Handling Rule Infringements and Competition

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Call eight hundred three three three four Ka Freeetails hostost a free event and seven hundred six twenty six see dealer for warranty details. Best thing that's ever happened to you financially. Go. easy. Sold by car on Carvana. Amazing offer Really? I hit two hundred on a scratcher. Did the scratcher come to your house and hand you a check? No. How many scratchers did you hit to get that? I hit a button on cararvana. com Okay, that's fair. It's like the lottery except you always win Not like the lottery at all, actually. Exactly inexplicably good Offers worth bragging about Sell your car today on Carvana. Pick upp these may apply Hello everybody and welcome to the British Grand Prix and of course to F one explains, the official Formula One podcast that is here to answer your questions on the sports. Maybe this is the first time you've ever heard us. We know there's a lot of new listeners joining us this year. If that's the case, welcome. If you've been here since the start, you're equally as welcome how this podcast works is you email F one explains at f one. com And then I Christian Hugill Explore the Formula One Pandock to find the best person to answer those questions as somebody wheels past a forortclififf thing because we're talking to you at the very start of the Grand Prix weekend reallyally, the paddock is only just finished being built. we're at the very start of the Grand Prix weekend and we're stood outside a metallic shiny building that is currently being window cleaned, one of those squidgy window cleaner things is being used to make sure it looks super shiny. It's black, it's red. It is of course, if it's black and red, the Has Motor homeome. This week it's one of our ask a team principal episodes. We do this a few times a year. We get on a team principal to mop up all the questions you sent into the inbox about the role of the team principal. There arere always very interesting episodes because one of the things I think I've learnted most about doing this podcast over the years is many people can have the same job title in this case team principleal the job can look and feel and have different responsibilities across the paddock. We were with Aldi the other week who of course have a head of F one project in Mateo Bonnoto and a racing director in Alan McNish. You have Mercedes where Toto Wolf is also the CEO and the team principal. Of course, McLaren, that's different. They have their CEO with Zach Brown and then Andre E Stella as their team principal. So it's always interesting to look at how the different teams ate how they're made up. And of course the team principal of Has Io Kamatu He took over from Gunter Steiner who was of course iconic in the role in many ways really, but Io has put his own stamp on the team. He's been very effective at squeezing out results from the team. There was an immediate upturn in fortunes when Io took over and Has are this season in that competitive midfield battle where the likes of Alpine Williams and has are all vying for points. So you've been sending questions about the role of the team principal and it just so happens that IO has the answers Hio welcome to F one Explains. This time last year you did one of our live shows on the main stage. Now we're in your office. This is the second team principal office We've been in, wouldould you like to hazard a guess as to which other team principal has invited us into their office? Dana Toto Not Toto No I've interviewed George in Toto's office. Iard George Toto had been kicked out. James Vals. Oh, really? James how his in. Okay. Nice, nice of him. Nice back So Aya, we have questions on the role of a team principal from our listeners. Would you like to have a stab at answering some of them? I' try. I'm sure you'll do a good job. You're very well qualified for the job. I'm not sure that. Of course you are. We're going to start at one of our favourite places, Austin, Texas, which is where Mariah lives. Mariah says Hi, IO. what makes a fast F one driver? And what makes one driver faster than another, especially if they're in the same machinery? Is it confidence through the corners? Bter reaction times on the starting grid? More general recklessness. Thank you and a Howuddy and a Yeha from Austin to Texas. that's from Mariah. say Howdy back That's a very very good question. Honestly there are many things right? Obviously First and foremost, you got the a ability to drive you know, if you look at the kids in the Gard, you know, regardless of their experience it's such your fast kids they always fast straight away. So you got to have that natural ability. You know, they are athletes, they are a sports m, right You know, so but but then that natural ability itself is absolutely not good enough to succeed in Formula onene Now you got to get best out of your team. So you got a very good cognitive ability and then also when you're driving, your driving has to be so automatic because there's so many other information you got to absorb and execute or digest and execute. So while you're driving fat out You know how much brain space you got left, you know, how much capacity you using just to drive as low as that possible, that means like you know all the other things comes at you, whether the instruction from engineers are thinking about using tyres or not to use tyres etcet. You know more spare capacity you go, you can extract more from yourself and also like a pressure in forula one It's crazy. It's nothing like any other cities. So again having a team build around you to get You know, you'self in the best position to perform. Jolian Palmer, you'll be aware of his work explained this really well on a previous episode of F one exxplains, where he said that he was looking at the data in comparison to his teammate at the time at Reno Nico Hulkenberg And there was elements where, for example, they could see on the data that Nico was breaking later into a cor. So that might help. But Jolen was saying to us that he just didn't have ability in him to do what Nico was doing in that particular corner. I'm imagining for all the data in the world You sometimes just rely on that sheer innate ability, which is almost hard to explain, isn't it? But this is what I said at the beginning, right? You got to have that natural torent. Yeah the speed, that ability to drive. That's not something you can teach people. like the same is footballers right. You cannot teach everyone to be messy, obviously. It's exactly the same You know, you cannot teach kids everybody to be like O beamam no matter how much work you put into it. There is a certain level of natural tolent you really need. but then inform mea one in go that harness that current. to produce a consistent result to maximize your potential. It's a lot more than that. For instance, you know, Julian talked about looking at the data, right? That's basics. Any driver will do that but then to them understand, okay Provided you got the ability to do it, but you got to know how to unlock that potential. Of course you got to adapt a car so you have to work with the engineers, butether you got to work with yourself, whether it's a physical thing or mental thing or feelings thing. what is it? you know So it touches all aspects and then top drivers you know, you know, you got to create a performing environment you know, aroundround yourself. If you surround yourself by somebody who tells you what you want to hear You're not going to get there Is it a hard part of the role of a team principal on a human level have to make those calls. on drivers because you are judging them on. fundamentally your job is to make sure they score points for your team tricky on a human level because you might be dealing with and I'm sure you'll have had this in your career drivers who you like but who you ultimately good for the job. That must be tricky as a human It is tricky, but it's You know, it's my job as a it's a it's a professionalism. M of professionalism. For instance, you know, you talked about, you know, Julian talked about Nico Huchenberg, right? Nico is somebody who I Re respect greatory. and his professionalism is amazing. but I really like him as a person, human being, right? I call him as a friend. but Again, the prorofessional relationship I managed to build with Nico throughout my actually first year's team prininceci in twenty four. that is a benchmark for me because we boss really invested in how to make this car go quick, how to get performance out of you as a driver, performance out of the team. And then we really worked very very together and we had huge respect for each other. So we could have any conversation. You know sometometimes you have to have a hard conversation, right? But if you don't have the foundation of trust and respect, You cannot have those hard conversations because then other partyies going to take it personally. But with Nico and none of those issues because we really had that very good foundation at very high level then you are able to tackle anything. headad on. Now again, that is something as a driver. needs to be able to do and I need to be able to do that. But again, that's just a build on the relationship. Really interesting insight, I hope Mariah, that has answered your question. We're going to stay in America for our next question. David is from New York but originally of Sydney David says my question is on team sizes What would be the rough size of the teams cururrent F one grid I I know you're going to say to me that the teams very much differ in size, don't they? Yeah, yeah. I mean the bigger teams are more than twelve hundred people starting hundred people, right? And then again, I know the other even midfield teams towards the top of the midfields just under one thousand nine fifty. And even some of the midfield teams have more than one thousand people And then we have four hundred people. So it's a very different as spectrum on the grid And forgive me if this sounds obvious How much of a help more people because you've just given us numbers, but what are those sorts of teams who have got more people? What are they able to do with those people? Yeah, I mean size is not everything, but but of course the size hs, the resource hs but you still got to put it together. But if you just think it very simplistically, let's say we have four hundred people. I said the big guy teams are twelve hundred people So If you look at where the performance is coming from, let's say aer dynamics, Aer dynamicsist, the job of like one person in our team. be they for the same job company like Ferudi or Medica, this probably has three people on there Right? So, so that that means, you know threeree times more potential to come up with good idea, more vrainpower, faster, everything, accuracy. And then even in a non let's say performance department, finance department You know, these days efficiency is the key, you know, cost performance, especially under the budget jap better. Yes, we are not at the budget jap yet, but last year we are on the budget jap okay and then big c teams todayay we have I would just say Custed ten times or seven eight times more people than us in the finance department So then again, the accuracy and then efficiency J can provide with those expertise in finance department will see through the performance. So yes, the numbers helps. numbers not everything because you got to put it together, you got to get people to work together. But it's not like I'm sitting here saying we are four hundred people, it's fine. It's not We need to grow. But we need to grow in a manner that we can keep this focus and efficiency. And on that, if I may be as bold as to offer an opinion It strikes me that one of your successes. as a team principal is from the minute you came in you seemed and do correct me if I'm wrong to be saying, I think we can sort of squeeze more out of this that there is more capability in that team. So that must be a large part of your job when you are managing a team with fewer people, wororking out how you can get more a hundred pounds fewer people than your rivals. Yeah, for sure. took on this job in the beginning of over twenty four. We are two hundred and sixty people. Wow. two sixty. You know, But then even then I knew that we can get more out of those two hundred and sixty people And they're not saying that that's the right number. we need to grow, like we said, but I know that in parallel, We can get more out of these two hundred and sixty people. And to be honest, then then we moved on, right? We improved the team, et cetera. But then now we say we have four hundred people. but like you say, I know we can do more with four hundred people. I know we can get more better result out of these four hundred people. So there's room for improvement. But at the same time, I know that in the background We need to grow as a team. So we got to do that in parallel. A similar question actually from Julius in Lithuania, Hella, Julius, Julius says how do teams plan and prioritize development work across a season Are small upgrades like one new part done differently to packages of upgrades where lots of new things are done at the same time, and who's in charge of the upgrade plan Right, again, very very good question. So who's in charge of the upgrade planra? That's a senior management group. We have a program management, we have a technical director, head of BO, head of performance and also myself. And then of course, we have a strategy basedeline strategy throughout the season. even the year year starts, right? And then whether it's a final year of the stable regulation or brand new year like this year, firstast year of the brand new regulation, which' the strategy different Of course, because this year, because the regulations is brand new, you wouldd expect the people to be getting best out of it earlier in the season. So that means people is going aggressively put upgrades on the car earlier in the season. So so that that kind of thing is in consideration. But of course, we don't have a infinite amount of money, right? So you got to decide, okay We got what looks like a decent package. Is that good enough? If we do this package, how many more packages can we do? So you got to really judge that saying let's say you talk about a big package for argument's sake, if you can do let's say four big packes throughout the season that for big package, the timing and then the performance you gain, what is big, right in terms of ruim time gain, you got to judge that very well because if you wait too long, you're going to be introducing upgrade too late but if you compromise too early, you're not putting enough performance on the car. So so that's a judgment callal, but also depending on where you are the sporting result, you know, if you are fighting with your direct competitors, then if you had some mar, maybe you can afford to wait one more race, right? But if you're neck and neck, you might want to get neck upgradade straight. Yeah ye. But of course there's a delay in terms of when you finish working wind on the parts on the car. so you got to forecast all things, but there's always those judgment calls It's sort of like a chess game, isn't it? It's when you bring them in Y your counterpart at Astor Martin and Adrianne knew he's been talking about wanting to do what you said there bigger upgrade, not smaller upgrades. So yeah, it's all interesting. And also depending on what your issue is, you know how deep is your fundamental issue, you know, if you go probablyro mean the car is that the one big issue, the fundamental thing you got to solved and if that's the case It's likely it's going to take more time b if you got let's say, I wouldn't say smarter more issue on the surface that that's something you may be able to sort of quicker Right? So it really depending on what is your Auris here on your car Hailey is in Calornia. Haleyays Hi, Christian and the F one Explains team. I love the podcast. I'm a new viewer of F one as of late last season. and the pod's been extremely helpful in increasing my understanding and appreciation of the sport. That's very nice of Hailey from California, isn't it? I like Hileey. Hailey says, I would love it if you could explain what happens when one team thinks another has broken the rules. I love this question, IO. So pict to the scene You think there might have been a ruled infringement Do you let it slide and think the stewards will pick up on it or do you not we are all competitive. We' always trying to get the you as best result as possible. We abide by the rules, so everybody should be abiding by the rules. So if we think somebody is illegal, of course, you know we let them know. you crash them up Do you call that grust them up? Yeah, I'm not sure Yeahah, Grassp is quite an Engat course of course, you know, it there's a way to do it, you know, depending on what it is, you know, degree of if somebody is bright under each cheating, but if there's a grreay area that people is pushing everybody pushing it on a gray area, it's part of the game So, you know, if you get, let's say dressed up Nobody's crying about it because you know that ris'ks fair game. Yeah. ye Yeah. And they do it to you. one hundred percent. And then it's nothing personal, right? And even when we, you know when we are, let's say having a heated argument in the either technical advisory commommittee or even a from commommission meeting, none of that is personal. Everybody is trying to serve their own interests and then trying to get competitive advantage. That's the name of the game. It's one of those areas where like I love the sport. I've been a fan of this sport since the late nineties, early two thousands I just think it's one of the funniest parts of the sport. I love that you incredibly clever people on the pit walls are basically telling tales on each other to try and get the other punished It's a good basically. if you see some interesting idea that you haven't thought of, and then if you think that's grreay area, there's two things you're gonna to do. either copy it then get it on your car as soon as possible. So you have an advantage as well Or we can't do it, let's get it banned. and If it then doesn't get banned, I'm imagining the next step is work out how we can do it because if they're doing it, and it's legal. No, no, no, no. you make that decision even beforehand. If you assess if you can do it or not, if you can, you should just do it. ight faster than anybody else If you think you cannot do it for whatever the reason You're trying to get a band that'p. sure. But if they say is fine and you've thought you can't do it previously. Surely the next point is Yeah, but if they say, okay, this is Dgo, then you get upset about it but you have to move on. I say accept that somebody else has done better job than you. Of course. Just quickly before you go because you've got thirty seconds. you a couple of years into the job now How much are you enjoying it? Do you get to enjoy the job as a team principal Honestly, I love it. It's such an amazing opportunity and I love working with people and then the moment I take joy out of this job is like when we have c produce certain result and I see people enjoying it or when I challenge certain people And then they step up and then they flourish their potential more than what they thought they had and then I take huge joy from seeing people grow and they harness their potential that even the potentials that they didn' and think they had. that's the biggest joy I have doing this job. We wish you and both of your drivers well this weekend, especially Ollie, of course at his home Grand Prix, so good luck to all of you guys this weekend. Thanks. I really appreciate it. Thank you. I have come out to there answering some of the questions that you sent to F one exxplains at f one. com About the role of the team principal and of course, more broadly some of the considerations of a team prrincipal. I very much enjoyed hearing about how he of drivers in terms of their speed and what he's assessing and what he's looking at that was really interesting and also explaining what's going through his head when they're looking at bringing partarts and upgrades. I mentioned it briefly in the interview, but we do have teams who bring smaller upgrades at a time and it's sort of evolution rather than revolution. does particularly tend to be teams more towards the top end of the grid because as IO says, by the very nature that they're at the top end of the grid, they haven't got fundamental flaws, fundamental issues. So it is little things that they're trying to get an advantage. But then Of course been seeing Aston Martin struggling this season. We all want them to do better. you know, more teams competing again the front is good They obviously, by the very nature of being at the back bigger issues and that team Pincipal Adrien Newy is saying we're going to bring O grade that should make a difference. they're talking about bringing that just before the summer break. So it's all very interesting and of course all the role of the team principal too, even if it's not them making the decision in the first place, they're the ones sort of overseeing it and checking it works. I do love the randomness of Formula one. in that we I mentioned at the start of the show It sort of feels like we're still in setup mode here. We're talking to you on Thursday late morning Somebody's just wheeling past me as we speak.ome massive potted plants. And then behind him is someone from Cadillac with what looks like a car part J the difference in the rollles This person is headad of potter plants, big potter plants as well and I think they're real I recently complimmented some plants in a studio and I was like, you're keeping them very well, they were fake, but they're not. so that's good Anyway, I should tell you if you are heading to Silverston this weekend for the British Grand Prix This is being released all over the world on Friday on Saturday, so tomorrow, if you're listening on release day, we are doing an F one exxplains live show. It is at ten twenty on the main stage in the fan zone and our special guest is Damon Hill Of course, the nineteen ninety six forormula onene worldorld Champion TV punde, we've been F one TV a few times this season, lovevely manat and also very entertaining. So we'll be putting some of your questions to a world champion. If you're not at the British Grand Px think, I'd loved to have seen an interview with Damon Hill. Don't worry because next week's F one explains will be that very interview with Damon on the main stage One thing I would also say if we are heading to the British Grand Prix if you're listening to this, I know there were people listening last year on their way co older than I thought it would be Quite cool There's a man in front of me literally rubbing sun creream on his arms and we of course encourage that. You've only got one skin. It's yours for life, look after it But it is cooler than I thought it would be. So that's some public service information I would give to people heading to the British Grand Prix And just before we go, should we just sick around to see he his walk into the paddock producer Jamie? Because the Netflix boom mic seems to be following somebody so is that somebody famous Is that a formmera one driver in front do we think Heading in we stood in between Aston Martin and in between Has Apparently it's Lando Norris, a nice gentleman with a race against dementia badge, tells me Iss Lando on his way in. Here he is, H's Lando Norris in a very luminous yellow t shirt. I was going to grab him to say hello But he's u