driver

that was synonymous with Williams throughout all of those years. Yeah, five titles in six years, but five different drivers to win those five titles in those six years, which is very, very unusual for a Formula One team. Of course, only missing out on that one year in the middle due to Schumacher of Benetton.

So magnificent period for them, right at that start of the 90s, I'm surprised you forgot them, but then quite fairly so, because you brought back a little blast from the past. Yeah, I went a bit further back. I went to Cooper all the way back to the late 1950s and early 1960s for this one. Now, as we were putting together our list, and you'll see as we go throughout this,

there is more of a leaning towards, I'm going to say, modern F1 in terms of like the last maybe 30 years or so. And I think it's maybe been easier to dominate in the last maybe 30 years in F1, because in the 50s, 60s and 70s, like F1 is evolving. at such a quick rate, that it is very difficult, and reliability is so bad as well. It's very difficult for one team to, I don't know, reign supreme for multiple years at a time. But I did want to include Cooper in this. So the team Cooper probably, its long-lasting legacy is that you have a mini Cooper folks, that's where Cooper comes from, the Cooper Car Company.

But they were a on and off kind of entry throughout the 1950s, all the way from 1950 to 1957. Like they weren't fully in the sport at this point, largely uncompetitive. But when it came to, I think it was 1957, they brought rear engine cars, which was a completely revolutionary idea because at this point, all of the competitive cars, all winning cars, had their engine in the front of the car. But the other teams were slow to adopt this because Cooper, with their rear engine cars, weren't competitive.

And even when Cooper won their first race, which was at the beginning of 1958, there were circumstances around that where I think it was Moss that won it, but there was strategy involved and... A lot of D&F, some reliability. There were only 10 teams, sorry, 10 cars that started that race that he won. And I don't think any team actually took them seriously until they won the Monaco GP later in that year. And it was like, oh, this might actually be the future.

And indeed it was, Jack Brabham won two consecutive drivers titles. Cooper won two consecutive constructors titles in 59 and 1960, pretty dominant in both of those years. And I just wanted to include it because we're going to go through multiple teams in this list that are these Goliaths that you said in terms of McLaren and Ferrari and Williams and long-lasting teams, big legacies. This was a small upstart team who managed to find a revolutionary idea quicker than everyone else. And sure, after 1960, everyone else brought better versions of what Cooper were doing. But that legacy of having that the engine in the rear of the car, it sped up the evolution of F1, I think, by at least a couple of years. It's important to remember Cooper for that.

It's not even in F1 as well. Like this extends to motor racing more generally. Like the Indy 500, they were the first team to introduce a rear engine car at the Indy 500. And within five years of them doing that, first rear engine. car wins the Indy 500. So isn't it interesting, I think it's never really divulged too much onto the normal road use of cars. Like obviously, Porsche have a kind of centrally aligned rear engine car.

They're pretty much the most famous for doing so. And yet, your car, my car, Kersky, your car. It's all sat right at the front, in front of you as you drive. It's very interesting thing. It's not being adopted wide, mate. I actually, I go backwards everywhere. I thought you were going to say you picked yours. I'm putting it in the boot anyway.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's how I do. Yeah. Number four, now we're going to a more agreed list at this point. We're going to go with Red Bull here and specifically looking at 2010 to 2013. So that's four consecutive years where they won the Drivers' Championship and the Constructors' Championship with Vettel winning all of those Drivers' Championships. I don't know, Sam, I think it's easy to forget with Red Bull that they were only five years removed from even existing as a team.

And this was, like, I'm not saying they were a small outfit, but this was an energy drinks company trying to prove that they could mix it with these big car manufacturers. I'm not sure until it happened whether they were taken 100% seriously. Well, I don't think they were taking 100% seriously. Not until I don't think it would win it, but 09, when they really started to stick the competition. And the fact that Toro Rosso, who was their sister team, got the victory first in a race before they did, of course, with a battle again in 2008 in Monsor and that horrible wet race. Who was it then they took over Jaguar? They took over Jaguar who, yeah, before that was Stuart, but yes, they took over Jaguar.

So it has a real Formula One history to it. And, you know, Jaguar is a car manufacturers. I'm sure you all know. Stuart was a well-known name, of course, throughout racing famously. And it's unusual, not unusual to see a customer team, so to speak, you know, a non-manufacturer team to go out and wing. We've seen that before. Williams, we just spoke about, have proven. Maclara and Mercedes just a couple years before that, yeah. I don't know. It wasn't unusual, but all of these teams previously, realistically had either had a driver that was heavily related to them that had gone to wing something or heavily related to the automotive world in the first place. Red Bull had turned up, brought out a team that was starting to struggle in terms of Formula One wanting to fund that, and within five years, rocked up and creating this absolute monster

of a car, all, probably should use monster in a conversation about Red Bull. Oh, whoa, well, Red Bull coming for us. She was trying any drinks at your own pleasure, I guess. So this was a real turnout for the books, the fact that not only had they gone ahead and become successful, they had outdone Ferrari, McLaren. You know, they were beating the likes of huge global manufacturers who were involved in the sport for a long period of time that couldn't grasp them. These are like Toyota, who had just left the year before their success, who spent hundreds of millions of dollars on their car and could not amount to anything.

BMW were involved. You know, these are Goliaths. of automotive that could not achieve what Red Bull, who made cans of energy drink, went on to achieve four years in a row. And Vettel, of course, I think before Vastaping has really reached his most recent success, was the synonymous game with Red Bull. I think it's who you originally thought of when you thought Red Bull Racing, that driver, their champion was Sebastian Betel.

Yeah, I always think of this era as Adrian Newey's crowning moment as well, because whilst he had had success elsewhere beforehand at McLaren, at Williams in the early 90s that we obviously touched on with the number five pick in this list, but these four years were really his years. And Vettel and Weber, particularly in 2010, were both competitive. And then that almost gave, that championship, I think, gave Vettel the impetus to then go on to that further success. As if you think back to 2010, that car was very good in qualifying at 15 pole, positions that year. But Weber was very much in that championship fight just as Vettel was, to the point where penultimate race in Brazil, Weber was, sorry, Vettel was leading,

Weber was second, but Weber was ahead in the championship. There were discussions in that Grand Prix. Should Weber be let by for the championship? Ultimately, that doesn't happen, and Vettel gets enough points to win in Abu Dhabi and win the title, obviously. I just think that's a very critical moment in F1 history, because what if they had made, that called switch them over. I'm not sure Vettel would have listened or not, who knows, but if he had, maybe Weber wins the title and Vettel doesn't gain that additional confidence then go off into 2011, 2011 and 13 in particular are so dominant. So dominant. The ability that he has to just stretch away from Weber, who was, as you mentioned,

such good competition for him in their first proper competitive year as teammates, is almost left in the dust immediately. But you're right, it could have been three titles. is for Vessel one to Weber, but maybe it doesn't kickstarting, maybe it's two apiece. It is interesting how in one result, history could go down a completely different path. Yeah. The closing thought on this one as well is just 2011, the Canadian GP, I think, is the number one sign to how dominant Vettel and Red Bull were, because in that race, a very dramatic race, Jensen Button overtakes Vettel on the last lap to win.

The crowd goes absolutely mental for it, which is deserved because it was a thrilling finale, to what was a very long race. But the only reason they get that reaction is because Vettel was so dominant at this point that it was like, I think unfairly so to an extent, but it was like he was taken down by Jensen, by someone else, by another team. And that's why it got the euphoria that it did. It also caused Vettel to be the bad boy of Formula One. He was the ultimate villain.

It's almost like Formula One found the new German driver they didn't want to like because Michael Schumacher, of course, only five years before. that was just coming to the end of his dominant reign and Vettel had kind of taken on that mantle. I think Vettel was quite pleased you're taking on that mantle from Michael Schumacher as his hero, he's his racing hero, but yeah, it was really interesting. And now we love Seb. He's like the good guy of motorsport, right? He's the guy that we all look to.

So it is interesting how the media can really paint that picture. Indeed. Number three on the list. Alan Prost, Erton Senna, MP44. Is that just the best combination of car and driver we've ever? ever seen? I don't know if it will ever get better than that. Maybe not. Like, I don't know, maybe in like five years time, let's say, I don't know, George Russell is a five-time world champion. And then Max Verstappen and George Russell go into the same team in the Mercedes. That's the

kind of levels we're talking about for being like, you're that good individually. Now, the machine you're ring is that incredible. And you're racing together in that machine. It's like playing F-R manager and you've just got unlimited funds to do whatever you want. That's how this occurred. It's insane. Yeah, it wasn't just 1988 when they had the MP44, but they won four consecutive constructors titles, the first of which was with that MP44,

won 15 out of 16 races in that season. And you could argue the only reason they didn't win 16 out of 16 was due to chicken pox. Tell the story, then. Well, the only race they didn't win, Etton Senna, I believe this is true, at the centre crashed into replacement Williams driver whilst lapping him. Schlesster, I think his name was,

who was only subbing in at Williams because Nigel Mansell, Dr. Nige had chicken pox. Classic doctor move that is to pick up chicken pox. He must have been tending to many a poor patient. Of course, I'm sure, was helping. I think the crazy thing about that dominant period where they had the four in a row as well is that it was only broken up for being eight in a row because of what P.K. was able to do in Williams. Yes, yeah, yeah.

Before that, it was louder picked up one. and it was Prost and Prost again right before that. So it could have been eight in a row, but it was seven and eight years. Yeah, pretty phenomenal. McLaren had a real choice to make in 1988 as well, because we were in the turbocharged era at that point, but we were heading back to naturally aspirated sort of V10 engines, and there were a lot of,

there was a lot of encouragement in the regulations for teams to do that a year early. McLaren decided still not to do that. They wanted one more year with Honda that had come in, with that V6 turbo, and it worked brilliantly well for one year. And that also let them have an extra year's worth of development behind the scenes before introducing the naturally aspirated engine. And when they do that, it's great as well. So they played it very well.

It was clever. It is funny to look back and see just how much of a difficult time McLaren then end up going through in modern times after they had this period of dominance. I'm going to hit you with one more stat about 1988. I'd love to hear it. The number 28, why is that significant to the 1988 season? I don't know, you tell me, Ben. That's the number of laps McClaren didn't lead that year.

Oh, my lord. Yeah. They didn't lead 28 laps in 1988. Wow. I bet half of those were because they pitied. Or, yeah, retired as the case with the Italian GP. But, yeah, that's just insane. There's a reason the MP4-4 is kind of a thing of legend.

Indeed. And the MP4-5 that followed it, not too bad either. Not quite the same level, but... I still take it. Yeah. I mean, they still won pretty much 50% of the races they entered with that car, so not too bad at all. Let's take a quick break on this episode. On the other side, we'll complete our list. Welcome back, everyone. Number two on our list. We go to good old Ferrari. Look, you can't have a dominance list without a little mention of the boys in red. And I say that, actually, 2020 to 2020. That's the one we're talking about. Yeah, I mean, it's tricky actually to speak about Ferrari in a dominant fashion,

because actually, apart from the bit that we're going to speak about, they haven't ever really been too dominant. And before this period where Schumacher, of course, kickstarts Ferrari's dominance at the turn of the millennium, it had been 21 years before they actually taking a title beforehand with Joey Schechter in 1979. You know, they haven't won two million races in that period either. They never really got a sniff at being the top dogs.

The likes of Benetting had come out and beating them, McClough and Williams, and others have all come along and beating them handingly time and time again. And finally, after Michael Schumacher went to a struggling Ferrari, after being, you know, the top dog in a car that maybe shouldn't have allowed him to be the top dog. He finally got it. Come on, some of those performances in that Beggarting, especially in 95, you think, how's he done that? How has he done that?

And then finally it clicks. And they bring in the right person out such as Ross Braun and Jean-Torpe are there. And it just delivers these five seasons of impossible brilliings. You know, they are almost invincible in comparison to others. Yeah. I think people often forget the struggle that Ferrari went to to get to this predominant period. It's not just the 21 years between Schechter and Schumacher. It's also the amount of near misses they had in those first couple of Schumacher years.

Like 97, obviously Schumacher's commitment. competing for the title going into the last race of the season. And as I'm sure Harry would say, Villeneuve crashes into Schumacher, more accurately the other way around. 98, he's in with a chance going into the last race of the year versus Hacken. And 99, you know, Irvine's in with a chance, but only, let's face it probably because Schumacher's out for most of that season due to the leg injury, he suffered at the British GP.

So they had a couple of real near misses. And they did win the Constructors title in 99 as well. But as soon as the 2000s rolled around, those five years. A couple of them aren't massively dominant, particularly 2003. Like, that one was close. You look at 2001, he wins the title, Schumacher wins the title by 58 points. That sounds small now. Yes. Back then, it was blimming huge. Yeah, I would say adjusted for inflation, that's probably not far off 150 points. Yeah, it's five or six race wings comfortably. Right, yeah.

You look at 2002 as well. Still the only season ever where a driver has finished on the podium in every single race. Every single Grand Prix, yeah. I mean, before back 1999 Championship, Constructed's Championship, they picked up. They only had nine world title throughout the whole history of Formula One. And they almost doubled it in that period. You know, that's how it suddenly became for them. I say they only had nine.

That's still an incredible amount of achieved. But you've got to remember that they had nine between, 1950 and 1979 and then they can't have anything until this 1999 constructed under 2000 actual drivers for Schumacher so it was a big old gap they had to fill. I guess what?

We're just about to come around to another 21 year drought almost for Ferrari. So give it a couple of years, maybe we see history repeat itself. We're getting there. We're starting to get to the point now after do my quick maths, but we're getting our first driver

on the grid this year in Arvid Lindblad, who has not been alive for a Ferrari driver's championship win. Like, that's where we're at now. Yeah, Kimmy and I was 7. That was the last time they'd taste your proper success. Even then, that was by the skig of their teeth. It sure was. Yeah, well, a great era though for Ferrari.

Like, when you win, as Schumacher did in, this is 2002 very specifically, when you win a driver's championship after the French Grand Prix, you've had a pretty good year. Like, I know that we don't, we didn't at that point have as many races like in, in in October, for example, but to win a season in France. I think he did get in something like 60% of the season. Yeah. If you can go put it into percentage terms.

But they haven't quite claim number one on our list because that goes to Mercedes. And we're not talking about 2026. We're talking about 2014 to maybe about 2020. I feel like the longevity of this is what has, at least for me, separated it out. Like this is just almost one long set of regulatory. of dominance. I mean, they also won the constructors in 21, right? I mean, yeah, sure.

They won, yeah. Yeah, they weren't quite dominant, obviously, with it being close with Red Bull. But as a manufacturer, they won another one there. So we've watched Formula One for a while. Now, you know, consciously I've been watching Formula One. It's probably about 99, 2000, where I can actually remember the pictures on the screen properly.

This felt like the biggest step for a certain team to make in pure dominance. I've seen in Formula One. Even bigger the Red Bull in the, you know, the 10 to 13 seasons. It was the engine that did it for them. It was entirely self-built. They understood everything they needed to.

And it so quickly, it's so obviously came down to only two drivers. But it was so dominant, they helped every other customer team that they were giving engines to to also become so much more dominant over all the other midfield teams they were racing against.

We saw the likes of Williams, leapfrog, all the way to like the top two or three regularly. Force India who were racing in the Sagan's engines, right? They take a massive step forward as well. where they were very much not involved beforehand. It was a real shift for so many teams because they were using Mercedes.

And of course, Mercedes themselves absolutely capitalised and just run away with it year after year until 17, where we start to see a little bit of competition with Ferrari, who once again very quickly to drop the ball. And then 18, which is almost as good. And then Lewis Hamilton decides to go super-Syang and just become the best guy of all time. And then 18, 19, 20, it's just a Lewis-Hamilton playground.

that point. Yeah. I mean, in particular, it's the first three years for me, 14, 15, 16. They're just, they scored over 700 points in all three of those seasons. And if you add up everyone, everyone who's not Mercedes, add up all their wins from those three seasons and you get eight. That is everything else. Eight out about 63, 64. Yeah. And then Rosberg and Ableton have absolutely everything else. Yeah, Ricardo won a few races, Vettel won a few races, but those first few years were just ridiculous. There's a reason why we voted 2015 is one of the worst seasons in modern formula.

It's no slight on Mercedes. They were just too good. I would also say about Mercedes in the way the dominance ended, because you're right, they won the constructor's title in 21, even if they didn't win the driver's title that year. And there were a number of reasons why it came to an end

this period of dominance. Vastappen is included in that list. Nui is included in that list. But what is also included in that list, Red Bulls start to poach Mercedes employees. For a couple of years before, you heard these big stories of Red Bull, you know, go out and steal. There were stories of hordes of employees moving from,

because they were offering them huge pay packets to move over. It's like the animals going on to Noah's Ark. Like, they were going two by two by department, yeah. Under the cover of darkness with massive bags of money under their arms. Red Bull did the only thing they could. They bought out the talent, and it worked. Yeah, I mean, no shade at Red Bull, by the way. Like, that's completely legitimate.

Played the game. There was a real chance that the next period for Red Bull also could have been closer to being on this list as well because they then, of course, pick up a period of actual dominance. We have that for Stappan season in 23 where you would put that up there with the MP4-4 as a singular season being that incredible. 100%. So that's our top five list.

A number of different ways we could have gone with this. So I'm sure there are going to be some periods of dominance that we haven't included. Certainly Ferrari in the mid-70s was one that I. considered for this list. Red Bull more recently that you've just mentioned as well. So let us know what your top five would have looked like. Let's move on to something I wanted to chat about regarding upgrades that we're going to see from teams over the next few races because we haven't had F1 in a few millennia at this point. Star Wars intro roles. Yes. One team that is specifically targeting an upgrade for Miami is racing bull. So we use this as an example, but this is indicative of

other teams as well. They were going to have an upgrade that took place at the Bahrain GP. Obviously, wouldn't have made much sense to do that anymore. So that's now arriving at the Miami GP. But they've got another upgrade that's coming at the Canadian GP. So they've almost, they're going to have, and Alan Permanagh, their team principal has said this, they are going to have an upgrade that is on the car for one race. Yeah. And how do you go that works? I just think it's going to be a really interesting one, like how this is how racing balls are kind of dealing with it, but how do these other teams deal with, you know, a couple of races where they might well have introduced upgrades, but there might be another package that's coming

in another race's time? Yeah, these two races that have gone missing have come at a really pivotal area of a new set of regulations. You know, the developments at the start of a new set of regs where you've actually got running time, track time, you can see direct analytics of the reporting of what's coming on through the track time. It's so valuable that this is where we're going to see those engineers backing their factories, producing a recent searching at a huge and rapid speed. And Bahrain, the place where they are most comfortable, would have been an obvious kind of embedding ground for new development.

Because you've got a direct comparison between your car in preseason testing, that was your kind of original, your foundation, and then your car four races later, which it would have been, which would have had a few upgrades on it. You could go, right, we are now one second to lap faster, or we are exactly the same, and they've done nothing, which, you know, it can happen. So it is interesting to hear that quite a few teams are looking to bring upgrades. I know Ferrari are bringing the Macarena wing to Miami. Get in there.

Looking forward to seeing that every time that we see it go open. And it's not just them. There are a number of other teams. Red Bull are looking to bring a whole new package as well. I wouldn't be surprised if we see Mercedes bringing something. McLaren definitely will. Usually with the fact that it's a sprint weekend, you would sit there and go, oh, it's a bit risky.

It's a little bit risky to sit there and try and bring upgrades where you've got one test session and you've done what to bring. We said that about the Macarena wing at China. when Ferrari brought that there, they used that as part of the only practice session. And I remember we were like, why are they doing this? They're not going to use it for the rest of the weekend.

They've used up the only practice session they have on something that isn't on the car. If it goes wrong, then what do you do about it? You've got no development time to sit there and understand how to adjust the car and the setup and the feedback to know, ah, it's drivable. It's quick, it's slow.

You have no idea. You're going into a qualifying session and then into a race very, very quickly. It will be the same at Miami, but it's almost such a new, fresh situation. They've kind of got to take the risk, I think. They've kind of got to go out there and start throwing things on the car. Because if you do get it right, you might throw yourself up the grid.

You might find that racing balls, for example, are suddenly the third fastest car. If they really get it right, we know how good the engine in theory is. If the car is stable and the upgrades are good, they can really project themselves into the points. I think it proves as well with racing balls in the position they're in. They're currently in a fight with Red Bull, but I don't think that will last. but they're in a fight with Alpine and Hasse and maybe Audi as well if they get their act together. It shows how critical each and every race is and how they cannot afford to drop points even at one weekend out of 22, that they are going to bring this upgrade for one Grand Prix because there was an argument to say,

let's scrap this and we're just going to put full development on the upgrade that's coming at Canada and we'll just live with what we've had for the rest of the year at Miami. But clearly there's such a fight in this midfield to get points that they can't afford to do that. Yeah, I do think that they are losing valuable track time if they don't put it on in Miami. As I said, usually I will be very much against springing upgrades to a weekend like this. But losing a whole weekend is disastrous. They've already lost two. They need to make sure that what they're doing is going in the right direction.

Waiting another whole racing weekend, it just puts you on the back foot. And of course, Canada is going to be a sprint as well. So we've got two consecutive sprint weekends coming out of this extended break. That's going to be very interesting for these teams. I think F1 and the FIA have kind of answered that to an extent. I don't know if you saw the news that the one and only practice session at Miami is going to be extended to 90 minutes. So it's going to be an hour and a half for 60 minutes. Back to 90 minute practices, is it?

But a one-off, I think just for the mitigating circumstances, which I understand. I know what. Yeah, yeah. It's again, new regulations, so many changes, it does make a longer sense, especially with the safety changes that they're making as well. We've obviously seen the rule changes come through in this gap. Yeah, it is sensible to giving extra 30 minutes for drivers just to really adjust. How do you think Mercedes will tackle upgrades?

I think they're going to have to still be aggressive with it. They've got a great lead at the moment, but there's already been some changes that have affected them. Of course, they have altered the little trick that Mercedes and Red Bull were playing when it came to qualifying, which meant that they couldn't adjust the battery essentially to ensure they got better propulsion at the end of the previous warm-up map to be faster going on to the actual qualifying map. That's being banned, so to speak. But also, these changes that have come through in the regulations are going to affect

every team, whether good, whether bad, I think actually this might benefit the same using it properly. But with the changes, they've got to adjust. We saw with Kimi Antigelli, he starts with ideal, with George Russell, he also made mistakes. They will want to bring upgrades to make sure they continue. you the gap to the cars behind. I don't think they can really afford to rest on their laurels.

I think they've got to be aggressive. I think based on Toto Wolf's comments as well, I don't think they are because Toto Wolf has been saying a few things about ADUO or recently. He's had a few comments about that. And see that the idea there is that if you don't have the best engine on the grid, you're able to be given the opportunity to catch up. but he's very much saying that there's only one manufacturer on the grid that's struggling right now, Honda. That's where the help should go and not towards like a performance boost in effect for Red Bull or Ferrari.

So you can tell Toto Wolf's already thinking like, I have this advantage, but there are multiple things at play that could see that disappear. I give it four races and that new restriction for the compression ratio comes into play. so they do not have a long of time left where all these little benefits that they found out are slowly going to dwindle away. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. I know some people think this one, this season is a done deal. And it might be.

That might be the way it goes. But there's a lot of moving parts that still need to be answered yet. If you enjoy F1, this is just going to be a bit of a different season. And I think you need to learn to try and enjoy it for what technicality teams can bring. Will we see a real change in the performance halfway through? the season. It could still be an exciting season yet, just to feel a very different formula one way. And I get, that doesn't mean that, hey, you liked this a bit because of the fun on track, but you want it to be like this every year. But you can still try and enjoy it for what it's

providing. Indeed. Should we take another break on this episode? On the other side, we asked you for some questions to have some answers. That's what we're going to do. Oh, yes, answering said questions. Yes, we provide the answers to the questions. It would be weird if we just ask for the questions and they can ever use them. Yeah, Q. No way. No. Hold the A.

Just full stop. Q and. Q and Q. F1 back and back. From the people that brought you back and back. And other viral game shows. Oh, man. Welcome back, everyone.

Thank you so much to everyone who completed the form that we asked about on Wednesday's episode. Gold stars for all of you, because we asked for some questions about constructors very specifically that we're going to spend the next couple of a couple of segments answering. And well done, LB Collective, because you were all quite serious. I want a chance to be silly. That's got fun. I appreciate, you know, there were still some ridiculous comments looking at you salami man, but... What you mean? A man called salami man, would not make a ridiculous comment? But for the most part, all of the, most of the questions were actually quite serious ones that we'll get into. So, and a good range of questions across the constructors too. So let's start with a question on, start with a question on Red Bull, shall we?

Do you think Red Bulls slash raising balls is slowly crumbling down and are going to pull out of F1 in the next four to five years? Oh, interesting question. I do think they're crumbling. I think that's a very valid observation. I think they are nowhere near the dominant, so they just saw from them. Can I ask a further question on this? You say they're crumbling. have they crumbled? Oh, I mean. Are we at the bottom of the valley at this point? I wouldn't say we're at the bottom.

We're not at the very bottom. Max Verstappen going this season might have the very bottom. That might be where it really hits rock bottom for them, but they're definitely on a real low. It has crumbled away. Do I think they can't put out of Formula One? No. No.

I think this is now the powerhouse of Red Bull marketing. I think they've built so much around Formula One now. It's obviously, it's an extreme sports company that sells energy drinks now. That's what Red Bull is. So to leave the fastest, most high-opt-tap in the world doesn't suit their agenda. They're still making tongues. They're still advertising their products everywhere. And even if Max Verstappen does leave, it will still be a very viable area,

especially with the deal with Ford and whatnot. There's a lot of money going on here. They will not just walk away because it's a tough time. They've had tough times before. Yeah, I cannot see this team leaving because of that very reason of, they aren't here to sell cars. They are here very purely as a marketing exercise. And it would just be completely backwards to go through the 2010s

where at times F1 wasn't massively popular compared to what it is now. To go through that to get to a point now where it is so popular around the world, whether that stays the same, who knows. But it's incredibly popular and incredibly well watched. Why would they go away from that now? It's like buying low, selling high, but the other way round. You know, it doesn't really make sense to do that. Sell, buy, buy while the shares are high.

No, that's like. And watch them go down. And then I'll leave when my investment is at least. I'm less certain about what they'll do with racing balls. I wouldn't be surprised if there's movement on that in the next five years. I'm not sure. I think what frustrates me about racing balls is, let's take Porsche, right? There were conversations in the last few years that they might come in other than,

big Porsche fan. A lot of you know that. There was a real serious conversation around are they hogging a space on the grid, a very limited and premium area in the world of sport. Should they be made to sell to a manufacturer such as Porsche who think about the attention that it would bring to have someone of that caliber join the grid as a full manufacturer, is it going to be less than racing balls? I'd argue no. I argue they bring way more in terms of fan base, money, appeal, marketing, value, then a CISCA team that can't ever win a race, realistically, is going to bring. So I wouldn't be shocked if Red Bull eventually come to realize that they have to give that spot up. The FIA make them give that spot up.

Let's move on to a question about Aston Martin and Honda, which of course continues to be a big talking point in the sport. We've actually got a few questions about Aston Martin, but they do have their own merits. So we'll tackle maybe the biggest one here, which which is, with all the chat around the gutting of the Honda F1 engine program, how feasible is it that they are able to produce any meaningful improvements this season? Are they aggressively hiring slash rehiring? Is Lawrence going to deal with the delay and failure to deliver? Love the podcast, keep breaking late.

I like that end bit a lot. Yeah, that's why you've been read out, quite honestly. Sensational. What's the question? Honda, this is so tough, isn't it? They're so far behind. They are so far behind. this adieu, which sounds a bit like the noise you make where you don't feel very well after you've had a few drinks.

Yes. That's what that sounds like. No, I don't know. Wouldn't know what that feels like. No, gosh. No, no. I've never had an alcoholic beverage in my entire life. I'm a very good boy.

Yeah, I mean, even if that is given to them in spades, it's going to take a very long time, I think, for them to be able to match. One, the development of the engine and to put that on an even keel, so even, you know, the Ferrari engine, for example, which seemingly, is the third fastest out of kind of Ford, Mercedes and Ferrari out of those three. It's then got to match the seriousness, the intenseness of the design that Nui has created, which is another issue all in itself. And we've seen that the energy doesn't work properly with the shape of the car.

So I think they're having to deal with the issues twofold, whether they're having a mass hiring. I've not heard a lot about this. I've not seen, you know, engineers and mechanics and brilliant people around Formula One being nicked from Ferrari. or from Ford or from Mercedes, seems to be very standard. If they're not recruiting,

Lawrence is going ahead full on with conscription at this point because that man will not settle for less than championships at some point. All of Japan will work on this engine if it takes that man to a win. That's what Andy Cowell's doing out there. He's recruiting.

He's out there, is he? He's out in the streets with propaganda trying to get people in. He's not allowed back until they actually produce something meaningful. So there's 50,000 workers in the industry. I cannot say. The problem is,

they could make meaningful improvements this year. They could. And it will still get them nowhere. That's how far behind they are. They could improve quite significantly. Let's say that across the whole season, they find a second. That gets them to Williams.

Like, that's not getting them anywhere. Theory will have also taken steps forward. Right. I'm very happy if I'm wrong on this because I'd like to see Alonzo competitive again, obviously. I don't think any of this is solved this year. I actually wouldn't be shocks if they make a shock move elsewhere. It's that bad.

Is it Astor Martin? Yeah. Well, actually, that leads us very nicely on to another question about Astor Martin, which is, should Astor Martin pull off a Braun GP and go with Mercedes power again? Are they able to break their agreement with Honda due to lack of performance? So they can't go with Mercedes right now. Based on Mercedes being fully... Yes, of course.

They're fully stocked up. Yeah, they have themselves, of course, and then McLaren Williams and now Alpine, remember. So that's the four. You're only allowed four at any one point. In theory, they could take an engine from Ferrari, if there's an option. They can also take a Ford engine, of course,

if that's something that the Red Bull power group are willing to give up. But, yeah, it's all they could go out and find themselves something new in a couple of years' time and just bear with it and do the same thing again. Now, that feels risky, of course. They could very much end up being here. the same spot again if that's what they do. But I wouldn't be shocked if there is change.

If they have set Honda's and performance-related KPIs that they are so far from missing, I wouldn't be shocked if we see a switch. Yeah. The thing is it can't really get much worse. Like, they are so far off the pace right now that they have almost got nothing to lose. We don't know, understandably, what that contract looks like. They might be very locked in for a while. they might be, it might be an easy case of getting out. Could be either of those. It's probably something in the middle. Like you say, Mercedes, that isn't an option right now,

unless Mercedes was to give up one of their teams, but there's no, why would any of their three customer teams go elsewhere at the moment? It's... Audi? You're going to go get an Audi? Aldi Aude Aston Martin sounds fun. Sure. I mean, I'm not sure.

I mean, Mercedes still have some form of a relationship with Aster Bighton. I don't think they're going to be very happy about that. I think the problem, the engine manufacturer here, the power unit is a big problem. It's not the only problem. That car is slow. Exactly. Yeah. And that's the point I was trying to make, where even if the car, the engine was improving, does it actually fit with the way the car wants to be developed anyway? It's not just a problem with power. It is a problem of fit, design, synergy. There's a lot going wrong here. I think I would probably lean towards Astor Martin almost taking the medicine and long term. Yeah, because we have at least got recent proof that Honda can do it in that they started the last regulation cycle atrociously.

It took a while, but they were winning at the end of that with Red Bull. I think maybe you just have to. It took seven years for them to show actual proper regular success. Fernando Alonso can't do seven years, Ben. I think he can, and he will believe that. How old would it be? 52? But in Alonzo years, that's actually 27. Oh, yes, of course.

I forget he's only 20 years old now. Just take his birthday. Happy birthday. Happy 20th. He gets younger every year. Such a young father. Yes. Let's move away from Aston Martin. Let's go to a very quick question just about all constructors.

If you could have any constructor revert to an old name, which one would it be? I do miss the Jordan name on... Oh, yeah, I've got a lot of love for Jordan. Are we talking about, I suppose, the team itself, going back to a previously owned team name, right? I think we're just talking about the name itself here rather than any logistics around how that would happen. I mean, that makes sense. I'd also take Jaguar. I think that's true. I like any old school proper manufacturer as well. You know, I've got a lot of time for that. I love Porsche to come back in, as I mentioned.

And they, of course, have done engines before a long, long time ago now. Yeah, Jordan is the one that sticks out to me. Maybe Benetton is well, actually. I wouldn't mind seeing. Why not? Hey, Alpine, just go back to Benetton. That's where... Honestly, it's better.

I don't know what it is about Alpine. It's just... It's not cool, man. Let's focus on a question about Williams, because we're talking about Aston Martin. You know, actually, ironically, it's not a very long question at all. But similar to Aston Martin, I guess we're talking about recovery here. What is a realistic recovery point for Williams in order to save Daddy Valser's reputation?

A realistic recovery point. Cars regularly fighting for surface level points again, I would say. If they end this season and both Signing Album are fighting regularly for between 8th and 11th, and that's every race. Yeah. I mean, I have not lowered my expectations for Williams. They built them up so high as this being their era that I can't really sit there and Oh, yeah, you're fine.

If you get back to being 12th and 13th every race, that isn't good enough. It's just not good enough. So for me, it's got to be points pretty regularly. The fact that you're losing this battle to Hars and Alpine and even Audi, of course, who have got so many changes, it isn't good enough. Yeah, the first point of order for them is to just get a car that is quick enough to be on the back of that midfield, because right now they're not really that. They're in no man's land.

No, and they've got to a point at least, and it is a small step, like with Carlos Sines, he is able to keep an Alpine behind him. And Alpine is very much in that midfield battle. So they've kind of proven that if they're ahead, they can do enough to stay ahead. But right now they do not have the pace to catch up to other cars. Like, that's just not there.

So that's the first step is finding that. Once you do that, we're quite high on signs and Albin as a duo. I'm pretty confident that they can get something done, but they need a car to work with. So... Drive a line-up's got the problem. No.

Give him a machine that actually. I'm just so tired. of Williams being so far down the order. I'd love to see a Williams regularly fighting for podiums, or at least top fives. You know, I'm just, it's been so long. It's been so long since they were even a remote threat. I think there needs to be a couple of races at the end of this year

where they are the best midfield team. That's fair. I don't think that's unrealistic in terms of, in theory, they can shed this weight. I think there's probably some good parts to this car. It doesn't even need to be like the last six races in a row, that needs to be the case, but just one or two instances where they can prove,

that they are at least where they were last year. Because that then gives William something to work with and maybe confidence that Vows is still the right man for them moving forward. I also don't want to see Vowls go the wrong way. I really like him. He seems like a great guy. I really enjoy his culture building. It would be a shame if they've got it this wrong that we lose Vows at the top of the team.

Man's got a job in media if he does leave, though. He's say he's sorted, no doubt. You could be a guest on this show, Danny Vells, anytime. You've got to do his call, Daddy Vars. Give us a ring. Let's take a quick break. On the other side, we'll answer some more questions. We'll lay some more cues.

We might provide some more answers. Maybe. Welcome back, everyone. We had a couple of questions, as you would expect, about Ferrari. First question is this. What actually is the point of Ferrari? There's more to it than that. Take away the Schumacher years,

and they have one driver's title since 1979, as we referenced earlier on in the episode. I'd say they're living on past glory, but there's not even much of that to go around. How dare you besmirch can be Riking this game? Well, it's that one plus the Schumacky is, and then you are back at 1979. Like, it's...

Yeah, yeah. They get a lot of love to Ferrari. They really do. I'm not going to put that past them. We spoke about how they only had nine championships before the 1999. It's impressive. Yeah.

How they can garner such love and nostalgia. And loyalty and yeah, for something that for now a longer younger viewers have never seen Ferrari even remotely closely successful.

It's like being nostalgic about Grimsby Town Football Club. It's like there's nothing to be nostalgic about. What will be doing there? Yeah, yeah, I think Grimsby had very much moved on or forgotten. What went on there? You've got to be over 20 years old

to consciously remember any form of success for Ferrari now. Yeah. It's a long time. I just, I understand the question, though, because they are right in saying, like Ferrari do hold this place as like the oldest team in F1,

which is true that they were there from the beginning in 1950, unlike any other team currently on the grid. But even though they had some limited success in the 50s, didn't do much in the 1960s, a bit more success in the 70s, but like this isn't a team that has won like double-digit, like driver's championships in multiple decades. It's impressive that they've got this nostalgia around them, honestly. Yeah, fair play to Ferrari as a company themselves.

I hate the world, but for building more aura than anyone else. And they do have a presence. You know, you see a Ferrari on the road. Everyone stops. I was behind one going to work the other day. And I was like, I don't want anyone to overtake me. Because I guess what I want to see. I want to be behind this Ferrari.

I want to see it. But you were so close to the point you went into the back of it. Then I destroyed it. And I've had to sell my home. Please donate so I can live. Green screen is great, though. It looks like you haven't moved. It's the only thing I kept, I'm actually freezing cold.

But I wish Formula One drivers all like that, when they don't want to pass the Ferrari, because they like looking at the back of it so much. I am surprised that they'd be able to garner this level of respect for this long. The next question, which is far shorter and far more difficult to answer, because if anyone had the answer to this, we wouldn't be in this spot. How do you fix Ferrari? I've said it before.

I said a bog statement actually when we did this show, I think back in what 2020 maybe, or I said Ferrari wouldn't win a title this decade. And I think it's because of the culture of Ferrari. There is, you hear about it last year, you know, while we've got the car, so the drivers should be winning. No, Elkin.

That's not how it works. You clearly don't have the car, do you, Elkin? Elton. So build the best car, go out and steal all the best engineers and the best engine manufacturers creators, sorry, developers, put them in a mega team. Do what you did in the early 2000s in the 90s and build that team and it just feels like they're so, it always will be homegrown. They were going to be so Italian that they almost seem to close their doors to outsiders. And look, I really respect your pride.

Lovely, Ash and handsome, fair play to you. But it's no slight on going out there and just grabbing the best talent. from around the world to make sure you really are at the top of your game. I do think they need to open the doors a little bit. I'm not saying like full autocracy is the way to go, shockingly. But if you look at Mercedes, it feels like Toto Wolfe's team. Red Bull certainly felt like it was Christian Horner's team for better and for worse, sadly. But if you look at Ferrari, it doesn't feel like Fred Vassar's team.

And that's not a knock-on Fred Furser's team. sir himself, that's a knock on the way Ferrari do things where they won't let him run the team as I'm sure he would like. You get these comments from John Elkin midway through a season, which are just completely unhelpful where it's essentially a criticism of the drivers. There's no point in that. And this interference from senior personnel always backfires. And it just seems to be they keep hitting themselves in the face over and over again.

It's like they had Bonotto, they had a Riva Bernet. they've now got Fred Vassert. These are talented individuals. I'm not saying they were all perfect, but at some point you have to look in the mirror and say, surely there's something about the way that we're running this, the culture that we're instilling that is the issue, not who we're putting in as team principle.

I think that's the first thing they need to do. Fully agree. And Elkin, if you look at the successful individuals around Formula One now, so many of them came from Ferrari. Why didn't you retain so many of these staff? but Stella was Ferrari. You know, Bonotto, now Audi, which is growing, was Ferrari, of course. And these aren't the only two.

You know, even Mechis, who's now developing his own team at Red Bull was Ferrari. You have such a great pool of talent. Why aren't you retaining it? Why aren't you building it and developing it and using it and creating a loyalty where they are as committing as Charlotte Clare to driving for you? Because you seemingly can't do that. So, yeah, I'd be intrigued to see if they can adapt and change that culture. I appreciate.

a question about Red Bull, but a question more about current Red Bull rather than in a few years' time. If Red Bull's engine is as good as the rumours are saying, is it reasonable? They could turn their car around to compete for wins this year, or is that more of a couple-year development to change that much on the car? It's a fair question, isn't it? I mean, I think having the right engine is really core to Formula One success. Rarely do you see a team go out with a championship without having on par, if not the best engine available to them. I think maybe actually was Red Bull previously in their first series of winning the championships

where maybe they didn't have the best outright engineing aerodynamically. It was Newey's car that saw them go on to win those championships. I think it's going to take more than this year. Even with the agent being as good as it is, I think it's going to take a bit more development. Plus, there's so many moving parts internally with Red Bull, with personnel and so many changes. I just don't think they've got the efficiency

and the understanding of their internal system yet. so produce a car that can overcome the troubles it's currently going through. I agree with that. I don't love what's coming out of the Red Bull Camp this year, in that with McLaren's a good comparison here. So McLaren haven't started this year anywhere near as well as they would have liked. They're not at the same pace they were when they won Constructors' Championships in back-to-back years, of course.

But there has been an underlying optimism they will get there. Lando Norris has said on multiple occasions, I think we can win a race later this year, whether it's multiple races or not, who knows. but he said we can win later this year. There does seem to be a sense of we're not there at the moment, but I think we can get there. And they've had a podium immediately. Sure.

Two drivers finish a race. We're going to get some podium. Red Bull, I don't love the vibes at the moment in terms of Hadjar and Vestappen's criticism about the chassis, Vastappen having something of an upgrade in Japan that doesn't work at all. I think they are a bit stuck about where to go with this car. And I think Miami and Canada might tell us more about Red Bull, than any other team on the grid as to what they're going to be able to achieve or indeed not achieve this year.

I think that would be quite radical. I wouldn't be surprised we see some obvious visual differences on the Red Bull over the next few races. Yeah, we could well see that. Should we go to Hasse next? How long until Hasse sells to Toyota for a full Toyota GR team? If I'm going to talk personal once, I hope, end of this season. There's no disrespect to Hasse's an outfit. They are the smallest team on the grid.

They have struggled to achieve anything above mediocrity since they joined Formula One now a decade ago. And I don't mean that disrespectfully. They just have very low funding. They have a very small team. G-Hars doesn't like to meet anyone new. So the team just gets smaller and smaller every year. By the way, it's a running joke for anyone, is there?

I'm sure he actually doesn't mind new people. Sure, Gene Hars has many friends. New and old. We don't even smile when we say it anymore. It's just like, he doesn't like new people. It's a fact. It's a genuine criticism now. It's a genuine criticism.

Well, I've done for explaining that, Twanging Ulysses. I think they've run their course. And there's no disrespect to hearts. I think they're a really plucky little, you know, fighter who turn up and they really do try it. I think Kamatsu's really good and produced something brilliant. It's just never going to be enough.

They never going to be able to go out there and actually scale themselves up the grid. Someone like Aldi, you could see five years time. If I said to you, Audi won a championship in five years time, you go, well, it's quite impossible. Yeah, fair enough. You know, same with Kangalak. You go, they got that engine in the car, start picking up podiums.

Yeah, fair enough. definitely possible. Our heart's ever going to achieve that? I've never won a race. They've been going to go a decade. Come on, it's the bad. You can do it. I want Toyota to read the sport because I think they fluffed their lines last time. And I think with a new bigot-ed interest, they could be great. I'm going to start my answer by saying, I don't know, which is great. I think we'll learn a lot more later this year in terms of the next set of regulations,

because I think that will determine what Toyota do. Like if the new regulations are announced and they're announced for a particular year, probably 2030 or 2031, and it aligns with what they're doing as a car company, I can see them, even if it's not making a move this year, I can see them starting to make moves

for something in a couple of years' time. But I think it depends on what that announcement is if indeed there is an announcement this year. We know Stefano de Menacali has said he'd like to get that sorted in 2026 to know what we'll be doing in five years time, there's no guarantee that will actually happen. So I think that's going to be where the answer comes from. Yeah, very fair, very logical.

If I was a betting man, which I'm not, I would put a fiver on Toyota being here in 2030. And as we know, you are homeless and do not have any money right now. So that means a lot to me. Yeah. I can't sell the green screen on my back. If it doesn't happen now, there will be no. green screen left. Next week, that's gone. Quick question on Audi and Cadillac, because they've been rolled into the same question very

helpfully. Realistically speaking, where do you see Audi and Cadillat finishing this season? What should their goals be respectively? And how can they best meet them? Cadillac, just to continue understanding what's going on. Don't lose half your car in the Grand Prix, which I think is a very solid bit of advice. I just try and take strides towards the midfield. I don't think they'll catch anyone. I think they'll be behind all year. Understand your learning to development for next year. Aldi, on the other hand, saw out your starts,

and I genuinely think, if you can start scoring one car in the points most Grand Prix, one point, two points, they've done well. They were very positive about where they were

at the start of the season. I think realistically, they could start to fight with a head of racing balls and regularly with Hars and LP if they could get the development correct and get the car

started properly. Yeah, I, with Audi, I'm still fairly bullish on them. I think they can get P5 this year if everything goes well for them. I am going to assume Red Bull at least get their act together enough to to get P4. But I think P5 is up for debate with them and Alpine and Hass. And I think they could.

They could end up. They're not that far. They look further behind them what they are. I'm fairly staunch about that. That's because they don't start the race at the same time as everyone else. That's a problem, which as you've identified, if they can fix it and it is big if, that could go a long way in helping what they're doing this year. Cadillac does not matter where they finish this year. If it's 10th, it could be 11th, it could be 10th. I'd be very surprised if it's not one of those two positions. Does not matter which one it is.

As long as the car goes forward, I mean that development-wise, the engine. That's a struggle for some teams sometimes. As we've just spoken about. And it doesn't stay stagnant. That's a positive year. Yes. I would agree with that.

Let's do one final question, which is a bit more general question rather than about one in particular. I'm very intrigued by this one. Should every team declare for a nation formally to encourage fans to back their local team, rather than just backing a team because they have your favourite driver. Now, we know a lot of teams are a British-based, sort of in the South East. Seven of the 11? Yes. At least have some presence there.

but we know, for example, that Alpine is a French company, but based on they're not doing their engines anymore, they are almost entirely operating out of the UK now. Has and Cadillac have bases in the US and the UK. Red Bulls another good opportunity of that sort of Austrian-slash-British heritage. And now US with their engine. Does there need to be a little bit more in terms of what the question was referring to here, a bit more, I don't know, nationality around these teams?

I see where the question is coming from. it creates that tribalism a little bit, which I think can be very positive for sport. You see it happen all the time in our football, in soccer, for example, right? You know, you get this kind of thing. I'm a Newcastle fan, I'm a diehard fan. I like to get all up in arms about it and have a laugh and be like, oh, bugger off, we're better.

We're not, but we're better than you. And, you know, it goes vice versa. And it builds a lot of relationships and fun and interest and rivalries. All good things for sport. I do not think that transcends into Formula One. I do not think having nationalities declaring for teams is a good thing. One, you will actually, I think, create the opposite effect where you almost exile most of the globe because there's only 11 teams.

And as we've just mentioned, the majority are in the UK. Yeah. Not ideal for a start. Secondly, I just think that Formula One, first of you, I don't really care about a team being British or not. Not doesn't bother me personally. Formula One is a global sport. What is what we're priding ourselves on being? We are proud to have people from Australia, Japan, the US, South America, Europe, Africa,

whatever it might be all involved in some capacity in this sport. I do want to become closed off or closing our doors because actually you go, oh, well, I was a Mercedes fan and I'm from, you know, India. Well, I can't do that now because they're, they're German. And I don't really stand. I can't care about Germany. Sorry, Germany. You know, and that might happen.

You might end up losing viewers. So I'm not here for it. I don't need it. Yeah, I'm not fussed about this either. Like, genuinely, what would your local team be if you were in Australia? Like, geographically, what actually classifies us the local team to Australia? Like, a Toyota joint? Is that who's support?

What wins now, though? Is it like, are you going east to America? Are you going west to Italy? Honda, so Aston Martin might be the closest you have. Yeah. But the point is, like, just because of the way F1 is, and I, To an extent, it's a shame that it is this way, that there's so much, there is so much talent concentrated in one area of the world,

but it's almost the reason, I don't necessarily think that all of the talent in the world just happens to be in the same place in the UK. It's just that these teams have set up there, and therefore you get people automatically need to be there. It's called the Silicon Valley of, you know, motorsport for a way. Right. Motorsport Valley, it's a well-known phrase that this central part of the UK has so much in terms of car development and racing development. It's not just Formula One either. There are endless teams and whatnot that are set up in this part of our country. We're very lucky. We're very lucky that we live minutes, if not hours at most, away from a team. I don't think that works if you are in some other part of the world. Yeah, unfortunately, the calendar and indeed the drivers are a far better worldwide representation of what the sport is compared to what the teams are.

It's not great in that we're still not anywhere in Africa at the moment in terms of the calendar and there's still work to do to get more markets involved in terms of drivers and making sure that those junior series are well funded and well connected that you don't necessarily maybe have to be in Europe in order to progress up the ladder. into F1, there's work to do on that front. But there's far more like if you're, if you're Brazilian, you've got a driver to cheer on, but not a team. If you're Argentine and you do, if you're Australian, like there's more nationalities that get involved as a result of where the drivers are from.

Equally, don't choose to support things based on your nationality. Just pick something you like and have fun. Exactly. I'm not French, but Esteban Ockon is my love. Me and Gassi get our sussis out together. Maybe we're actually, French. Oh, bonjour! This whole show is actually

being in French because we're so fluent we haven't realized. Maybe, maybe. It doesn't feel right to end a Q&A on something that is an abundant lie, but yes, that is the end of the Q&A.

Thank you very much to all of those questions again. We'll bring this back at some point, probably we have a focus on drivers rather than constructors, but yeah, very much appreciate all of your sensible questions. We're very proud. Yeah, thanks for always getting involved.

Genuine, it makes the show a better place. I have some good news. Sam. What's the good news, Ben? We have a raced preview on Wednesday. Oh, yeah, boy. The Father Christmas of Birthdays has come out. He's that excited. He will actually be needed on that episode. He will also be here. It's a full stacked episode. Race preview and the Father

Christmas of birthdays. What more could you want? Nothing. Literally nothing. And that's why. I'd like a house. Same logic of going to sleep early on Christmas Eve, so Christmas Day comes here sooner. We're going to end this episode as quickly as we can. So Wednesday's preview comes see you sooner. Indeed. Folks, thanks so much

for listening. Thanks being involved with the questions. Join Patreon if you're going to be even more involved and you'll

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please go and subscribe to YouTube because we're so very close to 10K. Obviously, at this point we can come about tap dancing down the rock. I can see it.

It's there. Uh, uh, and they kick the marshals keep picking it up and take a step back every time I take one step forward. So go on, go give it a try.

I appreciate it. Please. Anyway, thanks for listening to folks. We will be back midweek for a race preview. How exciting. And then of course, it's a sprint weekend. So we will do a sprint qualifying review on Friday. We'll have a qualifying and sprint race review on Saturday, full race review Sunday. And then power rankings are back on Patreon on the Monday afterwards as well. It does not get better than that. Thanks for listening. In the meantime, I'd be Samuel. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late.