Red Bull Dominance Deterring F1’s Growth? | The Eras Tour & IndyCar GP | Grid Walk April 20, 2023

On this episode Briana and Nicole are absolutely exhausted from their incredibly eventful weekends! Briana spent her weekend watching cars on track at the IndyCar Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Nicole returns from Florida after getting to experience Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour in person instead of just on a TikTok live!

The IndyCar Acura Grand Prix was a new race experience for Briana and she shares some insight how this race weekend compares to attending a Formula 1 Grand Prix! What is it like getting to explore the IndyCar Paddock? How does the IndyCar merchandise compare to the Formula 1 merchandise? What is the Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team doing that the Mclaren F1 Team isn’t?

There has been a lot of talk in the media that Oracle Red Bull Racing’s dominance in Formula 1 is hindering America’s interest and viewership of the sport. Briana and Nicole dive deep into the viewership data of the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix to get the real answer. Is the success of drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez doing more harm than good for Formula 1?

Nicole brings an exciting Gossip Grid this week! Besides Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team’s driver Lewis Hamilton attending, how was motorsports a part of the 2023 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival? Nicole shares everything we know so far about the upcoming Formula 1 movie that is in production with Lewis Hamilton and Brad Pitt. Is Drive to Survive going to be an Emmy Award winning show? What does the new partnership between Paramount+ and Formula 1 mean? The Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (part of the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour) was a Formula 1 start studded event with Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Toto Wolff, Susie Wolff, Nyck Devries, and Lando Norris all in attendance!

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

# Gridwalk: Exploring the Intersection of F1 and Pop Culture

- **Introduction:** Briana and Nicole discuss the significance of episode 13, coinciding with Taylor Swift's release of Speak Now (Taylor's Version). They reflect on the anticipation surrounding the album's release and the excitement within the Swiftie community.

- **IndyCar Experience:** Briana shares her recent experience attending the Long Beach Indy Grand Prix, where she witnessed historic F1 races featuring cars from the 1970s and 1980s. She highlights the unique opportunity to see F1 cars up close in the paddock and the accessibility of paddock passes.

- **Taylor Swift Concert:** Nicole recounts her unforgettable experience attending Taylor Swift's Eras Tour concert in Tampa. She praises the elaborate stage design, impressive visuals, and Taylor's energetic performance, emphasizing the overall spectacle of the show.

- **IndyCar vs. F1:** Briana compares her experiences at the IndyCar race and the F1 race, highlighting the differences in fan engagement and accessibility. She notes that IndyCar offers more behind-the-scenes access, cheaper paddock passes, and a greater variety of merchandise options.

- **McLaren Merch:** Briana expresses her disappointment with McLaren's merchandise, particularly the limited selection and high prices compared to other teams. She contrasts this with IndyCar, which offers a wider range of merchandise at more affordable prices.

- **Taylor Swift's Influence on F1:** Briana and Nicole speculate on how Taylor Swift might improve the fan experience at the Miami Grand Prix if she were consulted. They suggest incorporating more screens, enhancing the visual production, and potentially rerouting the track through Hard Rock Stadium to create an immersive experience for fans.

- **Taylor Swift's Energy Expenditure:** Briana and Nicole discuss the physical demands of Taylor Swift's performances, comparing them to the energy expenditure of F1 drivers during races. They acknowledge the strenuous nature of Taylor's three-hour concerts and the athleticism required to maintain such high energy levels throughout the show.

- **Red Bull's Dominance and F1's Growth:** Briana presents data on US viewership numbers and Google Trends search data to assess whether Red Bull's dominance is affecting F1's growth in the United States. The data indicates that viewership has remained stable or even increased despite Red Bull's success, suggesting that the sport's popularity continues to grow.

**Google Trends Data Analysis**

* Google search interest for Formula One has increased significantly since the introduction of the Netflix series "Drive to Survive."
* The peak search interest was observed at the start of the 2022 season, coinciding with the new regulations and the aftermath of the controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
* The 2023 season opener also witnessed a higher search interest than the peak of the 2021 season, indicating sustained interest despite Red Bull's dominance.
* Google search trends suggest that Formula One fans are primarily interested in technical and regulatory changes rather than on-track competitiveness.

**American Viewership and Perception of Formula One**

* The hosts discuss the perception that American audiences may not be interested in Formula One due to Red Bull's dominance.
* They argue that data does not support this assumption, as American viewership has remained strong despite Mercedes' previous dominance.
* The hosts emphasize that American sports fans are familiar with periods of dominance by certain teams and that this should not deter interest in Formula One.
* They also highlight the growing popularity of Formula One among young, diverse audiences, particularly women, who appreciate the sport's technical aspects and strategic elements.

**Coachella and Lewis Hamilton's Movie Involvement**

* The hosts discuss Lewis Hamilton's attendance at Coachella and his upcoming movie project with Brad Pitt, titled "Formula One."
* The movie will focus on an older retired driver mentoring a younger driver, with Brad Pitt playing the older driver and Jamson Idris cast as the younger driver.
* The film will be produced by Hamilton's production company, Don Apollo Films, and will utilize live action racing footage from various Grand Prix events.

**Other Formula One News and Updates**

* The hosts mention the participation of several Formula One drivers at the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters tennis tournament.
* They also discuss the upcoming Sports Emmys, where "Drive to Survive" has been nominated for two categories: Outstanding Documentary Series and Outstanding Audio and Sound.
* The first week viewership of "Drive to Survive" has increased by 40% year-over-year, indicating continued interest in the series.
* Paramount Plus has signed a full-season promotional deal with Formula One, which will include character appearances, branding, and signage at race events.

**Conclusion**

* The hosts reiterate that the data does not support the notion that American audiences are losing interest in Formula One due to Red Bull's dominance.
* They emphasize the importance of understanding the sport's appeal beyond on-track competitiveness and highlight the growing popularity among diverse audiences.
* The hosts encourage listeners to provide feedback, suggest topics for future discussions, and leave reviews to support the podcast.

* **The Allure of Formula One:** The hosts discuss the captivating nature of Formula One racing, attributing its popularity to the combination of speed, strategy, and technological advancements. They emphasize the thrill and adrenaline rush experienced by drivers and fans alike.

* **Grid Dance:** Klein and Katz introduce the concept of a "grid dance," a term used to describe the intricate ballet of drivers maneuvering their cars on the starting grid before the race begins. They highlight the significance of this moment, as it sets the stage for the intense competition that follows.

* **Team Dynamics:** The podcast explores the crucial role of teamwork in Formula One. The hosts discuss the complex dynamics within racing teams, emphasizing the importance of collaboration, communication, and mutual support. They delve into the strategies employed by teams to optimize performance and achieve success.

* **Technological Advancements:** Klein and Katz shed light on the constant technological advancements that shape Formula One racing. They discuss the relentless pursuit of innovation, focusing on the development of faster, more efficient, and safer cars. The hosts also highlight the role of data analysis and simulations in enhancing team performance.

* **Controversies and Rivalries:** The episode delves into the controversies and rivalries that have punctuated the history of Formula One. The hosts discuss notable incidents and heated rivalries between drivers and teams, emphasizing the intensity and passion that characterize the sport. They also explore the impact of these controversies on the overall narrative of Formula One.

* **The Human Element:** Klein and Katz underscore the significance of the human element in Formula One racing. They discuss the extraordinary skills and mental fortitude required to succeed in this demanding sport. The hosts highlight the importance of driver talent, strategic decision-making, and the ability to perform under immense pressure.

[00:00.000 -> 00:07.760] Brianna, it's our 13th episode. It is our 13th episode. This is where Taylor Swift and I on
[00:07.760 -> 00:14.160] Speak Now Taylor's version is out now. Yeah, because Gridwalk's on its 13th episode. 100%.
[00:14.160 -> 00:19.040] She was waiting until we hit episode number 13 to really release it because there's been so many
[00:19.760 -> 00:26.280] teasings. Cole and Brianna are lined up on the grid the grandest lights out. And away we go.
[00:26.280 -> 00:27.280] This week's grid vlog.
[00:27.280 -> 00:34.280] I was convinced she was going to announce it in Tampa this last weekend and that you
[00:34.280 -> 00:38.280] were going to be there either the night she announced it or I really thought she was going
[00:38.280 -> 00:41.360] to announce it on the 13th and then you were going to see her on Saturday and it was going
[00:41.360 -> 00:42.360] to be a whole thing.
[00:42.360 -> 00:45.400] Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.
[00:45.400 -> 00:50.400] So like, this is the new thing that is the worst, best part
[00:51.360 -> 00:54.060] of like being a Swiftie, Taylor Swift fan,
[00:54.060 -> 00:56.040] however you want to currently label yourself,
[00:56.040 -> 00:58.680] is the constant clowning of like really, really
[00:58.680 -> 01:02.240] believing things that like she never really does.
[01:02.240 -> 01:06.280] But you're like, yes, Like every week I'm convinced.
[01:06.280 -> 01:07.520] After it didn't happen Thursday,
[01:07.520 -> 01:10.180] I had a thousand reasons why it was gonna happen yesterday.
[01:10.180 -> 01:12.760] And it hasn't happened, but I'm just still like,
[01:12.760 -> 01:16.560] it's coming, but we had huge weekends.
[01:16.560 -> 01:19.680] I was really mostly manifesting for you.
[01:19.680 -> 01:22.020] Like I've just decided that she's never going
[01:22.020 -> 01:24.360] to announce it, but I was like, if she's gonna announce it,
[01:24.360 -> 01:27.200] it needs to be with Nicole is seeing her in concert.
[01:28.360 -> 01:30.640] Right, so she can do it in May.
[01:33.980 -> 01:38.980] But yes, we both had super busy, super eventful weekends.
[01:40.280 -> 01:42.040] You saw Taylor Swift.
[01:42.960 -> 01:47.000] Yes, and you saw cars on track, not F1 cars.
[01:47.000 -> 01:51.000] Well, I saw some F1 cars on track.
[01:51.000 -> 01:52.000] Oh, that's true, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:52.000 -> 01:57.000] Yeah, I went to the Long Beach Indy Grand Prix.
[01:57.000 -> 01:59.000] That is a mouthful.
[01:59.000 -> 02:02.000] So I saw Indy cars on track for the first time,
[02:02.000 -> 02:06.580] but they also had two historic F1 races.
[02:06.580 -> 02:09.640] So I got to see F1 cars from the seventies and eighties
[02:09.640 -> 02:12.140] racing around in a circle, which was really cool.
[02:13.560 -> 02:16.660] And I got to see Taylor Swift run around on stage
[02:16.660 -> 02:19.220] and sing songs I've heard a zillion million times.
[02:19.220 -> 02:21.600] And it was like, I had never heard them before.
[02:21.600 -> 02:23.760] So we really lived our best lives.
[02:23.760 -> 02:27.120] We both, thank God we have our voices back because Sunday's
[02:27.120 -> 02:30.900] voice notes to each other were like, really frightening for
[02:30.900 -> 02:33.800] whatever this episode could have sounded like.
[02:34.360 -> 02:36.800] It was rough, really rough.
[02:38.080 -> 02:44.280] Yeah, but it was well worth it. I we, you know, dedicated to the
[02:44.280 -> 02:47.480] cause committed to the bit we're gonna like be somewhere, do
[02:47.480 -> 02:52.360] something 110%. But man, are we exhausted.
[02:53.920 -> 02:58.200] Yeah. And I don't know if you're gonna be able to tell our energy
[02:58.200 -> 03:02.240] drain during this episode. Because I think we're like, I'm
[03:02.240 -> 03:10.440] drinking a Celsius, we're both we're just like gonna exhaust the last of our energy for this recording and that would be the end
[03:10.440 -> 03:17.480] of it but I'm I love full weekend excursions and like a three-day race
[03:17.480 -> 03:25.000] weekend and being at the track and I am so sunburned but all worth it. Really fun. Except the like,
[03:26.000 -> 03:29.920] like I'm in the Monday, Tuesday afterwards where I'm sad
[03:29.920 -> 03:34.640] because it's over and also so tired. So I think living in.
[03:36.880 -> 03:40.800] What would you say as, I guess like an F1 fan,
[03:40.800 -> 03:42.640] this was your first like IndyCar race,
[03:42.640 -> 03:48.840] their first kind of like non F1 race experience. What would you say the parts that like really stood out to you that you really
[03:48.840 -> 03:53.560] enjoyed that you think like maybe other F1 fans could like find some fun and enjoyment
[03:53.560 -> 03:56.200] in at a non-F1 race?
[03:56.200 -> 04:06.800] Paddock passes are unreasonably cheap. I would go to another IndyCar race and buy the cheapest ticket I can possibly buy and then just
[04:06.800 -> 04:15.840] buy the paddock pass. For context, I spent $50 to be in the paddock for three days and it's the
[04:15.840 -> 04:21.120] same thing as being able to be in the F1 paddock except you are actually looking into the garages
[04:21.120 -> 04:26.440] so it's better and cheaper. Like like I saw Roman Grosjean walk
[04:26.440 -> 04:31.340] into a porta potty like it's they're all just right there my mom almost got run
[04:31.340 -> 04:37.700] over by Michael Andretti on his scooter like it was and I got to like watch them
[04:37.700 -> 04:45.560] make tires and watch them work on the cars it was unbelievably cool. You touched a tire. I touched a tire.
[04:45.560 -> 04:47.480] A used tire.
[04:47.480 -> 04:48.480] It was.
[04:48.480 -> 04:50.760] It was sandy.
[04:50.760 -> 04:52.840] That's how I would describe the feeling of it.
[04:52.840 -> 04:53.480] Yeah.
[04:53.480 -> 04:56.040] I mean, also, so everyone knows, Nicole and I
[04:56.040 -> 04:57.760] have this thing where we desperately
[04:57.760 -> 05:02.120] want to touch an F1 car because we've only ever seen F1 cars
[05:02.120 -> 05:04.480] in the context of not being able to touch them.
[05:04.480 -> 05:07.320] So in a museum or if you're at a race,
[05:07.320 -> 05:09.920] like even if there's an F1 car there, you can't touch it.
[05:09.920 -> 05:11.660] I want someone to let me touch an F1 car.
[05:11.660 -> 05:13.760] So this felt like a step in that direction
[05:13.760 -> 05:15.860] where I got to touch a used race car tire.
[05:17.280 -> 05:20.560] But yeah, so the behind the scenes access was really cool.
[05:20.560 -> 05:24.380] There was also a whole paddock for the historic F1 cars
[05:24.380 -> 05:27.000] that was free for everyone to access.
[05:27.000 -> 05:31.340] So I got to see all these historic cars with like all their parts off and people and mechanics
[05:31.340 -> 05:32.340] working in them.
[05:32.340 -> 05:35.160] I got to see inside of all of it.
[05:35.160 -> 05:40.500] The behind the scenes element of it was really cool.
[05:40.500 -> 05:44.280] I'm not a big like, like I don't, I'm not a big autograph person.
[05:44.280 -> 05:46.340] I just feel that way about everything,
[05:46.340 -> 05:49.480] but I know so many people had a ton of fun
[05:49.480 -> 05:52.040] getting to meet drivers and get autographs from drivers
[05:52.040 -> 05:53.440] and photos with drivers.
[05:53.440 -> 05:56.360] So even though that wasn't the reason I was there
[05:56.360 -> 05:59.400] or interested, I know that that access is there.
[05:59.400 -> 06:00.600] So that was cool.
[06:00.600 -> 06:02.000] And I would recommend to anyone,
[06:02.000 -> 06:03.680] if you have an IndyCar race near you,
[06:03.680 -> 06:12.780] like go just for that reason alone. I did think it was interesting that, well, from my perspective,
[06:12.780 -> 06:20.340] like 50% or more of the people there were in F1 merchandise. So like Red Bull gear,
[06:20.340 -> 06:27.360] Ferrari gear, so, so much Lewis Hamilton stuff, and Mercedes. And it's not like there was a Ferrari
[06:27.360 -> 06:32.000] car there that weekend in any of the support series, so you can tell they were wearing it
[06:32.000 -> 06:36.640] because they're F1 fans. So I actually felt it was, from my perspective, really cool and I would
[06:36.640 -> 06:40.080] talk to different people and we were talking about how we're F1 fans and we're there because
[06:40.080 -> 06:47.040] cars are fun and it's cool to be introduced to a new series like that.
[06:47.040 -> 06:49.620] So those were my highlights.
[06:49.620 -> 06:52.340] I would definitely, definitely recommend it.
[06:52.340 -> 06:57.900] I will say the worst part of the experience is that if you listen to this podcast, you
[06:57.900 -> 07:00.080] know I'm not a McLaren fan.
[07:00.080 -> 07:03.400] No part of me is a McLaren fan.
[07:03.400 -> 07:07.760] And I went into this weekend like if I'm'm gonna do something, I do it 110%.
[07:07.760 -> 07:09.880] I don't have to do anything.
[07:09.880 -> 07:13.120] So I'm like, I'm going to go all in on the fan experience.
[07:13.120 -> 07:16.000] And my mother and I decided, I'm wearing it today.
[07:16.000 -> 07:18.080] We were like, we're gonna support Colton Hurta
[07:18.080 -> 07:21.680] from primarily because he's from LA.
[07:21.680 -> 07:23.720] So he's a local kid and we thought that would be really fun.
[07:23.720 -> 07:25.160] So we're like, great.
[07:25.160 -> 07:28.640] On the last Sunday, my mom and I,
[07:28.640 -> 07:30.680] well, Saturday, we both bought this shirt
[07:30.680 -> 07:33.000] and she's like, I'm gonna wear it on Sunday.
[07:33.000 -> 07:35.400] And I'm like, we're not gonna wear matching shirts.
[07:35.400 -> 07:36.240] But I still want you-
[07:36.240 -> 07:37.520] Would have been so cute.
[07:37.520 -> 07:40.760] It would have been cute, but I wasn't gonna do that.
[07:40.760 -> 07:43.240] So I was like, okay, that's fine.
[07:43.240 -> 07:45.520] I work in marketing.
[07:45.520 -> 07:47.120] I love marketing.
[07:47.120 -> 07:49.600] I don't think a single IndyCar driver or team
[07:49.600 -> 07:52.600] does marketing better than Pato and the McLaren team.
[07:52.600 -> 07:53.880] I went, this is great.
[07:53.880 -> 07:55.160] I'm gonna go support McLaren.
[07:55.160 -> 07:58.840] I'm gonna move my personal bias from F1 aside.
[07:58.840 -> 08:00.240] I'm gonna support Pato and McLaren.
[08:00.240 -> 08:02.200] I wore the Pato award shirt.
[08:03.520 -> 08:08.720] It was such a bad, bad race day. It was like the world was saying,
[08:10.720 -> 08:13.960] No, Brianna, you are not allowed to ever like McLaren.
[08:15.920 -> 08:20.480] Paddle just needs to change. He needs to go somewhere else. We love him too much, and
[08:21.040 -> 08:25.720] it just, yeah, it was some kind of like hysterical curse that happened to
[08:25.720 -> 08:26.720] you.
[08:26.720 -> 08:31.800] No, because he was by far the fastest driver on Friday. And I was like, okay, this is cool.
[08:31.800 -> 08:37.600] Great. And then Saturday, he had like, I think he was sixth in qualifying. So it wasn't like
[08:37.600 -> 08:40.880] fastest driver, but I was like, oh, that's a great place to start the race. But like
[08:40.880 -> 08:47.440] not fastest by far, like he was on practice on Friday. And by the time you got to Sunday, and he ended the
[08:47.440 -> 08:54.720] race P19. I was like, this is definitely a curse. This is the
[08:54.720 -> 08:57.640] world telling me that I couldn't pick a driver and it'd
[08:57.640 -> 08:58.480] be okay.
[09:00.120 -> 09:25.760] Yeah, definitely. Incredible. But I wanted to ask so because if you're not watching on YouTube, which you should if you aren't, Brianna is currently wearing a Colton shirt, and it's really sick merch. And we you know, if you're new to Gridwalk, we absolutely love talking about merch here. So in comparison to like F1 merch and being able and like everything we have to offer, they have to offer, and we're always screaming for more.
[09:25.760 -> 09:27.680] Where does IndyCar fall on that?
[09:27.680 -> 09:29.520] Are they doing good job, bad job?
[09:29.520 -> 09:32.440] What can fans at least expect from that aspect of Indy?
[09:32.440 -> 09:33.560] Are they doing it right?
[09:33.560 -> 09:35.120] It's so much better.
[09:35.120 -> 09:36.480] No way!
[09:37.320 -> 09:39.640] Like, so much better.
[09:39.640 -> 09:44.200] And, look, IndyCar.
[09:44.200 -> 09:50.160] I won't say IndyCar seems like a progressive series or like really like pro
[09:50.160 -> 09:54.360] women in motorsport. Like I'm not saying the organization. I'm more talking about the environment,
[09:54.360 -> 10:01.600] the fandom. Like it doesn't give off like, woo women. So like, even though I actually
[10:01.600 -> 10:05.800] overall side note was genuinely pretty impressed by the amount of women
[10:05.800 -> 10:06.920] working in the paddock.
[10:08.080 -> 10:10.800] No, have never been in the F1 paddock.
[10:10.800 -> 10:12.040] So I don't have a reference.
[10:12.040 -> 10:13.640] So I'm not trying to like comparison.
[10:13.640 -> 10:15.600] I just was sidebar impressed.
[10:15.600 -> 10:16.440] That's what you saw.
[10:16.440 -> 10:17.280] That's what you saw.
[10:17.280 -> 10:18.880] Merch though.
[10:18.880 -> 10:20.080] I don't think all of the merch
[10:20.080 -> 10:22.260] would have been everyone's cup of tea.
[10:22.260 -> 10:24.400] Like, I don't think everyone would have been obsessed
[10:24.400 -> 10:25.840] with all the designs.
[10:27.080 -> 10:30.320] They were not just like logo.
[10:30.320 -> 10:33.080] Like someone made an effort.
[10:33.080 -> 10:36.040] This is a woman's cut t-shirt.
[10:36.040 -> 10:37.360] Such a sick shirt.
[10:37.360 -> 10:39.960] I have never, I would never, oh,
[10:39.960 -> 10:42.080] got a Parker knocking on my door.
[10:42.080 -> 10:45.160] Hello, thanks for joining us.
[10:45.160 -> 10:48.720] I would never have labeled myself like a Colton fan.
[10:48.720 -> 10:52.320] I've really consumed very little IndyCar at all.
[10:52.320 -> 10:53.840] That is a sick shirt.
[10:53.840 -> 10:55.960] I love that shirt.
[10:55.960 -> 11:00.140] Yeah, they had all the drivers in this like similar style.
[11:00.140 -> 11:03.640] Their jerseys, in my opinion, I didn't like so much,
[11:03.640 -> 11:09.840] but it's still like they have these like jersey style shirts that I can't say they have in F1.
[11:09.840 -> 11:11.840] Nicole, they had a crop top.
[11:11.840 -> 11:15.440] Stop that. Stop that. That's the magic word.
[11:15.440 -> 11:21.360] I didn't think it was cute, but it was a pre-made crop top. Not a, oh, I could buy that and crop it.
[11:21.360 -> 11:22.400] Like, they made-
[11:22.400 -> 11:23.040] This is-
[11:23.040 -> 11:31.520] This is- This is- Right. Actually what blew my mind the most was so McLaren did a whole launch of their three
[11:31.520 -> 11:36.400] Indy 500 deliveries. So they had this whole section in like the conference center. Like
[11:36.400 -> 11:40.720] there was basically this whole like giant conference hall where all the sponsors and
[11:40.720 -> 11:45.480] there were giveaways and like cars everywhere. McLaren had a
[11:45.480 -> 11:50.220] whole section in there with their three show cars with their three Indy 500
[11:50.220 -> 11:57.020] liveries and a whole merch section with specialized merch for this launch. It was
[11:57.020 -> 12:01.300] so cool! For starters they have this really sick shirt with the years that
[12:01.300 -> 12:08.400] they won each of the races in the Triple Crown. And again, I was considering liking McLaren for a second.
[12:08.400 -> 12:09.200] I didn't buy the shirt.
[12:09.200 -> 12:14.500] But the bigger deal to me was that they had all this stuff that I don't
[12:14.500 -> 12:15.800] know why they don't sell in F1.
[12:15.800 -> 12:17.800] They had a deck of cards with the logo.
[12:17.800 -> 12:19.100] They had magnets.
[12:19.100 -> 12:20.500] They had keychains.
[12:20.500 -> 12:22.000] They had pendant flags.
[12:22.000 -> 12:23.500] They had drawstring bags.
[12:23.500 -> 12:26.640] Nothing I'm saying is expensive or impressive.
[12:26.640 -> 12:32.240] What was impressive to me compared to F1 is that they had it. It exists! And what I don't
[12:32.240 -> 12:38.600] understand is, um, and I'll go grab it in a second to show the YouTube audience, like
[12:38.600 -> 12:43.520] I got a Pat O'Shirt that was just as cool as this one in my opinion. Like, if they can
[12:43.520 -> 12:49.720] make this for their Indie Card team that's newer, and I would say McLaren overall has some of the better merch in the
[12:49.720 -> 12:56.420] F1 paddock, but why can't, like, if they know how to make a magnet for their Indie Card
[12:56.420 -> 13:00.680] team, why don't they know how to make magnets for their F1 team?
[13:00.680 -> 13:07.000] It makes no sense in my brain. It doesn't. It's like usually where there's the larger fan base, larger merch.
[13:07.000 -> 13:11.000] That feels like common sense. But in this, I don't know, maybe it's like IndyCar's like,
[13:11.000 -> 13:18.000] let's just make a bunch and see what fits. That sounds expensive, but kudos to them for doing it, trying it out.
[13:18.000 -> 13:25.360] I mean, it's working. F1, I feel like is slowly, but surely surely I feel like it's like snail pace
[13:25.360 -> 13:31.000] having this but we're starting to see a little bit more but Indy cars clearly
[13:31.000 -> 13:35.200] already doing better in that area of merch. I was like there was a pen with a
[13:35.200 -> 13:40.920] logo on it and yes I know you I can buy a Mercedes AMG pen from their website
[13:40.920 -> 13:47.440] but you couldn't if you went to a race. And that's where they get you.
[13:47.440 -> 13:51.680] Even like the mugs we got for like CODA.
[13:51.680 -> 13:54.200] It's like, yeah, they were CODA affiliated.
[13:54.200 -> 13:56.480] It wasn't like an F1 mug.
[13:56.480 -> 13:57.880] They were, yeah, which.
[13:59.160 -> 14:01.480] Hold on, let me go grab the Pato shirt.
[14:01.480 -> 14:02.680] Yay!
[14:04.840 -> 14:05.000] La la la, la la la, filling time, hello. Let me go grab the pato shirt. Yay!
[14:07.200 -> 14:09.800] La la la, la la la. Filling time, hello.
[14:09.800 -> 14:12.580] This is me singing nonsense.
[14:12.580 -> 14:15.480] Na na na, na na na.
[14:15.480 -> 14:18.000] I wonder if Taylor Swift is gonna go out
[14:18.000 -> 14:21.600] in public again today.
[14:21.600 -> 14:22.440] Na na na.
[14:22.440 -> 14:24.560] I'm excited to listen back to that on the edit.
[14:24.560 -> 14:27.000] Ha ha ha. I'm excited to listen back to that on the internet.
[14:27.000 -> 14:35.240] Wow, that's a really cool shirt.
[14:35.240 -> 14:36.240] And it's so soft.
[14:36.240 -> 14:39.520] And it's a woman's cut t-shirt.
[14:39.520 -> 14:42.880] And by women's cut, I don't mean it like cinches in at the waist.
[14:42.880 -> 14:46.800] It's just slimmer. It's just not a box.
[14:46.800 -> 14:51.120] Right. Like this is made for women and I just...
[14:51.120 -> 14:59.360] Now, the only complaint I'll have is on Sunday it was really, really cold and I didn't realize
[14:59.360 -> 15:05.760] it was going to be that cold so I did not bring a sweater. So I considered buying a sweater from anywhere.
[15:06.400 -> 15:18.240] And I went to the like Grand Prix merch area and a men's super boxy sweater was $10 cheaper
[15:18.240 -> 15:23.920] than the smaller women's cut sweater. And then I got angry and didn't buy it.
[15:28.440 -> 15:31.440] Pink tax. It's a pink tax on merchandise! For less fabric!
[15:31.440 -> 15:34.760] That makes no sense. Someone make it make sense.
[15:34.760 -> 15:41.400] So I can't like universally... and I don't think the diversity in sizes was great
[15:41.400 -> 15:50.000] and I know so but overall huge step up from F1 merch. And you know, you and I love merch.
[15:50.000 -> 15:58.000] We do love merch. I ordered my merch online because I'm not waiting on lines at concerts.
[16:00.000 -> 16:05.000] I can't believe that Taylor Swift merch lines are hours.
[16:05.000 -> 16:10.920] Hours, hours, and hours, and hours, and hours, and I'm just like, nope, I will not do that.
[16:10.920 -> 16:13.120] I will order everything online.
[16:13.120 -> 16:16.760] And the only thing that I really like to do when I go to concerts is get like the individual
[16:16.760 -> 16:19.800] like city poster and things.
[16:19.800 -> 16:24.140] And I was not going to be able to do that for Tampa, even though it's just like they
[16:24.140 -> 16:27.080] just added like an aerial font, Tampa and the
[16:27.080 -> 16:30.480] dates. Oh gosh, it was on the website yesterday. And guess who bought it?
[16:30.480 -> 16:31.720] Even though they said they weren't going to. Me!
[16:34.400 -> 16:36.920] So I did it online and got everything that I wanted.
[16:37.640 -> 16:39.640] I'm excited to see in your future apartment,
[16:39.680 -> 16:42.800] like it framed with all this different cities you went to now though.
[16:42.960 -> 16:50.320] Yes, yes, yes. There will be, I'm going to have like a, it'll just be like shrines to all of my, you know, things. There'll
[16:50.320 -> 16:55.840] be like a Formula One wall of all of my races. There's will be a Taylor Swift wall of all of
[16:55.840 -> 16:59.680] my ERA tours and other tours, and then who knows. And then I'll just be like, wow, I have
[17:00.400 -> 17:15.000] too many interests and I give my money to a lot of things. Okay, what part of the ERA's tour do you think was the most unexpected?
[17:15.000 -> 17:19.000] Considering you have watched all of this on live streams and online,
[17:19.000 -> 17:24.000] so what part surprised you? Like, surprise songs don't count.
[17:24.000 -> 17:26.980] I was like, the surprise song surprised me,
[17:26.980 -> 17:28.100] but they like really did.
[17:28.100 -> 17:29.940] Cause they were like Mad Woman and Meaner,
[17:29.940 -> 17:30.780] the songs that I got.
[17:30.780 -> 17:33.760] And that was just like not on my list at all.
[17:36.340 -> 17:39.820] The, I am one of the people that like
[17:39.820 -> 17:42.180] watches the live streams and I like am knowing
[17:42.180 -> 17:43.740] what's happening at every single show.
[17:43.740 -> 17:47.020] And I don't need anyone to tell me that I'm crazy because I'll say it before you
[17:47.020 -> 17:54.000] do so like yes I know. There was already a lot of the set design and like the
[17:54.000 -> 17:57.760] screens and everything that's already changed from like the first show and
[17:57.760 -> 18:02.360] she's like including more like Easter eggs like in the when she performs
[18:02.360 -> 18:09.900] Bejewelled like the middle of the stage has like, there's like this big, like, square, it's like the middle of the stage, and it is literally the
[18:09.900 -> 18:12.540] art on the CD of Speak Now.
[18:12.540 -> 18:14.700] And like, I had never noticed that before.
[18:14.700 -> 18:19.280] And like, that definitely just, like, was not there.
[18:19.280 -> 18:28.920] She has removed the golden invisible string that was the, like, the message of her and Joe's relationship, it is now gone.
[18:28.920 -> 18:36.760] So I'm very impressed of the constant live production changes and just overall, I don't
[18:36.760 -> 18:43.800] know if it was me existing and doing the three hour whole thing, I have no idea how she has
[18:43.800 -> 18:46.000] the stamina for this.
[18:46.000 -> 18:52.400] I burned 2,000 calories on my Apple Watch because I was curious of what kind of workout.
[18:52.400 -> 18:57.240] So I did a social dance workout, forgot to do it in the first 15 minutes of the show.
[18:57.240 -> 19:01.840] So Cruel Summer is not included in my calorie burn, which is at least 400 calories.
[19:01.840 -> 19:04.880] And I ended at 1,900 something.
[19:04.880 -> 19:07.180] So she continuously
[19:07.180 -> 19:12.780] shocks me as a performer. No one needs to tell you that like, you should go to the Errors
[19:12.780 -> 19:16.440] Tour because like, I'm not going to say that because it's, you know, everyone knows what's
[19:16.440 -> 19:23.040] happening right now. But God, if you can get your ass to the Errors Tour, it is an unbelievable
[19:23.040 -> 19:25.320] production.
[19:29.000 -> 19:29.960] Okay, I have two random F1 related questions. I love that.
[19:30.960 -> 19:34.380] Do you wanna go more serious or more absurd first?
[19:34.380 -> 19:36.780] Serious, then absurd.
[19:36.780 -> 19:39.040] Okay, the serious question is,
[19:39.040 -> 19:43.340] what if Taylor Swift was consulting with,
[19:43.340 -> 19:48.160] let's go with specifically the Miami GP, to create a better
[19:49.680 -> 19:54.640] in-person Grand Prix experience, what do you think Taylor Swift would tell F1 to do?
[19:59.760 -> 20:08.040] I, okay, I think, and I'm not saying this because this is something that I wish that they did and
[20:08.040 -> 20:13.240] did not do, but to improve the fan experience, they should have the track go through Hard
[20:13.240 -> 20:19.400] Rock Stadium because that inside stadium seating would be incredible for fans.
[20:19.400 -> 20:23.040] They would have to knock down the stadium and rebuild it though?
[20:23.040 -> 20:26.080] No, they can the, why can't they go through the like the
[20:26.080 -> 20:30.160] They tried to, the FIA wouldn't accredit it, it's not big enough.
[20:30.160 -> 20:33.760] But yes, I'm with you, they should.
[20:33.760 -> 20:37.520] In the hypothetical world where they don't need to do it that way because
[20:37.520 -> 20:38.800] Yes.
[20:38.800 -> 20:43.680] The fan experience would be enhanced so much more and it's just really difficult that they should
[20:49.800 -> 20:51.400] I think they should knock down the stadium and rebuild it so it can be FIA accredited. I'm with you
[20:53.600 -> 20:58.520] Just knock the whole thing down all over again It just would make it like think about all of them the concessions and merch and activities and activations
[20:58.520 -> 21:03.120] They could do inside the stadium. It's just it's like a waste of space to have that all there
[21:03.360 -> 21:06.500] Besides it just holding like, paddock hospitality.
[21:06.900 -> 21:09.960] They could sell so many more tickets make so much more money.
[21:10.080 -> 21:14.220] Like those could be like normal-ish tickets because it's
[21:14.220 -> 21:16.260] probably would just be a straight line through so it
[21:16.260 -> 21:20.820] wouldn't be like great seats. But yeah, 100% I would solve so
[21:20.820 -> 21:31.280] many fan experience issues if you could sit in the stadium. Right. Because a lot of my other automatic fan experience things is like, do the concert
[21:31.280 -> 21:38.960] at Bayside. But you want things... If Miami's big issue is like, okay, it's not right in
[21:38.960 -> 21:42.720] South Beach. So a lot of the Miami activity is not there. So it's all about enhancing
[21:42.720 -> 21:51.400] the property that they currently have. So my immediate answer is knock down the stadium. Have the track go through.
[21:51.400 -> 21:54.880] I'm only thinking of this right now as we're talking through this because I didn't think
[21:54.880 -> 21:56.040] of this question ahead of time.
[21:56.040 -> 21:59.560] Right. Yeah, I was not. There was no prep for this. So I would have probably had a better
[21:59.560 -> 22:02.440] question answer, but that was my immediate thought.
[22:02.440 -> 22:11.360] I'm thinking that she would say that they need better screens and more pre-production and like enhancements on the screens.
[22:12.240 -> 22:17.360] I feel like we'd say that about like every- I felt like the same at CODA. I just want more-
[22:17.360 -> 22:23.600] yeah just get better screens because that is- I have never been to a concert like the ERAs tour
[22:23.600 -> 22:26.540] that there are screens everywhere.
[22:26.540 -> 22:29.780] Like on the side of the stage that is obstructed view,
[22:29.780 -> 22:31.340] like they have screens.
[22:31.340 -> 22:33.900] The entire other end of the stadium,
[22:33.900 -> 22:35.780] like if you're standing on stage looking out
[22:35.780 -> 22:37.900] is a giant jumbotron.
[22:37.900 -> 22:40.960] So like every direction there's screens and you can see her.
[22:40.960 -> 22:44.000] Like she did a really fantastic job of making sure
[22:44.000 -> 22:46.280] that like no matter where you are,
[22:46.280 -> 22:52.520] the seat is great and the stage is huge so you can see everything. So it's definitely,
[22:52.520 -> 23:01.000] I think that's enhancing the viewing aspect from any spot in any seat is a really easy
[23:01.000 -> 23:03.280] win for fan experience for sure.
[23:03.280 -> 23:05.400] Her visuals are just incredible too.
[23:05.400 -> 23:08.640] Like you were talking about what she does on the stage.
[23:08.640 -> 23:12.320] Like the show almost looks better the further away you are.
[23:12.320 -> 23:13.320] 100%.
[23:13.320 -> 23:16.720] And I will eventually give the update of like,
[23:16.720 -> 23:20.480] what's it like in verse Nosebleeds verse On the Floor,
[23:20.480 -> 23:22.720] because thank you, I don't know what I did
[23:22.720 -> 23:24.160] to just get lucky that that happened.
[23:24.160 -> 23:31.680] So I will be able to explain that difference. But it definitely, I was so glad that I was
[23:31.680 -> 23:37.880] like up high. I was able to see her like dive into the stage and like everything was just
[23:37.880 -> 23:44.280] incredible and it did just because I was in like the 300 nosebleeds, I did not feel like
[23:44.280 -> 23:45.160] I was missing out.
[23:45.160 -> 23:47.960] If anything, it was like a better experience.
[23:48.920 -> 23:53.000] OK, so my final silly question, connecting F1 to the Taylor Swift
[23:53.000 -> 23:59.920] Heiress Tour, is do you think that she loses more calories in that race
[24:00.400 -> 24:02.760] than an F1 driver does in Singapore?
[24:03.760 -> 24:07.240] I mean, sorry, do you think she loses more calories
[24:07.240 -> 24:10.920] during that concert than an F1 driver does in Singapore?
[24:10.920 -> 24:12.360] It's gotta be close.
[24:12.360 -> 24:13.200] Right.
[24:13.200 -> 24:16.160] It really definitely has to be close.
[24:16.160 -> 24:18.980] Particularly at Tampa, the humidity.
[24:18.980 -> 24:21.720] It was unbelievable.
[24:21.720 -> 24:23.760] And like all these people on Twitter that are like,
[24:23.760 -> 24:24.880] what's wrong with her hair?
[24:24.880 -> 24:26.600] I'm just like, wow, let's check your privilege
[24:26.600 -> 24:28.960] about never experiencing humidity before
[24:28.960 -> 24:31.680] because that was the most relatable thing.
[24:31.680 -> 24:32.520] Right, like hello?
[24:32.520 -> 24:34.240] How do you curl your hair?
[24:34.240 -> 24:36.300] I just don't understand.
[24:36.300 -> 24:38.520] She has much finer hair than me, it seems like,
[24:38.520 -> 24:41.120] but that is my hair.
[24:41.120 -> 24:43.520] That's what happens when I walk outside.
[24:43.520 -> 24:44.560] I don't understand.
[24:44.560 -> 24:46.800] Do people not have people in their lives
[24:46.800 -> 24:47.700] who have curly hair?
[24:47.700 -> 24:49.400] I screamed about this for about two days
[24:49.400 -> 24:51.480] after her first Tampa show.
[24:51.480 -> 24:53.520] Because people were like, it's horrible, why this?
[24:53.520 -> 24:54.880] And then like, there's some people who were like,
[24:54.880 -> 24:57.000] never straighten it again, let the curls fly.
[24:57.000 -> 24:59.700] And that's like, kind of where I fall.
[24:59.700 -> 25:02.880] So just because I am like on this train
[25:02.880 -> 25:04.920] and I will ride it until, you know,
[25:04.920 -> 25:06.480] it falls off the tracks,
[25:06.480 -> 25:09.040] which it will never because it'll just go on forever.
[25:09.040 -> 25:11.840] I wholeheartedly believe that what she is doing,
[25:11.840 -> 25:15.120] performing like that for three hours, sitting down once
[25:16.800 -> 25:21.200] to play a song at the piano is an athletic endeavor.
[25:22.000 -> 25:27.120] 100%. I was not really able to breathe. It was really like the
[25:27.120 -> 25:34.400] most like strenuous exercise I think I have ever put myself through. It was, wow. I wish I could
[25:34.400 -> 25:42.800] just have that as an actual workout like every day. That would be incredible. The three hour,
[25:42.800 -> 25:46.360] I guess I'm just discussing like a three hour Taylor Swift dance party.
[25:46.360 -> 25:49.120] Which I guess like is possible but it's just more fun.
[25:49.120 -> 25:54.800] I was gonna say but like I get your intention is that you more just want to go to a Taylor
[25:54.800 -> 25:55.920] Swift concert every day.
[25:55.920 -> 25:59.600] You don't actually just want to dance to Taylor Swift every day.
[25:59.600 -> 26:00.600] Not the same.
[26:00.600 -> 26:01.600] No, I do.
[26:01.600 -> 26:10.720] I would love to go to a Taylor Swift concert every single day. She's gonna be in Houston this week and that's like not where I am and I'm sad. Great weekend for us!
[26:13.520 -> 26:20.720] Okay, so it is time again for us to be discussing some viewership numbers, interest in the sport.
[26:20.720 -> 26:30.320] It's of course like hot topic for F1 right now. And we've seen a lot of back and forth that some people believe that due to Red Bull's
[26:30.320 -> 26:36.840] current dominance of the sport, that it's going to halt the growth in the US, it's going
[26:36.840 -> 26:42.760] to slow down people's interest, people are going to be like, Red Bull is just too good,
[26:42.760 -> 26:45.000] and no one wants to watch that.
[26:45.000 -> 26:57.000] I go kind of back and forth on if that's legitimate and more just based on how angry I am of Red Bull winning, but that's just my personal feud with it.
[26:57.000 -> 27:10.800] So, you are the numbers person, you love looking at the data of viewership and everything. What can you tell us? Is this like a real reason for people to be worried? Is Red Bull's dominance of F1 right now going to suddenly like
[27:10.800 -> 27:17.280] halt this growth of interest and this spike? So it's interesting because there has been so much
[27:17.280 -> 27:25.360] panic, as you're saying. And the data right now that I publicly have access to
[27:28.800 -> 27:31.520] does say no, that it's not halting interest. And I'm gonna run through some of that data,
[27:31.520 -> 27:33.400] but I will point out before I do this
[27:33.400 -> 27:35.960] that it is totally normal and natural
[27:35.960 -> 27:38.200] if you are personally panicked about it.
[27:38.200 -> 27:39.560] I'm not a Red Bull fan.
[27:39.560 -> 27:41.440] If we have to do 10 years of Red Bull dominance,
[27:41.440 -> 27:44.220] I understand you, I feel you if that's not fun.
[27:47.760 -> 27:54.560] But the numbers show the opposite trend. So this seems to be, on the surface, a lot of F1 media needing something to
[27:54.560 -> 28:01.360] talk about and being admittedly worried probably for themselves. So remember that if interest goes
[28:01.360 -> 28:05.240] down, money the media is making also goes down. They're together.
[28:05.240 -> 28:09.840] So if they're talking about interest going down, it comes from a place of internal panic.
[28:09.840 -> 28:15.000] I think it's important to note that that does play a role in this. So I looked at two different
[28:15.000 -> 28:20.120] things. I looked at US in particular, all of this that I'm going to talk about is the
[28:20.120 -> 28:29.920] United States, because the United States is this big growing market. So we have an interesting baseline and then we have what like a growth. So we can see if
[28:29.920 -> 28:36.400] F1 is going back to that norm. And I'm gonna look at US viewership numbers on
[28:36.400 -> 28:42.360] ESPN and I'm going to look at Google Trends data. So Google Trends tells us
[28:42.360 -> 28:45.280] the search numbers, essentially. How many
[28:45.280 -> 28:51.120] people are searching for things related to F1. A quick refresher and
[28:51.120 -> 28:58.100] reminder. 2019-2020, the beginning of 2019, Ferrari was doing okay and then they
[28:58.100 -> 29:02.520] did their Ferrari thing and Mercedes won, but we are in the middle of a Mercedes
[29:02.520 -> 29:05.920] dominant era. 2020 Mercedes wins pretty dominantly.
[29:05.920 -> 29:13.320] 2021 we all know what happened with Max and Lewis. And then last year we had Ferrari spike
[29:13.320 -> 29:18.200] at the beginning of the year and then Red Bull dominance basically from the Miami GP
[29:18.200 -> 29:26.800] on. And then this year we have clear Red Bull dominance at the top of the sport. But there's a ton of other exciting things going on.
[29:27.840 -> 29:31.920] I remind you of all this because we're going to look at 2019 numbers.
[29:32.640 -> 29:38.000] 2020, there was a pandemic. I don't have any good representative data, so we've chucked it out.
[29:38.720 -> 29:44.480] Because we were all locked in our homes and races happened at weird times.
[29:44.480 -> 29:46.200] And then we're going gonna look at 2021,
[29:46.200 -> 29:48.560] which everyone references as the most competitive year
[29:48.560 -> 29:51.200] F1 has had in modern history.
[29:51.200 -> 29:52.940] And then last year, and then this year.
[29:52.940 -> 29:55.800] So we're gonna look at those four years.
[29:55.800 -> 30:00.800] So for US viewership numbers,
[30:01.240 -> 30:08.440] year over year Bahrain is flat, like flat viewership. Same amount of people watch this year as last year.
[30:08.440 -> 30:15.000] And if you think of the start of the season last year, you had we're coming off Abu Dhabi,
[30:15.000 -> 30:19.360] we have a new regulation set, and Ferrari was good.
[30:19.360 -> 30:22.600] Which is a magical storm for F1.
[30:22.600 -> 30:28.120] This is F1's like, oh my gosh moment. There could not have been
[30:28.120 -> 30:33.600] more going on for them to have great beginning of 2022 season numbers. So if we're starting
[30:33.600 -> 30:39.200] 2023 and they're flat in viewership year over year, that's a huge win. Then you have Saudi
[30:39.200 -> 30:45.880] Arabia and viewership was actually up. The race was up 5% viewership year over year.
[30:48.280 -> 30:50.400] But you could say, hey, it's only the second race. No one knew Red Bull was gonna be dominant.
[30:50.400 -> 30:52.780] So I would say the first real test
[30:52.780 -> 30:55.960] of is Red Bull's dominance going to have an effect
[30:55.960 -> 30:59.960] on US interest in watching the race was the Australian GP.
[30:59.960 -> 31:03.400] Now the Australian GP takes place in the middle of the night
[31:03.400 -> 31:06.600] and viewership was flat.
[31:06.600 -> 31:13.120] So if for viewership numbers, if Red Bull's dominance was going to affect anything, it
[31:13.120 -> 31:21.480] would probably be people staying up on the East Coast watching F1 from 1 to 4am, particularly
[31:21.480 -> 31:27.560] with that red flag and all the chaos. And, but yet viewership was flat.
[31:27.560 -> 31:30.800] So viewership numbers aren't everything.
[31:30.800 -> 31:33.160] They're only giving us ESPN cable numbers
[31:33.160 -> 31:35.280] that doesn't tell us F1 TV,
[31:35.280 -> 31:39.520] but that's a good sign early on.
[31:39.520 -> 31:42.160] So that's when I moved over to Google trends
[31:42.160 -> 31:44.480] and I was like, okay, what is the search interest?
[31:44.480 -> 31:51.240] Now search interest doesn't always equate to avid fans, but it does give you a good
[31:51.760 -> 31:57.360] pulse on how ingrained in like general pop culture and the zeitgeist and how much is
[31:57.360 -> 32:00.960] F1 being discussed overall, because it's the amount of people searching for things.
[32:02.440 -> 32:08.360] Now, it also means that the peak of search interest was the start
[32:08.360 -> 32:15.880] of the 2022 opener last year. It was the highest that it's been in the last five years was
[32:15.880 -> 32:19.840] the start of last season. It was people searching for the new regulation information. It was
[32:19.840 -> 32:26.040] people searching to see what happened at the fallout of Abi Dabi, because not everyone follows it as closely as we do.
[32:27.620 -> 32:32.080] There was, again, beginning of 2022, peak.
[32:33.200 -> 32:34.040] I want to point out-
[32:34.040 -> 32:36.040] A lot of people are Googling Formula One things.
[32:36.040 -> 32:36.880] Right.
[32:36.880 -> 32:37.720] Related to Formula One,
[32:37.720 -> 32:39.780] and you're able to see that at Google Trends.
[32:39.780 -> 32:40.620] Right, really cool.
[32:40.620 -> 32:43.480] By the way, trends.google.com, you can type in anything.
[32:43.480 -> 32:44.560] It's really awesome. It's so cool.
[32:44.560 -> 32:45.280] It's really great.
[32:45.920 -> 32:52.560] Now, I pulled the peak number over the four seasons I said we were going to look at, and let's compare them.
[32:52.880 -> 32:54.640] So 2019,
[32:54.640 -> 32:56.160] this was kind of,
[32:56.160 -> 32:58.160] even though there was Drive to Survive, this was
[32:58.640 -> 33:00.640] everything ramping up in the U.S.
[33:01.520 -> 33:03.600] The season opener was the peak,
[33:04.240 -> 33:06.160] and it got a score of 57.
[33:07.680 -> 33:11.360] Compare that to the start of 2022 which got a score of 100.
[33:12.720 -> 33:19.760] Okay, so if you're looking at things ramping up, that's the visual difference of how many people
[33:19.760 -> 33:26.000] in 2019 compared to 2022 in the US were searching're searching for Formula One. Now, interestingly, the peak in
[33:26.000 -> 33:34.000] 2021, what do you think the peak search interest was in 2021? At the start or at the start? Abu Dhabi.
[33:35.040 -> 33:39.760] Yeah, right after Abu Dhabi, everyone Googling what is going on, why did they cheat Lewis Hamilton
[33:39.760 -> 33:48.400] out of a championship? So, but Abu Dhabi got a score of 70. Now I bring this up because
[33:48.400 -> 33:55.200] the season opener of 2023 was our peak so far, and it was a 74. So at the start of this
[33:55.200 -> 34:00.240] season, more people were searching for Formula One related things than when Abu Dhabi happened
[34:00.240 -> 34:06.240] in 2021. That, like that doesn't compute in my brain,
[34:06.240 -> 34:07.560] because like, literally.
[34:07.560 -> 34:08.960] It was such a big deal.
[34:08.960 -> 34:11.680] It was such a huge deal, and if,
[34:11.680 -> 34:13.920] and there's just been so many news outlets,
[34:13.920 -> 34:16.000] and like, we don't need to get into like,
[34:16.000 -> 34:17.600] which team principals, and which,
[34:17.600 -> 34:19.600] who has said what about like a dominant,
[34:19.600 -> 34:22.280] like, there's always, like, within the sport,
[34:22.280 -> 34:23.600] opponents are always gonna say like,
[34:23.600 -> 34:30.100] dominance of another team isn't good for it because yeah, they want to win. From like a legitimate,
[34:30.100 -> 34:33.460] like media outlets that are putting this out and like people that are speculating this,
[34:33.460 -> 34:40.340] like that alone is just that search information is crazy because like the Red Bull won so
[34:40.340 -> 34:45.720] much in advance, like at the end of last season, like there wasn't much to be Googling,
[34:45.720 -> 34:52.440] I guess, or like big upgrades and things. I just feel like there was more like spiciness
[34:52.440 -> 34:57.160] to be Googling at the start of last year as opposed to this year. So even though that
[34:57.160 -> 34:59.760] slightly blows my mind.
[34:59.760 -> 35:08.060] Yeah, because that makes sense. Because the beginning of last year versus the beginning of this year, like Google trend interest is down 26%.
[35:08.060 -> 35:10.400] But if you told me that the second year
[35:10.400 -> 35:13.080] of a regulation set, meaning things are more stable,
[35:13.080 -> 35:14.960] people have less things to look up,
[35:14.960 -> 35:18.280] things are only down 26% in Google search trends,
[35:18.280 -> 35:20.200] I'd be like, wow, that's such a win.
[35:20.200 -> 35:21.440] Like huge win.
[35:21.440 -> 35:22.960] Great, this is awesome.
[35:22.960 -> 35:25.440] And being up versus 21.6%,
[35:25.440 -> 35:29.380] I also pulled Australian GP numbers on Google Trends
[35:29.380 -> 35:32.160] for the week of and the week after.
[35:32.160 -> 35:34.320] So the week of the Australian GP,
[35:34.320 -> 35:37.800] I will point out that year over year,
[35:37.800 -> 35:41.560] so this year versus last year's Australian GP,
[35:41.560 -> 35:45.620] search traffic leading up to the race was down 15%.
[35:45.620 -> 35:52.940] Now, again, I think there's a Ferrari bump in F1, where Ferrari's doing well, things
[35:52.940 -> 35:54.020] go better.
[35:54.020 -> 35:58.060] So I think leading into the Australian GP last year, people were all excited about Ferrari,
[35:58.060 -> 35:59.060] they were Googling that.
[35:59.060 -> 36:02.160] This year, there's less to Google leading into a race.
[36:02.160 -> 36:06.080] No one in Italy is Googling Australian GP that week. Well,
[36:06.080 -> 36:12.000] I'm only looking at US numbers. Right, right, right. Just clarifying. Yes, me making a joke
[36:12.000 -> 36:18.880] not to change the area of your data. No, it's more like, I got your joke, and if anyone
[36:18.880 -> 36:29.800] listening is like, wait, I thought she was talking about the US. I was like, ah! Cheers! But the week after the Australian GP, Google search year over year was flat.
[36:29.800 -> 36:32.840] And I think part of that is that the FIA made a mess of things.
[36:32.840 -> 36:37.200] And that's why I will tell you that all of this data is flawed.
[36:37.200 -> 36:41.960] Because if you looked at just this data alone, you would probably say, great, every year
[36:41.960 -> 36:44.480] needs to have a massive regulation shift.
[36:44.480 -> 36:49.240] Every year, like for every race, the FIA needs to mess everything up so people are Googling
[36:49.240 -> 36:50.240] things.
[36:50.240 -> 36:55.240] And I don't think that's not what this data is meant to do or say.
[36:55.240 -> 37:03.320] It's actually what I took from it, from a less extreme takeaway, is that F1 fans just
[37:03.320 -> 37:08.000] like learning things, and they're just interested by anything.
[37:08.000 -> 37:16.000] So I don't think what's affecting Google search traffic and people going online the next day looking things up
[37:16.000 -> 37:21.000] isn't necessarily, this driver got P1, let me look more up about it.
[37:21.000 -> 37:25.700] It's a new upgrade came. It's something interesting happened.
[37:25.700 -> 37:28.640] A new rule was passed, new regulations were passed.
[37:28.640 -> 37:30.960] I'm sure when we start getting year over year data
[37:30.960 -> 37:34.100] around the FlexiFloor saga, we'll see similar numbers
[37:34.100 -> 37:35.000] as well.
[37:35.000 -> 37:40.000] Like F1 fans are smart and things that are causing upticks
[37:40.740 -> 37:45.000] aren't necessarily competitiveness on track.
[37:47.280 -> 37:50.040] What causes upticks in interest,
[37:50.040 -> 37:55.040] or it seems to be more like tech and regulation based things.
[37:55.160 -> 37:58.440] Who would have thought the part of the sport
[37:58.440 -> 38:01.920] that really makes a difference on the track and like,
[38:03.640 -> 38:08.160] maybe I'm just so used to that when being introduced to the sport of
[38:08.160 -> 38:13.040] that being such a crucial part of this entire thing that I'm like how do more people not
[38:13.040 -> 38:17.160] get so invested in all of that. But yeah, that makes so much sense.
[38:17.160 -> 38:22.840] Now, I will take a step back and say that we are looking at very preliminary data. We've
[38:22.840 -> 38:27.200] had three races this season. So the number one thing I know to be true
[38:27.200 -> 38:31.280] is that Red Bull's dominance is ruining the sport,
[38:31.280 -> 38:33.880] is not evident yet,
[38:33.880 -> 38:35.800] the same way that Mercedes dominance
[38:35.800 -> 38:38.440] never ruined the sport, let's just be clear.
[38:39.840 -> 38:43.680] And so I don't think we can panic
[38:43.680 -> 38:45.800] or assume anything either way.
[38:45.800 -> 38:51.080] So when you're seeing people panic about Red Bull's dominance, ask yourself why, when you
[38:51.080 -> 38:54.720] see that.
[38:54.720 -> 39:01.320] But also, just see if those same, you know, the people who aren't panicking, like, were
[39:01.320 -> 39:07.920] they also yelling about Mercedes dominance? Like, I'm just saying there's a lot of heated emotion
[39:07.920 -> 39:10.260] that's going into this.
[39:10.260 -> 39:12.440] So like, I'm trying to like push all of that aside
[39:12.440 -> 39:14.000] and just like show numbers.
[39:14.000 -> 39:19.000] And the numbers I'm seeing is not showing that.
[39:19.040 -> 39:24.040] And I think it is very easy to point at the American
[39:24.080 -> 39:25.000] audience for why things need to change in F1 I think it is very easy to point at the American audience
[39:25.620 -> 39:28.440] for why things need to change in F1,
[39:28.440 -> 39:31.760] or the American audience is not going to put up
[39:31.760 -> 39:35.560] with a dominance in the sport, and we can't have this again.
[39:35.560 -> 39:39.840] And I really don't want an era of Red Bull dominance.
[39:39.840 -> 39:43.240] But what I am seeing is that this American audience
[39:43.240 -> 39:45.800] is well-primed and understands why
[39:45.800 -> 39:47.760] they like F1.
[39:47.760 -> 39:53.520] And maybe that's my bias, where I don't like F1 and never came into liking this sport because
[39:53.520 -> 39:57.160] I thought that on-track racing was going to be close.
[39:57.160 -> 40:02.760] I thought 2021 was a crazy anomaly and it was really fun to watch up until a certain
[40:02.760 -> 40:08.280] second. it was really fun to watch up until a certain second, but the... nothing that's
[40:08.280 -> 40:11.200] going on right now makes me less interested in the sport. So it's
[40:11.200 -> 40:18.240] interesting... I just... if you are listening to a non-American say Americans won't
[40:18.240 -> 40:23.200] like this version of F1, ask them how they know that and what their data is.
[40:23.200 -> 40:29.200] Because I genuinely would like to know what that data is and what they're looking at because I'm not seeing it.
[40:29.200 -> 40:37.200] And if like this is all pointing fingers at US viewership or American viewership, interest in the sport, everything like that.
[40:37.200 -> 40:47.440] It's not like American sports are unfamiliar to like certain teams having like a sense of dominance for like a certain period of time in a sport.
[40:47.440 -> 40:49.400] If you want to look at the Golden State Warriors
[40:49.400 -> 40:51.080] or the Patriots or just like,
[40:51.080 -> 40:55.640] there's so many, the Lakers, there's so many,
[40:55.640 -> 40:57.840] sorry I needed to include one of your teams,
[40:57.840 -> 40:59.100] I don't have any.
[41:00.600 -> 41:04.560] But yes, and I was like, there's so many that you could name
[41:04.560 -> 41:06.120] but it's not like this is an unfamiliar thing. If anything, maybe I was like, there's so many that you could name, but it's not like that's, this is like
[41:06.120 -> 41:07.880] an unfamiliar thing.
[41:07.880 -> 41:12.640] If anything, maybe I feel like American Heads would be more familiar to like a team that
[41:12.640 -> 41:17.880] like has figured it out and there's a system and it's working and like, it unfortunately
[41:17.880 -> 41:20.120] kind of feels familiar, at least in this scenario.
[41:20.120 -> 41:23.000] Now, if this was Mercedes, I would not say it feels unfortunate.
[41:23.000 -> 41:28.200] It feels, would feel pretty great. But I don't think this would be any, I would never have seen this
[41:28.200 -> 41:31.600] as a reason that Americans would stop watching.
[41:31.600 -> 41:38.940] Right. I mean, I think it's some of the things I didn't pull, but I talk a lot about on some
[41:38.940 -> 41:48.280] of the videos we do on other social channels, like motorsports is not growing in all of the
[41:48.280 -> 41:54.480] United States. Only F1 is as well. So this is, it's also not just inherently like
[41:54.480 -> 41:58.320] well all motorsports is growing and so F1 is growing and oh that will go away
[41:58.320 -> 42:02.280] because they're gonna find something else more interesting. Like no, only F1 is
[42:02.280 -> 42:05.480] growing as well. So there's clearly something about
[42:05.480 -> 42:12.760] F1 that people are interested in. And I don't think based on this data, that it was 2021.
[42:12.760 -> 42:19.200] I think most American fans who are still here after last season, because what we're forgetting
[42:19.200 -> 42:26.500] is that last season, Red Bull was incredibly dominant. With the exception of the first three races of the season,
[42:26.500 -> 42:31.100] Red Bull was unbelievably dominant all season.
[42:31.100 -> 42:35.600] So we've, as an American, very vested audience,
[42:35.600 -> 42:37.400] have gone through a season like this already.
[42:37.400 -> 42:38.200] I don't know.
[42:38.200 -> 42:42.000] I find it, I find the framing of this conversation very interesting.
[42:42.000 -> 42:45.520] I will also throw out that Toto has been
[42:45.520 -> 42:49.840] quoted saying that he doesn't think it's bad for the sport, which is just
[42:49.840 -> 42:53.920] fantastic in contrast to the amount of kicking and screaming Christian Horner
[42:53.920 -> 43:00.480] did for many years. What a juxtaposition. It's... If this is your first episode...
[43:00.480 -> 43:08.000] By the way, Lewis Hamilton fans, Mercedes fans. Who's Lewis? I've never heard of that man before in my whole life. Just kidding.
[43:08.000 -> 43:12.720] So I actually think that I hope provides more interest and validity to the fact that we're
[43:12.720 -> 43:16.960] saying that we don't have less interest in F1 just because Red Bull is dominating. I've pulled
[43:16.960 -> 43:23.440] all the data that is publicly available to prove that Americans do not have less interest, even
[43:23.440 -> 43:29.200] though I would love to sit here and kick and scream and cry about how I don't want Red Bull to enter their dominance era.
[43:30.160 -> 43:35.120] The numbers tell us otherwise, but I still don't want them to win.
[43:39.280 -> 43:43.920] It all comes... we both work in marketing, so I know you'll get what I'm about to say,
[43:43.920 -> 43:45.360] but it always,
[43:45.360 -> 43:47.040] always just comes back to marketing and framing.
[43:47.040 -> 43:54.320] I genuinely believe that F1 has done a really good job explaining what their sport is to
[43:54.320 -> 44:01.600] the American public, and therefore, if you understand what the sport is, you're not going
[44:01.600 -> 44:04.720] to stop watching when the sport is the sport.
[44:04.720 -> 44:08.640] I don't know if F1 knows and understands that they've done that good of a job though.
[44:09.680 -> 44:14.800] They seem very panicked and I'm like no this is the sport. Please don't change the sport I now like.
[44:15.920 -> 44:21.920] Yeah it's it's really incredible. I mean they were able to curate this like or not they didn't
[44:21.920 -> 44:50.560] curate but like a beautiful online community forum that's like so great at sharing information, a sector, an area of it is very, very creative, sharing information and like wanting to like communicate with other fans and getting other people involved, which you don't see it very often definitely like a lot of either content put out or just like fans choosing purposefully to educate themselves. And thus like, God, now understanding
[44:50.560 -> 44:55.120] different specs of the car and like how races work and sprint races and quality and every
[44:55.120 -> 44:58.440] single thing. How I spent so much time learning all of this, you think I'm suddenly gonna
[44:58.440 -> 45:04.600] stop watching? Like, no, what would I do with all of this before? I know so many different
[45:04.600 -> 45:06.080] tire compounds.
[45:07.120 -> 45:11.000] And not to bring this back to fangirls and fandom,
[45:11.000 -> 45:13.200] which is a topic we'd love to talk about,
[45:13.200 -> 45:17.720] but the value of having a very passionate group
[45:17.720 -> 45:19.960] of predominantly young women,
[45:19.960 -> 45:23.200] like we latch onto things and we love them
[45:23.200 -> 45:26.400] for what they are and we want to improve them.
[45:26.400 -> 45:28.400] And you know, maybe a little less misogyny
[45:28.400 -> 45:29.600] would be really awesome.
[45:29.600 -> 45:32.600] And please, please, like, oh my gosh.
[45:32.600 -> 45:37.600] But the, we will latch on and we will love that thing.
[45:38.920 -> 45:41.520] And we, we're very realistic about it
[45:41.520 -> 45:43.320] and we give you a bunch of money.
[45:43.320 -> 45:44.160] So.
[45:43.440 -> 45:48.160] We're very realistic about it and we give you a bunch of money. So...
[45:48.960 -> 45:49.840] Take my money!
[45:51.920 -> 45:54.000] There's nothing fair weather about fangirls.
[45:59.360 -> 46:02.160] Hey podcast listeners, Gossip Grid here, your guide to F1's paddock elites.
[46:07.960 -> 46:10.280] Hello everyone! Welcome back to Gossip Grid, where I basically give you everything you need to know about F1 and pop culture.
[46:10.280 -> 46:16.240] And of course, it was a jam-packed week because we have no race, drivers are frolicking all
[46:16.240 -> 46:20.560] over the world and doing a whole lot of other things that are rather than driving a race
[46:20.560 -> 46:21.560] car.
[46:21.560 -> 46:24.360] So first off, we have to talk about Coachella.
[46:24.360 -> 46:25.120] We're not going to talk about
[46:25.840 -> 46:29.760] Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes being spotted making out. We're not going to talk about the
[46:29.760 -> 46:34.960] controversial Frank Ocean set that people have a lot of different takes on. But we are going to
[46:34.960 -> 46:42.800] talk about just motorsports presence at Coachella. There was motorcore outfits all over the place.
[46:42.800 -> 46:45.160] People are not giving up on this trend. Motorcore is everywhere, and I'm here to support it.
[46:45.160 -> 46:49.520] One of their performers, his name is IDK.
[46:49.520 -> 46:50.880] It's not that I don't know his name.
[46:50.880 -> 46:52.520] It's literally IDK.
[46:52.520 -> 46:55.000] He really, really leaned into the trend.
[46:55.000 -> 46:59.440] So in the middle, his whole performance, he has a custom,
[46:59.440 -> 47:02.480] one-of-a-kind race suit with matching shoes, a helmet.
[47:02.480 -> 47:07.840] And in the middle of his set had a live pit stop
[47:08.040 -> 47:12.360] With a pit crew coming on stage and changing his shoes
[47:12.720 -> 47:16.060] Why is that also genius besides just being motorsport themed?
[47:16.060 -> 47:22.720] He also announced a Nike collab that weekend and those were the shoes that he was changing it to so from one pair for the
[47:22.720 -> 47:24.720] collab to another
[47:24.800 -> 47:26.480] marketing genius also that he was changing into. So from one pair for the collab to another. Marketing genius.
[47:26.480 -> 47:33.640] Also, pay exactly! Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching! Money everywhere, great, genius idea, love to see it.
[47:33.640 -> 47:48.000] And our absolute favorite man of the hour and of all the time, Lewis Hamilton was at Coachella for the first time since 2019 it's huge. Obviously was supposed to
[47:48.680 -> 47:52.740] Originally be at a race and you know what things change we have spring break
[47:52.740 -> 47:59.680] It's all happening and he got to go to Palm Springs and was serving looks like of course
[47:59.680 -> 48:01.680] He was that was no surprise
[48:02.160 -> 48:07.720] Every day was something else. It was Fendi. There was Gucci was ERL's capital global
[48:07.720 -> 48:11.560] We saw Kimberlin boots multiple times. The outfits were great
[48:12.000 -> 48:18.920] Really really rocking the Coachella vibes exactly as I expected. He attended a couple of the pre and post parties
[48:18.920 -> 48:23.200] He was at the Marc Jacobs and ID pre Coachella Festival
[48:23.200 -> 48:26.400] And it was funny because at the Marc Jacobs party,
[48:26.400 -> 48:30.480] he wore a complete Fendi outfit, which I don't know.
[48:30.480 -> 48:33.000] He also attended the Vivaldi festival.
[48:33.000 -> 48:35.400] He hung out with his regular entourage
[48:35.400 -> 48:37.400] the entire time they were all together.
[48:37.400 -> 48:39.760] And then he was also seen with his buddies,
[48:39.760 -> 48:43.440] Nina Dobrev, Sean White, Justin Bieber, Cara Delevingne.
[48:43.440 -> 48:47.000] He shared himself rocking out at Frank Ocean's set.
[48:47.000 -> 48:51.960] So my question to Louis, you've teased your return to music.
[48:51.960 -> 48:54.960] Should maybe we be expecting, you know,
[48:54.960 -> 48:58.600] a return in a set at Coachella 2024?
[48:58.600 -> 49:02.680] I don't know.
[49:02.680 -> 49:03.680] We'll see.
[49:03.680 -> 49:07.200] Depends if there's a gap in the schedule all over again.
[49:07.200 -> 49:12.080] And if Louis is not busy enough, we're here to bring you some more updates about Brad
[49:12.080 -> 49:15.200] Pitt and Louis' F1 movie.
[49:15.200 -> 49:19.840] I still am just grasping for as much information about this movie as I can.
[49:19.840 -> 49:21.480] I cannot wait for it.
[49:21.480 -> 49:25.840] Louis has been quoted of saying, I know we're going to make the best racing movie
[49:25.840 -> 49:26.960] that's ever existed.
[49:26.960 -> 49:29.160] And I'm just like, give it to me right now.
[49:29.160 -> 49:32.600] So all the updates that I can give you, still no name.
[49:32.600 -> 49:35.200] General Plott is a Formula One driver,
[49:35.200 -> 49:38.400] an older retired driver who would be played by Brad Pitt.
[49:38.400 -> 49:41.000] Comes out of retirement to return to the team
[49:41.000 -> 49:43.520] and help mentor a younger driver.
[49:43.520 -> 49:46.440] It's like very Hollywood, very big story.
[49:46.440 -> 49:48.560] The Younger Driver has been cast.
[49:48.560 -> 49:51.800] Jamson Idris will play the younger driver.
[49:51.800 -> 49:54.120] And this whole film's being produced
[49:54.120 -> 49:55.960] by Lewis's new production company,
[49:55.960 -> 49:59.200] Don Apollo Films, with help of Apple Studios.
[49:59.200 -> 50:01.000] And Apple TV has also recently announced
[50:01.000 -> 50:03.440] that they're making a documentary completely about Lewis.
[50:03.440 -> 50:08.120] So just give that all to me. The film is being directed by Joseph
[50:08.120 -> 50:12.720] Kozinski who just directed Top Gun Maverick and we know Lewis is a huge
[50:12.720 -> 50:16.280] Top Gun fan and they're going to be utilizing a lot of that same technology
[50:16.280 -> 50:20.280] and if anyone saw Top Gun Maverick it's absolutely insane and I cannot wait to
[50:20.280 -> 50:26.320] see this being filmed for F1 racing. They're going to be using a lot of live action racing,
[50:26.320 -> 50:31.840] real on-track action, and a lot of that filming will happen at this year's races and Grand Prix
[50:31.840 -> 50:36.400] happening later in the season. Stefano Domenicali has come out and said that this will take place
[50:36.400 -> 50:41.920] at various locations, so we'll be seeing a lot of it. Tim Cook, Brad Pitt, and Hamilton have
[50:41.920 -> 50:45.920] had several meetings with heads of F1 teams to ensure that they want
[50:46.640 -> 50:52.640] to them to participate and it'd be a big group effort. Hamilton says he will not be featured in
[50:52.640 -> 50:57.280] the film because he will be busy being part of the on-track action and I say that's a load of hooey!
[50:57.280 -> 51:06.000] You're gonna give us at least one cameo. It is an absolute must. Right! Come on, Lewis! Don't even- you- you gotta at least pop up at least
[51:06.000 -> 51:12.040] once. Um, so it will be apparently exclusively in theaters for the first 30 days before hitting
[51:12.040 -> 51:18.040] your Apple TV Plus subscriptions, so continuing to hope to hear more casting news, maybe get
[51:18.040 -> 51:22.600] a name, um, but I can't wait to see the rest of this cast because Lewis is really putting,
[51:22.600 -> 51:30.220] uh, a lot of effort into making sure it is a diverse and well-represented cast and I expect nothing less from him and he says
[51:30.220 -> 51:36.900] that he thinks it's his responsibility to make sure it's diverse.
[51:36.900 -> 51:40.860] So all the other drivers have to be up to doing something since there's no racing going
[51:40.860 -> 51:42.320] on so what are they doing?
[51:42.320 -> 51:44.000] Watching other sports.
[51:44.000 -> 51:49.080] So this past weekend we had a whole bunch of our f1 favorites at the Rolex Monte Carlo
[51:49.080 -> 51:53.440] Masters which is part of the ATP tour which is the Association of Tennis
[51:53.440 -> 51:59.480] Professionals we saw Toto Wolf we saw Suzy Wolf we saw Landon Aras we saw Nick
[51:59.480 -> 52:04.200] DeVries all of them attending we got some extra special content with Charles
[52:04.200 -> 52:05.920] and Pierre and Charles'
[52:05.920 -> 52:11.280] brother Arthur. They were all together, dressed fabulously. They were there watching some doubles
[52:11.280 -> 52:19.120] matches with Andriy Rublev, and he captured his ATP Masters 1000 crown in the finals,
[52:19.120 -> 52:24.240] and you could literally see videos of Charles, like, biting his nails, and there's commentators
[52:24.240 -> 52:28.900] filming him, and he was like, the edge of his seat the entire time and then after the
[52:28.900 -> 52:34.000] match Pierre Arthur and Charles got to go back and hang out with Andre and then
[52:34.000 -> 52:38.400] the opponent that he played with Holger Ruhn so it was definitely really
[52:38.400 -> 52:43.960] interesting we also got to see George at ATP as well he hung out with Djokovic
[52:43.960 -> 52:45.360] they had a whole little bit of
[52:45.360 -> 52:48.320] back-and-forth about traveling around the world, what it's like to be an F1
[52:48.320 -> 52:53.000] driver. It was like definitely a really unique pairing of people having a
[52:53.000 -> 52:57.600] conversation. So everyone kept really busy, didn't realize...
[52:57.600 -> 52:59.100] You had to put it.
[52:59.100 -> 53:04.480] Right! It was just a very interesting collection of people. If you're not
[53:04.480 -> 53:05.360] familiar with
[53:05.360 -> 53:09.480] Djokovic, he's currently ranked the number one tennis player in the world
[53:09.480 -> 53:16.680] and has a very acquired personality. So I could just imagine George's British
[53:16.680 -> 53:27.680] politeness rubbing really well with that. Upcoming, we have, if you did not know, sports has their own Emmys ceremony, so there is
[53:27.680 -> 53:33.840] like an entire Emmys besides the traditional TV sitcom comedy, all of that.
[53:33.840 -> 53:36.320] And there's an entire event just for sports.
[53:36.320 -> 53:43.520] So on May 22nd, if you want to watch online or on the Emmys app, which is a thing that
[53:43.520 -> 53:46.600] exists, Drive to Survive was actually nominated
[53:46.700 -> 53:47.940] for two different categories.
[53:48.040 -> 53:50.500] So for Outstanding Documentary Series,
[53:50.600 -> 53:53.140] and then also Outstanding Audio and Sound.
[53:53.240 -> 53:56.540] So Drive to Survive getting some nominations from the Emmys.
[53:56.640 -> 53:59.420] It may be award winning soon.
[53:59.520 -> 54:03.420] We also found out this week that the first week viewership
[54:03.520 -> 54:07.040] of Drive to Survive was up 40% year over year.
[54:07.040 -> 54:09.960] So interest is not waning for the series.
[54:09.960 -> 54:13.640] No, interest is not waning, especially when you have people like us who watch the whole
[54:13.640 -> 54:14.640] thing in one sitting.
[54:14.640 -> 54:18.640] I like to think that that's all our fault.
[54:18.640 -> 54:19.640] 100%.
[54:19.640 -> 54:23.080] We caused that entire bump.
[54:23.080 -> 54:25.040] And last little bit of pop culture that I gotta bring you this
[54:25.040 -> 54:32.520] week is Paramount Plus has signed a full season promotional deal with F1. They
[54:32.520 -> 54:37.000] are an official partner. They had a short-term deal last year that gave them
[54:37.000 -> 54:41.160] like some exposure at Silverstone and Monza just with some of their placements
[54:41.160 -> 54:44.200] but this year they're definitely expanding that deal a whole lot more.
[54:44.200 -> 54:50.080] There's apparently going to be Paramount Plus characters from original series and movies.
[54:50.080 -> 54:52.560] And there's going to be- There's going to be Spongebob everywhere!
[54:52.560 -> 54:58.320] Let's bring Spongebob to an F1 race! I loved seeing that last year,
[54:58.320 -> 55:02.080] like very serious F1 racing and then just like Spongebob in the background. I was like,
[55:02.080 -> 55:07.040] this is great! He doesn't have his boating license! Put him in a car!
[55:07.040 -> 55:15.520] Oh my gosh, imagine if we got like some of that VR technology where just randomly in the middle of the race,
[55:15.520 -> 55:20.720] like Spongebob is next to Maxwell Stappon. Like, there you go. You're worried about like competing for a lead.
[55:20.720 -> 55:23.040] Like, put Spongebob Squarepants in a boat.
[55:23.040 -> 55:26.720] So now, also to reference if you haven't seen we've,
[55:26.720 -> 55:30.720] Brianna has did a really, really great video a couple of weeks back on our other
[55:30.720 -> 55:36.000] social media platforms about how the NHL did an animated live,
[55:36.000 -> 55:39.760] like they reanimated an entire game and played it on Disney Channel.
[55:39.760 -> 55:43.440] So now I'm just completely imagining an entire F1 race on Nickelodeon with like
[55:43.440 -> 55:47.600] Spongebob like popping out and like they're being slimed like they do with the NFL.
[55:47.600 -> 55:54.320] Please, I just want to be able to switch all the drivers to, and of course alternate feet,
[55:54.320 -> 55:57.600] but all the drivers to Bikini Bottom characters.
[55:57.600 -> 56:01.520] That would be incredible.
[56:01.520 -> 56:04.240] We can't just give them these ideas for free.
[56:04.240 -> 56:05.800] It's just, this is. Oh, but then it would be.
[56:05.800 -> 56:06.620] It's just.
[56:06.620 -> 56:10.640] Okay, but if I could watch it, like,
[56:10.640 -> 56:12.240] that I'd want, like, and if it rains,
[56:12.240 -> 56:13.480] what if it was raining slime?
[56:13.480 -> 56:14.320] Okay, I'm done.
[56:14.320 -> 56:15.140] It would be great.
[56:15.140 -> 56:15.980] I'm done, I'm distracting the guys.
[56:15.980 -> 56:19.580] As long as F1 Multi Viewer includes the Nickelodeon stream
[56:19.580 -> 56:21.760] as an additional screen, I'm all for it.
[56:21.760 -> 56:28.720] I just need to be able to continue to use F1 Multi View viewer. I would watch both of them side by side for sure.
[56:28.720 -> 56:35.880] So we maybe will be seeing Spongebob and Patrick at Formula One fan zones in
[56:35.880 -> 56:39.800] different areas there's gonna be a lot more Paramount Plus branding on track
[56:39.800 -> 56:50.080] signage digital sponsor sponsorship and promotion but reminder if you have paramount plus this is not it's not gonna give you any sort of ability to watch
[56:50.080 -> 56:53.360] The race at all. That's it. This is literally just a promotional partnership
[56:54.040 -> 56:57.960] Because ESPN has all of these rights until 2025
[56:57.960 -> 57:04.080] So maybe paramount plus is trying to make sure that they're like a serious name in that conversation when they're looking to renegotiate
[57:04.600 -> 57:07.520] But for now, I just asked for Spongebob to be in
[57:07.520 -> 57:15.000] the pad. And that is all we got for you this week on Gossip Grid and I hope to
[57:15.000 -> 57:20.280] one day be able to purchase Spongebob F1 merch and we will see you next time.
[57:20.280 -> 57:25.680] What an episode this was. We are at the end. Welcome to Yellow Sector Notes. This is not
[57:25.680 -> 57:31.000] the fastest lap around F1, but we will hit every garage, talking about every team in
[57:31.000 -> 57:41.920] the paddock. So, what's on my phone today? A Red Bull? It's off-season. Words. Wow. It's
[57:41.920 -> 57:47.920] spring break. It's been a while without a race. Therefore, some of these notes are not the
[57:47.920 -> 57:53.360] most interesting. The first three are all that three teens released videos to their YouTube
[57:53.360 -> 57:57.840] channel that I thought were interesting that you might want to go check out. Red Bull released a
[57:57.840 -> 58:02.880] video of the behind the scenes of a race weekend from a teen principal's point of view. Aston
[58:02.880 -> 58:09.120] Martin released a video with an update on their new factory being built and Mercedes put out a video celebrating
[58:09.120 -> 58:13.220] 10 years with Lewis and he reflected on all the big moments. So you should
[58:13.220 -> 58:16.380] definitely go check all of those out but you can tell which one is my favorite.
[58:16.380 -> 58:20.260] But also the factory behind the scenes stuff has been very cool.
[58:20.260 -> 58:26.240] Carlos's penalty appeal to the FIA from the Australian GP was dismissed and he publicly
[58:26.240 -> 58:31.120] acknowledged that the clarity and decision making in F1 has been a hot topic for the
[58:31.120 -> 58:35.840] last couple of years. Just give Lewis his championship back. Please.
[58:38.080 -> 58:43.600] Zach Brown took part in both of the historic F1 races at the Long Beach Grand Prix this weekend
[58:44.960 -> 58:45.200] which was was cool. See his little head go zoom. the historic F1 races at the Long Beach Grand Prix this weekend.
[58:45.200 -> 58:46.200] Which was cool.
[58:46.200 -> 58:50.200] See his little head go zoom.
[58:50.200 -> 58:54.760] He drove an old Williams car, which I believe is his own.
[58:54.760 -> 58:57.840] Joe was on a billboard for Hennessy in China.
[58:57.840 -> 59:03.680] Logan did a lot of things in New York City, including ringing the closing bell at NASDAQ,
[59:03.680 -> 59:05.660] posing at the top of the Empire State Building,
[59:05.660 -> 59:08.680] and taking photos in many iconic tourist locations
[59:08.680 -> 59:10.040] around the city.
[59:10.040 -> 59:12.000] I did not run into Logan in New York City
[59:12.000 -> 59:14.040] in case anyone was wondering.
[59:14.040 -> 59:14.880] I was wondering.
[59:16.400 -> 59:20.460] Nick DeVries went to an AC Milan game in his time off.
[59:20.460 -> 59:23.440] Members of the press have received copies of Gunther's book
[59:23.440 -> 59:28.880] and apparently he goes hard at the entire Schumacher family so we have all we have that to look forward to when the book's officially
[59:28.880 -> 59:34.240] released. And lastly many teams are using this long layoff between races to give their reserve
[59:34.240 -> 59:39.280] drivers testing time in the 2021 versions of their cars. This includes Ferrari, Alfa Romeo,
[59:39.280 -> 59:45.220] and Alpine. I think a couple more that I missed, but those are the three that I saw predominantly posting
[59:45.220 -> 59:48.020] about doing this testing time.
[59:48.020 -> 59:51.060] That's a gridlock for April 20th, 2023 completed.
[59:51.060 -> 59:52.980] How was my sector done today, Nicole?
[59:52.980 -> 59:58.220] It was longer than Zach Brown's second historic F1 race at the Long Beach Grand Prix.
[59:58.220 -> 01:00:02.620] Yeah, he crashed halfway through lap one.
[01:00:02.620 -> 01:00:04.620] He was okay, so that can laugh.
[01:00:04.620 -> 01:00:05.000] He was totally fine.
[01:00:05.000 -> 01:00:06.000] Right, he was totally fine.
[01:00:06.000 -> 01:00:07.000] Yeah.
[01:00:07.000 -> 01:00:11.000] Thank you so much, as always, to VoiceOverMan.
[01:00:11.000 -> 01:00:15.000] Thank you, thank you for existing, Taylor Allison Swift,
[01:00:15.000 -> 01:00:18.000] and for giving me one of the greatest weekends of my whole life.
[01:00:18.000 -> 01:00:21.000] And to our four-legged executive producers,
[01:00:21.000 -> 01:00:24.000] even though mine decided to run in and out of the room today
[01:00:24.000 -> 01:00:25.560] as much as you wanted.
[01:00:25.560 -> 01:00:28.160] Make sure you turn on auto downloads.
[01:00:28.160 -> 01:00:29.840] Ready to review the pod.
[01:00:29.840 -> 01:00:30.840] Let us know what you like.
[01:00:30.840 -> 01:00:33.160] Tell us what you'd like to see us try out.
[01:00:33.160 -> 01:00:35.080] What's something that you'd like to hear us talk about?
[01:00:35.080 -> 01:00:38.240] What's something you'd like to hear our hot takes about?
[01:00:38.240 -> 01:00:43.080] Reviews really, really help us out, especially all you folks on Apple podcast.
[01:00:43.080 -> 01:00:45.520] Pretty pretty please let us know what you think.
[01:00:45.520 -> 01:00:50.760] Take two seconds out of your day and make our day and review the pod.
[01:00:50.760 -> 01:00:52.120] Positively.
[01:00:52.120 -> 01:00:57.860] And make sure you follow us on your social media platform of your choice.
[01:00:57.860 -> 01:01:03.840] And as always, we will be back every Thursday and we sincerely hope you join us.
[01:01:03.840 -> 01:01:08.460] Today like super felt like a grid dance. Not a gridwalk. I think you're still
[01:01:08.460 -> 01:01:16.080] on Eros Tour Hangover. I am. I can't wait to the next one.
[01:01:19.570 -> 01:01:22.570] Bye!