Leclerc's return to form, Verstappen's worries, SC changes & Stroll's strange driving
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Athletic.
The race is on, and after a tricky start to the season, Charles Leclerc showed Ferrari what they were missing as he returned to top form at Silverstone. But how did he haul himself out of the hole he was trapped in? And does this mean Leclerc is now on top of this generation of cars? I'm Ed Straw, and joining me to answer those questions and many more are Ben Anderson and special guest Connor Daly. Well, Conor, let's start with you. Lots of our listeners will be familiar with you as a regular in IndyCar, Indy 500, of course. Some will remember you battling with Carlos Sainz and Daniel Kvyat in GP3 back in 2013. I always remember you battling with Dmitry Saranovich at Monaco. So look that up if anyone out there doesn't remember.
I'm certain Conor remembers that particular moment. That name probably hasn't been mentioned in 10 years.
How did Charles Leclerc turn his season around at Silverstone?
Yeah.
Yeah, your career went a little bit further, but you also went quite a long way in the air on that particular day. But appearing on this podcast, this must be a career highlight up with all those Indy 500 top 10s you've got.
This is it. You guys are smart people, so I'm excited to talk about it, talk about a little bit of motor racing, Formula 1. It was a great race over the weekend to watch, although the finish I wasn't super excited about. But, you know, we'll get into that.
Yeah, the finish certainly wasn't a popular moment with quite a lot in the grandstands in particular. And Ben, you've tried to turn up with your racing trophies behind you, clinging on to your collision with Max Verstappen early in his single-seater career to maintain your credibility. Yeah.
Well, yeah, I'm certainly under threat as the most decorated and credible racing talent on this podcast. But we do have a category in common, Connor, because both you and I have raced in the now defunct MRF Challenge. from India, which you won, I think the season before I raced in it. Yeah. Remember, remember days in India.
Great experience, honestly. Like what a, what an experience in life. That was, that was something I still look, I still was in India about ready to race in Chennai. I think when I got the call to do my first ever IndyCar test, it was three in the morning and Larry Foyt called me. He's like, Hey, can you do this test? Takuma Sato can't get in the country. And I was like, well, I'm in India right now, but I'll be back on Monday.
Kind of a funny story. Yeah, your jumpstart performance in that championship didn't let you in IndyCar test, did it, Ben?
Yeah, well, this is the thing. So my claim to fame, fame, I mean, it's not really fame, is it, the MRF Challenge, but claim to fame in that series is a reverse grid race where I led from pole and was on to win until they pulled me in with a black and white flag for a drive-through for a full start. And I will say it was more microscopic than even Lewis Hamilton's full start in the British Grand Prix.
That's wild. You're just a cheat, Ben. We know that. I've seen you in track limits at the Red Bull Ring and that kind of thing. We know what we're dealing with here.
These are not cheating trophies, Ed. These are legitimate trophies.
Excellent. Well, we'll get Connor to bring his trophies next time, but I think we might need a wider angle camera than the one you've got to... to show them but we're going to talk F1 and we're going to talk about Charles Leclerc first because we talked about this obviously on the post-race podcast but not a great length but Ben Charles Leclerc back on form in the British Grand Prix can you confidently say he's back now?
Well, it's a good question. I think we can say probably it's his most impressive performance of the season so far. Probably his most complete performance. He felt that he was strong in the first three races of the season. Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur feels that he was always there and it was just a few circumstantial things going against him. Some unlucky unreliability, a lot of changes on the car that he's had to have some time to to get used to. So I think we can be gently encouraged by what we saw from Leclerc, particularly the consistency in the race.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–0:58
2
How did Charles Leclerc turn his season around at Silverstone?
0:58–17:57
3
What setup and driving changes helped Leclerc regain confidence?
17:57–1:02:41
4
How important is shutting out social media for a struggling driver?
1:02:41–1:03:12
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from The Race F1 Podcast
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