In-Car Insights: Jon and Scott debrief the first day of action in Monaco
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What unique circumstances led to this episode being recorded outside a kebab shop?
The Athletic.
Hello, everybody, and welcome to Outsider Kebab Shop Insights. My name is Scott Mitchell-Mahm. I'm joined by John Noble, and that bleeping you can hear in the background is actually Josh Sutil, who is our waiter for this evening. If you are listening to this outside of the Race Members Club, this is one of the daily end-of-day wraps that we do during a Grand Prix weekend for members of the Members Club, where whoever is on site, so from today, it's myself and John, debrief what we've learned um at the track uh and in the course of uh the in this today the friday practice sessions often this takes the form of driving in a car sometimes it's in another form of transport today we are on foot because this is monaco we use public transport for this race and we've decided to record this while perched on a step opposite a kebab shop john because time's against us this evening isn't it
Yeah, I think this will be the first outside kebab shop insights. Yeah, normally we're driving to and from the circuit, but Monaco's a bit unique. The easiest way, the way I've done it for years, is you find somewhere to stay along the coast, because Monaco's too expensive to stay at. Get the train in, quite easy to and from, but not much opportunity to eat food, especially with this timetable being so late.
Yeah, this was a tricky one. 5pm FP2 start, 6pm finish, and then hours of looking through audio files, checking for information, running out to the paddock. We filmed a video for the YouTube channel as well. But I have to say, it was also an early start because we had lots of media sessions and engagements in the early hours of the day, so it's been a long day at the track. But I think it's been brilliant. I'm knackered because there's just been so much going on. I feel like I've done a day and a half's worth of work today.
It is strange. My first media thing today was with Genot Dolner, the CEO of Audi. We had a little press briefing. It was linked to the launch of their new supercar, the new Velari, which came out. I think it was officially announced last night, pre-production model. ready to roll. They're selling 499 of them. The highest performing Audi road car in their fleet. It's all impressive. But we were summoned to talk about this and where it linked to Formula 1. So they're saying there's a lot of F1 inspired technology. But it's a good opportunity to ask about regulations. Obviously, Mohammed Ben Salaim, the FIA president, is pushing for V8 power units.
What were the main challenges faced during the Friday practice sessions in Monaco?
Debates about do we move from 50-50? Combustion, electrical power split at the moment to 60-40 next year. Do Audi want to wait till 2028? Where's all that stack up? So we asked these questions today. And I think the most interesting thing from this was Audi saying... more important than the number of cylinders, so if it's a V8, a V10 or a V6, is the fact that turbos should remain. They want sustainability, they want efficiency, and the only way to do that is with a turbo. So it's the first kind of line in the sand and a little push back against where F1's going longer term. But it feels like I did that press conference two weeks ago. It was only this morning.
It's been quite a day. So Aston Martin tearing down the street. I mean, he's not going to get up those steps. Yes, so today, either side of your Audi engagement, I had a thing with Graham Loudon at Cadillac and then Zac Brown, McLaren Racing CEO. So there wasn't a huge amount revelatory in those two sessions, to be completely honest. Loudon was quite interested in just sort of catch up with sort of how their season's going, the challenges and that sort of Josh, go collect some of our food, please. Thank you very much. And Zach, fortunately, he only got one question about team alliances and his hatred of them and why he wants to end them as much as possible. Apologies if this is getting quite noisy. There's quite the throng now outside the kebab shop, so I hope you're not picking up too much background noise and you can hear me.
But once we got through that early run of Friday morning media session madness...
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What unique circumstances led to this episode being recorded outside a kebab shop?
0:02–2:42
2
What were the main challenges faced during the Friday practice sessions in Monaco?
2:42–4:48
3
How did Audi's new supercar launch relate to Formula 1?
4:48–6:58
4
What are the critical factors affecting tyre performance in Monaco?
6:58–9:24
5
How did Ferrari's performance compare to expectations during practice?
9:24–11:48
6
What issues did Aston Martin face during the Monaco practice sessions?
11:48–13:57
7
What was the significance of McLaren's recent fine in relation to team regulations?
13:57–15:41
8
What insights were shared about the upcoming qualifying session in Monaco?
15:41–22:12
Speakers
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