New season, new Lewis Hamilton?

0:01This is a Global Player Original Podcast.

0:30last chance to prove that he's great once again. Well, he is only one world championship away from being the most successful driver ever. And that would see him overtaking Michael Schumacher. We have new regulations. He has a new car and a new engineer. So we'll find out very soon. Well, he has won one award already. The biggest hard launch in pre-season apart from us. With all the Kim Kardashian dating rumours. It's Will. It's Naomi. It's David. It's Jolie. Now let's get you up to speed.

1:11Right, guys. First episode. Yeah. Big build up. Here we are. How are you feeling? I'm buzzing. Big build up. Big billboards, guys. We're going to be on a billboard. Have you been on a billboard before? Only when I was climbing up to bottle some light bulbs. Well, it's a first for us all together. A little dream team. You must have been on a billboard in your time, DC, when you were advertising watches or fashion brands. Times Square. Oh, wow. Just a small billboard. When I won the Monaco Grand Prix for the second time. Oh, wow. And it was unbelievable. I went on the David Letterman show. Oh, let's just get all the humble brags.

1:50You said you had a bit of one. Well, it just came back to me. There's a lot of stuff locked away in this memory bank. It's been a while, right? You're all young and fresh. You live here in the front of your mind. I've got a lot of stuff locked away in the back there that I need to bring out. But that was pretty cool. And I'm sure that we're going to get all the time to bring all of that wonderful knowledge and experience and stories out on this podcast. So make sure you start unlocking those vaults because we want to hear it all. Anyway, well, you guys did hear it at the top of the show. That was indeed Max Verstappen.

2:21Yet again, he's beaten the competition to it and he is our first guest on the show. And you're going to get to hear all of that in our episode on Thursday, starting with a bang. I have to say, it's an interview that you and DC did. We've listened back to it. It's fantastic. You know, I've known Max a very, very long time since he started out in Open Wheel. And I've genuinely, not just big it up because it's our interview, I've really heard him so open. Max coming on the podcast, that's a snap. So should we practice? Right, I'll tell you one thing. If you try and get Max to do some of this, he will just get up and walk out.

2:54There's anyone that can do it, it's me. Okay, well, let's talk about the interview a little bit. I know that we're not going to tease it too much because you guys are going to get the full episode this coming Thursday, so we're not going to give it all away right now. But I did ask him the question that everybody wants to know. Is this your favorite era of Formula One, considering all of these big changes? And this is what he had to say. Probably, I would say, least favorite. Yeah. Wow. But yeah, it's just not really enjoyable. I mean, it's not pure Formula One. If anything, I could tell you, it's probably like Formula E on steroids.

3:33Now, ladies and gentlemen, please, before you sign off and don't watch F1 this year, trust me, because of that, it's going to be so worth watching regardless of what happens. I'm sure it's going to get ironed out. Nothing like a bit of positivity to start the season. And that was nothing, TC, like a bit of positivity. But don't you just love Max's honesty? You know, we've all had the opportunity to spend time with him away from the track. and at track and in vision. He can be a bit divisive. You either love him or you hate him. I think Lewis had that earlier in his career as well. But what I've always appreciated is his honesty.

4:03And what in that statement he's not saying is, I'm not going to try, I'm not going to win. You know, he's basically just answering the, you know, you squeeze that out of him, Naomi. It was great. The headlock I thought was a bit extreme. But anyway, looking forward to that interview being played out. But there's been a lot of people making noises from the test, all talking down their potential. Mercedes hit the ground in Barcelona with the shakedown looking pretty good. And then in Bahrain, excuse me, they spent the whole time saying, oh, we're not in good shape. Red Bull are the best. Ferrari seem really quick in the long runs.

4:38So I think this is kind of normal this time of year. Nobody wants to claim anything until they see the checkered flag in Melbourne. One thing I did find interesting was the fact that three drivers, and they're three of the biggest drivers in the sport, the three with the most world championships between them, Fernando, Lewis, Max, with the three who had the most to say about how difficult these cars were to drive, how complex they were to drive. And as we just heard from Max, not necessarily enjoyable. But that does mean it's going to be a massive challenge for everybody out there because they're all going to have to relearn how to drive these cars and get the most.

5:13I think, though, all the three guys you just mentioned there, during the last hybrid era with the massive underground effect tunnels that they had, they were all a bit negative about the driving experience there. They just want to be back to pure racing, flat-out racing from start to finish. So with these new regs, there's a lot more complexity. Management, there's 50 % of the energy that comes from a battery, 50 % comes from an internal combustion engine. And so they're actually becoming a lot more the manager of the car rather than the driver purely of the car. And I think that that's where for them the issue comes in, because as a driver, you know, you want to be driving a car from a point of instinct.

5:54You're driving, you're trying to get the best out of the car. Now it feels like they almost have to be mechanical inside making changes and it just doesn't come naturally and it doesn't really award the best driver. but if you guys at home are wondering what's happened in F1, we are coming out with an episode that's going to explain these regulations in more depth to you guys very, very soon. So don't worry about that. But what I will say about regulation changes is whilst, yes, always change comes with a bit of pushback and, yes, this time around it seems like there's a lot more pushback and there are probably a lot of things that need to be solved, it also comes as a big opportunity.

6:25I mean, remember 2009, Braun came out and smashed it. Then 2014, it became the era where Mercedes dominated. So 2022, Red Bull really understood the ground effect era really well. And now the question mark is who's going to lead here? What I find so fascinating is that I understand different teams coming out and saying different things. But in Ferrari's case, Charles came out after Lewis said that this car is slower than an F2 car. Charles came out and called that very harsh. It's so interesting when you see actually team drivers, teammates. teammates we know that your teammate is your biggest competitor you two will know more than more than anyone but do you not find that so fascinating that pr media comms come on get your drivers intact i know but i find anything that charles says i just find so believable i think i've got a man crush he is he is tiktok's favorite back in my day we were never really told what to say to the media there was a responsibility that you wouldn't be overly negative towards the team of course because why would you do that they're the guys you're working to to try and build performance i wonder in this modern era are they being really sculpted and what they should say clearly not max clearly not but the younger generation do you think i think yes this time of year is all smoke and mirrors though isn't it because no team out there wants any of their rivals to know like how genuine their pace is so everything you see from testing you've got to take it all with a pinch of salt and it's no no wonder that every team is publicly saying oh we're not the favorites it's definitely our biggest rivals who are the favorites yeah but the only thing that doesn't make any sense why they would do that because if you're trying to land new partners and sponsors you want them to believe they're investing in great potential so look my take on it is the following and i've been in situations if i go back way back to those 1998 a time in the distant past, Julie.

8:25Try and stay awake while I talk about that. We went on track with an Adrian Newey-designed car. A week later, Adrian Newey is one of the most successful designers in the history of the sport. He's now the technical director and team principal at Aston Martin. We'll come to them in future shows. But we went on track and the very first laps, the car was half a second quicker than anything that anyone else had done that week. So we immediately brought the car in and put fuel and fuel is weight. Weight its performance so we slowed the car down we still enabled ourselves to do proper testing you've got to push 100 to find out where your car balance is and how it reacts to changes but what we effectively did was not show the full potential of the car now of course the clever engineers in the paddock had already seen that little flash of performance and the only thing they had to work out was was the car underweight when we did that or was that a genuine time the bottom line is you You can do as much smoke and mirrors as you like.

9:22You've got to develop your package. You've got to test your car. And the only time that matters is qualifying in Melbourne. And then the only other thing that matters is a checker flag on the Sunday. So I'm going to say, yes, there's all this, you know, checking out what your competitors are doing. But you've got in mind your own business. You've got to develop your own car and then try and make it the best it can be. The second testing starts. All the work, all the money that goes into keeping it secret. Car rolls out. Literally, first minute, first test, all the photographers in a garage at the end of the pit lane, as it rolls past, that was a shutter, by the way, as they roll past, a thousand photographs sent straight back to base.

10:02And all the teams will have their professional photographers with their massively long lenses, taking snaps and pictures of all those details. What comes with seven world championships, four world championships, two world championships, in the case of Luis, Max and Fernando, though, is a freedom to tell your truth and what you genuinely believe, which you don't have as a youngster still trying to make your way and trying to impress. And you know what? Yes, Formula One has a communications department. Is there a tone of voice that the drivers take? OK, guys, look, we know the cars aren't exactly what you'd hope for, but please try and polish it up a little bit.

10:35Those three? No one's telling them what to say. Well, you say that, but we're talking about these drivers like Lewis being able to demand what they want. But, you know, Lewis has come in with a race engineer who is only here for the start of the season. Mental. Huge question marks there. You know how important the relationship is with your race engineer. What do you make of this? I find it, I find it absolutely fascinating that Lewis Hamilton left Mercedes and walked into Ferrari alone. He didn't take anyone with her. And he may have brought Angela, his physio back. She'd gone away towards the end of his Mercedes career.

11:10So he had, let's say, someone around him that was a sort of touch point to make him feel comfortable but what every time I left a team I took an engineer with me because they're your data bank of knowledge that the relationship with your engineer is the most important relationship in the team because that's the person who fights your corner in terms of new parts coming into the team that's the person that gives you all information when you're out on track to define what your strategy is going to be because the strategist can tell you pit now but if the driver doesn't come in you're not pitting now so it's so important arguably more important than the relationship you have with your partner and if you consider if you consider i mean the iconic pairing of lewis and bono how instrumental they were to each other it's the same thing we see with gp and max they've got these relationships chemistry with a race engineer is so incredibly important dc you might remember this W Series, a series you were part of setting up every race, our race engineers would change.

12:10And whilst that is a development platform, and that's why they implemented that is because they wanted us to learn different things from different race engineers. They all come with their own way of doing things, a way of communicating. And actually, it was a really good learning exercise because you go, OK, I love the way that this engineer does that. And I love the way that this one does that. And I really don't like the way that that one does that. And at the end, you figure out what you need and what helps you get the most out of yourself and your car and the team. And it kind of feels like that's what Lewis is doing right now.

12:38It's kind of like playing musical chairs with engineers. And at this point in his career, when this is such a crucial year for him to, you know, I mean, I don't know. I don't want to say that his years are numbered because he keeps saying he's going to keep going. But every year you're assuming he wants to put himself in the best possible position. Well, I feel Will's got a follow up point in this. But let me just come back to something Jolie said. Yeah. You dropped the line that we all got so used to. it's hammer time that was Peter Bonington his engineer when he said that we knew Lewis was on for a potential victory are we getting to the point where people are saying it's retirement time and of course with experience comes age reversal of what we normally say Lewis Hamilton 41 Fernando Alonso 44 wow yeah and I think do you know what we could see if the start of the season doesn't go the way Lewis is hoping I reckon he could call it a day I think DC makes the the point there that it's more important than the relationship that you have with your partner but I think it's it's very similar to the relationship you have with your partner because when you're with somebody for a long time you develop a language that you speak to each other that you inherently understand.

13:41Nice Steve just after Valentine's thank you for that. But it's as Naomi so rightly points out that is something that becomes second nature that he had with Bono and there was the clause in in him leaving Mercedes where he wasn't allowed to take anybody with him in the immediacy. But I thought one year in, maybe people would follow him across. He's actually lost people over the winter that did come over with him. Mark Hines, his manager, has gone. His press officer has gone. He is losing people that were loyal to him, that were part of his enclave. They've disappeared. So, Jolie, when you ask, could Lewis be heading towards retirement?

14:19And it's a question we've all got right now. You know, I asked that same question of Max Verstappen. Max has said that he's not going to stay around in Formula One forever. If he doesn't like these regulations and they don't play out for him and he doesn't enjoy racing this car, will Max stay in Formula One for a long time? We were asking the question last year, if Ferrari doesn't work out for Lewis, will this be the end of his time in Formula One? Look, it's our first episode, right? There's so much to get into. It is a legitimate question that you have to ask before this season begins. Is this the last year for Lewis?

14:47Is this the last season for Max? The beginning of the end. And we hear a bit of Max's answer in the episode on Thursday. But with Lewis, I mean, no one knows. What do you think? You know, both of you as ex-drivers, if you're in Lewis's position, he's been so successful. Are you better, you know, what's the saying? You either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain. And are we seeing that? Wow, every day's a school day. I'd never heard that expression before. Yeah, me neither, but it's great. Thank you. God, I'm feeling adding that to my list of quotes. Naomi, you had a, if I can say, a shorter racing career than I hung in there until my late 30s.

15:26So when did you realise that the opportunities weren't going to be there for you to fulfil your desires? And I'll come to when I realised. And how do you think that plays into where Lewis might be in his career right now? Yeah, so my career was shorter than yours, probably less exciting as well. No Grand Prix wins, didn't make it to Formula One. but you know COVID played a hand in making me force that decision and I'm happy that I made that decision when I did because at some point you've got to look at a situation and ask yourself the question is the situation still serving me like I'm pouring a lot into it but am I still getting out of it what I'm what I came here for am I getting closer to my goals and ultimately the answer to that for me was no and so that's why I made the decision to say you know what as much as I absolutely love driving and I am desperate to continue to have a professional career that's just where I'm at and that's when I pulled the plug.

16:13But I also, just to go back to the original point of these drivers being outspoken at this point, I think that's why you're seeing the likes of a Fernando, a Lewis, a Mac saying, clearly, regardless of what the PR team have said, I don't like this because they're calling for change and there is still change that can happen and not overnight, but GC, you were going to tell me about when you made that decision in your career. When the stopwatch stopped talking to me. The lap times weren't there anymore and then I realised, yeah, you just lose that edge and I think in footballing terms losing a yard or something is the expression that you just can't get on the ball anymore so I just wonder whether Lewis has lost that little half a tenth that he had over all his teammates in the past because the last three years he hasn't dominated his teammates in the way he did in the previous 15 years And you brought up the point DC that the last set of regulations did not play to drivers of a certain generation, you know you look at your Lewis's, your Fernando's, I look at Daniel Ricardo or a Valtteri Bottas or a Sergio Perez, who similar generation, pretty much exactly the same generation as a Lewis and a Fernando, certainly a Lewis, who did not get on with those regulations.

17:20And ultimately, it called an end to certainly Sir Daniel's career and did irreparable damage to Checo's career. But they were all hanging out for these new regulations, all hoping that when they changed towards a seemingly lighter, looser car, it would play to their strengths, right? So it's no wonder, Naomi, as you say, that they are being very open with their feelings towards this because this was their chance, right? This was their opportunity to get back to a style of car and a style of racing that they loved, that would show the Lewis Hamilton that won seven titles, right? Because Lewis didn't forget how to drive between 21 and 22.

17:55What changed was the car. I don't believe what changed was the driver. But if they don't get cars back this year that play to their strengths, is it the beginning of the end? Or was the beginning of the end 22? And that, I mean, it's going to be fascinating to see that. It's hard to watch, though. It is. It's hard to watch. It's kind of like Daniel was so hard to watch. And that's why I hope he'll be able to turn it around. But at the moment, even if on track, we don't know what it's going to be yet, because Ferrari did do pretty well at that second test. So it could be a great year for them. And Ferrari's start procedure, apparently, is better than everybody else.

18:24They're the only teams that don't have any issues. So come Australia, Ferrari might be the only cars that get off the grid. So you know what? This could be loose this year. Let's wait to see. What's definitely the talk of the town is what's going on. off-track news in Kim Kardashian. I think, look, what you guys might not realise is how big this is culturally. When we saw Taylor Swift in NFL terms... Oh, no, no, no. I realised just how massive this is culturally. You and I, we're on a team here. I have no idea. So we saw Taylor Swift go out with Travis Kelsey, right? And just the stock price of NFL, the merch that they were selling, the ticket prices, just because there was a chance that Taylor Swift might be in a box that no one's going to see her at, watching her boyfriend play.

19:06And you have a whole audience that we live and breathe F1 all day long. But a lot of people, whether we want to realise and accept that, don't. And they could be your Kardashian fans. And this is now tying in a new sort of fan base. Whatever way we look at it, the more fans, the better. Just like Taylor. It is very big for the sport. And I just have to say, Lois is loving it. Attending the Super Bowl with Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, Cara Delevingne. I mean, I would have loved to have been in that bowl. Can I ask a question? I think that box might have been a little bit awkward, given that Lewis used to date Kim's sister and she's standing behind.

19:41Allegedly. Well, it's all allegedly, isn't it? Is he dating Kim? Allegedly. One thing I would like to know, because I don't know this. So my daughter's a huge Taylor Swift fan, right? And the thing with Taylor Swift is wherever she goes, her fan base's money goes. So when she started dating Travis Kelsey, Kansas City Chiefs player, Kansas City Chiefs merch went through the roof, something like a 400 % rise in merch sales, which was put down solely to the Taylor Swift effect. Similarly, viewership of the NFL, Kansas City Chiefs games absolutely outshone every other team in the NFL, all because Taylor Swift's fans tuning in.

20:21Well, if Kim is caught wearing a Ferrari merch, that is going to make waves. I can see it happening. Motorsport is so cool already. All the fashion brands make motorsport-esque collections. and it's not like you're going to convert them. It's already relevant and she's just going to make it that much more relevant. We talk brands. Can we just say they were seen together at the Super Bowl in the Apple box with Apple representatives there? If we were cynical, might we say they're just trying to promote the fact that Formula One's on Apple in America this year? If I was a cynical person, might I say that?

20:55Or keeping up with the Hamiltons. What's Kim got to do to gain with that? Yeah, what's Kim going to gain from doing that? She doesn't exactly need a free Super Bowl ticket. Maybe they're just mates and... She just wants love. Everybody needs a cuddle from time to time. Oh, DC. I like that. I hope it's real. I genuinely hope it's real. I think it's real. And I think if she's bringing that attention about Formula One to people who've never seen or heard about it, then there's absolutely a potential that those people will convert into fans. Will they be the fans that tune in for 24 races and get up at the crack of dawn to watch a race?

21:25No. Will they still be figuring it out and go, So what's DRS or what's Active Aero? Yes, 100%. But there could be opening doors to people. I agree with you in terms of older minds can be influenced. I'm easily led, by the way, too. Well, it's good to hear because I'm going to be getting you guys to be doing all funny lip syncs. If you do want to see, make sure you are following us on socials at UpToSpeedShow. And make sure to comment, subscribe, leave a review, repost it, do all the things that social media loves to see coming. Now, we've been getting so many questions since launching. and I'm told that this one is a very special one.

22:00So I'm excited to see it. Let's find out who it is. Hey, David, Will, Naomi and Jolie. It's your boy KSI. And I want to know how do F1 drivers get their necks like that? Like what do they do in the gym? Especially like you, David, bro, you've got an interesting neck. So I just want to know. Ask him. David, tell the story about why your jaw's wide. OK. That. Ah, KSI. I mean, yeah, snaps for KSI. He's kind of... I love it, you guys are so in sync. He really... Thumbs up. He really has kind of changed the creator game and I'd love to see it. I mean, for anyone that doesn't know who he is from the world of social media, you might have seen him on Britain's Got Talent with Amanda Holden, who was also in the video and part of the Global Fam.

22:52So thanks, KSI, for the first question. but DC over to you to answer it. I'm a big fan of his work and I would have thought he would know a little bit about neck strength because as a boxer you've already built that neck up and I was kind of inspired by Mike Tyson and these guys who you know would be hanging weights with chains around their neck so that's kind of how I started before I got into the more sophisticated machines that we had in Formula One where I would have a helmet attached to these weights 30 kilograms and I would just sit there grinding away you know that's where the jaw kind of developed as well because when you're grinding and lifting these weights just using your neck and you're strapped in then of course you're going to build a big neck don't do that in public that was slightly scary yeah i apologize so my good friend amanda holden i was the best man at their wedding by the way chris my buddy he doesn't make fun of my ever-increasing neck and jaw as i went through our friendship from teenager.

23:47But Amanda, having joined that party a bit later, has always made fun of the fact that I've got sort of gerbil jaw. But I used to grind when I was in the car and squeeze my teeth together. I was working so hard behind the wheel that that's basically my teeth line is very narrow and my jaw, because of the muscles, has been pulled to extend the width of my jaw. Well, there you go if you want a square jaw. For folks at home who maybe don't realize this, you know, we can kind of take it for granted because we spend our life around you guys as racing drivers. Your neck and your head is the only part of the body that isn't strapped down inside the car.

24:26It's the only part of your body that is, you know, susceptible to the element. Your arms and your legs aren't strapped down either. But they're not, when you hit the throttle or you hit the brakes or you're going through a high-speed corner, your arms are on the wheel, your legs are on the pedals. The knees float around as well, so that's quite hard as well, and the hips. With all of that weight of the helmet on your neck, you guys have got to train that up more than... Thank goodness for the headrest. There's a brilliant, brilliant example of that. Kimi Antonelli has been wearing the same sort of leather neck chain with, I don't know, it's got a dolphin on it or something.

24:56But when you see him back in Formula 3 and it's kind of down towards his chest line, you see him now in Formula 1, it's right up here. It's like a choker now. Yeah, it's like a choker. I feel like we need to do some videos of you guys showing us some exercises. Absolutely. Because I think it would be terrible. All I need is a 30 kilogram weight and I can hang it off my head and show you. It's not sexy, but it's really, really important to build those neck muscles. Because how much does a helmet weigh? It depends on the helmet, but yeah, you can get it down to like two kilos. It's quite, yeah. Okay.

25:27Let's say two, three kilos, right? Times that by five, if you're 5G, into a corner. So you've then got 10 kilos, right, on your neck. For any normal person, that's 10 bags of sugar. Now imagine that suddenly shifting from left to right, forwards, backwards, the immediate changes of pace, corner by corner, straight, braking. It's like a roller coaster. 17, 18 times a lap. If you've been on a roller coaster, you're sort of there, you're at the mercy of the twists and turns. Well, you're doing that with a weight on your head. I quite like my job with the microphone, to be honest. It doesn't sound that fun.

26:01It's working a bicep every time again. Actually, how come you've got the jawline? Have you been squirreling away and eating a lot of nuts or something? Thanks, DC. I mean, I think maybe it's my age, but I'd like to see how Max's jawline compares Naomi. Well, you definitely will get to see Max's jawline in our interview, which we keep teasing is coming out on Thursday. But I promise you guys, you're going to get to see just a little bit more of the real Max. We start with a bang. Well, yeah, keep it clean. Yeah, I'll try and be nice. You guys raced against each other in the past. And I think DC, maybe you want to tell us how that went for you.

26:36yeah well you're referencing when max and i did a single shootout lap around imola a couple of years ago in what was the v8 formula one and look i i just don't think it's appropriate ahead of the season to talk about how much quicker i was the max so can we move on to the next question i i didn't i was not even thinking about ima i was just thinking monaco monaco what night