So that gives you kind of a unique perspective about what he can do.

I think he's phenomenal.

I think he's incredibly smart.

I love watching how, you know, if he makes a mistake, it's kind of locked away and he doesn't make that mistake again.

I love seeing how he's transitioned from that first year of bedding himself in to turning up this year, being very much on the front foot, how naturally and easily that that kind of almost team leadership role comes to him.

And he's still so young and there's so much for him to learn and he can be so much better.

But just to watch the level at which he's racing at the moment, I think it's incredible.

Has it not gone the greatest? Yeah, but do I 100% believe he should at least get his chance in F1, at least with Cadillac, because they've put so much into this development process already? 100%, I think he should be going there.

Where have you been? Because you haven't been in the UK for a bit, I know.

No, I've been in the States for six weeks.

Six weeks? Yeah, Monterey, Milwaukee, the glorious, glorious surrounds of Portland.

Okay.

And you're forgetting where you did the kickabout from.

Toronto.

Toronto.

Franchise rules sort of go against that, but I'll stick with you.

One is, how could you sum up his, uh, why he is so dominant? And the other one is, how high the, on the all-time list can he climb?

Great questions.

They're great questions.

I th- I think undoubtedly he's, he's gonna be seen as one of the greats.

It's always difficult to compare different drivers from different generations, because the technology is so different, the cars are so different, the tracks on which we race are different, the safety is different from the years of the A.J. Foyts or the Mario Andrettis through to today.

But when you look at the modern era, there is nobody that is able to do what Alex Palou does on track.

He's amazing with his tires.

but if, if somebody other than him is going to win, win it this year, who do you think it would be?

Is it? Ooh,

Buxton's got feelings on this.

So here's the thing, right? Clearly, all the teams haven't been sent the same PDF that has the exact specifications of how large the logo needs to be on their suits because they're all different sizes.

suits and it looks as though ganassi got caught a missive that said their logo needed to be 10 times the size of every other because it takes up the whole um kind of right breast uh of the suit um Okay, yeah, look, it's a throwback to the original, what is it, 1962 logo, something like that.

But it's not because the H is a very different shape.

It's slightly longer and wider and the angles are different.

The argument that I had, right, when we were looking at this is, Is the Honda logo, and it has changed over the years, but is it strong enough? Is that H alone strong enough that when you take the shield away, it is as recognizable unless it says Honda underneath it, right? Take the shield away from the Ferrari logo, and that horse is, you know what that is, no matter where you go.

What's different now? How much, how different do you feel going

What kind of... pre-may prep like explain the level of pre-may research that you did

um a lot like i mean you know i have i have folders and folders and folders um but for the 500 i was just i was just handwriting notes for weeks and weeks and weeks and and that meant going all the way through to the start, like literally to when the circuit was built in 1909.

So I did everything like down to as, as even made it to the broadcast, like the mathematical formula that they used to design the circuit, you know? So, you know, I had like reams of information on the history of the Pagoda and the number of times it had been rebuilt or burnt down or all of those things, you know, not to mention you know, what had happened every year and every race winner and the interesting facts that had happened in those races, just to try and, you know, lock it all in.

Because so much of what I knew about Formula One and know about Formula One had kind of come in by osmosis.

But this was very much a, you know, I had to learn it and I had to sort of get it to go in.

So it was all... all handwritten um but it was great because when when you were doing um the test when you do the open test and you and alan were kind of like having discussions and i was like texting you through it and you were like who's the italian winner and i'm like with corrections and i'm like i know this one i know this one i've researched this and you were like how do you know that and i'm like today i've been doing pre-war research and you were like God's sake, man.

So, yeah, fun things.

physical activity, but you're just absolutely

That's

unfortunately why I'm only here for a little while.

I've got to leave you in their two capable hands because we have to go call the first ever Weenie 500.

You got to go talk about wieners on TV.

Second time for everything, Joey.

Second time for everything, my man.

Much different audience.

I feel like those runs, it always feels like you're doing eight laps instead of four.

the first Indy 500?

Are you kidding? I mean, it doesn't get any bigger than this.

And I realize what this means to people.

You know, it's not just about what it means to the drivers or the teams, or the 350,000 people here, or the people of Indiana, but to America and to the world what this race represents.

This is 109 years of history right here.

You know, some of the greatest racing drivers who have ever lived, names that, you know, have been etched into immortality and into the hearts of race fans the world over have come here, have tried and have failed.

And so those who've won are truly the greatest of all time.

What are you expecting from Newgarden storyline wise? Has he almost become an underdog now?

The audience at home.

So...

Yesterday, we were about to run for the top 12 shootout for qualifying, and suddenly we are told that the number two car and the number 12 car, those of Joseph Newgarden and Will Power, are being pulled out of line in pit lane.

Now, you can't do that in the shootout for the top 12.

It's not like normal qualifying on the Saturday where you can pull yourself out of line, go back to the garage, make some changes and come back.

You get one shot.

You get one chance in line.

The thing

How important is it to have something like that, you know, for IndyCar, NASCAR? Tell us what that did in your opinion for F1 when that show came out.

I mean, that was absolutely huge.

And again, I don't think you can overlook its importance.

But I also think that it wasn't the sole driver.

Liberty Media were very savvy and very smart when they came into Formula One because they saw the product.

They saw the potential that existed within it.

But they also saw that it had really underutilized what at the time was a massive boom in social media.

How do we fix that problem for American open-wheel racing to be competitive enough to where our good American open-wheel drivers don't have to go across the world to

So let us know what it says in there.

Yeah.

I mean, I, I want to be, I want to be totally prepped or as prepped as I, as I could be.

And listen, I'm under, I'm under no illusions.

You know, I, I, I'm never going to know everything.

But the same is true about Formula One.

I never knew everything about Formula One.

fandom seem to come from a connection to a specific driver you know when you when you look at kind of how that sport's grown how much do you think because indycar does have a great product but it kind of it kind of has the feeling like the too many of the fans don't know enough of the personalities and the drivers behind it i mean how how big is that element do you think