Verstappen and Hajar Performance Gap

Some days it feels like your to do list just won't quit . When life gets hectic, let Halfords take something off your plate. We're here when you need us, with trusted experts ready to help you take off MOTs, servicing, tire fitting and more. See your car's ready for whatever's ahead. So why put it off? Get in touch or drop in today. Book online at halfers. com I'll give your local Halford's garage a call and we'll sort it so you can keep moving with confidence. Garage service is not available in Northern Ireland. Everything cake at Ocado. We've got birthday cakes, Jaffe cakes, pancakes, fish cakes, rice cakes, oat cakes. Basically, you can have your cake and eat it, as well as non cakey stuff at Ocadco, the online supermarket. Give us a try and get twenty five percent off the food in your first shop and free delivery. Geographical and other restrictions apply new customers only Min spend sixty pounds max saving twenty pounds charging supply terms Accado dot com I wonder if Lewis Hamilton is now the team leader at Ferrari. Am I too early to say that? Even that comment TC after qualifying of, oh yeah, he was trying to do what I was doing. That's the first like jab that I've heard belittling, isn't it? It is . I think there's been a kind of lazy narrative that Lewis is crashing Charlotte Ferrari and it's all now his team and this is it . Nonetheless, I don't think he's going to win the championship. And with Leclerc's pace, I mean, he could really help out Hamilton. It's probably the right move right now, but I don't know if Red would have the guts to ask. There is no part of me that thinks Leclerc is a number two driver , but that would be such a weapon for Ferrari because Mercedes just cannot do that. Why not? I think maybe Toto Wolf has to stop them fighting . Welcome every one to F one Nation's preview of the Austrian Grand Prix. I'm Tom Clarkson alongside our resident double act of Jolian Palmer and James Hinchcliffe guys . How are you both still revelling in that Lewis Hamilton victory last time out? Very good TC really. Oh what a what a race because you had the Hamilton story, you had the Mercedes story and then Lewis to get it done we sort of questioned whether he'd ever win another Formula One race with the form that he was on, but he's clearly back and it was pretty special to see. Inch, did Hamilton win it or did Mercedes lose it? Yes . No, honestly, I think I think Hamilton, I think he won it. I think he won it regardless. I don't think the VSC played the most critical factor. It helped. It eased the pressure a little bit, certainly. But I think that that car had the pace. I think that Lewis was driving phenomenally well . You know, I'm sure we'll dive into it, but I think the conditions and the tires and everything all kind of played apart. But I think they called the right strategy on the three stop. And I think he was in absolute peak form You mentioned the three stop. Can we talk now about what Lewis Hamilton did in that Barcelona Catalonia Grand Prix? It seemed like a masterclass that we hadn't seen from him for quite some time dominated by tyre wear Ferrari aggressive throughout starting on the soft tyre. Now both of you guys resident racing drivers I want to delve into what Lewis was doing behind the wheel that gave him the advantage last time out. It's the magic, isn't it? It's the magic of extracting laptime cleanly . So first of all, his natural driving style, he was attacking the brakes a lot. So there's been a lot of chat about Lewis, his comfort on the brakes and Charles not being as comfortable on the brakes, hence his change of brake material for Spain . And when you look at how he was making up his laptime, he attacks the brakes really, really hard. And in Barcelona you carry a lot of entry speed, you slow it down, you sort of V off the corners a little bit more, wait for the exit that in turn naturally helps you to sort of save the front tyres as well, but it didn't really matter that aspect for Lewis because he switched to the three stop. So then it's just about extracting pace and he was really quick . And bas ically that's what it just was all come down to his pace . Nothing else special in there. The start was fine, but on a soft tire it wasn't magic. The Ferrari Start of Artich is gone . The pit stops weren't magic, but they were fine. The strategy was the magic bullet. Ferrari, I think you have to say nailed it. Great strategy, great upgrades . And Lewis just drove very, very fast and that's what delivered it. Yeah, I think the ability to just focus on extracting the lap time, right? I think by going on that three stop, you're not having to save tires. You can be aggressive. And obviously Lewis excels when you ' know hes given the tools to go out and push and be aggressive. And you know, in that second stint, he was taking two and a half seconds a lap out of the leaders. So as a driver, I mean, that's the strategy you want to be on as a driver , right? Look, you want to be on the winning strategy. But if you're given an option and there's a one second racetime difference between the two, it is a lot more fun to do more stops than fewer because you can just go out there and push and the car had to pace, like you say, we saw that and qualify. He was only a couple hundreds off of off of George. You know, that last Q three lap from George three tenths quicker than anything we'd seen. We thought, oh, I mean, that was the death blow, right? Sign sealed delivered easy pull pos ition. And then you see Hamilton coming around with some incredible sectors. You're like, oh my god, this is going to be quite close . So the one lap pace was genuine. We'd already seen an FP two that the race pace was pretty good. They were taking care of their tires a bit better. We knew that Hamilton had said that Ferrari's simulations had the degreet at about half of what it ended up being. So I don't think anyone was super surprised when they take the covers off on the grid and he's on the softs . And then yeah, it just allowed him to do what he's been doing these last few rounds, which is which is drive aggressive, drive quickly and execute well . Also smoothly though. He's the aggression is coming in on the brakes, so he's attacking the brakes really hard, well documented now . But he is not fighting the car in the same way as you see Charles often fighting the car. Hence you've got quite a lot of incident on the other side of the garage where,as Lewis just seems to find the sweet spot of attacking the entry but having that rear in exactly the position where he wants it, which is where it was when it in his glory is at Mercedes. It's stable so he can attack the corner , drive with a fair amount of input on the way in, but it's not going to snap, it's not going to do anything nasty , which is why we're getting quick, Lewis Hamilton, but also consistent Lewis Hamilton again right now, I think. There was a great line in the post qualifying press conference in which Lewis said he was asked about Scharl's problems and Scharl's crash in qualifying. And he said, Well, I think he'd had a look at my data, tried to see what I was doing , and couldn't replicate it. And that's, I mean, I'm slightly paraphrasing what he said, but that was that was exactly what he meant. And you could just there's the competitor in Lewis Hamilton now just turning the wick on Charlot Cler a bit now . I love that because as a driver, you know your strengths and weaknesses through the weekend . So actually Charles was really quick in the Barcelona weekend, but he made the mistake at term for. But Lewis probably will be aware that every single lap at turn four they'll come in get the comparisons between two fairly evenly matched drivers and he'll know I've got turn four. You might be quick ending it somewhere else on the lap, but I've got turn ed and for I've got it on entry and apex speed . So when you get to Q three and Charles trying to do his Q three magic and Lewis sees him in the wall, then of course you think you're trying to copy my magic. This is the corner where I've been quicker. Suddenly you 're in the wall here, and you kind of do inherently know that as a driver, you think, you're trying to do what I've been doing and it's not paying off. And it's a satisfying feeling. I wonder if Lewis Hamilton is now the team leader at Ferrari. I'm just starting to sense the pendulum is swinging more towards his side of the garage . Am I too early to say that? But just look at the last three races . Second, second first, compare that to the horrible time that Charlot 's been having. And I really struggled to hear Leclerc talking about feeling ashamed of his crash. And he's so hard on himself and I actually mentioned it to the guys at Ferrari after qualifying. I said, you know, do you advise him to stop being so hard on himself? And he said, Yes, and the more we tell him to stop doing that, the harder he gets on himself. So just the sort of the juxtaposition of the I mean it's so rare that you get two drivers on an upswing together in the same team and we're seeing one up and one down very much so at Ferrari, aren't we? Yeah , I think I think every driver is their own harshest critic, right? External pressure is one thing, but when you're at this level of the sport, there is nothing, I think that can surpass the internal pressure that you apply . And I think it's just it's what makes him great. What, you know, it's what's got him to this point. I don't think he needs to change that necessarily . And to the point , whoever that was from the team said, the more they try to talk him out of it, the harder he is on himself . So you kind of just need to back off and let the driver go through their own process and figure that stuff out. Obviously, Hamilton's gone through a change in his own process and it's working very well. I don't think it's to the point now where he's de facto team leader. I mean, you know, Charlot has years and years and years of holding that role and leading that team . I think more than anything, it's just now they've got someone else that can contribute not that not that they didn't when they had Carlos, but certainly last year, it was kind of a one man show in that sense. But now you've got that old school Lewis Hamilton that's able to to motivate, I think, and influence the way that he has so many times in the past. So it's a little bit of a perfect storm. I do think that if Charlt can kind of get things together a little bit, you might see that second half of the garage come up and see kind of both dri vers operating at a very high level because clearly the team is and the car is getting better and better as well . This episode is sponsored by Indeed . You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday . So how do you find the right candidate fast? Easy. You use indeed. Instead of your job post getting buried in a sea of listings, indeed sponsored jobs helps you stand out and hire faster. Your listing jumps to the top of search results so the right candidates see it first. And it really works. According to Indeed Data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed get forty five percent more applications than non sponsored jobs. Plus, there's no monthly subscription, no long term contract, you only pay for results. One of the things I love about Indeed is how quick and efficient it is. Hiring can feel overwhelming, but with sponsored jobs, the process moves faster and you attract stronger candidates. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with indeed. And listeners of this show will get a one hundred pound sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed. com slash f one nation. Just go to indeed. com slash f one nation right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on this podcast indeed dot com slash F one nation terms and conditions apply . Hiring indeed is all you need . Everything cake at a cardo. We've got birthday cakes, Jaffa cakes, pancakes, fish cakes, rice cakes, oat cakes. Basically, you can have your cake and eat it as well as, non cakey stuff at Ocado, the online supermarket. Give us a try and get twenty five percent off the food in your first shop and free delivery. Geographical and other restrictions apply new customers only Min spend sixty pounds max saving twenty pounds charging supply times at Ocado. com Now JP, you've written a piece on F one. com entitled Can Hamilton Mount A Title Challenge after that first win at Ferrari . Can he I don't see why he can't at this stage because he's consistent. The Ferrari car is improving quite well. The upgrades working in Barcelona obviously sent him towards the win. Without that, then they're not competitive enough . But as the season's going on, you look at Melbourne to Japan , to Miami , all the way all the way through, you're seeing what was a massive golf between Mercedes and the field come down and whether that's McLaren fighting, whether it's Verstappen starting on the front row for a couple of races and whether it's now Ferrari with Lewis back on form , being able to win a race and put a strategy together. I loved hearing Lewis and Carlos Santi's chat on the radio. It was kind of heartwarming. Santi was loving it. You know, you could hear his excitement in the voice . And that's what I wanted to hear when I was driving. So I feel like they're on the same page and inevitably Mercedes will respond. And I think probably the next couple of races will be maybe more towards Merced es track, certainly Austria more than you'd say on paper Ferrari, but the season's long and there's only forty one points now between Hamilton and Antonelli. You've got one Ferrari guy that can win it, you've got two Mercedes guys that can win it . I think a couple of things. First of all, I think there's been a kind of lazy narrative that Lewis is kind of thrashing Charlotte at Ferrari and it's all now his team and this is it. When you look through it, Charlotte has been very, very close or even quicker than Lewis on a lot of these recent weekends. So the outlier is Canada, Lewis beat him, hands down . But in Monaco , I think it was only FP two that Lewis was actually ahead of Charles before Charles put it in the wall in qualifying and then the race. And in Barcelona, I think it was only Q one that Lewis was ahead of Charl ie. So I kind of think Charl's own worst enemy is himself right now rather than obviously Lewis is doing a great job and it absolutely hats off to him. But you know, nonetheless, I don't think he's going to win the championship from this far back . So do Ferrari at some point start to push the ball towards Lewis's court because they simply have to if they want to beat Mercedes? Yeah, I mean you look at you look at Red Bull versus McLaren last year , right? The only reason that that even remotely worked is because it was one red bull fighting the two McLarens who were taking points off each other. So if you are Ferrari at this point , yeah, I mean maybe maybe we're a tiny bit early, but one or two more weekends where the momentum, the points are on Lewis's side, and I think you kind of have to, because to your point, two versus one, you have to put all your eggs in one basket. Can it be done? Here's the thing, even in those incredible races where Lewis had three podiums before we got to Barcelona, they were still beat by Mercedes, weren't they? And Mercedes has been slightly off schedule with upgrades . So we know Ferrari were kind of the only ones to bring, you know, a big package to Barcelona. It worked . We'll see what happens at the next time that Mercedes shows up, you know, with a strong package. I think that the conditions at Barcelona, temperature wise , might be actually showing us a little bit about some strengths and weaknesses of the car. That was very hot. I know up in the air conditioned booth it probably didn't look too bad, but down on the racetrack, it was scorching and if Ferrari this year is just a little bit better on its tires , which might be hurting it for warm up at some of the cooler grandpries especially in qualifying, it may have actually helped it quite a bit. And you look at, you know, that first int ege handled Lewis in that first int, right? Louis obviously on the softs to your point, JP kind of kind of an average start unspectacular for softs and wasn't able to keep pace . But it's when they switched compounds the Ferrari was just much quicker on the hards than the Mercedes was . So is it tire compound specific, is it condition specific? This is still a very sort of again, narrow data set that had Ferrari comfortably, I think, outpacing, you know, both Mercedes . And even Kimmy had slightly more pace in that final stint than George did . So people's opinions and like the mood and momentum of formula one, it can change very quick and people see this one result, you know, Lewis wins the race in a very decided fashion, but it's, can you win the championship now? It's like, let's all remember that Mercedes has won everything else up to this point. So one of my favorite seasons, one of my favorite eras, we've spoken about it already was Alonso in the Ferrari years. And I remember, I don't know if you guys do, the twenty ten season . So there was a moment that stands out. I don't know why I've always remembered this, but Silverstone, the British Grand Prix , Alonso was absolutely nowhere. He got a penalty for overtaking two bits of off the track of Vale, got no points , was forty seven points down on the championship lead and at the end of the race he said we will win this championship . And I remember just thinking that is the most absurd quote I've ever heard from a guy that's not one in nine races had three podiums out of ten in a Ferrari that seems nowhere and he comes out and says we will win this championship. So that was twenty ten. The next race , you probably will remember the iconic Felipe Massa gave up the position to Fernando Alonso Fernando is faster than you and from that moment you had alonso with sheer alonso esque determination, the whole of Ferrari behind him and what happened right at the end? He didn't win the championship, but it very nearly did were it not for Vitaly Patrov in Abu Dhab i. And it's amazing because I've done the calculations , it would be the equivalent of one Ferrari driver being one hundred twenty points off the championship lead with current points. That's how far away he was . But a galvanized team behind one driver can give you so much . You mentioned Verstappen last year, Hench . Great, one red bull against two McLarens, which in theory can be tough, but in reality can be good because you're not taking points off each other. Problem was Sonoda wasn't taking points off anyone. So he verstappen had no help . So where I'm going with this is if Ferrari could get to a position where Charlotte Clerc can actually just say right you're forty points back from Lewis . We think this is a long shot with Lewis, let alone with you to try and come back with the pace deficit we've inherently got against Merced es , could Ferrari pose a threat? And with Leclerc's pace, I mean, he could be an absolute menace to Mercedes. He could take wings, take he could take so many points off them and he could really help out Hamilton . Question is, of course, where am I going with this? Would Leclerc ever do that for Hamilton? He's just off the back of this massive lucrative contract that he's got . He's not there to be a number two driver. But you think if you're Ferrari, you've kind of that is your best asset to try and make a championship fight out of nothing here. And they've shown before it kind of killed Felipe Masse's morale and career from that moment on, but my word, they nearly got a title out the ashes of absolutely nothing. And it's been the model at Ferrari since nineteen ninety six when Michael Schumacher joined the team. I am the number one driver. I will decide who my team mate is and some teammates accept it in the way that Eddie Irvine did being the number two driver. Rubens Barricello always struggled with it, as did Felipe Massa. I could see Charlot Leclerc really struggling with that but doing it because I think he's so passionate about the prancing horse, isn't he? He will do whatever Fred asks . And there is no part of me that thinks Leclerc is a number two driver. I've always I've always rated him. I think he's one of the best on the grid could be a champion in time to come . It's just not going to happen this year because he's had too many incidents. Obviously the reliability in Barcelon a didn't help him as well. So probably in years to come he'll have a shot . But if you just say for this year , we want to just put everything behind getting a Ferrari champion for the first time in Eons, what since Kimi Richen in two thousand seven? Can you help us out and be a heroic second driver for the rest of the year? I still don't know if he's going to agree to that , but if he could , that would be such a weapon for Ferrari because Mercedes just cannot do that. Russell and Antonelli are both sure that they can be champion and there's only fifty points between them. It's such an interesting question, JP and I'm with you. I have no idea how that one would go. The racing driver in him will absolutely not want it, but to your point, TC, the pride of Ferrari that courses through his veins be willing to acquiesce, especially off the back of this big contract. He knows he's there for a while . He knows that next year could be his year, but it does take accepting that this year isn't. And when you use that Fernando Alonso story or people look back at, you know, when everybody said McLaren should have backed Piasri after Zan vort last year. There are enough examples of that not being the case and just freak circumstances, you know, allowing it to go the other direction. I just don't know. It's probably the right move right now, but I don't know if Fred would have the guts to ask or what Charlotte's so tough to implement, isn't it? So you go back almost impossible . And remember when Norris was trying to come back in twenty twenty four against Verstappen and then Oscar won the race in Budapest, but McLaren actually got their sort of the only guy that could win the championship to let the other guy win the race and you're like guys , have you not seen Fernando Alonzo in twenty ten? You got to give them everything if you wanna win the championship . In the end, it wouldn't have mattered. But these are the tricky things. But if you're Sharle, what you're saying is, Fred , I think I can still do something magic. Give me at least a few more weekends to show that the pace is there. I've been making too many errors, that's that's clear to see. But if I string it together , I can win multiple races in a row. So he's going to be just begging for time at this stage to get through the next few grandprix and then at some point they'll figure it out. But I think for Ferrari, that's the biggest thing. And also when you look at, I'll give you one more old example, nineteen ninety nine, I don't know how well my tails from the vault go down here, but ninety nine, you have Michael Schumacher missed a load of the season with a broken leg, came back to help Eddie Orvine win the championship. Yeah, nearly did it. Famously didn't work either, but he got close and having like a number one driver helping out it can be so effective. I remember at the Malaysian Grand Prix that year JP Michael Schumacher holding up the guys behind it was he was a brilliant number two driver Michael Schumacher. It has to be said. But you know what you talk about drivers who, can galvanize a team? I can't think of, okay, Schumacher's won, but Lewis Hamilton absolutely is that man. He is a natural leader. Look what Toto Wolf was saying after the race in Spain last week, you know, I know what he's like when he can smell blood is what Toto Woolf was saying. And I really don't want him to join this fight because I know how effective he can be as a leader . So you've got a man in Hamilton who knows how to win and just he's so pumped. He's so pumped at the moment and that momentum that he can create , I think will almost become an unstoppable force. I think Charlecler won't have any option, particularly if if he scores more than Charlotte, the Austrian Grand Prix next week. Yeah, and I think that's ultimately got to be Hamilton's goal, right? He has to make it an inevitability. He has to he has to force Ferrari, you know, he's got to just eliminate the option of Cheryl Staying kind of in the fight and for I not taking that approach . It's going to be interesting, but at the same time, it's a great learning opportunity. This is actually something that Montoya said on our post race show on F one TV is this is a great learning opportunity. Now you're seeing, you know, Classic Lewis. You're seeing the driver that's won all these championships and how he gets it done. He clearly needs to be in the right mindset and he needs to be in the right mentality and he's and he's found that that space again and now we starting to kind of witness the greatness that is Hamilton. And even that comment TC after qualifying of oh yeah he was trying to do what I was doing. That's the first like jab that I've heard from Hamilton listening in this it is. I mean, it's there's that is a very conscious thing. That was a very deliberate comment and and that's what a champion has to do. You've got to get the team to side with you. You've got to get them in New York Corner on your side of the garage . And, you know, that's that's definitely the way it's swinging at the moment. I mean, JP , you say that Mercedes can't do that at the moment because both George and Kimmy think they can win the World Championship. Well, George is fifty points behind his teammate now . And it seems that every race we've been to for the last month , Kimmy has been faster than George. I mean , I would say George Russell woke up on Monday morning after Spain thinking I've got a serious problem on my hands, even though I've just closed the gap to Kimmy Antonelli by eighteen points in the world championship, I have a serious problem because he's quicker than me pretty much every stage of the grand prix doesn't matter whether we're at Barcelona, whether we're at Monaco. I just you say can't do that, but why not? I think maybe Toto Wolf has to stop them fighting . It's too early for Mercedes to implement that because I think George he's earned the right over years to have a shot at this that's not just evaporated in what seven races this year. But you could say the same about Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, right? Yeah, but TC he's so far away . What's the points difference? Leclerc to Leclerc is eighty one. Leclerc is eighty one behind Nantonelli. George is fifty. Yeah, but George is in a Mercedes which is still better than the Ferrari . So my point here is if Ferrari want to win the title they're going to do it with fundamentally an inferior car . They will get closer. There will be races where they're ahead and Barcelona was great, but Barcelona was still then beating the juggernaut of Mercedes . George Russell is in one of those Mercedes. If he just gets the upper hand on Kimmy again , then he will start winning races. If Charlotte Claire starts getting the upper hand over Lewis, he still has to beat Mercedes as well. So for me, that's why I think Hamilton is a long shot. Leclerc is just too far back in an inferior car. Russell's fifty points back, but he's in the best car . So that's why I think it's really tricky for Toto to stop George at the moment. Now, of course, that will come if in three, four, five races time George really is too far back and you've got a bigger threat coming from Lewis, possibly in a miraculous world shall, but realistically Lewis . Then Toto might have to make a call and prioritize Kimmy if he's still on fire, but you just I don't think he can make that call at the moment. fifty points Russell did take poll in Spain. I know the race was underwhelming for him, but at least he showed that he's got one lap pace again and it was three tenths. It wasn't a small gap . So I think that's a problem it's a good problem for Toto to have, but it's still nonethel it's a strength for Ferrari compared to Mercedes if they want to use it. Hench, do you think the battle between George and Kimmy in Barcelona in that second stint cost Kimi Anton elli if he hadn't had a technical problem. Did it cost him the win? Would he have been ahead of the virtual safety car if they hadn't been tripping over each other? It certainly cost him a shot at the win. I think it's too strong to say that it cost him the win just because, you know, the pace of Lewis at the end of that race, I mean , what did he pull nineteen seconds or something over George who I get didn't have the same pace as Lewis, but it's still a tremendous pace that the Ferrari had . So you know, the romantic in me is wants to believe that Hamilton was going to win that race either way . But you know, for sure, it added a bunch of r ace time to Kimmy's race. He was the quicker of the two by the end the second half of the Grand Prix for sure . And it eliminated a shot for him to win that race. And that's something I know that Mercedes is already looking very closely at worst case scenario, I mean how many times have we seen let him go, let him try to catch the leader. If he can't do it, swap the positions back. They didn't even have that conversation, or at least not publicly, right ? The only way that race would have been close is if Mercedes had made the call lap thirty three , you had Hamilton on his on his of his three stop, Mercedes both staying out. You had Antonelli forcing Russell to defend in the middle stint . And the only way that race would have been close is if Mercedes had ordered Russell to just let Antonelli through. So now you've got Kimmy in Clear Air effectively against Lewis in Clear Air at that stage and then no virtual safety car because I think with the virtual safety car probably Lewis comes out behind Kimmy but we'd have the tar advantage we'd have to pass him but still could be doable. Would it would another moment not have been when they covered Lewis when they covered Lewis with George on that first stop pivot to the three stop? I mean, if you're going to cover the guy, but cover him on a completely different strategy, it almost it almost didn't make any sense . got They stuck between a two and a three didn't they? They covered as if it was a three stop, didn't cover him the second time. But I think that's because Hamilton's outlap was so good that it was a sketchy cover to pit then for Russell and they had Norris keeping them in check as well as a, you know, as second Ferrari driver on the day, just keeping them in check on a two stop. So tricky one, but I agree that the strategy for Mercedes wasn' t ten out of ten . Isn't it amazing? We're talking about Ferrari calling the shots on the strategy. The car's fantastic. When they bring new parts to the car it gets quicker. They've got two drivers , but particularly Lewis, who's firing on all cylinders at the moment. It feels like such a different beast in Marinello compared to even twelve months ago . And the innovation on the car. You can see it from the start of the year . They've got Aduo so they've got some power unit performance to bring so have Mercedes so we'll see how that pans out. If they can get that sorted, they could have maybe the best car by the end of the year. There's a lot to be positive about for Ferrari. Well, what about this coming weekend guys? So we're off to Austria into the Sty ian mountains. It's such a beautiful race . Look, talk us through the challenges of the Red Bull Ring. four point three kilometers, a lot shorter than it used to be when it was called the Oster Eicherink back in the seventies and eighties . Who do you think it's going to favour? What about the challenge? It's a circuit of two halves. It's big brakes and fast corners . So it's power sensitive, which is why again I think Mercedes will be in a strong position . All of those the first half is fairly lengthy straight with a big stamp on the brakes and low speed corners . Then you'll get into the fast stuff. It's a brilli antly flowing track actually. It's undulating. The braking zones themselves are really tricky. You got to turn three, then the downhill turn four , loads of people running through the gravel, especially in that downhill braking zone. And then the fast stuff is really really, nice. Couple of lefts, a couple of rights, use all the curb, but if you take a little bit too much, it can catch you particularly in the final final corner . And it's such a short lap as well. So it's really punishing of any mistake because you've only got like five or six other chances to make up for it if you have a little lock or a missed apex somewhere. I agree with you. I think it is still going to be favored towards Mercedes, everybody talking about , you know, Ferrari being really good in medium speed corners, but maybe Charles still struggling with the brakes getting up to speed there. It'll be interesting to see actually if Hamilton can still maintain that sort of that sort of pace and if Red will find the b alance, we know what Max can do at a track where the balance is good and the driver can make the difference and because the margins are so small there because it's such a short lap, you know, an exceptional run through sector can actually make quite a big difference. So we know that Max is capable of that if he's got that car handling the way he wants it to. So I still think it's advantage of Mercedes, but it could be it could be entertaining race. I throw one more in there . Lando Norris He is exceptional around that track. Took a big poll last year, won the race with that big battle with Oscar . He was brilliant as well in Spain. Like the fact that he was even close to the Mercedes throughout, he was a long way ahead of Oscar. I feel like Norris is finding really strong form and I think he individually will be really strong. Why is he so good around the Red Bull ring? As you say, his poll last year was like half a second on the shortest lap on the calendar Monaco aside . Yeah, there was a little bit of yellow flags in there as well from memory, but his form over the years, whether it's a non upgraded McLaren and he's busting up to the top three , an upgraded McLaren, he's absolutely flying there . It's a circuit of just I think it's a little bit ofs technique. So your lines, you've got some off camber, the really tight hepin turn three is a tricky one. You're braking uphill, you can brake exceptionally late and then getting traction is difficult . Again, the braking and your lines, your curb use down into the into the head pin and then just a flow through that the second half of the lap . It's a short, but it's a kind of quirky circuit where if you find a flow, you find a rhythm, you pick up the right cur bs, you get the balance so you've got confidence to attack through the apex speed, particularly the faster corners. You can just get into that zone and it seems to just thrive there . And can we explain the difference? I mean, we've talked a lot about Hamilton versus Leclerc, Russell versus Antonelli. What about the gap at the moment, at least between Norris and his McLaren team mate, Oscar P astry. Oscar seems having come out of the blocks pretty well at the start of the season. He seems to be struggling relative to Orlando at the moment. Yeah, I mean, we've always known Oscar to be good at you know fast tracks and obviously his first grump rade that he actually participated in this year at Japan, you know, race quite well and had the better of Norris. So you almost would have expected Spain of all places to maybe be a little bit more in his wheelhouse . But again, these cars have a lot less downforce. They're sliding around a lot more, they're moving around a lot more. We know that that is something that Lando sort of excels at in these quote unquote low grip cond itions. I'm not by any stretch trying to say modern formula one car has got low grip, but the temperatures being what they were, the tires degrading like they were, that's still a little bit more towards Lando's wheelhouse. So there's a chance that it's just, you know, he's he's still getting used to how to get these cars to go super quick when they are moving around a little bit more. It could be something as simple as that. It could be something as, you know, as simple as once the conditions are a little cooler and closer to what he likes that you know we'll see that see that that Oscar magic return, but it is interesting that kind of so far Lena really has had the upper hand . Do you think McLaren are close to winning a race? I think they are. When you look at the pace they had in Barcelona, if they'd qualified better or got the got the lead at the start , they could have won that race . Norris is there right with Russell and Antonelli. He was on the same strategy as them. So it's difficult to compare him to Hamilton . And I think they will get more opportunities as well with upgrades working, fine tuning the parts they've already bought. They will win a race in the next handful of races. No, we've mentioned Verstappen, four time winner of course at the Red Bull ring Red Bulls home race . Quick word on Hajar, very close to him in qualifying. Is he the most convincing teammate that Max has had in the last few years? By far, by miles , I mean, since Daniel Ricciardo at the moment, the stats are so interesting looking at Verstappen versus anyone because I think pretty much no one's comfortably got within sort of four tenths of him as a qualifying average . The outlier here is that Max is troubleshooting a tricky car. They're not absolutely on the best of it yet. And when Max does a much better job, the gap is there a little bit compared to Isaac Hajar as well. So when the car seems to be a little trickier, we're seeing Hajar very close to Verstappen, when the car is better in the hands of Verstappen, if Max is on the front row , then you're seeing a little bit more of a gap. But either way, I think this is really impressive from Hajal. We've talked in the past, you know, past two, three seasons and we've had some rookies and we kind of compare them to their more experienced teammates, right? And the trend kind of was always when a when a car is good , then the rookie can be close to the experienced driver. You know, when the car is not in a great window, the veteran's able to kind of piece it all together and extract a bit more pace. It's kind of been the opposite. It's like you said. When Max is in his happy place, he's still absolutely untouchable. And I don't think the qualifying gap is actually that much smaller than what we've seen over the last , you know, two, three, four teammates that he's had. But Hadjar's doing a great job navigating a new rule set and trying to like you say, troubleshoot the car , figure things out. And when it is tricky, he's able to kind of match match Max, which I think is very impressive . But yeah, I just I wonder if they get that car into a more consistently happy place for Max, does that gap start to grow? I don't know. That's what I would expect to happen from the little trend that we've seen, even if Hadjar stays closer than Senoda or Perez . But you remember Checker was exactly the same. You know, the start of their time in the latest set of new regs was twenty two and the car was a bit understeer, it was a bit heavy and they were quite evenly matched for the first four or five races and it was really good . And then they improved the car generally and Max when he finds the setup that he can drive, no one else can drive it and he can drive it exceptionally quickly. And that just makes the difference way bigger and it makes Red Bull way more competitive . So we will see because I think they will get towards that at some point . But I thought we'd reach that moment in Miami when Red Bull upgraded, you know, was at the steering rack and Max seemed suddenly much happier. And yet here we are a handful of races later and Hadarj is still hanging on to his coattails. Yeah, he wasn't that close in Miami, was he? You know, so and Max is still complaining quite a bit about the car. So the Miami update worked for Miami, certainly , but it's not been sort of the universal fix. And I agree with JP. I think the closer they get the balance to where Max wants it, the harder it is to match what Max is able to do. And Monica as well. Max was on the front row. So again, that's when the red bulls suddenly starts talking to Max. And again, I don't think Isaac did badly there, but you do just see these glimpses where Max could suddenly look like a race winner and Isaac isn't quite there or they're both fifth and sixth or seventh and eighth. So when it's when it starts talking to Max, I think we'll see the best of him and we'll see maybe then a really clear picture of how good Isaac is compared to the predecess ors . Okay , and who else to look out for in Austria? I mean, we saw both Alpines back in the points last time out in Spain. We saw both racing bulls back in the points as well. Any reason to think that they won't be knocking on the door again? I mean, the racing balls, I think is a really interesting one. You know, that's that's a track that a lot of the I think to Lynblad, you know, a lot of the junior categories race there. So he's got a lot of experience there . I think that the racing bulls points in Spain were maybe a touch more legitimate. You know, it was a high attrition race . The Alpines didn't qualify particularly well. They weren't they weren't sh ocking but they weren't terrific. Both you know, Lawson was in Q three, Lindblad should have been in Q three. So I think that pace is pretty genuine. And I could see I could see them pulling off another double score there, which could be interesting. It's, you know, what happens with the Hoses of the grid ? Does Audi's, you know , engine deficit really , really hamper them at this track? Or can you know Halkenberg still pull out some magic on Saturday and just finish outside the points on Sunday . But no, I think I think there's a there's a couple question marks in that midfield. Lawson has been brilliant this year, hasn't he? As an aside, only two races. He's not just ended up in the points by the Cckhe of flight. He's done a good job . So I expect racing bulls and him to be there and with Alpine. I would say Williams will be better in Austria Barcelona's always a difficult race for them and I would expect Mercedes power unit to go quite well in Austria and those two to be back towards the edge of points. And I reckon this is points for Audi. They haven't scored its Melbourne , but they've had all manner of bad luck , all manner of hopeless starts , but if they can get on top of the starts and avoid some bad luck, Audi have got some pace in hand in Austria, I think to get one of their drivers back to the points. It was Bortelletot who scored his first world championship points in Austria last year. So a track he goes he goes well at great drive too yeah that was really good driver for him. Well guys I'm going to ask you for your predictions now because I know how much you love sharing them. Who's going to win? Hinch, I think you can go first this week . Okay . Well for the sake of keeping keeping the championship interesting, let's say George wins because I do think it's it's still going to be a Mercedes track . I do like I do like JP's thought on Lando though. He is he is exceptional there. Mercedes power units good . Yeah, I think that wouldn't that's an interesting one. So I'll throw I'll throw Lando up in P two because why not? And let's put Hamilton P three. Let's keep it interesting. All right . I like wear your heads out there , but I'm going to I'm going to go a little bit more bit more crushing for the championship chat because I think I think Kim is going to do it . He just seems to be fast everywhere. I know we didn't know qualifying in Spain, but it's also easier to overtake in Austria if he's got the race post that he had . And I just can't see past him at this stage on a track that I think Mercedes will go well out. So Antonelli wins. I also think Lando will get a second place . And I will go George picks up third. So McLaren splits the Mercedes for a podium. Would you team? When I think of Antonelli, I just think of turn three lap one last year . So do you know what the rules are? You can't think of anything Antonelli last year because we'll write him off all season until we get to like Brazil. Yeah, you think he's fine. So you're going for the win with him Hint, you're with George. Well, I 'm I think Hamilton 's on a roll guys . I could see Ferrari. I know the cars are very different this year, but people tell me the DNA is the same. Ferrari have always been really strong in Austria. They've had a great record there. I think Hamilton's got the momentum behind him and I can see a Hamilton win . I'm also a little bit worried about the reliability of the Mercedes as well. I think that's going to be their Achilles here all season. And you know, it's quite a high altitude track. This one, everything's under a little bit more strain . So maybe if you have a reliability problem, it might raise its head this coming weekend. So anyway, Hamilton for the win, two in a row , Angeonelli, I think P two and Orlando Norris P three. That's me . You're just nodding. You like I'm liking it TC is game on if it happens, isn't it? thirty four points heading to Silverstone . Surely that's a Hamilton three in a row by then but we're getting way ahead of ourselves now and then Fred Vaso, I'm afraid, it really is throw, you know, throw the kitchen sink behind Louis Hamilton at that point, isn't it? And Leclerc is just going to have to wait for twenty twenty seven . It does feel like a big weekend this one for Shelley for exactly all those of reasons to make sure that's not the case for himself and of course there are any massive breaking zones in Barcelona . You know, one of the few that there are he tripped over in qualifying last time out. Whereas we do, as you said, JP have a lot of big stops coming up in Austria. So I feel we're going to learn more about Shell under braking this weekend . But also we're we're all getting a bit carried away with with S harles nowhere, Sharles Braking's rubbish, all this in Miami, he was really, really quick. He led the race. Miami is full of big, big stops . You know, there's other races where we've had this year. He has been able to bre ak. So obviously he's now changed back towards Hamilton's carbon industry. So it'll be a new feeling for him. So maybe there is a little bit in that, but he's still there. He's still there on the band on the bandwagon, JP, but we're actually only reacting to what Charles tells us after the Monaco Grand Prix. Yeah , but that's Monaco Grand Prix is not even the best indication for the b aroundrak aes normal circuit. You never hit the brakes with one hundred and twenty peak pressure. It's a brake field rather than like the first three braking zones of Austria where it's a brake mash and then release . And just look a couple of races before that in Miami, proves in the pudding. He was ahead of Hamilton all weekend, very happy. We didn't hear a peep about the brakes . So I don't know. I'm keeping feet on the ground about Leclerc at the moment. I think things will come good for him at some point. It's just whether Ferrari will still want him to help the Hamilton train. I've had a look at the forecast. It's going to be really hot again this coming weekend in Austria. We've got the so ftest three compounds. Oh, I might need to change my prediction there, DC. I had I hadn't looked at the weather. If I'm going to if I'm going to be supporting this high heat, high degradation theory, you know, favoring Ferrari. I might have to I might have to join me on the Hamilton victory there. I mean, it's going to be sort of it's going to be race day's going to be thirty odd degrees at the Red Bull ring. We've got the C three C four C five compounds. We've got a good few ingredients in here. And also I do think you make a very astute point about reliability. You add in that level of temperature with some thinner air, some higher altitude, some full throttle stretches as well. It's going to test test the Mercedes PUs