In short
Mid-season review of F1—whether new rules have ruined the sport, plus the biggest shock, biggest letdown, and cruelest moment.
Guests
David Coulthard and Jolie (co-host). No other guests appear in this episode.
Key claims
- Biggest shock: Aston Martin’s collapse—only one point all season (Fernando Alonso scored it in Monaco via penalties), despite major investment and Adrian Newey/Honda partnership.
- Biggest shock (positive): Kimi Antonelli’s unexpectedly mature, near-flawless performance; Mercedes’ aggressive tyre approach is working for him.
- Biggest letdown: Williams’ new-regs disappointment—car arrived late/heavy; they’re 8th in constructors with 11 points after the Hungarian GP.
- Cruelest moment: Monaco pit-lane measurement/penalties that robbed Pierre Gasly (and others) of a podium; George Russell also affected.
Notable examples
Alonso’s Monaco point; George Russell’s anti-stall at Hungary; Williams’ late supplier data; FIA pit-lane length error.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOAston Martin's Disastrous Season
0:45 to 3:07
Discussion on Aston Martin's unexpected poor performance in the season.
“Now, I'm really excited about this one, Jolie, because we asked our followers, our fans, our subscribers to tell us what they thought of the season so far.”
Future Predictions for Aston Martin
3:07 to 4:50
Jolie and David discuss potential improvements for Aston Martin in future seasons.
“And that for me is without a doubt the biggest shock in Formula One.”
Kimi Antonelli's Rise
4:50 to 12:30
Hosts celebrate Kimi Antonelli's impressive performance this season.
“And, you know, at the beginning of the season, he said his immediate aim and Aston Martin's immediate aim is simply to become respectable.”
Williams: The Biggest Letdown
12:30 to 14:00
Discussion on Williams F1 team and their disappointing results this season.
“Some were Charles Crash in Monaco, Aston Martin as a whole, Williams, George Russell, Oscars Crash at the Australian Grand Prix formation, that, oh, God, yeah, I forgot about that.”
Williams' Struggles in F1
14:00 to 15:30
Discussing Williams' disappointing performance in the Constructors' Championship.
“but, you know, signs on board, an outstanding driver, in my opinion.”
Drivers' Challenges and Potential
15:30 to 17:08
Exploring the challenges faced by Williams drivers and their potential for future success.
The Impact of New Regulations
17:08 to 19:39
Analyzing the effects of new F1 regulations and their reception in the paddock.
“then he will be able to show his baby carting goat skills.”
Racing Dynamics and Comebacks
19:39 to 20:35
Discussing the dynamic racing season and the potential for comebacks despite rocky starts.
“well, we are a small group of people and the Formula One teams have hundreds of people.”
Cruel Moments in the Season
20:35 to 22:21
Reflecting on the cruelest moments of the F1 season, particularly for George Russell.
“And to give the regs some credibility, we've still had good racing.”
Pit Lane Controversies
22:21 to 28:00
Examining the controversies surrounding pit lane penalties and their impact on drivers.
“Hungary anti-stall drops him to the back despite, you know, qualifying fairly well.”
Show all 14 chapters
Summer Break Shenanigans
28:00 to 29:47
Hosts discuss summer break traditions and share personal anecdotes.
Understanding F1's Summer Shutdown
29:47 to 31:15
Explains the summer break rules and their impact on F1 teams.
“Did you actually take a break when it was summer break?”
Insider Insights on F1 News
31:15 to 35:04
Discussion about potential announcements during the summer break.
“So if Adrian has an idea, if he's not off on his boat or he's not off in South Africa, then he will be sketching that idea.”
Upcoming Guests and Show Updates
35:04 to 36:26
Preview of the next episode featuring Gunther Steiner.
“Yeah, but he's going to be on our episode on Monday so don't worry, we will still be coming out with our pods but for now, if you're not following us on socials, make sure to do so.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:29This is a global production. Oh, he just head-butted me. What the f***? Why would you do that?
0:44Hey, it's David. It's Jolie. And welcome to Up to Speed. Now, I'm really excited about this one, Jolie, because we asked our followers, our fans, our subscribers to tell us what they thought of the season so far. So this is their mid-season review. And right at the very top, we are going to deal with the biggest shock moment. And it's not the fact that I've managed to be on time for this early morning recording. It is, in your opinion, the biggest shock moment, let's get straight into it, was? Yeah, well, I mean, firstly, thank you guys so much for sending everything in. And if you haven't and you thought, oh, I missed out on this one, it's up to speed show.
1:26at up to speech show so you can let us know and dc i just want to start by saying i'm so impressed you knew that it was followers and subscribers yeah just call them all fans so this is a really early morning win but yeah as dc said you guys sent in what you wanted us to discuss biggest shock moment was first and we're going to battle it out now my biggest shock moment is aston martin now let me prerequisite here because anyone that's had me say aston martin and shock moment is probably going to be like what do you mean we know they're terrible and yes since pretty much testing we've known that they are going to have a shocking season but if you think back to January if I would have told you that Aston Martin would be fighting Cadillac at the back no one would have believed me they had absolutely everything coming into 2026 Adrian Newey a two-time world champion a brand new Honda Work partnership, a state-of-the-art wind tunnel, Laurence Stroll's huge investment of money that just absolutely never stops.
2:30Lance Stroll, something in my throat. Is a cough linked to seeing Lance Stroll? Do you know what? Moral support? He's there. But they're not just slow. They have scored one point this entire season as we come up to the break. And that is actually, that comes in Monaco after all of the penalties ahead rather than from outright pace. So to say they've had a bad season would be unfair. To say they've had a disastrous season would probably still be unfair. It's been one to forget, forget, forget, forget, forget, forget. And that for me is without a doubt the biggest shock in Formula One. Okay. Well, look, I think...
3:15Come on, bring it. Yeah, yeah. Look, it's very difficult to argue against that. I think even Aston themselves would go, you know, we want this season to be erased from the record books. And that one point you talk about came courtesy of Fernando Alonso, of course, in Monaco in a race where there was more penalties, I think, than there were drivers. So that was a bit of a shocker there, wasn't it? All of the FIA not quite getting the length of the pit lane correct, you know, nobody really worked out. We're basing this on cars driving down this length. And what do drivers do? they take the shortest route possible so that was a bit of a shocker but yeah look Aston really really bad we have to say really really bad when you consider I think the summary was about a second coming from the engine couple of seconds coming from the car but mark my words Jolie as true as we are not sitting in the same room they will be the biggest improving team over the next two years and I will predict they will win Grand Prix's in the next two years?
4:19Well, you've not given me much of a fight. Maybe I've picked one that is literally unfightable. And, you know, guys listening, please do let us know what you think if you agree that this is, without a doubt, the biggest shock for the season. Or if you think there's other things, because DC's going to come with his argument soon. But I think just diving more into Aston Martin as I wear my green Aston hat proudly, maybe I'll change hats as we go on to each section. I think you should. I think I should as well. But, you know, look, even Newey came out and I quote said, it's been a complete nightmare.
4:56And, you know, at the beginning of the season, he said his immediate aim and Aston Martin's immediate aim is simply to become respectable. And that's so powerful coming from someone like him. I mean, that's not coming from the media. That's not, you know, being twisted and twirled. this is coming from arguably the greatest designer in Formula One history you know if I were to say the expression goat to you you're not too old for that no no I get it I get it look I get you're preaching to the converted and when it comes to selling Adrian and one of the things that I've having worked with Adrian since I was 21 years old at Williams as a test driver all the way through that period into McLaren where he joined McLaren and then funnily enough when I was at Red Bull he joined Red Bull.
5:40So he's awesome. There's no question. He's a racer. And what he what he doesn't do is corporate PR. What you see is what you get. And that's actually why he's the one person that can handle that. And if that had been any other team in any other designer or technical director or whatever official title team principal, then he probably would have been gone. But because it's Adrian, you know he's going to get it right. And he had to learn. He had to learn the facilities. He went in there last April. So he's been there just over a year. And there's a lot of good people there. Born out of the Jordan Grand Prix Formula One team.
6:19If our late great friend Eddie Jordan was still here, he'd be going, I made him. But look, I actually think a bigger surprise rather and shock was your driver crush, Kimi Antonelli. I just didn't see that level of performance coming. But I've got to admit, yes, Jolie, you saw it coming. Can we clip this? This is the moment. I was right over you, Will and Naomi. I know. You were at the beginning, before we even ended the season, going, yeah, Kimi Antonelli. Yeah, watch out for him. And I'm like, yeah, well, look, he had a good first season. You know, he'd pole position in Miami. and it was good, but there was nothing there to sort of tell us he was going to be basically, what, has he been off a podium this year when the car's finished?
7:07For once, I'm actually not giving him one thing because he came 15th in Silverstone, but it was after a mechanical failure. But look, I think if you would have said to him at the beginning of the season, this is what's going to happen, he would 100 % bite your arm off and so would the whole of Mercedes. When are you two becoming, like going, coming, what do you call it, official? I know you've been sort of keeping it on the QT, but is it an official announcement at a certain point? I very much hope it will be on up to speed. Well, I am officially probably his biggest number one fan. I'm like camping outside his hotel rooms, wherever he's staying, hoping I can get a glimpse of him.
7:46I don't know how many times I can say it on an episode. I'm so thrilled for an individual. And even when, you know, we were at the Budapest Grand Prix DC and we would be speaking to people in and around the palette and talking about Kimmy and DC would like to throw in to anyone that would listen that I am obsessed with Kimmy Antonelli. And everyone that speaks of him speaks so highly. They echo. It's so nice to see him doing so well. And sometimes I like to come from the side that I think, look, everyone wants a great winner and everyone, you need characters like a Max we've spoken about. You need a character like a Christian Horner.
8:22in all of these things you need different characters it's quite rare you just see the nice guy when in any in a film in a TV series and now in a sport in real life and what would the equivalent be Jolie what would the how like he is so grounded and so let's say approachable as is his family what other sports would we say he he would you know I don't know football the way you do is it a footballer who's awesome and approachable Oh my God, you've lost for words. I don't think this moment's ever happened. Honestly. That should be a meme. You going...
9:02I don't... I mean, look, there are a load of lovely footballers out there. Name one. Yeah, go on, give me something. But at his level, performing at his age, I mean, look, you've got Lamin-Yemal, who is 19, who's just won the World Cup. He's won the Euros. You know, everyone's saying he's going to win the Ballon d 'Or. But when you think of Luminium Mal, you wouldn't think really kind, lovely human. I mean, he's caught doing all things he probably shouldn't be doing, throwing parties he shouldn't be seen at. No. I've not seen any of that of Kimmy. Yeah, he's awesome. He's just the all-round early goat.
9:41I'm calling it here, guys. The early goat. I'm throwing goat out quite lightly. Yeah. I like that, though. That's a new term, the early goat. The early goat. So what is it? A kid? Is an early go a kid? Yeah, I think early go is probably a great way to describe him. And we've spoken enough of him off of track, but on track, his driving style. I'm going to use a word that you always say, it's so mature. And you weren't sure at the beginning of the season on a rollback of the tapes, VAR. You're like, oh, you know, he's going to get overexcited. He's going to make mistakes on track. And I'm not saying he's perfect, and I'm sure this will happen, but his style is mature.
10:24He takes risks. I see it sometimes as elements of Max in him. He's smoother, though, in many ways, isn't he? His driving style, that Mercedes have referred to as being a bit more aggressive when we were in the early stages of the season, trying to understand what's going on with George. and before Mercedes had said, oh yes, we seem to have this software anomaly in his car, they were going, well, Kimi's more aggressively working the tyres and it's working for him. But actually, I'm not seeing that body language from the car. I'm not, of course, saying that that's not what they see in the data. But yeah, he has been, as far as I can see, pretty flawless this year.
11:08so I'm not going to argue with him being the early goad and lovely to see that journey as well. When you talked about your young footballer Amal, whatever he said his name was going out and doing the parties and stuff, I actually think having spoken to Kimi's dad in Spa and understanding more that they live in San Marino which is its own principality 30 ,000 people so the same size as Monaco you know they have their own sort of tax laws and various other things so I think he will continue to stay let's say in his hometown and that is not something you see very often with Formula One drivers many of them of course head to Monaco as soon as they've they've signed a contract because of the security because of the financial benefits and all of that sort of good stuff so to be in it to be in yeah exactly I went there 1995 what year were you born again?
12:072001 what day? 20th of August we're really getting somewhere yeah well no I think look we both agree and guys let us know what you think as well whether you agree that Kimi has been the biggest shock in a nice way I think I kind of brought in the negative of of Aston Martin but the biggest positive shock that I think everyone is happy to see is Kimi Antonelli but that takes us on to our next topic, biggest letdown. Now, you guys sent in your suggestions. Some were Charles Crash in Monaco, Aston Martin as a whole, Williams, George Russell, Oscars Crash at the Australian Grand Prix formation, that, oh, God, yeah, I forgot about that.
12:47That was terrible. The new regs, Alonso, and no race wins yet for Max. So, so much to discuss. Now, I'm happy to go first on this one and go with Williams. I was so excited I've always been a little secret Williams fan and I think that kind of got exaggerated a little bit when you know I watched Drive to Survive you watched the family dynamic Claire Williams I really enjoyed listening to her, watching her obviously talk her relationship with her dad and I've always been secretly rooting for them and I've said it on the podcast before I like James Valls. I know some people find him a little LinkedIn-y or too social media focused, focused on all of the wrong things rather than being a team principal.
13:39But I find him quite approachable. And just to recap, I mean, last year they were fifth in the Constructors' Championship. They had 137 points. They were comfortably the best of the midfield, which is where they were happy to be. and they were widely praised. I mean, James Vowles was widely praised. They obviously had, you know, they've had Albon for a while, but, you know, signs on board, an outstanding driver, in my opinion. In 2026, after the Hungarian Grand Prix, they're on 11 points and they're eighth in the Constructors' Championship behind Haas, Alpine and Vicarb. They're only just ahead of Aldi and Aston Martin.
14:17It's not a good place for them to be in. And I think the expectation, I know it was new regs. it was a reset for everyone but the expectation of where we thought we would see Williams versus reality for me the reason they're the biggest letdown is because that gap is enormous thoughts? Yeah I have a soft spot for Williams that's where I started my testing career that's where I started my Grand Prix career and I think you've nailed it, this family dynamic the whole journey of that team, they are affectionately supported within the paddock which would be the case for every other every other team um yeah look they they got it wrong the car i but i the mitigating circumstances as we learn more is that they got a number of um a lot of the information on what they were dealing with from their outside suppliers late which meant they had to then internally adjust what they were building and it came out late and heavy and late and heavy is not a good thing they missed the first test but the comeback will be sweet I think they've got two fantastic drivers and yet they may not have a lot of points but yeah for the Williams fans around the world it's been a disappointment and this year will be a bit of a write off in that respect they're not going to achieve fifth unless they unleash some amazing upgrade which given we're in summer break I'm not sure they might get one more upgrade this year and otherwise all focus will be on the year ahead it's yeah for Carlos Sainz particularly it must be frustrating because he sort of juggled the do I go to Audi do I go with Williams and I think on paper he made the right decision going with the British team and a team like like Williams but they'll be back and you know you've got to feel for Alex Albon because he's put in the hard yards and it hasn't given him the platform to show his skills and I'm going to share something with you which really was oh my there you go an education was i had dinner with um mark webber martin brundle joss verstappen uh raymond vermoulin who's uh max's manager but the the reason to mention that group of people was we were talking about drivers and karting and joss went alex albon in karting was the karting goat and i was like what really and he went that kid in karting was unbelievable and Jos is you know he's normally quite reserved with opinions other than when it comes to obviously Max and the focus there but it really struck me that okay well they were full on in karting and if Alex was a standout then it watch this space when William's given the car that he can play with then he will be able to show his baby carting goat skills.
17:14I'm going to argue with you. Look, when he gets given the car, okay, he hasn't been given the car. But you could argue that with a lot of drivers. You could say, you know, Gasly given the right car and et cetera, et cetera, so on and so forth. But when I look at both of them, I don't see Alex going anywhere. I don't see the demand to be totally transparent from other teams. and I don't even know if there's that opening for Carlos but do you think he's thinking or his team around him are thinking should we look to move on now? Do we stick it out? Carlos has been five different teams already in Formula 1.
17:55He's been with Toro Rosso, he's been with Renault, he's been with McLaren, he's been with Ferrari, he's now at Williams. That's a lot of teams. That is a lot of teams as he searches the opportunity. So, yeah, look, the two, let's say this, the two good drivers, the two good drivers. And you could argue that Formula One isn't about finding good, it's about finding exceptional. But, you know, you've got to give someone the opportunity to really find out whether they have the minerals, which is a Mark Webber expression, which I love very much. So what I think was a bit of a letdown, given that it was coming at us like a road roller.
18:33You know, there's that comedy scene in a movie where the road roller's coming and the person's going, oh, I'm going to get run down. And then kind of the next scene is him looking at his watch going, oh, I'm going to get run down. So the new regs came at us with drivers and engineers going, this is not going to be good. Pretty much silence from everyone else. we get to Melbourne and we go, ah, they have deceleration as they go towards certain corners. Now, the comeback from that disappointment, I've got to say, from Miami onwards has been good. And as we discussed on a previous pod, the fact that we've had five different winners in the last five Grand Prix's is testament to a varied season.
19:18But I feel that we saw this coming and nobody really was listening. and the fact they had to react to the reality in a sport that simulates the hell out of the future was a bit disappointing. And that has to fall really with FIA. I know they'll get sensitive and go, well, we are a small group of people and the Formula One teams have hundreds of people. But all of the evidence was there that having 50-50 on electrical and battery was going to be challenging. And what are we doing going forward? We're going to have more internal combustion next year and suggested even more the year after. So, you know, to see the obvious and then react is a bit disappointing.
20:06Yeah, I agree. I think you've nailed it on the head there. There was so much that they could do to prepare. Obviously, look, they're limited until the cars are actually out on track and they're seeing everyone else's reaction. But this has been such a talking point for so long now of what's going to happen, the new regs, the new season, the new era of Formula One. And it just fell a little bit flat, didn't it? Yeah, it did. But the comeback has been good. And we love a good comeback story. And to give the regs some credibility, we've still had good racing. we've still had a good you know exciting races some of you would say are artificial overtakes it's yo-yoing and we've still had wheel to wheel we've seen it you know with max and lewis we've seen a little bit of it with the with the mclarens and we've seen it with the mercedes so i think there has still been good racing you know despite the new regs but i agreed there was it It was definitely a bit like, it fell flat.
21:14But we're on the wrap. We're on the wrap. It was a bit, the new regs were a bit like the halftime show at the World Cup. It was a bit of a disappointment. And God, he say, go Wayne Rooney when he was asked, what do you think of the halftime show? And he went, I can't do a Liverpudlian accent. And he just went, it was crap. Which I loved. I think the BBC were like, oh, okay. We're just going to move on from that one. But no, without a doubt. And our third and final topic is cruelest moment. Now, some of you guys listening suggested George's season so far, which is actually what I also went with.
21:53Hadjar losing the podium in Monaco, Monaco penalty gate, Piastri's bad luck in Hungary and Hamilton's penalties. I think all of them have great talking points. And if Will Buxton was on this pod, he could probably talk about an hour on each of them. But I'm happy to start again, DC, lead the pack. the pack of two but the cruelest moment for me has to be George continuously it's uh whether you love him or whether you don't like him he started this season looking like a championship contender Australia he wins the Grand Prix he's the title favorite China technical problems Japan badly timed safety car Monaco controversial penalty Canada engine failure while leading Belgium him retires after contact slash power issues.
22:40Hungary anti-stall drops him to the back despite, you know, qualifying fairly well. So, I mean, his season has actually been a tough watch. And I think the latest example at the Hungary Grand Prix was almost symbolic. You know, his issue of the anti-stall, you know, at the start dropped him from the fight before the race had even begun. And I think that sums up his entire season. And you've got to fail for him. Yeah, look, if you remember back to Melbourne where he was going, I like this car, I like these regulations or whatever. Well, that didn't last very long, did it? It's been, yeah, it's been a shocker.
23:19He's had more bad luck than he's had races since Melbourne. He's a quality driver. It's painful to watch quality go through that kind of pain. But let's remind ourselves, Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion, a year ago in Budapest in an interview said that they should change the driver. He was at such a low ebb in his own performance that that was his statement. If anyone else said they should change the driver, you'd get shot down by the Hamilton fans. But that's where he was. And he's bounced back from that. So what I would say to George is... But that issue is very different. George has got his teammate who is, you know, look, Mercedes do have reliability issues and there's no hiding that.
24:01But everything that I just listed there, you know, technical failures, safety car timing, penalties, reliability issues. Race after race after race, the result has disappeared through no fault of his own. And I think there's the difference between the car last year wasn't there for Lewis. Arguably, you know, he just really was not there in any way. But George started so strong. And you're looking at Kimi, who's got the exact same car as him, not experiencing these issues I mean he has had his own I'm you know kind of paraphrasing a bit he's had his own issues but he's leading the championship by 50 points George isn't even second anymore yeah look it's been a shocker um and well it's you know how much bad luck can one person have um so on one side that bad luck is is something that the team have to work through on the other side, George is now not on a crest of a wave and he's having to go, it's kind of you know when you see a tennis player they've got the high ball and it's going to be an easy smash to win the point and then they miss it because they start overthinking it George is in that phase of the season where Kimi's just instinctively driving and having let's say other than Barcelona some pretty good reliability where George has been taking the punches and he's a little bit older and, you know, experience is a good thing.
25:28But the benefit of youth, as I've said before, is you don't know what you don't know. The downside of experience is you do know the challenges and the difficulty and momentum and all those sorts of good things. So, yeah, he's, as we know from Max Verstappen last year, it's still possible to come back from that points deficit. But it would be, listen, not even Sylvester Stallone would write a Rocky movie with that sort of comeback from all the punches that he's taken. So it's going to be a character-building year for George. Yeah, I agree. What would be, you know, your cruelest moment? Well, I think what was pretty cruel on all the drivers, and particularly Pierre Gasly, was what we saw in Monaco, the pit lane, you know, FIA, the way they measure the length of the pit lane.
26:19they have some white lines that find their way down the pit lane which is not entirely straight and of course the drivers take the shortest route into the pit box and the shortest route out of the pit lane and that was therefore a quicker time than what the FIA had counted I find that just from a sporting sense it took away from Gasly being on the podium I think George Russell was affected again there Hadjer was also caught out by that I think that's just unacceptable really isn't it You can't rerun the race Or you can't rerun the race taking out the pit lane No I mean five drivers were penalised from that And you know we spoke about it earlier It's where Aston scored their one point But through no fault I mean no credit really of their own And Gasly obviously being a French driver it was such a shame for him and you because you saw on social media after what alpine were posting and how happy he was but we all know that you know standing i say we all know as if i've stood on a podium in my life but you must have oh yeah to be honest i am go-karting queen uh but seeing the euphoria on drivers faces when they stand up there and a p3 to pierre gasly will feel like winning a race um you know it's not something that he gets to do often so I remember seeing it when he stood up there with Ocon that time you know that was obviously an an unbelievable moment for him and the team so it was such a shame that I I agree I think that's the cruelest moment but before we we move on and we're going to be talking all about what you get up to in the summer break what the hell is behind you oh what you talking the helmets or are you talking the other candle nope i'm talking the other dc what on earth it looks like madam two swords gone wrong yeah it is it's a bit of a shocker but i was given that at some appearance in uh central europe they gave me that and if i i wasn't sure at the time whether they were taking the mickey out of me or i really look like that okay one second you're going to see that i'm in my swim shorts because i'm in summer break mode there you go now some may argue that this is more interesting um to talk to than me but um what do you think do you actually think that i i look somewhat like that or would you say it's a good resemblance or not really um i would say that if i said this looked like you you would never talk to me again i'm gonna say that it's my foot oh he just head me tell him off why would you do that what do you remember oh his neck's quite small to be honest they got that wrong are my eyes really that close together that's the strangest thing now if you are just listening uh through to our podcast you definitely don't want to miss what you've just seen we're going to be clipping up popping on our socials at up to speed show and tell us what you think of the moments that we have been discussing and thank you so much again for sending in your suggestions we love doing these sort of episodes where we can bring you guys into it as much as we can so make sure to subscribe to us on youtube as you said you're in your swimming shorts what this summer break for i guess also for those that are newer to f1 i feel like maybe we should talk about it and discuss that essentially it's a shutdown period where there is no contact allowed when people i remember someone saying to me well f1 hasn't shut down they're still posting on instagram everything has to be scheduled uh you know they're not allowed to work from the engineers to the social team, to the marketing team, to the drivers.
30:25No one is working. Did you actually take a break when it was summer break? Yeah, I think the reality is the summer break came after I stopped, I'm pretty sure, in Formula One. We used to test from January to December. We used to race March until probably November. So when I started in Formula One, we were doing 15 races a year. When I finished, we were doing 20. so kind of similar to where we are now but yeah it's been brought in to basically stop the relentless pursuit of performance so everybody has to you can't log into your your work computers you can't do you know they'll still be servicing and maintenance happening at factories but all of the racing team all of the design team all of the main people that operate to put these two cars on track will will take two weeks off um so it's probably not a bad thing is it um that we because it's the same for everybody as well and it means that people will get a holiday that would probably never happen how strict are these rules like are there rules on who they can meet up with can you know they give their race engineer a call to talk about their holiday how do they enforce it what are the penalties like so many questions i have yeah look nobody's going to like adrian yui um has always partly worked from home and partly worked at the factory.
31:49So if Adrian has an idea, if he's not off on his boat or he's not off in South Africa, then he will be sketching that idea. You can't stop people being people, but what you can do is stop them transferring that knowledge and information into the team's databases. So yeah, how do you enforce it? You can't stop people being people. So if your best friend happens to be, you know, another mechanic in the team, then you can go on holiday together and you can talk about, oh, you know, pit stops, maybe we can have a different wheel gun. Of course you can do all that, you know. So it's not some sort of fantasy where everybody gets put into sort of, you know.
32:32Quarantine. Yeah, exactly. No phones, no internet. But it's a nice idea that we have a two-week break from the factory. I think I've got one burning question before we wrap and say goodbye for our little summer break, which, by the way, we'll still be bringing you episodes every single Monday. So don't worry about that. But do we think any big news is going to be announced at all over this break? Anything for Max? You've got the inside scoop. Come on. I know you flew home with him. Yeah, but look, I don't ask, quite frankly, because, you know, in that context, it wouldn't be my business. But I don't feel my gut is that there's enough performance.
33:18And also, he's been part of that journey right from the very beginning. So I don't think there is this sort of Lewis Hamilton shock, leaving Mercedes, going to Ferrari announcement coming from Max. I think that there's a willingness there to want to sort out the issues that they've been experiencing. And let's be honest, the last two races were two podium races. OK, maybe not the victories. And that's what they all exist to try and win. Shout out again to Lando for what was an amazing weekend of performance, a true world champions performance all weekend. before he heads up to... I thought it was fun that when they were asking the drivers in the press conference what they're all doing in the summer break, everyone kind of looked at Lando.
34:00He's been given the reputation of being the sort of the party boy of the drivers, which I suspect is a bit unfair. But anyway, that's where he's landed. So I don't see any big news coming out of Red Bull or Max during the summer break. Someone will have some news because they'll want to take advantage of, let's say, an eager audience during the two-week break. So there might be a major sponsor or something being announced. But other than that, I think we're left with the Baring Grand Prix in Malaysia as the one for us all to work out. Well, summer break for some, but not for the podcast, because on Monday we've got a very exciting guest.
34:43Here's some hints. He is a Drive to Survive superstar. he is a swearing extraordinaire Gunther Sainer oh there we it's almost like you were on the record you had me at swearing
35:01it's always great talking to Gunther because he is in permanent truth mode he says his truth and what I loved about that journey of discovery with him is one of his secret powers is he commits to his opinion but he has no problem being challenged and I think that's something that we'll really get to discover for anyone who doesn't know Gunter or only knows him from Drive to Survive that the reason he's probably one of the most experienced motorsports leaders through rallying, through Formula One, through NASCAR, through MotoGP is that he loves a challenge and he doesn't take no for an answer. Yeah, but he's going to be on our episode on Monday so don't worry, we will still be coming out with our pods but for now, if you're not following us on socials, make sure to do so.
35:48It's at uptospedshow. If you have any questions or any points, any feedback, anything you want to let us know, you've got a couple of weeks to think about it. DC, put that bloody thing down. The email is uptospedatglobal.com. Make sure to subscribe. And do you want to say leave a review with your weird friend? Leave a review. If you dare. Only positive reviews. Otherwise, DC's going to send a signed version of these. If someone walks past right now your kitchen, they're going to think, what on earth are you doing? But we'll see you next week with Gunther. DC, enjoy the sun. Have a handstand competition.
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36:23Play mermaids or whatever you do in the pool. I'm actually, I'm heading off on a boat today. I'm out on the Mediterranean. So this has been lovely as a warm up, but I'm off to the beach. Thanks so much for the invite. That's so kind of you. Next time. Up to Speed is brought to you by American Express There's always more with Amex
36:50This has been a global production
From the publisher
As the teams head on summer break it’s time to look back at the season so far!
What’s been the biggest shock? Who’s been the biggest let down? What was the cruelest moment? And is there any danger of Max Verstappen making a big announcement during the summer break?
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