Max and Checo Reflect On The 2023 F1 Season | Talking Bull

The Talking Bull podcast presented by HP Poly returns for the final time in 2023, and Nicola Hume is joined by reigning World Champion Max Verstappen, and his Oracle Red Bull Racing team-mate, Sergio “Checo” Perez. Filmed on Campus in Milton Keynes, the two Formula 1 drivers who finished P1 and P2 in 2023, review the season including their highlights, answer questions sent in by the fans and look ahead to the 2024 F1 season.

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Hello and welcome back to talking bull brought to you by HP Polly I’m nicolah Hume this is the podcast where we talk all things Oracle Red Bull Racing now we have an end of season special for you we are joined today by both drivers it’s jeo Perez and Max M

Stapper how are you both yeah yeah know I mean it’s been busy but we’re good we’re still alive is it is it more exhausting doing all kind of the media interviews and things once the once the season is done or the actual racing which ones more ment this is more

Mentally draining which I find probably harder than the physical side of driving enough yeah but you must be exhausted it’s been a very long but very successful season but you both must be just ready for Christmas I I am ready like I can’t wait to be honest it’s been

A long year yeah I mean we finished the year and and it just felt like it just got harder once we we finish it off you know we had the T we had the Japan we had the Baku so it’s we we’ve been quite quite busy but um yeah luckily seems

Like today we we’re going to have a bit of a break well cuz last time I spoke to you it was just after the summer break so you were very relaxed rested very refreshed fresh I’m not so fresh anymore actually last time we spoke to

You Max was when you had just won your third world championship how does it feel now that everything’s all kind of settled and we have a beautiful looking trophy set here on the table yeah um pretty much the same to be honest I mean

After Abu Dhabi I was very ill uh for a couple of days so I’m still recovering from that plus then of course like the traveling um Checker set so that that didn’t really help um but yeah I know of course that um I’ll have like two really

Nice weeks where I can really just switch off not look at my emails F1 related stuff I I already to be honest I have to apologize to my engineer because he sent me three emails relating to related to next year and I didn’t respond it

Happened same to me I I saw him today I saw him today so I made up I made up I made up for it okay so it’s all right yeah we you know our relationship yeah it’s lovely it’s a bromance so um uh yeah no I’m definitely looking

Forward to take a bit of time off but I felt like Abu Dhabi when I was standing on on the podium that it did hit me a little bit of course with the achievements this year and uh yeah it was a bit sad to to climb out of the the

Rb19 at the time I mean we have to talk about the rb19 I mean how how how quickly into the season did you realize the rb19 was going to be so successful well I think testing and brain the car felt really nice but Bahrain is a very specific track layout

Where you know also with the surface is very aggressive so it doesn’t always mean if you go well in Bahrain that you’re going to have an incredible season but then yeah the races after that you know we had quite a lot of different kind of tracks um

And yeah I think at one point you realized like okay well you know Championship is on you know if nothing crazy happens in terms of reliability and stuff we can have a we can have a great year but of course I never thought that you know the car would win all the

Races by one I mean and czecho for you your best to ever finish in a driver’s Championship how are you feeling after getting a onew that was a brilliant finish for Red Bull how are you feeling yeah it was a great year overall um started very strongly we had some up and

Downs during the midseason but we we managed to to come around them and um yeah secure the best the best season in the history for our team I think it’s what everyone back home deserved because H they’ve done a tremendous car and like Max said you know since Bahrain and the the first

Four or five races we knew we had a really strong package but they they the competition closed the Gap really quickly yeah into us you know quicker than than I really thought I was surprised how how much they were able to to develop Through The Years so it just

Got harder you think that’s because they have little cheeky looks at your car do you think that’s I think it helps definitely I mean you you landed it in Vegas how did you celebrate um bearing in mind you were in Vegas at the time not much oh really no no because Vegas

Was U I think Max had a better celebration than yeah a bit of apple juice yeah good yeah good yeah I mean the race was so late you know wasn’t it yeah yeah we left the SI with like two 2 o’ or something at night so yeah I mean I arrived into the

Club and it was basically empty oh you actually went to a club yeah okay but it was late you know I guess people already had been partying the whole week so people people were tired but actually it ended up great because I was you know with friends family and then Martin

Garrick’s friend of mine he was playing and it was just our table honestly like just a great great night and there were no other people celebrating we had like a private yeah private club actually I think I saw a video of you that you went up with the DJ and you uh

You were a few people left and they started singing czecho so I was like just raving on it let’s go I saw that video I saw um in terms of Vegas as a race as a whole how was the experience because he was a favorite race for Max I

Mean I could I really I do you know what I really liked your race suits I really like them I thought they look brilliant so did you enjoy I mean I also enjoyed your singing at the end though Max yeah you think there’s a career after of one

Yeah I think so I blame I blame I blame my mic ah of course yeah that’s a good idea it’s like against my lips yeah I can’t fully express my vocal cour right yeah um yeah no it’s absolutely shocking uh uh yeah no I basically I I mean I got

Pushed into it by Christian again and then I mean I can’t leave him hanging right so I have to you know yeah I have to do it yeah in my best possible uh you can give it a go no no h this it’s not a good mic it’s not the

Right M it’s not the singing mic you need the the right the right mic for it’s a different mic so I need to talk about your your highlights of the year was there anything in particular in the year that stood out for you definitely I’ll say Baku Baku winning

Both races the Sprint and the the main race I love Baku yeah yeah so do you have a version of this is this your actual trophy yeah this is always the one we have to give to the team unfor yeah cuz there’s a huge trophy cabinet

Here at the factory get these are the real ones right okay so do you have a replica that then which looks the same I think it’s actually quite an elegant trophy that yeah it is so did you look look at the bottom then to be able to

Tell which one’s the real one and which one’s not well they come identical no yeah yeah they’re exactly the same yeah the these are these are sometimes they have a different bottom I don’t know why I mean how does that feel to see your name actually like described onto that

Now 2023 Max with I mean I remember of course when it was still around the SE years right and you see that you know he’s holding the trophy and like wow you know that that is something really impressive you know you only think about oh would be quite cool if you have your

Name on it you know yeah and then uh yeah now that you you see three times on there with all these other great drivers on there it’s cool yeah it’s not too yeah I mean I can’t complain yeah shouldn’t feel that bad so we are at the end of the season

So we do I know that you do want to have a little break but we do need to look forward to next season as well are there any particular teams or any particular drivers that you are just going to keep an eye on because you feel like they

Might be quite close with you next year I don’t want to think too much and like I’m so exhausted now that I mean it’s so hard also to predict who’s going to be yeah where but certainly I mean we were the only team that was really consistent

That’s the thing that behind us it was really up and down then you know it was one team second and another team so that’s why the battle was quite close behind us um so it will all depend on how much they will improve you know in

The winter time which one I think was the most impressive behind us from where they started to where they ended was definitely McLaren so it looks like yeah they might um they might be very strong next year yeah I mean thinking ahead to next year as well is is there any way

That you’re going to attack things differently or because it’s been such such a successful year for for both of you that you’re just going to go in with exactly the same mindset as what you did this year H every year is a little bit different it also depends of course how

Good the car is going to be um but I think you also just rely a lot on your experience I mean you have experienced already I think a lot in your career and in f one um and you know that if you want to fight for a championship of

Course the most important thing is the car but besides that is your performances need to be very consistent and that’s something that you have to try and um yeah achieve again and every single year it’s a A new challenge you know to try and and do that yeah I mean

We are now approaching the offseason so what you going to be doing eat eat okay of course you’re going to eat and then you might have a few little drinks to celebrate with the family is there anything else that you do like do you carry on training no traveling no

Traveling okay I can’t really say that I’m still traveling quite a lot yeah you I have to go to a wedding of my brother-in-law oh that’s nice uh in Brazil yeah so then I’ll spend Christmas there as well because otherwise I’m traveling back to Europe again so um

That would be nice because you know it’s good temperatures around there at the moment so escape the cold and then I go back to the cold yeah into the snow a little bit um because I haven’t been skiing for like 5 years at least 5 years

So yeah hopefully um I don’t need to call the team start of January that I broke a leg Yeah be careful yeah I I’ll try to be careful driving with one leg Yeah I need to do the old school uh driving um and then uh yeah you know

Slowly when you start when you’re in January you start you start training again okay is it the same for you then cheze yeah pretty much I will I won’t be going to the snow I was in the snow last year so um I will go a bit warmer to the

Beach in Mexico yeah lovely yeah with the family just with family friends play some golf and uh yeah just have few weeks to disconnect from recharged batteries yeah I I get it I get it um now Oracle plays a huge part in helping the team come up with the right

Strategies throughout the season so is there any particular race like One race that stands out from this year that came down to a really bold strategy call is there anything else that anything that stands out for you sunb yeah yeah I mean it was a crazy race where it

Could have gone so wrong but I think we got a lot of calls right yeah it starts already with we have so many strategies like calculated and processed already before we even you know start the race and then basically you can just throw everything in the bin because it starts

Raining yeah and you have to make it up very quickly again yeah of course we had in mind you know there is race rain coming and stuff but still when it actually happens and then what whatever happens on LP one if if people are pitting or not because for example

Czecho was P what were you in the grid P seven and he came in out in the lead yeah well I had you know I stayed out one more lap so the whole strategies were out of phase basically but then I think the team you know did an amazing

Job for the rest of the race to always be on the right tires at the right time because you know it started raining then we went back to Slick then it started raining again then it actually went even worse where you had to switch to extreme

Tires at one point so then the red flag did so yeah it was just very hectic but the team because of all the information that they had made all the the right calls as well yeah so when it comes to Oracle and the strategy and and the data

Etc how much of it do you see before each race or do you just rely on everyone that’s on the pit wall uh well I mean of course everyone has their own job right so we trust that they do the right things and in terms of when they

Are of course working with the software um but of course every morning before the race we go in detail of course through the possible scenarios and strategies and we we share our opinion um and yeah then we go into the race normally happy with what um is decided

Normally and uh yeah most of the time of course it works out really well actually speaking of of Oracle we do have some questions that have been sent in Via their social media so our first one is from Andrew I’m Andy Kelly from Austin Texas and I was wondering if you could

Add any race to the calendar where it a bit o for me Mello why St layout so many fast corners and fard it’s so nice what about for you czecho um salarino oh yeah very nice of course for obvious reasons yeah and we do have a load of questions as

Well that have come in from uh our talking ball listeners that have got in touch uh via the social channels and Via The Paddock as well so this one is from Phoenix in the UK who says if you could create a track create a race anywhere in

The world where would it be if you could create a brand new track where would you do it well I would of course I would choose Holland naturally well just like around around your own Street well we don’t we don’t really have a lot of space left I

Think h i yeah I don’t know I mean I I would just try to combine a lot of cool um combination of corners from other kind of tracks mhm okay for me I will choose guara you know okay yeah and we have a lot of space so okay yeah wouldn’t have that

Problem uh this is from Andy in the UK who says what was your favorite race this year Sanford just because of all the scenarios that we had to stay on top of and yeah I enjoy sord yeah it was very enjoyable race with a lot of action it

Happened a lot of things um and naturally Baku Baku yeah obviously when you win it’s special this is from Gabor from Hungary who says have you ever played FIFA against each other yes yeah yeah we did back in the day we were not teamates Jaan no yeah which year was it when in

In 19 maybe yeah when there was a typhoon we couldn’t race on Saturday yeah so all the drivers were oh yes yeah I remember we were dominating naturally yeah we were actually I think we were the only on that played we have to to play it uh yeah yeah yeah and this is

From Johan in Costa Rica who says what is your favorite Christmas activity that’s not eating or drinking sleeping come on I was literally going like waking up so late and no I mean watch a movie or whatever you know like just with the family together or

Whatever well I like home alone oh yeah great film yeah good choice yeah it’s a little angel oh nice you know yeah you know which one it’s I don’t know I’m missing the translation it’s an English movie yeah I thought you me this Max is it an English no it’s it’s an English

Film really oh okay same how you call it in English Home Alone Home Alone which is the same film that ma yeah yeah but it’s different the translation yeah my P my yeah because he gets left alone Home Alone we’ve all learned something today

I love that um ah this is from uh rochi in Japan who says now I know Max is good at Japanese I would would like to ask czecho and Max how many languages can you speak depends with or without alcohol both your French your French can be very good I mean uh without

Alcohol I think it’s three languages but with alcohol 69 languages yeah good 69 this is from y e j m from the Netherlands who says have you guys seen the rb20 yet I mean I saw some um like drawings not not the actual car because it doesn’t exist but looks nice it

Exists on the simulator already yeah yeah but I mean like a real life there’s no physical car yet yeah but um yeah it looks interesting y yeah is that all you can tell yeah I I mean I can’t put I can’t pull the blueprint out this is from Jeff Denmark who says

Can you feel if it’s a 2C or a 2.5 second pit stop yeah can you feel it I I mean not syn because when it’s a two second like a low two second or 1.8 or whatever yeah it it’s so synchronized the front and the rear nothing happens

You know it’s just like off on front and rear you can feel it it’s just like you know attached to your body you know almost because you know you have quite a good feel in the car and um yeah when it’s like 2.5 to three seconds it’s

There’s always one wheel that is not synchronized ah right and also I mean it’s funny how like two second stop feel like slow like you you must you you might think that it’s really fast but in the car it feels like you’re there for

Ages wow 1.8 when I when I hit that in um Brazil I think it was that one did feel quite quick but yeah like two 2.2 then you oh yeah it’s okay but you must have yeah once that 1.8 happened you just you felt it because it’s so

Synchron like it just goes off on it’s beautiful that’s beautiful uh this is from in the UK who says if all of the team principles had a carting race who do you think would actually win I think Christian I think Christian yeah I mean he’s actually a racer isn’t he so yeah

Yeah he’s only he’s also probably one of the smaller lighter I think he was the only racing driver out there yeah although Toto Toto also I saw yeah I think Christian definely went higher up in racing from all of them I would pay good money to watch that that would be a

Good caring race this is from Sean in the UK he says are you looking forward to all of the funny Red Bull marketing team games next year in 20 you do some fun stuff though yes I’m not looking forward to it you drive some weird machines and like race little RC

Like you do some fun stuff yeah we’ve done everything we we’ve driven everything that we you could imagine of didn’t you drive like a like an ice machine somewhere yeah yeah in Singapore whatever you think of we’ve driven it uh this is from and don’t give any more

Ideas to our marketing team this is from Tia in Croatia who says what do you guys like to talk about when you’re on your way to a media event or you’re waiting around for a session us yeah uh it can be anything family related stuff just

You know what we’re doing um outside of the races yeah whatever comes up is there like a goto conversation that you normally bring up like oh did you watch whatever last night like because you know you’re into the same kind of thing or just a normal normal like life stuff

Yeah yeah whatever with friend your friends I mean yeah I would just yeah you know with family very rarely we speak about racing though I think it’s the last subject that uh yeah yeah it’s rare that we we speak about RAC give me one food you’re really looking forward

To Kebab oh yes what like like a proper dirty yeah yeah yeah yeah a Japanese Kebab in Japan yeah I know yeah I have one as well not too bad but yeah I had one when I came back to Monaco just to test if it was good as well you got to

Check yeah yeah you have to check yeah I love it Checker what you looking forward to uh Lun what’s that it’s a a bread um with meat um it’s a Mexican it sounds like a kebab it’s a Mexican Kebab it’s a Mexican Kebab yeah I I go to these little places

Where where I eat my food and it’s happiness in those little places well I want to say a massive massive thank you for joining us here today enjoy the rest I mean we had to really no it is in your contract that you do have to do stuff like

This no no I preer anything else that’s the correct thing to say thank you very much you had to but you enjoy it of all of the media things this one is for sure for sure yeah of course no thank you thank you very much for it’s been good

Enjoy your time off and I will see you next year and good luck for next season much enjoy the holidays and um yeah make sure you drink some Mexican water I’m sure very important very important