Barcelona GP: Pit-Lane Chaos & Hamilton's Ferrari Fairytale

This week on 2 Soft Compounds, Rick and Damien dig into F1's messy 2026: the unpopular rule changes, the Iran war scrapping Saudi and Bahrain, and the Monaco pit-lane timing scandal now snowballing into appeals and possible legal fallout (Russell may have lost the title over it). 

Plus! Damien breaks an exclusive - Qatar and Abu Dhabi could be dropped for extra Las Vegas street races amid shipping chaos. 

Then to Barcelona: a reliability-hit thriller crowned by Hamilton's first Ferrari win, the first all-British podium since 1968, and growing worries over Mercedes power units. Plus Hülkenberg's freak retirement, Aston Martin's woes and a look ahead to Austria.

Production Credits:

Presented by: Rick Houghton & Damien Reid
Studio Engineer & Editor: Ben Dover
Executive Producer: Ian Carless 
Produced by: Poddworx Dubai

Transcript

Quick Welcome And Big Claims

Rick 0:02

I don't make mistakes, I make prophecies that immediately turn out to be wrong. Anything can happen in Formula One, and it usually does. Welcome to another edition of Two Soft Compounds Formula One podcast with me, Rick, and him, Damien Reed, my good friend based in the Middle East. How are you, Damo?

Damien 0:24

I'm doing alright. That wasn't such a bad race, I don't think. No. Considering we've later down.

Rick 0:28

Yeah, I mean we're going to talk obviously about the Barcelona Grand Prix. I want to talk about some other things before we get into the race itself,

Rule Changes And Monaco Pit Lane Mess

Rick 0:34

though. And first of all, Formula One have made several errors this season. The first error, in my mind, is the rule changes, which I don't like. I don't think you like them particularly. I don't think most of the drivers uh approve of the rule change either. So that was mistake number one. Mistake number two was not their fault. That was the Iran war, which meant that Saudi and Bahrain were cancelled, leaving a big gap in the schedule, which meant the season started and then kind of stopped and then started again. And the biggest mistake in my eyes that Formula One and the FIA have made is the absolute mess that's still continuing from the Monaco Grand Prix a couple of weeks ago. And this was to do with speeding in the pit lane. The FIA and Formula One all said it was due to a uh due to a problem with the width of the pit lane and the fact that they had uh an extra team this year. And then it turns out in the subsequent days, the FIA finally admitted no, it was a centre issue, it was our problem. So then uh Alpine and Pierre Gasly uh appealed about getting their third place back, which they won. And now the fallout is continuing because other teams, and I'm thinking especially about Mercedes, for George Russell got a speeding uh penalty, which he failed to serve, then he got a drive-thru. It cost him over 20 seconds in the final results, which meant that he was points-wise well down. Could be the difference between losing or winning the world championship, by the way. So they've had a problem. Red Bull have appealed it now, and so have McLaren just earlier on today. I mean, what an absolute mess.

Damien 2:08

It's just a disaster of massive proportions. I mean, you're right. I mean, you know, Max lost the world championship at the end of last year by three points. So three points is a lot. We were kind of on the ball we w when we talked about this last week because it it did get down to a distance issue in Pit Lane. And the FIA, in the rule book, in the wording in the in the in the sub regs, they admitted it before the race started. It's in there that they said that there was an issue in there, and then at the end of it, because they said from owners of the, you know, who were responsible for the timekeeping, but then they threw tag under the bus. They said that I officially licensed to Tag, the watch company. But but I mean, they kind of put it out there before the race started. I saw some wording in a in a rule book uh from from the regs on the weekend saying that this had been flagged up before the race started. So the fact that they came through later on and said that we didn't see anything, any issues with it during the course of the Grand Prix, I think it was after the third time, it was it was flagged with them saying, Are you sure everything's okay? And they replied to to the guys in Pit Lane saying, We don't have any reason to believe there's a problem. It's just uh so you know, the problem is though, Rick, is that teams who serve their penalty on the day, which is everyone other than Pierre Gasly, they're in trouble because there's really there's not much you can do about it. And from what I'm hearing is that Flavia knew about this dialogue that was going on before the race started, which is why they told him not to serve the penalty, and we'll talk about it later because he had a bit of an idea that it was already in writing, that there was an issue. The other teams didn't know about this, and they said, Well, let's just serve it right right now and we'll and we'll hopefully sort it out. But once you've served it, it's almost impossible to try and get that back. So I I don't know where this is gonna go, but it's gonna go somewhere. I can't see the likes of Toto and Zach and uh and and uh the other guys, you know, accepting this. It's just it's just a massive cluster.

Rick 4:08

It really is. It really is. I mean, George Russell, you know, he's he's fighting for the world championship, he's uh still in the mix, definitely for that, with with so much left of the season still to run. Um and he lost, what, eight points because of that? And then you've got other teams like McLaren who finished out of position because they served those penalties. The whole thing's just a complete mess. You can imagine the legal fallout that this could be causing later down the down the road. Because if the world championship is wrapped up when the winner wins it with a handful of points, as we pointed out, or you pointed out, happened to Max Verstappen last year. And the legal ramifications of that, so prize money, for instance, for the teams, uh bonuses for the drivers, because they're all on bonus schemes, so the higher they finish a race, the more money they get paid. I mean, it's an absolute quagmire.

Damien 4:57

Yeah, yeah, six drivers, and and Pierre was the one who who successfully appealed. So there's potentially five situations or four because George got it twice. So, you know, that's a double hit for George. The way that the uh that the totem leaderboard was unfolding, it looked like that Oscar Piastri could have potentially finished on the podium with with potential pit stops to keep on flowing. So there's a potential podium that McLaren could could be arguing against as well. It's just I think Bortiletto was another one. Gabby, uh, so you know, it's and it's it's in Monaco. You know, Monaco is the place where all the contracts for sponsorships are uh are done and driver contracts are done and corporate sponsorships are done, and you do not want to be embarrassed in front of potential sponsors at the most glamorous event of the year. So, you know, that could come into a potential litigation scenario as well. It's just of all the races to do it, it shouldn't be done anyway, but of all the races to do it at, do it at the most high profile race, and it made F1, it made the championship look absolutely silly.

Rick 5:57

Yep, certainly

Exclusive Rumour About Vegas Replacing Races

Rick 5:59

did. And uh we have a bit of an exclusive for you on the podcast now because uh as of uh as of recording of this, uh this information hasn't been uh rumoured, but uh Damien's been on the case, he's been speaking to some rather important people uh both on Sunday after Barcelona and as early as this morning. Uh, this is a rumour which is going to again damage Formula One's reputation and cause a bit of a stink towards the end of the season. Tell us all about it, Damo.

Damien 6:28

Yeah, it's not over yet. It's not over yet with the calendar shuffles and changes. I'm hearing uh I heard it from about four different people on Sunday in the paddock and in Spain. And then I I ran it. I had a coffee with uh with a person this morning who's heavily involved in Formula at a very high level, and he nodded his head and went, yeah, kind of. And that is that there is a uh there is a potential that the Qatar Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix might be replaced and dropped, dropped primarily, but replaced with Las Vegas, because uh now the reason why that this this this scenario might be unfolding is um firstly is whilst there are good signs with what's happening with the Iran war and the situation right now as we speak, you're speaking to people from from Mersk and from the uh you know the Japanese shipping companies, they're saying there's gonna be at least a month before shipping gets back to anywhere near normal. Then on top of that, you talk to people like Lloyd's, the insurance companies, and nothing is insurable on the waterways at the moment. So to send the equipment out by seafreight, you've got to remember that the sea freight has to go out months in advance. So that F1 takes two lots of cargo, one by air, one by sea. The sea freight leapfrogs each other and goes to every second or third round of races. So that's got to get going pretty soon if it's gonna be here for the end of the year, with no insurance on the cave on the on the table and extortionately expensive shipping. Uh the F1 is seriously considering that the third last race of the year being Vegas, F1 owns that track. They don't have to pay licensing fees or anything. They're seriously thinking of just playing it out in Vegas and having two or maybe three races, a la COVID era, around the streets of Las Vegas instead of wrapping up in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. So that's that's hot off the press. It hasn't been reported anywhere yet, but I have very good sources that are saying that I'm not saying it's it's done and it's done and dusted, but it's certainly being discussed very, very heavily.

Rick 8:24

Okay, which gives Formula One a massive headache because then you're gonna get teams that say, well, our car doesn't suit the Vegas circuit and we've been forced to race here three times. Then you're gonna get a friend like my my good friend Mike Scott, who every year flies from England with five or six of his friends to Abu Dhabi for the final race of the season. He's already paid for his tickets. Not only that, he'd get a refund if it was cancelled, but he's paid for his flights and he's paid for his hotels. And you can imagine the absolute nightmare and confusion over these, not to mention the race sponsors of Abu Dhabi and Qatar, if it doesn't go ahead. What happens to them? Because they're different sponsors, as I understand, to Las Vegas. The whole thing is a logistical and technical nightmare, and it's another blot on the Formula One landscape.

Damien 9:08

Yeah, I mean, as recently as uh just a few hours ago, probably six hours ago, uh the the guys out the at the Yash Marina Circuit at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix announced the latest, you know, uh musical act, you know, the concerts that they're rolling out. So they're still going ahead as normal, and uh, and you you you have to, you know, you have to continue as per normal until you hear otherwise. But man, I mean, I just it's just giving me it's just giving me a headache thinking about the the potential about face, the contracts that need to be readjusted, flights accommodation, uh you name it. And you're right, you know, different sponsors for different Grands Prix. And uh yeah, I I don't know. It's it's just they will work, they'll talk their way out of it somehow, but uh, but it's uh at the moment if it does play out that way, it could be a massive, massive headache. Um, you know, F1 has just re-signed with Vegas for another 10 years, so they're they're so Vegas is on the calendar until 2037 now. It's brought in a huge windfall of cash to to Nevada, um $300 million, I think, per year or something like that. I I I can't I can't quite remember. There's something like that I read this afternoon. So Nevada would be very happy to have another couple of races thrown at them at the last minute, but I don't know about the uh the organizers of Qatar and Abu Dhabi whether they'd be happy to accept it or not. Wow, what an absolute uh what a mess this season has been from a organizal point of view. I mean, just ridiculous. I mean, would you want to be working in the hierarchy of Formula One right now? I want to run a million miles from from all of this. You know, it's just Yes.

Rick 10:41

Okay, well, let's try and put the negatives to one side and and talk about Barcelona, the Grand Prix.

Barcelona Surprise And Hamilton’s Ferrari Win

Rick 10:46

Um, it's normally my least favorite race of the year because it's well, let's face it, it's fairly boring and processional, and I thought the same was going to happen this weekend, just gone, but it did throw up some uh interesting scenarios for us, uh, most notably based on well, reliability issues. Um, you know, there was uh one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight cars that didn't make the finish line because of um technical issues mostly. Um, we of course had Lewis Hamilton returning to the top step for the first time with a Ferrari. Uh, and I just thought overall, that was great to see. And I thought, for once, Ferrari's strategy was spot on.

Damien 11:29

Oh, yeah, I know, I couldn't believe it. Um, Ferrari got it right. And yeah, it's uh it's extremely hot temperatures over there. And uh and the other thing that's proving it's starting to shape up, which I again I equally can't believe, is that Ferrari might have the more reliable power unit out there because the Mercedes power units are getting vulnerable. And and and here's what I'm loving about what happened on Sunday and and why it's gonna play out is that what what what was looking like to be a Mercedes cakewalk and uh Kimi Antonelli starting to dominate very, very quickly has turned around, not just for the driver points and all that kind of thing, which we'll talk about, I'm sure, but is that the the grid penalties are gonna start coming through for the Mercedes-powered vehicles. And and the first one that's gonna get it, my understanding is Lando Norris. He's already gone through three, I think, and you get four for the season. But then, yeah, George in Canada, Kimmy, Kimmy on the weekend, it's gonna start coming through. And this is where the other powered vehicles, i.e. Ferrari, are gonna start clawing back big time. And you know, Lewis is getting his confidence back. It's exactly what the sport needed for the sake of the sport. Uh a Lewis Hamilton victory in Ferrari, whether you're Ferrari found or not, or a Lewis found or not, the sport needed it. And uh, and I just I I I wrapped up on Sunday night feeling quite enthused about the way that the potential way this championship might go. It could be a close one.

Rick 12:55

Yeah, Ferrari brought, I think, eight updates to Barcelona, which was a surprise because they kind of said that they weren't planning uh major upgrades for this particular race. But it looks as though they've they've one of the rare things in Formula One, you bring eight upgrades to a race weekend, and it looks as though every single one of those upgrades has worked a treat, and they now look to be the most reliable and fastest car on the grid.

Damien 13:21

Yeah, I mean their their air package was was pretty good, their their power unit was uh was struggling a bit, but they found something. And I don't want to be the cynical one here, but I can't help but think that the power unit upgrades came the very next meeting after they signed off on who needs who needs a bonus to the or who needs a beef to their power units. They sort of kind of got through Monaco weekend as the others did, saying, Well, you know, this is where we are. Can you give us a can you give us a token or two, which gets an extra two percent or four percent power increase, and they've got that. And then the very next Grand Prix, they've they they unleash some uh some upgrades anyway. So they played it well. I mean, there's the rules, you you you play with what you you with the hand you dealt with, and they played it well. And that Ferrari is looking good. And and initially when I thought when I saw him start or uh Lua start on the softs and Max on the softs, I think, what are you guys doing? It's the only gonna last two, three laps. But with it being a two or even three-stopper anyway, throwing a safety car, suddenly got a four-stopper, suddenly that soft tire makes sense.

Rick 14:25

Yeah, definitely. It was the uh first time since 1968 that the first, second, and third drivers have all been British. Uh, so that was fairly fairly unique to see on the podium. George Russell finishing second in his Mercedes. However, uh, this means that uh the embarrassment for George continues, I think, because Kimmy Antonelli, faster than his teammate, once again, overtook him on track and was heading for a second place in the race, had he not retired with the engine failure.

Damien 14:54

Yeah, yeah, um absolutely. I mean, he he he got a demon pass on him just in time, but then had that engine failure. And and again, it shows the the I I'm still being impressed by Kimi Antonelli, his his his attitude, the way he throws that car, and and George would have to be worried still about all this, you know. An amazing is as he said, with you know, with the with the podium being all British, uh Lewis Hamilton is the you know, his last win was in Belgium 2024, but he didn't get the trophy that day because I think George got a penalty and then he inherited the win. So the last time Lewis was on the podium was in Silverstone, the oldest guy to win a race since Jack Brabham in 1970. Uh what Lewis is 41 now, so great stuff. But um, but I I just love the dynamics. You got the oldest guy out there, you got the youngest guy out there, and I love the fact that Kimmy, even though he had a disastrous race, got out of the car, went over to the to Park Firmo and and gave Lewis a big congratulations. I thought that yeah that showed uh the the true merit of the guy's character. Yeah, and all of them did, to be honest, including Max Verstappen, who gave him a big hug at the end of the race with all they've been through in the past. That was uh fairly remarkable. I mean, it was uh it was a kind of nothing race for Max Verstappen. Uh finished in fourth, but he was 40 seconds off the pace. Uh Lando Norris brought it home in third again, an inherited podium, if you like, because of the problems that request or felt to other people, including uh Kimmy.

Reliability Wrecks Plans Across The Grid

Rick 16:22

Um so yeah, the reliability was a bit of a nightmare, wasn't it? I mean, we had uh Alonso who pulled up with an engine problem. Uh we had Charles Leclerc in the sister Ferrari who lost it seemed to me all hydraulics. Uh he lost his power steering, the wheel went off, it just looked as though the whole thing had shut down on him. He limped back to the pits and then subsequently retired. Ollie Berman didn't finish, Alex Albun didn't finish, Hulkenberg didn't finish. The Hulkenberg incident was really, really I mean, absolutely bizarre. So he was chasing down the car in front who ran slightly wide and put a wheel on the gravel. Some of the gravel came up in the air and hit the emergency stop button on the side of Hulkenberg's car. That's what it was. Um it was a stone hitting the button in exactly the right place to stop the car. You couldn't put you couldn't put money on it. It was Leon Lawson who was following, and Leon dropped a wheel off and and uh he pampered he peppered the Audi with with stones. In fact, it actually uh punctured the the nose cone. So it was pretty pretty decent at rocks they've got in Spain.

Damien 17:28

Uh but the other one was was was was was like a LeBron Jones three-pointer, bam, straight on the button, and uh and and hit the kill switch effectively of his car. I mean, you just you just can't. It's all about bad luck for the Hulk. Phenomenal. But you know, uh, yeah, other than that, the unreliability, as you say, the you know, the the uh hydraulics issue with with Charles Leclerc, you get a hydraulics leak and it kind of kind of kills everything in a car. Power steering, uh gearbox, brakes, the whole lot. You lose everything. So there's no way back from that one. Um and and the temperatures started to play with a play around with a few of the cars. It was incredibly hot out there. Uh, but you know, it it I I still can't keep stop thinking back to these Mercedes Power units. They need to they need to look at something because uh, you know, we're we're not even at the the summer break yet, and they're starting to have trouble right through the field.

Mercedes Power Units And Coming Penalties

Rick 18:26

Yeah, very interesting. Let's go back to Lewis Hamilton for a sec. One thing I didn't realise was he changed race engineer after last season because obviously we could all see the strategy Ferrari were pulling and the radio messages were just all over the place. So the the end the engineer he's now got is Kimi Raikkonen's old Ferrari engineer, who obviously took Kimi Raikkonen to a world championship in the Scarlet Car. So he's now Hamilton's engineer, and I saw uh I read some of the radio transcripts which weren't actually broadcast, and this was when Hamilton was chasing down George Russell. Now, obviously, we know that the virtual safety car came out after uh Fernando Alonso pulled up to the side of the track with an engine or uh electronics issue. That brought out the virtual safety car. Lewis had already passed the pit entrance at that point, but the virtual safety car stayed out for long enough that he could come in to change tires the next time round, and obviously, under the virtual safety car, you lose a lot less time. He came out of the pits, literally a couple of seconds ahead of George Russell, and then they lifted the virtual safety car. It was perfect timing, it all worked out brilliantly. However, I think even without the VSC, Hamilton would have caught Russell and won the race anyway. Would you agree with that?

Damien 19:42

Yeah, that's the thing. I mean, you're right. You know, some days it it it it it the safety car gods are with you, and it certainly was with Lewis, is you right. I mean, um, you know, I think the the the softs didn't work off the start, but he was saved by the fact that the mediums were went off very quickly as well, and that they were, you know, with the full fuel load. Um, and you know, he went to the hards. It was a very late call, I think it was lap 29, that he went to the mediums. He loved them super quick, but he was carting through that traffic, even without this take the safety car situation out of it. He was he was pulling George Russell back by over a second a lap um and and just had it all over him. So, you know, it the it's it it was interesting because also too, Mercedes weren't looking at Lewis. This is how quickly Lewis came on. Mercedes were giving instructions to to George and to Kimmy about Lando, and they weren't talking about Lewis. And Lewis suddenly, bam, he was loving those mediums. He's pulling a second and 1.2 seconds of lap and reeling it in. So yeah, I think even without the safety car, he would have done it because Mercedes took their eye off the ball. They weren't they were looking at Lando's car as a potential threat, and they weren't even thinking about the Ferrari until it

Williams And Aston Martin Trouble Signs

Rick 20:53

was too late. Uh Williams had a nightmare one retirement for Alex Alban, and of course, um we had Carlos Sainz who finished well down the order in twelfth place. He was two laps down on the leaders, so Williams' nightmare continues. James Voles was on Sky Sports F1 coverage over the weekend, and he said, Listen, yeah, we know we're not in a great place. We've got a lot of work to do. Some upgrades are coming, but they're they're in a sort of nasty situation at the moment, as are Aston Martin, of course.

Damien 21:21

Yeah, yeah, and and I found it was interesting that Aston Martin have kind of changed their tune. Um uh Adrian New is saying that uh it's now going to be one huge upgrade that's gonna come later in the year, I think probably Spark. Yeah. So, you know, it's not this piecemeal upgrade that they're talking about at the start of the season. So I don't know whether then whether they're just admitting that they've got a massive problem um or whether they do actually have something there. But either way, it's it's not good. And you know, the fact that uh um Lance Stroll basically slammed his own car, um, said he doesn't care about qualifying, doesn't care about the fact that I think someone asked him about what's it like to finally after 42 races, you qualified the old man next to you and he said he he he doesn't in his words he just he he said he doesn't give a shit about it. Uh you know that's I mean I don't know I I just I find the whole Aston Martin thing bizarre because you've got a lot of money there with sponsors and you've got this petulant kid who won't do sponsorship and announcements or he won't do sponsorship endorsements other than Patty Club stuff. Fernando works hard at it to to sort of prop up the the business end case with with the the team and the relationship with sponsors and drivers um so it's kind of it's it's it's a it's a it's a canoe with one paddle you know I mean there's they're not getting any support from the younger driver at all in building this car and they need the support from everyone to make that thing work and it's I just can't see I can't see light at the end of the tunnel for Aston Martin. Talking

Spa Dropped, Greed Talk, Cheaper Races

Rick 22:53

about Formula One making mistakes as we have done at the start of this podcast another one for me is alternating uh Barcelona with spa I mean why would you want to take a year off from spa the greatest race track on the in the history of the sport I think why would you want to alternate those two races Barcelona sure you could remove it from the calendar and I wouldn't be that fussed. But doing spa every two years instead of every year that's just another nightmare decision isn't it it's crazy isn't it

Damien 23:18

I mean spa is just one of the great tracks it's one of the ones you you you you want to stay up late for if you if you if that's not in your part of the world where I'm you know when I grew up in Australia it'll be the the races are always late at night and you would know that with the sp spa the Belgian Grand Prix that's that's one that's worth you know missing out on some sleep for for school the next day. And it's it's it's insane. Yeah Barcelona they can let it go and and they can they can alternate with with the the Mad Ring the the Madrid track that's coming on later on as well but it's just one of the classic and it's one of the original tracks and it's a lot shorter than it used to be but it's a track that rewards bravery. There's not much runoff there you big mistakes the weather is always plays a factor um the guys who get it right on who are bra brave who can be brave enough to drive in the wet slip street. If you remember Kimmy Riken's famous move down the Camel Strait where he passed uh two cars at once you know in the spray um Schumacher getting hit by by uh David Coulthard in the wet in the bus stop I mean some of the greatest memories of Formula One comes from that track. I just don't understand why they would drop that it's got it's got to be it's got to be about money hasn't it's got to be about licensing fees and they can get more from another track I guess. I was speaking to someone on the other day and they they just said they used to love watching Formula One. He said it's not the rules it said it's just the greed it's just you know the the money's completely taken over I think the the cheapest ticket for a grandstand in Las Vegas is £1500. I mean come on it's just you know uh it's just the money and the greed has has definitely uh taken over the sport I mean you expect it to to a certain degree it's the same with with football you know that that they went after the money yeah uh but with Formula One it's kind of taken the mick a little bit I think at the moment. Yeah um yeah so the spa thing I is not ideal and and I think if you're marking the report sheet for Formula One in 2026 they've lost a lot of points this year.

Rick 25:16

Yeah yeah and if and if and if anyone does want to go to a race and and uh wants to go to one where they're not spending huge amounts of money honestly the best for me the best value for money race that you can go to is Baku uh the tickets are are the are the cheapest you'll find in the year the accommodation is is cheap but it's a good quality accommodation and you're right at the track. And Baku's given us some really good racing over the last few years. So you know if you if you want to bang for buck um forget about spending money in in Vegas and and and Abu Dhabi and all these expensive races. It's cheaper jump on a jump on a f uh a an a a cheap flight to to to Azerbaijan and you'll you'll absolutely get value for money. Hungary Grand Prix as well is a very cheap one um I I've noticed this over the years so that's uh the Hungaro ring uh good track decent track and uh very cheap to get to and stay at and food and drink very cheap as well.

Austria Preview At The Red Bull Ring

Rick 26:09

Consumer advice on the two soft compounds podcast travel agents uh right yeah we're coming to the uh we'll take the mission we're coming to the end of the podcast uh let's look ahead to Austria I think it's a track that the current Ferrari will suit very well they've always been very very good in slow speed corners of which there are plenty at the uh what is one of the shorter circuits of the season and you raw power getting up the hill towards turn three uh two and three uh also will promote the Ferrari power unit at the moment which is doing so well it's gonna be an interesting race and of course you can never discount Max Verstappen at the Red Bull ring.

Damien 26:49

Yeah I I love the Red Bull ring it's it is it is a bull ring in every essence it's um it it really drags the the best out of drivers and cars. As you say it's a short lap uh there's some elevation there um there's only I think from memory two left hand corners so it does give the the right hand tyres um a lot of hard work and uh because they're they're fast corner those two corners are fast corners um and yeah um it's it's a track that you you don't need a massive amount of horsepower you don't need huge arrow doesn't have the elevation so the the air is still pretty the ambient air is still pretty good um but but you've got to be if you like turn three it's you accelerate up into the corner so it's very very very easy to outbreak yourself and end up in the gravel on the outside and then play catch up down into turn four which is another right hander it's almost the same kind of corner but it's downhill um and and you know you've you've got to have your wits about you because again very easy to lock up remember that was I think that was a corner where Carlos Heinz had the fire in his Ferrari was it and it rolled back it couldn't stop the car from rolling back say how steep it is you know I love it. I think it's it's a real character filled track um and it's a very picturesque place and and again it's it's a heritage track. I I love it for that as well and uh and it rewards the driver so I'm really looking forward to it.

Rick 28:11

Yeah me too okay we'll be back to uh review that one on the next episode of Two Soft Compounds thanks very much for listening.

How To Follow And Join In

Rick 28:18

Thanks Damer

Damien 28:18

cheers man always good yep uh

Rick 28:20

we'll be back with you uh very soon tell your friends tell your family tell your colleagues or any F1 fans you know that Two Soft Compounds is here for your regular Formula One fix. For now, hurrah TwoSoft Compounds was presented by myself recording alongside Damian Reid the executive producer was Ian colours don't forget if you want to join in the conversation leave a comment on our Instagram page at 2Soft compounds and if you haven't done so already please do click that follow or subscribe button. See you next time