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I'll give your local Halfers Garage a call and we'll sort it. So you can keep moving with confidence. Join the thousands of heat pump owners feeling warm and fuzzy. I've lived here 20 years, I ain't moving, so I thought better future proved me own. We started a trend, the old streets applying for the government grant now. With the energy it saves, I don't know what's better off, the planet or my wallet. And that is your little bookworm, says it's three times more efficient than our old bo iler. Feel all warm and fuzzy inside with a seven and a half thousand pound government grant towards your heat pump at gov.uk slash cleanergy. Eligibility criteria applies the website for details. Kimi Antonelli wins the Monaco Grand Prix. The teenager can't stop winning in Formula One. That's five in a row. Get in there, Kimmy. How's it off the cast, mate? First Monaco win. George tried to play some mind games with him coming into the weekend. Kimmy handled that really well. The records keep on coming and I think you can't deny that when you are looking at the words like generational talent. Fearless and peerless, I can't think of two other words to describe him. It's very hard for George not to feel victimised by the bad luck that he's had. I worry that George is one of these drivers that overthinks things. This was supposed to be his opportunity, and I wonder how much that is sitting in his head. He used the word bamboozled, didn't he? It's very George Russell word, I do enjoy that. Lewis Hamilton with back-to-back second places. He likes to say, I need to remind myself of who I am. And it feels like he now knows exactly who he is. Oh, but into the wall and out of the race, Charles Leclerc . There's a sort of hero or zero nature to him. Certainly here. It's misery or magic, isn't it? A late red flag gave us big drama at the end of the Monaco Grand Prix, but Kimmy Anton elli overcame all the chaos and kept his cool to secure his fifth Grand Prix victory in a row and extend his championship lead to a huge 66 points. Welcome everyone to F1 Nation. I'm Tom Clarkson and joining me in the Monte Carlo paddock is F1 TV lead presenter Laura Winter and F1 correspondent Lawrence Barretto. First up, Laura, welcome back to the show. How are you doing? Thank you very much. I'm excellent after that one. That was just ridiculous. Ludicrous, I think was my initial reaction. That's the word I used in the show. Just what was going on? Major DNFs for the likes of Norris, Leclerc on home soil yet again. You've got Kimmy's otherworldliness around the hardest racetrack there is. And then it just was ridiculous, wasn't it from start to finish and we expect Monaco to be somewhat of a procession at times and and the race can kind of not live up to the qualifying height the day before but we got a bit of everything this weekend. Yeah it was kind of peaked Monaco all weekend, I felt Lawrence. I mean what was the headline for you after this one? I think the headline was that there were so many stories to tell from a Monaco Grand Prix. I think every driver I talked to in the TV pen there was something to talk to them about. They didn't have an anonymous race because to Laura's point they were affected by something, whether that was a penalty or they had a uh uh an overtake or they were able to to make progress in in the race. So for me the highlight, I guess, ultimately was Kimi Antonelli, Stampin' His authority, at a track where I think we all used to talk about only the greats win at Monaco, and I think for Kimmy to have done it and in such commanding fashion was astonishing. Well he he's now the youngest driver in F1 history to take a grand slam, right? And he's done it at Monac o. I mean what have we learnt about Kimi Antonelli this weekend that we didn't already know ? I used the word fearless earlier. I think I think we felt he was fearless in Canada, that he was driving with without fear, with complete abandon, that he just was behind the car and he would put it in places it shouldn't be. He'd skittle over the grass and and still try and get the overtake done against his teammates, sometimes against team orders almost. He'd argue the point on the radio. But then to come to Monaco where the the pressure mounts here in a different way to put in that lap in qualifying in the manner in which we saw him do. And then today, I think you can so easily say Monaco is a race that can be won. If you're on pole, well obviously you're gonna win. And look the pole to win ratio is much higher here by virtue of it being so hard to overtake on. But he had to absorb so much pressure. He had a safety car restart, he had a second standing start . Firstly against a four-time world champion who ultimately didn't get off the line. I felt a bit short-changed after that. I'm quite glad we got a second one. And that was against a seven-time world champion and a man whose whose seat at Mercedes he took on and he absorbed all of it pulled out a five second gap on Lewis in the final few laps and pumped in the fastest lap of the Grand Prix as well. Even Bono's trying to hold him back. There's just this fearlessness to him this this youthful But it it's such a stark contrast to the Kimmy we saw this time last year who embarked on a run of races in which he scored three points in nine races. He came to the media pen in Belgium in tears. He looked absolutely gutted at times last season and and w there were questions around his contract. And the Kimmy we're seeing now is wildly different to that. I think it helps that he's got a good car and I think that puts him out of a lot of the difficult positions he was finding himself in last year. But there were two things that really impressed me here was A George tried to play some mind games with him coming into the weekend saying the pressure's all on Kimmy and I think Kimmy handled that really well. You know, to Laura's point, this is only his second season. He doesn't really have this kind of experience of the big boys maybe try to put pressure on him and I think he handled that really well. And then the other one was that Friday was a difficult day for them. Like they were nowhere with the balance. They didn't really understand why the car was going into slow corners and the rear was stepping out. And then we went into Saturday and it was Kimmy who had unlocked the potential of this Mercedes and George hadn't and that should be the opposite way round in theory if you look at like the core paperwork and the stats and stuff. And I think for Kimmy to be able to kind of recover through a weekend at a European race where he struggled at last year, I think is is significant. I asked Toto actually about where this version of Kimmy that we're seeing is coming from, where this another planet level is coming from that we're seeing. And I mentioned his age and I mentioned last season and he said he thinks actually it is his age. That is one of the reasons why he is able to drive an advantage so freely. It's an advantage. And I think it can be both a disadvantage in an inexperience, but that inexperience in itself means you're not weighed down by expectation, you're not weighed down by oh God two years ago here I did this and this and oh I'm expecting to do this and I've got these habits that now I need to fit into this new car. It seems that actually his age means he doesn't have those fears. He doesn't have the hang-ups, he doesn't have the monkey on his back in any sense. He's just able to drive so freely. And he has a brilliant group of people around him. I think that's crucial, right? Yes nurture from the start. I think paternal is is the word I'd use to describe his relationship with Toto and of course his old man Marco is there as well. He's just I mean fearless fearless and peerless. I can't think of sort of two other words to describe He I I I w his peak was higher this weekend than I was expecting. How about you guys? No, I don't think so, because I think the form that he showed up until this. a second and a half per lap over the field at some point. But I think what we've seen in the last four races was enough to suggest this was coming. Like I just think that what he's done in China and Japan and Miami and Canada, I think we almost forget it how good that was because he's gone and done it again. And I take your point that he was doing things around the streets of Monaco that you know we've seen Charles Leclerc do in the past and and the legends and the greats do. But I'm not surprised because I felt that it was coming, I think he's shown enough of what he's done so far this year um to show that it was possible and I really think that when he came into this weekend and he heard George saying, you know, like, oh it's his to lose, he would have thought actually no I don't think it is and that probably drove him on even more this weekend. I think it probably was that fire extra fire that you need around here where you go into this trance and then you able to deliver the kind of qualifying lap that he was able to do yesterday and the race performance today and I thought he handled Bono telling him to slow down very well because he ignored him but then uh did what he was told initially and I think he's learning all of this. We're seeing someone learn in the limelight, aren't we? And I think that's quite an exciting prospect going forward. Is it too early to say we're looking at a generational talent? I don't think I don't think so. It's so it's so easy to say because look, last year we had Oscar Piashi winning that world title, didn't we? Then Lando Norris's had won it, then Max Vustappen almost won it. The swings that we saw last season mean I think we can never quite rest on our laurels and I think to your point before about his peak being higher, we're sort of when you see this level of brilliance, you're almost expecting, well the sh you know, there's he's got to drop the level at some point. He can't continue at this high level. We saw Kimmy last year obviously with up very up and down performances. So you sort of expect this will be the weekend where perhaps things don't quite go his way. But we're not seeing that. Certainly at the moment, everything that we are seeing indicates that he is the generational talent that Toto has believed in from the very, very beginning and that so many questioned I think I would say my myself included last season whether it was just too soon for him. And he is firmly answering every critic of his rookie season. Yeah, I don't think it's too soon. I'm on the hype train because I think that we've seen so many different circuits now and so many different pressure points from the way he handles the race weekend to the way that he handles George's um pressure on him to the way that when McLaren was strong in that Miami phase of the weekend he handled that really well to the pressure that um he handled when Toto was tough on him. I think he's just everything that anyone throws at him he doesn't seem phased this year and I think with that in mind and that he's going up against someone we gotta can't forget George Russell is a very good racer driver. He was probably in the top three, if not top two drivers on pure quality last year. So we can't forget that. And he hasn't suddenly got worse overnight. So I actually think the more significant thing is that he's doing it to George. We all thought George was that overwhelming favourite. I think coming into this year. I think he thought he was as well. And I think the job that he's doing against him is probably what really marks him out as the generational talent after what six races of this campaign. Do you know what? Even if Kimmy Antonelli doesn't win this world championship, I've seen enough. I've seen enough to believe that he is a generational talent. Yeah, I'd agree with that, but I think then there is that caveat. We thought that Oscar was on course to win the title last year, then he had that really difficult spot and then McLaren have a didn't have a good car this year and now it's the question of well where does Oscar stack up in this in this pecking order that we've got. So I think that it's I think you're right that I think he's a generational talent, but I think it will be particularly tough on Kimmy because of the things we've just described. He's a family person, having people around him is important. Emotionally, I think it will be quite tough for him if he builds this massive lead and he loses it. I'm not saying he is going to, I'm just saying if that happens, then I think it'll be actually extra tough on him because of his personality. So then maybe if he comes out the other side, yeah, he's even more of a generational talent than we thought he was right now. I think also he's making history at every turn, right? The youngest to lead the world championship, the youngest to ever win in Monaco, the only teenager to ever win in Monaco. Um he's equaled Lewis's record of five consecutive wins with Mercedes now. He's the first driver in history to win his first five consecutively. The records keep on coming, and I think you can't deny that when you are looking at the words like gener ational talent . 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 posts getting buried in a sea of listings. 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Join the thousands of heat pump owners feeling warm and fuzzy. I've lived here 20 years, I ain't moving, so I thought better future proof me home. We started a trend, the old streets applying for the government grant now. With the energy I saved, I don't know what's better off. The planet or my wallet. And that is your little bookworm. Says it's three times more efficient than our old boiler. Feel all warm and fuzzy inside with a seven and a half thousand pound government grant towards your heat pump at gov.uk slash clean energy. Eligibility criteria apply C website for details. The contrast from one side of the Mercedes Garage to the other couldn't be more extreme than it is right now . I mean, first of all, let's talk about the problems George Russell had over this Monaco Grand Prix weekend. It it felt like he just lacked confidence. Was there more to it than that? Was there just confirmed to us, Lawrence, that there wasn't a car issue. It was it much's more subtle than that. It must have been more subtle than that because I think George hasn't mentioned a car issue, hasn't said that there was anything wrong with what he had as a package. He's actually just saying that he doesn't understand why it's going wrong, which is so it's a more confusion rather than the there's something certainly wrong. I think what I feel for George is that I think he thought he came back here heading into the European season when Kimmy had struggled so much. This would probably be the start of maybe that run, they were gonna head to Spain, a more conventional track Austria Silver Zone. He'd build the momentum back, you know, 16-17 races to go. And that hasn't happened. And I think what would have been a bit of a sucker punch is from Friday into Saturday when the team made all these changes to the balance of the car they got it performing they they made it much softer basically over the bumps they could they could attack it. Kimmy could do that and George couldn't and I think that would that would hurt him because I think he's trying to do all the right things and it's not it's not making sense and I think that's why he's so annoyed. He said in the Tv Pen, if I was making the mistakes or I knew what was wrong, this is fine, because it's just annoying, bad luck, whatever. But he's he's not doing any of that and he's still struggling, and I think that's what's hurting him at the minute and why it's so confusing. He used the word bamboozle, didn't he? After after It's a very George Russell word, I I do enjoy that. I worry that George is one of these people one of these drivers that overthinks things and and I I I'm taken back to something Damon Hill said to me once which was you drive at your best when you're not thinking about it when it all just comes completely naturally, and that makes me think about Kimmy Antonelli, right? His age, fearless, flow state. And I think the more it goes, it's becoming hard for George, the more he then becomes more introverted and and is looking for answers the whole time. You're then thinking about what you're doing in the car. He's he's saying he's gonna have to change his driving style to suit these 2026 cars. And I just worry that it's just actually gonna spiral and get worse and worse and worse. If anything he needs to do the opposite. Stop thinking about it and just revert back to the the karting George Russell age 15 who just went out there and did it and let Marcus your engine er sort out the car. Drivers overdrive don't they when they are pushing and fighting for tenths and milliseconds they think I need to push harder in the car and therefore overdrive and then ultimately go slower. You so often hear that. And interestingly Damon said to us um as well yesterday, he said that when he got pole around here, he barely felt like he was driving. It came so naturally, it was so much an extension of himself that it wasn't, he wasn't pushing in any sense. We were comparing him to Charles Leclerc who ended up in the wall twice this weekend. But but it's it's that kind of feeling, isn't it? And so if George now is gonna be in his head, which of course he is, and it's very hard and you use the word victimised or sorry Greg used the word victimized our other our other colleague on with F1 on the website who it's very hard for George not to feel victimised by the bad luck that he's had, safety car timing in Japan and then um Canada a DNF, that that all begins to mount up and then suddenly you're looking at 68 points and two Grand Prix, almost three Grand Prix behind Kimmy . The overthinking thing makes me think of Daniel Ricardo. I don't when he went at Renault and he was at McLaren and he was an overthinker and he would just get himself in a muddle on a Friday when he would go down various paths and then he would get confused, and then another race weekend was gone, and it it happened and it spiraled at McLaren. And so I think George has got to be really cognizant of that. I think he's got to really understand that he can't allow himself to go down that path. And what what I feel particularly for George is he's done everything right in his career, like he delivered everything he needed to at Williams. He's come to Mercedes and outperformed Lewis Hamilton, you know, the greatest show that's ever driven for that team, possibly even the sport. And then this was supposed to be his opportunity, and I wonder how much that is sitting in his head, and he knows all too well how things can spiral. And if you don't take your one shot this might be it like George Russell might lose the title this year and never win the title. Are you putting pressure even more pressure on George Russell? Well no I get by sideways, yes I am, but I'm not intentionally trying to do that. It's just but look out of the situation. Well I mean both of you, where does he go from here? There's a question of the contract as well, no? Because the so much of last season and the beginning of this season was where will Max Verstappen go to Mercedes and George was having to refute that time and time again last year and actually said well if Max does come to Mercedes it won't be me who leaves. I remember him saying that I think it was Silverston. He was very clear on that. They then both got contracts for the year and Mercedes have set out their stall and he comes into this year as as the favourite naturally as the more experienced driver. But there'll be caveats to that contract. There'll be there'll be clauses that will enable both to get out and Max Estappen was sitting on the Red Bull energy station. But he may well be questioning his future at Red Bull. He's he's said he's intending to stay in Formula One. He's repeatedly wants to stay at Red Bull, but if Mercedes come with him with too good an offer to miss in a car that is that good, uh is he going to turn them down? And then where does George Russell go? Are we talking about George Russell not just race to race, losing out to his teammate, but actually his career and his trajectory and his his future possibly. Do you think Max Verstappen is is on the phone to Toto Wolf about a Mercedes seat next year. Do you remember there was that very public display of in Canada of Jos Verstappen sitting uh with Toto Wolf outside the Mercedes hospitality area so that we could all see . Ostensibly to talk about the Nurbergering 24 hours, but I'm sure there was more to it than that. But there was also the shots of Max walking down the pit lane with Toto before the race I remember. So look they're smart people and to be honest if they want to talk they're definitely not gonna do their talking in front of us. Do I think he's on the phone to Toto? No, but do I think that they are both casually gonna talk about it over the course of the year like they probably have done for several years? Yeah, of course I think they're gonna do that because Max ultimately wants to be in a position to fight for wins. His initial radio response today, when he obviously didn't get off the line, he was furious, not directly at what the team had done, but furious at the fact that he didn't get the shot of fighting for the win, and I think he thought he could have won this race. So I think ultimately that's all that Max really cares about. And to Laura's point, if Merced es have got the best car, why on earth would he not back himself to beat Kimmy? Because I think we both well we all three of us know Max Verstappen believes he can beat anybody. So he would love and relish the opportunity to go . But isn't that the crucial point? If you're Toto Wolf, why would you put Kimmy up against Max Verstack. It's a generational talent versus a generational talent. Yeah. No, you're right. Is that a intra-teammate rivalry one step too far? I still think Max is the one that got away from Toto. I just don't think he could let go of that. I just feel like he won't. He's got his own Max now in Kimmy. Which is great and Kimmy could be around for the next 15 years, 20 years, who knows? But what's the harm in putting him up against Max for a couple of years? I mean it's cinema, wouldn't it? It would be box office, wouldn't it? Yeah. But returning to the point, I think Laura's right that that's gotta be in George's mind, right? It's gotta be in his mind that last year he backed himself to keep the seat over Kimmy this year how on earth can you replace a driver that's won five races on the row has built up a a championship league like that George will know that that's just reality isn't it? So that's gonna only add more pressure to him. But then the caveat is we are about to go to a racetrack in Barcelona, which is the most conventional of them all, and that might be what George needs. He might just need to go to a normal racetrack , have a normal setup from the start of the weekend and build through a weekend and have one good result to stop the rot. That might just be what he needs. So I'm gonna say one more. Let's have one more weekend before we completely rule him out. Well, what about Ferrari? Uh it was definitely a game of two halves for them. Let's deal with Lewis Hamilton first, his second consecutive second place. He's now got a little bit of momentum inside that team. He does. And it isn't it lovely to see. I think everybody, whether you're a Lewis fan or not, nobody likes to see a great driver struggling in the manner that we saw Lewis struggling last season and you would have in that media pen had many an interview in which you were getting precisely nothing from him because he was tough ones. Because he was he was emotional and he was sick of it and he was done and he was unhappy and and so many people were questioning should he retire could he retire is this the end for Lewis Hamilton and I I just feel like a career like Lewis is for it to peter out to and complete nothing at the end of last season in a in a car that he couldn't get on with would have just been awful, wouldn't it? So it is wonderful to see that he kind of feels like he's back to sort of the the Lewis of old or perhaps a a new era for Lewis Hamilton, but he's hustling, he's pushing, there's energy and his voice when he's on the radio, he wants more and more, he's hungry. He has a hunger even at this stage in his career and it's really, it's amazing to see. It gives Ferrari a bit of a problem. Lewis Hamilton's now P2 in the championship. He's ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc. He's been ahead of him the last two weekends and you know he's now in the ascendancy. I feel Lewis Hamilton is enjoying Formula One more this year than he has any time since 21 probably pre-Abi W obviously but but I feel you look at the body language of the car you look at his answers the energy you talk about Laura. It's the happiest I've seen him in a work environment for a good five years. Oh I'd agree with that. I think 2021 was the last time we saw that kind of Lewis. I think the hybrid turbo era from 2022 onwards killed Lewis in a in a way because Mercedes just couldn't develop a card that suited him or gave him the one to go and fight at the front of the permanently. I think that what has impressed me most this year is Lewis talks about building this team around him. He's got a race engineer in Carlo Santi that he clearly loves and has this like what did he describe him as like a bono Italian bono? Like he has that kind of relationship that he needs. But today he said something in the pen where he said that he was fighting Fred all year long. I need this on the car, I need that on the car, I need to do this, I need to do that. And he was like, Fred had to push really hard. Like we know how hard I think Ferrari can be to maybe change the way they normally do things and, that's probably been their Achilles H ill over the last what two decades while they wait for a world championship. So I think it's significant that Fred has been able to push through whatever these things are that is making Lewis more comfortable and Lewis has been a pa ins to at least say that today. And I think when he's got that environment around him, A he's got someone who's fighting for him again, fighting for what he wants, then believes in him. And in Fred it's kind of like a father figure again, I think, because Fred really, really believes that Lewis has still got what it takes. And I think that he's been able to do that. He's got the race engineer that he likes and he's now got a car that he's fed into. Of course the results help and the reg changes help Ferrari move up the pack. But I think that's really helped him remind himself that he can do it and then he feels more comfortable in the environment which means that we get Lewis Hamilton performances that we've had this weekend in Monaco. He likes to say I need to remind myself of who I am, doesn't he? He needs to remind himself that he is Lewis Hamilton and I've seen clips of fans saying that to him, remember who you are. And he really needed that last year and it feels like he now knows exactly who he is and he's Lewis Hamilton. He's back. I get it's been two races. I think you know we um we tend to swing don't we when we we talk about drivers if they've run a good run and then but it's been two great race weekends for him and generally there's been a massive upward trend all season. And and he uses every opportunity to to remind us how I don't know if it was the same with you this weekend on F1 TV, but he certainly in every press conference he's started after qualifying and after the race to say I am so enjoying being back here. I'm loving it. It's such a privilege you know to to to be racing in front of this crowd. He's at that level of enjoying it. Because I think people are starting to write him off and that irritates him because I think he believes that he's got what it takes. And I don't think he likes it when people, where maybe he perceives they don't have all the information and then are just making random comments about his ability. And so I think he has made a conscious effort, particularly in Canada and yet into this weekend of saying I'm here to stay in Canada. He said, you know, I'm not going anywhere, you can't retire me. And then here, talking about how much he loves it, because I think he just wants to remind everyone publicly. Maybe he wants to remind everyone within the team as well , you know, that how much he's loving it and also the rivals, that he won't be pushed around. And I think we saw that great battle with he had with Max in Canada. That was the first time in ages we've seen him kind of battle a contemporary. All of these things are adding up, right, to making him a stronger proposition. And Lewis is very good at mind games in a positive way, right? He understands that it's the whole package that you need to deliver, and that's what he's doing right now. Talking of the package, why couldn't Ferrari take the fight to Mercedes? Because I think coming into the weekend we all thought they were favourites and yet they never turned it on. That is a good question. I think they felt coming into this weekend the, lack of power that they struggle with would be less of a pain here. I don't think they thought they would be the best, but I think they thought that they could be the best in qualifying, which obviously would unlock the potential in the race. I think what they just didn't do as well was they didn't react as well overnight from Friday into Saturday. I think they started with a good baseline car, which is why they were strong in FP one and FP two. Mercedes started on the back foot, just made that bigger step than Ferrari were made uh were able to do over into Saturday and obviously once qualifying's lost it's over. Let's not forget Shaw was on course to take pole maybe if he hadn't binned it at Tabac. Yeah it was he? He was green and purple, wasn't he? Exactly. And then actually we could be talking about a completely different thing today, couldn't we? 'Cause if he had started on pole , probably would have won the race. And then we would have talked about something completely different. So well if songs as the brakes weren't a problem, I guess. I think the the argument with Leclerc and the guys were making on our on our post show and post quality show is if he's having to drive the car in a manner in which he's hitting the wall twice in qualifying, then he's overdriving it, is he not? He's he he's needing to push beyond the limit to get a potential pole position out of it. Do you see what I mean? But we know that that's how Charles drives, he always has, he's such a one lap specialist, he's brilliant, but it feels like there's a sort of hero or zero nature to him, certainly here. It's misery or magic, isn't it? And and coming into this weekend after after a disappointing Canadian Grand Prix for show. Weekend in Ferrari colours he said. Yeah, so you know that he he must have been on an emotional roller coaster because he has he has the Montreal worst weekend in Formula . He then signs his new contract with Ferrari. So you've got the low of Montreal, the high of the new contract, and kind of where was it gonna go from there? And I think on Friday night we were all thinking, okay, go, I can't wait to see Charles Leclerc doing his th in qualifying and then as you say he then hits the wall twice. Brake issues was something that plagued him for most of the weekend. So yeah so he actually said in the TV penny had a bit of a dilemma coming into this weekend and that he knew that there was a problem with the brakes. There was a fix, but he didn't want to enter the Monaco Grand Prix weekend with a fix. So he's opted to stick with the original brake setup that he's got. And I think he hoped that the specialty that he's kind of built up with this place would be enough to carry him through. But to Laura's point and the boys on the show, it forced him into overdriving it that milli percent of what it would be and that that was what caused the problem. So I think in positively it just means that he is gonna be able to go to Spain with a fix. So I think he's hopeful that when he gets to Spain it won't be so much of a problem. Well he said after the race that I'm gonna go I'm gonna do what Lewis is doing with the brakes. Which strikes me as a good thing to do because Lu Lewis has always been really good on the brakes, so he's always it's been one of his fortees as a racing driver. But I think we can't forget that up until the point in which he struggled in Canada, Shaw was having a good season. Um, so I can understand why you might not want to make a change for it and naturally converge on what your teammates doing. I think what is key now is he's realised that reasonably quickly and it's going to move back to a spot where hopefully that will give him that comfort and then we could have a really cool Titanic battle between them. But that would be an intra-team battle, because I mean do do we think Ferrari have the pace to take it to Mercedes in I mean in the constructors championship Mercedes are now on 244 points, Ferrari on 165 in P2. I think it feels to me the fight is more who it the fight is more for P2. So the fight is more can Ferrari better McLaren or are McL aren the closest threat? It feels to me we're seeing Mercedes do what McLaren did last season and they will just move steadily, firmly, very quickly away from the rest of the field and that fight Before we move on from Shawl, I'd love to get both of your thoughts on why you think he's extended with Ferrari and why now? It wasn't like it was up for renewal at the end of this year. So so why why the need to do it now? Well I think the driving market's gonna go into flux in the next couple of years. I think what is interesting is that Charles built out this love affair with Ferrari. I think he wants to win a world championship with them and I think by signing this commitment early doors , he is committing to them in the hope that they commit to him and hopefully generate and re-invigorate the team around him in the future. The contract, as I understand it, run ran up until the end of 2027. This one takes them until the end of 2029. If you look at McLaren, they're reasonably set. If you look at Red Bull, they're reasonably set with the junior family that they've got. And if you look at Mercedes, we've talked about Max already, he's not going to get in there. So what are the options that he have? Like there was some shadow about Aston Martin, but Aston Martin are at the back, so that's just not an option for the foreseeable future. So I think the best thing for him to do would be to take a better deal, kind of nail his colours to the mast, and try and remind the team that like this is what he came here for. This is what he wants to do with Ferrari, and he wants to win the world championship with them. And I don't actually think they need that because I think they love it with Ferrari, but I think that it signific wasant for him to sign this deal get in early and then he doesn't have to think or talk about it now for the forceboard and let's not forget Formula 1 driver contracts he can get out of them so if he really needs to he can get out of it but I think it's a really good statement of intent to do that deal. Yeah, I agree with Lawrence. I think we we don't know the other options he had, and it doesn't sound like he had any option that was as good as Ferrari. And so he he is Ferrari's man. It would be such a pull for him to leave. Uh it it would feel such an odd time at the start of a new era of regs for him to start making moves elsewhere. I don't know. I I see your point that his contract wasn't really particularly up for renewal and so it yeah, I think the option isn't elsewhere so you can't foresee what's gonna happen in the future and and stick with what you've got, stick or This episode is sponsored by Sal ie. One thing I've learned from travelling around the world with this show is that the first few minutes after you land are often the most important . And all of that depends on having a reliable data connection straight away. And that's why I like using Saley. Saley is an ESIM app from the creators of NordVPN that gives you affordable mobile data in over 200 destinations. So instead of worrying about roaming charges or trying to find a local SIM card when you arrive, you can connect almost immediately and get on with exploring. And what I really like is that you only need to install the eSIM once. 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Says it's three times more efficient than our old boiler. Feel all warm and fuzzy inside with a seven and a half thousand pound government grant towards your heat pump at gov.uk slash cleanergy. Eligibility criteria apply C website for details. Well we're sat on the Red Bull energy station. Uh the music is pumping. Um we've just seen the two racing bulls drivers walk past us drenched. They've been in the pool. Isaac Hajjar is behind us uh with his I mean it was a pretty immense weekend for Isaac. He was having problems with that car and he kept a a pretty cool head to get to get his first podium for the team? Yeah, I think there are multiple things this weekend that's impressed me. The first one was when he crashed early in the weekend. Normally you tend to spiral as young driver and and Isaac didn't. He got back on track and I remember talking to Paul Monaghan after FP 2 on Friday and he was like that thing really surprised him in the way that Isaac was able to go back on track and get that confidence back quite quickly. Yeah I think he was about a second off the ultimate pace but he was still back up to where a Red Bull should be. And ultimately that's all Red Bull really wants is the second seat to do that. And then today I know he seemed pretty irritated throughout the race, number of team radios. I imagine the team are probably gonna ask him to curb some of those because it was pretty relevantless wasn't it through the race but I think it shows how much of an opportunity he saw today. I think he sensed the opportunity to get a podium. He kind of managed all of those issues that he had today, um, really impressively in a way that we haven't seen the driver in the second seat at Red Bull do very often over the last couple of years. And he's had a lot of bad luck this year. Um, you know, should have she started P3 in Australia, should have probably fought for a podium there . He's had some unreliability as well, and so it hasn't really gone his way. But again, he hasn't let that phase him, and that's why I think Red Bull were so keen to promote him into this seat, and why I think they thought he would be different and I think on the evidence of today alone or this weekend at least as a whole, I think he's shown that. He's had a few retirements this season already, hasn't he, when you look at his results, but he mentioned the drivability of the car, didn't he? And he said on the radio at the end why, do we make this so difficult for ourselves? But to your point about um the team radio, we know that that's what Izak Hajar has in the locker. He can get vocal on the radio. We saw it in F2 and in previous seasons um in sport categories but he's driving round Monaco and he might get a P3 and the car is giving up on him and not giving him the power he wants. You cannot blame the guy for getting a bit stressed and a bit emotional at times for that, and I think the team did such a brilliant job of handling that as well, saying we are working on a fix, we haven't got it. Get your head down that you're still in this, you're still in this. Um and obviously he also had I don't know how much how aware he was actually of the red flag infringement hanging over him and the the safety car investigation hanging over him as well. But cool head right to the end and crossing the line obviously behind Gasly but knowing that that penalty was there. What a result. I think it would always be okay if you do those radio messages and you don't make mistakes and I think to that point he didn't do that today, did he? He didn't he didn't get to him, he didn't let the red miss descend so I think so long as he always delivers results the team won't be that frustrated with him. I guess it's only if it ever gets to a point where it over it boils over that it will become a problem. But yeah I think you put it well Laura like he smashed it. He feels more and more convincing as a Red Bull driver almost by the race. But then I also talked to someone earlier who reminded me that obviously this is a more drivable Red Bull , so I think that it's not so obvious when you're just a little bit off. I think that last year the field was much more compressed, so the smallest mistake would knock you out early doors in qualifying, you'd be down out of the top ten. Whereas this year the field is a bit more spread, and so it it hides that. Look, that's not taking anything away from Isaac. I think he's doing a phenomenal job, but I think that there is he does have that fortune this year and he's making the most of it. Well look, what about Max Verstappen? Without the car problems, could he have taken the fight to Kimi Antonelli or do you think Antonelli was just gone? That's a good question. I think because it's Max Verstappen, he could have taken the fight to him. I don't know how that would have materialised, whether that would have been 30 or 40 laps of relentless pressure and maybe Kimmy would have held on, maybe would have held on in the way that he did in Miami against Lando. Um but I think that we were robbed over it and we'll never know. But I think the fact that Max was so irritated on Team Radio Stroke afterwards, the way he was so disappointed in the TV pen makes me think that maybe he could have done. But then it's so hard to pass at Monaco, isn't it? It's so hard to make something happen. I remember Jolien said in comms quite early on, he was like, I think we might get some overtaken in this race. I love Jolion's optimism. He was really he was really invested in this rascal line. And then we kept going through it lap after lap and he was going I I think um I don't think the Raskas line's giving as much opportunity as I anticipated. What do you mean about the Raskas line? What two different lines through there? He thought that there was a line through in which you could you could get an overtake done. That was where he saw a primary overtaking spot. If you weren't to get it done at the start or of course you weren't to do it on strategy and I think Kimmy Antonelli's if you are going to mark his homework and uh go through his season, his starts have been the primary concern. They obviously made steps as a team with Mercedes to improve those, but Max Verstappen hasn't had an easy time with starts this season either in these new cars. And so to have the two of them off the line with the fast Ferraris behind, you felt God could could Lewis get this? So I was, yeah, I was gutted that Max didn't get off the line. I think he got off the line pretty well in Canada. I think we could have seen the same again. I really wanted to see that battle down into turn one and then yeah, whether he could have just put the pressure on Kimmy, forced a mistake maybe. It didn't feel like Kimmy was going to make a mistake today though. He was inch perfect everywhere, wasn't he? We've mentioned reliability. It it feels a race doesn't go by without us talking about McLaren 's lack of reliability. I mean neither car made it to the start back in China and then of course Lando Norris had his DNF who didn't finish today. I mean okay Piastri ended up P4 but it was just they were a little bit off all weekend whether it's reliability whether it was pace. Lawrence on the pace front, were you were you surprised? Did you expect more from McLaren? Well if you talked to the team ahead of this weekend, they would tell you that actually they didn't expect much more than they got. They were expecting a more difficult weekend. But I think what we are seeing of McLaren here and in the last race particularly in Canada as well, it's it's very unlike the McLaren that we've become used to since twenty twenty three. They normally bring an upgrade. It delivers a percentage of time and they move forward. Whereas they brought this upgrade package to Canada, they took the front wing off, they tried it again here, they took it off. The upgrade didn't deliver the step that they hoped in Canada, they've come here, and it does feel like they're just chasing it a little bit because obviously they came into the season with an underdeveloped car. So they already knew that they were on the back foot. And I think in their strategy to chase, I think they've maybe not been able to get the most out of the package that they've brought as quickly as possible in the same way that obviously Mercedes and Ferrari have managed to do it. And then you've always got Red Bull in the background randomly bringing bits and pieces that allow them, for example, this weekend to get themselves in the mix, you know. So I think I don't think McClan will be surprised at where they were, but I think they'll be surprised at how far off they were. And I do think that the number of reliability issues that are happening now and the fact that they are mostly different will become a a concern if it continues in this way. Because Norris parked up an FP two didn't he? And they changed the energy store, the battery within his allocation. So you're also getting to a point where if they're continuing to have these reliability problems, eventually we're gonna see grid penalties for taking parts out of allocation. Oh, maths, we've got 16 races to go this season. That's a long way to go But if that actually if you also look, George had an issue obviously in Canada, Norris has had an issue here and in Canada. Are there then questions with the Mercedes power units, the Mercedes-powered cars as well? Does it raise questions around reliability across the grid? If it's across two different teams of the Mercedes PU? I don't know. Laurie, your first time on the show this year, because you've been busy being a mum. I would love to get your thoughts on Lando Norris. Do you see just in the two races since you've been back, do you see a different Lando since he became world champion, more relaxed did you more relaxed. Uh for sure he's more relaxed. I think the highs and lows probably feel a a little less high and a little less low. So we're in a title f ight or or in an era in which he was chasing wins or chasing that first title two weekends on the bounce like this would have felt horrible, he can take it on the chin because no one can ever take away from him the fact that he's a world champion. And I I so I do think there's an element that yes he'll be gutted. He's still gonna be hungry, absolutely. I don't think he'd be turning up and doing this if he still didn't want it. But there is probab ly a contentment within him knowing that he is a world champion. It's still so fresh as well. He's achieved his lifetime ambition and everything else is a bonus. I have questioned um generally as I've sat at home watching um with my baby the mentality to come back after after doing just that you've achieved your lifelong ambition and you've got to rock up in testing in Barcelona in a brand new car and do it again. I you just just I wonder how drivers who have gone to the absolute limit the way we saw those three go to the limit in Abby Dabby, one gets over the line. How do you come how do you motivate yourself again? Where does the hunger come from? Does it come from the fact that you're world champion and that you you feel unbeatable you're motivated to win the way that we know Max Verstappen is for example. I'm sure it comes from somewhere within Lando but I I just I just question how difficult that may be for some drivers or or not. I compare Lando to say Nico Rosberg because Nico Rosberg had that really tough year, didn't he, that battle with Lewis to eventually win the world title in 2016, but he had obviously gone through a long period of time of never m being able to do it. And I think that at that point he realised okay that's where where my level is I guess and then with Lando I imagine he would have had that conversation with himself over the winter and has come back and gone actually no I still quite fancy this because I think he's definitely not a driver that would hang about. Like I just think he's got so much going on in his life. He's got so many projects or things he wants to try that I think if he didn't genuinely believe or get himself going again to go and have another tilt at it. I just don't think he would bother. So I think while actually what's become of Lando is that contentment's gonna make him a more potent force going forward and I think that we probably won't see that so much this year just because of the natural peck and order that we're seeing. But I think that contentment that Laura really eloquently described is actually gonna make him a great driver for the next ten years. And I think that's what is quite exciting about the future that if we see Kimmy coming through, if McLaren do develop, which I'm sure they will do, a carlet will be able to fight for wins, if Lewis is kind of fighting back as well, if Charles gets his mojo back, if George finds it and Max at Red Bull, we can have a really cool fight at the end of this year and we've got hungry drivers you wanna kinda stamp their authority on it. I think there'll be individual races. I dealing with McLaren I feel they've hemorrhaged too many points to think about winning the constructors championship this year. I feel that they're too far back. What are they, a hundred and eighteen to to Mercedes two hundred and forty four. But I feel everyone will be chasing a win towards the end of the thing as key. Each race will become a World Cup. Exactly, yeah. And I love that analogy, because then it just every every race feels kind of all or nothing for these drivers and that's that's wonderful for us, isn't it? Uh look, final thing, driver of the day. I mean there's a few we haven't mentioned as well. I'm thinking of double points for racing bulls. Okay, we touched on them having their swim earlier, but you know, Lawson and Linblad, P5, P6, both career bests, uh Gasly in the points again for for Alpine with P7. Him furious, of course, because of the the pit lane speeding. Albon, Ocon in the points, Alonso getting that first point for Aston Martin as, well. I mean, there there are so many storylines, actually, is what we were saying, wasn't it right at the top of the show? But right, driver of the day, Laura, welcome back. Who is it for you? Is it is it one of the people lower down in the points, or is it perhaps someone we've been eulogising about. Gosh, can I be really obvious? It's so hard to look past him. Sorry, Lawrence. It's gonna have to be Kimmy Antonelli. You don't have to say sorry to me. Well maybe you have to go second and I'd I've taken Kimmy. But he's made history around Monaco, um, fifth win on the bounce. He's just operating at a level that we have not seen. You know, we're talking about generational talent and we're six races into the season, it it has to be him. I think it's perfectly acceptable for us to all agree, to be honest, because I think because I think to your to your point, the performance he's delivered this weekend is not the kind of thing we're gonna see at Monaco every year, nor is it gonna be the kind of thing that we'll see at many race weekends this year, where it's that perfect combination of Kimmy being on another planet and able to deliver that kind of performance. And there were phases in that race where I think you mentioned right the at beginning Tom he was one point five seconds to two seconds quicker probably not even pushing still because he will always drive within a margin because I think he's sensible enough to know that he can't bin it. So cause that that was the other thing, is Kimmy never really went up against the barriers. Like he never really pushed the limit. And I think that's another growth point thrown in right at the end. And I think that's why this weekend was so special. So yeah, easy. Hey, let's all agree. Kimmy Antonelli was the driver of the day, you know, in Monaco. He's just getting better and better. Every weekend, I feel yet. That was the they're just little things that he does better every single weekend, and it's now five in a row. People listening to this don't want agreement the whole time. Let's do a sort of mention in dispatches, right? We all agree that Kimmy Antonelli was the driver of the day. Let's now each name a driver who impressed us who's not Kimi Antonelli. I'm gonna say Isaac Hajjar and not just because we are on the Red Bull Energy Station and I feel we'd have to run off if we don't mention him, but because he dealt with a car that was seemingly getting more and more difficult to drive around one of the circuits that is the most demanding for drivers to drive, he crashed, came back from that, kept a level head, threw into qualifying, qualified well. Yeah, he's a cadja. Podium in Monaco, that is so, so special. Word unto him. I'm gonna go a bit left field and I'm gonna say Checo. Now I know he has lost the point that would have been Cadillac's first point, but I think he's really just generally impressed me so far this year, and you know, even from that phase on Friday where he was 13th, 14th uh in practice in a Cadillac, you know, I think the the performance he delivered. I know he made a couple of mistakes today where you know parked up in the wrong grid box but I think he put himself in the mix and that's exactly what Cadillac you know brought him back to the sport for and I think that he's exactly the kind of driver that they're gonna want going forward. So I think a really good job from him, not just today but the whole weekend. Are you surprised by the gap between Jacko Perez and Valtory Bottas this year? I think on paper the gap looks big but I think if you talk to people in the team, if you talk to Dan Tauris to Graham Loudon, they'll tell you that both of them are doing a really good job. They're doing the the kind of thing that they wanted from experienced drivers. And I think maybe Vauchy just hasn't maybe had the rubber the green. I probably am a little bit more surprised that Perez has had the edge given that Vauchy was around with Mercedes as a reserve last year. He did a bit of driving, whereas Checo went on holiday to Africa with his family, had a had a year off, and kind of really took his foot off the gas and had to get back in the gym. But then it makes me re-think about, well, what kind of Checo did we see at Red Bull? And actually, was there the Checo of when he finished runner up? And is that who the real Checo is? So I think it's great we've got another shot at looking at him. And I'm still waiting and gonna give Fauci more time to settle into a clearly a car that is taking time to get the best out of. They've had so many niggles, haven't they, that you'd expect a new team to have. So let's give him more time but like I'm loving the checker that we're seeing right now. Yep, yep. And I'm gonna say Liam Lawson. Um I love watching him in qual ity. You don't drive sideways, you know, around Monaco, but he proved that you can. And um , you know, he put it P10 on the grid and he's gone and got that P5 in the race, equaling his best from Baku last year. So it's really, you know, let's not forget that you only have to go back 18 months or less actually to you know Liam having that horrible time at the start of last year, promoted to Red Bull, then two races later, you know, he he's pushed back to to racing bulls. And I I the way he he's bounced back from that ha hasn't let it I'm sure there's been dark moments but hasn't let it get to him and and I feel he's just proving proving what I think Helmut Marco saw him in back but you know back in the day that you know he is a a seriously good racing driver and and what he did in Monaco this weekend proved that . Well guys, thank you. Before we go, um while we've had a great weekend of of drama on the streets of Monaco, we've also had the very exciting news that we're going to continue