[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And something like 65% of all online Red Bull F1 merchandise is sold to Mexico. Which shows the commercial value of Checo, but that's not going to save him if he's not


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He should be in that car, and the cars are equal as well.


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[Assistant] You know, even after his crash with Lewis, in the sprint race, he still had exactly the same car as Max.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, but he was driving it in a different way, noticeably in a different way, you know, you, you could tell. Uhm, but he, he has got to finish second to his teammate if his teammate has won the race, or, on occasion, take his chance and beat him, and we know he can.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you just gotta realise, he is a Rubens, he is an Eddie Irvine, he's not a Michael Schumacher.


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[Assistant] I'm not going to disagree with any of that. I think there are many ways to consume Formula One. And whatever way you want to consume it,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Choose your poison. That's absolutely fine. I'm not going to say to anyone that they're wrong out there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] All I would say is if you think the sight of cars...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Going at 200 miles an hour plus. It's boring. Or, yea, or doing 170 miles an hour through, through maggots and beckets, or, you know, showing the most supreme engineering challenge in the hands of some of the most talented human beings ever to grab hold of a steering wheel.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, where, where it tracks where you're millimeters away from ruining your afternoon for 70 odd laps, uh, in a race. If you think that's boring, I can't help you. I really can't.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I know I don't want, I don't want people to choose a different sport crew and I'd like people to be watching on a Sunday afternoon, but I can't help you if you think, if you think that's boring. It is so, so easy to run with a herd here and say, oh, it's boring cause Max keeps winning.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Why not marvel at the record, at the excellence, at the consistency. And to be that good for so long, I couldn't do it. You know? None of us could do it. Caroon, Caroon couldn't do it. He got one more race in F1 than Nick De Vries. He was so much better, you know, than some of the drivers out there. But you know, you couldn't do that form of excellence.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know what it takes, Karun, to be that good. You know, appreciate what we're seeing. Because we're not going to see it forever.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Boring's the wrong word. We've had more straightforward races. Yeah, we've had more races that have panned out to their eventual conclusion a lot more, uh, a lot sooner than we've had before. But not every race can be Happy Dabby 2021.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Honestly, I've not been depressed this season. It has panned out the way I thought it would go, but it's not depressing me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sorry, I still find the sight of Formula 1 cars racing around the track really exciting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Come and join us more often, you know, just sit on your sofa and we'll try and, we'll try and get you standing up and cheering by the end.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, keeping that second place and the distance between themselves and Aston Martin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I worry with Mercedes, who's wagging these engineering changes? Is the engineering team saying we need to be changing our concepts or is it pressure from those in the cockpit, from Lewis and from George?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This is a vastly experienced racing driver and George has got plenty of experience himself.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you want the engineering team to be driving it because they understand engineering and design and aerodynamics way more than the drivers ever will. But I just worry that the changing concept, did it come from the cockpit or did it come from back at base? They're losing staff?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, Loic Serra, uh, is, is heading off to, to, to Ferrari, and they'll miss him, and there have been others that, that have gone as well, uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We often see this, don't we? You know, the dynasties dissipate after a while and those group of men and women that came together to create such an amazing dynasty at Mercedes, you know, have we now ticked past midnight and are we starting?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To wane just a little bit. Now, if, if finishing second in the championship is, is waning just a little bit, yeah, then Checo Perez really is going to be worried. No, but, but, you know, there's eight other teams would love to be in Mercedes position.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But that's, Mercedes don't want to be racing for second. But, you know, every good thing has to come to an end. Mercedes dominance has very much come to an end. It's how they, how they readjust their mindset from here on in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They are, well they definitely are. Every team is already well underway with their concept and in the sim as well with their 2024 car.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Not helped by having so many races these days as well. It's like, it is a proper revolving door. When does anyone get any holiday? Well, you get two weeks in the summer. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Yeah. But it's more a case of when does anyone get a time to properly evaluate and test concepts that are coming through? That's, I think where some of the teams are struggling. Um, fine if you start off well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's so much demand, race after race after race after race, week in week out, that they just haven't got the time, or the staff, to do the proper evaluation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was talking to Andrea Stella, who was a fascinating man to sit and have a chat to, and I think, I think has really grown into that team principal's job at McLaren this year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, we can't spend too much time this year trying to chase the performance because we are going to undo all the good work for next year as well. And because of cost cap and because of the wind tunnel restrictions and the spending, blah de blah de blah, we just haven't got time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To dive deep into these upgrades if they don't work. And even if they do work, we probably still haven't got time to start chasing performance out of this because it's going to detract so badly from what we need for next year as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm not quite sure that's what Formula One should be about. Well that wasn't why the cost cap got bought in, was it? The cost cap was to stop teams spending obscene amounts of money. But it feels like, is it not limiting development for midfield teams? The cost cap is limiting many things in Formula One. Staff recruitment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is, is being affected by it because teams just can't pay the money that businesses outside of Formula One can pay because the cost cap isn't going up and inflation is quite high. There is a brain drain.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, as it were in Formula One with people leaving the sport to go and work elsewhere. Uhm, Chief Financial Officers, I'm sure are spending the summer shut down scratching their heads thinking, I hope we've got everything right. It is a hugely complex.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A piece of, uh, a piece of mechanism that does anyone really truly understand, you know?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I also, I just think it's being managed badly as well. Why are we waiting a whole year to have the auditors bring out the results? Do it quarter by quarter so teams know what's going on and can make adjustments.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But they're also, they're also struggling to fill the gaps that have been left by people, you know, wanting out so many races. You know full well that not everyone wants to go to every race these days. So, so trying to find people to do that is hard. But that's not a cost cap. That's not, that's a very different scenario. But cost, cost cap will stop the sport attracting


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The people that's attracted in the past. They will go off to other industries, not just road cars. You know, there's a lot of synergy between the space program, you know, between aerospace as well, and Formula One. There's a huge amount of synergies out there. And team principals are telling me, we are starting to see problems on this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, I think, I think we should get rid of the cost cap as it, as it stands currently and we should turn around and say, right, let's be, let's be honest about this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The intentions of the cost cap were, were, were pure and to stop people spending obscene amounts of money. And lots has gone on to try and hide things.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Outside of the cost cap, you know, TD45, Nicholas Tom Bass, Tom Bassist has said, right, we're going to clamp down on all these parts that turn up at tracks that have got a bit of water on them because they've been designed for a boat or whatever. That's just me being a bit funny by the way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But what we should do is just turn around and say, realistically, your cost cap's set at 140 million dollars without the top three earners and without the drivers. So you've got 250 million dollars a year, full stop.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or 300 million if, or whatever, if the commercial side of things needs to get taken into consideration. Yeah, stop having commercial outside of cost cap because you can hide things there as well and just have a set fee. Make it simple.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Everyone can understand it, and if you go over that fee, then...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We are, we are going to come down on you massively hard. Five points, not just money. Not seven million dollars and a win ton of restriction. You're going to get, you're going to get for every, I don't know, for every,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 10,000. You've gone over the cost cap. We'll take a point off it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But then you'll get massive redundancies, yeaah. Because if you start taking, look, say a team has overspent by 10 million.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which is possible. With this TD45 that's come in, that's looking at areas outside of F1 that might be influencing what's going on in F1 within a team. If you've ever spent by 10 million, there's a 20 million dollar cost cap penalty. That's going to lead to redundancies and we don't want to see that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I don't think less races are going to happen. Uhm, I would hope we're going to get two more teams because I do want to see two more teams on the grid. I think we need that variety and if we are going to have job losses because of cost cap, then some of those get absorbed with the new teams as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We are 40 minutes in. Yeah, we have gone on a little tangent, but you know, actually a very, a very, a fascinating one. I'm really sorry, uh, but I think, look, Cost Cap is going to be the big story going into the second half of the season.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, and, and all these reports are my own. Three teams have gone over the cost cap. Nobody knows. The auditors have already just finished their jobs. The teams submit their accounts. Yeah. Think that they've done a great job and they're all under the cost cap. Then the FIA check it against what's allowed and what isn't, and then come back to them and say, yes, you're okay or no, you've overspent.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Everything I'm told by the FIA at the moment is the time scale is exactly the same as last year. So Singapore, that's when we'll start to find out a few more things.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just to add to Aston Martin. I would add to Aston Martin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For the second half of the season, I want to see the Lance stroll back that turned up in Bahrain.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because I think he's lost his way a little bit. I think he's lost his mojo. And whatever's happened, Lance just doesn't seem to be as motivated now as he was at the start of the season. And I do wonder, are we approaching a time when


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He's the one driver on the grid that you think you're guaranteed a job as long as, you know, your dad is there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We've never actually talked about contracts with Lance Stroll. We've never looked at his future, um, elsewhere, but I just have, I have a little feeling that in about a year and a half's time, Lance Stroll will race his last race in Formula One and might go off and do something else.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because I just, I think he's losing his mojo. I don't think Formula One was the sport he wanted to go into when he was younger. I mean, he was a massive tennis talent when he was younger. One of the best youngsters in Canada at the time. And I just, I just wonder if he might go off and find something that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fulfills him more and brings more excitement to him. I'm not saying he's not enjoying driving in Formula One. Uhm, I think there are times he is, but I think, I look at him sometimes and think you want to be doing something else, don't you?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I think his dad will realize, as you know, as chairman as well. It's a business, isn't it? It's a business and I need two drivers. So if he's not getting the results, I think an easy decision is made.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think they know they're going to be quick. I just wonder sometimes if they know how they're going to run the race and make it as quick as they possibly can. They say all the right things beforehand and then something seems to happen occasionally in races that they go back to the filing cabinet of strategy and pick out the wrong bit of paper. Uhm, I spoke to Charles Leclerc in Spa.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Spar's great by the way, Tony, for, for, there's the stairs that go from the bottom paddock to the top paddock. Yep. You, you catch up with people on those stairs. There's no escape. There's no escape.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I was blocking Cheryl Leclerc's route. He couldn't get anywhere. And we had a really good chat at the start of the weekend. And one thing really struck me is that he totally believes in what Fred Vasseur is doing at the team. He says, look, I've got faith in Fred. I've known him for so long. You know, I fully back everything he's trying to do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you could see, as he was biting his tongue at a few other questions, that he's not totally on board with some of the decisions that are being made.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some of the things that are happening behind the scenes, they've lost Laura Mekis now, he's gone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, and, and, and, and replaced by someone who's been at Maranello for, for, for many, many, uh, uh, years, but we remain to be seen how Diego takes on that, that deputy team principal's role. They still haven't replaced Mattia Bonotto, uh, you know, and that tech, there's that technical leader. Fred's still got an awful lot of work, uh, to, to do and,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'll go back on a limb again. I wonder how long, and this is not from this conversation that I had with Charlotte the other day, I wonder how long he'll be patient.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With Ferrari, whether he might find that there's somewhere else that he can go, maybe if there's a gap and Aston Martin in 2025, which would be, would be a, a really, really attractive proposition given what will be happening with Honda, uh, from the, uh, the following year for him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's difficult for him, Tony, isn't it? Because Ferrari have paid for his career so far. He has been a Ferrari man. And he wants to make it work with Ferrari.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He's too good a talent to not be getting the results that we think he deserves.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He's been wearing this knock-off Casio digital watch. I love that for him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There you go. Their hand was forced a little bit with their downforce package. I think their medium downforce package didn't work particularly well at Spa, so they had to go.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With the higher downforce, that then helped them in the wet and on a drying track.


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[Assistant] I thought Oscar Piastri, the way he drove in the tricky conditions from, from wet to dry, uhm, Tom Stalart, his race engineer, so Jenson Button territory, and it very much was Jenson Button territory, and I think showed


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Show why a lot of us feel Oscar piastry is very much the real deal for the future and one absolutely to be watched out for.


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[Assistant] If they have turned it around brilliantly, it is great to see McLaren back on the up again, uhm, and just adding another dimension to that midfield battle. So, so, do you know what? Well done.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Zack Brown for making the changes behind the scenes, you know. Sidle went, uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, and the promotion of Andrea Estella wasn't exactly a revolutionary promotion.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But it was the right promotion for McLaren, and I think they will continue to go from strength to strength.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't, I don't get it. I asked the question to Bruno Famine in the press conference. You've been two weeks in the job. Is this your idea or are you carrying out orders from above? Uhm, he didn't really answer that one to be fair. I said, what are your targets? He said wins and championships, which seems...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because the engine is not good. And he says no, well, the chassis department, you know, they need it to be getting better too.


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[Assistant] Keroon and I have said this many times since a production meeting in 2019, uh, before a race where I said in the office, can I just ask a stupid question? I just don't get Renault at the moment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't get what they're trying to do in Formula One. I don't get why the team's called Alpine.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Just got rid, by mutual consent or whatever, of, you know, their 34 year standing sporting director, and their team principal, with Pat Fry announced the previous day, and all he could talk about was the Alpine Motorsport Programme. Nobody wanted to hear that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that's the thing, you can't. And I feel really sorry, there are some great people at Endstone. And that performance, Pierre Gasly's third place in the sprint, I was so pleased that they had something to celebrate that weekend. And I think Pierre acknowledged that this was for the whole team.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some bridges need to be, to, to, to be built, not burns there. And I, and I think there needs to be, you know, a way forward where, where both sides, Endstone and, and very the engine, where they all need to feel part of the same team and, and, and feel that,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Those making the decisions in France are not going to push thunderbolts like this at them.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Opmar's position has been under threat since Miami. But give the guy time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And then come back with people in place at the next race. To do it on the Thursday of a Grand Prix, PR-wise made no sense to me either.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Step out of shower, dry with a towel, apply a bit of cream, walk out the door. Yeah. Well, I bet you it takes less time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I think Williams have the best chance. I think replacing Yost Capito with James Vowles, uhm, will go above.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think James is doing a mega job at Williams and whilst he'll concede himself there are easy gains to be made given that Williams was so far back. I think he's just put in place some simple routes to improvement.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Has energized the factory, uh, down at Grove. Brought in people, Pat Fry, uh, Karun was talking about. It is a super signing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, for Williams, and is trying to get, uh, a capex spend so that they can improve the facilities at Grove, update them, replace some of the machinery that's got a bit old down there. It's a team that can go places with a man who knows what it's like to win championships. And don't think of James Vowles just as a strategist.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He has a master's degree in engineering. He understands.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I hope they do, because we want to see Williams return to form.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where I do wonder about the other three, Alfa Romeo, they're in a kind of limbo status at the moment before they become Audi, you feel, yeah?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, limbo status at Alfa Romeo, they've had a bad season, uh, compared to last year. Their car was underweight at the start of last year and they, they, they have the benefits from that. And it's interesting, I was talking to Franz Tost.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In the paddock when, uh, when Daniel Ricciardo came in about many things and he questioned Valtteri's motivation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Kevin Magnusson's motivation, and Alfa Romeo and Haas.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I kind of wondered why they were there, and on results maybe you can see that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I think they still bring a wealth of experience.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Deserves his place there, but what's going on with the transition from Sauber to Audi, I think is a bit of a distraction at the moment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And they're in a bit of limbo status. The, the true test for that team will be when Audi properly take over and from 2026 onwards and you don't hear great reports about where the engine, uh, the power unit, um, stages at the moment in terms of the research and development. And, and that probably brings us onto Haas and to AlphaTauri. Haas.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Fast car, over one lap, struggles when the tyres go off. You can't really say much more than that, because that's their season and they can't get a hold on those problems. Hulkenberg's great to see him back, great to see him motivated, but he's motivated on the Saturday because he knows that Sunday's going to be a bit of a struggle.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They need experience, you know, the, the, the Schumacher, um, uh, Mazepin.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They didn't need experience that year, they just needed to be racing, because the car was so far off the pace, you know, they could have put Max Verstappen in there, they wouldn't have been anywhere near the points.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But I think they need experience now and Hulkenberg, look at what he did in Austria. You know, fine qualifying, you know, brilliant sprint race. Tyres went off once again during the Grand Prix itself, but he's brought home some points for them. AlphaTauri is the one that interests me. Where do AlphaTauri go from here?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Nick DeVries didn't work, but I'd have liked to have seen him given a bit more time. I understand the reasons why, as were explained as to why they got rid of him. And I think Daniel Ricciardo has come in as a motivation not just for Yuki, but for Cheko as well. And that seems to have worked in the last couple of races too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But does Daniel Ricciardo want to be racing ready for AlphaTauri next year? Potentially, if AlphaTauri is a much better car.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And there's lots of reports that the plan is under whatever name they're going to be, maybe Toro Rosso wants more, that they run this year's Red Bull next year. Interesting. Wow.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which has happened before. Yeah. Wow. You know, Supra-Guri ran a year old, um, Honda, for instance.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know the answer to that. Wouldn't that be a real shame?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If he did, there would have been absolutely no reason to have left Red Bull in the first place.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do you think if he could, he'd never have left in the first place? Surely. Surely. Fine, but don't call me Shirley.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so they can't go anywhere. They just go and have some fun. I need to have a lie down. Yeah, I think it's been quite exhausting. You on the beach?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where does a Californian go for a summer holiday then?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There you go, there you go. And your summer season in Blackpool? Yep, you know me.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yes, thank you for having me. Uhm, and it's, uh, yeaah. I'm not, I'm not a podcast, what should they call it, uh, Virgin. Uh, I have done a few. Uh, they seem to have proliferated. I've ended up on one or two. Some of them's to do with other things I know nothing, or even less about, I should say, cricket or something like that. Uhm, but, uh, it's fun, it's fun to be here. Sorry, you've done a cricket podcast? Yeah, I did something with some cricketers, I'm sure. But, but, they all merged together.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, so they, they, I mean, every sports person seems to have some, something going at the moment, but here we are on the Sky F11, so it's good to be here. Thank you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So I think it's worth going back a bit, isn't it? Because the reason that we had a change in the whole line, the formula, uhm, was because on some occasions cars didn't go out on a Saturday because the Friday would be dry and the Saturday would be wet. So there's no point.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pre-race, pre-qualifying, uh, events. So they were, Saturday was a little bit more ramped up with the Jeopardy. A meaningful qualifying for a race on Sunday, but no warmup on the Sunday. So there was actually nothing to do until the, until you got to the race on, on Sunday. In the past, you'd have Sunday warmups, which, which were at least something for people who extra running, if you like, for.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For people that were there early, uhm, and also a chance for teams to, we could change our cars. So it was a very, what the point is, Friday could determine the grid. So Friday was important.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So when I started working with Sky, they changed the, uh, by that time they changed the setup and I thought, there's no point in me turning up on Friday. What is the point? There's nothing. So I used to turn up on a Friday just to catch up with what was going on. But Friday was very dull. And I think that is the problem with the current free practice set up. It doesn't mean anything. It's testing. It's like going to watch people go testing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, so what they're proposing to do, the problem, the floor as I see it with the sprint qualifying set up that they've had today is that the race result determines the grid on Sunday, which I think effectively makes the Grand Prix just, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You've got two-thirds on Sunday and one-third on Saturday, so basically it's a split race. It's like having a, so the Grand Prix itself is affected by the race the previous day. So the sanctity, if you want to call it that, of a Grand Prix.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Has been interfered with and I think that is, I think we should be mindful of that because I think historically when you go back, you don't want to have to go back through the regulations there or they changed the format. That's why the grid was different and we have this whole debate about who's on pole and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, what is a poll anymore? So as I understand it, and correct me if I'm wrong, they are now proposing you have a separate qualifying on the Saturday, on the Friday for the grid on Sunday, is that correct? Yes. I've understood it correctly, which is good. Now, that means Friday's important.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I think that's good. And Saturday is also important because it carries points with it. But it's not going to affect the Sunday event. So I think it's actually quite clever. I think it's a genius idea.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And yeaah, it's an opportunity for something else to happen. Uhm, two things to happen. You've got a qualifying, again, which we love, uhm, and you've got a race. So, lots of excitement. But the, the sanctity of the Sunday is, is kept alive. Uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, I do think they should be allowed to change their cars. I think we ought to now consider being allowed this part Fermi thing. I think it would be, it would be great if they were allowed to change their cars before the end of the race. So they can take, so teams can take a gamble on changing their setup.


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[Assistant] I think that would be a good thing because it means you don't know what the form is. It could be someone could have


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Change the... Currently what happens is they do a long run. Everyone knows what their pace is. They do the race strategy and they go, well I know what the real result of the race is going to be. But if you can change the car...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] as well before you get into the race, then we don't know what the pace of that car will be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On the, on the, uh, Sunday warm-up thing, uh, uh, they used to rebuild the car.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't think they necessarily need to have a warm-up, but I do agree, two points you both made, one was Jess's point about the complexity. You know, explaining this sport to people, what's happening now, I mean, just explaining qualifying, to people who are new to the sport, they're going around as fast as they can to see how the grid is going to shape up, to determine who's going to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Some of the things that happened in us bought for granted now and you know, but one of those things is, you know, so adding another complexity to it. When's the Grand Prix? Is it Saturday or is it Sunday? These are important questions that could be complicated maybe, but I think that also that,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Simon's point about the championship could be decided in a sprint race. Well, you know, Max is, one of Max's objections is that he does, he thinks a sprint race isn't a really interesting race because people are protective and they are. They've got to be, if that determines the grid the following day, but they've taken away that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't know, because the number of times you didn't go faster on a Saturday were very small compared to the number of times you did.


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[Assistant] I think there's an element of this with Max, with him wanting not to waste his time on


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Superfluous things that really are just invented for novelty.


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[Assistant] I think he's that kind of person. So I think I can imagine him just saying it because he just thinks, well, I've just come here to want to win Grand Prix's. I just want one race to mean something. I don't want to win.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A half value race. You know, what's the point of that in your CV? You know? Oh, you won a sprint. So, you know, people aren't going to go, how many Grand Prix's have you won? How many sprints have you won? Now the sprint world, you know, the ranking of number of sprint races that people have won.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, they are, they are not worthless, because they clearly have points, but you're not going to, you know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The test cricket thing is an interesting one because we just, we just come on after the Masters as well. So you have four days of competition that means something. In test it's what, it could be as much as how many days, Simon, can a test go on for?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We've had days, for quite a long time now, we've had days in our sport, sporting weekend, where everyone turns up, the whole lot there, but Friday is meaningless, it doesn't mean anything. So we need something, we need, I mean even, you know, Saturday is, is more interesting, because I love qualifying, and that quali, but, I like, the reason I like qualifying is because it's for the Grand Prix. It's going to decide where they start on the, and also it's a test


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's a competition in and of itself. Who is the fastest over a single lap?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you know, watching Senna on his qualifying runs, you know, you get, you get that twice, you used to get that twice on a Friday and on a Saturday.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is important. The Grand Prix is meaningful. I don't think we're going to touch that. That's got to stay. And it's an endurance as well. It's not a sprint race. It is an endurance race. The car has to last. The drivers have to last. It's a long, you know, concentration for that amount of time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Anyway, so uhm, if that's what they're proposing, that's, so Matt, it's that, we don't know yet whether that's definitely happening, do we?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Raise a couple of interesting points in there because, you know, the question about the Sunday and the tyre management thing, that's something for, that's something for aficionados, if you like, can spot that, you know, we know.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And as they, yeaah, and they were also doing that in Saudi Arabia as well. Anyway, that's the name of the game these days is you can't, you can't push these tyres because you get such a massive cliff, uhm, was it death spiral I heard.


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[Assistant] So uhm, so that's something that not everyone can get a grip on, but I mean what the Sunday race is supposed to be about people trying as hard as they can to catch the person in front, but they can't because the tyres are restricting them, so maybe there's something to be done about that. The whole idea about that was so that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It would make racing more exciting because the theory was


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You get to the end of the race, the last five laps, and suddenly people are in trouble where they used up too much of their tyre or maybe they've got a big advantage they could use up. And I have to say, in many races,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Where people have suddenly got themselves in difficulty and anyway, so the tire thing is one thing, but the other thing is you were talking about was the demand for Formula One is huge, but that, you know, the Netflix factor has


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's well known that the interest has grown largely because people are interested in the soap opera story.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Behind the scenes. That's nothing to do with the racing.


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[Assistant] At all. So how much of the demand of the interest in the sport recently is to do with something which is nothing to do with the format of the racing?


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[Assistant] It's to do with how we, how the sport's been communicated to new fans and even old fans.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In a way that we haven't seen it before.


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[Assistant] I used to, when I was racing, I used to think, why do they always want to try to fiddle with this? Because it seems to me that you'll get, out of five races, you'll get three good ones and two dull ones.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But you'll always get the three good ones and you might even get in there the absolute classic of all time and no one interfered with that. It just happened of its own accord because that's what this sport does. And so it seems like the more I do think there's a danger, the more you interfere with it to get that classic race, every race, you're not actually


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's one of the catches with trying to make things, making things more exciting. I think it's, you know, sometimes you just have to be patient and wait for it to happen. I mean, we know what the limit is of uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] ...of endurance because we saw the Michael Schumacher era where he just...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Okay, well, I think the other thing you mentioned, Matt, was that Max's, uhm, retirement threat, you know, this is very unusual. I mean, you know, this is kind of strange to hear, isn't it? I mean, what's he gonna do with himself?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You mentioned fun, I think that's a very important point. Is he having fun? Because I sometimes think he's not having fun.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I think that's, that's something that, you know, you have to love what you're doing, don't you? Otherwise it's a grind, it's a...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's called the big prize, the Grand Prix. You know, what is the prize? People don't know what you get for winning a Grand Prix and I think that would be a good change to actually, you know,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Clarify what it is. So if you win the Masters or whatever, people, everyone knows how much you earn. The Inland Revenue know what you've earned. Everyone knows what you've earned, you know. So, I mean, what's the big secret? Why can't, why can't we have, you know, and the winner of this race,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Let's say a sprint race is worth more. Maybe sprint race, you know, you add to your sprint so you get $2 million for winning that and you get $5 million for winning the race on Sunday or something, I don't know. Uhm, maybe the figures are out, but you know, the ratio is about right. So at least.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The drive, the prize money doesn't go to the driver, does it? It goes to the teams. The teams are interested in the constructors. So the whole payola thing, uh, the structure of the money.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is, is, uh, inscrutable. It's kind of very difficult to work out, uh, and it's not publicized, but it'd be, I think it would be meaningful if the...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, a little bit, isn't it? Uhm, but they did put, they did factor that in, didn't they, to the new regulations that they could, they had the right to change things, uh, if they felt it was going the wrong way. So that was, they, they factored in this, like, yeah, that's a slippery, that's a slippery slope, isn't it, that one, if you're not careful, I mean.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They're already running on bald tires as well. It's tragic. The state Formula One is in.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The only thing that's keeping you in contact is your, is your fingers. It's your tires. That's the only thing that's keeping you in contact with the, the cliff that is the racetrack. So it is, is, is everything is around how you get the contact patch to, to key into the.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm thinking about it. I mean, I used to like, some of my funnest races were coming through the field. You know, it's nothing like overtaking lots of cars, even if they, even if you've got, you know, big competitive advantage, it's still fun to, to side your way through, through the, the field.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Um, and it's good for people to watch. So maybe that's the, uh, another complexity we could throw into the sprint race.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it's something beautiful about seeing the two title contenders or whatever on the front row of the grid, isn't there? You know, for the main race, it looks good. Uhm, first into the first corner.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, absolutely, I think he did, I think he's done a solid job the whole way through actually, uhm, all three races I think, given the difficulties in the first one in Bahrain, I think, I think he's kept his head and uh, shows a lot of promise, and it's a, he's a good...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Foil for, for Lando now. So Lando's got to work a bit maybe. Uhm, so the pair of them are going to be a formidable line up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The question is whether you get demotivated being in a team that seems to be all at sea. I don't think they will. I think they still have faith in McLaren to come good. And as Simon just said, they have at least done something about the system.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which may bring about or unlock some things that were locked in a cupboard somewhere. Uhm, and well, we'll see.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Trying to keep up the speed with what was going on in the world of F1 in Baku, uhm, I found it confusing. So well done, you just nicked my word.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's what you get for having two. Uhm, I was going to go for, uh, involving because you need, I feel like you really needed to be there and be involved and there's a lot to these condensed weekends now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It was a long while, like, actually trying to keep up to speed on what goes on in the Formula E weekend, where it's basically all on one day. That's how it seemed from the outside, you know, it comes at you relentlessly. And to be...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What time's the sprint on? Is that before qualifying for the race? It was really confusing. But I think if you were there and you were involved in it, I think then it must have been quite fun.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So yeaah, from a driver's point of view, uhm, you know, these kind of situations, Matt, means that if you are a driver that's, you know, a bit of a seat in the pants driver, it comes to you a bit more naturally in a way, uhm, it can really, it can really go in your favour.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And especially on a street track, you know, you're, you're really scratching to find that performance straight away as quickly as you can and minimizing mistakes. So every lap that you get, you gain knowledge. Um, just like from an engineer's point of view as well, they gain knowledge from the laps that you do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So if you can drive faster, more consistently and get up to speed faster, it benefits everybody. And I think...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, the, the, the biggest rival or enemy in that stage is reliability.


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[Assistant] Uhm, so if you do have any reliability worries, it hits you.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Three times as hard, uhm, only having that one practice session as opposed to the three that we're accustomed to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, so it depends, you know, if you're a bit more of a harder worker, and you know, there's no right or wrong, because some naturally gifted drivers plateau quite quickly, and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, especially if you're a kind of naturally gifted driver that doesn't like, haven't, hasn't got the work ethic. You don't find that last 5% say that, that will put you on pole position, uhm, company, you know, on normal race weekend. But.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, because others can chip away at it, keep working, keep working with the engineers, oh, get everything perfect, and that-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, and it used to annoy me actually with the amount of practice sessions that other drivers would start to catch up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I quite liked what I saw in that respect. Uhm, it's, it's, it pulls on different skill sets as a driver. It's a really interesting one. I don't really think there's any right or wrong.


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[Assistant] I reckon, uh, I reckon you could give points, uh, all the way down through the field, um, to make it mean something for underperforming cars. Uh, why not? I, it's something I, you know, I drove a underperforming car in Formula One and I, I had some fantastic,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 15th position finishes and 16th position finishes. Drove my heart out to beat your teammate or someone you were fighting for last place. And you can have the race of your life and walk away from it with absolutely nothing to show for it. And why not? You know, if you're gonna...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In a way, it's gonna discourage people with this format more. So like, we saw it with the tyre usage.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, you know, you're focusing much more on the Sunday in your qualifying than you, you don't care about the sprint race. You're not going to score points in the sprint race anyway. So it becomes nothing for them. And I can understand why some boarder might come into play for the, for the drivers further at the back with all due respect, uh, to them and their teams, but


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Why not try to encourage racing all the way down through the field? And I know if you give these drivers


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Even on a computer game, you set them a challenge. They're so competitive, they're gonna drive flat out anyway and have, you know, to get their muscles out and get their elbows out in a competition, but...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Really make it worthwhile. Really, you know, if you wanna encourage them to treat it...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Properly, seriously, competitively.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Then why not give a few more points and to, to add just for that one race at least for, for their championship sake. We'd have to get down to decimal points, wouldn't we?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You don't want it to become like a rally session where, you know, in a rally stage where...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Whoever starts first has the advantage, whoever starts last has the advantages. You want it to be fair. Honestly speaking, Formula One, they've tried tinkering with qualifying over the years, and I really feel for F1, it's perfect how it is.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There are other, other areas that you could look at. Uhm, you know, the cars themselves, for example, with a reliance on downforce coming through the wings, still, as they continue to generate more downforce from the wings, we're seeing racing, wheel-to-wheel racing suffer because of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's something I would fix way before looking at tweaks to qualifying. For me, that's just, that's looking at changing things as a band-aid solution to the bigger problem.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think we're, we're pretty much, yeaah, we're trying to solve that same problem by two different things. Basically it's an incentive, isn't it, that we're trying to create for teams and drivers that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Don't have a realistic chance of scoring points on that, uh, on that, during that sprint race.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, you're going to sacrifice your performance for quite happily because you're not going to score any points anyway. Why do you care? Your main focus is I'll quite happily use my extra set of soft tires for the, uh, to get through further up through the field on the, for the Sunday race. Thank you very much.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I really, you know, I'm not going to score points in this very short race without any pit stops, uhm, and a severe lack of drama or jeopardy.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'm looking further down the road, thanks, and uh, so yeaah, we're coming at it from two different ways. One, you offer up maybe sort of points going further down, you might then reconsider, or you then


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Force them into using, uh, that set of tyres in, in...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or to tweak a rules to make them basically take it more seriously because that's the problem with less.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] With less of an impact, uh, nowadays because it's not forming your grid for the Sunday.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which was quite an interesting element of the sprint race before.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A frustrating one for many, uhm, but at least an interesting one and there was that incentive to push your heart out to get further up on the grid for the Sunday race. With that gone, you've now got to create a new incentive.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The one last thing I sound is, is that without that sprint race this weekend,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We wouldn't have seen that brilliant moment between George Russell and Max Verstappen. I'm sure that would be a talking point coming up later on. Uhm, because there is an element of, because in many ways there, you know, there are fewer points up for grabs.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's a little bit more of a kind of free for all and


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, you know, drivers are gonna at some moments, because they're not in a way taking it quite as seriously,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In a bizarre kind of twist of fate, they, they go for moves perhaps that they wouldn't risk on a Sunday. Uhm, but there was a, a high risk moment that I, I really enjoyed. Uhm, I'm sure the two of them thought differently about it at the time, but it, it definitely added entertainment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it, yeah, I mean, it's Baku. You've got a load of 90 degree corners. They're always hard to navigate from inside the car. There's only one point of apex. You've got to nail the braking zone and nail the exit and meet that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So it makes it incredibly difficult on a street track with the barriers close to you as well. Then you throw in other cars on cold tyres, cold brakes into the mix and it's just a bit of a lottery in that first lap.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, as to who's gonna make a bit of contact here and there, uh, who's gonna make a move, who's not. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And we saw on the restart as well, uhm, you know, with, with Fernando and, and Carlos with a, a real plucky move down the inside, uhm, into turn five and, uh, turn four. And, uh, you know, and that's maybe a move you wouldn't see on another type of circuit. So,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's just one of those tracks that lends itself to, to kind of moments where you risk a bit of contact.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's an interesting one, you know, picking up on what Rachel said, cause I...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Could read that body language as well from the outside. And I felt like...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're seeing a little bit of a difference in Sergio this year, uhm, to start with, you know, he's a bit more steely, a bit more determined.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And really interesting that you've picked up on that, you know, first hand there at the circuit, Rachel, because uhm,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I honestly, I think this is what he needs to do. And I think he realizes that he's come to this crossroads now.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This season already, it's hit him pretty hard in that he's got the car to do it. This, this...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This current, this, this new car from Red Bull this season seems to suit his style better. He's getting more in bed with the team and in bed with how the car feels. Takes some time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it only takes a few little tweaks here and there from season to season for a driver to really find their niche, the sweet spot in howl.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They can get the most out of the car to extrapolate all that performance and I think he knows he's there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, like Rach said, there are circuits that Max is going to come to later this year. Your Zanforts, your...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, Interlagos is the Silver Stones, the Suzukas, where Max is gonna shine. We all know it. He knows it as well. So what do you do?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And, I think they're right. I think that's what made me a much better sports car driver. I was more of a team player. Always was. And, uhm.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think now it's time for Sergio to stop being Mr. Nice Guy. He's gotta take a leaf out of Rosberg 2016 and maybe, as much as it might hurt, to be the guy that he doesn't want really to be.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It might go the way that his family doesn't want him to go. He might have to take himself away, what Rossberg did. He might have to...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Say things to the team they don't want him to say or he necessarily feels comfortable in saying. He's gotta get under Max Verstappen's skin. He's gotta annoy him. He's got to... He's gotta get every... This is his moment.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It might only be his one chance. I think he knows it. We all know it as well. He's so close to six points behind after four races and he's looking good. I don't think he'll be able to do it if he plays Mr. Nice Guy this year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think it's one of those things if everybody knew what made you a good street circuit driver, then...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's that, it's that risk reward thing, isn't it? Uhm, that maybe...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, so you can take a driver like Pastor Maldonado. He was always mega around street circuits as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You, you had to, in a way you had to lose respect for the barriers to beef quick. And when you did that, you could then generate the tire temperature you needed to.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, maybe a more aggressive driver. Uhm, I see a little bit of a difference when I do the skypad analysis and I do ride on boards and I did the side by side with Sergio and Max. I can see, I can see that there's definitely more.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Edginess to the steering. I see a lot more, uh, frequency to the steering inputs from, from Perez than I do from Verstappen. Verstappen likes to flow the car a bit more, which maybe goes against you in a street track.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I mean, really clutching at straws here, because Max is obviously brilliant everywhere. Uh, but I just feel like maybe it's those little nuances that makes Sergio, you know, just, he can bring the car alive a little bit more on those kind of tracks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He is quick on, in other circumstances as well. Uhm, you know, looking after those tyres on a, on a, on a higher speed track. He's, he's really good at it. Say, Monza as well, for example, is another circuit he's pretty good at, and uhm, and very good at looking after the tyres there. So,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's not just like a one rule fits all for what makes you a successful street circuit driver.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I really feel like that you need the car for you as well, you need it to be there and we heard Max complaining, not just in Baku, but in Melbourne as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The car not quite there under the braking somehow and the relationship between the differential, the way that works and, and the tools he has available for the brake bias, the migration from front to rear, vice versa with the brakes.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And he's not, he just, he seems like he's not quite as happy with the car, generally speaking this year as he was last year, even though the car is performing better as a whole. It's a faster car than it was last year by quite some margin. Uhm, but somehow Perez seems most of the time a bit more comfortable with it. You hear fewer complaints.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I think so. I think that's what can happen. You know, you start to overanalyse things from inside the car. Uhm, it doesn't feel natural to you under the braking to really let the car move around. Drivers that like to, like I say, like fingertip style drivers, maybe like Carlos, uhm, who,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Who like to flow the car a bit more, use all of the track. But then again, someone like Jensen Button was always really good around street circuits and I would definitely class him as one of those kind of drivers I've just mentioned with using all the track, keeping it nice and smooth.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He was always good around the streets of Monaco as well and Singapore, so it, I think it just...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe it boils down to a confidence thing like we said, you know, forgetting that the barriers are there, getting into that trance-like state that we all saw and loved when we ride on board with Senna during those amazing qualifying laps, one after the other, when qualifying was different back in the day.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And he got into that kind of, we call it the zone. It's where you're doing things like when you're on autopilot, when things are flowing and you're doing all the right things without even thinking like you're doing. It's like an outer body experience.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's really where you need to get into on a street track more than any other track. You can do it on other tracks as well, of course, but more so on a street track.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, I think the fact that we saw, or we do see, drivers just clip the barriers every once in a while, and you think, why do they do that? It's because you're not even really looking. You're there, like your senses are out there.


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[Assistant] Uh, on all the extremities of, of the, of the car's edges and, and, and you just, you are really just.


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[Assistant] They've just fizzled away, and you don't see them anymore, and when you have that little knock, you go, ooh!


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[Assistant] Maybe that's what they can't do, and uhm, it's a really interesting thing. I think for a psychologist, you know, a sports psychologist, there's a lot to look into here, a real deep dive, because there are things that I think, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, they're untapped and, uh, and, and, you know, it's, it's not a very scientific approach from teams when it comes to this.


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[Assistant] I think with this one it's his, I think it's his sports car mentality that kicked in for a little bit there because when you share the car with one other driver or two other drivers and you've just driven a mega stint.


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[Assistant] You're quite often asked, you know, how are the conditions out there for the next driver just about to jump in. So you're quite well, you're quite, you're.


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[Assistant] And so you're out there doing your own thing and you're actually actively thinking.


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[Assistant] Uhm, in sports cars, before you come into the pits, you're, you're thinking about, right, how do we best keep this momentum going?


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[Assistant] Because this car right now is feeling good, but there are pitfalls out there. Places where you really need to take care. Braking into turn one maybe, where there's a bit of rear locking. So you pass that on to all of your teammates, or the teammates just about to jump in after you.


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[Assistant] And I just wonder, it's only, it only dawned on me there, cause I was, I was kind of, when I watched it,


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[Assistant] He's more experienced, not just in terms of age than anyone out there.


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[Assistant] He's more experienced in terms of what he's done in other forms of motorsport. And I think that's, that's really interesting. I think it's playing to his, I think it's playing to his strengths.


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[Assistant] And also giving him advantages, uh, and the team advantages.


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[Assistant] The other drivers just, it just wouldn't be on their radar. To help another, yeah, okay. It obviously means he doesn't see Lance as a threat. So if you don't see him as a threat, like you clearly don't with your other two teammates because they're sharing the same car as you in a sports car, and you want the whole thing to carry on going with that same momentum, well let's help them out here. Because,


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[Assistant] Schooling, if you like, from another, taking something from another category and applying it to F1, the pinnacle of single seater motorsport.


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[Assistant] I think it's, I think maybe that's what was going on. It just came to him as, in that moment, as second nature. Ooh, I found something.


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[Assistant] And this is really gonna help us as a team. Be really good if we can keep those two Mercedes behind us. Uh, if I can relay that information somehow to, to Lance. Uh, to keep those, those pesky Mercs behind. Because, uh, as a unit, this will be better.


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[Assistant] It needs to be like it is at the start of the race. You know, Alonso diving down the inside of another car after the restart. That wasn't DRS. That's brilliant. That's what we need. That's what you want to see. We shouldn't be relying on DRS. It's another bandaid. Why do we need DRS? Because they can't follow each other close enough.


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[Assistant] The whole reason we had this massive rule change, regulation change on the car, is to encourage natural overtaking and then a bid to one day get rid of the damn thing.


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[Assistant] And we're not. We're still relying on it more and more. And...


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[Assistant] We rely too much on that. I've said it for ages now. It's funny, you know, me and some of the older drivers, you know,


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[Assistant] Johnny Herbert, Damon Hill, we would say, we know, we just gotta get rid of, take away the wings. You can surely make these cars with some clever engineering and maybe some active ride suspension and clever active skirts or whatever it takes. You've gotta take these wings away, they're the things that are


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[Assistant] That's doing the damage. That's doing the damage. And that's what, you rely on the front wing.


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[Assistant] And we're going to generate so much downforce now, and the cleverer the aerodynamicists get in...


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[Assistant] In, in, in making them more efficient and effective, well, they're only going to get aero, the downforce one way. That's by clean air flow over the car.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To not rely on, the best racing I've ever done and the best racing you'll ever see is where you've got slipstreaming, like motorbike racing, cycling, formula forward, karting.


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[Assistant] It, it, it's brilliant because you've got no turbulence getting anywhere. The turbulence is a, is a benefit because it gives you, it gives you a suction to whoever's in front and with no downside. That's what delivers the best racing.


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[Assistant] And the more downforce we put on these cars because of the wings, getting more elaborate, bigger, more effective, more reliance on them,


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[Assistant] It creates more turbulence and more need to have perfect airflow going over them. So it's really simple in my, in my simple world, but.


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[Assistant] Yeah, it just seems to be, we're going, we're starting to go in the wrong direction again. The cars are faster, they're almost at the same speed now as they were in 2021, where there was a heavy reliance on DRS.


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[Assistant] I feel like the best years were behind us now in terms of, you know, these, these new regs for the cars because they're, they're getting more and more downforce again through the wings.


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[Assistant] I am. I am indeed. I'm really excited, yeaah. First time for me, uh, at the Miami Grand Prix. I missed out on it last year. Missed out on all the fun, so uhm, and uh,


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[Assistant] Yeah, after doing spa at the weekend, it's about time we went to a warm... You need some sun, don't you?


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[Assistant] One look at the result from the Australian Grand Prix and you might be forgiven for thinking this was an easy win for Max Verstappen.


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[Assistant] The race however delivered absolutely everything. Chaos, confusion and three red flags. But are F1 putting show business before the sport? Who were the winners and who were the losers from the madness in Melbourne? This is the Sky Sports F1 Podcast.


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[Assistant] Hello everyone, welcome to this week's episode alongside me for this one, fresh off the plane from Melbourne. Well, not quite fresh, she landed yesterday. Pretty fresh. Ted Kravitz. Hello. Hello. And F1 content creator and YouTuber, Tomo. Hello. Thanks for having me.


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[Assistant] Uh, Ted has just produced a kangaroo with a, now what do you call the smaller kangaroo, the baby kangaroo? Joey. Joey. That's the one. Come on. Sorry, sorry. Daswina Baker, what are you talking about?


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[Assistant] Lovely. That is a really lovely gift. Tommy, what have you bought for me? My presents. Yeah. I think that's enough.


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[Assistant] Crikey. It would. It's true. Yeaah. In my head anyway, I wasn't there. Alright, let's sort of get on to our big question for today, and I think the key one that a lot of fans are asking, particularly after having three red flags, is...


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[Assistant] I think one of the issues for me after the second red flag was the delay in time of not knowing.


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[Assistant] I mean, how much information do they get? They can obviously see the screen, they can see the feed, but they don't have a, there's not one system that's telling everyone what is going on.


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[Assistant] Which is so unclear to a crowd. You know, trying to work out what the numbers are.


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[Assistant] It's a stronger penalty is because under a safety car, obviously the five seconds that you get because you're all bunched up as cars, it means that that five seconds actually equals like ten or twelve.


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[Assistant] Try and take us through the process that happens here, in terms of, we've got a race director, Nils Vitic, by himself this year, not joined by anyone else.


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[Assistant] How, how does, how does this happen? How are these decisions made?


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[Assistant] To have this formality of them going out behind the safety car.


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[Assistant] Monza, I was gonna say Monza last year. It was so disappointing behind the safety car.


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[Assistant] Almost felt like we were robbed of a race, really, at the end.


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[Assistant] Um, since we're on Red Bull, let's, let's just, just talk about their, their, their weekend and their pace, because obviously Perez had, let's call it a shocker on Saturday. It was, it was, it was not a good day for him. However.


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[Assistant] Are we going to look back on this weekend? I mean, he's now 15 points ahead of Perez in the championship. I know, look, we're three races down, over 20 race season, over 23 race season, but this was the weekend where.


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[Assistant] Perez after Saudi looks like, you know, wow, I mean, if he's here.


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[Assistant] And just, just explain how many spare parts and cars these teams have.


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[Assistant] One scene that had a really good weekend was Mercedes. And I think aside from the Russell fire that happened.


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[Assistant] And just a word on George out qualifying Lewis in every race this season. The gaps haven't been that big.


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[Assistant] Well, can I have two, two words? I mean, it's sort of like one word. It's a phrase. I'm going to say Miami Vistappen. As in...


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[Assistant] What? What you mean? Miami Vice Stappan. Miami Vice Stappan. Because this guy needs his own show. He was phenomenal.


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[Assistant] Completely in control. I mean, they said over team radio, we didn't make it easy on ourselves, but actually, it looked it, didn't it?


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[Assistant] The small criticisms over the years of Max's driving has been potentially, you know, if you kind of pick holes and find.


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[Assistant] Chinks in his armour, perhaps tyre management, and perhaps keeping it clean.


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[Assistant] Uhm, and he did both of those perfectly on Sunday.


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[Assistant] And yeaah, he deserved it, it was just a great victory. Uh, it's funny, isn't it, because if you would perhaps flipped it and it'd been Max on pole and Cheko starting in 9th, you wouldn't have thought for one minute


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[Assistant] That Sergio would have overtaken him for the win, but somehow you just knew Max was going to do it.


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[Assistant] I suppose that when you go to a street circuit like Miami and there is such a build up, I mean it is all the razzmatazz and excitement, uhm, of the magic city. You do expect it and after, as Mark says, Australia.


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[Assistant] And also, Corine, to your point about the engineers saying, well, the softs just won't last. The point is...


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[Assistant] Our predictions in terms of the behaviour of the tyres has been wrong. We didn't think the hard tyre was going to be as competitive as it was and Max proved everyone wrong on that.


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[Assistant] Taking that strategy, um, alternative strategy to Checo. So you can't really make those predictions beforehand as you say, even if they only last five laps, it will be worth it.


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[Assistant] I mean, I think the key word for me in this is jeopardy. There needs to feel that sense of jeopardy. I'm not a fan of seeing big crashes, but I need to feel on the edge of my seat that I don't know what's going to happen next.


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[Assistant] There's always an element of that in motorsport, of course there is. And, uh, to your earlier point, I don't think we should be...


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[Assistant] Disappointed that it doesn't deliver every single week. I mean, can you imagine the roller coaster that our nerves will just be frayed, but we do need to feel on the edge of our seat. How you achieve that, I just, I don't know. I mean, Baku is always unpredictable. Until this year, it was really boring, as Corinne says.


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[Assistant] Karoo makes the point of competition being what sort of grips us, but I think maybe we need to step back in moments like this and see as, you know, doff your cap to Red Bull because that in itself, this race to


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[Assistant] Create a car is competition and they've excelled at it over a period of time and actually.


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[Assistant] I believe you stepped it up. I don't believe it will be enough. I think...


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[Assistant] To Martin's point, this car does seem better suited to him and, uh,


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[Assistant] I think Saturday was a surprise for him that he was on poll, obviously that happened, um, the things outside of his control, but I feel that.


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[Assistant] With Max, that slightly petulant, churlish streak in him has been ironed out and beforehand you think, you know, is he going to go for moves that aren't on and cause an accident?


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[Assistant] Uhm, in his typically bullish way, I feel that he's grown out of that. There wasn't the sense that, uhm,


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[Assistant] Towards the end of the race. I mean, they looked balletic, didn't they? His overtake on Perez was just, it was perfect. It was in harmony. Uhm, I think it's going to be very frustrating for Sergio because


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[Assistant] He has to be at his very best weekend in, weekend out. Um, whereas Max, even, you know, an A minus is enough for Max to win a race. And I think it will be, it reminds me a lot of Rosberg and Lewis. Um, I think he's going to have to find something else.


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[Assistant] Because everyone's got a weakness, he's gonna have to find a weakness in Max that he can exploit in order to beat him. Uhm, Max is very much in the driving seat.


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[Assistant] No, there's no shame in it. No, no, if anything, Rosberg, fair play to him.


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[Assistant] He, he, he, he worked very hard, which is one of the reasons why he said he retired. It took so much out of him.


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[Assistant] To win that one world championship. Uhm, and if Perez can take the world title, then, you know, he'll have earned it.


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[Assistant] But it's not gonna be easy and finding that weakness in Max Verstappen, identifying it, is gonna be the hardest thing to do.


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[Assistant] Well a bit like Valtry when he was driving alongside Lewis. At some point he had to concede that he was never going to beat him.


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[Assistant] As Marston says, he's doing a very good job of, uh, saying, towing the party line, saying the right thing, keeping morale up, because


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[Assistant] And just to draw on what Lauren Rossi said about Alpine a few days ago, I cannot see any benefit in publicly.


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[Assistant] Embarrassing, criticizing, humiliating your team. There's no good can come from that.


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[Assistant] Keep it behind closed doors. What do you think? They don't know that they're not, uhm,


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[Assistant] He keeps that positive front up. I mean, I have to say, Daniel Ricciardo must be sitting there thinking, and he'll be frustrated no doubt that he is not in Formula One racing at the moment. It's a bit of a sad picture seeing him on the pit wall.


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[Assistant] But to be paid tens of millions not to drive that car.


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[Assistant] I mean, it's, it's, and take time out and press the reset button and work out what you want to do with your future properly with a clear head. He's not in a bad position now, is he?


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[Assistant] Yeah, but that's not a bad thing is it, Karun? To be under the radar in your rookie year. In a way, he's learning.


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[Assistant] Patience is a virtue though, I mean, it wasn't that long ago that we were saying how


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[Assistant] They can all take heart from Aston Martin's recent run of performance. So things can change relatively quickly and, and perhaps McLaren are hoping that with, uh,


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[Assistant] All the money and resource that they're throwing at this, it will happen, but it can't come soon enough, can it?


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[Assistant] Only one thing better than his driving, Karun. His radio messages.


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[Assistant] He's so polite. Even when he tries to be cool, he sounds like trying to be cool. Like, that's how we roll, guys.


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[Assistant] He is a national treasure which needs to be protected at all costs.


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[Assistant] He was just brilliant. Yeah, from himself. And that's the thing. We, we offer him protection. He doesn't need it.


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[Assistant] Tell me, Mark, what are the anxiety levels like? Because I could hear you saying, I've got 30 seconds, I've got 15 seconds, all this hard work from Sir Jackie, is it a waste of his time and energy? You'd be like, sorry, I'm out of time. How do you feel in that moment?


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[Assistant] We're in the entertainment industry for goodness sake, and this is something that we should embrace, look forward to. I know there are critics of it. I can't begin to pretend what it feels like to get into a car.


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[Assistant] Drive 200 miles an hour. I just love the fanfare.


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[Assistant] The Americans know how to do sport, all senior dancing, jazz hands, the works, and it was captivating watching from home.


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[Assistant] Well, we just had the coronation, which was, you know, pretty spectacular within itself, but it was a dreary old day back in the UK and I just loved the sunshine and the razzmatazz and yeah. As, and we'll throw George's quote back at him. That's how we roll. Take it, baby.


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[Assistant] The fans to the drivers, I think one thing that we often take for granted because we know and talk to the drivers all the time, we understand their personalities. Fans want to know what makes races tick.


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[Assistant] And most of the time they're immersed in this cockpit with a helmet on their head


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[Assistant] One thing that drive to survive has been greater and all these deep dives that we take into the drivers backgrounds and behind the scenes stuff is that you can relate to them and they are.


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[Assistant] They're, they're, they're young lads who do something superhuman and anything that connects


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[Assistant] The, the, the fans to them has got to be a good thing because then you feel...


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[Assistant] Um, not only that they're relatable, but you, you invest in them.


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[Assistant] And therefore you're gunning for them when they're, when they're racing and that you go on a journey with them. It's all part of that process.


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[Assistant] There was an argument that said that the unintended unplanned break through China's cancellation was going to somehow work in.


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[Assistant] Uh, Red Bull's competitors favor because it's not like they're closing the factory. They can work hard to, to, um,


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[Assistant] Make up the difference in a way, it doesn't feel like that has happened.


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[Assistant] Christian made the point that they have to make hay whilst the sun shines and really capitalize now before the wind tunnel restrictions kick in and he feels that the others are going to come back stronger. So perhaps actually the amount of races may work in the others.


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[Assistant] Favour, who knows? Uhm, it will take its toll though, I mean,


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[Assistant] In a few races time, people are going to be pretty exhausted. Uhm, but it'll be fascinating to see whether they...


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[Assistant] They can bridge that gap because it is disappointing. It really is. I mean, if you're a McLaren fan, um, hugely.


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[Assistant] You want to see those at the front being challenged and they're not. 26 seconds, as we said at the very start, is a huge difference between Red Bull and their nearest competitor.


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[Assistant] But, again, thank God for Fernando, because he's kept it interesting, hasn't he?


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[Assistant] But that elusive 33rd win is gonna come. It will. Because one of them will trip over each other.


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[Assistant] Moment, because he was actually asserting his, I think, authority on the moment, said, you know, I'm so in control of the situation, I could even throw a compliment out there at my teammate, who by the way is languishing much further back than me.


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[Assistant] So the main job that a strategist does, and I think what everyone thinks about is the Sunday race day. So what you're trying to do is plan how the race might go.


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[Assistant] So you've got in your head, maybe the start of the race, how many stops you think it's going to be, what tires you're going to use.


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[Assistant] Ultimately your goal is to get the best possible finish position for your two cars. And generally the strategists that we see on the pit wall work across both of the cars in that team. So yeaah, you're trying to get the best possible points for the team, for those drivers. But it's a lot more than that in that way.


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[Assistant] We start to look at how we want Friday to go, what we want to learn from the tyres.


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[Assistant] What other information we're trying to gain like pit losses or overtaking thresholds and then through qualifying you're trying to get good track positions such as the drivers the best chance of getting a clean lap in or


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Trying to decide if you need to run again or a new set of tires or all these sorts of things. So yeah, it's throughout the whole weekend.


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[Assistant] Then post began a lot of analysis. So how did your weekend go? What can we do better? What can we learn? So everyone thinks about the race bit of it, but there's a lot before and after as well.


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[Assistant] Yeah, exactly. And I think for all of us, it depends on whether it's a double header or a triple header.


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[Assistant] Yeah, for like a single header, you're starting the Monday, Tuesday before you have your pre-event briefings in the factory. We are discussing with the team what your plan is. Um, you get into the race weekend, then you do post race weekend. So yeah, it's about a few days before a few days after physically being on the track.


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[Assistant] Yeah. So we recalculate really a lot, like every lap sort of, or every sort of change of position. Yeah. You're doing it quite a lot. And it's a mix of strategy and human calc, it's all for human calculation.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So there's lots of things, if you think of the real simple things that might change. A strategy is built up of, we just think of the fastest race with no interaction of cars. You've got a tyre model we're looking at. The tyre degradation, so how quickly the lap time gets slower as you'd like through the run. The pit loss, what the pit stop's going to be. The life of the tyre, so how many laps you can do on it.


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[Assistant] And the pace delta between the tires. So what's the difference between a soft and a medium tire? So all that makes up your model. And through the race, you're sort of, the software's maybe giving you some indication that degradation is higher than you expected. So the lap time is getting slower.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, but as humans across the factory and the pit wall we're discussing what changes we want to add to the model at that stage. So we might reduce the life by a few laps and the model will quickly recalculate what the fastest race is to the end. Uhm, but we're debating it all the time whether we think


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The driver can manage a bit more and stretch out that life or whatever it might be. So there's a lot of discussion going on.


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[Assistant] And it's a mix of the software and the human element of it.


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[Assistant] It's very much a mix. The majority of teams have now moved to some standard software.


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[Assistant] And interestingly, that standard software I've realized post-leaving F1 is also used for things like football and rugby. So there's a lot of different trackers in terms of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, for football, like where people are playing on the pitch or how many runs people have made, all those sorts of thing. Cause a lot of it's the same if you're tracking like GPS of the car versus GPS of a player, it's sort of similar interactions. So I find that interesting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But a lot of the software is there to help us do our job more easily. So some of the calculations like.


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[Assistant] In qualifying, is your lab going to be fast enough? You're just taking what lab time you're currently doing away from your fastest. It's very simple, like subtraction calculation, but the software is helping you to do that really quickly and without any errors.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I'd say there's maybe seven, eight teams use the same software now, and two or three that do their own bespoke in-house software.


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[Assistant] A lot of it, you might question why a team uses a CMSO for someone else as they're not a competitive advantage there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The software we put lots of inputs into, we put our tire model in, we put what we think the pace of the cars are going to be in. So I think the intelligence in the software is the parameters that you put into the software and that's different for each team. So that's why it's okay to use the same software as a direct competitor.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, exactly. Like, and one of the things is as you have, you know, this off the shelf software, as we think about it, you can suggest improvements to them and their team can go away and work with that when your software team is working on something that's more fundamental to the piece of your car.


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[Assistant] So I think it's weird because you've worked in it for so long that you think it's a normal job. That's the first bit that I find weird. So you've...


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[Assistant] Been working in Formula One, talking to people in Formula One, all of your friendship groups, people that work in Formula One.


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[Assistant] And it's only really when you step back from that, that you realize it's a really special job and that people are really interested and people really want to go and do it. But it's really easy to become like, that's just normal to you.


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[Assistant] Uhm, doing the traveling bit specifically is very odd because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We do 23, 22 races a year. And that traveling group becomes like your family. So you travel out with them on a Wednesday, spend all week with them. You travel back with them on a Sunday night or Monday. So you spend loads of times with this group of people that you've not necessarily chosen to be with.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's a very diplomatic way of saying it. You know, as people say, like you choose your friends or you don't, you don't choose your colleagues.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, it was really nice atmosphere. Everyone really helped each other. Sometimes it's tough because the environment or the heat or whatever. Um, so yeah, it was really lovely community.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it's weird. I think the thing that people maybe don't realize is when you travel, a lot of us get on that flight on a Wednesday going to wherever it might be in the world and all the other teams also get on a very similar flight or in the airport at a similar time. So you get to know lots of people from the other teams as well that you chat to and it becomes like this big


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like circus, travel and community together. We see lots of people. So yeah, I really enjoyed that. There's a lot of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pressure obviously, you're trying to do a really important job when it comes to Sunday. You're trying to get it right for the whole team, especially on the pit wall. You feel like if we make the wrong call on a pit stop.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, there are hundreds of people in the factory that have worked to get this car as quick as it is really affected by that.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So it is like this sort of pressure environment, but I really enjoyed working in it. I enjoyed the traveling around the world, seeing the different communities, embracing the different tracks, a lot of tiredness, a lot of grumpiness at times, but yeah, it was really good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it definitely does. Uhm, like I think when I was young, I did it and you did all the holidays around it. So, you know, you go to Australia and you decide to stay out for a week and it was great, you know. And there's definitely that sort of branch of people in the paddock that enjoy all the traveling and the time away. And I definitely did that for a long time. And then you get to a point where you just sort of think.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, maybe it's not, but then I think there's a branch of people as well, then older guys that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Their family are a bit more grown at home so they don't necessarily need to be at home so much and that's quite a nice environment. I think teams are starting to do a much better job at it. You know, when I started there was 18, 19 races and that felt like quite a good number. You were never away for really more than two weeks at a time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now it's got more and more intense as time's gone on, particularly the triple headers. I personally felt really difficult.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, but teams are starting to do a bit more of a rotation with engineers or mechanics or there's a lot more.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] There's a lot more help at the track for a star than we used to. Like we traveled with a physio that was there all the time that could help us with whatever it was. There's a load of team doctors, there's a paddock doctor. So there's always people there to look after you. So I think that side of it has got a lot better than, you know, a few years ago. And it is getting better all the time.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, I can't say Jensen, the unfortunate thing with Jensen is I only worked with him for...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The one year at McLaren's, I worked with him for 2014 and I really enjoyed that because


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I was learning so much and Jensen at that stage had loads of time to teach me stuff. So it was really interesting dynamic, but it only was the one year.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Obviously I'll get a chance to work with them again soon, hopefully through Sky. Yeah, so really looking forward to that. I think the drivers have all been really different characters for various reasons. Um, and yeah, I really enjoyed a lot of what they brought.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And the person probably that I was, you know, the friendliest was maybe, um, Sebastian last year, you know. And again, I guess that's the stage he was in his career. It was really nice to just, yeah, have that friendship.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Wasn't as good as we would have hoped through that time. So it was more of a learning process across us, what we could improve and the other aspects of it. So it wasn't necessarily the pressure of.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We're going to try and get a podium every week because we weren't in that position. Um, and yeah, he, I think he's been there, done that. So I felt like he'd sort of, the pressure was awful a little bit, but through that relationship was good.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I've been very lucky, it's a very diplomatic answer, but I think I've been very lucky in that we've had some very heated debates in the office, so we actually spend


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe an hour on a Saturday night to be in what we think the strategy is going to be for Sunday.