Predictions for the Sunday Race

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK F one Cckered Flag is sponsored by Cadillac Formula One is all about precision, tiny margins, massive ambition, flat out performance And that's exactly why it's exciting to see Cadillac entering Formula One, bringing an American luxury brand with performance pedigree onto the biggest stage in motorsport. But this isn't just about the grid That same racing mindset, the obsession with engineering, the pursuit of perfection, lives in the Cadillac V sereries lineup, giving you the chance to experience the precision and performance of the grid on the open road Cadillac V series, Distinctive Luxury Performance, enngineered to Thrill Discover the V series lineup atadillac dot comot The ultimate cookout starts with the ultimate ingredients. At Whole Foods Market, no antibiotics ever burgers and kebabs are prepped and ready to throw on the grill. Fire up a juicy ribbeye. Grab creamy potato salad and savory flatbreads from the prepared foods department and round it all out with three hundred and sixty five brand condiments, chips and dips at everyday low prices. Whole Foods Market, Make your summer sizzle Five live, Formula one Hello and welcome to Silverson. The sun is shining in England's green and pleasant land and the paddock here in the circuit is absolutely buzzing. So many people out and about soaking up the atmosphere. And it is never better than when a brit is on top. and Lewis Hamilton has taken sprint poll this afternoon The crowd went wild, everybody absolutely enjoying their day out here in the Northamptonsshire countryside. Joining me to preview the weekend and also look back at that spprint qualifying session is the BBC's lead commentator Harry Benjamin, the BBC's F one correspondent, Andrew Benson, and F one journalist Bet Clancy Harry, Silverson is so special Why is it so special do you think? Because All the drivers seem to love the challenge of it Well it's the home of Formula One for a start racing here since nineteen fifty and really this is such heritage and legacy that difficult the track is to master. I think we've seen a bit of that over the years when it comes to qualifying and Grand Priz to really tie it all together is a massive challenge. plus the fans make it what it is as well. The grandstands are absolutely packed out. everyveryone descends on Silverstone and it's not just British buiers. You talk to any other broadcaster they love the British Grand Prix at Silverstone as well It just gets bigger and bigger, Benny. I've been coming here since twenty thirteen. I know you've been in the game a little bit longer than that There are I mean not in aice nineteen ninet. Something like that, Harry,. The Romans were o no sorry.. There are more hospitality lounges, more grandstands, more brands trying to get in on the F one vibe and world. It's so different now, isn't it? Everyone wants a piece of the action. What do you make of it? Well, they really do, and I think for me the most striking thing this weekend is the audience numbers for Silverstone just keep going up and up It's like I thought they'd crammed everybody that could possibly have got into this circuit, but it seems to have added another one hundred thousand fans this weekend. I just don't know how it's possible. What are we at? betweenetween five and six hundred thousand three sixty five thousand I was toing That' head of marketing. That's for the all four days. So Thursday alone, which is a day of nothing happening on track. It's our media day seventy two thousand people here, It's absolutely staggering. It felt like they were all in the paddock yesterday. because it was so busy. and I remember a time perhaps in the Bernie Eclson era where the paddock was kept quite elite and you weren't really allowed in, but they've brought so many more people into the sport. and I'm taking that as kind of a good sign that more people get to enjoy the sport back. You can barely move in the paddock. I mean we're standing in the paddock right now after sprint qualifying, obviously Louis Hamilton on poole and everyone is delighted about it But you can barely move for the amount of people here. and again, yesterday, nothing ever happens. Half the time we turn up to tracks on a Thursday and they weren't even finished, wereere they, Benny? you'd be walking around as they're still putting the flower pops out and you putting the final deck chairs out as it were. But honestly, it's been absolutely incredible here. I've never seen anything like it at the Brish Grandburx. And it always does come alive when Lewis Hamilton's on top Were we expecting that poll from Lewis Not well, not initially. But was expecting. No, but like everyone was like all fuel loads and that was just money. That was the thing and I think the point is he was surprised, Mercedes was surprised. Ferrari was surprised. It's just No one really understands what's happened. But Charaker and Lowis Hamilton were playing down their chances yesterday during Media Day, weren't they? They were saying, this is not a track that's going to suit them. They were going to really lose out with the deployment side of things And yet there we are. is it just the Silverston magic from Lewis Hamilton? Is it the crowd do they add that extra little bit of horsepower? I think they do for sure. But I also think it is a spprint weekend. so everyone's a little bit down on track time. So it is a bit of a look into the unknown. Everyone's a bit behind on where they normally are having only had one practice session. So not everybody is as dialed in as they might well be on a traditional Grand Prix weekend He obviously loves this track. the fans spur him on that is another factor as well. And coming back to my first point, it's just a really tough track to nail. We heard wind being a real big issue as well today always is every single year. So I think if you catch a gust of wind at the wrong angle suddly you've lost time, Landon Norris was really struggling in that session, struggling to get the car turned in. Hamilton nailed it when it mattered and it's only sprint qualifying.d to do it again for the main qualifying, but it's brilliant start of his weekend. Yeah, we'll get a view as the weekend goes on Rosanna. quQite often these sprint weekends, they they have a flow through them and things change quite a lot into Grand Prix qualifying quite often I mean, Hamilton's got a great chance to win the sprint race if he can get off the line, which Ferrari is very good at and getting into the lead. It's not going to be easy to pass despite the strength of Kimy Atonelli and Mercedes right behind him But whether it's the same picture in Grand Px qualifying, obviously we can't predict because they can change their cars. they'll have got a better understanding of how toit A lot of them were talking about deployment strategies and things after sprint qualifying. S sounds really boring, doesn't it? it's really important, obviously when you know half the engine's power comes from the electrical part. If you've not got that quite right, it means a lot of lap time. So we'll see how it goes through the weekend. But right now, all we can say is that today on this track in that car, Lewis Hamilton Ferrari were fastest Well, there's lots to cover in the lead up to this British Grand Prix. We're going to talk George Russell. He's trying to build on the success of last weekend in Austria. Can he do that? Looks like he's struggling at the moment. We're going to talk about Max Verstappen. He's been poopooing the Lego cars that the drivers are going to be parading around in come Sunday afternoon. and we'm going to catch up with Arvid Lindblad as well. It's his first home Grand Prix Coming into this round, round nine of the championship. It's Kimmy Antonlli still at the top of the standings with one hundred and seventy one points to his name. He's forty points clear of his teammate George Russell who snuck back into P two in the standings, but he's still a long way back.' then Hamilton in P three, Bosca Piastri in P four and Lando Norris P five. So nice and tight between the McLaren drivers as well just a point parating them So we've got several British drivers on the grid. It's always lovely turning up to Silverson with so many British drivers. Obviously the crowd love it. There are union flags every which way you look George Russell, though, you've got to focus in on him. He's such a championship contender What do we think is going through his mind at the moment? Because he's playing chase. There's plenty of time left in this championship, Harry. Can he do it? He looks down the calendar sort of almost picking out the races that suit him that don't suit him. From your point of view, has he got what it takes? Are there enough tracks that suit him to seal this championship for him? Well forty points behind is Claude somem in and Austria will, I think weigh heavy on him as a big turning point and he'll use that as the momentum the victory there to try and get back on track Ultimately, from what we've seen from the sample set that we can use up to this point, the eight races Whether it's a track that suits them or not, ultimately, Kimmy Antonelli is usually right there with him or ahead of him I am just not sureve I've seen quite enough to convincingly say that yeah, there's definitely a few tracks ahead of us that George Russell will absolutely nail it and it's a foregone conclusion for him. Yeah Ran it George Russell's not in a happy place at the moment. It's just not quite clicking for him in the way that it was doing last year and the year before. Let's not forget he destroyed Lewis Hamilton effectively at Mercedes in twenty twenty four. He was brilliant in twenty twenty five It was one of his best seasons people said h o, Kimy Athonlli was a rookie that year These cars have changed a lot for this year and it He looks like he's on the back foot pretty much all the time. you know, he talks about Australian Austria sorry not being one of the tracks that suits him, you know, he doesn't like poter squirts, circuits, big braaking, slow corners, high temperatures. coming to Silverstone was expecting flowing corners to suit him And yet here he is fifth on the grid three and a half tenth behind Lewis Hamilton and Kimy Aonelli on pole on the front row and completing the front row. It the pieces just aren't falling into place for him. But Benny, when was the last time you heard a world champion telling you tracks that they did like and they didn't like? Because isn't this actually just a bit of a ridiculous conversation? Because you cannot afford to have bad tracks. Yes, they happen, but why are they talking about it so openly? Because you've just got to get on with the job in front of you, because I think if you start getting it into your head that we're going to go to these tracks and it doesn't suit you and the car doesn't suit you Well, that's all well and good. that might be the case, but he didn't think Austria would suit him and then he won there and he was not particularly happy today, but then his teammates qualifying second. So there's just something you know, you said it, Benny. He doesn't seem very happy. But this whole conversation about what tracks he likes and doesn't like, don't you just have to get over that and get on with the job? I also feel like we haven't heard that from him before. It's not like he's always describing which tracks were him and years going. I think he would say that what he has said that it was always there. It just wasn't so obvious before. I think, Beck, to answer your question, I think it's more subtle than that There are quite some parallels between this year and last year in some ways. know if you think about it, Llandando Norris last year won the first race and then struggled for the first third of the season. George Russell won the first race and then struggled for the first third of the season In the case of Lando Norris, he wasn't quite comfortable with the McLaren car. Oscar Piastri was more comfortable with it. He worked at it, got more comfortable in the second half of the season and then overtook Piastri. simimilar with Russell. He's not comfortable with the car. We don't know whether the next parts of the season are going to follow the same pattern both of them would say and what lots of drivers say is that the complexity of the cars now is such that It can be small nuances, but if you're not quite comfortable with the balance of the car, the way it's working, whether you're confident that you can predict what it's going to do when you're absolutely on the limit in qualifying Then you're going to be quite on the pace and that's exactly what Charl Lclerc iss facing in the other Ferrari against Lewis Hamilton. He wiped the floor with Hamilton last year This year he was just talking after qualifying today. He's not comfortable with the car with what the car' going to do on the limit. here he is three and a half tenths behind. sameame margin. So is Louis Hamilton, the Max Verstappen of this year is Lewis Hamilton going to be the one stalking down George Russell. Well by the end of the year. He could be stalking down Kimmy Antoni if you can carry on producing performances like this, but it's just so up and down at moment. it's hard to predict Guys, we need to talk about some of the paddock arere we calling it goossip, whispers, murmurs about Max Versappen's future. and I feel these are are some of whispers that are going to continue for quite some time until we finally work out where Maxmus Appenss heads at in terms of his future in F one, whether that's with Red Bull or another team. What we're hearing is he or his team have been having conversations with McLaren and Zach Brown Andrew, can you see a future where Max Vappens's racing in papaya and racing for Zap Browns McLareine Well, I can tell you what's going on. me that That's almost the same thing, right? B bottom line is they're talking to everybody. It's their job to talk to everybody. It just so happens that the McLaren talks either got spotted or leaked by someone Verstappen is effectively out of contract at the end of this year if he wants to be. He does have a contract that runsntil twenty twenty eight, but there's a performance clause in it which's unlikely that he will satisfy because of Rebel's lack of performance this year. so technically in October is when the cutoff point is, he's going to be free. so he could leave if he wants to What he doesn't know at the moment is whether he wants to or not. He's got a lot of questions in his mind are reed buull going in the right direction because obviously the car is still proving problematic this year. He's still having the same inconsistent balance problems he's been having for two or three years and of course they're not absolutely competitive. Um If he wants to leave McLaren, does he want to Mercedes? Is there a re seat at Mercedes? Do he want to go to McLaren? is there a re seat at McLaren Does he want to go to Ferrari is recet of Ferrari? In theory, there isn't a seat anywhere because all the drivers, all those teams are under contract.. So it's just a wait and see situation right now Youre ask me to guess, aren't you? I can't guess. But at the moment, I would say it's heading in the direction of he'll have to stay where he is at least for another year because it doesn't look like there are any openings. But you can never predict anything in this game. so fundamentally, we just don't know. It's a difficult year to make a decision, isn't it? Because we're at the start of a new rule and regulation set It's hard to know whether they're going to come good in the next six months, twelve months, eighteen months, and whether you just stick it out at Redbort or whether you you sort of foold and go again somewhere else Yeah. I don't know. I struggle to see him is visibly wearing a McLaren race suit He looks good in orange, though? He does. Yeah O It's always been, you know, he's mag mas in merchandise sales of the amazing they dot, you know, Red Bull, you know with Torosso for a little bit and then Red Bull is his entire career. But I mean there's a lot of factors that swing both ways. There's you know, the John Pierre Lambezi situation where he will be going to Red Bull It Mcaren will be going to McLaren from Red Bull at some point in the next couple of years and that's a massive breakup in relationship there, notot that they get on fine, but that's a separation of driver incredibly successful driver an engineer. So does he want to follow GP and continue that relationship in a different manner? Lots of previous Red Bull employees have gone to McLn in the last few years McLaren Just a chance for him to have more variety with his racing across different categories. If you saw your long term future with Red Bull, if you're Max Vusappen at this point and you know GP is going to McLaren, but you think you're going to stay at Red Bull. Would you not say, Gu, could we just stop my relationship with GP right now and I startort of bringing in a new race engineer and start building on that? It makes me feel like he's not that worried about laying foundations for a long term future at Red Bullben Be if it was me, I'd be like, hang on a second, you're leaving I need get someone in and we need to train up and get ready so that when the car's there, we are ready to go as a unit.s fair point you use the Louis Hamilton example. slightly different he moved to a new team, got given a race engineer but that relationship didn't work out. And actually now he's got this new race engineer who was here on a temporary basis. now things are working quite well. Why would you change that? So that's a fair point But I I also think there's a I don't know about Beck what do you think? but there's like a there's a cultural element to this as well. Red Bull, he is the man number one always has been. you put anyone else in that second car, they pale a comparison. Max Vappinis is both Red Bull savior and and and the destroyer of of their chances Garanteeing you know fighting consistently for a constructor's title when you've only got one car in the fight. Maybe that's a little different this year with Hjab, still juries not Juryies not Ai on that one. You go to McLaren and Zack Brown loves loves with Olando, loves Oscar, they get on well, they rubble on nicely, bit a bit of Ajib Barji last year with P Rules, but it's all fine, a little bit friendly, loves it on the marketing side. has happen. You're far too sentimental for this sport I'm going to stop you right there. Hamilton was a McLaren man until he became a Mercedes man and then he was a silver arrows until he became a Ferrari man and the relationship with Bono was unbreakable as his ration engineer until he left and went to dress himself up in red. The only thing anyone cares about in this paddock, whichever direction you're facing in is winning a world championship And Brown Well that's come hand in hand says he doesn't care. he'son W worldld championship. he doesn't care. So what's he doing here I hundred million dollars a year, well, there's the money. But I'll tell you what, Zach Brown will get rid of any driver in his car if Max Vstappen says, I'll drive for you and with that will come the chance of potentially winning a world championship one of the things Max V Stappen can bring to a team that barely any other driver up and down this grid can do is he can win your one worldorld Championship in a car that is not the best car on the grid. And that is unbelievably valuable. And so There are no seats available next year, let's say, It doesn't matter. That is why all the conversations are happening now because we don't know where these cars are going. we don't quite know the regulations are changing again next year. We still don't really know the pecking order. We had three different teams in the top three of qualifying today and spprint qualifying. And so there's so much still at play ultimately I know what Max Vstappen says publicly, but I am absolutely certain he wants more world championships. so does Louis Hamilton, so does Fernando Alonso. They all want more championships and that is the only thing they don't care really about who their engineer is. It's what is underneath them When they go on the track that really matters. Engineers, relationships, they can be built changed, but it's the car, it's the fundamental carbeneath you that matters. But it's also going to be critical then which teammate you would pair with him at McLaren, becausecause Ladonoris isn't going to roll over. He's been saying how much he wants to go up against Max Verstappen to prove how good he is over Hlever. L Max V Stappan goes to McLaren at some point. The driver who will be his teammate will be Lando Norris. would I don't have much money in life I work for the BBC. but I would pck I my neck out for that one. But you know what doing it' harder though, you can control an Oscar Pastry may or you could control Orlando. Well, I think the other thing to say is that well We know that Norris will do what the team asks him to do because we've just seen it for the last two years. but the idea that the Verstpp and McLaren relationship couldn't work because McLaren' philosh doesn't necessarily apply because they allow open competition between their drivers. So they have open competition for a while. and you know, if I was to go around this group here and probably around the entire paddock and say who's going win the fight between Max Verappen and Lando Norris, I think I know what the answer would be Why is there a problem? Don't you think there's also Zap Brown, the way he runs every team principal team boss runs a team in their own way. He is a marketer. He's an advertiser is Zap Brown. Lando Norris is one of the most marketable athletes in the world. Arguably in his short career for one he has already kind of transcended the sport. He's not known as Lando Norris, He's known as Lando around the world. Oscar Piastri in a much shorter career is endeared himself quite well to a large range of fans. He's quite dry, he's quite sarcastic. Max Verstappen, when you see how he behaves, he's a bit like that as well. He's actually one of the nicest guys in the paddock. He has a sort of villain arc which is not always fair. Yeahet, he gets his elbows out on track, but so does every other driver if they get the chance. But I don't think When you're looking at it, take I know this is a bit of a step, but take the fact that he's the best driver in Formula one. I don't think from a Z brrown perspective, he's as marketable funnily enough, even though he's got more success than when you look at what you have with Landonis and Oscar Pasa. And I think that's just that with that brrown's brain and the way he might possibly think and the way he takes that team, why why why I don't understand why? Look, I mean, I think the thing is F first of all, we're going to be probably talking about this for the next four months. Excellent. withithout having any conclusion at least you know because Verstappen doesn't have to make his mind up yet. Secondly, everyone involved has kind of said at the moment, notothing to see here. You know Zach Brown was in the press conference this afternoon saying, I'm quite happy with my driver line. and of course he would say that Look, we don't know what's going to happen, but I think any team, if Max Verstappen was available, would jump at it. Wow. discussion. I don't need to be worried too much about marketing. full time world champions pretty easy to market. Yeah, but even though I still I don't think you talk to a general F one fan, maybe someone who's into sports but not that clued up They'll know Landoorris. They probably might not us capacity. you could point them. they might not know Max brands to be associated with winning teams. And so if you're going to whatever corporate that you're going to to say be our title sponsor or be our lead for XY Z or whatever, they want to know that at the end of the year you're going to be a world champion because then they can turn around and put it on their office walls that they're part of a team that's the reigning world champion. That's the biggest marketing tool out there I think we could talk about Max Musappen's future for the entire show, but I think we'll have to put a pause on that guys. I'm sure we'll talk about it in the months to come as well. We are going to stick with Maxisappen though, because he's been talking about what's to come this weekend in terms of the drivers' parade Formmer of O's partner, Lego is supplying all of the drivers, all twenty two drivers with a LeEgo car to drive on Sunday afternoon before the race. We saw it in Miami when they shared LeEgo cars, they're all getting their own one. Max Vapp has been a little bit sort of negative, should we say, about what's to come. So let's hear what he said first and then we'll talk about it. No, I prefer to play with Lego at home, you know with the kids, not on the go cart here T be honest I prefer to stand on a truck just with everyone together I think that's That's more fun. I think it looks more professional because at the end of the day we're like forormmer one drivers, I think we should not look likeike kids and clowns trying to ram into each other. I don't think that's what Formula needs But yeah, it is what it is. I mean, I'll do my lap wave at the fans because they deserve that to see us But of course from my side, I would have loved to see it a little bit different. So that's what Max Verstappen thinks of the big Lego driver's parade coming his way on Sunday afternoon. a little bit unfortunate, because I'm sure Lego have spent a bit of money making these cars, hope for a big moment come Sunday afternoon. There was a big reveal on Thursday. Harry did it get you excited? Are you in Max Verappen's camp on this one? Well, all press is good press, isn't it? But I think it's outrageous from the drivers. It's a bit of fun. Chill out. Everyone loved it in Miami. It was great. You had a laugh, we all had a laugh A adults need to have a bit more fun in life and just enjoy it. This isn't going to set the world alight. It's just a fun activion, as I believe they like to call it in marketing terms. Get over it, get in the car and go around. It's all about play, isn't it, Lego? And I feel like that's what we all need to do a little bit more of. We take ourselves quite seriously Perhaps the driver's last stroll was another one who was really negative about it. said it wasn't going to get him excited, notot sure what would. But Max Vstappen he could have changed it up again and he could have been like, yeah, it's really fun for the young crowd or the young fans here. but he chose not to. It wasn't just Max though, was it? Lewis Hamilton was quite anti the Lego cars as well on Thursday, saying even he wasn't sure if he was going to drive them As is everything in F one, it of course comes down to the money. so we're so led to believe in the sense that these drivers feel like they're doing some helping activate, as Harry says, LegO thing that they're doing the parade twenty eight thousand bricks these cars are made from. It's amazing. They're keptu at twenty five kilometers an hour. Some of the drivers, like Bosss have a strategy about the line that they take because they can only go at maximum speed. But Hamilton, apparently it's about the money. It's always about the money. But as you can probably imagine, the word has come down from above and all twenty two drivers will be in all of the cars. But it's a shame. I'm with you, Miami, I think know not to do down the driver's parade. It is normally horrendously boring for us in the paddock But if you're a fan,'solutely fantastic. But I've never watched one before Miami last year. And it was really fun and they loved it. And I remember bumping into George Russell on the Monday in Miami and saying to him, wasas it as fun as it looked like? And he was absolutely beaming and said it was brilliant. He said it was one of the best things he'd done and he loved it. So yeah just stop, it's fun. it's just fun. The drivers's parade is for the fans. I used to do the interviews on the back of the low loader truck with the drivers and I often felt a little bit guilty kind of standing in the way of the drivers so that the fans around the track couldn't see the drivers. because I was there with my microphone asking them, how do you feel about the race that's upcoming? you what are your thoughts? And actually it is just for the fans to enjoy it and what a spectacle to see them out in Lego cars You know, maybe the drivers don't want to look silly or stupid if they run into each other, but come on. Look first first it's the five thousand fifty engines. Now it's the Lego. when will it end That's what I say. Well I'm impressed by. twenty eight thousand bricks. We saw it in Miami, didn't we? The bricks come off're as glued down as they probably can be, but these guys are bashing into each other. If someone gets a puncture because the Lego hasn't been cleaned off properly, well, that's going to be a fun Sunday night, isn't it? We do have exceptional marshals here, though, so I'm sure best in the world actually last time Miami they were sharing a car, each weren't they and this time it's individuals So I think that would be quite fun I think they're afraid of losing. They're actually for the first time ever in equally powered cars. That's what I mean. They don't want to look silly or stupid if they bit it off. But hey, look, I'm going to be watching as I'm sure you guys will be. and I bet everyone will be there taking photos. so We should do a commentary of it, I think accident, Jhecker fllag special? Absolutely. Good for your socials, harry Benjamin, build that brand. Activate that brand When you're a maintenance engineer in a beverage manufacturing plant You keep production lines moving and quality on track because there is no room for slowdowns With Granger's vast selection of high quality motors, sensors, belts, and hard to find parts, you can get what you need fast and all in one place, so nothing gets in the way of getting the job done. Call one eight hundred Ganger, click ranger. com or just stop by Ranger for the ones who get it done The ultimate cookout starts with the ultimate ingredients. At Whole Foods markarket, no antibiotics ever burgers and kebabs are prepped and ready to throw on the grill. Fire up a juicy ribbeye. Grab creamy potato salad and savory flatbreads from the prepared foods department, and round it all out with three hundred sixty five brand condiments, chips and dips at everyday low prices Whole Foods Market, Make your summer sizzle Formula One is all about precision Tiny margins, massive ambition, flat out performance And that's exactly why it's exciting to see Cadillac entering Formula onene Bringing an American luxury brand with performance pedigree onto the biggest stage in motorsport. But this isn't just about the grid That same racing mindset, the obsession with engineering, the pursuit of perfection, lives in the Cadillac V series lineup giving you the chance to experience the precision and performance of the grid on the open road Cadlac V series, Distinctive Luxury performance enngineered to Thrill Discover the V sereries lineup at cadillac. com ight, well we've also been spending some time with rookie driver on the grid this year, British rookie driver, Avid Lyindblad. We've been catching up with him every few races as he navigates his rookie season. We spoke him in Miami last time, so here he is with Harry having a little sit down chat ahead of his home race here at Silverston. Avid Hello again. Hello. Last call up with you in Miami. Yes. And it's been three consecutive points finishes since then. It's not that. Yeah, it's been a a good few races. The team have done a really good job to give us, you know a fast car. They've upgraded really well. So yeah, looking forward to this week now. O obviously it's a busy week for you Your father' Swedish, your mother is British Indian Now I know your heritage means a great deal to you and while we don't have an Indian Grand Prix or a Swedish Grand Prix, back on the calendar yet, I think Silverston is already going to be quite intense for you, but how special has it already been in the build up to this weekend when you head out of the pit lane for the first time in a Formula O car as a Formula One driver? Yeah, it it'll be very special.s it's been the race I've been most looking forward to this year U you know, having you only get one first home GP. so yeah, I'm really really looking forward to it. It's a track I love. you know, and being, you know, raced under the British flag being you growing up here in the UK U has been you know, doing carting here in the UK is a big reason why I'm here, you know, so to be having my first PGP will be very special I've had some success here in previous years in F three and then my first FP one last year. so Did I see as well, it was Father's Day what a few weeks ago? Did you put a photo up? How old were you look about five years old when you were in the pit lane at Silverstone? It would have been, yeah. five years old ye. That at the beginning of the dream. Wow, thinking to that point now. you need to recreate that photo, actually this weekend. Yeah, we should actually To make it even more special though, I believe you've got a special helmet for this weekend. Let's have a look at it. Talk me through it because this has been the talk of the town so far and already getting a glimpse at it. It looks pretty cool.. What we got going on here then Let's get M my Cvard,? I mean, yeah there's quite a lot going on. Yeah, I mean, starting from, you know the top, you've got my logo and the British British flag And all the images around the front, the dream big. For me the back is the most special. if you just flip the around So here I've got all these images that are very pivotal moments, I'd say in my career. So from starting in Motoc Cross, winning the British Championship, signing for a Rubble Junior team, winning double in Silverstone F three, first FP one and then points this year in Melbourne. So all very very big moments for me. And as something I've always said is that I believe when I was five that I could be in Formula one Um So that was why I wanted these images to be very like childlike and I wanted to almost seem like a map of the journey to this moment U So yeah, they' very childlike very basic drawing as well like my five old, you know Yeah Yeah, it's like how how I would have envisioned it as my five year old self That's why the dream bigs there because I believe it was possible my pass my way, it was, you know, I don't come from a racing family. You know it was really I was introduced to it by my dad, but it was really my passion and something that I pushed. and it was really my dream that I was always you know pushing for It's incredible. And the designer is also British Indian hereritage. Is that right? Yes. so it's done in collaboration with Navinda Nangler, who's also British Indian. I'm you know British Indian. so it's very cool. And I think it's I think it's very different. I think it's going to look amazing out on track So, u I'm really, really looking forward to ve min it tomorrow It's incredible. Thank you very much for showing us and we won't miss you out on track either Let's talk about on track. We mentioned obviously it's been a great period of success for both sides of the garage actually, scoring points consistently. What have you noticed though biggest changes since when I last spoke to you in Miami to how you're operating within the team to where we're at now. because I feel like you when you're a rookie, you're starting out, you're finding your way. now we're really in the middle of the season European leg of it. Are you feeling that momentum? little bit, you know, I feel like every time I'm in the car, I'm getting more comfortable, getting more comfortable with the engineers. And I think I've really understood a lot about the team about the dynamics You know, there's a lot of new skills this year that I've had to work on. There's just new skills that you have in F one, just because the teams are so much bigger. So So chipping away at that Yeahah I don't know, the team obviously done an amazing job to bring upgrades, to bring performance. O that's been been a big help since Miami. Eact Arvid I'm going to be seeing you next I think in Azerbaijan. So I've got a few races to go until Baku but until then best of luck for your first British Grand Prix with voicing. Cheers. That was racing bulls driver Aravid Lindblad talking to Harry ahead of his first home Grand Prix. going to be a big weekend for him. So many people here. It's a bit of pressure A bit of extra power, Harry. Wh are you catching up with him next? Azerbaijan will be our next chat. And who knows? I mean well he's just had three consecutive points finish finishes may well still be scoring by then. Are you his lucky charm? Well it's going better than it was last year with Beerman and I'll tell you that. Every time I met Beerm he had a really rough weekend. So Limblad it's going okay. By Bacy, you might have some more nicknames for him as well. not he's not sticking with RVy Lins, that's for sure. We're still workshopping All right, well let's always George Russell goes past on a scooter, stopping to have a quick chat with fad or' thinking it's alpine because they've gone blue for the weekend. You know what the blue is. Oh you it's the car's the truck that used tove the truck that drove the nineteen fifty five nineteen fifty five Mercedes to Silververson. It was that color blue, so that's why they're wearing blue. It's a of a stretch, isn't it for historical reason. That's why you're wearing a blue shirt as well. blue isn't it? I realizet's worn for the last eight hundred fifty six years. Actually that one's slightly lighter than this He He bought a new shirt for Sileston? No Bradle Lord, the WutTP Pincial gives us a stare down the path.y look Let's talk about a bit of a serious subject because this circuit is so challenging for the drivers, but you often get to see the drivers and the cars Full fat, I'm going call it here But I feel like we're getting a semi skimmed version of the Formula One cars in twenty twenty six at Silveron Andrew. Am I right? Well, the drivers have been saying that haven't they? They were talking about it. All the drivers were talking about it pretty much on Thursday on media day. Basically the issue is energy starvation. There's too many straights and too few low speed corners here for breaking zones to charge the batteries consistently. So at key points of the lap, going into Cops, for example, going into Beckets going through Abbey The fastest corners, the most challenging corners basically going into stow battery is running out of power so the cars are not going as fast as the drivers would want them to go. so I think Hamilton said yesterday, normally through there, you'd be hanging on for dear life, whereas now the speed's dropping And I thought it was noticeable today that We saw almost no on board camera shots of drivers going into any of those corners. And I don't think that was a coincidence. because forer ones quite sensitive about this topic There's two ways of looking at it On the one hand, you can say the racing's been pretty good this year and a lot of it' to do with the different energy levels of the batteries. That's true But there's also a purity of the sport aspect to it. is know Formula One is supposed to be the best drivers in the world taking themselves and the best cars in the world to the absolute limit at all times. And the fact is that under these rules, that's not what's happening. and I think that's wrong and so does everyone in the sport and that's why they're changing the rules Now Toto goes past on an electric scooter in the padock, it's dangerous out there, isn't my gone? She g me J Be I she was to right behind me, She she shatered. Oh bless her. apologise. Yeah weone're very excited to see Toto Wolf. Well, by the way we also got a dirty look from Toto Wolf he looked over too, so was Mercedes a dirty look, I. Toto and Brandy like this. They do definitely We said all that, Andrew. and whilst we didn't see many on boards, so maybe that was a tactical decision from the F one gallery, but If you're sitting out there at Maggazs and Beckets, to the naked eye, are you actually seeing a difference? We didn't talk about all these rules and regs and deployment. It know because I haven't been out there on track because I'm in a car enjoy If you know what you're looking at, you can't not see a difference because last year cops was flat And Okay, what's the speed differential? What are we? I don't know I haven't seen the numbers yet. you cannot see it with a naked eye that. But I don't think that's the point. I mean, we have had weve had this conversation a lot. That comes back to what I said before, theseese are supposed to be testing the drivers to the absolute limit. I don'ag what's happening because of these engines As I said Everybody agrees it's just formal would rather we didn't talk about it so much I would rather we didn't talk about it so much as well. Can't we just get to I mean we're working to get to a solution next year. Obviously the sp between battery and internal combustion is changing slightly, but the racing is so good. It won't recognise it. There's been a lot of politics discussing about it. It's heading in the right direction. It'll get fixed eventually. It's just taking a little bit longer than we all would have liked I agree with everything that's been said Look. it's changing. It's not been perfect this year. It's moving on. The racing, I think if you're a fan watching on the tele in the grandstands, don't think you notice it. makes don't think it makes that much of a difference but O obviously the fundamental issue is the drivers and the way the performance of the cars is. and that is going to change I think it's a great watch at the moment, a great watch, a great listen obviously and I'm been at the races, I've listening to Harry. listen. Absolutely Rose. I've been listening to. So I think it sounds pretty good to me. Right, well we can't cover everything because we only have a certain amount of time before we have to leave this panic and find some dinner. I would love you to tell me who you think will be on the top step of the podium comees Sunday afternoon because the grand Prix is there Big moment of the weekend come on. Look, come Sunday afternoon. I think Mercedes will have their ducks in a row by then and I think it will be a killing anw toelly win