The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Revisiting our 2027 F1 grid predictions: What's changed?

Episode Date: August 5, 2026

Back in April, the LB boys made their 2027 F1 grid predictions. Now, with half a season under our belts, it's time to revisit them. Which picks are still looking good, and which have already aged like milk? They also chat Haas' struggles to compete at the budget cap, and finish with a game of Higher or Lower. Join us in Amsterdam for pre-Dutch GP drinks! CLICK HERE for event details and to confirm your attendance. Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get:Ad-free listeningFull-length bonus episodesPower Rankings after every raceHistorical race reviews& more exclusive extras!Don't forget! You can also gift a Late Braking Patreon subscription—perfect for loved ones or your own wish list. Choose anything from 1 month up to a full year of top-notch F1 content: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingf1/gift⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Late Braking:You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats!Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and see if you can beat us! LEAGUE CODE: C6Y6R4ZUY02Get in touch any time at [e-mail]  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Good and welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking, back with another summer break episode. But this is a good one, Sam. Is it? Well, I would prefer a yes. Oh, yes.

Really good. Also, you're back, so it's definitely going to be better. If it's worse, then that's a real problem for me. Did you have a good birthday? I did, thank you, mate. Yes. It was lovely. And I'm embracing this new 30-year-old Ben.

Feels like a real downgrade, upgrade. I can't wait to see what changes about 30-year-old Ben. Oh, you just wait and see, mate. For a real treat, is it? Yeah, nothing changes. Did you enjoy your birthday or listening to us do the episode more, Ben? The present was listening to you on, on Monday as I listened to Sunday's episode.

That was lovely. I should also say, I hadn't meant to save this for now, but earlier on today, I got a wonderful card for my birthday from the LB team. So I'd like to thank you all for reminding me that Honey G was just 35 years old when she ended X Factor. Do you want to hold it up to the camera? So if we can see her, have you got there?

It's not up here, I'm afraid. Fine, moment ruined. No, pause recording. Go and get it. Moments come. Today we are going through our 2027 grid predictions. Now, you might remember back in April we did this for the first time. So we're going to basically have a look for every team and see if there's anything that we would change

or if we would keep the lineups the same as we predicted back then. And we'll go for every team from championship order. So starting with Mercedes going all the way down to Cadillac. Very interesting. We've also got some predictions from you lovely listeners as well. So we put out of form a couple of days ago, and we've managed to put together a bit of an aggregate of what you've predicted to see how they shape up versus what we've got written down. So let's start with Mercedes. It's an interesting contract situation.

Technically, Antonelli, I believe, is still out of contract at the end of this year. Feels likely he'll probably still be there next year. Meanwhile, George Russell either has a contract until the end of this year or the end of next year, depending on who you're talking. too. As we know with F1, the contract, sometimes it's only as good as a, it's a bit of paper with some words written down on it. It doesn't always mean it's ironclad. So we'll go around the three of us just to see who we've got and then we'll get into some discussion. So Sam, first of all, you said, different to the two of us, back in April, you said it would be Vastappan and Antonelli. Your prediction now is...

Anthony Allen and Russell. Harry, your prediction was Antonelli and Russell back in April. now you've got Antonelli and Russell Oh Jesus Well that was my prediction as well And I'm not changing So good We're going with the same old

Same old at Mercedes Well, sell with you Sam As you're the one who's changed your prediction At least part of your reasoning back then was, and we'd only had a few races at that point obviously Was that Antonelli had already proven himself to be a match for George Russell

So you don't think there's going to be a swap now. Are you saying that's more Vestappan led rather than Mercedes-led? Yeah, partially. I think the landscape has really changed for Max Vastappen over the last, what is it, four months really since we had that conversation initially. There's been conversations between McLaren and Vastappan's management. We know that that's happened. And whilst they've come out and denied that they got interested, or although I'll waffle that is, you definitely are interested, is quite good, is Max Verstappling. And you definitely would take him if the option was there. But it does feel like the, the, the,

Stream has gone quite cold between Mercedes and Bostappan. I still think the odds are higher that Bostappen walks away from the sport then joins Mercedes. So as it stands, I'm not sure who an immediate replacement would be for George Russell if he were to, I think he had to be removed from the team rather than him choose to leave. So you won't, in my opinion, and therefore it will stay the same. The other question I had for you on that was when you predicted it would be Bostappan and Ancinelli. You mentioned that in terms of the timeline, Toto Wall, and Mercedes really needed to strike while the iron was hot,

like getting there then and there and then. They didn't. So is that kind of swaying the fact that they couldn't get it done earlier in the season? Completely standby, what I said. I do think that they had to really jump in on the fact that he was miserable, he didn't enjoy the direction. We're going in. The car was really poor.

And we knew that Russell was already started to struggle at that point. He already hadn't been beating Antingani regularly. They were a very close match. And if suddenly Antingney's second season. So the fact they were already such a close match. It was slightly worrying, already signs for Russell. But I do think they had to get that job done in the, basically that weird spring break that we had, or the couple of races immediately after, to maximise the possible move for Max and the replacement of George.

And that hasn't happened. And so I think actually this favours Russell keeping the seat. Now, you have carried on with your prediction, Harry, that it will be Russell and Antonelli. Any reason why you don't think it will be Vastappen to go into that seat? or indeed anyone else. I know a lot of the talk was obviously, well, with the stopping, was about replacing Russell. But I think Antonelli's form this year

may well have helped Toto Wolf to decide not to pursue this anymore because I think if Antonelli had had another year like 2025, I think maybe he might have thought, but I'm not suggesting that's who would have been replaced. but I think Totter Wolf may have pursued this a bit more. But now with Antonelli, Totter Wolf knows he's got a future lead driver on his hands, right? He knows, I mean, could almost be happening.

Yeah, exactly. It's happening as we speak. So he doesn't need to worry about that. And I think if he's looking at this, why would he bring Vestappen into a team that is Vestappen Antonelli? I just don't, that dynamic wouldn't work now, I don't think, or isn't even necessary, as, you know, as good as Max Verstappen is. I just don't think there's the need for it that perhaps total walk maybe thought

that might have been previously. So it's weird to say that it's down to Antenelli, even though he wouldn't be the one replaced, but I think he kind of is. Yeah. I just want to say a bit more generally about this driver transfer market, because it feels like either a lot is going to happen or very little is going to happen, and it's going to be one of the two extremes. It does feel like Vastappen is almost that that first domino that needs to,

to go. So we're all predicting that it'll stay in the same, well, not stay in the same place, but we're predicting he won't go to Mercedes. So it'll be interesting to see how that has a knock-on effect with everything else. I'm staying with George Russell and Ancinelli because whilst Russell is definitely struggling, and I know there have been some mitigating circumstances, I also don't think you could deny Russell is struggling far more than any of us expected to

this year. I feel like if it's not Vastappen, it's not going to be anyone else. I don't think anyone else other than Vostappen is a guarantee upgrade over Russell. I think you could argue if Norris or LeCler went into that seat, they might be. But I don't think it's a definite. I think Vestappen's the only one. Where I would maybe slightly update my prediction from April is that back then I said, I don't think Toto Wolfe would sign Vestappen just based on his uncertainty about being in the sport long term.

I've actually changed my mind on that. I think if he was available, I think he would get this done. And I know Vestappen and Antonelli lineup would bring other questions. I still reckon he would do it. I don't think that troubles him. I think that's a bother for him. It's a good problem to have. What's interesting is on the form, whilst the three of us are unanimous on this,

it's very close. So 49% of respondents said it would be like us, Antonelli and Russell, 41% saying Antonelli and Vestappen. So those were the two very clear winners, but it was much closer on that poll than maybe what we've gone with in terms of our suggestions.

This one might be quite quick. Ferrari, so Lewis Hamilton believed to have a contract until 2027. Charles LeClaire got a contract until 282. So of those two... Eternity. 2029, I think is the actual answer on that.

So back in April, I predicted it would be an unchecked changed. Charlotte Claire and Lewis Hamilton. I'm not changing that. I still think it will be LeClair and Hamilton. You both said it would be LeCleur and Beerman. Sam, any change to that? I shall eat humble pie and agree with you, Benjamin. I think Hamilton's resurgence has been strong enough and he is happy enough in the sport that he won't go away. And Ferrari, I don't think they're too worried that Behrman is suddenly going to crop up elsewhere or cause them an external problem. And at the end of the day, there's enough solid drivers around that if Hamilton were to walk away,

I think maybe I feel about a seat with something of good quality. Harry? Pass me the pie, please, Sam. I need a slice as well. It's a family size, so. Great news. Yeah, I'm changing mind to La Claire and Hamilton as well. Just based on Hamilton's form this year versus where we were this time last year, I think

even, you know, even if it doesn't, it's not a championship challenge by the end of the year. I think you'll stick around for next year just to see what happens. Yeah, I think Hamilton's pace being mostly back. I appreciate the comment from Sunday was maybe 80% back or something along those lines. It feels about accurate, I would say. And he's far more consistent than he was in 2025. And I said a few months ago, Ferrari wouldn't get rid of Lewis Hamilton

unless Lewis Hamilton really gave them a reason to. You only want to make that move unless you really don't have any other options left. And Hamilton's form this season has kind of answer. answered that for them, but there's no need to move on right now. Hamilton beating LeClair and the championship. Their race pace and qualifying pace, I think, is pretty even throughout the season so far. So, yeah, we're all going for no change on Ferrari. Unsurprisingly, I think this might have been the most unanimous one out there, 97% on the

form said it would be LeCler and Hamilton. A few still suggesting it might be LeCleur and Behrman, but few and far between. Now, this is maybe. where it gets a little bit interesting as we go to McLaren. Contracts again, pretty interesting, believed to be Lando Norris contracted until 2027,

Oscar Pia Street until 2028. Back in April, all three of us said it would be an unchanged lineup. Harry, are you still saying that? No, I'm twisting. Exciting! I'm going for Landon Norris

and Max Verstappen. Okay. It's happening. Yeah, I I think that, I think the GP factor, that being... Not his doctor.

He might be as well. Well, he does do a lot. Yeah. Great a diagnosis. Jean-Pierre Lambassie, that being a Vastappan's race engineer, the move for him to McLaren, which I believe is 28, right?

That's not quite 27. But I do think that could be a big, factor for for Vestappen and whilst you know Red Bull have been maybe better not better that sounds ridiculous but some things have been better for them that we expected this year it's still not been great and also with the amount of people they've lost I just think Vestappen might consider still be considering things elsewhere and McLaren may well be

Zach Brown could could sell marketing man as he used to call him could sell a lot of dreams. I miss marketing man. Yeah. That was a fun time. He doesn't need to. Look, cars absolutely, he's done his job.

The car's covered in sponsors all the time. The ultimate superpower. Yeah, marketing man has succeeded. But yeah, I just think, I just think if Fistapp was looking for a change, that could well be it, and he may well follow his great mate, GP. Harry predicting that Vestappen will go to McLaren.

Now, Sam, after the Hungarian race, you said that Piastri might be done with McLaren. Does that reflect in your prediction here? Yes, it does. I also think it will be Landon-Gorris and Max Verstappen at McLaren next season, and we will have a double world champion line-up, which will be super exciting for the papaya team. I think GP is the swing here.

I do think that is what's going to keep him interested. And if rumours are to be believed, then there are some mutterings about what McLaurin are doing with their engines. There is a real chance in the distant future they can look to become a proper independent manufacturer rather than relying on Mercedes. I think we'll also give, again, Maxwell Stappers, a bigger hope, a bigger direction there. So, yeah, I think this is a real possibility. I think, as I mentioned earlier in the show, that those talks are rubbish that they don't want in,

they're interested. It's odd, like it's come out of such strong news. I think this could happen. I'm going with an unchanged lineup. I'm going with Norris and Piastri. Norris, I think, is, he's staying. I don't think there's any question about that. I think when it comes to Piastri, and I guess the Vestappen factor here, McLaren, I agree, would want Vestappen tomorrow if they could get him. And I don't think they'd say that about pretty much any other driver other than him and maybe Antonelli. I cannot see Vestappen going

to a customer team. And I understand the point you just made Sam about. maybe in the future, they do look to become a factory team. They produce their own engine or go somewhere else to get something like an Astor Martin Honda deal. I don't know. But I don't think Vostappen is thinking that far ahead at this point with the uncertainty around the regulations. I won't spoil the rest of my predictions. I can actually see him going to Mercedes more than I can see him going to McLaren.

I don't know why I can't escape the idea of Vestappen going to a Mercedes power. team that isn't Mercedes. As brilliant of a customer team as McLaren have been, I can't be sold on the idea at the moment. No, the logic is sound. I think it's a very fair point. And that's why I had to make the point myself off. I think they're going to have to look at something other thing on the Mercedes Power Unit to make it happen. Very interesting and interesting with predictions from our form as well. Well, you might find most interest about this. Okay, Norris and Piastri staying. 51% of people have said that. 16% percent of people have said that. of people have said it will be Norris and another driver, but not Vestappen.

16% of people saying it will be Norris and Russell at McLaren next year. I just can't see that happening. With 12% then saying Norris and Vestappan, a couple of other names thrown in alongside again Lando Norris, Carlos Sines and Leo Forneroli. I just think the radio messages would be atrocious if Russell went to McLaren. Oh, papaya rules plus Russell. Yes, enough of that thought. Jesus.

No, thank you. Well, Red Bull's going to be interesting because we know from both of your predictions that it's not going to be Vastappen there. We had three unique predictions for this back in April. So first of all, just to go through the contract, Isaac Adjar, out of contract at the end of this year. Vestappan, in theory, has a contract until 2028,

but there are exit clauses that he could activate as part of that. Back in April, all three of us said Isaac Adjadjad would be there next year, but with a different partner. I said Max Verstappen. Sam said George Russell. Harry said Pierre Gassley. Now, Sam, we know it's not going to be George Russell here. So what's the line up going to be?

Piastri is going to take that spot back off, Max Verstappen. And only Bearman's going to be alongside him. Okay. What's that I've done? Nothing. But have you got heard the conversations going on that apparently Red Bull are very intrigued by the possibility of a slightly frustrated Olly Behrman, but Hamleteget is no longer going anywhere.

I love that Piastri going to Red Bull is the boring part of your prediction. Yeah, good fun. Wow. Okay, Piastrian Bearman, according to Sam. Harry, what about you? Hadjar is staying, but my previous prediction about Pierre Gazley, no, that's not happening.

I'm saying Piastri would then, it would be a direct swap between Piastri and and Vestappan. I think given who his manager is, that being Mark Weber, and it not being the same Red Bull team and Mark Weber was perhaps frustrated with him when he's left. I could see a dream being sold to Piastri

of making it his own Red Bull team. Obviously, Vastappen would have to be leaving for that to happen, but it could happen. Mr. Status quo is back. I think Vestappen state. I leave Vastap and stays, Red Bull. The reason why, and I've got Hadjar as well, joining him. I don't think Adjah's going to go anywhere.

I hear what you say, Sam, about, and I've also seen the same thing about Red Bull, potentially being interested in Olly Behrman. Whether that opens up a racing bull seat or not, I don't know. I get the sense that Bearman and Hadjar have been close enough in their career so far that they wouldn't make a change. Having said that, I don't know what you've got planned for Hadjar, so who knows. I think Vastappen stays maybe partly due to Red Bull choosing to basically shut down development for the rest of 2026.

They've kind of been open in saying that we're going to start focusing on 2027, which is the opposite to what they did last year, where they very much focused on a title push for Vestappen. And it nearly paid off. I think this is almost like a last ditch attempt from Red Bull to say, look, we've got the best ICE in this sport. Other parts of the car aren't there yet. we need to get it there. It's not going to happen this year. Stick with us for next year. And we're going to put everything into that whilst others are going for this championship. And I'm going to say that Vastappan goes, okay, I'll give it a chance, as well as the regs as well. That's why I'm going with Vastappen to stay at the team. But I can see a move as well.

Not to McLeod, I can see a move to Mercedes. It makes a longer sense that realistically, the most logical point of view is that Vostappen would stay. It's less risky for a start, right? he knows, it's the only entity, it's the own quantity. But I just think that he's gone through so many hurdles with that team, so many interior changes, we know his family, he's having a fallout internally, the leadership team

have completely gone. It's a whole different ball game at Red Bull now. I wouldn't be surprised if with this last mate, as we mentioned GP leaving, and the fact that they are nowhere near as successful as they were, the car has had multiple instances over the last couple of Grand Prix, is it just enough to push him over the edge? I think it could be.

The reason why I've gone, you know, Hajjar, and I've said to give the God to Bearman, I think Bearman offers a much more exciting overall race prospect. I think Beerman will be willing to get out of the Ferrari Academy if he's giving a front row seat to a possible race-winning team. He's watched the others that he graduated with come up and be either pretty successful or incredibly successful. The fact that the least successful guy he came up with is Bortoletto. And, you know, at least Bortoletto is regularly scoring points this season. Now, you know, Bermann is now floating around at the back. And he's not. And he's now floating around at the back with, you know,

slower than Williams, he's next to Cadillacs at this point. And again, he's winning multiple Grand Prix and leading a championship. You've got Hajar, who whilst he is the second best red ball driver, he's done pretty well to be in the points pretty regularly, and it's solid. There's just a lack of success for him going his way,

and I would not be shocked, if unlike what George Russell ding in Williams, where he, you know, he binding his time, he really waited. I wouldn't be shocked if Bermann is told Hamilton is going anywhere, and there's a lot of reasons why, fine. I'm going to look elsewhere. And I do think the Red Bull would be willing to take a risk on swapping out Hadjar for Ben.

Yeah, fair enough. In terms of the form that we put out, Vastappan and Hajjar is the option with the most votes at 39%. But plenty of votes also for what Harry's gone for, Hadjar and Piastri, 33%, with 10% pairing Hajar with George Russell. 40% of submissions included Vastappen at Red Bull. majority think he will either leave the team or indeed retire from the sport. Very interesting indeed. Let's take a quick break on the other side. We're going to deal with

their sister team first, racing balls. Come back everyone. Racing balls. Now that we've had a look at the senior team, we'll have a look at the junior team that of course features at the moment Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson, both contracted until the end of 2026. But rumors of of maybe people moving across, people moving up from Formula 2. It led us to in April, both myself and Sam, we're going with Nicholas Solov,

currently in F2, with Limbludd, Harry going with an unchanged lineup of Limbludd and Lawson. So, Sam's starting with you. Still going with Solov in that seat. I am, Solove and Limblog. His F2 season is phenomenal at the moment.

He's in amazing form. We've got to see him have some great form. We went to Silverstone, and it was a really, really good Grand Prix. He ended this summer kind of period in a really solid manner. So I think the chances of him winning the F2 championship quite high. And with that, he would be obviously unable to compete next year in F2. So we're probably in a seat somewhere.

I do think he's showing enough promise that he would end up facing removal of Liam Lawson and the entering of Solov. Alongside Libardo, I still think he's so much for a rookie in his time anyway, that they wouldn't remove him. He's been close enough to Lawson, that I think they would end up picking Limbluda over Lawson for that seat. Harry, you went with an unchanged line-up when we did this again back in April. You said that maybe Red Bull were going to try and get out of the pattern of moving drivers up too early.

Does that lead to more time at Racing Bulls for these two drivers? Or are you going with someone else? Call me, Mr. Status quo, now, because I also remain unchanged on this one. Lawson and Limbaud in Racing Bulls. I think if Lawson was having was driving like he was in 2025 or like the most part of 2025 then this would be

they'd be considering a change but with Lawson driving so well at the moment and with Lindblah being new I don't see why racing balls change this to be honest so the only other possibility is Lawson being poached for somewhere but I just don't necessarily see that happening slash where would he go that's actually any better

than where he is. That's assuming he has a say. In where he goes? Well, being removed from racing balls, of course. But I think he, I don't think race balls get rid of him, given how, well, he's driving. I don't see for what point do they do that right now. So if he wasn't driving as well, then I'd say, yeah, but then maybe.

But with the way he's driving, I don't see it. I am also going with what I said, and that's the same as Sam. That's Solov and Lindblad. but honestly, I can buy this being an unchanged team next year as well. I think Solov, just based on what he's been doing, not only this season, but last year as well, he was running up in F3 last year. Looking pretty good for the F2 title at the moment.

He does have some competition from a couple of drivers, but leads the way as we record this. And four feature race wins this year in nine attempts from Solov is pretty good going. Lawson, by comparison, his best finish in F3 was, or would have been GP3 or F3 back then? Probably F3. He was, his best was finished. Best finish was fifth.

And then in F2, his best finish was third, although that was in his second year, second full year in the sport. So Solov's junior career shaping up slightly better than Lawson's. And to be clear, I'm not predicting what I want to happen here, because I'm sure you're already starting to type your comments away, aren't you? I'm not saying I want this to happen to Lawson. And who knows, maybe he shows up somewhere else in these predictions. I just think that maybe they'll go with the upside of what Solov is showing.

And Limblud, yeah, I mean, given his inexperience, he's doing a pretty good job versus Lawson, who's had a bit more time. The two lineups that we've gone through are the two most popular lineups here. So 53% saying it will be Lawson and Limbludes are unchanged, 40% saying it will be Limblud and Solov. So I think our two predictions have covered off nearly everyone there. Now, Alpine. Pierre Gazley, a contract until 2028.

Franco Colopinto, though, his contract is up at the end of this year. So very interesting suggestions back in April. So I said it would be Gasly and Lawson. Harry said it would be Colopinto and Paul Aaron. And Sam said it would be Gasly and Teo Porcher, which leads me to my first question, Sam. Does the news that Teo Porchair will be racing in Formula E next season,

change your lineup? And now this is what I meant. This is what I meant formula. A. El Peeing is what I meant for it to be. Oh, gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. The ease at the end of Alping, you see. Yes, it obviously changes what's going to happen.

I think it will be unchanged at this point. I now think it will stay as ghastly and Colopinto. Colopinto had that great run where he obviously, especially in Miami, finished inside the top 10, every single session, a fruit weekend. You have a coveted bold point along with it. I do think whilst he is not always on the pace of Gasly, he has more often than not been close enough that I think Alping can be happy

that the two drivers are maximising a steadily declining car so far this season. I'd keep Franco Colopinto personally. I'm saying Briotori doesn't. That's a very sound logic, though. And I feel like I've been fairly boring with my predictions up until this point, and this is the first point that I'm really giving a wild card option here. I'm going with Pierre Gassley, partnered with Nico Holcomberg. Oh, wow, okay.

That is a bit left field. Now, I'm not going to say too much about Holkenberg here because it might be slightly driven by something else I've got coming up later on. But I think if... Forced to go to Alpine? Is that what you're suggesting? They would be forcing anyone, really, wouldn't it? I'm not saying he'd be forced to go to Alpine.

I'm just saying that circumstance being in front of him might not be his... doing. But I am going with Holkenberg. If he is available, and it's a massive if, I think Breitori would be quite interested in taking him in that I know like he's had a bit of a problem with Colopinto and do and rookie drivers in his cars. Next year feels like a big year for Alpine with Gucci coming on board. I think a steady hand would be quite well received by Briotori. so I'm going to go with Holcombote's partner Gazley. Again, though, I think Colopinto's done enough to deserve another year.

I just forgot that Gucci were coming on board. I am so exciting for a Gucci rating team. I don't know why, and this might be driving my decision too much. Gucci and Holcomburg, for me, just somehow works. Oh, disagree entirely. I think you cannot be further from correct at that point. I can see it. They want the Riz of Colopinto.

Hougainbo's got Riz. Gucciberg is great, though, actually. I take it all back. Yeah, well. Gushy Bean also works really well. Oh, no. Famously, works really well. Well, Harry, you didn't have a Pierre Gassley to put in your Alpine predictions last time

because he was off to Red Bull, but he's available here. For the second time in his career, I've taken Pierre Gatsy's Red Bull drive away. No. Might be more brutal than the first time. Yeah, I actually think this will now remain unchanged. And I had it out, Paul Aaron, in the team originally, because I thought Gassi might move on or be able to move on. And that's nothing against him because he's driving superbly once again this year,

but that car is slowly getting worse and worse and worse. So, yeah, I think they'll keep it unchanged. I agree with what you're saying, Ben, you never know what Briatore is thinking. I just think Colapinto so far has done enough, and he's done enough when the car was good. And if the car continues to decline, then it would be harder for him, for Briatory, to tell whether Colopinto is the problem

or the car is. So I think that's what saves him. Well, not to say that he wouldn't also perform well, but I think it works in his favour. The masses agree with you, because 55% are saying it will be an unchanged lineup of Gassley and Colopinto. but a lot of different variations of who could partner Gasly here.

10% saying it will be Alonzo, 7% saying it would be Lawson, 5% saying it would be Carlos Sines, and 4% saying it would be Gabrielle Mini. And that doesn't even cover off the full list of names. We've got Bottas, Aaron, Bortoletto, Camara, Dun, Holkenberg, Manny, Russell, and Piastri, all mentioned by people out there. The Holkenbeau one was me. I just filled it out, yeah. Just out into the midst.

Yeah. So yeah, a lot of... of different options being pitched from the people. Now, speaking of a lot of different options, Hasse, feels like there's about 10 drivers in contention at this point. Bearman and Ockon both have contracts, it's believed, up until the end of this year, but no more. Now, of course, last time we did this, this was pretty swayed by Beerman going to Ferrari in both of your predictions. I had it as Raffa Kamara and Behrman. Sam also had Raffa Kamara, but alongside Yuki Sunoda, Harry you had Yuki Sanoda alongside Esteban Okon, so three unique lineups.

Sam, what are you going with here? I'm sticking with Cameron out as my first pick, but I'm now going over to Lawson, partnering him at half. Okay. How does that come about? I've already told you he's not at Racing Bulls, because there's a certain Solov in the way, and he needs a seat, and he's been driving so well. this season so well if you listen to our last episode you'll know that i put him second in my driver

of the season so far i'm so impressed with what he's done he's good enough to be on this grid he's come a long long way i think someone like jingha sees him as a free agent and goes oh kind of losing a bit of a that or o'con and that's yeah right you get you've got someone who's at least you know o'con is fading we know that he's not as good as he once was at the moment he's struggling with his second car so can i have someone that isn't struggling with this car that is looking for a bit of a lifeline he's a solid pickup right now and then you've got the rookie to come in and grow on on the side

which he loses with what Behrman was in the team. I'm sticking with camera and Beerman, what was my initial prediction here, especially since Beerman. It doesn't look like he'll be off to Ferrari. If he goes to Racing Bulls or Red Bull, then obviously things change.

But yeah, I think even with this being a double Ferrari Academy lineup, I still think Huss would go ahead with it knowing that they're not going to be poached at the same time. they're at least going to have some continuity whenever it is. They need to replace one of these two drivers.

And Rafa Kamra, I will say in F2, he's third place at the moment in the Invictor car, which Invictor, if you don't know, in F2, have given the last two champions. So 2025 Leo Forneroli won the championship in an Invictor. Bortoletto did the same thing in 2024. So you could say that camera being only third is a bit of a letdown. I think he's the most impressive of the three.

leaders in F2 at the moment. I like his quality pace a lot and his tire management he's shown on a couple of occasions this year, really strong. So I'm going to go with those two. Harry, who have you got? I'm sticking with Yuki Sanoda, but instead of asked to ban

Okon, I'm going to go for Oli Behrman now that he is no longer going to Ferrari, so sorry, Ollie. But there's a toss-up between the two of them at the moment. I think Bermen gets it easily over O'Con. And I still think there's something in the Sonoda synodah linked to Hask with obviously Toyota etc.

involved. Is that a full cutoff of the Honda relationship at that point or is it I know Honda have mentioned in the past that they wouldn't get in the way of that but would he need to fully leave for this to happen? I think they'd have to right.

It's difficult because for Honda who have an engine in F1 whereas Toyota it's a technical partnership. It's a bit different, isn't it? So I guess maybe they'd be kind of okay to keep some ties, but he couldn't be, you know, off-driving Honda's in a spare time.

I don't think, Yuki, if he went over to Hasse. I think you might be right. This was the team of the most variations in submissions on the form, 23 different combinations. The most popular one was Bearman and Camera at 37%, followed by Beerman and Fauna Roley, who is being tipped for this seat as well, 13%. Behrman and Sonoda, 10%. An unchanged lineup of Ockon and Behrman, just 8% of the vote.

With Behrman and Lawson at 6%. That's my people right there. Those are my peoples. What about Audi? When we initially did this, it was rather boring in that we all said it would be an unchanged lineup. I know from my side, that can't be. be the case. But what about from both of yours? Harry, what are you saying here?

Remains unchanged for me. I said it would be unchanged. And it is again. I think Holkenberg isn't going to go anywhere, unless force. I think that, you know, he went to out. He did a year in Salba. He didn't do it for fun. I don't have got a podium out of it, but he didn't do that for fun. Well, exactly. He did that because he's invested in this Audi project, so I don't see why he would, unless the Ferrari or Mercedes came up, I'm not sure why he'd leave Audi. And I think I said this on Sunday, Portoleto has been driving so well, I think, overall. So I think they keep that line up.

Whilst I'm still growing that team, why bother changing it? Unchanged, Sam? No. I think Carlos Sykes joins Borseleto. I think the rumours are true. I think that's what will happen. I think Audi tell him to shove it. Do you?

Because of what happened when he turned it down the first time? I would be like, oh, now you won us, right? I just don't think Audi will... There's enough thing, yeah, and there's enough partnership with his dad, of course, who has done a lot of driving with Audi. I don't think they'll turn down the option to have a driver who's a bigger race winner, podium sitter,

championship contender in terms of the constructors. Holkerberg isn't going to be around forever. I do think this is a really solid option to go alongside a still developing Bortoleto. That's my prediction as well, Bortoletto and Sines. I think their initial reaction is exactly what you just said, Harry, that they want to tell Sines to do one. And then they go, he's actually quite good

and 10 years younger than Holcomberg, isn't he? We probably have to do this. And I think they go ahead and do it. I think Sines is reviewing his options. Aldi's probably towards the top of that list in terms of what could be realistic. And I think of Bortoletto and Hulkemberg, quite honestly, with the progress that Bortoletto has made,

and it's still very close between the two of them. I don't think there's much between Borteletto and Hulkemberg right now. You probably take the guy that's, what, 21, 22 years old, who's had 18 months in F1 over the guy that's been there for about 15 years. So, yeah, I'm going with Borteletto and Carlos Sines. So, what? What have the people said on this one? Essentially, we've run through the two options here.

47% saying it will be unchanged, Holcomburg and Bortoletto, 35% saying it will be Bortoletto and signs. And I'm pretty convinced this guy is racing on every single team at this point, but Bortoletto and Russell has got 5% as well. What? Who's pulled that out? Merck to Audi. I'd like, sure, why not?

If he's made to go, I'd like, not the worst idea in the world. But I think we're running at a percentage point here. Russell has raced for everyone 50 times, apparently. So yeah, but the two standout options were the two that we went through. Where does that leave Williams, Sam? Initially, you had this as Albin and signs unchanged. No longer the case.

No, I don't think Colcomberg will be taking that empty spot. I think they'll want to look for further growth. They will want what Sykes was bringing in theory, Ying and has now chosen to leave alongside Albon who we know hasn't impressed as much against science but it's still a solid pair of hands. He's a really solid driver for them. So I think this is where they pick up the now out-of-contracts Hajjar that I mentioned earlier and this is now a Hajjar and Albon line-up and that is a line-up you can take forward for a good few years. Interesting. I initially had this as Albon and Ocon and it pains me to say that is no longer

of my prediction, because whilst I've got Albin staying with the team, I think this is where Liam Lawson slots in. This was my other option for Lawson. Yeah, I fully agree. This could be a fair shout. I think with Lawson, and again, he could stay at racing balls. That wouldn't surprise me. There might be a growing feeling of,

well, there's a lot of eyes on Vastapen and Hajjab being the main team. There's a lot of eyes on Solov and what he's doing in F2. There's a lot of, well, Limblud's only 18, 19 years old, and he's doing this already. He feels, he could, feel like, despite his brilliant performances, almost like the fifth guy in a four-person team. And I wouldn't be surprised if that caused him to at least review options elsewhere. And that's why the good season he's having is quite important, not only for his potential

future at racing balls and Red Bull, but if a situation arises where he is kicked out or pushed out of a seat, I think he's done enough to convince someone like Williams, if a seat becomes available, that he's worth it. So, yeah, I'm going to go with Lawson and Albon. Harry, given we haven't heard Albin or Sines's name called yet from your side, is this going to be unchanged? Yeah, sorry, boring. Albon's not going anywhere, I don't think.

And like I said, I think Al-D will not change their mind and stay with Holkenberg and Bolte. So I don't think Sons is going anywhere either. Is Albin now Williams' most consecutive driver? Most races. Yeah, yeah, yeah, isn't it? Okay. Well, I think there's no other driver.

I can't remember if Albin's just hit this number or it's about to, but no Williams driver has done 100 races for the team, and either Albin is about to do that or he's already... It's definitely this season, isn't it? It's 100% this season. Yeah, he's the most experienced Williams driver ever, which is weird. Very weird. Let's take a quick break.

On the other side, we'll wrap up this debate with Aston Martin and Cadillac. Welcome back, everyone. Aston Martin. So of course, Fernando Alonzo and Lance Stroll in the seats right now. Fernando Alonzo, a contract until the end of this year, potentially got a wider contract with Aston Martin for longer than that, bit of an unknown. Speaking of unknowns, Lance Stroll has a contract.

It might end at the end of this year. It might be for the rest of his life. It is the one contract in F1 that we know the least about. When we discussed this a few months ago, Sam, you said it was going to be an unchanged lineup. Is that still the case? This is the one I am the most torn on because there's so many variables with Aston Martin.

Alonso is his own powerhouse and he makes his own decisions. It feels like no one else gets to saying what Alonso does. And so I'm struggling. I'm almost making this decision by convincing myself now of what the plan might be. But is that Asson Martin progressing in the way that he expects it to?

We expect it to. Nui expects it to. I don't think so, but it's tricky. We've only seen one race with their up. updated packaging, it was a step forward, being a massive one. And yet equally, the relationship with Honda might be growing. So maybe someone like a Yuki-Singoda could be an option for them,

and he's been desperately trying to get a seat back. Longstrol isn't going anywhere. It's just whether a longser retires. I think he might be done. So I'm going to say it's stroll and Sondola. That is a stinky line-up. It's rubbish. That's real stinky.

It is real stinky. Interestingly, you, had it as Alonzo and Stroll and you've switched, I had it as a different lineup, and I'm going back to what they've currently have, which is Alonzo and Strull. I think, and it's not by much, I think the Hungary update will have just about done enough to convince him to stay. I think Zanvort is going to be the tow-toe. If that engine up, Greg, is better. Yeah, and I just don't know whether he'll make a decision before or after that point. But yeah, I think in theory, it would make a lot of sense to wait for that as well.

I think the update that they brought in Hungary was about a par result like it was fine, it wasn't brilliant, it definitely wasn't terrible. I think if it's anyone other than Adrian Nui he maybe doesn't give the benefit of the doubt. I think the fact that it is Nui

means he does. So I'm going to go with Alonzo and Stroll. Harry? I am going with Stroll and Alonzo. I think he'll do one more. No, it's never one more year. No, I think you're right in what you're saying with the hungry update is helped. I think Zandvot will be crucial if that Honda upgrade,

and again, it's not going to catapult them to the front of the grid, but if that Honda update does work, it will help reinforce, I think, just the fact that there is some progress being made here. And there's a few interesting, a couple of interesting articles found about one on the race, I think I read to which was Mark Hughes. I've seen this, yeah. Yeah, just saying that with everything that's going on, like the context behind Adrian Newey joining, he was like three months or whatever after they'd started designing the car,

he walked into the factory and was like, stop doing that, start doing mine. It's all, and the conclusion was that this year's car wasn't a fully fledged Adrian Newey car. and if the upgrades that they got in Hungary were Adrian Nui upgrades, then maybe that's something to give him encouragement. So I think he'll do one more. He's not, I don't think he's going anywhere. It's either there or he's retiring. So.

Ring, ring, ring, ring. It's Flavia Briotori. Yeah. Can you come to Alpine? No. He's, he's literally dying off immediately. I'll give you monies. Gucci.

Do you want all the Gucci? No. I just don't see him doing it because I don't because I think best case scenario well sorry best case scenario for if he goes to Alpine he might be

slightly above where that Aston was after Hungry I'm like what's the point in that I don't think it was much of a debate but it was something of a debate a few months ago when Alpine was leading the midfield and Aston Martin were terrible they were next to each other in Al they're in hungry yeah

don't make the jump now yeah the moment's gone It's not worth it's not worth it for Alonzo. So I think he does one more year of torment and then he does finally call it a day. One more, yeah. One more, yeah. Well, the people are saying it will be one more year.

57% going with Alonzo and Stroll, 12% going with Stroll and Sines and 6% saying what you said, Sam, Stroll and Sonoda. Probably the same as 6% as last time. Right. Most of my people's. Some other names mentioned George Russell again,

because he's racing everywhere, Holkenberg, Ocon, Crawford, and Alonzo Jr. I almost went scorched earth for my predictions here, a name that wasn't said as anywhere on the form for Aston Martin. I don't think Piastri to Aston Martin's crazy. If you believe in the project, and this is again why I was struggling with what to do with this seat, because if the project evolves at a rapid pace

and Nui can deliver what in theory Nui can deliver, it's a dynamite seat in like two years' time. Well, that's kind of why I was considering, and Piastri is that if Alonzo does go, they won't want to replace Alonzo with Jack Crawford or really Yuki Sonoda. They want a big name to replace Alonzo if they can get one. Singola is longer, though.

True. Very true. But looking at the options of like big teams, I think Piastri is the only one that could be swayed. I don't know. Or Russell, apparently. Well, Russell. Russell's driving everywhere, of course.

That leaves us just with Cadillac, one of the very few teams on the grid that have two drivers that don't have a contract up at the end of this year. Both Perez and Bottas contracted until the end of 2027, and indeed we all predicted it would be an unchanged line-up last time around. Harry's still the case? Still the case. I don't see this one changing, not whilst they have so much work to do. And I know there's been some disparity between the drivers,

but performance-wise, but I think that's started to change or close up anyway. But who knows, because the car keeps breaking after like three, three minutes. So the last, like on the list of problems Cadillac has, driver line up is like so far at the bottom that they don't need to worry about it right now. Yeah, I'm going unchanged. I know there were some rumours a while back of Herta being brought in early

to replace Bottas when Bottas was struggling versus Perez, which admittedly, I think it's really, tough to tell in that car. But since then, I think it's been a lot more even. I don't think there's been much to choose between the two drivers over the last few races. So I think Herta gets some more experience in F2, get some more practice sessions before they consider making a move for for 2028 possibly. But I'm saying this will be, this will be Perez and Bottas again. Sam. And change from me as well. I hate to have a boring, folks, but Herta ain't ready and they don't need the fuss of a different driver line up when the two are doing a good job for them anyway.

60% said that Bottas and Perez will remain as the driver line up there, 20% saying Perez and Herta. Some interesting changes there, I think. It feels like, again, Vastappan and Alonzo, they feel like the big guns that will either make this completely ridiculous or shut it down and there'll be one or two changes. I do think your statement at the start was right of, nothing will change or so many dominoes will suddenly fall. It won't just be a two-person move, I don't think. Yeah, it could be very interesting indeed. But let's move on to something I wanted to chat about briefly, which is HAS and the cost cap issue that they've got going on at the moment.

Kamatsu was recently asked about the situation in regard to budget. He said, is one of the top priorities on my job list to ensure that they actually use up the entire cost cap to be able to fund this team so that we can operate at that cap? It's not a reflection of our guys. it's more a reflection on my side. I need to be able to get better revenue to this team and provide a better environment for our guys.

Then once we've done that, we've got the guys to do it. We've got the drivers to do it. It's not fair on our guys to have that constraint right now. And Bearman sort of weighed in as well. He said, if you look at the gradient of development, it's much higher. People are bringing up massive overhauls to their cars this year,

almost on a weekly basis. That's something that we simply couldn't do. So, Sam, there are 11 teams and efforts F1, 10 are using the budget cap completely. Hasse are the odd ones out here. Should there be frustration from that HASS team right now that they can't spend as much as their rivals? Yeah, of course they should be.

If you're an engineer, if you're Berman and you think, oh gosh, maybe I haven't got to drive at Ferrari, so I might be at Hars for a little while longer and I want to be competitive. Of course, you want to be given the tools to be able to achieve the most that you can achieve. And the worst part is for Huss, this isn't a new recipe. We're seeing the same thing happen year after year after year. they might start relatively well

and then they'll decline and they'll decline and they become the team pretty much at the back of the grid that never scores a point again and that is really frustrating. It's frustrating for fans, it's frustrating for the people that are part of the team, it's frustrating for the drivers. What I do think is annoying here and Kamatsu raises this in his quote

is it's entirely in their own hands to solve this. It's no one else's fault, it's not another team's fault, and not had someone suddenly leave. Even if it doesn't work, the effort's there? Yeah, yeah. there. They're doing a really good job at making the most of what they do

have. I want to make that clear. But you've seen, as we referenced with Mr. marketing, McLaren were in a bad spot financially. They were unable to bring in our revenue. And look at the value that Formula One and every other team has seen increase over the last few years, Hars should not be

struggling to bring in very lucrative sponsors from around the world. They have an international appeal. They've got a British driver and currently a European driver in Okong and that it might be set to change. And again, that is exciting and interesting. It means more press, more awareness. They have an affiliation with Toyota, which again increases like Japanese or that Asian audience. They have options here. And with a few figures of hearts increasing so heavily,

but rumoured to be around 1.9 billion so far this season across the entire year when we get to the end of it, that's a lot of eyes on the car. And they do feature on the screen semi-regularly. So they need to be having that car covered in sponsors. I actually don't think in turn that they're doing enough to bring the money in. It should not all be on Jing Har to be forking out the full budget every single year. They should have bigger and better sponsors across that car to pay for it. Yeah, I feel like the frustration as well is from team members who can say, like, look what we've done with so little.

Look what we did last year. Look what we did the first three races of this year. Like before all this development and the upgrades came along from other teams, they were fifth in China. They scored points at all of the first three races. And it would only be natural for those team members to say, well, if we were fully budgeted, look, imagine what we could do with that. And how can you expect to keep team members when that is the attitude? If you've got rivals, and we know the amount of poaching that happens between teams, a lot of them very close in terms of location here in the UK, if you're another team and you can say to a team member from Hass, we love what you've been doing there.

can work for us and have 25% more to play with. The answer's going to be yes, a lot more than it's going to be no. So they absolutely have a right to be frustrated about this. What do you think, Harry? Yeah, it's frustrating for the people that has to, that once again, like you said, Sam, they seem to be in a similar situation financially. And obviously, I think the partnership with Toyota will have helped that,

but it's not everything. That is the main sponsor that car has. If it even could calendar sponsor, it's a technical partnership. And yeah, they seem to just keep going through the same process. I mean, the last title sponsor they had was that rich energy? Because that went really well. Don't you mean white bikes?

That's them, yep. It's a real double-laying F-1 joke there. Nice niche. They just have never been a team or car covered. in companies sponsors. I, now stick with me here,

I'd give Opmar Safnara a ring. I'd always give Utmar a ring. Well, I was just to have a chat. Yeah, yeah. If you're listening

Opelma, come on. Give us a call. You're just trying to give us one less podcast competitor. He's tracks flag over to the late breaking show. We don't know

about any other Fong podcast. Although Rob Smadley, a G. But anyway, I would give up Marry because they need

to try and adopt the Force India model. Now, I appreciate, or racing point model. I appreciate there was a bit of a bankruptcy in the middle of that and Lawrence Straar to come along. Don't do that bit. Don't do that bit. But I just mean what Force India did or could do with the money they had.

And they were covered in sponsors. They were on Sahara Force India for a while. They weren't they sponsored by that high-ped-a-due drink that was all over the place as well? Oh, God. Yeah, I forgot about that. I know Perez was as he brought in a bit of cash as well. But that's the sort of.

attitude as a sort of team they need to be and they're currently not. And I think we have obviously always criticized Gene House for not giving them more money, but he can't always be the one giving them money. And I know that's slightly contradictory, but whilst maybe he should give a bit more, they also need to help themselves and try and get these sponsors in. Like you said, Sam, it's just quite surprising that they haven't been able to do it.

We heard on Patreon when we put out our episode briefing yesterday, there were quite a few comments about the potential of Toyota Gazoo racing and this being a full takeover. Gordy saying that would be a great addition to the grid and John saying Hashi had just rebrand as Toyota Gazoo Racing so we only have one American team to be ashamed of, which is a slightly different reason why it would happen, but quite funny nonetheless. Is that a potential next step for this team? If they can't fulfill the budget cap themselves, Sam, is Toyota's involvement increasing another way to get it done? There's definitely an option for them. And we know that Toyota have an incredible pedigree

when it comes to racing, not just of course, the Formula One where they were here in the Nortes. And if the rumours were to be believed, they were developing an absolute sensational race car only to pull out of the sport entirely, which is a real shame. That 2010 Toyota would have conquered nations.

That's how good it was. I think so. I think you could have sent it into battle. True, it would have been world champion. Yeah, that haircut would have reigned supreme. And that is definitely having to go down. They've got the facilities. They've got the know-how.

They're building all their own products in how it is. They've got a huge amount of staff. I also think it'll be great for Formula One to have a fully operational Japanese team on the grid. I think that will really help us with a wider audience. And if not, they need to lean on Toyota for their marketing assets and the way that they actually present themselves globally. Hars is around 22 sponsors. Currently, McLaren lead the way with 54.

76,000. The actual papaya is not. pen. It's just zoom all the way. Yeah. Yeah. It's more sponsors. It just make up orange color. Yeah, that tells you how far away there. They've got under half of what McLaren have on the car. I think it's only Kagalak that have less sponsors on their car within nine. A lot of McCarons are big names as well. Yeah. They're really well-known games. It's not these weird, you know, fintech companies that you've never really heard of or some crypto or something like that. It's really respected family-known brand. So they need to lean on to you. Toyota more.

If Toyota were genuinely interested in being a part of this project, and maybe a full takeover won't happen, they need to lean on them more. Make the most of that partnership because Toyota are a powerhouse, both in road cars, in racing previously in Formula One, they were really strong, they know what they're talking about. That's one final question on this, Harry. Would it be unfair to say a couple of years ago when Andretti were trying to get into the sport, and we know Cadillac, which Andretti became,

obviously did come into the sport, but when Andretti were trying to enter the sport, they were told by F1, we don't know if you're going to bring enough value as a team. Is that a bit ridiculous when you've got a team in the sport that aren't willing to spend the maximum amount they can like us?

Yes, and I think, or you may have made this very point at the time that it's completely contradictory, that statement. So I don't think, it's not like we're, you know, we're nowhere near the days of HRT and Manor and catererum and that sort of they did not

bring any value to F1. No offense to the people. Comedic value? Comedy, yes. But yeah, no offense to people that obviously worked for those teams. But yeah, we're nowhere near that. But I think, yeah, it's worth noting.

And Sam, you referenced Cadillat, not having many sponsors, but I'll ever have seen year one. They look, if you look to those two cars together, you'd be like, well, they both, like new teams and Hasse have been here for 10 years. They need to break it. It still feels like a new...

They've been here for a decade now. Oh, that's mad, isn't it? Yeah. They do still feel a bit like a new team. Technically Al Pyn as a name is newer than Hars in the sport, right? Like they were Ringo after... Hars were here when they were Ringo. That's how long it's been around.

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I think something needs to change because it... Right now, they've obviously had some changes. who came in a year or so ago now, or just over a year, a year and a half probably. But more is needed. And I don't know whether it's down to him,

Gene House or a combination of the two. Okay, let's take a final break on this episode. To round out the show on the other side, we're playing F1, higher or lower. Welcome back, everyone, to the final part of today's episode. Just time to play a little bit of a game of F1, higher or lower. It's F1. Higher is F1 lower?

Is Sam faster? Is Harry slower? F1 higher. F1 lower. F1. Beautiful. F1, higher or lower? Six questions in front of me.

Sam and Harry will take it in turns to pick a number. The question will have a numeric value behind it. If they get it spot on, they get two points. If they don't get it right, it passes to the other player who can say higher or lower than that guess. If they get that right, they get a point. But if they don't get it right, the person who guessed first is the one who gets the point. I'm going to start today with Sam.

What number would you like? Hello, number one, please, Ben. Okay, number one. This might be the most getable one for two points. Don't do that. Don't do that. It's in the question. It might be possible here.

I don't need that. How many drivers on the current grid started a race, before their 20th birthday. So I don't like the expectation of success for there I will bring failure. You have no chance of getting this right. Excellent. Thank you. Okay, starting a race before their 20th birthday.

Yes. Okay. Play the music or whatever. Thank you. It's actually much harder to concentrate when you do it. I'm going to say... It's 28. Six.

Not six. Higher or lower than six, Harry? Higher? It is higher. The correct answer is eight. Ah, that's not six. That's not you're right. That's not six.

Two points for that? The eight drivers are Max Verstappen, Lanshtrol, Kimmy Antonelli, Arvid Limbludd, Olly Behrman, Lando Norris,

Fernando Alonzo, and Esteban Arcon. Yeah, I forgot Stroll and I forgot Orcom. Yeah, I mean, Archon was in a manner, so that doesn't really count, and Alonzo was somehow that age at one point. Four other drivers, by the way, on when they were 20,

so Bortoletto, LeClaire, Hadjar and Signs, they all debuted at 20 years old, exactly. Harry, your turn to guess. Number two, please, Ben. Sexable. Okay, rounded up to the nearest second. what is the biggest win margin of the year so far? 44.

Hashtang blessed. But not blessed enough to be right. Damn it. Higher or lower than that, Sam. I'm going to go lower. It is lower. It was Lewis Hamilton, who's had the biggest win margin of the year so far,

but it was by just over 19.5 seconds, so 20. Amazingly 19.5. Still pretty good. Still pretty good. One all. sound back to you. Three. On early three, here we go.

Now, as we know, we spoke about Carlos signs quite a lot after the Hungarian GP for one real big incident. The fact that he was the speedmaster in that Grand Prix. What was his top speed during that Grand Prix to win the award? Okay, I don't know. So let's try. If you knew that, I swear. Let's try and fix it really logical, though.

You're going kilometres or Mars an hour? Going kilometres an hour. Sorry, America. What that is that? 256 kilometres an hour. You know what, weirdly, it's not 256. What a shock. Higher or lower.

I'm going to go with higher, and I think Sam's miles per hour to kilometres per hour may have got on. Oh, yeah. 320 is 200, right? 200 miles an hour. I have interested. If you had to guess, Harry, what would it have been?

I think I did see, I don't know exactly, but like something like 340 something. Yeah, 45. He went over 200 miles an hour, 100. Yeah, honestly, the toe he had was unreal. 358 kilometres an hour, which works out. That's straight! 222, 23 miles an hour. Who's corner these cars slow?

Yeah, but it could only be for that amount. And then it's, we're done. The car just gave up at that point. Everyone who's annoyed at this thinks in kilometres the way I think about it. Wrong. I think he was going so quickly that the car just ran out of anything

and that's, he wasn't actually blocking Piastri. He was going as fast as he could. Yeah. That's what happened. I wouldn't have got even close to that even if I did Mars an hour either. Fair enough. I did not think it was even remotely.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Harry, over to you. Uh, four. All right. We'll keep it going in order. How many times have Hamilton and Vestappen shared a podium? 23. No.

Was that a real guess? Do you go out? I think probably didn't have existed. I've absolutely no idea. It's higher than that. It is higher than that. Where might you have started, Sam? 59.

Sixty-one, yeah. Very good. Which brings us to all. Sam, you've got number five or number six? Oh, number five, please, Okay. How many points did Valtry Bottas get in his most successful F1 season? Right.

That would have been one at Mercedes. It's a great star. I'm right about some things. 216 points. Not 216 points. Harry, do you want to go higher or lower than that? That's a relatively good guess. when might not be.

Higher. It is higher justice for Valtru Botas. He had 326 in 2019. Not a good guess. I'd take it back. Thank you for the fake compliment. We're just forgetting how good Valtry Bottas was. It means we're at 3-2 and Harry you've got the last one, which is...

Six please, Ben. Yeah, you can have number six. How many championships, drivers and constructors has Adrian Newe won? Oh, you know this. you definitely know this. I could take the time to work this out, but for the listeners, I won't do that. 16.

16. No, it's not 16. I know this is a silly question. Can I hear the question again, please? How many championships has Adrian Newe won? That includes driver's championships and constructors championships. Thank you.

I just want to make sure you said both drivers. and constructors. Right. Oh, this is so important to get this right. Everything is riding on this. I mean, I'm going to have, it's literally not.

It literally is. It could be a grower. Controversial opinion. Not that important. I'm going to say it's lower. It is a win for Harry Ead.

It is higher than 16. How does he got? He has 26 He's had 14 drivers championships, 12 constructors championships, 2123 race wins in a newie-designed car. Wow. My new 16 was a good guess. I was thinking like 14 or 15, but that's well done, sir. Yeah, he cleaned up in the 90s, didn't he?

That's what I could in my brain. I couldn't work at which cars he'd done in the 90s. I kind of forgot about McLaren as well. Yeah, fair enough. Guy's quite good, yeah. My guy is pretty good. Pretty good. Well, shall we end on that compliment that I'm sure Adrian Newe was looking out for on this episode, Sam,

if you wouldn't mind getting us out of here until Sunday? If you two agree that Adrian Newe is pretty, pretty good, then follow the show for some more incredible input. And you can find even more of that on Patreon. The link is in the description. And it allows you to see a wealth of bevy of more content. And you unlock the entire archive, absolutely everything in there. Go check it out.

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while I'll listen to this show, and we will see you on Sunday. Why, I think we're having a little bit of a review of the team season so far, which will be a nice little breakdown for the summer break content. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking. And I've been Gucciberg. And remember, keep break. Kimbley.

Goochie beans. Not the beam. Not the beam. No beam. Not the beam. No beam.