Ollie Bearman Exclusive: From failing his driving test to F1’s hottest new contender

0:02This is a Global Player original podcast. Now we're in a new era where we don't know exactly what the limits are. Big incident for you, Art and Suzuka. That's really an unfortunate result of these regulations. How has the pressure changed? I had to avoid a much, much bigger crash. This year really feels like you're leading the team. Tell me, like, what's the secret? I should never have told anyone. That's my biggest regret. Can you take us into the moment, what happened? Yeah, I mean... Hello everyone, it's Oli Bauman and welcome to Up To Speed.

0:46It's Naomi. It's Jolie. Welcome to Up To Speed. Well Jolie, today we have got our very first in-studio guest. Big day for the pod. It really is. And it's none other than the man of the moment. He's outperforming and we won't keep it from you any longer. It is Mr. Oli Behrman. If we had our pick of the litter, I'm very happy that we've got Oli Behrman in studio today. As you say, he's the man of the moment. Very much important to hear from him because he's, yeah, besides the fact that he's doing fantastically well in the car, he also just recently had an incredibly big shunt and we've got to get that information from him.

1:24and it feels very relevant to be speaking to him today. And we've now just had him in the studio. And for me, what I loved is how raw and open and honest he was. And we were taking the mick a bit, weren't we, that he's not very media trained. And he was like, I need to be more filtered. But we were like, no, stay as you are, because everything he said, you know, felt really from the heart. And it felt that we saw a side to him that we get a glimpse of at the track. But I found out so much more. No, 100%. And I think we talk a lot about drivers being media trained, as you say. Oli just feels like he's being very genuine.

1:58And maybe this is also because he's very young in his Formula One career. But, you know, whilst we have these real honest answers from him, it's great to get him on the pod. I mean, he really took us into the heart of the cockpit from that crash in Suzuka. So we're hearing it firsthand from him, what happened, what was going through his mind. He talks to us about his family and how important they are in a way that we haven't heard before. and then he also dives into some of the changes he wants to see in terms of the regulations. So we like there's loads. Most of you are going to know what Ollie is saying when he uses some terminology.

2:30But for those of you who are new to F1, if you hear Ollie say lift and coast or Lyco, that essentially means drivers aren't driving 100 % to the corner. They're essentially lifting off the throttle earlier and coasting through the corner. In the past, this would have happened mostly when drivers were saving tires or trying to reduce fuel consumption. We now see it in F1 sometimes in qualifying. The other term that you might hear him use is speed delta. What that is is essentially just the speed difference between one car and another, which this year in Formula One is greater than it has been in the past.

3:03Right, we're not going to keep you waiting any longer. It is time to go and enjoy our up-to-speed interview with Mr. Oli Baerman. I'm happy to be here. Thank you for having me. I'm excited. I saw you got rid of the old people for this episode. Just the cool youngins. they're going to love that but you're the man of the moment, let's not shy away from that you are having an absolute stellar season right actually talking of DC, he said something to me on the last record which really stuck with me and he mentioned how free you look, your body language when you're driving, you're as I just mentioned having an amazing season, seventh I mean, a round of applause if we had a whole audience, I hope you're clapping at home they're outside, thanks guys thank you, fourth in the constructors and you've scored all of Haas' points bar one.

3:50Tell me, what's the secret? No, it's definitely been a great start to the year. I've been really happy about that. Of course, we're only a few races in and it's a very long season, even if we've lost two races in this spring break that we have now. But, you know, it's been a great start. I've been really, really proud of the work that we've done over the winter. We were the last team actually to develop in 2025. five so that kind of put us on the back foot starting this year but we still arrived in in Bahrain with a really quick car and we scored points in every race um it's been super fun and I'm just really happy to share um these experiences with the team who are pushing so hard they're so motivated it's it's really incredible well Ali I just want to touch on the fact that you came into F1 last year there was a lot of hype around your name you know thanks to Carlos Sainz appendix You managed to get your shots in F1 in 2024.

4:47I know that like in F1 and for most drivers coming into motorsport, you need that opportunity to show up. Right. So the doors open for you. It was a wonderful experience. But you came into last year pretty prepared. But you haven't shied away from the fact that it wasn't easy. Right. The first half of the season was challenging. There was a lot to get used to. Can you just tell us for those of us who've not seen what it looks like behind the scenes in F1? Like, what is it that makes F1 so much more demanding? And yeah, what did you struggle with most? Yeah, I mean, first of all, I will always say to Carlos that I'm in his debt for the rest of my life because it's only really thanks to him.

5:25And obviously it was a very tough moment for him. May his appendix rest in peace. Exactly. But, you know, thanks to that, I was able to get my shot and prove that I was capable of racing in Formula One and competing with those guys. I don't know if I would be in F1 without that race honestly I wouldn't like to think about what would have happened but anyway we're here and I'm very happy the first season was very tough particularly when you come from Formula 2 you do 14 races then you get to F1 generally it's 24 this year of course 22 but it's it's so busy and those extra 10 races that you do in F1 are all of the really long trips so you're doing all of the American races more Asian races so the travel is a lot more demanding um a lot more time spent away from home more simulated days more marketing days more days like this filming which you love which i love i mean literally the best i couldn't think of any other way i would like to spend this day oh thank you so much so you know these these things are all extra and less time at home less time with your family and and i found that challenging at times um but as i found my feet and found good results in formula one then then you remind yourself why you're in love with this sport.

6:39And that's a great motivator, you know, scoring points, getting good results that really keeps you going. Obviously, as you say, there's just so much more demand for your time, right? And I think we can't understand what your schedule on a day to day basis looks like from Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Whereas in the junior formula, you've got way more time on your hands, right? Like you get out the car, you download your data with your engineers, and you have time to digest that information and translate that into what you're going to do on track. I heard you mentioned that there was sort of like a 10 minute check in that you needed to add post summer break last season that really helps you.

7:12Like, can you just dive into that a little bit more for us and explain why that 10 minutes doesn't already exist in the schedule and how busy it is once you get out the car? Yeah. I mean, when you look at the weekend schedule as a whole, it's so full. I mean, every minute is accounted for basically. So it's really tough to get any time to yourself, even on a Thursday. If I compare a Thursday in formula two it would be like 90 10 90 with the engineers with um you know the team working on on the strategy and the setup and all of these all of these things and 10 spending on interviews and things like that so really if i had like two interviews that would be a busy day in f2 on thursday and now in f1 it's the other way around it's 90 interviews media filming the team loves to do TikToks, which is great, really enjoyable.

8:02And 10 % with the engineers, which is tough, because especially as a rookie going to new tracks, experiencing new things every time, if I can only spend like an hour a day, which is really the maximum, if I get an hour with the engineers on Thursday, I consider it a good Thursday, then it becomes really challenging to be in the right mindset before getting in the car. And it's the same on Friday and Saturday, even when you're driving and in the summer break I had a bit of time to sit down with my team you know my driver coach my mental coach my manager and we basically said look we spent all of this time thinking about the strategy and the setup all of the car things and I don't spend any time thinking about myself so I would basically just spend 10 minutes to calm down get in the zone a little bit and talk about what I'm planning to do for the session because all of the plans for the run plan all of these things were set out in stone yeah and then I would kind of get in the car and be like okay what's my your part my target for the for the session so that's what I tried to improve on and that helped me along with gaining experience throughout the year that helped me to have better results I don't know if this relates or translates but whenever I was racing I remember I sort of sometimes had a similar experience in that you would have these debriefs with your engineer and you would kind of hear these numbers but I would still need time for me to think about what that means for me when I'm on track because I sometimes got in the car and I was thinking in numbers rather than what comes naturally to me in driving so for you can you give us an example of what that 10 minutes changed for you in the cockpit like what was what changed in the experience because this year we can see your body language you seem to be driving a lot more freely I know you've mentioned the car was on a knife edge last year that seems to be better now but I want to know about that load for you as a driver in the car and how much has changed yeah I would say that the car being a bit more benign and and predictable is a big step in the right direction but also I found myself being able to get in the car and have a freer mind you know having a bit more capacity to think about myself as opposed to all of the other mental constraints that there are in the car that allow me to perform in a better window so even that I was able to get in the car and in those five minutes that you're sitting in the garage before heading out for whatever session it is just being able to take a few deep breaths and and visualize is why i try and use a bit of visualization to um yeah think about what's about to happen because the cars are pretty quick so you know having all of those things it just allows me to perform a bit more freely and with a bit less weight on my shoulders i guess you could describe it like that and you know with this being your second season how has the pressure changed do you feel calmer in the car do you feel like you're more in control i think pressure has been something i've always been quite good at dealing with because when i look back at videos of me on on the grid in jeda was my first race with ferrari the smashed it the it was a good one the the eyes were um all on me you know it was a big big weekend for me but i was on the grid like joking around with my physio and like messing with the mechanics and stuff.

11:15I try to kind of separate it as much as possible. Of course, when you're in the car, you feel the pressure a bit. But I wouldn't say that it's something that I struggled with last year or felt a big difference with this year. I think the biggest pressure comes from myself. I'm always demanding a high level of performance from myself. And that means that any external pressure, I don't feel so much. Maybe that will change one day when the stakes are higher. But at the moment, the biggest pressure actually comes from within. I mean, that's such a skill to have that, to be able to control that already.

11:48Long may it continue, I hope. You'll have to teach us. You'll have to teach us. Look, there's no doubt F1 is a pressure cooker. We know that. I know you're saying it doesn't feel that way so much, but it is. And I think it over time probably adds up. We've seen your dad. He's very, very present, which is great. I mean, I heard that he sometimes travels between your brother's race and your race on the same weekend, which is just fantastic that he shows up for you in that way. Do you feel like that sometimes reassures you or does it potentially add pressure? Yeah, I think my dad needs like a teleportation device.

12:22It would save him a lot of hours. But he's super busy with my brother, with me, with my sister. She's also competing in show jumping. Amazing. So she has only one horsepower, but it still takes up a lot of weekends. so my dad is incredibly busy but it's it's nice you know the start he was my mentor and my driver coach because he also had a bit of experience in racing so when I was like six until maybe even 11 12 years old he was the one giving me tips and telling me what to do then at one point obviously my knowledge kind of overtook him but then he kind of changed from being the coach to the dad you know and someone there to support you in the good times and um give you a kick up the butt in the in the difficult times um but you know he's been in probably 90 of my races so when he's not there it's almost a bit strange because it's such a familiar face and now he obviously watches from afar but i i always know that i have someone at the track with me who i can share difficult moments with but also enjoy the great moments with and like mexico last year it was so nice to have him by my side, even my first race with Ferrari.

13:35Seeing him by my side for the entire journey, from my first day in a go-kart to now, is really, really special. And I think he feels the pressure even more than I do, probably. I'm sure. He must be so, so, so proud. And obviously, Naomi touched on your brother. He's racing an F4 currently. Do you have a dream to ever race together? I think, if I'm correct, your number, 87, is for your birthday and your brother's birthday, am I right? Yeah, it's a mix. And my dad was racing with number 87 and I kind of inherited it. And so did my brother. It's because I was born on the 8th day of May and my brother on the 7th.

14:08Can we just fist bump to being Tauruses together? I was wondering where we were going there. What's your birthday? 18th. 18th of May. Yeah. Okay, that's good. That's good. I'm not so much into astrology, but I know that Tauruses are the best. That's pretty much as much as I know about astrology as well. Your brother's the 7th of August. I'm the 20th of August. So I'll fist bump with your brother. With him. next he'll get on the podcast next time yeah um but no it's it's really cool and he he is growing and maturing very quickly he was at the stage i it's funny because he's only four years younger than me and i can kind of see a lot of parallels between myself when i was 15 turning 16 um and and him as well and a lot of things you know when when you're that age you know everything but actually now exactly but now he's really matured a lot in the last 5 or 6 months and the progression I've seen is really really good he was racing in the UK last year in F4, this year he's racing in Italy which is a very prestigious championship it was the one that I won when I was his same age so no pressure Thomas I remember last year in Silverstone he was racing on the same weekend as he wasn't he which was also quite special that was the first time since karting that we'd done that your dad was thrilled yeah i'm not sure because thomas obviously f4 it's the support category at the very bottom of the pecking order he was racing at like 7am 6am or something exactly so i think he had to be in the paddock at five waking up at four and my dad was there from from you know the f1 race to the f4 race it was a night shift but it's it's cool and we race a lot on the sim together and he's really quick um so i really got to work for it when we often just do sessions and do qualifying laps trying to beat each other and uh it's annoying because he's getting quicker and i uh i don't like that but he's really really good i'm really really happy and i hope that he can have a great year this year uh so everyone listening has got to follow him and support him as well love that but the real question is has he passed his driving test yet no he's he's too young he's still 16 but actually i got him a little car for christmas uh because in france and monaco you can drive like certain types of cars when you are younger yeah so i think from 15 or 16 but they're like silly little tiny cars they have a speed limit on them or something yeah they only do like 40 kph but i'll show you imagine you're like an f4 racer but you've got to drive a car that only goes 40 kilometers but i mean it's a car you know it's it's like freedom so i got him like i got it painted in his blue i got his logo look at the number plate it's his initials can i see i I mean, the effort.

16:47I think you get brother. Okay, well, we're going to have to get this from you. Yeah, I'll send it to you. So viewers of home can have a look at it. For everyone listening, it's a really... Well, you'll have to head over to YouTube to check it out. It's called a Fiat Topolino. And, like, the door is, like, a rope. Oh, wow. And it's made for, like, the beach. So you take it down to the beach. You know, you can park where you want. I got his logo. You know, like, normally... The thought on this is incredible. This is also the perks of having a brother in F1. Yeah, exactly. It's already starting to pay off.

17:14He was very happy about that. Is there competition if he does pass his driving test first? Because not to bring it up, Oli, but... I kind of thought this was going to be coming. We have to go there. You did fail your driving test first time. I feel like I should never have told anyone. I think that's the only thing that Naomi and I can one-up you on. You passed first time? I did. And so did you. So I... Well, I did. I did. But it was very close. She basically told me halfway through the test that I'd failed. And I was like... You brought it back? How or what? I was like, I'm just going to do everything perfect from now to the end.

17:46And then I'm going to have a discussion with her. Yeah. And at the end, she was like, you're right. It's fine. You're a good driver. You can go get your life. See, I tried arguing my point, but it didn't work. I think it even solidified my fail. Even worse. I was like, are you sure? It was a stop sign, right? Yeah. But that sounds like I literally blew a stop sign and like did a very dangerous situation. But basically, I'm going to. How long have we got? This is. Settle your case. Go for it. So this is a road. and I was coming down another road. Okay. How roads work? Like a T-junction? Yeah, exactly.

18:17But it was downhill, right? And obviously I was going downhill in my car. That was a stop sign, but the road was downhill. Okay. So I was, I'm sure I stopped, but anyway, I would love to go back in time and understand. But I couldn't even see the stop sign because of the angle of the car on the downhill, you know? Okay. And then I, you know, I was checking, obviously that there was no cars i didn't just roll out but i think you have to stop though i think i must have been rolling okay that's kind of the point of a stop sign i know you're saying you didn't see it yeah so yeah i was really struggling to to take that one and when they said you failed what were you like you're joking yeah i was i got really angry at the guy and then he was like well you definitely failed now so it was not good i know you think you should never have told anyone this but i think it's a good thing i mean for anyone out there listening who may have failed or we're listening or watching i should say yeah who failed their test i mean like look you could be an incredible driver in formula one and still fail your driver's test right that's like it must mean if you're if you fail it means you're a very good driver yeah you're too good they don't want to let you on the road exactly you're too good yeah um so if you Adds a pinch of salt to that.

19:32Don't worry. You're just better than they can account for. That's the issue. I love it. Put it like that. And I love the honesty. I love that you said it. Yeah, that's my biggest regret. No, but I think that's so great. You've got such a strong fan base, and I think it's because you're you. Your answers, there's been so many funny press conferences where you say something, you realize maybe you shouldn't. And it's why we love you. It's why we were so excited to have you on here as well, because it's the real, raw you. and I think that doesn't happen often anymore. Yeah, sometimes there needs to be a bit more thinking between brain and mouth, but generally it comes up with some funny situations.

20:13No, do you know what? We hear so many of the same copy-paste answers sometimes from drivers. It's quite nice that there's a bit of a disconnect between... Absolutely. What did you say? The brain and the body. The brain and the mouth. There's no filter. There's no filter between exactly which maybe I should work on. Nice. Keep it. It's not natural. What do you do to switch off? What do you do in the little downtime that you're now getting? What are your pleasures, your hobbies? Well, I spend a lot of time cycling, for sure. That's one of my favourite hobbies. And also, you know, we train a lot for this sport.

20:44Unfortunately, I'm quite tall, so it means that weight is something I have to really keep a close eye on. I can't have too many cheat meals. And cycling is something good to keep my weight down, keep me, you know, in a good condition and ready for the races. So I have a lot of friends. We cycle together. Where I live, the cycling is incredible, I must say. So I'm very lucky in that regard. And other than that, I mean, a bit of time in the gym, but I try not to go too much in the gym because it's, I mean, I prefer being out cycling, you know, you see so much great scenery. And then if I'm not kind of training and working and stuff, I try to settle down by switching off as much as possible, spending time with my dogs.

21:28I really love spending time with my dogs, my family. Me and you both. Yeah, my family and my girlfriend doing a lot of just normal stuff together. Where I live in Monaco, I'm quite lucky that there are much more famous people, especially famous F1 drivers than me. For now, for now. I was going to say that. You took the words out of my mouth. But that means that I can go around and nobody bothers me. So it's good. I enjoy it. You'll have to enjoy that while it lasts. Also, I'm thinking maybe we should do the next episode of this podcast, Cycling with Oli in Monaco. How about that? Would you need stabilizers?

22:02I don't know if I would. I've not been on a bike in so long. I think. Oh, my goodness, Jolie, come on. No, I can bike. I can bike. I can ride, I should say. But, you know, Naomi and I, maybe we can be on the back. We could have the baby with you, you know. Yeah, I'm thinking maybe I'll teach you to ride a bike while I teach my son how to ride a bike. Sounds absolutely powerful. Same progress. Yeah, there we go. No, but obviously, Ali, we understand how important it is to be able to switch off, because as we're saying, when you're in the cockpit, there is just so much going on this year, maybe more than ever.

22:29We are certainly pleased you hadn't arrived here today in crutches because we've got to talk about it. Big incident for you out in Suzuka. The regs are a big talking point at the moment. A lot of people up in hysteria about what's going on in F1. Can you take us into the moment? What happened? And was that a combination of driver error or just system error? I know that you had Boost on at the time. And I know that Colopinto obviously looked like he was recharging his battery. So the combination caused a speed delta that has everybody up in hysteria. Talk to us about it and what do you think of these wrecks?

23:05That's the first time in really their history or in the last however long I can remember that two cars fighting for position have such a massive speed delta. and that's really a kind of unfortunate result of these regulations but that was 50 kph difference Franco moved across in front of me to defend his position last year would have been absolutely on the limit but probably okay with just a five or ten kph speed delta but with 50 kph he did not leave me enough space and I had to avoid a much much bigger crash basically that when he moved left it was small but at that speed difference any move is is huge so I was lucky to to not hit him it would have been much much worse if I did but I think it was something we spoke about on Friday which is even a bit more of a frustrating thing we said between all the drivers come on we need to give each other a bit more respect yeah move move to defend your position with a bit more time because the speed deltas are much higher than we've ever had in in our sport and then two days later that happens which for me was was unacceptable so we need to figure things out um between drivers have a bit more respect between drivers because i was really not happy with with the action that he did but um also i think there's a few things tweaks that we can do with the fia and we've been working very well together to try and avoid these big differences in speed anyway because like i said 50 kph normally that's like a car on a cool down lap versus a car pushing you know and then when they move to defend their position it's it's dangerous so yeah i'm glad that i'm okay and happy to be yeah absolutely fine excited for miami we know that you also have the like drivers group chat and they we've heard that there was already a lot of talk about this potential incident happening before it happened um i don't know you just kind of sort of presented a solution there where drivers need to be a little bit more predictable, shall we say, when defending.

25:07How realistic do you think that is? I mean, it's like telling a driver, you know, kind of leave the door open. Well, not leaving the door open, but just he saw me coming and moved. But last year that would have been okay. This year he sees me coming too late. I'm coming at such a speed delta that that stage is too late to move. So I see he looked in his mirror and went left, which is not good. Last year we were pushing it to the absolute limit. moving at the last second and you know the the overtaking was so difficult and the regulations were so mature that everyone knew exactly what the limits were of those cars and now we're in a new era where we don't know exactly what the limits are um so i i don't think it's a solution it's it's more of a plaster for these differences that temporary compromise yeah in theory we shouldn't see these differences for the rest of the season hopefully we can improve them how was your conversation with him afterwards you know I didn't speak to him you didn't know okay and for you like just for us to try and understand obviously we could see what a massive crash it was and not to dwell on it too much we will move on from it but did time just freeze for you well I knew I was gonna hurt when I was out of control that was for sure um and then of course I was just thinking um to get out the car as soon as possible luckily the car was not not too damaged actually for the size of the crash um you know power unit chassis is okay which which is also important um and i was okay for the most part i just wanted to get out quickly to show especially my family who are always watching that that i was fine um because although it was a big big crash from the outside it it was okay i mean the cars are incredibly safe which is a testament to the hard work that the faa has been doing okay well on a lighter note absolutely um things are obviously going incredibly well at Haas this year for you.

26:56I mean, last year, as I said, you came in as a rookie, but this year really feels like you're leading the team to an extent. I mean, obviously Esteban's been in F1 for a very long time. And I know that you two are working collaboratively to make the package of Haas move forward in the way that it has. But there has been a lot of talk about your future. You've been a Ferrari young driver since your F4 days, if I'm not mistaken, even earlier, right? Yeah, and the F4. Like, I first went there when I was halfway through my F4. And like, we started officially for my first F3 season. So it's been a long journey.

27:32So let me put the question this way. Is there any other team you dream to join other than Ferrari? Or is that really your target for the future? Well, no, that's, of course, my target. Especially given the trust that they gave me. First of all, to take me into their academy and invest so much in me. from F3 all the way to Formula One, put me in this seat with Haas, also to trust me with their car. When Carlos was sick, they had other reserve drivers who were more experienced, but they took the shot on the 18-year-old, and luckily it worked out. So they've obviously given me a huge amount of trust and believed in me from the very beginning.

28:15Actually, I went to that camp and really had to convince them to sign me because they were actually trying to sign karting drivers, not Formula 4 drivers. So, you know, it's been... What did you do to convince them? Well, I mean, I would like to say that I was in there with loads of confidence and everything, but I was very nervous during the meeting with the guys. But, you know, we went on track and showed them really what we were capable of firsthand. And that was a really cool thing that they do. They put the drivers to the test in front of them. It's like a football scouting. You know, they see exactly what they're capable of.

28:49I hope to one day put on the Ferrari suit and race for them. But I understand that it's a long journey. I need to prove that I'm capable of racing for Ferrari. The pressure is obviously much higher in a top team like that. So continuing to work with Haas is really fun and I'm learning so much as well. And what's your relationship like with Lewis? You're obviously two British drivers. I think this is the first time there's actually been five British drivers on the grid since 2002. so out in force and that doesn't even include Alex Albin which yeah we can claim him I think you know he's pretty British yeah so we've got we've got six which is great but you know you and Lewis you know you're at the beginning of your career he's you know we can say the opposite what's that like between the two of you well I mean it's it's really cool because Lewis was actually one of the first people uh in in Jeddah to text me to come up to me after the race and I think show his character and his genuine trait.

29:53And obviously we're at two very different stages of our career. I'm starting out and really hungry and wanting to achieve as much as I possibly can. Lewis has achieved so much and I still think he's incredibly hungry, having missed out obviously in that title, but I mean the most successful driver in the history of F1. It's first of all really cool to share the grid with him. To see him performing at such a high level at his age is a really motivating thing as well. To see his hunger and the fact that he comes back year after year. And I think everyone can agree he's in the top five, top three drivers.

30:29It's really, really special. And the support and love that he gives to the younger generation also shows his character as well. Absolutely. There we go. Snap! We stay the same. you guys have done a few of these podcasts I can tell Oli before we wrap up we are also on an impromptu five week spring break so we've got listeners I bet you're enjoying it and viewers at home who are desperate to know there's been conversations going on in the background with the regs is there going to be any change to be seen in Miami or going forward like what can we expect honestly I wish I I think we're literally in our in the same boat we know the same amount because we've had a small meeting with F1 and we know that they've gone away and I think spoken with the FIA but at least from where I'm sitting right now I don't know anything else but like I said I don't think we need to flip things upside down it's just a few small tweaks that can hopefully If there's one tweak that you would like to see?

31:31I would like to get rid of Lifting Coast I think that would be great if we can harvest at minus 350 kilowatts which is what we can't do right now on full throttle we can only do negative 250 that can get rid of lifting coast in qualifying laps and and even in the race as well um lifting coast on quali is is one of the most counterintuitive um aspects and features of these new regulations and i mean you can imagine of course qualifying lap and and you're halfway down the straight and you lift off i mean it's super super strange so uh if we can get rid of that i i think everyone's in in the in agreement that we want to have qualifying flat out and it's not at the moment.

32:12So if we can do that, that would be fantastic. Well, let's hope to see some changes for everyone's sake, for sure. But Oli, it has been an absolute pleasure having you on the pod, getting up to speed with you. We're going to be right back after this break, Naomi and I, to discuss our conversation a little bit more. So there's a debrief after this? There's a debrief. We've got a debrief room. There's a briefing and a debrief. Okay, well, I hope I scored well. This is the review now coming next. Yeah, all of the bad things I said. No, no, no. Absolutely brilliant. Gossip about me after this. No, gossip, all good things.

32:43Thank you. But make sure you are following us on our socials at Up To Speed Show. Ollie's going to go and do that straight after this too. Yes. And we'll be right back.

32:54Well, I love that. And I think Ollie really enjoyed that, unless he's a very good liar. He said it was the highlight of his day. I'll take that. Well, I'm 100 % going to take that. And I'm not going to forget that he kind of agreed, even though I may have forced his hand to do another episode of this with us on a bike in Monaco. OK, are you ready, Jolie? We're going to we're going to train you for this. Yeah, I guess I need to get my Lycra on and I'll be there. Your Lycra. Is that not what they were? It's called Lycra, but it's OK. We're going to fix that, too. We're going to get you up to speed with the terminology on that.

33:23But yeah, no, what a lovely what a lovely guy. I mean, Ali has always got this beaming smile on his face. But, you know, at the heart of it, you can see that he's taking this so seriously and he's doing such a fantastic job of it. But, yeah, he really called out what he wanted to see changed, which is really interesting because, you know, as he mentioned, driving in a race car and having to lift in coast is completely counterintuitive. I mean, it's just not what we're built to do as drivers. Certainly not in qualifying. I mean, it can happen in the race, but in qualifying, it just shouldn't be happening.