Are Ferrari favourites? – Monaco GP Preview with Palmer + Hinchcliffe

23:10Jolyon Palmer:most intense weekend for him you know the media scrum i'm sure he'll be shaking hands with royalty and having just a really busy time of it on the weekend and even then the intensity of his weekend is just that little bit more than anyone else's intensity in monaco which is already by the way really really high so i i think if they were heading to barcelona i think he'd he'd get over a bad weekend i think he'd i think he'd face the media and just say you know the same lines tough weekend he'll move on but i think because he knows it's monaco next there is a great chance for ferrari to to be there he knows he needs to he needs to bounce back and and people talk about just the reset after you have a bad weekend and sometimes just having a few days away and just blanking it out and coming back just thinking no Canada pretty much didn't happen you have to just think you're going to be the man again you're always good in Monaco I think that's what's going on how much does he need to be doing back in Maranello because I'm I'm still fascinated by something Mattia Benotto said on last week's F1 Beyond the Grid podcast which was Michael Schumacher was a better leader than he was racing driver at Ferrari he said he set us in a direction and every single person all 600 people as as was the case back then wanted to follow michael and i find it interesting that's what ferrari have been used to with michael i feel that's maybe what they've been craving since michael left all those years ago because there'll still be a lot of people there who work with michael i think there's there's a couple of things to to throw into the picture here number one michael schumacher never had a teammate like lewis hamilton so it's very difficult i think for charles to be the de facto leader at ferrari when the other guy is lewis who's achieved so much so the team naturally have to balance out both and you've got lewis off the back of a really great weekend so it's not easy for charles to come back and be like this is how we need to sort it out this is because they'd just be like well hang on but lewis was lewis was good it was just it was up to you pal you work out how to sort you out um the other thing is there's so many races now so when when shumi was spending more time with the test team uh back at marinello there were probably i'd say somewhere like 16 18 races in the season you've now got another four to six to eight more races and i do think the mental capacity then is is harder for the drivers now than it was in terms of the mental load for them 20 years ago when Shumi was at Ferrari.

25:44Jolyon Palmer:Nonetheless, I do agree, you know, Shumi was obviously an outstanding leader and galvanized them. But that's just a couple of differences. I see that. I get your point about the number of races, but back then in the Schumacher era, there was a lot more testing. I remember at the height of the Bridgestone-Michelin tire war, we used to have a day off in Monaco. So first practice, first and second practice used to be on the Thursday. Friday was a day off, and then you'd have final practice and qualifying on the Saturday and the race on Sunday. And Shumi used to go back to Maranello, to Fiorano, and practice his starts and just get out on the test track on the Friday to just put into practice what he'd learned on the Thursday.

26:23So, you know, that commitment, that level of commitment from him was extraordinary.

26:28James Hinchcliffe:I think you bring up a great point, though, that because testing was open and Ferrari had a test track at the factory, yeah, Shumi was there all the time, right? So in all of his days off from racing, you'd be there anyway. So I do think it was an easier landscape for a driver to successfully kind of fill that role. I don't disagree that the leadership that Shumi had was revolutionary and I think set the tone for some future champions. But it is a slightly different situation, I think, in 2026.

27:02Jolyon Palmer:Going back to practice starts on the Friday in Monaco as well is commitment. You only need a half good start in Monaco to hold position. It could have had a bad start and he'd still be winning the race. So extra marks for Shumi for that. This is a paid advertisement for BetterHelp. I love summer, but if I'm being honest, I do think it can sometimes come with this strange pressure to make the most of absolutely everything. There are plans to organise, people to see, places to be. And you often find that all the things that are meant to feel relaxing can actually start feeling quite overwhelming.

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30:02Let's bring it on to Mercedes then. The team that has won every Grand Prix so far this year. Antonelli is now 43 points ahead of Russell. And George said after Montreal, didn't he, that it feels like it's Antonelli's title to lose now. I'd love your thoughts on those mind games. I'm sure he doesn't think that, does he? But the fact that he still said it, what game is he playing?

30:27James Hinchcliffe:It's a fun game to play, isn't it? I mean, you've got to at this point because he's proving to be an equal at minimum on the racetrack. So if George is going to beat Kimmy, he's probably going to have to resort to some ways of beating him off the racetrack, which we've seen before. We've seen that kind of stuff with Hamilton Rosberg, with Santa Pross. That type of mind game is, I think, a really important part of what we've got coming up. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. Look, the points gap is nothing to worry about at this point in the season. it's the it's the performance on the track right it's it's the it's the stopwatch that should be

31:03Jolyon Palmer:the cause for concern it's operation take pressure and expectation off yourself isn't it that's what it is for george so i felt in canada that he he had a really good weekend but it almost felt like a kind of losing weekend because he was only just beating kimmy and i think we've had this expectation on George that we've spoken about all all season long I think even after Miami was it we had the discussion that you'd still put your house on George and I I do now feel like it's it's kind of an unfair expectation just because Kimmy stepped up a huge amount and I I think you have to we have to kind of accept that Kimmy is not the same Kimmy from last year so George doing a very job he's he's up against a different rival so if he's just beating Kimi slightly in Canada which he was doing that's that's good that's what he has to do and you know we're all thinking this is a George track he needs to be two tenths up the road and the fact that he was duking it out with Kimi it felt like it was a kind of a loss even before he retired where do you think Antonelli's improved since last year you say it's not the same Kimi is it just consistency pretty much i think you've got a the speed is is clearly better as well i think that comes from confidence you could see a difference in kimmy i would say from china saturday afternoon sunday versus anything before and anything after um jake's made a good point after after montreal that he already had a good few races at the end of last year and and the stats would back that up with some some great drives uh brazil being the obvious example but when you look at the start of the year you look at testing and it felt like every time George was in the car he was just a little bit more on it uh you had Melbourne where George again would look quicker Kimi crashed the car in FP3 trying to find something that wasn't there did an okay job in the race but it felt like George had him at arm's length China ditto went through sprint qualifying George was there George was looking good in in the start of qualifying and then had his problems and it was like click the confidence that then Kimi had he had such a great race in in China he's barely been toppled for a session since until Canada where it was really really close so he's obviously gotten an incredible amount of talent it's why he's there but now I think he's got the confidence and with it all the consistency that makes him I would say championship favorite as of now he's going to be hoping for a better European season than last year remember he scored just those three points in nine races.

33:42And actually, he crashed in Q1 in Monaco, didn't he? At the Nouvelle Chicane. So he started the race 15th in Monaco last year. Hard to believe it now, but neither Mercedes scored in Monaco last year. So do you think Antonelli is actually the favorite? I've just raved about Ferrari and their chances. We've discussed that. But actually, is Antonelli the man to beat? In Monaco? Yeah.

34:10James Hinchcliffe:Well, there's still something. I still I don't know if it's an emotional thing or what, but I still think Charles has has the best odds, you know, because Monaco is super unique. And even with that increased confidence that Kimmy's got, and even with the, you know, the advantage that Mercedes has, you know, we've established that the type of track Monaco is does not play into that advantage. um i i still again if i look this is why we don't bet julian because you just said you're now putting the house on kimmy so your house is gone mate sorry you don't even have that opportunity anymore i'm cutting my losses i'll downsize this is exactly why i don't bet but if i were to i think i'd still put my money on leclerc i i still just think there's something that clicks there even when other years ferrari hasn't been the best car he still goes there and can chuck it on pole and you know if you're on pole there it's pretty much game over so um what about over the season

35:07Jolyon Palmer:george or george or kimmy or shall i plead the fifth it's not on this show you don't i'm i'm

35:15James Hinchcliffe:i'm running out of i'm running out of reasons to not not shift the chips you know over to uh over to antonelli it's it's the the race craft has been so impressive he's he's handling pressure I'm not going to say flawlessly, but better than I expected. You know, the rant on the radio and the sprint race and Toto having to jump in and be like, focus on the driving, not the moaning. I feel like that's, that's all very teachable. Like he's a 19 year old, right? That's, that's an easy thing to kind of calm down. So yeah, he's, he's just done a stellar job these last, you know, sort of three weekends.

35:51James Hinchcliffe:And, but again, you can look at history, You can look at statistics. I like numbers. I'm a numbers guy. And as you just said, Tom, he had three points across the European season last year. But this is a very different season. This is a very different year. We've only got one data point, and that's not a very good one. So there's nothing to indicate that this is not going to be absolutely tooth and nail for the rest of the season. And with what you've seen, bad luck aside, it still looks like Kimi has the edge right now. now you mentioned him doing a stellar job what a great segue to talk about McLaren because after such a such a disappointing race in Montreal right when they start on on inters and it just goes from bad to worse from there are they in the picture for Monaco let's not forget that Lando Norris won the Grand Prix from pole position last year um okay the front wing the new front wing didn't work in Montreal they've already said they're going to run it again in Monaco they still believe in it can Norris do it again or can Piastri win for the first time

36:51Jolyon Palmer:they've had a good car in Monaco for the last few years uh obviously Lando won it from pole uh before that you've got Oscar running really quickly as well and their car again is it's pretty compliant so is that's the key thing that you want where you want some downforce but then you really do need it to be to be compliant and try to find the balance between the two of those things which are some in some ways mutually exclusive is is tricky but mclaren seemed to have a good handle on it so i wouldn't rule them out i think again in the in the realm of trying to predict the order i would say mclaren will be way it'll be their most competitive effort compared to mercedes i think mercedes have a better understanding still on energy deployment energy usage that side of things and it won't count for as much i think what tires to put on at the start of a Grand Prix, that as well.

37:45Jolyon Palmer:They got a better handle on that, that's for sure.

37:46James Hinchcliffe:It's funny because I feel like if we were having this discussion, you know, post-Miami, you'd say, yeah, absolutely, street track. You know, Norris was quick in the sprint and the team overall performed very well. But after Montreal, even though a lot of what set them back was strategic and not necessarily pure pace, it doesn't seem like they're as high on the list as as far right but we've been talking about ferrari monaco for a long time and you almost just sort of forget that mclaren's in this conversation but i think they very much are again they've they've got the right power unit the car's been successful there the drivers have been successful there this might be the closest you know most competitive qualifying session that we have all season long certainly that we have had all season long and probably one of the most difficult to predict but for sure they a great team great car two great drivers they're going to be in the mix absolutely how do you think the new generation of car is going to perform do you think we could see lando's pole position of what is it one nine point

38:50Jolyon Palmer:nine from last year do you think we could see that being beaten be surprised overall i just think that if it's going to be close it's going to be close on this sort of circuit where it's um the shorter wheelbase the front end will will help but also this is the sort of one where you want to crank on as much downforce as you can get and they are short on downforce right now i don't know i is really difficult to to know if it will get close to the outright pace what i do know is that they're going to be pushing as they were last year so in the biggest thing in the driving is having your differential of entry speeds and some harvesting and deployment whereas in Monaco it's it's flat out so we will see the best version of these cars in in Monaco and there's one team and driver we haven't spoken about he's a he's a two-time winner in Monaco Max Verstappen first podium of the year last time out in Montreal Red Bull Powertrains is first podium in its history um could you see them turning it on in Monaco or do you think it's too big an ask too big.

39:54James Hinchcliffe:I think, you know, to Julian's point, compliance is so important in Monaco. And that was one of the biggest complaints that Max had in Montreal. And yes, first podium, great drive, great result, happy for them. It took a Mercedes DNF and a double McLaren strategy blunder to even be in the conversation. He was tracked down by, I mean, what was that gap that Hamilton closed up six seven eight seconds something like that um yeah that that that podium comes with a you know an asterisk beside it for sure and and i just don't see what that cars struggles with um meaning it's going to be as competitive as as the first three teams in in monaco the only saving grace

40:36Jolyon Palmer:for for red bull that i saw was the change they made from the sprint to qualifying where they found a good chunk of that compliance and actually looking through the second times again again Max and Isaac Hadjar as well were really quick in the first sector so that's the only little bit of bit of hope that I could see for them is actually maybe they did find something there and it brought them closer towards the the picture at the front well we'll only know when they the car hits the ground and they I feel like they need to start better off than they they have done recently so podium predictions guys where are we going I'm all in but I'm going to go last I'm all in on what we've discussed, but go on the Hinch podium for Monaco.

41:18James Hinchcliffe:So I've been saying it. I got to back it up. Leclerc for the win. And then let's go. Let's go. Who's going to be better, George or Kimi? It's going to be three different teams. It's going to be three different manufacturers on the podium. It's going to be a Ferrari, a Mercedes, and a McLaren. I'll go Lando third. Which Mercedes comes second? No, you know what? No, I'm going to go Lando second, George third. Okay, but Leclerc for the win. JP?

41:50Jolyon Palmer:Yeah, I'm going to go quite punchy here. I'm going to say Leclerc wins, but I think Hamilton is second. It's a Ferrari 1-2. And I'm going to say third is Lando. We've got no Mercedes on the podium. They haven't often gone well in Monaco. They've had dominant years where Red Bulls have beaten them. Ferraris have beaten them. You've got Seb and Kimi back in the day. They haven't been great in recent years either. I don't think they get on the podium. So that's my top three. Headlines, headlines. Look, I'm with you. I'm all in with Ferrari. I'm going for a Ferrari 1-2. Their first 1-2 at Monaco since 2017.

42:29Schull ahead of Lewis with Kimi Antonelli P3. I have more faith in Mercedes at Monaco. I think the car is too good. but I think his confidence is too strong. And it's such a confidence track, Monaco, isn't it? If he can just keep building as the weekend goes on and not clip the inside wall at the Nouvelle Chicane like he did in Q1 last year. I think Kimi will be really, really strong. But a Ferrari 1-2 at Monaco, well, that's got to be good for Formula 1. Now, guys, before you go, can we finally just discuss a huge deal that was announced last week, just after Montreal. So Alpine and Gucci are getting together from 2027, Gucci becoming the title partner.

43:17It's going to be called Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team. And they're going to race in Gucci colours. I mean, it's a huge story for Formula One. You know, what does a deal like that, what does it tell us about, first of all, Alpine? Let's not forget that they were last in the Constructors' Championship last year and they've now gone and attracted, you know, one of the biggest global brands and a very glamorous brand at that as their title sponsor.

43:45Jolyon Palmer:They've got a good team of partnerships. That's what it tells us, number one. And it also means, JP, that Luca DeMaio, who was, you know, the boss of Alpine, is now, what is he? He's the CEO of Kerrang, who are the parent company of Gucci. I'm sure that helped put the deal together, the friendship between Flavio and Luca, but still they've got it across the line. They've committed the money.

44:13James Hinchcliffe:It's not what you know, TC. It's who, you know, that, that deal doesn't get done. I don't think if Luca Di Maio is not in charge of that program, but no, it's, it's obviously it's huge, you know, a massive globally recognized brand, very high end. This is, this is what formula one is. It's a little bit bizarre. Gucci racing Alpine F1 team is a funny name to have to say. it's going to take us a minute to get used to saying that but i think it's you know it's again it's another huge win for f1 uh we know pierre's a big uh a big fashion guy so this is probably something he's excited about um yeah it's going to be an interesting one there's going to be some i imagine some very expensive merchandise coming there's going to be some excited people on the

44:56Jolyon Palmer:the old paddock walk-in on on thursdays aren't there yeah when the the alpine drivers come in dripping in gucci i would imagine jp you know team endstone when you were there would you have fancied a nice gucci suit to come into the track wearing and just just looking super cool hey you'd you'd not say no to that would you you'd not say no you want you want it's as a driver you want decent partnerships it's uh it's the side thing where you're like oh we've signed that oh that's quite cool maybe they'll maybe that'll that'll come my way so um it does speak volumes of where where Alpine are at I would say I think they've done a really good job dropping the Renault engines for Mercedes it just was a good move for them I felt like they were really stuck with that for the last few years and just becoming a customer team I know there was a big big picture view on this and you know shutting down Viri all the expertise and the history that they had there was a big sort of controversial question for them but look at the results they're moving up in the world they're signing big brand sponsors partners and they're going to look really fashionable it'll be interesting to see does it now become a desirable team are we suddenly going to see people scrapping over that second seat i mean pierre's on a long-term deal but who is going to be alongside him next year now with the performance we're seeing with the partners we're seeing what colors are they going well i guess it's black and gold i don't know throw back to my lotus lotus day yeah there's a good looking car yeah it was well that will all come out in the wash as they say guys thank you both very much great to catch up with you um please remember that in selected countries you can watch all the action in monaco on f1 tv and in the united states on apple tv and in the meantime do check out f1's other official podcasts my guest on this week's episode of F1 Beyond the Grid is former Ferrari driver Jean Alessi talking about his one and only win in Formula One, the Montreal Grand Prix of 1995.

47:00That's out on Wednesday and you can also watch our chat on the F1 YouTube channel. And the latest episode of F1 Explains is all about the mental side of Formula One. That's just below this show on the F1 Nation feed. Thank you very much for listening. We will of course be back next Monday to discuss all the big talking points from Monaco, so we'll speak to you then. F1 Nation is produced by Formula One and Audioboom Studios.

47:40This episode is sponsored by Honda. Since its first Formula One victory in the 1965 Mexico Grand Prix, Honda has always taken what's learned on the track and used it to build better cars for everyone. From pushing limits in F1 to engineering the next generation of hybrids like the Prelude Hybrid and Civic Sedan Hybrid, Honda proves that racing doesn't just inspire innovation, it drives it. And that idea of taking lessons from the racetrack and applying them to road cars has always been a part of Honda's DNA. Decades of engineering in the demanding world of Formula 1 have helped shape the performance and efficiency you see in Honda's road cars today.

48:25And now that same thinking is shaping the next generation of hybrids as well. Cars like the 2026 Prelude Hybrid and Civic Hybrid show that electrification can be both efficient and genuinely fun to drive. The 2026 Prelude Hybrid and Civic Sedan Hybrid are engineered for fun. From the racetrack to your driveway. Learn more about the Prelude and Civic and the latest innovations at Honda.com.