Sky Sports F1 Podcast: Ted’s Podbook | Plenty to discuss from Monza

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Sky F1 podcast feed and to Ted's

Podbook from Monza, Italy, the last European leg of the 2023 FIA Formula One

World Championship. So we should say ciao, bonessera, bon giorno, and welcome to everybody

from a street just outside the Royal Park which near our hotel but we're sort of on our way back

and I thought I'd bring you the usual thing for the podbook which is to give you some idea of what's

been happening at the circuit on the first day, I'd like to say the first day of not competition

because it's certainly the first day of things going on in Formula One and only a few days after

the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort. The day was really dominated by two things. First of all,

a very different Monza that we've seen because there was a storm here a week or so ago which has

had a very, very dramatic effect on the Monza park. A lot of trees have been

felled in that storm and it looks quite a different Monza park than we're used to. Quite a different

Monza circuit where tree canopies were normally there and you think well hang on that was normally

sort of in the shade here, the trees are not there and it's all rather sort of bare so poor Monza

has had a bit of a hard time fit recently with a very dramatic storm. So what's looking a bit

threadbare in places around the park, the paddock is as busy as it always is. Slightly different

layout in terms of the motomes, we've got Red Bull in a different place and Ferrari in the

what they created a kind of a cross, a nexus of power if you like in the middle of the paddock

with of course Ferrari in the middle of it and Pirelli who I think are the event title sponsors

right in the middle of the paddock so they're in the middle of everything going on. But it wasn't

really Ferrari who were the focus today, it was Mercedes, it was Lewis Hamilton and George Russell,

shouldn't forget George Russell even though it's been the Lewis Hamilton element of the Ferrari of

the Mercedes new driver announcement or rather the new bit is that there's nothing new about it,

it's the same driver announcement in that we finally have confirmation that Lewis Hamilton

will stay in Formula One for another two years as he searches and hunts for his eighth world

championship title and so does George Russell. So both Mercedes this dropped about 2pm local time

and the news was from Mercedes was that there's no news or at least there's no change. It is Lewis

Hamilton and it's George Russell for the 2024 and 2025 season so that goes up to the end of the

current formula after 2025 in 2026 we have new cars, we have new engines and we have new tyres to

suit so at least it locks Lewis and George in until the end of the current formula and at that

point Lewis Hamilton says he believes in his Mercedes team, he believes that they can provide

him with a car that will challenge Red Bull and deliver him an eighth world championship. Of course

George Russell seems exactly the same thing, the faith in Mercedes that can deliver him more

race wins and potentially George Russell's first world championship but that's the crucial thing

is that they both have the belief, there you go, the atmospheric Italian motorcycle has come past us.

That's the thing is they both believe, or I mean Lewis had offers from Ferrari, maybe they weren't

and he offers that he was going to take particularly seriously but he could easily have stopped,

couldn't he? He could have stopped if Lewis wanted to but he didn't, he doesn't want to do that. He

says he's still as competitive as ever, he still gets annoyed when he loses even playing chess with

his nephew and he said and he still has the competitiveness within him, he still has the

race craft, the guile, the speed and he just wants to carry on, he loves the team and yeah

I don't think there's any deeper element, he turned up to Monza quite early on Thursday morning

and apparently he got a text from Andrew Shovlin, he said, Lewis told us this, he got a text from

Shove saying wow you're here early, we haven't even got to the circuit yet so yeah Lewis is still

as committed and dedicated and motivated as ever and just wants to carry on. He said that all the

individuals in this Mercedes team who work at Brackley and at Bricksworth who do the engines

know how to build a well-beating car and I believe they can build another car that can beat Red Bull.

Obviously the last two years cars haven't worked as well as they'd liked but he thinks that they

can get the job done. When he was asked, well hang on, you said that you wouldn't be racing

when you're 40 and with this contract you will be racing when you're 40. Lewis kind of laughed,

he said, oh well that teaches you never to predict the future but yeah I don't want to give up

and he still loves it and the dream, he said I have a dream sometime in the future of retiring

and living on a beach in a wooden shack with a hammock outside strung between two trees,

a surfboard at the bottom of the shack and Roscoe living happily with me but having some

business interests that have positive impacts on people and impact people in a positive way

and that can give back to people. I've been so fortunate to have the career that I've had said

Lewis that I think it's important to give back to those who need it most so that was largely

the main lines from the Lewis Hamilton press conference at least a bit that he was talking

to us on TV about, you can see once again throughout the weekend, I also asked him about

moving on to Monza and Max Verstappen and this was really sort of the point of

the interview that I did with Max a little bit earlier, I said look congratulations on nine in

a row. Zandvoort was perhaps the hardest of those nine, he agreed with that, he said that all the

conditions being thrown at them, the tire choices, they got the first one wrong on what lap to pit

to enters, Sergio got it right but the way they reacted from that and then didn't make any more

mistakes throughout the race and the fact that he drove with his usual brilliant style and was at

some points, you know he was hugely quicker than Sergio Perez, showed that he could handle everything

that was thrown at him in Zandvoort but I said look well now you've gone for nine, you really,

really, really want to go for ten because it's all right equalling Sebastian Vettel and I think

it's Albert Oskari's record but you really want to make that new record don't you, you want to go

for ten, the most wins, F1 wins in a row, you don't want to just equal the record, you want to beat

it and he kind of agreed. A couple of people have been going around in our team and others,

Mara my colleague from Italy put the the the the portent of Monza, is that the wrong word,

you know we remember back in the McLaren days when they had the MP44 which almost won

every race in the season, of course the only race it didn't win was Monza, is that a portent,

there's some statistic, Crofty will probably come up with it at some point throughout the weekend,

that whoever's won Monza the year after has not won Monza or has had a bad weekend.

So Charle-Claire won Monza in 2021 and then didn't do so well in 2022, Max won in 2022,

will that mean that he doesn't do so well in 2023, I don't know silly portents and statistics,

they're all fine until they get proved wrong and broken but there you go, so there are various

sort of portents about Monza but I really want to see Max get ten wins in a row, doesn't matter

what he does after that because it's so difficult to do, you get that record, you get ten in a row,

might and might never be be bettered or beaten but if he loses it this race and then doesn't get

that tenth then it's going to take him ages to start that run of ten unbeaten wins in a row so

yeah it would be satisfying wouldn't it as well as you know brilliant and victorious for him and

everything as he cruises towards his third world championship to get that ten wins in a row. Sergio

Perez at Red Bull was a little bit, he was refusing to let the disappointment of Zandvoort put him off

his current good form and his convincing himself that he's going to be on the podium at every race

between now and the end of the season, oh here comes a Ferrari, nice we're going to hear it, yeah

which one is it, can't tell it doesn't say on the back, 460, there it is, Sergio was saying look I

would have been on the podium, wasn't it not for the speeding in the pit lane at the last stop,

the reason I spent in the pit lane was because I was aqua-planing and I was completely out of

control of the car so there's no surprise that I was, I hit the brakes and I was completely

aqua-planing so no surprise that I actually sped up and went above 60 kph because I wasn't in control

of the car so I think that explains it, it wasn't Sergio's mistake, it was when he was coming in

and he actually hit the little awning that was covering up the big screen underneath the podium,

he whacked that do you remember with his front right in Holland so that's why he got that speeding

penalty that dropped him off the podium so he's still in a sense taking the podium,

the person who actually took the podium was Pierre Gasly and I put it to Pierre that I thought it

was a travesty of justice that he wasn't voted driver of the day, in fact I voted for himself

when I was watching at Ginny Sports Bar in Helzwerth, the Dutch Grand Prix, great place to

watch sport by the way, I voted went on f1.com slash vote and voted for Pierre Gasly as driver of

the day, Pierre said that he actually checked after the race who the top three was and that he

wasn't even in the top three, it was Max Alonso and was it Lewis I think or someone, he wasn't in

the top three and he thought that was a travesty and I agree with him anyway but he says that

Pierre Gasly was saying how great it was just to give the team the second top three finish of the

season after the sprint race of course where Pierre Gasly's been in the last sprint race we had

and the fact that well he didn't say this so much but I will, in the battle with Esteban Ocon as to

be who's going to be top driver in that Alpine team that's two podiums to Gasly and none to Ocon

yet, no sorry one, one to Ocon in Monaco, it's just so tight isn't it, it is tight and and I think

where Gasly might have thought look Ocon had the podium in Monaco and I've got one now in

the Grand Prix in Zandvoort but I've also got the sprint one then maybe that's Gasly looking you

know to say okay we are equal and Gasly will hope to put a bit more on Ocon throughout the season

but the other way Ocon will hope to be putting it back on Gasly in terms of results on the other side

of the Alpine rivalry which I really like and will continue to follow for you on the telly

throughout the weekend. What else, Ferrari yes, Char Leclerc actually in very good form if they can

throw off the disappointment of Zandvoort they seem to have done it quite successfully,

was saying that I don't expect to be on Max's form but I really want to be on the podium,

I said will you have anything you know will you have anything to lose if you get into a

position where you're racing Max, he said yes well the problem is Max doesn't really have

anything to lose because he can afford to drop some points but at least Max does have something

to lose in that he doesn't want to drop the nine in a row potentially ten wins in a row

and so maybe he won't put up too much for a fight but it won't be ten wins in a row if Max somehow

lets Char Leclerc go and then win the race then he won't win that race either so listen Char Leclerc

doesn't expect to be on Max's place but you never know the same kind of noises were being made

by George Russell it would be nice to think said George Russell that Mercedes who have shown amongst

all the bad decisions and mistakes of Zandvoort the least they have a car that is performing and

performant and doing what they want it to do but they made the mistakes but at least there's something

that they can pick up on from Zandvoort and very different track and take that into a modicum I

think of expectation that it should be fast enough Mercedes should be fast enough for a podium

place on a good day for them. Right that is Ferrari color science was saying largely the same

things he says actually the expectation is not pressure from everybody else it's it's positive

support so there's no pressure from his side he felt that Zandvoort was his best race of the season

in terms of understanding the car the results might not have reflected that but certainly he felt

the most at one with the car that he's felt so far this year I think the results well that certainly

showed in color science's end result even though Charlotte Clair was affected by a broken floor

but yeah Ferrari oh yeah science also had something to say about this story that you might have seen

where his dad was quoted or misquoted I'm not quite sure by one of the websites out there was

saying the dad has the man the science management team has been talking to Audi in terms of

Carlos driving for them sometime in the future Carlos said look I wouldn't be surprised if my

management team was talking to everybody that's their job but you guys know what my long term

aim is and that's to stay at the Ferrari into the future long term so I think the science

number one ambition is to stay with Ferrari if that doesn't work out for whatever reason

then he would consider Audi as a kind of second choice so if you see some of those stories then

bear that in mind that's what science says um what else do we have um yes Liam Lawson now

Daniel Ricciardo when is he coming back so certainly not here it's Liam Lawson in the

Alfa Towery again um it's a complicated uh hand break or break of the bone in Daniel

Daniel Ric's hand uh says his team and Christian Horner and it's going to take a bit more time

Singapore maybe maybe not I think it's probably 20% chance uh it's the figure being put around

the paddock that Daniel Ric will be uh fit for Singapore which is the next race more likely

Japan and maybe if not Japan then possibly Qatar after that um but yeah Suzuka hard on

physically Singapore the most hard track the hardest track physically certainly on loadings

in the hands but um yeah Daniel Ric will take some time to recuperate and then test his hand

and it's the way it's healed hopefully uh on the simulator before he considers

coming back to Formula One so we will see um but in his place is of course Liam Lawson and I am

kind of joke with him I said you Liam Lawson are inconsiderate and he looked at me like oh my

goodness what are you saying you madman uh and I said no no only joking it's just that you you're

actually making all your supporters and anybody who likes motorsport and f1 in New Zealand get up

at two in the morning to watch your antics now in Formula One for a few more races and he kind of

didn't laugh in a kind of you're not funny Kravitz when it goes away well I yeah I knew so I didn't

know why I bothered but um it wasn't a particularly good joke actually in his defense so uh but he

said well that if you're a Formula One fan you're in New Zealand and hello to any uh anyone who is

in New Zealand who's listening to this and gets our commentary then you've been getting up at one

and two o'clock in the morning or staying up to watch f1 for your all your life anyway so there

shouldn't be any surprise but he's been heartened and gladdened and satisfied and happy but of all

the support he's got from uh New Zealand and everybody watching his antics he said Zandvoort

was very difficult but he was satisfied to get a p13 and is expecting more and so happy to have a

full weekend of it in Monza here and potentially in Singapore next time round and I'll end with

Fernando Alonso because he is back Fernando Alonso who was never who never went away to

quote the late great mario orca is back and the vibe from Fernando is that you know while he tried

to get max at the end on the restart after the red flag restart in uh Zandvoort it would only

have been a mistake from max that allowed him through yes it was a good chance yes it was

probably the best chance he'll have until Singapore for that elusive win but he's saying the car is

back in business they've understood the problems that they had when the canada upgrade uh led them

down a um a bit of a confused alley uh sorry to the strength of my metaphors there and um and and

and uh now that they understand the car better they're able to compete for podiums at every track

they go to including here at Monza so that's one of the other cars in the non non max Verstappen

championship Mercedes Ferrari and Aston Martin who think they can get on the podium here so best of

luck to all of them and we look forward to having your company throughout the weekend uh on sky f1

it's the alternative tire allocation weekend which means we'll have a bit of a difference it's hard

tires in q i know already hard tires in q1 medium tires in q sorry in q2 and then soft tires in q3

but it does have effect throughout the weekend join us for free practice on friday free practice

one and two on friday and the f1 show on friday afternoon f3 practice three and qualifying

on saturday and the race on sunday at 12 30 and i will leave you with the happy news that logan

sergeant has indeed now left that marshals chair where he was well looked after with uh with some

hot drinks and snacks that the marshals gave him and has made his way back to williams and then to

monza so happy to see that logan finally has got out of zandvo after his retirement and he'll be

competing with the 19 other drivers at the italian grand prix at a slightly threadbare uh monza

but um yeah look forward to seeing uh look forward to having your company throughout the weekend

and thanks for listening to ted's podbook ciao ciao

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.