2 Soft Compounds

Japan GP: Max's Masterclass in Suzuka Stunner

• W4 Podcast Studio & GrandPrix247 • Season 1 • Episode 8

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2 Soft Compounds - Japan GP: Max's Masterclass in Suzuka Stunner!

🇯🇵 Suzuka Stunner!  This week on Two Soft Compounds, Rick Houghton and Paul Velasco break down Max Verstappen’s jaw-dropping qualifying lap in Japan in a car he called “...a bag of bolts.” Is this the moment we’re witnessing a living legend at his peak?

🧡 The boys also dive into McLaren’s strategy (or lack of), Alpine’s eyebrow-raising driver swap and standout rookie performances from Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman.

🔥 With the title race down to a single point, the triple-header ahead could change everything. Bold takes, sharp insight — Two Soft Compounds isn't holding back!


Podcast Rundwown

1️⃣  Welcome and Introduction

2️⃣  Controversy with Jack Doohan's Replacement

3️⃣  Suzuka Track Conditions and Qualifying

4️⃣  Verstappen's Spectacular Performance

5️⃣  McLaren's Team Dynamics and Strategy

6️⃣  Rookie Standouts: Antonelli and Bearman

7️⃣  Championship Standings and Predictions

8️⃣  Driver Performances and Team Dynamics

9️⃣  Looking Ahead to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia


Production Credits:

Presented by: Rick Houghton & Paul Velasco
Studio Engineer & Editor: Roy D'Monte
Executive Producer: Ian Carless
Produced by: GrandPrix247 & W4 Podcast Studio

Rick Houghton:

Hi, welcome to the Two Soft Compounds podcast. Before we begin, I've got a quick favour to ask. There's one simple way you can support our show, and that's by hitting that follow or subscribe button on the app you're listening to the show on right now. It really does make a huge difference in helping us get the show out there to as many people as possible, so please give us a hand and click that button right now. Thank you, I don't make mistakes.

Paul Velasco:

I make prophecies that immediately turn out to be wrong. Anything can happen in Formula One, and it usually does.

Rick Houghton:

Welcome to another Two Soft Compounds podcast. I'm Rick. Paul Velasco is joining me. He's the founder and chief editor of Grand Prix 24-7.com. We're off the back of the Japanese Grand Prix from the land of the rising sun, and before anyone had driven or turned a wheel in anger, there was already controversy. As the teams arrived, it was revealed that Jack Doohan in the Alpine team was going to be replaced from his regular seat in free practice one by a local Japanese driver, which to me was a little bit nuts, paul.

Paul Velasco:

Yeah, I must say it did aggrieve me and I put it out in the outside line column of mine on Grand Prix 247, basically called Flavio Briatore a scumbag for even condoning even if he didn't order it condoning that Jack Doohan, the race driver that got contracted to do this season. But we know, and he's probably not up to the task, honestly, I'm going to say that. But once you've got the guy in the car, you've got him in the car, so you live with it, even if you want him out the next race, then take him out the next race. But at the Grand Prix, when lives are at stake, because it's a dangerous sport, I felt that it was incomprehensible. First, the FIA condoned it, formula One Dominicali condoned it. The GPDA, the Grand Prix Drivers Association, said nothing. Pierre Gasly should have even said mate, are you not going to allow this guy? He's never driven a Suzuki. This car, whatever he's driven before, doesn't compare to the Formula One car. But no, no one did.

Paul Velasco:

Dewan sat it out while Rio got the thing and in FP2, which I didn't watch live. But when I woke up in the morning I was horrified that my prediction had come true he had to hit himself. Okay, my prediction didn't come true. He didn't wipe himself out like Jules Bianchi did. Okay, end of the day, jules Bianchi died there, so we should have respect for him and we have respect for the sport that is still deadly, despite the safety. So I'm super aggrieved. As I said, go check it on my site. Flavio sent me a lawyer's letter immediately telling me to cease and desist because I insulted him. What are you doing to Formula One? That's my key problem. So I'm open to even sit on their platform on X live, whatever. Let's get it out there and justify why you're even allowed to be in Formula One. You know I don't want this man in the paddock unless he can verify himself and say yes, it was a responsible move to make. Do and sit this thing out, okay, I need that explained to me.

Rick Houghton:

Well, I mean just to clarify the do and stuff. So he sat out in free practice one, free practice two and you alluded to this when you were having your little rant there but free practice two, four laps into his driving he had a massive crash into Turn 1, and it turned out that it was a rookie error. He left the DRS flap open at the end of the straight and basically there's two tracks on the Formula 1 calendar where you have to manually close the DRS it's Silverstone and it's Suzuka. So at Suzuka he should have manually closed the DRS before he went into the the right hander of turn one. He didn't. So the car just had no downforce completely span out, spat him into the wall at about 200 miles an hour. Very, very lucky to have survived that. Now, asked about it afterwards, he said that in the simulator he reckoned he didn't need to close the drs because the car would take it. But it turns out the simulator is not quite like the real thing and that's what spat him out shouldn't they have warned him?

Paul Velasco:

shouldn't they have warned him?

Paul Velasco:

I didn't know this sorry, you're telling me new stuff. This is even more criminal. Shouldn't they have warned him? Say, hey, remind her, you remember they used to have in the olden days they used to have. When they used to put brakes manually in the cars in the olden days, you used to they used to have like a piece of tape, yeah, new brakes or brakes. So the guy knew, don't you, as a guy on the pit wall, just say, hey, let's go through this carefully. Remember suzuki's unique. You've got to switch off. I don't know, I see, I don't know what's going on in that shit show. That's why I'd like to have flavio in here and ollie oaks. Let's have have Ollie in too. Let's have a three-way and let's sort this out. But what's going on there sits uncomfortably with me, but anyway yeah, there was beautiful stuff.

Rick Houghton:

This past weekend wasn't there yeah, I mean it really was. First of all, the the track conditions were great. They've resurfaced summer Suzuka, so it was a lot smoother than it has been in the past and I think during free practice that maybe caught a few of the drivers out. It was a lot smoother than it has been in the past and I think during free practice that maybe caught a few of the drivers out. It was also very dry, as you may have seen from the six red flags. That happened during the practice sessions because the sparks from the car were setting the grass alight either side of the track, which I thought was quite amusing and a little bit embarrassing for the organisers, I suppose. But yeah, some great racing and I think, one of the most spectacular qualifying sessions I've ever seen in my Formula One life. I really do mean that I was asked a question.

Rick Houghton:

Our producer of the podcast said can you come up with your? He was asking us some questions for some PR and he said can you come up with your Formula One?

Paul Velasco:

driver of all time, and I think mine now has changed?

Rick Houghton:

I really do, max Verstappen. I mean just the car is a bag of bolts.

Paul Velasco:

It seems this season and this was the race weekend, of course, when Yuki Tsunoda was coming from the Racing Bulls and being promoted to the Red Bull main team and that Liam Lawson was going the other way sort of taking a demotion going.

Rick Houghton:

going back to the racing bulls Yuki Tsunoda, by the way, in free practice one, two and three Mate, mate, mate, mate, mate.

Paul Velasco:

forget about Yuki. Come on, let's carry on. You were on a good vein with Max. Yuki was 18th. Let's go to we'll speak in later.

Rick Houghton:

Okay, okay, okay.

Paul Velasco:

So you were on a very good roll with Max. Seriously, when you're on a roller, you got off the wave.

Rick Houghton:

Okay, you're right, you're right Okay.

Paul Velasco:

So how did Max turn you back into a Max fan?

Rick Houghton:

Well, you know the Red Bull car is difficult to drive. We know that it's a bit of a bag of bolts. And Max just pulled out the qualifying lap of his career, I think, in Suzuka on Saturday. It was just amazing. I watched the onboard. He was smooth, he was committed, he was fast. Then I watched the trace of him and his comparison to Lando Norris. You could tell that Max was able to brake later, going into the slower corners than Norris was. He was able to accelerate earlier than Norris was. It was just a thing of absolute beauty and when you consider the car's not that good this season, you have to say that I think Max Verstappen could put a tractor on pole position. I mean he can drive the nuts off anything. I mean I think you put him in any car on that grid, he has a potential of getting pole position Half a second, half a second quicker than any other guy in the other car.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, absolutely, I agree 110%. The most experienced driver in Formula One on the grid, fernando Alonso, couldn't wait. He leapt out of his car at the end of qualifying and went to the press bin and basically said only Max Verstappen can do this. Only Max has the ability to take a car that's bang average this season and put it on pole position the way he did.

Paul Velasco:

Fernando knows. You know, fernando knows more than anybody else, he's always said it. What makes Max the monster? The machine? That he is racing monster is actually the biggest praise I can give a driver. Okay, he's a racing monster. And the reason being is he's just so consistent. He just delivers all the time.

Paul Velasco:

And this would bring you to the Grand Prix. You know, people say, oh, it was boring. Okay, relative to that lap where I think the whole of Formula One jumped up in one shot, right, everyone went just, this is unbelievable, you know, even afterwards credit to Piaget, credit to Norris they said, mate, max just delivered a big lap, but to me it wasn't a boring race. Yes, okay, the top six finished in the same order. We'll discuss that. But Max took that momentum, his intent was totally clear I'm pointing at you, mate, so if you come and after that, it was a flawless race. He did not make a mistake. In fact, I worked it out.

Paul Velasco:

There were two chances in that Grand Prix for Norris to beat Verstappen, and that was on lap 22 when they pitted. And then Norris made the mistake of taking the wrong lane, which ended in the grass. And you know what? Eh, people are going to go. Oh, max gave him acres of space. If it had been me, I would have just shut him into the grass, straight into the wall. Or Schumacher would have done that. No, max, an ugly Max would have done that. But Max is now driving, such confidence, such authority, such status, he doesn't have to do that. I felt he even gave space. He moved a bit to the left I don't know. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I saw.

Paul Velasco:

And thereafter there was no chance. From the start he was gone from the pit stops. That was the chance. They didn't have it. Credit to McLaren for doing a very, very good stop. And then it came at the time when, I think, mclaren erred. Mclaren erred big time because they had options. You know you've got two against one. You have to beat them. You know what I mean, Especially if you've got the better car, which they definitely did. And then when Norris radioed them not Norris radioed them, not Norris, piastri it was 10 laps to go Piastri said come, guys, it's time to go, can Norris get on it? And they came back to him and said the Norris can't go any faster. He said well, I think I'm faster. And boom, they didn't let him go. And that, to me, is fishy. It's not not fishy in terms of it's it's. It shows that they, I don't know, I, I have to process it and I'm going to ask you, what do you think of that?

Rick Houghton:

because, in the end of the day, releasing piastri to attack max, because the gap was never more than two or three seconds between the three, you know, what I'm saying so, but you that you, you're the stats guy, come tell me exactly what happened there well, I think we're going to have this issue and this battle and this problem with McLaren for the rest of this season, because the two McLaren drivers, norris and Piastri, are fairly equally matched. I think it comes down to circuits, really, which you know who prefers which circuit. And Piastri was asking to be let go, asking for Norris to move out of the way. Mclaren didn't order that, I think you know. If it was the other way round and it was Norris asking for Piastri to be moved out of the way, I get the impression that McLaren wouldn't do that either. I don't think they favour one particular driver. They may start doing when the points are adding up towards the end of the season, but at the moment I think they're letting them race, you know, and most people would say well, yeah, we want to see them race.

Rick Houghton:

But I can share Oscar Piastri's frustration behind the wheel because he's like I know I'm faster than Norris here, just let me have a go and attack Max. So you can see the frustration all round from the driver's point of view, but you can also see it from a team management point of view, as they like. We don't want to upset the apple cart in a moment. We don't want to seem to be favoring one driver over the other because they are so equal. You know, if we did think at the start of the season it was going to be mclaren versus max in the red bull all season long, and now, after this grand prix, that looks as though you know our prediction was correct it's going to be mclaren versus max all season. And when I say mclaren versus max, I mean max, not red bull, I mean max because it's a one-man team.

Rick Houghton:

Let's go yeah, and looking further down the order, like you said, they finished the way they started. The top six anyway. Charles Leclerc, in fourth position in the Ferrari. He was complaining all through Friday practice and even in free practice. Three on Saturday morning he was complaining, he hated this setup. He even said at one point I want this session to end, but in the race he was able to hold it together.

Rick Houghton:

All right, he was 16 seconds off the leader when he crossed the finish line. But fourth for Ferrari, I think was probably a fair result this weekend.

Paul Velasco:

Yeah, ferrari's super disappointing as far as I'm concerned. I thought that was the number two car and they'd be hanging in there, but it was really a pretty anonymous race from leclerc and um, apparently he solved his, uh, his problem in fp3 by changing his, his, uh, his driving style to suit whatever quirk the car was, uh, impeding him was. But uh, yeah, I mean, and uh, we can actually talk about lewis too. I mean, it was a very underwhelming run to P8, hey.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Velasco:

So yeah, ferrari, you know, I don't know, they were so anonymous that I can't even actually tell you what I think went wrong, to be honest, yeah, I think that's a good point.

Rick Houghton:

I think you know we saw Ferrari as a team make mistakes when they raced in China and Australia. I mean, the mistake they made in China with the disqualification was just unacceptable in my eyes. And they've came here a little bit lackluster and they haven't really produced, have they? We thought they were going to be the third team and at the moment, well, they're not really.

Paul Velasco:

Yeah, I'll put it this way, I thought they'd be a lot closer because, look, the margins are super fine, you know. But again, as you say, it's Max and then the McLarens, and then you expected Ferrari to be right up there. But, on another note, mercedes, who we didn't really have big hope for, I think, again, they were, you know, okay enough. Now we're all surprised that Mercedes are as good as they are, but now they must get better, and I didn't think they got much better. But okay, there was only two weeks, so maybe that's not enough. Maybe the car will only get better later, I don't know.

Paul Velasco:

I just expected Mercedes, I expected Russell to be more in the mix, especially after China, but I don't know, there was something missing. However, having said that, I thought Antonelli was brilliant. Antonelli was absolutely brilliant. He should do of him, put up my hand and say I thought he wasn't ready. The kid's ready. He's going to be around for 20 more years and I think it's amazing 18 years old became the youngest driver ever to lead a Grand Prix. I mean, that is amazing, and that he didn't get driver of the day astounds me.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, I thought Antonelli was great. He was calm, he was composed, he comes to the racetrack as an 18-year-old but looks as though he has the maturity of a 40 year old. He was also as well as the youngest to ever lead a Grand Prix. I think he was the youngest to set a fastest lap in a Grand Prix as well. 18 years of age, very mature head on those shoulders, yeah, I think he's going to become our Valentino Rossi.

Paul Velasco:

Valentino Rossi has just emerged. I think some people I read that somewhere that people are sort of really comparing to to it, and I know they hang out together Before the Grand Prix they were chilling and, I think, doing karting together because Rossi drives GT3s now, so and LMPs I think he might drive. So, yeah, man, I was super, super impressed with Anthony Elliott. You know, he's just the fact that he led 10 laps on merit, I feel, hey, kudos to Tojo Wolfe. I thought he wasn't ready. Man, I got it wrong, you are right.

Rick Houghton:

I mean we can talk about some of the other rookies who are shining as well here. We know Lewis Hamilton finished the race in seventh in the Ferrari. We've sort of covered that and the lackluster performance from them. But then look at eighth, you know, in the racing bulls. I mean I had worries about him when we started the season. I thought is he ready? Is he ready for the crazy world of Formula One? Is he ready to drive these cars at speed and with the commitment that you need? And he has it. He is doing really well, he's putting in mature performances and he's probably getting more out of that racing bulls car than anyone else would. Yeah, I know.

Paul Velasco:

I'm not supposed to take my hat off to him. I thought he was a bit too emotional and highly charged for the sport, but I'm loving the energy. Honestly, what a cool cat. You know he hasn't put a foot wrong since he bended it. That was so sad when he bended it in Australia before he even got to the grid, but since then he's ticked every box. He's even impressed in Christian Horner Horner's making a lot of nice noises about him and I just like his energy. His energy is really relishing and savoring being where he is. And I got it wrong earlier. I said Lewis finished eighth. Actually, Lewis started eighth and finished seventh. But Hajar and him sharing a row on the grid is again one of those things you can't script. The guy absolutely adores Lewis. So yeah, I'm super impressed with him. And that leads us to Berman. Berman took the final point and he just owned Esteban Ocon the whole weekend.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, I mean Ocon's, the experienced Formula One driver in the Haas team. He was appointed by Gene Haas because he wanted someone who had the experience to lead the team and at the moment Oli Berman is making him look well embarrassing. To be honest, berman finished in the Haas in 10th. That Haas car's not strong this year. You know we had glimpses of Haas having some decent results over the years. This year it doesn't seem that strong Haas having some decent results over the years. This year it doesn't seem that strong. Qualifying-wise they're always down towards the rear of the order and Ocon sort of proved that by finishing in his Haas in 18th place with Berman eight places ahead of him. It's just a fantastic job the kid's been doing no.

Paul Velasco:

Oli's been super, super impressive. I'm really happy to see that. And again, three amazing rookies, which I was saying to Jad Malik. I was actually discussing with him. I said Formula One's in probably the best place in terms of drivers, and I say this kind of every year because it's just really improved, improved, improved. At the moment there's a couple of journeymen that can go Ocon, gasly, hulkenberg can move but there's a new generation of boys that are coming through. Man, they're super impressive and, like I said, this is probably the finest grid we've got. You know, if you took Lance Stroll off it, it's probably even better. But, honestly, super, super impressed this weekend with all the at the most daunting venue, you know, but not forget this Suzuka is the most daunting venue on the calendar, which brings us to the championship mate, is the most daunting venue on the calendar which brings us to the championship mate. It's like super, super close. Give us a rundown.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, so in the championship at the moment it's still led on 62 points by Lando Norris. Max Verstappen, though with the victory in Japan, closes the gap to just one point. So he's on 61. Oscar Piastri in third place on 49 points, george Russell in fourth and Kimi Antoinelli in fifth place in his Mercedes on 30 points. The Ferraris, disappointingly, are sixth and eighth, with Albon in between in seventh place in the Williams Mercedes.

Paul Velasco:

Yeah, so it looks like it's going to be exactly as we predicted Not only us everybody. I think it's Max versus the Max, both Max the big. Max, they're going to have to bring their big Max to actually win this thing. Lando and Oscar Really it's the two of them push each other every weekend. These two guys just keep getting better and better, as Max also gets better, and I just see there's going to be a superb Bahrain Grand Prix. You can't even breathe. It's next weekend, Boom done.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, we're in a triple header at the moment, you know so.

Paul Velasco:

Bahrain, then Saudi Arabia. So I think it's going to be really exciting to see how the dynamic pans out, because after Australia and China, we all thought, okay, so McLaren are very dominant here. They're going to be dominant for most of the season. The Red Bull is not as quick as we first thought and then, after round three in Japan, you go okay, we'll never, ever write Max Verstappen off because, like many have said, he could drive a mini Metro and put it on pole position.

Rick Houghton:

He's just a genius behind the wheel.

Paul Velasco:

Oh, absolutely. I said in a piece straight afterwards. I was inspired to write a piece straight afterwards when I watched him do that lap and I compared him to senna shumaka, all the greats, fanjos. You know, I don't know that they would be all as good as max if they were driving this era and they were 27 years old. You know, fanjo 27. Now I'm going to imagine they would all be like on max level, right, but max would be right in there and I'm I'm actually pretty sure of all the drivers on the grid, if you took max and you stuck them in senna's car in 1988 or you took it, you put him in fanjo's car. He's the kind of driver he would have survived that year and he would have been among the greats he would have been.

Paul Velasco:

You know, this is how I see if this happens. So I mean he just grows and grows in terms of status and everything. So for me, you cannot give the guy enough accolades. And I just say to people because a lot of the haters out there, and I don't understand why you're watching magic here You're watching absolutely magic before your own eyes. And yeah, I just, I can't wait for Bahrain. I think Bahrain's going to be amazing. And just in closing, with Max, you know, by all accounts, and the setup on that car is like there's no, there's no rear wing, almost yeah, and he's just finding a way to wrench the speed out of the thing. And it's genius. That's all I can say. I mean I better shut up.

Rick Houghton:

No, no, I totally agree with you. It is genius, it's jaw-dropping stuff. I mean, the qualifier was just like what? And let's talk about his new teammate. Yuki Tsunoda came from Racing Bulls, promoted into the second seat in the Red Bull.

Rick Houghton:

I was really surprised, actually, on Friday in free practice one and two, he held his own in that Red Bull first time on a difficult circuit and he was only a couple of tenths behind Max. In those practice sessions I was like, wow, ok, so he was right all along, he deserved that seat all along. And Helmut Marko had made a massive mistake putting Liam Lawson into the car. And now he's rectified it and he's got Yuki, and maybe Yuki can be a decent teammate alongside Max. And then in the race things just didn't pan out. He didn't bin it, he didn't put it in the wall, he didn't spin, but he was unable to get the pace out of the car. And if you compare him to Max Verstappen Max finishing in first place and Yuki Tsunoda finishing in 12th then that is the difference and it's not the car. By the way, that's the driver away.

Paul Velasco:

That's the driver. Oh yeah, I mean, that's one minute behind max, but hey, credit to the guy. He got into a car that he had never seen. As much as you want to drive a simulator, as you mentioned, with poor old doing you know, it's not the same as a real thing. That's why it's a crime. But there's not enough testing.

Paul Velasco:

So, having said that, I think Yuki did all right. I mean, it showed me immediately that he could get the car out the box and go decently quick. But the problem with the RB21, I think decently quick is where he was, yeah. But then comes Max and he says, okay, it's decently quick, but I'm going to make it outrageously quick, but only he can drive it that outrageously quick, and that's the whole thing. So I think Yuki was solid enough to be. I don't think he's the solution. I'm going to drop a clanger on this one for you who I think the solution is. Yuki is a stopgap for now, I would imagine. But let's see, let's give him another race because he might only get two. Let's see, let's give him another race because he might only get two. Let's see. But then they've got Hadja, they can put him in.

Paul Velasco:

But you know what it dawned on me as I was watching McLaren fumble. I thought Mark Webber, red Bull, piastri, if I was Christian, if I was Helmut, was Helmut? No, because Helmut's going to bank on Max forever and I think then he'll probably retire on Max till forever. I think then he'll probably retire. But if Red Bull are serious, it's time to break the bank and get Piastri to that team. If he teammates with Max for a year to acclimatize himself, when Max leaves in 2028, which I believe he will be at the end of 2028, he'll get a billion dollars go to Aston Martin and Piastri's your man. I think a big team has to nab Piastri ASAP. The kid is a rocket scientist. I think he's the only guy potentially on Verstappen's level. I think Verstappen is just beyond everyone, but I think Piastri will be the next big thing.

Rick Houghton:

Okay, let's talk about Carlos Sainz, because he still hasn't acclimatized into that Williams. I mean, he was locking up nearly every other lap on the Japanese Grand Prix. He can't get to grips with it, can he?

Paul Velasco:

Disappointing man Disappointing After all the hype came in there with such an amazing energy going to put Williams back where it belongs and he just can't drive it. He just can't drive it. And I mean I heard this word salad of hanging from James Vowles about why he couldn't drive it. He just can't drive the car and like, come on, he's a very, very experienced driver. He's driven more teams than most drivers and he can't adapt to this. I'm, I'm, I'm flummoxed, I'm, I'm thinking Daniel Ricciardo style forget how to race fast thing, but he'd had a couple of good moves, you know from nowhere he did a thing on the hip, but honestly, this is not a smooth operator, we know. I'm quite flummoxed by the fact that he Alex Albon, on the other hand is basically owning him.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, without a doubt. We mentioned Liam Lawson earlier. This was his first race in the Racing Bulls after being demoted as Max's partner from the Red Bull main team. He actually out-qualified Yuki Tsunoda, which is the question we were asking ourselves in the last podcast. You know what happens if that happens. But then in the race disappointing result he came 17th and his teammate, as we mentioned, hadja, came 8th. And that again similar cars, similar setups. That's down to the driver. Now, obviously you've got to give Lawson the benefit, the doubt, I suppose, because he's back in the junior car after being in the Red Bull and preparing for the Red Bull seat for the whole of the winter and then having two race weekends with the main team. But can he bounce back and perform better in Bahrain, because he really needs to now, doesn't he?

Paul Velasco:

well, I don't know if he can, but I do believe in Lawson. I have believed in him all along and I was quite amazed at how he flopped at Red Bull and losing the seat after two drives was super cruel. But now he's got nowhere to hide because he's actually got 11 more races under his belt than Hadja and Hadja owned him this weekend. But we'll give him a pass because you know, his first day back at the team he had to acclimatize, etc. So it was his first race in that car which he'd never tested or anything. So understandably, hadja had the upper hand. But if Liam Lawson is, is the business? He's got to own Hadja. But I'm starting to think that maybe Hadja's going to own him.

Rick Houghton:

And the slowest car on the grid is the Sauer, unfortunately. Hulkenberg finishing in 16th, bortoletto finishing in 19th and Landstroll. What happened to him and the Aston Martin this weekend? I mean, I thought actually that.

Paul Velasco:

Alonso did a fairly decent job in a car.

Rick Houghton:

That's clearly struggling by finishing in 11th, but Landstroll was dead last. He was a lap down on the rest of the field, didn't he qualify last too? Yeah, he did.

Paul Velasco:

I mean, he's the worst driver on the grid at the moment. You know, one fairly good Grand Prix relative to Lance Stroll does not make us a Grand Prix driver. Max Verstappen's the benchmark. They basically started at the same time. He's the benchmark and Lance is nowhere near it. He's the worst qualifier in the most driver demanding track. He finishes last. Look, let's not go there because you know it's like he's going to be there until he's 50.

Rick Houghton:

Well, this is the thing I was going to ask you. I mean, if dad's serious about the team, he's invested he's got Newey now he's invested in a new wind tunnel. He's invested millions and millions of pounds in the team and the infrastructure. And I mean if, surely, if he's serious, he has to look around the driver market and get someone to replace his son, doesn't? He can't just give him a free pass every year, piastri there we go.

Paul Velasco:

Hey, piastri, they should fucking sign piastri. Yeah, that's what they should do. If they can't get max for a billion, get Piastri for 200 million. But I'll tell you what you can get, nui, you can get everyone. I'm a believer in karma. You don't become a billionaire a hundred times over, whatever he is worth, with not getting yourself some really bad karma. And the karma is his son's never going to be a world champion, his son's never even going to win a Grand Prix and his son might never, ever see a podium. His son wasn't bad at one point.

Paul Velasco:

He actually did very well I was actually a fan at one stage I thought, hey, he's a rich kid but he's doing. But no, he's got worse than he was before. So his dad believed in him, but he keeps on believing him. That's a bit about blind there, but the reality is this is if aston martin, who are going to have or have, have the resources and the backing, this is like a ferrari. This is like the new age revival of a ferrari team which laurence stroll is watched over. If they're serious, lance has got to go and honestly I love fernanda, but he's also got to go They've got to get Max in there and Piastri. If they're serious. Do you know what I?

Rick Houghton:

mean.

Paul Velasco:

Or Max and Piastri, Both even better. A bit like McLaren did when McLaren were a super force. They got the two best drivers, Prost and Senna Boom, put them in the car and we remember that it was boring as hell. The guys just went Okay, If they're super serious to be a super team, because they've got everything in place, You've got this craziest team of all time, headed by Adrian Nui, and you've got these two blonkers. So if they're really serious, they want to galvanize this attack on the World Championships. You better get Max and if you're really serious, get Piastri.

Rick Houghton:

Okay, that's a good, good way to draw to the end of the podcast today. Of course, we've got a triple header on our hands, so that means there's a race every single week for the next couple of weeks. We go to Bahrain, next then to Saudi Arabia. I really like the Saudi track, I've got to say I think it's great. I've driven it on the I was going to say simulator on the PlayStation and the Saudi track is brilliant. It's fast, it's exciting, it's unforgiving. You make a mistake, you're into the wall. I love that circuit and Bahrain, which we've come to, I suppose, come to know and love. There are overtaking opportunities at Bahrain and I think, after what we saw from Max in Japan, you can't write him off for another pole position and another race win in Bahrain.

Paul Velasco:

So it's going to be interesting. You nearly nearly got away with it you nearly, who predicted this win mate, I forgot.

Rick Houghton:

I don't think either of us. Didn't you say Piastri and I said Norris? No, I said Verstappen dude, did you?

Paul Velasco:

Yeah, I did. Oh, come on. You didn't even listen to the previous podcast, so it's 2-1.

Rick Houghton:

I'm drilling you, I'm drilling you. All right, I'll give you that.

Paul Velasco:

Those are pretty big wins eh.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, no, they are.

Paul Velasco:

Piastri out of the blue and Verstappen out of the blue, and then we'll talk about that. I think we owe every Grand Prix a separate preview.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, I agree. So that was Japan 2025 and one of the best qualifying drives we've ever seen in Formula One, and probably one of the best race drives, too, from Max Verstappen, and I think this sums it up Well done, max. Unbelievable, you've done it. Wait this, wow. Unbelievable, you've done it.

Paul Velasco:

Wow, I'm really happy. Wow, pure class mate.

Rick Houghton:

Pure class. Two Soft Compounds was presented by myself, rick Hutton, alongside Paul Valesco. The studio engineer and editor was Roy DeMonte, the executive producer was Ian Carlos, and this podcast is a co-production between Grand Prix 24-7 and W4 Podcast Studio Dubai. Don't forget, if you want to join in the conversation, leave a comment on our Instagram page at two soft compounds. We love getting comments, questions, and we'll give a shout out to some of the best ones on the podcast in the next few weeks. You can also email us at two soft compounds at gmailcom, and if you haven't done so already, please do click that follow or subscribe button. See you next time.