WEBVTT - Haas - An Embarrassment of Riches 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:08.879 Um, we are rolling, so whenever you're ready. There is 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.640 an American team on the grid. Technically yes, and it 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:16.800 is okay, it's not the name I was expecting to hear. 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:19.480 What I heard America. You're hoping Williams. No, I don't 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:21.720 even know what I was thinking. I was hoping, go USA, 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:29.240 like you know, America Team Military, Team Independence, come in 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:33.040 your way. We have reached the tenth and final team 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:37.479 of the pinnacle, the pod or like bottom of the barrel. 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.159 But I like the spirit because we're going to need 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:44.760 it with this team anyway. The word I would say 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:49.919 to best describe HOSS is chaos. They have got chaotic drivers, 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:54.040 they've got a chaotic team principle, a chaotic owner, and 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:58.440 then also very very chaotic sponsors. If the office and 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.080 parks and rec need like a third or another version 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:03.840 of a workplace mockumentary, this is the team to do 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:08.520 it tough, to consistently win. If the one word associated 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.399 with your team is chaos, yes, it's is to It's 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:15.080 just you need stability, which which these guys do not have. 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:19.399 So so yeah, So today, on choosing sides of one, 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:22.480 we are diving into the history of the only American 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:26.160 owned team on the grid Hoss very very American and 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:36.440 yet also very not from I Heart Radio and Sports 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:50.840 Illustrated Studios, This is choosing sides one Wow, So let's 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:55.320 dive into Our story begins with a man named Gene Hoss. 0:01:56.080 --> 0:02:00.520 By normal people standards, he is a very wealthy man 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:06.160 by Formula one standards. Lauren Stroll a k Daddy Stroll, 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:09.799 his net worth is around three billion. According to Wikipedia, 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.040 Gene Hasses is only around two fifty to three hundred million. 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:18.600 Only a millionaire. He was he should quit, Well he's 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:21.200 he's you know, it's just not going to work out 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.720 for him with his only three hundred million dollars. He 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:28.520 is not involved with the you know, well known avocado 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:32.480 outfit Hoss. He is known for basically making machines that 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:35.320 make machines is how I just put it. Yes, so 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:40.000 into machinery. He is also a massive car guy just 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.680 in general and into motorsports, so he has sponsored other 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.160 teams over the years, most notably NASCAR. Gina Hasses Vibe 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:49.880 is the guy who is kind of in the background, 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.920 like he doesn't make a lot of noise, but he's 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:56.280 always there. He's like the mastermind he plants a seed 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:58.960 and then lets it grow. The people you're hearing from 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:03.280 our Atlantis King and Elizabeth Blackstock. They're both motorsports journalists 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:06.000 and co authors of the book Racing with Rich Energy 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:10.200 colon how a rogue sponsor took Formula One for a ride. 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:13.040 Gene Hass is just watching from afar, and you don't 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:16.359 want to make him upset? Is he an American? Gene 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:20.480 has hast American. They have a NASCAR team UM and 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:25.600 a long legacy of actually like taking part in sports, 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.040 so it makes sense that Hoss would kind of take 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:36.440 it to a much larger stage. So basically back, Gene 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.240 Hass and some partners announced that they're going to create 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:42.400 a Formula one team starting with the Chaos It was 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:46.280 supposed to launch in but gets delayed to Which does 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:50.360 happen with new teams and funding and logistics resources, etcetera 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:53.080 before all of that even happens though. A very fun 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:56.120 fact about Gene In two thousand six, he was arrested 0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:03.520 for filing false tax returns, witness intimidation and conspiracy. We 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:06.320 are off to a great start. He later pleaded guilty 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:10.240 for felony conspiracy to commit tax evasion he was sentenced 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:14.680 to two years in prison. He served sixteen months in 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:18.080 prison and then had to pay seventy five million dollars 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:24.599 in restitution. WHOA, that's our guy, Jeane. WHOA chaos to begin, Yeah, 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:27.200 that's a rough start. But you know, some of some 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:30.360 of what I'm liking about all of this is if 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:34.159 this podcast can shed some light that rich people do 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:37.039 some shady ship. I think sometimes in America we think 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:40.120 he's got money, he knows what he's doing. Yeah, okay, 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.279 sometimes and sometimes they do illegal ship to get money 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:46.239 and to get even more money, get even more money, 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:48.280 and they all work together in cahoots. You don't want 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.800 witness intimidation on your resume. Also, I just want it's 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:54.120 like conspiracy and that's the charge, like what what did? 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:57.159 What did you conspire? It's just it's almost more ominous 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:00.359 when there's nothing attached to it, conspiracy. So so a 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:02.760 guy who's got that much money and that many lawyers 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:05.000 like that, he probably did a good job fighting the 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:07.760 case and he's still served fifteen months into pay seventy 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:10.479 million dollars, Like, you have to be pretty fucked if 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:17.640 if that was the negotiation you got. So yeah, of course, 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:19.800 that never gets mentioned in Formula One. But it's like 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.520 very funny that everyone breezes over. I mean we we 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:25.040 talked about Force India with Aston Martin and that guy 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:27.960 being wanted in like multiple countries, and like, by comparison, 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.599 this is very quaint. It's cute. Yeah, but Formula one 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:33.960 does have this problem and needs so much money that 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:37.400 it's going to get some shady characters. Well that's actually 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:40.600 a perfect segue into literally the rest of this episode. 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:44.720 That's what I'm doing here. Uh so so has from 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:48.920 the very beginning has always struggled financially, and the team 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:53.200 almost I wouldn't say identically to Williams, but similarly to Williams, 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:57.240 has gained this reputation of being scrappy and tiny. So, 0:05:57.360 --> 0:05:59.840 for instance, at one point, just to give an example, 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:01.880 how smaller they are than some of the other teams, 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:06.040 hoss back ineen Ish gun Thor mentioned they had about 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:10.360 two employees for for Hosses F one team. By comparison, 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:12.880 Mercedes F one team around the same time had a 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:16.400 thousand more people than hass Yeah, just for F one. 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:20.760 If you say the two magic words Lewis Hamilton's and Mercedes, 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:23.880 you know, that's a successful combination, so you will be 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:27.280 more likely to throw money at that pairing something like 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:30.440 HOSS doesn't have that. They tried to do things on 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.039 as much of a budget as they possibly could. A 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.000 big part of when their team launched is they sort 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.000 of marketed the scrappiness as hey, we're going to buy 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:40.480 a hodge podge of parts and in power units and 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:42.720 all this stuff from different teams. But in doing so, 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:45.560 we're showing how Formula One teams can be started for 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:49.160 less money and hopefully diversified the grid from that perspective. 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:50.599 And so you know, you no longer need to be 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.960 a Mercedes or you know, a Ferrari to get on 0:06:53.960 --> 0:07:06.159 the grid. You can be like us. So next, we 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:09.479 can't really talk about HOSS without talking about all of 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:12.880 the issues they've had with sponsors over a very extended 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:16.400 period of time. Obviously, a lot of you know, teams 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:19.720 need sponsors a lot of times. The wars off teams 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:22.440 are doing, the more desperate they get with who they 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.520 ask for sponsorship. We do know, obviously talking about Williams, 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:28.200 that everything's getting eaten up by larger and larger private 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:31.800 equity firms and corporations and whatnot, especially as the sport 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:36.000 gets more expensive every year. The first sponsor we're going 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:40.119 to talk about is a sketchy energy drink company called 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:43.400 Rich Energy. My gosh, I'm going to assume you have 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:47.080 never seen, had or heard of Rich Energy. I thought 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:51.960 it was like rich money infused energy, like a power 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:56.120 unit energy. I was wrong, you were you were wrong, 0:07:56.200 --> 0:08:01.200 But it was bound to happen at some in this podcast, 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:04.320 the last episode. I'm wrong. So Rich Energy is a 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:12.040 is a energy drink hypothetically. Okay, okay. So it's the 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.520 end of ten. We're heading into the nineteen season. Hass 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:18.400 has had a couple of years on the grid. Was 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:22.200 the hass F one team's most successful year by far. 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:25.120 They finished fifth in the team standings, five of ten. 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:27.320 That's a big deal for a team that's only been 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:29.320 around for a couple of years. Is very impressive. Yeah, 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:30.880 and they have less money than everyone else. They got 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:34.200 your pure personnel, so it's looking great and then everything 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:38.000 kind of uh went downhill from there. So as always, 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:40.720 like I said, HOSSA is always needing more money always, 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.360 that's always the case for them. They start obviously looking 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.760 for sponsors and other people who can who can give 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.280 them a little bit of a leg up financially. And 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:54.800 all of a sudden, a man named William's Story comes 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:58.480 in and he says, I am the founder and businessman 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:03.400 behind this successful energy drink company called Rich Energy, and 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:06.000 everyone's like that is great, okay, you know Rich Energy. 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:10.239 Williams story excellent. Rich Energy was a sponsor for boxers, 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:15.240 UM for some smaller lower tier racing athletes, especially in 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:20.040 motorcycle racing. UM. So it looked on its face to 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:26.400 be a legitimate company and especially one that was promoting 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:29.599 itself as a luxury energy drink, something that you you 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:33.000 wouldn't find in a gas station, something that you would 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:35.400 find in a nightclub, which I think is a very 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:39.600 appealing look and a very appealing draw for the very 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:42.760 elite levels of Formula one. And of course William's Story 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:45.319 has like some long, scraggly beard and just looks like 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.920 a weird dude, Like already getting weird dude vibes off 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:53.000 the bat. So we are here for the unveiling of 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:58.160 the Rich Energy has f one Formula one team Livery 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:02.320 Us does their big abut of the car, brand new 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:06.600 black and gold delivery. Wow, that looks pretty tasty. They 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:10.360 unveiled this car that was a really beautiful car. It 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.800 looked great. This gold antler logo, it's it's the Rich 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:17.959 Energy logo. William's story has pledged millions of pounds slash 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.640 dollars to the team. What does it mean? It's now 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:23.840 the title sponsor of the House of One team. We're 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:26.760 absolutely delighted and we think that has are you know, 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:29.959 absolutely our favorite team on the grid, the brilliant people 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:32.440 and they're the perfect partner for Rich Energy as we 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.400 move forward to take Red Bull challenge RedBull on and 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:39.560 off the track. It made a big, big statement, so 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:43.000 everybody starts googling. Fans very quickly are like, who the 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:45.599 fuck is Rich Energy and William's story? Is this some 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.160 weird niche? Like it's only a baila about a couple 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:50.520 of countries, Like what's the deal with this? One New 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:54.480 Year they posted a photo of a pool and they 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.520 said a New Year's swim with Rich Energy, and the 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:00.000 pool had a rich Energy logo on the bottom up 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.720 it um the image of the pool was actually taken 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:05.679 from the Internet and the logo was photoshopped in. Fans 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:07.920 also start saying like, well, where can we buy it 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.560 and the very things we find it's almost impossible to buy. 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.680 Pretty simple question, Yeah, where can I buy this product? 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:15.520 I mean even in my newsletter. If if if this has 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:17.600 been announced with my my newsletter was around, I would 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:19.200 have tried to go out and buy Rich Energy to 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:21.840 like rank the different energy drinks that sponsor F one 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.840 teams like. It's a very Energy is great. It's like 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:29.640 almost like some guy was like, Okay, I am poor 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:32.160 and need to make this sound richer. I've got an 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:36.800 idea Rich Energy I already love has. I think they're 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:39.720 in my top three. This is awesome. This is great 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.480 comedy slash entertainment. I told you this is an episode 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:45.200 of Parks and Wreck like waiting to Happen or the Office. Yeah, 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:47.000 like you could see Michael Scott being like, I've got 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.920 a new sponsor for the Office. It's gonna be yeah. 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.679 So so we have each Energy and fans. So these 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:56.440 aren't even people within motorsports only who are doing this. 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:58.960 Journalists are obviously looking into it, but fans are looking 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:01.280 this up. And it's Oliver Twitter. Obviously a lot of 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:04.880 company records are just publicly available. Normally, you would expect 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.760 a team to be looking at the financial records of 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:12.360 these companies to establish it. There's legitimate products. You know, 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:17.800 you can sell this somewhere. You can find this product somewhere. Um. 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.320 And that was part of what made Rich Energy so perplexing, 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:24.959 was that the financials that were available, We're not great. 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:27.959 They had under a thousand dollars in the bank at 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:30.640 the time that the deal was signed. Those were the 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:33.960 most recent financial records. UM. No one really had any 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:36.880 idea where to buy it unless you bought it online. 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:39.480 It was It was a mystery, and I think it 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:44.880 will probably remain a mystery. Smokes. This is just shady 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:47.520 or money laundering or something. Yeah. More and more evidence 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:50.400 piles up as the season begins that William's story is 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:52.880 not who he claims to be, and that his company 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:56.560 is not what he says it is. So and on 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:58.160 top of that, the host team is not doing well 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:00.280 on the racetrack. They don't have a great car, so 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:04.800 the whole thing is just a magnificent implosion William's story 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:09.080 that announces on Twitter without telling anyone's terminating the deal 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:12.040 with the Hoss team due to poor performance and the 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:15.800 PC attitude of F one because F one is the 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:20.960 pinnacle of political correctness. When I think, you know woke people, 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:23.640 I think Formula one race car driving. Then the host 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:26.000 team responds and says, no, we did not have a 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:29.920 performance clause in the contract. The contract is still together. 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:32.840 We are still the Rich Energy Hass F one team. 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:36.120 And then a few weeks later, Hass terminates the partnership. 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:38.560 On its end, it just makes a mockery of the team. 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.559 It also just ties up all their resources into something 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:43.880 totally dumb. And also all of the press, right, no 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:45.720 one cares about how they're racing. They care about this 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:50.040 absurd scandal. Then Hass ran just black and gold blank 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:53.400 cars for the rest of the season before going into 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:57.640 and changing the livery. It really becomes the scandal that 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:00.320 launches a thousand memes. Right there's there's still to this day, 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:04.480 years later, endless mockery of this whole situation. Well, maybe 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:07.040 Gene has should do a little googling before he accept 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:10.280 some sponsorship money. This was like the single question we 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:13.880 struggled to find an answer too, because no one was 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:19.440 willing to speak about why Hass took on Rich Energy. Um, 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:21.400 no one was willing to tell us what that vetting 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:24.560 process look like. UM has repeatedly said that they did 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:28.160 their due diligence UM in vetting rich Energy as a 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:33.160 sponsor UM, but wouldn't describe exactly what that meant. HASS 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:36.080 is an interesting organization and that it's very small and 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:39.000 there's a lot of loyalty both to Hoss Automotive and 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:42.080 to the team principle talk about Gunther Steiner. So it's 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.000 to this day not clear who was in charge of 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:49.320 finding and vetting rich energy. We still don't know. Yeah, 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:51.000 we still don't know who was in charge of, you know, 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.200 signing on the dotted line. We don't know how much 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:57.040 Gunther or Gene Hass really knew. And then we yeah, 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:00.240 we never really know. William's story has also sent then 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:03.280 try to tease quote unquote coming back to formula one. 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:06.160 Obviously it's a it's a bunch of bullshit, but I 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:08.080 want to see what he looks like. I'm gonna google 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:12.600 him real quick. S D O R E. I are 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:16.960 you kidding me with this guy? I mean, this is 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:18.720 a straight out of Lord of the Rings, put on 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:21.520 a camo hat and he's ready to go hunting absolutely 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:26.520 rich energy. That should be like my rap name. Yeah, 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:28.760 you know, I mean, if you if you ever want 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:31.840 a real deep cut, yeah, Formula one world, I say, 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:39.000 go for it. You would think that after this whole 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:42.520 very public, humiliating debackle, that HOSS would learn its lesson 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:46.200 and find better sponsors that were less controversial and weird 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:51.120 and just less ill received. You would be wrong. I 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:53.600 would be wrong. Yes. So, so this's, like we said, 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:57.200 it's early beginning of the season. We skip ahead to 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:02.440 the end of so we are in the pandemic at 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:05.200 this point. This is, I guess it relatively recent. So 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:09.400 Hass again started for cash because nothing what else is new? 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.960 And so Hass announces that they're going to be working 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:18.600 with a Russian chemical fertilizer company called Ural Collige. I mean, 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:22.560 the first two words of that Russian fertilizer would tell 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:24.760 me to back off. Yeah, you can see where this 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:29.600 is going. So this, this company is headed up by 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:33.760 a Russian oligarch who is besties with Vladimir Putin named 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:39.400 Dmitri Mazepin. And so why does Dmitri Mazopin want a 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:44.440 sudden sponsorship on the F one grid Because he wants 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:50.400 his son to race there you go. So, Dmitri has 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:54.760 a son named Nikita. Nikita had actually previously a couple 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:57.880 years prior then banned for a bit from racing in 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:02.320 the junior formulas because he punched a competitor after a race. 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:07.199 To give you just an idea of his vibe, So 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:09.640 Nikita really wants to get enough one. He's not really 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.200 good enough to do it on his own marriage or 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:17.160 through other means, so good old dad helps him do that. 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.240 And on top of Nikita already being known as yeah, 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:23.920 a not good driver who's then very angry and takes 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:26.879 out in not great ways, he also, right before the 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:30.040 season starts as a December he posts a video of 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.480 him essentially groping a woman's chest like a friend, and that, 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:36.720 for understandable reasons, does not go over well with the 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:39.919 fan base. People are really angry at Hoss gunther Steiner. 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.520 The team principle has to issue this weird, vague statement 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:43.800 because they don't really know what to do and they 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:46.600 need his dad's money. That's no news, and we don't 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.000 want the news out of it. We we've been internally 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:51.760 have a dealing internal not we with and that's the 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:53.480 That's the only thing I want to say, Maybe take 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:56.080 this serious. What happened, and David, we've bell deal with it, 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:58.400 you know. So I don't want to go into any 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:00.840 comments about the domage and expected this. I just want 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:04.240 to say, prost us wed with it. What about managing 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:07.360 him going forward? Are you concerned about that? No, that's 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:10.679 refit dating with it. This makes me think that has 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:13.720 is so tight lipped and loyal, not because there's some scrappy, 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:19.200 intelligent competitive team, but because they are shady. Mother. These 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:20.640 are just the things we know. It is already bad. 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:22.920 Don't even know how deep this goes, but what what 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:31.399 exactly transpired internally? But so so, like any good billionaire father, yeah, daddy, 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:33.800 mas a Pin says, yeah, I'll give you all this money, 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:35.879 millions and millions of dollars if my son gets one 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:38.879 of these seats going into does get a seat. Not 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:40.080 only does he get a seat, but you were that 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:42.440 kid I said he punched after a race. This guy 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:44.600 callum I Loot is sort of for his class, considered 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:46.399 the guy who was meant to drive an F one 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:49.000 and didn't get a seat. Nikita mas Pin gets a seat. 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:52.640 That would just drive me insane. How is hass As 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:57.840 a racing team? Besides all this sponsorship, nefarious activity, can 0:18:57.880 --> 0:18:59.960 they race? Oh yes, we haven't even gotten to the 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:03.399 racing stuff. Everything else. We'll get right back into the 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:11.080 chaos after the break. So has long story shirt. Not really, 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:15.240 They're not really good. Um has starts off in their 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:17.600 first two seasons are understandably rocky. Maybe we've seen this 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:19.760 a million times with almost every other new, brand new 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:24.680 team to the grid. However, they have this big breakout year. 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:27.399 They finished P five, so they're excited because they think, oh, 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:30.320 we're comfortably in the midfield. Right for a third year team. 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.200 That's great. A lot of teams would be super stoked 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:35.560 if on their third year they were just sitting there. 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:38.080 At some point, we're also competing for p the P. 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:41.960 Four spot on the standing, so things are looking great. 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.399 Since then, though, it has been an endless struggle bus 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:48.879 for has So. Like I said, in addition to the 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:53.080 sponsorship issues, their car is not great. The car isn't good. 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:59.600 And then to make matters even worse. Fuck, this was 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:04.000 a big At the end of one of the last 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:07.480 races of the season, one of their drivers, Roman Grosjean, 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:11.360 who now is an IndyCar. Roman has a massive crash 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:13.959 at the start of the race where his car literally 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:18.600 splits in two in a giant fireball. All my muscle relaxes, 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:23.560 almost not have a smile, but in peace with myself, 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.680 thinking I would die in enough foot which part is 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.919 gonna burn? First said the food the hands is going 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:33.800 to be painful, and then thought about my kids. And 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:37.399 now they think for several minutes he's dead, and then 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:40.960 he comes like jumping out of this like a literal fight. 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:43.000 It is completely on fire. People are trying to put 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:45.879 it out. I can feel the pain and the burn, 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:50.119 but I'm going up somehow miraculously only ends up with 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:54.040 some scarring and issues on his hands. Yeah, so shouldn't 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:57.000 put that Russian fertilizer in the trunk? It wasn't there yet. 0:20:57.040 --> 0:21:01.200 But this is at this point Roman and the other driver, 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:04.280 Kevin Magnusson, who we know, comes back. They knew they 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:06.760 were kind of on their way out already, so but yeah, 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:09.760 so Roman Grosjean, who had a very long and interesting, 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:13.879 if one career, ends it with this, this gigantic fiery explosion, 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:17.639 scary and just again caps off another not great thing 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:19.560 to happen to this team, and it brings you back 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:24.480 to hey, it's funny William's story, rich energy, Russian, futile. 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:27.600 It's all funny. But it's like when things go awry, 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:31.679 people can die and that's the tagline. But yeah, the 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:34.959 stakes are high. Roman now calls himself the Phoenix and 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:37.159 like rising from the ashes. And let me guess this 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:40.600 experience only made him love racing more. Oh it did? 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:47.959 He went over and they're all insane. You keep mentioning Gunther? 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:52.720 Who is this Gunther? Yeah, so Steiner from a name 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:57.040 like that. What country do you think? He's from Germany 0:21:57.200 --> 0:22:01.680 or Austria. He is from Italy, but he is used 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:04.119 to everyone thinking he's German. He talks about this constantly. 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:06.840 Is part of his personality to mention everyone that he 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:10.639 is Italian. Everyone I know who's Italian. Every sentence begins 0:22:10.680 --> 0:22:13.600 with I'm Italian. Yes, even my friends who live in 0:22:13.600 --> 0:22:17.159 Michigan that are like seven generations removed from Italy. They 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:18.600 want you to know they know how to make possible 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:23.639 and they don't. Actually. That's so. Gunther gets a start 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:27.840 way back when as a mechanic working in the Rally 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:30.960 Motorsports series, kind of works his way through a bunch 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:34.240 of different motorsports series and whatnot. But he eventually ends 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:36.200 up in the early two thousand's at an F one 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:40.359 team called Jaguar. Jaguar eventually gets sold to Red Bull 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:42.400 in the mid two thousands. That's the team the Red 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:47.439 Bull Team takes over and rebrands. So gunther Steiner is 0:22:47.600 --> 0:22:49.359 with Red Bull for a little bit, but it becomes 0:22:49.440 --> 0:22:51.639 very clear he's not vibing with them, he's not mentioning 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:54.800 with them, He's not doing well. So he takes a 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:58.160 couple of years off after serving as their technical director, 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:02.600 and eventually he founds his own manufacturing company over in 0:23:02.640 --> 0:23:05.800 the US, trying to figure out, I think what he 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:10.639 wants to do next, and eventually gunther Steiner meets with 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:15.440 Gene Hass and one of his associates at like a steakhouse. 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:18.200 They're kind of saying, well, entering off one is expensive, 0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:19.520 we don't know how to do it. He says, Hey, 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:21.960 you kind of just buy parts from other teams or whatever, 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:24.119 you know, and that's how we we kind of scraped this, 0:23:24.240 --> 0:23:28.200 you know, scrape this whole thing together, and eventually that's 0:23:28.200 --> 0:23:30.679 how the whole thing starts. As gun Through and Jane 0:23:30.840 --> 0:23:33.240