Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Guys, welcome back to source from the Sofa. Tonight we have a special podcast for you. It is nothing but F1 throughout the whole hour and we even have a special guest. First time on the pod, Andrew.
I think it was a pleasant surprise. He brought a lot of knowledgeable stuff to the table. We really enjoyed it. Just Talking all things F1. Me and Aaron also recap us going to the hockey game down in Anaheim to catch Oveschkin getting closer to the Gretzky record. We didn't see him score his goal, but he did have a couple assists and nonetheless, it was a very, very entertaining game. But F1 season kicks off Saturday in Australia.
We are really excited to be covering this all year long. So F1 is next. Don't go anywhere.
We got a special podcast for you tonight. We're recording Thursday late night.
Got Aaron, Jason. We have a special guest today as well, Andrew. We're going to be talking about F1, the kickoff for the new season. But before we do that, just want to recap how much fun I had for dinner at BJ's the other day. And we got to get it going again. Chili's or something else next time.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, Rome, never been to Chili's. I don't know, questioning whether you know your true American heritage, that you have not been to Chili's and you're damn near 40 years old.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: I might have been once, actually. I, I, it's kind of hard to believe that I've never been either.
I've been to Applebee's once. I think Applebee's Chilies like someone's graduation. I'm just like, I mean, we're just not.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: Aaron and I just aren't bougie like you. Rome. You know, we don't live in the big city, Michelin restaurants with all your fine dining. You know, you got food critics going to your place and everything like that. You know, Aaron and I just, you know, salt of the earth, man. You know, we'll. We'll go to BJ's, have the French dip, get a little pizza, or go to Chili's. You know, the Cajun chicken pasta or, you know, the baby back ribs. If you're gonna watch the commercial. Rum, whatever you want.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: I do want to try this Cajun chicken pasta. You keep on talking about that you're.
[00:02:22] Speaker C: Enamored with the Wood Ranch tri tip. That's on the menu, I think. Next.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Ah, the Wood Ranch. Yeah, you get the two. You get the, you get the two combo. Rome, you can get the tri tip. Probably the Best thing. But I said the chicken breast still pretty good there too.
[00:02:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
I like to buy. Order things that I don't know how to cook very well, or at least I don't cook very often.
And I know my way around some breasts. I could definitely cook some breasts.
[00:02:51] Speaker C: All right, you cook or eat on some breasts. Which one you going over there?
[00:02:55] Speaker A: I don't know, actually, based on last night.
[00:03:00] Speaker B: Oh, we're getting into the controversy segment early in the show today.
[00:03:03] Speaker C: That's how it goes, man. It just kind of flows on its own.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: Yeah. Apparently Roman likes to eat where he. Or where he eats.
Yeah.
Real quick. Me and Aaron, we went to the hockey game to try to catch Ovechkin live, to try to get closer to breaking Wayne Gretzky's.
I don't know, like what. What do you call those records that, like, are like, you think no one's ever gonna break?
[00:03:32] Speaker B: I thought it was an unbreakable record, the all time, all time goal scoring in the NHL. You know, it was put up there as, you know, one that was never going to be broken. And yeah, Vechkin's really on the cusp of it, potentially doing it by the end of the season.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: It was really fun. It was a great game. I think they scored, what, three or four goals in the first period and then like the same thing in the third. The second one was pretty tight, not as much action. I was kind of surprised how much credit Ovechkin got for playing in the game because it seemed like he was only in for like 60 second spurts, if that. He. He skates on, shoots two shots, he skates off. That is it.
And he did that periodically. It was pretty crazy.
[00:04:09] Speaker C: Well, I believe he was credited for three assists in that game, so.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: Yeah, two of them in the first period. Big guy. He's so much bigger than he's. He's like a. He's like a refrigerator out there. It was a lot of fun.
[00:04:23] Speaker C: Good speed. Yeah, good, Good awareness. I mean, the Ducks always knew where he was at all times. I mean, he tried to get a couple shots in, but obviously got the couple assists, the hockey assists.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: And it just seemed like every, like, little move that he did was necessary, you know, like. Like there was no wasted effort from Ovechkin. He got in, did we had to do, got the assist, tried getting a goal. But I had a fun time out of the two games I've been to this year. Now hockey's been a great time going live.
I definitely want to add that to my list of Going to more games, hopefully by the end of this year and then definitely next season. A lot of young stars, too. I think we're getting into hockey at the right time.
What do you think, Aaron?
[00:05:07] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, agree, man. I mean, there's going to be some teams up and coming. Ducks, a couple bad years now. They're around 500, like you said. Rome, good game. Two, two after the first period. Second period, a little more defensive. But towards the end there, what we got, like, four goals in the final five minutes. A couple empty netter. So hat trick. Throwing the hats in there. So that guy's first hat trick of his career. So, yeah, it was exciting game.
[00:05:38] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: I had to look at the. I had to look at the box score based on Rome's decision or mention your commentary that Ovechkin was just on and off the Ikes. The man played 17 shifts in over 16 minutes, man. So I don't. You know, in hockey, they do line changes, right? Like hockey, it's a. It's. It's a quick sprint. They go in and out, you know. You know. Okay. Just want to make sure you're keeping up.
[00:05:58] Speaker A: I recognize a lot of guys staying on a lot longer than him. He was.
Yeah. No way. He did 17 minutes.
[00:06:07] Speaker B: 16:54 is his time on ice.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: Yeah, we were talking about that, too, in the. In the first period because I was, like, looking at the clock, I'm like, dude, this guy's only been out there for two minutes. He got credit for five minutes. I was like, what?
[00:06:18] Speaker B: That's not true.
You're in and out. You want quick 30 to 45 seconds. You're just. You're in a sprint the entire time. You're in and off the ice. Defenseman will definitely have the highest amount because you'll probably have two top pairs of defensemen, probably a third. Those guys be a little more. But when you're talking forwards, those guys are just in and out. Quick change whenever the possession is going back in the ice. So we'll teach you. Rome, you're coming up on hockey, you know, you're getting a little bit knowledgeable on F1, you're an expert. When you go to the San Francisco bar scene, you know, spewing whatever F1 knowledge I say, and you're coming off as an expert. So we're getting you. We're getting into all these sports for when basketball is not popular anymore and, you know, hockey and. And racing just. Just becomes, you know, a better part of the American culture.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: Yeah, well, racing is one thing I Do know how to do. I do know how to drive a car.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: Just because you drive like up and down from southern and northern California like a crazy person like every other week.
[00:07:12] Speaker D: You know, along the ocean.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: Yeah, the ocean. Well, I. I used to street race.
[00:07:16] Speaker C: I can't afford to take the scenic route. I can't afford to take the scenic route. Don't give him that much credit.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: You guys are hating. So the guy laughed in the background. That's Andrew. Welcome to the pod, Andrew. Let's give him a round of applause.
[00:07:30] Speaker D: Thank you. It's honored to be here.
[00:07:32] Speaker A: Yeah. So, Andrew, why don't you tell us your favorite teams or your favorite sports to watch.
[00:07:40] Speaker D: I think I'm guilty of being pretty exclusively an F1 guy and even more guilty of being onboarded around pandemic with drive to survive.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:52] Speaker D: So I definitely, like, I grew up like race, like playing racing games in gran Turismo and enjoying sort of the online sim aspect but never got into motorsport. Just wasn't raised around it.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:06] Speaker D: So it was really nice to come full circle, see the storylines from the Netflix show but then like within the year just subscribed to the sport and then fell in love with the sport. And what I really love about the sport is that it's just like a.
There's just kind of multiple levels to it. It's, you know, it's like a rolling science fair and then there's a bunch of drama around it. So. Yeah. So my favorite team, I'm a Hamilton guy for better and worse. Like joined on right during the Verstappen era. So that's been pretty painful. But Hamilton support the switch to Ferrari and willfully delusional that maybe there will be good times ahead for Hamilton on Ferrari.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: Nice. I like it. I think Jason likes it.
[00:09:00] Speaker B: Absolutely like it. I think Lewis hasn't had the greatest of car with Mercedes the past couple of years. Obviously during Red Bull's kind of reign of terror with Verstappen. Ferrari's probably got one of the top cars this year. So I. I agree. I think Lewis though, as always has had probably a super competitive teammate with Charles Leclerc too. So it'll be very interesting there. Ferrari. You know, I know Aaron's going to pull up odds here a little bit but yeah, Ferrari definitely got a top two car versus, you know, one and two with McLaren. So I'm looking forward. I think Lewis has got a real shot this year in the last season of the current configuration. And then as we get into, you know, the 2026 car next year. Part of Lewis's big decision to go over there was his confidence in Fred Vass or, you know, having the car to beat in 2026. So. But before we get to there, I'm really looking at 2025. And I agree. I am wearing the Mercedes hat today. The Ferrari stuff, you know, it's coming. Aaron's trying to jump on the front.
Aaron's trying to come into the Ferrari as well too. He's trying to claim for Hamilton as his own.
[00:10:05] Speaker C: I've been Ferrari the whole time. Hamilton just decided to join. That's how it works.
[00:10:09] Speaker D: That's fair. Everyone's secretly a fan of Ferrari. So yeah, I'm guilty of that. I'm late to the party.
[00:10:16] Speaker A: I'm friends with one of the top Ferrari dealers in the United States. He's in orange county. We should probably pay him a visit. He's right there. Has a bar down there as well.
[00:10:25] Speaker B: Cool.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: I used to work on his product. He had this bag for basketballs. We got a place in like Walmart and Sears and all that stuff. But we have to go pay a visit because he's a big Ferrari guy, gets hooked up. So maybe we should do that now that I just totally remember all that stuff.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: So maybe maybe help us out for the Vegas Grand Prix when we try to do, you know, the Vegas Grand Prix.
[00:10:46] Speaker D: Apparently. I don't know if you saw the. The ticket prices have been decreased.
[00:10:51] Speaker B: They have potentially.
[00:10:56] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Shoot.
[00:10:58] Speaker D: Now the numbers are gonna escape. I don't want to misquote it but. But I know the just general admission was lowered to like $50 a day now.
Not, you know, no seating. But yeah, they've been trying to get on top of that. So I've got an email somewhere.
[00:11:11] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: Potentially could be the last year too. This is the last year of the three year contract. So it's really.
[00:11:17] Speaker D: Yeah, it was only a three year.
[00:11:19] Speaker B: Only three years. So.
[00:11:20] Speaker A: But don't they like the way that's like.
[00:11:22] Speaker D: That's like Monaco. You know, for the next generation. There's no way that goes away.
[00:11:26] Speaker B: It's a good track. Formula one likes it. But at least they want to be in there in Vegas. But yeah. Aaron touts the sources. I got a few sources in Vegas. It just does not. Has not brought in running. The revenue for Vegas itself is here.
[00:11:44] Speaker C: Coming up next week. Right. Jason, maybe you can get some more information on that.
[00:11:50] Speaker D: Oh yeah. You're to the ground.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: Into the ground. We'll be looking for some sources. But yeah, I'll be there. Aaron, For March Madness. Heading out Wednesday night. We'll see what we can find. Find out. You know, big year for me in Vegas. You know, we know we got, we got March Madness, and then we got WrestleMania.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: WrestleMania.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: A month. A month from now, too, so.
[00:12:06] Speaker C: Oh, speaking of WrestleMania, Rome was invited to WrestleMania.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Yeah. The girl I randomly. Well, not randomly, my friend or I, I, I don't know.
[00:12:16] Speaker B: Careful, careful.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: She's going to WrestleMania.
[00:12:20] Speaker C: Say Girl Z. Yeah. Is going to WrestleMania.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: A girl that I know mentioned she's going to WrestleMania. She asked me if I was a big wrestling family. That's random. Like, why did she show me a whole bunch of clips? She's like, I got tickets. She dropped 1900, I think Rome.
[00:12:33] Speaker C: It's making sense why she asked if you're a wrestling guy, because you may not remember last night, but you two ended up wrestling. Just so you know. I think that's, I think that's where she's getting at. Like, wow, this guy's got some moves. Are you a wrestler?
[00:12:45] Speaker B: This is an inside joke. But afterwards, does she point to the WrestleMania sign? And, you know, does she give you the point? Because, I mean, it's WrestleMania season. After you win the big match, your opponent, you point at the WrestleMania sign because that's where it's going.
[00:12:57] Speaker A: Interesting. How's the sign go?
[00:13:01] Speaker B: It's not the sign. There's just a big old sign in the arena, and you point at the sign.
[00:13:05] Speaker A: So, yeah, she was really pumped up about. I was like, geez, gotta get you on the pod.
All right, let's get back into it. F1 kicks off Australian Grand Prix this Saturday and the Melbourne Grand Prix circuit.
I believe it is at night. Correct, Jason?
[00:13:25] Speaker B: Well, it's at night for us, Rob. Yeah. You were confused what day it was today. It is Friday already in Australia. And they did practice rounds one and two. Round two just finished up here a little bit ago while we were waiting to start the pod, so already got two rounds of practice in.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:13:42] Speaker B: McLaren looking good still. But Ferrari also was as well. A couple surprises in the practice. Did have one pretty significant crash with Haas with Ali Bearman going his first full season. But he crashed during FP1, and they didn't get the car back out for FP2, so. But we're well on its way. It'll be Saturday night, 9. 00pm I believe our time Rome.
[00:14:03] Speaker C: So 9pm Yeah, 9pm Perfect.
[00:14:05] Speaker A: I love that.
[00:14:05] Speaker C: Perfect time.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: I'll be getting out of the restaurant, doing my last wine pairings. I could just go straight to the bar and pretend I know F1 again. It's great.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: You do know. You do know F1 Rome.
[00:14:14] Speaker C: That's why you listen on the show. Rome. These guys, the F1 experts.
[00:14:19] Speaker A: Andrew, how excited are you for the season kicking off in Australia?
[00:14:25] Speaker D: Oh, man, it's like.
Without being too hyperbolic, it is actually a really good. I think it's. Even though it's a little bit of a transition year with the regs being changed for 20, 26.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:42] Speaker D: The fact that we have so much new talent on, you know, not only with the team changes, but just, you know, F2 and. And just rookies in general. It's gonna be a show.
I mean, you know, like turn one, the. The raw nerves from five, you know, kids, plus, you know, a bunch, you know, signs and Hamilton and Piastri and, you know, there's just a lot. I think what I will say quite simply is that, like, I'm excited for this year because there's just a lot of stories. There's just a lot of stories. No matter which way you look, no matter who you care about, there's just a lot going on this year.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Yeah, Andrew's right. The popular opinion for this Sunday's race, or Saturday night for us, is supposed to be raining in Melbourne.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: Really?
[00:15:29] Speaker B: So you're. So you're going to have a rain race. I think it's 80% chance with five plus rookies and inexperience in the field. So there expect to be some carnage around the track. You already saw tons of races over.
[00:15:42] Speaker C: Under safety flags coming out on this one.
[00:15:45] Speaker D: Oh, I. Oh, we're getting.
Go ahead.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, whatever it is is probably over. There's probably at least three or four.
[00:15:54] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:15:54] Speaker C: First turn you're setting three and a half then.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll set it at three and a half over. I think I would say yes.
[00:16:02] Speaker C: First.
[00:16:03] Speaker B: Like Andrew saying, first lap, first corner. It's gonna happen. I mean, you get that. You get down that even with the restart. Yeah. You know that you get off that main stretch, it's, you know, go there. Either high rate of speed going down. It's a quick right and a quick left right there. Depending on how everything's merging together, someone's bound to go off into the gravel or clip someone to go into it. It'll be a lot coming off the start, especially if it's raining. That's the forecast. A lot to go into. The teams are going to have to really figure out which setup before they start qualifying, and that'll be some of the gamble. I think the Teams go into is like, what is their confidence level of how much rain is going to be? Because you do kind of tailor the car on the setup. And some of the announcers during practice today were talking about that is, you know, you can modify some things at the wing and things like that. And if you kind of go all in, it's going to rain, and it doesn't, it could put you behind the eight ball in the first run.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: How do these tires react when it's like a rainy track like that? Just. Just because, like, the way that the. The design, like, how's the traction work? Because it's all based on, like, you know, melting rather, you know, on the pavement. How does that work on a.
[00:17:05] Speaker B: Well, you guys. You got different types when it's raining, so you'll have. You'll have five different tire sets that you'll bring to a track. So the regular racing tire, which is the slick, you'll have a soft medium and a hard tire. But with rains, you have two different rain styles. You get an intermediate, so it's got a thinner tread. If it's really rain, they'll do a wet tread, which is basically just the tire off your car. Rome, where it actually has, like, you know, it has a ton of tread in it, so.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: Got it.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: You don't see the wet tire very often. It has to really be coming down. You got tons of puddles on the track. Most likely, when it's the type at rain, you'll see the intermediate tire where it has that slight amount of tread on it, but it isn't a fully flat tire. So then it becomes kind of a.
You know, it becomes a risk throughout the rig how much rain is going on and off, because if it's slight rain, you don't want to. You might not go on the intermediate, and you'll stick on the slick tire, and the drivers kind of go out there. Last year when I went to the British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton won that race and really was really kind of his strategy on going, like, where could he go on a slick tire while it was raining before they made any sort of tire changes? So the pit strategy comes into a lot depending on how the weather fluctuates throughout the race.
[00:18:12] Speaker A: Crazy. So what are some things you guys are looking forward as we kick things off? You got Hamilton on a new team. I am looking at the practice. Looks like Hamilton's fifth on the practice runs right now.
Yeah. Leclerc Norris on third, sue at fourth.
Do you guys have, like, a favorite or like. Like a top five favorite going on right now.
[00:18:37] Speaker D: McLaren.
[00:18:39] Speaker B: No, go ahead, Andy, go ahead.
[00:18:40] Speaker D: I was just gonna say to be honest, like, I think that that's kind of part of a bit of the fun is you know, as we wind up with preseason testing and then now we have our first free practices before the first Grand Prix. There's just kind of like a lot of you just get better and better hunches as, as you move forward and. But it's still because like I mentioned, there's just so many stories going on, it's hard to really commit to a single direction. But just based off of like practices and my, just my, like my personal divination is like, it seems like we're gonna have like four fighting for the front pretty, pretty without much argument, which would be like Ferrari, McLaren, the Red Bulls and Mercedes. But what's exciting is that like we, you know, I guess maybe like to answer your question, like I would be interested to see like what signs can do, you know, just from a story, perspective, from a personal journey from him switching from Ferrari to now being on Williams. Williams kind of notoriously a beleaguer team trying to restore its shine.
James Vowles, previous engineer from Mercedes is over there. He's been there for two years now, I believe so.
And I like Albon. I just think he's, he's got, you know, I go, I grab a beer with that guy. He seems like a pretty straight shooter. So it's just interesting to see a team that's trying to kind of turn around which many teams getting this, this behind the ball, in front of the ball thing.
So. Yeah, so signs, Signs was really good. There was a lot of conversation last year about whether they were letting the wrong driver go.
I love Charles as well, but science performed really well. So I personally would like to see what he can do.
[00:20:27] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a great call out Andrew has for Sainz. He was pretty much after Lewis decided to go to Ferrari and, and he was let go. Sainz was like the number one free agent out there and really the driver market, it didn't move until he made the decision. And you had several teams interested in bringing him out where in the top four teams. With Ferrari kicking him out, McLaren said Red Bull and Mercedes weren't interested bringing him in the second seat. You had all the mid tier teams, you know, jockeying to try to get him and Williams was, you know, the ones to land it. Like Andrew, like I'm, I'm a fan of James Vowles coming from Mercedes, you know, really understands the car I think he's got a really, you know, good plan there. It's an interesting team from the mid tier. They were second fastest in the first practice was sign. So I think he can do a lot with that car versus last year. The drivers that they had, you know, were wrecking the car left and right and really there was no rooms for upgrades because they were wasting all their financial cap on just repairing the car every week. So that was the lone American driver, Logan Sargent last year, which was basically.
[00:21:29] Speaker D: Demoing the car went out for him.
[00:21:31] Speaker B: Yeah. So. But yeah, sign. Signs is an interesting story I think for that mid tier. And does, you know, does Williams become competitive looking to be, you know, trying to get to maybe fifth in this Constructors to challenge Aston Martin. Aston Martin started out the season great two years ago, but has really struggled the last year and a half on a season. If you're looking at the top four that Andrew talked about, Rome, so McLaren, Aaron Capote, the odds, they're far and away right now. The favors to win the constructor, I think they have probably the most, you know, they. They probably got the best driver pairing. Although I think Lewis Hamilton and LeClaire probably something to say about that. But between Piastri and Norris right now, what they did last year, they should and the car they have is seen as the fastest in this last year of the regulation. They are the favorites to win the constructors. I think the biggest question here is is this the Orlando can take the step, you know, to the Vstappen. Does he finally have the killer instinct? But Piastri last year there was a lot of controversy. Andrew, I'm sure you've already been to a drive to survive and they kind of documented on there is like this is a team that doesn't name a number one driver where if you looked at Mercedes forever, it was Lewis Hamilton. You know, Verstappen doesn't take a second seat to anyone. McLaren thinks both guys are number one. You know, where does that figure in the middle of the season when one of these guys has to take the lead for the championship? And you'll have Verstappen far and away number one. But then you also have. You'll have LeClaire at Hamilton trying to go at it too. So I think there's some interesting pairings with those top two constructors because you got four guys that all want to win a championship.
[00:23:03] Speaker D: 100%.
[00:23:05] Speaker A: So like you guys, I'll go to Aaron.
[00:23:07] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:23:07] Speaker C: Just. Yeah. Going over the odds right now, as you guys mentioned, you got McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes. Those are your top four odds on winners to win the Constructors cup with Ferrari at the. Basically about plus 140. Red Bull plus 600. Mercedes plus 1400.
[00:23:26] Speaker A: So, yeah, yeah.
[00:23:28] Speaker B: The tough part for Mercedes and Red Bull is really to be the second driver. You know, Kimi Antonelli for Mercedes, I think He's. Is he 18 still? Maybe he turned 19, so he's just turned 18, so he's barely. He's barely legal. He's the next. He's. He's supposedly the next prodigy. He's supposed to be the next Verstappen, but at 18 years old, he's just going to be learning this year. And so, you know, whatever George Russell can do is the now number one Mercedes driver. You know, depending on how Kimi can be able to get, you're not expecting a ton from him in his first season. And then for Red Bull, you'll have Verstappen, who gets the most out of his car every season. And now you have Liam Lawson, his first full year after being on the secondary Red Bull, whatever the hell they call that team now. But he was on that last year. But, yeah, Lawson didn't look great in his first practice today, I'll be honest, in the first two, he didn't look really comfortable in the car. And there's a lot to that Red Bull setup where Alex Albon, as Andrew talked before, Pierre Gasly, even Sergio Perez, all these guys have talked about, you know, the way that car is set up for Verstappen. The secondary driver just never is as comfortable as Verstappen is because of really how on the edge that car setup is that they do things for Verstappen. So it'll be interesting, you know, what's Liam Lawson's adaption to it, But I think that's just going to put an anchor on them for constructors that you'll just have Verstappen going at, you know, the top two dogs in Ferrari and, and McLaren by himself.
[00:24:53] Speaker C: So Red Bull's basically one good car, one bad car. Is that what you guys are saying here?
[00:24:59] Speaker B: It's. It's not bad, but I, I don't think. I don't think Lawson's gonna be challenging in the top fives. You know, he's gonna be. It's gonna be a top 10 car. If you looked at last year, Sergio Perez, he wasn't even a top 10 car. A guy couldn't even qualify.
[00:25:10] Speaker C: He couldn't even finish in the top 20.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: No, he was fishing the top 20.
[00:25:19] Speaker C: Laps to go.
[00:25:21] Speaker D: Yeah, that's that second seed is a poison chalice for sure. Historically, notoriously so. I mean, you know the team strategy, you really. Yeah, you can kind of say that there are no alphas or you can say that there is an alpha and we're clearly looking for a secondary seat. Red Bull having the benefit of having sort of the generational driver with Verstappen has made that like conscious and public choice to design the car around him. Having Adrian Newey having sort of a team around them that kind of just. It's a virtuous cycle and it's been, it's been wrapped around Verstappen success.
And with Checo, you know I love the, the fandom that he brings in but you know a large part of the argument there was that he was kind of bringing that sponsorship money and maybe was more of a bit of a pay driver and a holding pattern. Apparently he sells, he outsells merch to verstappen like 3 to 1 or something. So there's just a big contingency of fans around that driver that they've had in the secondary position. But the fact of the matter is, is last year like you just couldn't. Verstappen wasn't dominant, dominant enough anymore for that strategy to hold. You couldn't just have one driver. You needed a secondary driver to kind of scoop up the points and Checo was just had just too much of a point deficit. So when you have like a McLaren getting their together, a Ferrari, it just becomes no longer tenable. So now having Lawson. Yeah, I agree. Like it. This practice with Lawson it was unfortunately it was giving Checo. But I, I did have some hope that Lawson might be a little more, I don't know, have a little bit more of a spine as a driver and maybe, maybe push max a little bit. But it does seem like that the, the house of Red Bull is in a little bit of a transition right now.
[00:27:20] Speaker B: I will say late last season when Lawson was in the Visa Cash app racing bulls car as he got took that over for Daniel Ricardo like he was super aggressive and even going at Checo. I think it was in, I think it was in Mexico actually where. That's right where Checo or Checo selling all the merch because he is, he is number one guy in Mexico. But, but you know, but Lawson was going at him at that point so you can tell I think he does have that in him. You know, it's just going to depend on what's his consistency. Going to be. I'll be interested. Romance and storyline too, as we talk about Verstappen.
Verstappen. Last season got off to the big start, was winning races, looked dominant. You looked like it was going to be a boring 2024 season. And then, you know, starting at the Miami Grand Prix when Lando won, all of a sudden McLaren started inching and inching and itching closer and then overtook them in the constructors. Max was being super aggressive, as he always was, but it got to a point where it really was to their detriment, and he kind of switched his driving style up, I think, around that end, the quarter of the year, where when he knew he didn't have the car, he was content in getting as many points as possible. I'll be curious if he doesn't get off to a good start and McLaren starts running away with things like how does. How aggressive does Max get to try to make things happen? And, you know, does that. Does that put him. You know, is he going to start crashing out of races or. It's going to have a lot of, like, you know, aggressive movements here and there that he's got away for. The pack that he doesn't get away for because he was very conservative down the stretch and did win a few races to, you know, it was a Vegas or a few others down the stretch where he was competitive, but he was taking. He was taking kind of what he had out of the car every weekend where really wasn't his M.O. before he be pushing everyone, elbows out of the way and anyone was trying to pass him. So I. I'll be curious if McLaren starts running with what. What Max looks like in the. In the kind of middle. Middle portion of the season.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: All right, I'm gonna take us a step out.
Me and Aaron, we're new to F1.
Everyone else that's gonna be listening to this pod, they're gonna be new to F1. Quick question.
[00:29:22] Speaker D: Cool.
[00:29:24] Speaker A: The show on Netflix, I've never seen it. Drive to survive.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:28] Speaker A: Is this like NFL Films but for driving? Because I know I heard people talking about this show all this week at the restaurant. You know, how it's got them into racing and now they're interested. And it is this, like, that's. Is this happening throughout the year? Every year, every season. Do you recommend it?
[00:29:49] Speaker B: 100 recommended. I mean, just what, like, Andrew said brought him into the sport. He wasn't the only person. I think it was incredible for Formula one, especially in the United States, and everyone's tried to copy it. Like Golf Scout went full swing. You know, they were doing that quarterback show on Netflix. NASCAR kind of did a similar type of show too. I think F1's a little bit different because there's a little simplicity to F1. You got 10 teams, 20 drivers.
And then I think naturally with F1, there's a glitz and glamour and prestige around it. It's, it's rich, there's celebrities, you know, it's good looking people. There's good looking people around these tracks. You know, there's a danger inherent to it. And so there's a, there's a reality, natural reality show, if you're talking like from a female audience, like, you know, El, the Kardashians and shows like that. Because, hey, F1's drama, everything's drama behind the scenes. And then you get the natural racing part about it. So I think there's pairings to it. I think there's a. Where they probably struck gold on just getting, you know, fans like, you know, Andrew getting into it, or even for me, who liked F1 in the past, but it kind of just reinvigorated a little more because there, it brought other people into the sport. When I went to the British Grand Prix, there was tons of Americans there and it was a ton of female fans too. So I think how that brings a female audience into it because, hey, we got these good looking drivers. There's drama, you know, similar to source. So I think that's what the series provides if you, if you talk to a pure racing fan.
[00:31:21] Speaker A: Uhhuh. Do they like it?
[00:31:23] Speaker B: Well, I think there's mixed feelings about it because if you watch this season of Drive to Survive, like some of the story lines were true, but some of them were like, yeah, they kind of embellished. They kind of, they embellished and twisted the truth for what that goes.
[00:31:38] Speaker C: So there's a, there's going a little too Hollywood now, huh?
[00:31:42] Speaker B: Well, I mean, it's how it was. But if Rome, if Rome, you watch it. You have no idea.
[00:31:47] Speaker A: I have no idea.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: I'll say, I'll say one thing. So there's a, there's a wrestler with George Russell. About George Russell. So Lewis is leaving Mercedes and it's kind of like the drama, like, who are we gonna get to, you know, replace Lewis and is George gonna step up? And so they turn this into. Again, I'm gonna reference the British Grand Prix, which I was at. George was on the pole and DNF the race, they're selling this like it was a big thing. Lewis won the race. Then they go that a week and a half, two weeks later, to a race that George won but was disqualified after the fact. And the storyline coming is this is the race that Total Wolf got proved to George was the number one driver. You got disqualified from the race after he won the race because.
Because the strategy. His car was too light because, you know, the fuel strategy and everything throughout.
[00:32:35] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, I do remember making that news. And I wasn't really sure what was happening.
[00:32:39] Speaker B: Yeah. So it was just interesting. Like, I don't think that was the moment that Total wolf, who's the CEO of Mercedes and the. And the F1 team, I don't. I don't think that was the moment where he decided George was. Was that. But. So I think there's embellishments on where these stories are playing. But for. Hey, Casual observer and you know, I'm just watching into it and there's drama. Like, yeah, it's. It's a great watch. You know, you can go there. Like, I thought the Piastri Lando Nora stuff was pretty interesting. I don't know how much they embellished it for the cameras. The cameras are on them. But there was super tension between those guys because there was one race where they pitted him out of order and Lando got into the lead. It was Hungary. I'm pretty sure it was. And Lando had the lead after Oscar led majority of the first half of the race. And Lando wouldn't give the lead back to Piastri until like, one lap left in the race. And it was awkward as hell in the radio communication. And like, we were watching this race live. It was awkward as hell. And then I think they capsulated a little bit on Drive to Survive where it kind of was like, okay, I remember this happening. And behind the scenes, like a couple weeks later, they're saying like, hey, Pastor, you gotta take the back seat. Lando's got the realistic chance. And it seemed. It seemed awkward. So to answer your question, Rome, I think there's something for everyone when you watch this show.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: Okay, good. No, now back to do.
[00:34:01] Speaker C: Do know Rome, that Jason is the TV show critic guy as well. So if he says the show is good, then you gotta take his word.
[00:34:08] Speaker B: For it off F1 topic. I'll tell you a TV show right now, I don't know if we talked about this paradise on Hulu. Get on that. Love that show. Finished it up just episode seven, the pen Alum episode. Just epic television. Epic television.
[00:34:25] Speaker A: I'm almost done with season four. On Yellowstone. So.
[00:34:29] Speaker B: All right. Hopefully by the end of 2025, you'll finish Yellowstone.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: Oh, I'll be done by next week.
[00:34:34] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:34:35] Speaker A: This has been like a two week process, I think so far.
[00:34:37] Speaker C: Yeah, he's knocked out a lot.
[00:34:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
I think that's why I'm not sleeping because I'm just like.
[00:34:46] Speaker B: You'Re also getting off your day job and then we're recording a pod, you know, at 11:45 at night.
[00:34:51] Speaker A: So we are. Yeah.
[00:34:52] Speaker C: Technically Friday morning now.
[00:34:54] Speaker A: Technically Friday morning.
Well, you know, if the time didn't change. Well, I guess it doesn't matter. I still get out the same time. It's really 11.
[00:35:04] Speaker C: That was like a week ago. Rome, it's just a couple days back.
[00:35:09] Speaker A: To the Grand Prix.
What are both you guys love to hear? Like what are some stories that we should be watching? You guys mentioned there's a lot of, you know, going down in the background.
[00:35:21] Speaker C: Rome, this supposed to be a quick paw, dude, not like a two hour let's go on every storyline.
[00:35:26] Speaker A: What are some stories that we should be watching for?
[00:35:28] Speaker D: Do that.
[00:35:29] Speaker A: What are some like rookies we should be looking for? Like this is the beginning of the season and then really curious who you guys got projecting to win at the end of the year as well.
[00:35:45] Speaker D: So I don't know, I guess to keep it simple for like rookies.
The baby face kid, Kimmy Antonelli, he's on the Mercedes.
[00:35:56] Speaker A: Is that what they call him?
[00:35:57] Speaker D: Kimmy Antonelli?
[00:35:59] Speaker A: No, Baby Face kid.
[00:36:00] Speaker D: I don't think he has a nickname. I mean, did you call it that nickname actually?
I mean like he is so.
[00:36:07] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
[00:36:08] Speaker D: But the thing is, is like, so I think and, and, and you know you get all the time like this situation where there's like rookie talent that's worth watching.
[00:36:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:18] Speaker D: But Kimmy Antonelli specifically kind of been for. For. There's been rumblings for a few years now that this is the next kid formula. The, the Formula one series has like feeder series that lead into it. And so he's been on the radar for a while. He's kind of hit checked a lot of those boxes.
Toto Wolff, who is the team principal for Mercedes and kind of going back to like just like the beginner understanding of F1, F1 being a really small sport. Right. 10 teams, 20 drivers. The team coach, the team principal also has a lot of personality, a lot of weight on the dynamics of a team. So you've got two drivers and a team principal. The team principal, Toto Wolff, from my understanding, like missed out on the opportunity to sign Verstappen, the last sort of generational talent who was also sort of the mortal enemy of the driver. We like Hamilton just like philosophy, driver psychology, just any, any box you could check just total zig and zag for their, their racing style.
So Mercedes losing sort of the. And Hamilton is the winning most driver like on paper in the sport.
[00:37:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:35] Speaker D: So you have essentially like we're living with the great like sort of the, the Jordan of our time like still racing.
And so to fill those shoes, who do you pick? And it seems like if you're going to watch a storyline you're seeing the team principal Toto Wolf replace a legend with the next generation driver potentially got it. There's a lot of weight on his shoulders. He's 18 years old like we had mentioned. So there's every opportunity for him to put in the wall a few times. But I would say it would be interesting to see if he can because typically what happens, I'll wrap this up but typically what happens is that you have a major team who will want a driver but they'll put them on a sort of a junior team, a sister team or a team that there's some sort of tangential relationships with. So. So you know Ferrari sells their engines to another team, Haas so if they like a kid they might put him on that team for a couple of years, see if he doesn't break things and they'll bring them over. They did that with George Russell on Williams. It's interesting that Mercedes is opting not to go that route with Kim Antonelli rather than saying we're going to just make sure he doesn't explode at 18. We're going to take him and put him directly in a very expensive car and a very expensive team. I think says a lot. So that would be my story to watch.
[00:38:50] Speaker A: I like it.
[00:38:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's a great story. I think if you go down to different rookies, I think a couple different ones Andrew already mentioned. So the Haas Ferrari relationship you have. Ferrari's kind of next generation driver is Ali Bearman and he filled in for Carlos Sainz last year when Carlos signs had his appendix taken out before the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. But Ali's racing for Haas. Not the best start today. He crashed in FP1 but you know he'll be on to like he's supposed to be the guy that potentially replaces Lewis Hamilton whenever he decides to retire at Ferrari. So what he can do in Haas will be interesting.
Probably under the radar. I don't Think you see a ton of him. But Jack Doohan, I think I'm pronouncing that right, but I can't remember. He's at Alpine. It's his rookie year. He hasn't even gotten his first race and they're already talking about who can replace him. So they have, I think four reserve drivers at Alpine. One of them is Franco Cala Pento. He was. He came in late last year at Williams and had some pretty good runs but basically became South America's driver because he's from Argentina and became like a big hype even though he started crashing the car. Just like Logan, Logan Sergeant before him. But he's Alpine's reserve driver and they're already talking about him replacing Jack. So it'll be interesting what kind of start he gets in because he basically gets a one year kind of prove it deal right now as a rookie, which is a lot of pressure for a team that didn't have a ton of success early in the year but had one big race with Esteban Okon and Pierre Gasly getting on a podium late in the year that put them six in the constructors. But that's an interesting rookie out there. And I think the other one, Isaac Hadar, he's on the Red Bull junior team. So the racing bulls, he could be seen as kind of the next kind of Red Bull driver kind of in the Red Bull program right there. Kind of getting brought up Red Bull, I think pretty highly. Like highly of him. So if Liam Lawson doesn't get it done with Red Bull or even the long rumored Verstappen either retiring or Verstappen moving to a different team, this guy could be one of Red Bull's kind of future drivers as well too. So a lot with the rookies, but like Andrew was saying forward with all these rookies in the field, I think you're going to see a. A lot of kind of missteps here and there as these guys kind of get used to the top end circuit of Formula one.
[00:41:02] Speaker C: So we got five rookies. That's right. Five rookies in this race.
[00:41:07] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:41:08] Speaker D: That term. That term can be used a little loosely because typically they'll say rookie is someone who's never driven an F1 car. But this year is a little different where we've had some backup drivers last year take the seat like Ollie Bearman.
[00:41:21] Speaker C: So basically a rookie you can construct as someone that hasn't finished a full year or raced all the races before in a Grand Prix.
[00:41:29] Speaker D: I think I could agree that that's a fair term.
[00:41:30] Speaker C: So 25 of the field basically is quote, unquote, newbies, rookie guys. That's a lot going into a season.
[00:41:38] Speaker B: Yep, yep.
[00:41:39] Speaker D: And we. Sorry, we. I was gonna mention that we did have a year, I think, was it 20, 23, where we had zero changes. So, like, year over year, you had the exact same 20 drivers, same team. So sometimes it's not. It's atypical to have this much change.
And that's why this season, I think, is a little interesting.
[00:42:02] Speaker C: Yeah, but it sounds like what you guys been talking about here and Jason just mentioned, that change seems to be kind of something we're going to see a lot of going forward routinely if you guys do not perform these racers, these new guys, you got a guy hasn't even raced yet. And Jason said they already mentioned getting him out and looking at replacements for him. So it seems like a lot of one and done could be the case going forward here.
[00:42:25] Speaker B: The leash. The leash is short in Formula one, so I think you. You get very few guys to get a ton of opportunities, depending where they're at. We talked about Carlos Signs. Andrew brought him up. We talked through. Carlos Signs is on his fifth team, so as good as a driver as he is, he's on his fifth team already. So if you watch drives to survive, he's basically on a new team every other year.
So there's a lot of change within Formula one. There's pressure to perform. There's an expectation. Everyone kind of knows, you know, what a car has. They know McLaren and Ferrari are the fastest. They know maybe Red Bull's close, but not as good. Mercedes is probably going to be the number four car in the field. Aston Martin A5. And then, you know, you got Alpine and Williams and haas around that 5, 6 and 7. So if you aren't performing as a driver in kind of those slots where the expectation of where your car is at, I think that's where it falls on the driver versus where the team's at. Because I think Formula one, where American fans don't like is, yeah, like, if you're. If you're Williams and you're Carlos Signs, you're in Ferrari. Last year, he's basically said, I don't know if I'll ever be on a podium or win a race again. Because we know the Williams car just isn't going to be what McLaren and Ferrari and Red Bull and Mercedes are right now. It's just going to be years away where that could potentially happen. But it's possible. He knows this year, but he knows this year the Williams car isn't there. So, hey, Williams finishing in the top 10 and Williams getting fifth or sixth in the constructors, hey, that's the realistic goal because at the end of the year, hey, that's the difference in 10, $20 million to the team on where they finish in the constructors.
[00:44:00] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, on the counterpoint to that is like, you know, obviously there is like a hierarchy of teams with their. The income. Like, if you're a team that just sells cars for a lot of money, you have an advantage over a team who doesn't. You're just bringing a lot of money expenditure that you can put into your, you know, your facilities or wind tunnel. But even that being said, like, it's worth noting that like, a team like Ferrari, for all its merit, is, you know, essentially trying to reclaim its prestige and glory without, you know, a championship since 2008.
[00:44:34] Speaker C: Is it?
[00:44:36] Speaker D: So, yeah, so, I mean, like, yeah, that's also another part. And the last thing I'll say too is like, as there is also a little bit of a wrinkle with the fact that the regulations change, which, you know, Formula one fundamentally being a formula, a book of rules that you go and go in your garage and bang out a car to. We have these sort of. These eras of change and the changes next year mean that some people are going. The teams that are very prudent with their money, you know, are going to kind of hold off and say, like, well, this is a bit of a holdover year. We suck anyways. We're going to go ahead and just pour that investment into next year's car. So you just have like a kind of like a gambit going on as well.
Specifically, I think with regards to the green car, which is kick Sauber, which will become Audi next year.
So there's just that. There's that as well. Like, good teams don't necessarily do good and bad teams might be up to a different thing.
[00:45:35] Speaker A: Nice going to this race.
[00:45:38] Speaker C: Who you guys got the odds on favorite is.
What is it? The Lando Norris, he's the favorite to win the race, followed by Verstappen's in there as well. You got Hamilton, but yeah, I mean, like Rome said.
[00:45:57] Speaker A: Who.
[00:45:57] Speaker C: Who is the favorite to win in this race, in your guys's opinion?
[00:46:02] Speaker B: I think Lando's the favorite, but I think with the rain, that really puts a different element where the McLaren car being the fastest or best car with the most pace isn't necessarily the best car in the rain, because you start reliving more on the driver skills there. So you start putting Advantage, Hamilton, Verstappen in those type of conditions. Lando's a veteran now, so I think he's got it. So if he's still got the good car and McLaren's got the right strategy, I still think since they are the best car and I expect a good qualifying from them tomorrow, where it's not raining, I think McLaren's in the front of the field, and I think Lando does win this race.
[00:46:43] Speaker A: Andrew, who. Who you got real quick?
[00:46:45] Speaker D: I.
I definitely don't disagree with that like that. That's pretty sound logic, I think, kind of just echoing off that when you have rain.
[00:46:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:57] Speaker D: It becomes the team strategy just becomes so important. Tire strategy, risk.
The. The.
An example recent example was Russell, you know, trying to. There was a rainy race once where Russell was trying to kind of get ahead, and he decided because, you know, the tire compounds, you know, the better they are for the wet, the slower they are per lap. So you're kind of just picking this balance of, like, can I keep the grip? Do I want to lose the speed and get better grip? And Russell tried to go out there on slick tires in the rain, you know, which was a risky gambit. It's glory if you do it right. But it didn't work out. And so I'm expecting that kind of energy. It'll be interesting because it's a new year, so we don't have a lot of context for, you know, there's not only driver change, there's personnel change across the teams.
But I feel it's, you know, it's. We're in Australia. I'll go ahead and say McLaren looked good. I'll just give the edge to Piastri. You know, maybe. Maybe. I mean, you know, maybe there's some sort of drive there for him to shut up the critics early by putting out a strong pace. Maybe McLaren team strategy, give him a bone so they can take it back later, you know, for a championship with Norris later on. So I'll say McLaren's in the top three. I'll give it to Piastri first. And then I want to throw, like, probably a Ferrari in there, you know, so Charles probably over Hamilton, but I'd love to see Hamilton, but, you know.
[00:48:27] Speaker C: We'Ll see after Charles is favorite over Hamilton. Charles is basically plus 350, and Hamilton's almost plus 1100.
[00:48:34] Speaker A: So. Wow.
[00:48:34] Speaker C: Big. There's a big gap.
[00:48:35] Speaker A: Big gap. Yeah.
[00:48:37] Speaker B: Charles.
[00:48:37] Speaker D: Yeah. Again, new guy on the job. Right. Like a guy who's been at the job for a while, a new guy. You know I, that makes sense that that tracks.
[00:48:45] Speaker B: Charles looked better in the car during practice and Lewis FP1 was complaining some about the steering. I think even in the first turn Carr was like bouncing around a little bit. So I think there, there is, there's some getting used to the Ferrari car for Lewis here in the early, early races but I think the rain could be the X factor for him. I think if you're predicting, yeah if you're predicting podium I think you get two McLarens in a Ferrari where you got Piastri, Norris and, and probably leclair.
[00:49:09] Speaker C: On there who's a, who's a long shot possibly to win this race if you had to go out.
You guys have talked a lot about science. He's got great odds. Plus 6700.
[00:49:24] Speaker D: Yeah that's fair. Okay, so maybe that's a little too safe. I don't know.
[00:49:28] Speaker C: I don't think that's too safe. That's not too safe.
[00:49:31] Speaker D: I mean I'm just saying like you know Signs is outperformed typically and it really depends on if there's chaos on the first couple turns and stuff. People get caught up and somebody in fifth jumps up to first.
So I, I, I think about Liam Lawson Signs.
[00:49:46] Speaker C: What about Lawson at 81 at 8100.
[00:49:49] Speaker D: Practices after the practice that I've seen I would have ranked him up there higher. I even thought you know Ollie and maybe he will still but you know I would put Signs over pretty much.
I think he's a more interesting choice than going for someone like a Russell or something.
[00:50:07] Speaker C: No love for Russell's gonna bring that up. He's basically plus 2200 so outside of basically Hamilton, Charles Piastri and for stepping he's kind of Russell's kind of that next, that next tier.
[00:50:23] Speaker B: It's not a bad place for Russell. Where Mercedes was good last year was on, on some of those rain surfaces where the car react a little bit differently. That car has been just so inconsistent on some of the different tracks and depending on weather and stuff it's not a bad place for them. But I'd agree with Andrew I think if you're looking super long shot you're probably talking in a mid team Williams is that I think Sainz gets the most out of the car but you're going to be requiring people crashing out out of the out of the league contenders and some goofy stuff happened with strategy for, for a car like that to be at the leader of the field.
[00:50:59] Speaker C: So I, I see looking at a top six finish, they got signs at basically plus 175. So you're saying that's probably good action finishing the top six 100 to 1, 175.
[00:51:12] Speaker B: If you're trying to do a long shot, I would say that's, that's probably your best one right there because you're gonna need some chaos.
[00:51:19] Speaker D: I'll say, yeah, that's definitely a low to high chance there and it really depends on qualifying.
[00:51:24] Speaker A: But yeah, awesome.
Formula one will be on it this year. Looking forward to the kickoff this Saturday.
It all starts in Australia.
By the way, there's a really cool article on ESPN right now how F1 has evolved since 1950. You're talking about a league that has always been about change. That article definitely covers it. So excited to get to be on top of the ball for this year. Any last comments, guys?
[00:51:58] Speaker B: I'll let Andrew go first. He's the guest.
[00:52:02] Speaker D: I guess maybe just kind of touching on that and going back to the conversation around Drive to Survive.
It's still very much a sport like you know, trying to be like a Premier League fan or something like that in the States. Like I think there is still some ways for it to go. But the biggest thing with the Drive Survive. Drive to Survive is that Liberty Media, a Austin based company, took the, took over the streaming rights for F1. Which is why we had Drive to Survive because the previous owner of F1 was like very anti social media, was a faux pas to be posting anything.
And I think that, you know, F1 for better and worse has made this transition to be more open and be more inclusive, you know, female fans at the British gp, you know. So I think that if you can look past a little bit of like the little bit of like turning up the nose, I think it's a really good time to be an F1 fan. You can, you can join for very simple reasons and then you can stay for like much more complex ones. So I think it's a good sport.
[00:53:11] Speaker B: To follow on the show every week. I will say watching the NASCAR race last week, I think F1 even getting into some NASCAR a little bit. NASCAR was using two different tire similar to F1 last week where they had to do a two different tire strategy similar to F1 too. So I think some of the things that you know, an American fan has found liking in nascar and I'll be honest, the racing, the racing fans are kind of divided. I like it all, but there is a, there's a stark difference in the American NASCAR fan and kind of hating on Formula One because of the predictability of the winners in Formula One compared to nascar, where it's a little more wide open, even though you get a lot of historic teams. But I'll even say this. I know you asked parting shots on nascar. I was watching all racing. I was watching NHRA this last weekend. You know, NHRA is room.
[00:54:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I've been to. He raced, actually.
[00:54:04] Speaker B: Okay, so let's watch a little NHRA this week in the Gator Nationals down in Florida. They. There was a. There was a driver not too happy with Fox's promotion when they called Indy cars the fastest racing on earth, where they took obsession, you know, exception. Yeah. A top fuel dragster, a funny car gets over 300 miles an hour, and Fox is promoting IndyCar is the fastest racing on earth. So, you know, some civil war amongst racing fans out there. It's all great for me. I like it all. But I. But I think going back to Andrew's point, I think some of the. Some of the things that drive to survive and the American, you know, fans getting that, like, about Formula One has rubbed off in. Into some of the different sports like NASCAR and IndyCar and stuff. So I think that's where you. You're really going to see a renewed interest in, you know, in IndyCar. I'd say that was my. My big prediction this year is you're gonna get a lot more people into IndyCar. They had a ton of viewers in that first race, and I think it's going to be super exciting. Last year of the regs for the Formula one this season and then kind of kick it into next year where it's at. So I'm excited. Thank Rome. Thanks for letting me talk about it and, you know, giving you that little bit extra knowledge. So Saturday night, once you're done working and you go out to the bar and they're showing the race there, you get to, you know, sit down and talk. An expert in school. The people at the bar. What's going on in Formula One?
[00:55:20] Speaker A: Oh, you guys dropped a lot of stuff on this episode. I might have to listen.
[00:55:23] Speaker C: Basically, all Rome's gonna do is get off the phone and press play. And this. This episode's gonna play. Yeah, I guess. One last. One last quick thing, guys. Who do you think's gonna win the driver's championship for the year and the Constructors Cup?
[00:55:40] Speaker A: You guys ready to do predictions like that?
You want to do one race?
[00:55:44] Speaker D: So drivers and constructors.
[00:55:46] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:55:49] Speaker D: Damn. What I want or what do I think drivers. So Norris again so early, but I mean, based on the McLaren's looking strong, based on what Zach, their team principal has said and, and Norris kind of after McLaren has gotten the constructor championship last year, him sort of being the de facto lead driver, if they have the strength within them, I think Lando will go. But it's just a matter of the one criticism. The nagging criticism with him is does he have the killer instinct? And you need a killer instinct to ultimately succeed in the sport like that. I don't know. So, short answer is that I do think if all the cards align, Norris will win for drivers and then for constructors, I'm gonna just go and lean and say maybe it's Ferrari. You know, if both of them can, can score consistently and, and if maybe there's some inter team stuff going on between Piastri and Norris, then maybe Ferrari can just slowly chip away. But I would say it's a safe bet to say that it's going to be a papaya year.
[00:57:03] Speaker A: Real quick, Jason, since Andrew was talking about Norris, what's the NBA equivalent? Like a guy that's good, young, dominating, but doesn't have the killer instinct quote unquote yet.
[00:57:17] Speaker B: Great question.
[00:57:21] Speaker A: So you can kind of put this in perspective.
[00:57:25] Speaker B: I don't know. You'd have to help me a little more. I mean.
[00:57:30] Speaker A: That'D be like a Tyrese Halliburton. Would that be.
[00:57:32] Speaker B: I was gonna, I was gonna say Halliburton or did Shay Gillis Alexander have the killer.
[00:57:39] Speaker C: Man, never. Second round.
[00:57:40] Speaker B: I was gonna say. Yeah, I don't, I don't, I'm not gonna question SGA's killer instinct right now, but I think it's a guy that you're seeing, you know, is he the best player in the league? He's taken the most dominant team right now. He's in the conversation for NBA but needs to take the next step. Lando is a perennial runner up and so maybe I lean SGA because Halliburton I think just is getting lost in the shuffle in the east and hasn't taken it up where I think the expectation for SGA this year is to, is to win the title.
[00:58:10] Speaker A: Okay, awesome. Thank you.
By the way, I, I, I think you got to give us now your driver and constructors.
[00:58:20] Speaker B: You know, I, I was, I was gonna be, I, now I gotta agree with Andrew on this because I was gonna say it's gonna be a Norris title in Ferrari constructor because I think there's going to Be some infighting between, between. Between the papaya here. When you're gonna have Piastri and Norris going at it. I want. I'm going to be rude. Andrew said, what do I want? What do I think?
I want Lewis to win the title. That'll be the kind of dream scenario, first year. I just think a lot of things are going against him. No one's ever going to come out and say Lewis is the number two driver, the seven time world champion. You know, probably the greatest Formula one driver of all time is the number two. But Charles has been the number one driver at Ferrari for a while now, and I think he's most familiar with that car. So I don't know throughout the year, a lot of last year, Lewis was behind George Russell at the Mercedes stuff. So is Lewis just going to be, I don't want to say, content? He's really, you know, charged into being Ferrari this year. But are they going to have a better team balance where Lewis is kind of understand his team role a little bit if he doesn't have the pace that Charles had and collects the points where Lando and Oscar might be just fighting tooth and nail to go through the win that maybe cost McLaren throughout the year. So I like Andrew's pick. I want to copy it, but I don't want to do the same. I'm gonna say. I'm gonna say McLaren wins back to back Constructors Championships and Lando wins the title.
[00:59:40] Speaker C: I'll say McLaren wins and I'm gonna go Charles to win.
[00:59:43] Speaker B: Oh, that's another good.
[00:59:44] Speaker D: I like that, too.
[00:59:46] Speaker A: Nice.
All right, that'll do it. Formula One kicks off this Saturday. Australian Grand Prix, March 15th. 9pm for us on the west coast. That'll do it. Thank you so much, Andrew, for joining us for this pod. We'd love to welcome you back for future F1 coverage.
[01:00:07] Speaker D: I'd love that.
[01:00:08] Speaker A: And we are out.
