Ukraine, Max Verstappen, Finland discussed on The Autosport Podcast
Automatic TRANSCRIPT
Really happy for them. So yeah, to do what he's doing at 21 is phenomenal. It really is. In my eyes, he will dominate the sport. He will go on to dominate the sport for a long time. There's no question about it. He has got everything in his arsenal to do that. And what I really liked about Kelly's performance in Sweden was it was extremely controlled, but also incredibly fast and took risks where he knew he could take risks. So he was a very mature drive. And also, I think it's worth highlighting that on Sunday. My respect for him goes, it goes up massively because the service part was kind of skirting around the issues that are currently going on in Ukraine, but Cali made that pretty clear. It was in his thoughts with his speech after winning the event and saying that I didn't think he could celebrate this because of what is going on there. And no one was really brave enough to sort of come out and speak about it. And he did that without being prompted. I dug out the quote. It doesn't feel great to celebrate too much. It's been a really difficult weekend for people in Ukraine, and I wish them strength and hope. It's all I can do at this moment was his quote. Now, of course, Finland's got a big land border with Russia and of course, you know, for those that know how worldwide listeners of this podcast, of course, but if you go back in history, Finland has had to defend itself from Russia in the past. But here is someone. I try and think back to when I was 21. I was no way able to make a mature statement like that. This wasn't testing like Formula One had testing. And so there's less pressure, Vettel was able to say what he had. Max Verstappen, for instance, the new world champion in Formula One. I thought a very champions response. But this was testing that they had in Barcelona last week, and there's less pressure. In a Formula One weekend, in that white heat of competition, I don't think Formula One drivers would have spoken the way they did. Maybe, I don't know, I may be doing a disservice. I don't know. But it's difficult to say isn't it? But this was in the white heat of competition. He just won. He crossed the line. There was no jumping on top of the car. This is a sport that people look up to, not just kids looking up to, but we look at our sportsmen and women to inspire us to take a lead, whether that is through their dedication to sport their what they'll do to win, but in cases like this, this is where sport is important. It's not just going racing at the weekend as a bit of entertainment. It's really important. Was that recognized when you're in Sweden, what did other people notice what you noticed was trying to ask? Absolutely, absolutely. I think when we all heard that in the media room live, everyone sort of was quite I guess in a way, kind of proud that someone had come out and just said that because I think everyone was feeling a little bit uneasy at times. And to have the sort of consciousness to do that, just after finishing. I just found that very impressive. And he is a great role model, isn't he? I mean, I have to admire it. I just have to, like, very, very, very well said. And I think it was the right thing to say. And I just think you couldn't really, it just wouldn't have felt right, celebrating normally. They had to be something, you know, some actions. And to their credit, the FIA at the podium in the city center in Maya, they actually had a what they called a moment of solidarity for Ukraine. So it was a sort of minute silence type of thing when they called rough and pirro onto the ramp to officially collect his trophy because when he said what he said, that was once he just crossed the stage finish line. It wasn't actually at the official podium, so to speak. So my admiration for calorie Robin berries is sky high at the moment, really impressed by that. And it was a very nice story in a way that he won the event that his father, Harry Robin pere had won in 2001, and that was Harry's only ever WRC victory. So a nice like father like some moment. What a talent he is. There's plenty of articles out there about famous dynasties in motor racing. Whether it's in IndyCar or Formula One or father and sons and father and daughters rallying and stuff like that. But there is a sense to him that he has grown up in racing one of those countries where people start very young, racing on frozen lakes and stuff like that. Anyone from the Nordic countries, if they're in racing, they have not only started young, but they tend to have an understanding of their position in the world. Maybe it's because you live so close to death. I don't know that they think about it a lot because you do, like you say, he's so wise beyond his years. I'm glad that was reflected. I almost feel bad not talking about Neville and lappy in second and third because I think the story of Robin perra winning needs to be told alongside the story of Evans. Tell us how his weekend spiraled out of this control. Really strong Friday, really strong Friday. And he needed to get a result after Monty, where he made, I'm characteristic error and lost the podium..