The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Will Aston Martin live up to the hype?

Episode Date: January 14, 2026

Ben and Sam explore whether it's all aboard the 2026 Aston Martin hype train or whether cracks are already showing in the "superteam." They also look at what 2025’s rookies can prove in year two, and unpack GP’s future at Red Bull, as well as some more Alpine nonsense. They finish up with Guess The Year... Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get: Ad-free listening Full-length bonus episodes Power Rankings after every race Historical race reviews & more exclusive extras! Connect with Late Braking: You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats! Get in touch any time at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking. Back with another midweek Wednesday episode, Sam. We are living the dream. We are living the dream. I'm not. I think I'm going to a week. But Ben, you must be living the dream. It's podcast time.

You love podcast time. Yeah, not anymore. I know. Oh, why? Because of the very sad news that came earlier this week that we were overlooked at the, I think it was it, was it the Oscars or I don't remember which award ceremony it was,

but they handed out their first ever best podcast award. That's sad about it. You forgot what award ceremony it was giving out to. I'm devastated, mate. Amy Poler and her podcast won, which it must have been close between the two of us, but it still hurts. Miss Polar.

Right, Pooler? I'm not aware of maybe Polis podcast, but, you know, is it about pole position, polar? I don't know. I don't think so, no. But she won the best podcast awards. So I guess we need to give our congratulations and assume our invitation and indeed our victory was lost in the mail somewhere. We'll get her next year. I don't think we will.

Okay. Moving on. We've got plenty to talk about in the world of F-14. one, not in the world of awards ceremonies that we can't remember the actual name of. GP Lambiasi, he is going to be staying with Red Bull, we believe, for the 2026 season, so a little bit on that. Some of their drivers going into their second full seasons in the sport, a bit of discussion about what their expectations and aims should be for this 2026 season.

But let's start Sam with Aston Martin, because there's a lot of hype going into Aston Martin, going into this new season. Some fairly obvious reasons as to why Adrian Newe is now on board in terms of the project. And whilst his role might have changed, I'm sure that will come up in our little discussion in a bit, but he's still there. He's still had a big hand in the design. They are now a de facto factory team now that they have Honda Power and they're the only team being supplied by Honda.

They have a boss that is not afraid to spend whatever is required. and of course they have a two-time world champion in one of their race seats. It feels sound like the pieces are all there, I think. Does that mean the hype is justified going into the year? Yeah, Aston Martin going into 2026 in these new regulations, it's like if you put the Avengers on paper, you brought all the best superpowers of Formula One and put them into one team and you brought this concoction together.

Look at the satellite images. of Aston Martin's headquarters, for example, from when before Large Strzocke over to now. It's about five times the size. They have a mini silver stoking in the back garden for crying out loud. They brought incredible members of the team around them. We're just talking about Adrian Nui. Cowl is there as well. Fianjo Alonso is staying on.

The wind tunnel development that's gone in there is phenomenal. And yet something just doesn't feel quite right. It feels like something might go a little bit wrong. And like you said, Ben, that hype maybe it's going to be overhyped. If I was Ashton Martin, I almost want to go into this season being downplayed a little bit. I want to be like under the radar, you know?

Just like really play up how old Fernando Alonzo is. But we can't win with that guy in the car. He can't actually walk, you know. When did you see him in the pit lane in Canada? He can't keep his hands still when he's moving at the steering. He was really trying. So there's a few things going on at Austin Martin that troubled me a little bit, which when you think about how good,

they should be. These are the kind of problems you don't really want to have arisen this close to a new season. Let's talk Honda first because you just brought them up. They have become a de facto power engine kind of manufacturer, so to speak,

now, Honda are there and only there with them having transferred from Red Bull. Now when you say they've transferred from Red Bull, it's not like they've actually walked out the garage at Red Bull and moved into Ashtamartic, of course. Technically, they quit Formula One a good few years ago. And when the decision was made,

got to properly quit Formula One, they only kind of moved back in to essentially assemble the engines that they were providing and hand them over to Red Bull. There was no research and development going on. They shut that part of their offices down. It wasn't being put together anymore. So moving into a team like Astin Martin is actually almost like a brand new venture. They shut so much of the project down back at home in Japan that they were behind.

And they've had to play a lot of games picking up. And you can hear from the rumors going around in the paddock that they haven't managed to find the little loophole that Mercedes and Red Bull have potentially found, which might gain them up to four tenths of a second, which is crazy numbers if it does ring true. The other part of this, of course, is they are not just relying on Honda to do the work when it comes to power. They've got a long-end new partners that have been involved for a very short amount of time as well, such as their oil provider.

That's coming from a brand new location as well, and that's very, very new here. And that's sitting in the Middle East. Now, that's very difficult to manage where you've got something in the Middle East, something in Japan. You've got the chassis being built in the UK, parts of the operation. America, it's by far the most geographically spread team going on in the world. And I think some of the feedback we gave to Haas when they first came into Formula One was actually that they were spread two things. It meant that their logistics and their operations were struggling to deal with

how to put everything together. You combine that with the fact that they've had so much change up at the top with their head office, such as Adrian Newee moving into this team principal role so soon, cow moving away from it so recently as well. In fact, they've changed team principal what, three or four times in the last three or four years alone. And then you top that all off with the fact that Mark Stroll is still the racing driver who's expected to go on and help them with a title. Doesn't fill you with absolute confidence, does it? So there's a lot going on at Aston Martin.

Who knows if it's actually going to be a package that can be truly competitive in the year? We'll have to see. Yeah, it's a safe way of living, but I tend to believe hype when it all comes together rather than beforehand. I understand why the hype exists here, because in theory, the combination of two, let's call them masterminds in Adrian Newey and Andy Cowl. It should work. And we said this when the announcement came that both of these guys were coming in on the project.

You essentially have Adrian Newey, who has had a hand in multiple championships, drivers and constructors, not only most recently, of course, at Red Bull, but McLaren at Williams, he's been for a lot of regulation change and more often than not has been very successful in them. And of course, Andy Cowell, he was one of the leading guys that oversaw the engine development for Mercedes back in the day. Mercedes very successful to start the hybrid era, particularly owing to the advantage that they had in the engine department.

Andy Cowell might sit at the top of the tree when you look at people to assign compliments to as to why that was the case. So in theory, you put both of them together, you might be in with a good shot of winning and doing very well. But whilst past success is a good indicator for future success, it doesn't guarantee it. And this is very different for both of them. And that's even before we got into the fact that they've been moving jobs around so late into 2025, of course, on the eve of 2026. the work environment is very different for both of them. Andy Cowell has moved over to work closer with Honda

rather than a bit more Aston Martin only as a role. The reshuffle does concern me a little bit. And even with everything that is, you know, that they do have going for them, they will need a pretty remarkable turnaround on what we had in 2025. You can say that everything's changing. Chassis, aero, engine.

It's all changing. 2025 doesn't really mean anything. It still does. They are still going to need a pretty drastic turnaround on where they finished last season. If you look at, say, again, or go back to Mercedes, everyone talks about their dominant run from 2014 onwards. They were runner-up in the championship at 2013.

They won three races. They had eight polls. The last time you really have to go back to Braun for the last time there was a dramatic turnaround in fortunes when Honda, of course, who previously, the previous incarnation of Braun, they finished, I think, ninth in the championship in 2008. They win the title in 2009. But they found a very serious loophole that is, if you've already alluded to, Sam,

it sounds like at least in one potential loophole, they're actually behind their competitors and not in front. In terms of Adrian Newey's role shifting a little bit to being team principal, Do you think this is his first test of really leading a project? I think so. I think she's very used to maybe being in charge purely on design side, and he can run his own ship, and he's very confident in going, right,

not me in a room, I'm going to sit here with a pen and paper, and I'm going to come up with the best design the world has ever seen. And he has done that on multiple occasions, and we've seen the proof is in the pudding. He's won many a race. But doing that alongside also running a full-blown Formula One team, with the likes of Lawrence Stroll around you,

is a very different premise, a real different challenge to actually get your head round. And he is more intelligent than I can ever imagine. And I imagine that that allows him to do a number of brilliant things. But is he a man manager? Is he able to sit there and put together a team of, I don't know, two, three hundred people and pull that all together across the entire globe and make sure that people in Honduras in Japan

are as happy with how things are operating in the Middle East? Was it Valvaling? Is that their oil provider? Yes, yeah. Yeah. And then across to the likes of their chassis department in the UK, it's very difficult. The logistics around this, the communication you have to manage. He's got to be on top of so many different things and delegate where necessary, be aware

and involved. We're also prudent and appropriate. But also, he is the design guy. So he will want to be hands on. And he wants to keep that. He wants to keep it. And rightly so. That's where his expertise is.

He should be a part of that. But it does make you wonder, as brink. brilliant as he is, is there a real risk that he stretches himself to think, and he cannot give 100% of his brilliance to the right area of his job title that he's so well known for and what you expect out of him. That's why they hired him. They hired him to design the car, not to run the team. I'm still surprised about this, and I know it happened, was it in November. It still surprises me they've gone down this path. And I'm assuming they didn't just do it for no reason. Surely there's some logic behind this. But

I would think he would know, perhaps more than anyone who hasn't been a team principal, kind of what is involved in being a team principal. He's had to work with Christian Horner for so many years, and he's not the only team principal he's worked alongside. There's more to team principle work than just what is on the surface. Like, it's a big role. And it's often very time consuming, which with Adrian Newe's ambition to keep everything design-wise that he was signed up for,

is a little bit worrying. The supposed reason that he gave back in, again, I think it was November, is equally baffling because he was asked about this. I think he was ahead of the Qatar GP, and it was Sky Sports, and he spoke about how Andy Cow was stepping to one side and what they were going to do about that situation.

He said, that left a kind of, okay, who's going to be team principal? And since I'm going to do all the early races anyway, it doesn't actually particularly change my work load because I'm there anyway. So I may as well pick up that too. It's not a job you just pick up, right? It's not like a paper round in the morning. When you're kids sick and you go, well, I should do it for them because I need the pocket money. It doesn't work like that.

It's a lot of work to do. And the job of team principal is different team on team. You look at how Stella and Brown work together, for example, right? Stella doesn't do a lot of the outward talking for the team. he will do some of the press conferences, but other than that, Zach Brown is the spokesperson, whereas Toto Wolf does everything. He's more than happy to sit there on social media

as he is in a press conference. He's also a part owner. You know, it's something that he's very happy to deal with. But this isn't something you just go, oh, I'm there, guess I'll, guess I'll take the bings out. Oh, God, I was the last one in the kitchen. Guess I'll take the bing out.

It's not that simple. No. It's quite a big job to do. It sounds to me pretty aimless from Master Martin. It sounds like they don't, fully appreciate what a great team principle can do for you. Again, it's a pretty, it's a forward facing role. And Adrian Newe's reasoning of, I'll be there anyway, doesn't really add up. It kind of points to me that this might end up being a short term thing. And maybe they've got someone else

in the wings or they've got someone else that they're targeting to take on the role in a more medium to long term sense. Because I don't think those are the words of someone who is looking to to do this for the next five years. It just didn't quite add up to me. Oh, great. You mentioned Honda, and it is worth mentioning that loophole that you referenced, because this is about the compression ratio, which refers to the difference in volume inside an engine cylinder between the piston's lowest and highest positions. So under the new regulations, that ratio has been reduced from 18 to 1 to 16 to 1, and it's measured with the engine not running. So while other manufacturers, including Honda, have interpreted this as meaning

the ratio could never exceed 16 to 1, it's belief that the FIA has accepted Mercedes and Red Bulls view that the limit only applies under static ambient conditions. And once the engine is running, heat that causes the metal components to expand, increasing the effective compression ratio, it results in a bit of a small but meaningful gain in power. We don't yet know exactly how the FIA is going to rule on this, but it does sound like, even if the FIA rules in the favour of Honda and presumably anyone else who hasn't caught on to this, it's not going to be in effect straight away in the 2026 season. I'd be surprised. Maybe they make them change it midway through the year or give them a deadline. I don't know if they're going to make them

change anything before Australia. I think this is what I know those brilliant, brilliant loopholes that you hear about at the start of new regulations. The brawl and double diffuser was another one. and I think this is what I'mozo will absolutely separate a couple of teams. Mercedes is running engines. Again, they've got it right again. Whenever there's another engine change, the Sayings are able to seemingly rethink two or three steps ahead. And Ford and Red Bull have done well to go with them and find this out as well.

But I wasn't expecting it from Red Bull, if I'm honest. As they're so new to the engine game, they've had that transition from managing this Honda relationship to going into Ford to a new to Formula One, I didn't think it would be them that would go, we've spotted a cheeky loophole here in this engine that we've made from scratch for this new regulation. So well done to those guys. If you're Aston Martin, you've got to be kicking yourself at the moment because not only are you no longer with Mercedes who have found the loophole, Honda are behind, supposedly, in how their engine is performing in comparison to the rest of the competition.

So they've almost gone from being possibly one or two steps in front, so now being one or two steps behind. It's a real poor turn of events for the way that Aston Martin and Honda are. going to end up being. And this could cost them not only just time, but genuine chance at a championship. I don't think they'll make them changes this season. I think it'll be a 2027 change. We'll see.

I'm intrigued by how people treat Honda in 2026, because you've already laid out how they were an engine manufacturer, then they kind of weren't but were somewhat on the fringes, thanks to the Red Bull deal. I do wonder whether they will be treated with the same, in the same sort of light as Audi. There's like a brand new power unit manufacturer or will they be judged closer to Mercedes and Ferrari

who are just continuing from the previous era? Maybe there's some middle ground that they'll find themselves in. Final question on this one, Sam. Let's just create a hypothetical scenario where Aston Martin this year, if they finish fifth in the Constructors' Championship, they get a win and five podiums, let's say. Is that a successful season?

Oh, it depends how much you'll buy into this hype right now. I don't think it is. I don't think fifth is good enough. Because if you take away points, that's pretty much what they managed to do over the last two or three years. You know, realistically, averagely, that's where they've been between fifth or sixth. I think that's good enough. They wouldn't take that at the beginning of 2023.

No. Because I know 24 and 25 were worse than 23. because, again, a lot of the emphasis was on this era, if then that doesn't replicate. I know they were a long way off, but they were the second best team at the beginning of 2023. If all of that sort of biding and waiting until this new era has resulted in a fifth place constructors champion,

even if it comes with a win or a few podiums, I don't know. It'll be even worse if the teams that finishing front of them are a couple of the teams that finish behind them for the last few years, such as the likes as Williams, or even an Audi or a Kagalek. I think Ashton Martin might be the team going into this year that have the biggest difference between ceiling and floor

of how this season could go. I just think it could be really successful. It could also fall flat on its face. And I'm not certain either would massively surprise me. When it comes to our predictions, that is the one I am struggling to place. Yeah, including teammate wars as well. That's going to be a close one.

Yeah. I nearly did it. I didn't he went a whole last of the Martin segment without Atlant stroll dig. Well done. He nearly got there. Be interesting how Fernando Alonso Jack is Honda as well. What do you mean?

He's always really positive for Honda. Yeah, the last time they worked together. He loved them. Yeah. Yeah, not so much. Early hybrid era, Fernando Alonzo versus Honda, guys. If you weren't a fan of the sport at that time, go back and just listen to some of the radio clips

to get a sense of how. Alonzo's morale was at that point. Not great. Oh, I do. Let's take our first break on this episode. On the other side, we're looking at some drivers going into their second full season in F1. At Medcan, we know that life's greatest moments are built on a foundation of good health, from the big milestones to the quiet winds.

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Sam, I've neatly titled this segment, Sophomore Seasons. I love that. I don't really, but I'm going to tell you I love it. I appreciate the support. Essentially, we're looking at drivers who are going into their second complete season. because we're quite a big rookie intake in 2025, less so in 2026. We've got Arvid Lindblad, of course, going into the racing balls car. But outside of that, it's still going to be last year's rookies that make up most of the inexperienced drivers on the grid.

Start us off with this question, Sam. Who has the best situation going into 2026? There are two that's bring to mind immediately. I'll cover one to see if maybe you pick up the other one. I'm going to go for Kimi Antigli as my first one. Whilst 2025 was a really interesting and explorative year for him, we saw the highs, we saw some loads. Mercedes are currently set to be, the team to be,

if you do believe the rumours. You know, if this compression issue is real, if they found this loophole, if the team are looking to push for championships again, Kimmy Antigelli could go from being a podium sitter to potential multi-race winner over the course of 12 months. And there's every chance that if he drives well enough, he could be fighting for a title.

It really is that high. The possibilities are that high. He also isn't going through the troubles as someone like Isaac Hajar might go through with Red Bull where we don't know if that second seat is again going to be built entirely in mind that Max Verstappen gets everything, or is he going to be considered? Is the car going to be built in a way that he enjoys driving it

or are we going to see a seat one, seat two deficit, how we saw it with Yuki Singoda? We don't know that. Unlike Mercedes where they seem to build their car, and aligned them pring equally. And you saw towards the end of the season that rustling Antigelli were much closer than they were at the start of the season. Podiums were going both ways for both drivers, top four, top five finishes,

regularly going both ways for both drivers, which is great. And I just think with the car pushing forward the way it is, there's every chance that we could see Kimmy Antiglii pick up multiple race victories. I agree with Antonelli. I also went with him because I think you're right. The odds are he'll have the best chance of win. across this group. He had a few close opportunities last year

and particularly towards the end of the year. He did improve his standing versus George Russell. So yeah, I'm curious to see, can he be in the mix for at least some wins? Could he be in the mix for even more than that? We'll have to wait and see. We'll have to wait and predict that in about a month's time, I imagine.

Having said all of that, even though I think he might be in the best, he might be in the best opportunity, there might be the most pressure on him as well because of that. I don't think he can be, I don't think he can afford to be as far away from Georgia Russell across the full year in 2026 as he was in 2025. We know that, again, there's that little Vastappan on the shoulder.

Is he still interested in a seat potentially if things go well for Mercedes and things don't go well for Red Bull? I think by and large, Sam, last year, Antonelli got a little bit more leeway than some of the other rookies, just based on his age first and foremost. He was only 18 coming into this sport. Less experience in junior formally at one F2 season, no F3 seasons.

I'm not sure how much of that leeway he still gets in a second year. Yeah, it's very valid. It's very valid. I think he's like that lot. He's come a long way over that last year. He's got that raw talent, that raw pace. It's just hard letting it more into race management. And we saw that once the confidence was there and the car suited him, he was really up and running.

And now with a whole new formula coming into place with these new regulations, he and Russell are on equal playing fields. They're having to start again. They're having to learn a whole new setup, a whole new car again. And I think the team will want to give him as much help as possible. I don't think he'll be left out in the cold. So give it a couple of races. I think once he settles, there's a real chance he could really thrive.

I don't think he'll beat Russell across the season. But I think he'll really thrive. issue. I don't necessarily think this applies just to Antonelli, but maybe because of the expected competitive position he's expected to be in, it might apply to him more than some of the other rookies of last year. I think the template is almost there, and that template has a name and his name is Oscar Piastri. Like, we've got three years from Oscar Piastri in F1. Is rookie year comfortably off from Lando Norris? Not that he didn't have a few good moments, but quite comfortably off. Second year, starting to, he got a win, of course, starting to get there.

Still not quite on Norris's level, but a match for him at a good chunk of the season. And then, of course, last year, I know he doesn't win the title, but he leads the title for a long stretch and is in the mix for the last race. I feel like that is the three-year template that a lot of team bosses will want their young drivers to follow. I think Antonelli could do with a second year, Oscar Piastri year this year, if that makes any sense. I see your point. And I think it's a very good template to follow.

I'll allow him the slight being a fit of the doubt due to the age difference between himself or Oscari. But if by year four, he's finishing three points, four points away from George Russell in a title fight, they take that. Yeah, yeah. Fair enough, you've done your job, no problems. Yeah, agreed. The other one I thought of as well was Isaac Hadchar, just based on him being in that Red Bull again, a car in theory that was capable of winning many races last year. Of course, Vastappen the only one that could get those race wins. Is he in a better spot this year because it's a new set of regulations?

Yeah, I think if it was ever going to fall in the way of the second driver at Red Bull, this is the perfect. way that that happens. You know, there's been so many changes at Red Bull, not just the regulations, which are a massive bigger factor to any new second driver, I think, at that team. The change in leadership, I think massively helps. So in Meckis, of course, worked with Hajar for a small amount of time, and I do think that that will help. I think he'll want to see the whole team progress. They have seen missed out on the constructors title. Far off what they did on the driver's title, Maxis de Stapler, of course, nearly brings that home in the 50s of the season. But they have been a little hit a miss over the last four or five years when it comes to the constructors. They've only won two

of the four that they were up for, not really good enough, realistically, for how good the car's being. And they'll want the second driver to be there, closer, at least, not necessarily winning more Grand Prix, not necessarily challenging for Stapein, I don't think, but closer is what they'll need. So whilst I think that it was still favoured Max for Stapeham, and it will always favour Max for Stapegling, and you kind of have to understand why, I do think now really Begafits the second driver and Hadjar has the telling, I think, to harm is that big official time period. When you pick Hadjar and teammate wars, that's going to slap.

Can't wait. Can't wait for the clickbait. Oh, yes. Yeah, I tend to think he might be in a better spot compared to, say, definitely Lawson, but probably also Sonoda as well. I don't like to predict things when it comes to Red Bull and their inability to keep a lineup because they seem to always prove you wrong when you're positive about them. I don't think they will do the same thing as what happened with Liam Lawson,

no matter how bad it goes. Because of this being a new era, and I don't know how they're approaching that internally with Hadjar, like are they guaranteeing him, like you will be in the car for this amount of time, no matter how well or badly it goes. I'm not sure how they're handling it, but you need to, I think, dedicate the season to him.

I can't see, and I wouldn't want to see, a Liam Lawson situation unfold again. I don't know how many times we've said that. Literally that phrase, you have to give them the season. Like two races, like... Yeah, I know. I just can't see that happening. I also think the dynamic has changed.

They have to elevate Lindblad up. And unlike last time, you know, Lorsen, I already done some races. Sago, of course, was very experienced. The Kig would have literally done two grandbris, if you were to bring him to Red Bull. It just feels like it's a real, unnecessary amount of pressure.

If you're not going to let Hajjah have a proper go. There's no important to let Limbaugh have a proper go. You're just going to ruin two careers, let alone one. So, yeah, it seems like a silly choice if that's what they do. What about Gabrielle Bortoletto? What do you need to see from him this year? This is the other one that's really on my mind, actually,

because with this Audi project, and by the way, that adding a strip that they've got going on is, it's beautiful. Good job, Algae. For example, send us, like a snow. You know, boxes in the little scrippy. I will pick them up myself. I'll probably walk there.

Yeah, I think Gabby's got a real opportunity. to shine. Now, Audi again, another team that are opting to try and get Mercedes and Red Bulls engine optimization removed and brought back to what they are expecting it to be. So, Audi might be on the slight back foot when it comes to engine power,

but we are expecting them realistically to move forward overall. And I would like to see him much closer to Holkenberg across the entire season. Not just picking it up as the season goes on, not hoping to maximize the mid to end point of the season, but genuinely being there with him

in qualifying and the race throughout the entire year. And I think the car will be there where they should be scoring regular points on many different occasions. So for me, more consistency, right up there with a very experienced man like Holgerberg, that's the minimum that I want to see from Gabby. Yeah, I agree.

I think he's in a reasonable spot going into 2026 based on what he did in his rookie year. I think it's tough to say how Aldi's engine project is coming along until we see it in the flesh just because it is a brand new power unit, you know, manufacturer, even if the team itself is a salber legacy team. But I do think him not being in as much of a win-win situation as Holkenberg might better. Like, Holkenberg needs things to happen in the next couple of years in theory. Oraletto has got more time than that. So I think that he might

benefit from that situation. And like you say, he just needs to qualify. He's pretty much there already. can he optimize races more in 2026? Abou dabby was a very good reference, I think, because you've got Holkenberg in P9. Bortoletto was 11th. He's not that far off, but Holkenberg has found a way to just execute on a few more situations

than what Bortoletto has been able to, as you would expect, very experienced driver versus rookie driver. The one thing I'm very interested about, and it kind of leads nicely into a conversation about Olly Berman, actually. You've got Antonelli in a Mercedes could be very competitive. You've got Hajar in a Red Bull.

Could be very competitive. You've got Bearman in a Hass, which I'm not expecting Has to be on the same level as those two, but he could in theory be next man up at Ferrari. You've got Bortoletto, who beat all three of them in F2. And if Audi doesn't get underway very well, he might be looking around his fellow rookie class. saying, I beat you all, I'm now in the least competitive situation. It's highly possible.

And maybe he gets looked at by a bigger team. Maybe they go, there's a youngster there that we want to pick up and develop if how do you don't get off to a good start. Would Forstappen vouch for him? I think there's a chance. I think there's a chance, especially if Fostappan leaves and decides that he wants to go elsewhere and there's an empty seat waiting. Yeah, I'm intrigued by that.

Full disclosure, I was having a think earlier about a potential future topic, maybe looking at what the grid might look like in a couple of years' time. Stapin and Bortoletto together as team. It's like a mini-alonsone pairing. Yes. Interesting. Speaking of Olly Behrman, what do you need to see from him this year? Oh, gosh, just hopefully the car isn't on the back of the grid every single race.

I think it's going to be a much tougher year. who's in the kitchen. Come on. Go on, man. Cook up a feast for us. I know Toyos were coming in, but that relationship is coming in late. It is nowhere near as established

as a lot of the new entries that are starting to join. And if Mercedes and Red Bull, as we've already mentioned, have this advantage, I do think the hearts are up against it. So, Bermann, you just got to be Ockong. I don't really mind how that happens.

I think points are going to be hard to come by consistently be Esman Ocon. Out-qualify him. Don't be. starting in 19th place, 20th place, maybe 21st or 22nd, because that exists now. Unbelievable. We got there. And finishing 12th or 13th, start 12th, finish 12th, if that's what the car's got.

I just need you to see the maximum extracting out of it. Put yourself in the shop window for a Ferrari seat should Lewis Hamilton go, I am sick to death of this. See you later. Yeah, I think it'll be, if Hascon give him a great car, give him a good enough car. to show Ferrari or potentially others what he can do. And he does need to build on what he did versus Esteban Ockon in 2024. He beat Ocon on points 4138. He outqualified in 1311.

So he wins both the qualifying and the race record, albeit only just in both categories. Can he do that a bit more convincingly in 2026? That might be the key to at least, We don't know whether a Ferrari seat is going to become open in the near future or in the long future. We don't know how that's going to happen. But at least he needs to be there for if a situation arises, he's already, I guess, showcased what he can do in a Ferrari once for a debut. It went all right.

So, yeah, it'd be interesting to see what he can do this year. The other thing I wanted to see from Berman, a bit of maturity around these silly penalty situations because it would not surprise me whatsoever if Berman misses a race towards the beginning of this season owing to going over that penalty limit. Not a time you want to be missing a race either if that happens quite early on. No, you get as many minutes in the car as you can get. I also just think it shows a real, it's a real worrying side to you as a driver. If you rack up that many penalty points, you know, the likes of Gerojean was the reason that they were introduced.

It's those kind of drivers, you know, your Gorozian, your Maccasins who... You love... You're not drivers. It's has. It's a problem. we're not going to do all these drivers for a very particular reason. I don't want them to fall into that category. Those are the drivers that I noted down as sort of fitting the category.

I guess you could say, well, Franco Colopinto is actually not entering his second full season. He's entering his first full season, in theory, right? And maybe you've got Liam Lawson on the fringe of this category as well. At some point, we're going to have to not call him a rookie or close to a rookie. No, Lawson is he got a rookie. Okay. What about Colopinto? Do you have any thoughts on it?

Yeah, I just think he needs to be closer to Gasly across the whole year. And we need to see almost a middle ground between his time at Williams, where he was really, really fast, but quite silly. And then he went to Alpine where he was really, really slow and not very silly at all. And, I mean, that's okay. A bit of both is what we're really sitting here. I want you to be quite fast, but also don't crash. That would be great.

And I think if you could compete with Pierre Gassi across a whole year and wherever that Alpine might be, Who knows? It could be 22nd and 21st, but it could be first and second if you're Flavio Brutori. And if that's the case, you get to be right behind Pierre Gassi, and that's what I want to see from him. I don't expect him to beat him. Gassi's a sensational driver. Then, the same thing, it's pure luck that they've managed to get back in their car. I just want him to be closer to him. I mean, looking up and down the grid at the various teams and team principles, I have a relative confidence that most teams and drivers, they'll stick around for a good chunk of this season at the very least,

owing to the new regulations. The one I'm not sure about is Colopinto at Alpine, and not because of Colopinto, but because of Briatorre. You just never quite know what's around the corner with him. So do and got dumped. Yeah, I wasn't sure how to read that, whether it was do and got dumped or do and wanted to look for something else.

And Alpine decided, and we're not going to stick by you. Yeah, either way, he's gone. Yes, good luck to Jack Dewan, whatever is next in your career. But it won't be an F1 without P. And honestly, that might be a good thing. Let's take our second break on this episode. On the other side, we're chatting GP Lambiasi.

Thank everyone. Jean-Piero Lambiassi will remain as Max Verstappen's race engineer and Red Bulls' head of racing during the 2026 F1 season, despite interest from other teams. Lambiasi has been linked with other teams, such as Aston Martin and Williams. Autosport reporting this, understand that Lambiasi will remain in the same roles

at the Austrian outfit for this year. That said, it does not necessarily mean that a move in the longer term is completely ruled out. It is understood that no final decision has been made yet regarding the offers from other teams, and senior F1 figures are often subject to periods of gardening leave anyway or held to their contracts. Lambiasi's contract with Red Bull runs until the end of 2027.

How important is this for Red Bull that they have some moniker of stability at a time where it feels like they don't have a great deal of it? This is like two race wings good for them, I think. I think if you said to Red Bull, you don't get to win the first few races of the season, but you keep GP for another year, yes is the answer. because he is that integral. He's that important. And he's that close to Max Verstappen

in the way that relationship works. I think if you spoke to Maxibow, he'd go, yeah, I like GP, nice guy. And that'll be all he's same, because that's Max for Stappen. But I think if he suddenly swapped out GP and you put someone else in there that he's got used to working with.

Yikes. I think it very quickly goes south. And you see... Put Ricky in that. There you go. That's the example I'm about to make. You see Lewis Hamilton with Bono and you see Lewis Hamilton with a dummy in there

and look at the difference between the two and the way they operate in the car. It's night and day. Your race engineer can make or break your race time. And Max is sensational, Louis is sensational. And look at how much of a difference it makes to a driver. So there's a part of me that's wondering if they're a bit of a package deal. And I wonder if Max Verstappen decides he wants to leave.

I wonder if there's a payout clause there, which Max Verstappen actions on and takes him with him. The Hamilton and Bono that never happened. And of course, Vastappan, I guess, I know he's not watching the races, but he's aware of what's happening in F1. He'll know how much that relationship between Hamilton and Ricky seems to be struggling. Yeah. Maybe he might learn a lesson if he goes elsewhere.

I think it's a good one to race. I think this is incredibly important as well, because, again, I know we've sort of run through the list of names multiple times on this podcast, but you do have the likes of Christian Horner and Hall of Famer, Rob Marshall, and you've got Jonathan Wheatley, and I've got Hamer Marco add him to the list as well. They've all departed the team. Will Kortenae, who was the former head of strategy of Red Bull,

he is now of McLaren. He's been released from his contract. So it's very important that in this time of, let's call it, turmoil, it's good that they have at least one constant in there in GP Lambiasi. And I wanted to echo what you said really about the role of a race engineer. It is absolutely critical. And I think sometimes it's not always seen that way. It's one of the more, I'm not quite sure what the word is,

but it's quite public facing, even if you're not dealing with the public. If you were to go like a list of most recognizable faces or voices in a team, you would go drivers, team principle. After that, it's probably race engine. You hear their voices a lot of the time on the F-1 broadcast. And because it's one of the things you hear more in the public in the way that the F-1 broadcasts work, sometimes I think part of what the engineer does is,

should we say meaned? You've already brought up Ricky, of course, and hello is a Hall of Famer in its own right for good reason. Charles and Brian and all their discussions. I realize this is just Ferrari, but I don't know. And GP Lambiasi sometimes, maybe those that aren't following the sport massively, but maybe on the fringe of the sport,

well, oh, the guy who's sometimes sassy with Vastappen on Team Radio, and he is, but that is such a minuscule part of what he does. The F-1 feed is always likely to pick up the most grabbing sound bites from driving around race. Sure. It often misses out some of the. the critical communication that happens throughout the race. And it's not only with this job, like what you say,

a lot of the time is what you don't say. There's things that need to be, these drivers don't need to be inundated with details. And GP Lambiasi seems to have a good mac of knowing when to keep his mouth shut and when his driver. And that comes with time. That relationship builds over time. And I think that's why your point about this

maybe being a package deal in the future could ring true. all of that doesn't even take into account that he's the head of racing. I think the title is he's covering a lot more than just what's happening on the track in those 60 or 70 laps. So I think Red Bull will be very glad to be holding on to him, at least in the short term, which actually leads on to the next question, will it just be the short term? Is there a chance that the GP wants to branch out and make this a bit more long term somewhere else? I'm intrigued to see where GP's career goes. But to me, there's a little bit of team principle about him long term.

And I wouldn't be surprised if he is being groomed a little bit to be a future team principle, whether that be by Reg Bull as a family overall. If Lauren Meckis is aware that maybe as a successor, if Maxwell Stapton chooses to leave and then not a package deal, instead of staying on as a race engineer, he moves up into a leadership role completely for the team. We maybe see quite a similar situation to James Vowles, for example, where maybe where he goes from

to say he's to Williams, GP maybe goes from Red Bull to V-Cup, RB, for a couple of seasons to learn as a team principal. And then he comes back up to Red Bull and we see the progression that way. I do think he's got those communication and leadership qualities.

He's been around a long time with some very high-pressure situations. So I think he'll have learnt well. He is a man-manager, unlike what we were saying earlier about Adrian Newey, where that is, you know, maybe not necessarily untrue,

but it is debatable. And so I think it's something that he could see his future moving into should he want to. Otherwise, if Max Verstappen is where he sees his future going, Red Bull have got to do whatever they can to hold to Max for as long as they want to, because otherwise they can lose such a giant chunk of their organization the moment the Stappan leaves. Yeah, it's tough to know, of course, what his ambitions are in the sport going forward. Again, he's all got this dual role at the moment, whether he wants to move on to

something else, whether does he want to stay trackside? That's going to be a question. And I appreciate there have been some elements of his of his private life that have become rather inappropriately made public because nothing as far as I'm aware come from him. So I don't think they're worth discussing or debating here until, you know, he, if he wants to say something, then so be it. but I wonder whether he wants his career to go down a similar path to Rocky, who longer term F1 fans will know was sort of tied at the hip as the race engineer of Sebastian Vettel. He was the engineer before that as well, but he oversaw the four championship wins very similar to what Bostappan and Lambiasi have achieved.

And as soon as Vettel left F1, sorry, left Red Bull and went to Ferrari, there was a question as to whether Rocky would go with him. He didn't. He stayed at Red Bull, but that was when his time as a race engineer came to an end. He actually then went on to do the same role as what Lambiasi is doing now, as I think they called a head of racing engineering at that point, but it was the same role. And then a few years ago, he actually moved away from trackside operations and he now has more to do with the junior team.

Who knows whether that's something that Lambiasi wants to follow and whether that's at Red Bull or elsewhere, but maybe that's a way he wants to go. Last question on this is just what could Aster Martin and or Williams and or someone else? Is it just Aster Martin shoveling the cash over to him? I don't think it's about cash for these people. I think GP is, I'm not going to speak too much on his financial situation, but I'm sure he's comfortable, his old GP. It must be understanding what he wants in his career goals and his career goals.

life goals and what he deems as a, yeah, this suits me. This allows me to go after my personal successes whilst managing whatever life he wants to manage. And if Ashton Martin were able to open that door for him, it isn't being opened at Red Bull, that would be the way you get someone like GP to come over because he's clearly very happy a Red Bull. He clearly likes the way Red Bull operates. He clearly enjoys working with Max Verstappen.

And earning money is all well and good. but if you hate doing it every day of your life, you'll happily take a bit less money to actually enjoy what you're doing with your life. And I think you want to offer GP the perfect life scenario. You give him that, you go, you have whatever you want.

You write your contract. That's how you're getting, essentially. Might be naive of me, but I feel like that applies even more for F1, particularly those that are trackside at all of these Grand Prix. Can you really be away from home that many days a year without loving what you do?

I don't think money can be too much of a replacement for having to go through a slog. Like if you don't like it. So we'll see what happens in the future. But at least for now, GP is sticking with Red Bull. Let's laugh at Alpine. Sorry, let's discuss Alpine because their managing director, Steve Nilsson, who is their managing director of the week, I believe. Managing Director of the Week.

I don't know. It'll go next week, probably. He has played down the idea of long-term recovery timelines as the Enstone-based team looks to rebuild in Formula One. The stance makes a clear shift from Alpine's previous management, which committed to that infamous 100 race plan launched in 2021, following Renault's rebrand, aiming for podiums by 2024 and race wins by 2025.

I can't remember that one. Steve Nielsen said, I'm not a person who believes in a 100 race plan or a third. three-year plan or a five-year plan. I believe you put the best people you can get in the right positions. You give a clear mission, get the army marching all in the same direction, and you work as hard as you can and do the best job you can. You mill away at it.

It's a slow grinding process and you hope eventually you do a better job than everybody else. So it doesn't sound like Steve Nielsen's all about targets. Is that a good thing? As he picked up one of those toilet books that you read, that's called like business jargon for morons. Sorry, it's actually Stephen Bartlett. My bad, I missed red. Obviously, what a load of crap?

That is, I'd rather you have a target. They just come up with generic business corporate PR speak. I don't care when you call it 100 race plan, really. 100 race plan is a bit too specific and a bit too silly. But a three-season plan does kind of make sense. And I know what he means about putting people in the right places and having them all marked together. Bet no one's fall out before.

Whoa, brand new information. Thanks, Steve. No, I laughed at this when I read this quote. And it just made me think this is so Alpine, the fact that already we've moved into 2026, and again, it's a statement without vision, without direction. It has no quantifiable objectives involved in it at all or any actual substance in how they're going to get from A to B

and actually be successful for once as Alpsie. You know, I thought at least Othmar had a bloody plan in mind. Wasn't successful, but at least he tried. He also wasn't there to see it out. I'm sure if he got to 100, they'd be world champions. Yeah, sure. Sure. But, you know, Steve's just said words, and to me, they don't mean anything.

Yeah. Hey, the army's marching in the right direction. Everything's positive, all right. Is the army any good? Is the army... Can we call it an army? There's already three of them and two of them are you? It's the army of San Marino or something

which is five people on their day off. Half of them are butchers and bakers. And candlestick makers, I believe. In some regard, I understand what he's saying here because Alpina Renauda have been burned so badly by targets in the past. And also F1 is admittedly a very fast-moving world. it is difficult to apply targets for years into the future just based on,

take the lineups from the driver lineups for 2026. Only two of them were the same in 2023 as they are today. Things do move a lot in F1. I understand that. Imagine Red Bull, for example, planning out 2026 in 2023. I don't think it's... Christian Horn has sat there with all of his team that are no longer there. it probably looked a bit different to how it's turned out.

The other difficulty in applying targets is just what targets do you go for in terms of, do you go for race wins, do you go for championship titles? Do you go for percentage pace deficit versus the leader? Because I often feel like that's probably the most important one of the lot. It's not very sexy status. It's not really one you can wow the shareholders and stakeholders with. But that one is quite an important one. how far off are you from the best team in this sport?

Evidence of that is, say, Mercedes, you look at the last four years and they haven't won any titles in those four years. They finished second in 2022, third in 2023, fourth in 2024, and then they finished second last year. You think, well, okay, their worst year was 2024 then. They were fourth. They were the worst of those four years. In terms of points, that was the year they were closest to winning the title.

It doesn't tell you ever. everything just from that one stat. So having said all of that, I do think some targets and some guidance is very much useful because you are just going to be a bit aimless as a team if you don't have that. Now the engine split is finished as well. It feels like a good time to reset these targets, even if we disagree with the fact that they have gone with this engine split, it is a good time to reassess this. And Steve Nielsen is just focusing on his armies.

He just loves playing risk. I mean, it's great game. What successful business does it have a target of some variation? You know, every single major corporation ever, every sports team, whether you have it at a minute level or it's a grandiose overview of how you're going to run your company, whether it's we to take one-tenth of the way that we do our aerodynamics. And the front wing needs to actually be minus one-tenth to our overall speed. That makes sense.

You can put that on the aeroddapartment. You put it into wind-tangle time. And then you can run it through your system to try and gain one-tenth of speed. over a lap. That's a target. You get that target. Go and do that target. It hasn't got to be, we'll be world champion by 100 races, because that's just silly. Sorry,

it's very funny. So there is a middle ground that you can find. It's not all about armies, you know, Steve. I bet it might be. It might be all about armies. Should we play armies? Sure. End of podcast.

Have a good one, folks. The last thing I want to say on this is just like, okay, Steve Nilsson doesn't sign up to targets. Okay, I know someone who does. His name's Flavio Briatore and he works quite closely with you. Like he has been on record, Flavio Brutori saying that he wants to win races in 26. He wants to fight for a championship in 27. I worry about how that might work because Flavio Brutori is still lingering like a bad smell. He was kind of given this, I don't know. Luca Domeo signed him up

and not as part of the Alpine team and it felt like he was there as a bit of a, a bit of a gunslinger, a bit of a ghost at the feast. Right. In the corner. Oh God, I'm going to get right. There's a ghost in the corner.

But with Domeo gone, he doesn't really have a mandate anymore. Like a lot of his early job was to almost appraise the team to see about can it be sold, I think, was the leading question. but DeMio's not there anymore, but Briatore still is. It's a bit...

It's weird. His relationship with the team's weird. He's still got even technically the team principal is odd. He's like, is he unfireable? Who's his boss? I don't know. Is it just if he leaves the building, he can't get back in? I don't know how it works, but he's still there.

Will he ever leave? I don't know. I thought he was banned, apparently not. No, no. Why would he be banned of interest? I'm not sure, actually. there was a race in 2007. I think you're making that up.

Right, let's take our final break on this episode. On the other side, we're playing guess the year. There's a bracket in there. There is a bracket in there. Thank everyone to the final part of today's episode. It's time for a quick little game to see us out. And it's called Guess the Hybrid Era. Yeah.

Nice. Guess for Year! We don't play this very regularly, so I'm certain I ask this every single time. We might have a more up-to-date version than that. I don't know. I don't think we do, because we go, that's the last time

we're ever going to play this game and then we use that theme again. The good news, amongst our thousands of people listening right now, I bet none of them care. It's a conversation I knew between you and me. Yes. Guess the hybrid era, year.

So it works exactly the same as Guess the year, but we're only talking about the hybrid era. So that's 2014 through to, I mean, I guess 2026 will still be part of the hybrid era. That's not going to be an answer, unsurprisingly. But anything from 2014 to 2025, I'll give you three clues for each one. At the end of those clues, all you have to do is guess the year I'm talking about. Not Harry Eagle smash this game. He would. He absolutely would.

Okay, here's the first one for you, Sam. The driver with the most pole positions does not finish in the top three in the championship. Okay. The driver's champion scores points in every race. George Russell is the only driver not to score a point. Oh, 2019. We're off to a great start. 2019 is absolutely correct.

The driver with the most polls in 2019 was Charles LeCler, but he finished fourth in the driver's championship. The champion that year, Lewis Hamilton, suffered no reliability issues. He scored absolutely every single race. And George Russell was the only driver not to score a point because his teammate in that God-awful Williams, Robert Kubitser scored a point at the 2019 German Grand Prix.

Question number two for you, Sam. A driver who finished 11th in the championship, wins a race. The championship winner finishes on a half point. The second race of the season is in Europe. Oh, God. 2020? One out of afraid.

2021 is the correct answer on that one. A driver who finished 11th in the championship, that was Esteban Okon at the Hungarian GP. because of the Belgian GP that year and it being a shortened race, half points were awarded. So, Verstappen and Hamilton, who finished first and second in this championship were both left on a half point to end the year.

And because of COVID, which is why you went for 2020, the second race of the season was held Imola after Bahrain held the opener. It was called off in 2020, wasn't it, Imola? Yes. Yeah, of course. So, question number. for three.

Three. Two drivers achieve a podium at the first race of the season and then don't get another one for the rest of the year. Andre Lottere competes at the Belgian Grand Prix. Okay. And Mercedes achieve a pole at every race except one. What's Andre Lottner doing it? I think he was asking the same question.

What am I doing? Look at 2015. He's a year out again. It's the first year of the hybrid is 2014. So Magnuson and Button both get a podium at the first race of the year in Australia. They don't get another one for the rest of the year. Andre Lottes does compete at the Belgian Grand Prix. I'll be honest.

I've completely forgotten the reason why. I don't know. He competed in the Belgian GP that year. And Mercedes had every pole position apart from the Austrian GP. where I believe it was Felipe Massifal Williams. They've got the pole. Other of that. Yeah, clean sweep for them.

Question number four coming up, Sam. Three drivers failed to score points this season, but they were all from a different continent. Okay. Seven drivers secure a race win. And Carlos Sines secures his most points in a season. Ooh. 2023.

man loves being a year out. Oh, is it 22? No, you've won the other. Oh, the way. 24. God's the same, man. Yeah, if we're doing like one year out is acceptable, you're four and a four at a moment. Yeah, so three drivers who failed to score in the 2024 season were Botas from Finland,

Jack Duhn technically from Australia and Logan Sargent from the US, so three different continents. Seven drivers secure wins that year, so Vastappen won a race and then both Mercedes, both Ferraris, both McLaren's win a Grand Prix, and Science scored his most points ever in the Ferrari, of course, that year. And that was it for him at Ferrari. Question number five. The driver's champion does not win any of the first three races.

Kevin Magnuson achieves his best F-1 championship finish of ninth, and Kimmy Reichenen wins his last race. race. I know this isn't code, sir. I've just got it all year. I mean, that is the game. He's got it. He's got the game.

Literally the game. I will just, by the way, I haven't duplicated any year, by the way, in mid-sninking like that, okay. Well, I don't think this was one. It already come up, anyway. 2018. Yes, 2018. I was so worried you were going to say 2017.

I almost did. That was about, well. What was the racing? Yeah, so Lewis Hamilton didn't win any of the first three races that year. And Kevin Magnuson, well, was quite a good house, managed to get a ninth place. And you were right with the circuit. Cota was the last place where Kimmy Rikin and won a Grand Prix. Which means question number six is the last one.

Lewis Hamilton overtakes Sebastian Vessel in races one for a career. McClaren receive a total of 310 grid place penalties. To be clear, as well, that's not 310 individual penalties, but like 310 places combined. And Ferrari finished 212 points better off than the previous season. Oh, what year were Ferrari significantly crap and then quite good? Oh, I'm stuck between almost two ends of the era here. Ooh.

Yeah, that's where I'm struggling. Because Ferrari were terrible in the early 2020 period. But they weren't great in 2014 either. Oh, I'm going to say 2015. He's got it, yes. 2015 is the right answer. Yeah, Lewis Hamilton, even though Vettel won a couple of races that year, Lewis Hamilton at this point was winning a lot of races. He overtakes Fettle in the overall

standings there. Yeah, this was the Jensen Button, Fernando Alonzo. Get a penalty nearly every week. And Ferrari were terrible, as you said, in 2014. They were better in 2015, even if it didn't give them a championship. Beans, in a game of, well, not in a game of 50-50, but you've ended up 50%. Three and six. Technically, if I was playing someone, I would have scored all I could score. And I know you definitely would have picked questions 1, 5 and 6. So you would have got 3 and 3. That's so my numbers.

Not three that you love so much. No. Well, that's going to do it for guests a year. We don't have a question of the week this week, folks, but we will bring that one back next week. I know you're all dying for the first question of the week of 2026, so we'll have to make it a good one. We'll scramble around and put someone together, but we'll make sure that returns next week. But we will have an episode before then. Sam, we'll have one on Sunday,

if you wouldn't mind getting us out of here until then. Yeah, folks, please come and join us for Sunday. Thank you for being with us in the off season. We're getting very close to some proper F1 action now. The teams will be revealing their liverys very soon, which is very exciting. We're going to be following along with each of as they go as well. We'll have Red Bull and Racing Balls to chat about on Sunday. We will. That's very exciting. The first ones are coming out. And if you want to see our responses as well and see how we talk about different things and just relives for the funny clips. It's social media. They're breaking F1 everywhere.

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And I've been Ben Hocking and remember, keep breaking late. Thank you.