Sky Sports F1 Podcast: How close are Aston Martin to challenging Red Bull? | Montoya: Stroll is very underrated

you. Hello, everyone. A very

warm welcome to this week's

episode and joining me for this

one is the voice of Formula One,

David Croft and alongside him.

Well, a man who has 94 Grand

Prix starts seven wins,

including Monaco and a couple

of Indy 500 titles to his name

as well. It's Juan Pablo Montoya.

Hello to you both and

round of the foot. We've got a

legend with us. Oh my god.

David Croft is in the house.

Oh my god. Juan Pablo Montoya

is here too. What a weekend

Juan Pablo to get you in obviously

because we've got Monaco, which we've had

but also the Indy 500 as well. But

I know you were in Monaco. How was it?

How did you enjoy your weekend? It was really good.

It was really good. You know, I was mainly here

because my kids do an F3

and we had a really good weekend.

I mean, Sunday was a bit unlucky

because I was trying to pass another guy

and ripped the front wing up but

the pace we had over the weekend

and especially in the races was insane

so it was really good to see.

It's really nice to see how he's mature

over the over the year

and how much effort he's put

into it. So it's really, really exciting

and from the F1 point of view

was really enjoyable.

You look at qualifying

and I think with a minute to go

you never expected

we're stopping on pole.

It just didn't seem like they were not

even showing him.

It's like, you know, like everybody

I guess the TV the way they do it

they kind of know who's coming and what they're doing

and the cameras go there

and you know, they got Max in the last sector

that was, you know, right on cue.

I guess.

We're going to get into

Max's amazing qualifying lap because it was

absolutely sensational and I want to get in to talk about

Sebastian, your son as well and what it's like

to be an amazing dad.

Krofti, how was your weekend?

Is Monaco one of those where you need a few days

to recover afterwards?

I had a lion this morning, I must admit.

It took me a while

to get going today.

It's a party town when the Grand Prix

is on and it would be wrong

not to go and see as many people as we can

during the course of the weekend.

I was a bit upset

that Sebastian

your son

was going to have a breakfast on Sunday morning.

I mean, that was way too early for a motor race.

8 o'clock in the morning

I don't know why but

we did time for last year and it was the same thing.

I think most of the European races

were raised about 830.

But I was

trying to have a nice, you know, scrambled eggs and bacon

by the side of the track and then

you know, around comes Sebastian

with a damaged front wing making way too much

noise.

Maybe it was good for you.

To be honest, maybe I need it.

You're right.

Now listen, I thought

Monaco was great this year

for many, many reasons.

It was great to see the stands so packed.

It was great to see

the harbour absolutely packed

from a commercial sense.

Monaco is massively important.

It's a Formula 1.

It's still a place where the fans

flock to. They want to see

racing cars on the streets there.

Qualifying was

one of the best qualifying sessions

I've ever had the pleasure to commentate on

quite frankly.

That last sector, Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso

quickest in sector one, sector two

and then only tenth fastest

in the final sector.

That's where Max had the opportunity

to really

get back and take that pole.

And I remember saying in the commentary,

if anyone could do what he can

an incredible driver,

a rocket ship of a car and then bang

he's on pole by a few hundreds.

Just so, so dramatic.

Charlotte Claire's heart's broken

Aston Martin's heart's broken

and Max ends up on top.

The trouble with Monaco qualifying

is absolutely everything.

We had a race. We had a good race.

I'd like to see better racing

but I'm no genius as to how we answer

the problem of overtaking

around Monaco these days.

At least we did have a race.

If Monaco wasn't

that short of a race track

compared with the current tracks

qualifying wouldn't be that exciting.

It's like

at some point in Q3

is like

on the screens, it was 0.0, 0.0,

0.0, 0.0, 0.1

It's like

it's insane.

You don't have people running away

and in your toes waiting

to see who can find that extra tenth

than in Monaco is huge

and being a street course

you can find that then.

If you push that little barrier a little closer

and you go to the apex a little closer

and the small details

make a massive difference

and

it generally delivers.

Do you want better racing?

Yeah, I think everybody wants always a better racing

but I think

the tradition of Monaco

street course and everything

the rain was a great twist

and in a way

I think Aston

generally had a better winning

when they went for those medium tires

that it was

shocking.

You think they absolutely got it wrong there?

Because I think there's people in the team

think that we missed out on it as well.

But if you

they thought

he's on hearts

he's going to rain a little bit

mediums, Mark's going to have to put hearts

and we're going to look really good

and I think that's the play they went for it.

What they didn't see was

the amount of rain that was coming.

But who did? The trouble was

all the forecast

it was only going to be a sprinkling of rain

it wasn't going to be a massive shower

and that's what we got in the end.

Yeah, so why didn't Lewis behind

Fernando

put wets on the same lap?

Where they just make eations and they went

oh, we've got to put airmen

they saw something

that whoever

did the weather enough and didn't see

you've got to say. Well, I think whoever

did the weather for the whole of Sunday

didn't quite get it right, did they?

20% chance of rain. Crofty, you were saying

your guy on the boat

said there was very little chance of something like that?

Yeah, Captain Max on the boat

he said there's going to be some rain at two o'clock

and it said

he said

I trust him with my life, Captain Max

he was brilliant.

Two o'clock it's only going to be a light

sprinkle, but if you look

Pierre Gasly was exactly the same at Alpine

they did the same with Gasly at Alpine

as Aston Martin did

with Fernando

in hindsight

they got it wrong. Speaking to some

of the Red Bull guys on the plane home last night

they said had Fernando

gone straight on to intermediates

it would have been very, very close

because Max

they were still going to wait for a lap

maybe a couple of laps

he's tiptoeing around Fernando's got the

intermediate tyres on and they said

we kind of feared if he went

to try the undercut with the intermediates

we know this is going to be close

we think we still would have won it

but it would have been much, much tighter

but you know these decisions

as you well know JPM

they're made in a split second aren't they?

Yeah, the question is

do you go conservative

or do you go for broke

and the way I think

in a funny way I think Aston went for

broke with the intermediate tyre

with the medium tyre

thinking it was going to be the aggressive play

and the aggressive play was the other tyre

Starting on the hard tyre

I think it was a brilliant strategy

and Max's win

and the way he had to manage those

mediums for so long

actually we should

get a bit more to the way Max

went and won that race yesterday

because Aston put him in a world of pain

and a world of trouble and he overcame it

and drove very very well

when he went through the greening

and emerged a bit cleaner on the other side

that was sensational driving

yes Fernando's rears suffered a bit more

with the greening than was expected

but that was a master's

strategy to go on that hard tyre

thinking well Max is going to go medium

because he's wanting to get the launch

doesn't want to become just whisper it Matt

the first person since Juan Pablo Montoya

to start on pole and not lead the first lap

in Monte Carlo

still one of my favourite stats JPM

that's so good

you're completely out of my control

you press a button and he went

but that just shows you

the start is so important

2002 was the last time the pole sitter

didn't lead the first lap

or the person starting in front

I should say didn't lead the first lap

there you go

what I think it does perfectly

and what it tees up our conversation

about on this podcast is actually

and what you were saying Juan Pablo

with regards to Alonso and Aston Martin

the fact that they are now

contending for wins on a weekly

basis and that decision

of going for broke as you put it

is actually indicative of the fact that

they're gutsy they're going to go for these

opportunities because that's how they're going to

get into Red Bull

and Verstappen and I think

I just want to go through some of the quotes

that Alonso said after the race

because he very much

believes that Aston Martin

are in with a chance

perhaps this year but definitely next year

of taking the fight to Red Bull

so he said you know back in 2010 they didn't

have the best car but they arrive

leading the championship in Abu Dhabi

he said in 2012 they still didn't

have the best car but they were fighting

for the championship until the last lap in Brazil

he said this is motorsport anything can happen

I'll be fighting for the championship

with all second places until the end of the year

or fighting for the championship next year

so Juan Pablo when you hear those words

from Fernando Alonso

does that get you excited does that make you

believe that Aston Martin really are here

and here to stay

I mean

this year they came out with a great car

you gotta give it to them the car is unbelievable

it has really good speed

it drives really well and I think Fernando

is on a really good job

of putting of driving the whole

team behind him you gotta give it to him

the big question mark

is can they replicate

and come up with something as competitive

next year if you're talking

long term it's you know

I mean you're not gonna say what they did this

year was a fluke but

you look at Mercedes with the people

they have and everything

they came out this year worst

again than last year and you

never thought

after how much

they dominated the sport before

that they I know they got a wrong

last year but come out this year

without with a worse car

it's like how can they do that

so the chances of getting

a car wrong are not

that I mean

I think it's harder to get it right than wrong

I totally agree with that I think

where Aston have

a slightly better advantage

than Mercedes is

the concept of car

that is succeeding

in this current iteration

of Formula 1

was not the Mercedes

concept that gave them so much

domination from 2014 to

2021 where you know Lewis

lost the title obviously but Mercedes

was still constructors champions

they've had to reinvent

their wheel so to speak

Aston Martin

with Dan Fallows

leading them technically

Dan coming from Red Bull

he understands

where Adrian Newey's

inspiration and philosophy

translates to a good car

and it's that kind of higher

raked car that is now

succeeding given

the slight changes to the floor

and the diffuser that have been made in the last couple of years

but the Red Bull is not right

right place right man

that's a weird thing

not this year

that's what helped him last year

to then go forwards for this year

so what if you're Aston

if you're him and you look at

Red Bull's flat then do we go back to a flat car

what do we do

I think

there's a bit of break in there

but he understands where Adrian Newey's

philosophy is

and I think also

there's two other key members

there's Eric Blondin in Aerodynamics

who's come from Mercedes

who Dan also worked with

at Red Bull for a few years

and there's Luca Fibato on the chassis side

and all three of them have formed

a very good technical

leadership with the

new staff that have come in

to drive this team forward

this is quite an important

day we're recording this podcast on today

for Aston Martin this is the day

they move into their new factory

today at Silverstone today

so the old Silverstone

base

that Eddie Jordan started

and became Midland's Spiker Force

India Racing Point

that will be no longer the new factory

is up and is operational

there'll be a wind tunnel to come as well

there'll be a conference centre

eventually on that

there'll be an engine project with Honda

they'll be making their own gearboxes

they'll no longer be getting technical support

from other people

they'll be doing it all themselves

and with that comes challenges

but with that comes a lot more advanced information

as to where the mounting points

for the engine are going to be on the chassis

for instance they could be

and I think they will be the next Red Bull

in Formula One

they've got the vision, they've got the money

they've got the strategy, they've got the people

and as Rob Smedley said

they have the people

and as Rob Smedley said to me

who else is more committed to winning

than Aston Martin

and I think that's a really good sentence there

it's that commitment to win

you have to invest

and Mercedes have invested

Ferrari have invested

Aston Martin are investing

at this time in the present

they're the team going forwards

Juan Pablo is it, is that true?

it's all about the people, that's how you

succeed in Formula One is by

getting good people at the right time

their powers and putting them in one team together

like Lawrence Stroll has done

Mercedes kind of has the same thing

the key thing here for me

is, apart from getting the key people

is getting them to work together

and understand that each one

has its own responsibility

and being able to

bond all together

because it's very easy, you can bring

the best aero guy, the best suspension guy

the best everything

but each one is pulling their own way

and thinking they're right and the other guy is wrong

you're never going to succeed

and being able to get

all that

and that's a little bit what Mercedes

did before

and Toto was really really good

is put everything together

and Red Bull is very good at it as well

so I think Lawrence

really understands

that

how important people are

and everybody

I think Fernando is kind of the driving force

behind it right now

everybody, when Fernando got on board

and is doing what he's doing

and is bringing people together

that's a really key point

that you make there, Juan Pablo

bringing people together

there was a time

that had what happened in yesterday's race

in Monaco happened, Fernando would have been

the first person screaming

you ruined it for me, you know

I wanted to go on the intermediates, I asked if you were sure

you got it wrong, you cost me

and he would have done that before

yeah exactly

now Fernando says

in hindsight maybe we should have done something

but at that time

that was the right thing to do because it wasn't raining that much

he is

the team player that I've always wanted to see

Fernando Alonso be

because you know

JPM as a driver, you have to be that team player

because without your team you're never going to win races

you're nothing

be nice to the team on the side

be nice to the crew and the crew will be nice to you

absolutely

Juan Pablo did you hear

it was in Baku wasn't it

when sort of midway through the lap

Fernando was giving some information

that would have helped Lance

is that a Fernando, that's a new Fernando isn't it

that I don't think a lot of people recognise

the one that we're all loving right

I think where Fernando is right now

is in a really good situation because

he doesn't

feel threatened by Lance

he understands

that is his last chance

to win again

they build a really good car

and the more he can do

to bring everybody together

the better they're going to be

I think in the point of his career

he is okay

he's really sharing

at the end of the day

you can share everything

as long as you believe you can still be the guy

and you still got to bring your A game

and he's doing that

he's bringing the A game

and if you see Lance

you look it through qualifying

there was times where Lance was really really strong

it's just

when is the really little bit of go time

when it's the ultimate thing

he's still missing a little bit

and I think Fernando is going to make him

a much better driver

it's worth saying Matt

and we know that Monaco is about

qualifying Lance got unlucky

in qualifying

Lando had his moment at Tobac

Lance went over some debris

damaged his floor they didn't know he had floor damage

until they got the car back

from Park Fermi and they saw the damage there

that cost him quite quite dearly

and in the end

there wasn't enough fuel to do one more lap

and his chance went

he could have been in Q3

he could have finished up in the top 6

but he found himself starting 14th

where after getting unlucky

he was the master of his own downfall

in the race he was hot headed

he was impatient he was going for moves that weren't there

you have to be patient

around Monaco

and he cost himself

and ended up retiring after too many scrapes

I saw him as he left the track

and he didn't want to talk to anyone

he looked furious he looked upset

and I can totally understand why

but I think being Fernando's

teammate will make him a better driver

if he's prepared to learn from Fernando

and I think he is and I'm sure the team behind the scenes

are saying right

we're not expecting you to be Fernando

there's nobody on the grid who's Fernando

or at that level except I think

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen

that's how good that man is at the moment

or through his career

but if you can learn from him

you can raise your game to be as good

as Alando Norris of George Russell

you know a Charles Leclerc

that's what we're expecting from you

we're not expecting you to be Fernando Alonso

I'm ok with what he did

I mean with a car as fast as he had

you can either

sit in line and do nothing

or try

if you sit in line and do nothing

you might be lucky to get a point or two

and if you go for it

and it works you look really good

and if you don't

ok you missed a point or two

is that what you said to Sebastian yesterday

then

when Sebastian came back

so

it's funny because

the other guy

on the braking

when he finally got next to him in the turn one

when they got to the braking zone

the guy hit him at the braking zone

and when they came up the hill

when they went through the little zigzag

the guy actually moved right

and kind of opened the door

Sebastian went in and the guy chopped the door

and

he hit him once and the second time

did the damage to the tire

the guy kind of felt it

and then he tried to shut the door

thinking Sebastian had lifted

and I'm ok with it

you know what I mean

it's like if you're the guy in front

and your tires are going off

and you're burning your tires up

you're not that smart

and you know what I mean

and what he did, yeah it was good

you know what I mean, in hindsight

like somebody told me

like the first three times you came to Monaco

you didn't finish and I'm like oh yeah that's right

and it was the same

but it's true and if you look at his pace

at the end of the race we were about two seconds

a lot quicker than anybody

that it's a copy of me

I mean it's really really good

but it's same in qualifying

I said to him look if you do three good laps

in qualifying and you get a chance of a fourth lap

I don't want to hear

that you had a couple of 10s somewhere

and he clipped the right rear

in the back and we were on pace

easily for Paul

but it's what it is

but I'd rather him do that

and get a little wrong

than come back and say oh I gave up

two tenths here a tenth there and a tenth there

because I had a little room

and at this level you can

and I'm okay going over it

and making a mistake and learn from the mistake

and understand how far you can really go

and I think he's doing a mega job from point of that

at the same time after the crash

I said look

knowing that you have such a fast car

you could have been

a little smarter and picked a better place

to risk the car

because at the end of the day

you're hitting you every time you get next to you

you're going to end up bouncing into each other

and you just got to find a way

where you might have a little bit of

upper hand when you bounce into each other

that's absolutely fascinating

in my age

when I did it I would have done the same thing

and I did I flew over

freaking Jamie Davis in F2

back in the day

going into the same place

he lifted I didn't lift when I broke the front wing

I still flew over him

so

it's Laurence Stroll

that's your racing dad mentality there

and I love it and honestly

there is so much room in Formula 1

for the new version of Juan Pablo Montoya

we can't wait for Sebastian to get there

but is Laurence Stroll saying the same thing to Lance?

he's got to pay the bills if there is a crash

remember?

honestly if they're not they need to

Lance has an opportunity

Lance is a lot better than people

think he is

and I think he's very underrated

and I think

he's a really nice guy

and he's very quiet but I think he needs somebody

on his corner

to kick

and really go

really buddy

you lost two turns here because what?

he needs to come out of his comfort zone

and in a way

there are going to be a couple of shunts

and a couple of oh

and what he did in Monaco trying

it was the right

like I understand

were you starting with the fast car you have

everybody goes for the inside in turn one

and everybody checks up

and he went for the outside

and he wasn't wrong

and then when you get to the herping

now everybody covers up

but when he went to that bump

somebody kind of arched it

and he was kind of unlucky but

I rather see him try

that

just sit there

because next time he does it

the guy knows he's coming

and knowing like when you're patting somebody

and they know you're coming

they'll give you the room because

they know you're okay with hitting them

Juan Pablo you're

not only is obviously Sebastian racing in F3

but you also raced together

in the European Le Mans series as well

and that changed your dynamic

obviously that's you watching him

but how does it feel when you race with him

it kind of sucked because

it's really quick

hahahahahah

hahahahahah

um but it's fun

you need a target then

oh dude I don't need someone to wait

put it this way I don't make his life easy

because I'm still pretty quick

um and it's really

good fun because technically

he's very good

he's very good understanding

there's few things like

he's understanding of the tires

it's insane I'm very good understanding

the peak of the tire and the grip of the tire

but like the overheating

the things that happen with the tire

is really cool to see

and like oh no no no here just relax

the tire a little

do this here it's gonna help

I'm gonna like

screw you

hahahahahah

so here's a question for you

JPM here's a question

if you had the money

would you buy a Formula 1 team

and race your son in that

Formula 1 team oh absolutely

and how would you react then

if you know crash is a costing you money

or he's not quite costing me today

it's a

hahahahahah

hopefully not too much

no no no he's pretty good actually

it happens it's part of the process

you know what I mean

it's the reality

I don't think you can expect to be at this level

and tell your kid

or whoever you're looking after

hey don't risk the car

don't try to pass because you might do a little bit of damage

because

might as well just go home

I think we're long past the debate

as to you know

Lawrence for racing point for

Lance just so Lance could race in F1

that argument I think is long gone now

because what we have is a very competitive

team and car

on the grid and whatever the reasons

for Lawrence Stroll's involvement on that one

the benefits far outweigh

oh he's just done it for his son

you know there's 800 people at Silverstone

who are getting their mortgage paid now when that team might have folded

a few years ago

and we've got a state of the art facility

being created

and you have a Honda contract

and you have a Honda contract

and Honda coming back into F1

I think it's really exciting times

and I think Lance is more than good enough

to hold his own in Formula One

otherwise he'd never have got a pole

he'd never have got podiums

he'd never been the youngest guy ever to start on the front row

and he'd never won championships

coming up into Formula One

there you go, in our set

I was going to ask the question as well

about other racing dads

and looking particularly at

Joss for Stappen as well

seems to be this seat

I mean definitely he's been a key part of that

team and that outfit

but Juan Pablo I don't know what you make of seeing

Joss for Stappen kind of he seems really involved

now in that Red Bull team doesn't he

you sort of see shots of Max when he wins

and Joss is right there almost every week

I don't know how involved he is

or if he's involved at all

I think he's more enjoying

the ride than anything else

I think at this point where Max is

and

the background of Joss

and when he raced

it's just different times

you know what I mean

it's the hybrid systems

all the things that go on nowadays

are foreign objects

for a lot of us

for me the Pirelli tires

for me

in a way

they do a great job for everyone and everything

but

for their marketing

it's amazing because it's a topic

and you're talking about tires all day

but in a sport

the tires shouldn't really be the topic

it's like

the guy is winning because

their shoes are better than somebody else's

or they're in the right window

the rubber

it's kind of strange but this is where

the sport is right now and

the importance of understanding the tire

is a big part of it and it's a big part of

all the drivers to understand

how they need to manage it and everything

where in my time

I'll give an example when we used to the tire testing

when I was in F1

initially I tried to manage the tires

and they came back and said don't manage them

destroy them

but they're going off and they're like yes

we need them to go off to understand what we need to do

how to make them better

because it's the only way we're going to be the competition

you always struck me

JPM as a man who'd rather have his teeth

pulled out by a pair of pliers than go

tire testing for a day at Paul

Ricard or something that never seemed to be

something you really wanted to do in your career

or did you?

I really enjoyed tire testing

so we normally testing used to have two cars

it was the BMW car

that normally used to be driven

by Marc Genet or the test driver

and the race car for the tire testing

that was split between

Ralph and myself

or Kimmy and myself

the engine one

I did it a few times

that wasn't fun

they fill up the car with fuel and you pound

around all day just to put the miles on the engine

where in the other car

you're qualifying

20 cents of tires in a day

it's still driving an F1 car Matt

yeah but remember when it's your

job

but when you're

when you're

thinking about performance all day

you don't realise how important

the engine making it to the end is

I can imagine

I want to come back on to a little bit

the Aston Martin story and just in regards to

Fernando Alonso and his impact and the team

so he's 41 years old

and that makes him the oldest driver to finish

on the podium in Monaco

since Jack Brabham in 1970

at the age of 41

Crofty is this the best

Fernando that you've seen

I think he's as good as

he was when he won the world championships

in 05 and 06

in terms of his driving

I think it's the best Fernando

as a human being so we're getting a

better all-round package

at the moment

but it's easy

sorry I love

interrupting and as you notice

I think Fernando

the same Fernando has always been

it's just

when he was

with McLaren and with Honda

and all the struggles

when you go to the races to win

and you're running 18

from the grid and when you know you can win

it's the most miserable time

of your life

and everybody around you

it's the worst person on earth

and you don't want to talk to anybody

and everything about going to the race track

makes you miserable

and also

you know

you see this

bright light at the end of the tunnel

that you think it could be another world championship

and the chance of being

seen

not seen but the chance

of reliving another

win and maybe even a championship

and dominance

it's easy

and then you're in a great mood

and then when they talk to you

you're this new happy person

I'll interrupt you now though

I think he's a much happier person

than he was even in his Ferrari years as well

even the years when he went to Abu Dhabi

at that time

Ferrari rather dragged you down a bit

I'm glad to say Ferrari are much more open

and nicer team now than they were back in

2010-2012

but I think Fernando

he just isn't a better place

as a human being

certainly you get much more time

with him to delve

into the race weekend

or to interact with him in the panic

and that's much appreciated

he's more supportive to his team mate

and to his team as well

but I want to go back to something Oscar Piastri said

and I said what did you learn from Fernando

when you were watching him

at Alping last year

and he said I learned that he spends

25%

of his brain capacity

during a race

racing and concentrating on the driving

the other 75%

is working out the strategy

and working out how he can make things

better for himself

not necessarily with what he does with the car

on track in a corner

or in a moment for an overtake

he thinks his way through a race

is like no driver I've ever seen before

and I think

as long as that bit continues

Fernando, there's no reason Fernando

can't carry on for another four or five years

and be part of that Honda revolution

at Aston Martin when it happens in 2026

certainly saying the right things now

about I'd be honoured

to drive a Honda engine again

that was a good bit of PR

that he did there in Monaco

I've always said this

I think he is

the first choice

on a team principle shortlist

as to who I should have as one of my drivers

you can only have two

and I used to say it would be Fernando and Lewis Hamilton

would be the drivers I'd pick

I'd probably want to put Max Verstappen in

and have a three car team now

and I would love to see

Max and Fernando and Lewis

driving in the same car

because I think we'd get brilliant racing

between the three of them

because they're all very different drivers in their own way

and the prospect that is

no, no, no

I mean in a way I agree

but the other thing you gotta understand

Fernando at his point in his career

he has nothing to prove to anybody

and I think right now

he's proving a lot of people wrong

and

he's telling a lot of people to shove it

you know

because a lot of people

probably when he was signed at Aston

a lot of people thought

he was signing for so many years

or why you know I mean it's crazy

and

they drive to people

to prove people wrong

and tell everybody

to shove it and

make everybody like you

you know I mean it's like

Vettel just left

F1 last year

and nobody's even talking about it

it's like he didn't even existed

in Aston last year

he was probably a big part of

why the car was competitive this year

he drove

the team in the right direction

in suspension, in geometries

in feel what he was missing and everything

and he hasn't even been mentioned

he was in Monaco

he was in the team's garage

he came to see the team

in Monaco and he's not

missed on the track

that is for sure and I do

I hate to agree with JPM

behind the scenes

he really did give that team

a brilliant steer as to the direction

they should be going

they benefited hugely from his experience

and the two years that he was with him

even if the results

weren't always great on the track

but let's not forget yesterday

Fernando's second place

was a best equaling performance

and Seb got the second place for them too

Juan Pablo you made your debut

didn't you with Fernando Alonso

in 2001

can you remember

what sort of driver he was then

it was nice

we got on with nothing

with Fernando we always got on really well

because

we were probably the only two guys that spoke Spanish

and we always had a really good relationship

we were both

they didn't really care what people thought of us

and

we always had good labs

and a lot of respect for each other

if you think back to 2001

when you were both making your debut

can you still believe he's going at 41

yeah in a way yes

he grew up

in Europe and it's only done Europe

so he's never seen

the American side of things

where for me

before I did F1 I went to America

and I saw both sides of the world

and I knew both sides of the world

were paid

you know what I mean

so at his age

there's not really a big deal

you know what I mean

he's on his prime

and because he's done it for so long

F1 is not complicated

F1 is not

it's not

let's not say it's not magical but there's no

it's your job and it's like

you can have the best job in the world

but when you're done it enough

it's not intimidating

it's just a job

and it's the challenges to get the job done

and to win and that's it

and you show up in the race weekends

and you have no pressure

you can only do good

if the team is off in a weekend

but they're off you know we struggle here

and when they're good you know they're enjoying success

Crofty I want to put this to you

so it's a decade

since Fernando Alonso

last one a Formula 1 race

in Spain

in 2013

where are we going this week

the Spanish Grand Prix

there you are Juan Pablo

is the Red Bull weekend

could this be

I'm going to say that

it is

Red Bull track

100% Red Bull track

I mean it's a fast track

and remember

every day of the Aston is slow speed corners

and the last sector

they got rid of those slowest corners

and it's two

we're going to be wide open in the F1

I think the Aston might be a little bit closer

and I think there will be more upgrades

to come that we didn't quite see in Monaco

but I don't see how

Red Bull has not put in upgrades

wait for the answer

wait for it to finish

just to be patient of Monaco

just to be patient of Monaco

it's show biz

we just got to make it sound interesting

come on go

yeah no chance

the Red Bull is very fast

in the straight line

it's very fast through high speed corners

the Aston is good through

some of the slower speed corners

as JPM says they've taken those out

I can't see the pecking

order changing

really this week it should be another

Verstappen Perez Alonso

in that order podium

with I think

Max winning it

the big story I think to come out

of Monaco was how Sergio

absolutely blew his chance

to put more pressure on his teammate

that was

as bad a weekend

for Sergio Perez as he could possibly

have wished for and I'm sure he didn't wish for any of it

how he

rebuilds his season after that

will be absolutely fascinating

it's not just blowing it in terms of no points

but it's on a street track where he's been

really really good on street tracks

where he's gone to Monaco his last year's winner

and he's ended up crashing qualifying

and crashing quite a bit in the race as well

that wasn't a good weekend

for Sergio

I would agree on that

the other thing I think interesting going to Barcelona

is

the Mercedes package

I was going to perform because

all the changes they did for the downforce

were kind of irrelevant in Monaco

the handling

you know the different geometry change

probably was a big deal here

but the

downforce changes and side put changes

they did

Barcelona is the number one place

where you're going to see a difference

so that's going to be

interesting to see how much they really have stepped up

Crofty are you expecting

Mercedes to

improve in lap time because

you didn't see that improvement in Monaco

I think

I actually think we saw

the start of a different path

and the path is that

they know they should have gone down

a lot sooner at Mercedes

I don't think they had a bad weekend at all

I actually think they can be quite

satisfied with that weekend

that both Lewis and George beat

the two Ferraris, I think Ferrari had

another horror as well

and they did have a horror for Ferrari

they should be better than that

and they weren't

to be honest and I know Charles just missed out

in the latter stages of qualifying

but in the race they were making

strange decisions once again

dummy calls for Carlos

that weren't really necessary because he wasn't really going to

put Esteban Ockel under trouble

and they lost out with the pit stops

with all the rain

but I think whilst the Mercedes

it looks a real

ungamely ugly

it's a Frankenstein's monster sort of car

it does, it looks like it's taken

like an inspiration from

the inside of a steel drum and needs a good panel

beta, it doesn't look like a

piece of body work

yeah

it's very much like

like Wan's weathered face over the years

no I don't mean that

it's true

when it smiles that cheeky

smile we absolutely love it and it might

smile a cheeky smile

from time to time

it will be refined

but they've got to start somewhere

and they've started somewhere different

in a hurry or more of a hurry

than they would have wanted

so this is the journey

I'm not expecting the Mercedes

to go to Barcelona and suddenly be quicker

than Aston Martin either because everything I hear

within the team is

it's a maximum

of four tenths of a second at some tracks

at two tenths at other tracks

and whilst they're

upgrading others are upgrading

and that's the way it will go this season

before we go and since we've got you on

Juan Pablo we've got to talk about

the Indy 500 this weekend because

Joseph Newgard

and ended his 11 year wait

frustration, so much frustration

he finally won the Indy 500

and he did it on the final lap passing Marcus Ericsson

after a third red flag

I mean you raced in it last year

and you won it twice

what did you make of that final

sprint finish because it was

epic wasn't it? I thought it was amazing

you know what I mean?

in a way you could see a lot of things coming

you look at Pat Olaz here for example

he backed off in the last corner

thinking championship for the Indy 500

when he had a shot at winning it

and this year he was with a

revenge and he wanted to prove to everybody

that he was never going to back down

and he didn't back down

but he turned into the grass

like I understand

how stressful of a move it is because I've done it

but he made a mistake

and he paid the

consequences

but from there on he just packed the whole

field and put the race

upside down

you know what I mean? it was unbelievable

I was

I don't know it's just so hard

with two laps to go on a shootout

you know you're going to get passed

but

it was nearly better

for New Garner

you know what I mean? to pass

earlier

if you wanted to get him back

he had such a good restart on New Garner

that

there was just no way to come back

there was not enough momentum

to be able to build a back

and you gotta give it to Joseph

he did some brave moves

he wanted to run the outside

he committed more than the guy

if the guy inside would have committed

he would have been ugly

but

he had the moves, he had the confidence

and he delivered

and if you look at Indy

90% of the time

at the end of the race

are the usual suspects fighting for the win

it's surprising

it's a shame

Palau was ashamed because I thought he had a winning car

I think he

generally had the winning car

in my opinion

and Dixon

I think with Dixon

is to the point that

it's in his head and it doesn't matter

what he does, they get it wrong

they can win everywhere

but they go there

and I think they overwork

and overthink everything and they screw themselves

but it was entertaining

as always, most of the race is really calm

and everybody gives each other room

and somebody gets it wrong

and you end up with a crash here and there

but

oh my god that shoot out at the end

it's nail biting

and I think from IndyCar

to bring the red flag with the right call

I understand

the frustration that you're not gonna get a pace lap

because they wanna give the fans a better show

and you're gonna go

oh that's unfair everybody

every other restart you have

in a way

if that was the rules

you probably could have do something different

if you're leading the race

kind of forced IndyCar's hand as well

if IndyCar is forcing your hand you can force it

in a weird way

you pull into the track and they're gonna tell you

you're gonna go straight away, you pull into the track and you just go

the lap counts

what are they gonna say? oh you shouldn't gone

but the lap already counted

Crofty I think you would have been midair

at this point while this was going on

but I was making my dinner

and I just had the telly on in the background

and I saw the crash

this was one between Carl Kirkwood and Felix Rosenquist

and it was utterly terrible

why did he open the visor

yeah that's my question

so please

someone explain

so here's the thing, we weren't in midair

by that time

so I got on the plane

sat in seat 1C

was Mike Crack of Aston Martin

Mike Crack's got his phone

in his hand watching

live the Indy 500

he's got a feed going on there

and all his engineers are crowded around him

and as I walk down the plane

there's more and more engineers all watching the Indy 500

trust me

we are motorsport lovers just because we're in F1

it doesn't mean we ignore the Indy

it was a sensational finish

so exciting

rights or wrongs

it was a great show

it was a brilliant show

and he deserved a win

and sometimes the end story

is better than what happened

but with the visor

I sat next to Anthony Davidson

and we watched

some clips of the accident

and we both said

why is he lifting his visor

what's that about

even Anthony couldn't explain

why it would be necessary to do that

or why he would want to

for him

when he's rolling backwards

he feels ok, crash is done

and lift his visor to get out of the car

you're still sliding

surely that's for one moment

you need the visor

from everything that's happening

any oils

feels anything with that amount of sparks

but

nothing will happen

I get that it gets hot in there

but there's a time and a place

frankly

it really does

what is it about ovals

to watch them as a viewer at home

they are just so exciting to watch

how is it to race ovals

because I almost feel like you guys who do it

are built a bit differently

certainly to me, I don't know about you Crofty

for me personally it's really

there's a lot of strategy

how you position the car

when you're being able to pass people

you manage to bring the car a little lower

the timing of the passes are really important

like you is like playing a little bit of chess

with race cars

and instead of having like going to Silverstone

instead of having a ton of corners

you have four cups

straight cups

straight cups

and you gotta make it around cups

800 times

and you don't lift at cups

that's the thing

so you don't lift much

you basically spend

you do lift a lot in Crofty

but do you spend most of your time

when you're not in traffic

just driving at a wall

is that the idea

I don't drive that high when I race

you honestly you kind of know

where to turn

and you kind of aim where you want to land the car

what we call about landing the car is because of the banking

it's not a lot there

but as the banking increases

catching the right angle into the banking

is really important

and you aim to be as low as possible

without touching the concrete

those concrete patches are really bumpy

and make the car move a lot

it's scary a lot

I think they're awesome I would love to have a go

around an oval I really would

you would really enjoy

they have two-seater cars

my wife the last time

wasn't it last year that I did Indy

took my wife and a two-seater

and she was shocked how quick it was

like it was funny

because we were only doing like 300 miles an hour

and I go

and she goes

oh my god my net pull

I'm going oh this was really slow

well, Juan Pablo

if you can get that two-seater car

for as you are more than welcome to sit in the back

while I drive an oval that's no problem

for sure

you could be my passenger anytime you want

absolutely

make it happen Matt

we'll make it happen you heard it here first

feels like a lovely way to end it

Juan Pablo thank you so much for your time

really really appreciate it

Crofty thank you as well

are you both off to Spain next week?

yeah perfect

well fingers crossed for Sebastian

is he got another early Sunday morning

race do I need to get up even earlier to have breakfast

you're probably going to be in

downtown Barcelona by the time we're breaking

well you know things happen late at night

in Spain exactly I'll come to the track

and watch it with you I'll forget

breakfast I could do it I could do with that

good luck to him thank you so much

I'll see you in a panic alright thank you guys

cheers mate

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.