Why can't Russell catch teenage teammate Antonelli?

0:01This is a Global Player Original Podcast.

0:33It's Will. It's David. It's Jolie. Welcome to Up to Speed. Jolie, what are you doing here? I thought it was just me in DC. I know. Allow me to explain. This is great. I know, it's fantastic. So we're here in Miami. What a lovely surprise. And I bumped into Jolie at the track because she's been here all weekend getting deep down into all of the very exciting social events in Miami. And as I was coming out of the paddock earlier, I said, so you're here, you can join the sort of catch up review of the Miami race. And she very kindly has diverted to the house that I'm staying in, very close to the track, to join us to share how exciting the Grand Prix is.

1:15Luckily, because of the so-called thunderstorms that were meant to be happening this afternoon, they brought forward, I should say, the race by three hours, which means I could make it ahead of my dinner tonight. and we're sharing a mic we always thought that we've matched yeah all in white i'm not not wearing my traditional blue but i am buzzing not only because jolly's here but after three grand prix where we were sort of trying to dissect is this real racing do we like this you know a lot of negative vibes from the the wider audience i think it's been a great weekend as a whole mclaren back Ferrari faster, Red Bull in the mix.

1:51Yes, Kimi Antonelli has just come of age, in my opinion. And you've been a big supporter of his. I have, that day, Doc. And I did make the mistake of saying earlier in a podcast that he's a puppy and he's going to pee on the carpet. Well, no, actually, he's a fully-fledged dog. Yeah. That was his biggest test to date, and he handled it beautifully. So, Will, you are a racing purist. You've got to love the fact he handled the pressure with some technical problems i loved it i thought it was a great race you know have the changes that they've made to the regulations fixed everything i think even lando after the race said it's a bit early to tell um and not necessarily a representative track to know 100 but my goodness i really really enjoyed that race i thought it was brilliant uh sprint was good fun uh the grand prix was excellent And as you say, Kimi, look, before Kimi, only two drivers had taken three consecutive polls for their first polls.

2:50Those two drivers were Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. Before Kimi Antonelli, only two drivers had won three consecutive Grands Prix as their first three Grand Prix victories. Those two drivers were Damon Hill and Mika Hakkinen. Nobody in history has converted their first three consecutive polls into their first three consecutive wins. He holds that record alone. And as you say, DC, massive pressure on him this weekend, like huge pressure, dominated George, who was nowhere all weekend. Standout weekend. Standout weekend for Kimmy. Yeah, I think, look, I'm glad I'm converting you both into big Kimmy fans as well.

3:32Converted. Yeah, converted. I'm loving it. But look, I think the energy of Miami, you know, this time round, it was great. I think everyone was loving it. I was standing, you know, just above the start line when the lights went out and everyone literally, the cars go past so fast that then you can't see them and you turn to the screens and everyone's like, screaming, not, you know, cars were going off, etc. You know, Max obviously spinned, which by the way, he recovered that so well, so unbelievably well. Brilliant drive. Brilliant drive. It was a thrilling race all round. Should we touch on Max first?

4:07I mean, Red Bull, they are big improvements. Yeah, well, I'm admiring the fact that you've gone with Max rather than getting straight into Kimi, but you're holding that excitement back. But yeah, we talked about it, the four-week break, the upgrades that were coming. There was promises from McLaren. There was promises from Red Bull. There was promises from Mercedes. They all delivered on their promise. And it does feel that although Mercedes have come away with the Grand Prix victory, that gap has definitely closed. and Max in typical fighting style, even when it was inevitable, you know, when the Charles got past them and then was George as well, even if it was inevitable, they were running faster, they were in fresher tires.

4:46He will not give an inch and it's great to see him not give an inch. Brilliant drive, holding it flat and spinning 360 and carrying on and not collecting anybody. Number one, as we know with Max, just brilliant awareness to keep himself pointing in the right direction hugely lucky not to collect anybody but then the drive he put in afterwards pitted what lap seven and just gone through the field and then as everybody else took their what turned out to be only stop he's leading the race as you said if the rain had come mid-race when everyone was expecting it to around lap 24 25 max is leading the grand prix would be the first guy to pit get off pit road he's leading in the which he loves, and it could have been a Max Verstappen win.

5:34If it was a two-stop race, I also think Max Verstappen could have won today. The only thing that stopped him winning was the fact it turned out to be a one-stop race. I'm amazed you didn't say it. Unfortunately, the hearts dropped off for him. Yeah, I'm sorry, Will. I thought you were going to say the only thing that stopped him winning was the fact that other people got to the checkered flag first. Other people, yeah. Thanks, mate. Thanks. I'm quite predictable like that. I'm sorry to have disappointed you, really. Yeah, no, no, I love it. The fans loved it. Fans gave him driver of the race. And I think he fully deserved it.

6:06He drove like an absolute god. And as you guys are saying as well, look, Red Bull turned up with massive upgrades. They've got the flippy floppy wing. Copian, Ferraris, Dez, those seems to actually activate much quicker in terms of getting it into the upside down position. Because Ferraris goes through 270 degrees. Or like, no, that has to go through 180, doesn't it? but it goes kind of the wrong way around. Yeah. And Red Bull's kind of does it easier because it's only, because it's at an angle. So it's not a full 180, isn't it? And Red Bull's does kind of the shorter way around and Ferrari's goes the long way around.

6:44Very complicated way of saying Red Bull may have, you know, a more efficient system. Copied Ferrari, but actually done a better job. Yeah. Yeah. Well, before I come back to you then, and what you observed of the race, like Jolie has been embedded through her role with Hugo Boss or Boss, I don't know how you officially title them nowadays, but you've actually had some insight to Aston Martin, who've gone from, what, they were four and a bit seconds off at the beginning of the year, they were down to just over two seconds off. They're making progress. And Fernando was actually back. Ten seconds off.

7:15Qualified for the sprint, Fernando was slower than F2. Yeah, OK, that was an anomaly. But what's the vibe from inside there? Do you know what? There's much more chatter now about Wheatley. you know i think that that should be announced jonathan wheatley the former team principal at audi yes to be the new team principal aston martin i think that's coming fair when when when when a lot sooner that they really want that announcement to to be made and you know there's also been talks that they're thinking that around race 14 which you know obviously we've just had race four they're thinking they could get into q2 so the atmosphere and the energy there i think look, they're all used to it.

7:57They knew what was happening before the season started. And I think any improvement is a big bonus. Yeah. And they've accepted it and it's not great. We'll see how they progress. I think we should, you know, we've talked a little bit about Rebel, talked a little bit about Aston Martin, but we've got to talk about Kimi Antonelli. We'll talk about Kimi Antonelli. I've got a producer in my ear saying, talk about Kimi. Well, can I say, before we talk about Kimi, I feel like we should talk about Jolie. Oh, Jolie's going off script. Sorry, sorry, but I do think we should touch upon George Because we went into this season And it's George's year And George's, you know, it's his place over Kimmy And, you know, George George, he luckily got fourth today I mean, you know, with what happened to Leclerc at the end But I'm telling you, it's Kimmy's year Clip it up, give me a few months We're going to see it I don't think you're wrong I don't think you're wrong, you know So, um, George has had a maximum of two race wins in a season in his career.

9:01Kimmy's now got three and it's the second year in F1. You know, when you get the equipment that is clearly as good as the Mercedes is, you have to maximize it every weekend. And who has maximized it for the last three weekends? Kimmy. This is a kid in his second year who didn't have the easiest entry to Formula One last season. And there were a lot of people questioning whether Toto Wolff had been too quick to move Kimi into this role at a team that was gunning to be number one again. And he has been proven thus far in a year where they finally have the tools at their disposal to win, to have been 100 % correct, to have had the faith and to have seen in Kimi somebody who could adequately replace the legend that is Sir Lewis Hamilton.

9:41The possibilities are endless for this kid. And I think we're only just scratching the surface of what he's going to be able to do and what he's going to be able to show. It's astonishing. And that will disrupt George. Of course it will, because this was supposed to be his year, right? But it's hard to manage for Toto because he's got two drivers and he's got very close relationships with them both. George has been there for years. And, you know, George is performing well, but not compared to Kimi. How does he deal with that? I mean, it's so funny, the cameras when they zoom on him after QALY and he's like trying not to smile, but he's buzzing because he's proving everyone wrong.

10:18Yeah, I think that the reality is Toto is, let's say, the blueprint of a team principal, isn't he? He's entrepreneurial. He's ex-racer. He's married to an ex-racer in Tewsie World. They're a legend. So he gets the bigger picture. And one of the things that I really respect is when they're winning, he's talking. When they're not winning, which was the case the last couple of years, he still comes forward and he still talks because he understands his role as a communication role to the public, as well as ultimately being responsible for the race team. And he's been there with Lewis and Nico crashing into each other.

10:56He's been around motor racing long enough to know that actually it's a good problem to have two drivers that are sort of, you know, nibbling away each other. Right now, the relationship has been good. And Kimi was very open this weekend to say that he has thought about the World Championship. And he says that, you know, George and him are getting along well for now. I think the fact that his dad is a racing dad and is right beside him and is mature enough to go, look son, there's going to be a rocky road between here and the end of the season. Some of it's going to be highs. Some of it's going to be lows.

11:27You've got to be able to average out your season. And that's the thing that I think has been so impressive about Kimi. And that's the thing that is going to be worrying for George. That he's going to win Grand Prix this year, but he's got to take ownership of it. That's the thing. it's how george reacts now is where we will learn if george has it inside himself to become a world champion if he can respond to being beaten in this way by the young upstart who's not even 20 years old and realize that he's got to raise his level again to a level that he didn't think he was going to have to perhaps this soon that's going to be the telltale sign because he will or he won't You know, there's no halfway house for him.

12:10They have the best car. They haven't even upgraded it to the fullest extent of what they're going to. The biggest upgrade is going to come in Canada. And so they should take another step forward. George has to redouble now and he has to come back and he has to win the next race because Mercedes have the best car. And if Kimi keeps bringing the wins, George is going to find himself in a very, very sticky situation very, very fast. Just to pick up on that, he has been not that good in Miami the last couple of years. He's always struggled with the track. He has indeed, but he has been good in Montreal.

12:44So he's got to go there with the confidence that he likes the track. It is a tricky circuit. Some of the greats, you know, we know that last chicane, they call that the wall of champions because Schumachers and Hills and Villeneuve and guys that have been Formula 1 world champions have ended up on that wall. so that could be a risk for the lesser experienced guys although that contradicts what i'm saying about it being the champions that have hit that but it really feels that that is a defining moment before we start coming back to the european race i mean dc look you you know how tough it is um to be at the top in formula one you know how tough it is to be at a team that has the most competitive car in the field and people might think that sounds strange when i say you know how tough it is to have the fastest car in the field but it applies a very different pressure to you as a racing driver when you enter every weekend and the expectation is p1 p2 because we've got an advantage he is absorbing all of that and right now is not just leading the championship but leading the team how impressed are you by what that kid is doing yeah he he's come of age you know he may only be in his second season of formula one but in dealing with not only the pressure of having Lando there ready to pounce but he also had some technical difficulties with the paddle shift that meant he was having inconsistent downshifts and he was you know calmed down by his engineer Bono when he was sort of an elevated voice you know trying to figure out what the problem was and I'm sure they'll have a conversation about that afterwards as well because you know in the end the problem is the problem you just need to get the information to the team and they will try and find a solution for you so I think he's absolutely come of age he has absolutely earned the right to be leading this world championship.

14:28And the expectation is now, and this will be uncomfortable for George, but the expectation is that he is leading the team, clearly in results. Now, George has the experience, he has the quality, he has all of the skills to be able to take ownership of that back again. They both cannot win. Someone's got to be first, someone's got to be second. And while they're trying to figure that out, look where McLaren were, Look where the improvements from Ferrari and Red Bull. It's difficult to win in what's perceived the best car. There's been many examples where people haven't managed it. Can I say, I think there's also the flip side to look at it, that everyone's saying, well, how's Kimi going to deal with this pressure?

15:09He's so young. I don't actually think he's overperforming. Everything he is doing right now, look at your two reactions, right? You're like, wow, we converted Kimi. You're seeing it. But I think everything he is doing is proving people wrong. I actually think there's almost no pressure on him. If he doesn't win this championship, no one's going to say that this was his only year. It's a letdown. The pressure is all on George. The pressure is not on Kimi. And I think he knows that. That's massively fair. It really is. Because he's just come in like this firework, you know. It's like, you remember when Nadal first came into tennis or Tiger Woods first wowed the world in golf?

15:52When that kind of young hotshot starts winning. When Max arrived, we knew he was good, right? But it took him a little while, like a year and a half, to be with the junior team and then get elevated. And obviously, he won the first time he went to Red Bull. And it was like, right, the kid is special. you kind of see that with Kimi again he's had his one year bettered himself in and now he's got the car at his disposal it's just bang on it like no doubt in uh in what he does it's you know and if if we kind of everyone was sort of saying you know with Miami it's not George's thing he's like a hardcore or a grass court player that can't play on on play does that mean George Russell's Tim henman and uh and uh and and uh and kimmy is like a young is a young nadal i once scored a paddle point against tim henman really that is my claim to fame very impressive wow what else did stand out for you yeah you guys mentioned it off the top pia gasly ending up upside down uh and then eventually in the wall contact with liam lawson as i understand it lawson had a gearbox issue which meant he was kind of out of control going down into the corner a little bit or certainly wasn't under as much control as he'd wanted he went to pierre after the race explained it everything's good between the two of them but um yeah worrying moment like it wasn't massively high speed to see the car go upside down like that was yeah i mean there was a lot of noises coming from you know where we were watching on the screens and it was a nasty little crash i think is probably the best way to put it and as you said it was glad to see that they were okay but If I'm honest, I think I was expecting to see, so early on we had four cars out, I was expecting to see more as the race went on.

17:37But it seemed to be quite smooth sailing after the first few laps. Yeah, well, after Maxi's little spin just getting caught out on those colder tyres, we know Lewis had some crash damage, which took away some of the downforce. You've not spoken about Leclerc. Leclerc, Leclerc spinning and hitting the wall, still getting the car home in points. I think there'll be a frustration for Ferrari that strategically there was a communication issue again. I asked Fred Vasseur about it after the Grand Prix, and he didn't really want to get into answering it, understandably, because, you know, he needs to deal with it internally.

18:09But not explaining to the driver, this is what we're planning to do. It all came as a surprise. He was told to pit. He came in. Obviously put him in a little frustrating position. He has to own the spin on the last lap of the Grand Prix. but how lucky were they to get the car what did they finish 6th and 7th I feel it's an opportunity miss for Ferrari Yeah I mean he went from a podium to 6th in literally one lap and it's a big shame for him and I think they're going to be panicking because McLaren are climbing back up or have climbed back up obviously Lando won the sprint on Saturday and they had a double podium finish today Well it's interesting that you mentioned McLaren perhaps that is something that we should talk about next and we will do that when we return and make sure to let us know your thoughts on our socials at up to speed show we view you guys like the fifth member of our pod

19:06so as you guys were saying um a double podium for mclaren and there seems to be something about miami and that team and when they bring upgrades it's always very special lando on the sprint pole lando with the sprint win double podium but this has been coming guys like let's look back at japan um oscar said when he crossed the line when this thing actually starts you know we've got a good car and they do and they could they could possibly have been in in the run for the win in japan with with better strategic kind of decision making um but a very positive weekend for mclaren but can they take the fight to mercedes with those upgrades coming in canada you know that's the that's the big question it is the big question but you you touched on strategy in japan that's exactly what lando was touching on uh when he sort of frustratingly downloaded to the team after the checker flag he was like we should have pitted first we should have won this race so you know we we often criticize ferrari uh and fred very often very often will correctly say to me well it's easy to be the sort of sunday night strategist you know can we get the benefit of all the information um but in the same way that red bull tend to be aggressively optimistic with their strategy and it very often works for them do we do we believe that mclaren maybe were a bit frozen in trying to figure out when they should pit and therefore if had they pitted first then that could have been a victory for lando you can't keep having um strategic mistakes and then keep saying oh it's easy to be a strategist after the event because it keeps happening you know it's been two and a half years now that we've been talking about this ever since McLaren placed themselves in a position to be competitive to be winning races to be fighting for championships their strategic calls have come under question and that has not changed you know I think I think that's slightly harsh I will take it as being harsh but I think their strategy needs a massive like come for me i'll say no but i think look no i don't agree with with their papyra rules and the drivers and that look obviously that also comes under strategy so i don't but i think elsewhere if we're looking at their wider strategy i think what you are being a bit harsh what do you what do you think you better agree with me because you're sat next to me well i'm a bit nervous uh that you might sort of give me a backhanded but no i think you know we praise when people win people tend to only hear the criticism don't they because when they win of course they're getting so much praise we get lost in the noise but mcclan have done a brilliant job to bring themselves into sprint victory to bring themselves into a position to be disappointed with finishing second in this grand prix but we have to ask the question if you have a series of moments where it even during the race itself we're going we don't understand why they're doing that um i think they were a little bit unlucky uh today i think it was 2.8 seconds on lando stop and that absolutely made the difference when he rejoined the racetrack so that's the racing god you know and you can't you can't blame the pick stop crew because on the flip side they also hold the world record at 1.8 seconds so you know within their dna is excellence but i think i think when it comes to strategy um you know and i'm not gonna i'm not talking about papaya rules or anything like that it seems that too often they either panic and pit when they don't need to, or they take too long and they don't pit when they should have.

22:38And it happens far too frequently. And there are far too many occasions when the drivers end the race frustrated because they knew they had the car under them to win, but the strategy let them down. And that has been a continuous and repeated failure of the team for two and a half years, if not longer. And yet nothing has changed on that side. They brought in Will Courtney, obviously, from Red Bull. Has he started yet? He must have done. He was here in Miami. I saw him, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's hope that all of Will's experience can kind of add into that and ultimately have an effect. But whether they would have had it today, look, as you say, the slightly slow pit stop hampered them a little bit.

23:28But it's great to see they're in the mix because we need somebody to take the fight to Mercedes every weekend because they've clearly got an advantage. Yeah, absolutely. You said fight to Kimi, actually. The fight to Kimi. Not the fight to Mercedes. The fight to Kimi. Are you discounting George already? I discounted George from the get-go and I wasn't shy about it. Yeah, you've really owned Kimi from the beginning. Yeah, he did. Right, I want to take a step back from that, though. rather than us get into predicting who's going to be the world champion. But was there anything else that stood out from your point of view?

24:01Any big activations, fan things that were going on that you went, wow, this was really buzzing in Miami? I mean, I have to say, I have never seen a paddock wait. And when I say wait, there was Sky Sports broadcasters, there was the F1 broadcasters, there was all of the European broadcasters, all of them, right, waiting outside the Mercedes garage for Messi and it was something I've never ever seen before the paddock stopped I don't know where you were at that point all waiting for him I felt like there was a really great atmosphere around the fans I mean you know the Americas really bring it don't they and to be honest the whole week there's so many you know what's great about a race week and if anyone gets to experience it there's so many events for all kinds of people no matter where you're experiencing it I actually went into the oh oh we've had a breaking F1 news sorry has Charles been given a penalty Leclerc peeling out by a Miami Grand Prix steward amid multiple post-race investigations oh wow what's he been given what's the penalty is it for being too handsome worse after the steward gave him da da da man suffered after that Leclerc was noted for driving leaving the trap multiple times and gaining an advantage and clashing with George Russell at the final hairpin oh he's been converted into sorry 20 seconds yeah 20 seconds penalty So where does that drop him in the overall running order?

25:25I will get back to you on that, but that probably takes him out of the points. And who does that elevate? Yeah, well, whilst you do that. I will do that. You talk amongst yourselves. We'll get onto that. And, you know, there's always so many fun things going on in Miami. One thing I want to know, though, is, DC, did you meet Jimmy Fallon? Because that man was one of the most excited and excitable that I've ever seen at a Grand Prix, along with Colin Farrell, who has huge F1 knowledge. He was dancing with his horse, wasn't he? He was indeed. Yeah, so I didn't meet him, but I did meet Colin. And I didn't realise I'd met him back in 1994.

26:02And he remembered and was, I was slightly embarrassed because, you know, he's the Hollywood A-lister and, you know, I'm just an old has-been. But I did an interview with him and it got to the point where it was almost like, we need to rap now, you know? It doesn't normally happen with celebrities, but he is truly enthusiastic about motorsport. Oh, he's a massive fan. Unsurprisingly, very proud of his Irish heritage. He's talking about Eddie Jordan, talking about Eddie Irvine. And yeah, it was great to see people come and enjoy the sport. Yeah, and like really enjoy it. I mean, Patrick Dempsey was there.

26:36It was... Handsome man. They were, and there were talks going around. Handsome man, good racing driver. Mick Dreamy, tell me about it. But I think the fact that the race was brought forward three hours earlier meant that quite a few few people didn't make it because they were probably out the night before getting a little bit heavy in miami which probably brings us back to the beginning as to why the race is so late yes we've got our update yeah the update is 30 seconds we'll put leclerc behind colopinto and in front of signs so colopinto moves up to seventh uh and then leclerc moves down into eighth place so a dropping point for ferrari great day for alpine so they will have got six points yeah Once again, look, I thought Franco and, you know, he's not at a great start, but this was a really big weekend for him.

27:25I think he took a massive step forward and what that will do for his confidence will be, I hope, you know, allow him to kind of come on and show some of the race of pace that we saw from him when he first kind of shot into the sport. But yeah, happy for him. Well, I feel like we have covered everything. thing we've also brought you breaking news yeah one thing i one thing i did want to finish with though guys was in his post media kimmy said that it was really important for him to win this weekend and actually we got two italian winners on sunday uh i had gabrielle minnie in the f2 and we had kimmy in the f1 on the weekend where we lost alex zanadi um and he said that it was it was really important for him to win to honor alex zanadi for those who don't know alex zanadi uh was an amazing racing driver.

28:14He had two stints in Formula One, one in the early 90s, one in the late 90s. That didn't work out for him for a variety of reasons, but he had three incredible seasons over in the States in IndyCar, where he was 1997 and 1998 IndyCar champion for Chip Ganassi racing. He returned to IndyCar and was involved in a horrifying accident in which he lost both of his legs. But after that, he learned to walk again. He learned to race again. He raced in the World Touring Car Championship and won. He completed the last laps of the IndyCar race that he didn't get to finish when he had that accident. He then became a paracyclist.

28:55He won 12 World Championship gold medals. He won six Olympic medals, Paralympic medals, four of them gold and for anyone who ever met him he was the single nicest most inspirational and genuine human being you could ever hope to meet he was one of a kind um and just an astonishing human being dc i know i know that you uh you were you were racing same time as as him in europe and uh alex was alex was someone special well i think will you've said it absolutely beautifully uh it summed up what an amazing career he had on various tracks um the formula one track the indycar track and on the olympic track uh of course in the paralympics and yeah the last years of his life were were complicated because uh he'd had a further accident whilst out training in his um his in his para bicycle but um yeah there was a lot of warmth a lot of celebration of his life in the Miami paddock from people that have grown up racing with him through karting, through his time in America, and through his time in Formula One.

30:08And I think the fact that Formula One recognized him with a silence on the grid ahead of the sprint, and then it was also, he was name-checked in the presentation of the sprint winners as well, shows the high esteem that was held. So our thoughts and sympathies, of course, go to his family. But more than anything, we will rev the engines and celebrating the life that he led absolutely and for anyone who hasn't seen it just search the pass um which was alex zanadi at the corkscrew with the most ridiculous overtaking move you've ever seen um it was very very very special um yeah he was a an incredible incredible person yeah both of you sum that up beautifully and you know what an incredible incredible man and if you have any memories of him please do share them with us via our socials which is at up to speed show and you know we'll be keeping you up to speed with our episodes out every monday and every thursday and we are very close to 50 000 subscribers on youtube so make sure to hit that subscribe button and if you're not following us on instagram or our other social platforms make sure to do so at up to speed show and we will see you on thursday yeah not long A long team back on air, sharing our thoughts ahead of the next Grand Prix.

31:29I'm relieved. I was a little bit nervous coming back after a few weeks off. Would we deliver? But I was entertained. Were you not entertained? It's like John Cena that does that. No, it was. No, it was Gladiator. Russell Crowe and Gladiator. John Cena.

31:50And on that bombshell, we'll see you on Thursday.

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