The Athletic.

The race is on, and as Daniel Ricardo insists he won't walk away,

McClaran gives Colton Hur to his first F1 test

and brings Alex Palau into its burgeoning driver development ranks.

So what's really going on with McLaren's 2023 plans?

And why is Ricardo getting so punchy with his public comments?

I'm Ed Strawer and joining us to answer these questions and many more,

ask Scott Mitchell and Ben Anderson.

Well, it's been a while since we've had a podcast debut on,

so we have to start with you, Ben Anderson.

Explain yourself, what are you doing here? It's a very good question, Ed. I think basically you lot thought you'd got rid of me, and it's been many years, but I've managed to catch up with you and return to make your lives hell once again. A ghost from a past life, that's probably the best way to look at you. But for those who don't know Ben Anderson, which will be most of you probably, because I don't think many have heard of him, but he has a long history as a Formula One journalist and an editor as well. And now he's working with us at the race. So he knows what he's talking about when it comes to Formula One. So that means we've now got one person that knows what they're talking about. That's good news for Scott Mitchell.

I'm not going to ask you how you're doing since not for the first time you're joining us for a

podcast while battling COVID, but at least you have got something to complain about.

No, I don't think that's very fair. No, I'm in good spirits. It's not ideal to have this, but it's come at a decent time in terms of in this run of mad races through July. At least I've managed to get it in the one window that actually exists in the month to have a few days with COVID and then recover to come back. So hopefully I'll be back in

the paddock for the French Grand Prix, but obviously I need to make sure I have no symptoms

and test negative and all that jazz. But it's all good. The only downside is this isn't exactly

how I wanted to spend my 30th birthday, but it's okay because recording this podcast with you two

lovely gentlemen more than makes up for it.

Happy birthday, Scott. Thank you very much. It's at this point that we'll reveal the secret

present we've got you that I didn't think to do. So yeah, we'll just imagine we've done lots of

good things to mark your birthday. But what better way to celebrate a landmark birthday than

talking about Formula One?

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