Speaking of complaining, Tim, Max Versta.

That's a great transition.

Agitated is, I think, the best way to describe him this weekend. Max Verstappen. Agitated. Now, there was some talk during the broadcast about him going to bed early or not going to bed early and doing his sim racing. He was sim racing the night before until 3:00 AM Dutch time and then woke up early before the race to sim race again because I believe it was an Enduro that they were a part of? I think so, yeah.

Yeah.

So they didn't go to bed until 3:00 in the morning.

Yeah.

And Red Line Racing is his team. And they won. They won, which is cool. Max Verstauffen is a cheat code, I'm sure, in online gaming. But when you are doing that, you are potentially looking at taking performance out of other areas. Now, what was Red Bull going to say to him last year or the year before? Can't say anything to him. He's winning. He's winning all the time. It's working.

So last year, before the season started, I talked to Max one to one, and we talked about, obviously, his deal with EA Sports. But then it was a couple of days before Helmut Marco had said that he had put a SIM rig in his PJ. And so I asked him, Hey, look, Helmut's saying that you've done this. And he's like, No, he's got it all wrong. He's like, I put a SIM in my motorhome for when I go to European events because a lot of the drivers take motor homes to the European events because they're all the way in the country. It's hard to get to good hotels, and it's just better that way. I would do it, too, if I was them. For Max, he's got a full SIM set up in his motorhome. That's where it all starts, where people are asking the question of, How's this guy able to do that? Is he flying back to home or what is he doing? That's how he does it. He's got his full sim set up in his motorhome. So sometimes as soon as he's done his media obligations and he's done his time with his team debriefs, Adam, he goes back to the motorhome and he starts up the sims.

Yeah. And some people think that's a good thing, right? Because the guy's racing all the time. For sure. And I understand that. He loves it, right?

He absolutely loves it. He eats, sleeps, and breathes it. I respect that a lot.

I mean, no question. Listen, Fernando Fernando does the same thing. He goes on vacation. Instead of going on a yacht, he goes in go-carts.

Go-carts, yeah, exactly. Fernando's always driving. Always driving, driving, driving. That's so important for a driver, too.

Well, you got to stay sharp. They said that they do say that Eddie Van Halen, guitar player, used to sleep with his guitar, would bring it to parties and just play and not talk to people because it's a singular obsession. So the criticism of Max is not the sim racing. It's the fact that potentially, It's at an awkward time right before a pretty big Grand Prix and in a car that with each passing race is very quickly becoming one of the good cars, not dominant.

Yes.

And he is going to have to work it now for it to win a race. He's going to have to really get, squeeze the absolute most out of that car. And are you able to do that on lack of sleep? Now, many people can, but I did find it interesting, Tim, and I don't know if you If you caught this on the broadcast, the Sky Sports guys just fallen over themselves to say, well, we're not criticizing Max. It's just a fact that he was up and whatever. And I think it's a fair question to ask. And obviously, Red Bull this morning is denying that that's the case. And they're saying that he and Giancarlo have the... They've got that relationship where they're snippy with each other or Max is snippy and he's very... And then back to He's like, it's a weird relationship. But this race, he was complaining about the car not being able to break, not being able to turn. There were elements of that that seemed to be very true and also bad strategy. What's your takeaway from the Max for stop and race? Leave out the Lewis Hamilton stuff for now.

Okay.

Should we start with the Sims stuff?

Start with the Sims stuff.

Look, it's not something- Does that bother you with your team principal? Yes. It's not something that I would do as a driver, even at Max's age. I mean, even when I was racing professionally, I was to bed early because I couldn't It's different for everybody. I'm not Max Versteffen. It's just different. He may be fine with it. But for myself, it was the fact that if I didn't get at least seven, eight hours of just good sleep quality, I had a hard time with not letting negative things get to me.

Yes. And that's human, by the way. Lots of How did you feel about being able to struggle with that.

Yeah. I always needed to have good restful sleeps and be recharged. So mentally, I was able to control everything that I could control. And that was a big thing for me, was being in control of all the things that I could be in control of and to understand that there were some things that were outside of my control. And that took a long time to learn. I worked with sports psychologists for that. And yeah, for me, that was really important. I knew what I had to do to make sure that every time I stepped within the car. It's the fact that when you have this type of a crash, what does that do for his confidence with the car itself?Yes. I don't know. I mean, it seems like he's got... I think the for Sergio Perez right now is that Lando and Oscar are the stories because of what happened. But if they were not and it was just a clean McLaren win and there was no drama, what do you think we'd be talking about today?We'd be talking about that. We would definitely be talking about Sergio for sure. Dave Fast asks, with Max no longer dominating and Checo still performing poorly, what do you think Red Bull does with their second driver and his new two-year contract? I think it's a good time to bring that up, Adam, because it's a good question. Look, I mean, once he had that crash, I immediately was like, I don't think he sees this thing through. I think the team quite possibly could part ways with him before we get out of the summer break. You think so, huh? That's how dire this situation is. You have to remember, Adam, they're trying to win a Constructors' Championship. They are. And McLaren just took a huge chunk out of their lead, and so too did Ferrari. And everyone's going to look at the points gap and be like, it's quite a bit. No, it's not quite a bit. It's not that much at all.I'll give you the points right now. 389, Red Bull, 338, McLaren, 322, Ferrari.Pretty close. You got three teams now in contention for a constructors' championship.That's huge. I mean, it's enormous. And I think that's the That's the part of this that is a story, is what driver in that position makes sense. Obviously, you've got Liam Law, some highly touted young driver, huge ceiling, you think on a guy like that. Excuse me, on a guy like that. But boy, it's a lot to put him in a car next to Max for stopping. And then you got Yuki Sonoda, who ran a one-stop race and finished ninth. What a great race for Yuki He's getting zero credit for it. And then you have Daniel Riccardo, who had a really good qualifying. Both Yuki and Daniel got into Q3, which is amazing. Racing Bullets came out this morning and said, or I guess late yesterday, that they screwed up Daniel's strategy. They pulled him in too early. They were trying to do something bold, and they ended up just screwing him up. He still managed to finish 12th, which is the only thing that separated him and Yuki were the two Aston Martins, right? So right where Racing Bull should be, Daniel seems to make a lot of sense from a veteran point of view.From a performance point of view, Yuki makes a lot of sense. Liam Lawson, just because you have no idea what you have, could be fun. What do you think is most likely?If I'm a team principal at Red Bull Racing, Adam, I would want to give Yuki a shot. He's been really good. Good. He has. And he deserves it. I think I wouldn't want to put Liam Lawson in that position only because he's a rookie coming in. He's the type of driver who has a ton of confidence in himself. But you're going up against Max Verstaappen, and that could be a difficult challenge. He's been known to break a few drivers in his time, right? You have to be smart decision. But at the same time, if you want to roll the dice, I think Yuki's probably would be a good fit, would play the team game for sure. Could he keep up with Max? That would be the question. Could he get the grips with that car? That would be the other question. Then you look at it from an experience standpoint, and that would have to be Dan and Ricardo. He's been performing really well lately. He hasn't been up and down. He's been pretty consistent with the performances for the most part. He probably would have beaten Yuki this weekend if the team hadn't put him on the strategy that they thought was best at that time.Bringing him on lap seven probably wasn't the right call. I know they're following a few other teams that are coming in. Fernando came in, and even Fernando was just like, What are we doing? Why are you bringing me in? You're going to stick me in a DRS train, and And that's where we're going to be for the rest of the race. We're not doing anything that's different. Essentially, that's the same thing that happens with Ricardo is the fact that you're bringing him in on lap seven. And again, you get stuck in a DRS train, and that's it. That's where you're going to be for the rest of the race. And then you have Lance, who had a great first stint, and that's what allowed him to score a point, right? Was that first stint that he went out and did, was able to manage a soft tire way longer than a lot of other drivers could. And so for Daniel, he's like, Hey, you got Lance coming a second a lap faster than you, and the team is asking you to hold off Lance. And it's like, there's no way. It's not going to happen.There's no tires left because of the strategy that you put them on. So outside the race, I mean, when we're looking at it, if I'm Red Bull racing, I also would take a look at experience as well, because I think it's going to go a long way in trying to secure a constructors' championship. Daniel has been in some battles. He's gone up against Max and survived, done really well, actually. So yeah, Adam, it's a hard one to call. I feel bad for Checo, for sure. But yeah, man, they're going to have to do something if they want to win this thing.

within the car. It's the fact that when you have this type of a crash, what does that do for his confidence with the car itself?

Yes. I don't know. I mean, it seems like he's got... I think the for Sergio Perez right now is that Lando and Oscar are the stories because of what happened. But if they were not and it was just a clean McLaren win and there was no drama, what do you think we'd be talking about today?

We'd be talking about that. We would definitely be talking about Sergio for sure. Dave Fast asks, with Max no longer dominating and Checo still performing poorly, what do you think Red Bull does with their second driver and his new two-year contract? I think it's a good time to bring that up, Adam, because it's a good question. Look, I mean, once he had that crash, I immediately was like, I don't think he sees this thing through. I think the team quite possibly could part ways with him before we get out of the summer break. You think so, huh? That's how dire this situation is. You have to remember, Adam, they're trying to win a Constructors' Championship. They are. And McLaren just took a huge chunk out of their lead, and so too did Ferrari. And everyone's going to look at the points gap and be like, it's quite a bit. No, it's not quite a bit. It's not that much at all.

I'll give you the points right now. 389, Red Bull, 338, McLaren, 322, Ferrari.

Pretty close. You got three teams now in contention for a constructors' championship.

That's huge. I mean, it's enormous. And I think that's the That's the part of this that is a story, is what driver in that position makes sense. Obviously, you've got Liam Law, some highly touted young driver, huge ceiling, you think on a guy like that. Excuse me, on a guy like that. But boy, it's a lot to put him in a car next to Max for stopping. And then you got Yuki Sonoda, who ran a one-stop race and finished ninth. What a great race for Yuki He's getting zero credit for it. And then you have Daniel Riccardo, who had a really good qualifying. Both Yuki and Daniel got into Q3, which is amazing. Racing Bullets came out this morning and said, or I guess late yesterday, that they screwed up Daniel's strategy. They pulled him in too early. They were trying to do something bold, and they ended up just screwing him up. He still managed to finish 12th, which is the only thing that separated him and Yuki were the two Aston Martins, right? So right where Racing Bull should be, Daniel seems to make a lot of sense from a veteran point of view.

From a performance point of view, Yuki makes a lot of sense. Liam Lawson, just because you have no idea what you have, could be fun. What do you think is most likely?

If I'm a team principal at Red Bull Racing, Adam, I would want to give Yuki a shot. He's been really good. Good. He has. And he deserves it. I think I wouldn't want to put Liam Lawson in that position only because he's a rookie coming in. He's the type of driver who has a ton of confidence in himself. But you're going up against Max Verstaappen, and that could be a difficult challenge. He's been known to break a few drivers in his time, right? You have to be smart decision. But at the same time, if you want to roll the dice, I think Yuki's probably would be a good fit, would play the team game for sure. Could he keep up with Max? That would be the question. Could he get the grips with that car? That would be the other question. Then you look at it from an experience standpoint, and that would have to be Dan and Ricardo. He's been performing really well lately. He hasn't been up and down. He's been pretty consistent with the performances for the most part. He probably would have beaten Yuki this weekend if the team hadn't put him on the strategy that they thought was best at that time.

Bringing him on lap seven probably wasn't the right call. I know they're following a few other teams that are coming in. Fernando came in, and even Fernando was just like, What are we doing? Why are you bringing me in? You're going to stick me in a DRS train, and And that's where we're going to be for the rest of the race. We're not doing anything that's different. Essentially, that's the same thing that happens with Ricardo is the fact that you're bringing him in on lap seven. And again, you get stuck in a DRS train, and that's it. That's where you're going to be for the rest of the race. And then you have Lance, who had a great first stint, and that's what allowed him to score a point, right? Was that first stint that he went out and did, was able to manage a soft tire way longer than a lot of other drivers could. And so for Daniel, he's like, Hey, you got Lance coming a second a lap faster than you, and the team is asking you to hold off Lance. And it's like, there's no way. It's not going to happen.

There's no tires left because of the strategy that you put them on. So outside the race, I mean, when we're looking at it, if I'm Red Bull racing, I also would take a look at experience as well, because I think it's going to go a long way in trying to secure a constructors' championship. Daniel has been in some battles. He's gone up against Max and survived, done really well, actually. So yeah, Adam, it's a hard one to call. I feel bad for Checo, for sure. But yeah, man, they're going to have to do something if they want to win this thing.