WEBVTT - Introduction: F1 101 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.440 Ready, Ready, cool, Michael, what do you know about Formula 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:10.400 one racing? Um? I do know the name Michael Schumacher. 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:13.520 Oh that's more than I knew. Yeah, because when I 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:15.840 was a kid, there was the trivia of who's the 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:18.880 highest paid athlete in the world, and it was a 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.000 trap to get you to say, like Michael Jordan's and 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:23.120 it was this guy never heard of named Michael Schumacher, 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:25.560 a different Michael. I know it's a car race. So 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:29.920 I do feel a little bit like Bill Hayter's iconic 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:34.280 Saturday Night Live sketch Stefen. The sport really has everything. 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:37.800 So you've got people who are willingly hurdling themselves in 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:45.960 carbon fiber death traps at over two break five, literal 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:49.559 and actual Nigerian Prince scams. Maybe we don't look the 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:51.400 gift horse in the mouth and we just accept what 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:55.600 they've given us. An angry Italian team boss who's resorted 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.640 to posing with children's playground toys to get money for 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:02.280 his team, He's like, this is not a fucking kindergarten. 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:08.160 You have got tragedy stuck. It makes incredible dramas. This 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:15.280 fucking you have name calling, mudslinging, sometimes literally punch throwing, 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:18.240 you have triumph, you a fashion. It is like watching 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:22.280 Real Housewives if the real housewives were driving at three 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:26.200 an hour and occasionally catching on fire, and you have 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:29.600 everything in between the high is it very high? The 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:36.720 lawyers feel so incredibly bad? Okay, Lily, thank you. Spicy sounds, 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:41.800 zesty sounds, exciting sounds, high speed. I have no connection. 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:47.160 I have no reason to support some Swiss millionaire who's 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:49.040 driving this car. You know what I mean? There isn't 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:54.040 I need some ownership over somebody, a team, a car, 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.840 and that's missing. Maybe if I can connect with some 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:00.320 team or a person or there's a store, worry that 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:03.120 I resonates with me? Now I'm rooting for these people? 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:05.240 Does that make sense? Well? Have I got a podcast 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:12.280 for you from my Heart Radio and Sports Illustrated Studios. 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:26.960 This is Choosing Sides one. Wow, w Hi, welcome to 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:32.400 Choosing Sides f one, a podcast about, um, what what 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:34.800 are we doing here? Lily? So? Um, congrats on signing 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:37.120 a very fancy contract for sports podcast where you know 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.079 nothing about the sport. This is this is awesome. That's 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:44.760 a good pitch. Ye Okay, So obviously to care about anything, 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:46.280 you've got to have skin in the game. That's what 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:50.200 we're talking about here. So over the next many weeks, I, 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.359 along with a ton of F one insiders and journalists, fans, 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:56.680 all sorts of people, are going to be taking you 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:59.679 on a bit of a journey to understand Formula one, 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.320 and we're going to be getting into the inner workings 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:05.480 of every single team, every single driver. By the end, 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:07.480 are going to make a choice as to which team 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:09.720 and driver your support. Um, but you'll soon find that 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:12.799 this is not a straightforward is just choosing the fastest guy, 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:16.800 right or the best team? Um? You know, every single driver, 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:19.799 every single team you know, has their own their own scandals, 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:25.080 their own rivalries, resentments, daddy issues. The number one rule 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:27.519 of F one off the bat, everybody's got daddy issues. 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:29.360 If you don't have one, you can't be in that 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:34.640 seems to be a daddy the team owner. Maybe maybe 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:37.400 we'll actually the first team we talked about, We'll get 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:39.720 into the guy who's who's known as a daddy on 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:43.000 the grid. So, okay, they really got it all. Yeah, 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:47.040 I'm certain I'm gonna I like. I like people competing 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:49.880 under pressure, and it feels like there's a lot of 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:53.840 pressure and steaks when you're moving at that speed for millions, 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:56.000 hundred millions of dollars is that? Sure, money is great, 0:03:56.040 --> 0:04:02.080 but death is the ultimate motivator. Then home speed, spills, thrills, 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:05.680 crowding miles in two minutes on the streaming tomic, they 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:08.360 ride with life as the passenger and death on that 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:15.240 tail catra lift. So obviously with sports, yeah, it depends 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:16.760 on where you grew up, depends whence you grew up 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.240 watching what your family ended up liking. Obviously a lot 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:21.640 of Americans did not grow up with F one. Um. 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:23.560 But yeah, there is a show on Netflix called Drive 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:26.320 to Survive started coming out I believe in twenty nineteen, 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.720 where it's basically a very highly audited, uh and very 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:34.440 dramatic docuseries. I am someone who got very into Formula 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:37.120 one after for no reason at all, clicking on Drive 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:39.839 to Survive on Netflix. What made it interesting was so 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:42.240 Formula one, as we will get into shortly, it's a 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.159 very secretive sport. They're very tight lipped. As I said, 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:47.880 there's millions and millions, even billions of dollars at stake, 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:50.480 so there everyone's really close to the vest in the sports. 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.360 So it made the show very different was the fact 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:56.080 that it kind of gave you this inside look into 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:59.000 the different garages, into the what's called the paddock, which 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:01.119 is where you know, all of the action takes place, 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:03.919 the cars, all of the commentators, all this stuff. You know, 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:06.400 there are clips of for instance, you know, one driver 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.160 crashed into another and went up to that guy during 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:11.359 you know, post race interviews and told him to go 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:13.479 fuck himself, and the guy looked at him on camera 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:19.000 and said, yes, Yes, that's what we got to see 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:22.200 from driver yourself. Suck my Ball's Mate, which is now 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:24.320 on T shirts. You can get it on decorat decorative 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:28.120 mugs that your suck my Ball's Mate mug can be 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:31.720 kept right next to the keep my Wife's Name at 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:36.039 your fucking mouth exactly exactly similar energy and applies. I 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:42.880 had skillfully avoiding another skidding opponent. Okay, so, Tony, what 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:46.159 would someone like my co host Michael Costa or anyone 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:48.560 else who's just brand new to f one need to 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:51.760 know to understand the sport lately? That is like the 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:54.920 hardest question to answer. What do you need to know? 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:59.239 I love it? So that's Formula one Journalist Tony Cowen 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:01.440 Brown I'm a firm believer that the more you know 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.240 about something, the more you get more you can enjoy 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:09.279 the actual sport. So Tony literally wrote the Beginner's Guide 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.680 to f one with Formula one like the organization, so 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.800 she is obviously the perfect person to help us go 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:19.240 on this journey. This this like weird paradox in Formula 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:22.200 one is at the cusp of innovation. The R and 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.640 D research behind closed doors inside a Formula one is 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.640 like no other. But at the same time, sport has 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.800 been around for seventy plus years, is very arcaic, is 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:35.240 deeply rooted in the end of World War Two. Race 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:38.600 car driving in general has been around since the beginning 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:41.240 of of you know, invention of vehicles, right, so in 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:44.159 the early nineteen hundreds you've just got people informally racing 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.720 each other. There started to be a little more organization 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:50.680 around race car driving, particularly in Europe in the nineteen 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:53.800 thirties before World War Two. Isn't it say something about 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.920 humanity that we invent this amazing combustion engine and then 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:02.080 immediately are like, who can max it out the fastest 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:07.479 to the potentially their personal peril? Exactly, Yeah, we'll crashing 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:09.479 how fast can you get love? Yeah, yeah, I love that. 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.440 Good job. Good job humanity for always wanting to push it. 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:17.200 Lucky escape drives back into the race. England produced during 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.960 World War Two a lot of airplanes for their military specifically, 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:22.760 and after the war ended. So after World War Two ended, 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:28.440 there was this surplus of aerospace engineers that essentially needed jobs. Simultaneously, 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:32.360 you were also seeing the appearance of compre racing, Grand 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:37.320 Prix racing, which became increasingly popular with the gentleman's who 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:41.440 might have still had that feeling of that hero mentality 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:43.240 that we saw a lot in World War Two. They 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:46.560 were also out of a job, potentially board and keeping busy. 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:49.520 Another interesting thing is that a lot of Europe, and 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.920 in particular the United Kingdom, where it's kind of it's 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:55.480 kind of considered the one of the real birthplaces of 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:59.240 Formula one, but the Kingdom had a ton of abandoned 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.280 air fields and strips from the war, and so as 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.560 a result of all of that, engineers got really creative 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:09.400 and started building these essentially really lightweight cars to race 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:15.080 on these airfields that later became actual tracks. It's round 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:17.960 out a round and drills with kids fast and frequently 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:24.200 that sounds awesome. Yeah, Like, if you can get an 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.560 hour away from the family, you and the buddies, grab 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:30.600 some pints and go drive super souped up cars on 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:34.839 an abandoned airfield. Count me in. Yeah. Of course people 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:38.040 got injured and died, but like it's you know, a 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:40.080 couple hours away from the family, it's worth the risk. 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.840 So something to note about this time is, first of all, 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:44.960 there were there were no there was an organization to 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.240 speak of, right, these are just dudes out there gentlemen's sport. Uh. 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:51.679 The whole idea of safety regulations. Um, we don't know 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.760 her at this time, right, Like they're just kind of 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.760 doing whatever. There's no helmets, there's no seatbelts, there's nothing 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:00.800 to kind of strap anyone in. You have spectators that 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:03.800 are literally just next to these tracks being protected by 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.679 maybe a hay bale or two at the time. Uh 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.880 So obviously I'm sure you're yeah, you're wondering when does 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:15.000 this quaint little gentleman's sports become a billion dollar juggernaut. 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:17.280 I like to look at Formula one as there are 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:20.000 two eras in Formula One. There's pre Bernie and then 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:23.520 this post Bernie. So there's a guy who's pretty controversial 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:27.720 enough one Bernie Ecclestone. Bernie ecclestone. Yeah, Bernie, we'll call 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:32.640 him Bernie for great controversial billionaire name. Yeah, he sounds 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.120 like a billionaire, he does. And pre Bernie, this was 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:37.360 just like a gentleman's agreement. It was these you know, 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:41.320 like a hobby. But Bernie was very forward thinking and 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.560 how he looked at Formula one and he truly turned 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:48.120 Formula one from a hobby into a business. And I 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:50.880 believe it's ninety eight one. He convinced basically the teams 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:54.760 to sign a contract called the Concorde Agreement, asking the teams, 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:58.080 the Formula one teams to commit to racing for a 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:00.480 couple of years. This agreement is still in place today. 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:03.480 And what he did was this contract, which was extremely smart, 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:06.920 is he took this agreement to TV companies and he 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:10.040 would guarantee them coverage. He would basically guarantee that this 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:12.839 race was taking place with all of these incredible manufacturers, 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:16.120 the like of Williams, the like of Ferrari, McLaren, et cetera. 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:19.720 And he would guarantee the teams would get coverage, which 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:21.599 was great for the sponsor, so that they could be 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.160 seen worldwide. This was very much cutting edge in the 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:29.079 eighties for him to do disagreement. So there's no question 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:31.760 again whether you like him or not. Polarizing figure. There 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:34.280 is no doubt that what Bernie did Bernie Kinson did 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:37.240 was turned this from a hobby into a money making 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:41.760 machine with huge commercial success. And okay, what makes him 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:46.160 so controversial? I know, like, how much time do we have? 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:48.720 How much time do you have? And also bear in 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:52.800 mind that I look at him through the lens of 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:57.239 a young woman who believes in certain things like equality 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:00.160 and representation under need for diversity. I want to see 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.400 what he looks like. Yes, of course the first pictures 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:05.680 him with like a twenty two year old model chick. 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:12.719 She looks like a tall supermodel. He looks like a 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:18.400 villain in a Disney movie. White hair, wrinkly face, wealth 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.960 flies private. He looks down at first class. That's what 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:26.640 he calls coaches for his first class. A lot of 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:28.520 the pictures are him with his wife, so he's smart 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.600 enough to, oh, here's a picture of him chatting with 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:34.840 Vladimir Putin. In your view, you don't think that Putin 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:38.520 has done anything wrong as a person. I've found him, 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:43.960 very straightforward, honorable, did exactly what he said. Who's going 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:47.040 to do putout in the argument. There are a lot 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.840 of people who disagree with you, Bernie eccleston, But thank 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:51.800 you so much for for for coming on the program 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:54.920 and putting that view out there. Bernie eccleston, their former 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:58.320 chief executive of the Formula one group. He's very old school. 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:01.040 He he currently has much said he doesn't like new 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:04.360 or younger F one fans. He still thinks F one 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:07.680 should be uh sort of advertising to you know, old 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:10.880 guys with tons of money. Um. But obviously his system 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:14.079 wasn't really working because until recently, you know, viewership of 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:16.520 F one was going down. But Nixon is no longer 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:20.199 part of Formula one. He actually sold his steak in 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:23.800 Formula one to Liberty Media that now owns this whole venture. 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:25.800 We got drive to survive. We got a lot more 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:29.120 social media from them. Before then, it was very secretive. Yeah, 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:31.520 he's and he's really old at this point. I say, 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:34.959 I mean, old people notoriously are always saying the wrong thing. 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:38.480 But if you're old in nineteen sixty, you're really old. 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:45.600 I always respect anyone who is taking action and doing 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:48.080 something The problem is a lot of those people then 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:51.000 say really stupid shit all the time. But it takes 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:57.240 effort and energy and enthusiasm and balls to like make 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:02.000 shit happen. Right, Yeah, put that on a mug. I 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:04.040 think it'll take a little too much space on the 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:06.640 bug unless it's like a very large bug. But it 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:09.800 can go next to my suck suck my balls mate. Yeah, 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:12.240 I love that. I love that. That was that suck 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:14.680 my ball's mate. Yeah, because you hey, we're racing, yeah, 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:18.080 we're so. Yeah, I will say that guy is back 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:19.719 on the grid and we will get to him later 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:21.760 on this time. And also I'm excited to learn what 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:24.920 the fuck the grid means, yes, because that word is 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:27.480 thrown around a lot. The grid. Yeah, it's an easy way. 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:28.800 It also sound like you know what you're talking about. 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:32.280 It's just the grid the paddock. Yeah. Yeah, I learned 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:35.000 the word kit, you know, relatively recently in my F 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:38.240 one journey. It's I sound infinitely smarter now. It's like 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.839 what you wear team, that's that's isn't that British? That 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:44.320 British tennis players would say that. Let me just say 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.400 this podcast, the amount of like Brits we've interviewed where 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.760 they say motor sport like singular when talking about the plural, 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:53.120 and that I feel but I look at sound ridiculous 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:55.240 as an American saying you know, oh, you know in 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:57.640 the world of motor sports, it's like there's an s 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:00.679 lily and you're like, yeah, next thing, you know, you're 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:02.960 going to say that you had to go to hospital. Yeah. 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:06.280 I feel like I'm like like one one interview a 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:09.600 way everywhere from switching into hospital. Plus they also think, 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:12.440 just like we think, they're also smart because they sound 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:15.760 that way. They just automatically think we're dumb and usually 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:18.439 they're right. But there's also dumb Brits. I want to 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:20.640 be very clear and please put this in the podcast. 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:27.000 There are really dumb British people. Okay, got it. It's 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:30.160 round out to roundo thrills with skids fast and frequently 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:37.240 these cars they all look the same to me on 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:42.240 the outside. But what is I mean, what are these cars? 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:44.560 A good A good question. So I'm sure you know 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:46.960 what NASCAR is. You probably heard of indie car in 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:50.800 the Indie Fire and uh, what's interesting is those those 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:53.920 cars are what's called they're usually Spec series is what 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:55.560 it's called I get another term that will make you 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:58.120 sound instantly smarter. More often than not, everyone's kind of 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:00.200 driving the same things. The idea is that there's a 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.840 pretty even playing field in terms of the machinery. But 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:08.360 Formula one is a completely different beast. Formula one is 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:12.160 a rules based car racing category. So this is F 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:15.600 one journalist Hazel Southwell. She specializes in the design and 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:19.400 technical aspects of the sport. The design of cars is 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:25.840 largely free, except for the technical regulations that guide teams 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:31.160 to create similar vehicles within some parameters. It's called formula one. 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.880 Part of that quote unquote formula is the fact that, yeah, 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:38.160 there are regulations, there are rules, and everyone's just trying 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:40.800 to kind of tiptoe around them, you know, get us 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:43.240 close to the edge of the cliff and hope they 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:48.280 don't fall in. That means it's very technically driven. It's 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:52.680 something which has huge amounts of research and development behind it, 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.600 so that you might see one guy standing on the podium, 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.760 it's actually thousands of people in or hundreds of people 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:04.240 where a minimum teams that contribute to those victories. F 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:08.160 one is as much almost like an engineering competition on 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.880 steroids as it is a driving championship. Cheating in Formula 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:16.160 one is a fundamental part of the way the Formula 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:20.040 One is kind of played as a sport because in 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:24.840 creative interpretation of the rules is basically how you get 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:30.400 an advantage over your opponents. If everyone just interpreted the 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:34.960 rules to their letter, then you'd have twenty identical cars 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:38.720 and it wouldn't be very interesting for anyone. But as 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:42.080 soon as somebody sees perhaps a loophole or a gap 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:45.280 or a way that they can be interpreted differently, then 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.240 you have a possibility to gain an advantage or to 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.520 make a truly terrible car. You see teams in previous 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:54.200 decades have, for instance, put more wheels on the car 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:56.000 to see if they would make them run faster. They've 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:57.960 put weird stuff on the back of the car. They've 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.640 tried everything in their power, and of course, you know, 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:03.160 every once in a while a team just completely nails 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:05.760 it right out of the blue and suddenly they are 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:08.920 just lapping people because they figured out some key thing 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:13.960 within the regulations, usually barely in the regulations to do that. 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:17.560 Can I say something about that every sport at the 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:22.720 highest level is the finest line between being innovative and 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:27.080 cheating every every sport. I mean, from Tom Brady and 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:31.800 the deflated football's to a hockey player retaping the top 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:34.720 of their stick, or could the cur every sport you 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:38.639 need an edge? That's how good your competition is cheating 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:44.399 the art of skillful cheating. Um, it's pretty murky. There's 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.959 been a lot of interesting scandals involving cars that were 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:54.320 deemed illegal. Quite famously, in Lewis Hamilton's first year, McLaren 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:59.000 lost the World Championship was stripped of absolutely all its points, 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:03.119 uh because it was discovered that they had been involved 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:06.119 in spying on Ferrari. So the other thing that I 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.400 do love though, about the fact that everyone's barely trying 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:12.720 to barely not cheat, means that everyone else complains about 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:15.439 folks barely not cheating. So so a lot of the 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.080 ongoing drama, for instance, in Formula one, is these various 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:22.880 team bosses either very loudly whining or very casually mildly 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:27.040 suggesting that their competitors have done something not kosher. It's 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:30.600 like when your parents set a rule and you kind 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:32.880 of like you really you sort of push it right 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:36.639 up until the final interpretation of that rule. Um, but 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:41.359 with you know, tens of millions of pounds of financial consequence. 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:44.399 If you are cool, they're not getting around. They have 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:46.720 rules where if you're a competitor and you touch another 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:49.280 team's car, like let's say, even bump it, they'll find you, 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:51.840 you know, fifty pounds like there. You know, And you've 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:54.679 also had teams get upset when drivers even kind of 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:56.280 looked at their car, which is not illegal. So they're 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:58.880 allowed to do that, right, stop looking at my car. 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:02.280 I as a sports fan, I appreciate them doing that, 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:05.359 trying to keep the sport fair. I also cannot imagine 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:12.879 the intelligence, the money, and there are so many moving 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:17.440 parts literally on a race car. Jesus, that's a huge undertaking. 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:22.359 There is a lot of people, technology all mixed into 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:26.320 this competition. Arrival no mean feet on the greasy track 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:29.639 much a ticklish moment when Noma Tradi six pycraft in 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:35.600 his Emerson car. So the f I A and like 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:38.040 I said, this governing body, um, they do come out 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.280 with smaller regulations and other changes and things, you know, 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:43.600 year to year, even sometimes race to race if something 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:47.000 really bad has happened, but every few years and there's 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:49.720 no real set time for this to happen, they will 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:54.200 put out a whole new list of regulations. Two Fumula 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:58.440 one regulations were brought in to address had been an 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:01.520 issue for going back well over a decade, with the 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:05.639 fact that the aerodynamics, which are brilliant and incredibly clever, 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:09.160 don't work very well when they get close to other cars. 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:12.160 So as a consequence, there hasn't always been very good 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:16.800 overtaking um. There have been some pretty dismal Grand Prix 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:22.240 with single digit or even no overtakes UM and that 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:26.040 is not what people tune into most sport to watch. 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:30.399 You want to see some friction exactly. So the rule 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:35.439 book was radically rewritten to readdress the way that aerodynamics 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:38.560 work on formul among cars in order to ensure that 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.719 when they get close to another car, they're not going 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:45.120 to dramatically lose all of the features that let them 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:48.040 grip to the track, that let them take corners as 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:50.920 fast as they do, that let them have the cars 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:53.040 stability for the drivers to be able to go at 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:55.320 the speeds that they do. So you know, this is 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:57.080 the perfect time for you to join up one because 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:00.720 new regulations mean utter chaos, right because you can see 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:04.440 teams that have dominated just completely funk up the regulations, right, 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:06.879 they take certain gambles in certain risks and they do 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:08.720 not pay off. And on the flip side, you'll see 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:11.119 teams that we're just doing okay or maybe even horrifically 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:14.080 completely nail those regulations and all of a sudden they 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:16.960 go from being you know, back of the pack to hey, 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:19.679 like they they're actually in it with the points and 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:22.400 they're they're kind of moving and grooving. So so yes, 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:24.240 that's like the fun part right now is we've seen 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:27.080 some chaotic races where you know, the You've got the 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:30.040 current reigning world champion in the first three races of 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:33.600 two he hasn't finished two of those races because of 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:37.720 issues with his car. So obviously a talented driver completely 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:42.199 undone by faulty issues with the car under new regulations. 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:47.160 I'm I'm surprised and very interested that it feels like 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:52.679 the driver, the athlete superstar has an important role, but 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:55.720 it feels like it's almost a fifty fifty importance to 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:59.639 the team science maybe less. I don't know. Funny you 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:03.360 should mentioned drivers because that's actually a great segue. Yeah, 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:05.800 could you could really get in a Formula one car 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:10.120 and move forward. I have trouble driving my Subaru Forester 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:13.680 when I'm back at home, let alone, and there's not Also, 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:15.879 that's not a fair question to ask a New Yorker 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:18.280 because nobody here knows how to drive. I would even 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:20.119 know how to get in, Like it's a whole endeavor 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:22.199 just to kind of wiggle your way into one of 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:24.800 these things. So to get back to our slightly more 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:28.480 professional drivers, I am not one of those. Interestingly enough, 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:31.600 many people do not view Formula One drivers as actual 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:36.959 real athletes. People underestimate how physical this board is just 0:22:37.040 --> 0:22:39.199 because you know, it looks easy when you look at 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:42.359 the onboard cameras. You know, they look like the cars 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:46.640 are perfect and it's just you steering. But um, it's 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:50.080 very demanding. So that was Tatiana Calderone. She was actually 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:53.040 the last female to drive in F one car for 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:56.600 a team called Alfa Romeo. We'll hear more about Alfa 0:22:56.640 --> 0:22:59.840 Romeo and we'll hear more from Tatiana later in the season. 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:02.040 I had asked her to describe what it's like to 0:23:02.160 --> 0:23:05.320 drive enough one car when you're going more than three 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:08.239