June 3, 2026 • 34 mins
It's now summer, marking the perfect time to relax with an ice-cold beverage and dive into one of the greatest mysteries in Formula 1 history: What happened to the diamond that was lost at the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix? It's a winding tale that includes a backmarker F1 team desperate to get out of the sport, a glamorous movie partnership full of Hollywood A-listers, and a sketchy diamond sponsor.
This week, Lily sits down with guest Byrd Pinkerton to go through what culture was like in 2004, what led an F1 team to put two uninsured $300,000 diamonds on their cars, and what we know in 2026.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, so we have been full steam ahead with our
recent episodes. We finished up two very load bearing conversations
about sexism and the path for women in motorsports. We
just did a metal look at why yet another American
F one team is trying to slither their way onto
the grid. But the weather is finally warming up here
in New York, and we just passed Memorial Day here
(00:21):
in the States, which for many people marks the start
of summer, And so in honor of that, I think
we need a ViBe's episode. We need some silly goofy fun.
We need an episode where everybody can crack open an
ice cold beverage, put up their feet, gossip about rich
people doing something dumb and avoidable, and get ready for
the Monaco Grand Prix this coming weekend. So today on
(00:44):
No Grip we are tackling one of my favorite Formula
one debacles, the Missing Diamond of the two thousand and
four Monaco Grand Prix. But today's Winding Tail has a
lot of other stuff too. We have discussions of Hillary
Duff's sophomore self titled album, The Cursor to Red Bulls
F one Team, a near academic exploration of Brad Pitt's teeth,
(01:05):
a very chatty F one spokesperson named nav Sadu, and
a rumination on how to pronounce the word jaguar. What's
not to love? Of course, I take this endeavor incredibly seriously,
so I found the perfect guest to join us who
appreciates a no stakes conspiracy. Everybody say hello to Bird Pinkerton,
a big Williams F one fan and occasional George Russell apologist.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Hello, Hi, I do love a silly nostake civil conspiracy.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
That's true about me.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
It's wonderful. No one gets hurt in this one. I
mean Kristin Klein kind of, but we'll get to him.
But I'm burke. You also have like a favorite F
one sponsorship scandal or debacle other than this one, or
any sort of in any sort of entanglements where an
F one team has a sketchy, weird, shady, bizarre sponsor
(01:56):
and it all goes horribly wrong.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I enjoyed the like early has Days with the like
energy drink sponsor that wasn't real.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
And also you're like, surely you would know if you'd
never seen.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
The energy drink out in the world anywhere, that they
probably weren't like a real energy drink anyway.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
But yes, I think that's probably one of my favorite debacles.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
That was rich energy. Forget seeing it. No one had
like took a taste of it, like no one had
ever drank it. Like, I'm so confused as to how
the bit got that far.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I will.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I will also add two other ones a scam. One
was just like interesting. You might recall that back in
the late nineties there was a literal Nigerian prince scam
in F one where a guy claimed to be Prince Malik,
a royal dignitary representing a tribe in Nigeria, who promised
one hundred and twenty five million dollars to the struggling
Arrows F one team, no questions asked. Spoiler alert, he
(02:57):
did not have one hundred and twenty five million dollars
and was not a guy named Prince Malik.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
So he did he come to an F one right?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yes, there is a dude next to these cars, Prince Malik,
but like a literal Nigerian Prince Gypt incredible sensational. The
other one that is much more just sort of like
simple is it was very funny when Mercedes cars were
still driving around with FTX crypto livery stuffs as like
the business was being rated by federal authorities. And then
(03:25):
Sam Bakman freed, the FTX founder and crypto industry golden
boy was being arrested for what was it? Uh oh yeah,
why are fraud and conspiracy? So that was just that
was just an era when every F one team had
a crypto sponsor, and then it very simarily ended incredibly quickly.
So good times. I will say, as we were mapping
(03:47):
out here, F one costs a lot of money, costs
hundreds of millions of dollars a year. So I think
it is unsurprising to anyone that you need a lot
of money, you need a lot of sponsors, and that
probably requires you to get into with some not great
folks and companies and some like true weirdos. Is I
think the overarching theme as we begin our.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Tale, please tell me a yarn.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Is it spin me a yarn? Or is it tell
me a yarn? Can it be both?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Nit me a story with some yarn?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I don't know, Man, tell me a story.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
To get the story going, we need to go back
to the year two thousand and four. I thought I'd
go through just a few of the major cultural events
that took place in two thousand and four to situate
us and listeners to the general zeitgeist that we were
in twenty two years ago. Okay, so that year we
had the infamous Nipplegate controversy where Janet Jackson and Justin
(04:42):
Timberlake were performing at the Super Bowl. We all know
what happens when Justin Timberlake was supposed to rip off
a piece of Janet Jackson's clothing and more comes off
than was probably supposed to. Then that same year, two
thousand and four, Internet do we been generally evil? Person
Mark Zuckerberg launch his Facebook from his Harvard dorm room.
And then, lastly, and this is very internety, Oprah Winfrey
(05:05):
famously gives away three hundred new cars to the studio
audience of her show, which created that like you get
a car, we get a car, You get a.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Car, you get a car, you get a car.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yes, that was an important moment in general cultural history
and Internet memes. I will save for me personally, two
thousand and four is very important because it is the
year that Hillary Duff releases her sophomore self titled album,
of course, called Hillary Duff and it contains the best
song on her entire discography, which is say it with me? Now,
(05:37):
who's that girl?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Okay, who's that girl? Hillary daph You.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Just have to picture like ten year old me. I
had out old Red Walkman and I listened to the
physical CD, specifically this song Lily.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Is there any chance we could just get back to
that front?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Fine?
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yo?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
As far as the Formula One season in two thousand
and four, the Monico Grand Prix, which is the of
our tail, is the sixth race on what ends up
being a very Ferrari dominant season. While Michael Schumacher, Rubens,
Barrichello and Ferrari are flying high, another team is struggling
at the back of the grid. That team, the center
(06:15):
of our story is Jaguar, or as random Brits call it, Jaguar.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
That was your British accent.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
It's Janquar. Three syllables stress on the.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
First Well, that was me trying to just make sure
I got the syllable in. I can't do accents like
it's offensive when I do any sort of accent, like
I just have no ability to not be myself in
an accent.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I can do a really good Erner Hertzog the savage
nature of the Jaguar.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Anyway, we are here with the Jaguar F one Team.
It was a team launched or debuted in two thousand
after Ford bought iconic racing driver Jackie Stewart's F one
team the year before rebranded the name. Obviously, Ford wants
to showcase the luxury Jaguar car brand. However, from the
get go shit was messy. The woes of this team
(07:02):
had only multiplied. By the time the two thousand and
four season had rolled around. The squad had finished seventh
in the Constructors' Championship. The previous two years running and
actually starting in two thousand and three, Jaguar had focused
on cutting costs while aiming to achieve what they called
respectability with performance, and Ford is already looking to sell
the team, right, so two thousand and four they're like,
(07:22):
we got to get out of here. There's a lot
of pressure on the drivers and the personnel to like
make the team look good enough for perspective buyers. The
other thing I will just note there's a familiar face
who pops up on the Jaguar team who's been mentioned
multiple times on their show, and that is Nikki Lauda,
the three time F one World Drivers Champion, the real
life Dnaroes targarian who survived a massive fire re accident.
(07:42):
He was team principal of Jaguar two thousand and one
and two thousand and two, and then he was like nah,
this shit is crazy and bounced like He's like, no,
thank you, I don't want to deal with this. So
the long story short is things are not looking hot
for Jaguar come two thousand and four. The drivers for
Jaguar at this point are a racer, Mark Webber Okay,
still in the mix today as like the manager.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Scare Piastres manager yep, exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
And then we have a twenty one year old Austrian
rookie named Christian.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Klein, somewhat less recognizable name.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
It'll be made clear why you don't really remember him shortly,
but Christian Klein rookie. I will also note, in an
interesting moment of foreshadowing, that Klein reportedly brought over ten
million pounds, which was roughly thirteen point five million dollars
back then twenty three million dollars in today's money in
sponsorship funds from an energy drink manufacturer called Red Bull.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
This is before Red Bull had a team, and Red
Bull was like wanting, we're dipping our toe into the
Formula one waters by sponsoring Christian Klein.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
He's got Red Bull sponsorship dollars.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yes. The other thing I will note, how badly is
this team doing, you might ask. In the first five
races leading up to Monaco, Mark Webber had only finished
in the points once, had no points, and he would
only finish in the points once that entire season. So
things not good. But again, let's remember he is a rookie.
Monica will only be his sixth F one race. Ever
(09:12):
foreshadowing here, now we move our attention to the locale
of these events.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
We are in Okay, Monaco just like a great place
to live if you are very wealthy. Yes, my understanding
is that you can't take pictures of wealthy people there
for any number of reasons. There's just like a whole
bunch of wealthy people there, and so it has this
sort of long standing place in the Formula one calendar
(09:43):
as the race, but even as it's become less and
less of a track worth racing on because they're actually
racing on Monicco streets. But the streets are so narrow
that like the wide cars can't even really fit there anymore.
But it's sort of like the let's see glamorous d race.
People will watch from their yachts, and they're super yachts
(10:05):
and they're super mega extreme yachts. There's sort of a
level of If you think of Formula one as a
very glamorous sport, Monaco is like the glam de la
glaam of races for people to attend. So even though
what they are watching can be often sort of a
processional race, at this point you are watching it while
(10:28):
presumably rubbing shoulders with somebody famous on a large yacht, and.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
So that sort of yeah, makes it more worthwhile.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
I will add, just for some historical context, the Monico
Grand Prix has run in various capacities for different series
since nineteen twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Did the Great Depression effect more than the US because
start that's a crazy year to start your like very
glitzy and glamory race.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
It also has largely run most years of F one.
It's been canceled only like a handful of times or whatever,
and it is considered along with the Indy five hundred
and the twenty four hours of Lamont to be part
of the triple Crown of motor racing. So like big
deal and to your point, but it is a very
sleepy race now. Originally it was considered this really cool
circuit if you're consierenting in like the middle of the
(11:17):
twentieth century, Like the cars are smaller, it's much more
dangerous and it is a very narrow street circuit. It
has numerous elevation changes. You have the Monaco Tunnel, which
is like a big fucking deal part of my French
back in the day, to like have this tunnel in
a race like that seemed very cool to people. I
guess in like nineteen fifty yohiwa was nineteen fifty like
like we we would not.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
We can tell it to the milkmanly.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So we have now arrived at the fateful day. This
is the time where we discuss the diamond in question.
I'm ready we've reached this fate full two thousand for
a race weekend. It culminates in the Monaco Grand Prix
on May twenty third of two thousand and four, and
as we have established, we have a desperate backmarker team
on the F one grid trying to gain a foothold
(11:58):
and find the funds and publicity to keep the lights
on at their operation for the time being, and hopefully
also sell their team. So lots on the line. We're
still early in the season, but Ferrari's already running away
with it and Jaguars just hanging on. So the other
thing I think that's important to note only two thousands
over really this time where like various professional sports leagues
were experimenting a lot with Hollywood partnerships. You could like
(12:20):
throw a rock and hit some sort of Hollywood sports collab.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Essentially what a time.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
There's lots of collabs, including perhaps something to Do. It's
not Ocean's eleven, It's like Oceans twelve.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yes, Bird, you are correct. So in the case of
Jaguar and the two thousand and four Monico Grand Prix,
it was Ocean's twelve, which is the second of the
Ocean's reboot, and it has some of the biggest A
listers in modern Hollywood history. So we have George Clooney,
we have Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, we have Julia Roberts.
(12:55):
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. And the
whole point is, like you got the most absurd cast
of all time, like in just terms of big names
doing this, this franchise. So they were like, wouldn't it
be great if you Ocean's twelve did a collab a
partnership of sponsorship with us over here at the Jaguar
F one team, because even though we are a struggling team,
we are still an F one. So they said, y'all
(13:16):
are denoting rich luxury things, and we also love rich
luxury things, So like we'll just put those two concepts together.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Is like George Clooney is Brad Pitt is Julia Roberts.
Like at the Monaco Grand Prix, several of.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
These people are yes, okay, they're going to be there,
They're going to have the car, and then we're going
to have this little installation engagement, if you will, that
goes along with them being there and looking like all
movie starish themselves. Also important to note that we're dealing
with a Jennifer Aniston pre e veneer's Brad Pitt.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
This Brad Pitt have veneers.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
If you saw the F one movie, you would be
blinded by those things. Like, truly, my eyeballs are still
recovering almost a year later from.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
The foot whatever, what are you so?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Brad Pitt Original Teeth is at the Grum Prix along
with some other individuals and they're all doing a pop
up for Oceans twelve.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yes, so of course them just doing a basic livery
for this thing would have been boring, right, Like they
couldn't just have Oceans twelve. They they're like, no, no, no,
no no. If we're gonna have like the stars here
we do all these things, we're gonna we're gonna do
something bigger, something better. Jaguar says, we are going to
for this race have two giant one point four carrot
(14:36):
three hundred thousand dollars diamonds, So each diamond is worth
around three hundred thousand dollars. It's gonna be one for
each Jaguar car. And these diamonds, i should say, are
going to be strapped to the nose of each vehicle
that will be in motion during the Monaco Grand Prix.
All right, we're gonna take a quick break, but when
(14:57):
we get back, things are going to get pretty crazy.
So stick around. And we are back and as a refresher,
we're at the two thousand and four Monaco Grand Prix
where the struggling Jaguar F one team has agreed to
promote The Ocean's twelve movie by strapping a one point
four carro at three hundred thousand dollars diamond onto the
(15:19):
nose of each of its cars.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Okay, some clarifying questions, Yes, question one.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Is no one concerned about like the aerodynamic effects of
attaching as large diamond to the front of the car.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
That's not coming up?
Speaker 1 (15:33):
But this is back with under team. You know, the
whole car is probably constructed by like popsicle sticks anyway,
so they're just like sure, okay, whatever we got to do.
I will also add to add a level of like
scammer to this, like keep it in the family here,
because I always wondered who provided the diamonds, right, because
like that would just always get kind of glazed over.
At least when I was told this story and it
(15:53):
was my a jeweler brand called Steinmetz, of course I
was like, well, who owns Steinmetz? It is a man
named Benny Steinmetz. He is a billionaire considered by some
to be Israel's richest man, and most recently, he was
sentenced to five years in prison in twenty twenty one
after being convicted of corruptions, specifically for bribing officials and
forging documents to gain mining rights in Guinea oh a Swiss.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Court sentenced is Raeli businessman and diamond trader Benny Steinmetz
to five years in jail on Friday on charges of
corruption and forgery.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Shady guy.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
You know it is bad when you have a subhead
in your Wikipedia page titled Controversies and criminal Trials.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Ykay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So Steinmetz as in the company. They actually lent five
diamonds to the Jaguar team. And there's a reason why
I'm giving this little preface here. So of course good
I guess to have multiple things to choose from. But
their whole plan was, Hey, we're gonna put these cars
on display with a couple of massive uncut gems, and yes,
I am recording that movie on purpose. They're like, yeah,
we're going to basically like glue some giant ass gems
(16:56):
to these cars, just for like press media day stuff
like that. The diamonds, these uncut diamonds, gotty as hell,
gotty as hell. And then though therefore the actual racing
and whatnot, they're going to have these smaller button sized
diamonds set into a stainless steel carrier that are going
to sit in the nose of the car So YOHI bird,
(17:16):
I am sending you both pictures of these diamonds themselves.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
This is uncut.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
So there's one really big, very rectangular one. It's it's
quite sizable. It looks sort of like if you turned
an iPhone into a diamond. Yes, then there's a somewhat
less thrilling looking diamond that is just sort of there's
(17:44):
a metal circle and in the metal circle is presumably
a diamond, but it is significantly smaller than.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
The The press one is gotty as hell?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Okay, is this one also Gotti? Perhaps my Gotti meter
is off.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
I think that the race one is a little more tasteful,
you know, I kind of like the iPod diamond.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
I wish I could be there, like in the meeting
where they're like, hey, I have an idea.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
What would you have said in the meeting? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Hi, Like what what are you raising your hand and
contributing to that conversation?
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Absolutely nothing, I mean maybe cheered like, yes, yes, this.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Is okay great.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I thought you were maybe saying I wish I'd been
in the meeting so that I could say, like, hey,
maybe let's.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Not I mean, I'm a chaos agent as much as
the next guy, you know, I just I just want
to be entertaining.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
That's what you want in a producer, is a person who,
when a terrible idea is being floated, is like, yeah,
this will make a mess.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Our show is starting to make a lot of sense.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Now, okay, great.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
To get us back to our tail, we have these diamonds,
and to add a level of womp womp to this
whole situation, these three hundred thousand dollars diamonds are about
to be slapped with metaphorical Elmer's glue to the front
of two race cars that can reach speeds of well
over two hundred miles per hour and are about to
go round and round a dangerous circuit. And they do
(19:22):
not have insurance.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Was the plan? Just like definitely don't crash. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
They were just kind of like, you know what, We're
just gonna say a prayer and it's all gonna go
great with this team that has not been doing great
ever its entire existence, and things will be fine.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
There were also some additional logistical hurdles with this stunt.
So F one has what are called park fer May regulations,
essentially rules and stuff around who can touch the cars
and when, a lot of like security and other things
around the cars once once they're in garages or out
on the track or what have you. And one of
those at the time was that a F one car
could not be modified beyond the qualifying session of the
(20:00):
race weekend, meaning that like these two Jaguar cars couldn't
just you know, race as usual and then like ten
minutes before the actual Grand Prix, Jaguar coun't just slap
these diamonds on all of a sudden. So Jaguar has
to run these two cars all race weekend, and they
end up doing this including free practice with the diamonds attached.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
To get even crazier, our rookie Christian Client twenty one
year on Christian Client, he actually crashed his car in
a practice session earlier in the weekend with the diamond
attached to the front of his car. But the damage,
don't worry, guys, was in the rear of the car
and the nose was left unscathed. Okay, so this brings
us to the actual Sunday race afternoon. Everybody, Welcome to
(20:41):
a very sunny and bright Monte Carlo forty one degrees
attract temperature. The cars lineup in Pandemonium ensues from the
literal get.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Go in the cars of his naves. I think I
sig new one of the Ferraris.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
It's got some damage. So first the race start has
to be aborted twice due to other cars in the
field having issues. Can do a Jaguar. And then once
the race is finally underway, on the third attempt to
get it started, things go downhill literally for Jaguar, almost
immediately on the very first lap of this race.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Where's he gone off? Oh, it's so the lows happen.
Let's have a look. Where is he?
Speaker 5 (21:16):
He's lost his nose up at the top for some reason,
and then he too boggins.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Down on it wedge underneath. He's right from whale.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Christian Klin rookie sixth f one race. Ever, he gets
off to a bad start, he's in traffic, and less
than a minute after things get underway, he crashes at
the iconic hairpin in Monaco and damages the front wing
of his car on impact and smashes into a series
of barriers. That is right, the nose of the car
(21:42):
that is now smushed to smithereens.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
To make matters worse, because of where Christian Clin's car
had crashed on the circuit, and because of other F
one safety regulations around when and where you can clean
up debris after a crash and all these other things,
the Jaguar team couldn't reach the car for several hours
while the race is going on, so no one knows
(22:07):
for quite some time that a three hundred thousand dollars
diamond is missing. And I will say, luckily, Christian Klinar
driver probably a little traumatized, but not physically harmed or injured.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Who cares? Who cares?
Speaker 1 (22:23):
That is literally what naps to do?
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Kill naps to do.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Our trusty Jaguar spokesperson after the crash, he goes, at
that point, I probably should have been worried about the
car or the driver, but I must admit my immediate
thought was for the diamond. However, the diamond in question
was lost and has never been found. So Bird, before
we get into all of the various theories and whatnot,
I want to hear what you think happened to the diamond.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Because Formula one in Monaco is on like a street track.
I can see a universe where the diamond it bounces
off into a thing. It's in this metal ring, so
maybe it bounces like metal side down and it's not
just sort of like a glinting gem and somebody you know,
(23:14):
walking to school ten days later sees it, picks it up,
and they just secretly own the Monaco Diamond and have
walked off with it. That's like my realistic scenario. My
conspiracy scenario is it feels ridiculous to have a heist
(23:35):
movie tie in diamonds attached to your car. The diamond
goes missing and you're like, don't worry, it wasn't a heist.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Well, also think about it too. This is a street
race in the middle of a super populous, like densely area.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
But presumably you can't just like walk out onto the
racetrack during the Monoco Grum Prix.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
But who knows if it was still on the racetrack.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Okay, got it, got it, got it? So wait, how
did people react?
Speaker 2 (24:00):
So just to make sure that I've yeah, that I'm
following all the things, So like Jaguar is basically like,
you'll never believe it. We lost one of the diamonds
off of this car. Who can say where it went?
And then is everyone like, yeah, that seems cool and normal,
or is like what's the sort of immediate reaction?
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Yes, So basically immediately there's a lot of searching. This
does make headlines for like a day, but even in
two thousand and four, other things we're going to like
overshadow this, like bizarre diamonds situation. But all this to say,
there's a big search for it, no one finds it.
And in the twenty two years since this occurred, many
racing officials, many F one fans, amateur sluice have all
(24:42):
poured over the quote unquote evidence that exists from this incident.
The big thing being that obviously there are credentialed photographers
for site, you know, and they put up their images
on places like getty, so you can still see images
from this race and from this crash. And the Reddit
threads and other like message board threads about this case
are wild, like people are going frame by frame of
like any number of photographers like three hundred images of
(25:05):
the crash and trying to pinpoint literally when the diamond
came off.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
On the broadcast replay, Clean comes into the hairpin with
his front wing already missing, but there is no way
to tell if the duel had even been there.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
At that time. And what are their big theories about
what happened?
Speaker 1 (25:21):
A couple of different theories. I think the most obvious
theory is that this diamond flies off in this crash,
it lands in a shrub or something and is maybe
taken out with the trash with other race debris.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Yeah. Also, no one has the diamond. It's not even
like a middle school or it's just in the trash.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
In like a landfill somewhere. Yeah. Another thing someone did
bring up that I thought was smart and it did
make sense is that obviously Monaco close proximity to water,
what if it got swept up in a storm drain
and is now lost at sea.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Oh my god, just like in the Titanic when she dropped,
when she goes like drops the heart of the ocean
into the See, the Ocean's claimed a lot of diamonds
in its time.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
So that's that's theory number one. Theory number two, which
you alluded to, is that perhaps someone just like stumbled
upon this diamond ten days after the race and was like,
I'm just gonna take this cute little thing here, and
it's hanging out of someone's house, or maybe they somehow
sold it without detection. Though I will say our executive
producer Max wrote a note that the market for secondhand
diamonds or like reselling diamonds isn't great, a fact that
(26:26):
I would not know. I don't know how Max knows that,
but this is something that has never occurred to me.
The other obvious one that I came up is that
some people believe that this entire saga was a massive
PR stunt to promote the film, and that perhaps fake
decoy diamonds were used instead of the real thing.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
That would be sensible.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yes, so of course maybe the diamonds maybe, or maybe
they just brought them out for like the showy part
of the weekend and didn't put actual diamonds on the car,
in which case, you know, maybe the diamond is safely
tucked away in an underground European bank vault somewhere. I
will say Jaguar has vehemently denied these accusations over fake
diamonds over the years, and I will say our trustee
pal Jaguars spokesperson Nabsad has also denied this on numerous
(27:06):
occasions over the years, saying that the risk factors played out,
the diamonds got lost, and as you can see right now,
the entire planet was consumed with our story the brand
in Ocean's twelve. Job done. And then he also claims
that stein Mets the brand was ultimately okay with the loss,
since it was a relatively unknown company that got a
ton of free media attention and press mentions.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
As a thing to say, that doesn't make me less suspicious.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
My thoughts exactly, job done, job done for everyone's now
talking about these two sponsors is not what I would
want someone to say when they.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Lost a diamond.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Okay, okay, sure, sure, Finally getting to what you were
saying earlier, Bird. There are of course, some conspiracy theorists
who believe that, in a move not dissimilar to Ocean's
twelve or the entire Oceans franchise, that the diamond went
missing as part of an elaborate plan and heist. That said,
there are questions that remained about when this would have happened.
(28:04):
Would they have swiped the diamonds off the car? Yeah,
before they were put onto the car. Obviously with this
whole park from a thing, were they doing some sort
of stealth mode switching out diamonds like throughout the weekend?
Was there just yeah, like did someone just steal the
diamond at some other point. Some people have actually also
positive they're like, oh, Christian client was in on it,
And I was like, I'm sorry, you're saying this man
somehow perfectly executed a crash at the exact point, and yah, YadA, YadA.
(28:28):
Part of me would say, like, no, guys, that's ridiculous.
But of course, four years after the events of this saga,
there was of course a very well known F one
controversy that is literally called Crashgate, where essentially a driver
almost did kind of just that right, like intentionally crashed
his car in such a way to give his teammate
an advantage allegedly. Because they're still debating this in court
in the year of Our Lord twenty twenty six, I.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Still am suspicious of this as like a conspiracy theory,
because again, like what do you have like a false
bottom to your little attachment where it's like the metal attachment,
like maybe the diamond falls into a little secret pocket
in the nose.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Even if let's say a Christian clin figure in a
hypothetical world with not real Christian clin but hypothetical Christian line,
even if you were like, I'm gonna crash my car
to make these things happen, you can't control all of
the race traffic and how you go into the like.
There's just too many factors like that that would have
to work in such a specific way that you can't
control with a car going like a bajillion miles, I
mean even even at a hairpin, cars are still going
(29:25):
seven eighty miles an hour. So that's still like there.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Are just too many things that could go wrong.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
And Okham's Razors suggests that they just put a diamond
on the front of this car and hoped that it
wouldn't get lost, and then it did just happen to
get lost.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Yes, So where do things actually stand with the missing
Monaco Diamond? I have that answer right after the break. Okay,
we are back and we are finishing up our chat
about the missing diamond from the two thousand and four
(30:01):
Monico Grand Prix. We are telling this tale in twenty
twenty six. We're about twenty two years removed from this event,
diamond still has not been publicly located. No one has
come forward about its whereabouts. There's been various finger pointing
over the years, but like none of it with any
actual evidence attached to it. Is just a lot of
people being like, I think not, I'm like, it's probably
(30:23):
in the grass, like whatever. I also, though, still think
that it was in the grass. Someone has to have
found it after twenty two years. But I digress. Of course,
you might be wondering what happened to those involved in
this story, So Bird, I have prepared a little epilogue
for you. After the two thousand and four season, Jaguar
team is sold to Red Bull, marking the beginning of
(30:44):
one of the most influential F one teams of the
twenty first century. I will also add, though, that Jaguar
was later resurrected as Jaguar Racing to take part in
Formula E starting about a decade ago in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
All right, did you mean Jaguar Racing?
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Jaguar are Christian Clients. F one career was short lived.
He raced for the newly formed Red Bull F one
team for only two more seasons, before transitioning to a
test driver role and then left the F one series altogether.
And I will say he is forty three now as
of this recording, and he's still racing largely in endurance championships.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
So good for Christian endured.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
He he did in fact.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
Indoor we're the diamonds, Christian, you.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Know what I feel like, And everyone's want he'll pop
up and talk about this like event a little bit,
but yeah, it's just kind of like he's like, yeah, man,
I'm like older now, Like I don't know what you
want me to say, Like, and when I was twenty
twenty one on like my six F one race. I
really don't have anything new to add to the mix here.
What have we learned from this journey that we that
we were on.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
I really learned once again and for the umpteenth time,
that every day is another hijriink and this is one
of the good ones.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Well Well said, what did you learn from the Tale
of the Missing Diamond?
Speaker 4 (31:58):
You know, honestly, I think I think there is uh
like super important life lesson hiding in here for all
of us, because I think everyone has these sort of
Monaco Diamond moments in their lives where a really stupid
idea comes up, you know, like let's do a uh,
let's do a somersault into the relatively shallow end of
(32:20):
the pool, or let's try the most spicy item on
the menu, or you know, and and somebody will come
and maybe maybe somebody will come and say, no, that's
like a really dumb idea, And it's just really important
not to listen to them, because even though you know
it might be something that you end up regretting at
the moment, and for years to come, other people will
(32:44):
be telling that and gaining so much fun and entertainment
from your your your mishaps and from your mistakes that. Yeah,
it's just really important for the plot.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Say it's doing for the ploot because it's because it's
it's never back fired tremendously in all of human history.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
What is life without people making stupid mistakes? It it'd
be so boring.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Yeah, this really was an incredible side quest for the
Jaguar Jaguar F one team before their ultimate demise. I
will finish us off by offering a different theory. I
would just like to bring it back to our ourman,
Brad Pitt, and I would just like to say, three
hundred thousand dollars diamond goes missing, and now the man
has very intense veneers.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Hmmm, guys, I hate I hate teeth. I don't like
the teeth like that. I actually I'm leaving. I enjoyed
myself very much. Goodbye.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
That's our show on June tenth, ahead of the Barcelona
Catalunya Grand Prix. We are discussing a topic I know
listeners have a lot of thoughts on what makes a
great Formula one rivalry and is there one F one
rivalry that rises above the rest. No Grip is hosted
by me Lily Herman and produced, edited and sound designed
by Johai Metal. Max Miller is our executive producer. We
(33:59):
get additional production support from bulldu Special thanks to Ben
Riskin at ROOMTNE and Noah Chesler at Iheartshontai Tone is
executive producer. Be you sure to give this show a
five star rating and review. Wherever you're listening, You can
follow me at Lily k Herman on Instagram and subscribe
to my F one culture newsletter at Engine failuref one
dot com. You can follow us at No Grip Podcasts
(34:21):
on Instagram and TikTok
Okay, so we have been full steam ahead with our
recent episodes. We finished up two very load bearing conversations
about sexism and the path for women in motorsports. We
just did a metal look at why yet another American
F one team is trying to slither their way onto
the grid. But the weather is finally warming up here
in New York, and we just passed Memorial Day here
(00:21):
in the States, which for many people marks the start
of summer, And so in honor of that, I think
we need a ViBe's episode. We need some silly goofy fun.
We need an episode where everybody can crack open an
ice cold beverage, put up their feet, gossip about rich
people doing something dumb and avoidable, and get ready for
the Monaco Grand Prix this coming weekend. So today on
(00:44):
No Grip we are tackling one of my favorite Formula
one debacles, the Missing Diamond of the two thousand and
four Monaco Grand Prix. But today's Winding Tail has a
lot of other stuff too. We have discussions of Hillary
Duff's sophomore self titled album, The Cursor to Red Bulls
F one Team, a near academic exploration of Brad Pitt's teeth,
(01:05):
a very chatty F one spokesperson named nav Sadu, and
a rumination on how to pronounce the word jaguar. What's
not to love? Of course, I take this endeavor incredibly seriously,
so I found the perfect guest to join us who
appreciates a no stakes conspiracy. Everybody say hello to Bird Pinkerton,
a big Williams F one fan and occasional George Russell apologist.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Hello, Hi, I do love a silly nostake civil conspiracy.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
That's true about me.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
It's wonderful. No one gets hurt in this one. I
mean Kristin Klein kind of, but we'll get to him.
But I'm burke. You also have like a favorite F
one sponsorship scandal or debacle other than this one, or
any sort of in any sort of entanglements where an
F one team has a sketchy, weird, shady, bizarre sponsor
(01:56):
and it all goes horribly wrong.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I enjoyed the like early has Days with the like
energy drink sponsor that wasn't real.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
And also you're like, surely you would know if you'd
never seen.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
The energy drink out in the world anywhere, that they
probably weren't like a real energy drink anyway.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
But yes, I think that's probably one of my favorite debacles.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
That was rich energy. Forget seeing it. No one had
like took a taste of it, like no one had
ever drank it. Like, I'm so confused as to how
the bit got that far.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I will.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I will also add two other ones a scam. One
was just like interesting. You might recall that back in
the late nineties there was a literal Nigerian prince scam
in F one where a guy claimed to be Prince Malik,
a royal dignitary representing a tribe in Nigeria, who promised
one hundred and twenty five million dollars to the struggling
Arrows F one team, no questions asked. Spoiler alert, he
(02:57):
did not have one hundred and twenty five million dollars
and was not a guy named Prince Malik.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
So he did he come to an F one right?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yes, there is a dude next to these cars, Prince Malik,
but like a literal Nigerian Prince Gypt incredible sensational. The
other one that is much more just sort of like
simple is it was very funny when Mercedes cars were
still driving around with FTX crypto livery stuffs as like
the business was being rated by federal authorities. And then
(03:25):
Sam Bakman freed, the FTX founder and crypto industry golden
boy was being arrested for what was it? Uh oh yeah,
why are fraud and conspiracy? So that was just that
was just an era when every F one team had
a crypto sponsor, and then it very simarily ended incredibly quickly.
So good times. I will say, as we were mapping
(03:47):
out here, F one costs a lot of money, costs
hundreds of millions of dollars a year. So I think
it is unsurprising to anyone that you need a lot
of money, you need a lot of sponsors, and that
probably requires you to get into with some not great
folks and companies and some like true weirdos. Is I
think the overarching theme as we begin our.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Tale, please tell me a yarn.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Is it spin me a yarn? Or is it tell
me a yarn? Can it be both?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Nit me a story with some yarn?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I don't know, Man, tell me a story.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
To get the story going, we need to go back
to the year two thousand and four. I thought I'd
go through just a few of the major cultural events
that took place in two thousand and four to situate
us and listeners to the general zeitgeist that we were
in twenty two years ago. Okay, so that year we
had the infamous Nipplegate controversy where Janet Jackson and Justin
(04:42):
Timberlake were performing at the Super Bowl. We all know
what happens when Justin Timberlake was supposed to rip off
a piece of Janet Jackson's clothing and more comes off
than was probably supposed to. Then that same year, two
thousand and four, Internet do we been generally evil? Person
Mark Zuckerberg launch his Facebook from his Harvard dorm room.
And then, lastly, and this is very internety, Oprah Winfrey
(05:05):
famously gives away three hundred new cars to the studio
audience of her show, which created that like you get
a car, we get a car, You get a.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Car, you get a car, you get a car.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yes, that was an important moment in general cultural history
and Internet memes. I will save for me personally, two
thousand and four is very important because it is the
year that Hillary Duff releases her sophomore self titled album,
of course, called Hillary Duff and it contains the best
song on her entire discography, which is say it with me? Now,
(05:37):
who's that girl?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Okay, who's that girl? Hillary daph You.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Just have to picture like ten year old me. I
had out old Red Walkman and I listened to the
physical CD, specifically this song Lily.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Is there any chance we could just get back to
that front?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Fine?
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yo?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
As far as the Formula One season in two thousand
and four, the Monico Grand Prix, which is the of
our tail, is the sixth race on what ends up
being a very Ferrari dominant season. While Michael Schumacher, Rubens,
Barrichello and Ferrari are flying high, another team is struggling
at the back of the grid. That team, the center
(06:15):
of our story is Jaguar, or as random Brits call it, Jaguar.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
That was your British accent.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
It's Janquar. Three syllables stress on the.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
First Well, that was me trying to just make sure
I got the syllable in. I can't do accents like
it's offensive when I do any sort of accent, like
I just have no ability to not be myself in
an accent.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I can do a really good Erner Hertzog the savage
nature of the Jaguar.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Anyway, we are here with the Jaguar F one Team.
It was a team launched or debuted in two thousand
after Ford bought iconic racing driver Jackie Stewart's F one
team the year before rebranded the name. Obviously, Ford wants
to showcase the luxury Jaguar car brand. However, from the
get go shit was messy. The woes of this team
(07:02):
had only multiplied. By the time the two thousand and
four season had rolled around. The squad had finished seventh
in the Constructors' Championship. The previous two years running and
actually starting in two thousand and three, Jaguar had focused
on cutting costs while aiming to achieve what they called
respectability with performance, and Ford is already looking to sell
the team, right, so two thousand and four they're like,
(07:22):
we got to get out of here. There's a lot
of pressure on the drivers and the personnel to like
make the team look good enough for perspective buyers. The
other thing I will just note there's a familiar face
who pops up on the Jaguar team who's been mentioned
multiple times on their show, and that is Nikki Lauda,
the three time F one World Drivers Champion, the real
life Dnaroes targarian who survived a massive fire re accident.
(07:42):
He was team principal of Jaguar two thousand and one
and two thousand and two, and then he was like nah,
this shit is crazy and bounced like He's like, no,
thank you, I don't want to deal with this. So
the long story short is things are not looking hot
for Jaguar come two thousand and four. The drivers for
Jaguar at this point are a racer, Mark Webber Okay,
still in the mix today as like the manager.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Scare Piastres manager yep, exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
And then we have a twenty one year old Austrian
rookie named Christian.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Klein, somewhat less recognizable name.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
It'll be made clear why you don't really remember him shortly,
but Christian Klein rookie. I will also note, in an
interesting moment of foreshadowing, that Klein reportedly brought over ten
million pounds, which was roughly thirteen point five million dollars
back then twenty three million dollars in today's money in
sponsorship funds from an energy drink manufacturer called Red Bull.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
This is before Red Bull had a team, and Red
Bull was like wanting, we're dipping our toe into the
Formula one waters by sponsoring Christian Klein.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
He's got Red Bull sponsorship dollars.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yes. The other thing I will note, how badly is
this team doing, you might ask. In the first five
races leading up to Monaco, Mark Webber had only finished
in the points once, had no points, and he would
only finish in the points once that entire season. So
things not good. But again, let's remember he is a rookie.
Monica will only be his sixth F one race. Ever
(09:12):
foreshadowing here, now we move our attention to the locale
of these events.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
We are in Okay, Monaco just like a great place
to live if you are very wealthy. Yes, my understanding
is that you can't take pictures of wealthy people there
for any number of reasons. There's just like a whole
bunch of wealthy people there, and so it has this
sort of long standing place in the Formula one calendar
(09:43):
as the race, but even as it's become less and
less of a track worth racing on because they're actually
racing on Monicco streets. But the streets are so narrow
that like the wide cars can't even really fit there anymore.
But it's sort of like the let's see glamorous d race.
People will watch from their yachts, and they're super yachts
(10:05):
and they're super mega extreme yachts. There's sort of a
level of If you think of Formula one as a
very glamorous sport, Monaco is like the glam de la
glaam of races for people to attend. So even though
what they are watching can be often sort of a
processional race, at this point you are watching it while
(10:28):
presumably rubbing shoulders with somebody famous on a large yacht, and.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
So that sort of yeah, makes it more worthwhile.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
I will add, just for some historical context, the Monico
Grand Prix has run in various capacities for different series
since nineteen twenty nine.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Did the Great Depression effect more than the US because
start that's a crazy year to start your like very
glitzy and glamory race.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
It also has largely run most years of F one.
It's been canceled only like a handful of times or whatever,
and it is considered along with the Indy five hundred
and the twenty four hours of Lamont to be part
of the triple Crown of motor racing. So like big
deal and to your point, but it is a very
sleepy race now. Originally it was considered this really cool
circuit if you're consierenting in like the middle of the
(11:17):
twentieth century, Like the cars are smaller, it's much more
dangerous and it is a very narrow street circuit. It
has numerous elevation changes. You have the Monaco Tunnel, which
is like a big fucking deal part of my French
back in the day, to like have this tunnel in
a race like that seemed very cool to people. I
guess in like nineteen fifty yohiwa was nineteen fifty like
like we we would not.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
We can tell it to the milkmanly.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So we have now arrived at the fateful day. This
is the time where we discuss the diamond in question.
I'm ready we've reached this fate full two thousand for
a race weekend. It culminates in the Monaco Grand Prix
on May twenty third of two thousand and four, and
as we have established, we have a desperate backmarker team
on the F one grid trying to gain a foothold
(11:58):
and find the funds and publicity to keep the lights
on at their operation for the time being, and hopefully
also sell their team. So lots on the line. We're
still early in the season, but Ferrari's already running away
with it and Jaguars just hanging on. So the other
thing I think that's important to note only two thousands
over really this time where like various professional sports leagues
were experimenting a lot with Hollywood partnerships. You could like
(12:20):
throw a rock and hit some sort of Hollywood sports collab.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Essentially what a time.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
There's lots of collabs, including perhaps something to Do. It's
not Ocean's eleven, It's like Oceans twelve.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yes, Bird, you are correct. So in the case of
Jaguar and the two thousand and four Monico Grand Prix,
it was Ocean's twelve, which is the second of the
Ocean's reboot, and it has some of the biggest A
listers in modern Hollywood history. So we have George Clooney,
we have Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, we have Julia Roberts.
(12:55):
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. And the
whole point is, like you got the most absurd cast
of all time, like in just terms of big names
doing this, this franchise. So they were like, wouldn't it
be great if you Ocean's twelve did a collab a
partnership of sponsorship with us over here at the Jaguar
F one team, because even though we are a struggling team,
we are still an F one. So they said, y'all
(13:16):
are denoting rich luxury things, and we also love rich
luxury things, So like we'll just put those two concepts together.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Is like George Clooney is Brad Pitt is Julia Roberts.
Like at the Monaco Grand Prix, several of.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
These people are yes, okay, they're going to be there,
They're going to have the car, and then we're going
to have this little installation engagement, if you will, that
goes along with them being there and looking like all
movie starish themselves. Also important to note that we're dealing
with a Jennifer Aniston pre e veneer's Brad Pitt.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
This Brad Pitt have veneers.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
If you saw the F one movie, you would be
blinded by those things. Like, truly, my eyeballs are still
recovering almost a year later from.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
The foot whatever, what are you so?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Brad Pitt Original Teeth is at the Grum Prix along
with some other individuals and they're all doing a pop
up for Oceans twelve.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yes, so of course them just doing a basic livery
for this thing would have been boring, right, Like they
couldn't just have Oceans twelve. They they're like, no, no, no,
no no. If we're gonna have like the stars here
we do all these things, we're gonna we're gonna do
something bigger, something better. Jaguar says, we are going to
for this race have two giant one point four carrot
(14:36):
three hundred thousand dollars diamonds, So each diamond is worth
around three hundred thousand dollars. It's gonna be one for
each Jaguar car. And these diamonds, i should say, are
going to be strapped to the nose of each vehicle
that will be in motion during the Monaco Grand Prix.
All right, we're gonna take a quick break, but when
(14:57):
we get back, things are going to get pretty crazy.
So stick around. And we are back and as a refresher,
we're at the two thousand and four Monaco Grand Prix
where the struggling Jaguar F one team has agreed to
promote The Ocean's twelve movie by strapping a one point
four carro at three hundred thousand dollars diamond onto the
(15:19):
nose of each of its cars.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Okay, some clarifying questions, Yes, question one.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Is no one concerned about like the aerodynamic effects of
attaching as large diamond to the front of the car.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
That's not coming up?
Speaker 1 (15:33):
But this is back with under team. You know, the
whole car is probably constructed by like popsicle sticks anyway,
so they're just like sure, okay, whatever we got to do.
I will also add to add a level of like
scammer to this, like keep it in the family here,
because I always wondered who provided the diamonds, right, because
like that would just always get kind of glazed over.
At least when I was told this story and it
(15:53):
was my a jeweler brand called Steinmetz, of course I
was like, well, who owns Steinmetz? It is a man
named Benny Steinmetz. He is a billionaire considered by some
to be Israel's richest man, and most recently, he was
sentenced to five years in prison in twenty twenty one
after being convicted of corruptions, specifically for bribing officials and
forging documents to gain mining rights in Guinea oh a Swiss.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Court sentenced is Raeli businessman and diamond trader Benny Steinmetz
to five years in jail on Friday on charges of
corruption and forgery.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Shady guy.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
You know it is bad when you have a subhead
in your Wikipedia page titled Controversies and criminal Trials.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Ykay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So Steinmetz as in the company. They actually lent five
diamonds to the Jaguar team. And there's a reason why
I'm giving this little preface here. So of course good
I guess to have multiple things to choose from. But
their whole plan was, Hey, we're gonna put these cars
on display with a couple of massive uncut gems, and yes,
I am recording that movie on purpose. They're like, yeah,
we're going to basically like glue some giant ass gems
(16:56):
to these cars, just for like press media day stuff
like that. The diamonds, these uncut diamonds, gotty as hell,
gotty as hell. And then though therefore the actual racing
and whatnot, they're going to have these smaller button sized
diamonds set into a stainless steel carrier that are going
to sit in the nose of the car So YOHI bird,
(17:16):
I am sending you both pictures of these diamonds themselves.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
This is uncut.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
So there's one really big, very rectangular one. It's it's
quite sizable. It looks sort of like if you turned
an iPhone into a diamond. Yes, then there's a somewhat
less thrilling looking diamond that is just sort of there's
(17:44):
a metal circle and in the metal circle is presumably
a diamond, but it is significantly smaller than.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
The The press one is gotty as hell?
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Okay, is this one also Gotti? Perhaps my Gotti meter
is off.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
I think that the race one is a little more tasteful,
you know, I kind of like the iPod diamond.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
I wish I could be there, like in the meeting
where they're like, hey, I have an idea.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
What would you have said in the meeting? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Hi, Like what what are you raising your hand and
contributing to that conversation?
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Absolutely nothing, I mean maybe cheered like, yes, yes, this.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Is okay great.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I thought you were maybe saying I wish I'd been
in the meeting so that I could say, like, hey,
maybe let's.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Not I mean, I'm a chaos agent as much as
the next guy, you know, I just I just want
to be entertaining.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
That's what you want in a producer, is a person who,
when a terrible idea is being floated, is like, yeah,
this will make a mess.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Our show is starting to make a lot of sense.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Now, okay, great.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
To get us back to our tail, we have these diamonds,
and to add a level of womp womp to this
whole situation, these three hundred thousand dollars diamonds are about
to be slapped with metaphorical Elmer's glue to the front
of two race cars that can reach speeds of well
over two hundred miles per hour and are about to
go round and round a dangerous circuit. And they do
(19:22):
not have insurance.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Was the plan? Just like definitely don't crash. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
They were just kind of like, you know what, We're
just gonna say a prayer and it's all gonna go
great with this team that has not been doing great
ever its entire existence, and things will be fine.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
There were also some additional logistical hurdles with this stunt.
So F one has what are called park fer May regulations,
essentially rules and stuff around who can touch the cars
and when, a lot of like security and other things
around the cars once once they're in garages or out
on the track or what have you. And one of
those at the time was that a F one car
could not be modified beyond the qualifying session of the
(20:00):
race weekend, meaning that like these two Jaguar cars couldn't
just you know, race as usual and then like ten
minutes before the actual Grand Prix, Jaguar coun't just slap
these diamonds on all of a sudden. So Jaguar has
to run these two cars all race weekend, and they
end up doing this including free practice with the diamonds attached.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
To get even crazier, our rookie Christian Client twenty one
year on Christian Client, he actually crashed his car in
a practice session earlier in the weekend with the diamond
attached to the front of his car. But the damage,
don't worry, guys, was in the rear of the car
and the nose was left unscathed. Okay, so this brings
us to the actual Sunday race afternoon. Everybody, Welcome to
(20:41):
a very sunny and bright Monte Carlo forty one degrees
attract temperature. The cars lineup in Pandemonium ensues from the
literal get.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Go in the cars of his naves. I think I
sig new one of the Ferraris.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
It's got some damage. So first the race start has
to be aborted twice due to other cars in the
field having issues. Can do a Jaguar. And then once
the race is finally underway, on the third attempt to
get it started, things go downhill literally for Jaguar, almost
immediately on the very first lap of this race.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Where's he gone off? Oh, it's so the lows happen.
Let's have a look. Where is he?
Speaker 5 (21:16):
He's lost his nose up at the top for some reason,
and then he too boggins.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Down on it wedge underneath. He's right from whale.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Christian Klin rookie sixth f one race. Ever, he gets
off to a bad start, he's in traffic, and less
than a minute after things get underway, he crashes at
the iconic hairpin in Monaco and damages the front wing
of his car on impact and smashes into a series
of barriers. That is right, the nose of the car
(21:42):
that is now smushed to smithereens.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
To make matters worse, because of where Christian Clin's car
had crashed on the circuit, and because of other F
one safety regulations around when and where you can clean
up debris after a crash and all these other things,
the Jaguar team couldn't reach the car for several hours
while the race is going on, so no one knows
(22:07):
for quite some time that a three hundred thousand dollars
diamond is missing. And I will say, luckily, Christian Klinar
driver probably a little traumatized, but not physically harmed or injured.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Who cares? Who cares?
Speaker 1 (22:23):
That is literally what naps to do?
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Kill naps to do.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Our trusty Jaguar spokesperson after the crash, he goes, at
that point, I probably should have been worried about the
car or the driver, but I must admit my immediate
thought was for the diamond. However, the diamond in question
was lost and has never been found. So Bird, before
we get into all of the various theories and whatnot,
I want to hear what you think happened to the diamond.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Because Formula one in Monaco is on like a street track.
I can see a universe where the diamond it bounces
off into a thing. It's in this metal ring, so
maybe it bounces like metal side down and it's not
just sort of like a glinting gem and somebody you know,
(23:14):
walking to school ten days later sees it, picks it up,
and they just secretly own the Monaco Diamond and have
walked off with it. That's like my realistic scenario. My
conspiracy scenario is it feels ridiculous to have a heist
(23:35):
movie tie in diamonds attached to your car. The diamond
goes missing and you're like, don't worry, it wasn't a heist.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Well, also think about it too. This is a street
race in the middle of a super populous, like densely area.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
But presumably you can't just like walk out onto the
racetrack during the Monoco Grum Prix.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
But who knows if it was still on the racetrack.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Okay, got it, got it, got it? So wait, how
did people react?
Speaker 2 (24:00):
So just to make sure that I've yeah, that I'm
following all the things, So like Jaguar is basically like,
you'll never believe it. We lost one of the diamonds
off of this car. Who can say where it went?
And then is everyone like, yeah, that seems cool and normal,
or is like what's the sort of immediate reaction?
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Yes, So basically immediately there's a lot of searching. This
does make headlines for like a day, but even in
two thousand and four, other things we're going to like
overshadow this, like bizarre diamonds situation. But all this to say,
there's a big search for it, no one finds it.
And in the twenty two years since this occurred, many
racing officials, many F one fans, amateur sluice have all
(24:42):
poured over the quote unquote evidence that exists from this incident.
The big thing being that obviously there are credentialed photographers
for site, you know, and they put up their images
on places like getty, so you can still see images
from this race and from this crash. And the Reddit
threads and other like message board threads about this case
are wild, like people are going frame by frame of
like any number of photographers like three hundred images of
(25:05):
the crash and trying to pinpoint literally when the diamond
came off.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
On the broadcast replay, Clean comes into the hairpin with
his front wing already missing, but there is no way
to tell if the duel had even been there.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
At that time. And what are their big theories about
what happened?
Speaker 1 (25:21):
A couple of different theories. I think the most obvious
theory is that this diamond flies off in this crash,
it lands in a shrub or something and is maybe
taken out with the trash with other race debris.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Yeah. Also, no one has the diamond. It's not even
like a middle school or it's just in the trash.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
In like a landfill somewhere. Yeah. Another thing someone did
bring up that I thought was smart and it did
make sense is that obviously Monaco close proximity to water,
what if it got swept up in a storm drain
and is now lost at sea.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Oh my god, just like in the Titanic when she dropped,
when she goes like drops the heart of the ocean
into the See, the Ocean's claimed a lot of diamonds
in its time.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
So that's that's theory number one. Theory number two, which
you alluded to, is that perhaps someone just like stumbled
upon this diamond ten days after the race and was like,
I'm just gonna take this cute little thing here, and
it's hanging out of someone's house, or maybe they somehow
sold it without detection. Though I will say our executive
producer Max wrote a note that the market for secondhand
diamonds or like reselling diamonds isn't great, a fact that
(26:26):
I would not know. I don't know how Max knows that,
but this is something that has never occurred to me.
The other obvious one that I came up is that
some people believe that this entire saga was a massive
PR stunt to promote the film, and that perhaps fake
decoy diamonds were used instead of the real thing.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
That would be sensible.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yes, so of course maybe the diamonds maybe, or maybe
they just brought them out for like the showy part
of the weekend and didn't put actual diamonds on the car,
in which case, you know, maybe the diamond is safely
tucked away in an underground European bank vault somewhere. I
will say Jaguar has vehemently denied these accusations over fake
diamonds over the years, and I will say our trustee
pal Jaguars spokesperson Nabsad has also denied this on numerous
(27:06):
occasions over the years, saying that the risk factors played out,
the diamonds got lost, and as you can see right now,
the entire planet was consumed with our story the brand
in Ocean's twelve. Job done. And then he also claims
that stein Mets the brand was ultimately okay with the loss,
since it was a relatively unknown company that got a
ton of free media attention and press mentions.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
As a thing to say, that doesn't make me less suspicious.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
My thoughts exactly, job done, job done for everyone's now
talking about these two sponsors is not what I would
want someone to say when they.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Lost a diamond.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Okay, okay, sure, sure, Finally getting to what you were
saying earlier, Bird. There are of course, some conspiracy theorists
who believe that, in a move not dissimilar to Ocean's
twelve or the entire Oceans franchise, that the diamond went
missing as part of an elaborate plan and heist. That said,
there are questions that remained about when this would have happened.
(28:04):
Would they have swiped the diamonds off the car? Yeah,
before they were put onto the car. Obviously with this
whole park from a thing, were they doing some sort
of stealth mode switching out diamonds like throughout the weekend?
Was there just yeah, like did someone just steal the
diamond at some other point. Some people have actually also
positive they're like, oh, Christian client was in on it,
And I was like, I'm sorry, you're saying this man
somehow perfectly executed a crash at the exact point, and yah, YadA, YadA.
(28:28):
Part of me would say, like, no, guys, that's ridiculous.
But of course, four years after the events of this saga,
there was of course a very well known F one
controversy that is literally called Crashgate, where essentially a driver
almost did kind of just that right, like intentionally crashed
his car in such a way to give his teammate
an advantage allegedly. Because they're still debating this in court
in the year of Our Lord twenty twenty six, I.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Still am suspicious of this as like a conspiracy theory,
because again, like what do you have like a false
bottom to your little attachment where it's like the metal attachment,
like maybe the diamond falls into a little secret pocket
in the nose.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Even if let's say a Christian clin figure in a
hypothetical world with not real Christian clin but hypothetical Christian line,
even if you were like, I'm gonna crash my car
to make these things happen, you can't control all of
the race traffic and how you go into the like.
There's just too many factors like that that would have
to work in such a specific way that you can't
control with a car going like a bajillion miles, I
mean even even at a hairpin, cars are still going
(29:25):
seven eighty miles an hour. So that's still like there.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Are just too many things that could go wrong.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
And Okham's Razors suggests that they just put a diamond
on the front of this car and hoped that it
wouldn't get lost, and then it did just happen to
get lost.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Yes, So where do things actually stand with the missing
Monaco Diamond? I have that answer right after the break. Okay,
we are back and we are finishing up our chat
about the missing diamond from the two thousand and four
(30:01):
Monico Grand Prix. We are telling this tale in twenty
twenty six. We're about twenty two years removed from this event,
diamond still has not been publicly located. No one has
come forward about its whereabouts. There's been various finger pointing
over the years, but like none of it with any
actual evidence attached to it. Is just a lot of
people being like, I think not, I'm like, it's probably
(30:23):
in the grass, like whatever. I also, though, still think
that it was in the grass. Someone has to have
found it after twenty two years. But I digress. Of course,
you might be wondering what happened to those involved in
this story, So Bird, I have prepared a little epilogue
for you. After the two thousand and four season, Jaguar
team is sold to Red Bull, marking the beginning of
(30:44):
one of the most influential F one teams of the
twenty first century. I will also add, though, that Jaguar
was later resurrected as Jaguar Racing to take part in
Formula E starting about a decade ago in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
All right, did you mean Jaguar Racing?
Speaker 1 (30:59):
Jaguar are Christian Clients. F one career was short lived.
He raced for the newly formed Red Bull F one
team for only two more seasons, before transitioning to a
test driver role and then left the F one series altogether.
And I will say he is forty three now as
of this recording, and he's still racing largely in endurance championships.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
So good for Christian endured.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
He he did in fact.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
Indoor we're the diamonds, Christian, you.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Know what I feel like, And everyone's want he'll pop
up and talk about this like event a little bit,
but yeah, it's just kind of like he's like, yeah, man,
I'm like older now, Like I don't know what you
want me to say, Like, and when I was twenty
twenty one on like my six F one race. I
really don't have anything new to add to the mix here.
What have we learned from this journey that we that
we were on.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
I really learned once again and for the umpteenth time,
that every day is another hijriink and this is one
of the good ones.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Well Well said, what did you learn from the Tale
of the Missing Diamond?
Speaker 4 (31:58):
You know, honestly, I think I think there is uh
like super important life lesson hiding in here for all
of us, because I think everyone has these sort of
Monaco Diamond moments in their lives where a really stupid
idea comes up, you know, like let's do a uh,
let's do a somersault into the relatively shallow end of
(32:20):
the pool, or let's try the most spicy item on
the menu, or you know, and and somebody will come
and maybe maybe somebody will come and say, no, that's
like a really dumb idea, And it's just really important
not to listen to them, because even though you know
it might be something that you end up regretting at
the moment, and for years to come, other people will
(32:44):
be telling that and gaining so much fun and entertainment
from your your your mishaps and from your mistakes that. Yeah,
it's just really important for the plot.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Say it's doing for the ploot because it's because it's
it's never back fired tremendously in all of human history.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
What is life without people making stupid mistakes? It it'd
be so boring.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Yeah, this really was an incredible side quest for the
Jaguar Jaguar F one team before their ultimate demise. I
will finish us off by offering a different theory. I
would just like to bring it back to our ourman,
Brad Pitt, and I would just like to say, three
hundred thousand dollars diamond goes missing, and now the man
has very intense veneers.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
Hmmm, guys, I hate I hate teeth. I don't like
the teeth like that. I actually I'm leaving. I enjoyed
myself very much. Goodbye.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
That's our show on June tenth, ahead of the Barcelona
Catalunya Grand Prix. We are discussing a topic I know
listeners have a lot of thoughts on what makes a
great Formula one rivalry and is there one F one
rivalry that rises above the rest. No Grip is hosted
by me Lily Herman and produced, edited and sound designed
by Johai Metal. Max Miller is our executive producer. We
(33:59):
get additional production support from bulldu Special thanks to Ben
Riskin at ROOMTNE and Noah Chesler at Iheartshontai Tone is
executive producer. Be you sure to give this show a
five star rating and review. Wherever you're listening, You can
follow me at Lily k Herman on Instagram and subscribe
to my F one culture newsletter at Engine failuref one
dot com. You can follow us at No Grip Podcasts
(34:21):
on Instagram and TikTok
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