The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Our verdict on the 2027 F1 calendar

Episode Date: September 20, 2026

Ben and Sam give their full thoughts on the recently revealed calendar for next season, including TEN sprint venues and two new tracks. They also discuss the recently revived debate around the lottery of pitting under a VSC, Red Bull’s newly appointed Head of Racing, and finish with a game of Overrated/Underrated. 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. Welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, here with a Sunday episode. And folks, it's going to be the last one for a while that isn't a race review because we've got a triple header after this. And then I think we've got a break and then another triple header. And then maybe one more break and then another triple header.

It's like the best looking hydra of all time. you cut off one Formula One head and three appears and then you cut off another one and another three appear. Honestly, if that's what mythical adventure looks like just multiple Formula One races, then I am a very happy man. Send me to Ancient Greece immediately.

You know what? We've got a quote of the episode in early. Send me to Ancient Greece. Out of context, they'll be coming at you very quickly. That is very out of context, there'll be. But very much in context, LB, we've got some interesting Formula One topics for you today, believe it or not.

F1 overrated, underrated makes its long anticipated return. I could be the first time we've played that in 2026. I don't know. The jingle is being, you know, we've blown the dust off the box, we've got the cassette out, here we go. I say that. I hope it's on here somewhere. Ben, you plan the schedule.

How is it not on the soundboard? Because every other jingle is on there. But I think that one weirdly might be one of the ones I don't have. You'll have to wait and see for when we get there, folks. we've got virtual safety car chat, obviously Lando Norris and the way in which the Spanish GP went down. It's very much of the moment, so we'll be discussing that. But we're going to start with the 27 F1 calendar.

Now, those that listened to Wednesday show would have heard our very immediate reaction, not that it was confirmed at that point, but heavily rumoured that there would be a Monaco sprint. Turns out that's right, but we've also got the rest of the case. calendar to discuss because 24 Grand Prix again, but 10 sprint events in total. So the season will kick off in Bahrain on the 14th of March with Abu Dhabi hosting the season finale on the 12th of

December. And in what is a first for F1, both the opening and closing rounds of the season will feature sprint races to go along with eight others. The 10 sprint races overall are Bahrain, Australia, Japan, Canada, Monaco, Silverstone, Monza, Brazil, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi. Another notable point to raise is the return of both the Turkish and Portuguese Grand Prix. Portemau will host a Portuguese GP on June 20th, with Istanbul Park hosting the Turkish GP on October 3rd. Should we start with the sprint element of this, Sam? Because I think this is probably the part that's got most people talking.

Obviously, we've got six this year. It's been six for a couple of years now, but we're making that jump to 10. So we're not far off the calendar having as many sprint weekends as non-sprint weekends. What are your thoughts on that jump from 6 to 10 and also maybe where they're set to take place and whether you agree with that or not? The jump doesn't make sense for a start. Why have we gone from 6 to 10? We have 24 races.

It will make sense to go to 12, right? Don't give up my tears, man. I know. Thank you for making it less than 12. I do appreciate this. But six is a multiple of 24. You do 6 plus 6 plus 6 plus 6. Six plus six times up by four, right?

You're getting a 24 times 12 by two, which is also part of the six times tables. You also get to 10. Where's 10 come from? If you want to bring out the eight times table, you can do that. Sure. Sure, equally that also. Quick maths here with late breaking. And F1, if you want some help with it, we're here for you.

So that doesn't make sense to me. But you know what? I'm glad that it's less I expected because when I was ruminating on the idea of a 2027 calendar, I thought, okay, we're going to see an increase this year. It's going to happen. and we've been on six for a while. We are going to see it bumped, and that means we're probably going to go with 12

because it makes six that 50% of the Grand Prix have a sprint race. And you know what? It's logical, but Formula One does they actually do logical? The other thing they don't do, apparently, is fun. Why do the people that run Formula One? Why do they hate Formula One?

They own Formula One, they run Formula One, they hate Formula One. Why don't you like seeing fun things happen? And why have you put it on Monaco? So I know we did Gwen State. We've done the run. I'm not going to go there again.

But there's a few in there. You know, Suzuki as well. Absolute hanging in the backside for a sprint grand prix. It's bad for racing for a few years now. So that's going to be a real struggle. Qatar, we're back there again with another sprint race. That's already been a struggle for overtaking and actually enjoyable racing as well. That's going to be a pain in the backside.

And then, of course, we top and tail. The only positive thing I like about top and tailing the season with spring races is effectively at the start of the year, one practice session. So therefore, it's going to be a big. chaotic. That is maybe the only advantage I'm seeing to this scenario. You're going to get straight in there, multiple races, multiple points scoring opportunities, people

not knowing necessarily how the cars might work with some new adaptations. That is probably the only perk. Also, Abu Dhabi having a spring. I like the concept of the last race of the season having a sprint. Something had to have a sprint. It's still Abu Dhabi. It's still going to be boring. It's still a bad end

to a season. So, overall, I'm giving this like a three out of 10. Not a fan. Yeah, three out of ten typically not a good score on the one to ten scale. Famously, yes, on the lower side of your back. I just need to check my blood pressure before I start talking. We're already high. A lot of people worry about you, Ben.

A lot of people comment on this. They worry about you, your safety, your health when it comes to these sprint races. And I appreciate that concern. And they're also right to be concerned because it's so valid. Like sprint races do boil my blood. and I think that is actually not figurative. Like that genuinely happens. You don't know this list of because,

but actually just to the side of Ben's camera, there was a full medical cruise standing by in case it steps over the mark. So we are ready and prepared here. Well, we'll see how we get on here. And again, I know we discussed Monaco on Wednesday, so if you want our full views on that specific sprint race and spoiler, it's not particularly positive.

Yeah, just head to that episode. But I do want to cover that off very quickly because I've seen mostly negativity about this, which I have to say I agree with. There are some suggesting that, well, qualifying's great at Monaco. If you add a sprint race, you get two. I get that. The problem with sprint qualifying and main qualifying a lot of the time is that they are too similar.

I remember China earlier this year where that was a sprint, obviously. It won't actually be one next year, but was this year. the exact same drivers who made it through to SQ2 made it through to Q2 and the same 10 drivers that made it through to SQ3 also made it through to Q3. They look very similar. And the whole point about Monaco qualifying is there's actually excitement I find at least around practice at Monaco because you are dialed in very early on and just working your way to that perfect setup and getting your eye in in terms of the rhythm

around the track. And, you know, there's not a lot of long run. in Sims in an FP2 for example at Monaco, you're just going for it. And then it all builds to that Saturday afternoon. I just think adding an extra qualifying session maybe isn't great. Like I love me some pizza. I'd like pizza less if I ate it three times a day.

Well, I was going to say this, all the best things in the world, right? You know what they make the better is if you had double the amount. All the most premium things that you look at and go, wow, that is a one-off, incredible thing. Qualifying up Monaco, incredible jobs. It's going to be better. Dilute it, make it too.

Yeah. I don't need to. I guess one really good one. The other thing that kind of makes me laugh because I've already seen, I think it was an Instagram post from F1 about Monaco qualifying in particular, again, we get two of these next year. It's like, yeah, is it not like slightly worrying that you're celebrating the thing that isn't actually the thing?

And that might be a commentary on Monaco as much as it is about sprint races, but like, it should be sacred. It should be this one thing. If Monaco is going to bring one thing, it's this ultimate qualifying spectacle and now you've again diluting it equally do you think drivers are going to go for it on the Saturday knowing that if they put their car in a wall,

they're out of the real qualifying. Yeah. And if the car, we'll be able to repair it in time. You aren't recovering that. You're not recovering a pit lane start. Exactly. You may as well not bother. So if you don't qualify in the optimum position on the sprint qualifying day,

basically, I know we see it's a test normally in some sprints. That's going to be a right-off for so many drivers. Why even risk the car on the Sasko portion of the race? But I also wanted to bring up like you did, it's not just Monaco in this. Like there are other sprint venues that I'm not particularly happy about

in that I feel like they've gone for one of two things. It's either, I don't know, diluting the best qualifying sessions of the year, Monza, Monaco, or picking terrible tracks like Abu Dhabi, Qatar. And I hate to say it, and if you hadn't, I was going to raise it anyway. Suzuki, not a lot of people are talking about it, but Suzuki hasn't given us very good race.

It's being a Duff F1 track. I'm very specific to say F1 track for a while now. It is an incredible race track. The racing is not what we want it to be right now. The first 10 races of this calendar has six sprints. The next 10 after that has one. Yeah, why are they spaced it out like this? It's really weird.

I think it's maybe commentary on where F1 is trying to take sprints because not only is the front half of the calendar quite loaded in terms of sprints, it's also three of the first four have sprints, three of the last four have sprints. I think this is quite a statement from F1 to be like, I don't know, non-sprint weekends have always been viewed as the traditional, like that's what it's always been. And these sprint weekends are like this exciting, like new kid on the block. Yeah. I feel like they're trying to reverse this to the point where in a few years' time,

might be a case of a sprint weekend is that is trying to be the classic. And then when we don't have a sprint weekend, it's like, oh, that's something a bit different. I feel like that's what they're trying to do. I can see that reasoning. They've also seemingly being very careful to avoid some key tracks in Europe as well. We've seen the Great Britain, Silverstone is being included, and Mongols are being included. I'm going to put Monacoe to one side because it's just its own thing. But you've got a lot of racetracks in Europe that have been completely avoiding, right?

Portugal, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Spain. that's five of the eight races in Europe that are just ignored. And yet almost every single Middle Eastern track has a sprint race. Anyone that doesn't is Saudi Arabia. So that's really interesting. They seem to have picked it almost based on market, maybe rather than interest, for example. So I wonder if that's got money to do with it, for example,

or if they're willing to pay more for increased advertising, race time, I don't know, maybe. Or if they've done it because we'll get onto this with some changes in the calendar as well. maybe they own something with what's gone on this year with the conflicts, that means it would have some movement. It's very interesting the way they picked them out. Yeah, I would agree with that.

Moving away from sprints and more to the calendar at large, again, Portugal and Turkey returning. I'm really excited for both of those. I am really excited for them. They kind of bookend the European season, don't they? Yeah. Port-a-Mau did a really good job of coming in when we had to bring it in through the COVID era, and it creates some really interesting racing.

I think it's triggered for me a bike, track. And we've seen actually with some bike tracks, the sale in Qatar, it doesn't work. It's just not made for Formula One. But actually, Port-Mow is a really fascinating race track. Lovely great characteristics. It's got that lovely swooping downhill, straight into the massive uphill, quite similar to the corkscrew, actually, which you've got in America, right? The way, tips straight back down the hill, again, quite a roller coaster. And we know they've got some new tarmac down, temperature. We saw that Carlos Sines was randomly leading at one point, those few years ago. We were together, I think, screaming our heads off. And Turkey, Turkey,

sorry, if we're going to give it, it as proper name as I'd like to be known now. Famous turn 8 is still there. It does often provide great racing. We saw again in COVID, where Hamilton won his seventh world title, that we've got some great battling between himself and Perez. We've seen historic moments between Weber and Vessel, for example. It's got great history, and it's a great race track. Nice and why, lots of opportunities are overtaking. So, really pleased that these two tracks are back on the calendar. And I think they are great. additions to the European leg of Formula One. I'm really pleased.

I don't really have any complaints. Yeah, I'm happy to see both of them back. Absolutely. I've always been quite high on Port-a-Mau, and certainly Istanbul has delivered some drama over the years, too. And to keep this positivity going, I do have a few good things to say about the calendar. Firstly, and this isn't maybe about the 2027 calendar.

It's more about the last couple of years. Logistically, it does make more sense than it used to. Like there were random trips sort of that didn't make a lot of sense from a, from a carbon emission standpoint and the like. So I think it is better than it was a few years ago. The other thing as well that I do want to give F1 and I guess motorsport more generally credit for is that there are no clashes with the Indy 500 this year, no clashes with the 24 hours of LeMont.

Indeed, I think that all of the premier endurance races in next year aren't clashing at all with F1. So I wonder, I wonder if that is for staff and focused, maybe. Again, if he wants to go out there and try a little bit of endurance properly, it will bring a lot of custom. It will bring a lot of interest from a wider motorsport portfolio, which is great for motorsport generally. Love that he's reaching out. Same as when I did, the indie, of course, E500. I love seeing F1 drivers in their career going out and racing elsewhere. So this allows that. This is a great tip for that, this calendar. 100%. That's enough positivity. This year, 26, we've got, we're actually going up with three triple headers and they're all about to come up.

But only two were scheduled in. So that would have been Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi and Austin, Mexico and Brazil. Bahrain slash Malaysia wasn't initially going to be between Baku and Singapore. Somehow, next year, they're getting rid of the back-to-back from Vegas to Qatar. Great work. They're nowhere near each other. Big sick. Well done.

but there's still going to be three triple-headers because they've added another two in. Yeah, they are just packing this calendar. The fact that it now runs, if you include pre-season testing, which I imagine will happen probably the last weekend of February, start of March. This is now running for over 10 months of the year at this point.

And we are global, apart from Africa again. We still have no F1 presence across the largest continent in Africa. Or it's individually, of course. And the fact that it sat there, quite glaringly that we're not touching that area, but we're still packing in this level of travel is pretty hectic. It's tiring for the workers. The poor individuals have got to drive those HGV lorries,

back and forth to the airport, load them, unload them, pick up the tanks, pitch up the motorhomes that all sit there. We see the glitz and the glam, but there's a lot of individuals who have got families back at home, who barely get to sleep, who have to get up at 4 in the morning and don't get to rest until gone midnight. It's knacker in business this,

normal one and packing it in like this triple header after triple header it's exhausting for them it really is exhausting for them i do wonder when they can have to put their foot down and bring in some proper health and safety guidelines about alternate crews and things like that the teams have to bring on yeah especially with the increase in sprints like it's it is taxing already and it's not it's not getting any better for them um i i still think the way in which the calendar's organized doesn't make a huge amount of sense just how packed in the second half of the year is. That's more extreme this year because we haven't had Bahrain and Saudi Arabia earlier in the year. But even next year when they, we still don't know for sure, but could go ahead,

we've still got a three-week gap between Miami and Canada, which I just don't understand how that's not a double-header. And if Bahrain and or Saudi Arabia can't happen, they're set to be races one and two, Australia, we know, is not going to move from the spot that it's got at the moment, owing to some infrastructure improvements that they need to make. We might just be in a position where we have like, the season starts in April and we have about four races done by the end of May. And then we've got everything else still to come from June to early December, lad. Yeah, we've joked a lot this year about the spring break that we have had forced upon us

due to the conflict in the Middle East, sorry. And that felt like an eternity, right? it felt like we got so little done in such a large amount of time. And the same thing could in theory happen again, just in a different pattern, essentially. So the contingency, I hope, is in place if something were to go wrong with these first few races. Obviously, we wish everyone well,

and we hope that we can go ahead with these events. But if something does affect Bahrain and Saudi at the start of this season, do they have a plan in place? Is there something ready to go? I sure hope they do, because I get the sense that F1 is just delaying any announcement on this as much as they can because they are thinking of the bottom line here. And we know how much money they get from those races. I think what's quite telling is that there's actually been a more recent example of this.

Because I think the World Rally Championship that was set to end in Saudi Arabia has been cancelled. I don't know if it's been changed to somewhere else, but it's definitely not happening there. But also like the World Endurance Championship, that was supposed to end in Bahrain. I think it's eight hours of Bahrain. That was said to take place on the 7th of November. that was cancelled on the 28th of July. So there's 102 days between when it was cancelled and when it was supposed to take place.

Well, we're now 70 days away from the Qatar Grand Prix with no announcement whatsoever. So I just think F1 is willing to cut it a bit finer with the F1 events versus other series that they have and willing to take a financial loss if it doesn't go their way. I've even heard reports like Imola, for example, that seems to be on standby for the last race of the year,

and these are just reports, that Imola would rather be announced now so they can get ready for it, but I think the FIA are willing to basically pay them or make Imola pay less in order to get it done, like closer to the date. We are slightly an arrogant sport, aren't we? We are kind of slightly entitled in the sense of Formula One

into the big boy. It could throw its weights around, and they do seem to believe that, hey, I don't care if I make you wait. I don't care how long we're. Like you mentioned, the other parts of the premium FIA series are having to basically put themselves out there

half a year, third of a year in advance. We're bringing it to maybe two months. To get a whole race track up to standard and ready to go is absolutely crazy. I also just wonder if they're willing to pay it back later on. I wonder if they're willing to sit there and say, yeah, you know, you're a big enough customer.

We'll come back in a year's time. You'll get whatever you want. Don't worry about it. And that is why, part of the reason, why I think that both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia had been put at the premier spot one and two of this season again, is to, one, allow Australia to make these alterations to Albert Park,

but also, I think it's basically saying, oh, you didn't get your races in 2026, so you get to kick off 2027 instead. Well, I got a minute, the Bahrain Grand Prix is happening. It's happening in a couple of weeks time. What are we talking about here? Yes, of course, that lovely settlement of Bahrain in Malaysia. I just don't want to get in the same position next year

where Bahrain and Saudi Arabia don't happen. We can then get a triple header, but then have this three-week break and between Miami and Canada. I just don't want, I think we lot, as a sport, I think we lost a lot of momentum earlier on this year. It's damaging.

I just don't think, and I can give them some leniency on this because it was new, it was a first-time situation. I'm not going to do that again next year. Like, they know the situation now and how it's been for the last six months. if they don't have a contingency plan in place for next April, I will have no sympathy.

It's still going on, isn't it? It's not like this conflict is going anywhere. It's not like we're at, you know, everyone around the world is going, cool, we're about a day away from settling this. It's still very much a problem. And yeah, the fact that they haven't said, this is the calendar and we have six racetracks lined up ready to go, depending on when in the year this takes place, we are ready to go. Fine. Okay, well done. They just have not announced anything. All right. Let us know what you think about the calendar. good and the bad. Very excited to hear what you have to say. We're going to take a quick break and on the other side, we're going to get into virtual safety car changes or not.

Welcome back, everyone. Let's chat virtual safety. You know what? Virtual safety cars don't get enough time on it. Well, we should wait for the virtual safety car to end before we actually start our conversation. True. That's the way it has to go. Or does it? I guess that's the question that's going around the F1 paddock at the moment because Formula One's virtual safety car rules are set to be put up for team discussion following what happened to Lando Norris at the Spanish GP. Debate over VSC rules

mean the topic will likely be discussed as part of the next meeting of F1's Sporting Advisory Committee, which even if it gets approval there, still got a couple of hoops to jump through after that. But is the ability to pit under the virtual safety car fair or not? Yeah, I know.

it's a really ambiguous question. Virtual safety cars affect every driver differently and every single race they affect every single driver differently. It's not like it's the same every single Grand Prix. If five times in a row, the VSC comes out and Kimmy Antingelli got to pit under BSC and no one else did every single time, you might be going, oh, this feels a bit rigged,

this is a bit odd. It's potluck. And that's the thing about a BSC, the same with the safety car. Currently, you can pit under it and it's potluck. So I understand the first thing, when it negatively affects you, but equally, I understand the elation when it affects you positively and you are able to benefit and make the most out of it. And there is a part of me that thinks, why do we need to worry about this? It's part of the beauty of the game that sometimes in sport, that's a little bit of luck. And that's how we get amazing out of the blue winners. That's how we get

moments where suddenly you'll get an Ockong victory. You'll get a ghastly victory because a safety car will come in at the right moment and they're on a different strategy. And suddenly you get amazing moment in sport because not everything can be planned, not everything can be to the letter of the law that you expect it to go down, all this analytical data, all these brilliant minds working together because it will become a carbon copy all the time, give or take, a couple of very minor changes, but it will. And that is the beauty of a BSC or a full safety car, is that it throws jeopardy into the mix. And that's what sport needs. That's the beauty of a story. It's jeopardy. Same as weather. You can't say that we can never do anything in the rain again because, oh, you don't

like what it might do to a certain car, you've got to get on with it. You've got to make it work. I just think that we're trying to over-engineer things now because a result has been a little bit unfortunate for a driver. And I'm very sympathetic of Landon Norris. He, you know, as every right to sit there and say, I lost that because of the BSC. And I agree with him. He did. But what's saying in a year's time, he doesn't win one because of the BSC. And he takes that anyway. It comes around, or goes around, comes around. His first win very much helped by a safety car. There you go. Right. There you go. Already the last.

Mark's been paid back. This seems to be a discussion point that comes about maybe every year or so. Every couple of years it pops up. And it'll be, I'm not sure we've had such an obvious instance of the race leader being disadvantaged because of a VSC, maybe ever since the VSC was introduced. But whether it's VSC or safety car, someone gets disadvantaged at some point and this seems to come up. And I don't know.

It seems like something that's never been fully closed off as a. discussion point. It's almost like they introduced the VSC, was it, about 10 years ago now. And I think everyone was in favor of it being introduced. And then there was kind of like a, well, does it actually do what we want it to do? And everyone goes, eh, sort of. And then just full stop, end of discussion. And then it will come back around again. I do understand those that think the virtual safety car doesn't work right now, because in effect, and we hear this all the time, The virtual safety car is meant to neutralize the race. That phrase, neutralize the race.

The Spanish Grand Prix's virtual safety car not only didn't neutralize the race, it was very much the deciding factor. So I completely understand if you view that and say, well, the VSC is here to do one thing, and it's literally done the complete opposite, something's not right. Having said that, like, I agree with you. I fully believe Lando Norris was on course to win this race. I think he was the fastest driver on the day.

And whilst this is a phrase I usually don't like to use, I think he deserved the victory based on what we saw. But I do disagree with his comments afterwards, or I don't share the same opinion as he does. And Andrea Stella's made some comments as well, and I'm not with McLaren on this one. Like Lando Norris said after this race, it's a rule that should not define a race.

A race should be won by the guy who can put in the best performance, who maybe takes a risk by going long in a stint and maybe you get a safety car later on and things can help. You get unlucky in motorsports sometimes. I don't know how better to put it. He's already just speaking his own statement. He's just spoke about luck.

Yeah. I'm not sure what makes it more or less luck that a safety car happens later in a Grand Prix than earlier in a Grand Prix. It's a fairness. It's a full safety car over a VSC. You know, it's a safety requirement. The pit lane stays open.

Fairness is such a difficult thing to judge. And where Lando Norris says, like, the guy with the best performance should win, well, nine times out of ten, he does. Like, we could replay that Madrid race, and I'm pretty sure eight or nine times out of ten, Lando Norris takes the win. We got the one where he didn't. And that's kind of why we love motorsports. You don't know which version you're going to get.

And sometimes things other than fairness come into it, such as luck. Even though I think we're on the same page here that fairness, Like, it's a thing in motorsport. What alternative options could be out there if we're just hypothesising? For me, there's two routes. If we're going to hypothesise that it should change, something should adjust. I believe that you either can shut the pit lane, of course. And under a BSC, there is no pitting, which I think would be a shame personally.

I like the jeopardy that it provides. And Amanda Norris brought up that word, you know, it's a bit of, you know, does it reward someone taking a risk? Well, does it reward someone taking a risk to pit or not to pit? We see some people stay out and it can work. Yeah. Another safety car might have happened later on in that Madrid race, and Charlotte Claire might have been the winner. Who knows?

But also, you could just remove VSCs entirely as another option. And if there is a yellow flag that requires some kind of on-track, alterations, intrusion, whatever you want to call it, removal of the car, changing of a barrier, debris, whatever, you bring out a full safety car. And we just accept that full safety cars will be more of a regular appearance. It was the same with red flags. I remember watching Formula One.

And there was maybe a decade where we had maybe one red flag, maybe two. Between like 2012, 2013 and like 2018, it feels like we barely ever saw the red flag. And then suddenly the red flag became a very regular occurrence. 2020, we had quite a few of them. We did. We did. It felt like all of a sudden they went, you know, we can't waive the red flag. And that's our prerogative.

To be clear as well, when I say 2020 had something we're talking about whether they should or not shouldn't be thrown. like when Grojean was literally on fire. Good, good reason to throw the red flag, just to be clear. Reason 101. Yes. Get that red flag out there. I am all right with that. If you think there's a safety reason to throw a red flag,

I'd rather you do it too prematurely and we have to stop things to go, oh, that's annoying. Oh, well, everyone's safe. Everyone's okay. The same with the safety car. Remove the VSC and be a bit more proactive with the safety car and say, look, we're doing it from the safety. There's debris on the track or there's a marshal that needs to go and do something,

or there's a car in the wall and we can't do it quickly. Throw the safety car. I don't care. Most people will see a more enjoyable race because of a safety car that's come out. And at the end of the day, we're here for entertainment. And if entertainment is put first, then we're going to see something more enjoyable as a package. And you know what, Lando?

You might come out on top. You might not when it comes to a safety car. As you've just detailed. So for me, there are your two options if you do wish to change something. I actually hadn't even really considered like going back on the virtual safety car and getting rid of it again. My fear on that is that, obviously, again, 10 years ago it was decided we need this intermediate solution when a full-course safety car isn't really needed, but local yellows aren't really enough. I get the sense that we'd just start going back in 10 years' time.

Back for intrusive ESC, yeah. So, yeah, the two things that I had noted down, firstly, I also noted down like just no pit stops at all, which I would question because, firstly, what happens if you have a punk. And I know that's maybe a very specific incident that would be very rarely happen. But, you know, do you open the pit lane for punctures only? Could you prove that you've got a puncture? There are slow punctures that you can't really detect. Like George Russell, for example, had a slow puncture earlier this year at the British GP. I only know that because it was said, like, his pace was fine.

His pace was fine. And also, if you were to do that, like virtual safety cars ordinarily, and we're talking about the relation between like safety cars and red flags and like, it's very rare the virtual safety cars are just called and that's it. Like it's normally a case of you get the yellow flag, then the virtual safety car comes out, and then if it's deemed serious enough, the full course safety car comes out. So if you say you can pit under yellow flags and you can pit under safety car, you just can't pit under virtual safety car, you would have, firstly, teams just gambling on there being a virtual safety car and getting in the pit lane before it's called.

And what do you do then if a car's like on pit entry? Like do you tell them to just get out as quickly as they can or carry on? But also you don't then have teams like gambling and saying, well, we think this will be upgraded to a full course safety car, in which case that then goes into luck as to when that is announced and where you are in relation to the tracks. So I don't think that would necessarily work. idea that isn't mine, it was more, I think Lando Norris himself kind of suggested this, which is to have the virtual safety car for one complete lap to ensure that everyone gets the opportunity

to pit. My counter on that would be, I don't want more yellow flag running than necessary. Like the whole point of the virtual safety car, it's a safety thing where it's just out there for as long as it needs to be. As soon as we start to get, well, it's got to be out there for a full lap, so everyone gets the opportunity to pit, might as well just throw the full course thing. You ruin the race, don't you? In certain races, Madring being a key example, the pit stop phase was pretty much the most enjoyable phase of the Grand Prix.

A mistake might happen. We saw some delayed pit stops, the pit crew doing a brilliant job, might get you ahead of a car. We saw the way that Piastri came out behind traffic and Lawson came out in front of it, right? That was quite decisive for a moment in the Grand Prix. If you throw that BSC for one complete lap and every team knows there's one complete lap,

it will neutralise the racing a really boring way at those kind of racetracks where everyone will come in, everyone will go on to the hard tire and everyone will run to the end of the Grand Prix and nothing will change. And actually, the VSC will not only be a safety procedure that goes on for too long with the yellow flags being extended, it will just make it incredibly dull. And whilst I don't think that crashes should then provoke more entertainment, at least with a safety car, everyone gets to go to kind of go again. and as a spectator we get to see it go again. With a VSC, you don't even get that.

You now have gaps the same as everyone else, fresh tyres that can run to the end. It will just remove any excitement or anticipation. While that might benefit any driver, why is that not unbenefit or negatively affect all the other drivers? I like unbenefit. Unbenefit is a new word, folks. We've done it again.

I'm going to use it. Do you think change will actually happen here because it's going to require teams to agree on something and they very rarely do? Ferrari will do a double veto, pretty veto themselves about realizing it. Oh, you know, they would as well. They would.

They would sit down there and go, we like this. And somebody else from Ferrari would go, I hate it. We talked about this in the meeting room. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're just playing it on the road in the corner. My issue is with this,

you can't boil this down to only ever affecting you in one way. So why would you be able to categorically make a decision on this? And therefore, how would change come about? We've just spoken about how, a safety procedure has affected the same driver both positively and negatively. And every team has had that. Every team has had a benefit from a BSC and a safety car. And a negative effect from a BSC in a safety car.

If it is doing the job of safety requirements, it shouldn't be up to the drivers to go, well, I don't like this anymore. Tough, really. It allows us to be safe. It allows us to get all the Grand Prix nice and quick. That's the main reason for it occurring, not because we want to try and mitigate 100% fairness,

which you cannot do. It's just not a possible task. Yeah, the first hurdle is that this sporting advisory committee involves all 11 teams, a representative or a manager from those 11 teams, and they will all have to categorically agree that what happened to Lando Norris was unfair, and I don't think 11 will. Maybe a few will, but I don't think 11 will. I just think this is going to die down as we get further away from the Spanish GP. and then inevitably someone else is going to be disadvantaged at some point

and the conversation will come back around. But I just think even if, I would call it not far off a miracle, let's say there is agreement within that sporting advisory committee. It then goes to the F1 commission and it's got to be approved there. And then I'm pretty sure after that it goes to the World Motorsport Council and that's where it would be fully verified. It's three different points in which it will have to get through. I just don't think it will.

I think we're seeing it before the start of the 2027 season anyway. I think it's going to take that long to get all the way through the system and be actually approved that, you know, they have to do it midway through a season, which would be confusing. And if you have been affected negatively, the race before the rule got changed, you'd be a bit like, oh, come on, now I've been negatively affected. Yeah, I just think we always end up in this same, a very similar situation of, we don't like how this works, cool,

how would you like to work instead? Don't know. I don't have a full proof plan of what to do afterwards. Yes. Before we go to our second break, just a quick shout for our Patreon, because we haven't mentioned that in at least four minutes. We really appreciate all of you that are already subscribed over on Patreon. Massively love the community that we've been able to build there.

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So we've been discussing today how hectic the calendar is between now and the end of the year. Well, good news for power rankings fans because that means a lot of power rankings episodes coming up very shortly. So, yeah, if you're not already subscribed, massively appreciate all of the money that goes there goes back into the show. Just as an example, look at the, if you are watching on Patreon, look at these mics. We were able to. That's because of you. Yes, that is because of you. That's something we're able to do this year to make the audio as crisp as it can possibly be for all of you.

And it's even given us the opportunity to get out into the F1 world a couple of times this year, meet some new people, share the love. absolutely love it. So yeah, again, massively appreciate anyone who's already subscribed, but if you haven't already done, so please consider it. If you hate adverts as well, by the way, none of them, absolutely ganging them over there. So get all your content completely out free. True, true. Right, let's take our next break. On the other side, we're chatting some Red Bull personnel change and also Max Verstappen's recent carting exploits. Welcome back, everyone, to the third part of today's episode. episode, let's move on to Red Bull, announcing the signing of Tom McCulloch as its new head of

racing and says he will start work at the beginning of the 2027 Formula One season. The position is currently occupied by long-time Max Verstappan race engineer, Jean-Pierro Lambiasi, who was already committed to a future move to McLaren as its chief racing officer. McCulloch is primarily known for his time at Astor Martin, as well as its predecessors, Racing Point and Force India. Do you think this is a good signing for the team? We knew someone had to come in to replace Lambiasi. Do you think it's a good acquisition? I think it's a really interesting move for Red Bull here.

Tom McClick is clearly a very experienced individual now. He spent early career at Williams. He's then worked with drivers such as Barakello, Brumoseng, Holgerberg. He's been at Salberg. You mentioned the preguses of Aston Martin as well there. He's been around a long time. He's seen a lot of development, and he's worked with some really brilliant individuals. I am thinking this feels a little bit like a risk for Red Bull.

He has not led a top team. He is not being at the forefront of a Ferrari, a McLaren, a Mercedes. He has had to fight through the midfield quite regularly in his career. And as of recent, of course, he sits at the very back of the grid with Aston Martin. And this is going to be a big task. Red Bull is a very specific culture. It has a lot of big personalities. season. I think you've got really beyond the ball. There's a lot of really talented people in there.

The likes of Hannah Schmitz, of course, still there, and she's doing a brilliant job at the goat. The goat of strategy, and we love her dearly. You've also got to deal with Max for Staffing, of course, and you want to be on his good side. You want to make sure you're calling the right shots where you can to maximize this. Neckis is trying to turn around a ship that very quickly sunk a couple of years ago and trying to get that back together. So there's a lot going on here for Tom to kind of sort out. I hope you can. I hope he's up to the challenge. but this is a really big career move because equally it says a lot about Aston Martin. If they aren't going in the direction that maybe he thinks they were, he was involved in a project that was meant to be rapidly moving up the grid,

he's maybe seeing something or been offered something that allows him to sit in a fully established project that is going to fight at the front every single race weekend. So I don't know whether that's a complete this on Aston Martin, that they're not going to be there anytime soon. He wants to achieve something big now. or if actually Red Bull have gone weaking off and you're just more, more, more, and that's what he wants in life, maybe. But yeah, interesting transition in the Formula One world,

not what I saw coming actually. Yeah. The Aston Martin angle isn't one I've properly fought for it, to be honest, but I think it's a valid point to raise because Aston Martin, based on where they are in their F1 journey, should almost be in this acquiring stage themselves. Instead, someone's going the other way. Like, it could be, it could be a negative commentary.

It could be. He played a key part, right? He's the performance director. Yeah. And that's a really important role to have. Also, to go from performance director to to hang of racing is a really interesting transition there. There's a lot that there's got to play out. And he's clearly a very talented individual. Be interesting to see the type of churning she has to go up against and what is able to do there. Yeah. You call this a big task and you're right. It's not an easy replacement whatsoever. Lambiassi. He might not have done the role for very long. He only started doing that last year, in fact. But his experience of Red Bull and F1 more widely does go back a long way. He started at Red Bull the same year that Max

Verstappen started in F1 in 2015. And of course, he's been Verstappen's race engineer for his entire stint to Red Bull. It's only his time at Toro Rosso that he wasn't. But you're right, because McCulloch's experience is even more vast. Like, I think he's. I think he's. F1 experience goes, or at least his motorsport experience goes all the way back to the mid to late 90s. And then, of course, yeah, about 10 years at Williams, Force India did a lot there. He was leading up trackside engineering for a long time at Force India. And he had a lot of relative success. For those of you that weren't watching F1, say, 10 years ago or so, Force India were kind of known as

this pound for pound champion of F-1. Lucky underdogs, weren't they? Right. They often had the lowest budget or very close to the lowest budget on the grid and yet we're able to churn out fourth and fifth place finishes in championships quite regularly. They were the definition of doing as much as you can with little. And a lot of that comes down to things like maximising strategy when it's needed, when a surprise podium finish might be around the corner, just getting the most out of the combination of team and driver. Well, trackside engineering, that's kind of the job. So I think a lot of the success of that time can be attributed to what he did. Like, he optimized everything that was needed. Now, he moved around in the company

after it became Aston Martin, so he's become less F1 focused over the last couple of years. And without him, it's not like they're thriving. As soon as he goes away, like strategically I actually think Astor Martin are okay. It's just that we don't really get to see them. It doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean anything. But the pit stops, just as an example,

they're not very good. Like last year it was only, and I'm kind of using the DHL ranking system as the basis for this, it was only HAST that were worse than Aster Martin last year. And this year I think it's still HAST that are worse, but Cadillac and Alpine are worse as well. well. But they're still very firmly in the maybe bottom third of that championship. They're nowhere near the likes of the two Red Bull teams, Audi, Mercedes. They are miles ahead. So I actually like

this higher a lot. And I do think your concern is valid in that he hasn't done it at this level before. And you could argue it's a bit of a gamble in that regard. But I think what he's done at Force India warrants an opportunity like this. My only slight concern that I was thinking about was why it took them so long to hire him. Because maybe it was a case of he was sticking around at Aston Martin to see what was happening there. But in theory, they could have made this move a while ago and they didn't. I think it begs the question that he wasn't their first choice.

That's what I'm thinking. Yes. We'll see how that goes. did you see the photo of Lambiasi and I don't remember if it was Stella or Zach Brown last race weekend sort of sat together in the sort of paddock in one of the one of the motorhomes bit of a public I think just that that could have been done behind closed doors but they're very much going public with their relationship like this you know what fair enough I think they are going to obviously try and they always try

and wrangle these leaves, these gardening leaves to be done and dusted as soon as possible. And from Red Bull's point of view, whilst Lambiasi is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Why an incredible mind he is and a real asset to Formula One? To Red Bull now, he's dead weight. He is, they're going to friction. Sorry, I don't actually know if I've mentioned that 2028, start of 202028 is when Lambiasi at the moment is set to join. McIran, couldn't remember it. There you go.

You had it, but yeah, they're essentially going to try and bring that time period down, not missing. the whole season before they get hit their man. And in the same guys, now Lambiasi is going to a direct rival in Red Bull, a McCarran from Red Bull, rather, that's information. And Landbiasi can't know important information about development, strategy, personnel, contracts. You know, these are things that are internal and integral to their success. So for another 18 months, they have somehow got to have this key member of their team

semi-frozen out of a lot of the conversations of what's going on, but at the same time hoping that he can maximize his job performance and keep the company and the team as successful as possible. It's just, it doesn't work. They're butting heads from two different directions. So I wouldn't be surprised if we see a shorting of that time period where when Red Bull think we're closer enough to the 28 window where actually we need to start speaking,

we need to start getting information. And this move for Tom might allow that to now actually happen. we, I think, will see GP move over to McLaren earlier than expected. No, it's important to remember that it's two jobs, essentially, that GP Lambiasi is fulfilling at the moment, because it's not only the head of performance or performance director, I can remember the exact title, but he's also the race engineer for Max Verstappen.

I wanted to get your thoughts on, and I think you might have already done a couple, but his new engineer for next year is starting to do some practice sessions with Verstappen this year. And I think he'll do a full, it'll do a couple of full race weekends later in this year as well to get ready for the 2027 season. Can't remember the chap's name off the top of my head. Sorry, Mike.

But, I mean, do you support that sort of transition going into next year? I think that's fantastic. I think if you can give someone as much time of learning and becoming comfortable as possible, I think that is amazing. And there maybe isn't a relationship as important in motorsports. than driver and engineer. They have to be like one individual. Their brainwaves needs to be on the same level.

Their communication style needs to be effortless for both of them. And you can see the difference it makes in success on the racetrack, having an engineer that can speak to you and understand what's going on. And the best ones almost know before it happens. They know before it said what needs to change or is going on. And let's look at Lewis Hamilton. Lewis Hamilton had Bono, right? Who is now, of course, with Anting Ellie.

And those two were a team. They were a unit. They operate in the same way. And Bono would get Hamilton up when he needs to be up. And he would also simmer him down when he needs to be brought back down again. And they operated a brilliant combination between driver and engineer. And Hamilton, they shifts to Ferrari. Bono doesn't go, of course.

And we've seen the difficulty in transaction and conversation between Hamilton and the engineers that he was placed with at Ferrari, where conversation broke down, communication broke down. We heard quips like, you know, on your tea break, are you? and things like that, where it's just not going well. So allowing this new individual who's coming to work with one of the most successful racing drivers of all time in Formula One, having a bit of bedding in time to just become comfortable and aware of how it all works. And being taught by GP Lambiasi, who has done this now for a decade,

is a brilliant situation to being. And I think that's fantastic that they have allowed this process to happen. It also gives Red Ball the best chance to hit the ground running. They don't want to get to race one. The moment GP's out the door. And this chap goes, I'm really out of my debt. What's going on? Maxisap,

is shouting at me because the car isn't very good, and I'm going to have a cry on the pit wall. And honestly, fair enough, I get it. They're doing a good job of bedding in before they get going. Yeah, it feels like the one advantage of not being as competitive this year, because if this whole timeline was shifted a year backwards, and we were talking about this last year, where the championship charge sort of starting to come about for Max Verstappen,

I don't think they'd have wanted to do this. They wouldn't have wanted to do this the year before, either. But this year, it's not like Red Bull are really fighting for anything. Vestappen will be hoping that he gets the opportunity for a win at some point this year, but he might not. And in either case, he's not competing for a championship. So you have a bit more flexibility to make this happen and make that transition into next year that little bit smoother. I think in terms of Lambiasi going to McLaren, I think it could well happen earlier than the start of the 28th season. Red Bull's motivation here is two-fold.

in that they want to ensure that McLean don't get an advantage by having him earlier. But the other incentive for keeping him is this handover. And now they've got that person in place who will start the beginning of next year. They've got at least a couple of months to work on that. And maybe Lambiasi moves over midway through next season or something like that. We have to remember as well with motorsport and F1. It's a very tight-knit community. and you will see a lot of, as we're discussing today,

a lot of instances of drivers, personnel moving from team to team, but actually not moving that far in that sort of east part of England. And what I'm trying to get at is quid pro quo. Like, you do someone a favour. Don't blame your bridges. Don't burn your bridges. Tom Hart, is the chap's game. Tom Hart, yes.

There we go. God damn it. Another Tom. There you go. Yeah. Yeah, I think they might come to a compromise here because... One day it goes the other way. They go, we gave him to you six months early.

Come on, come on. And then he can go over and join Papa Marshall. Oh, yes, they could be friends together again. Yes. Staying on the theme of Red Bull, I wanted to get your thoughts on Vestappan versus 100, the cart event that... I don't know if you saw it.

I watched it on Disney Plus. I've seen highlights. I've seen highlights. They announced he won before the program came out, which I thought was silly. Did they? On social media, they put up a graphic.

I didn't see this. Simply lovely, never in doubt, with the one finger up, first one of the season, which I thought was bizarre. And then they were like, oh, you know,

show comes out in three days on Disney Plus, wherever it was. I was like, okay, that's weird. I now don't get to watch it. I also saw the victory and all the overtakes happened on social media.

Before I got a chance, we just sit down and watch the program on Disney. so I don't get why that happened either. But I thought the concept was fun. It was nice to get people involved. There were some creators involved. There were some fans that were involved. You could win a place on there.

I think it was as well. Yeah, I like it. I don't really care about it, but I like it. It felt too easy. The problem was the first lap. He overtook 64 people on lap one. Yeah, like that was the issue. Like, it would have been, I still think it had gone.

it done. But if it only overtaken 30 cars on the first lap, I think he would have struggled. Like, I think it would have at least, not maybe not come down to the wire, but it certainly would have taken him longer. I don't think it even took him half the time that it was supposed to. So, but the first lap, and he mentioned this like four or five times in the buildup because there was this full hour pre-race sort of thing that they had. As long as the race itself. Which I think was, it went a bit overboard. But like, I, Vastappen, any time he was asked by one of the interviews, like, what he needs to do, how you're feeling about this?

He's like, I just need to make as much progress as I can on the first two laps because those few guys out front who kind of know what they're doing, they might be able to get too much of a lead while I'm still stuck behind other cars. And then you get the absolute carnage of that first lap, and you kind of felt, well, Vestappen's going to do this. He wasn't caught up in it, was he? It was good fun. I like it.

It's a bit of a laugh. it. The other thing I really liked about it, they have proximity chat. Yes, they did. Yeah. The drivers, I work with radio. I think that's really fun. It might not need to translate to proper motorsport, but the fact that, you know, they were like, please, don't overtake me, Max. I love you. And that's really cool. You're racing as your hero. I really enjoyed that. It's a fun thing that Red Bull have done. It's a laugh. It doesn't need to be anything more than that. Yeah, exactly. And I think maybe they could have known what would have happen with that first lap given the majority of the people there didn't have any meaningful

carting experience at all. So when you put however many content creators on a grid and there's a hundred of them and it's tight track, like yeah, you're probably going to get a ridiculous first lap. But that's kind of the whole point in the content is you don't, they wouldn't have wanted a lot of, a lot more drivers who knew what they were doing. The whole point of this is just look at how It's chaos. Look at how good Max Verstappan is and 100 people are up against him and he can beat him all. And it seems the way that Darts is doing a very similar thing coming up where, like, Luke Littler of all people, random people are going to try and beat him in one leg of darts.

And I'm not quite sure the format of that. But it's this kind of superhero of a sport trying to be beaten by this underdog. And Darts is a bit of a weird one to do that with. I feel like we're carting. if you don't have to drive a car, you can at least be somewhat respectable in a go-car. You know what the pedal is, you what the brake is, you're going to go around corners. Darts, if you want a hand-eye coordination. I think with the Darts one at least, there's going to be people who know what they're doing.

They've at least played Darts before. Yeah. You've seen me throw a dart. It's like I'm not like a baseball. Famously atrocious at Darts, I am. That's bowling, terrible. Oh, we can't get on to bowling. Not now.

Yeah. I'm with it. I thought it was a nice event. And I think they'll learn a few things, but I'm sure similar events will come back. I'm all up for F-F-F-F-Og drivers doing silly things outside of their race time. I think it's fun, gets the community more involved. I'm all okay with this. The very, like, random issue I had with it was they didn't change, like, Max Verstappen's car. Just make it a different colour or something.

So it just completely stands out. Yeah, make it like his, like, his, like, dutch orange or something like that, right? I just thought that would be a really easy win in terms of just pointing him out versus the field. He seemed a lot faster on that first opening lap going down the start-finish tree. A lot of them really seemed to struggle to get going. He was just overtaking everyone in a straight line. Yeah. Well, I mean, for stopping, you can see him like hustling the car.

Yeah. I think he also had the advantage of everyone else is lined up in two rows and he's just in the middle. Yeah. He doesn't got anyone in front of him done. He can just kind of pick and choose the route that suits him best. Yeah. I mean, it's creating a 10-minute debate. It's done something.

They've achieved their goal. Yeah. Let's take our final break. On the other side, F-1, overrated, underrated. Oh, here comes a banger. Welcome back every time. I'm supposed to say every time. Welcome back every one.

That's a more appropriate. All of the time is here. Every time we welcome you back. I'm just so excited, folks, because overrated, underrated hasn't made an appearance in a very long time. but here we go Overrated Underrated

What artists do we give What way will they go Overrated Underrated What are weak shoes Come to see the show Overrated Underrated

Oh ho it's a bang of that is Overrated Underrated Three things That sounds very vague But they can literally It can be drivers It can be team principals

circuits Corners whatever we want And we've got three of them here and we're just going to discuss whether we think they are underrated, overrated, or maybe, just like Goldilocks, just rated, bang in the middle, just right. Starting with a driver today. Ollie Bearman, overrated or underrated? I think he is underrated.

I think he gets stuck there at the back in this silly little horse that can't really go any faster than it cries. And even if he was having the greatest driver of his life. I don't think you never know about it because he maybe gets a point at the moment of the season. We saw what he was able to do towards the back end of last year

when the Haast was producing somewhat respectable performances. Suddenly he's in the top five, top six regularly, right? Mexico, Brazil, really impressive. They're the two that stand out incredible well. I just think that if you were to pick him up and you were to drop him into a McLaren

or into a Ferrari right now, I don't think you've bat an eyelid. I think he's settling so quickly. I think he'd be right up there and up to speed. I think he can easily challenge for race with Napoleon's right this very second. So I don't think he gets a lot of love because it's hard to know if he deserves of it. But I think he does. Olly Baerman is underrated, folks.

Don't sleep on him. Like this guy is very talented. And I think maybe that's been lost along the way based on, again, how poor this has is. And I can't stress poor enough. Genuinely awful car. I know Esteban Ockon has struggled a bit this year, but Behrman was on it versus Ocon early on. Like even if you want to go like pre-Ocon,

if we're talking time periods of Hasse, when he filled in for Kevin Magnuson for a couple of Grand Prix, he was on it versus Holcomburg almost straight away. He's got great talent. And even this year, when the Hasse was actually okay, and that was for, I think, a grand total of two races, he showed what he could do. Like he was, he was well.

well in the points in Australia, well in the points in China, and then the car's been terrible ever since. Whenever he's had an opportunity, he's done a really good job with this car. Also, I think the Hamilton news and, not news, but like Hamilton, will he stay, will he go? And then he's been much better this year. That's died down. So I just think that the fanfare around Bearman isn't what it was maybe six months ago

or a year ago, but there's still a very talented racer there. He's got a big career on his way. I think so. from a driver to a team boss, Toto Wolf, big hands, Toto. Is Toto Wolf overrated or underrated? Comedic opportunity, massively underrated with Toto Wolf. The characters just keep coming with him.

And the man is secretly hilarious. I think he knows that. But in terms of his actual career, I'm going for rated. Which I hate, by the way, absolutely hate the rating. I think you should have to make a decision. But Ben allowed us me to choose it. I mean, for free, like, you don't have to take the option. I like to set in my own rules, son.

He is phenomenal as a team principal. By far now the longest serving team principal that we've got in Formula One. Right now, he's been around and sinks basically almost the dawn of Masegi's new era. You know, he's marshaled issues across Rosberg and Hamilton, brought in Bottas, of course. They had to balance the Russell transition as well. And now into the newer of Antingelli. Not staff have come and gone. His Osse James Vals, for example, of course, has gone to when he's,

have been seen principal there. The engine has been fantastic on and off. Their ground effect, though, not fantastic. We saw how poor they were across the entire ground effect area. And they have a brilliant couple of bouncing back in this latest era of Formula One. But I think everyone around Formula One knows that he is a force to be reckoned with. He's fantastic of what he does. And he is not just built a successful team,

but an empire of a brand when it comes to him to saying he's racing now. I think they are a formidable force. And a lot of that, I do think this down to not just his... people management, but his business know-how. I think he's going to a brilliant job at making them a real force financially in this world. I think Toto Wolf is underrated. Wow. And I think he gets a bit of a, I'm going to call it a still active tax.

There's no nostalgia about Toto Wolf yet because he's still here. But I think when he goes away, and he could be here for a while yet, but when he does eventually go away from the sport, I think at that point, people will go, wow, that Mercedes era, man, Toto Wolf spearheaded that. Like, he was excellent. The famous like Jean-Tott and Braun and things like that, right? Well, that was actually one of the reasons why he's made this list today is on our last episode, we did our top, we did a Mount Rush more of non-driving F1 personnel.

And certainly Ross Brawn was discussed. I think he made your list. Colin Chapman did as well. Jean-Tot was discussed. And I thought afterwards, like, Toto Wolf's in that conversation. I think he weirdly came up on my mind for the list, but didn't get to it. And I think you might be right about the still here tax. He won eight consecutive Constructors Championships.

Number nine is surely not that far away. Those are numbers that not many people can claim. Big name, big Toto, big hands. Big Hans. Last up. the cool down room. It's rare that we go, we stretch to a room

when it comes to this game. Is the cool down room overrated or underrated? Firstly, I hate the name The Call Down Room, so that is an overrating game. Is that our next question of the week? What should it be called instead?

Maybe, actually. What shall we rename the Cool Down Room? Maybe with a hat-throwing competition if you're Nico Rosberg. I think the Cool Down Room is massively underrated. and I want more of it, I want to see more angles of it, I want to set up properly. It constantly feels like the person who's in charge of the camera in the

call-down room has given it no thought before going into that room. It's kind of like I'm going to weirdly perched in the side here and get like an awkward side shot of one of the driver's heads. You can kind of half here, one of the other ones at the far side. Why are we not booming the room up? Why do we not have like three camera angles going on here? We're allowed to see it. So let's see it properly.

Let's get into the call-down room. And maybe we're hearing a bit of a, warning at the start of the calldown and it says, the drivers here are relaxing after a big race, you might hear some language, sorry and advance. I want to hear their thoughts. I love hearing them talk about it. I love them seeing the key events of the Grand Prix. We've had some really famous and interesting moments from the call-down room that have really added flavor to the Formula One universe. I want more of it. I think it should be brought into as a bigger part of the race weekend because I look forward to hearing the talk. And it's the only time really

we get a proper candid conversation on air live driver to driver after a lot has happened. I'm a big fan of it. Before I give my opinion on this, because certainly the drivers being candid is very much how I would describe it as well. And at the moment, it's almost this fly on the wall kind of vibe to it. Where you've mentioned like camera work and microphones, does that run the risk of it becoming too professionalised to the point where these drivers won't relax as much they do at the moment? I think that's the atmosphere of the room that can do that. If we suddenly put them on like a press-style sofa with a table in front of them and they're almost made with cameras

facing them directly, sure, they're getting to freeze up a little bit. But if you've got a couple of cameras mounted in places, no people involved and they're in a room on them, on their own, I think you'll still get that candid behaviour. I'm three for three on underrated today. I'm here with you on underrated. It is maybe slightly annoying. It's the only time we see the drivers at their most genuine is when they're talking to each other. But a lot of the time, the conversations or the interviews

and the press that the drivers will do outside of this room, it's so PR overload. It's so we can't say the wrong thing, therefore it's safer for us to, I don't know, put together a sentence that doesn't really say much at all. And you don't get a lot of insight that way. But when you've got the drivers just talking to each other, very candidly, you do get some really interesting insights. And a lot of the time, I'm annoyed, but don't get more of it.

It's way better than, like, I don't know, the post-qualifying interviews we get, where they're just out of the car. PR machines immediately. And no wonder they're not giving you much to work with, because they've just got out the car and they're not that, you know, they don't want to give too much away at that point. but stick two drivers together in a in a call-down room and we will be taking options as to what to call it in future. Yeah, then you get some really interesting conversations under red. Dare I say it, even the back of the Cadillac in Vegas when they had to drive to the podium.

We've got the three of them squeezing on the bottom. Right, even then you're getting some genuine conversation. I don't care what the actual space is. That's the best way to hear from these drivers in a real way talking about the thing that we're all interested in it. And it's always interesting to hear like what they pick out. as well, because it's often not something you'd think. Like, they'll start talking about,

are you, like, were you flat out here or what we're doing here? What mode are you in? Where are you recharging? It's very fascinating to hear how they're processing the race. Indeed. So a lot of underrated on today's overrated, underrated. That's going to do it for this episode.

Good news is Mr. Harry Ead is back next week. Yes. As we build tobacco. We are. Oh, I like that. That's good. Have you get that of anything? Have you made come up with that?

Genuinely came up with that in the last five seconds. Wow. Formula One, if I see that now in your commercial next week, we're billing you for Baku is what we're doing. A lot of money. Yeah, we need it, quite frankly. So, yeah, maybe do use it.

Who knows? And like, thanks for listening to folks. Do check out Patreon. Everything have free. Videos on there as well. Beware breaking is always a laugh. So, you know, do go and check out. And if you're going to support the show,

that's the number one way to do it. We are forever grateful. Join Discord. Over 4,000, people in there having a lovely old chick chat. Really good fun about F1 worldwide with, you know, we've got a Lego chat, we've got a football chat. There's all sorts of groups in there that have found their people that's really lovely. Follow us on social media, late-breaking F1, and we will be back midweek for a Baku preview. Remember, qualifying on Friday, the race on Saturday, okay? Bear that in mind, please,

unless you will miss the key events of the weekend. Thanks for listening. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking, and remember, keep breaking late.