Chinese Grand Prix 2026: Antonelli's Maiden F1 Win Recap

Gonzalo Montiel, 25 years of age, his first ever World Cup. Podcasting from Studio 2520 somewhere near Akron, Ohio, bringing you all the latest talk in motorsport and soccer.

This is Jamming and Jaunty tackling the chicane.

Fucking with the bass line.

Maracas in there.

All right, so, uh, a little— every once in a while you gotta switch up some shit, so we went ahead and did that with our, uh, intro music here this evening. Um, we have the NCAA tournament which kicked off officially today, had playing games, uh, Tuesday and Wednesday night. Michigan is playing right now, keeping a close eye on that game versus Howard University. That is true. Howard playing, keeping it close.

It is the first half of action as we begin this recording, but it's not a so far explosive day of March Madness. There's been some good games. No huge upsets. Your biggest was 12-5, that high point over Wisconsin, which I suppose the TCU might have been a slight upset. I don't, I don't know.

The Buckeyes were 8. I don't know what TCU was, 9. I don't know who the bookies favored in that, but yeah. So we'll see. Duke was ran really close, which could have been a huge upset, uh, but they survived.

And that is what matters most. Survive and advance. Yep. So we currently stand here at, uh, 3:42 in the first. Not that anyone cares, uh, when this comes out tomorrow what happens here, but, um, Michigan has a— I wouldn't say commanding lead, but they do have a lead over Howard at this point, 40 to 34.

This is always one of my favorite things. This, this first 4 days of this tournament. Yeah. Is the most fun. And then it's still fun to watch it through the, the end of it.

But this is, this is the most fun. Yeah. When you have a ticker, you've got 4, 3 other games that are on at the same time. And if you want to scroll around, you can scroll around. Um, it, the NCAA did a fantastic thing where they make it free.

To watch on a device. So if you have a computer or a phone or a tablet and you don't have cable or a streaming service, you can watch any game you want, which I, that was a smart move. They did that. They started doing that about 10 years ago.

That's an end of the day. They want eyeballs on commercials. So it makes sense. But yeah. So That running in the background, we have Formula 1 to discuss, albeit some sad news with the upcoming month of April, unfortunately.

That's really going to put a dent in this campaign for me, but we'll get into that. I don't know if you want to do 4-wheel first and then go to soccer, or if you want to do soccer first. What do you want to do? The soccer segment's not going to be super long, so I— let's do that first, uh, because I am— I don't know how long it's gonna take to get through motorsports. Um, so let us begin, and this time around it's mostly kind of setting the stage for what has been going on in the Premier League.

Down in England and, uh, how things shape up as we enter the last, uh, 2-ish months of the season, the business end of the campaign as I would like to refer to it. Arsenal do have a 9-point lead over Man City. Man City have drawn their last 2 while Arsenal have won their last 4 Premier League matches in a row. So I've been beating the drum for most of this season that I never really felt like City were consistent enough to win the title, and it feels like that is starting to become a, a real reality. So I'm really liking where Arsenal are at.

Kind of looking at the other end of the table, which will segue us into the, into the match of choice for this week. It's very competitive down there in that 18th, 17th, 16th, and then I'd go up to Leeds in 15th too. Just 3 points separate those 4 teams in fighting to stave off relegation. Seems odd to see Spurs and even Forrest down this, at this point. Yeah.

Forrest had a good season last year. So, you know, I, this Spurs team is going to get shaken up and puked out at some point. I look for a transition in management at some point. This has just been a disastrous season for them.

I, I don't— it's a lot harder to roster change. I don't know if the roster is the issue, uh, but for them to be just one or two positions out of relegation is quite, uh, yeah, quite the embarrassment. It's serious threat, and we've talked about it a little bit the past few weeks, but it is a serious threat that Tottenham go down, and that is frankly unbelievable given the budget they have compared to most of the league, um, given just, you know, their historical achievements. Um, regardless, we're seeing a big club get relegated this year, whether it be West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, Leeds. Um, West Ham going down would be crazy.

That's not a team that really belongs in the Championship, I would say. And no one has a divine right to not get relegated, but we are seeing 2 pretty huge clubs, huge brands of the Premier League, that are quite literally fighting for their lives in, in the Premier League. Which has been an interesting storyline to date. Yeah. So let's just get into the match that we had highlighted for this week.

And that would be Liverpool v Spurs. Strangely enough, this was a good match. It was, engaging. It wasn't at times, it was, it, it was never boring to me to watch.

We had some pretty good moments in this one. So we'll just kick it off with the first 18th minute. Sova Sly with a free kick. Goal for Liverpool, 1-0. Well, well-crafted free kick.

If I Yeah. You know, in his 5th free kick goal of the season. Yeah. So he's pretty phenomenal. Pretty hot in that, that free kick position.

Yeah. That is spectacular. He's a good player regardless. I mean, he's one you always have to keep your eye on. He's, he's always around the ball.

He's, he's dynamic. Um, so yeah, I did. That was not surprising. Liverpool goes up 1-0 in the 18th minute.

I just, I'll just run down here. 36th minute, we had a really good save by the Liverpool keeper on a strike from Gakpo, which could have an inch or two either way could have easily gone in. So good defense by Liverpool.

45th minute right before the end of the half.

Richarlison? Yeah. Oh, nailed it. And I always spell these names phonetically for those of you who are listening because I can't— if you saw the number of consonants that are in some of these names, you wouldn't be able to pronounce them. So nearly heads in a goal on the 45th.

But not to be. And then in stoppage time, the same. So Richarlison had 2 shots at the end of this first half to try to make something happen. And it, it didn't really. Yeah.

I felt like Spurs made a pretty good account of themselves throughout the entire match, given the fact that they had lost their last 4 in a row. Uh, the manager they brought in, Igor Tudor, has had a horrible time of it. Um, so far they have a huge injury issue. Um, but they made a good account of themselves away to Liverpool, which is never easy, never ideal. Um, and I don't know how much to put on, on Liverpool just being— can I say just it not that good.

Um, I feel like they have just regressed so massively this season. I mean, we're talking about the defending champion. I think some people have, have largely forgotten about that because it's, it's been Arsenal versus Man City this season and Liverpool have never really been in it. But 21 points back in 5th place. So yeah, they're just, they're playing mediocre football at this point.

Yeah. I guess there wasn't a whole lot to happen in the second half because my notes go from that 45th minute in the first to 90th. Yeah. I mean, there wasn't a whole lot of clear-cut chances. I felt like the play was fairly open.

We had this Rio Ingamoa kid. Kid, literally a kid, he's 17 years old, for Liverpool. Um, not someone I've been super familiar with this season. I, I won't sit here and say I've watched a lot of Liverpool. When I, when I watch the Premier League this year, I tend to skew towards Arsenal or City just because of that title race.

But this Rio Ingamoa had a number of good opportunities to score. He looked pretty dangerous. So I like the looks of him. It seems like Liverpool are cycling through some of the, the old guard of years past and getting some new blood in. And Spurs did have— I had a parentheses note here that they had quite a few opportunities in the second half.

Well defended. Yeah. And there's not a whole lot you can do about that. But What you can do is in the 90th minute where Richarlison can actually score a goal and quite a good one actually. Yeah, a very well-taken strike.

Uh, not a whole lot Alisson could do for Liverpool. And I think a 1-1 was probably fair in this one on with the run of play. Um, Liverpool 1.7 expected goals to Tottenham's 1.18. Uh, Tottenham did outshoot Liverpool in terms of shots on goal.

Um, I think a performance that perhaps Tottenham could build on— I think some confidence for this team would go a long way, especially when you're in a relegation battle. You just want to feel like you can, you can win, even if maybe you don't get that win against Liverpool. You want to feel like you have the opportunity to get wins, uh, behind you. Um, and I think maybe, maybe, maybe Tottenham can sort of use this as a stepping stone.

Funnily enough, um, Sunday Tottenham play Nottingham Forest, who are down in the relegation zone, or right above the relegation zone. So that is kind of, um, like a relegation almost playoff in a sense. That's going to be a huge one for their season. Yeah, well, that'll be one to maybe watch. Uh, I still have a— I struggle with the schedules.

Sometimes I get up on a Saturday and there's, there's matches on USA, or same, same thing on Sunday. Probably could do a little bit better job of tracking those, but Saturday and Sundays are also, uh, pretty busy days for us here. And, and this is— we had the time change here in the US and they don't do it till a few weeks later. So the matches have been starting later the past couple weeks, which kind of hurts in a way because Saturday, Sunday morning, like fairly early morning, you're not like 8 o'clock. Yeah.

You're not really doing anything. You can otherwise, you can, yeah, you can hang out for a couple hours. Yeah. But they haven't been starting till like 11, right? Right.

Which is, that's your often prime, prime hours. So often doing shit yard work or some yard work. We had massive cleanup here because right before we had 50 mile an hour winds last week, the farmer decided to cut his corn. Winter corn. So, um, I had heaps and heaps of corn stalks to deal with.

It was very riveting radio, I understand. But so that's what happened. Let me put a bow on this segment.

Yes or no, yay or nay, flip of a coin, do Tottenham get relegated? Um, I think they're gonna hang on. I say that because I've had a soft spot for this team for some reason. I say no. I think the 3 teams that you see in the relegation zone will be relegated.

I think Nottingham Forest also survives relegation. I'm making those predictions with having no idea how many matches are left to play. 8. Okay. I'll stick with it.

Okay. I think who you see in relegation is who's going to be relegated. I honestly, I would almost agree with you. I feel pretty— obviously the bottom 2 are a done deal. I struggle to think that West Ham are going to get relegated, but they might.

They actually might. I think the sort of wildcard is what Leeds do in 15th. 3 points ahead of West Ham right now, but I think they might actually be the team most likely to go down just because they are newly promoted. Um, and I don't know, West Ham have enough talent, I think, to keep themselves afloat. And I don't really think Spurs are going to get relegated.

Now check in in a few weeks on that prediction, but sure. Uh, so that's where I'm at with it. Uh, as for the title race, I'm not by any means gonna say it's, it's a wrap. Um, Arsenal and Man City actually play, funnily enough, in the League Cup Final this Sunday, so keep your eyes peeled on that match. That's 12:30 PM Eastern Time here in the States.

I think that's gonna be a cracking fixture. I am going to tip Arsenal to win that. But we'll see. I like where Arsenal are at. Dare I say that this— I don't know who was in the booth for this Liverpool-Spurs match, but one of the commentators was the most articulate and best at actually saying fucking players' names so that I could understand them.

Uh, it was not like the usual— it was not the usual guys, but whoever this guy was, he called a magnificent match. I've heard both of them before. The other one, I think it's Jim Proudfoot, the color guy, I believe. Uh, I'm trying to see if maybe Google will tell us. Uh, it doesn't look like I'm gonna be able to find it easily, but yeah, I've heard both of them and they're— I like them.

Yeah, I mean, I was pleasantly surprised with the fact that I didn't have to rewind something 6 times to understand what somebody's fucking name was. I didn't know that was, uh, an issue for you, but well, I try my best. Yeah, but, uh, whoever was in the booth for this one did a fantastic job. So, all right, all right, so I will say before we move to the world of racing that the title race in Scotland has gotten tighter because Hearts lost to Kilmarnock over the weekend. Yes, 1-0.

Uh, Celtic got a win against, uh, Motherwell 3-1, and Rangers won against St. Mirren. So quickly, the top 3 in Scotland With 8 matches to go. It's Hearts on 63, Celtic on 61, Rangers on 60. So mathematically couldn't get much tighter than that. Well, they're giving us a good, a good end to, um, the campaign here.

So yeah, yeah, couldn't, couldn't have, couldn't have hoped for anything more. And frankly, Celtic has in the last 2 to 3 matches has played, dare I say, a bit above the caliber that they've played this year. So hopefully that continues. And listen, I'll be happy for a 2 finish. Obviously you want to win it, but I'll take a 2.

Yeah. This season's been so wild for Celtic that you almost feel like second is probably what they deserve. Um, but I, I don't know, I couldn't really split these 3 teams either way. Hearts are on okay form. It's really going to come down to the split here in a few weeks, so, uh, keep your eyes peeled for that.

You might witness history if you are lucky. Um, let's move now to the world of racing. I think our Formula 1 segment's going to be pretty hefty, so I do want to talk IndyCar briefly, um, with this new event in Arlington. Did you— were, were you able to catch this race? I did, I did watch it.

I don't re— I believe it was a replay, um, but yeah, I watched it. Okay, so I guess Let's start with the fact that Palou was dethroned by Kyle Kirkwood on merit. An on-track pass for the lead on a street course is not something you see a lot. Um, Andretti with the fastest cars, and despite their best efforts to shoot themselves in the foot in pit lane every time, Kirkwood ends up getting the win. So I thought it was Pretty good race.

It was a great race. And this series continues to become more popular. They had a record-setting viewership for this one. Um, 1.8 million and change people tuned in for this. I think what Fox has done is pretty, uh, pretty fantastic because what they're doing is They're, they're putting this race, these IndyCar races on right before NASCAR race.

And people who watch NASCAR and who follow NASCAR, let's say you're having people over or you're in a tailgate scenario, guess what you're putting on? The feed. IndyCar race. Yeah. So you're going to put on the IndyCar race because that's what, that's what's fucking on.

And then what happens is, is people who watch NASCAR go, Well, that's pretty cool. Or, you know, what, what's the deal with these cars? Why do they go so fast? Who are these guys? Yeah, I think Fox is doing a number of things pretty well, um, outside of their broadcast, which can be clunky, but their promotion of the series is 100 times better than what NBC did.

We had races on Peacock. If your race is only on a streaming service and you're not kidding, you're not F1, uh, you're not— no one's gonna watch. Also, they are using their other assets to create these fairly marquee events. We know their partnership with NASCAR during this time of year, so the Phoenix doubleheader Makes a lot of sense. You get a lot of asses in seats at the venue and eyeballs on TV.

Then Fox's relationship with the NFL and the Cowboys, Jerry Jones— let's have an event there. It seemed to be, um, well put together, like it was of quality. Now we know some street circuits in IndyCar can not be so great. Um, so they're using the assets available to them. Use your relationship with the NFL to create these events, get people to watch.

It was a— Scott McLaughlin said it was the best street course he's ever driven on. So take that for what it's worth. I think there's a couple of things that are happening here, and we've touched on this before in the past. Number one, the popularity of Formula 1 vis-à-vis Netflix has created a demand for open-wheel racing regardless of what the series is. So people who found Formula 1 through Netflix are now going, oh, well, there's this other open wheel series, which it's totally different, but you still have McLaren there.

Yeah. There's still have names there, stuff you'll recognize, stuff that you're going to recognize. And I think it's finally coming to that fruition too. You know, people who are race fans will find races to watch and maybe people did not understand IndyCar up until the fact that it's kind of blended in now with this NASCAR thing. Um, with that being said, this race was fairly compelling.

I mean, we had— listen, I, you know me and anyone who beats Palou is a friend of mine. So I appreciate the fact that Kyle Kirkwood was able to do that on speed alone. Correct. Malukas. So what I'm seeing from him is a lot of promise.

The car's fast. Position is good. They just need to get strategy locked down. Yeah. And once they do, they're going to win races, but it's going to take some time for them to do that.

Yeah. Penske is not— street circuits we know are not Penske's MO. No, but still, 6th is good. And he moved up 3 positions. From qualifying.

Andretti just— they have street circuits of any kind just completely figured out, it seems. They, they just know exactly what they have to do to set up their car to be as fast as possible, which means faster than anyone else. Despite the fact— I mean, I could not believe how does every single time through your 3-car operation that a car comes through pit lane, you find a way to fuck up your pit stop. How the hell does that happen every time? They had, if I recall, it was wheel nut issues, wheel nut issues, shit falling off.

Right. But it was every car. Yeah. It, well, okay. So that speaks to the caliber of the 6 guys.

I don't know how many come over the wall. Maybe it's 7, doesn't matter. Now you just have to start thinking about that. How do we get better as a team coming over the wall? And people, they discount this so much.

Yeah. It's very, very short period of time. Not like F1. F1 doesn't count because they don't fucking do anything. Well, they don't refuel or anything.

They just change tires. Yeah. So it's possible to do a pit stop in 2.5 or 3 seconds or whatever. You know, when you, when you're fueling a car, it, it's different. So now these teams have to start looking at how do we get better over the wall?

And if it's something with the gun, if it's something with the nut, I don't know. We, we were at Mid-Ohio 2 or 3 years ago standing over as glorious as Mid-Ohio's pits are. It's a barn, but they give you a platform that you can walk on. And look up over each stall, we witnessed the wheel nut person. Do you remember the one?

There was a gal there that had her own toolbox, her own shit. All she was doing is like greasing the nut and, you know, making sure that everything was as it should be. Mm-hmm. So that, that's the kind of detail that these guys get down to is That wheel nut has to work and that gun has to work. And if unfortunately, if it doesn't, then that costs you valuable seconds.

And sometimes it's 3 seconds in a pit stop over that can kill you. Yeah. And we literally saw it in action the first pit cycle. Marcus Ericsson, who was leading the race at the time and finished 4th, uh, he comes in right in front of Palou. So they basically come in the exact same time, and you're watching and you go, Palou's gonna come out ahead of them because the 10 crew never— they don't make mistakes.

If you want to beat Alex Palou on a road or street course, you just have to be faster. Because when, when can you think of a time where he goes in pit lane and, oh, and a nut goes flying or something's wrong with the fuel pump. Never. Right. And Andretti, that's almost every time.

So it cost Erickson maybe the win. And we thought maybe it was going to cost Kirkwood a good spot, but his car was so damn fast, right, that it didn't matter. And, and that's something that Andretti is going to have to look at. We have to get better over the wall. And that's just what it comes down to.

So this, this race was, these races this year for IndyCar have been good ones. I like the fact that we're mixing the field up a little bit. I like the fact that, you know, our 2 stalwart drivers, you know, Palou finishes 2nd, fine. Pato O'Ward, 5th. I like that.

I like the fact that Will Power was in 3rd place.

Let's see. Ray Hall, you know, geez, these guys. Louis Foster in 13th.

AJ Foyt, actually, their rookie driver, Caio Collet, finishes over Santino Ferrucci. Yeah, that was a good drive for him. Very good drive. It was. Um, yeah, so we'll just, uh, continue to watch.

Let's see, I'll click on the schedule here. We've got March 20th. So everyone, spoiler alert, you're gonna have to watch IndyCar in April because you ain't gonna have any F1. Yeah, and, and what's funny is April is the lightest month for IndyCar. Uh, I think there's technically one race.

There is IndyCar or, uh, Indy 500 testing as well. So that does take up a— yeah, and you can watch it on YouTube. So the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach is April 19th, which is a crown jewel. That'll be the last. That's it until they go to Indy.

They go to May, go to Indy and start testing, and then it's 30 days there. But still, that's— this is the heart of IndyCar is May. Yeah. So take all that stuff in, watch all those practices, watch those test sessions, watch qualifying. I mean, there's no better qualifying in motor racing than IndyCar or the 500.

That is the best qualifying you'll see, in my opinion. 100%. We do have one race interim, March 29th. Barber. Yeah, in Alabama.

In Alabama, first road course of the year. So yeah, um, practices on Friday, March 27th, uh, practice 2, that's, uh, March 28th, and then qualifying same day, race on Sunday. So a week off for both of these series. F1 goes to Japan, I believe, that same weekend, and then they will have nothing until May, right? Um, which I guess— do you, you just want to, well, yeah, cycle into that real quick?

Yeah, let's, let's get after F1. Uh, let's start with the Chinese GP. Okay, let me— can I just start with this question? And I know your answer and my answer too, but You would think the world was ending with F1 the way some people on social media are talking about these new regulations.

Ruined. F1 has been ruined. Artificial racing. The battery era is terrible. Active aero this ruined.

Ruined? F1 has been ruined by the, the 50/50 hybrid split. I know where I stand. I think I know where you stand. Is F1 been— have they ruined the series with these new regulations?

You can go back historically to every regulation change in F1 and you're going to get the same response. No one likes new. No one likes their cheese moved. Okay. Are you, are you familiar with the book Who Moved My Cheese?

Uh, I don't think I am actually. Okay. Well, Google it. No one likes change. Yeah.

Basically they have not ruined the series. They have not ruined F1 racing. They've made it better in a way.

Yes. Every time a car changes, they have to figure out a way to make it work. And this is why. Okay. So would you rather it just be McLaren number 1, 2 for the next 22 years?

No. Yeah. You need, you need to have this parity. You need to have this stuff happen where they're like, okay, no, We're throwing all that shit out from last year. You guys all knew and everyone's trying to figure it out.

And it's, I think it makes it more interesting because listen, we had, I've been more entertained this year than last year. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 cars DNF. Yeah. Well, one was fucking maxed for Stafford. Yeah.

Well, and we've seen, this is tangential, but I will circle back to it. To the main point. But clearly some teams have completely fucked up with the development of their vehicles. Um, Aston Martin, McLaren. And maybe that's strange because they took the best aero person in the entire world.

But yeah, it's not the air, it's not the aero, it's the fucking drivetrain, the Honda GP. It's the power unit.

Piastri and Norris— Piastri and Piastri. Piastri. Sorry. Piastri and Lando Norris don't even start this race. Oscar Piastri has not raced a single lap of a Grand Prix race.

So that— what does that tell you? Well, he binned the first one, which was an electrical error. And then this same deal, electrical issue. Listen, we've, we've seen this on the Red Bull car. Um, I think it was the first GP of the season where Verstappen's regenerative, regenerative, stupid word, braking system.

Yes. Locked up the rear axle, locked it up. So yeah, this is a new, this is a thing where they're going to have to figure it out. So I want— what I think is funny, not funny, but clearly there's a team or 2 who have, who are miles ahead of everyone else. I think it's a little funny given the insane setups of these teams that in— we're talking F1 teams, the factory, hundreds of people work for these teams.

Like How do you fuck up so badly? Like, Aston Martin is a team that— and Williams are the same way— and Alpine, which they've been pretty competitive this year so far. You packed it in last year because you wanted to focus on 2026. Williams couldn't even bring a car to the shakedown in Barcelona. Aston Martin was just hoping they could finish races the first week, which no and no again.

And you've got a car that vibrates so much in the Aston Martin that Alonso can't drive it and Newey's worried about nerve damage. Sounds like porpoising. What the fuck? How is that? Listen, that— okay, so that— what this speaks to is the raw technicality of this sport.

And people don't realize that these are aircraft on rubber tires.

So there's a ton of stuff. I can't even— you can't even delve into the amount of shit and research and stuff that happens at the factory level to get these things to perform. Now, That car that we left, that chassis we left last year had years of development. Yeah. Years of painstaking research.

Well, that's why last year the grid was so tight. Well, and so that's, that is F1. Okay. So we run a, we run a chassis for X number of campaigns. Everything ends up being the same every goddamn last time year, like every last GP.

And then they do this, they mix it up, they switch it up. And oh, well, shit. Now fucking McLaren can't figure it out and this team can't figure it out. Well, that's the genesis of this new car. But guess what?

Mercedes. Yeah. Figured it out. Dare I say Ferrari? And I'll go out on a fucking hooker here and say our friends over at Haas have a guy who finished 5th.

Yeah. He's ahead of Max Verstappen in the— That makes me super happy because I think the Gazoo Racing part of Haas is going to carry this team into a mid-level ship, maybe possibly even a podium. So I do want to circle back. The, the active aero and the battery in this, this idea that it's artificial racing.

What do current fans of F1 want. Well, I'm confused at what they want because F1 creates a regulations, uh, rulebook where it encourages overtaking with push— I almost said push to pass because that's basically what it is.

Um, creates a regulation system where there's a button that gives you a fuckload more horsepower. It is maybe a little overpowered, but drivers are going to learn how to use it to their advantage and not become just caught out right after they use it. And you have the active aero with the wing and the front nose and all this artificial racing. Okay, that's great. But what was push to pass?

What was the KERS system? Would you rather it be in the '90s where the best team won each race by a minute And the team at the back of the pack was fucking 10 laps down. And every qualifying, you knew the best team was going to be 1-2 no matter what. What the fuck do you want? Yeah.

Everyone always shits on change, rule changes and technology. So what do you think it was like for F1 when the first turbocharged power unit came in? What these— I don't want to call them buttons— what these systems do is give the driver the ability to call more horsepower to the power unit when they need it. Now, what people don't understand is with that push-to-pass or power button, you still have to modulate. You still have to make sure the car is going to stay on track, that you're not going to break the rear end loose, that you're not going to kill the car.

You know, these are— it's all to me, it's— I don't have a problem with any of it. And Active Aero, the only difference between Active Aero and DRS is zones. So we don't have zones anymore. I think there's still rules about when you can deploy that. There's zones, from what I can gather, there's zones for the, uh, the, the boost essentially.

I'm not sure with the Active Aero, but, um, I guess I would have to do more research. But I, yeah, I mean, I don't know what, what— it's not artificial racing. What was DRS? You know, DRS was artificial racing. So when you come within a second of another car, you get a fucking advantage.

And the only reason they did that is because F1 was so terrible to watch because you couldn't get a car to pass another car. So what they've done now is they've brought these other systems in to keep it competitive, keep it, you know, to the fact where you can pass somebody. Yeah. And I think a lot of this is exacerbated by the fact that Mercedes are clearly the team to beat. In our— but like, okay, so do you want to go back to 2023 where Red Bull won all but one race?

Okay, so this is clearly a moon cycle series. Yeah, so you're going to have the domination of Red Bull, you know, who followed the domination of Mercedes, and then to some degree, albeit a short time period, but McLaren. The domination of McLaren. And now we're— I look at it more like this.

I would rather see a kid, a 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli, who is going to be probably pretty tough to beat this year. It'll be between him and George Russell. In that Mercedes. And George, there's no other person on this grid besides George who deserves it more. He's hung around and been that 3-4 guy forever.

I say so, so be it. You guys figured it out. And, you know, if, if our Haas team can come up and be a truly not, not a 9-10. Yeah. But like a mid-pack team.

The door, I think, is sort of kind of open for, for a Haas or an Alpine to sneak a podium. What— think of it this way. You have— we saw some pretty great racing between— mind you, not, uh, artificial, not, not branded by the, the button and the active aero— some great racing between Hamilton and Leclerc throughout this race. They were going wheel to wheel, you know, just on-track merit the whole time. But envision a scenario where for now, I think, I think Ferrari is going to close that gap at some point this season, whether or not they can overtake like completely Mercedes.

No, but you know what? I'm okay with Ferrari being back in the hunt for 2-3. Think about it this way. If you have Bearman or let's say a Gasly kind of hanging around that top 3. Hamilton, Leclerc go wheel to wheel, maybe they shitcan each other and all of a sudden there's a Haas.

It's gonna happen. There's a Haas or there's an Alpine or who knows, because Red Bull clearly haven't— you know, they're gonna be inconsistent. I think McLaren right now are trying to get a car that can, you know, they can park on the grid. Uh, let alone, you know, finish Grand Prix races in the top 5. So I think there's room for some interesting podiums, uh, this season.

And just, I think it's been a compelling start to the year. Yes. Looking at the teams out of points in this race, Audi I won't count because they're still trying to figure their shit out, but we had Racing Bulls, Cadillac, I won't count because they're trying to figure their shit out. Aston Martin, was that what you're referring to? Red Bull, 2 Astons, 2 McLarens.

Yeah, I mean, so anything, everything's up for grabs here and these teams have to figure their shit out. And I'm sorry, but if McLaren can't grid a car because they have a technical issue, then that's on you. And if you go back to the very first season of the Netflix series, they were doing the same fucking thing. They were having trouble. They couldn't figure it out.

They couldn't get a car together. They couldn't get a power unit to work. So they will either transcend this or they're gonna end up in the shit can.

So Kimi Antonelli gets the race win, uh, first Italian driver on the top step of the podium since 2006, which was, uh, certainly a big moment. It's always nice, it's always very cool to see a driver get their first win. We don't get to see it a lot recently in, in the era of, uh, Max Verstappen and McLaren, um, but I love seeing a driver get their first win. You know, it clearly meant a lot to him, and I think if he can pull together some consistency, we can have a serious title fight between these 2 Mercedes drivers. And I'm You know what, I'm, I'm ready for that, and I refuse to use this stupid I'm here for it.

Please. You don't like that? I don't. Regardless, I would love to see Mercedes and Ferrari battle this out, um, and, you know, give a few people in the interim Like 4 or 5, 6 guys. Yeah.

I'd love to see a little bit of Haas there. Um, you know, I think I've, I've, I always go into these with, with wide-eyed kid expectations. I'd love to see Cadillac do well, but I think they're gonna, they're gonna have to need, they need their time to grow. Yeah. It's not gonna be this year.

It probably won't even be next year. Right. Think about how many years Haas took to be even remotely competitive. If they could just get a few points, they probably— that'd be nice. I don't think they're going to score a point.

Yeah, maybe not. I mean, they're slow and they can finish a race, which is more than some teams can do or start a race. So there's that. But will they score a point? They're going to have to walk into it.

Yeah. I agree. I think what we're off to is just a really good campaign. And I guess we'll get into the fact that we're not going to see a race in April, which really sucks. Yeah.

But I can't, I can't control the rest of the fucking world and neither can you.

Um, so I'm sorry that we're gonna have to have no F1 racing in the month of April because we can't go to the fucking Middle East. Well, yeah, and, um, this is a sports podcast, so I'm gonna keep it on sports is what I will say to that as to why we can't race in the Middle East.

Uh, I mean, if you want to hit my line on social media, I will give you my opinion on why we can't. But regardless, there will be no racing in April because Bahrain in Saudi Arabia, uh, a little hot right now. So yeah, that's gonna be a no-go. It's unfortunate, which— yeah, it is. You know, when you have these new regulations, you want to keep momentum going, it's gonna be weird.

It's, it's kind of like— question is, you're gonna have 2 breaks basically. So there— is there gonna be a part fermé? Are they gonna not be able to work? I mean, how much shit are they going to be able to do? Nothing, probably.

Well, to my knowledge, they, they will be allowed to work, you know, at the factory, but not test. No, I don't think so.

Um, I don't know. And Formula 1 has been, you know, by choice, pretty— they haven't been— there's not a lot of detail. It's just the— they will— these events will not go ahead in April. So they haven't officially canceled them, but they're not gonna move them. I, I, I don't think that's gonna happen.

No, they can't. There's no room in the schedule. Yeah, there's too much logistics for flying shit around the world. If— is that conflict gonna end anytime soon? Probably not.

So, well, it's only been almost 50 years. So, so that, that it just, it does throw a weird element into the season because we'll have the next race next week and then A month off. Silence. Yeah. Um, with the new development, I think a lot of teams could benefit just, you know, from events, from having laps, time on track, learning more information about the car, their power units, their setups, everything like that.

We do have Japan though. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Next week. Um, and then it's radio silence. For the foreseeable future.

So we will save Japan for the next podcast.

But, um, yeah, so I don't know that I, I've enjoyed this first 2 rounds. I, the doom and gloom of some F1 fans, I think is a little puzzling to me. And I know people just like to complain. Everyone likes to bitch. Get over it.

I, I— if your problem is that one team right now is very good, then you're just watching the wrong series. You're just, you're watching the wrong sport, really. If you're concerned about the fact that there are push-to-pass buttons and active arrow, then go back to the Go back to the '80s. You can watch, uh, the F1 archives. I guess you can watch 2014 where Mercedes qualified 1-2, finished 1-2, and were 57 seconds ahead of the field every single race.

It's nobody wants— which, and you know, they've been dominant this year. That's not really what I'm trying to get at. I, I don't think it's Dominant for 3 campaigns. Weren't we saying when they announced the regulations however many years ago and leading up to the season, there will probably be 1, maybe 2 teams that at the beginning will have it figured out and beat the shit out of everyone else? Of course we did.

And it's reality. And now people wanna go, well, this racing's artificial. Mercedes have, they're cheating. They have illegal power unit. Because God, like, how could one team have it figured out?

Well, that's kind of how sports work. Yeah. You, um, you take whatever advantage, advantage that you can and you run with it. And the fans who are crying this, they, they, first of all, they don't have any fucking idea how a car works.

I believe. Um, I don't think Active Arrow has anything to do with it. Push to Pass, nothing to do with it either. You still have to strategize and run the race.

So whatever. Yeah. I'm, I don't know. I just, like I said, I find that, that reasoning to be a little puzzling. So I think that'll do it for this show unless you have anything else to do.

Uh, I thought it was a pretty entertaining race. I don't, um, I don't know if, uh, NASCAR— Denny Hamlin won anything. Uh, the, the 23XI boys, uh, Reddick and Wallace, are still, um, 1 and 2 in the championship standings. So, uh, that is certainly something to pay attention to, but I, I, um, I don't know where they are this week. Look at schedule here.

Richmond, maybe? No, not Richmond. One of the mile and a halves, I think.

Perhaps it would be Sunday the 22nd, right? Yeah, uh, Goodyear 400 at Darlington. Oh, okay. That's— yeah, it's a mile and a half, but still pretty cool. Uh, IndyCar, F1 off.

We will have some soccer to discuss on the other side of this program, but I think for now that will do it. I'm seeing an alert for some madness. UNC and VCU knotted up with, uh, the end of regulation. I think that's going into overtime. So, uh, I am gonna shut this off and turn on the hoops, watch some TV.

All right. Uh, yeah, I don't know, I'm kind of digging this. It's all right, we'll see.

It almost sounds like, um, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Gonzalo Montiel, 25 years of age, his first ever World Cup as a starter.

For executive producer Richard Tanaka, this has been Tackling the Chicane, Studio 2520, copyright 2026.

Go Blue! We'll see you next time. Wow! That's incredible!