Weekend Warm-Up | 2024 Spanish Grand Prix

welcome to a venue which has seen some landmarked days in the great history of Formula 1 and the Grand Prix is go oh look at that damage oh contact the wheels come up for Mercedes Spain for me is the best country in the world is always your home Grand Prix where you want to deliver something extra Fernando Alonso that was a late move we have seen so much Formula 1 history through the years at this V [Applause] [Music] you there is no other circuit on the Formula 1 Calendar that the drivers know better whether in real life or from simulations this is f1's proving ground we are back at the circuit to Barcelona catalunia but a lot later in the season than we are used to welcome folks to your weekend warm up from here in the pit Lane in Spain with me will buckton with her Ruth busam Ruth it's great to be back here in we got some czecho fans but it's great to be back in Spain just a few eh yeah it's I mean it it feels like coming home honestly you know we were saying this morning it's the only constant in my entire life you know you changed countries you changed teams but we come back here every year and you started your career off as a Sim engineer so do you have nightmares about this place for the sheer number of laps that you've gone through mentally over the years yeah I could probably draw the tarmac from memory as could probably pretty much most of the engineers mechanics and drivers in this pit Lane it is uh an astonishing place to keep coming back to uh of course Spain has two drivers in the field both gunning for victory this weekend Carlos Saints and Fernando Alonso the future of Formula 1 in Spain is bright we are moving to Madrid in 2026 and with that in mind the 2026 technical regulations were brought out just a few days ago a really promising start uh I think to look towards the future how they will develop over time as the teams all have their say and they develop into what 2026 will be uh incredibly positive but they here in the now Ruth is this weekend's Grand Prix we're here more than a month later than we normally are it's bucketed down with rain today but it should be dry tomorrow dry for Saturday but a chance a CH I don't know small or medium or large chance of rain on race day itself well here comes the statistics so climatologically the chance of rain you know at this time of year it's pretty low on any given day but for Sunday we do have a 60% chance of raining the morning that drops to a 40% chance of rain during the race but I will say I've come here so many years and it has predicted rain during the race and I've never had a wet race and I do believe the last time we had a proper wet race here was 1996 but a young Michael Schumaker won his first race for Ferrari so we'll have to see if once again the rain in Spain falls mainly in the morning morning before the race and not actually during the race itself but if it does and I don't know if the folks at home can see this probably not so much on the on the jacket but actually Olivier is over there Olivia if you spin around uh and show us uh the Oracle Red Bull Racing down there it's not just water that falls um peek down here mate down there right there look at this it's not just water that's sand from the Sahara Desert that's uh that's somehow up in the clouds I'm not I'm not much of a geography student um and then is depositing that down here as well so it's not just a a wet track or a track that will take away all of the rubber that's been laid down with with the rain that falls you've got all of this sand that is falling down on the track as well if that hits Sunday morning that changes everything for everyone you sound like a strategist now yeah exactly so that sand will drive up degradation and we've had years that's that pushed it from a one stop to a two stop not because it's been wet on the day but as you say because it's been wet overnight or um after qualifying where there isn't particularly much running after that point now I was sat happily at home over the Canadian Grand Prix weekend you were there uh getting rained on it was a very wet weekend it was a very wet race and as you were there I think it's only fair that you should have the honor of the 60c recap okay go on then yeah all right we'll do go for it right having set identical lap times in qualifying George and Max took the front row only has scambled on those four ws and over the inter which saw both drivers overtake through the field K getting as high as fourth before that slow Pit Stop dropped him back down through the field when the Trap was was drown by lap 16 the McLaren were clearly the quickest with Lander overthinking Max and then George for the lead he continued to open up until Logan spin into the barriers brought out the safety car on lap 25 Max George and Oscar boxed on that first lap Lando didn't got caught by the safety car crutching him 10 seconds and putting in P4 album put on a show with a double overtake of Daniel and estan McLaren tried to use their Pace to overcut again didn't quite manage it racing out of the box Oscar on older ties gets overtaken Carlos then is spinning gets clipped by album sending him into the barriers George Oscar and Lewis bowed it out for P3 Yuki's great race was undone with 65 Spin and Russell on mediums B Lewis and hards for P3 Lando P2 helped McLaren score 88 points in the last three races but the winner for the 60th time in Formula 1 was none other than Max for stappen joined on the podium there throwing champagne all over him by strategist Steve a phenomenal race that was ultimately won not by the fastest car but by very very good drive and a very very good pit wall um of decisions throughout that really phenomenal race for everybody that didn't get rained on never mind look out Lawrence beretto look out Alex Jake that was phenomenal Ruth uh very very impressive really enjoyable race I absolutely loved watching that and as you say it wasn't the fastest car that won that Grand Prix how much of Max Vin's victory was down to them calling the strategy right getting the conditions right and making the most of those opportunities that were presented to them yeah it was a real team win wasn't it you know it wasn't you know it wasn't just the car itself that was we saw was was fairly fast in those wet conditions when they could use the uh when they didn't have to use those curbs but when it was drying out it wasn't the fastest car on truck in fact it wasn't even the second fastest car on truck both the mkss and that McLaren were clearly faster in both drying and dry conditions but what ultimately made the decisions the difference was the decisions from the pit wall the pit stops by the uh by the lovely boys the background here and the phenomenal driving and we cannot forget just quite how good Max foren is that safety car restart alone8 seconds I Believe by turn two yeah in terms of the final one it was a race that was well and truly won and um what a race it was and hopefully we get some more of the same 60 wins since that first one here back in 2016 Lewis Hamilton in the same amount of time also 60 Grand Prix victories uh in that intervening period it is the 1,1 an 11th Formula 1 grand prix this weekend if we include the 10 Indie 500s between 1950 and 1960 um Sergio Perez had a bit of a harder weekend than his teammate Max ven out in q1 crashed out of the race brought the car back to the pits team told him to do that they were handed a fine czecho was handed a grid penalty so he will be starting from further back than he should be no matter what happens this weekend how difficult does a driver who is showing such I don't want to say poor form because it's it's sporadically good and then sporadically bad it's in it's consistently inconsistent how how difficult does that make life for a team strategist when you get in and you know you got Max everything's working with the car that's reliable he's there but when you've got to try to make up those positions during the Grand Prix how much of a headache is that well it's interesting you say that as a team strategist because remember when you're ah head of strategy you're head of strategy of both cars and we've had the situation before especially last year where Max could win it on all on his own he didn't need the help of that other car whether that's strategically or just physically being the car in second you can't be undercut by your own teammate whereas now with with both effectively four cars last race in contention for the win let's see what the situation is this week but if the championship is getting closer having having two people out there having you're kind of your wingman whether that is uh somebody doing a reverse strategy covering an opposite safety car window it makes a huge difference if you're out there kind of racing with two cars rather than racing with one now the talk today throughout the paddock has been returned to Barcelona track we know so well a track that Red Bull traditionally goes well on will this be a return to the Red Bull dominance we talked so much over recent races about having to ride the curbs the Red Bull not really enjoying riding the curbs is it as simple as that coming back to a kind of a traditional flow in sort of bit of an easier circuit on the car certainly do you expect to see Red Bull back to where traditionally we'd expect them to be well the exact quantitative answer to that one is a difficult one but qualitatively yes you know the last four polls have been done by 0.15 9.14 and then 0o only for the second time in F1 history um but all four of those tracks what we would called technical circuits by that we mean they've got lots of like real tight Cur Corners low low speed and a lot of curbs this track is completely different this is what we call a traditional circuit it's got a full range of speed Corners a lot of those High speeded Corners where in the first races of the Season that rb20 was in its comfort zone and a lot for you are curb riding that means you are have to worry about it so the form book on paper is going to swing back to Red Bull but the exciting thing about Barcelona is Lop since we've been to kind of these traditional circuits a lot has changed on the car so what we don't know is if anyone else has joined them and we will get to that because one team in particular we've got to take a look at is Mercedes difficult start to the year then they brought that front Wing upgrade first for George then for Lewis George Paul position last time out brilliant job from him struggled in the race admitted he made too many mistakes Lewis Hamilton said was one of the worst Grand pris he's ever raced in his entire time in formula one how much of this weekend is going to be the litmus test for that Mercedes and those upgrades on it I think everything you know that that one upgrade certainly on the track characteristics we have in Montreal those low speed Corners those curb ridings it was a great we called it a Hemsworth Wing you missed out on all the hems on the um but you know it really made such a huge difference because as we said you know it's it's not just a front Wing a front Wing might enable you to run your car in a certain setup condition that you weren't able to before to extract performance that was always there but you couldn't unlock now going into the race we said sure we've seen it in uh in dry but if it rains is it any good in the wet answer yes today and this weekend the question is it was great in lowp speed corners but are the gains that you see in low speed Corners transferable over to Mid mid-speed and high speed and that is something that is a completely different area that you're developing on and they probably have an idea from the simulator we don't know indeed we don't uh one thing we do know change to the regulations uh over the past few days from the FIA in terms of the age at which a driver can gain a super license before it was 18 and you had to have 40 super license points but it's now changed and you can be 17 if you have shown significant promise and enough that would Merit you being allowed a super license early now the reason we're talking about that is because ever since Lewis Hamilton uh said that he was off to Ferrari for 2025 the talk has been and I've been convinced from day one that Andrea Kimmy Antonelli will be in that Mercedes alongside George Russell in 2025 then around the Miami Grand Prix we heard that a request have been put into the FIA to allow Antonelli in before his 18th birthday into Formula 1 now that is either for a race or even for a fp1 session and of course all the teams have to run a young driver in an fp1 session twice before the end of the year I can't imagine that the requirement to change the rule would come in unless Mercedes or by proxy Williams are considering running Kimmy Antonelli in at least a free practice session before he turns 18 otherwise what's the point well yeah this this rule has been there for a long time so uh back in back in the day back in 2015 a young chap 17 years 166 days you might have heard of him Max for stappen um he he joined Formula 1 did his first Grand Prix and as a result of that they decided that actually it's an adults playground and they they changed the rule that me that you had to be 18 to get the license basically and you had to get the point D exactly now and they've changed this rule actually if you want to know the number it's uh it's the addendum to the rules so it's not actually the F1 rules it's the the kind of the appendic to a series of sporting regulations that govern a lot of other sports the prologue the prologue yeah so article 13.1.3 pointa you missed all of these in Canada so you're getting your first share this week prolog epilog has been changed got it wrong um so yeah as you say it's a rule that's been there for eight years um nine years even um and now it's been changed and things don't tend to change without a reason yeah no it's it's it's definitely there for a reason that the prospect now of seeing Kimmy Antonelli in a Williams or in a Mercedes before he turns 18 at the Italian Grand Prix uh getting ever higher but I am convinced whatever happens he will be in one of those cars uh in 2025 right McLaren we've spoken about the fact that Max fappen was able to win the Canadian Grand Prix without the fastest car in the field arguably that was McLaren arguably Lando Norris should have won the race two controversial decisions non-decisions under safety car ultimately robbed him of that win but does he Ru the mistakes made in Canada when he looks back two weeks later uh Lando Canada uh looking back on it was that a a missed opportunity a lost opportunity for the win um potentially there isn't a yes no answer um we would have had a better chance of winning but uh at the same time I think like uh Mercedes and George were probably the strongest team driver combination last weekend so as much as I say that if he just made less mistakes like we did uh he also probably should have won the race so it's it's impossible to say yes or no but we would have had a better chance we would have been ahead of Max um but that's it that's life we've understood it we've reviewed it and we've tried to improve and we'll make sure we do a better job this time up a lot of the talk after the race was about the decision or or non-decision to come in and pick crucially at two main areas in the race how much have you and the team got to talk about that balance between reacting and being proactive um it's really it was really just one we we gained on the second one um I don't know why this a lot of people said we made the wrong decision in the second Pit Stop uh it was completely the right decision I gained on the guys around me so um no we made one very good one uh obviously one not so good one um but it's small changes really it's not like we have to suddenly go back and review everything and go why have we done this why have we done that triple header three mediums to high speeded pretty much highs speeed circuits coming up how well do you think it'll suit the car uh good question I mean it's definitely been a strength of ours in the past I think others have improved quite a bit in in these high speed circuits uh such as Ferrari I mean Red Bull have always been good and now we see Mercedes looking closer to the fight so um maybe a little little less confident but uh we don't know yet you know we've changed quite a few things on the car over the last few weeks and we've not been to necessarily highs speeed circuits for a while so uh we'll kind of waiting and see what we do over the next day of practice and see if we can get the car performing like it has done in the past in highspeed circuits um and then I'll be confident that we can uh we'll be we should be able to fight you know like the whole season we've been strong at every race we not had a bad weekend yet so um we're showing consistency and that's also a good thing for us great great weekends every weekend so far in 2024 for McLaren the only team to have completed every lap this season the only team to have scored points with both drivers in every single Grand Prix this season believe that's the right statistic you'll tell me if I'm where did I get it believe it's just Lando left he's the last man standing only one is he the only one there we go but you're right McLaren scored the most points the big question the really big question and we put it to Lando they've cured the low speed ills of this car but has that affected the highspeed power the high-speed performance that we've seen this car exhibit traditionally and we're only going to get the answer to that this weekend how confident are you what are you hearing in The Paddock about this card this team their chances this weekend well I mean I think everybody's kind of going into Spain it's almost like a mini reset you know it's almost like you know obviously it's one big Formula One season um but for us within teams Spain really represents the kind of the start of the the summer um of our racing and so you kind of have all your theories you have all your numbers but you also don't know what other people may may have in the pocket um and again you know real life and simulations are often slightly different especially when it comes to high-speed modeling because that involves so much to do with driver confidence um which is just not really possible to replicate on a simulator in quite the same way um that you have when you're actually out on a on a racetrack so I think there's every reason to be excited um if you were dressed in papaya this weekend and I think you going to have to watch to find out to be honest because I don't think even they know no that's that's that's absolutely it um how much more of these guys got to be on their game when it comes to strategy when we look at what happened in in Canada when we look towards this weekend there's some talk about you know will it be a two-stop might it even be a three stop have these guys got to be and I again I put the question to land do they need to be more proactive with how they're approaching their their race strategies well I mean we talked about the drivers we could talk about the engineers you got to remember that that Red Bull Pit wall has three strategists that are senior Personnel that have been in Formula 1 for probably a total of about 70 years so that is a really experienced pit wall that has been winning championships and races for years and and all of us you know when you suddenly have a car that's suddenly up at the sharp end it's an adjustment period for everybody whether that's the mechanics the engineers the drivers and as you say one of the great things about a Barcelona race strategy is just because of the nature of the layout it's often a crossover so we had a two stop last year but for the previous few years it was a it was a 2/3 in uh 2022 and then in 2021 of course it was that one SL two strategy where the Mercedes um came out on top of the Red Bull Pit wall so it can all change I remember 2013 Ruth oh I remember 2013 very fondly a lesser spotted Barcelona four stop that was your doing well I'm not really sure I was a very very Junior strategist it was some of the first simulations I ever ran um they no I'm not definitely not taking this they took ages to run because they were a four stopper um but we did do a a lovely four stop strategy um with you know I don't want to say king of Spain because now we have two but at the time our our king of Spain uh Fernando Alonzo uh to win the race still the the most recent Spanish race winner and but yeah I did just run the simulations I'm not not going to take credit uh Fernando Alonzo earlier today saying there may be two Spanish drivers in the Spanish Grand Prix but only one of them has a shot at Victory that he believes is Carlos SS let's take a look at your Championship order as we come into the Spanish Grand Prix because Max ven of course remains your Championship leader but it is awfully tight charlot Clair on 138 then Lando Norris just seven points behind him then it's SS and Perez they're split by just the one point piastri George Russell Lewis Hamilton getting down there into e8th n9th 10th alono and sonoda sonoda having an absolutely felting season and we will tell you more about RB a little bit later because they are hoping for a strong weekend then it's St and Ricardo bman still up there in 13th despite of having just the one Grand Prix and he's ahead of hulkenberg gazley Alban and Aron Magnuson with the final point no points yet for the two saas or the Williams of Logan Sergeant Ruth we have to talk about Ferrari home hero home crowd expects but it was a tough weekend for them last time out in Canada a double dnf Fred vaser saying listen hero to zero is just the new Norm in Formula 1 but that was some Fall From Grace well I mean no points is is never good especially off off the back of a race win and you know that that engine issue really like set that whole race off and I think it was 80 horsepower for 15 laps and they kind of kept that car going in case there was a a red flag so they could reset the car um which is is fancy F1 talk for turn it off and turn it back on again control out delete yeah control out Delete um and then of course there was the the mistake that carus did you know a very Sportsman own up to in terms of uh that also took out albon so you know reset refresh we've got new car parts we've turned it on we turned it back off again if you're a Ferrari fan we're ready to go again shl would not admit what the engine problem was when I asked him today but he did say it has been sorted so we'll just take that as a Net game as a positive uh Carlos interestingly in the press conference today says he now has to make his mind up about where he's heading next year because it is taking up too much mental space and he needs to focus on his driving so will it be Audi will it be Williams I think it's going to be Williams isn't it I guess we'll just have to find out uh obviously crashed into what could be his new teammate last time out in uh in Canada well it was a it was a tap and he did apologize it was a little kiss it was a little little apologize after I think the two of them are fine so you know these things do happen and you know that was you know just unfortunately Al wrong place wrong time yeah um Carlos very much hoping that Ferrari will be back in the mix this weekend as I think will be the 200 odd, thousand people cracking into uh this circuit over the course of these three days the big question with all of this isn't it is that if Red Bull aren't a million miles ahead it kind of confirms that we've got a major season on our hands yeah I think that's the excitement in the in the padic because everybody's kind of waiting to see when we get back to these more traditional circuits we're going to see the kind of the Run of let's say you know kind of competitive for most multiple team form going through uh right on to Aston Martin because we talk about Carlos obviously the home hero Fernando Alonzo also the home hero who you ran and as you have stated the last home winner here uh at the Spanish Grand Prix loves this track but Aston Martin not expecting a great weekend one of a few teams who haven't brought any upgrades here this weekend McLaren haven't either and on this it where we know it's that proven ground that you've spoken of Frank personally I'm surprised that more teams haven't brought major upgrade packages here particularly because Aston Martin know that that highspeed strength is lacking and that's what the next three circuits are all about as we roll into this triple header how important does this race sort of represent as a as an outlier I mean the thing is is that with this kind of you know we're in this cost capap era which means that you know teams only have a limited amount of money to spend in all teams can decide how they want to spend that if they want to put it spend it all you like a pocket money if you spend it all at the beginning of the year you won't have any later um so teams will have decided ahead of time when they're going to put their upgrade packages in and just with Barcelona being a little bit later we've seen already from a lot of teams not all big upgrade packages which we would normally only see in Barcelona In Time Gone by so I think that's slightly part of it um and I think it's also just to do with you know when you actually find something good enough worth manufacturing because you can't long on of the days when you can just we used to call it fit and forget you know you have a little a little something you make it you put it on you forget about it um you can't really do that anymore you have to really be smart about you doing and I I quite like that I I like the idea that it it's a real um a real show and a real game in terms of the engineering to shine decide when you're going to pop the be round four round five so you could do that this is yeah and the first major upgrades would come here now we're almost in July it's it's wild absolutely wild uh right things Ticky Boo at Aston Martin between the drivers L stroll confirming to me today that he will announce what he's doing next year soon I think we know what that will be no shocks uh down at Alpine however a very different scenario estban Aon not happy either with Pierre gazley or the team after Canada was asked to give up the place to gazley to allow him to go and fight was told they would reverse positions at the end of the race they did not do do that estban okon who it's already been announced will leave Alpine at the end of the year really nonplused with what went down there I spose to both drivers this afternoon knowing of course that you're leaving the team at the end of the year how confident are you that parity equality within the team will be given to you for the remainder of this season because there's a long way to go yeah not for sure but it's been discussed with the team um that will be something that will be uh you know dealt with um you know equally between the drivers and uh you know I've been I've been reassured that this this was going to be the case and normally we're starting from this weekend and for your future obviously there's there's some options left on the table here in formul one I know you're at Leong last weekend we've spoken many times in the past of your passion for that race how's the future looking anything that you can tell us about yet um not yet obviously there are discussions at the moment going on and um you know as long as we keep that going and I'm focusing on what I have to do on the track um you know I'm I'm I'm happy with the situation so we will see you know where that leads us you committed to alpen after this year is your intention to stay here or are you looking elsewhere um I think yeah my contract situation is quite clear contract runs until the end of the year um there are different talks and conversations and I'm happy where we where we are at the moment uh everything is evolving in the right direction and uh I don't have anything to announce uh just now so you guys will have to be a bit patient but uh it's a ongoing process Market non-committal from Pierre gazley rumors would suggest he might be Audi bound if Carlos sints ultimately decides that he's going to go to Williams estban Aon we hear moving ever closer to that H seat cuz we know they want a race winner uh Alpine have more than just an underperforming car to contend with Ruth they might have to find two new drivers for next year as well it's been a difficult season for these guys with that car and we know they're rotating the chassis between the two of them one heavily overweight one not so much when we get to a circuit like this that is the ultimate proven ground is this a weekend for them where they will be very much focused on learning everything they can that they haven't already about the car or is it going to be just gripping on for for whatever they can well I mean just having a look in the garage here you can see that like we just put away the Laker camera so they've already been like measuring that car so that car's pretty much ready and raring to go so to answer your question looking into that garage looks like they're getting ready to race and remember there's only two drivers and there's hundreds of people back at base that have been working tirelessly on that car um and they certainly are ready to get some points if they can do it this weekend uh Alpine ahead of only Williams and Saba in the Constructors Championship at the moment we spoke a little bit about albon having a having a spin they're hoping for better things this weekend the team's starting to come on but we know the pressure now on Logan Sergeant is vast with that change to the regulations to allow a 17-year-old in he's going to feel that heat down his neck what's Williams got to do around here to give Alban a decent car to give Logan just a a shot at proving himself again well normally what you do when you're in a team that's you know struggling to get to the the points as you set micro Tigers you say okay so our Target for today is to finish you know with a p12 and p13 you know trying to make those incremental steps and as you say trying to finish a race in terms of reliability in terms of you know giving a Target to a driver that it's whether or not not not necessarily trying to beat your teammate of course he's 30 I believe now uh to albor in qualifying but to give him a Target to say okay stop trying to beat him be within one tenth or be within two10 and give him an objective Target um which I'm sure the lovely James FS who is a strategist himself is already doing because he's kind of pretty much the Godfather of metrics like that so you know I think in terms of you know from a strategic element he he's in safe hands um and he again is going to reset and re and he will know this track so well every single driver whether they've done whatever formula route they know this place and that will give automatically Comfort uh to any driver going into this one seems amazing to think that Carlos SS could be Williams bound next year but with the big regulation change in 2026 the Mercedes power unit apparently already looking quite promising could be quite a nice move for Carlos to a Mercedes powered Williams uh let's talk Saba if we can because the one thing that's really linking Alpine Williams and Saba seems to be issues with their chassis because Alpine we know we're a little bit overweight Williams with the crash damage there chassis's a little bit overweight Joe guu really unhappy with the chassis that he has he's reverted back to his original chassis that he had at the start of the season this weekend after a really disappointing couple of runs yeah well I think Joe is going to come into this weekend and I I saw you know he's my friend work with him before and I said to him I said remember last year and he said yes because they did score points it didn't look like we were going to be able to score points he scored points the previous year valry is going to remember the 2022 race which actually you know was one of those times where briefly ever so briefly a saber was running in P3 can you believe it kids um and we were racing we were racing Mercedes so this track has good memories uh for for the good people um of henville um and they will just like just like the good people of endstone be coming here ready to go and trying to get some points on the board new good people at henville Stephanos sordo yeah and of course so Stephanos sordo uh an engineer who's worked at McLaren redel and I most recently saw in Indianapolis because he's just come off of a stretch at a team called RL there and now um come here and actually the weather pretty similar to the last time it was in Indianapolis delay yeah it's getting a bit warm now uh it's not so not not so uh not so damp as it as it was right we touched very briefly on Hass because all of the tour this season and we spoke about him earlier he's still up there in the top 15 in the championship olle bman Super Sub in Saudi Arabia the talk is that he will be in one of those has seats in Formula 1 next year uh we caught up with him earlier today so Oliver I was going to say a very warm welcome to Barcelona it hasn't quite worked out that way yet um but how excited are you to get back in the car tomorrow and what's your you know main goal for these upcoming fp1 sessions with h yeah so I have uh two fp1 in the next three weekends so really looking forward to to getting back in the in the rhythm of things with with h um my personal goal is of course just to to keep improving myself keep working on what I've identified as uh weak points when I when I drive in F1 um and yeah hopefully bring some data for the team as well because of course fp1 is is that's the the main goal of an fp1 um but yeah these are really useful sessions for me to to prepare for the future we last spoke in Saudi Arabia after that brilliant standin performance of course how have the last few months been for you you know on and off the track and also that challenge of balancing F1 duties and racing in Formula 2 yeah sorry um it's really tough to balance first of all uh especially on a weekend like this I'm I'm very busy I have a lot of uh mental pressure a lot of stuff to to take in uh but I like the challenge it's uh it's good preparation these last few months since uh since Saudi have been pretty pretty crazy I'm I've been very busy um with F1 testing and and done some FP as well so it's been uh it's been pretty full but uh I love it I've been really enjoying it um it's been it's been really good and just finally no secret of course that you're pushing for a full-time seat next year what have the team told you about your your prospects for that in 2025 um I haven't had anything in particular um but I think my personal goal is like I said to to keep working on myself um perform with my best and I think if I do that then I mean hopefully in with a good shout thanks ol have a good weekend I think he's in with a very good shout don't you that little look down and trying to keep the smile off his face I was talking to him in the paddock earlier today as he was as he was entering the the the track and we were just talking about everything and right at the end of the conversation I said so deal signed it yet and the Netflix cameras were there and he sort of took one look and looked up at the microphone and just went I'll see you later got walked off it's done isn't it it's done don't be mean to him he's he obviously can't oh no he's honest a great guy um and a phenomenal that phenomenal Drive in Saudi which we still remember which of course put him on the back foot in that gp2 Championship which we can't forget oh gp2 how old am I F2 sorry about that retro show my00 talking about 13 uh valry will valry botas be on his bike next year Ruth or can he find a place it looks like Saba uh there won't be a place there does he end up at H possibly alongside bman as the the ultimate kind of wing man bring him in teach him the Rope I think valry would be great for for a I mean and valry was so so instrumental in getting joe up to speed you know we've spoken about drivers that don't necessarily get on with their teammate valter best teammate ever that's a quote from Lewis Hamilton yeah um Joe said the same thing so I think anybody that's in uh in the same team with valter you know should be should be pretty happy yeah I hope we don't lose valry from Formula 1 next year right uh we haven't spoken about them yet but we must because RB who have been punching above their weight at so many races so far this year have brought what is substan a bpec car this weekend I was talking to Alan pain earlier today he said the only thing that hasn't changed on the car is the front wing and the beam wi everything else is brand new and they were already looking good this change could get them in the mix with the likes of Aston Martin they they're putting a lot of Hope a lot of faith in this upgrade yeah definitely and I think Aston as you say is is the kind of third the natural next Target for them and I think yeah it is it is exciting you know you know it's quite nice not to be you know scared by it when these documents come out as an engineer and you're like oh no they've got 50 Parts we've got two um so you know I think everybody um is is kind of looking at that team and seeing how that package works because you say it's a complete reset and you know remember it might not work it might work pH phenomenally and the only way you're going to find out is if you uh watch the show and put it onto the ultimate test track place that they know uh so well uh cannot wait to see how that and but obviously as well Yuki new contract in his pocket driving magnificently Daniel has got to start performing consistently because it's that in again it's that inconsistency that's really hampering him and and his chances of coming back next year because Liam Lawson waiting in the wings we keep saying it but he is so talented can't imagine that he won't have a if he doesn't have a place here next year that would be a huge surprise but places are running out yeah you I mean generally when you're a Formula 1 team and you have kind of five great drivers and four seats or you know it's it's a good problem to have um but yeah know we'll have to see I mean this he knows this track they know this track this is a reset for everybody whether you're a team you know a mechanic a driver an engineer you know I think you we you've got to wait and see it also means no excuses they know this place like the back of their hand right folks this is where you can catch everything over the course of the weekend and we kick off tomorrow Friday for free practice one your coverage at 1:15 local time then practice 2 coming away at 4:45 Saturday sees practice 3 at A4 12 qualifying your show starts at halfast 3 bringing us through into Sunday race day here at the circuit to Barcelona Catalonia 2 p.m. local time for the Formula 1 ramco grand Premo Des uh right some final thoughts and we as always Ruth will do predictions what are you foreseeing from weekend you know I'm a strategist so I'm not going to do any of this rubbish about top three I'm going to focus on the strategy which is it's slightly warmer than last year Y and that could make it a real quite tough TW stop with a bit more undercutting I like that yes we like that so I think I think tough two- stop race bit bit bit more under cuty than we had last year and then the safety car VSC could even push us into having an extra stop amazing people are keeping a count on this so you do have to give me a top three okay we got 30 seconds um right okay so let's go for Max and then Lando um and then then Oscar okay I'm going to go for um max Charles Lando great okay cool thank you folks for tuning in we'll see you over the course of the weekend uh it's going to be a big one will Red Bull return to their dominant ways or will it be game on cannot wait for the rest of the weekend join us then for now from us that's goodbye welcome to [Applause] Spain it gives me extra [Applause] [Music] adrenaline good r oh

Channel: FORMULA 1

Views: 362,759

Keywords: F1, Formula One, Formula 1, Sports, Sport, Action, GP, Grand Prix, Auto Racing, Motor Racing, 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, Spanish Grand Prix, Spanish, Spain, SpainGP, Spanish GP, Barcelona

Id: FkQD27h9YOY

Length: 39min 7sec (2347 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 20 2024