2 Soft Compounds

Mind Games & Tire Water: The Build Up to Imola

• W4 Podcast Studio & GrandPrix247 • Season 1 • Episode 15

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Mind Games & Tire Water: The Build Up to Imola

🎙️ This week on Two Soft Compounds, Rick, Paul & Jad unpack the psychological warfare, paddock politics and cheeky innovation behind McLaren’s rise to the top as F1 enters its critical European leg.

🧠  McLaren’s not just fast - they’re smart. Stap in as Jad gets all technical discussing McLaren's sneaky “tire water” trick (aka phase change material cooling) and how it might be the cleverest legal hack of the season. 

👀 The guys continue the conversation around the 'iceman' Oscar Piastri along with his team mate Landi Norris who seems locked in a mental wrestling match with himself. As Jacques Villeneuve put it: “Oscar’s not in Lando’s head - Lando is.” That internal pressure could be the difference in this title fight!

🇩🇪  Plus the guys turn their attention to Mercedes, as George Russell looks to be thriving in a leadership role and rookie Antonelli continues to defy expectations with his calm, composed rise. And there's more chat about Lewis Hamilton’s rocky start and of course Red Bull, who are grappling with inconsistent brake feel and unpredictable balance.

🏎️  And it wouldn't be an F1 podcast without discussing Alpine, who just handed the keys to Flavio Briatore. Yes, that Briatore. Buckle up!

With Imola on deck and the technical chess match intensifying, the question is: can McLaren ride their cool (literally) innovation to a championship lead? Or will the old guard strike back under the European sun?

Hit play. This season’s getting spicy.


1️⃣ McLaren's Technical Innovation Revealed

2️⃣ The Battle Between Norris and Piastri

3️⃣ Mercedes' Fresh Start Post-Hamilton

4️⃣ Red Bull's Technical Struggles

5️⃣ Ferrari's Team Dynamics and Hamilton's Adaptation

6️⃣ Williams, Haas, and Midfield Teams

7️⃣ Alpine Drama and Imola Predictions


Production Credits:

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

Paul Velasco:

Anything can happen in Formula One, and it usually does.

Rick Houghton:

Hey, welcome to another Two Soft Compounds podcast. I'm Rick Jaddis here and Paul Velasco, the chief editor and founder of GrandPrix247.com. It's our 15th podcast, guys, which I find amazing, and we're previewing the Imola Grand Prix. Formula One returns to Europe. There's a lot to discuss about things that have happened off the track, but we thought we'd go through things sort of team by team, starting with the McLaren boys, who obviously had a brilliant result when they left Miami, and now it's on to the European stage of the F1 calendar. What are we thinking about? Mclaren boys?

Paul Velasco:

I was quite intrigued this weekend because I was on duty and I did some research and I tried to understand what they're doing and I couldn't. So I said to Jad, he's the engineer. So over to you, jad, explain it yet again this suspected trick that McLaren has that keeps the car fast. So basically they have a trick that's keeping the drums cool, which keeps the tires cool. We make them faster. I don't need to know anything else, but I know there's those out there who want to know more. So, jad, give it to them.

Jad Mallak:

So what makes the McLaren a dominant car this year, more than other aerodynamic or stuff like that factors, is the fact that the car Suspected suspected Suspected. No, this is not suspected. We know this. Mclaren has a good capability of taking care of its tires on a race distance. This is not suspected. This is something that is known.

Paul Velasco:

Yeah, yeah, sure, Absolutely Now the reasons behind that.

Jad Mallak:

Last year, in 2024, there was the speculation that McLaren were pumping in some water into the tires to keep them cool, which the FIA investigated at the time, and they said that's not happening and they did extra procedural changes to make sure that doesn't happen. And if you remember, back in Miami, zach Brown was drinking in a bottle that had tire water written on it. So he was just taking a swipe at Red Bull because Red Bull are the ones who are always suspicious about McLaren and they said that they have thermal images that could see cold spots on the McLaren tire and the drums. Yeah, so Zac was just messing with them, because it seems there is a trick, but that's not the water thing. Now, what's been suspected to be the reason is that something called phase change material, which is basically I'm going to give a quick example If you have a block of ice and you heat it, so the ice will absorb a certain amount of heat, which will make it change from ice to water at a constant temperature.

Jad Mallak:

So the ice when it melts, the first phase of melting, which will make it change from ice to water at a constant temperature. So the ice when it melts the first phase of melting it remains at zero degrees and then the temperature increases when it becomes fully water. So McLaren are using this kind of trick and they have a material we don't know what it is. Basically, they're lining the internal side of their brake drum covers with that material. So what happens when the brakes overheat or where they dissipate heat? This material absorbs this heat, keeps the temperature constant and changes into a fluid. After that, when the brakes cool down, it goes back into the solid state. So this is what McLaren are doing. It's not rocket science.

Jad Mallak:

Wow, man, To me it sounds like rocket science, Honestly Well it's thermodynamics 101, basically, but this is what is suspected McLaren are doing right now.

Paul Velasco:

So what does that mean to me? Like totally ignorant. That is lovely. Thank you, Jay. That was a beautiful explanation. I'm still confused. You explained it to me three times. Yes, Anyway, to cut a long story short, there's no quick catch up, which brings me to the part I love. It's going to be a battle between Oscar Piastri and Landon Norris for the title, with Max Verstappen obviously being marvelous Max doing his thing. So there, Rick, that was. I thought you'd appreciate that as a McLaren fan.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, I mean just amazing, and I'm presuming, jad, that they're not actually breaking any FIA rules with this material.

Jad Mallak:

No, no, this system is a passive system. It doesn't have any electronic controls, any mechanic controls. Nothing changes. There's no movable aero parts, nothing, nothing.

Rick Houghton:

So it's not the sort of thing that the FIA could take a look at and ban, which they've done in the past.

Jad Mallak:

Well, that's something else Now, because the FIA before they why?

Paul Velasco:

would they do that? Isn't Formula One supposed to be about technology?

Jad Mallak:

Exactly exactly. There's no reason for them to do it. But you know the FIA and F1. Previously they clamped down on so many innovations in the sport. Remember there was the DAS and Mercedes before.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, just thinking of that.

Jad Mallak:

Exactly Now and Mercedes before. Yeah, just thinking of that, exactly Now. The DAS there was the argument that it might have been a movable aero part because the wheels are moving. But if you go back to the days when Red Bull were dominating with Seb Vettel, when they had the blown diffuser, remember, I used to remember there was talks about the blown diffuser and talks about flexi wings. That's the first time we ever started listening, hearing stuff about flexi wings, and I used to remember every weekend there would be a new FIA circular, you know, and they used to change it all the time. So are they going to clamp down? I'm not sure Nothing could stop them. But now, as the rules are written, no, they're not breaking any rules. And the thing is, mclaren now have Rob Marshall, whom they hired from Red Bull, and he's their chief designer, and that guy is known as the king of the gray areas in the regs, and I think they're benefiting now from this hire.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, it's amazing stuff, it really is. And taking those technical I mean I'm supposing the other teams, you know, if we're talking about it, the other teams must be talking about it too. Absolutely, you know, do you think some of them are going to try and make this addition to their cars before the end of this year?

Jad Mallak:

Look, red Bull. They said that they have their suspicions and they said that they have their proof. But McLaren seemed relaxed on it and even Stella said that, yeah, I dare you basically go and protest us. Okay, now we have to see. We have to see how much the other teams want to support Red Bull, because, look, end of the day, end of the day, we know that if this system goes away from McLaren, then Red Bull will catch up and Mercedes will catch up. This is one thing. The talk about the clamp down on the flexi wings in Barcelona yeah, that's going to be an estimated one or two tenths which McLaren might lose. But the game is like we said in controlling the tire temperatures. This is the real game over there. So, will others support Red Bull? I don't know, because, end of the day, why would Mercedes, for example, support Red Bull and Max will win another championship. We know that these teams, they don't like each other. They're going to fight each other for the last thing.

Paul Velasco:

Yeah, and it's Mercedes powered McLaren. It's also Mercedes powered by McLaren, isn't it?

Jad Mallak:

Exactly, this is.

Paul Velasco:

Yeah, this is one thing, Sorry it's McLaren powered by Mercedes, so you know they're going to work together in some way or the other.

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, why would Ferrari go and support McLaren, and then Red Bull, I mean? And then they have their own trouble. Maybe if Red Bull are faster, ferrari will fall back further down. So you know, it's always F1, nothing straightforward. It's always a very, very complicated politicking going on behind the scenes. We have to see if someone is going to submit an official protest.

Paul Velasco:

Okay, enough tech talk, let's talk about the drivers now. So basically, you've got this McLaren supercar with two guys driving it and two guys who can win this championship. Norris was pre-season favorite until Oscar came along and stole four. Well, didn't steal, he won four races and Norris only won one, one and a half. I'm going to say he almost stole the sprint race because Piastri was winning, but there was this whole safety car thing, blah, blah, blah. So, as it stands, 16 points separates the two guys. And I'm telling you, do you guys see Lando turning it around?

Rick Houghton:

I separates the two guys and I'm telling you, do you guys see Lando turning it around? I think Lando can turn it around. I think he needs to work on his confidence and I think he needs to work on his race craft. I think Piastri is a more ruthless driver than Lando Norris and we've seen time and time again it happened a lot last season when Lando was battling out with Max is that Lando was the first to lift, whereas Max to lift, whereas max kept his foot in. And if he continues that tract along with his teammate piastri, he's going to get trounced again, I think, and that's the thing that he needs to be working on.

Rick Houghton:

You know, I remember years ago talking to a guy who was working closely with eddie irvine and and he said you realize, irvine has a coach, right? And I was like really, it's not based on soul talent anyone, no, he has a driver coach. He has a just like a tennis champion would have, who works with him off track and in the simulator to improve his driving style, to improve his aggression, to do all that. And of course that was Eddie Irvine years ago. So nowadays they must have loads of stuff at their disposal they can throw at Norris to turn it around this season, and I'm sure that's happening behind the scenes.

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, I think you said it there, rick, and I think, like I said before, lando's main issue is in his head. He needs to get his head right. Once he does that, this is the first step into recovering, and then we'll see about his race craft and whether he needs a driver coach or not. But the first thing he needs to work on is mental situation, and then I think everything will fall in place after that, yeah, I'm agreeing with you guys.

Paul Velasco:

I think interesting, rick, Jacques Villeneuve echoed exactly what you said. You said Oscar Piastri is not in Lando's head, lando is in Lando's head and Lando's got to get that Lando out. And it's really well put because and Villeneuve actually goes out on the limb a little bit and he says, yes, maybe Piastri has taken a jump, but more so Norris has dropped off. And Norris got it finally. And he actually went out and said basically what you said is that if Norris can win that psychological battle that he's having with himself, he will be world champion.

Paul Velasco:

I'm doubting it though. I think I don't know. I just think the root of Norris' problem I think was well put in a report we ran by Rolf Schumacher is he just doesn't put himself in the right places in the right moments in the heat of battle. You know at the start where was he going. You know the track turned. I mean he was going straight, and that is an issue. You know.

Paul Velasco:

You've got to remember one thing and this is something I discussed with Jad no-transcript especially a guy like Norris had the best of the best. You know what I mean. They had the best carts. They had the best of the best because there was money to make sure he had that. So they're blisteringly, blisteringly quick, and yet in the heat of battle, because they've always been at the front or whatever, it's a bit more difficult, whereas a guy like Oscar has probably also had good kit, make you no mistake about it. He just seems a lot more intuitive. I think Norris gets to a car and he just wants to overtake immediately. He doesn't think strategy boom, boom, boom, I'll do that. You know what I mean, and I think that's the fundamental difference. Norris just got to tone his whole thing down. Focus, and I'm still going to say Piastri, though he's a world champion.

Rick Houghton:

Okay, let's move on to Mercedes, who are second in the Constructors' Championship. Talk about them for a bit. I mean, it's been an impressive start to the season for them, given their woes last year, I think, as we all agree, george Russell is coming across as a really good team leader and Antonelli, well, he's been a breath of fresh air. We thought he was going to struggle. We thought maybe he was too young for that Mercedes second seat, but he's proved everyone wrong so far.

Rick Houghton:

I think that one of the most mature moments for me we discussed this in a previous podcast was the pit stop error from red bull, where max was released too early into the path of antonelli and only a very, very experienced and mature driver would have taken the avoiding action that he did. I think that was the thing that blew my mind with him. I was like, wow, this kid is really quite special. There was a program on streaming services called the seat, which featured antonelli signing to mercedes. It was only about half an hour long. It was a bit of a sponsorship thing going on there, but I thought it was. Quite. Interesting is how they came to the decision of going. This kid is the one for us.

Paul Velasco:

We're sticking him in the second seat yeah, I'm very impressed with antonelli like, like I said, I was a doubter. He came in and he slotted in, which also just gives you a sign of the level of the guy we have on the grid that a kid can come in and just wipe a lot of them, make them all look kind of ordinary, and he's giving. I think he gave Russell a wake-up call this weekend in Miami because he's just going to get better and you know what the younger he is and going to get better. You know what the younger he is, and if he is as good as everyone's predicting he's going to be, which I do believe then his improvement graph is going to be far steeper than George's, because George's was probably steep in the beginning but now it's petering out, but this kid's just going boom. So I think George is in for a good wake-up call, which is a good thing for him because it will force him to raise his game and in the end we'll see who's got the better game.

Paul Velasco:

But I think what's happening with mercedes since lewis left correct me if I'm wrong, jad, because you'll say something after this is that I think this is sort of like a the pressure is almost gone. You know lewis is gone and now this great team can sort of survive without this constant focus of why is Lewis doing that? It was like Lewis's team, do you know what I mean? And I think they're reveling in this kind of newfound freedom of not having to have this cloud that has now shifted over to Ferrari. What do you reckon, jeff?

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, exactly, look, lewis and Mercedes, in the past few seasons, yeah, that relationship wasn't going in the right direction. Look, I think this year the car is good because, yeah, past few seasons, yeah, that that relationship wasn't going in the right direction. Look, I think this year the car is good because, yeah, they took another step forward, an extra season of experience with the car and everything. But you can feel, you can feel that the pressure is off. They have george russell who's leading the team, but in a way, they don't owe him. He owes them because they gave him that position now and, of course, they've got the young Antonelli in there. So, yeah, now the team can focus properly on doing their thing developing the car, working on next year's car, going through the normal processes without any level of high expectations to pressurize them. This is one thing.

Jad Mallak:

Going back to Antonelli, yes, I think we were all doubters and, yeah, we have to stand corrected now that, with the level of performance that he's shown so far Now, in terms of the documentary, yeah, I watched that documentary honestly, but honestly, I wasn't impressed. It was a lame WhatsApp marketing exercise, you know, because you could see how they were just showing the graphics of the WhatsApp when they were talking and taking decisions and all this kind of stuff, which is fine, mate, it's called product placement.

Paul Velasco:

It's called product placement Come on.

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, yeah, I don't. Yeah. Look, I have a thing with WhatsApp and Mercedes. After they ruined the racing car icon, it was red, it should be red, and now it's black, so I don't like that, but anyhow.

Paul Velasco:

Man, you know you've had enough of Mercedes.

Rick Houghton:

Yeah, well, just wanted to move it on a little bit because the next team we're going to discuss has got lots of off-track things going on at the moment as well. It is, of course, red Bull Racing. Red Bull Racing say that everything's fine within the team, that Christian Horner's position is secure, but the rumours and the wagons are circling that this could be Christian Horner's last race as team principal for Red Bull Racing. Thoughts, please, seriously, where did you hear that from? Yeah, there's loads of it going around, loads of it All over social media, social media.

Paul Velasco:

Oh, there's this verifiable source social media. Oh, social media.

Rick Houghton:

Oh duh. So basically, what's being said is there's been an internal fallout within the Red Bull company. Wow, the Oliver Oakes story that we talked about in the recent podcast of him resigning from Alpine could be linked, because he's a possible replacement for Horner. It's got something to do with the Red Bull junior team, because there's been a fallout with them and a fallout with certain investors. This is what I'm hearing. There's nothing gospel, and Red Bull have actually come out and said this is a joke. Nothing's there. But sometimes there's no smoke without fire.

Jad Mallak:

Well, I checked around, I looked around. None of the reliable media outlets reported anything. But look, let's keep something clear. Okay, red Bull is owned by two owners. There's the Austrian part and there's the Thai part, and the Thai shareholders. They support Horner, unless those guys decide to take the cover off him. He's there, we know that.

Rick Houghton:

Okay. So Max has been complaining in recent races that he's having a real hard time with the braking in his red bull. It seems to be one lap, everything's okay. Next lap, there's an issue with the brakes, and he's been complaining about both understeer and oversteer. And again it seems to change lap for lap. So, jad, with your sort of technical knowledge, how does that happen? Because max is a consistent how is he struggling from one lap to the next?

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, I think the problem with Max mostly is the tires. I think the problem is with the tires mostly because that Red Bull cannot keep the same level of grip. So the balance is changing and shifting every lap with how much degradation is going on over there. With the brakes, yeah, we've heard him complaining about it for the past couple of races and Horner said that at some point they changed the material of the brakes. I don't know. They went from one supplier to another and he's struggling with that.

Jad Mallak:

And yeah, we know that because Max is very sensitive on the braking and on the engine braking, because you always hear him in practice he's saying the downshifts are lousy because he uses a lot of engine braking. So I think all that, combined with the situation of his car, with the balance of the car, and yeah, it's making his life difficult. And I think it's going to be more difficult now as we head into the European part of the season because it's summertime over there, the temperatures are going to be high. That Red Bull doesn't like high temperatures. Mclaren will be enjoying these conditions and yeah, so I think Imola is going to be a tough race for them, because Imola, if you remember, last year it was the first race when they started their struggles.

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, it was actually yeah, and then if you go Monaco, that's a disaster for them. So Red Bull are in for a tough couple of races now.

Paul Velasco:

Let's talk about Max, because you know what, rick, you're going to love this. He took a Ferrari GT3 to Nürburgring on the weekend on Friday I think it was a week after Miami and Jad tells well, I know that part. And then Jad adds that he broke the record with a full tank of fuel. And that's why I love the guy. And we've got to talk about him because, look, I'm going to put the facts straight, that Red Bull has been shit since Newey and Marshall left. It just got worse and worse and worse. It hasn't got better and they don't know what to do with it. They don't know how to go forward. Newey's not taking calls, guarantee you. Marshall's not taking calls.

Paul Velasco:

And it's only the fact that Max is just on another super level of human kind. So I thought I was walking in the forest today and I was thinking how can I describe Max Verstappen? Marvel, marvelous Marvel? And I'll tell you what, if Marvel Comics was smart, they'd start a Superman type dude and they'll call it like Mega Max, super Max, ultra Max, you know, like a guy who just saves the world with fast cars. Because that's Max. Max, to me, is a machine. That's why I love him and that's why we can't discount him at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, because even if the car is a wheelbarrow, he'll still stick it in among the McLarens.

Rick Houghton:

Okay, that was my Max Verstappen eulogy. It's difficult to disagree with anything you said, to be honest, because Max is on a completely different level. Moving on to Ferrari now, ferrari's struggles are fairly apparent because they do it so publicly. When it comes to the actual race craft of the team, we talked about this, you know, grabbing a cappuccino before making a decision on a crucial part of a race, where Lewis feels, though, he needs to be let through, and then Leclerc needs to be let through, and they just don't make those decisions quick.

Rick Houghton:

I've always said that Ferrari don't seem to actually watch the race. I mean, they stare at data. I don't know if they actually watch how the race is playing out. It seems like that to me. Anyway, lewis Hamilton, probably the most vocal he's been in a long time in terms of complaining and doing it publicly on the team radio. I don't think he's happy and he's really struggling to come to terms with the car still, and I think he's a bit rattled that he can't, you know, outperform the clerk at the moment. I think he thought that would be a given. Maybe they're not giving him the extra special care and love that he was getting at Mercedes as much as Ferrari, because it's just the way they are.

Jad Mallak:

I don't know. I don't know what to say about Ferrari. You know, every time when the race is over and I'm looking at the race and I'm looking at Ferrari and what they did you struggle to explain what they're doing, what's happening over there. Look, usually Ferrari this happens when a new driver comes to Ferrari there's this first honeymoon. You know the honeymoon period. They're in love with him and he's in love with them and they're all happy and then at some point, the shit hits the fan and both of them wake up and this is not working.

Jad Mallak:

Now the thing is, if you look previously in the big drivers that Ferrari signed, you know, when they signed Fernando Alonso, they signed Seb Vettel. The other driver was at that point Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen, right, and those were not homegrown Ferrari drivers. Lewis doesn't have this. Lewis is coming up against Leclerc, the chosen one, the little prince that Ferrari have groomed since his junior days. So it's natural that Leclerc is going to have, let's say, a sentimental or emotional advantage over Lewis. This is one thing. The second thing honestly, lewis is at an age now that you know. I don't want to say it in a bad way, but sometimes, like they say, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, it's going to take him more time to be adaptable with the car.

Jad Mallak:

Now, the other day he was talking, he mentioned all the details that are different between Ferrari and Mercedes, the fact that at Mercedes he never used engine braking, while at Ferrari they use it. So this is a very this is just one example, okay, but it's a fundamental factor that he needs to do. That's a big deal, that big deal Exactly, which he needs to deal with. So this is one thing, but I don't know. I sense, after Miami, that you know he's not going to be quiet anymore. He's going to be more vocal about what pisses him off.

Jad Mallak:

I feel this is the situation and this will make it more interesting because we have to see how Ferrari respond. You know, historically, ferrari have never been really fans of drivers that come and, you know, criticize them. They have this thing. Let's see if it's different with Lewis or not. But, yeah, the only thing we can say, I could see that Ferrari will be messing up things as they go as usual, and it's going to get more interesting between Lewis and the team and between Lewis and Charles if, for some reason, they cross paths on the track.

Paul Velasco:

Yeah, yeah, I'm seeing a bit of deja vu. I've got a bit of deja vu here with Seb. Actually, I wonder if Lewis thought he was going to come and own Leclerc, because I reckon Leclerc is George Russell level and he didn't own George in the same car, let's be honest. So this dip in Hamilton's form is not like I got to Ferrari and he got really bad. No, he had the same gap to George for most of last season and occasionally flashes of brilliance which he's capable of, as we saw in China. At the end of the day, lewis showed that in China, if the stars align, you're given the right car. He's going to give it to you. He's going to give you races and you know, wins and maybe even championships. But the right car has got to be a lot better than the other cars, because you know the Mercedes. When he raced them they were fantastic and I'm going to credit him for developing that car the way it got developed. I'm sure his input had a lot to do with and in fact, when his input ended, when he started doing the whole fashion needs to think, then you know. Then he then that's when the whole wheels came off the mercedes program right, but at the end of the day, I think lewis is at a stage and I and I agree you know he's got to get his head around this. But if he doesn't get his head around this, I'm seeing a seb fertile kind of end for him and it's sad because it was for me.

Paul Velasco:

Me, the destruction of Seb, the downfall of Seb, was just absolutely, yeah, it was quite sad for me. I mean, he wasn't even much better than Lance Stroll, you know, at Aston, if you think about it. So, and again back to the Leclerc familiarity. You know everything's unfamiliar for Lewis. He's been 20 years with a team that you know is that German, and I'm going to say this even now, with McLaren being so good and even Red Bull, there was never a team that I can remember in the history of the sport like Mercedes were in their heyday, that like eight-year patch. That was absolutely the monster team of all time and I'd say they built some of the greatest Formula One, fastest Formula One cars ever for Lewis and that's what Lewis thrived on and I think it was Team Hamilton. In the end, when Rosberg left, it became Team Hamilton, pretty much like Team Verstappen, but Ferrari's never going to beat Team Hamilton.

Rick Houghton:

Okay, we're running out of time. Actually we're going to move on to Williams now, because they are the best of the rest at the moment. They've had some impressive outings so far. Once Carlos Sainz got to grips with the car which I grips with the car which I think he really struggled with initially, and I I started to see his head go down, I was saying, oh no, you could, you, he was, you could see, he was trying so desperately to, to understand the fundamentals of switching from ferrari and going to williams and and having the uh, the changeable options and issues that he was having. But he seems to have got a good take on it now and we know that williams car is very fast in a straight line and we know Albon is capable of doing a good job as well.

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, like you said, carlos Sainz, he turned things around now with Williams and, yeah, he's feeling more comfortable in the car, he's delivering more performance and, yeah, pushing Albon. But the thing is now for Williams is, I think that Williams have decided to stop developing this car, so I don't think the car from now onwards is going to change a lot, and maybe they will start feeling the pains of this, because now, williams, they need to focus on the 2026 car. I think that decision was taken within the team, so this car is going to stay the same from now to the rest of the season, maybe small bits and pieces only. Hopefully they could keep fighting with it for the coming races.

Paul Velasco:

Yeah, I'm not convinced that Sainz is actually back. He kind of had a good weekend. But you know, what's quite interesting it's just dawned on me as we're speaking is that the struggles Lewis is having to adapt to Ferrari, sainz is having kind of the similar mirror image stuff adapting to Mercedes-Benz powered William. Would it be fair to say that? I think it is, because you know so. Lewis had a China highlight.

Paul Velasco:

You know, I'm really I'm watching Sainz's shares and they're wobbling for me. You know what I mean. They're wobbling for me and that Albon's giving him something to think of. I reckon he had half a second on Albon because you've got to remember Albon was destroyed by Max. You know what I mean. You've got to use that as the benchmark. But I don't know, too many teams have sent him packing like big teams Okay, you're good, but you're not good enough for us and kept the other guy. And now he's come to Williams. He's finding it hard and I'm curious to see how he'll bounce back. Albon's impressing, but what's the benchmark? So, yeah, I'll keep an eye on Williams, but yeah, I don't see them actually on podiums.

Rick Houghton:

No, I think Williams kind of made it fairly clear at the start of the season. They knew in advance which tracks they would do well at and which tracks they wouldn't do well at, and that's down to how the car's performing in slow turns and how it's performing on tracks with many, many fast straights, and I think that's proven to be correct. Moving on to Haas, aston Martin and the Racing Bulls before we get to Alpine, because we've got a little bit more to say about them with the off-track situation, haas just not really performing 20 points they've got so far. Oli Berman appears to have flashes of brilliance, jad, but he's had some disappointing results as well.

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, yeah, it seems like in the past couple of races the tide has turned a bit within Haas and you could see Berman struggling a bit and qualifying and starting further down. But look, he's shown in races that he, he can pass cars, he can drive up the order. Look, I think it for Berman it comes with the inconsistency of being a rookie. Okay, so he's going to have his good days, he's going to have his bad days. And the problem with in that situation is that, even like there are too many movable goalposts, you know, is it the car? Is it Berman? Is it the team? You know, it's not like he's driving the best car on the grid and you can see in that one week he up, the other week he's down. Sometimes that car is not good, other times the car is good. So, yeah, I think he's a decent driver. But the thing is, unless you put him in a proper car, you can't really gauge his performance.

Paul Velasco:

I agree 100% with the Berman thing and that's always why I question is it wise to put a rookie driver in a shit team? Because Haas is a shit team I mean relatively speaking to Mercedes, in that what pedigree do they have of developing drivers? They nearly killed two kids. Remember Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin? They killed their careers Okay, it was under Steiner and new kind of thing. But this team is not known Like Sauber, for instance, is known to develop drivers from the years of Philippe Hamassa, when he raced there. Jules Bianchi went to Marussia, but this guy, this Haas team, just doesn't. Yeah. So I feel it's good for him to be getting experience. But I'm going to be honest for me to comment on Haas, they're so off my radar because you know you're covering the top guys that yeah, they've got to step it up.

Rick Houghton:

Do you want to do Aston Martin first, because they're behind Haas in the championship?

Jad Mallak:

Aston Martin. What's to say? The car's a disaster. Alonso can't be bothered. Lance Stroll well, I don't know what he's doing.

Rick Houghton:

He's getting lapped.

Jad Mallak:

Honestly I don't know what that kid thinks Honestly Like when you wake up and you go to your day job, you come with like plans. I'm going to do this today. Do that. This is my plan, this is my target. You know, I don't know what Lance Stroll thinks when he wakes up and goes to do his job. Honestly.

Rick Houghton:

It's just like a blank thing. I've never seen Alonso make so many uncharacteristic mistakes on his own, without other cars involved you know, spinning.

Paul Velasco:

He can't be arsed, mate, he can't be arsed. I sometimes think he spins so he can go have an early shower. Yeah, that car's so bad. Honestly, I think a lot of times other parkers say, oh, I've got a derail, whatever failure, and then, boom, he comes into the car and he parks it. Really, if I was him, I would too, because their car's going nowhere. They seem to be focused on that. And I'll tell you something about Lance. To me it's a disgrace, and I'm just going to sum up what I think of the strolls at the moment. For me, aston Martin is like the emperor's new clothes. You know what I mean. Everyone's just singing the praises of a driver that shouldn't be driving and singing the praises of a team that's just super, super under delivering. I'd hate to be in an office. What I'd love to be as a journalist in an office when they debrief Lawrence, I think that would be the greatest podcast one could do. Anyway, yeah, aston Martin less said the better.

Rick Houghton:

And now Racing Bulls a quick mention, because Liam Lawson obviously was demoted from the main Red Bull team and he's in in the racing bulls not having a great time of it. And uh, and Hadger's there as well, who I thought you know. Obviously the first race of the season a disaster, not even making it to the grid. But I thought I saw some glimmers of hope in his performances since then. But but Jad, like you say, he's got that rookie curse as well yeah, look, I think Hadger surprised everyone.

Jad Mallak:

No one was expecting him to be good and I think when he crashed on the outlap in Melbourne, everyone said, yeah, this is expected. He's not as good, he doesn't deserve the seat. But then that kid turned out to be a revelation. Honestly, and I've been talking with some paddock insiders and everyone's saying, wow, this kid surprised us. So, yeah, there's something interesting to follow. That's a good talent to follow and see how he develops. Hopefully he keeps on developing in the right way and hopefully racing bulls, who have a history in developing talent, do a good job with him. You never know, maybe Red Bull are going to need him very soon with Tsunoda and destroying talent right.

Jad Mallak:

Exactly, they do destroy, but they deliver some talent, so hopefully they do the right thing with this kid. Lawson's form is worrying. Recently his weekend in Miami was a disaster no spatial awareness, the way he tried to pass Alonso, that was a disaster, honestly. So, yeah, he needs to get his act together.

Paul Velasco:

No, he's on his way out. He's on his way out. You know, averin Lindblad's been lined up already. Marco said the kid's going to be pretty good. Lawson has to deliver a race. He hasn't delivered any race in six. So yeah, hajar, I'm with you on that. And yeah, at the same time, let's look at Yuki Tsunoda, who got promoted and honestly, he's not going to bring points. You know, what they needed is a driver to finish behind Max. So if they win, they've got a second or third point. I don't see Tsunoda ever scoring points in that car. That's how I'm going to say it. So in terms of the Imola preview, I don't see it.

Rick Houghton:

Okay. Alpine they've had more drama off the track than they have on. Oliver Oakes has left as team principal. Flavio Briatore has now appointed himself as team principal of that. We've seen the dropping of Jack Doohan. Colo Pinto is now in the seat for Imola onwards. What are your takes on this? Because I know we had a lot to talk about externally when we were planning to do a special podcast on the entire subject. But the Alpine drama continues, paul, a lot of drama there for sure.

Paul Velasco:

As expected, Doohan got ditched, Colapinto's in. I'm going to put myself again and do an Antonelli potentially bad prediction. I don't think that kid's as good as people make out. But anyway, come back and haunt me. But they're going to give him four or five races and then apparently they're lining up Sergio Perez. So there's so many things. They're probably talking to every other driver in the world, because that's Flavio for you. I don't know what's happening there. I do know that Oli Oaks' brother was arrested in the airport with apparently a lot of cash, allegedly from some deal, whatever, whatever. And of course, when Oli heard that he decided to go on holiday to Dubai which is clever, and there we are. That's where it stands. There's no team principal job for him and apparently he was even being looked at as that Red Bull guy you were talking about. Okay, that's all I have to say on that subject.

Rick Houghton:

Okay, Jad, your thoughts Well before I go to you. Jad, I presumed when Flavio took over as team principal, it was because he'd ousted Oliver, but it might not be the case. Because of the troubles that his brother was in that, the troubles that his brother was in, that could be why he resigned. What's your take?

Jad Mallak:

on it. Yeah, exactly that was the impression everyone had when the resignation of Oaks was announced. Now there was disagreements, definitely within the team. I think Oaks didn't want to get Colapinto, so he wanted Paul Aaron instead. But that didn't go his way. And I think it's a bit of a pity for Alpine now because at one point, despite having Flavio back, oliver Oaks was a promising prospect for the team. You know, when he was hired he did a decent job in his F3 and F2 teams in high tech. But yeah, his premature exit just flings the team into disarray. Now, honestly, under Flavio's management, this is one thing. Now you can't see the end of the tunnel for them. This is the problem, and I don't think from now on we'll be when we're evaluating Alpine or looking at them in races. We'll be talking about their performance. We'll just be having some popcorn and watching how the show unravels in the pits, in the garages, behind the scenes. Predictions now.

Rick Houghton:

I'm going, oh, I'm going to go, for I'm keeping my faith. I'm going to go for Norris to win. I'm going to go for Piastri? No, I'm going to go for Max to be second and Piastri to be third.

Jad Mallak:

Yeah, I go Piastri Max Leclerc.

Paul Velasco:

Ooh, and Paul. Look, I think Piastri Verstappen.

Rick Houghton:

Russell. So Piastri Verstappen, george Russell, okay, well, brilliant guys Looking forward to the first race of the European action in Formula One this season. The track temperature, or the the air temperature, by the way, for this weekend is supposed to be 23 Celsius, so not blisteringly hot, which might mean that other teams can get closer to the McLaren. Thanks to Jad, thanks to Paul for being with us on two soft compounds, and we'll see you next time. Thanks to Paul for being with us on Two Soft Compounds and we'll see you next time.

Rick Houghton:

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.