Mm

...

if not always exactly what he's saying.

'Cause sometimes I'm, I'm thinking and I'm looking at something else, or someone's talking in, in one of my ears, the director or the producer.

Um, but it's just, it's kind of a long-term relationship.

We, we've been working together since 2012.

You know, we're two mates on tour, uh, basically.

What's going through your mind as it's happening?

... uh, soon?

I, I think, look, we're, we're 11 races into the season now, and I, I think McLaren are understanding the power unit way better than they were at the start of the year.

Is it a surprise they did so well in Hungary? Well, on past form, no.

They, they, they were 1-2 for the last two years in Budapest.

But it is a little surprise given how, how strong Mercedes were in Monaco.

I mean, that might be driver-specific in, in, in that respect.

It, it, it might just be that, that Kimi was exceptional that weekend.

[laughs]

Just five minutes ago, he's been here, hasn't he?

Signing autographs, uh, and, and punchy in his interviews, on the front foot saying, "Not giving up.

Yeah, I'm 50 points down, but I was further behind than that just a few races ago, and there's still more than half the season to carry on with." So impressive from him.

But yes, he- he's...

As...

We've had contact with the team in the interim between Spa and here, and, and they themselves are sympathetic with George that it's not just the issue itself, it's the psychological impact it's, it's made on him, even if it is just costing a couple of tenths per straight, which is a lot in Formula 1 terms, especially somewhere like Spa.

It's when the, you can't get answers and, and you're having to, to try and compete at the highest level, knowing that you're at a disadvantage.

We haven't, we haven't-

What's making Mercedes so good this season?

Well, their engine's good, the power unit's good.

Um, uh, fast but fragile, I think I described them at the top of the broadcast on, on Sunday.

Um, and I think they are fast but fragile.

The, the battery has, has given them a, a few worries during the course of this season.

Um, only, only Aston Martin and Honda have had more retirements because of, uh, of power unit issues, uh, than Mercedes have in, in total, and Mercedes have kind of spread that am- among four teams.

Um, but the engine has power.

[laughs]

What's making Mercedes so good this season?

Well, their engine's good, the power unit's good.

Um, uh, fast but fragile, I think I described them at the top of the broadcast on, on Sunday.

Um, and I think they are fast but fragile.

The, the battery has, has given them a, a few worries during the course of this season.

Um, only, only Aston Martin and Honda have had more retirements because of, uh, of power unit issues, uh, than Mercedes have in, in total, and Mercedes have kind of spread that a- amongst four teams.

Um, but the engine has power.

[laughs]

So I, I think there's, um, there's definitely a discussion that needs to be had around why that didn't happen.

Crofty? I've not spoken to a single person in the paddock who believes it was right to have a, a single-waved yellow instead of a double-waved yellow.

Now, I've not spoken to people at Mercedes about this and on sporting grounds, they might feel that it was absolutely fine.

Nobody wants to see drivers having their laps, um, canceled out or, or spoilt, potential pole laps, because of flags, but it is part and parcel of what happens in qualifying, and it's the risk you run by being last out on the track.

You've got a risk and reward, haven't you? You get the better conditions nine times out of 10, but your, your, your run for pole could be curtailed by a, by a double-waved yellow.

This is safety we're talking about here.

And for an organization like the FIA who, who continually bang on about safety, to then have something that is unsafe, and it is unsafe, to have a car against the barriers on the outside of a 140 mile an hour corner where other drivers are just fractionally lifting off.

"He was born to race at the front."

Yeah.

Um, isn't it? We, b- because there's a, a scarcity of, uh, uh, of footage, and certainly not footage in the way, you know, we cover it on, o- on Sky F1, uh, now.

And, you know, who'd [laughs] ...

Who'd have thought May the 13th 1950 we start the Formula One World Championship, and that, you know, we, we, we bring along a whole channel dedicated to, to, to Formula One, um, i- in a few years' time, right? Back in those days, you know, you're lucky to get some two cameras to cover the entire race.

Um, but I think because there is that scarcity, people want to know more.

And the beautiful thing about, uh, modern technology and then AI and, and, and virtual reality technology is that you can bring this story and these experiences, these races, uh, to life so that people can, can stand, um, [laughs] on the spot and find themselves now in Alberto Ascari's car, and now you're in his garage and workshop, and now you're watching by the side of the track in Monaco.

And, you know, we can transport people to, to various different parts of the Ascari story and tell what is an important story as well.

Mm

If you looked to where Lando was in the sprint race, they didn't need to take that risk in my opinion, and I don't know why they, why they felt the need to gamble so much.

It, it was a six-minute delay to the start of the race.

We had two extra formation laps.

Six minutes would've got you four laps of racing, shall we say, just over four laps of racing, and I think it could have been a very different story.

I, I, I've, I've seen on certain podcasts people getting very hysterical about, um, McLaren's decision.

I'm not gonna do that.

I think there are mitigating circumstances.

No.

Just how significant is it? And do you think it is the biggest one in the sports history or just the last decade? Either way, it's a lot.

No, I think it's arguably the biggest one in the sports history.

We have changed the power units.

We've got rid of a third of the energy deployment from recent years.

So we've split half and half, MG-UK and the internal combustion engine.

We have reshaped and reformatted the aerodynamics to the extent we now have movable aerodynamics on the front and rear wings.

The car, as Ant was saying, the cars have got shorter, the tyres are different and the fuels are sustainable fuels.

Now, what can you tell me about compression ratio and the rumours that are circulating that actually perhaps Red Bull and Mercedes have spotted some sort of loophole that they may benefit from?

(laughs)

"Maybe you want, might wanna pace yourself a little bit." Um, that was fabulous.

But no, you, you have, you have teams, um, upwards of 1,000 people back at base designing a car, building a car, uh, simulating that car, even going so far as to getting bits of tarmac from the tracks and putting it on, o- o- on a machine back at base, and then running tires on that machine so they can simulate how the interaction between the tire and the tarmac goes to give them a chance when they come to Vegas.

That's the level that they go to.

They build engines as well.

Uh, we have the marketing, the commercial, thousands of people involved in making two cars go as fast as they can from A to B.

And then the drivers get all the credit (laughs) at the end of the year.

Yeah.

When and how did Formula One all of a sudden become important in our lives?

I'll take you back to 2005, June the 19th, 2005, my birthday.

which is why I remember this day.

And it was one of the worst days in Formula One history because that was when we raced at Indianapolis with only six cars.

If you remember, the cars withdrew on the formation lap because the Michelin tires weren't holding out and we hit a new low.

And since then, Formula One has been right.

How do we give back to the American public and actually make this sport a bit more accessible in such a great country? So first and foremost, Liberty Media, when they got the commercial rights, decided we needed more races in the States, and we needed to move away from Indianapolis, which is great, and the Indy 500 is a marvellous event, but let's have another track, and let's have a track that we can really call our own.

It feels like

(laughs)

"You might, might wanna pace yourself a little bit." Um, that was fabulous.

But no, you, you have, you have teams, um, upwards of 1,000 people back at base designing a car, building a car, uh, simulating that car.

Even going so far as to getting bits of tarmac from the tracks and putting it on, o- o- on a machine back at base, and then running tires on that machine so they can simulate how the interaction between the tire and the tarmac goes to give them a chance when they come to Vegas.

That's the level that they go to.

They build engines as well, uh, with the marketing, the commercial.

Thousands of people involved in making two cars go as fast as they can from A to B, and then the drivers get all the credit (laughs) at the end of the year.

Yeah.