TCOE!#89 OC talks Formula 1 talk with JP!

Please welcome back long time fan and listener and now a member of TCOE! JP is back to talk all things F1! From the movie to the Netflix hit show and the actual racing itself!! Thanks for listening!!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome back everybody to another episode of The Core of
Entertainment, an audio only podcast available on Apple and
available on Spotify. Thank you so much for making
this platform a part of your day.
Thank you, everyone out there for giving me some time to talk
to all of you, the listener. Today is Wednesday.
It's a special Wednesday. It's going to be a collab, A

(00:21):
collaboration between myself andone of my very, very personal
friends in this space and outside of this space.
He's been on the show before. Long time listener from episode
1. All right.
And today, not unlike no Droids who you heard from earlier in
the week, we are talking F1. We're going to talk drive to

(00:44):
survive. We're going to talk the movie.
We're going to talk the sport ingeneral.
This ever changing sport that's taken the world by storm, taking
the US by storm. It is a generational sport from
all the way back in the day, 30 to 40 years on with these cars
in the engineering, the drivers,the companies, the money, the

(01:07):
amounts of money that is invested in this sport world
renown and today here live in person to talk about it all with
all of you, you lovely listenersout there is JP.
What's going on buddy? Welcome back.
What's up dude, Thank you for having me back.
Of course, of course, man. So F1, there's been a movie,

(01:28):
there's been a show, they have apps, they have they're hand in
pretty much everything. Yeah, fantasy now too.
Yeah, got everything. So let's start at the beginning,
you know, I mean, people know, try to survive.
What was the your first intro into F1?
My family, I have a lot of family out east and they got

(01:52):
really into F1 over the last four or five years since COVID,
I think, and they've tried to put me on it for so long, but I
kind of batted it away. And then they're like just
watch, watch Drive to Survive. And then I kind of got attached
to those personalities within the show.
And then I got kind of attached to the racing and the more
sporting aspect of it, and now I'm just completely engulfed in

(02:14):
it. What part of it resonated with
you? What part of it just like
clicked? At what point were you watching
the show? And you're like, OK, I like
this. I want to know more about this.
I think the personalities for sure, specifically Daniel
Ricardo retired now, but he's the the first face you see when

(02:34):
you turn on first Four Seasons of Drive to Survive.
I think he's the opening driver to kind of introduce the show
and everything. So he just made it.
His personality is just electric.
You can't dislike the guy. It's impossible.
And then you watch him race too in the show and you watch all
that entertainment and kind of drama surrounding the show and

(02:56):
it makes it sort of more more entertaining to be vague.
I would say that with a sport like F1, there's a lot more to
within, just like a racetrack, whether it's stock, you know,
NASCAR, Indy, drag racing. I believe the doorway that was

(03:21):
kicked open for F1 is allowing the audience, the viewer, to see
how the drivers are. Yes, I.
Agree. The science, the engineering.
For myself personally, I'm a bigfan of the engineering behind
it. I love seeing what goes into
making these cars work, how they're constructed, how they're

(03:41):
built. The aerodynamics, the, I mean
the thermal dynamics, like the wind, I mean the track,
everything that goes into allowing this car to be the best
version of that car. And then weirdly, you get to see
the relationship between the driver and the car.
Not that the car is sentient, but take Max for example.

(04:02):
The cars that he's driving now are built for him.
Nobody else can drive them, and we've seen that through probably
5 different drivers right now. Yuki Sonoda struggling terribly.
And that's why a couple days ago, Christian Horner, team
principal of Red Bull, was just asked to be relieved of his

(04:23):
duties. Or it could be something else
with all the scandals and bad behavior that he's had, right?
Yeah, We don't have to go too deep in that one.
Well, I mean the and I think that that to me was the big
selling point because it allowedpeople to doorway in to see this
world, you know, and when it comes to a sport and you're

(04:47):
seeing the drivers kind of be put in the front, you know,
they're living their lives on social media.
They're the stars of Drive to Survive.
You know, you kind of feel like it's a little bit more of a
connection base between maybe you watch Hard Knocks and you
watch the football team, but youdon't get that intimate
connection that you get from like Drive to Survive.

(05:09):
Would you agree with that? Yeah, I like watching it.
I almost feel like I know these people seeing their personality.
It's kind of like reality TV. That's how I kind of see it, but
not necessarily. Yeah, it's like it's in that.
Ballpark. But it's not the yeah, the real
reality. Yeah, not to call reality TV

(05:29):
garbage, but like. You can call it that.
There's a lot of it out there that's not fun to watch.
Yeah, it's kind of a step up from that where you see the kind
of dramatized versions of everything that's going on, but
at the end of the day, it makes it more entertaining.
When you made the jump to actually start watching the
races, what was your, what was that North Star that you kind of

(05:52):
followed when you started watching it?
Was it always with Red Bull 'cause you're a Red Bull guy?
Correct. It was always with Red Bull.
Why is that? I thought their stuff looked the
coolest to be completely honest.The 1st my my family is all I
have one Ferrari fan in my family and the rest are McLaren.
And I kind of didn't want to be one of those.
I wanted to be different. And I saw like Red Bull and

(06:14):
Daniel Ricardo in that first season of Drive to Survive.
And I was like, yeah, I think, Ithink I could be a Red Bull fan
and support this team, but kind of learning about all the shit
that's going on with them. It's kind of, it makes it a
little bit harder to be a fan ofthe team a little bit.
It makes you, it's hard not to look at it through like a a
drunk lens of, oh, they're my team, they'll always be my team.

(06:37):
But I still do find myself supporting them, for now
anyways. What about the the races?
Like with the tracks, how they travel around the world, how do
those races like do you do you check them out like on a like a
a weekly basis, like every week?Yeah, 'cause I have the F1 video
game and I just got my own steering wheel and pedals too.

(06:59):
So leading up to the race weekend I'd see what times I can
put in on my game and kind of learn the track.
I think I've got almost every track ingrained in my head now.
OK. You're saying that on Mike, so
you know. I think I do.
Yeah. I think I.
Do what do you think the what doyou think the gravity behind F1?

(07:20):
Why do you think it's become so popular with, you know, this
other this younger generation coming up?
Why do you think it's so popular?
I think Drive to Survive has done a great job bringing people
into the sport. He did a great job with me.
I don't miss a race, qualifying,anything like that now.
And especially social media too,you hear and you also hear the

(07:41):
conversations that are going on with the teams during the races.
Like I don't think I watched IndyCar a couple weeks ago and I
didn't, they didn't broadcast any of the radio messages
throughout the teams and anything like that.
I was like, oh, I kind of wish Ihad like something from the
drivers to hear what's going on with them.
I think F1 does a great job withthat.

(08:04):
You can hear the strategy and you can hear what's going on
with the driver. You can hear him complain 90% of
the time, but that's what makes it fun and funny.
Even. You get memes on Instagram,
Tiktok, everything like that with all the drivers, especially
Ferrari. Feel bad for Ferrari fans again.
It's going through it. It's it's definitely a a journey

(08:25):
for Mr. Hamilton for sure. And prior to, yeah.
You, you get these, you know, and that it's kind of what I had
touched on before about the relationship between the driver
and the car. You know, there's a lot that
goes into it. You know, I myself have not been
as steeped in the F1 culture, inthe F1 scene as yourself and a

(08:46):
few others. But I enjoy it.
You know, I like re watching theraces.
I like watching them when I can and seeing like the qualifying
ones, seeing the updates, you know, rewatching them.
I mean, the deals that they havewith ESPN is really cool to kind
of catch up with that and for medrive to survive, not not unlike

(09:07):
yourself. That was my only doorway in, you
know, I think because to your point, you feel a little bit
more connected to them in a weird way.
You see their inner workings of their house.
I mean, you see where they've come from.
You've seen what it is that goesinto being a driver, you know,

(09:34):
And I mean, it's obviously captivating as hell.
I mean, I know there's plenty ofraces here in the US now and
every, you know, whether they'rein, you know, Spain, whether
they're in Abu Dhabi, you know, you just, it's just such a
cultural shift and you see a sport that it brings a lot of

(09:55):
people together, you know? So you've been keeping up with
this year. Yeah.
What are your thoughts? Because remember, this is an
audio podcast. Every podcast is somebody's
first podcast. So somebody may have seen F1,
hashtag F1. We're talking about our drive to
survive because it's in the algorithm now.
So set the stage for somebody that may have stumbled upon this

(10:17):
podcast and doesn't really know what F1 is like.
Set the stage for the races. It's the pinnacle of motor
racing in my opinion. Single seater race cars that are
basically made out of tinfoil. It seems like you hit somebody
on the track, they're probably out of the race.

(10:38):
So it's just pure race craft andpure rich people.
There's a lot that goes into. It and if your team doesn't have
a lot of money, then your team probably isn't very good.
Elaborate on that a little bit. How does that work with the
teams that are like losing? So like one person that won in

(11:00):
the beginning of the year all ofa sudden starts losing.
They could actually turn the season around or they could
bottom out. Go ahead and.
Elaborate so they get a salary or not?
A salary cap, a spending cap? Cost cap and they can choose
either to continue developments and if shit doesn't work

(11:22):
throughout the year, they could either try to turn it around or
they could just send the funds to next year and try and improve
next year because there's regulations throughout certain
throughout different years and there's a new regulation period
next year. So we're seeing many teams right
now kind of struggling with that.
Do we try to save this year or do we just focus on next year,

(11:48):
worry about developing next year?
And that's kind of the dilemma that Ferrari's in because I
don't remember which one, which driver was 1 driver wants to
continue developing this year and perform as well as we can
this year and the next or the other driver wants to just scrap
this year, worry about next year.

(12:09):
I think it's Charles Leclerc that wants to focus on next year
and Lewis Hamilton that thinks Icould save this year.
That's that's very fascinating that you have all those, you
know, talking heads behind one team.
Yeah, it's like how do we do we listen to the seven time world
champion and Lewis Hamilton or do we listen to the guy who's
been through thick and thin withour team and Charles Leclerc?

(12:33):
And I think Ferrari is definitely split on that.
When it comes to a decision likethat and how much money is on
the line and how much time and energy has gone into building
the cars, who would you side with?
I'm going to next year really, because McLaren is couple 100
points clear of everybody else. I probably should have explained

(12:56):
the scoring system too. But go ahead, no explain the
scoring system. The race winner gets 25 points,
2nd place gets 18 points and then third is 16 and then it
goes all the way down to 10th place, which is only one point
and then after that nobody. You don't get any points after
that. But there's the constructors

(13:18):
championship which is the pointsfrom both 2 drivers.
There's two drivers per team, then they get those points, get
totaled together, and that's theconstructor for their team.
And then there's the drivers championship, which is the
driver with the most individual points at the end of the year.
So some teams are like McLaren are succeeding and are doing

(13:41):
really good with both championships because they have
the best car. But then there's teams like Red
Bull where it's just Max Verstappen is truly generational
talent and nobody else can drivethat Red Bull.
So it's just Max putting in the points and work, focusing on his
own drivers championship, while Red Bull is kind of struggling

(14:03):
to figure out what to do with the car.
I think that that is the hook right there, what you just said.
I think that that's what elevates it above reality TV
because I think with reality TV,if we can segue for a second, a
lot of reality shows, you watch it on a weekly basis, you kind

(14:24):
of digest it on a weekly basis. There's no beginning, there's no
end. You're just watching it.
But what Drive to Survive you will legitimately have.
Like the stakes are high. They do a brilliant job of the
the narrating, the editing, the way that they film it and the
way that they leave an episode off.

(14:45):
You instantly want to go to the next one.
Yeah, and it's great that they release them all at the same
time too. Yeah.
I mean, you might be able to build an audience that like
anticipation on a weekly basis. But unlike regular reality TV,
this is there's a lot at stake behind this.
You know there's a lot more riding on this because you're
seeing the racing unfold right in front of you.

(15:07):
Yeah, and the funniest part about Drive to Survive is kind
of the how those show battles inthe race for like 8th and 9th
place. And I kind of didn't realize
this at first, but those one in two points, three points are can
be millions of dollars to the teams because at the end of

(15:28):
every year, depending on where your team finishes, you get a
monetary incentive and worth millions of dollars that can go
into next year's car. And it's just funny because
you'll see the two, the two carsfrom 10th and 9th place in the
Constructors championship battling for a point and that

(15:50):
like really means something. And the stakes are so high for
them in that moment, but with uskind of looking out, we're like,
these guys suck. They're like bottom of the pack.
What are they even? What are they racing for?
You know, what are they? What are they in this?
Yeah, and then you kind of learna little about what's going on
in the amount of money and I'm like, hell yeah, I'd be grinding

(16:10):
for 10th place too, if that's me.
When it comes to the scale and the level that is F1 and you
have a company like Apple and the one of the biggest tech
companies, if not the biggest tech company in the world,

(16:31):
creative platform and Apple TV. And then you compile that with
charismatic, very attractive, very talented Brad Pitt.
And then you grab Lewis Hamiltonas an executive producer.
And then you make a film. You make the film F1 that has

(16:53):
come out this year and a lot of thoughts.
Joseph Kosinski, I think is his name.
Kosinski who did Top Gun Maverick, wonderful film.
And then we see this product that they've been pushing for
about a year now that it is the F1 movie.
How did that movie hit you as a passionate F1 fan?

(17:18):
I. Kind of want to do it with the
kind of a looking to analyze themovie, not looking to be like a
fan of it. But then immediately it just
captivated me really. Yes.
The first scene, it's supposedlyyou don't know who it is in the
F1 car, but it's Brad Pitt obviously.
And he crashes into the wall andthen he wakes up in his van in

(17:42):
Daytona. And I was like, oh shit, like
I'm kind of in this now. I thought it was I thought it
was a great movie. I Some of the plot and the story
that was driven could have definitely been better, but I
think the racing was entertaining and realistic
besides kind of the crash where Jordan Pierce like flew off like

(18:07):
an airplane and. Yeah, that was that was
something. I was like, that's so Hollywood.
Well, it wouldn't be it wouldn'tbe Hollywood without like some
of the crazy, you know, effects that go into it.
I was sold instantaneously with Shay Wiggum.
He was the he was the pit crew top dog in the first race that

(18:30):
Brad was in, in Daytona, obviously.
And anything with Shay Wiggum init, I'm going to enjoy whether
that's American Primeval. He's he's been in Into the
Spider verse, Across the Spider verse, he's in Boss Reeves.
So as an actor, I really appreciated seeing him because
he's not like a leading, leadingman, but he was in it

(18:50):
nonetheless. And then you kind of get
introduced to the world of F1 and the way that the film is
constructed to the way that it'sprogresses.
It's not for someone like yourself.
It's for someone like the everyday average person that
maybe want to see a film like a Brad Pitt film and you kind of

(19:14):
learn the story through the rules and regulations and
insurance and out of that world of F1.
Yeah, and there were also it's it's definitely an intro.
I think you go from watching this movie and if you like F1
from the movie, then maybe you put on Drive to Survive and if
you like that and then maybe youtry watching a race or

(19:35):
qualifying or something like that.
But watching that movie was like, I could tell who the
audience was for, like you said.And I do think that as an F1
enjoy or F1 fan, you can enjoy that movie too.
But definitely it's not something like I'm not going to

(19:55):
put anybody down for saying, oh,that's the best movie.
I'm going to go see it five times.
I have had some people that. Are like, Yep, I've already seen
it twice. I'm like, oh, do you watch F1?
And they're like, no, I'm like, oh, I mean to each their own.
I don't care. If you're enjoying the the
medium and there's a chance for you to get into the actual
racing, then cool. I think it's great.

(20:17):
It's opening up new or avenues for more people to get into the
sport that haven't watched strides to survive.
I think when it comes to when itcame to the film, the, the
definite like insurance and outsof it, kind of using the, the
world of F1 to kind of further the narrative.
You know, all the talking heads,the owners, the investors, the

(20:40):
money that's involved, the moneythat's on the line.
They definitely, I, I want to say it's like they almost use it
as a way to spoon feed the audience a little bit like, oh,
well, how are you planning on getting points?
Oh, is there a safety car? Oh, OK.
Well, how long is the average pit stop?
How long is the average track? How many seconds do you have to

(21:00):
beat this person by? You know, I really enjoyed that
part because it was simple enough to where people could
understand it, you know? And I think that if it's
captivating enough for people togo see, and it's captivating
enough for people to be revisited and kind of go back
and see it again, then it's obviously done its job, right?
Yeah. What did you think of the way it

(21:23):
was filmed and like the sound when the when the cars are
hitting turns and they're on thetracks.
What do you think? Of that that was awesome the
sound and the the visuals were great.
I like I felt like I was at the racetrack for something it was
so loud in the theater it was awesome I've never like been to
a a race before. I don't got the money for that.

(21:45):
Yeah, not yet, But that was pretty cool.
Like my ears actually hurt a little bit when the cars flew
by. Yeah, well, I know that they had
Lewis Hamilton as an executive producer and a friend of the
show, a regular on the show. No droids.
He gave me some insight about how when the final cut was being

(22:06):
done to the film, he would correct the sounds like that
doesn't sound that that's not how they sound when they turn,
you know, that's not how they sound when they're on the
straight away, you know, and howthey jump and and combat within
the lanes and stuff. The the fun part about the film
for me is that it really focusedheavily on the driver side of

(22:27):
the thing and how they are celebrities and how everybody
knows them. Everything that they do is in
the public. Everything they do is like
displayed. How did how did that, how did
that resonate with you? I.
Really liked it because we had one driver when Brad Pitt, who
was, he was the driver that was like, oh, I'm just here to race
the cars. I'm not here to do all this side

(22:49):
shit. I'm not here to be a character.
I'm here to drive the car. And the other driver, I forgot
his name, Jordan Pierce. Yeah, James and Idris, I
believe. Yeah.
Yeah, and he was kind of the media figurehead, the one that
was all about kind of taking pictures, all about getting his

(23:10):
face out there, not about driving the car and improving
his craft. And that's kind of where I liked
it because my favorite driver isMax Verstappen, and he's about
driving the car. He doesn't like to do media.
He doesn't like to do social media and I kind of saw some
parallels with him and Max not and not to make that sound

(23:33):
totally ridiculous, but character wise, not driver wise.
Well, he's in the movie, yeah. He's on his first place.
Have you seen race? That made me happy as as a fan
of. I was like, hey Max again, let's
go. That's all.
And, and that I think it's, it takes a lot, it takes a lot to
get a film like F1 out there foreverybody to understand like

(23:54):
what it is, how it's going to betaken, how it's going to
resonate. I thought that the, I mean, like
the creative choices behind, youknow, certain characters in the
film could be up for discussion.The character motivations could
be up for discussion. All that was standing.
I, it's not that I didn't enjoy the film.

(24:15):
I thought that what really pushed it, the story was OK for
me. The story was kind of a
predictable story, kind of an OKstory.
But what saved the film was the sound, the camera work, the the,
the essence of what you were just describing.
Like it makes you feel like you're there in the car on the

(24:35):
racetrack. That was really, that was really
wild to see how, like taxing that is for you as well and how
hard that is on your body because a lot of people turn
their nose up on certain driversand think that, well, yeah,
well, they just drive a car. But these guys are athletes.
I mean, they're athletic as hell.
You have to be like. And the amount of training that

(24:56):
goes into that is insane. And neck training.
Who trains their neck in everyday life?
But I do, but that's just, but that's just because you know,
like the background of being an athlete and stuff like that.
But and I, I don't have a neck, but I understand like the every
everyday person isn't working about neck stability.

(25:17):
But I'm not like that. I'm not saying I'm an F1 driver
or nothing, but that their response times is what gets me.
You know, their reaction, to adapt, to react, to be able to
make split to 2nd, split second decisions.
It's really wild as well. And they have to know what's
going on beneath them in the carto improve because you can only

(25:41):
do so much that the car is limiting you to.
And we saw that with Brad Pitt. The second he gets in the car,
he was able to analyze what was wrong with it.
And the other driver was kind ofjust saying, oh, this car is a
shit box. It's undrivable.
But then Brad Pitt goes in, oh, it under steers here, over
steers here. This is what's going on with it.
And that's really important in the sport.

(26:03):
You see that a lot, especially with the team's radio messages.
You get feedback from the drivers saying, oh, this, the
car isn't good here, the car needs to be improved here.
So that was pretty cool to see somebody like kind of bring that
aspect into the movie. Oh yeah, Well, that's what I'm
talking about. Like where it allows you to see
into that world of, oh, it's just a car that goes really

(26:26):
fast. It's like, no, no, no, no.
They're thousands of hours, thousands of people that are all
like working collectively to make their car the best, to make
their car the most efficient. Did you think that the portrayal
of a seasoned driver and Brad Pitt, do you think he did a good

(26:47):
job with that? I think he did a pretty decent
job. I I think the for what the plot
allowed him to do anyways because Brad Pitt wasn't going
to get in the car and go qualifyfirst and win every race.
That wouldn't be great for the plot or for pretty much anything

(27:07):
in that movie. I think it was good how they
showed him in comparison with his teammate as well.
Because the story isn't all about Brad Pitt.
It was with about a PXAPX. G.
Racing, Apex racing. And we kind of had to see what
goes in with both of the driversand how it corresponds with the

(27:29):
team. Because the movie was about
saving the team, right? Right.
It wasn't about saving Brad Pitt's racing career.
It was about Brad Pitt helping out his friend.
Essentially, yeah. And he had the the, the the
desire to like fly, that euphoric feeling when you're
when you're driving. One thing that I really

(27:49):
appreciated about F1 that I thought they did perfectly and I
thought it was displayed so earnestly was the politics
behind it and how Javier Bardem,the the top dog, if you will,
like he is like looking down basically the barrel of a gun.
Like they're going to take the team.
We're not going to have a team. They're going to dissolve

(28:10):
everything if we don't get, you know, some traction here.
And therein lies the hook for the story, you know, the piece
of that that pushes the narrative forward, that allows
Brad Pitt to come in and not so much Shepherd, the younger
driver, but kind of see that parallel between I've been

(28:31):
through all this. I've been through races time and
time again, but not really seeing what the sport has
become. And I think that that I think
that that display, there is a good narrative there.
Obviously there's a good narrative there.
And the cockiness, the arrogance, you know, really

(28:52):
shines through as far as how thecar is displayed.
And I thought that the big thingthat was a selling point, aside
from the sound and the look of of the film was when they were
botching the pit stop. Like that to me was like, Oh my
God, are you kidding me? Like.
So real too. Oh, I know.
You see that every weekend in the actual races.

(29:14):
You see that every weekend. And the one person that botches
the entire pit stop for everybody is always down and
depressed, and everybody in the pit crew is trying to pick him
up too. So I kind of like the character
development with such a minor character, kind of seeing a
really important person, and nobody realizes how important
the pit crew is except for actual F1 nerds, I think.

(29:37):
And this character was actually so important and her job was so
incredibly important to get. That was that front right tire
on. Nobody's thinking about that.
But now people are definitely thinking about that after that.
So for the audience out there that doesn't know and they're
they're listening to this kind of not having that vision,
explain what the pit stop in thepit crew's job is.

(30:00):
Explain that. To replace the tires, the tires
wear down after a while, replacethe tires and replace the the
front wing of the car, which helps with downforce and speed
and turning and everything like that.
But in an F1 pit stop, it's a bad pit stop is 3 seconds or

(30:21):
more. And that is crazy compared to
other sports. There's probably what, 20-30
people in a pit stop jacking up the car, getting off the ground.
And then there's people designated to taking off the
tire, one person designated to putting on a new tire.

(30:42):
And that same person who helped take off the bolts on the tires,
putting a new tire on, bolting anew tire on.
And that's all happening within 2 to 4 seconds.
And that completely changes a race.
If you have a slow pit stop, you're going to come out at a
different time than you should, and you might be behind your

(31:04):
rival. You might be losing points,
which then correlates to money basically.
That part to me was very, very cool to see, like, how crucial
that is. And I think to your point with
the actress that played, you know, that kind of kept fumbling
in the pit crew. It was a very narrow perspective

(31:28):
of like, are you kidding me? Look what you just did.
Then you see like how taxing that is on the race and how to
your point, everything can fall apart.
What did you think about not unlike the the pit stops?
What do you think about the point systems in F1 the movie
about how they explained how youget points, how you get ahead of
people. What was that like for you?

(31:49):
What did you do? You think they did a good job of
can? You refresh me a little bit.
So when, when Brad is there, obviously when he first arrives,
yeah, when he first arrives, he's kind of getting the feel
like, OK, we got a safety car, right.
So OK, the car is trashed. And then how you gain points by

(32:10):
gain by passing somebody else or, you know, you kind of make
it make it a point of like battling in the turns, but you
don't want to tarnish the car versus in the early races when
both drivers are on the car kindof competing for a spot,
competing against one another, But they're also simultaneously

(32:30):
working together. They're also simultaneously
trying to help one another. And there's a very pivotal point
in F1 where you think that oh, he's, he's, he's going to follow
what Brad is telling him. Oh, he's like, oh, oh, he's
listening. He's listening.
And then we obviously know to your point that very Hollywood

(32:51):
SF 18 car crash. Flying away crash.
Good God, he's like whoa, are you kidding me?
I saw some spoilers on that moment.
I was like, no, right, no, what are we doing?
But but to that point, how did you think F1 represented on that
system there and explaining it to people?
I think it did a pretty good joband it made it really simple and

(33:14):
it showed, it kind of showed thescoreboard of when somebody
would get past. I think you remember that,
right? And then it would show the
points, the point total, like next to the their place, their
position. And that would change depending
on if they're going up or down the order.
So I feel like that kind of was self-explanatory.

(33:34):
Because a lot of people don't know that.
A lot of people that don't know a lot about F1 don't understand
that you can gain points that for your to your vernacular,
that when you're in 9th and 10thplace, you're competing still.
So you can still like try to salvage this race, salvage your
team. Either that or just do we burn

(33:54):
it all down and look towards next year, you know?
But I think with F1, yeah, I think it was the early, you
know, stages of like, let's go ahead and try to put some more
light on this growing sport in this growing phenomenon with a
younger generation that is F1. I don't think that they'll do
another one. I highly doubt they'll make

(34:14):
another one. I think it was kind of like a
one and done kind of deal. But I did I What did you think
about the political side of it? Like when their own like top dog
leaked out all the information. I thought that was ridiculous.
OK, my thoughts exactly. Please elaborate.
Please elaborate. So the top dog of the the team

(34:36):
kind of leaks their improvement technology on their car.
Yes, he does. He didn't even leak the
technology like he forged documents and sends it into the
FIA, which is kind of like the policing system Formula One.

(34:57):
And then it's he forges it to make it that their car is
illegal and that because he wants to sabotage the team so he
could sell it to the bigger nameand ultimately he profits off
it. And I thought that was
ridiculous. Like because the FIA wouldn't

(35:18):
it's they wouldn't take forged documents, like they would know,
right? And then he kind of slips up to
Brad Pitt in the end to tell himthat the documents were forged.
Then it was him that did it all along.
When Brad Pitt doesn't even careabout that.
He just wants that feeling of winning in a race car, right?

(35:40):
And if he knew anything about Brad Pitt's character, then he
definitely wouldn't tell him that he did that right.
Because then, spoiler alert, ultimately, Brad Pitt comes
back. Yeah, like.
That's more Hollywood. That's more like a Hollywood
story. I did kind of like at the very
end how Brad Pitt did win that race though, because I feel like

(36:02):
most of the time we as a as a viewer, we get to see that that
kind of cocky character develop into more of a team driven
personality and then get rewarded for it in the end.
But Brad Pitt was ultimately thebiggest team guy the entire time
throughout the movie, and then at the end he was the one that

(36:22):
end up getting rewarded for it. Yeah, it did.
Let's subvert a little expectations.
I think Idris's portrayal, you saw him kind of grow because he
was taking moments through the film to rewatch old footage of
Brad Pitt's character and the races that he had when he was
younger. And yeah, you kind of saw like

(36:43):
that little bit of growth with him, you know, And then
eventually his arc kind of comesto a nice, like they kind of
closed the door on him a little bit.
His art kind of comes full circle when he's like, go win
this race, go, you got this, Just go.
And once again, you know, the sound, the look, the feel like

(37:04):
you feel like you're around those cars.
I mean, it is loud. And not only is it loud, but the
scene towards the end of it whenthat final race hits and it's
just quiet. It's really, really wild how
they remember that scene right where they cut the sound when
Brad Pitt's on that last. They just completely cut it and
it's silence. And like you kind of get the

(37:24):
Brad Pitt's injury kicking in where it's like his vision is
impacted from his previous crashand you're kind of like, oh
shit, is he actually going to doit right?
And then he eventually pulls it off, which is cool.
Also, there was a in that last race when Hamilton went through
after the crash and the announcer goes through goes
Hamilton. That was cool to hear because

(37:44):
like in the actual race, I forgot where it was last year.
I think it was Abu Dhabi too, 2324, the announcer had the
same. Same response.
Well they filmed this during that season, correct?
It was 23. Yeah, they filmed it like on
location on site, which is pretty cool.
And if you have that eagle eye to kind of notice all that,

(38:07):
you're like, oh, I remember whenthey filmed this because that
was the big kicker for me was like, oh, they're filming the F1
movie with the season as they'retravelling, which is pretty cool
to see. And man, to be a family on the
wall on that one. The where?
Where do you think they go from here with F1?

(38:29):
Because F1 isn't going anywhere.They're obviously continuously
going to do the drive to survive.
And Formula One is an ever growing.
It's really caught more tractionof late.
Where do you think the ceilings at?
Do you think there is a ceiling on the sport or do you think
it's ever changing? I don't.
Think there is a ceiling becauseright now they're starting to
reach further to the American audience.

(38:51):
OK. And I'm seeing more and more F1
fans every single day. And previously, I think five
years ago, I don't think the sport was anywhere near as big
as it is in the United States asit is today.
I think they keep maybe not making movies, but driving shows
through Netflix and keep like producing content to kind of

(39:14):
captivate more people throughoutthe States.
I think it kind of goes from bringing in the fans from the
movie to see something else to then see something else and then
eventually actually supporting the sport.
I would, I mean, I would agree with you on that one that I
mean, most sports kind of get a little, you know, wavered.

(39:38):
They kind of, you know, basketball is always around,
football is always around. There's various, you know, you
know, elements of how everythingkind of works as far as like
portrayals and different characters and stuff like that.
The the backdrop to F1, I think as long as Drive to Survive is

(40:01):
where it's at and as long as theUnited States keeps opening up,
you know, various cities. I know no droids mentioned that,
you know. Possibly Chicago, possibly New
York. Where are the races here in the
US? What are the notable ones?
We got Vegas and what are the other ones?

(40:21):
Austin, TX. Austin, Miami.
So 3. Dedicated 3.
Have you heard any rumblings on Chicago or New York?
I have not, but fun fact Denver is getting an F1 arcade soon,
which is it's basically just a bar with a shit ton of

(40:42):
simulators. Really.
Yep, racing simulators. I went to one in Boston and
that's kind of what got me into the video game.
I was like damn I want to do this all the time.
I mean get the game when I go home.
How how? OK, so this simulator that you
were in in in Boston, it's like it's essentially like is it the
one in the movie when they're like in that the car and then
they're racing and the screens all around them?

(41:03):
I'm a little bit, there's probably three screens, three
screens and they're like elevated above you.
So you're sitting down kind of looking up at them and you have
the actual like steering wheel that they use with all the
buttons, all the shifters on it.And then yeah, it's about it.
But the only thing that kind of sucks about that is the races

(41:24):
are only 5 laps. And somebody like me, I want to
do, I want to do a full race on there if I could.
But it is decently affordable, so that's cool.
Pretty much anybody can go in there and get into it.
Yeah, literally. I'll definitely be there.
I'll definitely you'll see me there.
That's awesome. So when it comes to Red Bull,
before we get out of here and before we wrap this one up, what

(41:48):
do you want to touch on any of this stuff to let everybody kind
of know like how the teams are? You know, you got McLaren, you
got Mercedes, you have Red Bull,you have Ferrari.
I know Aston Martin, I know Audiis is kind of going to come up.
Cadillac is coming in too. Next.
Year so. Another American team so.
Explain that. Explain that notion of like how

(42:10):
these teams like kind of function as their own, like kind
of organisms. Most teams are kind of separated
from an already existing brand like Red Bull, Mercedes.
Who else do we got? McLaren, these cars are given

(42:33):
their they pay for their own power unit.
These teams and right now most teams on the grid use Mercedes,
except for Red Bull who uses Honda, Red Bull's junior team
Racing Bulls, they use the Ferrari engine.
Ferrari obviously uses a Ferrariengine too.
So these teams, they buy engine from different power

(42:56):
distributors and then they hire their own drivers from junior
teams like that come all the wayfrom the time that they're 12
years old. These junior teams, some of them
are karting, some of them are inFormula 3-4 all the way up to
F2. They kind of pull drivers from
there as well. And then yeah, it's pretty much.

(43:19):
It's it's it's definitely fascinating to think that like
the one name carries a lot of weight.
You know, like you hear Ferrari and you're like, oh, they have
an F1 team and I go, what's thatlike?
And then that one waning statement or interest might
spark someone to be like, oh, well, there's all these other
teams. Well, how does the team get
started? You know who funds the team?

(43:39):
I always thought in Drive to Survive India, Fire Force India,
Force India. Yeah, like that was something
really interesting, like very, very polarizing.
You know, obviously people have money.
Where's the money coming from? How's it?
Is it clean? Is it like questionable where

(44:00):
it's all coming from? That part's really interesting
too. For odd, wasn't it?
Yeah, it was major. Fun.
Well, and some of the owners like you wonder like, God, you
guys are really, really rich. Where's all the money coming
from? Yeah.
And how is it all funded? And how does it all, you know,
coalesce, you know, do you want to touch on any of the stuff
that Red Bull's going through right now or not?

(44:23):
Really. Yeah, I can.
You can, yeah. All right.
So this is your team, all right?This is your team that you've
been following. You love Max, you got, you know,
that's kind of the torch that you've been carrying for the F1
has been Red Bull. So go ahead.
Before we get out of here, set the stage a little bit.
So what's happened on the 2025 race in this year of F1 all?

(44:46):
Right. So we started pretty strong with
the Max Verstappen second place and that made me happy as a Red
Bull fan or as a kind of new F1 supporter, seeing my driver and
my team kind of have some success.
And then it pretty much all goesdownhill from there.
Like looking back on the last few years, Max Verstappen has

(45:06):
won four drivers champions in a row, and he's had about four
different teammates throughout those years as well.
Because Max Verstappen is truly a generational talent and he
could drive a boat. If you put a boat on the track,
you'll figure out a way to scorein in the points in the top 10.
But every single one of his teammates can't even be within

(45:30):
half a second of him, which is alot of time in Formula One.
Can't even complete a lap in half a second of him and he's
had Sergio Perez was his last, Iguess successful teammate and he
was released last year because of lack of performance.
And they bring in Liam Lawson and Liam Lawson kind of had some

(45:54):
some promise in the beginning and few races.
He scores points and is pretty close to Max and he starts this
season off and he's over a second slower than Max and
ultimately after two races he gets booted and they bring in a
Japanese driver, Yuki Sonoda, for his home Japanese Grand
Prix. And he was competitive almost in

(46:16):
the points. And then he scored a few points,
few 8th, 9th, 10th places. And then after that he's been
bottom, bottom 5. So then ultimately they Red Bull
was like, this is a ongoing issue and it hasn't been solved
and nobody else can drive this car but Max Verstappen.

(46:37):
So they terminated Christian Horner, who was their team
principal, which is like kind oftheir head coach to put it in a
different term, and then their junior team Racing Bulls team
principal. He's taken over at the summer
break. They got three weeks starting

(46:59):
this Sunday, which is what, July11th?
Yes, that's correct. So you got three weeks for him
to figure his stuff out and hopefully, hopefully they'll
help out that second driver because I want to see somebody
else succeed. And there's a lot of drama.

(47:21):
Yes, I didn't even touch on that.
Yeah. You want to touch on that at
all? OK.
So go ahead for the last. Month, people have been
speculating that Max Verstappen is going to switch teams and go
to Mercedes with the new regulations next year.
There's new cars and these cars are going to have to be built
completely differently. And Red Bull is switching to a

(47:42):
Ford power unit, which I don't think has been in Formula One in
a really long time. And Mercedes is keeping their
same kind of more reliable powerunit, it seems like.
So Max Verstappen pretty much has a blank check wherever he's
going to go, whether he stays atRed Bull, which is his team now
if he wants it, or he has a blank check at Mercedes as well

(48:03):
because he's been the most dominant driver of the last 4-5
years. What are your, what are your
thoughts? You're a Mercedes guy, right?
Oh God, yeah. I, I think that if Max goes
there, then I'm going to have tostart breeding my teeth and
rooting for him because I the reason I like Mercedes and I've,
I've said this on Mike several times, I believe their head

(48:28):
honcho. I think, and obviously I've said
this before, he could have said a lot of what he said on the
show because cameras were there.OK, there's obviously lights,
camera action, that element. But I believe that the real

(48:51):
nature of why I became so obsessed with Mercedes, and
primarily that team is because it was one of the only
perspectives in Drive to Survivethat showed that this is not
just the driver, This is not just the money, this is not just
the owner, but this is hundreds of thousands of people all

(49:13):
working in tandem and all working together to accomplish
one goal. And when you have someone like a
Lewis Hamilton or a Max that arejust somehow it clicks.
Everything that they do, it justclicks.

(49:34):
And that's not to say it's not without its shortcomings because
Lewis has had kind of a rougher year.
I mean, obviously driving with anew car, driving with a new
team, it's that not that relationship between the driver
and the car, but getting familiar with a car, getting
familiar with a new, you know, how does it steer?

(49:55):
How does it brake? How does it pick up?
Where's, you know, where's the zip, you know, where's the weak
points? So for Mercedes, it's been a,
it's obviously been kind of an up and down year for Mercedes.
It hasn't been the best it's been in a long time.
Obviously, I think they were on top for at least six years or
something like that. And I mean, it's really easy to

(50:19):
have a good attitude to your team when your team is doing so
well for so long. It's like it was easy to be a
Patriots fan when Tom Brady was there because it's Tom fucking
Brady, you know? But it's not without the
insurance and outs that make a team work.
And I think if Max decides to goto a Mercedes or to any other

(50:39):
team, that would be very fascinating to see because to
your point, the cars are designed for him.
He is kind of had so much input and the amalgamation and the
engineering behind the cars is something that's built for him.
Would you agree with that? Oh I completely agree.
We can see it because nobody else could drive the car.

(51:00):
OK, so he's accomplished that, right?
Do you think, And I'll answer your question and lob this
question to you. I think it would be a bit of a
stretch. I think it would be a bit of a
stretch for him to go to Mercedes.
I agree, because a talented driver is a talented driver, but
a new car, a new team, a new engine, the whole the whole kit

(51:26):
and caboodle is completely changed now and I think
eventually he will do good. I think he would be great still,
but I think it would be very closely, it would very closely
resemble what Lewis Hamilton is currently going through this
year in which he can't quite lock down that symbiotic
relationship with a car. But I think he would probably do

(51:48):
good with any team. But I think if Mercedes wants
him, I mean, they got deep pockets, obviously they could
kind of sign him for whatever they feel he's worth.
And I know the payment system, we didn't really touch on that,
but I to my understanding, it's kind of like baseball where you,
you know, the biggest guys can get the biggest dudes, the top
dollar guys can be afforded by the teams with the deepest

(52:10):
pockets. So I don't know what the
likelihood is if he if he leavesor stays.
I don't know either because it'sRed Bull is his team now.
He can he right now he's even constructing the car and making
improvements to the car. He's very knowledgeable in that
in those fields and I don't think he'll be able to do stuff

(52:33):
like that at Mercedes. And Max likes to also he likes
to SIM race, he likes to stream,he likes to he drove AGT 3 car
and did a testing at that but orat a Lamont I'm pretty sure.
And I don't think Mercedes wouldallow him to that much freedom

(52:55):
because the great thing about Mercedes that they make it clear
that nobody's bigger than the team.
Yes, I do like that a lot about Mercedes.
I like Mercedes. A lot and Toto did a great job
of displaying that and that's what I was referring to earlier.
Whether it was like it's becausethe cameras are on or do they
really feel this way? Yeah, and we kind of saw that
with Lewis Hamilton too. Seven time world champion and he

(53:15):
was never bigger than the team. Nope.
He's truly one of the most humble people.
He's very Zen. Yeah.
I think Zen is the best word to describe a Lewis Hamilton.
And when he was driving for Mercedes, it's just so calm.
So, so calm. Like when you hear him on the
radio. Like.

(53:36):
How is this guy so calm? You're hitting turns at over 200
miles an hour and you're just socentered.
That's why he's the greatest. That's amazing.
The. Amount of race ones that he has
is truly insane. I hope he gets one with Ferrari.
It's hard to dislike the guy it truly.
Of course, of course. And once again, that pans back
to you get to know all these, you know, drivers through the
Netflix show Drive to Survive. So just briefly, what is going

(54:01):
on with Red Bull and the the polarizing bullshit behind the
scenes? Elaborate a little more.
So obviously you said that, you know, it's kind of Max's team.
Yeah, OK. Who?
What? Whose contract did they not
renew for Red Bull? Christian Horner, the team

(54:21):
principal team. Yeah.
Why do you think they didn't renew him?
Because he couldn't figure out how to make the car better for
the second person who's not Max Verstappen to drive.
Because Max Verstappen is even saying that the second car needs
to be better and it needs to be more drivable for somebody else.

(54:42):
And Alex Albon, who's now at Williams, has described that Red
Bull car as playing a video gameon maximum sensitivity.
And when you have all that sensitivity in the car and when
it turns that quick with little input, it's even, it's hard to
control, right? You might think that if it's
easier to turn, then it's going to be, I guess, easier to turn.

(55:03):
But when you're going 210 mph, it's not necessarily about how
fast you can go when you're going straight.
It's about how much you can carry speed through a 90° turn
or even 180° turn. And you probably want the best
mind behind that car to figure everything out.
Do you think that between those two, you know, with Max having

(55:26):
this much creative input, do youthink that'd be a struggle for
him to? Like, is that partly why I think
the the other gentleman was let go because he wasn't putting his
foot forward and where it would largely benefit the team?
I think they were kind of looking to Max for the answers a
little more when they should be looking to the people who are in

(55:47):
charge and the people who are actually responsible for
building the car. That's why you kind of see,
that's why looking at McLaren, it's truly amazing what they're
doing this year. It's complete and total
dominance. I truly don't think that Lando
Norris and Oscar Piastry are thebest 2 drivers on the grid.

(56:08):
That's just my opinion as a Red Bull fan, right?
There's kind of beef there. But I do actually, I take that
back. I think Oscar is a damn good
driver, but I just don't like Lando that much.
I cannot stand the guy. But.
I. It's just crazy because they're
so far ahead in both championships.
A McLaren driver is going to winthis championship.

(56:30):
I'm rooting for Oscar Piastre because I kind of like his
mentality and how I don't hear that much from him and I don't
hear that much from his fan base.
But it's looking at the other teams.
You don't have that sort of dominance factor at all.
Even in the races that Max Verstappen has one, he's had

(56:52):
both the Mclarens right behind him.
Or even the races, the race thatGeorge Russell won, you have the
Mclarens fighting for a podium. It's they're always, if they're
not in front of you. Yeah, if they're not in front of
you, they're right behind you. And that's so frustrating to
watch because Max Verstappen will put together the lap of a
generation in qualifying, the lap of his life in qualifying,

(57:15):
and qualify first and then it's just a matter of time to when
the McLaren's overtaken. As poetic.
That's poetic, man. I mean, it's, I mean, I'm never
going to be an F1 driver, that'sfor damn sure.
You. Know.
It's just not for me. I couldn't fit number one, but I

(57:37):
I do enjoy the sport and I want to thank you for being here,
man. Shedding some light you got to
you got anything you want to sayto the audience for people that
are still, maybe they've made itthis far in the podcast, but you
know, maybe they're on the fencea little bit about F1.
You want to send them off to anything as far as where they
would start. Maybe the F1 movie, but if

(57:57):
you're at home right now and this sounds like something to
entertain you to watch, throw onDrive to Survive.
It's great show. It's really easy to watch, even
as background noise if you're not too invested in it, but give
it a shot. And I said this the last time I
was on there's something out there for everybody.
That's beautiful Jpi want to thank you for being here man,

(58:18):
and talking some F1 drive to survive, the real F1, the inner
workings of the team, the F1 movie.
I want to thank you for being here man.
Thanks for always wanting to be a part of this.
Yeah, thanks for having me on, dude.
It's awesome to talk about this stuff.
It is, dude, it is. That is what the core of
entertainment is all about. I want to thank JP for being
here. I want to thank all of you

(58:38):
listeners out there for checkingthis podcast out about making it
a part of your day and making this platform a part of your
week. And I hope that maybe this has
inspired some people out there to want to check out F1, Drive
to survive the F1 movie, or maybe turn on a race, you know,
see, see what's going on, see ifit's a sport that resonates with
you. And in the mortal words of JP,

(58:59):
there's something out there for everyone.
Thank you so much for listening to this podcast.
Thank you so much for supportingthis podcast.
Do me a favor, click that notification bell, punch that
subscribe button to never miss another episode.
And while we're on the subject, you can check me out at OC
Entertainment 01 on Instagram and YouTube, OC Entertainment on
Twitter and OC Entertainment Oneon TikTok.

(59:21):
And while we're at it, jump downin the comments section below.
Are you a fan of F1? Are you kind of lukewarm on it?
Who's your favorite driver? Who's your favorite team?
What do you hope for the 2026 F one season?
Play some catch up on the 2025 season and be sure to check out
Drive to Survive on Netflix. Thank you so much for listening.
Thank you so much for giving us some time today and I will talk

(59:45):
to all of you next week. Peace.