Scotland World Cup Qualifying 2026: Ireland Advance, Vegas GP

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And latest in motorsport and soccer. This is Tackling the Chicane.

Letting play continue. One last throw of the dice. It's all on this from Queenie Kelleher. Scales is up after it. Scales wins the header.

There's a chance! Oh, there's the goal! There's the goal! That's Troy Parrott! That is unbelievable!

He scored a hat-trick, and right at the death, Ireland have done it! I've never seen anything like it. Absolutely remarkable, right at the end. Hungary have been caught. They were hanging on, it seems like, for the whole night, certainly when it went 2-2.

This is just stunning. 3-2. The time is up. The referee has to finish the game. I've no voice left.

Just make sure it's not offside. I know that's the only thing we can say at the moment. Just make sure this is not offside. So safe to say we had one of the most spectacular international breaks maybe ever, certainly since starting this show. Um, obviously if you have listened to the program at all recently, you will have known that we are approaching a World Cup year in 2026, one in which will be hosted here in the United States along with Canada and Mexico.

And, um, many of the qualifying campaigns are drawing to an end. To get into the tournament, some in sort of more spectacular fashion than others. Um, but I wouldn't have thought a week ago that we would be on here and lead off with, with news from the Irish national football team as well as Scotland, which we'll discuss as well, um, which is crazy to think because last— was it last night or 2 nights ago? 2 nights ago, the United States beat Uruguay 5-1, which would have been like— that would have been the headline news, but it's been usurped, uh, rightfully so. So did that bring the U.S. team into the qualification round, or did not have to qualify?

Hosts do not have to qualify. Okay, but still, the win was It was a resounding win. I mean, beating Uruguay 5-1 is insane with a B team as well, uh, for the United States. Not at all a full-strength lineup. Yeah, so the Irish, uh, qualifier, I believe we, we watched.

So that was the one Sunday, um, and to, to give context to what actually happened in that clip there, Ireland needed, needed a win in Hungary to, uh, just survive to the playoff round of the qualification stage. They were not in contention for automatic qualification like Scotland were, and, um, they went into this international break needing 2 wins, one against Portugal. Now Portugal, you might know for having a guy called Cristiano Ronaldo. So Ireland miraculously beat Portugal at home in Dublin, uh, I believe it was, uh, Wednesday of last week. Uh, Cristiano Ronaldo also got sent off in that match.

He got 2 yellow cards, um, and there was a whole scene there, but Troy Parrott scored 2 goals there.

That was already sort of an unlikely result. Ireland are by no means a powerhouse in soccer. Um, I would say on paper, uh, not nearly as good as even the United States. But, um, they got a miraculous win there which set up a win and advance situation in Hungary, who were poised to move on. And again, on paper, a lot better than Ireland.

Um, Ireland went down in the 4th minute. Hungary scored in the 4th minute. Um, and you thought maybe the wind was sort of out of the sails by that point. Um, but it, it was just one of those things where they just never ever said die. Like, you know, The Goonies, they win a penalty in the first half to make it 1-1.

Then Hungary scored this absolutely insane goal. Another thing, it's just the goals that have, have happened. Yeah, uh, have been just off the charts. These qualify— qualifying matches have been the best of the best to watch. Um, you've got anticipation and drama and buildup and retaliation and red cards.

And just, it's— that's, for me, that's the best kind of European football. And I think, I think it puts into perspective too with these 2 matches just what actually qualifying to a World Cup means, especially over these countries that aren't traditional powerhouses, and sort of shows the importance of the tournament as a whole. I mean, the world truly does stop during these, these World Cups, and maybe the only event in the world that can really truly— you can really say unifies an entire planet. So to be a part of it is truly a, a huge deal. Yeah, and since you mentioned that, it kind of— I, I feel a little sad for people who have written this game off as Americans because they don't have the patience to watch or to get involved.

But what I would say is go to a Crew game or a Cincinnati game and you'll, first of all, you're going to like being in the stadium. It's much, much more engaging to watch in person than it is on TV. Yeah. And you're going to, you'll catch, you're, you'll catch a little bit of a virus to watch this stuff. Yeah.

It's still, thankfully I have you to help navigate through how do I watch? How do I follow? How do I? But if you join a group on social media that follows a particular team, they'll guide you through most of that. Yeah.

I don't let, the barrier to entry stop you from— I mean, I just can't even imagine having not even known that, for example, Scotland defeated Denmark in, in just unbelievable circumstances. But so Ireland, um, Troy Parrott, the clip we played, who scored— Ireland scored 5 goals in 2 matches, uh, all of which were scored by Troy Parrott. Of Dublin, Ireland. Um, and they walk it off with literally no time left on the clock in, in Hungary to advance to the playoff rounds. They now know they have to beat, uh, the Czech Republic and probably, uh, Denmark, uh, to make it to their first World Cup since 1994, which, uh, interestingly enough Do you know where the 1994 World Cup was?

Los Angeles? Yeah, it was in the United States. Uh, the final was in LA, um, that, uh, time around. I think this time it's going to be in New York. But yeah, so maybe a potential full circle moment there for Ireland.

So you mentioned 2 additional games that they have to when to get— so schedule-wise, are these going to be— those are in March. Okay, so March, there are no more international windows until March. All the qualifiers for the World Cup will be the rest. Um, there, I think 39 out of the 48 are in, so all the remaining spots will be decided in March, um, of which Ireland are now going to battle for a spot, uh, and obviously hope they get in. Um, we will see.

It's gonna be tough. It's gonna be very tough, obviously. But it— to say that they were gonna beat Portugal and then Hungary away, I don't think anyone in the world thought that was gonna happen. Yeah, they did it. So that was a great match.

And then obviously we'll, we'll get to the the other one that I, I didn't get to see the full match, but I did get to see the highlights. Um, but if you want to carry on, do you have anything else to say about that one? Yeah, I mean, I just— it's, it's nice to— it's, again, it's, it's nice to see a team win when you know it means so much to them. Now obviously Hungary had not been to a World Cup since the '80s, And, you know, on the flip side of the coin, they were incredibly distraught. I mean, they were seconds away from advancing at least to the playoffs.

So, you know, the highs and lows of sport. There really is just so much drama. And you're gonna see, because it's an expanded World Cup this time around, so more teams than ever are— have, have made it, um, many of which for the first time. And it just— the, the passion that these people from whatever country it is are going to bring over here is insane. And, and truly, it is— we are just happy we're here because many— like, for example, example, Curaçao qualified 2 nights ago from CONCACAF.

That is an island nation of 100,000 people. So that is truly one spectacular that they got in. But I mean, they'll just be here to party essentially. There's, yeah, there's no expectation for teams like that to do well. But no, but there's a huge deal there.

They made it to the dance. Exactly. It's sort of, you know, you know, when you see like an Akron make it to the, to March Madness, it's kind of like that, you know, you know. You don't actually expect them to do anything, but that they are— the fact that they're there. Yeah, there.

Um, but for a nation like Scotland to get into them— the first international football game ever played involved Scotland, Scotland versus England, back in the 1870s. Um, many— it's been said, and I— it's kind of hard to disagree, that Scotland is essentially the most football-crazy nation to have historically a pretty shitty national team. So think about, you know, we see it week in and week out because we cover Scottish football, but the passion for the game there is truly kind of off the charts. But their national team historically is, is bad. They have never made it out of the group stage of, um, a major tournament.

So whether that be the Euros or the World Cup, they've never made it out of the groups, um, in 150 years of existence. Now obviously tournaments haven't been around that long, but, um, they have not made the World Cup since 1998. So we're talking about, uh, 28 years when 2026 rolls around. So there are people, you know, born, uh, out of college, started careers, started families, 28 years old, had never seen Scotland play in a World Cup. Yeah.

And you could see that, um, In the— yeah, I didn't— like I said, I saw highlights, but you could see that in the shots of the crowd. Um, this one was— and you can obviously— you're going to be able to add a lot more to this particular match if you're off the other one. I, I don't know if you are, that's fine. Um, but, uh They scored first, which that shocked everyone. Yeah, it, it's just weird how sport works sometimes.

It really is, because Scotland were, you know, playing Denmark in this one knowing that if they won, they would have— they will advance to the World Cup. So both teams knew this going in. But the, the match before, Scotland loses to Greece. Now Greece are not good. They lose to Greece.

Denmark is playing at home Belarus. Now Belarus are one of the worst European national teams, so like you would think Denmark would just stroll it. They draw with, uh, Belarus at home. So basically Scotland has this loss, but they don't lose any ground. And the whole World Cup qualifying campaign, which I'm so glad the United States are not involved in because I— this is basically a similar story of how the US qualified in 2022.

But Scotland had just kind of been tripping over themselves, but it kept just kind of working out for them to the point where they would play shitty, but maybe they'll get a draw or a win or lose, but someone else in the group loses or draws, and it just happened to keep working out for them. In this particular match, had it been a 1-1 draw, would Denmark have advanced? Yeah. Yes. So Scotland had to win.

Okay. So Scotland scores the first goal and obviously you'll have the time signature there. That was in the 4th minute, and that was Scott McTominay. Obviously that sent everyone to the moon. So that is legitimately one of the best goals I think I've ever seen.

Was that the bender? That was— no, that was the bicycle. Oh, the bicycle. Yeah. So, okay, another thing about this game is there Scotland scores 4 times.

3 of them you could put up for goal of the year, I would say. Miracle, miracle shot. Well, it's just insanity. Yeah. So I, that was incredible.

And then a bit of wind taken out of the sails, not too much further down the line. I think just within a couple of minutes. Yeah. So later in the first half, like I said, Scott McTominay, if you, if you're listening, just, you have to pull up the highlights to this game. It's a see it to believe it.

Type, type of goals, especially the first one. Um, people, however much stock you want to put into xG, expected goals, that shot was graded at 0.02 expected goals out of 1. Yeah, all— every goal scored in this game was, was pretty impressive.

Um, how do you think that the game went when Denmark scored their first goal, only knowing that all they had to do was put one on the board and this match could draw out. Yeah. And they would advance. I would say, and I was texting a friend who was watching, and I basically was like, if Scotland not go down in this case, but if they concede, I don't see him coming back from that because Scotland, notoriously similar to the US, and it's a lot of teams' problems, but notoriously not blessed with great attacking options. So I knew and sort of thought that it would be a struggle for them to score goals, um, and it proved to be until a later event happens.

Um, but yeah, uh, a clumsy challenge from Andy Robertson right on the edge of the box. There's a VAR check to see if it's in the box. The ref says it is. 1-1. Uh, and like, like we said, all Denmark needed was a draw.

So I thought Denmark are gonna score and then they're just gonna sit back and Scotland are not gonna be able to. So for my intents and purposes and those who are listening, who— can you speak to the starting lineups for both of these teams possibly? Or, I mean, I don't— we don't need to go into the weeds, but are we going to see names that are familiar? Uh, yeah, most definitely. If you are a Scottish football fan or if you're a fan of the Premier League too, Denmark has a lot of talent in that respect as well.

Um, but we will certainly know some of these names. Um, but both of these teams complete full-strength lineup. Uh, no, I mean, you have to. It's a must-win game. So, um, for Scotland, Craig Gordon is in goal.

He is the Hearts goalkeeper, longtime Hearts goalkeeper, um, who you would certainly be familiar with. Andy Robertson Uh, is Liverpool's longtime left back who plays for Scotland as well. Um, John McGinn of Aston Villa. Ben Doak played, uh, he had a cup of coffee with Celtic before moving to Liverpool. He now plays for Bournemouth.

Scott McTominay is a very interesting case, um, and the best player on the Scottish national team for my money, um, and scored the bicycle kick He played for Man United for a number of seasons and was basically hounded out of that club because he was seen as not good enough, um, during one of their worst eras. He moves to Napoli in Serie A in Italy last year. In his first season there, he wins the title with Napoli. And wins Italian Most Valuable Player. Scott McTominay, the Scottish lad.

So Scotland certainly do have a lot of talent, but it, it's thin up top. Uh, but you also will— you'll know Kieran Tierney of Celtic. Um, he is, uh, comes off the bench in this one. But Denmark Some names you may be familiar with: Rasmus Højlund, who used to play for Man United, now for Napoli. Uh, Kasper Schmeichel, you might know, in goal.

Uh, who will get to that, who pops up in a bit. He does have a part to play in this match. Yes. Um, Christian Norgaard plays for Arsenal. Uh, Christian Eriksen, longtime Tottenham player.

So yeah, I mean, these are 2 pretty talented teams on paper. Denmark is, I would give the advantage to, but obviously you don't play the game on paper. So yeah, so this would be akin to some of the finest if you had an NFL.

It's not like the Pro Bowl or anything because It just doesn't seem as important, but it would be like that where you've got your best right and left tackle, your best wide receivers, your best quarterback.

Yeah. So, so we're 1-1 and then I'm trying to think back to when the red card comes. So that was in about the 50-odd minute, 50s minutes at this point. I'm listening to this game on the radio, uh, through an app on my phone because I was driving home from a work thing. Um, and, um, yeah, Denmark, I would say fairly unfortunately get a red card.

If you go back and watch the tackle, it's, um, there's not much in it. The player's already on a yellow. Is it a foul? Is it not? You give the referee a decision to make anytime you make contact with the player and not the ball.

Um, probably a little harsh, but no doubt about it, that completely changes the momentum of the game because all of a sudden Scotland have a man advantage, and a team that maybe isn't super blessed with its attacking talent, not traditionally known for scoring a ton of goals, all of a sudden can play on the front foot because they were pinned back the entire match up until that point. So, all right, so sitting at 1-1, and then where do we go from there? So that's when, um, some key substitutions are made. Uh, for one, Ben Doak, you'll remember, goes off in the first half with an injury, and a guy named Kenny McLean comes onto the pitch, who, much like Kasper Schmeichel, will pop up later in the narrative here. Um, not super well loved by many Scottish football fans.

Uh, we'll get to that. But 2 guys come on the park One named Lawrence Shankland, who you might know from Hearts, the, uh, arguably, and I would say right now probably the best striker in the Scottish Premiership right now. And a guy named Kieran Tierney, who of course needs really no introduction at this point. Um, 2 attack-minded substitutions from Steve Clarke, which obviously showed, okay, we're going for it. Um, 79th minute rolls around, Scotland get a corner, and Warren Shankland gets his, uh, well, his chest on the ball, and it's 2-1 Scotland.

And then at that point you're thinking, well, that's, that's the dagger. All the life is going to be taken out of Denmark. They're down to 10 men. Um, but the thing with the Scottish national team Um, much like a team we know that play in brown and orange, it's never ever ever ever done until it's done. And, uh, Scotland have a very long and proud history of making a mess of these kind of opportunities, and, uh, it looked like maybe it would have— was going to go that way.

Yeah, um, what comes next? So at that point, I, I think naturally Scotland maybe sort of lets off the gas a little bit, uh, which I guess makes sense. But certainly concentration goes bust because not even 5 minutes later Uh, I believe Jeremy Dorgu— I, I think that's his name. I know it's Dorgu, his last name. Um, equalizes for Denmark on— he's basically not marked in the box and just has all this time in the world to, to score.

2-2. That was, that was a blow. But I don't know, I, I, I, at this point I was actually watching the match and I was like, I still think Scotland are gonna at this, you have to throw everything at the match, right? So I— there were going to be opportunities to score. Um, it was just a matter of could you get one off that would challenge a keeper or something like that.

Um, but of course, you know, I can't even imagine— this was played in Scotland— you— the, the amount of heads that dropped when that Denmark goal goes in, you're— I mean, we know, we know the story. It's, it's here we go again. How can we possibly fuck this up again? Um, I, I always thought, thought back to, um, the era where Ohio State dominated Michigan in the rivalry, and it seemed like Michigan would just create new ways to lose. That particular game.

And Scotland since 1998 had been finding new ways to not qualify. So you can only imagine the, the feeling in the building at that point. Yeah.

What happens next? All right, well, I have another audio enhancement. Uh, McLean back in, it comes. Ferguson's head up, given away. But it breaks the tyranny.

History! Oh, it's getting off! History for Scotland and Keenan Tierney! He's the hero with an absolute piledriver that has surely taken Scotland to North America! Surely that's it done now.

So Kieran Tierney gets his boot on a ball that comes, deflects off of a Denmark defender, and just— this is video game stuff. Just the finesse, the bend, unsavable rocket. Yeah, 3-2. What I remember distinctly is The, the 2 guys for Denmark were in the box. They almost backed.

It felt like they swung away from the ball. I think it was so as not to test getting a handball, possibly. And because they were pretty high. Yeah. At that point.

But I remember I, I watched it 2 or 3 times on the YouTube clip. And just watching that ball have the perfect bend and watching those 2 Denmark defenders that were in the box, it almost was like they swung away from it. It was, that's, yeah, it was like you said, these are, this is a 9-minute thing that everyone should watch because every single goal was just beautifully struck. On both sides. So 3-2, right?

And yeah, at that point Scotland were going through. Um, the referee had added 6 minutes onto the match. Now Scotland celebrate that goal for a pretty long time, obviously, and the match just kept going on and on and on and on. And it always happens like this when your team is trying to hold on to result I guarantee you the ref will add on 10 minutes. That's just the way it seems to go.

Yeah. In, in these type of situations. Denmark. So we're talking 6 minutes added on. We're 2 minutes over that.

Denmark are pressing and pressing. They now need a goal to advance. Everyone is screaming, you know, blow the whistle, blow the whistle. I mean, Steve Clark's yelling and screaming. And then we have this.

So Schmeichel came way out of the box and he was in a bad position. Obviously they were a man down. And by some happenstance, this guy takes a shot from— so here's the thing about a goal like this is when you're wasting time, the last thing a coach would ever in the world want you to do is kick the ball away, ever. You need to just run to the corner flag and wait until the ref blows his whistle. So I can't even imagine the stroke that Steve Clark was having when he saw Kenny McLean swing his foot at a ball from mid— midfield.

Midfield. Midfield. Schmeichel was too far out of the box. Well, he was going up, I think, to try and get involved into the attack because they were throwing bodies up. But this thing just floated.

For seconds and he was so far out of the box that it just, it went over his head. Yeah, he chipped. It was a chip shot. And it was one of those things where most normally it may go left or right of the post. Usually goes about 20 yards.

Yeah. Or into the— I've seen David Beckham. Well, I was not alive, but David Beckham has a famous chip from midfield, but very, very rarely does it actually end in a goal from midfield. Uh, in fact, he was even in his half a little bit, but it was the, the classic no, no, no, yes situation. Like, what, what the hell are you doing?

I was watching videos of the, um, a podcast I watch, uh, or listen to, I guess, It's an American show, but one of the hosts is actually Scottish. He was at this game and he was describing how when people saw him swing his foot as if to shoot from midfield, there was an audible groan from the crowd because they were like, what the hell are you doing? And then the roar from you can kind of tell. You could kind of tell, especially like when I was watching live. He struck it and you're like, I— you know what, I think that might go in.

Yeah. And then it— of course it does. And I just— I don't— I've never seen an international football match quite like this one, um, with so much just excitement, so much just insane insanity. Um, outside of a World Cup, like, the only match that I could say that really comes close that I've watched is 2022's World Cup final. But like I said at the beginning of the show, I could never have imagined the excitement that would come.

I was like, oh, another international break. But it pays to pay attention sometimes, I guess. Yeah, and there you— so Scotland again, first World Cup since 1998. That's insane. For— we're— again, imagine there's no, no real comparison, but I don't know if there was like a— I don't know, there was a football, American Football World Cup, and the US just didn't make it for 30 years.

Yeah, because, you know, there's just so much passion for the sport, but their team just was never good enough, right? Okay, let's take a quick pause here. So we now know 39 of the 48 teams making it into this tournament. The same night, uh, Curaçao and Haiti and Panama made it from CONCACAF. Haiti has not been to a World Cup since the '80s.

I already said Curaçao has never been to a World Cup. So a lot of history being made in this tournament. Uh, there undoubtedly will be some absolute ass whoopings in this World Cup just with the expanded format. 6 teams at least from CONCACAF making it, which CONCACAF is very weak region.

So I say that's fine because the— I, I'd rather have these nations that, you know, it's a big deal for them to be there. That's part of the fun of the group stage. Do you think that we'll see any potential upsets, or that just remains to be seen because you don't know until you actually play the match? You know, teams will come onto the pitch, there might be an underdog, but all of a sudden they're playing so super well. I mean, there— or do you think this is going to be like a knockout?

No, no, there will be upsets. There always is. I mean, Saudi Arabia beat Argentina in the last World Cup. No one ever would have thought that. Reminder, Argentina won the whole fucking tournament.

So, uh, but There's— soccer is still a sport where the best team wins 98% of the time, um, especially in international. Like, I don't think you understand how— in the audience, some probably don't understand— just if Curaçao gets drawn against Portugal, there's not a gap that I could even describe in, in American sports that would even begin to show the disparity between those 2 teams. There will be some absolute ass kickings. And those are, uh, so how do they, how do they decide who plays whom? Well, it's a draw, which is December 5th.

Okay, so like it's, yeah, cards, cards in a box. Teams are seeded based off of a number I— it's not even worth going into. Sure. But teams are seeded. But yeah, it pretty much literally is put your hand in the bingo thing.

Like, certain teams are in certain boxes, but yeah, you just draw it. Like, okay, literally just take a ball out, read the name, boom boom boom, groups are made. A lottery. Yeah. So it's gonna be interesting.

I, I I, I really— I think the World Cup needed to be expanded. I don't think 32 is big enough for a World Cup, but 48 teams will make— I think there's going to be some complete ass whoopings, much like a March Madness in the first round. But I, I still think, you know what, that's fine. Yeah, that's part of the show. So, uh, more to come on the World Cup.

I'm toying with the idea of maybe a live reaction to the World Cup draw, uh, because we will find out who the United States are playing, uh, in the group stage and everyone else. So, and when, when, what day is that? It's a Friday, December 5th. So, okay, so you're considering having it on and, and yeah, that'd be fun. React as it comes in.

Yeah, yeah, that'd be awesome. We will see about that, but the World Cup is 7 months away, if you can believe it. And like I said, I think that hopefully, uh, it's gonna be a big deal, uh, whether you like it or not. So, and it'll— it will be here quickly. 7 months sounds like a long time until it's not.

So, um, yeah, looking forward to that. I think that's a— that'll be fun to watch the draw live and possibly commentate, um, on what happens with that. So yeah, nice. Yep. So that is a, a long-winded, uh, synopsis of some of the, the excitement of this past international break, but Yeah, but good stuff nonetheless, for sure.

So I'm sure you're chomping at the bit here to talk, uh, Las Vegas and Formula 1. I suppose. I mean, we all, all we can really do is kind of recap some things. Um, we'll go to driver standings first, which we probably, uh, We kind of know where everyone sits, but we'll recap that just because it's been a couple of weeks since F1's been on the table. Um, right now as, as we sit, Lando Norris is in first place at 390 points, Oscar Piastri in second with 366, and Max Verstappen with 341.

Um, so if we want to talk about that first, that top 3 and what we think might happen, um, what do we have, 3 GPs left? So the McLaren driver championship is still, I consider a toss-up because you just don't know who's going to show up and what, how they're going to perform. You know, Max can be Max, but I don't think he's going to be able to usurp the top 2 at this point. Um, and really, we don't really have any super tight points, uh, races coming down there. You know, we, if we want to go to 4, 5, and 6, it's Russell 276, Leclerc 214, Hamilton 148.

So we really have to go pretty far down the table. 9, 10. At which point it really is. Yeah. I mean, for us, it'd be nice to see Bearman at 40 points, maybe, you know, eclipse Hadjar.

Or something like that. But, uh, just points separate that lower half of this grid. Um, but it's, it's really going to come down to which McLaren driver is going to win the championship. And yeah, if I'm being diplomatic, I would say there's still an opportunity for pretty major excitement, I think. It's gonna rely on, I think, Norris slipping up, which certainly isn't out of the question.

Um, Piastri hasn't really been locked in, it seems like, since about August. Uh, it seems like he's been sort of on a little spiral. I think eventually that pressure just gets to you, and, um, Lando's experience may be showing a little bit more. Yeah, down the, down the pipe here. Yeah, I would agree with that.

Um, as far as the Constructors Championship goes, we'll just touch on it here briefly because there's really not anything to talk about. It's been locked up for weeks. Um, I think what, what it comes down to is, is Ferrari going to be able to do something to get ahead of Red Bull at this point, 366 to 362. And then after that, you know, if we want to talk about Haas, just 2 points out of 7th place under Aston Martin. Would love to see them finish as high as possible, um, in this particular campaign, obviously.

But as we know, and this will be offseason topic, We've got lots and lots of, of stuff to cover for the new car. Um, I've been doing a little research, uh, on the side, and I, I'm going to continue to do that. And I think once this season is complete, uh, in the offseason of F1, we're going to dive into this new 2026 platform and what the perils of this new layout might be. Um, but we will save that for, um, latter shows here after this particular season. So do you think the limo ride makes its return for the drivers at Vegas?

I, I don't I hope not, but I, I think that's something that they've— it's kind of a shtick for this race now, and yeah, it just seems a little silly. There's a lot of shticks involved with all of— I don't know why it's the US races in particular that seem to always have kind of the most, yeah, oddities. I don't know, when we watch GPs during the regular campaign, we don't see the same kind of ridiculousness that we do here in the States. The only one I can think of is like, uh, Monaco. But so like in Miami, they make them wear football helmets, which is stupid.

They have like the, the fake marina. In Texas, you know, they make them put cowboy hats on. And in Vegas, it's just— it, it really is like a circus. It is. I guess that's how we present ourselves.

Well, I don't— who's involved in the decision-making there? You know, like F1 certainly is. I, I know it, uh, guilt-free. In the past they do like the commentators, they turn them into like Elvis characters, or I don't know, it's just Okay, I suppose. I do know this, this track and layout is very interesting and it creates good racing.

It has created decent racing. I, I will say, for all the stuff you could throw against the, the Vegas event, the races themselves have actually both been entertaining. Sure. Each year. So You know, I think we're gonna possibly see that same scenario play out here.

It's always— street races always bring a little bit more salt than a bespoke road course. There's a certain amount of unpredictability. Sure. Street racing brings. Yeah.

And, you know, at the end of the day, I'm, I'm I'm pleased that we have those 3 campaigns here in the States. I think it's important for people who are interested in the series to have some kind of connection to that. Um, so yeah.

Well, I, I, I hope for excitement. It's, uh, it's the, the race I usually turn into a night owl for. I really, I've watched it live both years. I think I'm just going to do it again.

It's 1 AM, but I don't really care. Uh, there's something about watching F1 at night that kind of gets me fired up. Yeah, they actually— we actually have, um, 2 practices. One is happening right now, um, 7:30 to 10:30 our local standard time is happening right now. And then they're gonna have practice 2 Um, at 2300 hours, which is 11 o'clock.

So, um, I might dip into that after the podcast just to see what's going on there. Your, uh, FP1 results, in case you're wondering: Charles Leclerc at the top of the pile, followed by Alex Albon, Yuki Tsunoda, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz rounding out the top 5. Now of course it's FP1, so wouldn't read, uh, really anything into those results. But, um, though I did say I would be a night owl, that does not include, uh, practice. Oh, I understand that.

Uh, race, race only. Yeah, so unfortunately for us fans in the States, um all these things are— well, East Coast, East Coast fans, it's, it's pretty late. Uh, yeah, P3 tomorrow at 7 PM, and then qualifying, um, tomorrow is 2300. So 11. Yeah.

Is the race at 1? It's been 1 AM the past 2. It looks like according to this, yeah, it's 11. So That's not bad at all.

No, still watching live. I was gonna watch live thinking it was 1 AM, so that's really not bad.

So yeah, we should put that in the book to try to catch if we can. Are you, are you gonna stay up? Uh, I, I will try to maybe have a cup of joe with your dinner. Uh, yeah, something, a Red Bull. Or 2 would, would probably get me there.

So, um, yeah, we know this about the track.

Um, the circuit is, it's a pretty big circuit, although looking at the map, um, there's only what I would consider 2 technical places. It's not a technical track at all. It's, there's a lot of straights, which that is good for, for passing, you know, possibilities. Um, Lando Norris has the fastest lap time set last year, um, in this particular GP, and the distance is 309 kilometers. Um, but yeah, looking at this, the overview of the map, I think that's what makes this race more, a little bit more interesting is that, uh, trying to— it's very small.

Sector 3 is just a straight, just a huge straightaway. Yeah, it's, it's— people were making fun of the layout when it was first announced that this Vegas event, you'll remember in 2022, 3. It started with, with basically no love at all. Uh, it started when they announced what the track was going to look like. It looks ridiculous, let's just be real.

It looks ridiculous on paper. It's basically a rectangle. I mean, it really is kind of just a drag strip. Yeah. Um, and then you'll recall the first practice at Vegas, Carlos Sainz sucked up a man— a loose manhole cover that destroyed his entire floor.

Yeah. Yeah. So they, they've figured out the perils of street racing in Vegas after that, hopefully. Yeah. Um, you just have to put a few more welds on the manhole covers because these cars make so much downforce.

That they can pull a 60-pound, 15-inch disc of cast iron out of the street. Um, but yeah, I think they kind of— now they're a little bit more at, you know, this is year 3, year 3, so hopefully they have all of that figured out. Um, We'll see. Was it, uh, maybe I'm making shit up now. I feel like, was it last year there was an issue with the wall or something too?

I don't know, I don't know, maybe, maybe not. But, uh, it does feel like each year there's some sort of external factor going on. I know the first year too, it was also like cold as hell, like people were wearing, uh, winter stocking caps and piqued my interest. I want to see the temperature. Well, it is November.

It's 52 degrees, which isn't warm by any means. No. So that, that creates its own challenge. And then depending on what Pirelli dictates as the, the compounds, um, but that's racing. So it'll be 52 degrees Uh, at green flag or lights out, I guess.

Fahrenheit. Fahrenheit, which again is not warm by any means for racing. So yeah, so it'll be interesting. Uh, I'll keep a close eye on these practices here as we move forward, and, um, you know, we'll see what happens here. I, I don't anticipate there's going to be any earth-shattering stuff, but it's F1, so you don't know.

Yeah, we will see. Potentially, you know, we're probably gonna know— at least we'll have a lot more clarity on the championship battle after this race with only 2 races following, whether it be Piastri still in it or maybe Norris will have virtually locked it down. Yeah, he could possibly seal this with a good performance. Yeah. I would say a win probably, sure, just about does it.

Yeah, for him. So much, much to ponder, much to think about in F1 as we are drawing near its dramatic conclusion for 2025 and this set of regulations.

Um, and of course we, uh, saw a lot of Great stuff on the international football side of things. We'll get back in the club game, uh, and we'll pretty much only be talking club soccer until March, uh, sans the potential, uh, World Cup draw, uh, show especial. So, uh, that is where we will land next time out. And what I'd like to delve into after this particular campaign is over is the major differences, uh, in the car between the current version and what version we're going to see next year. I think we're going to definitely see some changes in, uh, the length and width of next year's car, which I, I'm happy with.

It's going to be a little bit smaller, marginally smaller footprint. Uh, the power units are going to be more, um, hybridized. Okay. So I think we're going to go to almost a 50/50 power unit, which is going to create, I think we're going to see a lot of the same that we saw when this particular car came about a few years ago, we're, we're probably going to see a few more grenades here and there. Yeah, yeah.

And I wonder, similar to Red Bull in this generation, if, if there will be a team that nails it right out the, right out the gate and is just like miles and miles ahead, or if it'll maybe not be as straightforward. You'll remember at the very, very beginning of 2022, there was a— Red Bull and Ferrari were switching wins on and off for about 6 rounds, and then Red Bull just began to dominate. So I wonder if there will be, um, that situation where maybe it's a few teams that are all kind of neck and neck, and then someone figures it out. And then you hope— I mean, hopefully it's not as bad as this time, this past time, where you just know who's gonna win. Yeah, automatically.

And we're gonna see obviously the injection of a new team, plus we might see a driver shuffle here and there. Yeah, I think with the new team that'll just make it more interesting by default, even if I mean, I hope this doesn't happen, but even if one team is dominating, you'll at least have a pretty major subplot in what the hell Cadillac are able to do. Yeah, they've, uh, put all the cards on the table, all the chips are in. So yes, that will be very, very interesting to follow here in this upcoming campaign, but Uh, for this, the purpose of this podcast, we'll focus on these last 3 GPs and we'll bring it home regardless of whether it's a complete, um, what I want to say, not a washout, but if we, we know that McLaren is going to be on top, we think. Um, but which driver will be our key, uh, our, our key subject, I guess, for this podcast moving forward.

And, and this, like you said, this race might solidify that. Yeah. So either way, between those 2 McLarens, we'll have a brand new champion, a first-time world champion, um, which will be interesting, uh, just by default. Um, and that makes it very interesting next year too because because whoever didn't win will certainly remember that, and, uh, I imagine that team will be pretty spicy for years to come. Uh, I— are you rooting for anyone in particular?

You did predict Piastri to win, uh, many moons ago now, but is there, uh, a rooting interest or are you more just a neutral spectator? I mean, I'll keep that. I'll keep my hat in that camp since I declared that months ago.

I wouldn't be unhappy if Norris takes the championship.

When we started this podcast, I was you know, I would toss back to Lando Norris quite a bit because I felt like he had a lot of talent. So I wouldn't be unhappy with that.

Personally, I would just like to see Haas come in these last GPs, get some points, maybe raise themselves up through that constructors points. It's always better to finish 6th and 8th. Yeah, so that would be something that I'll keep, you know, a pretty close eye on, um, as we finish out the campaign. Of course. All right, well, I think that'll do it for this time around.

Until next time, we will have discussion of the Premier League, Scottish Prem, as per usual, back from international break. And really kicking into gear in that season and all the reaction from every lap of the 2025 edition of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. So, all right.

Viva Las Vegas! In the words of Elvis Presley.

For executive producer Richard Tanaka, Studio 2520, copyright 2025, this has been Tackling the Chicane We'll see you next time. Thanks.