2 Soft Compounds

Miami GP: Lego Cars, Ferrari's Facepalm and McLaren's Unstoppable Rise

• W4 Podcast Studio & GrandPrix247 • Season 1 • Episode 14

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Miami GP: Lego Cars, Ferrari's Facepalm and McLaren's Unstoppable Rise

This week on 2 Soft Compounds, Rick is joined by Grandprix247 editor and unabashed 'tifosi', Jad Mallak, as they dive into a wild Miami Grand Prix weekend that served up one of the most chaotic sprint races in F1 history—followed by a McLaren whitewash no one could ignore.

🌧️ From unpredictable weather to McLaren’s relentless pace and razor-sharp strategy, the guys look back on a race that left no one in any doubt as to who are the team to beat in 2025. 

👶 They also shine a spotlight on 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli, who made history as the youngest-ever pole sitter in F1 qualifying. Plus they ask the question of whether fatherhood will affect Verstappen's pace on the track and if Lando Norris possesses the racecraft skills to channel the fastest car on the grid into actual race wins. 

🎧 And it wouldn’t be a 2 Soft Compounds podcast without talking about Ferrari’s strategic facepalm, as they left Lewis Hamilton steaming on the radio after botching a planned swap with Leclerc.

🏁 With Imola, Monaco, and Barcelona looming—and new flexi-wing rules potentially clipping McLaren’s wings—the next few races could decide if anyone can stop their 2025 march. Join Rick, Paul and Jad as the season unfolds here on 2 Soft Compounds. 


Podcast Rundown

1️⃣ Introduction and Miami Overview

2️⃣ Sprint Drama and Antonelli's Debut

3️⃣ Verstappen's Qualifying Masterclass

4️⃣ Race Day: McLaren's Dominance

5️⃣ Ferrari's Disastrous Strategy Calls

6️⃣ Williams' Surprise and Future Development


Production Credits:

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

Jad Mallak:

Free audio. Post-production by Aloniccom.

Rick Houghton:

I don't make mistakes. I make prophecies that immediately turn out to be wrong. Anything can happen in Formula One, and it usually does. Welcome to another Two Soft Compounds podcast Paul's not here today, but Jed is and we're talking about what happened in Miami over the weekend, with the sprint, the race itself, the weather, everything that affected the Grand Prix and, of course, some pretty interesting results and some pretty interesting racing. Jad, let's start with the sprint, because this was an interesting one. It's probably the most exciting sprint race we've ever seen in Formula One, Would you agree?

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, it was an interesting sprint. Look for me. I always looked at sprint races as glorified practice sessions because mostly the teams go and use them to learn the tyre deck and plan their strategies for the main race on Sunday. But yeah, the weather delivered a curveball for everyone and once those pit stops started it was all havoc.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, without a doubt. And we've got to talk about Antonelli, because he became the youngest driver ever to set a pole position time in a Formula One session, so he qualified in pole. And then we had the shenanigans into turn one with Oscar Piastri, which we would again see kind of repeated in the main race on the Sunday. But we'll come to that later. Antonelli, I think probably a little naive, going into that turn one and Oscar Piastri going I'm more experienced than you. This is my corner. It was kind of like that, wasn't it?

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, exactly. Look, antonelli showed his talent. He showed that he is really talented but at the same time he showed that he lacks experience. You can't hold that against him. It's his first season in Formula One and you have to remember that he just went into F2 for one season, so his learning curve it's a bit steep. But he's showing that the talent is there and I think if Mercedes properly develop him, he will be the real deal in a few years. And I think it was a wake up call for George Russell, because this is the first time you know George has been talking his position in the team. He's been talking it up since Lewis left, he's the leader and he's been delivering. Actually, george was doing a solid job, but then I think this is a wake-up call for him that yeah, this kid is no slouch and he's going to be the future for the team. Yeah, yeah, it's a great job by Antonelli, but yeah, he will learn from it, I think, and we're going to see better stuff from him in the future.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, one thing I noticed is the unsafe release when the Red Bull was released into the path of Antonelli. Antonelli, I think, demonstrated massive maturity in that moment. He was lightning quick with his reactions. Martin Brundle said after the race if that had been any other driver, that knock from Max at the rear of the car would have sent him into his own mechanics and caused many injuries, some of them fairly serious. I think his lightning reaction to save that car just shows what a mature head he has on young shoulders. He aborted the pit stop altogether so he put the safety of his crew above his own racing position. I thought was amazing for an 18 year old to think that way and think so quickly.

Rick Houghton:

And when it comes to the unsafe release, it's clear that red bull have got gremlins again because it's the uh, it's the automated lollipop system. They have the traffic light system. Now I noticed that the red light went out but there was no green light that came on and they have a manual override. So if the uh, if the pit boss, sees another car coming down the pit lane behind him, he can press the button which stops the car from being released. Obviously not no fault of max verstappens whatsoever, but that's something they're going to have to look at when formula one returns to europe in a couple of weeks time yeah, red bull confirmed that it was a human error.

Jad Mallak:

So, yeah, I think whoever did the manual override made that mistake. And, like I said, like you, yeah, antonelli's reaction was perfect and I really liked his attitude after the race when he said I can't blame Max for what happened. He was sent out, he did what he was told to do. I like that attitude from him because you know these days, you know the driver especially. You know Russell Norris, piastri.

Rick Houghton:

They always with Max, they always try to take digs at each other, but yeah, antonelli, just you know he kept a cool head and he delivered, like I said, a mature reaction on this as a whole. So we saw that the sprint session was affected by rain, and we saw rain on the Sunday morning at the track. In fact, the F1 Academy race was abandoned because of heavy rain on the Sunday earlier before the main Grand Prix, and then we got to the Grand Prix itself, and most of us, I think, we're expecting rain at some point. I think the forecast said thunderstorms bang on race start time. That didn't happen, and then we were told 14 to 20 laps into the main race we're going to get rain there, and that didn't happen.

Rick Houghton:

I think, though, it was still an exciting main Grand Prix. The rain would have been the extra sort of ingredient to have made it really exciting. You know, to see who blinked first when it came to the changing of tyres. We saw in the sprint race that Lewis Hamilton had a pretty decent sprint, and that was basically him making a call to the team and saying I'm going to switch tyres now, and basically we're going to come on to Ferrari's strategy for the main race shortly, but Hamilton played a blinder in the sprint.

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, look Hamilton, yeah, took a good decision. He took leadership and he took the decision to pit for softs and he made sure the whole world knew that after the sprint. It was my decision, not the pit wall. He made sure everyone knew that and it was the right thing to do. But the problem don't forget what happened before, when they sent Charles Leclerc out on intermediates and he aquaplaned into the wall.

Jad Mallak:

Honestly, what were they thinking? Lewis told them, what were you thinking sending us out on enters? He barely made the grid, charles didn't, and I think maybe that triggered Hamilton to take things into his own hand. I'll say, when I change my tires, I'm not feeling comfortable with these tires. Let's go to the softs. It was a masterstroke because the timing which he changed his tires was perfect and that's what landed him the podium in the end. Yeah, max. Also, red Bull did the smart thing, because they pitted Tsunoda first to test the situation with him and then they boxed Max, but then the release messed up everything with him, and then they boxed Max, but then the release messed up everything. So they threw everything away with that release. Mclaren would. They took a risk. You know they took a risk with that and Norris was lucky that just the safety car saved Norris and but they didn't work for Piastri qualifying then for the main race.

Rick Houghton:

We know that Red Bull have got some issues with their car. We know that they've got issues, which were highlighted this weekend, with braking for instance. At certain times during the Grand Prix the Red Bull looked really unstable and massively. They've got issues which were highlighted this weekend with braking for instance. At certain times during the Grand Prix the Red Bull looked really unstable and massively difficult to drive. But Max pulled out a Max Masterclass by getting that car around and qualifying it in pole position, and this was something we talked about in the last podcast. I said that when I had my son, I lost my edge in racing. I wasn't as fearless as I used to be. It obviously hasn't affected Max giving birth to his baby girl a few days ago, because that was a masterclass in qualification, wasn't it?

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, yeah, look, every time we see Max doing a qualifying lap, like the one he did in Miami, basically, we run out of superlatives trying to describe his performance, you know, and for me, when I was watching that lap, I remembered the one which he did in Saudi in 2021, but he ended up on the wall. This one it was the same, but he delivered the lap, you know, in one piece. The car was jumping all over the place. It was an amazing lap to watch and apparently what Red Bull think. I think they were running a bit more downforce because you could see Max in the high speed he was flying, but then he made up for the difference in the slow speed, where the McLaren is stronger. And yeah, don't forget, norris did that mistake in turn 17 when he rode the curb a bit hard and Piastri was out of sorts for some reason. So, yeah, another time it's Max delivering a great qualifying.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, you know, maybe it's too early to tell with Max as to how parenthood will affect him down the line. I'm guessing it won't. And there's been, you know, lots of Formula One drivers who've had kids and still maintain their edge over the years. But yeah, let's see if there's any effect to Max over the years. But yeah, let's see if there's any effect to Max, I think, because the car's a struggle. This year he seems even more determined to get to grips with it and fight it around the lap. I mean, he's never had to do that before. We talk about drivers that have to adapt to different cars when they change teams, but actually Max is having to adapt to a slightly different car this season just because it's so difficult to drive.

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, exactly, Look on the parenthood thing. I believe Max is a different beast, so I don't think that's going to affect him, so let's put that aside. In terms of adapting to the car, yeah, Max has shown all the time that he has great adaptability and you see that when you have mixed conditions, when it's raining, when it's wet, when you're on the verge of shifting from wet to dry, you can see how he can adapt to the car, adapt to the grip, find grip like no one else. So, yeah, he's a highly adaptable driver. And there's one thing we say, Paul and I usually say, is that an angry Max is a dangerous Max. So when Max is angry, he'll be fired up to deliver, and I think this is what happened. You saw what happened to him at the sprint. He finished fourth and then he was dropped by the 10 second penalty to 17th and then he bounced back just a few hours later and delivered pole. This is how he works. You know he needs to be. I think he needs to be pissed off to deliver his best.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, I think you're right. Let's go down to the race then itself. Obviously, max on pole, lando Norris in second place. It was always going to be about turn one. It's a little bit like a reverse of Saudi, in that this is a right hander, saudi is a left hander, but similar kind of turn conditions. Uh, so we saw that. You know, max went down and protected the outside and Lando was trying to come through on the inside. And I thought, when I first watched it, I thought Max had deliberately turned towards Lando, which forced him off the track, but actual fact he had a snap of oversteer. At that moment the back end came out, so it wasn't a deliberate move towards Lando Norris, which I'm guessing is why the stewards let it go. But again, you know, in your opinion, jad, does Lando Norris have to be more elbows out and aggressive in those situations?

Jad Mallak:

I think Lando was aggressive in that situation, but I think the problem with Lando is that he doesn't know when to be aggressive and when to back off. Okay, you said you compared the situation to what happened between Max and Oscar in Saudi Arabia, but the difference is Lando was on the outside, okay, and when you're on the outside, you're always at risk. You're always at risk and you're not going to get any compassion, I think, or any understanding from the stewards. Max, in my opinion, he did nothing wrong because he kept his car inside and, yeah, lando kept on going, but that gap was always going to end and he wasn't ahead. He was not ahead, okay. So I think Lando needs to learn when to be aggressive instead of just being aggressive every time he sees Max. You just don't go blind into that.

Jad Mallak:

You can see the difference between how Oscar analyzes the fight with Max and how he attacks him and where he attacks him. And you can see the difference with Lando that sometimes he just you know he goes with a Hail Mary into that corner and thinks that, yeah, max is going to move. No, that's not going to happen. And you can also sense the vulnerability in Lando. After the race, he said that if I attack, people say I attacked and they don't like it. If I don't attack, they don't like it. I'm always criticized. It shows how fragile he is now mentally and, yeah, he needs to sort this thing out. I said it before it's all in his head. Yeah, you need to always attack, you need to go for the gap when you find it, but also you need to judge the gap. So he needs to know when to attack and when not to attack.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah. So we saw the race unfold. We saw the McLaren sort of speed off down the road once they got past Max Verstappen. Oscar Piastri took about two laps to get past Verstappen and he picked his point and he timed it pretty perfectly. Then Lando came to pass him and once again we saw Lando struggling with his race craft.

Rick Houghton:

I think it was probably fairly obvious to Max, who's a fantastic driver, as we know. He knows how Piastri got past him. So now he's even more heightened and alerted to Norris, in that if Norris tries to pass him in the same place on the track, he's got his guard out and he's waiting to defend. But Norris took three or four laps to get past him, which again is an indication that his race craft's not great. When he first got past him, he realised he was off the track and gave the position back into turn 17, which is a mature thing to do, by the way, and I think he did that off his own back. He wasn't ordered to by the team. So that was mature, although when that pass occurred I thought, oh, he can't defend, save his life. But he'd actually let him through, and then, a lap after that, he finally got him no-transcript that McLaren was a rocket ship, to be honest.

Jad Mallak:

And yeah, like you said, you could see how Piastri handled the situation. He hunted Max down, he passed him with two laps. You know, he tried it here and there, judged it properly, went for it. Lando, like you said, this is the thing. It's so clear, it's so clear In a matter of minutes between Piastri attacking Max and then Lando attacking Max.

Jad Mallak:

You can see the difference in racecraft. You can see how Oscar is dealing with it, how Lando is dealing with it. With that car, you shouldn't have any problem passing, okay, and yeah, this is the problem that Lando is facing right now. The car that he's having at his disposal is the best. It was the best in Miami. It was the best in Miami and the advantage they had made 30 seconds ahead of third, those two cars. It's a rocket ship, like Jenson Button called it. I think he called it a weapon. Okay, they should be doing much better with it as a team. They maximized it 1-2 in the sprint, 1-2 in the race. They couldn't do anything better. But if we're taking Lando as an individual, yeah, he needs to up his game.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, I would totally agree. I think Piastri just disappeared up the road and, like you say, over 30 seconds between them and the other teams. It's also the, I believe, the first McLaren three victories in a row since Mika Hakkinen in 1998. Also, you know, some amazing stats being generated. Now, before we move on, we're talking about other teams and other drivers. I wanted to mention the lego formula one cars. Did you see this? So the drivers parade instead of going out on the flatbed trucks? Each team had their own lego formula one team. I've got some stats and facts behind this. Each car was made up of 400,000 bricks and to build 10 cars to represent the Formula One teams took 22,000 hours of work to put those cars together. I think Aston Martin would have preferred a Lego car for the main race than the one that they went racing with. But the Lego cars, I think, were genius and most of the drivers agreed they want to do the Lego cars before every race in the future. They just had so much fun in those things.

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, it was a fun feature. It was nice. Look the detail and the way they were built and everything. It was really nice, really impressive. And now you're saying the stats, it's more impressive as well. Yeah, it was a nice feature no-transcript, that part of the slow part of the track. The cars look clumsy there. You think something's wrong. They're just bumping left and right. But that part having those Lego cars, yeah, it was a really nice feature of the show. Yeah, I enjoyed it.

Rick Houghton:

Unfortunately for you, Paul, and everyone else who doesn't like Miami, they've signed up to a colossal contract. They're going to be racing on that circuit until 2041.

Jad Mallak:

It's almost unheard of. Look, and maybe I'm being a dinosaur, but this represents everything that's wrong about F1 these days. When you go and renew for Spa, for example, one year at a time, when Imola and Monza have to alternate, when Imola and Monza have to alternate, when Monaco is, I don't know, pressurized every year to give them more control, you know, to reduce their control on it, just to give them a contract and just trying to make them pay more money, it's something. Look, I don't have a problem with new tracks, but the problem is that we're focusing on the new tracks. That don't really. It's not a proper track, you know. And then we have the classics, the fun tracks, and they're just struggling to stay on the calendar. It's wrong for me you know, 16 years.

Rick Houghton:

Wow, that's too much. Yeah, that is fairly frightening. We're going to talk about some other drivers and teams now. We noticed in the points standing at the moment, mclaren are massive 105 points ahead of Mercedes in the Constructors Championship already, which is just colossal. And talking about Mercedes itself, george Russell had a pretty solid race. It was clear that he couldn't put a dent into the McLaren's lead, but he brought it home in third place. Antonelli, I think again, was, you know, unlucky in the race itself.

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, exactly, Exactly. Look again again. Once again, Antonelli showed his talent when he outqualified George, but then George showed his experience. He was there to pick up the pieces and when the virtual safety car came, Mercedes did the proper, the right call. They pitted him, they pitted him and then he took Max's position. So yeah, once again, like I said, Mercedes, they're maximizing their potential. Right now, I think, and it's clear, the proof is that they're second in the championship. The gap is colossal, like you said, and I think McLaren don't need to worry about the constructors. It's in the bag Now. They just need to make sure that one of their drivers bags the driver's championship.

Rick Houghton:

Okay, talking to Mercedes, they're German, they are precision engineering, they are immaculate in their decision making. Lewis Hamilton was used to them for 12 years with immaculate decision making. And then he moves to the prancing. Yeah, yeah, he goes to Ferrari and he's met with indecisiveness.

Jad Mallak:

He's met with.

Rick Houghton:

We'll get back to you. He's met with. Let's go and have a cappuccino and talk about it. Um, he's met with disastrous calls, really, from the Ferrari pit wall. We've seen it already this season and Miami summed it up for me. To a certain extent I I'll tell you why in a minute. So this whole issue is around Lewis coming in and pitting and getting medium tyres. In front of him is Charles Leclerc, who's on hard tyres, and Lewis is clearly faster than Charles and he's on the radio asking to be swapped around.

Rick Houghton:

The Ferrari radio calls. I'm going to read some of them actually for you. So Hamilton says you just want me to sit here for the whole race. And the call from his engineer is we'll come back to you. Then Hamilton says in China, I got out of the way when you were on a different strategy. Why don't you have a tea break whilst you're at it? Come on, guys. So in China, hamilton moved out of the way by his own volition, by way he realized the team didn't ask him to. In China, he realized what was going on and moved out of the way and let Shelf through. So then he comes back on the radio. Exactly, this is not good teamwork. That's all I'm going to say.

Rick Houghton:

My favorite radio call is when the engineer said science, 1.4 behind. And Hamilton said do you want me to let him past as well? I just thought it was great. Yeah, so Hamilton finally gets let past Charles Leclerc. But by that time the advantage of being on the medium tyre had gone, because he was stuck behind Charles for so many laps that he burnt his tyres out. So when he got past Charles Leclerc he wasn't able to open up a gap and he wasn't able to attack Antonelli. So then we're faced with a situation where it needs to be the other way around, charles then starting to call, saying that he's burning out his tires, he's faster than Lewis, he needs to swap the positions back. This totally sums up Ferrari for me. They told Charles that they would swap the cars into turn 17 at the end of the back straight, so he's expecting this to happen.

Rick Houghton:

What did Ferrari do? They forgot to tell Lewis Hamilton that this was going to happen. I mean, that just sums it up to me perfectly. So it didn't happen. They got back to Charles and they said oh, we're going to try again this lap. And then someone went oh, has anyone told Lewis? Oh God, yeah, we've got another car on the circuit. Yeah, tell him, and then we might be able to make this work. I was just. I was flabbergasted. I'm not sure if I was surprised, because Ferrari don't really surprise me anymore with these calls. I've said in the past, I'm convinced Ferrari don't actually watch the race. I think they look at screens, but I don't think they actually watch the race. They don't know what's going on. Hamilton said afterwards he was being quite politically correct. He said I knew what needed to happen when I was behind Charles. It just took time for everyone else to realize it and by then it was too late. He was putting a nice smiley face on the whole situation, but Ferrari have got to sort this out.

Jad Mallak:

Look, mate, the really thing that scared me is the fact that after that, fred Vasseur said it was well executed. Now, that's scary, that is really scary, you know. Honestly, self-criticism, just a bit of self-criticism, please, you know. Look, I was happy with Lewis when he stamped his authority. It's a seven-time F1 champ. He sees a chance and he just this needs to happen. I love that, you know. But then he couldn't deliver after that. And, yeah, there could be the chance, like you said, it was too late, his tires were done and he couldn't do any advances, although he was slowly getting close. But yeah, it was too late. Or there was a chance. Maybe he didn't have the pace he thought he did, but end of the day, yeah, honestly, I don't know what to say In addition to what you said just now. Rick, you summed it up, I don't know what to say Messing up strategies, indecisiveness, cappuccino, pizza I don't know. Spaghetti all over the place. I don't know what's happening. I don't know what's happening. You know, it's really sad. It's really sad.

Jad Mallak:

Maybe, I don't know, maybe Lewis can bring some of the culture which he had at Mercedes, because I remember one time when Ferrari built the dream team with Michael Schumacher, jean-thomas at that time brought a whole new team, a whole new culture that functioned in a certain way, that delivered championships. Alonso didn't do that. Alonso, when he came there, he just came with his mentality and he was volatile. We know that, and that doesn't work with Ferrari. When Seb went to Ferrari, he was too nice. Instead of bringing his German mentality, he learned Italian. Maybe Lewis needs to bring his English mentality, the mentality which he's used to at Mercedes. Can he do that?

Jad Mallak:

Look in Vasseur. He has an ally there. Okay, I know Vasseur loves Charles, but Lewis has an ally in Fred Vasseur. They need to change the mentality, they need to change the culture. Up to now, that's not happening. Fred Vasseur has always been talking about how, the improvements and this and that, and then in one race they end up with all these disasters, from the outlap on inters with aquaplaning to this indecisiveness. I don't know. I don't know when ferrari will be will be finally turned around. I don't know.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, I think you make some really strong points there. I think you know ferrari need to sort it out and the fact that fred vasseur's in denial after the race. Again, that is frightening because that sums up the mentality of your team right in front of the TV cameras of the world. Jenson Button said something interesting after the race. He said you know he agreed totally with Lewis in the radio calls. He said, but he said if you're a top team, lewis shouldn't have to ask. He said the team should be proactive with that. They should be going right. We're going to swap these two and they should be taking the lead on that, not waiting for a seven times world champion to make the call for them. It's ridiculous.

Jad Mallak:

Exactly, exactly, mate. Look the problem now these days we're missing in F1, we're missing some certain strong characters over the radio. You know, if you remember last year in Hungary when Norris and when the pit wall was begging Norris to allow Piazzi through, that was pathetic. I remember one time when Michael Schumacher was still with Mercedes, ross Braun was the team boss and Michael was being naughty with Lewis in Monza. He wasn't letting him pass. And then Ross Braun came over the radio. He said Michael, leave space. The next lap Lewis passed him. You need this kind of authority in F1. And so, honestly, we're missing it in many teams. We're missing it in many teams, and Ferrari, I think they're the most who need such a personality.

Rick Houghton:

Okay, further down the grid, it was a great weekend for Williams Albon P5, faster than both Ferraris Could have probably been P4 without the virtual safety car. So Albon had a strong weekend. Science proved that he had speed in the car and he's getting to grips with that Williams now after the first few races of the season where he struggled. But the Williams car looks really fast, doesn't it?

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, yeah, I think Williams were the surprise in Miami. The car was genuinely fast. They were fighting with Ferrari at some point. They were fighting with Ferrari at some point. They were fighting with Mercedes at another point. So, yeah, this team is just on an upward trend and it's great to see it. Honestly, it's a feel-good story when you see a team like Williams improving. Just imagine how happy people are now when they saw where McLaren were a few years ago and where they are right now Such a great team coming back into glory and imagine if Williams can do the same thing. I agree, sainz is showing his speed. He's pushing Albon harder. I think it was a bit clumsy towards the end with his move on Lewis, but other than that, I think he had a decent weekend. It was a decent weekend for Sainz. Albon is just superb Talking about the Haas cars as well.

Rick Houghton:

Now. Oli Berman qualified in last place, but halfway through the race he'd gone from 20th to 12th before his engine failure, so he'd put a lot of moves on people at a track that isn't the easiest to overtake on. Oli Berman, I think, is doing a really good job in the Haas car. All of the other teams Alpine, Haas, the Racing Bulls, Sauber they really didn't have a very strong weekend at all, and the weakest team on the grid now is almost by far Aston Martin. Their cars finished last and second to last. They had a nightmare weekend to forget, and this leads me to ask you, Jad, the question that I wanted to ask is do you think that all of these teams have now stopped developing their 25 car? Is it all guns ahead for 26, or are there any upgrades to come for the rest of this year to try and improve?

Jad Mallak:

uh, what some teams desperately need yeah, look, I think any team that doesn't have a chance for a title. I think the natural thing for them is just to stop developing the cars right now and focus on 2026. Aston martin I think they're the most who need to do that. Because they have Adrian Newey over there. I think they should give him all the support he needs to develop the car for next season. So maybe that's what we're seeing with them and don't forget, we should be seeing and this is frustrating for them for Fernando Alonso let's not talk about Lance Stroll, I don't think that guy feels anything, he's just driving. But Fernando Alonso, multiple spins, multiple spins in Miami that doesn't bode well for him. But yeah, you can see frustration from him. But yeah, it makes sense for them to focus on that.

Jad Mallak:

I think the only teams that will be doing some development from now maybe, of course, it'll be Red Bull, ferrari, mercedes, mclaren just because they have a chance to fight for the title Williams maybe they're going to do some stuff.

Jad Mallak:

The only thing which makes sense for them if they have any learnings because, you know, even though the next year is going to be totally different, they could learn some stuff and I think this is the only thing which will be done in terms of development for this year. But yeah, soon, I think you know. We'll be heading into Imola, we're going to have some upgrades over there and then we have the critical point in Barcelona, when the new flexing rules will be applied. This is going to be a very, very critical part of the season. This will dictate what happens afterwards in terms of development. If McLaren drop back after that, yeah, I think they won't be developing anymore. So most of the teams that don't have a chance to sum it up are going to be stopping development very soon, if not already stopped yeah, and I'm hearing rumors that red bull and ferrari are struggling with their power unit for 2026.

Rick Houghton:

They've got, uh, they're not where they want to be, they're not ahead of the curve in terms of the the development of those engine units at the moment. So that's going to and you know, it's going to be interesting for every team next year. But I think that's going to be interesting. And, like you mentioned barcelona, the flexi, yeah. So it's so that so many teams have said the mclaren are so far ahead because they employ this flexi wing thing, that's when the rear wing and the front wing flex under load. So it makes the aerodynamics work slightly better and it makes protecting the tyre degradation a little bit better as well. And we've seen, especially in Miami with that massive lead, that McLaren are able to hold onto their tyres a lot longer than any other team. When these flexi-wings rules are tightened in Barcelona, it could see McLaren lose their edge completely, couldn't it? So they've got to be prepared for that rule change coming, and the other teams have got to maximize what they can do with it too.

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, exactly. Look, if you notice one of the things that Max and Lewis are complaining about with their cars you hear it all the time. I can't turn the car the car is understeering so much and this is related, I think, to the front wing, because McLaren don't struggle with that. You can see McLaren in Miami in the slow speed. They're perfect because of that flexing front wing, I think. So if this thing changes after Barcelona, yeah, we could see a different McLaren and maybe it will level things out more with Red Bull. We'll see. We have to wait and see.

Rick Houghton:

Okay, well, we've got a week off and then Formula One returns to Europe with a triple header. It's the classic circuit of Imola, followed by Monaco, followed by Barcelona, and we can't wait for it, jad, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast for this episode. Take care, everyone, and we'll see you next time on Two Soft Compounds compounds. 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 twosoftcompounds at gmailcom, and if you haven't done so already, please do click that follow or subscribe button. See you next time.