00:00So, Daniel, obviously the Formula One season has been quite an enthralling watch compared
00:07to the last few seasons. We discussed Red Bull's dominance before and how that may have
00:12been fading a little bit with their car changes, etc. But what have your thoughts been on the
00:17season as a whole so far?
00:19Well, certainly it's got better. I think at the start of the season, we all thought it
00:24was just going to go straight into the same sort of pattern as it has. And for the last
00:29two or so years, Max Verstappen and Red Bull sort of ran away with it quite early on. And
00:33it looked that way for the first couple of months and they were winning the races. And
00:38then there came a bit of a shift and he's not won for a while now. And you've had different
00:44winners. You've had Oscar Piastri winning of McLaren. You've had Lando Norris winning
00:49also of McLaren. You've had Charles Leclerc winning of Ferrari. And obviously Lewis Hamilton
00:53has won a couple of Grand Prix, Mercedes, George Russell as well. So it's really been
00:57sort of a mixed bag towards the second half of the season. And it's ended up with a case
01:02where Lando Norris of McLaren is in a situation where he could overtake Max Verstappen now.
01:11And who's sort of impressed you the most going through the Formula One season? Obviously,
01:15you mentioned we've got a title race on, which hasn't really happened for the last few campaigns
01:19this late on in the season. You know, we've had multiple race winners as well, which you
01:24also mentioned there. Who's impressed you the most? And, you know, maybe drivers you
01:29think weren't going to get a win or, you know, have really shone through in such a tough
01:34season?
01:35Well, I think it's, we can't really look past Lando Norris for stars and that's probably
01:39the obvious answer. But the fact that he's in a title battle with Max Verstappen, which
01:43wouldn't have been expected at the start of the season, is a credit to him and his team
01:48for the drives he's shown and also the car they've produced for him in the second half
01:52of the season. In terms of other drivers, I think, looking at McLaren again, Oscar Piastri
01:56has really stood out as being, you know, I think only in his second season of F1, but
02:02he's really shown that he's got the speed, he's got the capability, not only to hold
02:08his own in sort of maybe the top battle, but to beat his teammate on a couple of occasions
02:13as well in Lando Norris. Now, as good as I've just said, Norris has been, Piastri has been
02:17pretty good as well and has held him to account. In terms of other drivers as well, I like
02:24to mention Lewis Hamilton because it's been a tough time for him after what happened at
02:27the end of 2021 and the Mercedes car not really being that pacey for a lot of times, especially
02:34in 2022 and large parts of 2023. For him to claim, well, one victory in Silverstone, which
02:41was fantastic at the time, has just shown that he's still got that pace and that drive
02:45and that will to win in him and that if he perhaps goes to Ferrari next year and they
02:49have a car that's good enough, he could be up there again and obviously the rules change
02:54in 2026 and if they get that right, could he win his eighth?
Comments