Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Our guests today are Pascal Verlein and Antonio Felix de Costa, part of the Tag heuer Porsche Formula e team. In this special episode, Pascal and Antonio talk to each other about their teamwork and dynamic and look back at this season, the best one yet for the team. They tell us what it takes to win, what their biggest challenges were, and how they feel about the overall result.
They open up about their feelings and thoughts during the competition and express their hopes for the future.
I'm your host, Teo Van Denbrooker. Welcome to The Edge, a podcast by Tag Hoyer.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: So we're here in La Chotfont at the Tagoyer headquarters. First time for me here? It's first time for you.
[00:00:55] Speaker C: Same first time.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: First time for you. It was impressive, no? What do you think?
[00:00:58] Speaker C: Yeah, really impressive. I mean, it was hard to know what to expect coming here, but especially seeing the museum first, I mean, I.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: Have to say, I mean, we're living here with each of us with four free watches, so already it's a pretty good visit, man. Yeah.
[00:01:13] Speaker C: We are living with more watches than wrists.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: Unfortunately, they are just the prototypes that have nothing inside. It's just a but still better than nothing.
No, it was impressive.
[00:01:26] Speaker C: It was really cool. The museum was super cool to see watches from 100 years ago. Yeah. And then also the people, how they work, like, the precision they have, the quietness, the calmness. Super cool.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: The impressive thing for me in the museum was that something you don't normally think about, but you have to think about how many hundreds of years ago, keeping track of time. Because before, I guess, okay, if we go before civilization, where you would just wake up when the sun is up, hunt, eat, and you go to sleep when the sun is down. But nowadays, especially in our sport, we do everything minute by minute. Meeting here, meeting there, sponsor event here, whatever.
And it was cool to see the first watches ever invented by measured by hour. Exactly.
Only by hour, no minute.
[00:02:21] Speaker C: Imagine we say we meet at two and I wait 45 minutes for you.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm still on time. I'm still on time.
[00:02:27] Speaker C: You're still on time.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: That's what happens anyway these days with me and you. I always wait.
[00:02:35] Speaker C: Nothing has changed.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: It was very cool. And then, like you said, because before not before, but I go to a store. I love watches. I go to a store and I decide if I like or don't like a watch based on how it looks. But after today, the respect of what's underneath, and they put it together, all.
[00:02:54] Speaker C: The men, women, power behind it, like precision.
Me, I wouldn't be able to do it just because to keep your hands, to keep your fingers so quiet. The whole day, I felt like I.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: Needed to go into a boxing ring.
[00:03:10] Speaker C: After just to punch some stuff, find the right balance, be quiet for half an hour and then let the energy out. But no, it's super impressive. Was very cool to see. All right. Joining the Tarko Porsche Formula E team in the 2022 23 season marked a new chapter in your Formula E journey. How did you adapt to our team?
[00:03:32] Speaker B: It was tricky because obviously I've been in Formula a long time now, but a lot of things changed.
New car, new tires, new team, engineers.
So there was a lot to learn and not a lot of time. Obviously joined quite late, like in October, and then we had maybe a couple of test days, and then we went to Valencia. And because it was a new car, most of testing was done to reliability stuff and stuff like that. So there wasn't a lot of time to fully focus on driving. And I wasn't great in the beginning. That's the truth. I mean, you were kicking ass winning races, and I was hanging on for my dear life, but it was okay because then a kick in the butt sometimes like that. It's a good wake up call.
And we did well after that, started qualifying a bit better. There was a point there in the middle of the season where we qualified a bit better. Then we got some podiums in a row, a win. But, yeah, in general, it wasn't easy. But there's clearly so much potential in this current team, as we've shown, and you've shown a lot. So, yeah, really happy with where we're going now we finished the season. What are you now looking forwards to? I know we're already in preseason almost.
How's this time been between London and between Mexico? How do these four months look to you?
[00:04:53] Speaker C: Yeah, well, so our last race was end of July or beginning of August, I would say definitely the first two weeks after the race were holiday, they felt. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, a lot of traveling, a lot of stuff. And also, especially for me now with our daughter, I was happy to be home a couple of days in a row, and we went to Mallorca and had a really cool time there. But then soon the focus starts already for the new season. I think in August. We were testing just last week. We've been testing end of October. There is another test in Valencia, and, I mean, it just feels like Mexico is around the corner. The preparation, we're in the middle of the process and is ongoing since the last race. And, yeah, obviously we want to improve. We want to have an even stronger season next year, and that's why we keep pushing hard.
[00:05:53] Speaker B: Yeah, it's crazy because like you said, there was a couple of weeks off after months and months and months of work, and it feels like the day we come back from holidays, the emails start dropping in and obviously nobody really stops. And there's new ideas and upgrades coming to the car. So it's awesome to see that. But yeah, it's like you come back and you straight back in, flat out, which is a good feeling. But it feels like the holidays are a bit short to be yeah.
[00:06:21] Speaker C: I mean, especially for you because you do two programs.
For me, the off time is probably.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: A bit more yeah, I don't actually have an off season. The last ten years. It's ten years now that I do double program. And I never had the proper, like, two, three months of off season. I'm always racing, but I like it. I mean, I love it, actually, but yeah, it's for sure intense. And I always say this, I can rest when I die.
I will rest then. I will have a lot of time to rest.
Actually, there is another question that I have for you, which is I haven't done it here, but it's actually so do you think we make a good team? How do you feel our driving styles compare to each other?
[00:07:06] Speaker C: Second question is maybe a bit more difficult. First question is pretty easy. I think we make very good team.
First of all, we have a very good relationship. We kind of come from a similar background, let's say from the past years. So we both met each other in Formula Three. We both met each other in DTM. You have experience in a Formula One car. I have experience in a Formula One car. You have a bit more experience in Formula E, but also me, I have now four or five years experience in Formula E. Four years.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: I think you've shown how to win.
[00:07:43] Speaker C: A race, so exactly.
We are both experienced, but let's say we are both still young, kind of, and have many more years.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:07:56] Speaker C: Still many more years to come in racing, so yeah. Should I we go together because together we have more power as a team. You're always strong.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:08] Speaker C: The driving styles is the driving style is very difficult.
[00:08:12] Speaker B: I think I've said this before, but I've always been the guy in the team that loves a strong front axle and can manage over steer well. But since I arrived here, then you definitely have me beat.
You definitely, like, even more front than me. I think it's the first time I have a teammate that you're really biting those apexes, man. You're really loving it. It's not far. For sure, we can drive the same car, but yeah, it's cool that it's crazy that at 31 years old, I'm still learning so much. And I learned a lot with you this year. And yeah. Super impressed with the way you were driving, man.
[00:08:53] Speaker C: Yeah, thank you.
[00:08:56] Speaker B: I impress you a lot.
[00:08:59] Speaker C: Of course.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: You were great, man.
[00:09:02] Speaker C: No, I mean, yeah, your season was probably a bit more difficult than mine, like you said, for a couple of reasons. But I think it's pretty clear then that if you or me are having our days.
[00:09:21] Speaker B: That comment almost goes for almost everyone on that grid. I think if someone is really connected to the car, to the car balance, it's really in sync. They can be super hard to beat, but it's so rare, especially informally. You don't get a lot of free practice. It's hard to set up a car perfectly, so you need to be ready to improvise, to adapt. But I think we've seen that, of course you in Riyadh. The way you cleaned up in the races was crazy. Like Mitch in Rome. You can really see when people are in sync that they become hard to beat. Yeah, but it's just so it makes it hard.
[00:10:01] Speaker C: And you're super strong on breaking. This I noticed. Very fast.
[00:10:06] Speaker B: Very fast in breaking. You mean I can break a lot, man, I love you're.
[00:10:14] Speaker C: Good on breaking. You have good performance on braking. You can break late and hard.
[00:10:19] Speaker B: Yeah, sure. Late and hard, always.
But I have to say, this car, I struggle a little bit, like at the end of it, the end of the brakes. You were super strong there.
[00:10:31] Speaker C: Yeah. Do you think we make a good team?
[00:10:33] Speaker B: I think we make a great team, man.
Obviously, I think we are two very different people, which it's not a problem. We are just different. Obviously I'm very social and I like to be liked and I hate to be hated. And I think you don't care if you're hated, which is fine, but obviously we have very different ways of being in life, maybe, but I think they correlate really well. I think we get on super well. And I think obviously, I knew you for many years, like you said, but not as well as I do now. And I think you're very misunderstood.
I keep telling people now, and how is Pascal? How is that? Man, it's a great guy. Like great heart, great guy. I think you are very fair. Hard but fair, which is the way to work together. So yeah, man, I think we did well. I think we did really well. And I think it's still more better stuff to come. And I'd like to think that I am a small, small part in you being able to also deliver in that big. If I can be one less worry when you are in a position to win, if I can be one less thing for you to be worried or angry about, then I'm happy to. I'd like to think that I had a small part in your success this year, definitely.
But yeah, that's what a team is being. I think doing endurance helps me a lot to understand. Don't get me wrong, I want to win. I want to beat you, I want to beat all the other 20 guys. But I learned how to appreciate if a teammate is successful and my team is successful. There's a lot of positives on that. As well.
[00:12:10] Speaker C: Yeah, I think, like you said, we are very different, but it matches quite well. So you like more I mean, we both like Porsche a lot. I'm a bit more introvert, so for me, it's not as easy as for you to open up to everyone, but I think for our relationship and how we work together, and especially also the.
[00:12:35] Speaker B: Respect we have absolutely.
[00:12:37] Speaker C: We have for each other. Yeah, it's been a great year.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: All the times you came with your amazing cars in the SIM, the road cars, and we went around with them. We go for dinner. Nice steak, nice food. GT three here, turbo there.
It's a good way to break the ice. Titan there, for sure.
Yeah, sure. The Titan Turbo S, I think that is still the quickest. The one we had in Valencia is probably still the quickest. The most impressive Porsche that I've driven. Road legal.
[00:13:13] Speaker C: The spot tourism, was it?
[00:13:15] Speaker B: Yes. Man, that was amazing. And when we had my friends in the car, you did the start the start crazy. Yeah. It was a closed road, so it was fine, but yeah, it was crazy in the car park. Yeah. Okay.
[00:13:26] Speaker C: Yeah, it was only 300 to 30 in 0.1 second.
[00:13:32] Speaker B: Okay, Pascal, the 2023 season started strong for you with a second place in Mexico, then the double victory. How did that set the tone for the rest of the championship?
[00:13:42] Speaker C: Yeah, obviously, expectations were pretty high after that.
[00:13:47] Speaker B: I think you and Jake had, like a 60 point lead on the guys in P three, P four, whatever. It was impressive, man.
[00:13:54] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: After those two weekends was crazy.
[00:13:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
Let's start even before that. So, at the test last year, in November or December in Valencia, I think we were a bit concerned. A bit, yeah. I think our best result in the three days of testing was P eleven, P twelve, something like that. And we knew, like, there's Christmas in between, new Year in between. So there's not a lot of time until the first race is coming in January. And I think the work and the effort which went in went completely in the right direction.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: The team stressed as well, and I think everyone was stressed, but they used it well. Let's say they used that stress. Normally, I've seen teams panic before, and that normally leads to bad things. But I think these guys, the way they that was the first impression. And what impressed me a lot about this team is after Mexico, and like you said, after Valencia, it was tricky, like, where we thought we were. It's obviously not a very relatable racetrack for what we do. And then after Mexico, when Jake won the race and you were second, which is two Porsche cars, we actually had the four Porsche cars in the top.
Like, it was an indication that, okay, this team knows how to get stuff done.
[00:15:15] Speaker C: Yeah, maybe for you. That was already, let's say, a good indication of where the performance could be.
But for me, that was still the worry, because every year in Mexico, we have been sure. So I'm not sure. I think Puebla like my worst result.
[00:15:34] Speaker B: It must be the altitude, man.
[00:15:37] Speaker C: My worst result in Mexico, together with the team was, I'm pretty sure, p two. In all those years. Yeah, we got disqualified and stuff.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: But, like, theoretically with a Porsche team, you mean?
[00:15:50] Speaker C: Yes, theoretically. P two was the worst in, I don't know, four races or something.
[00:15:56] Speaker B: Because Puebla the day one.
[00:15:58] Speaker C: Four or five races.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: Day one I won. But you got qualified.
[00:16:02] Speaker C: Day two, second day, p two and penalty for fan boost.
[00:16:07] Speaker B: Oh my God.
[00:16:08] Speaker C: Because I used a fan boost too late.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: So also zero points.
[00:16:11] Speaker C: No. P four then. Okay, 5 seconds. But I was second and then I used it too late.
[00:16:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. You don't even get the full I.
[00:16:19] Speaker C: Didn'T get the full power and I got a pass.
[00:16:21] Speaker B: This is where motorsport and the rules and FIA needs to clean. Yeah, but anyway, different discussion.
[00:16:26] Speaker C: Yeah. To come back to that. So even after Mexico, then, I said, yeah, p two is great for the start of the season, but we're always good here. But we're always good in Mexico. And then for me, let's say the first proper change of mind kind of was in Riad, where we're very competitive, more in the races than in qualifying. And I think that was something which, unfortunately for us, went through the whole season, I think.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: Riyadh, you won both races. One of them, you started 9th and the other one like 7th.
[00:16:57] Speaker C: Yeah. No, 9th and fifth or 6th.
[00:17:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
You won day one from 6th. And then day two, you started 9th.
[00:17:05] Speaker C: And no, the other way.
[00:17:07] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:17:08] Speaker C: Yeah. Day two, it was a bit like that. Day one, p nine, I won from there. Incredible. I couldn't believe it. Then the second day, I start p five. I said, a podium minimum must be the target. Must be possible for today. Yeah.
[00:17:27] Speaker B: And racing at night, you, like, loved it. Yeah. Because you won or you already liked it before.
[00:17:33] Speaker C: No, I already liked it before, even in F one. And Singapore was one of my favorite races, actually.
I like the perception.
[00:17:40] Speaker B: I think everything you need to come to do Lama with me. But you only do the night.
[00:17:47] Speaker C: You don't like the night?
[00:17:48] Speaker B: I love the night. I'm also very good in that. I mean, I love the night, but you come and do the night. Then I sleep.
[00:17:55] Speaker C: Perfect. I sleep during the day.
[00:17:57] Speaker B: Which you do anyway.
[00:18:00] Speaker C: No, but then yeah. So we had a very strong start, but then I would say we had even a strong middle part of the season, just the last part of the season. Everything went a bit out of our hands because we were leading both championships for a long time. So the drivers and also the team's championship.
[00:18:21] Speaker B: If I have to look back where you probably lost some valuable points, I would say for sure, Monaco, a little bit where the Jags won the race, mitchens and Nick. And then there was for sure, Rome and London.
[00:18:38] Speaker C: The last four races, we didn't score enough points as well.
[00:18:41] Speaker B: And they were super strong there.
[00:18:43] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:18:43] Speaker B: They were very strong.
[00:18:44] Speaker C: I mean, if you look at the whole season, just look at the result, to be honest. It's more quality, something like that.
It's not a bad result. It's the best season we had so far in Formula, but I cannot remember.
[00:18:57] Speaker B: A race this year that we've gone backwards. Like we always go forward. I mean, for sure, we haven't qualified very well. You did a bit better than me, but it's still like, how can you be leading a champ? I think your best quality was a.
[00:19:08] Speaker C: Fourth p three, jakarta, which then the race I won.
[00:19:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:13] Speaker C: The second best was P five in Riyadh.
[00:19:16] Speaker B: It's like 878787. And you still did really well from there. But again, if we can qualify a bit better, then yeah, I know. This should be easy, actually.
[00:19:26] Speaker C: You want to know the statistics?
[00:19:27] Speaker B: Yeah, go on.
[00:19:29] Speaker C: So my average qualifying was 9.79.8, something like this.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:19:36] Speaker C: Just below ten, for sure.
[00:19:38] Speaker B: Average. Mine is like, 14.
[00:19:40] Speaker C: No, yours is like, I think, something between two and three positions. Worse. Twelve point something was yours.
[00:19:47] Speaker B: Okay.
Who told you this? Florian. Or you went to see yourself?
[00:19:52] Speaker C: I went to see myself.
[00:19:54] Speaker B: Nice. Yeah. Not good enough.
[00:19:57] Speaker C: The best ones were six point something or seven point something. So, I mean, in average, if you look at the season, it's like it's two, three positions, maybe four or five games for you. But if you think two, three positions in Formula E per race is maybe a 10th absolutely. It's not like in average, if we miss two or three starting positions, we miss half a second or something. Qualifying. No, it's details. It's tenths, maybe, and maybe two tenths sometimes, and you are five places.
[00:20:30] Speaker B: Especially with what we have with the duels and everything, like the amount of times I qualified fifth in my group, and by being fourth, you go to the duels and then everything can change. It sucks.
[00:20:42] Speaker C: Anyway, but we know there we will do better next year, I'm sure.
Cape Town was your first win with the Porsche team. How did you feel? What were your strengths in that race that allowed you to win?
[00:20:55] Speaker B: Oh, I just got lucky, for sure. Not like I qualified 11th, to be honest. That was a little breakthrough in my qualities of the year, because I remember we changed a few things, a few updates for the car that weekend, and in quality groups after the first set of tires, I was first, I was quickest. And then I thought, okay, this is better now. And then the second one, I had a lockup and I didn't improve my lap. And I had to start. Yeah, I qualified fifth again. So started 11th. And I thought, okay, we can go forwards in the race. We know this, but it's a tricky track to overtake. If I can score some points today, we'll be okay. And then I start the race and I got a place at the start.
[00:21:35] Speaker C: Yeah, also lap one, you remember?
[00:21:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I got some help there. So I got a place off the line to Norman NATO. And then lap one, you helped me a bit. You went off with Buemi. So there was two more places already. After lap one, I was like, P nine or P eight said, okay, perfect. I'm already in my small target. I'm already scoring points, man. And then I left my Attack Modes pretty late, and I could feel that I was quick because people were going to Attack Mode and I would stay in front and even pull a gap. I'm like, I'm 6th, I'm fifth. And I said fuck top five. This is nice. I'm fourth. And then I told myself, I think I can win. I think I can win today.
And then everything changed. But I went a bit blind, even slightly risky, stupid decisions that I've made. And I was not comfortable enough with the software of the car. So there was a few settings that I should have been changing to help me manage the energy. And my engineer was telling me on the radio, do this, do that. I'm like, Dude, just leave me alone. I know, don't worry, I got it. And I didn't got it.
[00:22:43] Speaker C: It was so funny because, like I said, I crashed in lab one, right? You were in the garage listening.
I was starting P six, and then I crashed into Buemi and was walking back into the garage. And I remember I was sitting there and just take the headset of the guys and listen to the intercom. And obviously also my guys, like, everyone helped.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: That's the cool thing about our team.
[00:23:13] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:23:13] Speaker B: I've seen it before. Like, when one of us is out or something, the whole team gets behind.
[00:23:17] Speaker C: The other guy and then just to listen what happened during the race. And man, you missed the Attack mode. And everyone in the garage was like, Fuck.
And man, your engineer, so Marius, it was like he was in the race with you now.
[00:23:35] Speaker B: Attack Mode. You go, attack mode.
[00:23:38] Speaker C: And the thing is, I was watching the television, right? So the picture but he was already watching all the split times, sector times and so on, and he was screaming, and I didn't know what was happening. And just 2 seconds later, I saw the pitch.
It was a super intense race.
[00:24:01] Speaker B: I think that's pretty cool. So with my engineer, Mario, he's a very cold guy, very German.
[00:24:06] Speaker C: Yeah, I've never seen him like that.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the thing. I think that weekend we broke some ice between both of mean. In the end, I think my experience helped me to avoid a disaster at the end with the energy. The last lap, it was super tight on energy for me. And the overtake, obviously on Jeff. I mean, it's great. Yeah. Amazing move. Two laps to go. But if I really look at it from if I analyze it calmly, it was very stupid because I did not have the credit to crash. Fighting for a win if I finished second for me and for the team would have been a great result. But in my mind, I just wanted the win. And imagine I crashed that day, man, I'm fired. I'm coming from two disastrous races and then when I can finally give the team a podium, imagine if I crash, man, I would have been fired.
[00:24:56] Speaker C: It's better you jump in the sea then.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: Yeah. And a shark comes quickly to take me.
[00:25:01] Speaker C: Because you saw before the qualifying or before the practice session, they filmed from the helicopter, the sea, like just next to the track and there was a big whale or something.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: No way.
[00:25:12] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:13] Speaker B: I didn't see it. No. Yeah, it was good that whale was there in case I crashed. He would have eaten me for breakfast, for dinner.
[00:25:21] Speaker C: It's just a small snack. You would have been but a lot of protein.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: Looking back at the 23 championship, how satisfied are you with your fourth place finish?
Standout moments, lessons, what can you and we do better.
[00:25:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
So, yeah, looking back at the whole season, just looking at the fourth place, I would say, yeah, was not a bad season.
We had three wins, four wins with yours in Cape Town. So the seasons before, we only had one per season. I account Puebla as well as a win.
So, yeah, I mean, it was a big step forward, but obviously with all the background we had, especially from the first couple of races and being quite comfortable in the lead and so on, obviously also the expectations and the targets just raised a lot higher.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:26:22] Speaker C: So I'm not 100% happy. I think we cannot be and we should not be because we want to win.
We cannot be happy in the end with not winning.
But I also see the positives and I don't want to forget them. I don't want to forget that we had three wins. I don't want to forget that both of us had a couple of podiums. That I had something scary crash in India, which I'm, let's say, happy to not been hurted.
[00:26:56] Speaker B: Yeah, I saw it. Yeah, you were right behind, directly behind the spectacular.
[00:27:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: I said on the radio straight away, I said, his throttle got stuck. I said it straight away. No, his throttle got stuck.
[00:27:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:27:10] Speaker B: The first I said, oh, what a loser.
[00:27:13] Speaker C: And then you see me crashing into the wall with, I don't know, 200, you say? Maybe not.
You went on full throttle afterwards.
[00:27:22] Speaker B: No, I boxed right away.
[00:27:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:27:30] Speaker B: Now, motivation for next year. I think we're good and we're high. I mean, we had a small taste of what could have been and what we I think exactly, it's there. I think the whole team, we've awakened a new monster in everyone.
Yes. We're not here to participate. We're here to win. And we now show that we can. I think everyone it's great to see the mentality in the team is big, is high.
It's good to see.
[00:27:56] Speaker C: And it sucked for everyone. So everyone was absolutely man.
[00:28:01] Speaker B: Absolutely. And that's what I said before. You at some point had such a lead and then whatever the way it went and then we ended up losing it a little bit, but yeah, it was crazy to I think almost it was bad to have such a good lead. I'm not saying, like, nobody took the foot off the throttle, but it was crazy how big it was at some point.
Overall, now, next year what we do.
[00:28:29] Speaker C: We start the same and we finish different than this year.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
[00:28:34] Speaker C: So we start the same and finish.
[00:28:37] Speaker B: Like round one in Mexico is for you anyway. You have three victories in the first three races. Me, I finish second and then I start to we share.
[00:28:45] Speaker C: I mean, one thing we need to man, 100%.
[00:28:47] Speaker B: We need to I know already what.
[00:28:49] Speaker C: You'Re going to do next year is be on the podium together. Impossible. How many podiums did you have this year?
[00:28:54] Speaker B: Three or four?
[00:28:55] Speaker C: Yeah, same for me.
[00:28:56] Speaker B: Like four, five. I have three podiums. Yeah.
[00:29:00] Speaker C: Can you imagine that? We've never been together on the.
[00:29:07] Speaker B: Well, we do this next year is a big mexico.
[00:29:11] Speaker C: Mexico.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: And then let's discard this and do one last point, which is cool for the people that follow us and that like us, they only switch on most people. They switch on the TV and they watch us race. But there's obviously a lot more going on in the background. And the cool thing that it happened this year was like, I remember when I joined the team, we went to Test in Majorca and we went for dinner together. And I think on the second day, we went for dinner together every day that week. And then on the second day, we were having dinner together, and some of the girls from the team, they were having a walk around. And then they saw us and they came to join. And a dessert arrived. And we were sharing a dessert, and they were like, oh, my God. Pascal is sharing a dessert with somebody else. They could not believe it. And I was like, well, what's the problem? And I share food all the time. No, he never shares anything with anyone.
[00:30:04] Speaker C: No, give me six months. No, this is wrong. Now, wait.
The thing is, since COVID I've implemented ticks. So in the past I didn't care at all. Now, before I eat, I need to wash my hands. I need to sanitize my hands then, yes, I know you're clean and everything, but if we shake hands, I need to sanitize my hands.
[00:30:36] Speaker B: My brother became the same. My brother washes his hands 22 times a day. And I went for the opposite approach. If something falls on the ground, I eat it because that's my immune system.
[00:30:47] Speaker C: Well, it doesn't matter with COVID or it didn't matter at that time. Nobody knows with the spoon or it's just because of that.
[00:30:56] Speaker B: I mean, guys, we are not sharing a spoon, let's make that clear. We are just sharing the same chocolate cake. But anyway, going forward, we went to Valencia. This was also a good one. Like the next day we were testing at 830 in the morning, it's like 11:00 p.m.. I have a video, 11:00 p.m.. And we are having dinner in like a club almost. Music loud, pascal with the hands in the air, singing man, this was you stopped now.
I was also there.
[00:31:23] Speaker C: Go on, go on.
[00:31:24] Speaker B: No, I was also there. And then I showed this video to the was like, man, what have you done to Pascal? It's a different animal and I am releasing him.
[00:31:35] Speaker C: But one thing which is true is like I started to let's say I mean, in the is for me it's only you travel right from the airport, you go to the hotel, you rest, you train, then from there you go to the track, you go back and just rest and train. And 100% focus. Don't get me wrong, it's also 100% focused now. But in the past, I would have never gone out for dinner exactly on a race weekend or gone out for dinner.
[00:32:07] Speaker B: And in Riyadh, for example, Riad was amazing.
[00:32:10] Speaker C: Every night we went directly from the track. On our way to the hotel, we went but I think a good quick.
[00:32:16] Speaker B: Dinner, I think it's important to do that. And you visit a little bit the places in the world that you are. You're not going to bed late. Anyway, good chats. I think we bond there and we did a few good ones. Yeah, Riad was super nice.
London was cool as well. We went actually had some Portuguese friends there. And you came as well?
We've done a few, but yeah. Did you do India with us? We went to the Hard Rock across the.
[00:32:46] Speaker C: Weird.
[00:32:47] Speaker B: But yeah. So I forced myself to get out of the hotel a little bit.
[00:32:52] Speaker C: Like you say, the timing is still the same. Like you go to bed at the same time at 1011, but at least you don't do room service, which the food is half cold sometimes already and stuff like this, you switch off a little bit.
[00:33:07] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
[00:33:08] Speaker C: This has definitely changed, I can confirm that.
[00:33:11] Speaker B: And good next year.
[00:33:12] Speaker C: The next step is which other story?
[00:33:14] Speaker B: No, that's it. I think it's just cool for the people that follow us to know that we're not robots and we also like to see stuff and to eat good food and to party a bit after parties. We didn't do this year.
[00:33:30] Speaker C: No, I usually never do.
[00:33:32] Speaker B: You never do this.
[00:33:33] Speaker C: We change party this, we change now. You know what?
[00:33:37] Speaker B: Okay. No, we put here now. We finish the podcast the day we go on the podium together. We go to the after party.
[00:33:43] Speaker C: Yeah. The thing is no, I like to share a good evening with the team, have a beer, and then for me, if I'm awake until five and then the next day, I'm completely destroyed it's. One day of the and I'm getting older as well. Yeah. I said we are young, but if I go out until five, I'm done for two days.
But okay. A good reason is if we are both on the podium. Come on, I follow you.
[00:34:13] Speaker B: Okay, perfect.
[00:34:13] Speaker C: I follow you, but you follow me on the drinks.
[00:34:16] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay, deal.
[00:34:18] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:34:18] Speaker B: Shake my hand. Perfect.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: Thank you for listening to this episode of The Edge. If you'd like to listen to more episodes like this one, have a listen to our interviews with racing drivers max Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Simona de Silvestro.
If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave us five stars. It does make a difference.
Thank you so much to Pascal and Antonio for joining us. I'm your host, Teo Vandenbrooker, and I'll be back next month month with another episode of The Edge, a podcast by Tag Hoyer.
See you soon.
