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
Belgian GP: When Is Wet, Wet? And Other Stories From Spa!
This week on 2 Soft Compounds, Rick and Paul dissect a Belgian Grand Prix that had all the ingredients for chaos - then delivered a soggy serving of frustration. Rain before lights out, endless delays and a sport still terrified of a little water. Has Formula 1 forgotten how to race in the wet? We think so.
Plenty of chat tho about Oscar Piastri stealing the show after a gutsy rolling-start move on Norris. McLaren’s Spa stranglehold confirmed what we already knew: the championship is now an all-papaya punch-up between Oscar and Lando. Verstappen? He’s just playing catch-up in a car that’s second-best.
Behind the McLaren show, Lewis Hamilton provided the drama with a storming charge from the pit lane - until he slammed into what we’re calling The Albon Wall. Alex Albon’s iron-clad defense was the highlight of the race, while Carlos Sainz continued to… not impress. And speaking of impressing, the rookie trio of Lawson, Bortoletto, and Bearman keep embarrassing the veterans and shaking up the silly season stakes.
Next stop: Hungary. Can Norris respond at a circuit he loves, or will Piastri keep cruising toward the crown with his ‘ice man’ coolness? Strap in and hit play on 2 Soft Compounds - where the racing chat is always wetter, wilder, and hopefully way less delayed than Spa!
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 Two Soft Compounds the Formula One podcast, with me, Rick, and Paul Velasco, the editor-in-chief and founder of GrandPrix247.com. I'm going to start here, Paul, with a rant. Go for it. What were the FIA thinking? What are Pirelli thinking? It's just ridiculous A brilliant Grand Prix that we look forward to each year, completely ruined by a timid race director and a tyre company that can't make tyres properly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I think you kind of summed it up. I think a lot of people were saying, after the Grand Prix I mean, we really really look forward to the Belgian race and, let's be honest, it was the the first race of the second half of the season without Christian Horner there. So a lot was expected and, yeah, the race just didn't deliver. I mean, even the sprint there was. There were two moves the whole weekend, yeah, when Verstappen took Piastri in the first race, and that was it. And then, of course, the same thing Piastri learned from that lesson and he did it to Norris and that was it. It was stalemate thereafter.
Speaker 1:These guys are driving at such a level. It's unbelievable how good they are. There's little to separate the three top boys at the moment. Three or four top boys, they're just absolutely, almost faultless. If you look back on the Grand Prix, four top boys they're just absolutely almost faultless. Uh, if you look back on the grand prix and that's why I don't understand why they're so scared to put these brilliant drivers probably the best, I would say I'm going to put it out there the best half dozen drivers to maybe even 10 drivers. It's got a lot of depth on this field ever and uh yeah, they just uh erred on the side of caution, I guess. I mean, you know, you got to remember Antoine Hubert passed away there several years ago. So yeah, I'm in between. You know, like I said, I thought they could have released the cars a little earlier but yeah, in retrospect it was really a bit of a damp squib to excuse the pun of a race and it really sort of reiterated what I think we've been saying for the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 2:This is either Norris or Piaget is going to be world champion yeah, I mean there are some positives to take out of the Belgian weekend, I think, but not many. I mean I was convinced that I agreed with Max Verstappen. Actually he said, you know, keep us trundling around behind the safety car, we'll dry the track quicker than anything else will. With the wet weather tires that shift what 35, 35 liters of of uh of water every second. That was denied them. So they went out for the sort of reconnaissance lap and then, you know, drivers said, oh, the visibility is not very good, it's not about the grip, it's about the visibility. Now, I get that and I get there's been some nasty accidents at Spa in bad conditions before. So I get that. But I just think the way it was handled and then the long wait, and then it was kind of like, well, we'll just wait until it gets sunny we know we've got some more rain coming Wait till the track dries and then we'll put them out there.
Speaker 2:What's too conservative. These are the best drivers in the world, as you say, and they should be able to race in wet conditions. And my point about Pirelli is twofold really. First of all, pirelli have not made a full wet weather tyre that works, or any of the team like to use. So when it comes to clearing and that clears 80 litres per second of water the full wet but none of the teams will use it. So when we come to a wet race scenario, it's virtually impossible to get the damn thing underway if the conditions are like they were in Spa.
Speaker 2:And secondly, how can Pirelli make a medium compound tyre that Oscar Piastri can make last for 31 laps? I know he's a great driver, I know he's like cool as ice and he's really precise on the steering wheel and he can look after his tires, which is a skill in itself. But surely you know we can't have races where you can just do one stop on the, put the medium on 31 laps later, bang, you've won the race. I just don't understand it. There should have been an advantage, tire wise, to norris going on the hard. I know he made mistakes, but it just had. No, there was no comparison between the hard or the medium. It was, like you know, you probably could have put the softs on and done 20 laps on them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, look, I'm going to go just rewind a little bit and say to make that decision that they made to delay when to race, when not to race, when it was, you've got to remember. They came off of the back of a Formula 3 race that was cancelled because it was crashes in the water. There were Formula 2 races. Okay, the Formula 2 race was, I think, also definitely I don't think I know it was rain affected, but the boys had a good race. I mean, the McLaren kid done won it and they showed their skills in the wet In terms of, yeah, I think sometimes you're damned if you do and you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.
Speaker 1:so let's put a full stop on that. I mean, when it rains at spa, it's very, very tricky. Let's be honest. I've never seen a track dry so quickly after such a deluge. Suddenly it was just like sunshine and dry, and you thought there was never no rain that day. You know what I'm saying. So it's a very funny place with all the microclimates. So so yeah, but going back to your Pirelli thing, there you go, but you've got to get to the source of the problem.
Speaker 1:And this is the source of the problem with Formula 1 that's had for a very long time and that's the one-make tyre manufacturer. Pirelli have got absolutely nothing to lose, nothing to gain. In fact, I would imagine that them being there alone and whatever, if they pay I don't know if they pay, I don't know what the financial structure is there, but really, formula One should be the pinnacle of the sport. We're the best of the best. You've got to open the tires up at some point. This thing of keeping one tire, I don't believe in this whole. Oh, it's expensive, it's not expensive. You want testing? Get tire companies to get involved in the racing, because the tires, actually, of all the parts on that car, have more relevance to road cars than anything else on a Formula 1 car. So I don't understand why they've closed the rubber. Really, if I were the FIA, I'd open it up, maybe to two more. So you have, like, the engine manufacturers, you have four or five engine manufacturers, you have three or four tire manufacturers. I don't see why that's a problem. I just think they've got to set down a template, so the tire's got to be built to these conditions, to these specifications, the weight, the size, the circumference, all that stuff. And then you just say hancock, goodyear, whatever, michelin, you know, I know that there are tire companies eager to come in, and pirelli just yeah, they've turned that into it, turns it into a one make series. And it really becomes obvious how badly we need alternative tyre guys, because they wouldn't build such a shit wet. You understand what I'm saying? They'd build a very good wet, yeah. So it's interesting. I'm going to take your side.
Speaker 1:I was a bit annoyed by the whole thing and in the end of the day because I actually reported the races when I stepped back, I, apart from Lewis's fabulous drive, which we'll talk about, there was really not much to talk about in that Grand Prix. You know, once Piastri got ahead. He was almost faultless. Okay, he made one or two mistakes, but so did Norris. While he was chasing him, he lost a second here and there when he was really closing in, but he never got closer than four seconds. So, yeah, piastri won it.
Speaker 1:And again, I need to push back on this man, this pendulum of of form. You know, you get one guy on pole, then he wins, and then the other guys. I mean it's just, these two kids are just absolutely raising the bar with every single lap, with every single session. I mean, really, it's absolutely phenomenal to watch this, this, and it's very different to, I must say, I can't recall when two drivers from the same team were fighting for the World Championship in this manner. It was a very long time ago, and I think the one that always springs to mind is Senna-Prost, which I think maybe Alonso-Hamilton, Rosberg-Hamilton. But this is special because, you know, yeah, norris was upset, but because you know, yeah, norris was upset, but he wasn't going to, you know, throw himself off a bridge about it, you know.
Speaker 2:And Piastri did good. The other thing I wanted to mention I know you've sort of drawn a line under the wet condition stuff, but the other thing I wanted to mention is, if I was a team principal, I'd be really cheesed off as well, by the way, because they all looked at the forecast on Saturday and they all said, right, we're going to have to do a wet setup on the majority of the cars because we know it's going to rain for the race. And then, with the delay and everything else, it turned out to be a predominantly dry race, which is why I think we didn't see many overtaking maneuvers apart from hamilton, which we'll come to because they were all set up for wet conditions. And then, you know, race starts within a few laps, it's it's bone dry and their cars are set up completely in the wrong way. There was a couple that took a gamble on Saturday, but not many. So yeah, if I was a team principal I'd be like hang on a minute, guys. You know we set up for the conditions and you manufactured the delay, which meant that we weren't racing in the correct conditions. And anyway, I'll draw a line under it now I suppose let's talk about the race itself then obviously, when we started it was a rolling start, which surprised me because I thought it was dry enough to to have a standing start, but still rolling start. And I thought, well, that's going to advantage Norris, because a rolling start is just like a safety car restart they follow the safety car for a few laps, safety car pulls in the, the car in front becomes effectively the safety car, no overtaking before the start-finish line.
Speaker 2:And I don't know what Norris did. I'm gathering there was some issue with his recharging of his battery unit, but he knew that was the procedure. So surely for two or three laps previous to that behind the safety car he was able to put some charge in the battery. Because when he went for it before the final chicane, piastri was right on his rear wing and you never really see that in safety car restarts there's always that you know the person the lead driver often gets the jump. This just didn't happen. Piastri was right on him, so it was just inevitable that on the camel straight he was going to make that move and that was well. Job done for the whole race really indeed, you know, and that was it.
Speaker 1:It was basically a replica of what Verstappen did to him in the sprint race. The difference was that Verstappen's car, compared to the McLaren's, is just on another level. You know what I mean. The McLaren's are way ahead, dominant, but yet Verstappen managed to get ahead and then delivered. Probably let's not forget this before we go on to the Grand Prix probably the best defensive display I've ever seen by a driver. Really it was 15, like, as he said it himself, it was 15 qualifying laps.
Speaker 1:But then I think he was one of the victims. He put too much downforce on the car and that sort of messed him up for the rest of the race. He just didn't have the legs, I mean, to catch the Ferrari. He could get close to to him, but he could never overtake him on the straight. Whereas, back to the McLaren duo, when, when, when they were on the camel straight and Norris had peaked and Piastri just got more and more kilometers per hour on that thing and just went through, just went right past him, boom, it was just absolutely. I think he got a bit of a toe, I think Norris got a bit of a wiggle out of the hairpin, and when you wiggle out of the hairpin, you compromise yourself. He did it a few times actually during the ground.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I mean you know, but you're talking like really, really finest of edges, finest of advantages, and every, every little bit matters. And you know, like I said, we've got these guys driving at the highest, highest level. In fact it was considering the and that there wasn't even a shunt to my recollection. So you know, I mean good for them and, like I said, I was very surprised how the form reversed, because Verstappen just could not get the car in the window that he got on Saturday for the Sunday race. And Leclerc, you've got to give him credit, he did a very good qualifying and he got himself on the podium. So, yeah, a good day for Ferrari, I reckon, in what was actually turning out to be a pretty dreadful weekend, especially for Lewis, who had just a horrible Friday.
Speaker 2:And Saturday yeah, he had two disastrous qualifying sessions. Did Lewis A lap deleted in his final run on qualifying for the main race and, obviously, the sprint race, his final lap he locked up the rears going into the bus stop chicane. I saw a quote on a website this morning which said Lando Norris could not afford to gift wrap a race win to his teammate like this. Now, now, obviously, once Piastri was ahead of Norris, he was going to get the the first pit stop opportunity. That's just the way it works. The lead car always comes in first. They were too close together to double stack, so Norris had to wait an extra lap to go onto the dry tires. And they made a very late call by saying to him do you want to go onto the hards and we'll take it to the end of the race? And to which he replied yeah, let's do it. And they did that. And you know I thought when they came back out I thought, okay, well, norris does have a chance here, because surely Piastri is going to have to pit again. And that was my issue with Borelli is that he didn't.
Speaker 2:But then Norris did make a couple of errors. You know he went, he went wide a couple of times. You're right. He had a very difficult turn, one on several laps, I think. Without those errors and the fact that the pit stop went a little bit awry, it was 5.6 seconds or something instead of closer to two. Without those errors and the pit stop delay, I think, you know, we could have had an amazing final few laps in Belgium. I think it could have been really showing which of those two McLaren boys has the upper hand or is the coolest. I think we probably know Oscar Piastri is winning the cool award at the moment. So yeah, let's move on to the Ferraris. Charles Leclerc, I think you know he tried to stay with the McLarens up front, but it didn't really work out for him. It was all about a red, blue and yellow charging red bull in his rearview mirrors and, like you say, he resisted Max Verstappen's attempts to overtake him really well, paul yeah, you know you can't fault him.
Speaker 1:It's uh, basically they finished as they started, right, yeah, but at the end of the day you've got to remember, hey, the gap was 20 seconds, you know, I mean 20 seconds. It just shows you how the McLarens are just in another league and that just sets up the rest of the season. It's Oscar Piastri versus Lando Norris, with Leclerc and Verstappen and maybe Russell throwing in their bit, and honestly, I have to give credit to Child. I mean that was also very good defence, but I think Max just didn't have the legs on that red ball, which he did actually in the sprint race. I mean I think it was a rocket, but I think when they dialed in the downforce, yeah, it didn't work out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think if Max had run that race in wet conditions, you'd have put money on the fact that he probably would have done better than people around him. You know, and again, yeah, and the wet, he's just absolutely. He's a star, isn't he? Yeah exactly so. George Russell described it as his worst performance of the season, To his credit, though I mean he dragged the car to P5. I suppose, having won in Canada, you know he hasn't been in the top four since that win in Canada. You know what I tell you.
Speaker 1:Mercedes are like that. I mean, since these new regulations kicked in a couple of years ago, they have no clue what car arrives at the track. Honestly, I think for them it's like let's see which one it is, is it the fast one, or the very fast one, or the not so fast one? You know what I mean. It's not like, and uh, again, they were kind of stumped. Antonelli was pretty much on the back foot the whole weekend and uh, yeah, I mean mercedes have to get their act together in terms of forgetting about verstappen. Verstappen's not going there, so they've got to now focus on george and get their cars to work. You know what I mean? Because really, they, they sometimes look super, super good and you can't tell me oh, it's the weather or whatever, because you know it was cool, so they should have been fast. So I don't know, I'm at a loss a bit with Mercedes.
Speaker 2:Like them, I'm never sure what's going to roll out of the garage yeah, I saw on Saturday it looks like Antonelli looked as though he'd been crying when he when he hit the media pen. I mean the kid's 18, yeah, I think he was.
Speaker 1:I think he was, and that's why lewis went around and gave him a comforting arm and yeah, I mean, you know it's, it's you've got to swallow. I mean, you know, george is a very fast driver and, uh, he's getting a bit of what for stephan's doing to did to all his teammates. You know he's getting a bit of a pounding, but this is not to say he's not a talent. He's a a huge talent. He's just very young to be in there now and if Toto Wolff is serious about developing this boy, he's got to keep him now at least for three years, before they can even consider getting rid of him or anything. I don't think they will. But they've been talking about Verstappen and that's not pleasant and I think all that just puts a lot of pressure on the kid.
Speaker 2:And it's definitely telling. There's no ways about it. Let's talk about Alex then. Uh, he got a p16 in the sprint. Some optimism, because he said the car would be good all weekend and you know he put it on p5 in qualifying on Saturday. He lost that spot to Russell in the race but you know p6 is best results since Imola, proving that he's getting much more out of that car than Carlos Sainz. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Carlos Sainz. Well, let's not talk about him just yet. Look, alex Albon. I've never been a big fan, because I think any guy was destroyed the way any driver and he's among several has been destroyed the way he was by Max Verstappen. You ask yourself the question. You know, if you got next to max, what's happened? Will he get destroyed again because that's the benchmark? I don't really know. But really the guy is really destroying carlos science. He's absolutely destroying you know. He's putting the car in places where carlos can cannot dream of.
Speaker 1:In the race, carlos, he finished what he finished down in 18th. You know what I mean. And his teammate, alex, was up there, p6, amongst the mercedes, amongst the ferrari, and you know what? Lewis was bombing it through the field, it was absolutely. But when he hit albon it was like that's it. It was a wall. He couldn't get past albon and therefore I'm going to give, although I think lewis deserves driver of the day. If I was lewis, I'd give it to alex, because I think alex did a fantastic job, especially considering the wheelbarrow he's driving, because you know, if carlos science is the guy the benchmark, I mean it's a rubbish car and, uh, alex is finding a lot more in it and I'm yeah very impressive.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so lewis hamilton. Then obviously he didn't have a particularly good qualifying session, either for the sprint or the main race. But they made some setup changes overnight. They stuck a new power unit in it which meant he started from the pit lane, but actually with the whole safety car start, it didn't make much of a difference Cutting through the bottom of the pack at the start of the race.
Speaker 2:But then I'm not sure if you saw this on the feed, that you watched Formula One on Paul but at one point there was a radio call from Ferrari and it happened a few times during Hamilton's stint in the race where they'd asked him to lift and coast. And they said on the commentary that I was watching that they were asking him to lift and coast because they were worried about wearing the plank out on the car too much and being disqualified at the end of the race. So you've got a new rear suspension, you've got a new power unit in that car. So you've got a new rear suspension, you've got a new power unit in that car. Lewis is carving through. But then ultimately, if he's lifting and coasting, he's not going to get much further than Albon and I don't understand why Ferrari can't get a handle on this. You know we're halfway through the season now. Why can't they get a handle on the plank wearing? I don't know.
Speaker 1:I really am not a big plank guy, to be honest.
Speaker 2:I know nothing about fucking planks to me.
Speaker 1:I'm surprised they're even a thing. I mean, you're planking the most sophisticated race car in the world worth 20 million. It's got a fucking plank on it. Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it? No, yeah, it is, yeah. Well, yes, yes, ferrari, listen to Rick. Get that plank sorted, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well look.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you what Lewis. He had a lot of chats with the bosses and talking doesn't always mean pace and Friday, saturday, it looked horrific. Actually it looked like he had a span in the car, but I think overnight they found the, the magic button, they switched it on and, uh, he did what Lewis does.
Speaker 2:You know, he's really very good in those conditions um, let's talk about, uh, the fact that all four Red Bull cars made it into the top 10 in qualifying. Liam Lawson, I think, is due a bit of praise for being just one of two men left standing in the uh in the top 10 at the end of the race by finishing in eighth place. Hadja and Tsunoda had their issues. Tsunoda, I thought at the start of the weekend. It looks as though wow, you know, mechies is coming to run Red Bull and all of a sudden he's sharing parts from Max Verstappen's car and putting them on Tsunoda's car. Maybe this is what's been holding him back. He could do big things and then, sadly, it didn't really work out for him in the race. Uh, but Liam Lawson finishing eighth? I thought that was, um, not finishing eighth, yes, finishing.
Speaker 2:I thought that was, I thought that was, uh, that was pretty good. Um, then we've got. But can I tell you something?
Speaker 1:about Lawson or you're gonna just, yeah, go on. I thought Liam Lawson needed this, this result. He was good all weekend, as said. I don't understand how he only got two races. That is a criminal. I think that's why Horner was given the boot, mate, because he brought in that guy and Ternoda's not better. Ternoda's not the guy, no matter how good he gets every now and then. Listen, mate, you've got to be within three-tenths of Max Verstappen in every session. If you're not, you must go. So he must go. I don't know why they're keeping him there for so long. I think it's, yeah, I think they'll keep him there because of stability. But really, honestly, if that's the junior team, got the junior team fling him down for a few sessions in the junior team again and put Hajai in, or give Lawson a go. But, honestly, yuki is not the solution.
Speaker 2:He's not the solution. Let's move on and talk about Bortoletto. This is the second time in his Formula One career he scored points, he qualified and improved on his qualifying position in the race to cross the line in ninth. I mean it was challenging for all of the rookies in those changing conditions. As you pointed out, no one shunted in this race at all, no one retired, there were no reliability problems, which is, I think, probably the first time we've had that this season. So Bortoletto, I think, continues to impress me. I think you mentioned you quite liked him earlier on in the season when he had some decent results.
Speaker 1:Paul, yeah, I do like Gabriel Bortoletto. I mean, brazil needs a good racing driver and it took him a while, but he's a first season rookie. It's not like Lawson, who had some experience last year. No, I think Bortoletto is having a good season. He's pretty much showing us that Hülkenberg is the journeyman that he is. I mean, I know Hülkenberg got a podium two races ago, but now he was 12. He got totally outqualified by Bortoletto. I don't rate him honestly. I like him, I think he's a good guy, a good character for the sport, but I think he just runs hot and cold too often and he should be owning a rookie, like George is owning Antonelli, like Verstappen owns all his teammates. Nico Hülkenberg, with 140,000 Grand Prix's to his name Seriously he should be owning Bortoletto every race.
Speaker 1:So the fact that Bortoletto beats him is interesting, because few of the rookies are beating their more experienced racing drivers, which brings us to Pierre Gasly yeah.
Speaker 2:So Pierre Gasly, the final point scorer, definitely the king of defense in Spa, I think. I mean at one time he had about six cars and a train behind him, but he managed to hold them off and managed to finish in the points. I think he had a couple of mechanical issues during the sprint, which they basically said. The sprint race turned into an exploratory mission for him, almost like an extended testing session, but that gave him, or gave the team, some pointers on what to do with the car overnight and they came out and gave him something that earned him some points.
Speaker 1:Look, I think Pierre Gasly is wringing the neck out of that.
Speaker 1:Alpine, really, I think they got lost on the Constructors' Championship. It's the worst car. They've got Flavio Briatore working on it. Probably that's why it's so crap. It's really the worst car you can see. Colapinto can't even drive it and he's disappointing, super disappointing. The guy's just not it I mean Pierre's just killing it. And with a very, very bad car again he's. To me he's like a bit like alex albon guys that were once destroyed by verstappen, who've come back and just kind of rebuilt themselves as authoritative drivers. I'd like to see pierre in a good car, as I'd like to see albon again in a good car, but he's doing miracles with the alpine.
Speaker 2:Honestly, miracles uh, we must mention oliver berman for race results p11, p11, p11, p11 and that, to me, says that there's a great racing driver in that has car with some challenging conditions in terms of drivability of that has car, but oliver berman, I think is is going to be a bright star for the future. Would you agree, paul?
Speaker 1:oh, absolutely. He's absolutely destroying Esteban Ocon. I mean, you know, in my opinion, for again a rookie. Okay, he did drive a few races last year Ferrari, I think, and also with the Haas but honestly he's solid. I think in a better car he'll be better, but he's getting a lot of experience. I think he might have had a better result if Haas had done the maths properly with the strategy. But again, a young guy beating a journeyman veteran with also 3,000 races to his career but going nowhere.
Speaker 2:We've already talked about Alex Albon. Carlos Sainz obviously had an absolute nightmare, finishing in 18th. That's three races now without him scoring a point. And then let's look at the Aston Martins. They brought upgraded parts for this race.
Speaker 1:Were they there.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Yeah, I mean, that's what I wanted to talk about. I don't see them. Actually, Lance Stroll finished higher up than Fernando Alonso.
Speaker 1:Lance Stroll qualified in 15th but didn't out-qualify him, which means I think it's like 24-0 now. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, of course he didn't out-qualify him. He finished higher up the order.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, because Fernando can't be asked, mate, to drive that thing. Fernando does a hot shot lap in quali he sees where he ends up. He was like 19th or 18th or whatever. And then he thought to himself, okay, I'll just trundle around here and lance drives the race of his life to finish 14th.
Speaker 1:So yeah, fernando, I mean I'm really that. Aston martin is an embarrassment. It's actually I'd say alpine is the shittest car. But I have to give it to aston martin in retrospect, because the amount of money lauren stroll is thrown at this project and this is the car they produce for the last episode, mate. If it wasn't for Newey coming in and giving them a bit of hope, I'd just close this whole operation. Honestly, you've got to remember. Let's forget Newey's waiting in the wings. This is the car that they delivered for their boys. Considering the amount of money, aston Martin, it's a joke. It's an a joke, it's an absolute joke. You don't even see them on the weekends. I mean, you know they're so anonymous, they're just yeah. So yeah, I don't know what to say about Aston Martin. I think I'm very disappointed. If I was Laurence Stroll, I'd be super, super angry.
Speaker 2:I'm sure he is. Yeah, I'm sure he is. It's Fernando Alonso's birthday tomorrow, by the way, that's what 57? Yeah, 57, 58. We're moving on to the Hungaro ring this coming weekend. This is a track which Norris particularly likes. It was his first Formula One track as a driver. He says he's going to bounce back this weekend.
Speaker 1:Sorry sorry, it was his first track as a driver, or first win.
Speaker 2:It was the first time he drove a Formula One car was at the Hungaroring.
Speaker 2:Oh really Seriously, yeah, yeah, yeah, nice. So he likes the circuit. I think a number of drivers do, actually, and I quite like it as well. You know, if I play on the sim, the, the hungaro ring is is some. It's a track that I really enjoy driving around.
Speaker 2:So this weekend Norris says he's going to bounce back, which of course he needs to. The gap now between him and Piastri is 16 points. I think if he has a similar weekend to Spa, that gap's going to grow very, very large indeed. And then he's kind of relying on Piastri breaking down or hitting a wall and Piastri seems to be the coolest cucumber on the track and I don't think he's going to hit any walls unless someone else hits him. But this is going to be an interesting race. It's the one before the summer break. The madness in the pit lane or the paddock, I should say, when it comes to drivers for next year, may get some clarity during that summer break. You, you know, is George Russell going to finally get the contract from Mercedes now, after the Verstappen chat has died down Should be a good weekend, paul.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know Hungary's a good place. It's a good track. I think it's going to concertina the whole field quite a lot because it's short and it's tight. I still see the McLaren being the best car there, but I think it would be tighter than it was at Spa. I think Spa, if we'd had a proper Grand Prix or drive from zero to zero, they would have almost lapped the field. Really I think they were so quick. Here it'll be a different story. The weather should be good summer in Europe. But then you never know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, again, it's now turned out to be look, mclaren are champions. There's no doubt about it. It's just a matter of time in terms of the maths. But I think Oscar versus Lando is going to go all the way to the wire. Norris has work to do, he's chasing. So let's see, I mean, the largest lead that Piastri's had is 22 points, which Lando whittled down nicely, but Oscar's bounced back. And the interesting thing about Oscar is he turns every track that wasn't good last year for him into a very good track for him. So not to say about Spa, but let's see, hungary could turn some things around there. Look, he's the man to beat. He's the man to beat. Simple as that, and everything else is chasing, so I don't see what's going to happen with this silly season at the moment. I really do believe Verstappen has signed, and part of the signing was that Horner had to go, otherwise he was going to go to Mercedes if you ask me and I have no what do you call it?
Speaker 1:receipts for this. I think this is what happened. Mercedes offered Verstappen and Verstappen has a clause to get out. I'm sure Toto said to Verstappen, and Verstappen has a clause to get out. I'm sure Toto said to Verstappen here, 50 million, 60 million a year, come ride for me. And then Verstappen, being loyal, went to Red Bull, said look, I'm getting 60 million from Mercedes, can you? I'm not saying this has happened, this is my imagination at work. He said, oh, we'll match the 60 million, but why don't you stay? He said, oh, we'll match at 60 million, but why don't you stay? You know this team. Why are you moving next year? You're stupid. You don't know Ford's coming on board, blah, blah, blah. He said okay, we'll get rid of Horner and I'll stay. And I think that's what happened, because it's Team Verstappen.
Speaker 1:Now more than ever, it was too much Team Horner. It was a very interesting moment on the grid when Rosberg and Brundle were doing the sky grid walk. They doorstepped Jos Verstappen, looking very dapper there, like a green ensemble, looking very cool, pretending the camera wasn't there, and then they nailed him and he said yeah, well, I'm not. I didn't do any speaking, I said it was going to happen last year and it did, and that's it. So I do believe there's been a full-on decapitating of the Horner power camp and the Verstappen camp is now fully in charge. Let's see where Mekki fits into this whole thing. Because one thing they know if they don't keep Max happy, he's gone, and if he's gone that team's done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think next year is going to be the all-important thing, with the regulation changes, which no one really knows. There are rumors that Red Bull is struggling with their power unit for next year, but you know, again, every team could be so who knows? Well, listen, I think it's a good time to wrap things up, paul. Thanks so much for joining me once again on the podcast this week absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1:it was, like I said, a very strange weekend, mundane, but I think Hungary could be the injection we need before the end of the first stanza, in terms of the summer break comes up next. So yeah, thank you, rick, it was really good.
Speaker 2:If you want your latest fix of Formula One news, gossip and reviews, make sure you head over to GrandPrix247.com online and we'll catch you next time on Two Soft Compounds. Thanks for listening. Have a great week. Two soft compounds was presented by myself, rick Hutton, alongside Paul Valesco. The studio engineer and editor was Roy DeMonte, the executive producer was in 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 2softcompounds, and if you haven't done so already, please do click that follow or subscribe button. See you next time.