Will Kimi Antonelli's winning-streak end in Barcelona & DC's plane crash to podium nightmare

0:02This is a Global Player original podcast. There's a lot of emotion wrapped up into Barcelona.

0:07Kimi Antonelli:I love back to back. You're recovering from one, then we're straight into another.

0:11George Russell:Kimi for the win. Kimi six in a row. George is going to win in Barcelona. It's going to be like Rocky three. Give us the gas. Give us the tea. It's the last thing they wanted. Wow. That could have been it. I arrived at that Grand Prix having been involved in a plane crash.

0:33Max Verstappen:Up to Speed.

0:39It's Will.

0:40Max Verstappen:It's Naomi. It's David. It's Jolie. Welcome to Up to Speed. Well, everybody is together again, the four of us. The team is back together. DC is kind of half with us because, tell us, how was the party? You left us on the note on the Monday episode saying that you were off to have some after parties. How did it all go down, DC? Yeah, you can probably tell by my little eyes that I've got lots of rehydration beside me. Monaco is like an endurance event. Getting through the weekend with all the broadcast. We had our little catch up review on the podcast on Sunday evening and then into evening party, Monday party.

1:24and I don't want our listeners to think that all we do in Formula One is party but pretty much that's what it feels like at this stage but it's back to work and then we've got a couple of days before we go racing again in Barcelona

1:37Kimi Antonelli:I love it well before we move on to discuss Barcelona I have two things to add firstly Kimmy I have to gloat I have to gloat about my Kimmy we all knew it and secondly I want to just touch upon the uproar on Mrs. Miss Kim Kardashian I should say. I don't know if everyone has seen what's happened online DC I'm sure you're keeping up to speed with it but not only did she snub Martin Brundle she also stole Kimi Antonelli's towel which for me was utterly hilarious because why she would think that there would be a towel waiting for her just in case something splashed on her is beyond me but I'm going to play devil's advocate here online has slated her and I think look I'm not one for online hate at all but I understand the criticism and the concern that's come off the back of how rude she was to Martin Brundle that anyone that didn't see he was doing his grid walk and she basically completely ignored him but I'm gonna pose a question she's off duty as such she's there as a girlfriend we don't ever see any of the other girlfriends being interviewed is everyone being slightly harsh on her who wants to take this well i'll go first as the least sort of following of any of that that social thing i i do a grid walk with via play which is i guess like sky but more in the northern european countries and she spoke to me so i i fuels it feels a little bit like it's a setup to because you know martin is as famous for people not talking to him as he is people talking to him so it actually helps perpetuate that um yeah taking a towel that's maybe a bit a bit not correct because but does she actually understand that that's for the the driver she might have just thought it was

3:27Max Verstappen:a monoco freebie she needs it i mean well dc i think you're not going to just get away by skipping past the fact that you did talk to her so what did you ask what did she say give us the gas give us the tea. She said, you know, having a nice time in Monaco, to which she said yes. I wasn't going to ask who are you supporting, because that would be quite clear. It would be funny if she said Kimi. Oh my god. But I think also what we've seen when you've got big American celebrities coming into the sport, I think the worst thing you can do is put them on the spot. Obviously it would be easy for her to say she was supporting Lewis, but why would we assume, just because we're embedded in Formula 1, that this is anything other than just a new interest?

4:10Max Verstappen:From the sounds of things, she's obviously learning as she's going, right? It's not always like the most simple sport to understand. There's a lot of complexities around it. But yes, I think people assume that if she's on the grid, she needs to be willing to talk. She needs to have a love for the sport. I don't know if that's really the case. I mean, she's there. She turned up. She's supporting her partner who's very happy to have her there. And let's be honest, even though people were very frustrated about seeing her on their screens as much as they did, it is all that you see on the internet from this weekend i mean you almost could forget who won the race and that's not necessarily you know what we want for the sport but it is giving further eyeballs to the sport which is what formula one wants needs um enjoys and it just only you know grows the potential audience for the sport so you know you can understand why people are frustrated but there are some pros hidden amongst i mean look we're here discussing it there's a little

5:03Kimi Antonelli:of slack to be had there. The towel taking slash stealing, I can't defend. And, you know, when someone that big has a team around them that are that big, you kind of have to own up to some responsibility and, you know, our team should be briefing her slightly better.

5:17Max Verstappen:I mean, well, that's an innocent mistake though, isn't it?

5:19George Russell:But to DC's point, you know, maybe it's part of the skit now for Martin is, you know, people not recognising him is as much a part of the grid walk as people who do recognise him. I think you've also got to factor in as well the fact that not every American celebrity is going to know who Martin Brundle is. We're defending Kim K.

5:38Kimi Antonelli:Who would have thought?

5:40George Russell:Well, I'm not necessarily defending because you'd also imagine that Lewis might have had a word beforehand and said, by the way, this guy Martin's going to come up probably and try and have a word with you. You'd expect that conversation would have happened. But I just think there's a lot, there's a lot of facets to it. I get celebrity and I totally agree with what Julie's saying there about how it's good having a big name like her. And I'm sure now you would endorse that as well. But when we actually think about it, we're there for motor racing. And I know that's part of the whole sort of glamour, if you like, and we're discussing it.

6:15But when it comes down to it, it's a lights out checkered flag business, isn't it? And all of the add-ons around shouldn't be the main headline.

6:22Max Verstappen:But anyway, as you said, we're here to talk about motorsports. So we shall do that. And we're heading this week back to a traditional racing circuit. So what do we think ahead of Barcelona? What will this change? We've obviously had a couple of anomaly races. This is where we get to see what the true performance of the teams really is. It's why Barcelona is often used as one of the testing circuits because it has so much variation in corners and what it gives to the teams and what we get from them and the cars and the performance. So how do we think that this weekend is going to pan out and who will it favor?

6:56Kimi Antonelli:Guys, I've got my, no one's recognized. I've got my Aston Martin hat on. After Alonso, well, he scored his first points in Monaco. He finished ninth last year. I mean, he defaulted. Do you know what?

7:07George Russell:He defaulted into a point.

7:08Kimi Antonelli:He's still got the point. He, in last year, finished ninth heading to Barcelona. So I thought, you know what? It also did match my outfit. I'm not going to stray from that. But look, I'm quite excited. He also, he was the first Spanish driver to win there. I think it was back in 2006, Will?

7:27George Russell:The fascinating thing with Fernando was when he started racing in Formula One, there wasn't even a Spanish television contract. So his parents had to get a satellite to pick up RTL from Germany so they could watch Fernando racing for Minardi. That's the Fernando effect. You know, the popularity of Formula One in Spain is pretty much solely down to one Fernando Alonso, which is just astonishing. And I love that. So, yeah, total, total legend. Um, look, Spain's Spain. I've always enjoyed Barcelona as a Grand Prix. I, I, I love the city love, um, love it as a venue, love the, the fan base there. It's, it's pretty awesome.

8:09George Russell:Um, I think we used to spend so long there testing that by the time we got back there to race, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion. What was going to happen? Cause everyone had had so much time testing there. Um, everyone still does have so much data there, um, from so many years of running, But the fact that we don't really test there anymore, you know, is it is it more up in the air than it used to be? I'm not sure. Feels to me like it's going to play straight into Mercedes hands. Are we going to are we going to talk about ADUO and and what's been been figured out there? Because when we talk about Mercedes and the fact they have this huge advantage, surely the big shock of the week, folks, is the fact that the FIA have determined that Mercedes doesn't have the most powerful engine in Formula One.

8:52George Russell:That honour falls to Red Bull and Ford. So Red Bull and Racing Bulls aren't going to get any engine upgrades. Mercedes will get one. Ferrari, Audi and Aston Martin and Honda will get two. So the team that is running away with this world championship gets to upgrade their engine, which is wild.

9:17Max Verstappen:You would have thought. I mean, I think it's less shocking that Red Bull maybe have the fastest powertrain. although it is i mean that's a milestone for them right it's their first engine the first time red bull powertrains creates an engine and for them to be the quickest or have the most powerful engine is you've got to take your hat off to all the work that they've done there but what is more

9:35George Russell:but it's the last thing they wanted right because they wanted to be able to upgrade it of course but

9:40Max Verstappen:also you know that i think for me what the most what's more shocking is the fact that mercedes are going to have an upgrade i mean that to me is the one that goes whoa okay who saw that coming Yeah, look, well, power is nothing without control, I believe, as a strapline for a manufacturer. So having the most power doesn't mean you've got the most usable and drivable. And I think that's the thing that Mercedes Grand Prix came out of the blocks in Australia with more information on how to use their power unit. McLaren, if we remind ourselves, complained that they felt they'd been given a short straw in terms of they've got the same engine, but they didn't get all the operating systems.

10:17so let's not confuse outright power with the ability to put that down on the road and how many complaints did we have during the Monaco Grand Prix Hadjer had all sorts of issues with his engine Max clearly didn't manage to get even a racing lap in Lando had all that unpredictability so there's a lot there that's happening which doesn't tell you the full picture but just on Barcelona I agree with everyone about it awesome test track place that we lived at most of the time during the winter when we did tests back in the days. And it was always historically on the calendar before Monaco. So whoever was quick in the final sector, you would say they're going to be strong in Monaco.

10:55I think what we would have found is that Ferrari are quick in the final sector. Clearly their chassis was working well. Had Charles managed to finish the lap, he was marginally quicker than the pull time up until the point of impact with the barrier. So, you know, I think it will be back to the energy. it won't be energy rich the harvesting again will be an issue will be interesting to see of what we saw in Miami where that was less painful to observe whether that's the case in Barcelona so I've got an open mind I'm looking forward to going there in a couple of days and it's just down the road as well it's only about a five six hour drive from Monaco

11:35Max Verstappen:Interestingly enough I mean I've always found it's relatively surprising that even though the layout suggests that you can have a lot of overtaking in Barcelona and on top of that obviously it's very high deg um we don't often see much overtaken there's a lot of action in the race i think this year will probably be a little bit different given the nature of the of the of the regulations but it's always surprised me that's about barcelona i mean it's a track i've really enjoyed to drive as a racing driver i mean it does offer a lot there's a couple of really thrilling corners particularly turn nine it's one that you can never really i mean well you obviously do eventually but it's one where you've got to like convince your mind to keep your foot flat as many times as you tell yourself to keep your foot flat you just kind of always end up edging off of it a little bit um but dc i don't know what what what was your experience driving around barcelona was it a track you enjoyed yeah i did enjoy the track i never actually won there i had a few podiums um high speed as you say turn three especially is the real neck wrencher you know when you're pulling high lateral g-force through there um but i do think we will see a lot more overtaking there based on the season so far than we certainly saw in Monaco, that front straight, down into turn four, out of turn four, up through nine, and then down into the big stop, of course, into 10.

12:54So, yeah, expect better racing. Expect a bit more cat and mouse.

12:58George Russell:I think the thing with, you know, the energy recovery and everybody recharging, uh we could get we could get way more overtaking than we used to at this circuit whether it's actual overtaking or passing because they're you know they're recharging um is up for debate but i like the idea that they might be hitting a limiter early and then you get a nice pass into one you try and bring it back at two as you guys are saying you've got the long right hander at three up the hill if someone is having to kind of back off halfway up that because of their recharging strategy you've got a potential pass through three you've definitely got an option of four on the little rundown into five you've got that as well um you've got 10 you've got so many places where because of the weirdness of this year i'll be calling it overtaking or we're just saying there may be passes whatever we're calling it i think we may get some more action on track than we used to which could uh could make for a pretty exciting weekend i mean i'm excited to see as well

13:56Kimi Antonelli:how you know those that dnf bounce back i mean especially max i mean he obviously won his first ever Grand Prix at this track. And also, there's rumours that Red Bull are bringing, or I don't know if it's rumours, I think it's now confirmed that Red Bull are bringing upgrades to Barcelona. So I'm excited to see Max, but also all of our other big drivers, George, Charles, Lando, not finishing at Monaco. I think this is going to be a great race. I love double headers. I love back-to-back. You're recovering from one then we're straight into another. It's like a dream for an F1 fan.

14:26Max Verstappen:Yeah, plenty of recovery especially for DC as well. Yeah, it's a little too back to back. But yeah, and just on the set of challenges that this circuit, you know, brings up is also, as I mentioned, is tyre deg. And this year, they've gone a step softer on the compounds. And, you know, typically the drivers have always had to almost nurse their tyres through the lap because of tyre temperatures. And, you know, a couple of years back, they used to have that very slow chicane in sector three, which they've taken away. And they've now got the FOSS double right-hander. So that just puts even more pressure on those left-hand tyres.

14:58Max Verstappen:And so, yeah, there's going to be a lot of things for them to be managing. Maybe we'll see more stops than usual. I don't know. It's always been a multi-stop race, but it'll be interesting to see how those sort of drivers bounce back and maybe take advantage in those areas as well.

15:12Kimi Antonelli:What we haven't done in a while is a prediction. And I feel as if we should. We're into the swing of the season. Anyone else up for it?

15:21Max Verstappen:Absolutely. Yeah, I think it's going to be George's comeback. George is going to win in Barcelona and he's going to come out swinging. and it's going to be like Rocky 3.

15:32George Russell:Kimi for the win. Kimi six in a row. He is breathing rarefied air. There is a looseness, a joy, just a oneness that Kimi has at the moment that I think is going to be really, really hard for anybody to topple. He's got almost twice the points of his teammate heading into Barcelona. You don't drive the way that Kimi drove at Monaco unless you are in a very, very comfortable place. Yeah, difficult to argue with that.

16:03Kimi Antonelli:I honestly retweet, obviously I am going quickly. I feel like I set this trend between the four of us, I just want to say. So Will, I'm glad you're now on side.

16:14Max Verstappen:On board. Well, okay, then let me give my final prediction. I mean, really, it's going to be one of the two of them, I think is the conclusion. I would probably lean towards DC on this one in that I think given we're going back to a more traditional circuit, George will be able to just do his thing a little bit more, more comfortably. Whereas Kimi, I think he's had his advantage on trickier sort of street circuit-y circuits where he, you know, given he's not afraid of the limits, he just goes for it. Whereas George might be a bit more reserved. Here, I think George will be full beans, full beans.

16:41Max Verstappen:But let's just go back. Let's think about Lando. Where will his mind frame be? I know DCU was saying he's young. He's a world champion. He's good looking. He's got no tears in his eyes. But how is he bouncing back this weekend? because I know he's obviously got this world title, but you don't want to fall back and lag, right? You want to try to get the team as close to the front and back to the podium, right? Yeah, look, he's not going to do back-to-back world championships on the basis of what we've seen so far. But McLaren, when they have put themselves in the window, which happened in Miami in the sprint, they were able to get the success there.