[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then everyone in Lima was equally ticked off that San Martin had left day-to-day operations to his chief secretary, a guy named Benito de Monteagudo.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Monte Agudo was imperious and arrogant, and with San Martin slumping through a life increasingly filled with opium, the secretary started playing Sejanus to San Martin's Emperor Tiberius, which, hey look, two Roman references in as many weeks. I wonder where my head is at these days.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Complicating all of this was the fact that his one base of support inside the city, the Die Hard Patriots, learned a horrifying fact about San Martin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because one thing that I have not yet revealed about Sam Martin, no, he doesn't have another drug addiction, is that not only was he a centralist like Believer, he was also gasp a monarchist.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now we haven't seen hide nor hair of the centralist monarchist quadrant of the revolution since, oh, about 1812, but through all his campaigns of liberation, San Martin was, and would remain, a monarchist at heart.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now he was not a believer in conservative absolutism, of course. I mean, he's an enlightened liberal freemason after all. But Sam Martin thought a constitutional monarchy was the ideal structure of government.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In his negotiations with the viceroy of Peru to end the siege of Lima, San Martin had assured the viceroy that he was open to a monarchy ruling liberated Peru.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This did not sit well with his fellow revolutionaries when word got out. Believar himself couldn't believe it, and he thought it was libelous propaganda that had been cooked up by San Martin's enemies.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The revelations of this monarchism would also negatively impact San Martin's dealings with Bolivar and the Colombians, though the more pressing issue was Guayaquil.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] San Martin had sent 1200 men under Colonel Santa Cruz up to help Sucre defend Guayaquil and liberate Quito.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But San Martin firmly believed that Guayaquil belonged to Peru, and he was furious that Belivar and the Colombians seemed determined to steal it. And his recent correspondence with Belivar had revealed that both men held mutually exclusive positions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] San Martin expected Guayaquil to become a part of Peru. Belivar was determined to make it a part of Colombia.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So when San Martin heard that the Colombians had liberated Quito, San Martin knew that the confrontation over Guayaquil was coming, and so he boarded a ship to sail north to assert Peruvian sovereignty. And he cannot have been looking forward to the confrontation, but I imagine it was also nice to get out of Lima for a little while.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And when San Martin departed, he thought Bolivar was still up in Quito, and that San Martin would then have an opportunity to put in at Guayaquil and stake Peru's claim to the city while waiting for the Colombians to come down out of the mountains to meet him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But as we saw last week, as soon as Bolivar dashed off his invitation to San Martin, he hopped on a horse and rode to Guayaquil as fast as he possibly could.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So it was to San Martin's great horror that upon arrival at the port of Guayaquil on the evening of July the 25th, 1822, he was told that Believar was already there and waiting for him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Angry and embarrassed, the proud San Martin refused to get off the ship as if he was the guest and Believar was the host, and a tense little standoff ensued.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After more than a day of going back and forth, San Martin finally relented when Believar came down in person to board San Martin's ship, him coming to San Martin rather than the other way around.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Bolivar then led the protector of Peru towards the palace where he would be staying, flanked by an honor guard of patriotic soldiers and pushing through throngs of jubilant inhabitants. The people of Guayaquil knew that they owed their freedom more to San Martin than Bolivar.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In their first personal interactions, the two great generals were a study in emotional contrast. San Martin was reserved, aloof, rigidly straight, and somber.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Believar on the other hand was like an excited child, jubilant, pacing the room constantly, and on the verge of tears at the significance of finally shaking the hands of the great General Samartin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But underneath their different exteriors, both were doing exactly the same thing, sizing each other up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And though it would be lovely for the story if they departed blood brothers who would remain fond pen pals for the rest of their lives, both would unfortunately leave very disappointed in the other.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Believar in San Martin had three private meetings with no aides or secretaries present, at which we know zero about what they said.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No notes, not even a diary entry of what was discussed. But thanks to the correspondence between the two men we do have, leading up to the conference and then immediately after the conference, we know basically what the topics at hand were and what their respective positions were.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No doubt exhausted by all the politics, both men were likely happy to begin by focusing on military affairs. The interior of Peru and Upper Peru, the future Bolivia, were still in royalist hands. What are we going to do about it?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] San Martin basically wanted to know how many men Believer could provide for a campaign to dislodge the royalist and was gobsmacked when Believer said one thousand.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By San Martin's calculation, the Colombian army was 10,000 strong, so what is this I only have a thousand guys to spare nonsense? He thought Belivar was intentionally withholding troops. And nothing Belivar said could convince San Martin that that really was all he could spare.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And given how many Believer ultimately did go to Peru with, San Martin does kinda have a point here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Hitting an impasse over the army, they then ran into a similar impasse when they got to the big issue on the table, and that was the future of Guayaquil.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] San Martin said, of course it's for Peru, and Belivar said, yeah, well technically it was a part of Nucronada, and therefore it is now a part of Columbia.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Believer would finally recommend putting it to a referendum, a vote of the inhabitants of the city, but San Martin was not happy about that, as democracies are made of easily manipulated mobs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This of course raised the uncomfortable reality of San Martin's monarchism, which not only didn't he deny, but he tried to convince Bolivar was the only way to go.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Believar was absolutely crestfallen to hear these words come out of the protector of Peru's mouth.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Colombians were all staunch Republicans, and as much as it might, MIGHT, help diplomatic relations with the kingdoms back in Europe, it would undermine South American solidarity if it was the Kingdom of Peru and the Republic of Colombia.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] San Martin thought Believer an excitable little prince whose dashing charms were just a cover for manipulative glory hunting. Believer thought San Martin a dour crank wedded to conservative principles that had no place in the new South America. To say nothing of Believer agreeing with Lord Cochran's assessment that San Martin was careful and plodding to the point of cowardice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it was also clear to Believar now that the situation back in Lima was not a bed of roses, that Sam Martin was not popular there, and that his sogenus was rubbing everyone the wrong way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No doubt this was all partially informed by Manuela Sainz, who was deeply plugged into patriot society back in Lima.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And in their final meeting together, Believar asked San Martin how things are going in Lima. And San Martin said, oh, they're going fine. And Believar said, oh really? Because I've got a report of a coup against your secretary, Monte Agudo. He's been overthrown. What do you think about that?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And what San Martin thought about that was that it's probably time for him to get out of this altogether. The whole thing. Leave it all behind.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But Believar and San Martin kept up a united front for the people of Guayaquil, and on their second night together, the Liberator and the Protector shared a great banquet. Believar acted as host and San Martin as the guest of honor.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They toasted to each other and to the glory of South America and to, you know, et cetera, et cetera. And the raucous dancing and drinking went on long into the night where Believar shined and from which San Martin flinched. Probably now pushed over the edge.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Dejected, full of self-pity, and watching the energetic Believer steal the show, San Martin decided that his work here was done.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That with his dream of capturing Lima complete, it was time to hand the rest of the job over to Believar, who was obviously greedy for the opportunity to win the final victory for himself.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As San Martin would later say, there was simply not room in Peru for both of them. And San Martin was ready to be the one to bow out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At about one o'clock in the morning, San Martin signaled to his officers that he was ready to leave the banquet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Upon his return to Lima a few weeks later, a San Martin discovered that the story of the coup was true, that his secretary had been ousted from power.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now thoroughly ejected, as San Martin hung around in town long enough for the first official meeting of the newly constituted Peruvian Congress to meet on September the 20th, 1822.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] At the inaugural session, he announced that he was resigning from the army and relinquishing any political power he might hold.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Congress rose to applaud him, to praise his name, to heap upon him honors that reached to the stars, but nobody made a move to stop him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If San Martin was ready to go, they were ready to see him leave.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that very night, Jose de San Martin sailed away from Lima, never to return.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So now that Believer and Lima have both bid farewell to San Martin, I think it's time for us to bid our final farewell to him too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Enormously weary from ten years of revolutionary wars and plagued by physical ailments and drug addiction, you might think that San Martin would be dead within the week.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But setting down his burdens appears to have revitalized him although his life in South America was soon over.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He passed back through Chile on his way to his old province of Cuyo. Now he planned to settle amongst his old people, but the revolving coups back in Argentina now found the province under very unfriendly management. So by 1823 he was back in Buenos Aires where he was treated with deep suspicion and encouraged to please keep moving along.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] His young wife having died while he was away on campaign, San Martin packed up his one daughter and sailed for Europe.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They landed first in France, where the revolutionary liberal general was denied entry, forcing them up to London, where they stayed just long enough for Saint-Martin to arrange passage to Brussels, where he would find his permanent home in exile.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In Brussels, San Martin remained in contact with events back in South America, which were, god, just a mess of interconnected civil wars and foreign wars and everything in between.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He actually sailed back to the Rio de la Plata in 1828 to lend a hand in the war against Brazil, but upon arrival discovered that another coup had put his enemies back in power, so he turned around and headed back across the Atlantic without even disembarking.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So he was back in Brussels when the revolutions of 1830 broke out, and he was invited by Belgian patriots to lead them in their secession from the Netherlands, but he declined and moved to Paris instead.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There, he was kept abreast of the further wars and civil strife back in his homeland, offering advice through a network of correspondents, many of whom were probably his old Masonic brothers, but he never returned to the actual fray.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When he sailed away from Peru, San Martin probably did not think that he had much longer to live. But shedding his burdens and leaving them for Bolivar, he managed to outlive Bolivar by 20 years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But like always, nothing was going to be easy for him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Royalist up in Posto, who had surrendered after the capture of Quito, suddenly went back into rebellion in the late summer of 1822.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And an old name was at the forefront of that rebellion because it was led by a young colonel named Benito Boves. That's right, the nephew of José Tomás Boves, the long-dead Caudillo leader of the legions of hell.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Young Colonel Boves gathered up royalist forces in the countryside outside Posto, and in September 1822, started actively raiding the countryside. A month later, he was strong enough to enter Posto with the help of sympathetic inhabitants and reclaimed the city for God and the King.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Frustrated that this rebellion was getting out of hand, Believar dispatched Sucre back up to bring Pasto under control. But the campaign turned out to be hard and bitter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sucre forced a battle on November the 24th, but was beaten back. He then had to wait a month before launching a more direct assault on December the 22nd.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This assault drove Boves and the Royalists back into Posto, with the Patriots following close enough behind that they were able to push their way into the city too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The battle ended in bitter street fighting, with the patriot forces furiously venting their frustration on the population.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sucre's men slipped out of discipline and sacked the city, killing upwards of 400 civilians over the next few unruly days.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But even after their discipline was restored, the punitive measures on Posto were harsh. Royalist leaders were arrested and executed, although Boves himself got away, and then a thousand more men identified as suspicious were conscripted into the Patriot army and marched to their new assignments down in Quito and Guayaquil, most never being allowed to return to Posto.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] While this was ongoing, Believar was himself back in Quito, trying to further consolidate Colombian hold of the region, and mostly enjoying his time with Manuela signs. As I said last time, Manuela was an ardent patriot, and so committed to the cause that she habitually donned a dragoon's uniform and joined in military exercises.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Immaculate in her revolutionary politics, and now proving her military medal, Manuela was fast becoming not just Belivar's mistress, but along with Sucre, really one of his principal revolutionary partners.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nowhere was Manuela more valuable than in discussing affairs down in Lima.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Personally plugged into the situation through multiple official and unofficial channels, she kept Belivar in the loop about how things were progressing in Peru. And after the abrupt resignation and departure of San Martin, the question became how long should Belivar wait before he moved south?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the conclusion the couple settled on was we will wait until Lima is begging on bended knee for the Liberator to come save them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because anything less than that would cause everyone major political heartburn.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It took a little while for the real begging to come though, even after a military disaster hit the Peruvians in January of 1823. The last 1700 or so men remaining from San Martin's liberating army, so we're talking Argentinians and Chileans here, were cornered by a royalist army that descended out of the mountains and crushed them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All 1700 men were either killed or captured. These were the best trained troops in Peru. And just months after San Martin's departure, the last forces he had brought with him, the final remnants of the army of the Andes was destroyed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This military disaster led to a political coup inside Lima that gave rise to a guy named Jose de la Riva Aguero.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Riva Aguero wrote letters to San Martin begging him to return, but San Martin laughed in his face.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Riva Aguero also requested aid from the Liberator, but Believar continued to bide his time, saying that he had not yet received permission from the Colombian Congress to leave Colombian soil.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But really this was about the begging not being hard enough yet.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When Believer entered Lima, he wanted to be treated like the savior he believed himself to be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By the spring of 1823, though, events were finally moving Bolivar down to Peru.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With Posto and the surrounding countryside quiet and the rest of the cities in the region seemingly peaceful, Believar felt like he could now really get the ball rolling.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Mustering the full strength of the Patriot army, that is, those brought originally by Sucre and then what Believar had come down out of Bogota with, plus new recruits raised since their arrival. I mean, a good 6,000 total men. They were all sent down to Lima under Sucre's command to pave the way for Believar's eventual arrival.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you'll notice that that 6,000 is quite a bit more than the 1,000 Believar said he could reasonably spare San Martin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But transferring this army down to Peru led to a host of new problems.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For one thing, it turned out the Royalist Rebels impasto had only been biding their time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As soon as Sucre departed for Lima with the bulk of the Patriot army, Posto re-rose in rebellion, forcing Believar himself to hastily raise a force of local militia that he personally led to re-re-suppress the rebellious city.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Leading about 1800 new recruits, Bolivar was able to put down this latest uprising at the Battle of Ibarra on July the 17th, 1823.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now though this would not yet be the end of Posto's resistance, it did help convince Believar that if he was going to be fighting, he may as well move on to the real show in Peru, rather than wasting his time and risking his life for rearguard actions.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fortunately for Believer, the situation in Peru is now getting pretty grim. And the begging getting pretty fierce. Much of it now coming from Sucre.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Having arrived in June 1823 with 6,000 reinforcements, the new president, Riva Aguero, said, good, I can lead these men out on campaign and start to clear the last of the damned royalists from my country.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But San Martin's caution about going up into the mountains had never been about cowardice, always about a kind of ruthless prudence.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Six thousand men was just not enough to get the job done. The march into the mountains alone was going to take its toll, and then they'd all have to immediately fight against well-defended, royalist fortresses while likely suffering from altitude sickness.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But Riva Aguero was ready to fight, and so out he marched.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The big problem, though, was that this left Lima totally open. And as soon as Riva Agüero was out of the city, one of the main royalist generals mustered fully 9,000 men and pounced.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sucre, who had been left behind to manage the defense of Lima with a meager garrison, was lucky to have time enough to gather up the Peruvian Congress and deposit them in the fortress of Cajau before the royalists entered the city.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But this force was not here to occupy Lima permanently, that was no longer a part of the Spanish strategy. Instead, they resupplied themselves at will, with forced requisitions and tribute demanded from the inhabitants at Bayonet Point.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sufficiently stocked up with wealth and supplies, they then march south to go track down the Patriot army led by General Santa Cruz.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So the temporary occupation of Lima was a bad blow, but it wasn't fatal.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Did however convince the Congress in Lima that they absolutely had to get Belivar down here right now. Please immediately do it. We beg you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But just as Believar was finally hearing what he wanted to hear, he was also getting word of major trouble back home.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Santander was now balking at Belivar's request to keep moving to Peru. It didn't sound like Quito was well in hand, and the economic and political situation back here at home isn't like, great. Santander did not want the entire economy of Colombia to go towards Belivar's war machine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then way, way, way back home, back home in Venezuela, came news that might actually force Believer to turn around and return to Caracas because the final coda of the Venezuelan War of Independence was about to play out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After the Battle of Carabobo in 1821, the last royalist garrisons had retreated to Portocobeo.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The Colombians wanted to take the fortress, but there was no point in wasting time, men, or resources trying to do it. No reinforcements were coming from Spain, and there was no way for the Spanish inside the fortress to break out. So it was annoying that they were still there, but not, you know, anything to really trouble yourself about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Leaning this last rump of Spanish holdouts was General Morales, he too of the old legions of hell.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well after nearly two years of forced captivity, he was ready to break out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After coordinating with what was left of the Spanish Navy in the region in June of 1823, Morales surprised the Venezuelan garrison keeping an eye on him. He charged out of Puerto Cabello and headed west towards Lake Maracaibo, where royalist sentiment had always been pretty strong.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But Morales was not going to get very far. General José Antonio Paz, the supreme military leader in western Venezuela, raised his cheneros from their subdued lethargy and rode down to box Morales up in Maracaibo. The rebellion would not spread.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But with Morales now trapped around Lake Metarcaibo, something was going to have to be done about the Spanish navy that was also now trapped down there with him. So on July the 24th, 1823, a patriot navy of 22 ships cornered the small royalist fleet and brought them to battle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This Patriot fleet was led by Brigadier General Jose Prudencio Padilla.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now since Padilla is a bonafide revolutionary hero and will come back around later to mark another stain on Believer's career, I want to end today by telling you all about Jose Prudencio Padilla.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A dark-skinned, mixed-race son of a shipbuilder, Padilla spent his childhood around ships, and as a teenager, he joined the Spanish Navy as a porter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This was just in time for his ship to be called back for service in the Mediterranean for the Battle of Trafalgar. So young Padilla was there at the Battle of Trafalgar and he was in fact captured by the British. He then spent three years as a prisoner of war before being released in 1808 and returned to Cartagena.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When the first cries of liberty then started sweeping through South America, Padilla found himself an eager patriot, supporting all the early independence efforts in Cartagena and lending them what assistance he could.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it took until 1815 for him to take on a more active role, when he joined General Believar's army, when the Liberator had to come back down the Magdalena River, aiming at dislodging the royalists from Santa Marta, only to be fatally detained when Cartagena shut its gates to him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is just before Believer departed for Jamaica to write his famous letter.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When Believer departed, Padilla stayed behind, and so he was there for the siege of Cartagena, and when it came time to break out in December 1815, he captained one of the getaway ships that took the refugee revolutionaries first to Jamaica, and then the Republic of Haiti, looking for Believer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So you can add Jose Padilla to the list of men who were at the great revolutionary summit that was held under the auspices of President Petion.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Padilla was then folded into Louis Briand's little navy that would carry the revolutionary expedition back to Venezuela.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Padilla was a part of a forward guard that helped drive off the few Spanish ships in the area, clearing the way for the landing on Margarita Island.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now promoted to full captain, Padilla served under Louis Brion in the Far East as the Patriots moved to the Orinoco River and captured Angostura.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After Believar raced into the mountains and captured Bogota in 1819, Padilla was put in charge of the Patriot Siege of Cartagena, and there he remained until the city finally capitulated and the royalists evacuated.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Promoted to Brigadier General in April of 1823, General Padilla became the highest-ranking Pardo officer in the Venezuelan army, taking the mantle that had once been held by Manuel Piar, whose fate Padilla would himself share in a few short years.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But for now, Padilla was given command of the Patriot Navy operating in and around Lake Maracaibo, just in time for the sudden crisis triggered by Morales to hit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Leading 22 Patriot ships against the Royalists, Padilla routed them decisively and Morales signaled his complete surrender, departing the country for good in early August of 1823.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now the Battle of Carabobo is considered the culminating battle of the War of Venezuelan Independence. But the Battle of Lake Maracaibo was truly the final nail in the coffin, as the royalists were now actually physically gone from the country, and Puerto Cabello fell into patriot hands.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Admiral Padilla was the hero of the battle and became a symbol of racial advancement in the new race free world of liberated Venezuela.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But unfortunately, as I mentioned, he would eventually share the fate of Manuel PR, the man who had once held that same distinction of being the highest-ranking Pardo officer in the Venezuelan army, executed by order of Simon Bolívar.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By the time the Battle of Lake Metarkaiba was wrapping up, Believar was getting on a ship to sail even further away from home.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After personally escorting royalists captured in Posto down to Guayaquil, he received yet another letter from Lima, this one full of the kind of begging and pleading he could finally respond to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Having also finally gotten permission from the Colombian Congress to depart Colombian soil, Simon Bolivar boarded a ship in August of 1823 and set sail for Lima where he would begin the last great campaign of his career.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So we'll leave the story off there as I take a temporary leave of absence.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The manuscript for The Storm Before the Storm is due in four short weeks, and I am going to spend every waking minute between now and then making sure that the book is as awesome as I'm hoping you are all expecting it to be. I mean, hopefully you're not expecting it to be complete trash.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've been working on the book continuously now for this whole year while producing revolutions full time and it feels pretty crazy that I might actually live to see this thing through to the end.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But to finish it, I am going to go on an extended break and will not return with a new episode of Revolutions until January the 15th, 2017.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] After I come back, we will do the final hard charge of Spanish-American independence, which should wrap up in another five or six episodes, as we liberate Peru and Bolivia, and then send Bolivar back to Bogota to dodge assassins and political enemies, en route to his depressing but mercifully brief fifth and final exile.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now after we wrap up with Spanish American Independence, I have a sneaky little surprise for you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Simone Believar just so happens to die in 1830, which coincides with the July Revolution back in France, the revolution that overthrows the Bourbons and brings the constitutional monarchy of Louis Philippe to life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, since the 1830 revolution sets up the 1848 revolution, and since 1830 also sees the return of both Lafayette and Talleyrand for one last revolutionary hurrah, I thought it might be nice to follow up the epic that is Spanish American independence


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So, I'll be back on January the 15th to finish the epic that is Spanish American Independence, then we'll do a little mini-series on 1830, on our way to the insanity that is the revolutionary year of 1848.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, uhm, we go back to the, to the garage, uhm, and talk to some of the engineers, but they've made it shorter again this year now. So uhm, there's actually not that much time, uhm, so there's probably not gonna be...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Me sitting on TV watching a jetpack fall out of the sky again, something like that. But, uhm, nah, don't come back here in between.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, no, no I don't. Uhm, I mean I do a warm up before each race that's the same thing. There's some small tweaks here and there depending on what hurts that day, but uhm, that's the only thing. Yea, there's nothing, there's no shephards pies, there's no...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, there's nothing special. Let's jump in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, I'm, I'm proud of, I'm proud of that. And quite a few weekends in the middle where I went, well, I did some things good, some things I can do a bit better. So uhm, on the whole, I was pretty happy with it, I would say. Getting a rookie trophy at the end of it was nice, but uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, that's not really why I'm in Formula One, to be honest, but uhm, yeaah, I think it was a good year. I think, you know, now that I've come back for the second year, I kind of realised, uhm, just how draining a Formula One season is and how much energy


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sort of management you need to do for yourself, uhm, and, and, you know, taking care of yourself from that side. So uhm, I think already that's paying dividends, I hope. Uhm, but no, I thought it was a good first year in F1, but certainly, uhm, a long way from the ceiling of what I can do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think in general, there was probably two standout things. I think the consistency or lack of that I had last year was, uhm, not exactly how I wanted it to be. I think I was quite up and down in a few weekends.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so I think just having more consistency across the year would be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's always a positive thing, but I think that was something that I wasn't particularly happy with and then, um, managing the tyres in a race that was, um, from a


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Specifically driving point of view, that was probably the biggest.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think my focus that I uhm, you know, took into this year and uhm, biggest thing I wanted to improve, I think my quality pace uhm, in especially the second half of last year was


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are thereabouts most of the time, but the race pace was a bit more hit and miss. So uhm, that was something I really focused on. I think in Bahrain it was...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, a good step in the right direction.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was a big focus for me and hopefully we'll give myself a few more races to see if I've really kind of turned it around. But I think it's been a good start on that front.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, it, it is very tough. Uhm, I think for me, like coming to F1,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, you know, it's the first time I've raced against people that, um, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, so experienced in, in, well, just in life, but in, in anything. Uhm, you know, I think in all my junior racing I did, uhm, I think the most experience somebody had was three years in the same category. Uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, you know, in my first season, Lando, who is, you know, not exactly old, you know, he already had five, um, so, or four, going into his fifth, so, um, you know, that,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That kind of experience especially in the world of F1 really I think goes a long way and I feel like already uhm, you know, I'm learning that and I think everybody's at such a high level that uhm, you know, if you don't get things a bit


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's, eh, you know, they just have more experience of good and bad. Uhm, and you know, I think for me, with the limited testing that we have, you kind of have to learn things on the fly, which means having a few bad races here and there, which I definitely had. Uhm, so that part is very hard and I think, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Trusting a rookie is not that easy. Uhm, yeaah, I think, you know, McLaren took definitely, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I wanna, I wanna hope a calculated risk on, on bringing me into the team, but uhm, yeaah, there's always kind of that uncertainty on uhm, you know, first, I guess firstly whether you're gonna uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Survive in the world of F1, uhm, it's certainly not easy, uhm, and then whether you're, you know, gonna be capable and, and you know, have that sort of, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] More rookies maybe should be given a chance. I think we'll, it'll be interesting to see what happens to the 2025 grid. Um, there could be a few new faces, but, but yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, I think even towards the end of the season, I think there was, there was kind of two factors at play. I think probably about mid-season, I started to feel more comfortable and more confident. Uhm, I think once you get a few results on the board or uhm, even if it's not results,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, your teammate is your best comparison, so uhm, I think if you get, you know, a few decent results against your teammate on the board or, you know, you get close even, uhm, it, it boosts your confidence a bit, uhm, and then yeah, mid-season there's a few good results, I think, uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not, not really, I mean, I always try to remove results from, you know, my mindset and my thinking, but I think especially when you've not had any and when you're so new, you come, you sometimes need


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That result and uhm, you know, I think for me, even in my junior racing, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sometimes even in testing it was like a lap in testing that I went, I drove well, the car was good, that's what I need the car to feel like every time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, just those kind of things to anchor yourself on, uh, are very important and I think, uhm, Silverstone last year was definitely the first kind of place.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, where I felt that genuinely, I think even here in Saudi I qualified in the top 10 for the first time and that was, uhm, at the time a very big result for us and for me personally. So, uhm, I gained quite a lot of confidence from that result, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Close to a podium. I felt like that was one of my strongest weekends of the year, but uhm, that's where it-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We took a bit of a turn for the better, but then the second half of the year we had so many new circuits that I think we had like seven new tracks in a row or something that I'd never been to. So what I'd gained in sort of comfort and experience with the car, I then lost again with experience with the tracks in the second half of the year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, there was a few sprint weekends thrown in there and that made life tricky as well. So it's a mix of things. Some sprints. Yeah. The, the first few sprints were, were, were fine to me. Spire was great. Qatar obviously was, was very good. Um, but Austin and Brazil struggled a lot. Um, so having,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Probably being tired, being, it sounds very boring, but uhm, you know, just getting to the end of the season, all those flyaway races, you know, that's the first time in my life I've done that much travelling and experiencing it first hand, so uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, I think even just experiencing it the first time, you know, when you've not lived it before, you don't know what you're getting yourself into. Uhm, so I think even now having just experienced that and knowing what to expect again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, it puts your mind a little bit at ease of, of, you know, you survive through it obviously, but uhm, that's the first thing and then you obviously try and work with the team, with your trainer, whoever it is, all of the above to make things as easy for you as possible.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, there's always that side of things that you can't get around. You know, jet lag, you can try as hard as you like, and there are certain things you can do to help, but you're never going to fully fix it, especially when you go to Vegas and you don't see sunlight for three days. That really doesn't help.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, those little things will get looked at definitely and scrutinized. Um, you know, my sort of scheduling, um,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] commitments, all of those kind of things, my, my training leading up around those events, you know, trying to fit that in, in such a busy schedule is, is not easy, but necessary. Um, so just all of those little things you kind of need to keep on top of which, um, you know, maybe you've got a bit overwhelming points.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Definitely, yes. Yeah, I went home to Melbourne for three weeks, which was nice. Uhm, saw my family, saw my friends. Uhm, I have to say the winter break felt like it was very short.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, it came around, Bahrain came around quick, uh, and I know I'm not the first person to say that either, so, uhm, it was long enough to get a bit of a break in and, uhm, just take some time to reflect as well, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, it's been, last year was so different to the two years I had before that. Uhm, you know, the F2 season I did, we had eight race weekends. Uhm, versus 22 last year in the weekend, the 2022, I didn't have any race weekends. Uhm, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was definitely a very different experience in terms of all the traveling, especially all the flyaways. Uhm, yeaah, that was a very new experience.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, uhm, uh, it's kind of weird every time I go back home and see them, uhm, you know, and my sisters for that matter and, you know, pretty much everyone in my life in Australia, it's always, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sometimes it can be a bit shocking, you know, how different things are, you know. Some of my friends there, I'm used to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Spending time with them after school or in school holidays and now they're


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Ah, I've got work. I'm like, ah, yeah, I forgot that that exists. So, um, yeah, like it's, it's, it's nice to go back and see him, but, um, yeah, it is, there is some logistical challenges with trying to, trying to see people when you don't work a nine to five job.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, no, it's always nice to go back and spend that time with him and uhm, yeaah, you know, just spend time with old friends and not think about F1.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A few things. I think the, the first thing was I knew there wasn't that long left in the sprint. I think it was like five laps left or six laps left. Uhm, and the gap was like, I wanna say two seconds or two and a half seconds. Uhm, so I knew it was gonna be pretty tight, cause I mean, yeah, I don't need to say more, do I? Uhm, so,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, at that point I was kind of like, you know, how quickly is he going to catch me and like how hard am I going to have to fight? Uhm, but then after like the first lap he got into second and then the second lap he didn't take that much out of me. I think even the second lap we were, we were pretty much even.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, so from that point onwards, I was actually quite confident that we could, that we could win.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then from that point, it was a very long, like two or three laps trying to get to the end. But, um, yeah, I was honestly quite relaxed, but those first couple of laps, it was, yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've been in that position, fortunately, a couple of times, uh, in my career already, and it's...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] An interesting feeling when you've got a quicker car behind you, but uhm, that, yeaah, that time we had enough to hang on, which was cool.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To a very limited extent, yes, you can do some things, you can look after the tyres a little bit better, you know, you can charge the battery up if you want, uhm, but


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Both of those things come at a cost of lap time, right? So if you want to charge the battery up fully for when he gets to you, he's going to get to you even quicker. Uhm, if you want to look after the tires for when he gets to you, he's going to catch you even quicker. Uhm, so there's almost an element of


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do I push flat out and just try and hang on? Which is kind of what I did. Uhm, or do you, do you, you know, kind of just wait for the attack to come? But, I think, uhm, you know, when you've got a quicker car behind you like that, especially the Red Bull that has a very powerful DRS and top end speed,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's not that much you can do to stop it. It's almost, you know, prevention is the best, uh, you know, the best way to attack it rather than waiting for it to happen and trying to fight it. Uhm, so that was kind of the mentality I had and, uhm, yeaah, fortunately it worked.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think at the time I didn't really appreciate it that much.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Really? Yeaah, honestly, uhm, we had, we had a race the next, like we had the Grand Prix the next day, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think I was actually more excited to qualify on pole than, than, than crossing the line first for the sprint. Uhm, because, you know, the, the sprint shootout was basically the same as, as qualifying. Uhm, just had a different name. So, you know, when you beat everyone else, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On merit, you know, I feel like there's in some racing situations, even the sprint to some extent, you know, a few guys got through on softs and, you know, Max got put back in the pack a little bit.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you know, a few things went my way a little bit. I still did my job of getting back to the front, but uhm, there's those kinds of variables in qualifying. It's you, the track, and whoever's the quickest, that's, that's who wins, right? Uhm, so I was very happy about that part of the weekend. The sprint I was certainly happy with.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I then knew I had the Grand Prix the next day. So uhm, I don't think it was till after that weekend and like probably even into the off season where I went, okay, that's, it's pretty cool. Like I was one of two guys or three guys to beat Max for the whole year, one of the two non-Red Bull winners, even if it wasn't a Grand Prix.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In hindsight, a very, very cool achievement and, you know, something I'm very proud of. But at the moment, honestly, you know, even asking my engineers, um, I think they're expecting a bit more from me. So, um, yeah, it didn't sink in immediately.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, you couldn't have waited the next day to win the world championship. Like I think Lando actually said it stole my thunder a little bit, but, um, I was okay with that. I was, was happy with, with the win anyway.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I would say so. We certainly work well together. Uhm, you know, I think we're always pushing each other to be quicker and quicker. Uhm, you know, which is what you want as teammates.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean sometimes we ask each other questions about how we're driving or what we felt and stuff like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To what? To say something that's not true.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, exactly. The data doesn't lie. So uhm, it's, yeah, I mean, we, we share, you know, everything from that side of things. So uhm, I think we worked together really well and I think last year, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Absolutely not gonna take credit for the turnaround that we had, but I like to think that the way that me and Lando worked together, you know, helped.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] From that side of things, I think we've always gotten along well and worked together. Um, I think outside of that, you know, we always get to know each other better and better with more time. So, um, yeah, I feel like we get along well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Good question, I mean it's, it's not just one specific area or specific thing, uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, I think just con- I would say the biggest thing is that he's always there, uhm, and you know, even if there are mistakes, he's very good at minimizing, you know, the amount of time you lose from that, I would say. So, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it, eh, there's not one particular thing that, uhm, you know, I clearly go, he's mega here or bad here. It's, uhm, you know, chops and changes each weekend kind of thing. But, uhm, yeah, he's obviously very quick.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Definitely, definitely. Uhm, yeaah, I mean, I think Andre has been incredible for the team. You know, not just for me, but for everyone at McLaren. Like all a thousand people, literally. So, uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He's been great, I mean, you touch on his articulate language for a second language and sometimes he says stuff that I kind of go...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, first and foremost, performance driven. Um, you know, I think.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, there's no stone left unturned. Uhm, you know, we, we, we all try to get performance from, from everywhere and Andreja is very much a, a driver of that. Uhm, but, I mean, just in every, every way, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] From a motivation standpoint, uhm, it's pretty incredible. The leadership is able to show, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, and sometimes even just keeping it simple, uhm, you know, just having clear goals with what we want to do, not over complicating things, uhm, and staying sort of true to the goal. That's the...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So uhm, I mean, I could, we could do like a whole series on, on Andrejo, but uhm, he's very, very impressive. Uhm, and yeaah, I'm very happy that he's leading our team.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think for me, if I can keep working on the things that I want to improve from last year, that is ultimately the biggest thing. Uhm, you know, I think trying to aim for podiums or wins or points, whatever it might be, is always


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's not very productive, I don't think. I think if you've got, you know, Bahrain for example, we didn't have a car that could win. So if I had to set my sights on trying to win the race, I finished eighth.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm only going to leave disappointed there. So, um, whereas, you know, on the flip side, I went into that race wanting to work on how I manage the tires and, um, you know, be able to look after them and,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I left that race feeling very happy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think if I can keep doing those kind of things, regardless of where we finish, of course, if you get a trophy at the end of the day, it always makes you feel a bit better.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think knowing that I've improved or done a good job, that's by far the most important thing. And then if as a team we're in a position to, to score a podium or hopefully eventually score a win, then of course you want to try and do that as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think Suzuka again will be, like I said, a good test. It's got.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A bit of everything, uhm, the tarmac is quite unique, almost in some ways a bit like Bahrain.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, or certainly it was last year. Uhm, a lot of high speed corners, but again, some very slow corners, which uhm, in the past haven't been our friend. So, if we can be quick around there, I think that would be a good test.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But yea, to challenge Red Bull, even on some of these different circuits, I think it's still gonna be very tough.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes and no. I mean, when you're in the car, no. Like, there's another person you're trying to beat, really.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, yeaah, when you don't have the helmet on, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, it means a little bit more when you're racing against someone like Fernando or Lewis, uhm, just because of the history that they have and the success they've had in the sport. So, uhm, it is pretty cool, uhm, definitely, but when you're on track, honestly, they're all the same.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, I mean, I've crashed with Lewis a couple of times, so uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I feel like both of them weren't particularly my fault, but uhm, I don't know. Maybe he just doesn't like them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, I mean not, not massively different, you know, you kind of know, you know, with that, that much experience, you know, uhm, that they're, you know, they're gonna put the car in the right place, the strategy that they're gonna, you know, work with their team.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, it is gonna be good. Uhm, so you know, you know, from that side of things, it's always gonna be, uhm, you know, you've gotta be on, on your A game trying to beat them. But...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, there's also kind of the mentality of, you know, you can't treat them any differently. Uhm, and you can't, you know, sort of have that, uh, that prejudice because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then you're gonna race them different. You might race them a bit softer. You might race them a bit harder. Uhm, both of which can be bad. Uhm, so you kind of just have to treat them as somebody else. Uhm, and I think now that I've been in F1 for a year, it's much easier to do that. Certainly, I think uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Saudi here last year, I think I lined up alongside Lewis on the grid. Uhm, and I remember someone showed me the start graphic after the race and I was like damn, that's, I'm in my second F1 race alongside Lewis Hamilton.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Last year I was watching him line up on the grid and now I'm sitting alongside him like that's, that's pretty damn cool.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, no, he's, I mean, yeah, the couple of times Lewis and I have had incidences has been, um, very good. I mean, the, the one in, in Monza, he came up to me straight away and, um, and shook my hand and said sorry.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which, you know, you don't get from everyone on the grid. Uhm, the one in Vegas was a bit of a 50-50, but we, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Spoke about it in, you know, we certainly weren't angry or pissed off at each other. We just sort of spoke about it and you know, what we were trying to do and, and why it went wrong and stuff. So, um, yeah, from that side of things has been, um, yeah, cool to, cool to talk to and.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, yeah, you certainly don't get that kind of respect, um, or discussion with, with other people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, but I actually had, I think it was Mark actually said to me after Monza,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you, if you didn't think much of you, you wouldn't have, you wouldn't have come and said anything. Uhm, which, I'm gonna trust Mark on that one. I feel like, uh, that's a good bit of advice or wisdom, but uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, that's a long time and you know, Lewis has not had that many incidents in his life. So, um, you know, it could be easy for him just to brush it off, but I, I had a lot of respect, you know, of course I wish that we didn't crash in the first place, but, um, no, I had a lot of respect for, you know, being like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, it's, it's so many areas. Uhm, I mean, the first one is...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just the behind the scenes stuff, uhm, you know, all the, all the paperwork, uhm, sorting out schedules, uhm, you know, just making my life as simple as possible. But anyone could do that for you, right? Anyone could do that, but Mark...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or whatever it might be. He knows the effect that that's gonna have, uhm, on the weekend. Uhm, you know, if I have to go into the weekend with distractions from something else and whatever's going on, he knows the impact that that's gonna have because he's been there himself. Uhm, so having somebody that's done that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, being a driver themselves had a long career, had a successful career.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That in so many areas is incredibly helpful. Uhm, so that side of things is very important.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, even from a team point of view, you know, who's been in a championship winning team in F1, in WEC, uhm, you know, in sports cars before that. Uhm, so even just kind of the mindset and mentality brings from that side of things is very insightful and very useful.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, trying to, trying to help me or, you know, in some cases, um, you know, point out where I'm going wrong or whether I can do something different or better. Um, so it's just so many areas that he's, um, you know, invaluable.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What's it going to look like? Take that helmet and uhm, I mean apart from the sponsors. It's going to be very different. It's going to be very different. So it, I've seen it, it looks, I think it looks really cool. So I'm looking forward to showing it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It would mean a lot, definitely. Uhm, I mean, we've had, I think Albert Parks had one unofficial or temporary podium before Daniel got disqualified in 2014. Uhm, so I think-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, so it would, it would mean a lot. And I think, you know, if there's one race on, on the calendar that you want to do well at, it's always your home race. So, um, yeah, of course I, I would love to get on the podium there. We'll see if we're competitive enough to do that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, if we are, then I mean, even if we're not, I'll be doing my best to try and make it happen. And the family's coming? Yes, everyone will be there, which is cool.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What a lamington is? Uh, so a lamington is kind of like a...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I wanna say it's like sponge cake kind of, uhm, depends a bit on the lamington, but it's like sponge cake with a bit of jam in the middle, uh, and then it's rolled in, uhm, like


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Cocoa or like something that sticks to the sponge, uh, and then it's rolled in coconut. So it's very nice.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so that was a different thing. She delivered uhm, they're called rumbles. Uhm, so they're like,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's a specific type of biscuit, I forget what type of biscuit. Uhm, but you crush it up, mix it with condensed milk and cocoa powder, make it into a ball. If you're


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] An adult. He put rum in it. Uhm, my grandma's never put rum in it. Cause, I mean, they were a childhood treat, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I haven't checked in, uh, I should, but I'm sure they'll be there, uh, in bulk.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Am I right? I think so. I need to double check. But, uh, yeaah. There's definitely some of them coming, which is very cool.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'll be honest with you, that was probably the best I've ever met in my life. Uhm, yeaah. You look very relaxed. I had a few good ones. I mean, Nathan Lyon was bowling very slowly to me. He was putting a lot of spin on it. I'm sure he could have tried more.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, so I didn't have a box, I mean I didn't have any kit with me, so uhm, I wore Nathan Lyons actual match kit, which was quite cool, uhm, a bit sweaty admittedly, but uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, definitely not, definitely not. So uhm, see, he was taking it easy on me, but that was honestly probably the best I've ever hit a cricket ball as well. So uhm, yeaah, I won't be taking on that challenge any time soon again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Absolute nonsense. Absolute rubbish. Uhm, I will admit, I'm not the best. I've played against some people that are good. Uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I'm certainly not the worst. Uhm, that, yeaah, it's getting personal now. I saw, they, they did another video today as of when we were recording. Yeaah, they've, they've put my face on a paddle racket, uhm, to, uh, to try and, uh, I mean I haven't seen the video yet but, uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, this is not finished, so uhm, I think it's gonna probably end up in a McLaren vs. Williams paddle game.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, you can. Uh, we might sell tickets and everything. Um, but yeah, this is not over, but I'm not taking it because I'm definitely not the worst. No winning.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, I think putting an absolute number on it is not particularly productive, like I said. I mean, you know, as much as we try to not


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I, I, I want to beat everybody, uhm, which includes Lando. So uhm, you know, I want to be able to try and do that. Uhm, you know, there's certainly some things that I need to improve on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That will take time, but uhm, yeah, I mean, I'm here because I want to try and win. So uhm, that's, that's going to be a good measure, I guess. Uhm, but yeah, just the constant improvement is the biggest thing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I say I want to beat everybody, but the constant improvement is what's going to make me beat everybody. So, um, focusing on that is the important part and then hopefully the rest does what it needs to do. Very good luck with that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, paddle, thank you Alex Albon. Uhm, what else am I good at?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I like to think I'm not a terrible cook, actually. Lamington.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I can't cook lambings, no, but. No, I'm not a good cook. I feel like you should ask everyone this question.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By far. Uhm, I mean we spend so much time trying to be good at driving race cars that we don't have that much time for anything else. Uhm, I wanna say that, let's say in the F1 field, I reckon I can back myself as the best cricketer.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, someone who can fix the lift, ideally, uhm, that would be good. Uh, I don't know, probably, I mean, probably Senna. I've spoken to Alain Prost before, so I think he's out of the running because I've already spoken.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Probably Senna, I think Jackie Stewart would be, I mean I've spoken to Jackie as well, uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The sort of style that he had as well, uhm, but also like just the way he went about racing and like trying to improve the sport as well, uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I think, and I think that's kind of why I'd, I'd want to be stuck with Jackie as well. Um, you know, the way he was of course successful, but improved the sport, you know, to in some ways what it is today. Um, that would be very cool to learn about.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, I mean, probably Alan Prost. I think that's a pretty cool person to have the phone number of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Who would be your first guest if you hosted a podcast? As in from the grid or? Can be anyone. Anyone. Anyone. Uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Alex Albon said we're going to have a paddle match and settle it once and for all. No, but that needs to be on video. True, true. A podcast. Uhm, these are hard questions. This is way harder than an interview.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've got no idea. These are questions I've never thought about. Who would I want as a guest on a podcast? Sports star. Politician. Explorer. Michael Jordan.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Have you watched The Last Dance? I have watched The Last Dance, yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean just to know firstly about him, I mean I kind of have a rough idea of him from Netflix now, but uhm, just to know what it was like.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, from, like, the first thing, what it was like to become, like, what he had to do to become that successful, what it was like being that successful, and like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How do you deal with being the most famous person in the world? Like that was... I mean, I have a very...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Minor appreciation for what it might have been like, but that was, from some of the stuff I've watched in The Last Dance, that was next level stuff, so.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And no one, like no one can teach you about how to deal with that. So uhm, yeaah, that's probably a question I'd ask.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, it's, it's been cool, definitely. You're still at the cool stage. It's, I'm still at the cool stage, yeaah. Sometimes, like, the hardest part is saying no. Because, like, you don't wanna let anyone down or, or say no to signing something or taking photos, but...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It does get to a point where like I have to go do things and do my job or whatever it might be. Uhm, that's like, that's honestly the hardest part about it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Next week. Oh, don't worry. I know. Arrive early. I know. I will. Um, I think I timed one last year or maybe the year before. I think it took me half an hour to walk. I don't know how long it is, but it's like 50 meters. Yeah. A hundred tops. So, um, yeah, I will be there bright and early. Well, Oscar.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's often said that you learn more from tough times than from good times. For Formula One drivers, tough times can feel very tough. Losing your hard-fought place in the sport, wondering if you'll ever get it back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's among the toughest of all. Jan Lammers waited longer than anyone else in history for that second chance. More than 10 years. And in those tough times, he learned a lot.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Welcome to F1 Beyond the Grid. I'm Tom Clarkson and Jan is one of the most thoughtful people we've ever had on the show. His Formula One career is a lesson for any aspiring racing driver or anyone who wants to be successful and feel fulfilled in any walk of life.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jans always lived in and around the world of Formula One. He was born near the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands and he learned car control before he was a teenager.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Success in the European Formula 3 Championship propelled him into Formula 1 in the late 1970s. But he admits his own impatience and a lack of guidance meant he didn't get the chance to prove his talent in a front-running car.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On his best days, bad luck stopped him challenging for Grand Prix podiums, and he struggled to find a reliable team where he could prove his speed, and he dropped out of the sport in 1982.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Determined to get back in, Jan studied himself. He learned new things and changed his attitude. That change helped him to a nail-biting victory at Le Mans and to achieve his personal aim of returning to Formula One after a decade away.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And he's now applying all of his know-how to his role as sporting director at his beloved Zandvoort. He's marvelling at Max Verstappen's rise, working to make the Dutch Grand Prix the fantastic spectacle that it is and setting new standards in sustainability. I hope you enjoy our conversation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, and it's wonderful to have you on the show. Thank you very much for your time. Now look, you're someone who's lived in Zandvoort all your life. How special is it to see the place buzzing like it is this weekend with the Grand Prix in town?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Everything you've just described makes me realise how much you and the local community must have missed the race when it wasn't here from 1985 to 2021.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What about the wider impact of Max Verstappen on the Dutch motorsport community? I mean, has there been a surge in interest in karting for example?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So there could very well be another Max Verstappen just making their way through now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For 40 years and we're gonna come onto your career in a moment. But Jan, what is it that impresses you so much about Max?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, and do you think winning the world championship has taken any of, if there were any, any of the rough edges off him?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is it odd for you to see Max having this success? Cause you must have known him all his life because, you know, you know your spell of course.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The ideal holiday should be just like an F1 race. Action packed in a luxurious atmosphere and a breathtaking location. And that is exactly what an MSC cruise offers you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They specialize in top of their class cruises with more than 1000 itineraries, like the blue seas of the Caribbean, the sun and culture of the Mediterranean Sea, the sceneries of Northern Europe, the oriental fascination of the Emirates, and the lively atmospheres of South America.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Plus, there's the added bonus of a comprehensive choice of speciality restaurants, a new destination every day, land excursions, and much, much more. MSC cruise ships have always set the technological standards for safety, environmental care, and onboard design. Especially their imminent launch of MSC World Europa.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A truly ultra modern urban metropolis at sea. So why not explore MSC Cruises world of destinations and book yourself a holiday that's going to take your breath away from start to finish on msccruises.com. MSC Cruises, a world of discovery.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What's about Elio De Angelis? He was your, your teammate that year. I always thought he was slightly underrated, a really quick racing driver. Is that your experience of him?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now look, let's fast forward to the following year, 1980, the D4 ATS. Let's talk Long Beach. You qualified fourth. An extraordinary performance. Just how good was that?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On the grid, looking back and seeing someone like Alan Jones behind you on the grid.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, it's such a fickle business this, isn't it? And did that P4 on the grid in Long Beach give you any interest from the big


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then once you'd gone to Ensign, the cars got harder, didn't they? And then by the end of 82, had you slightly fallen out of love with Formula One and were you looking to go to Porsche in sports cars?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Using the internet without a VPN is a lot like using your mobile phone without a protective case. A majority of the time you'd be absolutely fine, but all it takes is that one small slip as it falls out of your pocket onto the cold concrete and the next thing you know, you're looking at a broken phone. You'd wish you'd protected yourself beforehand, wouldn't you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, by using ExpressVPN, you'll always have the peace of mind that your personal data is protected when you access the internet. When you use unencrypted wifi networks in public spaces, any hacker on the same network can gain access to your personal information and your data is valuable to them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But there's no need to leave yourself at risk. ExpressVPN creates a secure encrypted tunnel between your device and the internet. So secure, in fact, that it would take a hacker with a supercomputer over a billion years to get past ExpressVPN's encryption.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And what's really great is it's compatible with all devices and so easy to get started. Just download the app on your phone, laptop or tablet, tap one button and you're protected.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So secure your online data today by visiting expressvpn.com slash grid. That's e-x-p-r-e-s-s-vpn.com slash grid. And you can get an extra three months free. Expressvpn.com slash grid.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The record that you hold actually, it's the longest gap between races. I've got the stats here, it's 10 years, 3 months and 22 days. Uhm, what does that stat mean to you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Might be. Look, how had the cars changed in the 10 years that you'd been away from 82 to 92?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, let's talk about Le Mans because that 1988 race is such a defining moment for your career. But when we talk about that race as a whole, you've made 24 starts at Le Mans in your career.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I always wonder how you guys cope with having to share your car with another racing driver


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The three of you complimented each other because when you look at the hard facts, you were the senior driver. Andy Wallace at the time had made the jump up from Formula 3, so he lacked experience.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Johnny of course had done that, that year at Lotus in Formula One, but would you say that you complimented each other when you look at what you were capable of doing?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And how close did you get to not finishing that Le Mans in 1988?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] DoorDash could be the answer you're looking for. With DoorDash, you can get dinner, household essentials and everything on your grocery list delivered in under an hour. You can even get hold of last-minute school supplies or fresh flowers if you need something for a special occasion but don't have time to shop.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And what's great about DoorDash is that it gives you the option to support local businesses alongside the well-known establishments out there. So you're not just getting the things you love.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you're supporting the community you love as well. With more than 300,000 partners, you can support your neighbourhood go-tos and independent stores or choose from favourite national restaurants like Popeyes and the Cheesecake Factory.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can shop local and support your community without even leaving the house. From the stores and restaurants to the dashes driving around, each order you place provides a new opportunity for everyone involved because with DoorDash, there is a neighbourhood of good in every order.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For a limited time, our listeners can get 50% off and zero delivery fees on their first order of $15 or more when you download the DoorDash app and enter the code GRID.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's 50% off, up to $12 in value and zero delivery fees on your first order when you download the DoorDash app in the App Store and enter the code GRID.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Don't forget, that's code GRID for 50% off your first order with DoorDash, subject to change, terms apply.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And final one on Le Mans from me is, you partnered many Formula One drivers at that race. You talked about Jonathan Palmer, but I can mention Eddie Cheever, Patrick Tambay, Theo Fabi.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the year of all years, tell me if I'm wrong, was 1996 when you partnered Mario Andretti and Derek Warwick. You finished third overall. Can you describe what it was like to partner those two guys?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Jan, it's been so wonderful to talk to you. Look, when you sum it all up, which was the best racing car you ever drove?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just bringing it back to Zandvoort, to this race. How do you see the future of the Dutch Grand Prix?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's interesting you touch on the sustainability of it because it's fantastic seeing all the, all the fans cycling in and then on their prizes for, for fans that recycle their cups. Just all sorts of little initiatives like that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's so much inspiring stuff going on and it's been inspiring to talk to you, Jan. Thank you. When are we going to see you driving a modern Formula One car around Zandvoort?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What an inspiring man Jan is. He articulated his thoughts so clearly about such a wide range of subjects and his positivity is infectious. Every bit of advice he gives, especially the section where he talks about taking the initiative.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you do something, then people will help you was interesting and helpful. Life lessons that we can all benefit from.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Thanks Jan, it was great to catch up and I look forward to seeing you again soon.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] As ever, please send in your memories and thoughts about Jan. Did you see him race in Formula One? Or were you at Le Mans in 1988 to witness his memorable victory for Jaguar? Let me know either by using the hashtag F1B on the grid, or you can contact me direct at Tom Clarkson F1.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which brings me on to what you sent in about René Arnoux after last week's episode. It was such a treat to have René on the show and it brought back a lot of happy memories for many of us. Let's start with this from Simon Worth.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Love this one, Tom. Likewise, René forms some of my earliest memories of watching Formula One. A bloody fast driver, and what a great guy. Loved hearing him chat about Gilles and Enzo Ferrari. Thank you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well thanks for the note, Simon, and you're right, on his day, René was the fastest man out there, and it was great to hear him talk about his friend Gilles and dealing with Enzo Ferrari.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was the only topic you wouldn't elaborate on, wasn't it, Andrew? But still, there was so much gold in there for us all to enjoy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And finally, what about this from Peter Carroll Krause? I saw Rene win at Zandvoort in 1983.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He drove to the track by himself in what looked like a late 60s or early 70s Rolls Royce and he was wearing just a t-shirt and jeans. He's the only driver I've ever seen lean forward in the cockpit as if to make the car go faster or at least to be a little better aerodynamically.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What a story, Peter. That was such an aggressive seat position, wasn't it? And René was without a doubt


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Dude, I can imagine him arriving at a racetrack in a roller. We'll leave it there for messages. We receive lots, as ever, and I've read them all. Thank you. We really love your feedback.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So what are you listening to next? How about F1 Nation's Dutch Grand Prix review? Just search your podcast app for F1 Nation and hear race previews and reviews every Monday. Thanks for listening. F1 Beyond the Grid is produced by F1 and Audioboom Studios. Until next time, keep it flat out.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Stay out there and risk a crash or back off and fight for another day and Magnuson backed off. Here we go again.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was blaming myself that I was not politically strong enough. I was afraid to open my mouth. I could not convince the people the directions which I would like to go. I found myself not being a complete racing driver.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not capable to get the people behind me. If I would have won the world championship, that would be a completely different life for me afterwards.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeaah, I had to give my daughter, the oldest one, a chance to see Formula One and, uhm, and I thought you might be helpful. The racing gene is strong in, in, in the Frenzon.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't think she has the perspective of racing. I think she has the perspective of the glamour of Formula One. I mean, because I had, you know, I had so much distance to Formula One and motorsport for so many years. I had a chance today, arriving in Silverstone, to see it like a fan, you know, like a motorsport enthusiast. And I saw,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Actually I thought it was Formula 1 and I was really excited when I saw this car.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Racing cars coming by and I was really excited and I said, Jesus Christ, this is, this is motorsport. And then I realized it was Formula 2, but it was as fascinating. And I'm so excited to see it, yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, compared to my days, it looks everything much more developed, you know, like the motorhomes, they are so fascinating, beautiful.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Getting bigger each year or nicer each year. The trucks, they are so perfectly nicely built. It's the ongoing development, no?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's well about the cars, you know, when you look at the cars 20 years ago and you look at the cars today, such a huge difference.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, very little, very little. Well, I saw Beard Sender from Sauber, occasionally, by coincidence, somewhere in the world, yeaah. And, uhm, I had a few times contact, uh, apart with Beard, but not with many people.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] People know that, for example, um, Nik Heidfeldt's brother is married with my sister. But even though we don't really manage to get, uh, very often together, so it's like being isolated. How do you reflect on your Formula One career? Well, first of all,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I cannot complain. It could have been better, yes, but at the end of the day I had a great time and that's how I see it now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I was a bit sad when I stopped in 2003 because I wasn't happy how I finished. Yeah. Because I would have done something else at the end, but then after a while I said, listen, I just, you escaped a bad accident in, uh, in Canada 99. Be happy, you know, and take it what it is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Very nice of him that he said that. But if he says that and he means it honestly, that's a great, uh, great honor. What can I say? I mean, it's his opinion. I don't really...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, this is part of, uh, of my experience in Formula One. So, for example, if I...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I made a big jump in a lesson in Formula 1 between 96 and 97 when I joined Williams. Because at Williams I realized that being fast as a driver is not enough.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I understood that the only way to be fast is to understand the car 100%.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I did not understand the Williams car, how it worked. For example, I had switches and functions which I have never seen before. Like, for example, the differential. So if you brake, you can have a switch on the steering wheel.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where you can increase the differential stiffness, so locking more up to 100% or less.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then you have a switch function to change in the apex of the corner, and then you have a progressive function exiting the corner. And we end up in the season, the 97th season, the end of the day with a brake system, which you had a switch on the steering wheel.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you turn, for example, on right-hand corners, high-speed right-hand corners, and you had a bit of understeer, so you press the right switch on the right-hand corner, you disconnected three brake calipers, you only had the brake caliper on the inside wheel, and you brake the car with the inside wheel. It's like a modern,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Autocontrol system in the car, you know. But you had to do it manually. You had tons of possibilities, yeaah. That was really, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Such a big impact for me to control all these possibilities to make this extra lap because if you don't have any switches or anything like that you drive as fast as you can. But then you improve the car.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No, I've never seen that before. I mean, it started with Williams that it had already an aero map, which was, uh, from slow speed corners to high speed corners, identical. So you had the same balance in slow speed and high speed.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, the biggest problem for me was that Jack knew the car, knew all the tricks and I had really never seen something like that. And what I realized is that when we first time, uh, ran with low fuel and that was in Melbourne, 97, all the days before I never had a low fuel run with this William car, yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then we were talking and then I was really surprised that, uh, at the first race he took me over one second. I mean, I still finished second on the grid, but he took me away one second and he started to work on the damping system. He used the dampers for balancing the car. He used all kinds of things on the car. I've never seen before.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I didn't understand how that works. So I was so behind the car. And before the season really started, I was so behind in the point system that I had to start to drive for him, yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it was a bit difficult because, ehm, you have to imagine Damon won the championship the year before and everybody was really shocked when I joined Williams and everybody asked why. And then having such a difficult start of the season, everybody was questioned, Frank.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Also finding out that, uh, Adrian Newey left the team because of, uh, Frank's or Patrick's decisions to take me on board without letting him know. Hey, can I ask?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The, the situation was that it was the wrong timing for me to join Williams. The pressure was very high and I could not, it's not the pressure I had which was a problem, it was simply that I didn't understand the car at all initially. And by the time I was getting along with it,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The season had been halfway through and, and, uh, it was done basically for me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He has an opinion and that's the opinion. And we tried to convince him in a different direction. It was very difficult. Frank was more the guy who was quiet thinking, observing and making his decisions. Yeah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But Patrick was more involved in technology and for example my first win in Imola in 97, he was


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He was so upset. You think he would be happy. Yes, maybe he was at the end happy, but he was so upset with my strategy, which we talked before the race. We knew that Michael was going to be strong in Imola. I was going to try to stay as long as possible because at those days,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Formula 1 pit stop was crucial for overtaking. Today it's very easy with hybrid system and also the wing coming down.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But those days we had to race, fight very hard to overtake and Imola was impossible on a normal condition to overtake or the second chance is just in the pit to overtake.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that means to stay longer out. And that was always the trick to be longer out than your competitor. And I told Patrick that I'm going to use my trick in sports car racing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where it's impossible to overtake just in case, yeaah, if I don't be in front on the start.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I would like to increase my laps. I could easily two laps increase with a fuel saving system I had. So I was saving between 10 and 15% of fuel. And Patrick was saying, no way you're gonna, we want to see you racing. We want to see you on a track to give everything. That's racing. I don't want to see you saving fuel.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And me and my race engineer Tim Preston at the time, we were just sticking our plan, doing it and the crew and the team.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] By this time I just translated the German version of that, you know, and I said oil on my soul. Nobody English speaking people understood that because it's a German saying.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's the moment where, where you basically are suffering because nobody expected you to win and it was really disappointing. It was one of my hardest, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I knew it was possible. My biggest challenge was to understand the car properly. Did Jack help in any way?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What kind of a teammate was he? No, he was quite happy to beat me. I mean, he was, well, we didn't have really a bad environment, you know, we were, we could anytime get together and drink a beer, but end of the day. Also, there was this story was playing bad or games with me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Definitely not because, uh, I could see where, where he was doing, uh, or having his advantage. I mean, the combination Jaguar Nerve and Jock Clear.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Was an unbeatable combination because Jock Clear at the time, he knew everything about the car and all the tricks and of course he's working for Jack and not for me. I did ask him sometimes a few questions and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And uh, yeaah, he tried to help me as well on this occasion, but it was not like that, that he would present it to you, yeaah.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The greatest thing is, like I mentioned before, it's not only the speed that the driver have. The speed is not the point. The point is really to improve the car in areas


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where, where to gain lap times. For example, uh, you get out with a car, the Williams, for example, 97, you think, fantastic car, this is a good lap.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But the lap time is not good enough. What I understood is that in corners, it's important to have a better balance.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And even if it's difficult to have a better balance in that corner, makes a big difference in the lap time. But in all the rest of the corners, or the track, the balance is shit. But in the end, the lap time is faster.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That counts in the end of the day, the lap time, yeaah. And so that means that in three corners, I got the balance right, but in the rest, the rest of the track, the balance was really bad.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, I came out as a much more thoughtful driver. I knew much more about the racing car because at Williams we were allowed to touch everything.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Roll centers, anti-dive, anti-lift, uh, caster, brakes. You cannot imagine what toys we got on the car. It was, most of those things were banned for 98. So the FIA came with this new rule book to say,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're gonna get rid of all this complication, technical issues. Yeaah. We go back to the basics. And we're not able anymore to do any changes at the differentials.