The race is on, and Formula One's final race seat has finally been filled, with Alpha Romeo

confirming Formula 2 frontrunner Guan Yu-Jo will partner Valtteri Bottas next year.

But how good is Joe? Why has he got the seat and what does it mean for both the team and F1 as a whole?

I'm Ed Straw, and to answer those questions and more, I'm joined by Scott Mitchell and Josh Suttle.

Well, Josh, a Formula One podcast, debut on. I'm going to ask the question that everyone wants to know.

Are you any relation to former F1 driver Adrian Sertil?

No, only in my mediocrity and that's about it and perhaps hopefully a bit more memorable once I've retired.

Although I might also just disappear off into the distance as well.

You're presumably, I guess, a decent percentage better than Adrian Sotil because you've got two letters more in your surname. You've got an extra T and an extra L, don't you? So that, I don't know, it doesn't make you twice as good, but it makes you considerably better, right? Yeah, but also I guess it depends on your perception, doesn't it? And I've been arguing for years that he's one of the most underrated drivers ever. So I guess that's even more of a compliment. Well, I'm happy to rule on this. Sartil, he was a good driver. Not a stunningly brilliant one, but he had a decent career, decent midfield F1 driver, some good drivers, good results. So yeah, a handy performer, shall we say. And hopefully Josh will prove to be a handy performer on this podcast, but we'll decide at the end, and that'll

decide whether he's allowed to come back in the future. Well, I've got a question about that. Who do you think is going to be better as a debutant, Juan Nuzhou in Formula One or Josh Souttile on this F1 podcast? Well, by the end of this podcast, the listeners are going to know they can judge one for themselves and the other based on what we say. So without further ado, let's get on with it and

start off with you, Scott, because it's not... listeners are going to know they can judge one for themselves and the other based on what we say.

So without further ado, let's get on with it and start off with you, Scott, because it's no

great surprise that Jo has got the drive. So why is it taken so long for it to be made official?

Well, I think there was a little bit of, what's the correct way of putting it, a bit of interruption,

shall we say, and interference from the

off-track stuff with whether or not there was going to be an ownership change within Salvo,

which runs and operates the Alpha Romeo Formula One team, because there was the whole

Andretti interest and then attached to the Andretti interest was obviously going to be, you know,

if they take a controlling stake in the team, they're going to want to have a say on drivers, what are they going to do, and how that all fits in. So I think that was one part of it. But I think probably a bigger part of it is the fact that F1 contracts are very complicated. And I, from the impression I've got is that the one with Joe is particularly complicated because he obviously comes with a lot of backing. But when you bring a lot of backing for a driver, you want to return on that investment. And therefore you want to be rewarded with a decent deal. You want to make sure that that driver is going to be an F1 for a while. The F1, the championship has got involved to a certain degree, which I'm sure we'll get into a little bit later.

The team have got their own things that they want.

Do they see Joe as a short-term option or a long-term option?

So I think it was just a bit complicated to get everything over the line.

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