How Lando Dominated And Why Max Struggled | 2024 Dutch GP Review | F1 Nation Podcast

How McLaren became F1's fastest team he lost the lead at the start he took it back then he roared off into the distance Lando Norris showed that right now he and McLaren are the fastest team in Formula 1 at the house that Max rebuilt the winners orange once again but this time he's driving a McLaren Lando Norris wins the Dutch Grand Prix with a crushing performance and the bonus point for fastest lap the Gap in the world championship is 7 points Norris taking a second career win simply lovely huh Formula 1 is back and we're back in the paddock here at xanor after a statement Victory from McLaren's Lando Norris in the Dutch Grand Prix it's mcclaren's thirdd win of the season but it was by far the most dominant what does that mean for the rest of the season let's find out welcome to F1 Nation I'm Tom Clarkson and we have f 1.com editor Greg Stewart with us and brand new Red Bull Sim racing driver two-time F1 Esports champion and former F4 and formula Renault driver Yano Opia this is his home race he was born not too far away from this very racetrack guys welcome to the show um Yano let's start with you uh what did you make of the race in the beginning it was exciting with strategy but I think after like 40 laps it started to be a bit more quiet and uh yeah then I think at that point all strategies had kind of settled down Mercedes R quite ambitious strategy and at some point I thought may maybe they could could catch like czecho and signs back up but yeah I think uh soft probably not the best race Tire to be on so yeah Greg how did you say it some races are battles and some races are chess matches and this was a bit of a chess match I think if the car in front had been wearing Yan's colors we might have been going ah that was another race of dominance from Max ven but the fact that it's a McLaren it's Lando Norris means that it's all to play for and drivers and Constructors championships now well let's hear now from the top two the title Rivals starting with our race winner obviously didn't start in the most optimistic way but the pace was um was unbelievable from the beginning and I could go with Max quite happily at the the start I just didn't expect our Pace to be probably as good as what it was today which is a good thing it's uh it's nice to be kind of a little bit surprised by this and as soon as I got ahead it was quite straightforward I could push I had good confidence to push the whole race um save the tires a little bit but just get in a good Rhythm and go from there so car felt amazing C felt felt great and um made my life easier for sure so uh a big thanks to the team zanville hasn't been the happiest of hunting grounds for McLaren in recent Seasons just how much have these upgrades lifted the performance I mean this weekend a little bit um I still feel like we probably would have won without the upgrades this weekend um the upgrades didn't make us sudden a lot quicker here you know but the upgrades we've been putting on the car they've helped us every time it's like we put it on and questioned it um we put it on and it was just did everything it wanted to do and needed to do and was meant to do so we've taken our time and this was our first upgrade since Miami um this was our first time we really put something on the car to drive us a step forward and today with how the car felt I'm sure it was a step ahead you know a new rear wing probably helped me get past Max today so little things like that uh definitely help you go forward so Lando phenomenal Pace here what does this mean going forward let's let's talk about Monza next weekend do you think you'll be as competitive there I have I have no idea um you ask us questions like WEA no I got no idea um yeah any one could be could be on top Ferrari Mercedes Red Bull us um you know Ferrari were quite quick today we probably didn't expect them to be as good as they were um maybe Red Bulls struggled a bit more I think that was probably more the factor that the Red Bull struggled a bit more today than we were expecting so we just keep our heads down there's no point thinking uh how we're going to do next weekend we'll just get there and work hard and wait till we get there there's no point thinking ahead very well done today good luck next weekend Max let's come to you now so you struggled more than Lando was expecting today did you struggle more than you were expecting today ah the whole weekend has been the same I mean I have pretty much the same balance from fp1 all the way to the race I mean the limitations are the same so um yeah it's just very hard to to solve at the moment yeah it just seems like we are too slow but also quite bad on on deck at the moment so that's a bit weird because I think the last few years normally we you know we've been quite quite good on that so something has has been going wrong lately with the car that uh yeah we we need to understand and we need to of course quickly try to uh to improve once he passed I just focus on doing my race try to yeah bring it to the end in in second knowing the car's strengths and weaknesses as you do do you think you'll be more competitive at Monza I don't know I mean we just need to figure out our balance issues I think that will already help a lot also with de um of course in mon a lot is new you know Tac curbs even the layout in turn one too so also that we need to you know to to understand a bit more um but yeah we know that we have quite a bit of work to [Music] do I was surprised by the pace of McLaren I think we knew the upgrade would work but the pace to put 22 seconds on Max ven was a surprise to me we've heard from Rob Marshall people have been speaking to Rob Marshall and he's been saying what he's been really impressed by since coming over to McLaren from Red Bull is that everything that they try out coordinates perfectly with the winter tunnel with the simulations so they know it's going to work they put it on the car and it works we saw it in Miami they had that massive upgrade which is effectively like a spec B on the MCL 38 didn't really upgrade the car since then and then put it on the car bang massive Gap in qualifying 0.356 seconds between Lando and Max and then in the race just Supreme Pace to the point where yes Lando maybe fluffed his lines at the start well there was an issue with the starts from McLaren but he admitted afterwards he wasn't worried he knew he had the pace to get Max and ended up winning by over 22 seconds Yano were you surprised by the pace of your car the rb20 I think it was just very much the McLarens they were very far ahead of everyone else it's not I think necessarily that uh the rb20 was really really slow because obviously still finished the head of Ferrari and Mercedes uh um so yeah it's a it's a difficult one McLaren clearly got the upper hand right pull by three and a half t on a relatively short circuit 4.3 km yeah it's uh it's impressive um and of course they showed before as well or the rb20 showed before as well it's not going to be great on Street circuits um Monaco was not great so Singapore and Baku coming up is going to be questionable as well I think so but then yeah yeah Spa look good for Max so maybe in Monza um he will be up there again uh but we're just going to have to wait and see I think no one can really predict exactly what's going to happen of course but yeah it's going to be a very difficult rest of the year if lend starts you know being faultless now um I think in the past few races he's struggled a little bit with confidence um but if he starts going on a roll now with the pace they have McLaren then it's going to be very very difficult to stop them in the championship and the rest of the year so H how much confidence will Lando Norris have taken from that performance today a lot uh I mean the start was obviously still not great I'm not sure if that's a car issue or uh if both drivers just struggled or made a mistake I think both drivers said after the race that they both had wheel spin yeah I I remember I was watching up top uh of of the building the starts and um there was big waiting time uh for the last car to line up um and I saw Max be a lot more aggressive on his way to the grid so maybe that had something to do with it Max being more aggressive with the burnouts had more Tire temperature um so yeah if if it was wheel spin uh maybe they dropped the clutch too much but sliding too much throttle input but could also have been really interesting you say that because Max then put quite a margin on Lando very quickly on that opening lap or two probably before Lando's tires were fully up to temperature so it all Stacks up what you're saying about the burnouts yeah and especially around here where I think front left suffers the most out of all four tires um of course I think you get away with doing a few extra burnouts um as the balance will naturally go more and more under the throughout the race so um yeah it's uh not as hurtful to do a few extra burnouts especially on track where uh track positioning is is crucial um didn't matter too much today in the end um because McLaren and Lando had that upper hand but um yeah it's uh it was it was a great start so yeah I thought Tommy was also interesting what Max was saying in the press conference Why did Max struggle? to you that they seem to be suffering with the ib2 with a bit more de than they were used to so it all sort of talles that the McLaren is able to look after its tires and then also the fact that he's on very us hard Lando by the end and pumps in on the last lap the fastest lap of the race beating Lewis Hamilton's previous soft tire fastest lab so y know you've probably seen the data on it but it seems that the McLaren in its current state can just look after its tires maybe more than the OB 20 yeah and it's going to be very important for tracks like Singapore as well where they're going to be running the softest compounds here we're running the hardest compounds available obviously you need it as well for all the highspeed corners around here um but on tracks where you know you're going to be struggling even more on Tyra today was a one stop a clear One Stop of course um then that's going to be an even bigger Advantage so again might be very track specific but having better Tire always is a huge huge Advantage because even if your car is twoo three times slower you will eventually catch back up so yeah it's um it's going to be interesting to see how that's going to play out but I think Max was really struggling there in the last few laps relative to L was probably just managing as well because they had a pace Advantage but yeah he clearly had a lot left in the end and probably the cap could have been bigger if Lando pushed the wallway and not to forget as well that uh Lon was quite a few laps behind Max it's not just that he pulled a 22 second Gap throughout the race it was you know after lap 20 I think or something until lap 72 where that happened 2024 is all about Championship number for for Max how worried do you think he is right now I mean the the Gap to Lando is 70 points coming into this race I firmly believ that the 78 Point Advantage he had prior to this race was enough for him to be able to sort of manage the Gap do you think he's worried now I think worried is a big big Ward but as I said earlier on if London does start going on a roll and starts winning every race then it's going to be difficult to stop him especially you know if Max gets a little bit unlucky in like an incident of course the same can happen for for Lando um but I think a few races ago people thought this Championship was wrapped up and I think it's not that black and white um you know I think vetto in 2010 was really really far behind managed to get back in the last race um it is something uh to a little bit worry about um but in the end of the day you know um max will notice as well he can just do the most he can um and today that was P2 clearly so yeah I think that Gap to vett I think he was 15 points behind going into Abu Dhabi 2010 mass is not my strong suit but um my memory is not mine that's off the top of my head but yeah I think it will be hard for Lando to close this down will McLaren end up ruing the Hungarian Grand Prix where they didn't impose the team orders and created a lovely Storyline by Oscar pastri taking a race win but would they have appreciated those points we'll find out come the end of the season as said there are going to be some tracks where we've typically seen Red Bull struggle I'm thinking particularly like Singapore in recent years so there's chances for for Lando to eat into the Gap more than he did today he took eight points out of Max's lead today but then similarly will Lando have a few difficult races who knows I think the constructors seems much more on a knife edge for for Red Bull to retain it this year I'm not even sure it's a knife edge I mean I think at the minute the pace of McLaren the pace of both McLaren drivers the Gap is now down to 30 I think it's game on for McLaren in that Championship um and I think how Red Bull respond is going to be fascinating how Marco uh told the media after this Grand Prix that he found the performance this weekend alarming and that something needs to happen quickly at Red Bulls so Y come on give us give us some insight when's the next upgrade coming what do you know well I don't know much I've been with the team since Wednesday so I don't have that much Insight um but um he he is right of course because um I think uh Max it a good lap yesterday in Q3 and we're still three and a half T off and it looks like quite a handful when I went on board in q1 or Q2 to keep the car balanced um although I think a lot of cars struggled with that this weekend um apart from Claren um I think it's uh of course the trick is to get as much rotation as possible in the car without losing traction or um losing consistency and it just looks like McLaren and when you go on board they've got a lot of rotation but it's a very stable car as well and it's very consistent as well where when I went on board in qualifying with the Ferraris or the Red Bull um or the ason it's it looked a little bit all over the place and they were all trying to keep it on track uh more than driving a fast lap I know you've only been at the team a few days but can you tell us anything about Max's driving style so he comes on the radio in this race and says you know the car is not responding to my inputs I asked him in that press conference does that mean you're getting too much overseer and he just he said there's a disconnection just I mean how disconcerting is that for for someone like Max when the car just isn't doing what you want it to do yeah it is frustrating of course and I think the frustrating part is when the car over stairs and under stairs of the same time you know like when in the same Corner you've got a lot of overseer on entry and a lot of under steer mid Corner that's just not what you want because you can't push that way at all you can't push on the entry and then you can also not carry any speed because you're just under steering off wide um and that just ends up costing so much lap time uh because you can't push that way um and it eats the tires as well not just the fronts or the rears but both because you're just sliding around all the time um so yeah that that balance issues that I think for had as well uh this weekend um and Red Bull heads that that just cost a lot of lap time in the end so yeah perhaps it's not just a simple way of creating more downforce or less drag it's actually a balancing issue which you know could be solved within setup but I guess that's what they've already tried for the past few races so yeah well I think also the worrying thing for Red Bull would be that Max is known as a bit of a I mean it's in the nicest possible way a bit of a freak in in terms of the car balance that he can live with and that's been the issue for his teammates who have come in the car has maybe been more on a knife edge than people have assumed watching from the outside and you know Alex albor has said it Pierre gazley has said it Sergio Perez hasn't been able to live with Max when the car has been particularly on a knife edge and we've seen that especially in the run into the summer break so if Max is now reaching the point where he's struggling to control this car then that that's a a serious worry for the team I imagine and I I think that's what Marco was referring to probably in his comments look before we move on from Red Bull you mentioned Perez um P6 in the race was his best result since Miami uh but he did drop from fifth on the grid um how do you assess his race weekend how much did he need that was it enough it was better it was better than we've seen recently you would have lik to have seen him move forward the Ferrari pace which we might get to later but that was a bit of a surprise and he was surprised to fall back behind the Ferrari the great move by Carlos sints uh on him it was a I think it would have steadied the ship for him uh he's obviously had the variable of having a new race engineer this weekend as hird gets ready to go on his paternity leave yeah I think it would have steadied the ship stopped the rot and then with the the upgrades that helmet Marco has referenced which in a way might be downgrades in the sense that they'll take the car out of the window it's been put into with the uh the upgrade that was put on the car maybe we'll see Sergio start to refind his form refind his speed which is what Dr Marco predicted would happen and he's always been good at Monza czecho I wonder whether Monza might come at a good time for him 2012 in that Saba that worked really nicely he got on the podium would be nice um if he can get his confidence back I think he just needed the race he had today you know uh just a stable weekend now big mistakes staying out of trouble I think space was not bad as well Baku coming up is a good track for him as well over the past few years so we'll be interesting to see uh if he can do well there Celebration + confusion at Ferrari? again let's move on to Ferrari and before I hear from you guys let's hear from charlot Clair in the press conference we were 9/10 off yesterday and suddenly pretty strong today the car is exactly ly the same yesterday we've been struggling like crazy today we were strong and these are the kind of things that we've got to work on um I think as much as we analyze every bad surprises we have during a season we also need to understand when we do something good uh for now I don't think as a team we have the the explanation so uh it's a great result I'm really happy to be standing on the podium and I think it's a it's a really good surprise uh however we've got to to understand in order to perform more and at our best that was as good as shla Clair on I think as we've ever seen it was really good and that was a really nice result for Ferrari but as he said in the press conference it's nice to have nice results but it's nicer to know why you're having the nice results and I think as happy as they are there's this head scratching going on of well hang on how are we that off the pace all weekend all weekend they've looked like the fourth fastest team at best and then all of a sudden you find Charlotte clerk on the podium which he'll be very happy with going into Monza but they'll want to know and drill down into the data and be like why could we get the car working that well today yesterday they seem nowhere um especially Carlos was all over the place with the balancing qualifying and then today in the race they it quite decent they were perhaps a little bit surprised with it as well but it does seem to be the case this year or in this regulation that a lot of teams tend to struggle with why they're slow correlation issues uh why upgrades are not working I think in previous generations or uh regulations I should say we rarely saw upgrades fail that hard I remember H having a time where they had upgrades that didn't work but I don't remember it happening this often where teams brought upgrades and went backwards everyone except McLaren really has suffered from that haven't they yeah exactly um I think last year in 2023 already they made a massive step um I remember Lando was really angry with preseason testing in Bahrain in 2023 and then like they were Midfield to pretty much last uh Pace wise and then they brought a very big upgrade package to Silverstone if I remember correctly and they made a massive jump and it seems like they've done the same again this year after a few Races they brought an upgrade package and made another insane jump and no other team seems to have been able to do that a lot rests on this upgrade that Ferrari are bringing to Monza how confident can they be well I'm not sure um it's the fact that they're a bit flammed by the result today in zamor means perhaps they're not too confident Charles is begging for a both driver begging for it to be in the car and for it to be bouncing which is the issue that charl and Carlos have been been referring to has to be incredibly unpleasant while at the same time taking performance out of the car so he's just praying that this is the fix because lest we forget that we've also got to pretty much carry these stable regulations into 2025 so everything they're putting on the car now has an effect on 2025 so when charl lines up against leis Hamilton in 20125 he'll want to feel like Ferrari are on top of their problems and ready to maybe challenge for title glory in 2025 and not see Red Bull and McLaren dukee out between them and maybe even Mercedes I think Ferrari are going to be nervous because the last time we went to a track with long straights and chicanes and slow Corners was Canada and you remember charlot just won at Monaco two weeks earlier and we all thought he was going to go to Canada on a rooll and yet that whole Canada weekend was incredibly difficult for them and and uh I think a lot a lot is going to rest on on the upgrades uh and I think if they have a good weekend in Monza then they're probably set fair for the rest of of this season but we're only going to know in a week's time that's what they were predicting they were predicting that that would be a better race for them um and yeah I think you're right I think if that can work there and you know who knows a bit of Nigel Mansel toosy couple of tents there as well yeah it should be an easier run to the end of the season but certainly it looks like you know when sha was winning in Monaco and when Carlos was winning in Australia like they're just looking to get back to that level now and no one's really talking about them being in the constructor's fight anymore which is a shame for Ferrari because it was a really fascinating fight earlier on in the season well they're only 64 points behind Red Bull they're not massively out of it but Yano what about um the defensive performance that L clar put on today when he had you know piastri just behind him on much fresher tires I mean I for one thought well piastri should Breeze past him given the pace that the McLaren had in this Grand Prix were you surprised that sh stayed ahead I I was a little bit surprised yeah um because at some point I thought pastri was going to Bree pass llar and also Bree pass Max um but I think something P struggled with ever since he started in F1 is is Tire management uh compared to Lando at least and yeah by the time perhaps he catched up um his TI Advantage was a little bit gone which of course you need to pass around a track like here um I think you could clearly see at the start of uh the race that Lando was perhaps holding back a little bit because he knew he had the pace Advantage so just to make his own life easier he takes it easy for 10 15 laps and then just Waits until Max stars go off more um because Max has to push more to do the same lap time so that um that is something maybe Oscar has to focus on uh a lot uh maybe he doesn't know how to fix it I'm not sure exactly of course what's going on it must be frustrating that very often in qualifying he is on par with Lando this weekend that wasn't the case but the race he clearly lacks compared to Lando especially on tracks that have got decently High deck and I think we're going to get it on the next few races as well U Monza is obviously resurfaced so that's going to be a little bit new but Baku is softest compounds available a lot of traction zones and just Singapore the same so if he wants to challenge Lando in the future he definitely has to work on that there's an interesting stat about Oscar piastri and Lando Norris we're talking about McLaren again briefly but um I agree with you about the the the tire de in the races I feel Oscar has actually made a step forward this year compared to last year but the stat actually that surprises me is 132 to Lando on Norris in qualifying it's easy to forget because he looks so confident oscar but it is his sophomore season he's only into his second year of of racing against Lando Norris who is so highly rated but yeah that is a surprising statistic because because in my mind it's not that he's being trounced um that on paper is a trouncing but I I think that is probably not something I'd be particularly worried about if I was Oscar if I'm one or two ten off Lando and qualifying I can probably live with that I think it is as Jana was saying that race Pace issue that he's been working on with Tom stalard his race engineer and it was much more pronounced in 2023 I agree with you Tom I think he's made a step this year and then maybe this was just a little bit of a step backwards but I feel like and I hope for Oscar that it's it's a blip more than a a trend away from being on the race Bas of Lando what about Mercedes then they've won three of the last four races coming Why Mercedes slipped backwards in to the Dutch Grand Prix I was expecting more it's a bit like they took the red cars from Saturday and painted them silver and they took the silver cards from Saturday and painted them red because the Mercedes look bang on the pace okay qualifying was a bit of a disappointment for Mercedes but not as pronounced the disappointment as I think it was for Ferrari and then in the race George Russell speaking to the the media after the race just said they went backwards they couldn't understand why they just had no Pace yes both drivers made a switch to the two stop strategy both ended up on the soft tire which I don't think was the optimum strategy but I think they were just rolling the dice seeing what they could do to get in contention but having been that formed team going into the summer break and everybody going like the silver arrows are back I think it was cripplingly disappointing for them to just be so off the pace on race day here what about the new floor they tested it on the Friday of spa and elected not to race it there they did race it here am I joining the dots could be that could be circuit specific and again a little blip uh we've seen that with Mercedes in the past that there's just been a bogey circuit for them we see it with teams fairly often that there's a circuit that just doesn't suit them so I think let's wait until we get to Monza before we're drawing like proper conclusions Yano tell us about zanol because I think another surprising statistic is that for the last couple of years is Lewis Hamilton has struggled in qualifying at this track and he did here this year okay he then gets a three Place grid penalty for impeding Sergio Perez in qualifying so he starts 14th on the grid but you know he didn't get into Q3 what is it about this race track is it is it a particularly difficult track to tame because you've raced here admittedly it was the old spect track but but the the the fundamentals of the zanol circuit are the same I think it is because the corners are really really long uh and he he tends to struggle uh if the front doesn't bite as well um into Corner when this these cars these tires uh the front tires tend to really easily give up um really deep into the corner um and yeah that's that's what Mclaren has nailed because I was saying before you we want as much rotation as possible but you do not want to sacrifice any traction for it um or any consistency um and that's what Mclaren has nailed and yeah these these front tires struggle in such long Corners Tire deck was higher on the front left than on the other three tires probably I think that's why he struggled in qualifying to um you know get the car rotated I think that's what a lot of car struggled with maybe Lewis his driving style struggled a little bit more with it not sure if if that was the case of course I can't I can't look into uh into his hat and uh it's logical what you're saying he still he actually drove a really good race to go from 14th to finish just behind his teammate George Russell in eighth so you can overtake here at zanville whatever people say yeah you can always not overtake until you can overtake and then the drivers are happy when they can overtake um but yeah he looked like he'd been having a great time out there by the time he got into the media pen it was uh it was as chirpy as I've seen leis Hamilton this weekend for [Music] Points for Gasly + Jack Doohan's promotion sure now another person I want to talk about is Pierre gazley I must say I enjoyed that race some uh some good fun out there good battles feels good to we start the second part of the year with some points so he comes home in ninth place his first point since the Austrian gr pre he gley made some good moves this race I think if I remember correctly Alban was a little bit nice to him in turn one when it was a little bit chaotic I think some point I saw like five cars within like half a second of each other um and albon was a little bit nice into turn one giving him a lot of space but then if my memory serves correctly he made another uh really good move into turn one uh was perhaps on henar um he was the king of going around the outside Tarzan turn one yeah you can sort of do there is a high line it's like an oval isn't it almost yeah yeah and his SP was great as well um I'm not sure exactly what happened to okon but he was quite far down I think p15 if I remember correctly um so yeah he did great compared to his teammate um and had great moves so well deserved two points there early on in the race Lewis Hamilton was just going through everybody like butter basically from his low starting position but Pierre was the one he couldn't get B and Pierre put up a really robust defense to keep Lewis behind for a number of laps and yeah he looked fantastic out there but like you say he's just seems to have an affinity with this track Like Fernando alono as well seems to do really well at this track so P10 today yeah uh Kevin Magnuson seems to go well at this track I think it's maybe those drivers who like a bit of the old school feel of um old school racing tracks you have to remember that this track first appeared on the calendar in 195 too so it's pretty much as old school as it comes so some of these drivers just really like that old school feel and it makes them come alive look before we move on from gazley and Alpine I feel that there's been a bit of a reset over the summer break you know uh Bruno famine has left Oliver Oaks has come in Oliver Oaks of course has huge experience uh in Motor Racing he he ran the high-tech uh team and they've got cars running in in most Junior formulas I was surprised this weekend when I was just watching Ole Oaks in The Paddock he already knows everybody here I think I think I expected him to sort of be the new kid on the Block who didn't know anyone it was going to take him a while to get up to speed but I I saw Lando Norris um go out of his way to go and say hi to him as if they were old mates I saw him calling out uh to Fred vaser from the other side of the paddock as well he knows all of these people so I can see why Flavio briori the executive advisor there chose him and then of course it was also this weekend that they announced that Jack Duan son of Moto GP world champion Mick Duan uh is going to be gle's teammate in 2025 Jack is of course a race winner in Formula 2 he's been Alpine Reserve driver uh this year he's doing some really impressive runs in fp1 and I caught up with him just before the race today to get his reaction to becoming a race driver to be honest I'm still going to be on a on a high for a while you know I want to do well I'm going to not leave any stone unturned but um for the sacrifices that I made my family made my father my mother everyone involved um and to be able now to have the opportunity to live out my childhood dream that's an amazing amazing opportunity an amazing feeling can you talk us through the moment who told you what were you doing did you drop the phone I got told by by an individual on Monday night driving home in in the car on the Monday after Spa I was testing Tuesday and Wednesday and I got a phone call um letting me know that uh I will be driving for Alpine next season um and that I will be a Formula One driver full stop which was very emotional um there was a you know a lot of things running through thinking back over all the hard times the tough moments um you know that I've even been with you in the press conferences since the F3 days and my not so good days as well um yeah there was a lot as well I then had three weeks after that to to digest it before the announcement um but also uh Bruna famine sent me a message on Tuesday and the message was um basically helping me out with an announcement quote for my for my release and and that was his way of mentioning it to me um so yeah very very cool the way it came across so what happens now talk us through the buildup between now and when you're first testing the 2025 car are we going to see you do for example a lot more runs in the 2-year-old car or what's the plan to be honest my running in the 2-year-old car was always quite extensive this year so we're going to continue with that um that I have a test day on Tuesday in IMA I will have two further days in ABAB before after Singapore um two days in Barcelona a day in Guitar um so I'll have more running in the 2-year-old car um but you know at the moment I still have a unique opportunity to continue evolving and helping with this car in the simulator um off track which will also help me my chances of evolving my car for 2025 um so you know the more I squeeze the more I get at this point in time and going forward so I'm going to continue what I'm doing I have a great opportunity a unique opportunity to start things early with my say next year engineer and and crew um which is like I said a unique opportunity so I'm going to take it with open arms what kind of a team are you joining because we've seen more management changes um it's been a difficult start to 2024 for Alpine as well they've improved the car a lot but just tell us about what I suppose it's an expectations question what are your expectations given everything that's happened in 2024 to alping you know there has been obviously changes um and a lot going on within the team but there have all been changes with one goal in mind and that's to to get team endstone and get alapine back to the front end of the grid and um you know that's what it takes and I feel like we've had a good Shuffle we've got the people we need in and uh you know we've been going forward and we're going to continue to do that well that's the plan and um my expectation is that uh you know I'm an asset and I can work well with my team to ensure that um we make the car as fast as it can be while on track and continue in this pipeline to hopefully get us to the point to the end of the grid you mentioned your teammate Pierre gazley just how big a challenge does he present you to be honest I haven't even thought of it in that perspective um at all you know I haven't thought too much um about even the other side of the garage you know I want to work at this point in time as one team um you know utilize all the tools I have even you know I'm I'm very close with his side of the garage as well and those Engineers so um my focus will be very far from uh Pierre it'll be making the most of uh my On Track Performance my my crew my team and and working with him to make sure the car is as quick as possible and I'm sure we'll both then be happy and you're going to be reunited with Oliver Oaks uh you drove for olle in the junior formulas when he was at high-tech um tell us about that relationship tell us about him you know he's a an exceptional guy um brings a great atmosphere great uh vibe to the team um which is important and which is what we need um we you know we're gaining and uh let's say employing more and more good people which can only help uh I have a great relationship with him working with him in the past so it's uh he's starting his form one Journey a little bit before me but I'm so stoked to have him in the team so final one you're going to be starting your Formula 1 career at home in Australia can you just give us a moment of what it'll feel like to be in Melbourne on the grid about to start your first race yeah it's it's going to be a surreal feeling you know something like I said that I've dreamt of since a little kid and to be having my debut Formula One race at home in Australia you know I I know what what that rundown to turn one looks like I know even from Formula 2 what it feels like sitting in the cockpit you know millimeters off the ground staring at the lights before they go out so um you know I'm going to go over in my head you know plenty of times before it actually happens for real but uh you know it'll also be an important race to to manage um you know on track but more importantly off track um hopefully we'll have two Aussies as well to join me on the grid that can take the load off me um but I look forward to just enjoying each and every moment not only of Australia but for the rest of the year and not looking ever too far ahead just always at the my next step in front of me and making sure that I cherish each and every moment good luck with it thank you thank you so much Jack has had some good results in F2 I would love to see him do well next year uh I think he's going to be tough next to gly of course uh I think Pi is a lot better these days than he was at Red Bull of course um I think he has showed this year he can really take it to to okon for example who is highly rated as well um so I don't think it's going to be easy especially starting in Melbourne in front of your home crowd yeah no pressure no pressure against a really really experienced teammate um who dominated uh gp2 at the time uh of course which is Formula 2 now so yeah I think I think it's going to be tough for him uh for sure but yeah I hope I I hope he does well of course so yeah we will see he got the phone call just after Carlos science had been confirmed at Williams so he was like obviously ly you know top of the list apart from apart from Carlos yeah after what he called a a mediocre dinner in Spar so I'm sorry for his dinner um yeah and he admitted that it was hard with Carlos svin the the cork in the bottle as he called it and it was hard knowing that his future was basically in the hands of Carlos sints but he also admitted that Alpine were of course perfectly within their rights and sensible to keep pursuing caros sints who is a race winner who has all that experience and when it became clear that that wasn't an option for Alpine then they made the next logical decision which was to put jack in the car which he should be flattered by as well because to be behind Carlos Saints when there are a lot of other drivers with a good amount of experience that they could have put in the car it's understood that they were tentatively having conversations with valri botas about maybe going making a move over there so I think it's a vote of confidence in Jack and uh he's very well set to try and repay their their faith in him by doing as well as he can to the point about Pierre gazley as well it's true that Pierre gazley is a good yard stick for him very experienced teammate but I think Alf P will take confidence in how Pierre gazley took Yuki Coda under his wing at alfat Tori as it was then known and really tried to bring Yuki Coda up to speed and I think Alin will hope he has a similarly collaborative relationship ship with Jack D that's a very good point and he is Jack is the first member of the Alpine young driver program to actually make it all the way through to Formula 1 they almost made it with Oscar pastri a couple of years ago but of course we know what happened there Oscar went to McLaren um and speaking of Alpine their driver Abby pulling won the first F1 Academy race of the weekend here at zanville Dorian pan won the second but pulling Remains the favorite for the title she leads the standings going into the next race which is in Singapore in Why Williams' weekend will worry Sainz [Music] September so just a couple of other things to ask you guys um look Williams yeah Greg you just on that sort of Grimace face it w this was a difficult weekend for them they brought upgrades then Logan Sergeant has that massive crash uh on Saturday wiping out one lot of of of the upgrades and then of course Alex album was dis qu ified from qualifying for a floor that was too wide it was slightly a calamitous weekend for Williams and you don't like to see any of what befell them happen to any team on the grid but to deal with the Logan crash first very similar to his crash at Suzuka earlier this year in fb1 where he just seemed to either from like his Viewpoint in the cockpit just not be able to see where the runoff curb became grass put wheels on the grass and then spun around and then disastrous effect on the car all the upgrades seemingly wiped off except I believe the roll hoop and then the massive fire as well so that would have pleased uh Team principal James vals and then we had the news that Alex Alan's car had been ruled uh illegal for what it sounds like is a very minor measurement breach uh which they managed to resolve but it's uh given that James vals has managed to attract Carlos science to the team by showing that they're moving they're changing from the old Williams to a much Slicker operation it just looked a bit calamitous the Optics weren't great as they'd say in Communications and PR yeah I agree uh uh Carlos won't have been impressed by what he saw there but you know James is very good at putting a positive spin on things in that we will learn from this he said that their own measure were that the floor was legal so they've just got to sort of Rectify the correlation issue between their measuring machine and the fia's measuring machine the fia's measuring machine of course being the only one that really matters because that determines whether it's legal or not um Yano I did want to ask you about Logan sergeant and just where he's at mentally because he's he knows already that his seat at Williams is gone for next year and then the first race back after that news he goes and has a crash like that I suppose it's a harsh question but is there any coming back for him from that I think it's quite clear there's no no coming back in Formula 1 of course he's a really good driver but unfortunately in Formula 1 being a really good driver is not enough you need to be the best of the best yeah this was not a great weekend because the crash looked really clumsy in a session where there was nothing to win you know free practice drying up track not really learning anything from that anyway and yet to add on to that as well it was it was clumsy because he just drove onto the grass basically when the exit was already done and caused a huge crash with new upgrades so I'm sure he will do really well in wherever he goes next but um I'm quite sure it won't be Formula One look we're speaking a couple of hours after the checkered flag here in in the Netherlands um there has been speculation today about whether Logan will see out the season helmet Marco has gone on the record of saying he won't stand in Liam Lawson's way if Williams offer him a drive for the last nine races you've got your ear to the ground Greg you're the newsound what can you tell us well somebody asked me last night who I would put in and I thought if as speculation continues used to build about Andrea Kimmy Antonelli joining Mercedes for 2025 wouldn't it be a decent idea to put him in for nine races at Williams get up to speed and then move them across to Mercedes Toto wolf has said he's had conversations with James vs and they've decided that what they prefer is to for Mercedes to prepare him the way they were planning to prepare him which is for him to finish his formula 2 season for him to do his is uh testing a previous cars program um but there's another driver Mercedes mck shaca and Toto said he would be cheering for Mk shaca to get that opportunity at Williams he says it's for James vs to decide and Toto is not going to be heavy-handed about persuading his former strategy director to take Mick schumacker but I think Mick would do a decent job and you know Logan youve got to feel for him cuz he's a he's a really sweet guy but you know it can't be nice to be told at this stage of the Season that you're basically out and that basically the rest of the season is an audition for a drive elsewhere so is that somebody that Williams want mentally in the car especially if he's going to do damage to upgrades in the way that he did do you think you you you say that Toto wolf isn't isn't going to Champion uh Mick schumacker push for him to get in the Williams but do you think Toto wolf would push against Liam Lawson getting in that Williams Because Liam is a Red Bull driver uh and perhaps Toto doesn't want him to learn all about the Mercedes power unit etc etc yeah I think that could be a a realistic concern I think also it's it's a slightly strange situation for helmet Marco to be in because if Williams put that upgrade on and both drivers can keep it out of the wall and it can be deemed legal would they want Liam n and Alex albor getting closer to RB and starting to take points out them okay it's not a very realistic issue at the moment but who knows if they come on strong towards the end of the season but yeah it' be great to see Liam back in a car helmet Marco well Christian Herer rode back from comments that helmet Marco had said that he would be in one of the the Red Bull family of cars in 2025 Christian Herer said actually what he meant was he'd be in a car in 202 five somewhere on the grid uh we know it won't be a Williams but could be somewhere else I I think we shouldn't forget as well that uh James WS obviously previously was with Mercedes and he did choose um Antonelli as a junior driver at Mercedes if my memory serves correctly um and that that could of course help as well at the same time in the position Williams is in do they want to put a rookie in just for nine r races that's a little bit tricky I feel like as well um but Antonelli is an insane Talent so at the same time you know he uh he could do really well but yeah that that could have an influence of course that James does really like Kimmy um having worked with him at Mercedes um and being really impressed by him well if there is a change at Williams before Monza it's going to happen very soon make sure uh you tune in to f1.com or the official F1 app to get all the latest from Greg and his team um well guys it's been brilliant to have you both on the show thank you for your time Hulkenberg? Norris? Leclerc? Who's Driver of the Day we always end it with our driver of the day um Lando of course got the vote on the TV Yano who was your driver of the day in the Dutch Grand Prix I think I will give it to gley just tell us a little bit more about why I made great moves great pace had some at some tricky moments when it's during the race and when it mattered he he he did well um and made the Right Moves right decision so I'm going to go with gley okay Greg uh I thought of four candidates hey hang on hang on you can only have one right okay if I I hang on I've thought of 20 candidates I'm going to give niik Hackenberg a special Commendation after a difficult weekend for doing a 57 lap stint and finishing just outside the points but I think I will be dull and give it to the race winner Lon Norris because I felt like this was a c change victory for him I actually watched it watched the race by watching the main screen but also on f1tv just being on Lando's feed and listening to will Joseph his race engineer in his ear and Lando can sometimes be quite edgy with Will and get a bit stressed and a bit tense especially if he's fallen back or had a setback and Lando over team radio was so calm he was almost back to that kind of jovial funny Lando that we had in 2019 when he would occasionally you know get a P5 or something and be really Chu with that but I felt it was a bit of a SE change moment for Lando in which he became this person who knew he could just go out there and win the race so Landon Norris gets the nod yeah and and just it also proves just how much confidence he had in that car today um well I am going to say Charla Clair uh so it's good that we've all come up with different people uh for me I thought that was one of the best races that I've seen sh uh for quite a long time he's he's recognized you know as a as a um as a qualifier and you know his qualifying stats are amazing but actually he's driving really good races for that team now and and uh so sha was brilliant it was his seventh Podium of the season and to go from sixth on the grid to third at a track where you can't overtake just look at the fact that you know pastri in a much faster car couldn't get past him so well done to Charla Clair so the top 10 looks like this Lando Norris takes win number two of his career and mcclaren's first at zandvoort since 1985 Max foren finishes second his worst ever result at Zan bort and Charla Clair takes his seventh Podium of the season in third piastra is fourth with sence Fifth and Perez sixth his best results since Miami the Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton are seventh and eighth gazley is ninth for alpen and Alonzo takes the final point for Aston Martin in 10th in the driver's Championship Max foren still leads the way but Lando Norris has taken eight points out of his advantage to cut it to 70 L clerk is third 13 points ahead of piastri in fourth then come SS in fifth Hamilton sixth Perez 7eventh Russell 8th Alonzo 9th and stroll 10th and the constructor's championship is getting really tasty McLaren have cut Red Bull's advantage to 30 points with only nine races to go Ferrari a third 34 points behind McLaren and Mercedes a fourth then there's a whopping 202 two-point Gap back to Aston Martin in fifth with vabb 6th has 7th Alpine 8th Williams 9th and Saba [Music] 10th well guys that's it we got to Monza next uh new curbs new asphalt a slightly reshaped F shicane it's very difficult to predict what's going to happen there it is um as we've seen this year many times it's uh near impossible to predict who is going to be fast and who's not going to be uh I think we can all agree McLaren will be up there again but what the rest of the grit is going to do is really hard to say beforehand um and yeah I think uh teams will be maybe surprised a little bit with the new asphalt U obviously previous data might not matter as much so yeah it'll be interesting they need a clean run in practice don't they all of the teams Yano before you go I've got this question that I've been dying to ask you so I'm so just sat opposite me look you are a phenomenal Sim racer you're a two-time world champion if you were to drive the rb20 how close let's say round zanville you you know this track how close could you get to Max and czecho in the real car because you know you're a former race winner uh yourself so you've done some track racing but you know Sim to get straight in the F1 car go on you must have thought about it I'll be much faster no I'm joking I'm joking I'm joking no I wouldn't I wouldn't be faster of course it's uh if I would be physically fit enough um on my first day of driving or how much how much practice do I get GRE how how long a test are we giving him uh I think we'll give you a day day in the car one day um in a single day I think I would be happy to be within a second for sure um it's it's so hard to say um when I did when I did racing myself of course I was in the ren F1 unior team at the time I was doing quite well but yeah now I look back at it um I'm so much better now after all those years of sim racing at least I feel like I'm much better I've learned a lot it's so hard to say uh because these guys drive every week in in these cars uh three days a week pretty much with how busy the of1 calendar is so yeah I think uh I'll be happy to be within one second I want to say I'll be within a 10th but um yeah it's it's really hard to guess I've done uh I've done some Laps on the simulator um at various a one teams and on the Sim of course I was faster than the real one drivers but that doesn't mean much uh in real life of course so yeah I've got I've got no clue um it's very impressive all the same yeah I would uh I would be happy to be physically fit enough actually to drive a Formula One car for a day uh I do some cing these days and I've bruised my rips multiple times already so I I've had to take some breaks from that every now and then um but uh yeah it's uh it's nearly impossible to know beforehand uh every track is very different and probably on some tracks I will do better than others um so yeah I would uh I'll be uh all right we'll give you a second that's good a second yeah I would be happy within a second all right well Yano thank you very much for your time it's great to meet you and to have you on the show Greg thank you for coming back thank you for having me there's a common factor about having you on the show every time we have you on the show Lando Norris wins a race I will take that 10% from McLaren thank you look great to have you both thanks for your insights and do remember that you can get your tickets for the rest of this season for Austin Las Vegas and Beyond at tickets. formala 1com and of course as we've mentioned it's a European double header and we'll be back next Monday with our review of the Italian Grand Prix thanks for listening F1 nation is produced by Formula 1 and Audi booom Studio