Speaker 1: All right, Michael, Yes, for this episode. Admittedly I wanted
Speaker 1: to get you like caviar or something, but perfect. I
Speaker 1: know the problem that was, I was like, how can
Speaker 1: I possibly expense this to like my boss, my boss's boss,
Speaker 1: and like the accounts payable team. So I got you
Speaker 1: a very expensive pastry called a key line baby bunt.
Speaker 1: Oh I love I always get key line pie. So
Speaker 1: I got you an expensive looking Wow, that is expensive looking, right,
Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, let me describe this to you. It
Speaker 1: looks like the crown that the queen would wear, and
Speaker 1: then shoved in the middle are three fresh raspberries, only
Speaker 1: the best. Thank you for this. Okay, So this is
Speaker 1: because Aston Martin is the team today, as Marmes the team.
Speaker 1: There's a metaphor in this somehow that they are the
Speaker 1: key line baby bunt of the courage. I don't know.
Speaker 1: If there's too many things in a in a pastry again,
Speaker 1: that's that's a good metaphor for them. Actually, yes, too
Speaker 1: much in a pastry? Yeah, okay, great, I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: a bite, go for it. Yes, please tell me how
Speaker 1: it is. Mm hmm. Let me see if I can
Speaker 1: chew real close to the micro SMR. Yes, there's some
Speaker 1: nice lime. There's some nice sweetness which feels good in
Speaker 1: my mouth. Something that's not the first time I've said
Speaker 1: that today, And it feels like they need to decide
Speaker 1: what this pastry is. It's too many things at once. Yes,
Speaker 1: from my Heart Radio and Sports Illustrated Studios, this is
Speaker 1: choosing sides. One Wow, Wow, today's team, asked in Martin.
Speaker 1: I feel like they are a less than in contradictions.
Speaker 1: They're a new team, but they're also kind of historic
Speaker 1: and have a really storied name behind them. There are
Speaker 1: a team that tries to be calm on the surface
Speaker 1: and cool and collected, but then they've got a chaotic backstory.
Speaker 1: And then they've also got two drivers who could not
Speaker 1: be more different in terms of background and race history
Speaker 1: and just I think general demeanor as well. So on
Speaker 1: top of being this lesson in contradictions, we're gonna be
Speaker 1: talking about just piles and piles of money, much of
Speaker 1: it illegally obtained. So we've got a lot of drama.
Speaker 1: If white collar crime is your thing, this is the
Speaker 1: episode for you. We've got. We've got another episode where
Speaker 1: there's a real, a real high point in the Daddy
Speaker 1: issue Mount Olympus right like, we're reaching that peak again.
Speaker 1: It's been a little while since we've had someone with
Speaker 1: this this level of Dad's stuff going on, so plenty
Speaker 1: to get to today. So first and foremost, Michael, when
Speaker 1: I say Aston Martin, what what comes to mind for you?
Speaker 1: James Bond, of course, I think that's it. There, touched
Speaker 1: and asked Martin, you know, I don't. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I've ever ever seen one other than on TV.
Speaker 1: I think I'm in a similar boat. I don't think
Speaker 1: I've just certainly never driven one or come close to
Speaker 1: driving one. I don't think I'm rich enough to even
Speaker 1: like be in the presence of one. So when I
Speaker 1: heard that Aston Martin had a team on Formula One,
Speaker 1: I assumed that they would be a championship team. The
Speaker 1: assumption makes sense, it is not correct, which is fun
Speaker 1: less than in contradiction exactly like, it just feels like
Speaker 1: it should be a number one team. So let's let's
Speaker 1: learn about it. Let's let's talk Aston Martin. So they
Speaker 1: are a car manufacturer found in a very much associated
Speaker 1: with with British culture, and obviously a luxury brand, as
Speaker 1: we discussed obviously known for being the car of James Bond,
Speaker 1: and it's also the vehicle of choice for certain members
Speaker 1: of the British royal family apparently. I think it's like
Speaker 1: Prince Charles who like demands to be driven around in
Speaker 1: Aston Martin that runs on can you believe this separates
Speaker 1: English white wine? God? Yeah, I know, so Asta Martin
Speaker 1: in f one. The year is they entered exactly, That's
Speaker 1: exactly how James Bond says it. Yes, nailed the accent.
Speaker 1: So they enter, they use their own engine and their
Speaker 1: own chassis, and they failed to score a single point.
Speaker 1: So things are not looking great, but they say, hey,
Speaker 1: we'll give it the old college try again, go into
Speaker 1: the nineteen sixty season. Again score zero points. So at
Speaker 1: this point they say, nope, we're done. We're not doing
Speaker 1: this again. It's kind of humiliating and we're this luxury
Speaker 1: brand and we're not winning, and like it's just not
Speaker 1: good for us, right, So they leave and they proceed
Speaker 1: to not touch Formula one for over sixty years. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they really had some humble pie there. Yeah. So they
Speaker 1: said no, thank you, j K, goodbye for for a
Speaker 1: very long time. So they don't show up again until
Speaker 1: the start of season. However, part of ASTI the fun
Speaker 1: of Aston Martin isn't necessarily the Aston Martin team of today.
Speaker 1: It's the collection of people who have made up a
Speaker 1: version of this team under different names. So we're gonna
Speaker 1: have to like back up before we go forward. As
Speaker 1: we've discussed with Formula one teams, they get they change
Speaker 1: hands a lot, right, Different people buy them, they sell them,
Speaker 1: they change the brand when they get bar or sold.
Speaker 1: They randomly change the brand, even if the same people
Speaker 1: own it. This is very common in Formula one because
Speaker 1: starting a Formula one team from scratch is just outrageously expensive,
Speaker 1: even more so than just buying one with all the
Speaker 1: people already attached, the factory and all of that stuff.
Speaker 1: So the year is two thousand seven, and there are
Speaker 1: two businessmen who are interested in buying an F one team.
Speaker 1: One of them is an Indian businessman. The main character,
Speaker 1: the protagonist of this part of the story, the biggest,
Speaker 1: most flamboint example of the rich and the powerful the
Speaker 1: high life, is none other than doctor j Malia or
Speaker 1: Malia depending on who is talking. What are you a
Speaker 1: fake one? Oh? So you just just like an honorary
Speaker 1: degree or something yeah, yeah, Well I look like a
Speaker 1: doctor and a Dutch businessman named Michael Mole who's less
Speaker 1: of a of a character. But VJ is a massive,
Speaker 1: if one fan. He really wants to bring He has
Speaker 1: this vision of bringing an Indian presence to the sport.
Speaker 1: He's just a massive personality. He's got lots of opinions.
Speaker 1: He's very flashy. Is I have a BMW pull around occasionally,
Speaker 1: one makes do with whatever one can find or get.
Speaker 1: My favorite fun fact is that he's called an India
Speaker 1: King of the good Times because he has this uber
Speaker 1: extravagant lifestyle, has all these houses, spends all this money
Speaker 1: even on the team. Is kind of known for being
Speaker 1: a little bit ostentatious and their first two seasons at
Speaker 1: Force India are a little bit dicey, but the team
Speaker 1: starts scoring points in two thousand nine, they start to
Speaker 1: rack up a few podiums. Victory for that man VJ
Speaker 1: of India and the team that he has wanted to
Speaker 1: own his whole life and really excitedly by the kind
Speaker 1: of mid you're going into seventeen. They actually have two
Speaker 1: years where they finished P four and the constructors Forest
Speaker 1: India Force India so everything's looking great. People at the
Speaker 1: fact that sometimes an underdog comes through and does the business. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's what makes formula one all about interesting.
Speaker 1: It also shows that the small budget you can results.
Speaker 1: Here's what's going on behind the scenes. So, yeah, we're
Speaker 1: at seventeen. Our friend VJ here, you're probably wondering how
Speaker 1: does he have all this money? And that's a question
Speaker 1: lots of people want the answer to. So if we're
Speaker 1: going even all the way back to he starts to
Speaker 1: get into some financial trouble back in India. People are
Speaker 1: looking at finances realizing that some things aren't adding up.
Speaker 1: A lot of little, tiny things are starting to come
Speaker 1: to the surface. In VJ suddenly picks up from India
Speaker 1: and moves to Britain have information he was getting eleven
Speaker 1: pieces of baggage eleven pieces of onboard baggage. Coincidentally, that
Speaker 1: move coincides with Indian law enforcement and other agencies starting
Speaker 1: to come after him to try and arrest him for
Speaker 1: white collar financial crimes. There were seventeen Indian banks trying
Speaker 1: to collect the equivalent of one point to billion dollars
Speaker 1: in loans that VJ had taken out to gain stakes
Speaker 1: in over three dozen companies worldwide. Have politicians allowed Jamalia
Speaker 1: to get away? Have the politicians of India deliberately turned
Speaker 1: a blind eye to what has been happening for the
Speaker 1: last four years? Now looking good? And then it gets
Speaker 1: to a point too, because he did this with you know,
Speaker 1: around the globe, there are now dozens of agencies all
Speaker 1: over the world looking into him for money laundering and
Speaker 1: financial fraud, among many other charges. Right now, things are
Speaker 1: flying at me fast and furious. My passport has been devoked.
Speaker 1: I don't know what the government is going to do next.
Speaker 1: This is all sort of like I said, building up
Speaker 1: all of this explode. Has lost control of his FoST
Speaker 1: India Formula one team. This has left him devastated. So
Speaker 1: that's our guy, VJ. Thank you VJ for the the
Speaker 1: fun white collar crime rich people. They're not really that rich.
Speaker 1: They're just good at like moving money around until somebody
Speaker 1: calls him out on their ship exactly exactly. So that's VJ.
Speaker 1: So he sort of exists our story at this point.
Speaker 1: So this starts to take us to present day leadership
Speaker 1: because you know, there's this consortium investors that that buys
Speaker 1: the team, saves them and the guy who's leading the
Speaker 1: charge of this group of rich people for the Richie
Speaker 1: rich of the richie riches is a Canadian fashion and
Speaker 1: retail billionaire named Lawrence Stroll, which already just sounds like
Speaker 1: a ch person. Name Stroll doesn't sound fast either, does it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: What's also funny is his last name is actually stru Leovich,
Speaker 1: and he changed it so that it would sound less
Speaker 1: kind of like foreign and his family immigrant family, So
Speaker 1: he changed it to make it sound a little more
Speaker 1: imposing and a little more business. Ee, you're going to
Speaker 1: change your name, change it to like one the race
Speaker 1: Lawrence Formula one champion. We will be referring to him
Speaker 1: for the rest of this episode as Daddy Stroll, and
Speaker 1: he will soon see why. I'm going to show you
Speaker 1: some photos of Lawrence Stroll so you can get an
Speaker 1: idea of what we're dealing with. Here. Hold on, okay,
Speaker 1: here is Lawrence Stroll. Okay, Lawrence Stroll. Three pictures, long face,
Speaker 1: long face, white hair, white beard, big deep china, like
Speaker 1: a caricature. And you know, Drawer would have a field
Speaker 1: day with this guy's face. He would need like legal
Speaker 1: paper because it needs to be so long. And then
Speaker 1: the in the middle picture, there's a one and who's
Speaker 1: very beautiful life. She looks like she's about eighteen years old.
Speaker 1: Lawrence Stroll gives off this super villain kind of vibe
Speaker 1: you like want him to have, like a fluffy white
Speaker 1: cat and like sitting a chair just like petting the cat.
Speaker 1: That's the way you you just picture. This is Kate
Speaker 1: Lazzutte and Nicole Seevers. They are co creators of Two
Speaker 1: Girls One Formula Honestly, like, I really just appreciate the
Speaker 1: energy he's bringing to Formula one. I think he knows
Speaker 1: the part that he plays and he plays it really well.
Speaker 1: He doesn't try to be liked by anyone. He's like,
Speaker 1: I'm here to make this the best business that I can.
Speaker 1: And Formula one is a business. Everyone should keep that
Speaker 1: in mind for all decisions made about this sport. How
Speaker 1: did Daddy Stroll make his money? So he owns a
Speaker 1: bunch of different like fashion conglomerates in Canada and kind
Speaker 1: of owns all these different fashion houses there and some
Speaker 1: retail stuff. Yeah, and as you can tell, he's a
Speaker 1: very imposing guy. Um, he's very forceful. He makes his
Speaker 1: opinion known, he makes he make sure you're aware that
Speaker 1: he is the team owner who has a lot of money. Uh,
Speaker 1: and he's been known to butt heads with quite a
Speaker 1: few members of leadership over time. All right, so he
Speaker 1: steps in to save Force India and uh, let me
Speaker 1: guess he's not so perfect either. So he has a
Speaker 1: son named Lance, and Lance is like, you know what, Dad,
Speaker 1: I want to be a Formula one driver. So, prior
Speaker 1: to this whole Force India racing point conundrum, driver Lance
Speaker 1: is saying to daddy's stroll, yeah, I want to drive
Speaker 1: an F one. You know he did okay. We'll get
Speaker 1: it more into Lance's history in a little bit, but
Speaker 1: he did okay in the junior formulas. So he's like,
Speaker 1: I want to drive an F one. And so his
Speaker 1: dad goes to a little fan favorite team called Williams
Speaker 1: and says, hey Williams. Again. This is like he's like,
Speaker 1: you guys really are not doing well financially. I have
Speaker 1: some money for you, like a lot of money. Like
Speaker 1: I think it's eighty million dollars worth of money or
Speaker 1: something to that effect. It wouldn't be great if I
Speaker 1: could give you that money. If Lance were to show
Speaker 1: up in that seat, that seems so this actually a
Speaker 1: perfect introduction to a term that you've you've heard me
Speaker 1: use but not really go into. It's called page driver.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of discussion over who and what
Speaker 1: is a page driver, But at the very least everyone's
Speaker 1: in agreement that if, especially if like a family member
Speaker 1: or or you use kind of personal connections to guarantee
Speaker 1: a lot of money to a team to get a
Speaker 1: seat like that's a page driver. So obviously in Formula
Speaker 1: one you do need to still have the requisite number
Speaker 1: of super license points like there are. You can't just
Speaker 1: have anyone who's rich by a seat. But still you
Speaker 1: might have some drivers who normally wouldn't be under consideration
Speaker 1: for seats because someone you know is guaranteeing on their
Speaker 1: personal behalf a seat on the on the grid, usually
Speaker 1: their concessions made for them and things like that. So
Speaker 1: lands Stroll comes into Formula one very much a pay
Speaker 1: driver under the thumb of his father Daddy Lauren, is
Speaker 1: Yuki at Alpha Tory considered a paid driver. He's not,
Speaker 1: though there's a couple of cases like Yuki where there
Speaker 1: are some other influences that sort of help their case.
Speaker 1: But I think people, especially again, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: debate over where this is tight because I have certain
Speaker 1: friends who do say, like these eight drivers are paid drivers,
Speaker 1: or it's also not someone who's necessarily rich, like you
Speaker 1: can be a rich person who still gets into F
Speaker 1: one on your own merit and doesn't have a parent,
Speaker 1: you know, saying I'm gonna give eighty million dollars to
Speaker 1: a team to get you a seat. Everyone is in
Speaker 1: agreement though that land Stroll is a paid driver. Like
Speaker 1: everyone's debating Yuki or another guy Joe Guan You who
Speaker 1: has some connections to some Chinese maybe Chinese government or business.
Speaker 1: But everyone's an agreement. Landstrole is a paid driver through
Speaker 1: and through. It's just such a rough way to start.
Speaker 1: No one gives you any respect, right exactly exactly, and
Speaker 1: he does have a rough go of it. Williams is
Speaker 1: doing terribly at this point, really in the toilet, and
Speaker 1: it just keeps going downhill. And so Lauren said, all right,
Speaker 1: fuck it, I'm buying my own team for Lance um
Speaker 1: and so then he buys racing Point. Lance becomes every
Speaker 1: Sing eight driver and you know, the rest is kind
Speaker 1: of history. But this past year they have become not
Speaker 1: this past year, last year, yeah, before sorry, they're all
Speaker 1: blending together. Um became Aston Martin and so now they're
Speaker 1: this iconic green color. I love the color palette one. Anyway,
Speaker 1: Daddy Stroll takes over the team or gets, you know,
Speaker 1: some ownership of the team after rebranded to just Racing Point.
Speaker 1: They dropped the whole Force Indian name for a variety
Speaker 1: of obvious reasons. And yeah, Daddy Stroll takes the helm.
Speaker 1: His son Lances in one of the two seats. The
Speaker 1: other seat is our buddy Chucko, who keeps popping up
Speaker 1: to Checho. Actually, the bulk of his career was spent
Speaker 1: at Force India slash Racing Point, so he was there
Speaker 1: for like an next seven or eight seasons between all
Speaker 1: their different names. So he's he's seen a lot. So
Speaker 1: as Lance made a podium or anything he has, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll get into Lance. It's a little more complicated. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So so this Racing Point iteration of the team ends
Speaker 1: on a high note. They do get p four in
Speaker 1: the Constructor's Championship, so we're like, okay, you know, it's
Speaker 1: pretty good. Yeah, yeah, and uh, here's then what Daddy
Speaker 1: Stroll continues to enter the story again and again. Uh,
Speaker 1: Daddy Stroll buys a sixteen point seven percent stake in
Speaker 1: Aston Martin around this time. He kind of uses that
Speaker 1: steak to help get the team to be the brand,
Speaker 1: you know, the name behind NF one team, not just
Speaker 1: a sponsor. So then starting with one, they become Aston Martin. Okay,
Speaker 1: so that's the history. What does the team look like now? So?
Speaker 1: Aston Martin is definitely a midfield team. They finished in
Speaker 1: p seven in the standings and they have really been
Speaker 1: struggling in two with the new regulations. You haven't told
Speaker 1: me one thing about this team that's likable so far.
Speaker 1: Why are we still talking about it? Can we move
Speaker 1: on to the next team? I will say, I think
Speaker 1: you're gonna like the first driver on this team we're
Speaker 1: going to talk about it better not be Daddy Stroll's kids.
Speaker 1: It's Lands, no kidd gets, not Lance quick break and
Speaker 1: we'll be back. So we're gonna actually talk about a
Speaker 1: driver who has come up quite a bit over the
Speaker 1: season so far. Name a Lot. Yes, we got Sebastian Vettle. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so we finally get to dive into two. Seb he
Speaker 1: has called seb opted on the grid. So so so Bus
Speaker 1: in fact an icon, a legend in Formula one. He
Speaker 1: as we've already discussed, he's a four time world champion,
Speaker 1: got all four of those championships, yeah, in a row.
Speaker 1: He's really been a stalwart. I mean he's been there
Speaker 1: for a decade and a half. He's only thirty four
Speaker 1: now as of this recording, so he's he's old and
Speaker 1: yet young for for the sport of F one experience too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and also comes from some more humble beginnings. He
Speaker 1: didn't come for money. His dad was actually a carpenter
Speaker 1: and he's German German driver Sebastian Petal. He started krting
Speaker 1: just recreationally at the age of three, but started taking
Speaker 1: it more seriously around you know, late elementary schools around
Speaker 1: eight ish, and he became part of this really primitive
Speaker 1: Red Bull junior team. He really started to quickly distinguish
Speaker 1: himself in in kind of senior krding and then these
Speaker 1: junior open wheel aracing categories, and finally in two thousand
Speaker 1: and six he is called up to the BMW Souber
Speaker 1: team before very quickly jumping over to Toro Rosso now
Speaker 1: known as Alpha TOWERI. So, um, what is interesting is
Speaker 1: said could be a little bit of noxious, right very brash,
Speaker 1: very hyper competitive, especially when he's young. He is still
Speaker 1: to this day the youngest Formula One driver to win
Speaker 1: the world title. I think he beats Max by like
Speaker 1: X number of days and months or whatnot. He was
Speaker 1: one of the youngest everyone his first one at twenty three.
Speaker 1: So you had a guy who had a lot of
Speaker 1: money and power and fame at a very young age.
Speaker 1: He's this young kid who suddenly, you know, is catapulted
Speaker 1: in this very alpha male team of Red Bull. He
Speaker 1: was a guy they had to make a rule. He
Speaker 1: used to do donuts after winning championships. We'll get on
Speaker 1: top of the car and do the big you know,
Speaker 1: like yell with the arms and the fists in the air.
Speaker 1: So definitely a showy guy, not particularly like externally humble.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, But in his younger years kills the game.
Speaker 1: Four years wor world championships. He hits a little bit
Speaker 1: of a slum uh the year after his fourth championship,
Speaker 1: so in he makes the move to Ferrari and and
Speaker 1: he does do well. He finishes P three in the
Speaker 1: championship Driver's Championship one year he gets two P two
Speaker 1: finishes behind Lewis Hamilton's though it's not necessarily super close
Speaker 1: because Mercedes, as we know, is really on a tear
Speaker 1: with their bajillion Constructors Championships and Driver's Championships, and when
Speaker 1: we talked about this a little bit in the Ferrari episode,
Speaker 1: but they decided they want to move in a different direction.
Speaker 1: The big drama is that they basically announced at the
Speaker 1: start of the season that they are not going to
Speaker 1: keep seb after that season, which I think everyone would
Speaker 1: agree was a real kind of pr strategy nightmare. I
Speaker 1: love you and I want to be with you, but
Speaker 1: we're going to break up in a year. Yeah, in
Speaker 1: like nine more months, and we're in this you know,
Speaker 1: this super expensive, high stakes sport where you could die
Speaker 1: at any time, but like we're done, so like yeah
Speaker 1: so and surreal also like it isn't in fact me,
Speaker 1: it is you. He then ends up choosing to go
Speaker 1: to be about to be renamed Aston Martin team starting
Speaker 1: why keep Sebastian Vettle around? Why keep an older driver
Speaker 1: around if if it's not really winning over and over again.
Speaker 1: So one of the things that's really great about seven
Speaker 1: this was even said about him when he was a
Speaker 1: younger driver. He's very good at the technical aspects of
Speaker 1: the sport, and it's been said that he can take
Speaker 1: the team through how he felt at every corner, every turn.
Speaker 1: He remembers when something malfunctions or how it felt or
Speaker 1: he didn't like this call or that, so he can
Speaker 1: have he has like perfect recall of all of this
Speaker 1: stuff and knows how to talk about it in engineering terms. Again,
Speaker 1: not every driver can do that, and even Lance has
Speaker 1: sort of joked not Daddy Stroll, but the Sun. Lance
Speaker 1: has joked about like, yeah, suddenly are our debriefs after
Speaker 1: races are like two hours long? Because Seb can literally
Speaker 1: remember and he's like, I didn't even think of half
Speaker 1: the stuff. And Seb can remember all of it and
Speaker 1: can can like feel the car as he's talking about it.
Speaker 1: So that's that's for teams, right, how much feedback that
Speaker 1: is if you have a driver who can speak your language,
Speaker 1: and how that can help just the team, you know,
Speaker 1: years after he leaves because they have all of this
Speaker 1: data from him. I could see that being very valuable.
Speaker 1: He also can be a very entertaining driver to watch
Speaker 1: when he's really on it or or in it. Um
Speaker 1: I'd say to personality wise, this is where Seb's kind
Speaker 1: of done a one eighty, or I think the public
Speaker 1: perception of Seb has done a one eight. You know,
Speaker 1: like I said, he was really kind of brash. It's
Speaker 1: not fun when someone's winning all the time, as you've
Speaker 1: said about Mercedes and Red Bull and even Ferrari at times,
Speaker 1: and so Seb Sep was always kind of you know,
Speaker 1: he'd be a little bit of prankster, a little bit
Speaker 1: of a jokester in interviews, but in in his his
Speaker 1: middle age, like in his thirties, Uh, it's it's definitely
Speaker 1: come across differently. So now, for instance, he is married,
Speaker 1: he does have three kids, and he really is like
Speaker 1: the king of the dad joke. He's also interestingly very
Speaker 1: much into compartmentalizing his personal life and his professional life.
Speaker 1: So he has yeah, he has a wife and three kids.
Speaker 1: They have not been seen on the track in years.
Speaker 1: In fact, his son was born like three years ago.
Speaker 1: We still don't know his name. He's never come to
Speaker 1: a race and said Mary like his high school sweetheart.
Speaker 1: And then on top of that, you know, he's the
Speaker 1: other driver other than Lewis who's starting to really be
Speaker 1: known for activism. So in particular, he is very into
Speaker 1: talking about environmentalism and I'll show you some photos in
Speaker 1: a second. Uh. He always comes in on the to
Speaker 1: the track. Most drivers drive in, you know, in some
Speaker 1: sort of like the Ferrari drivers come in Ferrari's the
Speaker 1: acid Martin. You know, Lance comes in an Aasid Martin said,
Speaker 1: bikes into Yeah, so he kind of has this, you know,
Speaker 1: also a normal bike, you know, and and he'll stop
Speaker 1: and take photos of people on the way in and
Speaker 1: has his helmet. He's like dad, yeah, very very yeah. Um.
Speaker 1: He also after Silverstone last year, after the race, he's
Speaker 1: obviously exhausted. He actually went up in the stands and
Speaker 1: picked up litter and so there's now been a movement
Speaker 1: of fans who pick up litterate races after job. On
Speaker 1: top of that, he is very supportive of the LGBTQ
Speaker 1: community and actually or like the you know, the rainbow
Speaker 1: flag on his helmet in a Middle Eastern country. To
Speaker 1: make the point. Yeah, it's almost like we've watched Sebastian
Speaker 1: grow up. Yeah. Seb's got all the likability for this team.
Speaker 1: Yeah he he really his back must hurt from having
Speaker 1: to carry the likability factor exactly. It is difficult to
Speaker 1: be Sebastian vettal this is I love it. I love
Speaker 1: the story. I love the cocky kid who was excellent?
Speaker 1: Now who's picking up litter in the track? It's a
Speaker 1: beautiful story. Yeah, this is very likable. Yeah right, very likable.
Speaker 1: I hereby announced my retirement from Formula one by the
Speaker 1: end of the twenty two season. Probably I should start
Speaker 1: with a long list of people to think now, Oh
Speaker 1: my god, I was I liked I liked him, you
Speaker 1: really really liked he was a cool guy. Man. I
Speaker 1: love this sport. It has been central to my life
Speaker 1: since I can remember. I mean, he's not dead. Being
Speaker 1: a racing driver has never been my soul lead entity.
Speaker 1: So he joined Instagram to announce his retirement after never
Speaker 1: having social media, in a video where it looks a
Speaker 1: little bit like a hostage crisis situation. I'm Sebastian, father
Speaker 1: of three children and husband to a wonderful woman. Very
Speaker 1: close up, black and white. But he said he wants
Speaker 1: to spend more time with his family and there are
Speaker 1: a lot of social causes that he wants to put
Speaker 1: more of his energy into. I believe there's still a
Speaker 1: race to win. Farewell and thanks for letting me share
Speaker 1: the track with you. I loved every bit of it
Speaker 1: and may we all not be judged by our first
Speaker 1: Instagram video poorsa. But people are obviously very sad and
Speaker 1: it's kind of the end of an era with him leaving.
Speaker 1: We wish him the best. But unfortunately Michael Costa down
Speaker 1: to only nineteen drivers to choose from. This is a b.
Speaker 1: This is a big loss and affects the trajectory of
Speaker 1: this podcast. But we will adapt and we will make
Speaker 1: it be a strength of ours. Yes, how very motivational.
Speaker 1: So he sebs out. So then what does that mean?
Speaker 1: There's an empty seat, right there is? And so we
Speaker 1: get to talk about something called silly season in real
Speaker 1: time slide whistle that was actually really excellent. I had
Speaker 1: no idea where you were going with us. YOHI is impressed,
Speaker 1: as I'm a clown. I'm essentially a clown. So okay.
Speaker 1: So silly season is a phrase we hear not just
Speaker 1: in F one, but motorsports and just in news in general. Basically,
Speaker 1: F one silly season typically takes place during the summer,
Speaker 1: the August summer break, which sure enough, Seve announces retirement
Speaker 1: right before the last race prior to the break, and
Speaker 1: so here's what has transpired. There are multiple threads here.
Speaker 1: Let me first interrupt unbelievably fun entertaining that this sport
Speaker 1: has something called silly season. No no, no, no, no
Speaker 1: no no. Yes, these men in the carbon fiber death
Speaker 1: tracks stopped. It's excellent. It's excellent. I love it. So
Speaker 1: what do we have to expect from silly season? We
Speaker 1: have got the greatest game of musical chairs going on.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try and take you through this. And for
Speaker 1: all the listeners who are big F one fans, remember
Speaker 1: that Michael is new. So I'm trying to break the
Speaker 1: strong simple So Seb announces his retirement the following day,
Speaker 1: So that is then August one, at four am Eastern
Speaker 1: time in the US, the news breaks from Europe that
Speaker 1: our pal, the pettiest man alive whom I love for,
Speaker 1: Nando Alonso from Alpine, is moving to Aston Martin one failed,
Speaker 1: which leaves an open seated Alpine. Yes, so Alpine has
Speaker 1: a very talented young driver in their kind of driver
Speaker 1: development program named Oscar Pastri. Oscar. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: hype around him. He won Formula three his very first
Speaker 1: year competing in it. So that lower formula the same
Speaker 1: in Formula two, and very few drivers are able to
Speaker 1: do that. So there's a lot of questions around, is he,
Speaker 1: you know, a generational talent? What's the deal with Oscar?
Speaker 1: He has just completely moved up these ranks so quickly.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately for him, last year there was no seat for
Speaker 1: him on the grid, so he we spoke about that.
Speaker 1: He kind of got shafted a little bit exactly, and
Speaker 1: it's pretty well known. While he kind of goes along
Speaker 1: with all the Alpine promo stuff, he wants to be driving.
Speaker 1: So so a day after in Fernando Alonzo announces Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm moving to ask Martin peace out. Alpine puts out
Speaker 1: a statement saying, great news. Oscar Piastre, the guy you
Speaker 1: all wanted to see in this seat is an Alpine.
Speaker 1: Isn't that lovely? We have solved this very simple issue.
Speaker 1: It seems pretty simple to me. But it's not called
Speaker 1: simple season, is it, Lily? It is not, Michael, You
Speaker 1: are correct, silly season. People notice within a couple of minutes, hey,
Speaker 1: Oscar is not posting anything to his social media, and
Speaker 1: then sure enough he puts out the most iconic tweet
Speaker 1: of all time, where He says, I understand that without
Speaker 1: my agreement, Alpine f One have put out a press
Speaker 1: release late this afternoon that I am driving for them
Speaker 1: next year. This is wrong, and I have not find
Speaker 1: a contract with Alpine for I will not be driving
Speaker 1: for Alpine next year. Holy sh it. Yes, not just
Speaker 1: we haven't figured out the agreement. It's not officially signed,
Speaker 1: but I am not driving for them. He brought the
Speaker 1: hammer down. WHOA how could this be? How can they
Speaker 1: be on such different planets? So that's a great question,
Speaker 1: to which I say, no one really knows, and everyone's
Speaker 1: asking the exact same questions right now. How can this be?
Speaker 1: How did none of these contracts get vetted or figured
Speaker 1: out before all these big public announcements. What seems to
Speaker 1: be happening currently Oscar when he put out those feelers,
Speaker 1: one of the teams he has been cozying up to
Speaker 1: at least his management has is McLaren again. Silly season, rumors, drama, intrigue.
Speaker 1: No one actually knows. So as of now, we don't
Speaker 1: know who is in the second Alpine seat for next year.
Speaker 1: We don't know what's going on with Oscar Piastri's career.
Speaker 1: What's up for grabs at this point on the grid. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: here's what's officially up for grabs. With seat at Alpine,
Speaker 1: we'll talk about Alfa Romeo shortly. Their rookie driver Joe
Speaker 1: Guan Yuki Sonoda still doesn't officially have an extension one
Speaker 1: of the seats at Williams. Your favorite team, Danda Ricardo,
Speaker 1: who technically should have a seat, could potentially not have
Speaker 1: a seat. I think everyone's over Daniel Ricardo A hot take.
Speaker 1: This is difficult for the athlete. I mean they're really
Speaker 1: driving race by race. They don't even know what's next year.
Speaker 1: They don't even know where they'll be exactly. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: they're trying to prove themselves in this back half of
Speaker 1: the season if there isn't a contract in the works.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so we are in the height of silly season. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Sebastian Battles just drinking on my tie with his feet up. Gone.
Speaker 1: You guys can have it polishing his trophies. He does
Speaker 1: have three kids. He's probably a little bit vacation. You
Speaker 1: know what, he may come back, give us a quick
Speaker 1: break and we'll be back. So who's the other guy?
Speaker 1: And I know his name, but it's it's Daddy stroll son. Yes,
Speaker 1: Kenny race. Can he drive? He can? Okay, so that
Speaker 1: is very important. Yes, again he's just a dipship that
Speaker 1: can't drive and is playing off Dad's money, then I'm angry.
Speaker 1: But if he can, if he can drive, it's different.
Speaker 1: There have also been worse pay drivers in history. So
Speaker 1: Lance Stroll is who we're talking about here. He's in
Speaker 1: his early twenties. Um. I wouldn't go so far as
Speaker 1: to say that Lance is polarizing. He's just kind of there.
Speaker 1: He's not even a driver you love to hate like,
Speaker 1: he's just kind of there. Um. He does have some
Speaker 1: racing chops like he he did, you know, do well
Speaker 1: in the junior formulas. Again, it's not like he was
Speaker 1: in tenth place and then got this seat. Um. And
Speaker 1: he has, Yeah, he won a Formula four championship, of
Speaker 1: Formula three championship in those junior categories. Um. And to
Speaker 1: date he has gotten three podiums in Formula one and
Speaker 1: a pole position. So you know, he doesn't know how
Speaker 1: to drive. And and yes, we can debate. You know,
Speaker 1: some of those races are a little funky, but again
Speaker 1: that's the sport, right, like that's you show up and
Speaker 1: you never know what's gonna happen. No one wants to
Speaker 1: root for the kid that's like dad bottom entrance into
Speaker 1: the tournament. But if he just wins, everybody will stop
Speaker 1: saying that. Yeah, you know, it's like he's like it's
Speaker 1: like he's just having enough results for us to not
Speaker 1: like go there all the way. Yeah, and he does
Speaker 1: have a couple of brilliant moves here and there, even
Speaker 1: if it's on a podium, you know. So he's also
Speaker 1: has made some real blusters of error, you know, so
Speaker 1: it's like the blunders have been there. It's not looking
Speaker 1: where he's going. He completely shut. He's hard to root
Speaker 1: for are he's already root for it, But he's also
Speaker 1: hard to like truly despise. Yeah, there's not he's on
Speaker 1: a villain for instance. Personality wise, he's not getting up
Speaker 1: on other drivers, and some of them really have treated
Speaker 1: him with some some like disrespect over the years. What
Speaker 1: you're not necessarily sympathetic, but you're like, Okay, that's kind
Speaker 1: of shitty, you know, like, yeah, I think it's almost
Speaker 1: I think you agree, Like we're sometimes to not have
Speaker 1: any feeling about someone. It's like in comedy If the
Speaker 1: audience loves you, great. If they hate you, they at
Speaker 1: least we're paying attention and and we're responding to you.
Speaker 1: But when they're on their phone, you're kind of like,
Speaker 1: I don't even know how you feel about me. That's
Speaker 1: agree way to put it. Yeah, people are on their
Speaker 1: phone when Lance comes around. Maybe Lance needs to get
Speaker 1: out of his dad's shadow and go race for somebody
Speaker 1: else if they'd have him, because then then we might
Speaker 1: actually see his personality. I don't know, honestly, pretty nice
Speaker 1: guy all things considered. I think he gets a bad
Speaker 1: rap because his dad is a role supervillain billionaire. This
Speaker 1: is Nicole seevers once again. Landstroll early on was a
Speaker 1: little bit of a whiner and you're like, oh, daddy's money, right, Um,
Speaker 1: But I think he's really grown into his role Asmarin
Speaker 1: in F one. And so there's a lot of conversation
Speaker 1: around paid drivers now and people often feel like paid
Speaker 1: drivers don't deserve their spot in Formula one. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think we used to hold this same opinion. But
Speaker 1: if they can continue to do really well and prove
Speaker 1: themselves in the sport, then what does that really say
Speaker 1: about the term paid driver? Anymore. Again, this is a business,
Speaker 1: and it costs hundreds of millions of dollars to run
Speaker 1: a team every single year. You need money and you
Speaker 1: need to pay people salaries, um. And not everyone can
Speaker 1: win the championship every year. So I don't think that
Speaker 1: the paid driver terminology should be used as negatively anymore. Um.
Speaker 1: And so that's why I am becoming a Landstroll apologist.
Speaker 1: The question, though, is what he get on a colamp
Speaker 1: without without Addie Stroll And the answer is no, no,
Speaker 1: All right, JOHI has a strong opinion on this one. Well,
Speaker 1: he likes Yuki, who basically got on the team because
Speaker 1: of Honda entrance. So stop slandering you. So I would say, interestingly,
Speaker 1: there are people who are kind of at least intrigued
Speaker 1: by Aston Martin. If I had to sum up like
Speaker 1: the pitch for Aston Martin, there's a lot of hope
Speaker 1: that you know, you have certain midfield teams like let's
Speaker 1: say Alpha TWI, right, we know they're never going to
Speaker 1: be able to like beat Red Bull because that would
Speaker 1: be a cataclysmic event for Red Bull. You kind of
Speaker 1: know that Alpha Towery has has you know, there's a
Speaker 1: question of the ceiling for Alpha Tawi right as you
Speaker 1: know their midfield team, they're going to be a midfield team.
Speaker 1: I think there is hope that Aston Martin because they
Speaker 1: do a lot of money, and even if they're struggling
Speaker 1: right now, there is a hope that they can be
Speaker 1: a little less stagnant. Right Why couldn't they take off? Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: So so if you want a team, you're like, hey,
Speaker 1: there can be a little more, a little bit more
Speaker 1: of like a Russian Roulette situation here, and like we
Speaker 1: don't know what's going to happen, but in a good way.
Speaker 1: They have They have the brand name. You know. That's
Speaker 1: what's so helpful because someone like me who's so new
Speaker 1: to the sport, I just recognized the name right away,
Speaker 1: unlike Alpine or Williams we still don't know or the
Speaker 1: other team so I can't remember. No. Yeah, like it's
Speaker 1: a memorable brand. There's a lot of experimentation going on,
Speaker 1: and I think that that's really intriguing at the very
Speaker 1: least about Astin Martin as a team. There was quite
Speaker 1: a few people were they were just kind of asked,
Speaker 1: you know, aside from like the championship winners, everyone can
Speaker 1: make a case for a Mercedes a red Bull, like
Speaker 1: who else on the grid, especially like Midfield are you
Speaker 1: excited about? And Aston Martin was one where this yeah,
Speaker 1: this point kept coming up of you know, hey, they
Speaker 1: there's potential there. It's a question if they're gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: rise to that potential. But there's more, there's more there
Speaker 1: to be kind of unpacked or on earth than with
Speaker 1: certain other teams that are maybe midfield or in the
Speaker 1: back of the pack. I mean, my pitch for Lance
Speaker 1: is I bet you there's more there from a personality
Speaker 1: and a depth standpoint if he can ever get out
Speaker 1: of Dad's shadow. Now he may not even have of
Speaker 1: a car if it wasn't for Dad, So that's complicated exactly.
Speaker 1: But I want every man or woman to become their
Speaker 1: own person outside of their parents. So that would be
Speaker 1: me rooting for Lance saying, hey, dude, go walk the
Speaker 1: Pacific Crest Trail away from his family and become this
Speaker 1: man that that we is somewhere buried deep inside him.
Speaker 1: Do you want you want like therapy for I want
Speaker 1: therapy and I want him to like throw metaphorical punches
Speaker 1: at at his dad and say like I'm my own man,
Speaker 1: and you know, like, but that's not gonna happen. Okay,
Speaker 1: So first of all, yeah, how are we feeling about
Speaker 1: Aston Martin entering the mix with all the other teams,
Speaker 1: because now we have talked about I think seven teams
Speaker 1: now out of the tents, so we're we're two thirds
Speaker 1: of the way there. Well, green is my favorite color.
Speaker 1: We didn't even talk about this. You were wearing a
Speaker 1: green shirt right now? Do you have an Aston Martin
Speaker 1: car on your computer? Can see? This is not my team.
Speaker 1: This is not my team. But um uh, I do
Speaker 1: like Sebastian Vettle very much, and I love the brand
Speaker 1: name Aston Martin a lot and that that car is
Speaker 1: awesome looking. That is sweet. It's like forest green. It's
Speaker 1: like it's a beautiful, beautiful car. So uh wow, that
Speaker 1: thing looks fucking fast. Um so I like him. Now
Speaker 1: they're my team now, but this is not my team
Speaker 1: and that's Daddy's problem. That's that's your fault, dad, Daddy Stroll.
Speaker 1: But also VJ didn't help either. I don't like him like,
Speaker 1: but it's just like this team. Yeah, theah the billionaires
Speaker 1: playground personified between these different rich guys. It is amazing
Speaker 1: how much diversity and personality we've had with all these teams.
Speaker 1: I don't don't. I'm not saying diversity and anything else,
Speaker 1: but you know, you think, okay, rich people, how many
Speaker 1: different stories can there be? There's a lot of the stories.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of different stories, and that is fun
Speaker 1: and fascinating. And at the end of the day, you
Speaker 1: start here and you finish here, and who gets there first.
Speaker 1: It's it's cool. So so overall here and we'll ask
Speaker 1: Rob for his opinion too. In some case, shit about
Speaker 1: Rob and YOHI can I get a curtain up on
Speaker 1: this thing so we don't have to see him? So
Speaker 1: we're okay. Like I said, we're two thirds of the
Speaker 1: way through. Where are we at in terms of let's
Speaker 1: start with teams? All right? So I'm gonna say Ferrari
Speaker 1: and Alpha Tory right now are my two favorite teams.
Speaker 1: Not nuts And I don't like Red Bull. Get the
Speaker 1: ship out of my face, Lily. I'm gonna have to
Speaker 1: move to the weird Red Bull flavors if there was
Speaker 1: another one, so the bull bile will not strike again, okay,
Speaker 1: And then driver wise, I know there's more drivers to
Speaker 1: to talk about. I like George Russell I like Checko
Speaker 1: and I dig Pierre too. Does that answer some questions?
Speaker 1: That does Rob? How are we feeling after asking just
Speaker 1: let me just turn my headphones off. Our opinions are
Speaker 1: actually lining up. School on the teams, I think those
Speaker 1: are my top two teams as well. Drivers, we have
Speaker 1: a tiny bit of a difference. Who are you vibing with?
Speaker 1: Definitely the Clerk, Yes, I think he's like going to
Speaker 1: be a big winner. It's just it's so interesting to
Speaker 1: learn more. But I think the Clerk and espan Ocon
Speaker 1: are my favorite drivers. I just love this entire, very
Speaker 1: chaotic podium for you, you're top. Is there an Alfa
Speaker 1: Romeo team? I've always loved that brand. We'll get to Alfromyo.
Speaker 1: But before Alfa Romeo, the team we were talking on next,
Speaker 1: come on it is william No idea what they are, Yeah,
Speaker 1: absolutely no idea. It's been teased the entire season, but
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about Williams, which one of the
Speaker 1: most storied brands on the Grid. Story team, a lot
Speaker 1: of wins, a lot of triumphs. They have fallen on
Speaker 1: hard times and are trying to claw their way back
Speaker 1: up the grid. But it is it is going to
Speaker 1: be a long, arduous process. I will say they are
Speaker 1: one of the most wholesome teams on the grid. They've
Speaker 1: had some intriguing drivers as of late, and I think
Speaker 1: that amongst a lot of the teams, I think Williams
Speaker 1: fans are some of the most diehard, passionate people. I think.
Speaker 1: I think it's one thing to cheer for a Red
Speaker 1: Bull or Mercedes, but imagine cheering for a team that
Speaker 1: didn't score points for several years after being a team
Speaker 1: that used to win championships. Those are real fans. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So Williams is our next episode. Awesome, Thank you, Lily,
Speaker 1: thank you. This has been Choosing Sides f Y, a
Speaker 1: production of Sports Illustrated Studios and I Heart Radio. The
Speaker 1: show was hosted by Michael Costa and Lily Hart. This
Speaker 1: episode was produced by Lily Harman and our senior producer
Speaker 1: hi Mi Taal, who also did the sound design at
Speaker 1: the Cutting Room Studios. We are recorded by engineer abo' leary,
Speaker 1: the second mastering by Cello Weisblu. Max Miller is the
Speaker 1: executive producer and Brannan get Us his head of audio
Speaker 1: at s I Studios. At I Heart Radio, Sean Titone
Speaker 1: is our executive producer. For more podcasts for My Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, where wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts, don't forget to subscribe to us
Speaker 1: and leave a review. And if you want more F
Speaker 1: one goodness, follow us on Instagram at Choosing Sides. F
Speaker 1: What