Speaker 1: In another world, I would have had a sweatshirt to
Speaker 1: bring in today that that said happy Holidays to everyone,
Speaker 1: but especially Valtrie Bodice, who is an Alpha Mayo driver.
Speaker 1: But it was stolen, and I want to be petty.
Speaker 1: I have a message for the person who stole it.
Speaker 1: I'm very angry. And that is why after all of
Speaker 1: our many different props of this season where Alpha Alpha
Speaker 1: was a little admittedly a little forgotten, so I think,
Speaker 1: how does a sweatshirt get stolen? Was someone broken to
Speaker 1: your home? No? No, it was delivery, Yeah it was.
Speaker 1: It was delivered, and I went right down, like three
Speaker 1: minutes later, was gone. Those people that steal delivery packages,
Speaker 1: I've always I've thought about having like some type of
Speaker 1: weapon delivered that would explode upon impact. I guess I
Speaker 1: guess what I just described as a mail bomb, which
Speaker 1: is not cool and I shouldn't advocate for that, but
Speaker 1: I want something bad to happen to those people. I
Speaker 1: will say. There was a viral video of someone who
Speaker 1: created their own glitter stink bomb and put it on
Speaker 1: their stoop and say had they had a camera in
Speaker 1: there so they watched some person opening their car and
Speaker 1: just ruin their entire car. Yeah, that was good car.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like that's funny, funny, harmless, but very effective.
Speaker 1: So I hope that person learned their lesson that a
Speaker 1: glitter stink bomb could be sitting anywhere people who aren't
Speaker 1: You don't live in major cities, you know, you just
Speaker 1: get your packages delivered on your porch. It's all good.
Speaker 1: But in New York City you've got five thousand people
Speaker 1: living in the same building. And but yeah, but there's
Speaker 1: so much trust in the suburbs that I am too changed.
Speaker 1: So to this end, today we're talking about a team
Speaker 1: that does have a history in the sport of Formula one,
Speaker 1: but also can be a little bit forgotten. So that
Speaker 1: is none other than Alfa Romeo. However, before we are
Speaker 1: you count them out, I will say they could be
Speaker 1: turning a new leaf right now. So there's a lot
Speaker 1: to be excited about with Alfro Mayo. I personally am
Speaker 1: very stoked about their driver lineup. So there's there's a
Speaker 1: lot to get into today. Alfa Romeo, Yo, I hit
Speaker 1: me from my Heart Radio and Sports Illustrated Studios. This
Speaker 1: is choosing sides one. Wow. W Wait, So if you
Speaker 1: thought the whole Renao Alpene history was confusing. Alfa Romeo
Speaker 1: really says, hold my beer. So but we're gonna we're
Speaker 1: gonna skim through a lot of it. Were the the
Speaker 1: broad Strokes Espresso that's actually much better. Yeah, espresso and
Speaker 1: apper all spirits. That seems appropriate. Okay, So we talked
Speaker 1: a little bit about Alfa Mayo with our Ferrari episodes
Speaker 1: because they are intertwined. So just to recap a little
Speaker 1: bit of this. So, Alfa Romeo is an Italian car
Speaker 1: manufacturer that's been around since nineteen ten. They're in name
Speaker 1: was originally just Alpha and it was capital all caps
Speaker 1: A l f A. The founding name was actually an
Speaker 1: acronym for butcher, this Italian annema lombarda fabric, which basically
Speaker 1: means it had a bunch of anonymous investors. And then, uh,
Speaker 1: the Romeo part comes from Nicola Romeo. He was an
Speaker 1: engineer and entrepreneur. He acquires a majority steak in Alpha
Speaker 1: in nineteen fifteen, so only a couple of years later,
Speaker 1: and then he eventually owns the entire company by nineteen eighteen.
Speaker 1: And uh yeah, so eventually he of course tax on
Speaker 1: his name Alfromeo. That's that's where it comes from. And
Speaker 1: in term we'll get to the racing part of the team.
Speaker 1: But in terms of our guy Nicola, because of course
Speaker 1: was curious, he ended up leaving Alfa Romeo after a
Speaker 1: series of bad investments and other issues. By night, I
Speaker 1: have zero other fun facts about him except that he
Speaker 1: has seven children, which is quite a brood. Yes, that's
Speaker 1: that Roman Catholic birth control. Yeah, working around the clock
Speaker 1: or not. Yes, So basically teams al Fromeyo. It's you know,
Speaker 1: brands Alfromeo. As we know, it's still called al Fromeo,
Speaker 1: and it really makes a name for itself in the
Speaker 1: luxury vehicle and car market. In terms of racing, Alfa
Speaker 1: Romeo starts racing in nineteen eleven, so the year after
Speaker 1: its founding. It does have some success across a bunch
Speaker 1: of different series and disciplines, including but not limited to
Speaker 1: Formula one, rally, sports car racing, and then touring car racing.
Speaker 1: So yeah, things are going well basically. Though more specifically,
Speaker 1: if we get to Formula one, Alpha has been in
Speaker 1: it since the pre modern era, you know, in Formula
Speaker 1: one debuts as an actual sport in nineteen fifties, so
Speaker 1: they started competing in these kind of grand grands pre
Speaker 1: in the late es other of the new Alphas that
Speaker 1: crosses the line with a brilliant young driver of Algieria,
Speaker 1: Guy Mall. This is where some of their history intersects
Speaker 1: with Mercedes in a couple of different ways. There's long
Speaker 1: supremacy of Italian cars is at last to be challenged
Speaker 1: on the others in Berlin by rear engined auto unions,
Speaker 1: the first new racing cars of the third right, so
Speaker 1: in the nineteen forties, again around the time of World
Speaker 1: War Two, and then directly after they had mixed success
Speaker 1: in these kind of this pre F one era because
Speaker 1: Mercedes was dominating. As we discussed in the Mercedes episode,
Speaker 1: their pre F one cars and Mercedes were were great.
Speaker 1: They want all those European Championships as they were called. Uh. However,
Speaker 1: when F one actually becomes a real formalized sport, Alfa
Speaker 1: Romeo wins out. They actually are the winners of the
Speaker 1: first ever World Championships with Giuseppe Farina, and then they
Speaker 1: win again with a guy one Manuel Fangio Banjo the
Speaker 1: rising star came through to win, and this incidentally at
Speaker 1: the age of thirty nine, when many drivers think of retire.
Speaker 1: Who is like in the sport of legendary guy. Up
Speaker 1: until Michael Schumacher in the early two thousand's, Fangio was
Speaker 1: the winningest championship driver, so for almost half a century
Speaker 1: held that title. No man has given more to the
Speaker 1: essentially a twentieth century out of motor racing than has
Speaker 1: the incomparable je Manuel Fangio, five times champion driver of
Speaker 1: the World. Oh La Fangio. He was Argentinian. Okay, sorry,
Speaker 1: he actually exits the sport of f one after getting
Speaker 1: kidnapped by revolutionaries in Cuba. Kidnapped at Pistol Point by
Speaker 1: Cuban rebels, obviously seeking to embarrass President Fatista's government by
Speaker 1: making sure the star attraction is not on the starting
Speaker 1: line on the big rate. They don't torture him or anything.
Speaker 1: They just keep him there, like give him a sandwich
Speaker 1: and basically how they handed back and he's like, I
Speaker 1: don't really want to do any of this stuff anymore. So,
Speaker 1: I mean this is just a time where crazier shit
Speaker 1: happened exactly. Yeah, So that's Alpha Mayo. They they win
Speaker 1: in nineteen one and then they say peace out this one. Yeah.
Speaker 1: They end on that high note, and they leave for
Speaker 1: a very long time. So again we're going to skip
Speaker 1: over some of this because it's super confusing. But basically,
Speaker 1: from ninety two until the mid nineteen eighties, Alfa ro
Speaker 1: Mayo is sporadically involved as an engine supplier and a
Speaker 1: constructor suppliers. But basically, yeah, none of these teams are
Speaker 1: particularly successful or interesting. So again that's why we're kind
Speaker 1: of breezing through like thirty five years of history here.
Speaker 1: Let's get ahead. The year is now so much more recent.
Speaker 1: Alpha begins partnering again with Ferrari as a sponsor. Their
Speaker 1: logo starts to appear on Ferrari cars. A couple of
Speaker 1: years later eighteen now they become the title sponsor of
Speaker 1: a team called Souber, which has been around for a
Speaker 1: very long time, and Souber is seen again has a
Speaker 1: special relationship with Ferrari. For instance, Charlotte Claire at for
Speaker 1: he got to start his first year was at Souber.
Speaker 1: A lot of drivers in the sort of Ferrari pipeline
Speaker 1: get their start at Suber. Yes, Souber copy, I think
Speaker 1: Alfa Romeo. You know the history they have in the
Speaker 1: sport um it's incredible, so that was taught to like Calderone.
Speaker 1: You might remember her all the way back during our
Speaker 1: first episode, but she was actually an Alfare Mayo test
Speaker 1: driver at one point. Their biggest strength lies in in
Speaker 1: the people they have hired. So a lot of the
Speaker 1: guys that I that I work with are still in
Speaker 1: the team. They have a great team of engineering people
Speaker 1: at the factory, very passionate about what they do, and
Speaker 1: hopefully we'll see them like we have seen at the
Speaker 1: start of this season, that they can fight for really
Speaker 1: good positions. This is where things do get very, very confusing.
Speaker 1: So Alpha returns the sport. They end up taking over
Speaker 1: the name of the Solber team, but the team is
Speaker 1: still operated by Souber, so every all the leader, everyone
Speaker 1: remains at Salber. It's just a new name. So today
Speaker 1: you see Alpha Romeyo now Orleans a sponsor, so it's
Speaker 1: Alpha Romeo Orleans but then operated by Suber. Yeah, confusing,
Speaker 1: but Alpha Mayo basically comes back to the grid in
Speaker 1: historically have not always been the strongest. You know, they
Speaker 1: they're back of the pack when they enter in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: so that's kind of where where Alpha sits is back
Speaker 1: maybe maybe back of the midfield or back of the
Speaker 1: entire pack. So yeah, so I guess overall, Alphro Mayo
Speaker 1: Historic team kicks off the F one err and style,
Speaker 1: leaves for a while, kind of returns randomly, and then
Speaker 1: disappears again and is under all sorts of different names,
Speaker 1: and then finally decides for the time being that they
Speaker 1: are in fact going to do this F one thing.
Speaker 1: And so twenty nineteen to present, that's where we're at.
Speaker 1: Sounds like they never should have left. Yeah, you know
Speaker 1: what you can do exactly? It could have been Ferrari. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't know if i'd want to work under ends
Speaker 1: because he sounds like kind of a nightmare. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna google their car. Can of look at their car?
Speaker 1: That is a almost like a cherry red Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: all these cars are sweet looking, but that thing is badass.
Speaker 1: Big upgrades for So here's what's working out in their
Speaker 1: favor so far. We're getting to the drivers in a second,
Speaker 1: but in terms of the car, it appears that with
Speaker 1: under the new regulations so far as as of this recording,
Speaker 1: the team is comfortably midfield for the first time in
Speaker 1: a very long time, which is very, very exciting. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you can just tell the team seems more excited
Speaker 1: and more energized than they have. But I think in
Speaker 1: that in large part has to do with the driver
Speaker 1: line up. Yeah, yeah, I would think you want to
Speaker 1: help move us on to drive. No, I don't. Actually,
Speaker 1: I'd like to stop. I'd like to stop there. I'm
Speaker 1: so excited. This is my underrated king. Well who's driving
Speaker 1: their cars? We'll get into the drivers, but right after
Speaker 1: we take a break. Okay, I am going to be
Speaker 1: making this is a whole personal pitch from me. I
Speaker 1: am welcoming you with open arms. I love this. Okay,
Speaker 1: in our kind of number one seat here we have
Speaker 1: got uh Finnish Instagram boyfriend. And as I said, King,
Speaker 1: Valtorie Bodice excellent name. Yes you have a dog Walter.
Speaker 1: Valterie is the finished version of the name Walter. You
Speaker 1: already have a bit of a connection to Valtorie Bodice.
Speaker 1: And it should be noted for our millions of listeners
Speaker 1: that Walter is on the lab of YOHI right now
Speaker 1: I think is he is? He's such a little slut
Speaker 1: I left. Okay, So Valtorie, I like this guy? Yea
Speaker 1: valty body. Why do you like him, okay, So let's
Speaker 1: do a little bit of Valterie's history here. So Valtorie
Speaker 1: comes from humble beginnings. He is not a millionaire's kid,
Speaker 1: a billionaire's kid or anything. So his dad owns a
Speaker 1: small cleaning company and his mother is a funeral director.
Speaker 1: Here that Nicholas Latifi. He wishes he could be valtere Bodice,
Speaker 1: which his funeral director mom and cleaning company dad. Another
Speaker 1: fun fact about Valterie he actually served in the Finnish
Speaker 1: Army for a short time because it's mandatory for adult men,
Speaker 1: so he obtained the rank of Lance corporal. Great, yeah,
Speaker 1: I love to see it. So yeah, Valtorie doesn't get
Speaker 1: his start through a racing family. In fact, his whole
Speaker 1: career is due to a chance encounter when he was
Speaker 1: six years old where he's at the grocery store with
Speaker 1: his grandfather, happens to see a flyer for just a
Speaker 1: local carting event that's happening, and decides to go. So
Speaker 1: that's already great. And what also intersects with this time
Speaker 1: we're talking about the nineties, with Valtories now in his
Speaker 1: early thirties. In the nineties, there is an iconic finish
Speaker 1: racing driver named Mika Hackenan he won two back to
Speaker 1: back titles in the late nineties, joyfully out of the car.
Speaker 1: There's so there's a lot of fervor around Mica. He's
Speaker 1: also very finished and being kind of earnest a little
Speaker 1: riot times. It looked very easy, was it? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: it was so easy, and you can't believe it. No,
Speaker 1: I wasn't so Valtorie between going to this local carding
Speaker 1: event and Mika, you know, hackened In being in the
Speaker 1: news all the time, you know, he's he's hooked on this. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So he eventually is able to make his way to
Speaker 1: the carding scene and and gets into competitive carding throughout
Speaker 1: the early and mid two thousand's, eventually makes his way
Speaker 1: to open will racing, to these junior formula categories where
Speaker 1: he picks up a ton of victories. The young Finn
Speaker 1: really is being touted the next Kimmie Ryk and then
Speaker 1: he's certainly got the same line in dry humor. He's
Speaker 1: looking unstoppable. Everything's going great for Valterie, and in he
Speaker 1: gets a gig as a test driver for Williams, which
Speaker 1: we just talked about. To see Valtery connecting with the
Speaker 1: team you like. Uh, and this is when he's still
Speaker 1: kind of serving in in junior you know, racing in
Speaker 1: junior formulas. Finally, the year he gets a spot on
Speaker 1: Williams team. However, it was a rough year. Both both
Speaker 1: cars didn't do well, you know, it just it was
Speaker 1: a rough one. However, things improved in he ends up
Speaker 1: finishing in the driver's Championship standings and P four and
Speaker 1: P five. Yeah, so William's car was working, Val was
Speaker 1: doing well exactly exactly. Things are looking good, you know,
Speaker 1: he gets he gets the teams, blessing, etcetera. And then
Speaker 1: things really start to look good. A couple of years later,
Speaker 1: the end of the season, Mercedes has Lewis Hamilton's and
Speaker 1: Nico Rossberg to former besties who are now arch rivals,
Speaker 1: and Nico Rossberg, after a very toxic, just terribly divisive season,
Speaker 1: ends up winning his first and only world championship and
Speaker 1: beats out Louis at the last second. And so, as
Speaker 1: if that wasn't dramatic enough, five days after winning this
Speaker 1: world title, I want to take the opportunity to announce
Speaker 1: that I've decided to end my FUMLA one career um
Speaker 1: in this moment here on Monday. That's what I was
Speaker 1: going to say. I thought that was coming. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: he had two more years left on his contract. Piste
Speaker 1: Lewis off too well. Mercedes wasn't expecting it, you know. Again,
Speaker 1: similar to this whole, uh, this whole Daniel Ricardo suddenly
Speaker 1: leaving a vacuum at Red Bull, Nico's sudden retirement announcement
Speaker 1: is you know, shock retirement basically leaves another big void
Speaker 1: for Mercedes. We need to just come up with a decision,
Speaker 1: look at the drivers that are out there, and then
Speaker 1: hopefully quickly decided they now have an open seat that
Speaker 1: they weren't necessarily expecting to fill. For a bit, they're
Speaker 1: kind of like, who could we fill in this seat?
Speaker 1: Who won't We don't want to repeat of this Nico
Speaker 1: Lewis drama. It's not good for team morale, it's not
Speaker 1: good for the constructor. You know. They don't want to
Speaker 1: put a second Niko in there and make this whole
Speaker 1: thing bad. So I guess who's been doing well during
Speaker 1: his time and f one, I want to present a
Speaker 1: new member of the family, So give him a big
Speaker 1: round of applause. As certain Valterie Walter Bodice. I' kidding.
Speaker 1: His liddle name is not. His name was on Walter.
Speaker 1: Walter spots are so coveted and it's such high stakes
Speaker 1: that when one person leaves, it just sends waves. It's
Speaker 1: such an enormous earthquake of action that then has to
Speaker 1: follow to get everything back in place exactly. And especially
Speaker 1: in this case, it was a surprise, right, it's already
Speaker 1: it's already a bit a bit chaotic, so everyone is
Speaker 1: trying to figure out this Val guy who's been on
Speaker 1: the grid for a little bit. And basically Valtree ends
Speaker 1: up spending five seasons at Mercedes and they were a
Speaker 1: little tough, so he has his highs and his lows. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he wins a bunch of races. He's really fast in qualifying,
Speaker 1: so he gets a lot of poll positions. He finishes
Speaker 1: on the podium a ton during his five Mercedes years.
Speaker 1: He ends up i think in finishing P. Three in
Speaker 1: the standings twice and P two twice, so behind Lewis Lewis,
Speaker 1: and then this past year it was between Lewis and Max,
Speaker 1: so he was third behind the two of them. There
Speaker 1: are a couple of issues, though they are always existing,
Speaker 1: so one obviously Louis Hamilton's Sir Lewis Hamilton's is his teammate. Uh,
Speaker 1: Lewis is the goat, that's the guy who you're being
Speaker 1: compared to constant. It kind of sucks if you're paid
Speaker 1: two and you still feel like the guy in this
Speaker 1: in the garage next to you is beating you exactly
Speaker 1: and the Lewis is in the midst of this string
Speaker 1: of victories, right, and on top of that it's already
Speaker 1: kind of an issue, is that the team chose bias
Speaker 1: towards Louis at two point two. Do not fight with Louis.
Speaker 1: There's several occasions of this where they give those team
Speaker 1: orders to have Valtrie, you know, move aside, to let
Speaker 1: Louis through, to do something in a race or a
Speaker 1: qualifying session to make things better for Louis. Yeah, Patrians, James,
Speaker 1: please about the fastest laugh attempt for the end of lap.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it happens at the detriment of Valtori's own race
Speaker 1: or own strategy to difficult day for you, difficuld day
Speaker 1: for us. Let's discuss it afterwards. That sucks. Yeah, just
Speaker 1: a quick interjection here. Um. Valtrie himself made some unusually
Speaker 1: candidate remarks on this whole situation on One's official podcast,
Speaker 1: Beyond the Grid. It was like, I don't know what's
Speaker 1: the description, like biting my own teeth together and really
Speaker 1: didn't feel natural and not right because I'm the racer,
Speaker 1: but I did it for the team, so it's just
Speaker 1: not fun. And it's it's again of the course of
Speaker 1: five years, so it's not like this happened one or
Speaker 1: two races. This is half a decade. And then, as
Speaker 1: if all of that wasn't enough, Mercedes team boss Toto
Speaker 1: Wolf Daddy Toto. We have not talked about him at
Speaker 1: length in a little bit, but Daddy Toto refuses to
Speaker 1: give Valtrie a contract longer than year to year, so
Speaker 1: he's on five one year contracts while Lewis, yeah, Lewis
Speaker 1: is getting signed. Everyone's inn sent a multi year you know.
Speaker 1: So he feels like, and he's talked about this in interviews.
Speaker 1: He was actually very brutally honest after it right after
Speaker 1: he left Mercedes that you have pressure contractually for nine
Speaker 1: years for your formal one career year by year, it
Speaker 1: starts to eat you from inside, you know. Yeah, it doesn't.
Speaker 1: It makes you not feels confident. It makes you like
Speaker 1: the team is not really backing you. But that's really
Speaker 1: stupid of Daddy Toto because this guy isn't some okay driver,
Speaker 1: he's P two, P three. Give him a multi year
Speaker 1: deal and pay him a lot and Louis, that's really
Speaker 1: done with them. According to Valtorie, Toto's rationale is that
Speaker 1: the year two year lights of fire under Valterie. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you can only ignite so many fires. It's just
Speaker 1: very exacting feeling because we're talking about Alpha Romeo that
Speaker 1: that's what happened. Yeah, there's always little frustrations. Interestingly, director
Speaker 1: Survive has made him and Louis seem a little more
Speaker 1: adversarial at times. And yeah, again, as like with everyone else,
Speaker 1: they've had their moments, but generally a lot of Valtorie's
Speaker 1: biggest resentments have been more with Mercedes leadership than with
Speaker 1: Louis Hamilton's and him and Louis actually have a really
Speaker 1: sweet relationship. They are both, like I said, now in
Speaker 1: their thirties, so they were older and when he came
Speaker 1: on the team is a little bit older in his career,
Speaker 1: a little more developed. Louis was a little bit more mature,
Speaker 1: than he was, you know, back when he was winning
Speaker 1: his first title with McLaren in the late two thousand's,
Speaker 1: so generally taking them on a personal level, they do
Speaker 1: get along. After Louis lost his bid at the eighth
Speaker 1: world title last year, he only came out of hiding
Speaker 1: for two events. It was to get knighted by Prince
Speaker 1: Charles and the second was Valtorie's Parwell party. So it's
Speaker 1: obvious that he holds him in high regard. He he
Speaker 1: really when he left too, had really nice things to say.
Speaker 1: You know, if Lewis didn't want to do things, he
Speaker 1: just won't do things. That's pretty wonderful because they definitely
Speaker 1: we're in a position to be in the trenches together
Speaker 1: and they could. You know, it's very likely you don't
Speaker 1: like those people, so that's cool. The two of them
Speaker 1: are also up there in terms of being one of
Speaker 1: the most successful partner's driver partnerships in F one history.
Speaker 1: So of course, you know it's Vale's fifth season. There's
Speaker 1: already a little bit of something in the air where
Speaker 1: people feel like he's he's maybe on his way out.
Speaker 1: Everyone knows George Russell are Apparent has been at Williams
Speaker 1: for three years. How much longer can you keep this
Speaker 1: poor kid? Who have you annointed the golden boy at
Speaker 1: a shitty team. And on top of that, Valtterie is
Speaker 1: really not having a great season. It's fine, it's just
Speaker 1: not his best. He crashes, he has some other slip ups.
Speaker 1: Is just not it's just not looking good long term.
Speaker 1: And at this point he's in his early thirties. He
Speaker 1: wants some more stability and security. He doesn't want to
Speaker 1: be fighting year to year for that Mercedes contract. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's gotten the winds, he's gotten the pole positions, he's
Speaker 1: ended up on the podium in the standings like he doesn't.
Speaker 1: He's achieved all of that, so he's kind of looking
Speaker 1: for what does he want next? So he announces in
Speaker 1: late one that he is going to be moving to
Speaker 1: Alpha Romeo. He's had to play second fiddle to Lewis
Speaker 1: Hamilton in all of those years, so he will go
Speaker 1: and be the main man at Alpha Romeo, which everyone's
Speaker 1: kind of like, okay, you know, they finished p nine
Speaker 1: in one out of ten teams. Everyone's king, well, that's
Speaker 1: good for him. You know, he's still in the grid,
Speaker 1: but he's really stoked because he gets a multi year deal.
Speaker 1: And what's interesting is I listened obviously as a fan
Speaker 1: of his too many interviews, and he was very much like,
Speaker 1: trust me, they're going to do cool things in two
Speaker 1: Like he was very adamant about this in a way
Speaker 1: that Valtorie is a very earnest finish man. He does
Speaker 1: really hype things, So I was I was really intrigued
Speaker 1: that he was so excited about the move. Obviously he
Speaker 1: knows he's gonna be the number one driver. So we're
Speaker 1: at VAL's first season where the season's obviously still going on. However,
Speaker 1: immediately off the bat with the first race, Valtrie makes
Speaker 1: it to Q three, the you know, the final stage
Speaker 1: of qualifying. He starts earning points off the bat and
Speaker 1: and as of right now, Alpha is kind of switching
Speaker 1: between P five, P six and the standings so Humongous
Speaker 1: jumped for them pretty much entirely based on Valtteries standings
Speaker 1: in these races. So he's just been been killing it
Speaker 1: on the grid thus far. Obviously seems a lot more comfortable,
Speaker 1: a little more secure because he knows he's not fighting
Speaker 1: for a contract at the end of the season. He
Speaker 1: signed a multi year deal, multi year so aside from
Speaker 1: all of this racing with Valve. Okay, here's what I
Speaker 1: really like about Valtorie, and I will say, I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's that maybe Louis a little bit of
Speaker 1: Louis's whole vibe rubbed off on him over the years.
Speaker 1: But he has a lot going on off the track.
Speaker 1: So first and foremost, his girlfriend is an Australian Olympic
Speaker 1: cyclists named Tiffany Cromwell. Yes, but they are like a duo,
Speaker 1: like they are the O t P. I ship them.
Speaker 1: There are two couples. I will be devastated if they
Speaker 1: ever break up and one true pair, One true pair. Okay,
Speaker 1: did you know that? What do you think? Yes? The
Speaker 1: answers yes, they say this in his rob I actually
Speaker 1: did not know. I mean, I love Lily's generation just
Speaker 1: throws these acronyms around as if we're supposed to have
Speaker 1: any shitty idea what that means? Okay, t one true pair, Yes,
Speaker 1: but they're doing an endgame. Is their end game. So
Speaker 1: tiff and Vale are very fun because because of Tiffany.
Speaker 1: Oh no, I love Tiffin Vale, so I call them
Speaker 1: mom and Dad in my newsletter. Um, so Tiffin Vale,
Speaker 1: like when he's not racing. They travel around like cycling
Speaker 1: everywhere together and if he's not having a race weekend,
Speaker 1: he will go to her I cling races. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: similarly she'll come to the paddock if she's not racing
Speaker 1: a lot of times to anyone who's kind of connected
Speaker 1: to the teams of the drivers during not races can
Speaker 1: like use the tracks. So she'll cycle on these official
Speaker 1: F one tracks if no one's practicing or just you
Speaker 1: know whatever, they're allowed to do that, so it would
Speaker 1: be sweeter if people were practicing for the bike out there.
Speaker 1: It's very squid game. So he'll he turns into a
Speaker 1: total Instagram boyfriend. He takes photos on the side of
Speaker 1: the road of her and all of her friends. He
Speaker 1: sets up a tripod and like a full full professional
Speaker 1: camera setup. He has the water and the granola bar.
Speaker 1: As soon as she finishes and she collapses into his
Speaker 1: arm like it's very is this is o t P ship? Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's something very cool about a egomaniac Formula one driver
Speaker 1: offering support and very and very gladly being a supportive
Speaker 1: figure and not the attention. Yeah's attraction. Aside from that, though,
Speaker 1: other things he's done he is a known coffee connoisseur. Oh,
Speaker 1: I love him all ready, Finish love their coffee, they do.
Speaker 1: He also judges coffee competitions on the side. You know,
Speaker 1: I want to taste one of his expressions because I'm
Speaker 1: I'm addicted to coffee as he is so um alf
Speaker 1: Ro Mayo test driver Tatiana Calderon Again, besides the coffee,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, Pottery is somebody that has so
Speaker 1: much experience with with a top team. He knows what
Speaker 1: it feels and what it takes to win a Formula
Speaker 1: One race to be on full position, and that's what
Speaker 1: any team would like to have um as as a
Speaker 1: as a racing driver. Somebody with the experience, with the knowledge,
Speaker 1: with the speed and the maturity that he brings to
Speaker 1: the team. I think it's it's a great addition. Velter
Speaker 1: has got some stuff going on in the grid's he's
Speaker 1: making moves this year, and then he also seems to
Speaker 1: have a rich personal life outside of the sport. Plenty
Speaker 1: of hobbies, a lot to like here, a lot to
Speaker 1: like you, a lot to like here. And also one
Speaker 1: of the things you said that I love, as you said,
Speaker 1: he's not like a hype guy. He's not like over promoting.
Speaker 1: If anything, he he under promises an over delve. I
Speaker 1: love it, and I also love and I can hear
Speaker 1: Yohi's microphone getting ready to get this in. I also
Speaker 1: love that he's placing P two, P three behind this
Speaker 1: you know, mega star, and yet the mega star still
Speaker 1: has mad respect for him, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It's like, I'm excited for him to be in this
Speaker 1: number one car position at a team, even though we
Speaker 1: haven't talked about the second driver yet, but but we will. Jo, Hi,
Speaker 1: just hit me with it. No, I'm just wondering if
Speaker 1: you could maybe maybe talk a little bit about there
Speaker 1: there have been a lot of really really good finished drivers.
Speaker 1: If you were going to give me a piece of
Speaker 1: paper and say, write down fifty countries that have historically
Speaker 1: been good at racing, I don't think I would ever
Speaker 1: have even written down Finland. I would have written Usta
Speaker 1: Rica before I would have written Finland. Yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: little bit random, but they do have a history of
Speaker 1: success in the sport. So you've got Yamka hacking in
Speaker 1: back in the nineties, you've got Kimmi reikin In was
Speaker 1: known as the Iceman which is pretty funny. Kiki Rossberg,
Speaker 1: his son Nico was the guy who won the Mark
Speaker 1: World Championship against Lewis and retired. They're all very earnest,
Speaker 1: they're a little bit self serious, have a very dry
Speaker 1: sense of humor typically, and it seems to work for
Speaker 1: them in terms of high speed race card. Right, yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you for indulging me. Quick break and we're back. Okay.
Speaker 1: I love this guy. But there's two people that race
Speaker 1: for Alpha Romeo. So who's the other guy? The other guy? Okay?
Speaker 1: So he is a Chinese drivers, Yes, the first Chinese
Speaker 1: driver in the history of F one. And so the
Speaker 1: reason I say that is because he in his lower
Speaker 1: formulas they used to call him guan Yu Joe, but
Speaker 1: upon entering Formula one, he's like, hey, I want you
Speaker 1: to pronounce my name the way you know, the Chinese
Speaker 1: tradition surname first. So it's Joe guan You, now Joe
Speaker 1: guan You. Okay. So Gwanyu is the lone rookie on
Speaker 1: this gridge and for certain the only Chinese driver ever ever. Yes,
Speaker 1: so we'll get into him more. But Formula one, like
Speaker 1: NBA Tennis Olympics, they're all realizing this market exists and
Speaker 1: we need to be in it. Yes, he actually moved
Speaker 1: to the UK from China all the way back in
Speaker 1: so he would have been yeadolyst like preteen years old
Speaker 1: because of the fact that there wasn't a lot of
Speaker 1: really great competitive racing in China. He wanted more opportunity,
Speaker 1: He wanted to learn from the best. He had the
Speaker 1: money to do that, so he he moved halfway across
Speaker 1: the world for that chance. There's a lot to say
Speaker 1: about Joe in terms of his career. I mean, he
Speaker 1: has had some successes and all of that. I would say,
Speaker 1: we don't know too much about his personal background. This
Speaker 1: I think makes sense and in line with the Chinese tradition,
Speaker 1: So we don't know too much. We do know he
Speaker 1: has money. He has a very extensive designer shoe collection,
Speaker 1: sneaker collection. He has a sneaker head. So if he's
Speaker 1: dropping like five different pairs of Valenciaga sneakers, you have
Speaker 1: to assume that there is money somewhere in that pipeline.
Speaker 1: But yeah, he also has a little bit, just a
Speaker 1: tiny bit of the Nicholas Latifi Allah Williams thing going on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he has he for instance, stayed a little bit longer
Speaker 1: in some formulas, So he was in Formula to, for instance,
Speaker 1: for three years, whereas as we've established most drivers on
Speaker 1: any given series usually only one to two years. So
Speaker 1: has has enough money wherever it's coming from to have
Speaker 1: some longevity where a lot of drivers do not. Can
Speaker 1: I play a bad cop for a second. Yes? Did
Speaker 1: they just make sure he had a eat because he's
Speaker 1: Chinese and this is an enormous market. The Formula one
Speaker 1: is never even tapped into ever A complicated question, we'll
Speaker 1: get into it. So yeah. So here's where things get
Speaker 1: very sticky or murky. Is that the rumor is no
Speaker 1: one has said this out loud. We don't know if
Speaker 1: it's exactly the Chinese government, if it's you know, Chinese,
Speaker 1: other Chinese sponsors they offer up alph Mayo, They're like, hey,
Speaker 1: if you get put this guy on you in this seat,
Speaker 1: there's thirty million pounds waiting for you or more. Is
Speaker 1: this not the horse head in the bed of Godfather? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So why can't if you just win Formula two, why
Speaker 1: don't you just automatically get a seat, Like, why don't
Speaker 1: they just make that the fucking rule that suggestion I
Speaker 1: love that. It's episode fourteen and YOHI now just says
Speaker 1: I love what Michael said. Um, actually it's okay. Rob turns,
Speaker 1: Rob turns, Mike off. Joe has some backing. And it's
Speaker 1: hard about this is there's been theories on who is
Speaker 1: behind this and what exactly was promised. We don't We
Speaker 1: still don't really know, I will say. Unsurprisingly, a lot
Speaker 1: of the discussion about the money behind Joe has been
Speaker 1: plagued by a lot of racism and xenophobia, and it's
Speaker 1: interesting that's like, hmm, you don't have anything to say
Speaker 1: about like the white European guys who had a very
Speaker 1: similar set up in the past, but suddenly, you know,
Speaker 1: Joe Guani is a different, whole, different beast to share
Speaker 1: to those. So so that's been very tricky, is that. Yeah, Like,
Speaker 1: no one quite knows where it's coming from. Some people like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's definitely the government. Some people like, oh, it's it's
Speaker 1: some sort of industry in cahoots with the government. A
Speaker 1: long story short, It's one of those situations where some
Speaker 1: people are like, yes, Joe is absolutely a pay driver,
Speaker 1: and other people like, well, he's like a weird like
Speaker 1: because we don't really know what exactly it is. But
Speaker 1: he has miracles standed up on this seat. We know
Speaker 1: he has money, we know he's connected to some people
Speaker 1: of money. Basically just a lot of question marks and yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what's led to unfortunately, has some suspicions, some attacks
Speaker 1: and whatnot. Yeah. So in terms of his driving, he
Speaker 1: did on his first race, so his Formula one debut,
Speaker 1: he did score point, he got ten. Yeah, he has
Speaker 1: struggled since then. He got to P. Eleven's in a
Speaker 1: row the poor guy, which is the first position where
Speaker 1: you don't get any points. He's had some spins and
Speaker 1: crash and this and that, which again he's a rookie.
Speaker 1: This is all kind of expected. I will say what
Speaker 1: he has going for him. One he's incredibly friendly and
Speaker 1: two he treats the team well. So after he got
Speaker 1: this point, I know he's not a fun a fun villain,
Speaker 1: but he after he got his first point in his debut,
Speaker 1: he went around bowing to everyone. And he's always been
Speaker 1: also a good sport about the fact that Valterie Is
Speaker 1: is the number one guy and is doing really well overall.
Speaker 1: And they also seem to have a really I mean
Speaker 1: they're ten years of parting age, right, so, but they
Speaker 1: have a very cordial, nice, friendly, positive relationship. It's very
Speaker 1: early days in there in their relationship because the other
Speaker 1: both new to the team. But at least joke on
Speaker 1: you for all that's going on with the money or whatever.
Speaker 1: He himself seems to be okay. He's in an odd
Speaker 1: position and where it feels like he could go either
Speaker 1: way as the paid driver or no, I'm really really
Speaker 1: good and you know I have some backing, but I
Speaker 1: guess time will tell on that. Yeah. Unfortunately, it is
Speaker 1: too early to really form an opinion of his racing.
Speaker 1: But I'm intrigued. I would say that's the word. I'm intrigued.
Speaker 1: And from a marketing standpoint, the potential is enormous and
Speaker 1: it's probably a big part plus thirty million pounds of
Speaker 1: why Alpha Romeo took a chance on him exactly. He
Speaker 1: has to speak English, right, Yes, he does speak English, um,
Speaker 1: and I mean he lived in in the UK for
Speaker 1: a decade before this. The other thing that a lot
Speaker 1: of people, myself included like is that he is a
Speaker 1: little bit of a fashionista. He has talked about looking
Speaker 1: up to Lewis in terms of his fashion. As I said,
Speaker 1: he's a massive designer, shoe collection sneaker head. Yeah, total,
Speaker 1: totally into that and can speak pretty intelligently about his collections.
Speaker 1: Let me show you some photos of Oh shit, is
Speaker 1: you holding a purse? It's a bag. But like that's uh,
Speaker 1: that's a bold move. It is. But good for him
Speaker 1: for for having the confidence to rock that he's trying
Speaker 1: stuff out here. Have to get a bad personel only
Speaker 1: if it's a triangle. Okay, I guess I gotta get one.
Speaker 1: So we have now met nine out of our ten teams.
Speaker 1: Where is Where is Alpha coming in for you? Now?
Speaker 1: I don't love the paid driver situation. That really hurts.
Speaker 1: I'm sure that was a big decision they had to
Speaker 1: make because they needed the money whatever. But Valtrie is awesome.
Speaker 1: Alpha Romeo brand name awesome, the car. That car is beautiful.
Speaker 1: The cherry red I love. So I'm gonna say for me,
Speaker 1: Alpha Tori is somewhere in here. Williams, I still like
Speaker 1: a lot, and Alfa Romeo I like a lot. You've
Speaker 1: got some real different picks up and down. I know,
Speaker 1: I know, And it's basically here's how it's working for me.
Speaker 1: A brand name. I recognize and feel something about plus
Speaker 1: at least one driver who has guts and grit and
Speaker 1: is maybe a little understated. I think I've just come
Speaker 1: up with my own formula. You're just psycho analyzed yourself.
Speaker 1: How does that say about me? And so where where? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Where do Valterie and Joe sort of come into play?
Speaker 1: He doesn't come into play. Sorry, it sounds like I'm
Speaker 1: being a jerk. But proof show me, Joe that you're
Speaker 1: an amazing driver. Will We'll find out. Valtrie is great.
Speaker 1: I love it. I think it's awesome that he's paid
Speaker 1: his dues. I love the Lewis Hamilton's thing that he
Speaker 1: you know, was with him and beat him sometimes and
Speaker 1: they still have some. I love the finished thing. Coffee.
Speaker 1: Come on, I have I text all you guys every day?
Speaker 1: Who needs a coffee? And everyone ignores me? You know
Speaker 1: who wouldn't ignore you if you texted him, Valterie. He
Speaker 1: would talk to you about coffee. He would Yeah, exactly right,
Speaker 1: exactly right. I should have brought Valterorie's favorite coffee with
Speaker 1: me today. Unfortunately it was very specific and long, and
Speaker 1: you should have brought your alpha Romeo sweatshirt. But it
Speaker 1: got stolen. Sorry guys. Before we sign off, I just
Speaker 1: need to give you guys a quick update. Okay, so
Speaker 1: we have produced introduction and now he thinks he freaking
Speaker 1: runs this whole thing. Producer goo hi, take it away.
Speaker 1: So do you guys remember Silly Season. Well, at the
Speaker 1: very tail end of Silly Season, Alpha Romeo announced that
Speaker 1: it is ending its partnership with Souber. So that's gonna
Speaker 1: happen at the end of the three season So in
Speaker 1: about a year and a half for real, are you joking? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I know, I know, and it This could mean it's
Speaker 1: pulling out of the sport entirely, or perhaps it's just
Speaker 1: switching partners. We really don't know yet, but yeah, that's um.
Speaker 1: That's that. Next time, we have our final team. This
Speaker 1: team is the only American owned team on the Grid.
Speaker 1: Here we go. They are an episode of the Office personified.
Speaker 1: If you said we need to make a mockumentary series
Speaker 1: based on a Formula one team, I would say, just
Speaker 1: film the Hoss Garage. Don't even need to hire actors
Speaker 1: or make scripts. Just film Hoss. Is it a German brand?
Speaker 1: It is not. It is in fact American named after
Speaker 1: an American named Gene Hass. We will have more white
Speaker 1: collar crime. We will have some of the funniest and
Speaker 1: weirdest sketchy sponsors. We have some real villains. We have
Speaker 1: Michael Schumacher's son finally entering the picture. And we also
Speaker 1: have another really fun comeback story. It is your favorite guy,
Speaker 1: the suck my Ball's Mate man himself, Kevin Magnusson Balls Mate.
Speaker 1: That something so funny about that because Mate is basically
Speaker 1: like friends. That's like, hey, hey, my friend Paul. So
Speaker 1: they truly have everything at HOSS, and I think that
Speaker 1: they finished last last year they did not a single
Speaker 1: point was earned. So we're gonna have a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: I can't wait. I can't wait to hear about it.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Lilly. This has been Choosing Sides f one,
Speaker 1: a production of Sports Illustrated Studios and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: The show was hosted by Michael Costa and Lily Harp.
Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Lily Harman and our senior
Speaker 1: producer Hi Tal, who also did the sound design at
Speaker 1: the cutting room studios. We are recorded by engineer Robot
Speaker 1: Larry the second mastering by Cello Wisblue. Max Miller is
Speaker 1: the executive producer and Brennan get Just His Heat of
Speaker 1: Audio at s I Udios. At I Heart Radio, Sean
Speaker 1: Titown is our executive producer. For more podcasts for My
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts
Speaker 1: where wherever you get your podcasts, don't forget to subscribe
Speaker 1: to us and leave a review. And if you want
Speaker 1: more F one goodness, follow us on Instagram at Choosing
Speaker 1: Sides F one