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go to monday.com. Hello

0:38

everybody and welcome back

0:41

to the P1 podcast with Matt

0:44

and Tommy. My god, I've

0:46

never felt more,

0:48

more just all over the

0:50

place. I don't know

0:52

what's going on. Tommy, what

0:54

is happening? This is the

0:57

emergency podcast of all emergency podcasts.

0:59

I cannot believe we're here. We've

1:02

literally just recorded a predictions

1:05

video where we didn't even mention

1:07

about Lewis Hamilton and George Russell or

1:10

Mercedes because they were locked in and

1:12

of course a few days later it's like okay

1:15

biggest bombshell in Formula One history. I

1:20

can't get over this. I can't get over

1:22

this. Lewis Hamilton is joining Ferrari in 2025.

1:24

What is happening? Are we awake right

1:29

now? Am I gonna just be like, oh that

1:31

was a, God that was genuinely, I would think

1:33

this was a weird dream. I'd be like Tommy,

1:35

you never guessed what I dreamt of last night.

1:38

Lewis Hamilton joined in Ferrari. Oh shut up Matt. Do you

1:40

have some cheese before you went to bed? You know what

1:42

I mean? Like that? What's

1:45

going on? I don't know what's going

1:47

on especially because we hyped up silly

1:49

season this year and all the

1:51

driver contracts are out of contract and then Charles

1:55

gets announced at the same team. Landa gets announced

1:57

at the same team and we're going, oh

1:59

god. It's going to be the same, isn't

2:01

it? But no, Hamilton drops

2:04

the chaos bomb of all chaos

2:06

bombs and oh my word. I,

2:09

it still can't compute in my brain

2:11

that this is happening. It is probably

2:13

the most exciting, insane

2:15

Formula One news ever,

2:19

maybe. I literally can't remember a

2:22

crazier moment in terms

2:24

of like silly season is absolutely mad. It

2:27

doesn't feel real. Like this does not feel

2:29

tangible. You know, you see the announcement and

2:31

you're just like, huh?

2:34

Huh? Yeah, the driver that was

2:36

not, we've had these rumors before, especially like

2:39

Hamilton joining Ferrari has always been a thing.

2:41

So every time it comes up, you go,

2:44

nah. Yeah, it has been

2:46

rumoured before, hasn't it? Many times he's

2:48

got a close relationship with Ferrari. He

2:50

likes Ferrari buys, you know,

2:53

he's bought Ferrari cars before and he

2:55

knows the the president of

2:57

Ferrari and things like that. But you always just

2:59

go, oh, this is just silly season rumours trying

3:01

to get a story. And then it's like, oh,

3:04

it's being reported here. It's being reported here. It's being reported

3:06

here. It's like, this is happening.

3:09

Oh my God. And this is

3:11

unbelievable. I can't, it

3:14

is just the most

3:16

insane news ever is mad.

3:19

And this is how I know deep down that

3:21

I love formula one to the absolute core of

3:23

my being because I see that news and then

3:26

just like running around the house.

3:28

What do I do? We're texting each

3:30

other. Like what happens now, Tommy, like

3:32

not only Hamilton joining Ferrari, but then

3:35

how does the domino effect? Is this

3:37

the small domino? And then the big

3:39

domino is, I don't know, Nicholas Latifi

3:41

returns. What's going to be the end,

3:44

the end thing here? Because clearly this is not

3:46

just going to be a one move thing. This

3:49

is going to cause chaos. Utter

3:52

chaos. This is what

3:54

it reminds me of is, and it's

3:57

also a similar time. if

4:00

you remember the the Covid year where

4:02

we didn't actually start the season till

4:04

later on and we it

4:06

was announced that Sebastian Vettel

4:08

was leaving Ferrari and that

4:11

caused a big domino effect, but it was for

4:13

the year after Before

4:16

the season had even started and and that is

4:18

the crazy thing that Hamilton

4:21

is joining Ferrari that is absolutely

4:23

mind-blowing But we're going

4:25

into this season and he will be driving

4:27

from Mercedes still That

4:29

to me is crazy. It's not even like it's happened halfway

4:31

through the season. It's like, oh, okay We've got another whole

4:34

year of this the constant rumors, you

4:36

know What Mercedes a good wife Ferrari get bad

4:38

like cuz he made the right choice. It's gonna

4:40

be Crazy and then like you

4:42

say this is just gonna be the domino effect

4:45

that just causes absolute carnage so

4:47

I think on that point let's let's dissect what

4:49

you just said there because Why

4:51

now that is a really good question, which I

4:54

don't think it is actually in our list of

4:56

questions Someone did say why now? Luke

4:58

Luke up high Why

5:01

before we've even seen the 20 24 car? Let

5:04

me read that out then look up high comes in with

5:06

why before we even see the 2024

5:09

car wouldn't Hamilton at least wait to see

5:11

if Mercedes made a step forward before thinking

5:13

about a move to Ferrari It's

5:16

a very good point. He's given up on Mercedes Before

5:19

he's even seen the car roll out in

5:22

2024 and you would think Lewis Hamilton the

5:24

statistical greatest of all time has

5:27

the Flexibility

5:29

to decide when he wants to go

5:32

You know at whatever point of pleasing

5:34

that he desires, right? Like you would

5:36

think for I would take him halfway through

5:38

the 2024 season What I'm

5:41

wondering is whether there is a chain of

5:43

events going on here where Hamilton's had to

5:45

decide sooner than perhaps Ideal

5:47

because from a business perspective from

5:49

a driver's perspective. It doesn't make All

5:53

that much sense. He hasn't even had testing and

5:55

he's gone. Nope. I'm done. Nope all good

5:58

Especially as well when you hear these members of, oh

6:01

well, the first time in three

6:03

years the car actually was drivable

6:05

on the simulator, says Anthony Davidson. And

6:08

it's like, Hamilton's gone, no I don't believe you, I'm

6:10

out. Yeah it's crazy,

6:12

the only thing that springs to mind

6:14

is potentially the fact that Charla

6:17

Claire has locked in this big contract with

6:19

Ferrari of course and science

6:23

hadn't yet so maybe it was that case

6:25

of like if Hamilton wanted to do this

6:29

it has to be now like it is literally

6:31

a like take the

6:33

leap now because science hasn't signed and

6:36

we'll get into science later because this

6:38

is going to be another fascinating kind

6:40

of aspect to it but

6:42

maybe that is it that the science

6:44

hadn't signed yet so it was literally like

6:46

Hamilton could have these talks now that's

6:49

one side of it the other side of it is

6:52

that my

6:54

word what is

6:56

that w14 like that Hamilton sat in

6:58

it and gone, peace

7:01

I'm off. I

7:04

don't think it'll be that bad but it

7:07

can't be a great car. He must be

7:09

judging it from his previous experiences and going

7:11

well they can't have changed it that much

7:13

because we haven't had the regulation changes yet

7:15

so clearly Hamilton doesn't think that there is

7:17

that that he that they

7:20

can close the chasm between themselves

7:22

and Red Bull before 2025 so instead

7:24

he's gone well you know

7:26

what I've always wanted to be

7:28

in red overalls. Exactly, last roll of

7:30

a dice you know he's not he's

7:33

not got loads of time left maybe he will

7:35

stay for a bit longer and maybe he will

7:37

want to see to 2026 but

7:40

yeah we all we

7:43

were I think everyone was mentally

7:45

prepared that Hamilton would end his

7:48

career at Mercedes it just seemed

7:50

so certain and

7:52

for him to take that switch now is

7:56

mind-blowing and so

7:58

unbelievably exciting. well. Now

8:01

Tommy, I want to,

8:03

I know it's usually fan questions that

8:05

we read out, but I want to

8:07

submit my own question, which is, so

8:10

Matt P1 Gallagher comes in with what's

8:13

going to happen to Leclerc. Very

8:15

good point. Because Ferrari

8:20

have, you know, stated and

8:22

been very clear that Leclerc is

8:25

the golden boy. He is the number

8:28

one kind of, I mean, Ferrari haven't exactly

8:30

executed the greatest of strategies with him. But

8:33

we all believe that Leclerc was the one that

8:35

Ferrari were channeling all their resources into to make

8:37

sure that he stays for as long as possible

8:39

to win world championships. And

8:41

now Lewis Hamilton's joining the team. And

8:44

Lewis Hamilton is not a number two driver. Now

8:46

on one side of me being

8:49

a massive Leclerc fan, I am

8:51

so excited to see how those

8:53

two stack up against each other

8:55

in the team. Yeah. Like I

8:57

am so unbelievably Peggy 18

9:01

thinking about that. Right. But

9:03

on the flip side, I

9:06

am scared. I am

9:09

absolutely petrified that Lewis Hamilton is going to come

9:11

in and just wipe the floor

9:13

with it with with with Charles. And I

9:16

then worry about what the future might look like.

9:18

But that's just the pessimism inside

9:21

of me. It does. It does

9:23

make you wonder, like, I personally

9:25

think that Charles has

9:27

the talent to be able

9:29

to compete with Hamilton. I'm

9:32

not saying he's better driver than Hamilton, but like,

9:34

he is so unbelievably quick. I think he's one

9:37

of the best drivers in Formula One. So he

9:39

has what it takes.

9:43

But apart

9:45

from that, your side, you've got to think what

9:47

Charles thinking that he's just signed this massive new

9:50

contract with Ferrari. And then they're like, right,

9:53

your teammate is now seven time

9:55

world champion Lewis Hamilton. And he's like, Oh,

9:57

okay. Because

10:03

regardless of how much you

10:06

back yourself, they

10:08

have signed the

10:10

most legendary Formula One

10:12

driver of this era. A

10:16

huge star. He's not there

10:18

to be my number two driver, is

10:21

he? He's come to win the World

10:23

Championship. But I

10:26

want to win the World Championship for Ferrari. This is

10:28

like my dream. And that

10:30

whole dynamic is completely flipped.

10:32

Like, it's insane. So there's

10:35

a dynamic that you have been

10:37

constantly bringing up on the podcast

10:39

around Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

10:42

And if they have a championship winning car, they will

10:44

take points off of each other. We then

10:46

go to Lewis Hamilton with Charles Leclerc, which

10:48

I think is even stronger in some senses

10:51

because of Charles' love for Ferrari and wanting

10:53

to win a world title with them. And

10:55

then of course Hamilton wanting to get that

10:57

eighth. That could be, as

10:59

much as Charles is a very nice,

11:02

polite human being, you do wonder

11:04

whether there will be that clash

11:07

between the two of them where

11:09

both of their ambitions just collide.

11:12

And it absolutely petrifies me. I

11:14

know I say like Lewis Hamilton wiping

11:16

the floor with him, but I don't believe

11:18

he'll do it. I think that Charles will

11:21

be there with him and, you know,

11:23

delusion, whatever. But I still believe Charles

11:25

has the talent, especially in the races.

11:27

We've seen that time and time again.

11:29

And also, of course, in qualifying, he's

11:31

an outstanding qualifier. But there is

11:34

something that really concerns me that Ferrari

11:36

have found something, which is great. They've

11:39

sold Hamilton the dream. Hamilton joins wins

11:41

the eighth world title and Charles Leclerc

11:43

finally has a world title winning car

11:45

and doesn't win the world championship. I

11:48

would internally combust. Yeah, it's

11:51

so true. Like it is

11:53

absolutely insane that you

11:56

can't you can't even claim that Hamilton has left.

12:00

because he's scared

12:02

of George Russell, which of course there's no

12:04

chance that's the case because he

12:07

was so good and wiped the floor with

12:09

him really last last year. And they had

12:11

their moments where they were like colliding and

12:13

I did say that it's an interesting narrative

12:15

where George is the future of that

12:17

team how long do they keep pushing it with Hamilton.

12:20

Now that that whole problem

12:23

has gone to Ferrari where

12:25

you've got the young up-and-coming

12:27

talent who has shown that

12:29

he can win races, he's

12:31

so loyal to Ferrari, but

12:34

then you've got you've got

12:36

this. It's absolutely crazy

12:40

and it's such a

12:43

bonkers move for so many reasons. I

12:45

absolutely love it. I

12:47

am one of these people that have always wanted to

12:49

see Los Hummones and join Ferrari. I

12:52

think it's just such an exciting thing to

12:54

see. One

12:57

of the greatest of all

12:59

time and one of the most legendary drivers

13:02

probably like arguably like top

13:04

two or three if not the most

13:06

legendary Formula One driver ever with the

13:08

most legendary team ever is

13:10

with the most legendary up-and-coming world

13:12

champion in Charles Leclerc. But

13:16

like what a combination and that is

13:18

probably why he's he's gone for

13:20

it. He has been lured in by

13:22

the the love of Ferrari.

13:26

It shows that for

13:29

all the memes and the

13:31

jokes about haha clown strategy

13:33

all this Ferrari can

13:36

still bring in a

13:38

driver like that because they're

13:40

Ferrari. There's something

13:42

about it they are just you

13:45

know look what Vettel did like he

13:47

went there, Alonso went there and

13:50

Michael Schumacher went there. Great

13:52

times. Yeah well exactly and yeah

13:55

you can argue that Schumacher went

13:57

it went really well but The

14:00

other two, like Alonzo and Vettel, when it didn't

14:02

work out, but Hamilton's seen that and he's still

14:05

like, yeah, I want to drive

14:07

for Ferrari. It just shows the pull they

14:09

have. I've actually

14:11

realized what the, I reckon,

14:13

the last bit of pull that was necessary for

14:15

Hamilton to join Ferrari. Do you know what it

14:17

is? Company car? No,

14:20

well, that. But also, I think

14:23

Hamilton looked last year and saw just

14:25

how much fun Carlos Saenz and Charlotte

14:27

Claire had when they did the alphabet

14:29

game with us. So

14:32

I think Hamilton wants a piece of that. He does.

14:35

I think he saw that, you know, he's going to

14:37

get an opportunity to potentially form a P1 and gone,

14:40

that's it. He wants to do an hour

14:42

podcast with us where we talk about his

14:44

hair in a Zambourd hotel. That

14:47

is clearly the reason. Yeah, absolutely.

14:49

Right. Next question. Let's

14:53

go with O2

14:55

Rachel D. Who would

14:57

Ferrari base their car on? Seven-time

14:59

world champion or possible future world

15:01

champion? Now, I

15:04

think this particular question is

15:06

obviously slightly looking at,

15:09

hey, what Red Bull do with Max Verstappen and

15:11

all that good stuff. Even though Alex Albon very

15:14

eloquently explained that it's

15:16

kind of based on Max Verstappen,

15:18

but not as much as everyone says. It's not like nobody

15:20

else can drive the car. It's just that if you're the

15:22

fastest driver, you are going to get preferential

15:25

development paths and that sort of

15:27

stuff. Hamilton

15:30

can't just join and be like, I like it like

15:32

this. And then they go, oh,

15:35

God, drop all the tools. We need to change

15:37

everything to what Hamilton likes. I

15:39

don't necessarily see that. Charles, of course, is the

15:41

one that's bedded in and Ferrari is

15:43

just going to build a car. And

15:45

then depending on how long Hamilton decides to stay at Ferrari,

15:48

there may well be a shape in it depending

15:50

on how well they do. So I think it

15:52

is very much based upon who

15:54

is doing the best because I know for a fact

15:56

Ferrari won't make a decision on who they're going to

15:58

actually. back in this

16:01

scenario because they, I can

16:03

imagine they have a board meeting and they go, Oh,

16:06

we've signed them as Hamilton. And

16:08

then they all just sit around and go.

16:10

So who do we want to

16:12

win now then? Yeah,

16:15

I think there is, there is like, I

16:18

wonder how much of it from the other

16:21

side, like I said that Hamilton

16:23

sees that legendary Ferrari status and

16:25

wants to, wants a bit of that.

16:28

The other side, Ferrari still

16:32

want that kind of like, we're the biggest team

16:34

in Formula One, we can get Lewis Hamilton on

16:36

board. And they've not really

16:38

thought it through properly. It's kind of

16:41

like, you know, signing

16:44

the two best football players in the world that play

16:46

in the same position or something. And you're like, this

16:49

is great on paper, but what do

16:51

we do now where you kind of want that, but

16:53

then you go, is this going to work? So yeah,

16:57

it's going to be fascinating to see if they

17:00

do that. We've seen before that,

17:02

say 2022, Carlos

17:04

Sainz struggled with how the car was going, it

17:06

suited Char down to the ground, then Carlos got

17:09

more confident. Then there was that bit in the

17:11

middle of the season last year where Sainz

17:14

was looking like the absolute goat and performing really

17:16

well. So it would

17:18

be fascinating to see which direction

17:21

they go in. But for

17:23

me, Hamilton is one of, if not

17:28

the best driver in terms of

17:30

adaptability, the fact that he's gone through

17:33

so many eras. I know he hasn't

17:35

been to this because Tommy is gassing

17:37

Hamilton up though, tomorrow in this podcast.

17:40

So just write it down. Okay. Most

17:42

legendary, most adaptable, like this man,

17:45

you're getting ready for a shell video

17:47

with him, aren't you? With the alphabet challenge. I see

17:49

it already, but he is

17:52

the most, I know

17:54

he's not one in this new era, but like

17:57

we've mentioned many times, not many people have. He

18:00

has adapted every year from like

18:02

when he started to them completely

18:05

changing the cars in like 2009 and

18:09

he won again and they changed it

18:11

again to like

18:13

the hybrids and he won again and they changed it

18:15

to wider cars and he won again and he

18:18

has shown himself to be able to adapt to

18:20

these cars so that's why I think that whatever

18:23

the Ferrari is like Hamilton

18:25

will be able to drive it and get

18:28

the best out of it so yeah it's

18:30

gonna be it's gonna be so fascinating

18:32

to see how they

18:34

how it goes

18:36

down because the fact that

18:39

they now have this driver dynamic

18:41

the one I mentioned so many

18:43

times about the problem with

18:45

George Russell and Hamilton being teammates it's now

18:47

just shifted to Ferrari and now we see

18:49

is it is

18:51

Hamilton's idea literally the fact that he's

18:53

gonna give it a couple more years

18:55

I don't think this

18:57

is the case I'm sure he's gonna say exactly the same

19:00

that no way is just the case but two more years

19:02

I've driven for Charlotte Grabick on this bubble world

19:04

chat oh no but like he's

19:07

driven for Ferrari and he's kind of took that

19:09

off his f1 bucket list and he goes he's

19:12

gonna want to win a fair minimum I think

19:14

that's the bare minimum is I've gone to Ferrari

19:16

I've driven I've always wanted to do and

19:19

then upwards from that is winning and world

19:21

titles welcome

19:28

to your 2023 work recap this year you've

19:30

been to 127 sync meetings you spent 56

19:32

minutes searching

19:35

for files and almost missed eight

19:37

deadlines yikes 2024 10 and should sound different

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with monday.com you can work together easily

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learn more I'm

19:57

Chris Marshall Bell and this is Go

19:59

ghost in the machine. This was a

20:02

really existential threat to the sport.

20:05

In 2016, a Belgian cyclist, Bemke van

20:07

der Riescher, became the only cyclist ever

20:09

to be banned by authorities for having

20:12

a motor in her bike. Do you

20:14

think she was a victim? I'm really

20:17

convinced about it, yeah. But many

20:19

believe some of the sport's top

20:21

riders have won the biggest races

20:24

using undetectable machines hidden deep inside

20:26

their bikes. We have found evidence

20:28

of motorbikes sold to a

20:31

pro team. Join us as we

20:33

peer beneath the surface of cycling's

20:36

most incredible discovery and beyond, as

20:39

we seek answers inside a sport that

20:41

seems unwilling to face up to yet

20:43

another scandal. I'm still very angry, yeah.

20:45

From stock comes ghost in the machine.

20:48

Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. So

20:50

we are 20 metres away from the house

20:52

and it says very clearly, van der Riescher.

20:59

Now something that I'm really interested

21:01

to see is how

21:03

Hamilton firstly copes with integrating

21:05

into an Italian Formula One team, which

21:07

is something that is not the easiest

21:10

thing in the world to do. You know, they, Ferrari,

21:12

expect you to relocate and all this sort of stuff

21:14

and try and embed yourself

21:16

in the team like Ferrari.

21:18

But also, how

21:20

is he going to cope when he has a 12 second pit

21:22

stop at Hungary? Well, how is he

21:24

going to cope when they don't

21:26

pit him for hard tyres at the end of

21:29

a race at Silverstone? What

21:31

I think he's going to do is he's going to pit anyway. That's

21:34

what I'm really interested to see is can Hamilton

21:36

tidy up the areas where Ferrari are lacking and

21:38

have been lacking? And

21:41

this is what we've discussed before, where it's like a

21:43

Verstappen went there or a Hamilton. Oh my God, it's

21:45

happening. It still doesn't feel real. But

21:47

having someone like Hamilton go into Ferrari, I

21:49

feel like he genuinely will just tie

21:52

the loose knots and just figure stuff

21:55

out. And he

21:57

could win another five world titles with Ferrari. probably

22:01

not going to happen but we

22:03

are going to see what it's potentially like for

22:06

Ferrari to actually work well

22:08

maybe fingers crossed. Yeah yeah but we

22:10

like you said we've had those discussions

22:13

of like maybe Ferrari need to go

22:15

back to the Schumacher era where someone

22:17

comes in and they demand it like

22:19

Charlotte Claire is an unbelievable driver like

22:22

I've said many times on this podcast

22:24

and you have said many times on

22:26

this podcast. Don't say that. But

22:30

his one slight flaw is that he's

22:32

maybe too much of a nice guy

22:35

and he will come into the pits

22:38

and yeah he would just

22:40

be like yeah great whereas things that

22:42

come to mind is you

22:45

know where there were

22:48

moments where Hamilton was gonna I think pit

22:50

for fastest lap in one of the races

22:52

and you know his tires were worn

22:54

and he remembered back in like China

22:57

2007 when he rolled into the pits

22:59

and he thinks about things

23:01

like that and that's the kind of thing I think

23:03

that could really help Ferrari where they go

23:05

you need to pit for

23:08

interest and Hamilton would be the kind of ballsy

23:10

driver that goes I'm the driver

23:13

I know exactly what these tires are

23:15

doing this is what we should

23:18

be doing and he just does it and

23:20

that is something that I

23:22

think Ferrari desperately need and

23:25

it's what is and it to be fair it's what Carlos

23:28

has done every now and then but

23:30

Carlos has Carlos

23:34

has always been like maybe not

23:36

as quick as Charles but he's maybe got

23:38

the brain power to

23:42

more of that racing brain power savage I

23:44

think it's more just the

23:46

fact that he's he is more

23:48

savage I think that's probably more

23:51

the case yeah yeah has a

23:53

very high functioning brain Tommy and

23:55

brain power is sorry I

23:57

know what you mean that one off my god

24:00

I'm not calling Charles Eclair stupid,

24:02

even though he himself, he calls

24:04

himself stupid. But yeah, I'm

24:06

saying that, yeah, he would, he would

24:09

basically be more ruthless and be like, no, this is

24:11

what we're doing. And to

24:13

have a quick driver like that. And

24:16

in that situation, yeah, that's why he's been so

24:18

hard to be. That's why he's won loads of

24:20

World Championships. So it's going to be exciting. But

24:23

of course, does mean

24:25

that car losses. Well, well,

24:28

yeah, that's a great question, Tommy. That is a

24:30

question from Misa Iwaki. What's happening

24:33

to Carlos? A

24:35

big question. We have just done

24:37

our 2025 driver team predictions. And

24:40

I feel like Tommy might be on to something now, because

24:43

I thought he'd stay for another year and

24:45

perhaps he was going to had Hamilton decided,

24:47

actually, I want to come. As

24:50

of recording right now, we don't know what's happening to Carlos.

24:53

We also don't know who's joining Mercedes. So we're going to

24:55

discuss that now. And for

24:58

Carlos, I mean, do you just see it

25:00

being the route that you expected now, Tommy? I

25:03

do. There

25:05

is, of course, now the fact that that's happened.

25:09

There is a possibility that it could just

25:11

be a straight swap for Mercedes. I

25:14

do wonder if Mercedes now with these rumors

25:16

and how much maybe

25:18

it's been maybe they've been blindsided, because

25:21

from what we've seen on Twitter, this

25:23

has happened very quickly. It's been like,

25:26

oh, I think this is happening to. Oh, my God, it's

25:28

happening. So you've got to think that normally

25:30

these things appear out with constant

25:32

rumors for weeks and weeks and weeks and then it

25:34

happens. So you've got to think that Mercedes

25:38

surely didn't know that this was going to

25:40

happen this quickly. They surely don't have a

25:43

driver locked in already. And

25:45

with these Formula One teams, they always like to do

25:47

it where they like to save

25:49

themselves the blushes, even if it maybe is

25:51

quite a snap decision. They're like, oh, we

25:53

don't want to look silly that Hamilton's left.

25:55

We want to almost announce first, blah, blah,

25:57

blah to Mercedes and things like that. I

26:01

think there is a possibility for Carlos to go

26:03

there because it would be that he's

26:05

a great driver Think you'd work very

26:07

well with George Russell actually be a quick

26:09

driver pairing However,

26:12

I Do

26:14

think Carlos is best bet is to build

26:16

that Audi team around him and now he's

26:18

got that perfect opportunity to

26:21

do that where To go and drive a driver for

26:23

a ride for a drive S box for a year Hope

26:27

Audi build the engine of all engines for the

26:29

new engine regs in 2026 and

26:32

he's laughing like Lewis Hamilton did in 2014

26:34

that he's got a car that's five seconds quicker

26:36

than everyone else don't know if that's necessarily gonna

26:39

happen But it's the gamble worth

26:41

doing I think but then of course that

26:44

is thrilling because If

26:47

he does I kind of want him to do

26:49

that because it also leaves a slot Mercedes and

26:51

then the puzzle just keeps the Dominos just keep

26:53

falling and it's like another change

26:55

another change another change and we can constantly

26:57

be like Excited for

26:59

drivers just going everywhere exactly,

27:02

and I guess you know Makes

27:05

I wouldn't say the most sense from a car loss

27:08

science perspective as I kind of argued that I just

27:10

think it'd be a Waste of a year for him

27:12

to go into a car That's not going to be

27:14

anything like the new regulations that we have in 2026.

27:16

Yeah, he'll embed himself in the team Realistically,

27:19

I don't think that's a huge advantage and probably

27:21

will feel like a missed year for Carlos But

27:24

maybe that's the only route he has now

27:26

because I can't there makes no sense for a

27:29

straight swap Especially if Carlos has his sights

27:31

set at Aldi for 2026. Why would you go

27:33

to Mercedes for a year? It's a waste

27:35

for Mercedes and it's a waste for Carlos because

27:37

you're putting resources into a driver. That's not

27:39

going to stay so for me I Know

27:43

that there's one man. There is one man

27:46

That is sat here With

27:50

or without a cigar, I don't know just feels like it kind

27:52

of The image just

27:55

is a boss Is

27:57

mr. Fernando Alonso just sitting back?

28:00

quietly looking

28:02

at all of this drama because he

28:04

loves a bit of transfer driver market

28:07

silly season drama and he will at

28:10

any point burn a contract

28:12

to go somewhere else. I genuinely

28:15

think Alonso will go to Mercedes. That

28:17

would be wild. We're gonna have to do

28:20

our silly season again aren't we? Our

28:23

predictions are finished now mate

28:26

but why not? Why

28:28

not? Because surely you want

28:30

Mercedes want a driver that is performing at the

28:33

absolute top notch. If you have car loss signs

28:35

go there, one it's a waste and

28:37

two car loss

28:39

signs in George Russell are you extracting

28:41

the absolute thousandth

28:44

out of that car? I would

28:46

say not if you compare it to Fernando Alonso.

28:48

Fernando Alonso was a top three driver last year

28:50

we saw incredible performances from him. Why

28:53

not? What

28:56

a move that would be for Alonso. I'm

28:58

sure he has in his contract with Aston

29:00

if it's rubbish then I can leave and

29:02

maybe if he hasn't won or something there

29:04

must be something to get Alonso out of

29:06

there. He's the burner of all bridges. He

29:08

knows how to get out of contract. I

29:12

see it. I genuinely would love to see because

29:14

Alonso and Russell they get on so well as

29:16

well. They do yeah they're like

29:18

besties they're playing ping pong on

29:20

private jets. I think Fernando

29:23

will genuinely go to Mercedes. Oh

29:26

my god this silly season is

29:29

the goat and I'm so

29:31

excited I just can't wait to see how it's gonna

29:34

pan out like that is a good theory. I think

29:37

the options for me of if science

29:39

does go to stake I

29:41

see it between Ocon,

29:45

Albon and yeah

29:48

maybe Alonso is a

29:50

good shout. It all

29:52

depends what Mercedes

29:54

want to do. Like

29:56

we said that Ferrari now have this problem

29:58

but is it Mercedes? Now,

30:01

is it

30:04

their chance to basically go, right,

30:07

George is the golden boy now, put

30:10

someone in that's going to grow with him?

30:13

You could argue, Esmernock

30:15

on and the teammate is not the

30:17

best idea. I can't

30:19

leave his own Formula One team. Yeah,

30:22

I can't a One Driver team, yeah.

30:26

But Alex Albon, maybe.

30:29

I think he'd be a

30:31

great number two driver

30:33

to George, no disrespect to Albon. I think he'd

30:35

be quick. He wouldn't be like complete

30:38

number two driver, but I think he'd

30:40

be that good level where he wouldn't

30:43

it wouldn't be too chaotic and they're good mates

30:45

as well. So what I would

30:47

say, Tommy is and

30:50

I mean, no disrespect to GR 63. Has

30:54

he proved he

30:56

is the golden boy for

30:58

Mercedes moving forward? Because

31:00

for me, he's had some standout performances. Of course, he

31:02

won at Brazil. He's one of the only drivers to

31:04

have won in the last couple of years, but

31:09

he's also had a very lackluster season

31:11

last year in particular. So

31:14

for me, Mercedes, when you look at, you know,

31:16

when you look at the results, of

31:18

course, he beat Hamilton the year before. But

31:21

of course, team will argue that to the

31:23

hills that there was reliability and testing

31:25

new sets up for the rubbish car and that sort

31:27

of stuff. So

31:29

for me, I don't think that Mercedes are in

31:32

the position to go, yes, George, you are our

31:34

future. You are our next 10 world 10 time

31:36

world champion. So that's why

31:38

I'm entertaining the fact that I think Alonzo would.

31:41

I think Alonzo would be a fantastic just for a year

31:43

or two, warm that seat up

31:45

for Kimi Antonelli. And then

31:47

you're absolutely flying. I feel like that is

31:50

the future. But

31:52

as of right now, I think Alonzo has a couple

31:55

of years, gets a few wins, maybe

31:57

even a world championship if Mercedes sort their life

31:59

out. my god Formula One would be a

32:01

better place for it. And also you've got to

32:03

think with the greatest respect to

32:05

someone like Alex Albon or Ocon or

32:07

someone, Formula One

32:10

management and stuff is a game

32:13

of egos and

32:15

like I mentioned earlier, Mercedes are

32:17

going to be embarrassed that Lewis Hamilton has left that team,

32:20

a legendary driver like Lewis

32:22

Hamilton has left them, he doesn't believe

32:24

in them and what better way

32:26

to be like flex your

32:28

muscles and be like we've got

32:30

Alonso. Like that is a big

32:32

statement to be like we've got

32:35

Fernando Alonso whereas Alex

32:37

Albon he's had a

32:39

fantastic year, he's been really really good

32:42

but it's not like you know

32:44

you're out you see like oh

32:46

my god Alex Albon's gone there

32:48

whereas Alonso is like huge PR

32:50

like oh my god Alonso's

32:52

gone to Mercedes it's massive like they are

32:55

a huge manufacturer that have just lost the

32:58

most commercially you

33:00

know most commercial

33:02

driver the sport's ever seen and they

33:07

they're going to want to

33:09

replace him with someone massive so yeah Alonso

33:11

does the more we're talking about it Alonso

33:13

doesn't make more sense. Oh

33:15

my god I love it of course. I

33:18

know genuinely the 2024 preseason has been best

33:20

for 2023 the whole of it. Oh

33:24

what a year already. Oh

33:27

my god I am like oh now I'm

33:29

like why can't it be now? Why

33:31

do we have to wait a year to see how

33:33

was it at Ferrari? Just

33:36

say them out loud how is that real? Like

33:38

that's not real. I can't. We

33:41

could genuinely talk about this for 15 hours

33:43

I think and I think

33:45

we will also do another video slash podcast

33:47

just kind of talking about the whole connotations

33:49

of what is this move genuinely

33:51

going to do to the whole driver market.

33:55

We're going to maybe let the dust settle slightly with

33:57

this one just to kind of figure out what is

33:59

actually going on. But Tommy,

34:01

unless you have anything else to add,

34:04

give me your final thoughts. My

34:06

final thoughts are just thank

34:09

you, the silly season gods.

34:11

We were starved last season and you've dropped the

34:14

greatest one in the history of Formula One. So

34:16

thank you. Yeah, I would

34:19

say similarly, I am so

34:21

excited to see Hamilton at Ferrari. I

34:23

think that it's going to be

34:26

an insane partnership between him and

34:28

Leclerc. And I

34:31

just really pray that, I

34:33

don't know, on one side I'm like, I really want Ferrari

34:35

to be really, really good. But secondly, I want Charles

34:38

to get a world championship. So that's going to be

34:40

a conversation later down the line, I think. But anyway,

34:42

we'll get on to that one. Am

34:44

I going to cry or am I going to be happy? We'll

34:46

have to find out. See you soon, everybody. Lots of love. Bye.

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