In short
Miami GP review focused on Kimi Antonelli’s pressure-proof win, whether McLaren are closing, and how upgrades are shifting the midfield/front.
Guests
James Hinchcliffe (IndyCar race winner; F1 TV expert) and Lawrence Barretto (F1 correspondent).
Key claims
- Antonelli’s win was “all-around” and mentally strong: he handled reigning-world-champion pressure on a mistake-prone track, stayed composed after a bad sprint start, and even joked post-race.
- Mercedes’ strategy regained track position, but Antonelli didn’t have a huge pace advantage like in Suzuka; the win came under tighter conditions.
- George Russell’s defeat was the first time he couldn’t blame circumstances; Canada is framed as a must-beat teammate moment.
- McLaren feel “cut half full”: Lando Norris says he had a faster car and should’ve won, but Mercedes undercut them and rain never arrived.
- Ferrari’s upgrades improved the car but not enough in qualifying one-lap pace; Leclerc’s late spin cost a podium.
Notable examples
- Antonelli: three consecutive pole-to-win conversions; “only lost two places” at the start.
- McLaren: undercut by Mercedes; rain gamble that didn’t happen.
- Red Bull: Verstappen’s steering “feel” change plus upgrade step; huge gap over Isaac Hadjar.
- Franco Colapinto: strong conversion after qualifying edge over Pierre Gasly; Alpine’s rapid development shift.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOKimi's Impressive Performance
3:00 to 7:20
Discussion on Kimi's performance under pressure in the Miami GP.
“To come off a five-week break like that onto a sprint weekend, into a sprint weekend.”
Kimi's Development and Team Dynamics
7:20 to 11:50
Analysis of Kimi's growth as a driver and the team dynamics with George Russell.
“that, you know, down in Park Vermeer when he got out of the car after qualifying, it wasn't fist pumping, cheering to the crowd.”
George Russell's Performance Review
13:46 to 14:00
Discussion on George Russell's performance and comparison with Kimi.
“What about the other side of the garage then?”
Kimi's Performance Analysis
14:00 to 15:10
Discussion on Kimi's performance compared to George Russell.
“two tracks that Kimi hadn't been to, he was quite quick.”
George's Mindset and Strategy
15:10 to 17:20
Exploration of George Russell's mindset regarding track performance.
“maybe changing their approach a little bit, trying to find what you have to do to not just slow him down, but speed yourself up.”
McLaren's Race Performance
17:20 to 19:30
Review of McLaren's performance and Lando Norris's feelings post-race.
“He doesn't want four-wheel sliding, as he called it here, right?”
Upgrade Packages and Future Prospects
19:30 to 22:00
Discussion on McLaren's upgrades and expectations for future races.
“But I think that he really felt like he should and could have won today's Grand Prix.”
Intra-team Dynamics at McLaren
22:00 to 24:20
Analysis of the battle between Norris and Piastri within McLaren.
Ferrari's Upgrade Challenges
24:20 to 28:03
Examination of Ferrari's upgrades and their impact on performance.
“But I think we've really seen so far in McLaren's dominant period that they can turn things around.”
McLaren's Performance Insights
28:03 to 30:06
Discussion about McLaren's recent performance and potential adjustments.
“And it's, I don't want to say it's easy to do, but it's easier than you probably think to do.”
Show all 16 chapters
Lewis Hamilton's Struggles
30:06 to 33:16
Analysis of Lewis Hamilton's challenges during the race weekend.
“leading out of turn one i'm gonna take i'm gonna take those small wins um it's not often our predictions are right we we struggle with that but um but no i i don't i think they i think they were doing the best.”
Red Bull's Turnaround
35:56 to 42:00
Review of Red Bull's performance improvements and strategy changes.
“Yeah, I don't think I was surprised, but I think I was impressed at the level of step that they were able to make around here.”
Alpine's Strong Weekend and Driver Comparison
42:00 to 43:38
Discussion on Alpine's improvements and driver performances during the race.
Williams' Surprise Double Points Finish
43:38 to 46:42
Analysis of Williams' unexpected performance and their operational strengths.
“Whereas obviously last year, the car was nowhere.”
Midfield Dynamics and Team Performance
46:42 to 48:22
Exploration of midfield team dynamics and strategic improvements.
Driver of the Day: Kimmy's Performance
48:22 to 49:54
Debate over Kimi's standout performance under pressure during the race.
Transcript
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1:53Lewis in 2007, even Michael Schumacher in 1991. I'm really impressed by Kimi's mental strength.
1:59James Hinchcliffe:Where he's starting to settle is as a very complete driver at a very young age. What about the other side of the garage then? He was convincingly defeated and that has got to hurt. It's the first one that he can't sort of use the book of driver excuses as to why. Lando, I felt very cut half full. Because he knows he should have won the race. Franco Colopinto. Quick handshake, quick hug from Lionel Messi. And you can achieve anything, right?
2:32After such a long break, we were desperate to get back to racing. And the Miami Grand Prix was well worth the wait. Welcome everyone to F1 Nation. I'm Tom Clarkson inside the Miami Dolphins' incredible Hard Rock Stadium. Perhaps the most unique paddock on the F1 calendar. And joining me this evening on the show is F1 TV expert and IndyCar race winner James Hinchcliffe and F1 correspondent Lawrence Barreto. Very warm welcome to you both. Welcome back, F1. What a race.
3:05James Hinchcliffe:What a race indeed. I mean, what a weekend, right? To come off a five-week break like that onto a sprint weekend, into a sprint weekend. So much, I think, anticipation coming into this one. First three races were kind of closely bunched together. new regulations, lots to learn. Five weeks off, teams have tons of upgrades coming, lots of question marks and uncertainties coming into the race. Who brings the most? Who brings the best? What works? What doesn't? Evidently, weather played sort of a factor in the whole thing from start to finish. An incredible weekend. Very exciting. And the field closed up, didn't it?
3:38Lawrence Barretto:Yeah, I think that's the beauty of the first big upgrade packages of the season. Obviously, the team had, what, four or five weeks to really refine these and put a bit more budget in. And I think because we only had 90 minutes of practice it still wasn't really immediately clear what kind of impact those upgrade packages had so we had to kind of feel our way through the race weekend I'm not sure we've still got the answer yet because I don't think the teams know fully whether or not they've got the most out of those packages just yet I think we need to now talk about the winner don't we Kimi Antonelli three on the bounce from three pole positions he now leads the championship by 20 points talk us through how he did that guys with pressure from the reigning world champion you know who was on his gearbox for lap after lap his his best win so
4:26James Hinchcliffe:far would you agree yeah i would say so i think for sure the strongest kind of all-around performance and it's it's so interesting three poles in a row still hasn't led lap one in any of them but it's come back to win all three of those races and different circumstances kind of in each one but the most impressive part about this one was yep find a little bit of a strategy play for Mercedes to get him that track position back but like you say it wasn't a 14 second gap like he had in Suzuka he didn't have the pace advantage that he had at some of those other races this was incredible pressure from a world champion at a track that's very easy to make a mistake that small mistake he made in China that would have been a race ending mistake in Miami so you look at how composed he was at one point complaining about something with the paddles on the steering wheel maybe the heart rate went up a little bit the the certainly the the tone of voice went up a little bit but he kept it calm lando behind meanwhile his radio transmissions were dead cool i mean that's that's a champion's transmission and and you kind of hear what the the young driver's heart rate can do in those moments but i think for sure the most impressive one so far
5:26Lawrence Barretto:i'm really impressed by kimmy's mental strength i think after the sprint yesterday after he had that bad start um i talked to him after qualifying i said you know if you thought about those starts he was like I'm not thinking about that yet because he wanted to put that out of his mind heading into today's Grand Prix and I think you know that start could have got in his head again you know when he had that he balked down and I know he didn't drop back as far as he ended up doing but I think the way that he is kind of compartmentalizing the things that Hint just mentioned about the paddle and the issues there and whether or not Lando was kind of pushing him or putting the pressure on and he doesn't seem to be faced by any of it and I think you then compare that to his teammate George Russell who is the more experienced of the two and I think if you you're a new fan and you came in i don't think you'd realize the difference between you know their their level of experience i think the job that kimmy's doing is is really impressive he was laughing at the pressure in the press conference after the race he was saying only lost two places at the start in the grand prix that's progress but i mean i feel to be able to to make a joke about it
6:24James Hinchcliffe:means he's in a really good place mentally yes 100 but it also means that the team has a phenomenal car because we're going to get to a point where you don't have that advantage and losing two or three places off the start isn't okay. You're not going to be able to bounce back from that every weekend for another, you know, 19 weekends, whatever it is. So I think it's working right now. But they're going to have to improve that at some point because as these other teams get closer, and they did get a lot closer this weekend. Granted, there's the caveat that Mercedes hasn't bring hasn't brought their first proper big upgrade package that's coming down the road.
7:01James Hinchcliffe:but if they continue to be this close, Kimi's not going to be able to kind of rely on the car pace advantage that they've got seemingly at the moment to make up for those bad starts. Hinch, just with your racing drivers head on, how have you seen Kimi grow over the course of this season? Well, you know, I kind of mentioned it in the pre-race show that, you know, down in Park Vermeer when he got out of the car after qualifying, it wasn't fist pumping, cheering to the crowd. He jumped off the car very coolly, walked by the crew, threw the hang loose symbol, the swagger on the kid, the difference from that first pole and that elation of, oh, my God, I'm the fastest guy at a Formula One Grand Prix.
7:42James Hinchcliffe:That's incredible. Now he's just like, yep, still got it. You know, I'm here. And you just see that growth. That's very impressive. How he's handling questions about the start thing, that's very impressive. So if we kind of were relating it to Lando two years ago, seven pole positions without leading lap one sort of thing, right? Oh, Lando doesn't know how to start either, right? He's dealing with a similar kind of situation and kind of in a similar way. And at some point, he's going to get it. And then we're going to stop talking about it because he'll probably never make that mistake again or never have issues off the start again.
8:14James Hinchcliffe:But for a kid that young, it's already been a bit of a roller coaster, his first kind of year and a bit in Formula One. and where he's starting to settle is as a very complete driver at a very young age. And he seems so assured behind the wheel now.
8:30Lawrence Barretto:Yeah, I think that that really tough year that he had last year had a lot of ups and downs. I remember around the Monza time, Toto Wolff, his boss, was quite tough on him and basically said he needs to sort himself out, kind of cut out the mistakes. And I think the way that he's responded to those things each time has probably just given him the confidence that he can be that assured. Jordan, remember, it feels like ages ago now, but George was dominant in Australia. And I really remember leaving that weekend thinking, George has got this. You know, Kimi probably needs another year to kind of bet in.
9:00And already it just doesn't feel like that.
9:03Lawrence Barretto:Kimi's turned this thing around. And I think Mercedes have prepared him really well for the kind of pressure that he's going to be facing here. Do you remember? I remember when they first came in, they limited the media that he did. The media trained him as best that they could. they kind of protected him from the public eye to start with and i think that is helping him now because it's helping in the opposite way when everyone is kind of getting very excited about what kimmy might deliver he seems to be coping with that really well and and i think a lot of
9:29James Hinchcliffe:that credit honestly goes to the architect of the whole thing in toto wolf because when he first came in admittedly i think i think we can all agree that the plan was never originally to put him in the car last year right it was it was a forced hand because of lewis's switch over to ferrari and Toto made that call and they knew they sort of had to bubble wrap him a little bit and they did and when he made mistakes Toto was the first one to put an arm around him and say hey rookies make mistakes this is what you're here for this we know this it's good it's good when the mistakes were too many too frequent and too costly around Monza he did step up a little bit and he knew what Kimmy needed to hear when he needed to hear it when he needed the the comforting arm around his shoulder he was that guy when he needed to be the kind of stern parent parental figure of the team.
10:15James Hinchcliffe:He spoke to him in a way that got his attention without breaking his spirit. And, you know, now the result is he's kind of, again, he's been through not the entire range of emotions, but certainly an awful lot for just a little over a year in the series. And in the background the whole time, Toto has known what to say and when. And I think that's been really, really key in his development. And given the pace of the car this year, relative to the opposition. Thank goodness they gave him that year to bed in last year. Because imagine if this was his first season. It would be a huge ask on a 19-year-old.
10:50Lawrence Barretto:Yeah, I think it has helped him to have that early season under his belt. He's then had another proper winter under his belt to kind of start this season on a stronger footing. But then having said that, he's such a fast learner, right? He's only, what, 28 races into his Formula 1 career now? and he's already looking like he's been around for a long time. So I think you kind of always develop or you kind of work at the rate in which the package and the machinery that you've got. And I actually think he probably would have done a reasonably good job had he had this advantage over the field. Because like Hinch was saying earlier, when you've kind of got that kind of gap to the pack, you can probably afford to make the odd mistake because you know it won't really cost you.
11:31Lawrence Barretto:And that's probably helped Kimi again, hasn't it, this year? Because he's got that little buffer, which obviously was much smaller here in Miami. But I think that's what makes this win so much more impressive is that Buffer had gone effectively and he didn't really seem to be fazed by that at all. And the really good ones are kind of ready. I mean, yes, I said, thank goodness they gave him last year and I'm sure it's helped. But actually what Kimi's doing reminds me of Lewis in 2007, even Michael Schumacher in 1991. Remember, he gets that one-off opportunity, one race deal at Spa and he goes and lines up sevens on the grid in a Jordan.
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13:46What about the other side of the garage then? What is George Russell thinking, you know, after four races, given the relative performance between the two of them, particularly at the last two races in Suzuka and here in Miami.
13:59James Hinchcliffe:So I think the important thing to remember is last year in Suzuka in Miami, two tracks that Kimi hadn't been to, he was quite quick. And the pace was stronger than George here last year. With a year of development, I know the cars are completely different and all that sort of thing, but a year of experience now, why wouldn't he be quicker here? And we've talked about this on the show already. I've always kind of said the first two wins had little, you know, little asterisks beside them and still had to get it done. I mean, not taking anything away from them. This is motorsport that these things happen.
14:31James Hinchcliffe:But this one was a lot of much clearer of a victory, like we said, but it's at a track that we know he likes based on one data point fine. But George has always said he doesn't like right. So three wins on on the trot. That is concerning for a teammate, certainly. but we know that canada is a place that georgia has been very strong the team's been very strong georgia's been very strong yes kimmy did a good job there last year but george had him covered you know very comfortably uh in the grand prix last year if we go to canada in two weeks time three weeks time whatever it is and all of a sudden kimmy's ahead again that's i think when the the 63 side of the garage needs to start maybe not panicking but really coming up with a plan maybe changing their approach a little bit, trying to find what you have to do to not just slow him down, but speed yourself up.
15:22James Hinchcliffe:So it's, again, I said it before the weekend, it's not panic mode yet for George Russell. But if Canada goes Kimmy's way without any extenuating circumstances, that's when you might need to start being concerned. Is it a bit defeatist when, you know, George was saying on Thursday during media day, yeah, I don't like this track. This isn't my track. Is that the right mindset?
15:43Lawrence Barretto:I think that's a defense mechanism. to be honest I think he was probably laying the ground to uh what actually transpired which was that Kimi was going to have the advantage I think to hinge his point this was a Kimi circuit sort of last year you know relative to George and I think he was probably having had those two difficult weekends in China and Japan he probably knew what was coming I think he was realistic about it I think this weekend will have been tougher for George because you know in China it was mechanical reasons why he kind of got pulled out of the fight in Japan you know had he pitted one lap later probably could have been fighting for the win.
16:16Lawrence Barretto:So I think he can probably compartmentalize those ones and think, all right, but this one, he was convincingly defeated. And that has got a hurt hinge, right? From a racing driver perspective, you always want to beat your teammate and he's been beaten definitively this weekend.
16:31James Hinchcliffe:But like you say, it's the first one that he can't sort of use the book of driver excuses as to why. So it's, yeah, it's the first one. It's not a trend yet, yet. But what Kimi's doing now, and I was really kind of hoping we had a race that was interrupted by rain if i'm totally honest because dealing with those conditions and getting thrown that curveball that wrench in the plan it would have been really interesting to see how a driver with kimmy's level of experience reacted and coped with that compared to how max or orlando or george would have dealt with it and i asked george about that whether or
17:05Lawrence Barretto:not he was starting to get a bit worried in the tv pen whether he's starting to get worried about these running results and he immediately was going i can't wait to get back to some more conventional tracks so I think he still fundamentally believes you know when we get back to Europe and we get to your Monaco's and your Spain's and your Austria's and Silverstone's I still think he believes that he will be able to pull it back and you know 20 points is actually not that much is it a difference and you can that can change within a couple of race weekends so I think I don't think he is to Hinch's point panicking yet but I do think that this one is going to hurt a lot and he's got to win in Canada you know that is a George track so if he doesn't win there then And maybe we can have this chat about what it means to worry.
17:44He doesn't want four-wheel sliding, as he called it here, right? Hence, just what is four-wheel sliding? I mean, four-wheel drift?
17:49James Hinchcliffe:Yeah, essentially. When you come off a corner, right, and you're talking about corner balance or car balance, rather, if you're understeering, you know, the front's not quite turning, but the back's got enough grip. If you're oversteering, the rear's sliding and kind of trying to pass the front of the car. A four-wheel slide is just that. Neither the front nor the back of the car are really gripped up. So you're not fighting an imbalance. You're just fighting a lack of grip. And it requires you to sort of almost anticipate what the car is going to do in the mid-corner phase to the exit. It is challenging.
18:20James Hinchcliffe:And certain drivers kind of like those lower grip conditions. We did this comparison from Oscar and Lando a bunch in the last third of the season last year when we went to these low grip circuits. It really suits Lando. Oscar struggles a bit more. We got back to those higher grip tracks like Qatar late in the year. And Piastri had the advantage again. So George brings up a good point. We know that Kimi's good at Suzuka. We know he's good at Miami. We know George is good in Montreal. So let's see what happens when we get to Canada. A lot rests. A lot does, I think. As Lawrence was saying, it's kind of a must win.
18:53James Hinchcliffe:It's a must beat Kimi. It's not a must win. They got a really good shot at winning, obviously. But if someone else wins, as long as it's not Kimi, he's got to beat his teammate. Now talking about gotta beats, should we talk about McLaren now? Lando, I felt very cut half full after that race. I think McLaren should be celebrating what's been a huge turnaround. And yet Lando was very much, ah, that's the one that got away.
19:22Lawrence Barretto:because he knows you should have won the race i think and that's what's frustrating i think in the tv pen he said i can get over the p2s and the p3s when i couldn't have had the chance to win but i think you know had they not got undercut by mercedes and kimmy he would have won this grand prix in there and then he would have kind of left this weekend thinking oh hang on maybe we really are back in the fight whether or not that truly is the case obviously mercedes going to bring their upgrade package to the next race in Canada. But I think that he really felt like he should and could have won today's Grand Prix.
19:54Lawrence Barretto:So I think that's probably why he was glass half empty. He actually said in the press conference, yeah, I think I had a faster car.
20:01James Hinchcliffe:And what's so important about that is, to Lawrence's point, come Canada, they might not, right? This was a huge opportunity for McLaren to try to collect as many points when they had maybe a little bit, and that's a small advantage if it is one over Mercedes, and they didn't execute. And so I think that's what's tough. Racing racers, right, whether you're a driver, team manager, engineer, whatever, memories are very short when it comes to successes, right? So you look at where they were on Friday and Saturday, and it was fist pumping, hands in the air, look at how far we've come. 24 hours later, it's, well, we threw that one away, didn't we?
20:37James Hinchcliffe:and they're already forgetting the the victory on saturday because the the taste of defeat is so much more bitter than how sweet the taste of victory is sometimes these drivers hate losing more than they like winning and this was an example of of a race lost at the very least make kimmy do it on the track right let's not have it be a strategy you know misstep from mclaren but you say misstep we were all thinking it was going to rain every i mean we had to move the race up because we thought it was going to rain we are now at the end of what the grand prix should have been almost and there's not a drop of rain out there so so you can you can forgive mclaren first i mean how many radio transmissions do we see rain in five laps rain in 10 laps rain in turn seven and eight there was no rain they were trying to just wait for the rain to come so they didn't hit and then have to pit three laps later for inters or full wets or whatever so i understand how it happened but i think max almost tipped the hand a little bit because he was so quick when he did that early stop under the safety car and came back out and it yeah it was it was a risk for mercedes to pit him when he did in case if it rained they'd have been laughing they being mclaren so it's a it's not as straight up a blunder as say qatar last year but it's still you know they're going to feel like they let one get away tell us about the upgrade package lawrence in terms of what they brought and how much encouragement i'm still trying to see this as a positive race for mclaren in terms of where they were five weeks ago in japan versus where they are
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22:07Lawrence Barretto:now they've got more coming in montreal oh i think you know when they're in the debrief or first thing tomorrow morning they're going to be delighted with how this weekend went because you're right they they've stepped it up from that first race in australia didn't even start with either car at the next race in china in that grand prix to then come back in round four and be fighting a team that we thought were going to run away with this championship is extraordinary now we shouldn't be surprised because every package that mclaren have brought since 2023 has delivered big steps of performance it's delivered what they thought and so i think that we shouldn't have been surprised that they were able to do this i think what is particularly encouraging for them is ahead of this weekend andrea stella said we're going to give the drivers a completely new car half's come in here so it's still a dramatic um upgrade package changes all over for you know from the body work to the front to the rear end but the second half is coming in canada and to the point where you're going to get a b-spec car in montreal so i think actually mclaren are in a very strong position and i think while they might be wary of what mercedes bring when they come to montreal um they felt like they should have won this race because they want to get on with it and they want to be defending both of their constructors and drivers championships because i think this season is going to be quite topsy-turvy it's really going to depend on when you bring an upgrade package how quickly you're able to get the most out of it and so I think it's going to be significantly closer for them than it was last year so every result every point is going to count and I imagine that's why in that moment it hurt but actually what they've delivered here put for me pulls them back into the championship fight and probably worry everyone else because there's going to be probably one maybe two more big upgrade packages of this quality this year and if they keep doing that then they are going to be the best team championship fight I'm just looking at my points totals norris is 51 antonelli's on 100 so he the gap is decent already isn't it already but then we saw last year how quickly max for seven well that's pulled himself back into the title fight how lando norris overhauled oscar piastri um i did a q a with zach ahead of the weekend and just before we went on stage i just asked him we were just chatting i was like do you think you can fight for both championships and he was like yeah yeah i definitely think i can we can and Zach doesn't tend to do that I don't think when you're just having a chat with him unless he genuinely believes that they can get in the fight and I think that belief echoes right through McLaren at the minute and I think when you've got that it's an incredible strength of yours to be able to have to come to a track because it's going to scare everyone else because every time you tell them they're bringing a big upgrade package you've already won slightly because everyone else is like aren't I?
24:50Lawrence Barretto:So yeah, I think there is a gap. Of course it is. But I think we've really seen so far in McLaren's dominant period that they can turn things around. And I think they can just once more. Look, we discussed the intra-team battle at Mercedes between Antonelli and Russell. What about what we've seen from Norris and Piastri here? I felt at the opening three races, Oscar had the upper hand when he actually raced. But in terms of lap time, I felt he had the upper hand, whereas here it was very much Norris, wasn't it?
25:17James Hinchcliffe:Again, a Norris track. Never been outqualified by a teammate in the Grand Prix here. So kind of status quo in a sense, obviously first win here, sprint win last year. I think in the first few rounds, there were a few weekends where Norris had more troubles, reliability issues in practice, so didn't get as many laps. And obviously with the rule set still being in its infancy, drivers still kind of figuring that stuff out. I'm not sure we have enough true data points to have a really good sense on kind of if there's a, if there's a hierarchy between the two of them at McLaren right now, I think both have had strong weekends.
25:53James Hinchcliffe:Both have had weekends where they seem to be on the back foot. But again, we're still so early in this season, so it's tough to know. What about Ferrari? They came here with more upgrades than any other team. And I'm no body language expert, but I felt after the sprint that Charles Leclerc was frustrated in that. We've come here with more than anyone else, and there was Max for Stappen doing you know great things in terms of pace uh where are we at in terms of the job
26:23Lawrence Barretto:Ferrari's done here in Miami um Fred didn't annoy me Fred didn't do his media session his traditional media session after the race travel plans changed so we didn't kind of get the chance to grill him but I think that what was generally felt within the team this weekend is they've added performance but they've not added anywhere near as much performance as I think they thought they would qualify and it was a key area that they wanted to work on so you know the one lap pace and I think Charles probably realized very early on that while the car did feel better they just hadn't shut the gap in that metric and I think that will be a concern because it will almost certainly have been a big part of their cost cap development budget that they would have spent on this package so I think it is worrying I think they'll be more worried when they saw what Red Bull brought and how much of a step they were able to make obviously how much of a step like we talked about the McLaren have made so I think they will be concerning equally though Ferrari have had a habit in the last couple of years of bringing parts and they don't work so I think that they probably shouldn't be too hard on themselves because child probably should have had a podium again today that would have made him three out of four podiums so I guess it's all relative to like how well or how bad it's been but I actually still think Ferrari are in a good spot it's just this upgrade package just hasn't delivered or they just haven't found how to get the most out of it because they've only had 90 minutes of practice and it might just be that they're they bought too much stuff and they then don't know um because i was talking to one technical director actually this ahead of the weekend and he was like what if we bring all these bits and it's one bit that doesn't work it's gonna take us ages to work out like which bit ramifications of that right exactly so i think actually let's just let it play out a little bit longer annoyingly Canada's a sprint weekend so they're not going to get much more time to test it there than it's Monaco so it might be that we're going to have to wait till Barcelona and Austria to actually see the full kind of complement of performance that comes with those kind of packages so I don't think they'll be panicking yet but I think they'll be disappointed obviously that they didn't make the kind of step of Red Bull and you mentioned Monaco just do you think they've found enough over one lap for Charles to make the difference in qualifying at Monaco I don't think there's enough evidence yet to to confirm that but then if you'd asked me right at the start of the season when is lewis's or charles best chance of winning a race i would have said monaco just because i think the confidence that they had in that early phase of the season was quite strong in the kind obviously you need confidence in monaco but i'm not sure i've seen enough yet to confirm that yet
28:51James Hinchcliffe:what did you make of charles spin at the end frustration i think more than anything um late, late in entire life, slightly offline. And it's, I don't want to say it's easy to do, but it's easier than you probably think to do. You know, just having that battle, trying to hang on to that final podium spot, right. And yeah, I think it was just a really small error in judgment, but it led to, you know, pretty big consequences, tapping the wall, damaging the left front, and then falling down the order. And that's, I think, more than anything, you had, you know, the damage to Lewis's car early on in the race from, I think it was contact with colopinto um because we actually we did get we caught fred on on f1 tv after the after the race and said that just essentially ended lewis's race from a performance standpoint just did so much damage to the floor and the barge boards um and then yeah just a missed opportunity with charles so tough tough weekend for them some promise certainly but tough result you say missed opportunity how much do you think missed missed from a p3 point of view or when you think of the electric amazing start he made and was you know p1 at the exit of turn one missed opportunity in that that was a race they should have could have would have won i just don't think they had the same you know performance level of either mclaren or mercedes so yeah i actually i bet on on char leading out of turn one i'm gonna take i'm gonna take those small wins um it's not often our predictions are right we we struggle with that but um but no i i don't i think they i think they were doing the best.
30:19James Hinchcliffe:I think they were actually maximizing their package, right? I think they were maximizing what they had on the day. Whether they maximize the potential of the car over the weekend, it's tough to know, because you bring up a great point, man, this is like the number one rule of engineering is make one change at a time. So you can isolate what's actually better and worse. They don't have that freedom with with no testing in a single practice session, you're bolting on 1112 different new components. And it really makes the job for the engineers difficult, It really makes the job for the drivers difficult to isolate what's helping, what's hurting, what's changing, this, that, or the other.
30:53James Hinchcliffe:And all of these things, they work together. Nothing's working in isolation on a Formula One car. So it's massively challenging to bring such a large list of upgrades. So whether or not they maximize the potential of the car over the weekend, maybe, maybe not. I think they were doing a great job of maximizing the car they had for the race until the spin at the end. Hench, it's such an interesting point. I don't know whether McLaren only bought half of their upgrade here from a production workflow point of view, or did they bring only half because they wanted to see what was working before they then bring the other half in Montreal.
31:27Maybe a different philosophy there.
31:28James Hinchcliffe:It's one of those sneaky things that you could see masterminded by an Andrea Stella. He's one of those guys that would be like, yeah, we could have had all this done. We could delay these few parts, actually give ourselves another couple days to develop them. And every engineer will tell you every extra day that you can develop it before you create it, before you produce it, could find a little bit more performance. And then the knock-on effect is, yeah, we can do a little bit better job of isolating what's really performing well. It's interesting, isn't it? Look, what about Lewis Hamilton? I felt this was the weekend, his quietest weekend.
32:00You know, he was so bullish after the opening three races. You know, even Suzuka, which didn't go quite so well, but so bullish. Yet here, okay, I know he had the damage, but still, least happy race for Lewis Hamilton. Why?
32:14Lawrence Barretto:yeah i think at the start of the japanese grand prix weekend he said he kind of felt like he had his mojo back and then obviously that race weekend didn't quite pan out and then i feel like it's carried through into this race and that the deficit clearly to show was there essentially throughout the whole weekend which won't be easy to take i think he hasn't clearly felt comfortable with the car at any point this weekend and we've seen a trend with lewis at ferrari that when he doesn't start off the weekend strongly he finds it quite hard to catch back up he said actually yesterday that they've moved to a place where it was close to what charl had at the beginning and he wished he'd done that um early doors so i guess that's a little bit of an admission that they just had a bit of a misstep at the start of the weekend and on a sprint weekend it's really hard not just lewis it's hard for any driver really to catch those kind of missteps up you know over the course of the weekend i still think it's way too early to to worry about lewis i still feel like the lewis who's happy with this year's ferrari still exists but i think again it's race four where it hasn't quite gone to plan for him and I think he would have hoped that he would have made a bit more progress being a bit more competitive relative to Charles because so far we've talked about you know teammate versus teammate you know this is probably what his greatest irritation is is that he hasn't been able to compete to push Charles effectively consistently throughout the race weekend you know how we were saying Montreal is a key weekend for George Russell he just needs to come home ahead of Kimi I feel Montreal for Lewis is a big one right he's owned that place for the well for his entire career actually um you know if if charles ahead again there then that's going to be a source of frustration for him yeah i think that's probably
33:51James Hinchcliffe:not a not a terrible assessment i mean if you even look to last year through china he was doing not bad right and it kind of started going south here to be honest um this wasn't a great race for him last year either and um i do believe that the way these cars are being lighter and and a little more nimble even with less downforce that's still just fundamentally i think suits it's more towards his style than than the ground effects cars were but yeah is he comfortable enough to be challenging somebody as quick as leclerc weekend and week out you know on a consistent basis i i'm with um with florence i don't think we know yet but the next couple races will be interesting because he strong start last year too, even with all the, everything that was new.
34:33James Hinchcliffe:It's going to be telling, I think, the next few rounds. This episode is sponsored by Shopify. Starting something new always comes with a few question marks, doesn't it? Whether it's launching a business or beginning a new project, there's always that moment where you think, what if this doesn't work? But all you really need is the right tools to help you get started. And that tool is Shopify. Shopify gives you everything you need to get going in one place, from building your online store with ready-made templates to Shopify's built-in AI tools that help you write product descriptions, page headlines, and even enhance your images.
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35:55a couple more stories before we go guys can we start with red bull we've we've touched on them already you know think max verstappen couldn't even get into q3 last time out at suzuka i know this is a very uh different racetrack but qualifies p2 for the grand prix what a turn In fact, the biggest turnaround of all the teams this weekend. Were we surprised? Probably not because they're Red Bull.
36:22Lawrence Barretto:Yeah, I don't think I was surprised, but I think I was impressed at the level of step that they were able to make around here. I know they tested at filming day, the new upgrade package, and almost immediately from the first lap that Max got in it, he realised, I'm not a passenger anymore. I'm back in control of this car. So he would have come here with a lot of confidence, probably would have allowed him to maybe be a bit more aggressive in the way that he started the weekend. And I think it's interesting that as he's made the progress of the weekend, his teammate Isaac Hadjar, who's had a really strong season, kind of went the other way for various reasons that many of them were within his control because they were mechanical.
37:00Lawrence Barretto:But I think that the way that Max has been able to have the confidence in the car again and be much happier in the way that he's talking about things just shows the step that they made. And let's not forget, they spent too much money last year keeping a bit of the championship to fight until the last race, knowing that would have an impact on this year. We are only in race four, obviously would have been race six without the two races not happening. And they've still been able to bring this massive package. So they've started this year with an underdeveloped car that wasn't quite what they wanted, didn't really do what they wanted.
37:32Lawrence Barretto:and they've already brought a significant package to the car that has not only put Max out of the midfield of Red Bull out of the midfield but actually it's hauled him specifically back into the fight for pole position again and for race wins and I think Max probably only just needs that little feeling of it's possible like anything is possible for him to go and make it impossible for anyone else to do that so I think it's a really encouraging step that they've made here but I don't think we should be surprised because Red Bull have done this all the time last time there was a big reg change Ferrari started off the year well and Red Bull ended it and won that year
38:08James Hinchcliffe:Yeah, it's a great point it's a team that really knows how to develop a race car the point for me that I thought was really interesting that Max touched on was a lot of performance was added to the car that's what the upgrades are traditionally for but there was also a change to the steering system there was something in that car he said the first lap he did at Barcelona in the steering that was giving him the wrong feeling. And if a driver's not connected to the car, it's not giving you the feedback that you need. You're never going to be able to get the best out of yourself. And he said one of the big changes was less about pure performance and more about giving him that feel that he needs through the front end, through the steering, and then he can go attack the performance that they've added to the car.
38:49James Hinchcliffe:And if you notice, by far the biggest gap he's had to Hajar all weekend long. There was not one competitive session where it really seemed like they were on the same page. You kind of notice that, in fact, throughout most of the top teams. Norris and Piaget were probably the closest, but Charlotte Lewis a bit bigger than what we've seen, Antonelli over Russell a bit bigger than we've seen, and then Verstappen over Hadjar was pretty monumental, pretty seismic in terms of the gap. And Hadjar was saying, don't know why. I didn't forget how to drive. I'm not sure where this is coming from. Again, it's one race.
39:21James Hinchcliffe:There's no reason to panic if you're on his side of the garage. but it is interesting that once you get max comfortable in the car he is going to find every ounce of performance out of it and do you think the changes to the steering were made specifically to his car or do you think they had to be made to both cars i'm sure it was an option it's it's like that the the front suspension change that mclaren had two years ago right lando wanted it there was something in the front end that he didn't like they made an adjustment oscar tried it he's like i don't prefer it i went back to the old one so they were on different specs but it was a driver preference thing so i'm sure that hadjar has been offered whatever it was to change i don't know again if it was a performance thing or if he had the same complaints that max did about feel um but but it doesn't matter right he's at the end of the day it's max is going out and getting the job done with the car so um yeah hadjar's just got to figure out what it is that max is able to do what did you make of the spin on lap one oh it's like classic max isn't it every
40:16Lawrence Barretto:he did that in Hungary I remember a few years ago and he caught it and he just seems to he seems to be able to control something or catch something on the edge of disaster and just pull it back and I'm not sure there's anyone else in the field who could probably do that kind of thing and he didn't even lose that many places did he and was still able to make up so much progress even on those tyres which wouldn't would have been pretty worse for wear now guys Franco Colapinto I think Like, a lesson we've learned this weekend is that quick handshake, quick hug from Lionel Messi, and you can achieve anything, right?
40:52I mean, the guy's been on fire all weekend. And a show run in front of 600 ,000 people last weekend as well. He's a very emotional driver who just is loving the love, I feel, right now and doing a great job on track.
41:06Lawrence Barretto:I think he's going to have to do a show run before every Grand Prix now going forward. Is that part of the cost cap? or how's that one?
41:12James Hinchcliffe:That's going to be real expensive for Alpine. No more developments, but Bucallabento is going to do 18 more show runs.
41:19Lawrence Barretto:I think the interesting thing with Franco for me is that there have been flashes across the whole time he's been at Alpine of actually maybe there is some pace there. He just hasn't been able to pull it together. Whereas obviously this weekend, he's had the edge over Pierre and Pierre was saying that there's something wrong with the car, that he doesn't feel quite comfortable in. But Franco has had the edge over him the whole weekend and he's converted so he's had a strong quality and he's converted it in the Grand Prix and continued that advantage over Pierre so I think fair play to him he really needed that because I think Pierre's had an outstanding start to the season and I think it was important for Franco if he's got any hopes of staying at the team beyond the end of this year starting to make a bit of an inroad into that gap to him and Pierre and that he's not just a driver who's there because he's got Argentinian back in or he's got this huge following back in Argentina that are supporting him so I think it was it was a massive weekend for him and now he's just got to carry it forward right and what really helps him is that Alpine are the fifth fastest team at the minute I remember in pre-season I'm pretty sure we all put Alpine around the best of the rest and then we went to Australia and they were basically nowhere and they were struggling with understeering the high speed corners but they've really really upped their game they've learned quickly it's really paying them back that they switched all of their development money onto this year's car really early doors last uh last year into this year and i think that both if both pierre and frank are able to get the most out of it i think alpine on a really strong spot now to be kind of p5 in the
42:52James Hinchcliffe:constructors come the end of the year it's almost the same story of of haas from last year where they had pivoted early the year before got to australia car was abysmal i think they were locked out the last row made a couple changes points in china you know i get it can turn that quickly uh but no they've done a remarkable job and when you look at how quick pierre's been consistently over the start of the season for franco to have a weekend where really every session on track he was he was the car to beat that's it's a huge jump for him we just need to see him doing it consistently and not once every five races he needs to be kind of pushing pierre and and having them go a little more tete-a-tete a little more often i know you said lawrence there were you know there were moments of encouragement at alpine but i feel this weekend is the first time we've seen Franco as he was at Williams you remember he did there was some giant killing performances in that second half of 24 and he this is the closest I feel we've seen of him getting
43:45Lawrence Barretto:back to that level oh you're right like it's miles better than anything he's done as a weekend hole and since he's come back to Alpine I think he really had to fight to to keep his seat for this year and if I'm honest in the early phase of this year I was a bit worried for him because the gap to Pierre was quite significant even though I think talking to him separately he felt like he was doing a good job it just wasn't coming to fruition so I think that he's been able to pull it together for this race you're right it's significant but even during his time at Williams it was flashes wasn't it he had that strong weekend in Baku there was one slightly later on in the year maybe it was Austin but it wasn't consistent through that period so I think to Hinch's point that's what he's got to do now consistently and he's fortunate in that the car is putting him in a position where he should be able to fight for points regularly if he maxes it.
44:34Lawrence Barretto:Whereas obviously last year, the car was nowhere. So even if he had a good weekend, it was much harder to show if he'd had a good weekend. Final discussion point. Who had double points finished for Williams on their bingo card? I mean, anyone who said they did are lying. I'm pretty sure Williams definitely didn't think that they were going to do it, right? Yeah, outstanding from them, really. I think they've got a lot of low hanging fruit in that they just need to shave weight off because the car was, you know, almost 20 kilos overweight coming into this season for the various reasons we've talked about the production delays.
45:08Lawrence Barretto:So I think for them to get both cars in was strong. I think they showed that last year operationally they were very strong. So actually in a race which offered opportunity like this one did, they were there to capitalize on it again. I think Carlos and Alex clearly feel much more comfortable with the machine that they've got. There's the irritation that they were expecting to not just be P5, but taking the fight to the teams in front. And they're obviously not doing that. So this is actually still small fry for them in terms of what their preseason expectations were. But I think it will probably be a massive relief to everyone within that team at the factory and track side that they have brought this upgrade package here.
45:46Lawrence Barretto:And it has delivered the kind of step that they had done. They have got more coming in Canada. They've also got more coming in Monaco as well. I think kind of every race James Vowles implied the other day, didn't he? Yeah. And I think that just means that they're probably, what, three or four months behind everyone else. So they're just slightly offset. So it might be that they will be coming back in to this fight for best of the rest. And then maybe they'll be able to start making a gap in. But it was important for them to have done that because the production delays really hurt them. It was it was embarrassing for them.
46:17Lawrence Barretto:And you could tell that Carlos and Alex were annoyed with the car that they had. and rightly so the team were annoyed you know with the way it's turned out so i think for them to bounce back again only in race four with this kind of upgrade package in a very compensative midfield as well we just talked about alpine making a step passive look strong for them to have this weekend and get both cars in it's quite difficult isn't it these days to get and for a midfield team to get two cars in so they're taking advantage of it really well
46:42James Hinchcliffe:they have they have certainly was some attrition in this race in front of them uh from cars that they're racing against hulkenberg lawson gasly obviously so i i think i think for them when you look at their performance like the improvement from a pure performance standpoint getting both cars into q2 that's that's the win that's the that's the on paper that's the hard work back at the factory that's doing a good job upgrading the car getting both cars into the points in the race that is capitalizing on an opportunity executing well in the race drivers making smart decisions and all the rest of it but it's not like they're leaving here being like we're that we're now the fifth fastest team we're you know we're ninth and tenth on merit um you're going to take the points you're gonna you have to capitalize on those opportunities when they present themselves when you're racing in the midfield but i think they'll look back at what their pure pace was it is a step forward it's that little bit of progress they're going to need those little upgrades every single week to kind of keep chipping away and if we see a late season charge as lawrence was was suggesting the five points that they've grabbed in these opening four races
47:41Lawrence Barretto:could be crucial exactly that and i think that's probably why they will be most satisfied that on a weekend where like Hinch said there was so much opportunity they've nailed it with both cars as well on a weekend where you know racing balls were off the pace has to have them delivered even though they knew the circuit wasn't going to be strong Albon couldn't get both cars into the top 10 so I think they'll take a lot of confidence from that and the knowledge that more bits are coming and there's a lot of more cheap weights a cheap lap time that they can shave off the car so I think for them there's a lot of optimism I think within the team going forward but um yeah I still think they were probably what eighth ninth best team probably on pure performance so there's still a long way to go but they weren't even racing in the midfield really at the start of the year so that is a step forward isn't it all right well guys thank you both uh very much for your time driver of the day gotta give it to kimmy don't you i mean um only lost two places at the start avoided a
48:36James Hinchcliffe:turn two spin by max kept his head about him when he lost the lead on the racetrack did the outlap he needed got kept the gap close to the outlap he needed in the pit cycle to get ahead of lando and then and then put up with some pressure under some some difficult circumstances so yeah i think it's
48:50Lawrence Barretto:got to be him i didn't want to agree because in case that we all end up saying kimi because it's quite difficult but i think at one point i thought charl was having a good race and then obviously the spins pulled him out of that and then max the way that he fought back after that spin i thought was it was really strong but i think to hinch's point i think the quality of the drive that kim he delivered here under pressure from the reigning world champion dealing with those potential technical issues that he had and knowing that actually a big result to george was important you know trying to gap him as much as he could on a track where he had an advantage and still making sure that he came out on top was was really impressive so yeah yeah i'm gonna give it to him it's gonna be kimmy kimmy kimmy from all three of us because it was a huge moment for him yes
49:38James Hinchcliffe:honorable mention to to max for sure but 51 laps on the hard tire was yeah it was decent getting getting you know to watch him you know side his way through the field is just so much fun it was just kind of like old school max you know so yeah honorable mention there but for sure i think kimmy takes it now we finish the show with the very sad news we received here in miami that former f1 driver and paralympian alex zanardi has passed away at the age of 59 alex race for Jordan Minardi, Lotus and Williams in the 90s and he also won two IndyCar titles. In 2001 he suffered a major crash at an IndyCar race at the Lausitz ring in Germany.
50:20He had to have both legs amputated and that didn't stop him achieving more sporting greatness. He went on to win four gold medals and two silvers for Italy in hand cycling at the Paralympic Games. He was an inspiration. I just love to get memories and thoughts from each of you about the great Alex Zanardi.
50:41James Hinchcliffe:I mean, for me, you know, Alex's IndyCar career was one that was well-timed for me as a young kid, go-karting and aspiring to be an IndyCar driver one day because his style was so flamboyant on the racetrack. He was spectacular to watch. And that sort of late 90s era, you know, driving for chip ganassi racing and indy car where he got those two titles some of the performances that he put on there were i mean spellbinding races we still talk about and still reference on broadcast today and on top of that outside of the car he was just this energetic charismatic uh just loving life kind of character and what was so impressive was after you know what happened to him in germany he didn't lose any of that the the zest for life was there the passion for competition was obviously still there and watching what he overcame to not only get back into a race car and be successful back in touring cars to then of course you know pivot to his career as a as a paralympian was i mean it's it's the stuff a legend you know it's it's if you haven't read his book i highly recommend it because it's a hell of a read um because he was a hell of a guy you know incredible driver, incredible athlete and competitor, but again, just an incredible, gracious, humble, just beautiful human being.
52:04James Hinchcliffe:And yeah, my heart hurts for his family because we lost a good one.
52:08Lawrence Barretto:And that second chapter is kind of when I got to know him a little bit more because early in my career, I was covering wild touring cars. And then I covered the Paralympics, obviously. And when he went on to achieve those incredible things, six Olympic medals, four of them gold for me he was just an incredible human I just think that every time you talk to him he was just happy to chat to you like he was he wanted to help you wanted to offer you advice he was just living his best life and you had no idea really the the trauma that he had gone through and I think that there are so few people I probably will ever meet that will ever be able to match that kind of strength, bravery and charisma and passion for life.
52:56Lawrence Barretto:So, yeah, I'm sad I never got to see him race in Formula One and Indy, but very fortunate to have seen what he was able to achieve.
53:05James Hinchcliffe:How about you, TC? Any good Zanardi stories from his years? I remember introducing him to my wife, Bella, and I said, Alex, this is my wife, Bella. I know she's Bella. What's her name? like i said charismatic charismatic charming guy and it was wasn't it um sort of fun to see brian herter here because i just think of the move at the corkscrew uh was it 1996 when alex sort of wrestled his way past brian and to see brian here supporting colton in formula 2 you know the weekend that alex passes away but i found him such an inspirational figure and it was a great sadness to me that I never saw him race in person in IndyCar I remember vividly him in in the Williams in 99 which just never quite worked out because on paper it should have done the bond between him and Patrick Hedge should have worked because Alex was so passionate about the technical side of the sport but it was early days with the groove tires that then the narrow track cars and it just didn't work um so I'm sad that that second phase of Formula One didn't work out for him but just an inspirational man and much loved by everyone uh he ever met and it was a huge privilege for me uh to sit down and do a beyond the grid podcast with him back in 2020 um just to be in his company and to hear him talk about such a remarkable life uh was was was wonderful and a link to that episode is in the description for this podcast or you can scroll back down the beyond the grid feed as well if you want to have a listen back but Alex Zanardi what a legend and the thoughts of everyone in Formula One are with Alex's family and friends right now thanks very much to Hinch and Lawrence I'll be back next Monday so speak to you then F1 Nation is produced by Formula One and Audioboom Studios
From the publisher
Tom Clarkson is joined by F1 correspondent Lawrence Barretto and F1TV expert James Hinchcliffe to reflect on an action-packed Miami Grand Prix weekend.
Kimi Antonelli made it three race wins in a row to extend his championship lead to 20 points. Was this the toughest win of Kimi’s career and what does that tell us about him?
On the other side of the Mercedes garage, how will George Russell be feeling about the title fight after losing out to his teammate again? And what do the guys make of George’s comments about the Miami track not suiting him?
Also on the agenda: why Lando Norris missed out on victory, Charles Leclerc’s final lap spin that cost him a podium, Red Bull’s turnaround and a very special day for Franco Colapinto.
Plus, the guys pay tribute to former F1 driver and Paralympian Alex Zanardi, who has passed away at the age of 59.
And if you’d like to hear Alex Zanardi’s incredible life story, listen to him in conversation with Tom Clarkson on F1 Beyond The Grid back in 2020.
