F1 Car Launch Predictions | Sexism in Formula 1 | Grid Walk Feb 2, 2023

It’s another Thursday which means another episode of Grid Walk! Nicole and Briana have a candid conversation about the continued issue of sexism in motorsports and F1 in particular. We also discuss the (financial) importance of F1’s new female fan base.

The MoneyGram Haas F1 Team held the first livery launch of the season! Was a single tweet enough to kick off the Formula 1 2023 season? Nicole and Briana also make 3 predictions for the remaining car launches.

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem also teases the possibility of another car manufacturer being interested in joining F1. Meanwhile, Red Bull Formula One’s Team Principal, Christian Horner, give his take on Andretti Autosport | Cadillac/General Motors’ F1 bid. Is Ford Motor Company confirming their sponsorship with the Red Bull Formula One Team? We may be getting more than a livery reveal at Red Bull’s upcoming car launch.

Frédéric Vasseur has officially begun his media tour as Team Principal of Scuderia Ferrari. Will Ferrari pick their number one driver between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz? Will Frédéric Vasseur and Charles Leclerc’s history affect this decision?

Alfa Romeo introduced a new title sponsorship transforming them into Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake. Stake is a crypto casino and sportsbook…another crypto sponsor in Formula 1 what could possibly go wrong?

Grid Walk is a weekly Formula 1 show that releases every Thursday. For daily F1 content follow @gridwalkshow on all social media platforms.

**Navigating the Challenges of Being a Female F1 Fan**

The world of Formula One (F1) can be an exhilarating yet challenging space for female fans. The recent headlines regarding the FIA president's controversial quotes, the criticism of the W Series, and the FIA's ban on political messaging without approval highlight the ongoing issues of bigotry and sexism in motorsport. These incidents underscore the need for better leadership in motorsports and the importance of addressing these issues head-on.

**Condemning Hateful Rhetoric and Demanding Change**

The FIA president's comments about women, particularly intelligent women, are not only offensive but also reflect a deep-seated prejudice that has no place in modern society. The subsequent response from Liberty Media and F1, stating that these views do not reflect the current values of the organization, is a positive step. However, actions speak louder than words, and concrete measures must be taken to demonstrate a genuine commitment to diversity and inclusion.

**The Financial Power of Female Fans**

The female fan base in F1 is growing rapidly, and research indicates that women contribute to over 60% of the spending done in the sport. This economic power should not be ignored, and it presents a compelling argument for organizations to prioritize the needs and concerns of female fans. By creating a more inclusive and welcoming environment, F1 can attract and retain a larger and more diverse audience.

**Car Launch Season: A Time for Excitement and Speculation**

With the start of February comes the highly anticipated car launch season, where teams unveil their new liveries and designs for the upcoming season. The Haas launch, with its sleek black livery, met expectations and generated buzz among fans. Other teams, such as Red Bull and Alfa Tauri, are opting for unique launch locations, adding to the excitement and anticipation.

**Predictions for Car Launch Season**

Nicole makes several predictions for car launch season, focusing on non-car-related aspects. She believes that Daniel Ricciardo will emcee the Red Bull launch, Oscar Piastri will have limited speaking time at the McLaren launch, and Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon will maintain a respectful distance from each other at the Alpine launch. Additionally, she predicts that the Mercedes car will look similar to the 2022 model, Aston Martin's launch will focus heavily on Fernando Alonso, and the McLaren and Aston Martin launches will be scheduled within an hour of each other.

**Rumors of Ford's Involvement in F1**

Mohammed bin Salam's statement about another big manufacturer potentially joining F1 has sparked speculation, with Ford being a popular contender. The news of Ford sending influencers to cover the Red Bull car launch in New York City further fuels these rumors. While an official announcement is yet to be made, the possibility of Ford's involvement as a sponsor or even a powertrain supplier is an exciting prospect for fans.

In conclusion, the world of F1 is undergoing significant change, with new challenges and opportunities emerging. The ongoing fight against sexism and bigotry requires continued vigilance and action from leaders in the sport. The growing influence of female fans and the upcoming car launch season bring both excitement and anticipation. Additionally, the rumors of Ford's potential involvement add another layer of intrigue to the already captivating world of Formula One. # Formula One Podcast Episode Summary:

* **FIA's Ban on Political Statements:**
* Helmut Marko criticizes the FIA's decision, stating it's clearly wrong.
* Valtteri Bottas aligns himself against the ban, emphasizing the importance of freedom of speech.

* **Team Principal Changes:**
* Ferrari's new team principal, Frederic Vasseur, discusses his plans and approach for the upcoming season.
* Vasseur highlights the team's focus on winning the Constructors' Championship and emphasizes the importance of driver harmony.

* **Sponsorship Deals:**
* Alfa Romeo secures a record-breaking multi-year deal with Stake, a crypto gambling live streaming sponsor associated with Drake.
* Haas unveils its new livery, featuring a sparse logo presence due to the loss of sponsors associated with Mick Schumacher.

* **Driver Activities:**
* Pierre Gasly visits Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, works out at the Dolphins gym, and engages in a foot race with Tyree Kill.
* Lance Stroll attends a Montreal Canadiens hockey game, and Aston Martin shares seat fits for both of their drivers.
* Nick de Vries and his personal trainer appear on the Alphatauri podcast, sparking a call for more teams to start podcasts.

## Notable Quotes:

* **Helmut Marko on the FIA ban:** "This decision is clearly wrong. Ask anyone."

* **Valtteri Bottas on the FIA ban:** "I think it's important to have freedom of speech and be able to express yourself."

* **Frederic Vasseur on Ferrari's goals:** "The priority is Ferrari. Ferrari wants to win the Constructors. They will do whatever they can to win the Constructors."

* **Nicole on the podcast episode:** "Today felt like a grid jog, not a grid walk."

[00:00.000 -> 00:03.600] They don't know. They have to not know.
[00:03.600 -> 00:05.600] We're too online.
[00:05.600 -> 00:08.800] Are we? I think I touched grass today.
[00:08.800 -> 00:10.800] New cars, new cars, new cars.
[00:10.800 -> 00:12.800] New cars!
[00:12.800 -> 00:16.800] I mean you can, but I might make a Star Wars reference.
[00:16.800 -> 00:18.800] That would make my day.
[00:33.280 -> 00:36.760] I mean, I could literally talk today about how I felt like my entire day was living on some type of like Ferrari schedule of a power unit failing.
[00:36.760 -> 00:40.280] Well, my battery just kept dying and then it was like, just kidding, we're going to
[00:40.280 -> 00:41.280] work.
[00:41.280 -> 00:42.280] And it's like, just kidding, we're not going to work.
[00:42.280 -> 00:44.160] So I was like, wow, I don't need to do this.
[00:44.160 -> 00:46.460] And then suddenly it's like, all the lights are on. I'm having an engine failure. it's like, just kidding. We're not going to work. So I was like, wow, I don't need to do this. And then suddenly it's like all the lights are on.
[00:46.500 -> 00:48.540] I'm having an engine failure.
[00:48.540 -> 00:49.640] It's like, cool, great.
[00:49.640 -> 00:52.140] A lot of things aren't communicating properly.
[00:52.140 -> 00:55.600] And then I just felt there was times where I'm sitting on the side of the road
[00:55.840 -> 00:59.640] today and yesterday, and I just felt like Carlos.
[00:59.640 -> 01:02.400] And, you know, he's just sitting on the hill.
[01:02.500 -> 01:06.160] That is really what I felt like.
[01:08.360 -> 01:10.060] And then when I was talking to Rich, my new favorite mechanic,
[01:10.060 -> 01:12.640] I felt like I was talking to like a team principal
[01:12.640 -> 01:13.800] who was like, this is what's gonna happen.
[01:13.800 -> 01:14.640] This is what's gonna happen.
[01:14.640 -> 01:16.500] I'm just like, okay, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.
[01:16.500 -> 01:17.460] Great, great.
[01:17.460 -> 01:20.220] I'm glad that you informed me of a plan.
[01:20.220 -> 01:21.940] I just don't know if that plan's gonna work.
[01:21.940 -> 01:24.480] So there were moments today where that-
[01:24.480 -> 01:25.320] So things post-
[01:26.320 -> 01:29.800] So things post-California vacation are going great.
[01:29.800 -> 01:32.320] No, yeah, it's been super awesome.
[01:32.320 -> 01:34.280] And the world has definitely not been like,
[01:34.280 -> 01:38.160] let's knock you on your butt to return you to not California.
[01:38.160 -> 01:40.120] It's like, hey, remember Laguna?
[01:40.120 -> 01:41.960] You had to, walked everywhere
[01:41.960 -> 01:43.640] and the weather was perfect every day.
[01:43.640 -> 01:45.280] And you recorded a podcast and you got to watch Star Wars and weather was perfect every day and you recorded a podcast
[01:45.280 -> 01:50.560] and you got to watch Star Wars and it was like changing your existence and then you come back
[01:50.560 -> 01:59.680] and it's your car battery is dead and we're in Margate, Florida and I've eaten dinner at like
[01:59.680 -> 02:05.360] four o'clock three days in a row. It's like super exciting and great.
[02:05.360 -> 02:13.000] And I only packed like two shirts. So I've been wearing the same like recycling of clothes.
[02:13.000 -> 02:18.400] It's great. I'm so glad we did laundry before I left because I just took things out of my
[02:18.400 -> 02:27.960] my suitcase. This all is really just how I'm summing up this whole experience is just like,
[02:27.960 -> 02:34.960] cool, that fake life you were living in California, definitely a lot better than getting your
[02:34.960 -> 02:35.960] car towed.
[02:35.960 -> 02:47.120] Being an F1 fan, particularly a female F1 fan, can often feel exhausting and just not be the most fun. I think that
[02:47.120 -> 02:51.460] could probably describe a lot of the female existence in the world where
[02:51.460 -> 02:55.240] sometimes things are just harder and less fun because we have to deal with
[02:55.240 -> 02:59.240] things like what happened in the world of F1 this week. And when I was working
[02:59.240 -> 03:03.080] on the outline for this week's Gridwalk podcast that you are all now listening
[03:03.080 -> 03:07.480] to, there are three headline-worthy stories
[03:07.480 -> 03:09.640] that we could fill an entire show with
[03:09.640 -> 03:11.600] centered around the continued issue
[03:11.600 -> 03:14.480] of bigotry and sexism in motorsport.
[03:14.480 -> 03:18.380] We have the quotes from the FIA president's website.
[03:18.380 -> 03:21.720] We have the awful article that was written and approved
[03:21.720 -> 03:24.780] about the reason the W Series failed
[03:24.780 -> 03:26.240] is because they didn't
[03:26.240 -> 03:32.800] hoe out their drivers and sexualize them. And there's a lot of issues with the W series,
[03:32.800 -> 03:38.720] but I promise you that's not one. And then we got the first responses to FIA's ban of political
[03:38.720 -> 03:46.720] messaging without approval, which thankfully were Valtteri and Helmut Marko condemning that, but again it puts
[03:46.720 -> 03:51.120] us in the position where these are the three biggest headlines in motorsport right now,
[03:51.120 -> 03:57.600] and none of them are car launch livery predictions, cars being on track for tire testing,
[03:57.600 -> 04:07.000] new regulations being rolled out. The largest stories in F1 motorsport this week, the most important stories are the three I mentioned above,
[04:07.000 -> 04:20.000] and they all deal with a bigger, more serious issue, connecting back to why are we still putting such crappy leadership in charge of motorsports as a whole?
[04:20.000 -> 04:26.160] Because this is an F1 podcast, but the FIA is in charge and runs so many motorsports series.
[04:27.360 -> 04:35.760] And we're on podcast number two and have led both shows with a negative story about the FIA.
[04:39.360 -> 04:45.920] And we could probably lead every show going forward with this at the rate we are going.
[04:45.920 -> 04:47.700] The rate that messaging is being given to us
[04:47.700 -> 04:49.040] from people in charge,
[04:49.040 -> 04:51.800] I feel like we're gonna have to talk about this every week.
[04:51.800 -> 04:55.080] And I'm not complaining about that in any way,
[04:55.080 -> 04:58.320] because this is part of the world we live in.
[04:58.320 -> 05:02.920] And unfortunately, if we want the world to be better
[05:02.920 -> 05:04.800] and to one day stop talking about it,
[05:04.800 -> 05:06.800] we need to keep talking about it now.
[05:06.800 -> 05:09.620] And that is incredibly important.
[05:09.620 -> 05:13.720] But I am begging the leadership of F1
[05:13.720 -> 05:16.480] and motorsports as a whole to please do better
[05:17.920 -> 05:20.600] because there are big exciting things going on
[05:20.600 -> 05:22.080] in F1 right now.
[05:22.080 -> 05:23.080] Do better.
[05:23.080 -> 05:25.120] Let me lead the show talking about those.
[05:26.240 -> 05:34.480] And instead, I have to condemn the president of the FIA again for some of the worst quotes I have
[05:34.480 -> 05:48.800] seen in recent history about women. And this is the man in charge of motorsports. So do I sound, I probably sound really exacerbated
[05:48.800 -> 05:50.040] and that's because I am.
[05:50.040 -> 05:52.040] I'm tired, I'm tired of this.
[05:52.040 -> 05:54.360] I'm tired of defending my existence,
[05:55.520 -> 05:58.680] but I'm not going to stop.
[05:58.680 -> 06:02.200] I think part of, I know part of the reason
[06:02.200 -> 06:07.260] why Gridwalk was started is because we wanted to continue to
[06:07.260 -> 06:13.180] contribute to the female voices in this sport.
[06:13.180 -> 06:18.080] And we wanted to lift up other female fans and give them a place in a community where
[06:18.080 -> 06:21.520] they felt safe to ask questions and to talk to people.
[06:21.520 -> 06:27.500] And that's not a unique message that we have, and it's one that I am seeing
[06:27.500 -> 06:30.660] everywhere right now, but things like this
[06:30.660 -> 06:35.220] just prove why we need to keep pushing forward.
[06:35.220 -> 06:39.740] Liberty Media and F1 has made a very specific play
[06:41.220 -> 06:44.740] to grow their sport, and they targeted young fans
[06:44.740 -> 06:47.000] and female fans and American fans.
[06:47.000 -> 06:55.000] And those three audiences are not going to put up with this like the old guard F1 fans are.
[06:57.000 -> 07:05.960] So if these quotes continue to come out, these stories continue to come out. We will continue to talk about them.
[07:05.960 -> 07:08.000] And I just want to make that clear
[07:08.000 -> 07:11.760] to everyone in leadership positions
[07:11.760 -> 07:13.580] or who have a say,
[07:13.580 -> 07:15.720] that these aren't just going to go away.
[07:17.440 -> 07:21.080] If you continuously choose not to do better
[07:21.080 -> 07:24.520] or not to put people in leadership positions
[07:24.520 -> 07:26.660] who are going to be better than this.
[07:26.660 -> 07:29.460] We will continue to talk about it, complain about it,
[07:29.460 -> 07:31.180] make noise about it.
[07:32.300 -> 07:33.960] And we are your creation.
[07:33.960 -> 07:38.960] You cannot ask for younger fans, more fans,
[07:40.040 -> 07:42.900] more passionate fans, more American fans, more female fans.
[07:42.900 -> 07:44.640] This is what comes with it.
[07:44.640 -> 07:48.100] Better journalism comes with reaching the American market.
[07:49.020 -> 07:52.820] Young female fans care and they care about this.
[07:53.360 -> 07:57.280] You cannot ask us to give you our money,
[07:57.900 -> 08:00.280] but then tell us we do not belong.
[08:00.280 -> 08:02.580] There's limited patience with that.
[08:03.200 -> 08:12.320] We've talked about this clearly off pod before because it's just a topic huge in F1, motorsports,
[08:12.320 -> 08:16.640] and just being a female fan in sports.
[08:16.640 -> 08:24.080] And my first response was, I'm almost more upset that I feel, not indifferent that this
[08:24.080 -> 08:30.180] happened, but I was not surprised when these quotes came out and just the reaction to it all. It was
[08:30.180 -> 08:35.800] almost as upsetting to just be like yeah of course this is what happens of course
[08:35.800 -> 08:40.320] this is what they're gonna say about you know this of course this is his
[08:40.320 -> 08:45.000] perspective on females at some point in his adult life,
[08:45.200 -> 08:47.720] you know, recognizing that this was not yesterday,
[08:47.720 -> 08:52.600] but in his adult life, this was his perspective on females
[08:52.600 -> 08:54.360] and not even, you know, females as a whole,
[08:54.360 -> 08:58.320] but particularly targeting quote unquote, clever women,
[08:58.320 -> 08:59.840] because, you know,
[08:59.840 -> 09:02.480] apparently intelligent women are threatening.
[09:02.480 -> 09:03.320] I don't know.
[09:03.320 -> 09:05.000] It was just really upsetting
[09:05.000 -> 09:13.640] to hear, but then again, not a surprise that this is a male in power. And especially since
[09:13.640 -> 09:20.480] last week, we were having a discussion about him tweeting and tweeting his feelings and
[09:20.480 -> 09:27.240] receiving a letter to stop tweeting your feelings. And in a time where it could have maybe been in his best interest,
[09:28.240 -> 09:33.000] the president of the FIA to tweet something about, hey, I don't feel this way
[09:33.000 -> 09:36.200] or kind of the cliche tweet that we've now seen from people
[09:36.200 -> 09:39.000] a bunch of times of my views have changed this, that anything.
[09:39.760 -> 09:40.960] He says nothing.
[09:40.960 -> 09:42.760] The FIA comes out and says.
[09:44.760 -> 09:47.920] This is not how he currently feels. These
[09:47.920 -> 09:53.040] comments don't properly reflect his current values. Okay, but where? We don't see, I don't
[09:53.040 -> 09:58.400] see anything different. I don't see anything different in appointment of leadership. I
[09:58.400 -> 10:04.760] don't see anything different in regulation of leadership internally. Just overall, I'm
[10:04.760 -> 10:06.620] not even seeing it from the source.
[10:06.620 -> 10:08.120] So if you wanna make these claims
[10:08.120 -> 10:11.080] about making a difference in diversity and equity,
[10:11.080 -> 10:13.920] stop talking and do something.
[10:13.920 -> 10:16.800] Because like Brianna, I am tired.
[10:16.800 -> 10:19.220] And the only thing that will make me less tired
[10:19.220 -> 10:21.480] is if I get to stop complaining about this.
[10:21.480 -> 10:22.600] And the only way that'll happen
[10:22.600 -> 10:26.400] is if you do something different because
[10:27.440 -> 10:33.600] I'm also coming from the business brain, marketing brain of money talks. Money talks, that's how
[10:33.600 -> 10:37.840] things change, that's all of that's how you make a difference in something especially in major
[10:37.840 -> 10:44.640] corporations like this particularly in sports. So wake up and realize the growth in your fan base,
[10:44.640 -> 10:46.840] the growth in your female fan base,
[10:46.840 -> 10:48.920] and where a ton of money is coming in.
[10:48.920 -> 10:51.500] I'm sitting here in Formula One merch right now
[10:51.500 -> 10:53.800] that I've given them my money to,
[10:53.800 -> 10:54.840] because we can walk away,
[10:54.840 -> 10:57.600] and then you can see all of this growth just disappear.
[10:57.600 -> 11:01.780] Because if you're not supporting the embodiment
[11:01.780 -> 11:02.620] that is your fans,
[11:02.620 -> 11:05.160] and you're just basically spitting in their face,
[11:05.160 -> 11:06.520] why should we stick around?
[11:08.000 -> 11:13.000] I love the point about how just last week,
[11:13.520 -> 11:14.880] the conversation we were having
[11:14.880 -> 11:16.820] was about him tweeting too much.
[11:16.820 -> 11:19.520] And now he's very silent.
[11:19.520 -> 11:22.960] And like, so yeah, I would like,
[11:22.960 -> 11:24.300] if you're gonna tweet about everything else,
[11:24.300 -> 11:25.880] tweet about this.
[11:25.880 -> 11:30.600] We're not here to say there's been zero change or motion in motorsports, but it will constantly
[11:30.600 -> 11:36.520] be upsetting when the leadership and the people signing off on those decisions are barriers
[11:36.520 -> 11:37.520] themselves.
[11:37.520 -> 11:41.920] I've been a sports fan my entire life.
[11:41.920 -> 11:44.440] My Philadelphia Eagles are going to the Super Bowl.
[11:44.440 -> 11:46.120] I'm very excited.
[11:47.520 -> 11:48.320] Go birds.
[11:48.840 -> 11:53.760] Go birds. And as a female sports fan, I've been told I don't
[11:53.760 -> 11:59.640] belong my entire life. Because inherently, like, I am a female,
[11:59.640 -> 12:01.400] therefore I must not like sports.
[12:01.640 -> 12:07.400] Or you don't know anything. And it's impossible for you to learn.
[12:07.400 -> 12:11.100] Oh my gosh, what do you mean you understand what, you know,
[12:12.000 -> 12:14.440] D-O-S stands for.
[12:14.440 -> 12:17.600] Or maybe measuring fandom isn't a great thing to do
[12:17.600 -> 12:20.080] because some people like things for different reasons
[12:20.080 -> 12:23.720] and whatever, like all the things that if you,
[12:23.720 -> 12:25.520] likely if you're listening to this podcast,
[12:25.520 -> 12:28.140] you know already, but it feels good to say.
[12:29.000 -> 12:31.400] But as someone, I work in marketing,
[12:31.400 -> 12:34.920] I work in data, in particular in marketing,
[12:34.920 -> 12:36.720] and I'm a huge sports fan.
[12:36.720 -> 12:38.720] So something I'm pretty well educated on
[12:38.720 -> 12:40.680] is the power of the female dollar.
[12:41.680 -> 12:44.080] And it is a pretty consistent point
[12:44.080 -> 12:46.280] across every single industry that
[12:46.280 -> 12:53.960] the people with the purchasing power is women. There's a reason why in every
[12:53.960 -> 12:57.740] other industry other than sports you market everything to women because
[12:57.740 -> 13:02.280] they're the ones who spend the money. In every industry I've ever worked in,
[13:02.280 -> 13:08.440] the data supports this. In every research study ever done, the data supports this.
[13:08.440 -> 13:13.600] And I've done a ton of work into looking into the very admittedly limited research
[13:13.600 -> 13:16.320] done in sports in this.
[13:16.320 -> 13:21.960] And overall, the consensus is that while female fans in almost every sport make up less than
[13:21.960 -> 13:29.520] half of the population, they contribute to over 60% of the spending done in that fan base.
[13:30.640 -> 13:37.040] So besides the emotional aspect of, yeah, it sucks to be told you don't belong,
[13:38.080 -> 13:39.840] but there's a financial investment here.
[13:39.840 -> 13:46.360] Liberty was very smart in going after young female fans because that's where the money is.
[13:46.360 -> 13:48.060] Yeah, 100, yeah.
[13:48.060 -> 13:49.120] Hey, it's me.
[13:49.120 -> 13:49.960] Hi.
[13:49.960 -> 13:52.600] I'm the solution, it's me.
[13:52.600 -> 13:54.000] You're welcome for my money.
[13:54.000 -> 13:55.800] Now just treat me like a human.
[13:55.800 -> 13:57.640] I don't think that's a lot to ask.
[13:59.420 -> 14:02.680] The people in charge of the business operations here,
[14:03.960 -> 14:05.700] there are people in that room
[14:05.700 -> 14:08.300] who consciously made that decision.
[14:08.300 -> 14:10.960] And there are people in that room
[14:10.960 -> 14:12.160] who still know this to be true.
[14:12.160 -> 14:13.840] We actually just got a quote
[14:13.840 -> 14:16.480] from the president of Formula One Management
[14:17.680 -> 14:21.280] within the last six months that all about the rise
[14:21.280 -> 14:24.000] in the percent of viewership that comes from female fans.
[14:24.000 -> 14:31.600] I think he says they're up to 44% of viewers are now female, which is a huge number, which was a huge increase
[14:31.600 -> 14:37.480] and all because of their efforts. I'm going to end a point here with, if you cannot do
[14:37.480 -> 14:42.080] the right thing because it's the right thing, that's okay. Do the right thing because it's
[14:42.080 -> 14:46.120] better for the money, please. Because I personally don't care if you do the right thing because it's better for the money. Please, because I personally don't care
[14:46.120 -> 14:49.400] if you do the right thing for a good reason or a bad reason.
[14:49.400 -> 14:52.240] I just want you to do the right thing.
[14:52.240 -> 14:53.800] New cars, new cars, new cars, new cars, new cars,
[14:53.800 -> 14:55.080] new cars, new cars.
[14:55.080 -> 14:56.920] Nicole, we're getting new cars.
[14:56.920 -> 14:58.020] We are getting new cars.
[14:58.020 -> 15:00.120] It is officially February.
[15:00.120 -> 15:03.400] So it's definitely car launch season.
[15:03.400 -> 15:04.440] Oh my gosh, okay.
[15:04.440 -> 15:06.300] So highlights of car launches.
[15:06.300 -> 15:09.100] Red Bull and Alfa Tauri are doing them from New York City.
[15:09.100 -> 15:12.000] Specifically, we think Alfa Tauri is doing it from New York Fashion Week.
[15:12.000 -> 15:15.500] For some reason, Alpine, also known as French Pied,
[15:15.500 -> 15:16.700] is doing theirs from London,
[15:16.700 -> 15:20.900] which feels like the most missed opportunity I've ever heard in my entire life.
[15:20.900 -> 15:22.500] You're two French drivers.
[15:22.500 -> 15:25.480] You should definitely not do your launch in France.
[15:27.520 -> 15:31.160] Yep, Aston Martin and McLaren are sharing a day,
[15:31.160 -> 15:32.560] which just sounds dramatic.
[15:32.560 -> 15:34.560] Like I can just hear the bickering behind the scenes.
[15:34.560 -> 15:35.860] Are they also gonna share a time?
[15:35.860 -> 15:39.360] We haven't heard times yet, but Haas has already happened.
[15:39.360 -> 15:40.960] We've had our first car launch.
[15:40.960 -> 15:44.460] Nicole, how'd you feel about Haas's car launch?
[15:44.460 -> 15:52.120] It met my expectations. So Haas tweeted a picture. We expected
[15:52.120 -> 15:56.120] them to. I had kind of talked about that my only hope of Haas
[15:56.120 -> 16:00.280] doing anything more glitz and glammy was this new MoneyGram
[16:00.280 -> 16:03.560] sponsor. Hashtag MoneyGram drives you. I'm just gonna say
[16:03.560 -> 16:06.360] it forever until money Graham disappears.
[16:06.360 -> 16:11.360] But they tweeted out a couple of very wonderful mock-ups
[16:13.600 -> 16:17.200] of a car and it is a mostly black car
[16:17.200 -> 16:21.360] and nothing gets me as excited like a black livery.
[16:22.200 -> 16:23.540] It's beautiful.
[16:28.960 -> 16:34.720] I think you saying that Haas met expectations is actually high praise. I think I said just last week in our first pod that Haas is for some reason the
[16:34.720 -> 16:39.280] most boring team on the grid. So meeting expectations sounds great. Like they set
[16:39.280 -> 16:47.600] the expectation right. We knew exactly what was going to happen. I'm sure there'll be, like, I predict that one of the two
[16:47.600 -> 16:51.960] New York City launches is gonna 100% not meet expectations.
[16:51.960 -> 16:55.280] So this might not end up being the worst launch of the 10.
[16:56.200 -> 16:59.840] Yeah, I think it was a, we expect you to tweet.
[16:59.840 -> 17:02.240] So if you do that, I'm like, okay.
[17:02.240 -> 17:09.720] Then the blivery was mostly black and the red designs, it was just, you know, bye bye
[17:09.720 -> 17:10.720] blue.
[17:10.720 -> 17:11.940] Here comes the black.
[17:11.940 -> 17:13.920] It looks really sick for Haas.
[17:13.920 -> 17:18.240] And again, first launch, no other launch has happened.
[17:18.240 -> 17:20.280] We are desperate for content.
[17:20.280 -> 17:27.160] And as I said, I believe they're going first to grab the media by storm, because I think that this was after any other car launch.
[17:27.360 -> 17:31.360] We wouldn't be talking about Haas's not real car, car.
[17:34.160 -> 17:38.500] I just wish they took it one step further, and we also saw the team kits.
[17:38.840 -> 17:43.140] I feel like if we got the livery and the race suits and the team kits,
[17:43.340 -> 17:44.440] we would be like, this is great.
[17:44.440 -> 17:46.600] We don't need a hour long video
[17:46.600 -> 17:49.240] where the team principal talks about nothingness
[17:49.240 -> 17:51.600] and this is our year.
[17:51.600 -> 17:54.360] And that's just me pretending to be the Ferrari launch
[17:54.360 -> 17:56.660] because of course that's what we're gonna hear.
[17:57.680 -> 18:00.680] But I want to be able to say right now
[18:00.680 -> 18:02.360] that Haas is gonna have black race suits
[18:02.360 -> 18:04.160] because I've been campaigning.
[18:04.160 -> 18:05.080] Right?
[18:05.080 -> 18:08.960] They cannot introduce this car, this livery.
[18:08.960 -> 18:09.800] You know what?
[18:09.800 -> 18:12.280] I say that, but if there's anyone that could do it,
[18:12.280 -> 18:13.120] it's gonna be Haas.
[18:13.120 -> 18:15.400] They may show up in like full red race suits.
[18:16.720 -> 18:17.560] Be like, Ferrari.
[18:19.960 -> 18:24.080] For context here, Nicole looks at my face mid-sentence there
[18:24.080 -> 18:25.600] when she said,
[18:25.600 -> 18:27.440] they cannot and then stopped
[18:27.440 -> 18:28.860] because I was looking at her like,
[18:28.860 -> 18:30.800] yeah, they 100% would.
[18:31.700 -> 18:33.560] I feel like we're getting very similar race suits
[18:33.560 -> 18:35.800] to last year, which would be fine.
[18:35.800 -> 18:38.300] Like again, meeting expectations.
[18:38.300 -> 18:42.160] But if it was like something more fun,
[18:42.160 -> 18:44.280] but I'm also just campaigning for every team
[18:44.280 -> 18:48.200] that is not Ferrari to go with their darker color option.
[18:48.200 -> 18:50.440] Like I want the dark green in Aston Martin.
[18:50.440 -> 18:52.360] If the Mercedes changes from black race suits,
[18:52.360 -> 18:54.360] I will revolt.
[18:54.360 -> 18:58.200] I want Red Bull to always be there like navy blue.
[18:58.200 -> 19:00.040] Ferrari's the exception.
[19:00.040 -> 19:02.360] They're red, Ferrari wears red, that's it.
[19:02.360 -> 19:03.200] But-
[19:03.200 -> 19:04.040] And even for them, I would like for them
[19:04.040 -> 19:09.020] to go back to the early 2000s, mid 90s red for Ferrari.
[19:09.020 -> 19:10.840] Go brighter, go lighter.
[19:10.840 -> 19:15.840] I understand it's mid 2010s matte red
[19:16.080 -> 19:18.780] and it's dark and broody of we're gonna win
[19:18.780 -> 19:23.780] and we wanna come back, but no, everyone else, stay dark.
[19:24.440 -> 19:27.020] Although Alfa Tauri, I guess you gotta stay.
[19:27.020 -> 19:30.460] They gotta do the opposite kind of of Red Bull a little bit
[19:30.460 -> 19:31.640] with the white on the red.
[19:31.640 -> 19:35.100] And I'm again, with the white and the Navy blue.
[19:36.620 -> 19:38.020] I don't know, I would still campaign.
[19:38.020 -> 19:40.940] Their Navy blue is different than Red Bull's Navy blue.
[19:40.940 -> 19:44.020] The drivers would look better in the darker Navy blue.
[19:44.020 -> 19:46.280] That's really, I just,
[19:46.280 -> 19:52.520] the white race suits, I actually, let me rephrase my statement. I am just campaigning for not
[19:52.520 -> 19:59.180] white race suits. I just don't think they look good. And any other color, you can come
[19:59.180 -> 20:06.560] in any other color and I'd be like, because, okay, were the Ferrari yellow suits Minion-esque? Were
[20:06.560 -> 20:10.400] they fun to make fun of? Yes. But it would have been worse in white.
[20:10.400 -> 20:15.840] They're horrible. They were so bad. Okay, I honestly am unsure if I agree with you on
[20:15.840 -> 20:23.120] that because the yellow was so rough. But again, it gives us the Minion-
[20:23.120 -> 20:29.600] But black fireproofs. Right, okay, and then that was the wonderful bright side of the yellow.
[20:29.600 -> 20:34.840] I like car launch season mostly from my POV, well one, because new liveries are always
[20:34.840 -> 20:41.320] fun, but also because I just like to sit there and zoom in and see if we're seeing the car.
[20:41.320 -> 20:45.680] And I love car speculation season and all the really smart engineers on Twitter go in,
[20:45.680 -> 20:46.720] and they zoom in, and they're like,
[20:46.720 -> 20:48.160] oh, here's something that's different,
[20:48.160 -> 20:50.080] and this could mean this, and I just,
[20:50.080 -> 20:51.840] I sit there, and I eat that all up.
[20:51.840 -> 20:56.520] I just want to see, did you change where you're,
[20:56.520 -> 20:58.880] the deflection of your rear wing by a millimeter?
[20:58.880 -> 21:01.080] Tell me, smart people, please.
[21:01.080 -> 21:03.880] Every time now I think that we get some,
[21:04.960 -> 21:08.880] a picture of a driver in the car there's
[21:08.880 -> 21:13.960] like the car it's the show car any every zoo Twitter basically to this week has
[21:13.960 -> 21:17.920] looked like anytime Taylor Swift has dropped a music video or an album except
[21:17.920 -> 21:22.600] now I'm looking at roll hoops instead of the number 13 so I feel like I'm using a
[21:22.600 -> 21:29.640] muscle in my brain but now I'm trying to look at aerodynamics instead of lyric references, or
[21:30.200 -> 21:34.560] her Sagittarius zodiac sign. But so everyone just has their thing
[21:34.560 -> 21:36.800] and everyone functions the same way. So these are the teams
[21:36.800 -> 21:38.400] giving us Easter eggs for the season.
[21:39.200 -> 21:43.320] Nicole, we've entered me sending you six minute voice note, part
[21:43.320 -> 21:47.080] of the season, where I'm just like screaming about something
[21:47.080 -> 21:50.040] someone found on Twitter and how it's gonna change the car
[21:50.040 -> 21:52.640] for six minutes in your messages.
[21:52.640 -> 21:55.920] Yes, 100% and it's, well in the background
[21:55.920 -> 21:58.160] you could see this or we think that this was Photoshopped
[21:58.160 -> 22:00.560] out and that's why we haven't seen this.
[22:00.560 -> 22:01.820] Oh, those are my favorite.
[22:01.820 -> 22:05.080] I was watching the McLaren 24 days YouTube video
[22:05.080 -> 22:09.100] that they just put out in this like Google partnership
[22:09.100 -> 22:10.280] where they're doing short videos
[22:10.280 -> 22:11.720] in the lead up to their launch.
[22:11.720 -> 22:14.340] And there were very key parts of that video
[22:14.340 -> 22:17.280] where on the screens, there were giant blurs.
[22:17.280 -> 22:19.040] And I was just like,
[22:19.040 -> 22:21.520] oh, someone's gonna break this down for me.
[22:21.520 -> 22:22.980] I'm so excited.
[22:23.840 -> 22:24.680] What was the blur?
[22:24.680 -> 22:26.960] What is behind the blur? what is behind the blur what is behind
[22:26.960 -> 22:37.560] the blur okay Nicole putting you on the spot at this point we've only seen the
[22:37.560 -> 22:45.000] Haas launch so I want to hear three predictions for car launch season
[22:46.460 -> 22:48.580] that don't have to do with the car.
[22:51.040 -> 22:51.880] Interesting.
[22:51.880 -> 22:53.180] And I'll give you a moment to think about it, if you'd like.
[22:53.180 -> 22:54.180] Oh my God, okay.
[22:54.180 -> 22:55.760] This is on the spot.
[22:55.760 -> 22:58.000] So I really, there's no prepping this.
[22:58.000 -> 22:59.440] We did not discuss this pre-plot,
[22:59.440 -> 23:00.900] but this is a great question.
[23:02.080 -> 23:07.080] My first prediction is that the only big talking points
[23:07.600 -> 23:09.640] that are kind of come out of the Red Bull launch
[23:09.640 -> 23:11.240] have to do with Daniel Riccardo.
[23:14.560 -> 23:16.920] Amazing, because my first prediction
[23:16.920 -> 23:21.040] is that Daniel Riccardo will emcee the Red Bull launch.
[23:21.040 -> 23:21.880] I think he will host the event.
[23:21.880 -> 23:23.360] Well, that would make us really enjoyable.
[23:23.360 -> 23:25.680] So, I hope that's the case. I think that would make it really enjoyable. So I
[23:25.680 -> 23:30.320] hope I hope that's the case. Wow. Okay. So my second
[23:30.320 -> 23:35.420] prediction is that in the entire McLaren launch, like stream show
[23:35.420 -> 23:38.160] whatever they end up doing, I think Oscar is going to end up
[23:38.160 -> 23:43.360] saying less than 60 seconds worth of words collectively. And
[23:43.840 -> 23:46.760] it's just because I think he's new and shy.
[23:46.760 -> 23:52.280] But I do think that he has lacked words in content
[23:52.280 -> 23:54.800] overall since he's been announced as a McLaren driver.
[23:54.800 -> 23:56.680] I think they're going to really lean on Lando.
[23:59.600 -> 24:03.600] For the Alpine launch, I do not think
[24:03.600 -> 24:06.560] Pierre or Esteban will say anything about the other
[24:06.560 -> 24:10.960] besides he's a really great driver, excited to have him as part of the team.
[24:10.960 -> 24:17.560] We have my OLI for this, so if we were doing 4, it was going to be that Pierre and Esteban
[24:17.560 -> 24:21.600] are going to have an imaginary ruler between them the whole time.
[24:21.600 -> 24:24.560] They're not going to get too close!
[24:24.560 -> 24:25.560] That's why I said that in words. I was like, what can I say besides they're not going to get too close. That's how I said that in words.
[24:25.560 -> 24:27.440] I was like, what can I say besides like,
[24:27.440 -> 24:29.080] they're not going to look at each other?
[24:29.080 -> 24:31.760] Yeah, they're only going to acknowledge the other
[24:31.760 -> 24:32.960] by saying, he's a great driver.
[24:32.960 -> 24:33.840] It'll be respectful.
[24:33.840 -> 24:36.520] It'll be straightforward, but that'll be it.
[24:36.520 -> 24:38.080] Right.
[24:38.080 -> 24:40.960] And my third one is that I think the Mercedes car
[24:40.960 -> 24:45.940] during the launch is going to look like the Mercedes car during
[24:42.000 -> 24:47.940] the launch is going to look
[24:46.040 -> 24:49.940] like the 2022 car.
[24:48.040 -> 24:51.940] Hold on.
[24:50.040 -> 24:52.140] This was about to be not about
[24:52.040 -> 24:53.940] cars.
[24:52.240 -> 24:55.940] Okay.
[24:54.040 -> 24:57.940] I'll change my third one.
[24:56.040 -> 24:59.940] What's your third one?
[24:58.040 -> 25:01.940] You give me a task and then you
[25:00.040 -> 25:10.720] don't do your task. Do we want to make a Ferrari prediction or an Aston Martin prediction?
[25:10.720 -> 25:20.000] Oh, I predict that Aston Martin and McLaren's launches will be within one hour of each other.
[25:20.000 -> 25:31.520] And I think McLaren will go first, but announce their time second. Damn it, because when you just said my third prediction wasn't valid, that's what I had
[25:31.520 -> 25:32.520] in my head.
[25:32.520 -> 25:35.520] What is going to be?
[25:35.520 -> 25:36.520] Yes, 100%.
[25:36.520 -> 25:54.000] I don't think they're communicating with each other. Okay, I'll make, then I'll, my actual third prediction, because I can't just say, yeah,
[25:54.000 -> 25:58.880] me too, will be, I'll stay with Aston Martin.
[25:58.880 -> 26:07.160] I think well over 60% of the Aston Martin launch is going to focus on Fernando Alonso.
[26:07.160 -> 26:09.360] And I think Lance is going to love that.
[26:09.360 -> 26:10.360] I think he's going to be-
[26:10.360 -> 26:11.360] I'm so thrilled for Fernando.
[26:11.360 -> 26:12.360] Right.
[26:12.360 -> 26:14.240] I think Fernando will be very excited about it.
[26:14.240 -> 26:19.600] And I think Lance, who I argue just doesn't like to be on camera, is going to think it's
[26:19.600 -> 26:23.960] wonderful that everyone's going to just focus on Fernando.
[26:23.960 -> 26:27.040] Mmm, close enough.
[26:27.040 -> 26:32.040] Mohammed bin Salam gave a quote in an article with AMUS
[26:32.240 -> 26:36.560] about how he is predicting another big manufacturer
[26:36.560 -> 26:39.940] is going to make a play to join the sport in the next week.
[26:41.000 -> 26:43.560] And a lot of people went, oh, Ford.
[26:43.560 -> 26:44.560] And I don't think it's Ford
[26:44.560 -> 26:46.120] because we'll talk about that in a minute.
[26:46.120 -> 26:48.280] Like Ford is talking about coming in as a sponsor,
[26:48.280 -> 26:49.820] not as a manufacturer,
[26:49.820 -> 26:51.560] but this is all in the context of a quote
[26:51.560 -> 26:55.720] where he's talking about the value of having GM in F1.
[26:55.720 -> 26:58.520] And he's like, oh, and there's gonna be another one.
[26:58.520 -> 27:00.220] He's setting up a tease.
[27:03.080 -> 27:03.920] So-
[27:03.920 -> 27:04.740] He's making an announcement
[27:04.740 -> 27:07.000] that there will be an announcement!
[27:07.000 -> 27:14.420] Which is my favorite F1 play is, hey we're gonna have an announcement, and then they
[27:14.420 -> 27:17.940] make the announcement that there's a date for the announcement, and then there's an
[27:17.940 -> 27:18.940] announcement.
[27:18.940 -> 27:19.940] It's infuriating.
[27:19.940 -> 27:26.480] It is the most inefficient way to announce anything.
[27:27.600 -> 27:32.080] And again, I think it's another set of, you know, receiving quotes. And it's like, cool, great.
[27:32.800 -> 27:37.600] Like, we understand your perspective is really gung-ho about the expansion and,
[27:37.600 -> 27:41.680] you know, people throwing their hat in the ring and all this stuff. Super cool.
[27:41.680 -> 27:46.140] You're still not addressing any of the actual concerns
[27:46.140 -> 27:50.940] that the teams are presenting, which are very valid.
[27:50.940 -> 27:54.060] I just don't know how to speculate on this story.
[27:54.060 -> 27:56.240] Like he gave me nothing to work with here,
[27:56.240 -> 27:58.560] except maybe a new manufacturer,
[27:58.560 -> 28:02.820] which I guess would be good, maybe.
[28:02.820 -> 28:03.800] Tell me more.
[28:03.800 -> 28:05.400] I kind of just have ended the story with,
[28:05.400 -> 28:06.820] tell me more, please.
[28:07.720 -> 28:08.560] Please.
[28:08.560 -> 28:10.880] And then let's move on to talking about other things
[28:10.880 -> 28:12.920] that are less vague.
[28:14.000 -> 28:17.540] So while maybe less vague,
[28:18.560 -> 28:23.560] Ford is sending influencers to cover the Red Bull car launch
[28:23.680 -> 28:25.000] in New York City.
[28:25.400 -> 28:26.240] Ford is not-
[28:26.240 -> 28:27.080] Allegedly.
[28:27.080 -> 28:29.160] Sorry, allegedly.
[28:29.160 -> 28:32.900] Ford is sending influencers, not Ford influencers,
[28:32.900 -> 28:37.500] selected influencers to go to the Red Bull launch
[28:37.500 -> 28:40.060] in New York City on their behalf.
[28:40.060 -> 28:45.000] Now, Ford not announced as a sponsor,
[28:45.440 -> 28:49.480] but this is basically announcing them as a sponsor.
[28:50.640 -> 28:54.320] Because can you think of a reason why Ford would pay
[28:54.320 -> 28:56.840] to send influencers to an event
[28:56.840 -> 28:59.940] if they had no financial skin in this game?
[29:01.680 -> 29:02.920] No.
[29:02.920 -> 29:04.360] Right, exactly. No, I don't.
[29:04.360 -> 29:10.800] So yeah, I'm left in a place where either these rumors are wrong and Ford is sending
[29:10.800 -> 29:17.640] influencers on a trip to New York to do something else, completely detached to the Red Bull event,
[29:17.640 -> 29:22.480] or there's going to be some big announcement about Ford badging Red Bull power trains.
[29:22.480 -> 29:23.960] I'm hoping it's the latter.
[29:23.960 -> 29:25.200] That just sounds really exciting.
[29:25.840 -> 29:30.640] Even though they're not all, it's just a sponsorship deal. And I've generally been
[29:30.640 -> 29:39.040] on the record that like sponsorship deals have to do a lot to excite me. But launching your 2023 car
[29:39.040 -> 29:44.960] in New York City with Ford, which is a historic engine supplier in Formula One,
[29:45.000 -> 29:46.400] with Ford, which is a historic engine supplier in Formula One.
[29:47.240 -> 29:50.480] That's exciting. That is doing enough to get me excited.
[29:50.480 -> 29:53.160] Yeah, I want Daniel Ricciardo's gonna like drive
[29:53.160 -> 29:58.160] into this launch in a Ford Raptor or like a Ford Bronco
[29:59.040 -> 30:01.600] and be like, surprise, we're all new here.
[30:01.600 -> 30:04.280] It's like, I'm not the only new face that you'll see
[30:04.280 -> 30:05.320] in the paddock.
[30:05.320 -> 30:11.320] Like yeah, of course, they're going to throw its incredible PR across the board of you're
[30:11.320 -> 30:17.600] going to have Ricardo in like a Ford trucker hat, probably like a Ford bomber jacket. You
[30:17.600 -> 30:20.720] know, if the Bills didn't lose, there would have been a Bills jersey, but instead they're
[30:20.720 -> 30:25.680] going to, it's going to be an announcement of a beloved American brand
[30:25.680 -> 30:29.400] with a beloved Australian fake American face
[30:30.360 -> 30:33.360] and be like, we're here, we're new and we're here, love us.
[30:35.080 -> 30:37.520] I love that the solution to everything Red Bull
[30:37.520 -> 30:40.000] pertaining to PR is, I don't know,
[30:40.000 -> 30:42.840] have Daniel ride something.
[30:42.840 -> 30:45.200] It's like, have Daniel ride a horse,
[30:45.200 -> 30:46.640] have Daniel ride a motorcycle,
[30:46.640 -> 30:49.860] have Daniel ride a car in, whatever it is,
[30:49.860 -> 30:53.320] it's just put the man in a funny outfit
[30:53.320 -> 30:56.360] on a thing that moves and everyone just cheers.
[30:56.360 -> 30:57.200] It's like, yay!
[30:57.200 -> 30:59.240] The internet is very excited,
[30:59.240 -> 31:04.000] AKA me, was very excited when Red Bull posts a TikTok
[31:04.000 -> 31:07.420] of just Daniel sitting there filming
[31:07.420 -> 31:13.040] himself with a Red Bull beanie on and he's just smiling like a goofball. And my brain
[31:13.040 -> 31:17.440] goes, this is incredible. This is great. This is the I cannot imagine the shares and engagement
[31:17.440 -> 31:28.000] and saves that this video got because it was he's back home. It's so cute to see Daniel Ricardo, which is why he will be the face to announce
[31:28.000 -> 31:31.520] for joining the Red Bull family.
[31:31.520 -> 31:36.240] In my head, Red Bull is a more American team than Haas.
[31:37.280 -> 31:39.760] I agree, but I think that's because
[31:39.760 -> 31:42.120] if you ask more Americans,
[31:42.120 -> 31:44.720] most Americans that I know, if I said to you,
[31:44.720 -> 31:48.520] have you heard of Red Bull or Haas?
[31:48.520 -> 31:50.580] They'd be like, what's a Haas?
[31:50.580 -> 31:51.560] And then Red Bull, they'll be like,
[31:51.560 -> 31:52.920] yeah, it gives you wings.
[31:52.920 -> 31:55.240] And that we call brand recognition.
[31:57.360 -> 31:58.520] Okay, you have to give me a minute
[31:58.520 -> 32:01.680] because I need to look up the engagement on this TikTok.
[32:01.680 -> 32:04.640] I know, I was literally about to go do that,
[32:05.960 -> 32:07.720] but then I was like, how important?
[32:07.720 -> 32:11.000] But I'm very curious of the,
[32:11.000 -> 32:13.240] even the view count difference.
[32:13.240 -> 32:15.640] Red Bull's TikTok is really all over the place
[32:15.640 -> 32:20.640] with like view counts and like all the things.
[32:21.000 -> 32:28.160] But I would say upon looking at this for five minutes, they have, they average
[32:28.160 -> 32:37.600] about 900,000 views on a TikTok that doesn't completely flop. And this, and they post like
[32:37.600 -> 32:45.760] three times a week, maybe, like that's about the average here. Well, I'm talking off season as well.
[32:45.760 -> 32:47.600] I think they post more in season.
[32:47.600 -> 32:52.360] And the Daniel Ricardo TikTok that was posted 11 hours ago
[32:52.360 -> 32:54.280] at the time of recording this,
[32:54.280 -> 32:55.560] which by the way, now you can figure out
[32:55.560 -> 33:00.160] when we record this, already has 700,000 views.
[33:00.160 -> 33:05.280] So it's basically hit their average in 12 hours.
[33:07.680 -> 33:08.400] And I'm only like 50% of those.
[33:16.480 -> 33:18.960] Did you see that Christian Horner finally gave public quotes about the team's opposition to the Andretti saga that we're watching?
[33:20.240 -> 33:27.360] And it was a beautiful like presentation, basically, hitting very solid points of the
[33:27.360 -> 33:31.840] team's perspective and just what they're asking for.
[33:31.840 -> 33:38.240] I think the greatest power duo in F1, the reason they are counter to each other is because
[33:38.240 -> 33:40.180] they would be too powerful together.
[33:40.180 -> 33:42.180] And that is Toto and Christian.
[33:42.180 -> 33:45.560] And I love that Toto and Christian are working together on something.
[33:45.560 -> 33:50.320] And of course, the first quotes are like, wow.
[33:50.320 -> 33:55.000] They're so to the point and well,
[33:55.000 -> 33:56.620] we're talking a lot about the quotes,
[33:56.620 -> 33:58.200] but that's saying what the quotes are.
[33:58.200 -> 34:00.600] So if you didn't see the quotes, he basically
[34:00.600 -> 34:03.480] outlined that they don't personally
[34:03.480 -> 34:06.560] have a financial incentive for their business,
[34:06.560 -> 34:08.520] which is the franchise of the teams,
[34:08.520 -> 34:09.720] to have another team in.
[34:09.720 -> 34:12.980] And they haven't seen or received any information
[34:12.980 -> 34:15.480] to prove that the investment that Andretti and Cadillac
[34:15.480 -> 34:20.240] are putting into the sport is going to help grow the sport
[34:20.240 -> 34:23.400] in a way that would offset the financial ramifications
[34:23.400 -> 34:24.840] of adding another sport.
[34:24.840 -> 34:27.840] Because the way this works is that all the teams divide the pot of money.
[34:28.400 -> 34:32.480] So adding another team means instead of dividing by 10, we're dividing by 11.
[34:32.480 -> 34:36.480] And that would mean less money for every individual team.
[34:37.040 -> 34:42.640] So it's always made a lot of sense to me that if Andretti wants to be an 11th team,
[34:42.640 -> 34:46.260] they need to come in with a marketing and growth plan
[34:46.260 -> 34:47.960] that they would put in place that says,
[34:47.960 -> 34:49.560] hey, us joining as a team,
[34:49.560 -> 34:51.480] here are all the things we're gonna do
[34:51.480 -> 34:55.000] in order to make sure that we grow the collective pot.
[34:55.000 -> 34:57.400] And so right now the teams are saying no,
[34:57.400 -> 35:00.240] except for the teams that are getting something financially.
[35:00.240 -> 35:03.940] So Christian in there says we're getting,
[35:03.940 -> 35:06.680] like the eight teams are opposed to it. So as a reminder
[35:07.680 -> 35:13.300] McLaren has a financial relationship already with Andre D and their their friends over in Indy
[35:13.440 -> 35:20.720] So there's a financial investment there and then Alpine would supply engines so they would get
[35:21.720 -> 35:28.900] Additional revenue from this team coming on the grid. The eight other teams are like, great, we're not getting anything except for a
[35:28.900 -> 35:32.540] couple million dollars, which is wild when you talk about sports and I just
[35:32.540 -> 35:34.180] casually said a couple million dollars.
[35:35.460 -> 35:41.780] But in the scale of the business, it's not enough to offset the potential
[35:41.780 -> 35:46.600] losses unless Andretti, I hate, I've just sat here and explained all the reasons
[35:46.600 -> 35:48.320] why Christian Horner is right.
[35:48.320 -> 35:49.720] Like I know this is podcast too,
[35:49.720 -> 35:51.480] but to anyone who knows me in real life,
[35:51.480 -> 35:54.660] like did it just freeze over?
[35:56.440 -> 35:58.020] This has been a weird day.
[35:58.960 -> 36:01.160] It's definitely been a weird day.
[36:01.160 -> 36:04.080] And something else that I think just really stood out
[36:04.080 -> 36:05.480] of the way Christian's making
[36:05.480 -> 36:08.680] these statements, and I'm not saying this because Christian made these statements, but
[36:08.680 -> 36:14.080] I think there's a lot of when the Andretti name was thrown in the ring of this is who's
[36:14.080 -> 36:18.960] going to, you know, come in and a lot of talk was, oh, well, we've seen the Andretti family
[36:18.960 -> 36:23.440] attempt to do this before and it was an utter failure. We've seen them, you know, this Michael
[36:23.440 -> 36:25.320] Andretti try to come in.
[36:25.320 -> 36:28.240] Christian Horner is able to phrase this in a way that's
[36:28.240 -> 36:31.000] like in a very respectful way to the Andretti family,
[36:31.000 -> 36:34.320] like done great things for our sport.
[36:34.320 -> 36:37.000] He wanted to make it very clear that it's not coming
[36:37.000 -> 36:39.040] as a personal attack to the Andretti family
[36:39.040 -> 36:41.400] because I think a very large part of this was
[36:41.400 -> 36:44.360] a lot of people just saying they don't want Andretti
[36:44.360 -> 36:48.720] coming in because we've already seen that it doesn't work. But he presented it in a really good
[36:48.720 -> 36:55.680] way and I think of one of, you know, not that some team principals' views or team bosses'
[36:55.680 -> 37:00.680] views matter more than others, but he understands his, he comes with a lot of power there when
[37:00.680 -> 37:03.640] he can, you know, be saying how certain people feel.
[37:03.640 -> 37:06.000] There's this thing called the Concord Agreement which is basically all the
[37:06.000 -> 37:09.440] teams and FOM and FIA are like here are the
[37:09.440 -> 37:14.400] rules and the agreement to all work together for this period of
[37:14.400 -> 37:17.680] time. Interestingly the next this Concord
[37:17.680 -> 37:21.440] Agreement is up before the 2026 season so not only
[37:21.440 -> 37:24.400] in 2026 are we getting new engine regulations likely new
[37:24.400 -> 37:25.360] aero regulations,
[37:25.360 -> 37:29.840] which will should be an evolution of these, but we're also going to get a new Concorde Agreement.
[37:29.840 -> 37:35.920] And in the last Concorde Agreement, they decided, and notably this was before the boom of F1
[37:35.920 -> 37:43.040] interest, they decided in order to expand the grid, any new entrants would need to pay $200
[37:43.040 -> 37:45.800] million to join the grid.
[37:45.800 -> 37:48.520] They also decided at the time to cap the number
[37:48.520 -> 37:50.240] of possible teams on the grid,
[37:50.240 -> 37:53.680] but it was basically just putting in a price in place.
[37:53.680 -> 37:56.880] But that price of $200 million up front
[37:56.880 -> 38:01.880] was based on the evaluation of the F1 team cost
[38:02.540 -> 38:05.000] from like the mid 2010s.
[38:06.120 -> 38:08.200] And we're in a completely different place right now.
[38:08.200 -> 38:10.100] Like races weren't selling then.
[38:10.100 -> 38:12.640] Like they had issues, like they,
[38:12.640 -> 38:16.240] the evaluation of F1 is astronomically bigger.
[38:16.240 -> 38:19.620] So the teams are worth so much more.
[38:19.620 -> 38:24.620] And if a team is able to enter the grid for $200 million,
[38:25.000 -> 38:26.500] if a team is able to enter the grid for $200 million,
[38:28.740 -> 38:31.140] then that is setting the price for every other franchise on the grid.
[38:31.140 -> 38:34.500] It means that the price of Mercedes can't be 2 billion.
[38:34.500 -> 38:36.880] They can't evaluate that team at 2 billion
[38:36.880 -> 38:39.800] because, hey, that team over there is only 200 million.
[38:39.800 -> 38:42.260] It brings down the value of all of it.
[38:42.260 -> 38:46.960] And it's just based on a outdated financial evaluation.
[38:46.960 -> 38:49.420] So what the teams are not saying,
[38:49.420 -> 38:51.200] the teams are very clearly not saying,
[38:51.200 -> 38:52.460] we don't want Andretti.
[38:52.460 -> 38:55.240] They're saying, we don't want another team.
[38:55.240 -> 38:57.640] And especially not at this price.
[38:57.640 -> 38:59.980] Like if that price is gonna go up
[38:59.980 -> 39:03.760] and they want to put the entry fee at a higher price,
[39:03.760 -> 39:08.120] I think you'll see the team's moods change dramatically
[39:08.120 -> 39:08.960] because they'll be like,
[39:08.960 -> 39:11.800] great, that is an evaluation for my financial asset
[39:11.800 -> 39:13.280] that I can get behind.
[39:13.280 -> 39:15.080] Which actually connects really well to the conversation
[39:15.080 -> 39:18.200] we were having last week about the FIA president's quotes
[39:18.200 -> 39:20.940] about the evaluation of F1 at whole.
[39:20.940 -> 39:22.920] Copy paste that conversation here.
[39:22.920 -> 39:25.360] We're dealing with financial assets that people
[39:25.360 -> 39:30.240] own. And they do not want to do anything that brings down the value of that asset. Which
[39:30.240 -> 39:35.680] is why we started this conversation talking about Andretti needs to come and prove that
[39:35.680 -> 39:39.960] they are going to be an asset. That they're going to bring up the overall evaluation of
[39:39.960 -> 39:44.880] Formula 1. And it doesn't, like, you can take the name Andretti out of it. Let's just say
[39:44.880 -> 39:46.160] it wasn't Andretti. And there wasn't Andretti out of it. Let's just say it wasn't Andretti. And there
[39:46.160 -> 39:49.400] wasn't that emotional tie for fans there. Let's just say GM
[39:49.480 -> 39:53.160] came in and was like, I want to buy a team. They would be we
[39:53.160 -> 39:56.080] would be having the same conversation right now. Great.
[39:56.120 -> 39:57.800] What are you going to bring to the sport? How are you going to
[39:57.800 -> 40:00.000] financially invest in it? And hey, by the way, we want more
[40:00.000 -> 40:00.840] than $200 million.
[40:02.120 -> 40:06.660] Mohammed's been very passionate about, you know, the bringing on of another
[40:06.660 -> 40:11.180] manufacturer and all of these things and, you know, tweeting about the process and
[40:11.180 -> 40:16.680] there will be a process and this process is a $200 million bid and then tweets
[40:16.680 -> 40:22.360] about F1 not being worth $20 billion.
[40:23.840 -> 40:28.800] So is he, are we trying to, do we feel like his statements about the
[40:28.800 -> 40:34.080] valuation of F1 could all be then tied back to, well he's reinforcing that the bid into
[40:34.080 -> 40:40.800] F1, or joining F1, is currently capped or is seen at 200 million dollars. So in order
[40:40.800 -> 40:45.060] for that pitch of we're going to have more teams be able to join,
[40:45.060 -> 40:47.020] this is the bid, this is the process,
[40:47.020 -> 40:50.680] then there is no way that F1 can be worth $20 billion.
[40:50.680 -> 40:55.040] So he needs to say, this is an overinflated price
[40:55.040 -> 40:58.800] because we're gonna have teams come in for $200 million.
[40:58.800 -> 41:00.280] I'm sure it's all connected.
[41:00.280 -> 41:02.880] And I'm also sure there are so many conversations
[41:02.880 -> 41:04.240] happening behind the scenes about this
[41:04.240 -> 41:05.500] that we're not seeing. I will throw in there are so many conversations happening behind the scenes about this that we're not seeing.
[41:05.500 -> 41:10.300] I will throw in there, as an added note to everything you just said,
[41:10.300 -> 41:14.300] because I thought it was a perfect line of thinking there,
[41:14.300 -> 41:19.300] that the FIA makes flat fees based on entries.
[41:19.300 -> 41:26.720] So the FIA's revenue will go up if there are more drivers and more teams on the grid.
[41:28.720 -> 41:33.720] So we're dealing with an organization that's like, more is more to me.
[41:34.000 -> 41:38.200] And everyone else is talking about less is more to me.
[41:39.200 -> 41:41.480] So it all comes back to money.
[41:41.480 -> 41:44.320] The answer to all the questions here is money.
[41:44.880 -> 41:45.080] And if you follow the money, that is the answer. It all comes back to money. The answer to all the questions here is money.
[41:45.080 -> 41:48.440] And if you follow the money, that is the answer.
[41:48.440 -> 41:51.160] And not to say that, I mean, again, 2026,
[41:51.160 -> 41:54.400] we don't know that the Audi way works,
[41:54.400 -> 41:57.680] but right now it just seems like a lot more
[41:57.680 -> 42:02.340] of a smoother entrance into the sport than Andretti's is.
[42:04.960 -> 42:08.240] It all just screams, get these people in a room
[42:08.240 -> 42:10.400] with no distractions though.
[42:10.400 -> 42:12.280] Because I think if Andretti
[42:12.280 -> 42:14.360] and whoever's in charge of it with GM
[42:14.360 -> 42:17.240] sat in a room with all the teams and Liberty Media
[42:17.240 -> 42:18.880] and even if the FIA was there
[42:18.880 -> 42:21.040] and they all just talked about it.
[42:23.120 -> 42:24.320] Again, we don't know the conversations
[42:24.320 -> 42:25.280] going on behind the scenes. So this
[42:25.280 -> 42:30.160] could be happening and I could be really wrong. But the teams clearly want more information that
[42:30.160 -> 42:35.760] they're not getting. So if you are an Andretti fan, or a GM fan, and you are hoping they come
[42:35.760 -> 42:41.920] into the sport, if I was you, I would be yelling at them to go talk to the teams. Because really
[42:41.920 -> 42:45.920] what corners comments here are, I just need to know how
[42:45.920 -> 42:47.440] you're going to improve this.
[42:47.440 -> 42:52.880] Tell me what you're going to do, which screams to me like they haven't been told a clear
[42:52.880 -> 42:54.200] plan.
[42:54.200 -> 42:56.600] So who is not passing that plan along?
[42:56.600 -> 42:58.840] Hmm, close enough.
[42:58.840 -> 43:03.720] All right, today's been a big week of Google Translate, Corners.
[43:03.720 -> 43:08.640] We got at least three articles that all came out the same day.
[43:08.640 -> 43:11.320] I believe it was Monday-ish.
[43:11.320 -> 43:14.260] All interviews with the new team principal of Ferrari.
[43:14.260 -> 43:18.540] It was a very coordinated PR effort of, hello,
[43:18.540 -> 43:21.740] meet the new Ferrari team principal.
[43:21.740 -> 43:25.000] And I read them all via Google Translate,
[43:26.100 -> 43:27.740] hence the name of this segment.
[43:30.100 -> 43:31.860] And I mean, there was nothing revolutionary.
[43:31.860 -> 43:33.380] He was just talking about how like
[43:33.380 -> 43:34.980] the team has everything they need
[43:34.980 -> 43:37.660] and they're gonna do everything they can to win.
[43:37.660 -> 43:41.020] And I thought that he handled whoever,
[43:41.020 -> 43:42.700] he's been in motorsport for so long.
[43:42.700 -> 43:44.140] He's also been a team principal before.
[43:44.140 -> 43:49.400] So he knows how to work the press and give the right quotes that can create headlines for
[43:49.400 -> 43:56.000] people but also things that aren't inflammatory and would be bad back at the factory.
[43:56.000 -> 44:01.720] I don't know, did you learn or gain anything from the push of Ferrari PR?
[44:01.720 -> 44:08.960] No, it definitely, it had Ferrari Sprinkle PR all over it. I think he did a great job
[44:08.960 -> 44:15.920] but also what do people really expect him to say to right now? You know, I think we make a lot of
[44:15.920 -> 44:22.320] jokes about, you know, according to Ferrari, Ferrari's gonna be really fast. He did a good job
[44:22.320 -> 44:27.400] of saying we've made improvements but you know some of the rumors that you heard are not true.
[44:27.400 -> 44:31.540] So I was like, okay, good on you to get ahead of that
[44:31.540 -> 44:33.060] and acknowledge that.
[44:33.060 -> 44:36.800] I think he also handled, I was very curious about,
[44:36.800 -> 44:38.020] and I knew it wouldn't be long,
[44:38.020 -> 44:41.860] a media outlet asking him specifically about Charles
[44:41.860 -> 44:44.880] and given their long relationship
[44:44.880 -> 44:45.020] and the question of him being a number one driver, specifically about Charles and you know given their long relationship and
[44:46.040 -> 44:53.200] the question of you know him being a number one driver number but again handled in a very great Ferrari way of
[44:53.580 -> 44:57.600] They're both held the same if we feel like one is able to win
[44:57.600 -> 45:02.920] Then that's how we'll prioritize that and also shutting down that we are not here to talk about my relationship with Charles
[45:02.920 -> 45:09.340] we're here to talk about Ferrari and our future and what we think of making changes for.
[45:09.780 -> 45:13.520] So again, nothing that was a surprise.
[45:13.520 -> 45:17.880] It just felt a lot like Ferrari PR.
[45:17.880 -> 45:20.080] We didn't get anything from it at all.
[45:20.080 -> 45:20.920] No nuance.
[45:20.920 -> 45:22.260] Nothing inflammatory for sure.
[45:23.200 -> 45:27.360] Yeah, for added context there, cause I know I said multiple publications.
[45:27.360 -> 45:32.440] It was the BBC AMU S which is the German, uh, publication that covers F1.
[45:32.440 -> 45:35.920] And I'm going to really try, but it's like deep, which is the French
[45:35.920 -> 45:38.200] publication that covers F1 and please.
[45:38.200 -> 45:39.160] I took no French.
[45:39.200 -> 45:39.960] I took Spanish.
[45:39.960 -> 45:40.960] Please don't make fun of me.
[45:41.840 -> 45:47.360] Um, but yeah, I, I will come in here with my bias
[45:47.360 -> 45:48.440] in that teammate battle.
[45:48.440 -> 45:49.860] And I think closer to the season,
[45:49.860 -> 45:52.600] we'll probably do a whole episode of which horse
[45:52.600 -> 45:54.000] we're backing on each team.
[45:54.000 -> 45:58.040] But I mean, my bias is that I support Carlos.
[45:58.040 -> 46:00.040] But I thought it was very interesting
[46:00.040 -> 46:03.080] that Ferrari continued to say what they've always said,
[46:03.080 -> 46:06.580] which is the priority is Ferrari.
[46:06.580 -> 46:11.200] Ferrari wants to win the Constructors. They will do whatever they can to win the Constructors.
[46:11.200 -> 46:15.660] If one of their drivers wins the drivers, as a result of that, I think they'll be very
[46:15.660 -> 46:21.260] happy, but it doesn't seem to be a priority. And I don't think they communicated that well
[46:21.260 -> 46:25.300] last year. I don't know if this shows that they're going to
[46:25.300 -> 46:29.740] communicate that better, but if I was them, I think the mistake
[46:29.740 -> 46:33.040] Ferrari always makes in PR is not just being upfront about it
[46:33.240 -> 46:36.160] because it seems behind the scenes, they're very upfront
[46:36.160 -> 46:37.040] with their drivers.
[46:37.520 -> 46:41.880] Like Carlos and Charles don't seem like upset with
[46:41.920 -> 46:43.520] the lack of backing.
[46:44.160 -> 46:46.680] Like Charles hasn't really come out ever and been like,
[46:46.680 -> 46:47.880] no, no, no, they need to back me.
[46:47.880 -> 46:49.040] I need to be the number one driver.
[46:49.040 -> 46:50.900] Treat me like Max.
[46:50.900 -> 46:52.640] And I think if he was as disgruntled
[46:52.640 -> 46:56.320] as some people like to claim, he would say that more.
[46:56.320 -> 47:01.200] So everyone in Ferrari knows it's about Ferrari.
[47:01.200 -> 47:06.080] It is definitely the only team in F1 that feels to be that way,
[47:07.040 -> 47:11.680] but that's how they operate. I also thought it was interesting. Things I didn't know,
[47:12.240 -> 47:18.560] Vassor added a lot of context actually to his relationship with Charles and with Carlos,
[47:18.560 -> 47:27.680] because apparently he was one of the key people who recruited Carlos to Renault and then tried to recruit him to Alfa
[47:27.680 -> 47:32.640] Romeo when he chose to go to McLaren instead. So clearly he's coming in as team principal with a
[47:32.640 -> 47:38.960] relationship with both drivers even though the like the most obvious relationship was that he
[47:38.960 -> 47:45.360] has been Charles's team principal before. But he clearly has a relationship with both of them. And I
[47:45.360 -> 47:49.440] think that's important to know. And what I would say to all the Charles fans in
[47:49.440 -> 47:55.540] the world, if he's the number one driver, go beat Carlos on track. Make it so
[47:55.540 -> 47:59.640] undeniable that you are the number one driver that this isn't even a
[47:59.640 -> 48:07.300] conversation. If this is a conversation, it means that Charles is not beating Carlos enough on track.
[48:07.300 -> 48:09.080] But again, I'm a Carlos fan.
[48:09.080 -> 48:10.080] This is my bias.
[48:10.080 -> 48:15.040] None of us want more teams to behave the way that Red Bull does.
[48:15.040 -> 48:20.680] It's no fun to have a number one driver and a driver we all know is there to lose.
[48:20.680 -> 48:24.440] It's like one of the best parts of F1 is that the teammates get to fight and they get to
[48:24.440 -> 48:27.000] fight it out on track and sometimes it goes a little too far.
[48:27.000 -> 48:31.000] That's part of the allure of all of this.
[48:31.000 -> 48:35.000] So like, no, don't name a number one driver.
[48:35.000 -> 48:40.000] And just one of them, pick the crap out of the other one. That's kind of how I feel about it.
[48:40.000 -> 48:45.280] That was a long rant. Anything I say there you want to add on to your goal?
[48:45.280 -> 48:47.040] Apologies.
[48:47.040 -> 48:51.000] No, I think every week it'll also be,
[48:51.000 -> 48:56.000] how is Ferrari reinforcing the Ferrari brand and being Ferrari?
[48:56.000 -> 49:00.120] And it seems like there is some type of public,
[49:00.120 -> 49:04.680] not brainwashing, but Carlos and Charles
[49:04.680 -> 49:09.000] being really good about not addressing the like battle of drivers and everything.
[49:09.400 -> 49:12.400] I agree with you that I think, you know, Charles,
[49:13.300 -> 49:17.000] they do a very good job in the media with Ferrari,
[49:17.000 -> 49:20.500] with drive to survive, with every way possible to frame
[49:20.500 -> 49:23.400] Charles as the beautiful token Ferrari boy.
[49:23.900 -> 49:27.140] But he's not necessarily beating Carlos.
[49:27.500 -> 49:28.740] Like, to your point.
[49:28.740 -> 49:32.740] So, you know, if he is
[49:33.540 -> 49:36.740] who he says he is or believes he's the driver that he believes he is,
[49:36.740 -> 49:39.440] then I don't know, perform and act like it.
[49:40.100 -> 49:41.440] You're right. It would be a conversation.
[49:41.440 -> 49:44.140] And then I guess, you know, some people will point to, well, you know,
[49:44.860 -> 49:47.160] they have communication issues.
[49:47.160 -> 49:52.800] And I'm like, yeah, but having three less people in a communication line in the pit
[49:52.800 -> 49:56.520] wall of having three less people making a decision, that's not preventing you from winning
[49:56.520 -> 49:58.200] the Constructor's Championship.
[49:58.200 -> 50:01.180] There's obviously a lot of other things going on there.
[50:01.180 -> 50:02.180] Is it playing a role?
[50:02.180 -> 50:03.180] Yeah, for sure.
[50:03.180 -> 50:04.180] Strategy is huge.
[50:04.180 -> 50:06.120] And we all, you know, the big joke last year is does Ferrari
[50:06.120 -> 50:08.760] have a strategy? We don't, right. And communication is
[50:08.760 -> 50:12.440] obviously a huge problem in that but that's not suddenly
[50:12.440 -> 50:16.760] gonna be the one fix of here's your constructors championship.
[50:16.760 -> 50:30.000] Alfa Romeo has a new sponsor and in F1 tradition, they're kind of sketchy because F1 loves a sketchy sponsor.
[50:30.000 -> 50:40.000] So this is a crypto gambling live streaming sponsor is how I would describe their business model.
[50:40.000 -> 50:47.200] They are associated with Drake. We are now back in the era of tobacco
[50:47.200 -> 50:52.000] sponsors where teams need different team names depending on the location we're
[50:52.000 -> 50:56.400] racing in because sometimes they're going to be Alfa Romeo Steak, sometimes
[50:56.400 -> 50:59.720] they're going to be Alfa Romeo Kicks, and sometimes they're just gonna be Alfa
[50:59.720 -> 51:10.120] Romeo. They have said that this is a record-breaking multi-year deal over under this lasting 365
[51:10.120 -> 51:11.120] days.
[51:11.120 -> 51:19.720] I mean, my immediate response is that it's got to be less, but I'm also very much falling
[51:19.720 -> 51:22.780] on the place of crypto bubble.
[51:22.780 -> 51:25.760] It's going to pop, we're going to see all of the, any crypto
[51:25.760 -> 51:34.320] related sponsor partner is just going to like fall away in F1, in sports overall.
[51:34.320 -> 51:39.000] It was just a very confusing announcement because it was again one of those like we
[51:39.000 -> 51:45.840] have big news and it was like this, our new title sponsor Stake and I was like, this is our new title sponsor, Stake. And I was like, who?
[51:45.840 -> 51:48.520] Then I click on it, I see Drake, and I'm like,
[51:48.520 -> 51:51.600] is Drake investing in Alfa Romeo?
[51:51.600 -> 51:54.840] And turns out Drake is, again, big gambling,
[51:54.840 -> 51:56.360] gives a lot of money in Stake.
[51:56.360 -> 52:01.000] So, but again, I don't understand the connection here
[52:01.000 -> 52:03.400] and whatever kick is.
[52:03.400 -> 52:09.740] So I pulled the list, because you you said it of crypto sponsors that have sponsorships that
[52:09.740 -> 52:11.440] have already failed in F1.
[52:11.440 -> 52:15.680] For TuroCoin and Red Bulls like ended in 2019.
[52:15.680 -> 52:21.640] IQ, ONIQ and Williams, McLaren and Sauber ended in 2020.
[52:21.640 -> 52:28.000] I'm sure there's a way to say that, but eh. Bitseed and McLaren ended in 21. FTX is
[52:28.640 -> 52:34.720] bankrupt, but somehow still signing deals with people. And Mercedes ended last year. And then
[52:34.720 -> 52:38.480] there's some stuff up in the air with Tezos and Red Bull. I think they're still a partner, but
[52:39.280 -> 52:46.540] we're not 100% sure. And then Ferrari and Vela's are going into litigation, which was their crypto sponsor.
[52:46.540 -> 52:51.380] So almost every team on the grid has had a crypto sponsorship that has fallen through.
[52:51.380 -> 52:56.980] This is not even mentioning the whole thing with Rocket and Williams that went into litigation
[52:56.980 -> 52:59.180] like a while ago.
[52:59.180 -> 53:02.840] So I just see a crypto sponsorship now.
[53:02.840 -> 53:05.840] And even if they say multi-year partnership, I just go, no way.
[53:05.840 -> 53:08.000] That's a one year and out deal.
[53:08.000 -> 53:12.560] And then something just to keep an eye out on, because again, this is also, again, more speculation,
[53:12.560 -> 53:17.200] because that's what we're in the season of, and since we've only been given Haas's Livery launch,
[53:17.200 -> 53:22.160] there was some discussion about, you know, it looked like a lot of partners have been removed from the car.
[53:22.160 -> 53:27.400] And I can't remember off the top of my head, one of the new logos appearing on the Haas's livery
[53:27.400 -> 53:31.020] was another crypto brand that I had never heard of.
[53:31.020 -> 53:32.960] Not Palm Angels, that was a clothing brand.
[53:32.960 -> 53:34.940] It was another one of the smaller ones on the side.
[53:34.940 -> 53:36.680] So maybe Haas is also then,
[53:36.680 -> 53:39.840] so then there's another crypto partner coming in.
[53:39.840 -> 53:42.020] Again, I also don't think it's gonna last long.
[53:42.020 -> 53:47.020] I think it'll be a short-lived stake in Alfa Romeo steak.
[53:48.700 -> 53:49.540] Da-da-da.
[53:51.440 -> 53:53.180] We'll be here every Thursday.
[53:53.180 -> 53:55.140] Yeah, Haas lost a lot of sponsors
[53:55.140 -> 53:57.420] because there was a decent amount that were there
[53:57.420 -> 53:58.340] because of Mick.
[53:58.340 -> 54:00.540] So like the Under Armour sponsorship is gone
[54:00.540 -> 54:04.820] and the 1&1, which is a German brand, is gone.
[54:04.820 -> 54:06.420] So yeah the I
[54:06.420 -> 54:10.260] have to admit that the Haas livery what I didn't mention when we were talking
[54:10.260 -> 54:15.600] about it before it did look a little sparse logo wise which makes for a great
[54:15.600 -> 54:21.080] livery but not a great financial situation for a team. Welcome to the
[54:21.080 -> 54:24.800] yellow sector notes not the fastest walk around F1 but we will complete a full
[54:24.800 -> 54:28.360] lap around the paddock hitting every F1 garage.
[54:28.360 -> 54:32.640] Helmet Marco gave pointed quotes on the FIA's ban on drivers making political statements
[54:32.640 -> 54:37.040] saying, quote, this decision is clearly wrong.
[54:37.040 -> 54:41.200] Ask anyone, Ferrari is back, because it's that time of the year.
[54:41.200 -> 54:47.060] Mercedes surprisingly did not burn the W13, per all fans' recommendations.
[54:47.060 -> 54:50.700] George and Lewis drove it this week for a Pirelli tire test.
[54:50.700 -> 54:54.840] Pierre was in Miami visiting Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Grand Prix.
[54:54.840 -> 54:59.060] He worked out in the Dolphins gym and lost a foot race to Dolphins wide receiver Tyree
[54:59.060 -> 55:00.060] Kill.
[55:00.060 -> 55:04.640] McLaren is borrowing the Mercedes Reserve drivers again this season, so we saw a photo
[55:04.640 -> 55:06.800] of a Schumacher and a McLaren this week.
[55:06.800 -> 55:08.320] It was weird.
[55:08.320 -> 55:13.960] Valtteri, while driving in the race of champions, was asked about the new FIA ban, and he gave
[55:13.960 -> 55:16.840] very pointed quotes aligning himself against it.
[55:16.840 -> 55:20.840] Lance attended a Montreal Canadiens hockey game this week, and Aston Martin shared seat
[55:20.840 -> 55:23.520] fits for both of their drivers.
[55:23.520 -> 55:25.560] Haas launched their car livery.
[55:25.560 -> 55:29.780] Mercedes also shared a photo of Mick's seat fit that same day.
[55:29.780 -> 55:33.360] Nick and his personal trainer were on the Alphatari podcast this week.
[55:33.360 -> 55:37.800] This is a formal plea for every team on the grid to start a podcast.
[55:37.800 -> 55:42.020] Williams leaked their own new sponsorship deal with Golf by making a partner page public
[55:42.020 -> 55:43.180] on their website.
[55:43.180 -> 55:46.080] If you missed it, check out the Wayback Machine.
[55:46.080 -> 55:49.000] That is the Gridwalk for February 2, 2023 completed.
[55:49.000 -> 55:51.240] How was my sector time today, Nicole?
[55:51.240 -> 55:53.240] You were faster than Anakin in a Podracer.
[55:53.240 -> 56:00.600] We want to give a huge thank you to VoiceOver Man, Pam from Spotify, and our four-legged
[56:00.600 -> 56:02.400] executive producers.
[56:02.400 -> 56:06.040] Make sure you turn on auto downloads and rate and review the pod.
[56:06.040 -> 56:09.560] Make sure to follow us on every single social media platform.
[56:09.560 -> 56:12.040] Be our friend, follow us at Gridwalk Show,
[56:12.040 -> 56:15.000] and we will be back every Thursday.
[56:15.000 -> 56:19.080] But man, today felt like a grid jog, not a grid walk.
[56:19.080 -> 56:20.880] Yeah, serious conversation stuff.
[56:22.400 -> 56:24.400] www.mytrendyphone.co.uk