Pits to Checkered Flags: FoF Talks Formula 1 Racing

Join Fandom of Fandoms for a full-speed primer on Formula One—what it is, why it matters, and how to actually enjoy it. With our friend Keith as guide, we decode the sport’s core: razor-thin margins, wild budgets, and driver egos sharpened by engineers who could just as easily build rockets. If you’ve ever wondered why qualifying can be more electric than the race, or how a two-second pit stop swings a championship, you’re in the right place.

Expect strong opinions: Drive to Survive’s impact, the broadcast experience, and the strange reality that your teammate is your fiercest rival all come under the microscope. 

If you’re F1-curious or already deep in the paddock, this is a fast, friendly tour of the sport’s heart: speed, smarts, and a lot of personality. If you enjoy the ride, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review so others can find it. What circuit should we break down next?

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Transcript

Blizzard Week And Home Projects

SPEAKER_03 0:01

All right, gentlemen, we are back for episode number something. 17, I think. I have no clue. That might be right. I think it's lost count.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

We're pretty far into it now. So, you know, over a half a year, just kept it going, chugging right along. Um, how was everybody's blizzard?

SPEAKER_04 0:21

Oh gosh, that'll really date the week that we're recording this. I guess this one's releasing in a short, short turnaround.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

But yeah, yeah. Uh my mine was great. I was just at home with my wife and baby. We were snowed in. We did a bunch of like random house projects, and it was awesome. Yeah, I had a great weekend.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

What'd you get done? Like, what's the you know?

SPEAKER_03 0:42

I had like just just very random fixes, like little fixes that just get put on the back burner. So like some things in the bathroom, the kitchen. We hung up some decor, we cleaned, we did like I don't know how many loads of laundry. I mean, it was incredible. Just yeah.

unknown 0:56

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

It was a great week. How was your blizzard week?

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Uh it was nice, you know. We had the nice three snow days. So uh yeah, Monday. So you're off today too? Yeah. You gotta go in tomorrow? I do. It's uh two-hour delay. There are a lot of a lot of schools in the area that did cancel, but not us, man. We, you know, we're going strong. We gotta get back into learning and all that stuff. So these kids had enough time off. Uh but no, it was it was really good. We just honestly, this is the first time that I've been out since Saturday. So I have not left my house. I've just been sitting there and doing my thing, which has been kind of nice. Yeah. My wife was like, hey, do you want to go out and like do something today? Like go out and like get in the car and drive around and go to this bin store or whatever. I was like, nah, I'm good.

SPEAKER_04 1:38

Okay. Not not stir crazy yet.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

It uh you know, I'm fine. It was it wasn't too bad. Uh the kids were the kids were great. We we had a good time. Um we did not play out in the snow this time. Tori saw this cool TikTok or Instagram reel, whatever, um, where somebody showed them bringing in shovel fulls of snow and putting it into the bathtub. Um she's like, Oh, the kids would probably love just like to be able to play in the snow go outside and get all cold and everything, because they didn't really enjoy that the last time that it snowed. Um, and they did not enjoy playing with it.

SPEAKER_04 2:13

So then you just have a bathtub full of snow for a while. We did, yeah.

Disney Trip Highlights And Ride Tech

SPEAKER_01 2:15

So I had to go in there and melt it all down. Good, good.

SPEAKER_04 2:19

All right, real quick, highlight of your Disney trip since we that was our last episode, and I know you just went.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Yeah. Um, well, I it was it was a really good time. We had a just a phenomenal trip, got to do um, you know, just about everything that we set out to do. I would have loved to have spent a little bit more time at Epcot. Um, but I think my favorite ride out of all of them that we did, which we did uh, I would say a decent amount of them, uh, I really loved the Ratatouille ride. Yeah, it's a good one. Yeah, I was not expecting that. It was really cool. I think it was just the effect of like the way that they put it together so that it feels like you've been shrunk down to the size of a mouse. And the the I mean there's so many other similar rides that like have a similar um, you know, the the carts about the same, the a lot of the you know, the screens and stuff that they use, but just the effect from that. I was like, this is really cool.

SPEAKER_04 3:12

Yeah, and it's one of the um it's one of the trackless ones, right? It's like a magnetic ride, so that it just like glides around, which is real nice. But um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

I I was on uh I was on Rise of the Resistance and we had to be evacuated off of it. Oh no, for real, what happened? Uh shut down, just broke down at some point, something happened, and so luckily it didn't shut down for the entire day, so we did get to come back, but it did like I was a little bit disappointed. It took me out of the spoils the illusion. It does a little bit because it was really cool. I mean, uh if you ever get to go and ride it, it does kind of like put you into Star Wars.

SPEAKER_04 3:48

Especially the lead up to it. There's it's like the whole like experience of getting on it. You don't feel like you're in a line because they're like you're basically captured by like uh resistance or not resistance, the empire, but like first order there. Just and like, yeah, you you're being like organized into prisoner lines and about to be interrogated and stuff like that. So it's it's interesting how they do it.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Like you get on this transport, and then when you get off of it, I don't know how exactly it happens, but you're you're inside of the the resid or the uh first order. It was uh uh what is it? It's one of their Star Destroyers. Yeah. Oh yeah, just that again, that's another one of those cool effects where like you weren't there and then the door opens and you are, and it's uh it's really cool. You feel like you're you're flying through space.

Guest Intro And What F1 Is

SPEAKER_03 4:32

So yeah, that's awesome. Very cool. Well, hey, Ben, do you want to introduce our guest?

SPEAKER_04 4:36

Yeah, so uh today we are talking F1 with a good friend of mine from church and other things, other shenanigans, DD included, uh Keith. So, Keith, welcome to Phantom of Fandoms. Yeah, welcome. Thank you, gentlemen.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

I'm glad you guys got the practice rounds out of the way before you brought in the big dogs. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 4:53

We were waiting until we were ready, so I think we're good now.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

I'm excited here. Well, let's let's hit that intro usually.

SPEAKER_03 5:00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Hello and welcome to Phantom of Fandoms, the show where every single episode we are diving into worlds that fans love most. And this week we're gonna be talking about Formula One. I am Nick with my co-hosts Ben and Michael, and obviously our guest, uh, who is the expert here today, gonna be talking to us about Formula One. We're gonna have some fun.

SPEAKER_04 5:21

Awesome. So, yeah, Nick, I know you were looking right beforehand. Why don't you give us a little breakdown of what Formula One racing is for anyone who doesn't know at least some of the details?

F1 Structure: Teams, Points, And Qualifying

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Sure thing, which I would not know any of this without looking it up. So this is like a nice thing for me to just have to read off of. Uh, but Formula One traces its roots back to Europe in the early 20th century when manufacturers began racing custom-built cars on closed circuits to prove speed, engineering, and prestige. After World War II, these races were standardized under a shared rule set or formula, and in 1950, the first official Formula One world championship was held starting at Silverstone in England. From the beginning, F1 has been about pushing technology to its limits, blending elite drivers with cutting edge and engineering, teams backed by major car manufacturers, and over the decades the sport has evolved dramatically with massive advances in safety, aerodynamics, and hybrid technology while still maintaining its core identity as the pinnacle of open wheel racing. Wow, wow.

SPEAKER_03 6:24

So it is a sport. It is a sport.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

I was wondering about that. Yeah. Um, it also so it's a global sport um done across five continents. There's a lot of tradition, um, you know, high stakes, competition, lots of drama back behind all the races and all that stuff. And some of those races, most of the races are, you know, just it's just milliseconds. So they're just trying to shave milliseconds off of the time, which is wild to me. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:49

Yeah. And I mean, so like like you were saying, kind of like I know the technology behind everything is such a huge part. Like the there's 20 drivers, but like the these companies that are behind the racers are like thousands of people each, just engineers and wow, scientists and aerodynamic specialists like doing all this work.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Yeah. And the cars they're you'll see on the grid now are two plus years in development just for that version of the car. So we can talk more about that, especially with the new regulations coming out, but yeah, significant amount of work. New regulations, awesome. Yeah. I don't even understand the old ones. Regulations are fun.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

So uh yes, the best part of any podcast. Yeah, they're regulations and rules.

SPEAKER_04 7:32

Everybody open their rule book so we can all review it together. Uh well, Keith, why don't you talk to us a little bit about what got you into F1 to begin with? Yeah. Hold on. Before we do that, background. Oh, yeah. Oh, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Background. So, Michael, you got any background in F1?

SPEAKER_03 7:45

I have absolutely no background. I had F1 Hot Wheels cars growing up. That's probably it.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

Had you heard of Monaco?

SPEAKER_03 7:55

No. Okay. No. No, I so um, so my wife and I and a couple of our friends, we watched uh the first half of F1, the movie, on Monday. So that's kind of been like my introduction. And I was just telling these guys before we hit record that I was loving it. Like it's it's great so far. So I'm excited to finish it. Um but yeah, no really background at all. What about you, Ben?

SPEAKER_01 8:17

You know what's funny? I watched the first half of it too because it was on my flight to Florida. I haven't like I it wasn't that I didn't want to finish it, I just didn't have a long enough flight to finish it.

SPEAKER_04 8:27

Not another the way back.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

I was uh so I wanted to do that, but then my kids demanded my attention, you know, toddlers on an airplane. Yeah. Uh yeah, but Ben, what about you?

SPEAKER_04 8:37

I up until about a month ago, didn't know a ton either. But once we scheduled Keith and I started watching some stuff, I started with the F1 movie and then it moved on to Drive to Survive, and I might be becoming a fan. I don't know. Getting pretty hooked. It's fascinating. It is. And I'm like really excited to talk to Keith about it. But so besides the movie, anything else for you, Nick?

Sprint Weekends, Race Length, And Strategy

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Not not a lot. Um, you know, I know what was it? Because they just brought in the the Las Vegas Grand Prix that was was that two seasons ago? And I remember that being a big deal that like, hey, we're we're actually gonna see one of these races in the United States because I don't believe was there another one before that? Texas.

SPEAKER_04 9:15

Yes, Austin's been around for Miami too, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:18

They just added, yeah, two or three years back also added Miami.

SPEAKER_04 9:22

But the Vegas one was fascinating because it's like literally on the streets of Vegas. Correct. Oh, wow. Correct. So like shut down half the city, like right.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

I heard the first one was kind of a disaster, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

The first the Las Vegas one? Yeah. My favorite driver, uh, his car got uh wrecked in qualifying because a manhole I heard about it. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

The suction was so great that it pulled it off, right? Yeah. So they had to go back and weld all the manholes that were on the road. I remember hearing, yeah, I remember hearing about that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Had to be had to be hangs.

SPEAKER_04 9:53

Come on. Uh so yeah, get so now it's your turn, Keith. What what got you into F1?

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Um, I would say when I was younger, I loved competition on in any form, right? So I was oddly enough, I I watched all sports. Um, I would um I would use my money as a kid to buy like Guinness World Records books. Because I just loved like any type, right? So it's like now if if you had like a bowl of spaghetti and be like, how much could you get on your fork? Yeah, I would I would like be like, yeah, how much can you? Like that sounds fun to me, right? Um, my my dad and my brother would watch IndyCar uh when I was growing up, and and I thought it was it was fine, but they loved it, they loved the technology part of it. My brother's now a mechanical engineer, he worked for Honda at one point. Cool. Uh so that very much was down his LA. And and we went to some races, um, and I tagged along because I was like, well, yeah, let's see what that's about. And uh I always remember just the sound and when the cars would drive by, you could feel it in your ribs. And I was like, this is so weird. And then this is awakening something. Yeah, and then we went to they wanted to go to the the actual part where the teams were getting the the cars ready, right? The paddock they call it. Yeah. And and they had like set up so you could just watch them. And I wanted to stay there all day, just watching all these people like crazy.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

And it just I had no idea there was so much behind it. And um, and then later through like Cub Cal Cub Scouts or something like that, we actually went over to the Ray Hall uh section because they were based out of uh Hilliard here in Columbus. And so we got to see and talk to some of the people there, and I was like, man, this is just it's so different than the other sports that I'd I'd seen. So super interested in that. Um as I got older, kind of lost interest in in motor sports really, but still kind of kept an ancillary view on it, right? So fast forward to maybe seven or so years ago, Formula One, I was aware of Monaco, one of the big races. I knew that Lewis Hamilton was killing everybody. I knew about Ferrari being this large fan base, but I didn't really know much, much beyond that. And then and then Drive to Survive actually hit Netflix. And um, I I had just happened to catch it right as they dropped it, and I was like, I'll put it on in the background or whatever, and just kind of rekindled some of that interest, and I was like, oh man. So yeah, I've kind of been full steam ahead since that.

SPEAKER_04 12:23

I gotta say, Drive to Survive, for those of you who don't know, it's a it's a documentary series on Netflix, uh documenting like behind the scenes of a whole season of F1. Yes. It is not a background show. I cannot have it on and do other stuff. Like I am fixated on it because it's so fascinating.

Why Qualifying Matters, Especially Monaco

SPEAKER_01 12:39

It's very when I started it, it was like kind of jumps around a lot too, at least in the season that I was in, it would like go all the way through, you know, part part of the season, then like jump back and like tell another team story that's more towards the beginning of the of the season, that sort of thing. So I could see how it'd be hard to I I was having a hard time following. Like I tried to put it on the background and watch my kid and nah, didn't work. Yeah, didn't work.

SPEAKER_04 12:59

Wow, very cool. Uh so like you've been getting back into it the next the last seven or so years, then what what's really sucked you in to like more of a fandom level then rather than just like casually observing I I I I think it's just everything is seems larger than life, right?

SPEAKER_02 13:16

It's it's very much competition at at potentially the highest level. Not just because they're elite athletes, it's because you have to have hundreds of millions of dollars to even get your foot in the door. Yeah, that's crazy. Right. And and where they're racing, the the circuits that they have around the world, they're it's like the Super Bowl every time you go. There tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people are there.

SPEAKER_04 13:37

What uh how many races are 15 races a season?

SPEAKER_02 13:39

About 24, 24, 23, 24, depending. Um, but it's every race you go to, right? There's usually either a dedicated circuit that's made for it, or it's a street circuit. Like they'll shut down shut down that part of the city.

SPEAKER_04 13:53

Um Monaco, which is like a whole country or principality, and so like probably the whole place shuts down. Well, we can talk about that. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Yeah, a lot. Uh, but but or and then it's like every race, they are you guys probably seen the huge champagne bottles they're spraying, right? But they give up custom-made trophies that are just different for every single race. Every every race is a grand prix. So there's yeah, there's not really like prees. But uh, you know, so it's just everything just seems bigger. Yeah. And uh, and that even comes down to how much money sponsors um put into it, uh all the celebrities that are there. It like it just seems just big every single time. So it's it's hard not to get kind of excited, yeah. As well as they have engineers that could be working at NASA if they wanted, right? There, I mean, these engineers are insane. Their cars are more like rockets. I it's hard to call them cars. It's a rocket engine strapped to four wheels, right? Yeah, I mean, yeah, it is, right? So just just even from a technical standpoint, it just is that much higher. And so it's it's hard not to get kind of wrapped up in it. Yeah, for sure. That much.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

So I went into a little bit of like the origin stuff. Give me like a little bit of an overview. So if there's 20, 20 drivers, you said, or I thought I heard is it 20 or 22? Well, uh, it's 20. This upcoming year is 22.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

So we'll come back to that one. Yes. So so like uh compared to other motorsports, right? It's it's easy. Something like NASCAR is like, yeah, you go around in the circles, you know, for 500 laps, then whoever's in front wins. Uh similar concept, except they don't use the they use different track patterns, different circuits, right? So there's 20 cars on the grid and coming up 22 cars. Uh and um and they have to qualify to say which where they start uh on race day, and then they race. Um and so it over the the period of those 24, they accumulate points based off of where they finish in a race. Can I ask a clarifying question too?

SPEAKER_01 15:48

So I know that there's teams, so does that mean there's only 10 teams? Correct currently, two cars per team is it?

Tires, Pits, And The Fine Line Of Rules

SPEAKER_02 15:53

That's correct. Okay and and so they they do work as a team, right? So the constructors series um is which team finishes right with accumulating of the the two drivers. They also have a a driver championship, so which driver accumulated the most points?

SPEAKER_04 16:09

Um and it's the top ten score points. Correct, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

So first place you get 23 points, second place you get 18. It goes all the way down. And then if you place 11th, no points. Yep, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:21

Wow. Yeah. So yeah, there's a big that's uh oh, there's a lot to it. And like, I mean, qualifying is a whole thing I definitely want to get your like breakdown of, but yeah, like there's a lot to it.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Everything let's I mean we can do that, right? Is it an over or did you want to save that for later? Oh, we can keep going into it now, yeah. I was thinking like that'd be a good thing. I'd love to know a little bit more about qualifying as well.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

So yeah, so e so each race weekend, a race week, um, is broken down into three days. So on Fridays, they would have what they call free practice, while Saturday would be qualifying, Sunday would be the actual race. So Friday, they get there, they get the car warmed up, they do a few laps. A lot of times, if you have a younger driver, they'll be out there getting used to the course. Yeah. If they want to try a new setup on the car, they'll try it, but there's nothing really tied to it. Um, you know, as a fan, that's when everyone likes to do all the speculations, but the times don't mean anything. Um and then Saturday comes around, which is qualifying. And so qualifying is um all the cars are out at different times, but for them they call them flying laps, right? I want to I want to be building up to a flying lap and they're trying to get their fastest individual times. So they're not racing the other cars, they're racing the clock. And so based on how they do the lap, they can make it into later phases of qualifying. So if you get through Q1, if you're in the top, I think it's like 15. Uh, if you get through the through that, you can then do additional laps to try to get a better time. Pole position, is that right? Yes. So after the three qualifying rounds within there, whoever has the highest or I'm sorry, the lowest uh track time or lap time, they'll be on pole position. And then it's descending from there.

SPEAKER_04 17:59

And each of those qualifying laps are like, is it like a time limit or is it a like number of laps that they can do?

SPEAKER_02 18:04

Yeah, so it would be within each uh like Q one, Q2, Q3, they have a certain amount of laps that they can do. Okay. They'll usually they'll declare like I'm doing a flying lap. Okay. And and it's it's only a handful, it's like three, four laps. So they're not sitting in there just constantly going. Um and then they're listening to see what the other drivers are doing. And no, and so they could say, like, hey, you're in fourth place right now, or you're you're maybe they call it Q4 for qualifying. Well, that's later. Okay for qualifying.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

So they do it at the same time, or are they different?

SPEAKER_02 18:35

S somewhat, right? So they'll have you they'll have five or six uh cars out on uh at the same time, and some will be coming and going. But as you get later into the qualifying laps or the the phases, they would have all the cars out there. So they're kind of asynchronously doing it, right? You could be halfway through a lap when someone else is starting. So they're hearing like things coming in, like, hey, that was a good lap here in fourth, and then it's like now you're down to 10th because everyone else is coming in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:58

So it's it's fascinating for sure.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

Qualifying to me is super exciting. Uh and for some of the circuits, it's more exciting than the race because they're literally doing everything they can to get the fastest time. During a race, there's a lot more strategy, right? They have to defend, they have to, they have to maintain their tires or engine temperature. Qualifying it's not that. It's literally do whatever it takes to go as fast as you can. So it can get pretty dramatic.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

So their pole position is not determined by their points in the the season at all. That has nothing. That's just a bearing. You could be last place in the table.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

That's actually, yeah, that's a good point. You you're saying it it is a sport because there's not like a playoff, right? Where it's like, oh, you go in and say, I accumulated so many points, so then in the next race I can start higher. No, every race is a reset.

SPEAKER_04 19:46

So yeah. And then recently they've introduced is it sprint races or something like that?

SPEAKER_02 19:51

That's like a fourth day. Yeah, well, yeah. No, the it kind of breaks up qualifying. So what they'll do is on Friday for free practice, they would qualify what they call a sprint. race. So think of it as like a mini mini race.

SPEAKER_04 20:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

And so they'll do 34 laps instead of 77 laps. Okay. And um yeah, that's been controversial because what they'll do is they'll they'll do they'll qualifying for that race, then you have to qualify for the actual race and then you race. And so from a driver's standpoint, um they qualify for the sprint. Qualify the sprint, do the sprint, qualify for the race, do the race wow. That's a lot yeah. So the the idea is like from a uh someone going to a race you're like oh sweet I I watch two races or a race and a half. Uh from a driver's standpoint they're not as excited about it because it's more stress on the team getting it ready and then it's just for them it's extra risk.

SPEAKER_04 20:41

More opportunities to crash the car or like something go wrong.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Yeah exactly are there points associated with the sprints there are are there? Yeah so there it's it's different point system and it's it's and not all race weekends will do a sprint though they usually pepper in a few but yeah you'll get you'll get some additional points but it it's not as much as as uh a full race.

SPEAKER_04 20:59

So yeah like how long is an average like actual race is it's about an hour and a half.

A Starter Pack For New F1 Fans

SPEAKER_02 21:03

Okay. Yeah. And so they'll have it's not long at all. That's pretty short. It's not it's not and so each each track will have different um kind of number of laps that you would have to and so yeah it's it's not terribly long um but everything kind of leading up to it right because they'll they'll come out and do you know formation laps and they'll do you know other things going into it. So as a fan you're there for quite a while the teams are there getting everything prepped. But yeah the race itself about an hour and a half.

SPEAKER_03 21:32

Yeah I guess I'm just in my head I'm thinking like NASCAR and it would be on Sunday afternoon from like noon to 6 p.m or like something they are long so long. And I've been to I've been to a NASCAR race. Oh I haven't? Yeah I've been I've been to the Brickyard 400. My dad took me for my birthday one year. So um and yeah it was an all day event so um I guess I had that as a reference in my head. I didn't realize that they were so short.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Are the qualifiers is that more like for the people that are there to watch the races or do they actually televise those two and put it out there for no so they they will televise and I and I do plan on bringing that up a little bit later with with one of the other questions.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

They do televise it um and um I would say from a viewer standpoint it's a lot easier to follow qualifying because there's kind of less going on at once um but there's a there's a lot of um there's a lot of excitement to it because with with a lot of circuits the higher that you place uh during qualifying really actually dramatically increases your chances of winning the race or placing high. And in some cases it's they say like the race is done on Saturday.

SPEAKER_04 22:36

Like in Monaco I know for example the and the streets are so narrow you can you can't really pass.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

So like yeah like that's why pole position is so important in Monaco watching qualifying for Monaco is is the race. Yeah. Because there I think last year for Monaco there was two overtakes the whole race. Wow. So when you look at other ones we're talking 40-50 overtakes right in a race.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

So it's qualifying is race day for Monaco it's kind of a bummer honestly like is that something that they realize as being something that like hey we might need that huge controversy within Formula One not just the overtake later yeah we'll talk about that.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

That's definitely one of them but you're you're right they are aware of it there's a lot of people that have very strong opinions on both sides about it.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

So well talk to us I know I I'm just kind of I'm getting in the minutia a little bit but I know another big part of it has to do with the pitting and the strategy behind pitting is a big part of the the just the race as a whole. Does that play a role in qualifying or is that only on race day?

Memes, Media, And Open Radios

SPEAKER_02 23:34

That's a great question. It's race day. So yeah qualifying that they will pit um they will pit if if I think they o it's a strategy thing. So for for qualifying in races they only have a certain number of tires. So even though all the cars are individually manufactured the tires are all exactly the same. Right the manufacturing look at them it's it's plastered on literally everything F1 like so they're only given a certain number of tires. Now you can use all of those in qualifying if you'd like but then you got nothing left for race day. Yeah but then yeah so generally they're not pitting during qualifying or if they do it's just once and and that might be if the conditions are changing like rain starts to roll in um so not as much of a um strategic move but in race day it is um and it would be a lot of times you guys probably seen clips even if you're not a fan of motorsports where you know they someone comes flying into pit lane they're there for 2.8 seconds then they're gone. Right. What is unique about indie cars they don't refuel compared to some of the other motorsports they'll actually have to refuel um usually what they do is tires or their the front nose they can the whole front nose of the car is actually detachable and they'll swap that out sometimes they'll need to um swap out steering wheels sometimes they need to mess with the water that the drivers are actually drinking. And so but all of that's done as minimally as possible. So a lot of times they have to make just strategic decisions of whether do I uh pit now do I pit later or if if they see somebody who's leading the race pit everyone else is like I'm gonna pit now and just so they can kind of keep the same pace. Yeah it makes sense they have to right like isn't that the they have to there's like a higher compound requirement right so yeah well is that part of what's changing sorry no again it's really good uh they're not required to pit. Really but at the end of the race their their car is weighed. Oh and so there's times where um that's they'll have to go and pit and get new tires so that they can actually meet the weight regulation at the regulation the other part of that is if you've seen when people are racing um or after a race a lot of times the drivers will actually drive into the gravel um as as because they'll do like a celebration lap you know around and it's kind of for the fans they'll drive slowly the drivers will drive in the gravel because the the they'll warm their tires up and go into the gravel to pick the gravel up to make it weigh more to make sure their car weighs more so yeah dead serious so right um so one thing they are talking about um and I have very strong feelings about it is is doing force pits for something like Monaco where they would force them to pit but that's more of a um to keep things competitive right so it they just know if all the cars are gonna stay out there it minimizes the amount of overtakes they can do. Sure. So they are discussing doing people are pushing for that. I really hope it doesn't go that route takes away a lot of the strategy of the racing itself but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

I thought that was so I guess we can talk about the tire compound thing later. I I thought that was a thing.

SPEAKER_04 26:45

Is that only in some of the races then that that's like that they that they have to use a certain like the I I thought it read or maybe in that video you sent us there was something about having to use two tire compounds two different tires for a race.

SPEAKER_03 26:57

So like so having the like the softer and the medium mediums yeah yeah so it in that in that case like yeah they'll have different strategies depending on and um yeah different strategies depending on on on the uh conditions I remember from the F1 movie they were going through their tire strategies and the first time they went through it and it was like all right we'll start soft and then do hard I was like I was so lost for like a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 27:23

Yeah because a lot of that again it's it's they're gonna be losing they're gonna be losing grip on the tires.

SPEAKER_03 27:30

Yeah.

Fandom Hot Takes And Drive To Survive

SPEAKER_02 27:31

Right. So it's it's not like they're gonna go out and their strategy is going to be we're never gonna pit. Because other teams they'll swap their tires out for new tires and they'll just blow blow by the teams right. So yeah a lot of times it's do we want to get up early or um they'll watch what other teams are doing uh the watch conditions on the track um because a lot of times the longer the race goes on if it starts to heat up um it's gonna be different if there's um if it becomes some are more slick as they're driving on it the the the the conditions become more slick or the track there's oils that are in the track if it's newer that start to come up to the surface makes it more slick. So they'll have different strategies based off of that and it's it's more of a game time decision of do we want to swap out tires or not or do we need to change that strategy.

SPEAKER_03 28:15

Yeah. Yeah that makes sense. Wow dang interesting cool well I mean that's yeah that's that's been a great discussion so far we we like to do like a starter pack so obviously you've you know explained a lot of you know kind of the behind the scenes how the um how it works and whatnot but I guess like for someone like me or really any of us I guess are kind of just getting started like what would you recommend to someone you know for kind of introducing them to the fandom getting into it like where should someone start?

SPEAKER_02 28:43

Yeah that's a great question and it's actually it's pretty tough because unlike soccer or football uh Formula One's a harder sport to follow. So a lot of it is not just learning the rules and regulations uh it's actually just being able to watch it and understand what's happening. Right. Uh because yeah like you said you can't sit back on a Sunday and you know have it on in the background and just peek up. Um so diving into a race for for most people is very intimidating. Um so I what I would recommend find find a video online that's like explain Formula One as an overview uh just around kind of the context a lot of what we talked about here and then what I would actually do is I would I would go back and watch clips from qualifying of a race. So choose I my the tr my favorite track would be Silverstone I know was mentioned as kind of the original it's it's still kind of one of the greats uh go look up one of the old qualifying for that right watch watch some of the clips or a highlight of of what happened and then watch interviews after that right so what they'll do is they'll the after just like other sports they'll interview the drivers say how does it feel are you feeling confident um what what adjustments do you guys need to make and just listen to the driver's talk um and so if if you can watch for if uh Formula One qualifying uh including the the interviews that's gonna be probably the easiest way to step into it both on the track and off the track. And then if you still continue to have interest in that I I would recommend watching just the first season of Drive to survive. Nice. Yeah. And then yeah if and if that doesn't hook you it's it's gonna be hard uh beyond that unless unless you're a super gearhead and you super interested in the technicals. Following the sport isn't gonna get any easier than than those.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

What is what's the next race coming up here?

SPEAKER_02 30:35

What's well start of the season right so right now are we doing preseason testing okay so yeah so which where's the first one this year? The first the first race uh I think it's in Australia.

SPEAKER_04 30:46

Okay this year. Cool.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

Yeah I think I saw is it is it March is that right sound right uh into March I think yeah yeah nice yeah very cool.

SPEAKER_04 30:56

Well I mean uh we usually wrap up our starter pack with um what's your elevator pitch or yes your impassioned plea as to why someone should get into F1.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

Yeah I was gonna say for for me if you if you enjoyed competition you enjoy sports and you want to see it at the highest level um Formula One's really gonna be a place to not just for motorsports but in general um to watch competition at the highest level so yeah perfect thank you and that Michael did not prep me for that did he say panic there I was like even comic because I don't think the the audience is going to be able to hear it that came out we'll we'll we'll start it off we'll start it off our next segment with that too we started playing the music from in case it doesn't show up on our actual recording.

SPEAKER_04 31:43

Yeah all right well we'll take a quick break and then we'll come back and talk about some of the actual culture inside of F1 fandoms.

SPEAKER_03 31:55

I'm feeling I love that the NFL has nothing on one theme.

SPEAKER_04 32:07

And then I I when I was pulling that down they have like it's like an intro video with all the razors in it too and stuff like that. It's like super dramatic and you're like yeah it's a hype video for sure.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

We could talk about that I one of the pictures I sent you guys was the T pose. I saw the yeah who was it that as George Russ Russell okay so the whole joke is with with they made him do it as part of the production of that theme and everybody made fun of him and then when he started winning races he would get out of his car and do the tea pose. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Did they do so they like had him posing that way in the in the video I'll have to go back and look at them.

SPEAKER_04 32:42

Some producer told him like be dramatic and I'll send you guys the video because it's it is super dramatic.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

Like yeah stains does like a hair flip or something like that and like pretty corny so yeah George got beat up pretty hard so he he took it he took it and owned it so it was great.

unknown 32:57

It's funny.

Dominance, Driver Pipelines, And Teams

SPEAKER_01 32:58

Well we are back still talking with Keith and we're gonna dive into this conversation about fandom culture. Yes um and so our our starting question for this section is usually what sort of content outside of the actual races do you enjoy? So I know um you had sent us some some memes and stuff and you just kind of got into that a little bit just now but you want to you want to give us a little bit of a fill in here about some of that?

SPEAKER_02 33:20

Yeah I would say the real answer to the question of like what keeps you going might actually be the memes. So I I I would say that Formula One has several very prominent uh fandoms within you know their their subreddits uh there's the main one uh that's got I don't know seven million people that do it around the world right and they're really good about moderating all the the content they have a technical one which they're really good about you take a picture from someone's cell phone from a half mile away and they just you know can can't see anything but pixels but they dive into like oh look how they changed you know the slope on this curve to across in like they just break down all the tickles uh like looking at the car itself or like comparing it to the last three years comparing all the different cars on the grid and the differences it's it's crazy. And then my favorite one uh which is called Formula Dank is is the meme is the premium meme culture uh for Formula One. Uh I would say they're really good about being respectful because they just make fun of everybody equally and uh it's a safe place to share memes, make fun of teams, racers, make fun of kind of the metaculture um and so that's that's fun, right? A lot of sports have that right of especially if they're dogging on their own team uh kind of especially with Drive to survive right they they say there's this whole other culture around what actually happens to the races what happens on the show. Oh gotcha so um I was just thinking the memes are just nonstop and I I can't get enough I was just thinking too like I I just watching a little bit of Drive to survive and seeing a little bit with like their their pressers and stuff where they're sitting on the couch afterwards and like seeing some of the just the ridiculous questions that they get I mean I guess that's any sport but like oh and and what's unique about Formula One is they do have that right so they'll ask kind of T ball kind of lame like hey do you guys sports real hard today and you know uh but also it's it's an international media core so they'll also say like stuff like hey in the last five races uh you bottled it are you gonna bottle it again today and uh oh sorry for Americans bottles like you just screw it up so they'll be like yeah yeah are we gonna expect you to ruin your day today uh and so they'll they'll also get really kind of what we would consider nasty okay it's really honest and and what I do enjoy is uh the the drivers and even kind of the team principals will answer back with honesty right so a lot of times after a race when things are heated they'll say hey what happened out there and a driver would be like the car was crap and they'll well they use other words but yeah they'll say that car was terrible I nobody could drive that car and you don't hear that on other sports yeah yeah they'll say like oh you know you know be a team player first the drivers would be like no it was the car I was gonna say is there or they'll be like Nick drove me off the road that's what happened.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

Yeah there's a lot of that yeah like a fine structure like in the NFL like what these drivers can't say.

SPEAKER_02 36:21

Well I wouldn't say what they can't say they are required to talk to it and and there's been some drivers in the past that did the Marshawn Lynch of like I'm only here so I'm not fine yeah you say one of the like one of the current well I just mean like oh yeah him each talking their own team or their own interviews their cars and stuff.

SPEAKER_04 36:39

Oh yeah that's a normal thing that's fine yeah so okay well that that brings up an interesting question. So in Drive to survive at least like you get like full access to the radio comms between like the driver and the one person they're allowed to talk to it's that like broadcast while the races are happening. Yes. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

So um the other teams can hear what happens uh during the pit lanes uh because there's a lot of coordination to make sure you don't run into each other uh but other than that um there's times where it's just the engineer talking to their driver yeah and that is broadcast um and so it's it's usually on a delay right so other teams can't hear and it's usually coded language right where they'll say like you know they we talked about plan B, plan C. Yeah. They'll have other kind of language like that um to to make it so that when other people are hearing they don't know what you're talking about. But other times it's very clear what they're talking about. I've heard so much of the drivers trash their own teams their own like engineers like while they're driving and I'm like yeah this is insane like because during races they'll give updates to say like hey um you know Lewis Hamilton's you know 1.2 seconds behind you. Yeah uh just to give you updates say hey they're gaining on you um and then or like hey your engine's running a little hot you need to babysit a little bit more calm down um but then other times they'll be giving updates while they're battling and the driver's just like stop talking. Yeah I don't want to hear you again yeah and just let me drive. You know that so they'll in during competitions, right? People are heated anyway.

Team Orders, Rivalries, And Equal Machinery

SPEAKER_04 38:10

So um there's a lot of things they'll say things to other uh other drivers they'll make hand motions uh there's things that they have to apologize about later because they'll they'll see it but uh yeah uh all that is as a as a TV viewer you can you can hear that stuff brought that's crazy yeah because again like the the I wouldn't hate to be an engineer like the one that's communicating with the driver because you have to be like you're such a babysitter where you're trying to like gently correct them but the driver is just like cussing you out and say get out of my ear like shut the heck up like because because each driver has like a race engineer right so they're the ones that are communicating on the radio with them and it's it's usually supposed to be a quite uh a like a close bond yeah but yeah they're they're supposed to communicate all this information to them or they're gonna ask the driver like how are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 38:55

What are you feeling what are you seeing? And a lot of times especially with certain teams uh Ferrari um they just they're just constantly talking like we need updates and the driver's like I don't care I'm not gonna give you one like just let me drive I think my favorite I saw was recently like it was a I was watching and there's like a rainy day or something like that.

SPEAKER_04 39:14

Like what are the course conditions like and the driver's like wet what do you think?

SPEAKER_03 39:18

Like yeah there's a lot of that do you have a favorite driver or team that you like to make fun of do I like to make fun of yeah that's that's a great question.

SPEAKER_02 39:30

I mean you made a Ferrari crack which was great yes so I would say again back to kind of the big the big subcultures the big fandoms within Formula One the Tefosi is probably the biggest and that that's the the the Ferrari fans um so if you are born in Italy I think by default you're a tefosi but uh but yeah it's it's uh not just big in Italy um but it's yeah if in Italy it's it's like being a Catholic it's just like they're born that way. Um But just historically, Ferrari's always been very uh successful. And so they've also built a lot of fans outside of Italy that way. Sure. Uh to now, even today, even though they haven't been as relevant. Um McLaren now, isn't it? Right? Yeah. McLaren and Red Bull. So Ferrari's a great target. Um, just because they're successful, they have this great lineage. Everyone, everyone knows them. So it's it's it's fun to make fun of that. But um uh yeah, to make fun of, I I do enjoy individually, I guess, making sure that everyone's covered. I I love, yeah. I love the the drivers because they're all confident that they're the best. Oh yeah. And so uh they have different ways of saying that and showing that, right? But it's always great when a driver goes in, they're super confident and they're they're saying I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna make a point here, and then they, you know, they drive themselves off the off the track on the 11th lap. You're like, well, you didn't get anything. You were dead last. So uh I do always enjoy that. But yeah, a lot of the teams they'll generate a lot of drama, right? They'll they'll try to badmouth other teams. So when they dang when they don't do as well, it's it's fun for everybody. Yeah. Sure.

SPEAKER_04 41:12

Uh so what are your we we kind of touched some of them earlier, but like and uh we said we'd bring it up again. What are some of your hot takes? Yes, either your hot takes inside the fandom or hot takes of others that are popular in the fandom.

SPEAKER_02 41:24

Yeah. Um I'd say I'll start off. Maybe I'll talk about some hot takes within the fandom. Okay. And then I'll talk about my own personal okay uh hot takes within fandom. So we had talked a little bit about the movie uh about Drive to Survive. Uh that's actually a pretty big division. Okay. Um and so uh I would say right now it's different, but when Drive to Survive came out the first season, everyone's like, okay, interesting. They were given unprecedented access to everybody. Wow. Um and and it was very much like a documentary crew coming in. Well, what started to happen was they were getting creative with the editing and they created narratives that weren't true. Okay, right.

SPEAKER_03 42:07

I mean, that's any reality or documentary that were created, you know.

The F1 Movie: What It Gets Right

SPEAKER_02 42:11

Yeah, it is, and then but then it kind of got out of control. So then after the I think the second season, Max Verstappen, who was one of the big up-and-coming racers at that time, was like, I don't want to do this anymore because you're turning me into the bad guy, right? So they're like, I refuse to talk to you. Yeah, so then Netflix was like, Great, that feeds into the bad guy thing, right? So like he has no issues. Oh, you don't want to talk to us because you're yeah, oh my god. So it definitely escalated. I would say later two seasons, maybe they toned it down a little bit, but I would say the the grid wasn't too excited about it, but at the same time brought a lot of new people in, myself included. Um, and I I think with a lot of the new people that came in, a lot of them they really enjoyed the drama. Uh, they enjoyed the drivers, uh, their personalities, right? But they didn't really go too far into the sport itself. Yeah. Uh there's some people like myself that went a lot further into it. And then there's some people that kind of just petered out, or there's there's always um it brought a lot of uh women viewers in uh because of the drama, but they ended up sticking around enjoying it, or they liked it because their boyfriend was into it. They're like, well, at least I know how to talk to him now, right? So it did have some kind of different effects in the in the uh community, but it's it was almost a chalk line with existing uh fans where they said, Oh, you're you're one of the drives to survive, the DTS guys, right? So it yeah, so it I think we're far enough out now that if if you watch the show when it was originally on and you didn't care about Formula One, you're gone, right? So the I that has brought a lot of new people in, but that's been pretty divisive. Um But um some of the other the some of the other hot takes um that I would say um is the the pipeline for drivers to come into the sport is broken. Uh and there's not an easy path. So if you actually look at a lot of the drivers that are on the grid now, they started off doing go-karts, right? And then they did that until they were like 14, and then they moved them into like a formula car, which so a lot of these guys they're driving cars over 200 miles an hour before they can legally drive a car on a road. I saw something about that earlier. Seven hour kids. Just that whole path of getting there is it's kind of broken.

SPEAKER_01 44:26

But is it not? Do they not typically go like carting then like Formula Three, Formula Two, or is it that that I think that's the general path, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:33

And it and what they what they do is a lot of the bigger teams they have junior teams where they say, like, hey, you're really good in carding, we're essentially gonna hold your hand up, and so that by the time you get good enough, you're gonna have a spot as a maybe reserve driver on one of our teams. But yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:50

Well, and even within this is was an interesting thing to learn, even within F1 itself, some of these big companies own multiple teams. Like Red Bull, for example, has two teams. Correct. And so there's Red Bull and there's Racing Bulls. Yes. And so like the Racing Bulls are like the B team. Yeah. Like, and so they like they will sign these drivers of the contract. Like you can be in these four four we have four spots, you can be in one of these four spots, but you want to be on the Red Bull's team because that's the good car. Correct. Whereas Racing Bulls is like and it's it's fine.

SPEAKER_02 45:21

But it's kind of weird, especially because this last this last season they had um their their second driver uh was in there for two races and he wasn't cutting it, so they moved him down to the racing bulls and they moved somebody up to the Red Bull. Yeah. And and it's yeah, that part's kind of weird. So that's the whole pattern.

SPEAKER_03 45:39

They have two teams and there's only 10 teams.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

Like that's that's wild. That is wild, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 45:44

So that I was gonna hold this question until later, but not like this seems like it's related to because one of the things that I've kind of noticed, just especially I know Max Verstappen is like the the guy, has been the guy for I don't know how many seasons has it been now, six.

SPEAKER_02 46:00

Yeah, but last last five or so.

SPEAKER_01 46:02

Yeah, just like wins 85% of the races. Um, and so it sounds like I mean, is that I guess my question is like how how does it keep people entertained when you you have that few number of teams? I would think that like in a sport like this, you would expect, I guess, that if this is truly like every single team is just like the top notch, top tier, whatever, the the week in, week out, you wouldn't necessarily be able to know who was gonna win every single time. So is it it sounds like it's a it's a there's a a couple factors going on. Is is Max Verstappen that good? I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that the Red Bulls just have that much money invested into the game, and they're like, Well, we're just gonna make sure that our you know top driver continues to win and all that stuff. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 46:49

Yeah, that's a good question because it a lot of that comes down to um when a driver does well, is it do they have a good car? Are they a good driver? Is it a mixture of both? Uh in Max Verstappen's uh that guy, the whole joke is he can drive a tractor in these races and he'd still be in the top five, right? And there's so again, memes, check them out, everybody. Um he's uh a once-in-a-generation driver, so it's kind of tough, right?

SPEAKER_01 47:14

That he was one of those they they uh the tiger woods of Formula One, like the Dominic Toretto of Formula One.

SPEAKER_02 47:20

God, yeah. He was he's just they knew when he was carting this guy, he was meticulous, he was consistent, he was aggressive, but um not too aggressive. He's not crashing the car, but he's he's not he was in his first few seasons, he took a lot of big risks. Okay, they didn't work out, but he's he's just they knew from the beginning, they knew when he was like 13 he was gonna be a star. Um, and he still continues to do it, so he is absolutely meticulous. Um, you look at a lot of computer projections of the best way to race a track, and he's off by you know like two turns of following that same path. I mean he is meticulous, and so it's kind of hard taking that. Uh but if you apply that to as a fan, it's fun to watch because it's a sport where if you make one mistake, you end up in a wall. Yep. Right. If you take one turn too late, you end up in the gravel or you end up hitting another driver. So there's a lot of things that have to happen in a race every time for them to be uh successful. And even the greats, right? So Lewis Hamilton, he's won seven, seven championships. Even during those, he's not super consistent. Um and but watching Max do it in different conditions with a car that's not the best car on the grid, he's he's just that good. And so as as a fan, it's it's great, right? Especially now because he's he's at a point where he's won four championships. He said, like essentially, he was like, I might just retire. I don't know. Uh he's kind of reached that point where he's just like what else is there to prove. He doesn't have to prove himself, so he's out there just like nah.

SPEAKER_04 48:58

So he doesn't want to chase the seven and that Schumacher and uh Lewis have.

Dream Races, VIP Vs Couch, And Wrap

SPEAKER_02 49:02

I don't know if he does, but he's still he's just he just wants to race. That's all he thinks about. So like one of my favorite things, I know I sent you guys one of the memes, is uh iRacing. So that's another community within uh motorsports, but it's essentially like the like a uh realistic simulator of Formula One. Oh and there's like leagues, right? So you can do different tournaments and stuff, and so one of the highest ranked people in this is Max Verstappen. So because when he's not racing on a track, he's racing on a race. Right, yeah, he's he's in it and he's like on Twitch. And so the whole joke was like several times during some of these last seasons, it would be a big race coming up, and his team would yell at him saying, You need to go to bed. He's up at two in the morning streaming on Twitch that he's racing. I'm like, dude, you gotta be up and race in the eight hours. Like, what are you doing? And so he'd get up and win that race, and then he's back by racing again, right? So he's yeah, he's just racing 24 steps, yeah. Racing. And so even on the off seasons, he'll he'll enter um some wec uh races, right? So endurance races, and he'll use a fake name. And they don't know until it's over, like you're racing against Max Verstappen because he just wants to race. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:16

So Ben, I'm thinking that you and I need to train change our strategy with volleyball. Like we need to live and breathe volleyball day and night in order to get good.

SPEAKER_04 50:25

Well, I mean, yeah, that just generally applies to a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 50:28

But do you have a volleyball simulator in your house?

SPEAKER_04 50:32

I guess I need one. Uh Nick, so why don't we get into some of our would you rathers? Nick, I know you didn't come up with these, but why don't you it's your thing. So why don't you walk us through the best at all? All right, fair enough.

SPEAKER_01 50:42

I uh yeah, thank you, Ben, for for developing the questions this time. I slacked off, but I appreciate you. Uh Keith, would you rather have your team dominate? Like who do you support? That's a great question.

SPEAKER_02 50:56

Uh I I definitely fall into the camp of I follow a driver um and not so much a team. So within Formula One, it's uh drivers get traded, they move strategically.

SPEAKER_04 51:08

They usually sign like two-year contracts or something like that, and then they'll be on another team. Right.

SPEAKER_02 51:11

Like so my guy is Carlos Sainz, uh he's the smooth operator. Uh and uh and so I you know he's been on five different teams now. So it's hard to it's hard to say I'm a I'm a fan of a team, so I'm I'm I'm Williams. Oh, Williams, but he was Ferrari at one point, right? He was, yeah. But then Lewis Hamilton won it. I have a Ferrari shirt I can't wear anymore, and I don't know what to do with. But uh yeah, so uh Science is my guy. Uh I he's a strategist, he's called Smooth Operator. Uh did he leave because he was the top guy on Ferrari and then Lewis Hamilton? No. No. So he was on his way up and um he was doing better and better at Ferrari. Uh Lewis Hamilton had a falling out with Mercedes. He'd been there for almost 10 years, 10 plus years. Yeah. Won six championships with him. Um he uh had a falling out with Mercedes that was huge, and then he was like, Hey, I wanna I want to be a part of the best organization. Uh and he went to Ferrari. So Ferrari had this problem because they had Charles Leclerc, who's a phenomenal racer as well, that they've always kind of had as their number one guy. And then they had Science, who was coming up and was doing really well, not quite on the level as of Leclerc, but they're like, Well, we only have two seats. What are we supposed to do? We have a seven-time world champion, um, you know, the biggest star in Formula One in 30 years. What are we supposed to do? And so they had to kick signs out.

SPEAKER_04 52:43

So and he's good enough that he was gonna get a seat somewhere. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 52:47

I I think it was at the time, out of the other nine teams, seven of the teams were talking to him actively. Sounds crazy. Yeah, wow. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:57

Well, back to the would you rather this I'll tweak this a little bit. Would you rather see Science dominate all season or have a tight competition down to the last race?

SPEAKER_02 53:06

Uh great, because the this last season went down to the last race for the win. Uh I'd I'd rather dominate. I I get I get it. I'd rather dominate. Um it it is thrilling to watch right when it comes down to that final race. Uh, but even from a from dominating standpoint, it's great, right? Because because Max had won a few times that way. But each race, it's it's then everyone's chasing him. Right. It's uh is he gonna screw up? He has a huge target on his back. Um so it's not always just a walk in the park if if you're that far ahead. Um the consistency thing is is huge. If if you can be consistent in 24 different races across several months, different conditions, everyone's exhausted at the end of the year. It's just it kind of just makes it more clear how good of a driver they are if they're able to be that consistent with it. So absolutely, absolutely dominate.

SPEAKER_01 53:59

Would you rather see a rookie come from nowhere and win a race or a retiring driver get their last hurrah?

SPEAKER_02 54:06

That's that's good because yeah, the grid now I think has is 18 to 48 in terms of age right now. Wow. So it's a little bit of on both sides. Uh, I would I love seeing a rookie or young driver doing well. Um, 4-1's a weird sport where you can get a podium just once, and then you that lands your next contract with a significantly better team. Wow. And so it's it, it's kind of if you can prove yourself in one race, not only do this driver get confidence, there's more people behind him. There's more interest in him as a driver, yeah, and it makes their seat a little bit more secure.

SPEAKER_04 54:44

Yeah, and with only like 20 spots, like, yeah, like are you gonna take a risk on someone who's never proven themselves or someone who at least has gotten a podium or two. Right. Like it's such a small pool.

SPEAKER_02 54:54

Yeah, some of the some of the rookies they're there because they're part of a junior thing. The the teams are taking a a risk on them. Other drivers they're there because they're like, look, there wasn't a better option. Uh, and just don't make us regret it. Yeah, right. And so uh it's it's really tough on rookies to come up.

SPEAKER_01 55:12

This made me think of another question. So there's two drivers on each team. Yes. Are are they allowed just one reserve driver or what's the that's a good question.

SPEAKER_02 55:20

Yes. So they they have one reserve driver, and I honestly don't know what happens if they because they do have other people on their team that are drivers, but uh they can only list their two drivers and a reserve driver. So, like, perfect example, my guy signs once his appendix had to be removed. And so like that's kind of a big thing.

SPEAKER_01 55:43

Is that a thing that happens or no? I don't believe I don't believe you're able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 55:46

You're supposed to you have to list it based off of your number, right? So each racer would be assigned. Yeah, so when a reserve driver comes in, those points are assigned to that driver. So bad for the driver that doesn't go there, but it the points are then accrued still for the team. So yeah. So they can carry that third reserve driver. Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 56:04

Uh, would you rather be a reserve driver for a top team or a full time full-time driver for one in the lower tiers? So that's a really hard question to answer.

SPEAKER_02 56:14

Am I supposed to answer for myself or for yourself? For myself. Yeah. I would much rather be a reserve driver on a better team. Okay. So what the reason is because I would just soak everything up like a sponge, right? Uh, just how a team runs themselves, how the drivers give feedback on the car, what their strategies look like, what their worth ethic looks like, how they work out, how they do simulators. Uh, I would soak all that up. Um, you hear a lot of drivers talk about when they go to other teams, they have to learn the culture, or they're expected to bring the culture with them. Right. So if there's a really especially an older driver, um, they'll come in and be kind of this, hey, I have sage wisdom, but they're also be like, that's how you guys talk strategy. Because that's that's not that's not gonna work. All right, they'll they'll change a lot of that. And so I think being a reserve driver on there, you still get a lot of simulator time. You don't get as much on the track time, but you're there working hand in hand with the best, the best on the grid. So I think I could I could learn a lot from that. That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04 57:16

Yeah, let's do one more, and I think this next one, Nick, is is a is the one I'm definitely interested to hear Keith's opinion on.

SPEAKER_01 57:21

Okay, would you rather see only one race in a year in person with a VIP experience or watch every race in a year from the comfort of your own home? That's a great question.

SPEAKER_02 57:32

So this actually does lead into my personal high. Okay. So my answer is I would rather the one race with the VIP. There's so much that goes on off the off the actual race itself, right? So from a VIP standpoint, when you're at a race, you're you're sitting most likely at one of the turns, yeah. Uh, in maybe one of the streets, right? So you see one twentieth bulb of a race cars going on. Yeah, and that's why people don't sit on the streets, is you see a blur, like, hey, what blur was that? Was it orange or blue? I don't know. They'll sit on the turns, right? Which is cool because you see a lot more, but it's so disconnected from the whole race.

SPEAKER_04 58:08

Um, and someone's leading one turn and then they come around another lab, and you're like, oh, now they're in like third, but like yeah, right, right.

SPEAKER_02 58:14

And so when you're sitting there at a race, you're you're tracking it anyway, right? You're tracking it separately to see because you only see a certain part of it. But there's so much that happens, right? All the press stuff. They do um the grid walk, all the celebrities are out there, they'll do the driver parades. Uh, and you're in the fan, people are setting off full fireworks, right? It's just like again, the just that whole experience. And then they'll have people come down to actually sit in the paddock, right? You'll get to talk with drivers, you'll get to see the mechanics and stuff like that. Right. It's to me, that's the full experience of what happens at a race. Um, and um, even though you're not able to see the the full race itself, I do think it's better. The environment and makes up for it, right? And that goes into my hot take is that watching Formula One races uh on a broadcast actually sucks. Um it's it's it's not good, right? So if if you look at uh other sports, um and maybe not even take motor sports. I would honestly I would say watching the race is the biggest barrier of why the sport's not huge.

SPEAKER_01 59:23

Because it sucks, should should replay that one.

SPEAKER_02 59:26

Again, like I said, I that's my personal hot dog. Yeah, that's hilarious. So because if you look at it from uh a competition standpoint, you you can't focus on the whole thing at once. Yeah. Um, right. So it's if you watch football or soccer, you may not understand all the rules, but you can tell ball go and goal. Right. Uh and uh but racing isn't isn't like that because they follow it more like golf. Um, they'll say, Hey, this is going over here with these racers. Now let's go look to see what these racers are doing. So I as a fan, I can't say I only want And watch signs.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:01

Do they not have because like in golf now you can follow a broadcast with just those, you know, the players that you want to follow. They don't have anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:10

They don't. And I'm hoping now Apple actually got the US distribution rights for Formula One. So I'm hoping they're going to bring something different to it. Yeah. Um, but um, yeah, it's it's hard as a fan to follow it, right? Especially a newer, you're gonna watch a race. That's why I say start with qualifying. Don't watch a race because you're gonna be like, the bouncing around. You I know you said that about drivers survive, that's how race is. They bounce around constantly. So you're like, Well, are they are they winning right now? Or who is that? Uh so it's it's a lot harder to watch.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:42

So you would rather be able to watch a broadcast that's just following signs and then like watching what he's doing the entire race, or yeah, maybe not anymore.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:51

Yeah, that's hard too, right? Because it's there's just so much different things happening, right? Sometimes the battles in the middle of the grid are more interesting. Yeah. So yeah, I I would like more of an option to be able to say, because like the uh historically it's like there's been times where Max is winning by 30 seconds. And they keep cutting, yeah, they keep cutting to him, and it's huge because you see him and he's literally the only car that you can see. Yeah. And you're like, stop cutting to that. Like we get, he hasn't crashed yet. That's fine. Just tell me he hasn't crashed yet. Um it's yeah, it's it's harder to be able to pick and choose what you see. You you're up to the mercy of the producer to choose where the where the fights are happening. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:32

Yeah, nice. Okay, well, lead-in question. That's our general QA section, then. Yes. If you could only go to one race, yes, which one would you want to go to? Would it be Monaco or would it be Silverstone?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:41

So it would so Monaco is like a party all week. I don't know if I'd want to do that. Okay. That'd be exhausting. Um from a pure race standpoint, I would I would want to go to Silverstone.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:56

Um, that's uh just it's one of the older tracks, so they've kind of perfected it, they've already reworked it. Uh so from where you could sit and watch, it's gonna be great. Um, the the drivers like it because there's um a lot of straights, a lot of turns, a good variety, it's fun to drive. Um, and it's just got a good tradition uh where it's at uh in the UK. So I would say probably from the fandom standpoint of the experience. Um honestly, I would want to go to the Mexico Grand Prix because the stands are supposed to be bananas. Okay. Like wow. They they they it looks like they're super close. The stands are massive, everyone gets crazy. Uh so just the energy alone, I think, would be really cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:41

Yeah. Wow, that's awesome. Very cool. Yeah. Um, let's see here. If you were in an F1 pit crew, what job would you want to have?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:48

Yes. Um I would want to be a strategist. So again, because my favorite driver is known for his strategy. I think the strategy around a race is really interesting. All the teams, they'll spend a bunch of times prepping for it, but it's like there's that Mike Tyson quote, like everyone has a plan until you're punched in the face. And Formula One, it's everyone has a plan until turn one, right? Because all the cars are condensed. That's where the first action happens. Usually coming out of that first turn, you know who's gonna lead the first third of the race. Yeah. And so um, they'll have a plan in a strategy, and then what happens in turn one? Someone gets knocked out, uh, some damage to your car, or you end up falling back three in the grid. That that changes your whole strategy. So I think from an like an engagement standpoint, that would be that would be the best. It also does open you up to a lot more of um, I don't know, uh, criticism from the driver. So I don't know if I'd handle that, right? Because there's all there's a lot of conversations where it's you can hear it like after the race, the driver's like, hey man, you know, catch me outside. We're about to settle this. But yeah, I the strategy is really, really something I think I could do okay at. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:59

Yeah, nice.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:01

Nikki Allen? Yeah, I mean, this is similar to to my question from earlier, but you know, it it feels like you were saying earlier that the race is decided on Saturday sometimes. Like there's you know, we know who the top two or three teams are gonna be, and then there's gonna be a drop-off in quality, and then there's gonna be the rest of the teams. Um, you know, do you think, in your personal opinion, does that take away from the sport or does it add to it in some way?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:26

Um I guess what one particular, just the the qualifying piece being that important?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:33

I would say, I mean, I guess in kind of similar to my question earlier. I know, I mean, you you got two drivers that are winning almost every single race. If it was because I think that's I was looking up some stats. I know that Verstappen was was pretty lights out for several years. Man, who what what's his name? Um, who's the the McLaren won last year? Lando, yeah, Lando. What a name. Yeah. But between the two of them, they they won, you know, I mean, like almost every single race last year. And then, you know, from there, there was plenty of teams that just, or maybe it's the second drivers. I don't know how it works exactly. Is that who it is? Usually the second drivers are the ones that are down in the the non puzzles.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:14

I I even I even like wrote this like bit thinking about teams, like you know, like for the longest time it was Mercedes was number one, and then it was always Red Bull and Ferrari racing for two and three, and everyone was like ecstatic for to be second because like no one's gonna catch Mercedes, but we can try to be second. Like, yeah, yeah. Does that take away from the sport knowing that every weekend, like oh, Mercedes is gonna win or whoever it's gonna be?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:36

I would say I would say no because well, for multiple reasons. Um, so a lot of the teams like Mercedes or uh Red Bull, they continue to win like that because they are their organization is all about the competition, right? And they they they come together as an organization to continue to be able to be competitive because what happens when you're number one, everyone espionage you can call it, everyone's trying to copy your car. Leaks probably they're trying to they're trying to poach your engineers. Um, they're you know, it it's you put a target on your back, everyone's trying to do what you're doing, and they'll catch up pretty quickly. Um, and so those top teams, they have to continue to push it to be able to stay on top. Um, and so it's interesting to watch how these other teams are able to catch up, right? Um, or in some cases, I know making fun of Ferrari, but they have they can get anybody they want. So it's always funny to see how they screw it up. Um and right, and so they it's it is still interesting because kind of they're constantly moving the target. And so if the best teams like Mercedes is incredible to me from an organization standpoint, right? They've they've been so uh successful at a singular focus uh over such an extended period of time. Um, even though if you look at each year, you see all the different challenges they had to do it, right? It does it make sense on a spreadsheet, or like it says Mercedes, Mercedes, Mercedes, Mercedes, but it's it's different every year. All the different things they have to fight, they have to keep their drivers happy, they have to pay them enough, they have to keep their engineers happy. You know, they're constantly with the new regulations, they have to make sure that they're when they have to rebuild the car, it's still gonna be number one. So there is still a lot that goes into that, and it it does keep it interesting. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, it does.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:26

Well, kind of along those same lines, uh one of the things that I was most interested to learn is that like every team, like we talked about with the drivers like shifting around a lot. Every team has a typical, like, this is our number one driver, this is the guy. And like the number two driver will often like have to play defense or something and help like I just watched one where Sainz was winning and like uh Leclerc was like, we need you to build up a gap three seconds between you two so you can like slow everybody down. Like, yes. Is that like is that more exciting or more like it's exciting because it's so inconsistent.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:00

Okay, right. So um because so this the statement that every team has a number one driver is controversial in itself because most likely from an organization standpoint, they have a number one driver. Sure. Uh it's easy for Red Bull, they have Max for Staff and then whoever the the poor soul is that's number two, right? There they build their car specifically for Max. Yeah. Uh last season's uh clear example. Max kept you know fighting for podiums, and then their number two driver, the highest they got, was maybe six, but most of the time they were 15 to 20. Nobody else could drive this car. Um, right. And so clear number one there. And then you then you flip over to McLaren, who ended up winning the constructors, they wouldn't say they had one. And in fact, they have what they call the papaya rule, where it's they allow them to fight as long as they do it cleanly, right? They're not gonna say who's number one. What they'll do is they'll actually choose to say who's got better pace, right? So in a case in point where they ask someone to swap, they'll just say, hey, this person's got better, better pace today, they're doing better than you. Just let's give them a little extra help. Um, and a lot of teams like McLaren, their drivers will be really upset about it, but they'll do it. Um, there's other people like Max that he would not, he would never. He's in fact, there's a clip of them and he's saying, You remember when we talked about this last time? I'm not gonna do that. And that's during the race, right? So uh there's times where teams will say we don't have a number one. They usually do, but they'll let each other fight it up because in some sometimes their number two drivers got better pace, so let them cook while they're doing it.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:38

Yeah, I'll say that's one of the like the most interesting things is that they talk about even though they're on a team together, they're the bitterest of rivals.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:46

Like you, whoever's like in the same speed, yeah, car as you. From a from a sports standpoint, that's one of the things that makes Formula the most unique because not only is your teammate not really your teammate, in most cases, they're your biggest rival. Yeah, right. From a if think about it from an ego standpoint, it's it's uh if you can beat me in equal machinery, you're better than me. Um, and and a lot of these teams, what they'll do is that they'll have to favor one of the drivers. So if they get a new upgrade package, they're not gonna want to take a chance on both the drivers. They'll choose who who could potentially get it, right? So they want to be kind of competitive there. And so um, yeah, they're they're constantly it's a constant thing. Great example, and I think I sent you guys one of the memes as well. Of um, Lewis Hamilton um had won, I think at this point, three world championships. He was over at Mercedes, and then uh he had a guy that was on the grid for like nine years or something that really hadn't done a lot. He was pretty good, but hadn't done a lot. Nico Rosenberg, um Rossberg, that uh I sent you guys a picture of. And so he kind of came in there, and then you see it's like Lewis Hamilton, Lewis Hamilton, Nico. And so he beat Lewis Hamilton in equal machinery, and he has never let him live that down to this day.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:05

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:05

This was back 20 years ago. Oh wow. And it's and so it constantly comes up as this joke of like, yeah, you won seven championships, but then Nico beat you in equal machinery. Like, so like it's still a thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:17

Yeah, it's so funny. Yeah, that they're just never truly teammates. Yeah, wow. That's great. Well, I'll ask uh one final question here. Um, how accurate do you feel the F1 movie is? And would you recommend it?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:31

Great question, because I feel like my answer changes with the wind.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:38

Um, overall, there's a lot of things that the movie gets correct. Um, so um, I was actually impressed with the the plot being driven by some of the technical rules around the race. So if if you guys haven't seen it, not a ton of spoilers here, but um they don't have a great car, and they make up for that by early on kind of gaming a little bit of the rules to be able to gain an advantage. Uh that's uh uh are you gonna see that every race? No, but the teams are doing that, they know the rule books inside now. They're doing sometimes they need a pace car so they can catch up, or they need new tires. So maybe somebody gets a red flag. And you know, it's not gonna be not gonna be hard. There's a lot of um, there's a lot of drivers that have openly admitted I purposely crashed my car because it was strategic advantage. So they captured that um a lot in the movies. One of the things that's super impressive is almost all the shots of the races were from actual races. Oh, that's cool, or it was them actually driving it. So what I noticed when I was watching the second time, where CG's used is during the crashes. It wasn't actually during the driving. So um very visceral experience to be able to see it. They did a phenomenal job capturing that. Um, and so from that standpoint, that that that is very real. And then a lot of the technologies the team uses, right? They have sensors on everything. And during the races, they're monitoring everything. So they can see um not just the times of the different sectors of the track, but each of the individual tire temperatures, engine temperature. Um, they're tracking all of this stuff in real time. And so the amount of technology they have around the simulators, it's it's super heavy on the tech, which I think they did a good job showing in the in the movie. Um then you get into a lot of the plot points of they have yeah, they have this guy who's 50 years old, they can't get a driver to fill the spot, so they get this this old washed up guy. That part starts to get pretty ridiculous, right? The these these teams, the there's one line in there, like, well, we already asked seven of the other drivers, you're the eighth one. No. In the formula one, yes, one of the things. Anyone would have been happy to get a seat. Yeah, I don't care what it takes, I'll I'll get a seat. Yeah. Um there is a there is a few cases of somebody coming out of retirement to help with the team, but that's usually kind of just uh a band-aid. But a lot of the plot around like the drivers saying, like, oh, we need to you know be able to fight in dirty air, right? That is something that all the teams are doing. That's not something unique, right? That's not a special strategy that they have to keep quiet. No, all the teams are doing that. So um ultimately that part just became unrealistic, and it just has kind of a Hollywood feel-good story to it. Yeah, um, ultimately, would I recommend it? I would think if you're if you know nothing about Formula One, I I think there's probably more advantages than disadvantages. It's entertaining. I watched it, I had fun. Um, I think in general for the fan base, they say it's a great Hollywood movie. It's good that that Formula One's getting attention. Um, especially because yeah, Brad Pitt was out there driving in some of those scenes, which is which is pretty cool, right? Yeah um and it helps it helps get international attention. But yeah, if you're looking to say, like, is this what I'm gonna expect every race day? You're gonna be disappointed because that's not yeah, it's a little bit more than a lot of people. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:03

Planned out or uh I I was shocked, like, because the movie portrays like you know, the the team headquarters and like even like the the paddock like as like the super high tech like sort of thing. And I was yeah, I did was surprised how realistic that that was because that yeah, like you see some of the headquarters and stuff like that in driven surviving, and it's like it's straight up like an Apple factory, like where it just uh that's yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:24

I I that's a good point. So um McLaren's uh headquarters uh was one of the prominent uh set pieces in Andor, the show. Uh-huh. It's almost nothing.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:36

Yeah. Because yeah, it's it's it's it's everything. I loved Andor. And everything is like pristine and clean. It's not like you what you expect for like a car shop, like where you like the stuff everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:51

Is that right or no?

SPEAKER_02 1:15:52

I would have to look at I don't remember, but I do remember when I was watching it with my wife. I did the whole like Leonardo DiCaprio.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:01

That's what clean is headquarters.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:03

Oh well, I I mean, I know the season's about to start. Like you said, that they're they're doing preseason testing right now, which is where a lot of the teams unveil their car for the first time, and like you get to see.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:15

And it's new regulations, so all the teams had to do a complete rebuild of their car. So these are true, it's a true reset uh for the for this season.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:23

Any predictions for the season? Is it gonna go max or is the Claring gonna stay on top?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:28

Great question, because we're in I think day three of um like a three-block series. Um, so so far, uh, so they added a new team. So and now instead of having to track 20 drivers, you have 22. So they they add an 11th team. Um, so out of the 11, I think eight have driven their cars so far. Um, a lot of good buzz about Mercedes, um, mostly around because they they do manufacture their own engine and just around the raw output. Um, so that's pretty exciting. Uh as a Williams fan, I hate saying it. Uh not looking good because they didn't crash they didn't uh pass their crash test in time to be able to make it to the first two days. Oh, good. And yeah, and then there's um a pretty seems reasonable rumor that it's about 30 kilograms overweight, so that they can test it, but it's never gonna be allowed to actually race in its perform. So so it's I'm I'm going back and forth between being excited to like just wanting to like fall asleep for a few months and then and just wait for it to be over. So but yeah, Mercedes is probably gonna be strong. Um Honda went over to Aston Martin. Honda's uh power unit's supposed to be insane strong. So yeah, maybe somebody somebody new on top of the top of the grid this year. Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:49

Cool. Are there any new, like I mean, rule changes that are that are in the docket here for this next season that are gonna maybe switch things up a little bit?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:58

Not just with not just with the cars, I guess. They they have changed. Um uh one of the big things of the last regulation was DRS, uh, which is the drag resisting uh resistance system. Um what this was is it was a way to initially just make it more interesting. There was more overtakes. Um and and so they thing with the fin? Yes. So the fin would actually flip to allow them. Um it the rules were it on a straightaway if you're within a certain amount of time to the driver in front of you, driver in front of you is required to give you a pat uh like a lane for you to pass, and then the person behind could get DRS. So it allows them a little boost to be able to overtake. Um sounds kind of like that's kind of lame uh when I when I say it that way. But from a fan standpoint and from a driver's standpoint, they all love it. We all loved it. It was great. It made it interesting, it really changed the strategy to make it more engaging, give the drivers a lot more control. Um, and so they actually are getting rid of DRS uh this year, but there's there's something they're calling overtake mode, where that it's like optional power that they can get from their new power units that are supposed to be 50% battery-based. It's completely changing the strategy because if their battery runs out in the race, like they lose half the power of their engine. Yeah. So like there's gonna be cool new strategies there. So not really like a rule change, but it's gonna be the regulation's gonna change their strategies, and it's gonna be really cool to see how the drivers respond to that.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:24

So nice, yeah, and like how how often it actually works, or yeah, like is it drains the half the battery and gamble and then it blows up in their face, or it's just it's it's gonna be really cool to see just that difference. Yeah, yeah, nice. Oh man, so many times I've compared this to real life pod racing, like legit, like a little bit is, yeah. Like, and so it's it's super all super fascinating.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:46

And so well, I just wish they wore like cool goggles. That would be great. Yeah, they I know they used to back in the day.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:51

The helmets are pretty sweet though.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:52

The helmets are cool. So I thought you might like that because with every single race, they redo the paint job on the on the driver's helmet. So I've been noticing that. Yeah. Yeah. They have unique uh paint jobs in their helmets every race, which is it's always cool to see, right? Because they'll post stuff on Instagram like this is the new, this is the hot drop. And it's it's nice. Nice.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:11

Well, Keith, thank you so much for coming on. Super appreciate it. And again, for getting me into it now a little bit too. So thank you for that. Wow. Love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:22

Was that like a that was an F1 card?

SPEAKER_04 1:20:24

That was an F1 card.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:26

Sounds a little bit different than you think, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_04 1:20:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:29

I thought it was one of those things they used to soccer games.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:32

Oh, yes. Well, not an air horn, no, Michael. That's actually what they do, is they they they drive 200 miles an hour and blowing a booboozana. So awesome.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:43

Thank you so much again. And uh super appreciate it all. And yeah. Uh so uh next up, we've got we are gonna be talking with my girlfriend Casey about Stardew Valley, which I know Nick, you know a lot about. Michael, I'm gonna be super fascinated to hear what you think about this with zero context. Yeah. Oh, I'm excited. Trust me.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:02

I feel like you need to pick it up or something, Michael. There's so many like places where you can play it from. Like it's a it's a fun little cozy gaming setup there. So I it's it's fun. It's a good time.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:13

Okay, sweet. I'm excited. Yeah, well, you'll hear after this next episode then, and then maybe we'll get you into that. Alright, well, till next time. Thank you guys, and we'll see you soon. Well, we hope you enjoyed hearing about today's fandom. Thanks for joining us. Give us a follow on Instagram or threads at FOF.pod to stay up to date with all the latest, and check out the video version on YouTube at Fandom of Fandoms. Have a fandom that you want us to dive into? Send us an email at fandomofpodcast at gmail.com. Until our next adventure, I keep being passionate, keep being curious, and keep being a fan.