2 Soft Compounds
2 Soft Compounds is a weekly podcast focusing on Formula 1, hosted by radio broadcaster Rick Houghton and motorsport journalist and GrandPrix247 founder, Paul Velasco.
With a focus on unfiltered analysis, behind-the-scenes insights and expert commentary, the podcast offers fans an entertaining and informative take on the fastest sport in the world.
2 Soft Compounds
Midseason Mayhem: Horner's Exit, Max's Future and McLaren's Championship Battle.
Midseason Mayhem: Horners Exit, Max's Future and McLaren's Championship Battle.
This week on Two Soft Compounds, Rick and Paul unpack a jaw-dropping first half of the 2025 Formula One season. McLaren has gone from dark horses to dominant force, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris locked in a tense title scrap that’s friendlier in the press than it is on track.
Top of the agenda the guys discuss Red Bull - a team in meltdown. Christian Horner’s high-profile exit and a rumored £60 million settlement have sparked a mass technical exodus, and Jos Verstappen’s “this team will explode” prophecy is unfolding in real-time. With Max’s future now up in the air, Paul and Rick ask the big question: could the reigning champ really walk away before 2026?
Elsewhere, Rick's favortie team, Ferrari, continue to flatter and frustrate and Paul has some choice words about Toto's handling of George Russell. Plus there's chat about Cadillac’s looming arrival for 2026 which just stirred the driver market pot even more.
As we head to Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix, the gloves are coming off. Will McLaren keep it civil? Will Red Bull survive the implosion? And is Max Verstappen about to trigger the biggest silly season shock of all time? Tap in to Two Soft Compounds for all the F1 drama and debate you crave!
Production Credits:
Presented by: Rick Houghton & Paul Velasco
Studio Engineer & Editor: Roy D'Monte
Executive Producer: Ian Carless
Produced by: W4 Podcast Studio & GrandPrix247
I don't make mistakes. I make prophecies that immediately turn out to be wrong.
Speaker 2:Anything can happen in Formula One, and it usually does. Hey, welcome to another episode of Too Soft Compound Me, Rick, and Paul Velasco, the editor-in-chief and founder of Grand Prix 247. We are at the halfway stage of the 2025 Formula One season. Paul, it's been eventful so far Eventful.
Speaker 1:Jeez, being ballistic. It's been hectic. I mean, you know, think about it. The season started it really feels like long ago. Yeah, lewis, arriving at Maranello, do you remember? That was like for me, that kind of kick-started the whole season. And then there was testing and we were already 12 races. It's gone in a flash. Yet so much has happened in between. And, of course, just to sort of mark the halfway mark as the halfway mark, christian Horner.
Speaker 1:It's still a story that keeps on giving for us editorial people, because it's very uncertain. First of all, there's a lot of reasons coming out why he was fired and there's a settlement coming. He could pocket $60 million, they say. And you know, I think he deserves it. I mean, yes, he was very silly. I mean, bernie Eccleston summed it up he was an idiot. You know, in our story on the website, he was an idiot, he sacrificed, he gave up so much for just thinking with his dick. I think, yeah, I know, seriously. I mean, what else can it be? Okay, he's been exonerated, but we all know that that's the key, that's, that's the thing that broke the camel's back. Not to say it was all glory and camelot before that, but I think they needed something big to happen and then this whole thing came out. And then, of course, there was the brain drain. We've seen what that's done and the story continues as it stands right now.
Speaker 1:I think the last story is that it was the statement we got from Horner. You know that he was very upset and he was tearful, but beyond that, over the last two sort of weeks since it broke, it's been pretty quiet. I think there's negotiations going on about his future, but I'm thinking the guy can do really whatever he wants, even though you know, I mean, if flavio briatore, like I've said before, can come back to formula one, this guy had something in his private life. It wasn't even involving formula one. He's, I'm sure he's welcome back. I mean, teams will take him back. What are your thoughts on his, apart from his demise, his return?
Speaker 2:well, I've got one. I've got one thought on his demise that I read a couple of days ago. It's lots of speculation around, some of it's going to obviously be baloney, but I didn't realize and maybe you did, but I didn't realize that the the woman who put the allegations about Horner and released them to the world's media and released them to the Formula One paddock. I didn't realise that it was alleged that she'd been involved in some way with Jos Verstappen and I didn't know that. And then, when I knew that, I was thinking, oh, ok, right, so that's why Jos Verstappen had a problem with Christian Horner.
Speaker 2:It wasn't just about the drivability of this year's car, it was the fact that there was personal issues coming in between Jos Verstappen, christian Horner and this mystery woman. And that made me think, okay, so is it Jos Verstappen who's gone to Red Bull upper management and said, listen, I don't like this guy? We kind of knew he'd already said that I don't like this guy. We kind of knew he'd already said that I don't like this guy, christian Horner. By the way, the rumors of Max talking to other teams are completely true. The only way those rumors go away, by the way, is if you get rid of Christian Horner, and then we'll stay and we'll commit to Red Bull. I think there's something in that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I've heard a similar story. I don a red bull. I think there's something in that. Yeah, no, I've heard a similar story. I don't think it's. They had a personal relationship, yas and the accuser of horner. They had, uh, they were friends, you know, they were buddies, they were like right you know.
Speaker 1:So obviously you know people get allies in that. Look, he called it in march, it's not about now. And the drivability of this car, he had no, you had absolutely no clue in march last year that this car was going to be a bag of bolts, let's be honest. But he did say before anyone basically, with Christian Horner at the helm, this team is going to explode. That's what he said. Yeah, and it started exploding.
Speaker 1:When everyone started, the big boys started leaving. Okay, rob Marshall left before then. But then you had adrian, knew he leave. He's never come on record and said listen, I didn't leave because of horners. You know indiscretions. I left because I'd had enough of red bull. I've never heard new he say that. Okay, so he's gone, he's out of the picture. Then jonathan wheatley, you know, like genius, as valuable to the team as Nui, and he's off and gone to Sauber, which will be Audi.
Speaker 1:So honestly, verstappen was right. I don't think it's a new thing. Verstappen was right and I think the management just said listen, just hold your horses, christian will cut his own throat. And I think he did by just producing a very, very bad car, handling the number two driver situation super badly. If he had had any balls, he would have gone to Perez and said mate, I'm sorry, come back. You know it can be done. You know what I mean. It was just. It was just. Look, the team has gone downhill since Verstappen yes, verstappen. Jos Verstappen uttered those words and I'm going to ask you you're a father, right? Yeah, I'm going to ask you as a father, would you not do everything that Jos Verstappen is doing for Max if he was your son?
Speaker 2:Yeah, without a doubt, you wouldn't give it a second thought. I rest my case. Yeah, so that saga continues. Uh, on and on. Uh, no racing this weekend, it's next weekend. We look forward to spa in belgium, with more on that a little bit later on. Let's talk about ferrari then, because you mentioned at the top of the podcast. You know, the whole season seemed to start with that iconic picture of lewis hamilton outside marinello, and the season really hasn't gone the way Lewis Hamilton had hoped, and each time Ferrari go racing there seems to be a new strategy disaster or a new communications problem. I mean, it would be so interesting to get a fly on the wall in the debriefs and the pre-briefing sessions that Ferrari conduct, because whatever they're briefing isn't coming out during the race and I would love to see how they handle things afterwards. You know we've heard from Fred Vasseur that you know everything's fine and then they're working well together, but from Lewis Hamilton's body language and the stuff that he's coming out with in press conferences, it's clearly not going his way at the moment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you're going to have to tune into Netflix next year to find out the nitty-gritty of what's going on there. But yeah, I mean it's a strange place, ferrari, and it remains a strange place. I think they thought they had a much better car than they've got. The SF25 has not proven to be very good. Charles Leclerc yes, he's got some podiums and that, but it doesn't look like it's going to win anything apart from what Lewis won. He won a sprint race with that car. I think the stars aligned and gave everyone sort of a warning Look, if Lewis got the right package, he can do this, and that's what he did in the sprint race. But when you don't give him the right package, he can't be asked really. And I think Leclerc basically picks up the ball and runs with it and Lewis chases.
Speaker 1:So I hear stories of him trying to change the culture at Ferrari and all that. I mean that's like fighting against the wind really. I mean you know it's a culture that's embedded for years. I mean it's part of Ferrari, it's how Ferrari go racing and it's not going to happen overnight. It took under Jean-Todd, it took them five years to win the title and Jean-Todd nearly got fired after three years until Michael said Jean goes, I go, and then they wanted to fire Michael in the fourth year and then it all got sorted out and that's what came of it.
Speaker 1:But Ferrari is a hot potato. And you know what's interesting, this whole Christian Horner thing has basically deflected the news of Fred Vasseur because he was getting a pounding before Austria. It all broke in Italy that they weren't happy with the way the team's running. It's gone really, really quiet. He's around, but remember he left Austria quite early, remember that, and there was never any explanation for that. So yeah, ferrari is again their own worst enemy, but they're also the most beautiful team to follow and watch and see, because they just never stop giving you news. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do. And talking about drivers who switch teams and it hasn't worked out, carlos Sainz has got to be mentioned there. He went to Williams after leaving Ferrari. I mean, he was kicked out of Ferrari basically to make room for Lewis Hamilton, but he did it very gracefully. He left Ferrari on good terms and he looked like the bigger man. I thought when, when all that unfolded because, remember, he had a year of racing for Ferrari knowing that he was not wanted by the team and that they were, they were dispatching him for Lewis Hamilton. So he handled himself really well. But he's gone to Williams and he did say. He did say when he went to Williams it's going to take him half the season to get to grips with the car that he's got underneath him. We're now at that halfway point, but the signs don't look promising. Paul, look, can we just go?
Speaker 1:back to signs at Ferrari. It came out this week because he was on a podcast, went quite viral where he basically mentioned it was very difficult that last year not to throw a grenade into everything and expose how Ferrari were working and he walked away. You know he didn't burn any bridges and went to Williams and built bridges. I mean he really galvanized. You know, carlos was in the house before the season started but he's never really got to grips with that car and yeah, I don't know Albon's making him look pretty ordinary and albon's no great shakes if you compare him to max verstappen.
Speaker 1:So I don't know what's happened. I mean, you know we saw drivers lose form when they changed teams and, uh, we saw it with daniel ricciardo and they never kind of recovered. I hope it's not, you know, the ricciardo disease that he's got and we'll never see him good again. But yeah, I think he'll probably be most concerned. He's probably one of the most intelligent guys around and he's probably thinking this through and he just can't understand why, when it matters, albon seems to have the better of him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's an interesting one and for a team you know James Vowles is organizing them very well. They seem to have a good team behind the two drivers in terms of engineering and the strategy calls have been pretty good. They've had reliability issues which have cost them points in the past, actually in the near past. They must be looking at the second half of the season, paul, thinking right, we've got to get our stuff together here. We've got to really sort out the issue. Who are you talking about?
Speaker 1:Williams, williams, williams, fuck Williams, seriously, fuck them. We're giving them two, three, four fucking minutes. They're the back of the grid. No, seriously, no, fuck Williams, let's move on. Let's get McLaren, bro, it's our team. I'm just it going to talk about every team that long we'd have to wait to be here all day. I mean, look for me. I mean, unless you want to talk about, okay, adi, what are we going to talk about? Halkenberg let's do it really quickly. Halkenberg Okay, he did good. Let's see if he does good again. V-carb are they even at the races? Are they seriously at the races? You went on about Williams. Are they seriously at the races? No, they're not. Haas Are Haas at the races? Who's driving for Haas? Arkon oh, in Bournemouth. Okay, they're occasionally at the races. Let's see who else. Aston Martin Well, there's one guy who's in everyone's face. So, honestly, we've talked about all those shit teams. Let's talk about what matters. Hang on hang on.
Speaker 2:I want to talk about Aston Martin. Okay, do that. Do that. I'm just pulling your leg. You know that? Right, I know Aston Martin. It's on your website. Alonso says that every time he speaks to Adrian Newey he learns something new. They have had a major upgrade on the Aston Martin car which we saw at the British Grand Prix. It was side pods and it was a new floor. They could be contenders in the second half of the season, paul, yeah.
Speaker 1:I can't imagine Alonso saying no, fuck it, adrian is really stupid. I didn't realize how stupid he was. So, yeah, of course he's going to learn from him. I think Adrian will learn from Alonso too. Yeah, but sorry, I couldn't help giggling, thinking Alonso coming and saying you know, but there's over at Newey, it's like it's not true, it's thick as shit.
Speaker 1:Anyway, yeah, look, give Fernando a half-decent car. And he's good In races of attrition, he's fantastic. And so is Lance Stroll, as we saw at Silverstone for two and a half laps. But two and a half laps does not make a season. So, honestly, aston Martin are pretty much like Red Bull a one-car team, absolutely a one-car team, absolutely a one-car team. So maybe Alonso scored points in that, because Alonso can't be asked Alonso if he's not going to finish on the podium. I think he sometimes wants to just stop and throw away the keys, honestly. So I think he's marking time until he gets a good car and he's hoping that Nui will deliver that car. So he's going to be saying a lot of very nice things about Nui all the time.
Speaker 2:Did you see the story about Fernando Alonso perhaps joining his former manager and going to Alpine? No, I haven't heard that one. Well, it shocked me because I just think surely not again. Can Alonso make the wrong call for joining the wrong team at the wrong time?
Speaker 1:No, but listen, listen, let's not go wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Okay, because there's talk, a Horner might go there, but I don't see it because of Mercedes. I don't see him. I know no ways, unless Aston Martin have got Max. Then maybe Because you know, flavio saved his ass when he got fired from McLaren or departed. You know he went back to Rena, so it wouldn't be unlike Alonso to go back. But honestly, I only see that happening if they've signed Verstappen. And yeah, I don't, you know, that's what I'm saying. This silly season, with the whole uncertainty with Horner and the whole uncertainty with Horner and the whole uncertainty with Verstappen, has gone ballistic. I think Fernando has got a contract to stay until and I think everyone, all the big hitters, are not going to move until they see what kind of cars they're going to have next year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's going to be very interesting to see, and the rumors on that front are that, you know, adrian Newey is designing an absolute rocket ship for Aston Martin next year. What? Who told you that? Well, an absolute rocket ship for Aston Martin next year, what? Who told you that? Well, it's just what you read. And then you've got the powertrain issue is, I think, the biggest issue for all of the teams.
Speaker 1:Well, that's a double whammy, as you say. I'm not very familiar with the technical stuff, but powertrain and aero Newey actually says in an interview that it's the biggest change that he's encountered, where you have two sets of rules changing like that. Yeah, so you're right. What are you gonna say about the power trains?
Speaker 2:I'm curious well, some teams um will get to grips with it and some teams won't. And and the thing that I've heard about red bull and this has been mentioned in several places is that red bull have got a real struggle on getting their, their power unit, to work properly for next year's car. Yeah, I've, I've heard that about.
Speaker 1:Ford too. I mean not Ford, because Ford's going to be that thing. I've also heard it from Honda Honda, you're going to power Aston Martin. I mean I don't know how people are actually even coming to these kind of conclusions. How do they know? I mean, I don't know, maybe they've got certain targets and they're not reaching it. And what I've heard is Mercedes got another bullet. Yeah, absolute, absolute bullet. So you know, with Aston Martin going to Honda, like I'm saying, you know, I can't see the big boys changing unless there's like something catastrophic has happened with Max and Red Bull, and the reason Horner got fired is because he lost Max. But that's only going to happen when Max makes the call. When Max makes the call, that's when everything's going to fall into place, in my opinion.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's talk about.
Speaker 1:McLaren, mclaren. Well, there you go. Let's look at the stats. Because it's a good thing to look at the stats, because they're glued to the top of the Drivers' Championship. Oscar Piastri is on 234 points, lando Norris is on 226. That's eight points difference, which is really nothing compared to what it was. We'll discuss how it closed.
Speaker 1:Then you've got Verstappen at 165, and you've got to think Russell will be the last option at 147. With Leclerc on 119, absolutely nothing's going to happen unless they find the magic switch on that Ferrari. So it's looking increasingly like Castri or Norris will be world champion this year. And then, if you go into the Constructors, it's just an absolute annihilation. You're talking 460 points, mclaren, more than double Ferrari on 222, and then Mercedes 210. So there'll be a battle for the prize that no one cares about. Second in the Constructors' Championship and in terms of statistics, piastri has now won five races, whereas Norris has won four, verstappen's on two and Russell on one, which makes McLaren nine wins They've scored this year, with Red Bull taking two and Mercedes one. So that's it. The team is in absolutely tip-top shape, you know dominating. Now the call is who's it going to be?
Speaker 2:And we've seen throughout the first half of the season we've seen almost a sort of to and froing with Piastri and Norris, in that Norris has on occasion lost confidence. His qualifying hasn't been quite up to scratch at times because I think when he's under pressure we've seen over the years actually, you know, last year was a prime example when he was under pressure he'd make mistakes. He's ironed a lot of that out this season, but it was still apparent in the in the earlier races when Piastri was able to pounce and Piastri just seems like cool as a cucumber, you know, when he's on team radio during during fierce battles on track, he just seems the coolest customer. He comes across as though he's determined and there's a bit of ruthlessness in in piastri, I think, isn't it?
Speaker 1:yeah, look piastri just absolutely, you know. You know how I feel about him. I think he's got very good people in his corner, uh, which I don't think lando does, or that maybe he has now, but they're not very known where. We know that Piastri's got Mark Webber, I think. But one thing I will say there was a chink in his armor this week. The last weekend he definitely lost his cool, I think for the first time.
Speaker 1:At Silverstone he was playing silly buggers with Max. I don't think that was a smart move. I don't know why he was doing that. That breaking move was just out of nowhere. It's not like him to do that. He didn't need to do that. It was a George Russell move that he actually did and then thereafter he was bitching.
Speaker 1:I think that was the first time I think we've seen this kid like you say, unfazeable be phased, and it's going to be very interesting how he bounces back at Spa, you know, because, as you so rightly said, this has been like a seesaw of form, you know, but the seesaw that just goes up. One goes up and then the other goes up and it goes up. It's not like one up and down, up and down, it's up and up and up and up and these boys are just getting better and better. They're still young and I think it's going to be an amazing, amazing final half of the season. I see it ending in Abu Dhabi and I see a lot of drama, because that's how these things happen when you have two very good drivers in a very good car, which you seldom have. To be honest with you, lewis never had an equal driver in the car, apart from when he was with Alonzo, and Alonzo also hasn't had many equal people. And when Alonzo was with Lewis he got a smacking and Lewis was a rookie. So that's why we knew Lewis was great.
Speaker 1:But mostly the last one I can really think of was Rosberg-Hamilton. Yeah, that was pretty serious because Nico changed himself and became Dr Jekyll, mr Hyde kind of vibe to beat Lewis that year. And then I can only think back when I think in the team it's the centre-prost, you know, and this is what I think everyone's calling it's. We've got, you know, this century's centre-prost and it's the Norris Piastri which you, which you know. You can't even predict it, you know they've been fantastic up until now, but so have Alain and Prost and Nico, rosberg and Hamilton. They got on. It was fine until boom, boom, boom. Fuck you. Yeah, it's your worst enemy and that's what happens, and I'd like to see that these two guys are very different characters to those. But in the end we'll see if the racing blood has that ruthlessness that we saw. So we'll see if these two guys will be friends at the end of the season. That's going to be the interesting thing and how it goes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a really interesting thing to watch play out. For the second part, let's talk briefly about Mercedes, george Russell. We were all impressed at the start of the season. He did take the leadership role of that team on very seriously and he pulled it off very, very well. And then we saw Antonelli come in as the rookie driver. Many of us had doubts about his ability. We saw him testing in Monza last year and putting it into the wall and everyone was like, wow, you're going to give him a full season. But he hit the ground running. He's been brilliant, apart from recently where he's dropped in form and he's dropped in confidence.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, he's a rookie. He's 18 years old. He's got so much to learn. I think he's just yeah, he's cool, I don't think you can expect a hell of a lot from him. In his own words, he said I've got too many DNFs, too many zeros by my name on the score list, and he has. He's got like six no scores, whereas, in comparison, russell's only got one no score. You know, of course, russell is destroying him, but he's not really destroying him. He's basically setting a benchmark that he has to chase, and while chasing it, anthony's going to learn a lot of lessons.
Speaker 1:So, look, I think what's strange for me is, at the beginning of the season, when Lewis left, toto was all about oh no, our future is in the hands of these two guys, you know, kimi and George, and he was all about that during the launch and everything. And now suddenly that Max is available, he's really turned and showed his true colours. And I think, if I'm George, I'm thinking you, dick, you know what I'm saying. I'm thinking you know, I kind of like sat and waited for Lewis to leave because he did Lewis treated I mean George treated Lewis with great respect, great respect, you know, and that's why we didn't always see the best of him. And now that he's shown what he can do, he's guiding Antonelli and Toto Wolff won't give him a contract. Well, it seems, because if he was going to give him a contract, give it to him at Silverstone in front of his home crowd. That's going to get you maximum PR. The fact that he doesn't has to be that either one or the other. He's playing games, he's just playing games. He's sold George this new inn, but let's play some head games here. Or, and he's told George, this is a new in, but let's play some head games here. Or he's doing a deal with Max. So if I'm George, I'm thinking. And George actually came on record and said Toto's never done me wrong, he's always had my back. So we'll see. We'll see if Toto's got a knife to stick in the back or he's going to embrace him with a three to four year contract so he can just focus on leading Mercedes. They say, oh, next year I'm going to leave. Next year I'm going to leave because Max is available. I think Toto's got to understand one thing that he lost out on Max because Helmut Marko was smarter.
Speaker 1:Okay, the Verstappens. I'll just rewind the story. They can cut this out if they don't want it. The Verstappens were invited. This is according to Joss and from what I've heard Okay, yosin, from what I've heard, okay, I wasn't at the house.
Speaker 1:I can't tell you this happened, but this is the report Yosin and Max went to Toto's house. It was very impressive. According to Yosin, they sat there and they talked shit for the whole fucking evening. Sorry, they talked for the whole evening. And Yosin said I walked out with nothing, we left it. And then we find Marco and Marco said come to Red Bull Ring and Max was 17 or 16, 16 in Formula 3 and just cleaning up in Formula 3. Within 15 minutes the deal was done. So Wolf lost him. Because Wolf banked on Esteban Ocon. He was told Esteban Ocon's the cheese, the big cheese, not Max. And then, 20 years later, or 10 years later, let's say, toto told everyone I was misinformed about Ocon, he had better kit than Max. So you know it's like yeah, well, you chose the wrong guy. So now he's desperate to get Max, and I think he's. I don't see why he doesn't see the gems and the diamonds that need polishing in his own backyard. I mean, if as much as he blew Lewis man.
Speaker 2:George would be king. Yeah, fascinating and fascinating to see. You know, if we turn up in Belgium and Russell still hasn't got a contract, then even more questions are going to be raised because hopefully we'll have heard more about Max Verstappen and his future and hopefully we'll have heard more about George Russell and his future. You know, still a week and a half to go until that happens. So you know that could be featuring in our next episode still a week and a half to go till that happens.
Speaker 1:So you know that could be featuring in our next episode. I don't see this. I don't see any of this going down. Until max decides what he's going to do. I don't see any, anything. But when max says, okay, I'm going to mercedes, george will go to red bull, boom, boom, boom. It'll become like everyone and we'll say I'm available. You know what I mean, but it all hinges on max at the moment.
Speaker 2:Okay, before we, before we finish, let's talk about some drivers, former drivers. Checo Perez We've got him on the rumor radar at the moment. Cadillac, of course, looking to put two drivers in their new team for 2026. I've heard that Mick Schumacher is in the equation there perhaps, but I think they've got a fairly long list of drivers. And Valtteri Bottas he could be moving before the end of this season.
Speaker 1:Let's be honest, franco Colapinto isn't the real deal From what we've seen at the moment. He's not. He's very expensive. He breaks a lot of cars. There were some stats that were done that compared him to Jack Doohan vis-a-vis Pierre Gasly, and he was a tenth slower than Doohan. So, look, this is the problem with Flavio. He's chosen one. Probably lots of money changing hands towards the team and sponsors.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying anything untoward, but I don't understand why Jack didn't get first of all a bigger chance and why he's not being pulled in now. Because this kid Franco. I think he needs another season or something. I don't know go-karts or whatever, but the guy is not Formula One material. I think James Vowles got a hard-on for him for no reason, because, yeah, he was quick once or twice, but then he started really breaking his cars. So where do they go to next? You know they've got Pierre Gasly. Seriously, do you want to put a Paul Aaron there in a car that no one can drive? Why not Bottas? Yeah, and next year it'll be a Mercedes engine. So I don't know. I mean, you know, look, I have this benchmark If Cadillac are coming in serious which apparently they are they're going to be Ferrari customers and they're going to build their own power unit or whatever.
Speaker 1:In terms of drivers, if they're serious and they know what they're doing, they're going to take Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas. Forget an American, forget a rookie. Forget that comes later. You're building a team from scratch. You don't go there with rookies. You go there with guys that know what they're doing. They're not going to break your cars. They've driven really bad cars and they've driven against Lewis Hamilton. They've driven against Max Verstappen. These are two guys that are so experienced that are sitting out of Formula One right now. That's absolutely criminal as far as I'm concerned. So I'm seeing Perez definitely being signed and if they really know what they're doing in terms of the driver front, for sure you've got to take Bottas, you've got to. Then you've got two very seasoned guys. Then you bring in, like your academy driver, and hopefully they can get an American, but anything less in my opinion, then they're not hitting for home runs, they're just there to I don't know be part of the show, because that is an, I mean. To me that's almost like a little dream team.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know Horner Loudon he's running the thing now and two guys that have won Grand Prixs. They've helped their teams to construct as world titles. If they don't get that drive, then Cadillac don't know what they're doing, in my opinion.
Speaker 2:Okay. Well, it's a good time to end. We're going to be back next week to preview the Belgian Grand Prix. Whilst we've got a few gap weeks, we just thought we'd take a look back at the first part of the season and address some of the rumours that are still swishing around the imaginary paddock. Paul, thanks for joining me once again, great fun. Thank you, I'm Rick. Thanks for listening. Remember to hit subscribe and tell your Formula one friends about our podcast. And for the latest fix for formula one news and reviews, head over to grand prix 247.com.
Speaker 2:We'll see you next time on two soft 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.