Austria Recap and Mid-Ohio

With a Capital One Saver Card, you'll earn unlimited 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, and at grocery stores.

And for a limited time, new card members can earn a $250 cash bonus after spending $500 on purchases within the first three months.

So grab a bite, grab a seat, and earn unlimited 3% cash back with the Saver Card.

Capital One, what's in your wallet? Terms apply.

See CapitalOne.com slash Saver for details.

I want to grow the game so every kid can fall in love with soccer like I did.

So I asked myself, what would you like the power to do? My answers inspired me to invent a pop-up soccer goal that can turn any basketball court into a street soccer pitch.

Bank of America champion street soccer advocate Kyle Martino.

And everyone who dares to ask, what would you like the power to do? Bank of America, proud to be the official bank of U.S.

soccer and FIFA World Cup 2026.

Bank of America and a member FDIC.

James HinchcliffeHost1:00

This is OffTrack.

James HinchcliffeHost1:03

Hello, welcome to Off-Track with Engine Rossi.

James HinchcliffeHost1:04

How was

Alexander RossiHost1:05

your weekend? It was good, bro.

Alexander RossiHost1:07

We have a pretty big time delay here in terms of communicating via Indianapolis, California to London, which further proves my point.

Alexander RossiHost1:14

We never went to the moon.

Alexander RossiHost1:16

Certainly didn't call anyone on a landline to get to the moon.

Alexander RossiHost1:19

And yeah, here we are.

Alexander RossiHost1:20

F1 race is pretty boring.

Alexander RossiHost1:21

George Russell's still a c***.

Alexander RossiHost1:23

And we go to mid-Ohio this weekend.

Alexander RossiHost1:24

Happy 4th of July.

Alexander RossiHost1:25

America's 250th birthday.

Alexander RossiHost1:27

Let's f***ing go.

Alexander RossiHost1:28

See ya.

Alexander RossiHost1:28

What a great episode, guys.

Tim DurhamPanelist1:30

We'll get to Nashville next week.

James HinchcliffeHost1:32

I think it's – I almost think it's working.

James HinchcliffeHost1:35

I almost think we're all on a similar – No, it's working.

James HinchcliffeHost1:37

We're good.

James HinchcliffeHost1:37

Oh, thank God.

James HinchcliffeHost1:38

Okay.

James HinchcliffeHost1:39

So, yeah, we've been having some technical difficulties, guys.

James HinchcliffeHost1:41

And to Alex's – yeah, as he alluded to, it's because Tim's in California smashing pills, apparently.

James HinchcliffeHost1:47

That's what he's doing

Alexander RossiHost1:48

as a Beverly Hiller.

Alexander RossiHost1:49

Yeah,

James HinchcliffeHost1:50

as a Beverly Hillian.

James HinchcliffeHost1:52

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost1:55

And I'm in London.

James HinchcliffeHost1:56

So, yeah, the signal's going all over the world.

James HinchcliffeHost1:59

This is actually the best argument you have for us not going to the moon is the lack of ability to have a good signal between three places.

Tim DurhamPanelist2:05

Well, I don't know because the two U.S. signals are doing pretty well.

Tim DurhamPanelist2:10

It's just the last game.

Tim DurhamPanelist2:12

The

Alexander RossiHost2:12

moon in the U.S.?

Tim DurhamPanelist2:15

It might as well be.

Tim DurhamPanelist2:16

We put a flag on it.

James HinchcliffeHost2:18

It is part of the U.S., I guess, in some capacity.

James HinchcliffeHost2:21

Yeah, no, dude, you got to remember, I'm in a city that was built like a thousand years ago.

James HinchcliffeHost2:25

I feel like the moon was built before

Tim DurhamPanelist2:27

London.

James HinchcliffeHost2:28

No, no.

James HinchcliffeHost2:28

And London lost its best

Tim DurhamPanelist2:30

people in 1776.

Tim DurhamPanelist2:32

I

James HinchcliffeHost2:33

don't think many of you guys were in London.

James HinchcliffeHost2:36

Yeah, but you had our collective brain power.

James HinchcliffeHost2:38

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost2:40

Anyway, yeah, so how actually was your weekend, Alex? What did you get up to this weekend?

Alexander RossiHost2:46

My weekend was nice, bro.

Alexander RossiHost2:49

You know, you take the weekends that you can get these days with the schedule, especially as there's this weekend plus one more weekend.

Alexander RossiHost3:01

off until the end of the IndyCar season, which is a wild sentence to say, considering there's still, I don't know, eight races left?

James HinchcliffeHost3:13

No, that can't be right.

James HinchcliffeHost3:15

In July, we have a weekend off.

James HinchcliffeHost3:16

In August, we have a weekend off.

Alexander RossiHost3:19

No, we do not.

Alexander RossiHost3:20

That is D.C.

James HinchcliffeHost3:21

No, no.

James HinchcliffeHost3:21

Before that, the last week, like the first weekend of August, like the July 31st.

James HinchcliffeHost3:26

Oh, you're right.

James HinchcliffeHost3:28

You're right.

James HinchcliffeHost3:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost3:29

Thank God, or else I was going to be in really big trouble.

James HinchcliffeHost3:32

You're right.

James HinchcliffeHost3:33

So I'm sorry.

James HinchcliffeHost3:34

You had me very nervous.

James HinchcliffeHost3:35

There's three

Alexander RossiHost3:35

weekends off until the end of the IndyCar season, which again, I mean, the point remains

James HinchcliffeHost3:40

the same.

James HinchcliffeHost3:41

Yes.

James HinchcliffeHost3:42

We're

Alexander RossiHost3:43

gone more than

James HinchcliffeHost3:43

we're not.

James HinchcliffeHost3:44

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost3:45

Just enjoyed the time at home.

Alexander RossiHost3:47

No real interesting stories to share, unfortunately.

James HinchcliffeHost3:51

Boring.

James HinchcliffeHost3:53

I assume, well, I know that you were following along with the U.S. and the World Cup because I see the text messages in the group chat.

James HinchcliffeHost4:02

I was not.

James HinchcliffeHost4:02

I don't care.

James HinchcliffeHost4:04

Okay, so you just celebrate when they win, but you don't know until the group chat goes off.

Alexander RossiHost4:09

No, it's funny.

Alexander RossiHost4:11

Actually,

James HinchcliffeHost4:12

it was you and I that were kind of the ones that were not paying attention.

James HinchcliffeHost4:14

Yeah, it's funny how you still don't know

Alexander RossiHost4:16

how group chats work because just because some people in the group chat are saying things, it doesn't mean that that's the full understanding of the group.

James HinchcliffeHost4:26

It's just normally anything, anytime it's like something pro-America, you're usually very on board.

Alexander RossiHost4:31

No, I mean, we're obviously going to win the World Cup, but that doesn't mean I have to watch.

Tim DurhamPanelist4:35

That's fair.

Tim DurhamPanelist4:35

I don't like to acknowledge that there's an existence of a group chat that I'm not in.

Tim DurhamPanelist4:39

That's why

James HinchcliffeHost4:40

we try to bring it up as often as possible.

James HinchcliffeHost4:41

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost4:41

It

Tim DurhamPanelist4:42

just doesn't feel right.

James HinchcliffeHost4:44

Don't worry.

James HinchcliffeHost4:45

Don't feel bad.

James HinchcliffeHost4:46

It's just for friends that are from Indianapolis.

James HinchcliffeHost4:49

Well, no, it's just people

Alexander RossiHost4:52

that we enjoy talking to and try and spend time with.

Tim DurhamPanelist5:00

That's how I was reading it, yeah.

Tim DurhamPanelist5:02

Okay, yeah.

Tim DurhamPanelist5:04

We're on the same page.

Tim DurhamPanelist5:05

Okay.

Tim DurhamPanelist5:05

Good,

James HinchcliffeHost5:06

good, good, good.

James HinchcliffeHost5:07

I'm glad there's no confusion there.

James HinchcliffeHost5:09

I'd also like to just sidebar Canada also moving on in the World Cup.

James HinchcliffeHost5:13

To where? The round of 16, the Sweet 16, I think they call it.

James HinchcliffeHost5:18

I might be mixing that up with another tournament.

Alexander RossiHost5:20

Tim, what did you do this weekend? Anything fun and exciting? Yeah,

Tim DurhamPanelist5:24

actually, I had a pretty cool thing that I did this weekend.

Tim DurhamPanelist5:27

I doubt it.

Tim DurhamPanelist5:28

The Academy Museum is like one stop away on the Metro.

Tim DurhamPanelist5:33

Not

James HinchcliffeHost5:33

cool.

James HinchcliffeHost5:35

So

Tim DurhamPanelist5:35

I went to a screening of North by Northwest where Guillermo del Toro gave a 30 minute lecture beforehand about how Hitchcock directed it.

Tim DurhamPanelist5:44

And then he came back out after the movie and broke down how they made the famous airplane scene.

Tim DurhamPanelist5:51

And then we watched it again, just that scene with Guillermo del Toro giving live commentary.

Alexander RossiHost5:56

Isn't that Kanye's kid?

Tim DurhamPanelist5:58

I think his kid is North, right?

Alexander RossiHost6:01

Northwest.

Tim DurhamPanelist6:02

Oh, Northwest.

Tim DurhamPanelist6:03

I get you now.

Tim DurhamPanelist6:04

Yes, sure.

James HinchcliffeHost6:05

So I did not know that Alfred Hitchcock created the film and music festival in Austin, Texas.

Tim DurhamPanelist6:15

He was

James HinchcliffeHost6:15

prolific.

James HinchcliffeHost6:16

He was prolific, yeah.

Tim DurhamPanelist6:17

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost6:18

I thought that was a newer thing.

Alexander RossiHost6:19

Maybe I was wrong.

Alexander RossiHost6:21

No, that's South by Southwest, dumbass.

Alexander RossiHost6:24

oh yeah that's right

James HinchcliffeHost6:27

i was just going with it i've also spoken on a panel at that event and still didn't get it i thought you were doing that intentionally i didn't realize you actually mixed that up i'm very tired tim i'm very tired is he tired i'm tired i didn't get to sleep till noon today like you did

Tim DurhamPanelist6:48

got up at 7 15

James HinchcliffeHost6:50

yeah your time yeah that's noon in england that's like i can't even do that math

Tim DurhamPanelist6:57

but yes it was uh

James HinchcliffeHost6:58

it was very cool that does actually sound kind of cool like a little nerdy but but interesting for people that like that stuff which i know you do so i'm glad you got to do it Okay, James.

James HinchcliffeHost7:10

So it was Austria this weekend.

James HinchcliffeHost7:12

We had a chat

Alexander RossiHost7:14

before you went about how much you were looking forward to going to that race because it's kind of like a mini spa, a mini Road America in some aspects.

Alexander RossiHost7:24

Did it live up to the hype? I'm going to say yes.

Alexander RossiHost7:26

I'm going to

James HinchcliffeHost7:26

say that I thought the track was very cool.

James HinchcliffeHost7:30

I thought they do a really good job with the facilities.

James HinchcliffeHost7:33

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost7:36

It was one of the most, despite being one, because like, here's the thing, right? All the really cool old tracks, whether it's Spa, Silverstone, Suzuka, Monza, all like on the F1 circuit, they're in the middle of nowhere, right? So like the infrastructure for getting people in and out, it's two lane roads, basically.

James HinchcliffeHost7:53

And Austria is not too different.

James HinchcliffeHost7:56

Like it's closer to a highway than a lot of those other places.

James HinchcliffeHost7:59

But like to get out of the track is still, you know, two lane roads.

James HinchcliffeHost8:03

And it was the most efficient exit of the actual track of any of the busy F1 races that I've been to, even including Austin.

James HinchcliffeHost8:12

Austin's a nightmare.

James HinchcliffeHost8:13

It takes you an hour to get out of the parking lot.

James HinchcliffeHost8:15

This was like... austro-german efficiency at its finest and it was genuinely very impressive um we stayed in a little town called gratz i don't know if you've been there if you ever stayed there uh sure have which was fine which was fine uh but yeah dude it was just it was it was hot it was there's like this heat wave hitting europe and like they don't know how to do heat very well over here At all.

James HinchcliffeHost8:41

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost8:42

Thankfully, mercifully, my hotel had air conditioning when it worked.

James HinchcliffeHost8:47

It was great.

James HinchcliffeHost8:49

Didn't have much else.

James HinchcliffeHost8:50

But like the shower, if you open the shower door, like the shower door would like hit the bed basically on the way out.

James HinchcliffeHost8:57

And then like the sink was just in the room.

James HinchcliffeHost9:01

and the shower was, like, part of the room.

James HinchcliffeHost9:04

It was weird.

James HinchcliffeHost9:04

It was a weird layout.

James HinchcliffeHost9:05

Well, I guess that means

Alexander RossiHost9:06

if you

James HinchcliffeHost9:06

got

Alexander RossiHost9:07

hot in the middle

James HinchcliffeHost9:07

of

Alexander RossiHost9:08

the night, you could just shower in

James HinchcliffeHost9:09

bed.

James HinchcliffeHost9:10

Well, I mean, that's basically what one of the guys did when his AC completely conked out.

James HinchcliffeHost9:13

He just

Alexander RossiHost9:13

cold showered and then just rolled into bed.

James HinchcliffeHost9:16

But, yeah, what a weekend.

James HinchcliffeHost9:18

What a weekend.

James HinchcliffeHost9:18

It was fun.

James HinchcliffeHost9:19

I'm really glad to have done it and seen it.

James HinchcliffeHost9:21

I would have loved to have raced there.

James HinchcliffeHost9:22

It seems like a cool track.

James HinchcliffeHost9:23

It is a very cool track.

Alexander RossiHost9:24

No, it's a fun lap.

Alexander RossiHost9:26

Like, it's super high grip.

Alexander RossiHost9:28

It's obviously...

Alexander RossiHost9:30

Very short, but it's surprisingly technical, despite there not being many corners.

Alexander RossiHost9:37

No, I thought it was a lot of fun.

Alexander RossiHost9:38

It actually races pretty well, considering, again, how short it is, and there's quite a few high-speed corners.

Alexander RossiHost9:46

That sort of thing.

Alexander RossiHost9:47

A lot of elevation change.

Alexander RossiHost9:49

The fans are badass.

Alexander RossiHost9:51

And as you said, the facilities are surprisingly nice.

Alexander RossiHost9:54

So,

James HinchcliffeHost9:54

no, it's a track I enjoy.

James HinchcliffeHost9:57

Enjoyed.

James HinchcliffeHost9:58

Let's use the correct.

James HinchcliffeHost10:00

It's not as surprising when you, like, remember that Red Bull outset and they just have more money than God.

James HinchcliffeHost10:05

Seems

Alexander RossiHost10:07

people like that energy drink.

James HinchcliffeHost10:09

Yeah, they seem to enjoy it.

James HinchcliffeHost10:11

I enjoyed a few myself this weekend because they're just like everywhere.

James HinchcliffeHost10:14

You can just pick them off of trays that people don't like.

James HinchcliffeHost10:17

Do you want to know what else is

Alexander RossiHost10:18

everywhere? If you want to think of the equivalent on an IndyCar weekend, Wrangler Energy.

Alexander RossiHost10:23

It's now canned.

Alexander RossiHost10:24

It's sugar-free.

Alexander RossiHost10:25

It's full sugar.

Alexander RossiHost10:26

It's whatever you want.

Alexander RossiHost10:27

I'm assuming this is

James HinchcliffeHost10:29

a Heartland Food Products.

Alexander RossiHost10:33

Have you not had a Wrangler Energy? No.

James HinchcliffeHost10:35

No, I've had the hydration thing.

James HinchcliffeHost10:37

Oh, well,

Alexander RossiHost10:39

the

James HinchcliffeHost10:39

energy drink's pretty good.

James HinchcliffeHost10:40

They're like...

James HinchcliffeHost10:41

I didn't know you had an energy drink.

James HinchcliffeHost10:44

I take that back.

James HinchcliffeHost10:45

I had forgot that that's what it was called.

James HinchcliffeHost10:47

It's canned now, is that what you said?

Alexander RossiHost10:49

It's canned.

Alexander RossiHost10:49

So it's like the full experience.

James HinchcliffeHost10:51

All right.

James HinchcliffeHost10:51

Well, are there going to be like guys jumping out of borderline space level height pods and parachuting out sponsored by Wrangler?

Alexander RossiHost11:04

We should.

James HinchcliffeHost11:04

That'd be kind of cool.

James HinchcliffeHost11:05

Would you do that? Would you ever do what old Felix Rosenbaum did or whatever his name was?

Alexander RossiHost11:09

No.

Alexander RossiHost11:10

I wouldn't jump out of a normal airplane at 18,000 feet, let alone 70.

Alexander RossiHost11:15

Yeah,

James HinchcliffeHost11:16

that's probably a good

Alexander RossiHost11:17

idea.

Alexander RossiHost11:19

No.

Alexander RossiHost11:20

Follow-up question.

Alexander RossiHost11:21

Would you do what Pastrana did and jump out without anything and hope your buddy catches you?

James HinchcliffeHost11:25

Dude, no.

James HinchcliffeHost11:27

So it's funny because it popped up on my Instagram feed the other day, that thing where the guy jumped out without a parachute but like to land in the net.

James HinchcliffeHost11:33

Oh, yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost11:34

Remember that? Mm-hmm.

James HinchcliffeHost11:35

That would, I mean, oh, my God.

James HinchcliffeHost11:38

Like, at least with the Travis thing, there was a bunch of dudes.

James HinchcliffeHost11:41

And so, like, if one, if he bear hugged the one guy and pulls his shoe, if it doesn't work, other dudes can, like, still maybe catch up to him.

James HinchcliffeHost11:50

And this guy had one shot.

James HinchcliffeHost11:53

And as soon as he's going down, as soon as he flips over, he just doesn't know.

James HinchcliffeHost11:56

And he just has to hope for that, like, two seconds before he gets down there that he did it right.

James HinchcliffeHost12:01

Hope my aim was good.

James HinchcliffeHost12:03

Pretty nuts.

James HinchcliffeHost12:05

But yes, so the race itself was actually pretty good.

James HinchcliffeHost12:10

It was a pretty decent race, I thought.

James HinchcliffeHost12:12

You said it was boring, but I thought it had some good stuff to it.

James HinchcliffeHost12:15

It was okay.

James HinchcliffeHost12:17

But we should probably go back to qualifying.

James HinchcliffeHost12:19

Cover qualifying.

James HinchcliffeHost12:20

Yes.

James HinchcliffeHost12:20

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost12:20

We should.

James HinchcliffeHost12:22

How did you see it? So it's Q3.

James HinchcliffeHost12:24

Antonelli's been the class of the field in the first couple.

James HinchcliffeHost12:28

Verstappen...

James HinchcliffeHost12:30

Took a huge risk in Q2, saved a set of softs to have two sets of softs, which was amazing.

James HinchcliffeHost12:35

Made it by four one-hundredths of a second on UCEDD.

James HinchcliffeHost12:38

Unfortunately,

Alexander RossiHost12:39

that was their best strategy decision of the weekend, but we'll get to that.

Alexander RossiHost12:41

Yes,

James HinchcliffeHost12:42

that is true.

James HinchcliffeHost12:43

So that worked, and it was going to not get him pulled, but he was probably going to get third, maybe second.

James HinchcliffeHost12:49

And...

James HinchcliffeHost12:52

An undisclosed failure of the rear wing.

James HinchcliffeHost12:55

The team was very

Alexander RossiHost12:57

quick to take the blame, which, ah.

Alexander RossiHost13:01

So I watched it back a lot because I was fully expecting, like, there to be a delay with the fake DRS.

James HinchcliffeHost13:08

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost13:09

They said it wasn't that.

James HinchcliffeHost13:11

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost13:11

But there was

Alexander RossiHost13:12

some.

Alexander RossiHost13:13

I also think that the team is in desperation mode to keep young Max Verstappen out.

Alexander RossiHost13:19

in the organization.

Alexander RossiHost13:21

And so I think they're just like,

James HinchcliffeHost13:22

no, no, no, it was us, sorry.

James HinchcliffeHost13:25

And that is a popular opinion in the paddock.

James HinchcliffeHost13:28

My rebuttal to that is, so you're making parts that fall apart and cause accidents? That's how you keep them? I don't know why that would make Max feel better, right? Like, Max isn't dumb.

James HinchcliffeHost13:38

Max knows if, like, actually something happened or not, right? It's not going to affect how he sleeps at night.

James HinchcliffeHost13:43

So if the public perception is, oh, yeah, we couldn't actually build a wing that stayed together, like, that's...

James HinchcliffeHost13:48

Not going to help their cause, I wouldn't have thought.

James HinchcliffeHost13:50

Anyway, the point is they brought a bunch of upgrades and the car was quicker.

James HinchcliffeHost13:54

And so he crashed.

James HinchcliffeHost13:57

Behind him on the racetrack were George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.

James HinchcliffeHost14:01

And Alex, I learned a lot about Formula One flagging rules this weekend in terms of single and double yellows.

James HinchcliffeHost14:09

So have these changed since you were in Formula

Alexander RossiHost14:11

One? Yes.

Alexander RossiHost14:12

So...

Alexander RossiHost14:14

When I was there, there was the rule, and it's interesting that they've defined it a little more, but not really.

Alexander RossiHost14:23

So the rule when there was a yellow was, as long as you didn't go green, you're fine.

Alexander RossiHost14:30

Okay, so as long as you didn't set a personal best.

Alexander RossiHost14:33

And that could have been two 1,000 slower.

Alexander RossiHost14:36

Where it got super convoluted and annoying was in a wet to dry session.

Alexander RossiHost14:41

Right.

Alexander RossiHost14:42

Which I had that happen to me once.

Alexander RossiHost14:45

So I'm almost wondering if this new, not because of me, but as the sport has evolved, I wonder if they've split it up why there's a single and double wave yellow.

James HinchcliffeHost14:56

The way the rule is written, so you know that F1's got three sectors, and within each sector, there's like eight microsectors.

James HinchcliffeHost15:06

As I understand it, it's under a single waved yellow.

James HinchcliffeHost15:10

It means there's something up.

James HinchcliffeHost15:12

but you just have to reduce your speed.

James HinchcliffeHost15:15

You have to reduce your speed by 5% or more in that microsector.

James HinchcliffeHost15:22

That's sort of the expectation.

James HinchcliffeHost15:23

I don't even know if the 5% thing is actually like a hard and fast rule.

Alexander RossiHost15:27

No, I think you have to prove that you have done something different In the previous lab.

James HinchcliffeHost15:33

Yes.

James HinchcliffeHost15:33

You have to

Alexander RossiHost15:34

show a

James HinchcliffeHost15:34

meaningful intent to slow down.

James HinchcliffeHost15:36

Right.

James HinchcliffeHost15:37

And they use 5% as like a reference, but again, I don't think it's like an actual thing.

James HinchcliffeHost15:43

So there are a few issues that I have with this.

James HinchcliffeHost15:46

So ultimately what happens is Kimmy comes through and believes that it's a double-waved yellow.

James HinchcliffeHost15:52

And in a double-waved yellow, all laps get deleted and you cannot get better, right? Single-waved yellow, they don't care about the rest of the lap as long as you show in that microsector that you meaningfully slowed down.

James HinchcliffeHost16:06

So George was on an absolute heater.

James HinchcliffeHost16:10

and saw the single yellow, lifted.

James HinchcliffeHost16:13

He did lift.

Alexander RossiHost16:14

Like 96 meters.

Alexander RossiHost16:17

Not tiny.

James HinchcliffeHost16:19

Not nothing.

James HinchcliffeHost16:20

So about 100 meters before the corner, earlier than normal, lifted.

James HinchcliffeHost16:24

Second last corner, and then finishes the lap, ends up going pole.

James HinchcliffeHost16:30

Kimi was on a fast lap.

James HinchcliffeHost16:31

Ultimately, it wasn't going to be as fast as George's anyway.

James HinchcliffeHost16:34

He mistook it for a double yellow, which is, again, you cannot improve.

James HinchcliffeHost16:37

So he abandons his lap.

James HinchcliffeHost16:40

So George read the flag right, knew the rule, reacted accordingly, and still pulled off a faster lap.

James HinchcliffeHost16:47

Credit to George Russell.

James HinchcliffeHost16:48

Executed brilliantly.

James HinchcliffeHost16:50

What was funny is what we think happens when you look at the data, he does slow down a little bit in nine, but then the way he accelerates off of 10 compared to Leclerc, who came second, was unbelievable.

James HinchcliffeHost17:02

He basically gained all of that time back.

James HinchcliffeHost17:04

So...

James HinchcliffeHost17:06

The kind of working theory is that as you lift in these cars, you can regen more power.

James HinchcliffeHost17:10

And so he had burned battery going down into nine, lifted in a way that he would not have.

James HinchcliffeHost17:16

And that gave him more battery to burn coming out of 10.

James HinchcliffeHost17:20

And the net difference from his best sector three to that sector three in the whole sector was only half a tenth.

James HinchcliffeHost17:27

So to your point, going back, you can just show that you've slowed down.

James HinchcliffeHost17:31

It was not his best sector.

James HinchcliffeHost17:35

So again, George did nothing wrong.

James HinchcliffeHost17:37

He played it perfectly, well-executed.

James HinchcliffeHost17:39

Go George Russell.

James HinchcliffeHost17:42

I think what comes out of this is... is the rule written correctly, right? Because Max hit a wall, like he spun out in a very fast corner and smoked a wall.

James HinchcliffeHost17:53

Normally that would be, if not a double yellow in qualifying, an immediate red flag.

James HinchcliffeHost17:58

And so I think people are pretty perplexed as to why it wasn't at least a double yellow.

James HinchcliffeHost18:03

And should there be some kind of rule that's like, hey, if driver makes contact with wall and, you know, we've got to just get people out there as quickly as possible.

James HinchcliffeHost18:11

Because it was like a 20-something second delay before it was elevated from single to double.

Alexander RossiHost18:16

I feel like there's like three episodes that we could share with the FIA and they can like...

Alexander RossiHost18:22

Yeah, I was just about to say...

Alexander RossiHost18:23

They can sort their rules out based on what the three of us have already basically determined is correct over here in IndyCar.

James HinchcliffeHost18:30

And you know what? Here's what I like about how IndyCar does it.

James HinchcliffeHost18:33

Okay? Because if you were to say just blanket statement, yeah, hey, if we have...

James HinchcliffeHost18:40

any kind of issue, yellow flags out, you can't go faster.

James HinchcliffeHost18:44

Like in qualifying, that ruins your lap.

James HinchcliffeHost18:46

And there are times where there's really no... safety concern, there's just a car in the runoff or something like that.

James HinchcliffeHost18:54

So what IndyCar does is they avoid throwing the yellow until it's kind of necessary.

James HinchcliffeHost19:00

So if a car goes down a runoff, but it is navigating through the tires and hasn't turned around or stopped, they'll keep it green locally.

James HinchcliffeHost19:11

So that way you don't get hosed.

James HinchcliffeHost19:13

It's not until there's a car stopped or sideways or something that they'll put the local yellow out.

James HinchcliffeHost19:18

And then you do have to slow down because we tried once this like 15% thing and it's impossible.

James HinchcliffeHost19:24

You can't do that, right? You can't judge what 15% of that sector is as a driver.

James HinchcliffeHost19:28

It's just stupid.

James HinchcliffeHost19:30

So I actually think that IndyCar does this very well and has a really good system for it.

James HinchcliffeHost19:34

And I do think that F1 and the FIA now need to...

James HinchcliffeHost19:38

Again, this was their rule.

James HinchcliffeHost19:40

They enforced their rule to the way it was written.

James HinchcliffeHost19:44

But I think everyone's now like...

James HinchcliffeHost19:46

You're now encouraged basically to try to just barely lift through what could be a proper accident.

Alexander RossiHost19:53

So two things... to that i take out of this just to end the conversation on qualifying is um one like it's crazy to me that a single yellow flag displayed on a light panel is the full light panel being yellow and then a double yellow flag is just half the light panel being yellow i feel like that's that's wrong

James HinchcliffeHost20:17

flashes It flashes, right? It's like a diagonal.

James HinchcliffeHost20:20

It's like yellow and black.

James HinchcliffeHost20:21

And it flashes? Yeah, it alternates.

James HinchcliffeHost20:23

Okay.

James HinchcliffeHost20:24

So like it should be kind of clear.

James HinchcliffeHost20:25

It's like basically a standing versus a waving, right?

Alexander RossiHost20:28

Fine, okay.

Alexander RossiHost20:29

Well, I just saw a still image, so that makes sense.

Alexander RossiHost20:32

And then number two that I didn't realize at all, we obviously talked a lot at the beginning of the year about...

Alexander RossiHost20:38

This new F1 regulation and kind of the clipping and all this sort of stuff that can be very annoying, especially in racing when you're just having people go drive by other people because they have an extra 30 kilometers an hour.

Alexander RossiHost20:53

I had no idea that the cars were self-learning and that there was some like AI adaptive technology.

Alexander RossiHost20:59

Software in there because I saw a post on social media referencing kind of the situation that occurred with, you know, George, obviously auto regen harvesting this extra energy that he wouldn't have had.

Alexander RossiHost21:15

And then having so much extra out of the final corner, I'm just blown away.

Alexander RossiHost21:20

It's one thing if the driver realizes that he has like more sock or state of charge or battery available and they're like, oh, shoot, I'm going to use it.

Alexander RossiHost21:30

You can't do that in IndyCar because there's an energy limit that exists per lap.

Alexander RossiHost21:34

I mean, there is an F1 too, but it's a much, much, much lower energy limit.

Alexander RossiHost21:38

So this really wouldn't be a thing in IndyCar.

Alexander RossiHost21:39

But like the fact that the car is just then deploying it because it knows it has it is kind of lame.

Alexander RossiHost21:45

I don't know that I like that.

With the Capital One Saver Card, you'll earn unlimited 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, and at grocery stores.

And for a limited time, new card members can earn a $250 cash bonus after spending $500 on purchases within the first three months.

So grab a bite, grab a seat, and earn unlimited 3% cash back with the Saver Card.

Capital One.

What's in your wallet? Terms apply.

See CapitalOne.com slash Saver for details.

On Deck is built to back small businesses like yours.

Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, On Deck's loans up to $400,000 make it happen fast.

Rated A-plus by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star Trustpilot reviews, On Deck delivers funding you can count on.

Apply in minutes at ondeck.com.

Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by On Deck or Celtic Bank.

On Deck does not lend in North Dakota all loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

I'm Livy Dunn, All-American gymnast and Viore athlete.

When you travel and train as much as I do, you find happiness where you are.

On the mat or on the sand, movement and comfort are essential.

That's why I live in Performance Joggers by Viore.

Made from DreamNet fabric that's made of 89% recycled materials.

Effortlessly soft and made to move as much as I do.

My happiness starts here, in the softest joggers on the planet.

Get 20% off your first purchase at Viore.com slash Libby.

That's V-U-O-R-I dot com slash L-I-V-V-Y.

Exclusions apply.

Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on U.S. orders over $75 and free returns.

Go to Viore.com slash Libby and discover the full versatility of Viore clothing.

Exclusions apply.

Visit the website for full terms and conditions.

I'm Hannah.

I've lost 75 pounds in 20 months with GLP-1s, plus diet and exercise.

On Rho, I've gone from struggling to run a mile to running farther every day.

You can access FDA-approved GLP-1s online.

Get the support you need to reach your weight loss goals.

Go to rho.co slash weight to see if you qualify.

I'm a paid Rho partner.

20% average weight loss in one year in non-diabetics with obesity or overweight with a weight-related medical condition versus 3.1% in placebo-armed.

James HinchcliffeHost24:14

So this goes back to like the original conversation at the start of all this with the rules where like Alonzo was saying, it's faster to lift in a fast corner than to go flat because then you have more power.

James HinchcliffeHost24:30

But that's fine if

Alexander RossiHost24:31

you as the driver, I mean, it's not fine, but that's...

Alexander RossiHost24:35

A strategy, if it's you as a driver, they're then choosing to do that and deploy it, not if the car is just doing it automatically.

Alexander RossiHost24:40

It's

James HinchcliffeHost24:40

purely just when you put the pedal down, it is just giving you all the power that it has, regardless of whether it's ICE or hybrid or whatever.

James HinchcliffeHost24:49

So, yeah, it shows some of the quirks of this rule set.

James HinchcliffeHost24:56

Regardless, Leclerc did a great job to get on the front row.

James HinchcliffeHost24:59

Hamilton was third.

James HinchcliffeHost25:01

antony fourth max ended up fifth so we go into the race mercedes was very much expected to be the class of the field but with ferrari's pace and how good they were in barcelona when it was hot and in high deg this isn't as high deg a track but with the heat it was definitely big thermal deg and it's you know you can burn the rears off at this place really easily with all the uh acceleration And then the race itself was, I thought, kind of interesting.

James HinchcliffeHost25:30

The opening laps, there was some genuinely really good racing on the opening laps.

James HinchcliffeHost25:35

Some real good back and forth.

James HinchcliffeHost25:36

I mean, like, Max making passes, Kimi screwing passes up, the two Ferraris going at it.

James HinchcliffeHost25:42

Like, it was really good wheel-to-wheel for, like, the first four or five laps.

James HinchcliffeHost25:46

Then we had some good pace and some good, you know, passes later.

James HinchcliffeHost25:49

Max was just doing a good job, got around Hamilton, started just running around out front.

James HinchcliffeHost25:53

And then there was kind of a moment where... a decision had to be made, and a couple people maybe could have won the race that weren't named Jordan Russell.

James HinchcliffeHost26:02

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost26:02

You

Alexander RossiHost26:03

alluded to Red Bull's

James HinchcliffeHost26:04

poor, best decision in qualifying.

Alexander RossiHost26:07

Yeah, so I mean, on that second stint, You know, it was obvious that the Max had George's number.

Alexander RossiHost26:14

You know, he had closed the gap down from, I don't know, like seven seconds down to like 1.4. And George was struggling with pace kind of later in the stint.

Alexander RossiHost26:31

They came in for another set of hards.

Alexander RossiHost26:36

Um, and what Max was trying to do is Max was trying to extend that middle stint so far that he could put mediums on to, to end the race.

Alexander RossiHost26:45

And it just got to the point where, you know, Max can keep going.

Alexander RossiHost26:49

They were bleeding too much time.

Alexander RossiHost26:51

So before that final stop, um, kind of um all of the sequence ended you know max was under two seconds from george's rear wing and came out like 13 seconds behind him um with 25 7 laps to go and so in that whole cycle you know they lost call it 11 12 seconds which really took the race away from Max unless there was something crazy that happened with yellow or, or that sort of thing.

Alexander RossiHost27:23

Cause I do think genuinely George wasn't the quickest car.

Alexander RossiHost27:26

You know, I think Kimmy was quicker.

Alexander RossiHost27:27

I think Max was quicker, but George had track position and Mercedes called a great race.

Alexander RossiHost27:33

And I think that that's proven by the end, you know, the top three cars finished under two seconds apart.

Tim DurhamPanelist27:39

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost27:39

Two seconds apart.

Alexander RossiHost27:40

So George was definitely using up all of the margin and, that Mercedes had given him.

Alexander RossiHost27:46

Kimi was on a charge after struggling for the first half of the race with brake issues and kind of having to adjust and adapt to that.

Alexander RossiHost27:55

Ferrari was brought back down to earth, I think, this weekend after what was a pretty

James HinchcliffeHost28:02

mesmerizing performance in Barcelona.

Alexander RossiHost28:05

Lewis seems to have found his home with this regulation set.

Alexander RossiHost28:09

You know, I think Charles is obviously a great benchmark.

Alexander RossiHost28:13

Um, but this is definitely the toughest teammate that he's had to, to face, uh, is Lewis in, in this current era.

Alexander RossiHost28:20

Um, So that's an interesting storyline.

Alexander RossiHost28:22

And then, yeah, I think as each week goes by, the list of people that George pisses off grows bigger and bigger.

Alexander RossiHost28:31

But you can't comment on that because you're an F1 guy.

Alexander RossiHost28:34

But it's just and we don't need to say anymore.

Alexander RossiHost28:36

You just look at social media.

Alexander RossiHost28:37

It's wild.

Alexander RossiHost28:39

The picture from

Tim DurhamPanelist28:40

the podium was pretty great.

Alexander RossiHost28:41

Because he, and a lot of people in the IndyCar world ask me about this.

Alexander RossiHost28:48

He's not a bad guy.

Alexander RossiHost28:49

He's

Tim DurhamPanelist28:50

actually,

Alexander RossiHost28:51

he is a genuinely good human being.

Alexander RossiHost28:55

But man, the things he says and the way he carries himself just really rub people the

James HinchcliffeHost29:01

wrong way.

James HinchcliffeHost29:01

He's not making it easier on himself or us sometimes.

James HinchcliffeHost29:07

God bless him.

James HinchcliffeHost29:08

But here's the thing.

James HinchcliffeHost29:11

So he's taken, what is it, 28 points out of Kimmy or something like that in the last two weeks?

Alexander RossiHost29:16

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost29:18

25,

James HinchcliffeHost29:19

18, yeah, 28.

James HinchcliffeHost29:21

He's, you know, happy, right? He's happy he won the race and just listened to his radio.

James HinchcliffeHost29:26

But in Barcelona, Kimi passed him.

James HinchcliffeHost29:29

Right? George started on pole.

James HinchcliffeHost29:32

Kimi passed him.

James HinchcliffeHost29:32

He was going to beat him.

James HinchcliffeHost29:34

He got beat, right? He didn't get the points, but he got beat on the track.

James HinchcliffeHost29:38

Here in Austria, if Kimi had started second because that yellow doesn't come out for Max or he finishes his lap or whatever and not fourth and then throw it off three times in the first lap, like Kimi's pacing that at the end of the race, it was better.

James HinchcliffeHost29:53

Max caught him from like seven seconds back.

James HinchcliffeHost29:55

Kimmy caught them both from like 15 seconds back, right? Is he actually happy? Like if you're George, are you happy with the last two weeks or are you still like, man, I've sorted out qualifying, but there's something missing still in the races because I'm I did get beat in Barcelona.

James HinchcliffeHost30:13

I had this conversation with Brundle off air.

James HinchcliffeHost30:17

If there was ever a race that I won, but I was clearly not the fastest car, like someone else was catching you right at the end and just couldn't get by or ran out of time or whatever, I was not that happy.

James HinchcliffeHost30:28

I was like happy with the result, but I'm like, I would focus more on the fact that like, well, why weren't we the fastest? Like, why were they better than us? Where were they better than us? How can we fix that? Do you think that's the mindset he's got? Were you that way? Are you that way? Yeah,

Alexander RossiHost30:42

he has to have that mindset because George is an elite Formula One driver.

Alexander RossiHost30:46

I think that's proven and qualifying for him.

Alexander RossiHost30:48

Because what he does time and time again is Kimi can have his number like all through practice and through two rounds of qualifying and then he'll show up in Q3.

Alexander RossiHost30:59

Pull it out.

Alexander RossiHost31:00

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost31:01

And it won't be he finds another tenth and a half, you know, like Lewis used to do on Nico or or whatever.

Alexander RossiHost31:06

It's he finds half a second.

Alexander RossiHost31:08

Right.

Alexander RossiHost31:08

And so George is clearly very adaptable and talented and capable, but.

Alexander RossiHost31:15

But if it's not coming naturally, it's one thing to do it for a lap.

Alexander RossiHost31:21

It's impossible to do it for 70 or 80 or 55 or however many there are, right? And I think that's kind of what we're seeing is George has the talent and the innate pace to go out and put a whole lot together in a Mercedes-Benz Formula One car, right? Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost31:40

But he's having to work pretty hard for it.

Alexander RossiHost31:42

And so you have this issue across all forms of motorsport.

Alexander RossiHost31:46

IndyCar is a great example as well.

Alexander RossiHost31:49

And you look at, let's look at Palo for reference, not lately.

Alexander RossiHost31:56

I can't really say this lately, but let's go pre-2026.

Alexander RossiHost32:01

Alex Pillow wasn't like the pole guy.

Alexander RossiHost32:03

Right.

Alexander RossiHost32:03

But, you know, he was always in the top six, but he wasn't having to try that hard to get the pace.

Alexander RossiHost32:10

And so that's where so much of his advantage comes on tire life.

Alexander RossiHost32:14

Right.

Alexander RossiHost32:14

Because he's not 10 tenths driving the piss out of the car, really working it hard to get the lap time to transfer and then maybe put it on pole like a like a Colton Hurta, for example.

Alexander RossiHost32:25

Right.

Alexander RossiHost32:26

who has that ability, but you're at, or a pedo award, you ask him to do that for a hundred laps.

Alexander RossiHost32:31

It's like, yeah, he might pull it off.

Alexander RossiHost32:32

Sometimes the car might have the, the capability to do it.

Alexander RossiHost32:36

Sometimes the tires might hold on sometimes, but over a season, it's not going to happen.

Alexander RossiHost32:41

Right.

Alexander RossiHost32:42

So I think that's kind of what we're seeing with the George Kimmy situation is George can do it, but Kimmy just has a couple of tents in hand.

Alexander RossiHost32:48

So over these stints over, when you have to look after the car and the tires and everything, uh, kimmy is just going to be better um so i think george probably can see that and realize that and we'll be working to figure out a way to to close that gap because clearly the pace can still be there it's just how he's achieving it probably has to be adjusted a little bit

James HinchcliffeHost33:09

yeah that makes sense and then you just look at what max was able to do in a car that's nowhere near as good as a mercedes right now like well no one can do what max can do yeah it's

Alexander RossiHost33:19

I have to say what Hajar is doing is very impressive because he is by far the closest that anyone has ever been and is not being made to look silly.

James HinchcliffeHost33:28

But the one thing I'll say about it, though, is whenever Max gets the car in a better window for Max, it seems like the teammate can never also make that jump.

James HinchcliffeHost33:39

Yeah, but at least it's not that bad.

James HinchcliffeHost33:41

No, I know.

James HinchcliffeHost33:41

Yeah, he finished sixth, right? Like he's in the points.

James HinchcliffeHost33:43

He's not going out in Q1 and things like that.

James HinchcliffeHost33:46

But it is interesting to me that every time Max gets more comfortable, that doesn't translate to the other driver all the time, right? In fact, quite often it doesn't.

James HinchcliffeHost33:55

Quite often that guy, that's when you start seeing the gap grow, which I think is really interesting.

James HinchcliffeHost34:00

But no, Max did an incredible job.

James HinchcliffeHost34:03

You got to kind of almost give him gold star for the weekend.

James HinchcliffeHost34:06

Piastri, McLaren just wasn't there.

James HinchcliffeHost34:08

I mean, they were there in practice and then just are not on the pace and qualifying in the race.

James HinchcliffeHost34:12

But he did a really good job to stand out of trouble and getting that fourth position.

James HinchcliffeHost34:17

And that was kind of it, man.

James HinchcliffeHost34:19

So it was George from Max from Kimi and the battle goes on.

James HinchcliffeHost34:23

The last

Alexander RossiHost34:24

F1 thing to talk about is...

Alexander RossiHost34:27

Aston is really bad.

Alexander RossiHost34:28

It's not great.

Alexander RossiHost34:29

Aston's really bad.

Alexander RossiHost34:30

Like three and a half seconds off...

Alexander RossiHost34:32

Fernando is three laps down on pace.

Alexander RossiHost34:35

Like, what are you...

Alexander RossiHost34:37

Is there...

Alexander RossiHost34:37

I know they are saving all of their eggs for their one upgrade basket, but, like...

Alexander RossiHost34:43

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost34:43

Is it gonna be...

Alexander RossiHost34:44

And that's

James HinchcliffeHost34:44

ultimately...

James HinchcliffeHost34:45

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost34:45

Who knows, man? I mean, three seconds? Like...

James HinchcliffeHost34:48

Because here's the other thing, right? Like you could show up with one.

James HinchcliffeHost34:51

So, yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost34:52

So what Alex is talking about is they've said we're not kind of like trickling updates throughout the year.

James HinchcliffeHost34:57

We are putting all of our energy and resource into one massive redesign of basically every component on the car and bringing it all at once, basically bringing a new car.

James HinchcliffeHost35:06

Not a literal new car, but basically a new car.

James HinchcliffeHost35:10

And the problem with that, as you well know, Alex, is you could bring one new part, and that one new part may not... behave on the racetrack exactly as it did in this wind tunnel or on the sim.

James HinchcliffeHost35:26

And you have to refine it.

James HinchcliffeHost35:28

You have to tune for it.

James HinchcliffeHost35:29

Furthermore, when you bring, say, a new front wing that shows increased performance, it doesn't guarantee that it's not going to mess with some other element.

James HinchcliffeHost35:38

You don't just bolt it on and get the time, right? You have to bolt it on, and then it might mess up the airflow somewhere down the car differently.

James HinchcliffeHost35:45

Like, oh, shoot, we've got to account for that.

James HinchcliffeHost35:47

Or we've got to adjust the setup window.

James HinchcliffeHost35:49

When you come with a brand new car, this is like them going back to Barcelona.

James HinchcliffeHost35:54

So like, sorry, Barcelona shakedown in January.

James HinchcliffeHost35:58

So they're so far behind that even if their updates are as good as the Mercedes or the Ferrari were in Barcelona shakedown, you're still six months behind.

James HinchcliffeHost36:11

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost36:11

You

James HinchcliffeHost36:12

know, you're six months behind tuning and adjusting and it's fine.

James HinchcliffeHost36:16

They understand the power unit and that's fine.

James HinchcliffeHost36:18

And Honda are working on their program, you know, on that side of things.

James HinchcliffeHost36:22

But I don't know, man.

James HinchcliffeHost36:24

And what I find, the real thing about Aston I find so interesting is just like, put yourself in those driver's shoes.

James HinchcliffeHost36:31

Like you have to still go to all the weekends.

James HinchcliffeHost36:33

You have to still go do all the media stuff.

James HinchcliffeHost36:35

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost36:35

You still got to go to all the sponsor dinners and the meet and greets.

James HinchcliffeHost36:39

You still got to risk your tail.

James HinchcliffeHost36:41

You still got to put in all the effort.

James HinchcliffeHost36:43

You got to go to the gym.

James HinchcliffeHost36:44

You got to do all the

Alexander RossiHost36:45

things.

Alexander RossiHost36:46

Drive

James HinchcliffeHost36:46

around three and a half, four seconds off the pace.

Alexander RossiHost36:49

I did it.

Alexander RossiHost36:50

I did it.

Alexander RossiHost36:50

I get it.

Alexander RossiHost36:51

That's true.

James HinchcliffeHost36:52

Yeah, but you did it when it was like...

James HinchcliffeHost36:54

I'm here.

James HinchcliffeHost36:55

Fernando's been there for 20-something years.

James HinchcliffeHost36:58

Great point.

Alexander RossiHost36:59

Great point.

Alexander RossiHost36:59

It's, for him especially, tough.

James HinchcliffeHost37:01

Okay, anyway, 4th of July weekend coming up, which means Mid-Ohio is coming up.

James HinchcliffeHost37:07

You just tested there.

James HinchcliffeHost37:08

We had a...

Alexander RossiHost37:10

horrible test

James HinchcliffeHost37:11

this is good this is good i'm hoping this is good

Alexander RossiHost37:15

this was the only thing that we could just this this was the reason of it we weren't crashing our own vehicles on our way home from the test It was because we left North America thinking we're sorted, we're going to win, showed up, started last.

Alexander RossiHost37:31

Mid-Ohio, we essentially were last and had no answers and were very confused and very unhappy.

Alexander RossiHost37:39

So we were like, well, I mean, starting on pole, that'd be hilarious.

James HinchcliffeHost37:43

Let's go.

James HinchcliffeHost37:43

It's funny, man.

James HinchcliffeHost37:44

It's not just because the Road American test went well and the setup when you first got to the race was bad.

James HinchcliffeHost37:50

The number of times that I've had a terrible test and come back and the race weekend was awesome is concerningly high.

Alexander RossiHost37:58

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost37:59

Yes.

Alexander RossiHost38:01

What is concerning is the amount of effort and money and resource we all, and it's not ECR.

Alexander RossiHost38:07

I had this conversation with Andretti in Portland last year.

Alexander RossiHost38:12

The effort we put into testing and then it just is a complete waste of time.

Alexander RossiHost38:16

You know, like I remember the Andretti example in Portland.

Alexander RossiHost38:20

They tested there five days before we showed up for the race and not a single car made it out of round one.

Alexander RossiHost38:26

And it's just like...

James HinchcliffeHost38:32

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost38:33

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost38:33

Yeah.

James HinchcliffeHost38:34

That's kind of the nature of things somehow.

James HinchcliffeHost38:37

Okay.

James HinchcliffeHost38:37

So the test wasn't great.

James HinchcliffeHost38:39

Battling some issues.

James HinchcliffeHost38:40

Who was quick? Who looked good? Kirkwood

Alexander RossiHost38:43

and Reddy was very good.

Alexander RossiHost38:45

So yeah, they won't get out around one.

Alexander RossiHost38:47

That's probably not true.

Alexander RossiHost38:48

Dennis Hogger was very strong.

Alexander RossiHost38:51

Junkos was very strong.

Alexander RossiHost38:53

Penske and ECR sucked.

Alexander RossiHost38:55

Nazar drove the two-car in place of Joseph and was only a tenth and a half off McLaughlin and Malukas, which was good for him.

James HinchcliffeHost39:06

Yeah, because I feel like...

James HinchcliffeHost39:08

Maybe you know this because I can't remember off the top of my head, but has Nasr ever done a test where there were other Penske guys on track? I feel like every test he's done, he's been the only Penske car and it's been other teams.

James HinchcliffeHost39:21

But has he ever had a teammate, essentially? I don't know.

James HinchcliffeHost39:25

So there you go.

James HinchcliffeHost39:25

That's the first kind of proper benchmark that you've had, which is awesome.

Alexander RossiHost39:29

Yep.

Alexander RossiHost39:30

So that was a decent storyline, I guess, if you want to call it that.

Alexander RossiHost39:36

Christian crashed.

Alexander RossiHost39:38

Marcus Armstrong crashed, both in the same corner.

Alexander RossiHost39:41

Pretty big day-enders for both of them.

Alexander RossiHost39:44

Turned 10, the left at the top of the hill.

Alexander RossiHost39:47

But the other reason why the results from the test are irrelevant, despite... or in addition to the things we just said, is we tested there and it was about 71 degrees.

Alexander RossiHost40:00

The forecast for this weekend is 93.

Alexander RossiHost40:02

Oh my God, it's so gross.

Alexander RossiHost40:04

With a significant chance of rain through the whole weekend.

Alexander RossiHost40:07

So...

Alexander RossiHost40:09

If you're coming out, make sure you remember your water and hydrate starting today because it's going to be pretty sweaty.

Alexander RossiHost40:18

Sweet.

Alexander RossiHost40:19

Gotta love that.

Alexander RossiHost40:21

It may be hot, but at least there's like not enough restrooms.

James HinchcliffeHost40:25

True.

James HinchcliffeHost40:26

Great point.

James HinchcliffeHost40:26

Well, look, guys, we hope that you are coming out to join for your 4th of July celebrations at Mid-Ohio.

James HinchcliffeHost40:32

But if you're not, make sure you tune in on Fox on Sunday for what's sure to be a banger.

James HinchcliffeHost40:38

Alex, we will see you in Ohio.

James HinchcliffeHost40:40

I'm flying straight from London, so I'm going to be tired again.

James HinchcliffeHost40:45

This has been Off Track with Hinch and Rossi.

James HinchcliffeHost40:47

Off Track is part of the SiriusXM Sports Podcast Network.

James HinchcliffeHost40:51

If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, please give a five-star rating and leave a review.

James HinchcliffeHost40:56

Subscribe today wherever you stream your podcasts.

James HinchcliffeHost40:58

We are at AskOffTrack on Twitter and Instagram.

James HinchcliffeHost41:01

And if you want to follow us on Twitter, we're at HinchTown and at Alexander Rossi.

James HinchcliffeHost41:06

If you want to follow Thim, though we have no idea why you would, he's at TheTimDurham on Twitter.

James HinchcliffeHost41:12

Find us on YouTube and subscribe to our channel for exclusive video content.

James HinchcliffeHost41:16

OffTrack is produced by Tim Durham, and by that we mean Thim.

With the Capital One Saver Card, you'll earn unlimited 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, and at grocery stores.

And for a limited time, new card members can earn a $250 cash bonus after spending $500 on purchases within the first three months.

So grab a bite, grab a seat, and earn unlimited 3% cash back with the Saver Card.

Capital One, what's in your wallet? Terms apply.

See CapitalOne.com slash Saver for details.

Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie.

And one thing I've learned is that you buy a house, but you make it a home.

Because with every fix, update, and renovation, it becomes a little more your own.

So you need all your jobs done well.

For nearly 30 years, Angie has helped millions of homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter.

From plumbing to electrical, roof repair to deck upgrades.

So leave it to the pros who will get your jobs done well.

Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust.

Find a pro for your project at Angie.com.