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Barcelona GP, Monaco GP, Le Mans, and more! · The Apex

• Paulie :D: Ladies and gentlemen, Listen, we are finally in the same hemisphere. Our internet is working great. Josh is not in his fake Microsoft background anymore. Welcome back to another episode of the beautiful Apex F1 podcast. I am your host, Paul. We're gonna be steering this ship today. I don't know where it's gonna go, but I have great news. Meredith, let's start with you. How are you today? Meredith: fantastic. Very happy to be on with you guys. We have much incredible racing to debrief and catch up on and schedules have been crazy, but super great to come back together. I'm super pumped for today's episode. Paulie :D: Absolutely. Josh, welcome back from Paradise. How you doing today? Josh: I'm doing great. Great to be back. well, you know, not so great to be back. But beach is great. Sun was great. I hate to be back at work, but it is what it is. We've got to work for a living here. So we're in the midst. We're in the midst of a ⁓ of you know, the middle of motorsport season, right? Lit this is this is it. This is what we're here for. This is the pinnacle of the racing season right now. You know, we've got just back to back races. We just had the triple crown. Like it doesn't get any better, right? So it's so much fun to watch all these this great motorsport going on right now. So Paulie :D: Yeah. Josh: So stoked. Paulie :D: Unfortunately, until this podcast pays us full time, we gotta do our job, right? We gotta be adults, which sucks. But hey, guys. Meredith: Бу. Paulie :D: Guys, we live in a world right now. This is not a dream. This is not a drill. This is not the matrix. We live in a world where Lewis Hamilton has won a race. Not just won a race because he's won a lot of them and he's got a lot of titles, but he's won a race in scarlet The pony is back on top. And I think we can all admit that the world is a better place when that beautiful pony is on the top step of that podium. What are we thinking? What of our thoughts? Josh. Let's start with you. Josh: Well, I think it's it's pretty clear now that Ferrari is going to be the front runner of this championship battle, right? Like f who is Mercedes? It's been one race and Ferrari's already on top, like what ⁓ forget Mercedes, forget who who is Kim Yanninelli? Like some some teenager, right? Like we don't even know who that is anymore. Yeah. So no Paulie :D: Some dumb teenager we don't care about. Screw that kid. Meredith: He was a youth. He can barely even drive a car legally. Josh: Yeah, you can't even get a license. So no, I mean in all seriousness, no, it's fun to think that we have the rest of the season coming up and we do potentially have a championship battle in the in our midst. You know, it's such a fun, fun topic to to kinda dive into. You know, it we we were kind of sitting here thinking we were just stuck in a a Mercedes battle between, you know, George and Kimmy, but here we are with maybe a potential for for a Ferrari interloper. So it's so much fun to think about that and to talk about that. Lewis put on just a ridiculous Outing in Barcelona, just throwing out the the fastest laps that he's probably ever drove in in Barcelona, to be honest. So what a ridiculous race that was. So much fun. so cool for Lewis. You know, maybe the the curse is broken. Maybe Kim Kardashian, you know, threw a hex on him. I don't know. But whatever it is, it needs to keep happening because we need this, we need this for our season, we need this for Formula One, we need this ⁓ for for the for the vibes. So I'm stoked for Lewis. It's so much fun to watch. Paulie :D: Meredith, give me your thoughts, girl. I know you got some cut something cooking up there. Tell me. Meredith: Yeah, I I echo every ounce of that. Like I've just not even been able to contain my excitement since Sunday. I saw a video on TikTok that I it just made me laugh so hard. And everybody said, you know, there's a Kardashian curse and there's a Ferrari curse. And maybe they have canceled each other out. And I am A okay with all of that. I also saw another thing that was like when Kim took Kimmy's towel. She transferred all of her bad all of the previous Lewis Hamilton bad vibes over to Kimmy. And I'm like, God, it just ⁓ I hate that I was like so sad for Kimmy in that race in those last 10 laps with what happened. And I it. I was like, ⁓ my gosh, I'm so heartbroken. And then I just forgot every bit about it because I was so overjoyed with Lewis on the podium and Lando on podium because I am both Ferrari Ferrari and McLaren fan. So To have that podium, I was like, I hated that for Kimmy, but I got Lando on the podium. if I could have had ⁓ wish, I wish it would have been Lewis, Kimmy, and Lando on the podium. That would have been better. The wrong Mercedes broke down. And especially after Kimmy fought so hard ⁓ overtook George. I just, I wish it would have been Kimmy on the podium. Not George, no hate to George, but I just like Kimmy earned it more in my And I the just I'm gonna be riding the high of a Lewis Ferrari win for probably the foreseeable decade. Paulie :D: But did you guys see the video where Kim Kimmy Kim sent Kimmy a towel? So maybe she just cleared the hex right there and also ⁓ Meredith: She I think she sent the bad juju to Kimmy. Kimmy's had no mechanical issues this season. That's been George only. Paulie :D: In that towel, yeah. Yeah. Also I need do rag Lewis Hamilton for the rest of the year. I don't need raids. I need that long locks just flowing. Gimme gimme do rag Lewis because I think that do rag has some power behind it. Meredith: Well Yeah, like when he was in the cooldown room and he was putting his hair up, I'm like, No, Lewis, let those locks breathe, baby. Let ⁓ fly. Paulie :D: Let him out, son. Josh: Yeah, I loved that I loved that like you could tell like he had no interest in putting that hat on. Right. Like he just was carrying around a hat for like the entire the cooldown room and the podium ceremony. It was only until the very last second that he put it on 'cause I'm sure there's some reason that they have to. But I was like, Lewis ain't putting that hat on, are you kidding me? There's no way. Paulie :D: Also, side note, the three of I'm kinda disappointed in the three of us. None of us are wearing anything Ferrari or red to this podcast. That's a little disappointing. It's it's right here. That's all that counts. But guys Josh: It don't matter. It's the World Cup. It's the World Cup. What are we representing here? Meredith: It's in our hearts, Paul. It's in our heart. It's right here. I actually did plan on wearing my Lewis Hamilton t shirt for this one, and then I was like, I'm tired. It's been a long work day. I ain't changing. Paulie :D: Fair enough. But overall, what did we think of the race in Barcelona? I should have stated that at first so people know what we're talking about. But they were well, you also you also need to lay a foundation narrative. A good host has to lay the foundation to build on. And I screwed the pooch from the start. But what did we think about Barcelona? I thought I I j I re-watched it just now to get ready for this again. overall I thought it was a pretty fun race. Meredith: ⁓ everybody knows now. Yeah, I thought it was an awesome race. I mean, I I also just really love the Barcelona track. I'm not very good at driving it, I know, shocker. But I I had such a good time there. So I I feel like because it was one that I liked watching on TV, I felt like it was entertaining. And then going and seeing it and watching those curves, like I was like, ⁓ my gosh, this is amazing. I felt like the progression throughout the race, there wasn't really ever a dull moment where I was like, this is gonna be a snoozer. So I think for me, the the action packed racing throughout the entire race was was a lot for me. I I was really, really, really impressed by the pit strategies and by the pit timings even. You know, there wasn't really anybody who had a standout terrible pit during this race. And I felt like it was a really peak performance weekend for a lot of teams. I did think it was pretty crazy what happened with Nico Holkenberg with that rock going through his car from Liam Loss and going off in the gravel, right, Liam. ⁓ I like that was just chaos. Like, but I just think Josh: Mm-hmm. Yep. Paulie :D: Yes. Meredith: Overall, incredible racing, incredible battles the entire time. I it was not one that I wanted to get up and like walk around and do stuff. So that's always a a sign of an incredible race for me. Paulie :D: Josh, what do you think of the race? Josh: Yeah, I never have very high hopes when we go into Barcelona, right? Because it's it's a track that most drivers have i not the most, very close to the most like time driving. They have the most laps logged at Barcelona as a because it's a great test track. A lot of teams use it as a test track. It's conveniently located between, you know, Italy, and England ⁓ and So a lot of teams just use that as a a stomping ground, right? So it's not usually a place that lends to very good racing because the Meredith: Mm-hmm. Josh: The timing differences aren't gonna be too much. You're not gonna see a driver like drastically off pace. And we we saw that throughout this weekend. But what I think made this one different was the pit strategies. These pit strategies really did change things up where we had two stops, three stops, you know, the the VSC thrown in there changed up the timing. So that I think really helped kind of keep the race lively and keep, you know, the question marks in the air. You know, we really weren't sure who's gonna do what. And even during the race, it seemed like ⁓ you know, tire degradation kinda changed some pit strategies. We saw some people try to extend their stints that were may have been ill advised. So, you know, there was just several variables that, while maybe not wheel to wheel, there were some strategy decisions that were made that made that race a lot more exciting than necessarily it has been in the last couple of years. So hey, that's the best ⁓ race in Barcelona that I've seen in years. ⁓ so Paulie :D: Absolutely. Josh: So I can't really say much more. You know, that's that's a great race. That's it's added to the list of circuits that have done phenomenally better than years past with these new regulation cycles. So not much to say other than that. I think the strategy has just really drive drove that race more than the pace did, but you know, really fun one to watch. Paulie :D: And I think that's what we love about motorsports, right? It's ch it's that chess game between figuring out what to do versus what the other teams can do and how to try to get that upper hand. And I think I and may maybe maybe I'm maybe I might be wrong, but I think on pure pace alone the Mercedes is a better car than the Ferrari. But Ferrari making those those key strategy moves to put Lewis in that spot really gave him the win. And sometimes you just need a little bit of luck with that late VSC with Kimmy to go your way. And I think everything was going in Ferrari's favor for Lewis. You know, Charles is a different different story. But overall, we we I couldn't ask for a better, better race. It's what we've been asking for. It's that chess piece. And for the first time in in a really long time, Ferrari didn't shoot themselves in the foot. Cause you we all know that Ferrari's known for these weird strategies that don't pay out in the end. it was great. The relationship between Lewis and his strategist, you can l you hear and feel the pure joy on the radio. And I thought that was really cool. Meredith: Agreed. That like I feel like we had some really great radios this weekend. Like sassiness, like I mean George immediately. I always expect him to get sassy on the radio immediately. Pretty early on, he did. I felt like the team communication, even with Charles, was really good. The like both of them, like they were listening to Lewis when he was like, you know, his his guy came on in the last few laps and was Yeah, we're doing great. Just keep and he's like, I got this, let me drive, you know, but it was not in a Shut up, I got this, let me drive. Like it was there was just a lot of respect and and good team communication this weekend. No crazy like iconic one lighters that I caught, but I I think it was just really good examples of radio and team communication. Paulie :D: Josh, what are you what are your thoughts on that? Meredith: Pardon prologue, you know. Paulie :D: It's all right. Josh: I mean communication was good. I mean, George I think at George being bitchy, yes, but I think he was right. Like his strategy put him directly in the line of fire with his teammate. And I think that, you know, is is something that as a as a strategist you want to prevent, you know, especially when you have open air ⁓ in front of you to to play with. I I I just not sure they brought him in at the right time. I think they were trying to play the safe game with George, trying to preserve his position. It is what it is, you know. you can't predict the late safety cars and stuff, and that really is what ended up killing George's race anyway. yeah, huge huge difference between Ferrari of last year and this year with the team radios, especially on Lewis's side. a lot more respect both ways, a lot more understanding both ways of what information needs to be exchanged and what doesn't need to be exchanged. so overall I think that's that's that's a huge change for Ferrari obviously to go for a different engineer, but it seems to have worked out very favorably for Ferrari and I mean there's no reason to believe that this is relationship isn't very good and will continue to be very good for the next several races the rest of the season, the next season, however long, that Lewis decides to stay in the car. So I think this is the a good example of a budding relationship. Meredith: Agree. Paulie :D: So me ask this question, guys. Are the Alpines legit or are the Alpenes just lucky? Thoughts. Meredith: Miami's the only bad weekend Pierre had. I I don't think they're I don't think they're just lucky. Miami is the only bad weekend Pierre has had. Whatever they did, it's working. And I could not be more excited for them. I I like I I love to see it. We've seen great improvement from Franco Colapinto in his driving and his consistency. Pierre is up there. I mean, Colapinto's just been outside the points, like a lot of the races. So I I'm pleasantly surprised and super thrilled to continue to watch the growth. Paulie :D: So b Josh, before I get to you, Pierre finishes seventh and Calapinto in tenth. The team is at solid fifth place in fifty-seven points. Josh, are they for real or are they just getting lucky? Josh: No, I think this is the real deal. I think f the obvious the obvious answer is they went to a customer team, right? And they're using a Ferrari powered motor that is far and away the best on the grid, I think. I even though we can get into the FIA ADU statistics and talk about Red Bull and blah blah blah. But we're gonna ignore that for the moment. I think ⁓ Mercedes the most consistent, reliable, and the most powerful on the grid right now. And I think that they've integrated that very well with their chassis and they've been able to devote a lot of time and money and energy into their aerodynamic packages and to their electrical systems. And I feel like that has really benefited them. we've seen Frank Call Pinto battling his teammate and qualifying, which is a huge deal for Franco as a s basically a second-year rookie, right? to see him battle with Pierre, who's well and a veteran of this grid, to see them being very close to qualifying shows that they're getting the maximum potential out of this car. I I think that that points to that car being extremely strong. And I think that if they have a couple more upgrade packages they could be battling for even higher points throughout the rest of the season. I think they're the real deal. I don't think there's any reason to to doubt Alpine at this point. And and they're getting a ton of investor money. So just think about this not only this year, but in in the next years to come. This this ⁓ the amount of money that they are being pumped in with is is very, very likely to produce a strong team in the next couple of years. So I think if Franco can hold this on and and not get booted out for some stupid ass reason, like bringing Fernando Alonso back, I think they'll be in a good spot. Paulie :D: Yeah, especially with Gucci coming in next year, they're gonna have that influx of money. And it's it's gonna be I'm I'm really pumped to see what that team can do. And I tell you, I wasn't a big fan of Flavio when he first came in, and especially how Drive to Survive portrayed him, and he's kind of somewhat the villain, but you have to give the guy credit. He's Josh: Yeah, exactly. Meredith: He's not somewhat the villain. He literally is a villain. He was banned from Formula One because he cheated. Like at what point But at what point do you he should have never been allowed back in? Like great for what he's doing for the team, but i it never should have happened a team Josh: No, you don't. He is the villain. And I don't yeah. Paulie :D: Okay, but we can admit that his influence has turned the team around. Josh: I don't think it's necessarily his influence. Meredith: cheats and you find the person in charge that allowed this to happen and you give them a lifetime ban and then you let ⁓ back in, is a problem. Like, I don't know. I ⁓ congrats to Alpine. I'm not giving credit to Flavio. I'm I don't know. I think it's the team working really hard, but he shouldn't have been allowed back in. Paulie :D: But with the dysfunction of the team and and with, you know, years ago when they fired their their team principal and all the things coming out, can we not give Flavio some credit for the turnaround the team has has created? Or was this a machine that was gonna turn around either way? Josh: No. This you I think because of the performances towards the end of last season you could start to see the changes and the team structure. I think that you saw a lot of of time and energy and effort going into the I mean, let's think about it. They sucked last year, right? They were horrible. They had no chance for points. So they probably shut down the twenty twenty five development and went right into twenty twenty six really early, if not the earliest of any team on the grid. So I think that would be Meredith: Okay. Josh: a really key indicator of their development for twenty twenty six and throughout this regulation cycle, that's probably explaining why they're so strong right now. I don't think you des you necessarily you you say Fabio Briatore is the person who brought that to to fruition, right? I think he's just a huge figurehead that has a majority stake in the team who happens to be able to play team principal somehow cheating his way through t ⁓ the Grand Prix, the first one ever, by the way, which if you remember is ⁓ cheating and he was indeed banned from the entire sport forever and somehow he's a team principal now, which is just kind of mind blowing. Which it argu it could have it probably cost Felipe Massa a world championship and it gave Lewis Hamilton his first. So there it wasn't just like some idle bullshit that happened. This was a a a move that changed up an entire year's championship and gave points To their team that was failing anyway. That's a whole nother story. Crash gate's an entire thing. But I don't think we can I don't think we can attribute this direct directly to Flavia, the turnaround of Alpine. I think that this is due to to the money that's being spent on the team and where they're developing the cars. Not to mention they stopped their engine development and shuffled all that money into the rest of the team. So they have plenty of money to play with. Paulie :D: Yeah, it's definitely interesting. So did what's going on with Cal with ⁓ Gasly and his ⁓ stuff? Sorry, brain fart. Meredith put it on the notes. The the Alpine ru the Alpine penalty reversal, what happened there? Meredith: Yeah, so the FIA reversed their decision for his penalty. So it reinstated his podium. That happened on the Friday of the Barcelona weekend. So Isaac Hajar loses his Monaco podium. Pierre Gasly gets his podium. But now and Red Bull have both filed against the FIA stating for a review of the reversal, stating that they don't think that that was fair. So I knew Red Bull did not show up to the FIA hearing on it, but I thought all the other teams did. So I was a little shocked to see both McLaren and Red Bull, but I guess maybe not so much McLaren since Oscar was very outspoken about it this last weekend in Barcelona. I don't know. I I think it does create a bit of a murky situation if we're gonna start just reversing penalties, you know, a week later, like that. Like that's something you should have been able to review immediately after the race and make a decision immediately. I the fact that we waited a week to me is a little murky on it. But if they reversed it and they agreed that it was an issue on their end and that the the penalty shouldn't have been given, if they also would have right of reviewed everybody's that got a time penalty and said, Hey, we're just gonna go back and look into everybody's and confirm, you know, hey, we did our due diligence, then I think we would have heard about that, but they didn't. They've just reversed it. So now I understand it creates some chaos down the road for like what what door does that open if we can just start Reviewing every FIA penalty. Paulie :D: Yeah, it is it is interesting why they just reversed one and didn't decide to look at all of it as a whole. Josh: Well, it's it's not necessarily too confusing when you look at it from the totality. So Alpine was the only team that actually appealed the decision itself. Meredith: Yeah, they were the only one who submitted a formal appeal. Every other team could have, they didn't. Josh: Yeah. They did it. So their ch those other teams' choices not to appeal the decision is what led the FAA to only reverse Pierre's. So it leads me to believe that I mean I I saw a video of the Alpine mechanics and engineers and probably the strategists and probably anybody who had eyes out there with, you know, tape measures and walking sticks and everything else. They were measuring off the distances between the pit straight and like the timing line and everything else. And so I feel like they had really good Meredith: Yeah. Yeah. Josh: you know, data not only in telemetry, but also in, you know, their own measurements after the fact to overturn this decision. And I feel like for the FIA to overturn a a podium decision, not only just a decision, but one that determined a podium finish. I feel like that has a really strong, showing that they they had something to you know, they had they had it right. I think Alpine had it exactly right. So I think if if every team did that, they probably would have had a chance to get it overturned. But They didn't. They you know, not every team decided to appeal it. So how can you fault Alpine? They did the right thing, to be honest. Paulie :D: Yeah, Josh brings it. Meredith: Isn't it such a bummer though that Pierre missed out podium in Monaco, which is like a super special place for them and especially because of like how much French influence is in Monaco and like ⁓ don't know, you know, I just I hate it for him, but you know, I it is terrible. And then also thinking about like Isaac getting to have that podium and then are you Yeah, and then having to give the trophy back. Like that would be devastating. Josh: ⁓ that's terrible. Taken it away from him. He had the experience, but then nothing to show for it. Yeah, that's yeah, I mean, I'm glad that the the what seemingly is the right decision like prevailed and came out. But it really does suck that, you know, those guys didn't either they either had the experience and didn't earn it or earned the experience and didn't get it. And you know, that's that's it's Monaco, right? It's it's the one that everybody dreams of. So it sucks that it's that one. You know, it's If that had been Austria, would we have felt as strongly as, you know, Monaco, right? It's it that's a that's a tough that's a tough one to swallow. And I I'd I'm glad that the history books will at least have the right names. But at the same time, like on a on a human level, like that really sucks. Meredith: Yeah. Paulie :D: Yeah. So what what else what ⁓ what other thoughts do you have, Josh, on the Barcelona race? Josh: For for Barcelona ⁓ or Monaco. I think Ferrari's got a good upgrade package. It looks like they're really strong. It looks like ⁓ Williams still sucks really bad. Audi ⁓ is unlucky, but has pace and Holkenberg's a quality merchant, which is just evident. But it shows that that that car does have pace. Let's let's be very clear here. I know he's very good in quality, but it does seem like he's able to get the Paulie :D: Yeah. Barcelona. Josh: Potential out of that car. So it does have some quality pace, whether they can find race pace up in the air, but they've got good drivers, so I I think they'll find it at some point. Cadillac. Meh, they've got a lot of mechanical issues to work out. They got a lot of reliability problems. Aston's ⁓ train wreck. ⁓ Paulie :D: Hey, for the first time of Stroll c qualified above Alonso. Josh: Yeah, yeah. For the first time in a long time Stroll is qualified above his teammates. So that's ⁓ really sick. I guess we've lost Meredith for a moment. That's all right. yeah, so Lance Stroll obviously is now a contender for the World World Constructor or or the best the drivers championship, obviously. So no, I mean so I I think you see a lot of shakeups in the in the midfield and the lower field. It's ⁓ in the back markers. I it's one of those things Paulie :D: I Josh: I feel like it's it this is basically an arms race at this point. You know, it's gonna be whoever brings the best upgrades at the right time. Yeah, it's still early. It's which is crazy to say here in in June, but it's still early in the season to really think about where we're gonna be in November. Paulie :D: Yeah. Yeah. But I think, you know, it's it's it's competitive, even towards the back end is starting to be competitive. And I think with new regulations and all the stuff that was coming out with it, I don't think we can ask for more. I think this is exactly what we as racing fans have been at wanting and clamoring for. So overall, even if you're, you know, Ferrari at the top or Audi or SMR in the back, everything is still right relatively near each other, and that's pretty awesome. Josh: Yeah, I'm with you. I mean, I came in with pretty good, pretty high expectations for this this regulation cycle. We've gotten very good racing. The argument, of course, can be made that tweaks need to be made, adjustments need to be had to make it better. But all in all, it's hard to argue that this is not good racing. It 'cause it is. I mean, it's wheel to wheel. We we've got a very close field, we've got a lot of good battles going on. the yo-yoing that we saw at the very beginning of the season doesn't seem to be as prevalent and neither does the the super clipping. So, you know, I mean there's there's an argument, but but then again, it's the first year of a regulation cycle. Like there's gonna have to be adjustments made. And I think that this this gives me a little bit of hope that over the next couple of years this is going to be a pretty, pretty good cycle and it's gonna be pretty racy. Paulie :D: Absolutely. Getting back to the Lance Stroll thing, I decided that one of my goals in life is I want to hang out with that kid because I want to know. Yes, I want to know what his interest is in life. Because every time you put a microphone in it's and it's not soccer either, because they asked him being Canadian. He's What do you think of the Canadian team? He's like, I I I don't even I didn't even know that that was happening. Like, what kind of bubble does this kid live in? And I just want to find out. Josh: Lance? It's not f it's not Formula One, I'll tell you that. ⁓ huh. ⁓ I mean I get you. I think for one, I think his interest is tennis, to be honest. He's a very good tennis player. Like to the point where people have talked about maybe he leaves Formula One and tries to, you know, like take up professional tennis. So that could be his thing. They also ⁓ yeah. which cool. You know, everybody's got their thing. it's wild that A's a he's a Formula One driver that has no interest in it, but I don't what to say about that. Paulie :D: I didn't know that he was that good at tennis. Hey, w when your daddy's got printing money, you just get told what to do. Josh: I mean I guess, I don't know. But at some point I feel like you're you're what a decade into your career and maybe maybe you y you say, Hey Dad, I'm kinda sick and tired of this bullshit. I don't know. I mean, but you know, it it's it's Lance's deal. Maybe he does love it. Maybe he just hates the attention, maybe he just hates, you the everything that comes along with being in Formula One, maybe he just hates that stuff. So Meredith's back. We're great. We're talking about how great Lance Stroll is. So I'm sure you've got an input here. Meredith: ⁓ my god, Paul's favorite driver. Paulie :D: I was just telling Josh that my goal in life, one of my many goals in life, is I want to hang out with that kid for like a week just because I want to know what his interest is in life, because he clearly is not interested in Formula One. They just asked him about the World Cup happening in Canada and he's like, ⁓ I I Josh: Well they they and did you see them they asked him to ⁓ speak to his home you know, his home country's fans in French. He doesn't know any French. Which which to be to be f to be honest, like most most Canadians don't, right? It's only really like that I don't know what they call it, their territory, like Montreal and the territory surrounding it. That is no, no, there's there's a name. Like I think they call it territory. Paulie :D: No, of course. Meredith: Yeah, Homore doesn't know a lick of French, except ⁓ you know, Bonjour. For Louisiana purchase. Paulie :D: Yeah. Meredith: So I know, I'm just fucking with you. Josh: but he doesn't like he doesn't know any French. I don't know where he's from, but like he doesn't know French. It was ⁓ I thought that was funny. I was poor guy was like ⁓ that'd be like putting me on the spot in Mexico and be like, Hey Josh, speak ⁓ speak to the hometown fans in Spanish I'd be like like you know, I wouldn't have much to give you like Meredith: ⁓ that would be my time to shine, Josh. I Paulie :D: but the difference is you actually have a personality that's worth the fuck. He just looks lost. Every time you put a mic in his face, he looks like a deer in the headlights and doesn't know. Like, what do I what do I do with my hands right now? I don't know. Josh: Yeah. Meredith: You can tell he's just not enjoying it. Like he does not enjoy it. ⁓ but I do, I did see the video about like there's a compilation of every time Esteban Ocon has seen Lance be by himself and has gone over to be with him and hang out with him. I was like, that makes me really happy because I imagine, you know, imagine the Formula One driver on the grid that nobody wants to be friends with, or like nobody hangs out with or talks to or cares about. ⁓ Josh: Yeah. And and Meredith: So I think it says a lot about Esteban Ocon as a person who's like not tight with him. It's like him and Lance Stroll aren't taking trips together and flying on their PJs home together, but he is willing to every race make sure that he has a person to like walk out with, hang out with on the little patty wagon. So I don't know. think that's really cool of Esteban Ocon. Sorry. Paulie :D: You're fine. You're fine. Josh: Yeah. No, I I get it. It's it's it's kinda one of those things where I feel like, you know, we forget, but these guys grew up together. They all carted together. They all s they went through all the different series together. So it's one of those things where they have known each other for a very long time at this point. And and whether or not that they, you know, get along at you know, this you know, best friend level where they're on each other's private jets and flying all across the world. Like if you see one of the guys that you've known for twenty years off by themselves, like some part of you is gonna be like, All right, I gotta go. Paulie :D: Mm. Josh: bringing my boy back in here. You know, it's I don't know. Maybe they had a good relationship at one point. It's just kind of faltered. You know, I they're just people at the end of the day. I feel like I forget that sometimes. They're just there is people. Yeah. Yeah. Meredith: Yeah. They're just humans too. And I just like I don't know. I think that's why that video like warmed my heart so much with Esteban Ocon because I Esteban also has a bad reputation with some people on the grid. So I thought it was really cool that he was intentional about it. Paulie :D: Well, before we get into the all-dreaded point system, because I know I did awful this weekend, Meredith, any last final thoughts on the Barcelona everything that happened in F1 this weekend? Josh: So I don't think I did well. Meredith: No. I mean, I just thought I thought it was a really good, fun race weekend. To me, this was probably one of the more exciting races to watch just because there were so many elements and factors that kept changing it for me. But to all the haters who say that Lewis only won because of the safety car and the pit, get fucked. He was plenty far in a in advance. ⁓ like he he was winning that race no matter what. Josh: Look look at his his race base and his lap times. It didn't matter. He was inevitable. Meredith: Yeah. Yeah. So to all the haters. Paulie :D: Also, also, who gives a who gives it who gives a shit? A win is a win. I don't care how you get the win, a win is a win. Okay? Suck. Get fucked. All right. Josh: Get parks. Meredith: Get Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, who could hate Lewis Hamilton? Who could hate on Lewis Hamilton? You know what? That says more about you as a person if you don't like Lewis Hamilton. That says more about you. Josh: Yeah, Lando didn't care. Paulie :D: Well, a few videos have surfaced about Lewis Hamilton's comments about billionaires and he's gone some f flack recently. But that's be that's for another episode. Meredith: That, you know, I think I saw that too. And and everybody was like, you know, have some awareness. Like, look at who you're dating. But, you know, you can't control other people and he surely can't control a woman that he just met that has a whole last life and family and career. But what do think is is super admirable about Lewis Hamilton is that yes, he has a lot of wealth, but he also gives back in so many ways that so many other rich people don't. So he he tries to do really good too with it in ways that other people very rich people don't. So I think he gets to Josh: I I cannot wait for the Kanye West Lewis Hamilton diss track. It's going to be s it's gonna be so sick Meredith: Bus, it's gonna be the best album. Paulie :D: of all the things that I I thought you were gonna say that is not what I thought was gonna come out of your mouth. I'm not ⁓ don't know. I thought he was gonna come out with some sensible thought. And here he is coming out with some fucking Kanye whisp. ⁓ Meredith: What do you think was coming? Josh: Nah dude. Look, I miss the old Kanye. I hope it's like a graduation esque just absolute banger. I miss old Kanye. Meredith: ⁓ Paulie :D: ⁓ all right R. Peter the old Kanye. But guys, let's Meredith, give us what's going on with this whole point system because it was bad. Meredith: Yeah. ⁓ Well, we need to debrief Monaco, I think, because the points you know, Monaco, we gotta we've gotta do points recap from Monaco before we can ever talk about Barcelona too. So I feel like we'll do the we'll do that with one fell swoop. Paulie :D: ⁓ that's okay, that's okay, fair enough. Take it away, girl. Meredith: Monaco, what'd y'all think? know, Paul, I know it's the race you look forward to the least. I've I've stopped saying you hate this race because I don't think you do. It's bless you, it's the race you're least excited for. but I, you know, I know I have my thoughts on Monaco, but Paul, I think you should have to share your Monaco thoughts first. Paulie :D: Bless you. Josh: Thanks. Paulie :D: ⁓ you know, it was it was a raise. I think you gave us a little spice. I don't know. It's two weeks. It was it was You two are looking at me. Guys, I was in the middle of moving across the country. I don't remember much what happened. So bear with me, damn it. Meredith: See, we watch different races. Josh: What Monaco did you watch? Meredith: ⁓ my god, I was about to say we we watched different Monaco races. Josh: That's the craziest ⁓ th f forget Monaco. That's the craziest Formula One race I've watched probably ever. Paulie :D: Well then clearly I did not do my research and I should have watched that race before I jumped on this. I forgot we didn't do an episode and I forgot, damn it. So I'm the host. You can't be putting me on the spot. Stammit, I'm the host. I'm running this shit. Meredith: Yeah, that's fair. Paulie :D: Josh, what did you think of Monaco? Josh: I d I I had to think about it for a very long time because there was so much to think about. It took me quite a while to like ⁓ read through different things and digest kind of what I saw and like I mean we it kept changing even after I watched the race, it kept changing. The s the standings changed and the all these rules changes coming like or ⁓ you know, penalty changes. It it was a lot to wrap your head around. That was it was not your typical like wheel to wheel battle, sure, some Monaco haters you're still gonna complain, whatever. But I mean you had the track breaking apart, you had people wrecking in the walls, you had Charles Leclerc whining about his brakes being terrible. It it just it had everything. What else did you want? Meredith: Nothing. The ⁓ the only thing I the only thing more that I could want was for Charles Leclerc to not crash in the race. That's the only thing more I could want out of that race. But I I agree. changed every lap. I mean, felt like ⁓ every single was a brand new race. And I was like, ⁓ my god. yeah, I just I I think it was just unbelievable. It I had hopes I I watch the Formula E race in Monaco every year. So I told you guys like Paulie :D: Meredith? Meredith: I was really, really excited to see how the new regulation car does just being smaller and a little zippier, a little bit more room on track to, you know, potentially make some moves that you like might not have made before. I it was not disappointing for me. ⁓ I loved it. I thought it was a lot better. I think even thinking about next year's Monaco race, I get excited thinking about this was year one in the regulation. Doing this track. So imagine what can come year two. Now I was pretty fucking sick of the time penalties. It was like that, Oprah, and you get a car and you get a car and you get a car. And it was like, everybody got penalties. Everybody got penalties. And I was like, no, let's just stop with this. Like, eight on the grid are getting a time penalty for this, like. Paulie :D: Everybody got penalties. Josh: Is broken. After being explicitly warned to go super duper slow, like come on now. Something's wrong. Meredith: Yeah. Yeah, something's wrong. Like something, something's something's in the water. But I don't know. I thought it was really great. I, you know, to see Kimmy goodness, biscuit, let's not to see Kimmy win there was super exciting because he was already on such a heater. So for him to continue that streak in Monaco, I was really, really excited by I honestly almost feel like I was more excited for Lewis to get second than I was for Kimmy to win because I just felt like everything with Lewis has been building the momentum has been there. So I was more pumped to see Lewis in second. And then, like, no, he's like that much closer to that top step. for Pierre to have the podium now, I was really happy to celebrate for Isaac in that moment. I was like, that was so cool for Isaac. So I do hate that for him. ⁓ But with Charles Leclerc just ruined it for me at the end. Like that was just. ⁓ that that was my that was my one bugaboo about the race everything out everything else about the race i was quite thrilled with quite pleased with i thing that i thought was pretty interesting to watch navigate was the v carbs the v carbs were zippy and spicy you know i think they had a really strong weekend all weekend but to see how well they did ⁓ i was tickled tickled with a max dnf i mean ⁓ brings me dory Josh: Off the front off the front row. Meredith: Yeah, it's like it like literally it almost needed to be a DNS. Cause it was so and then all like seeing the track and then just seeing like everybody else is up here, you know, and then it's like first step and do do do do do do. So I did thoroughly enjoy that with Max. That was mayhem. But I also love his little Kimi Raikkonen move of like, no, I'm not staying, I'm going back to my boat. And then he goes and gets back on his boat and is driving the sim. Iconic. Paulie :D: Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. The most the most max move ever Jeff gets on a boat and drives a simulator. Josh: Yeah. Definitely not k ⁓ you know, can you reckoning 'cause he was in a hot tub with models. Not quite the same guy. Way cooler. Meredith: Yeah, way cooler. Way cooler. Paulie :D: But yeah, super happy for Isaac. I think he may have broken that second seat curse because he's doing really well in that Merced in that Red Bull car. Josh: Well, I d to I think the whole second seat curse is bleh bleh, whatever. I think honestly this is just to to show that like, hey, maybe everybody else was right and the car totally sucked and Max just is a wizard. ⁓ He's Meredith: Yeah. Yeah. And I think maybe also it's like it's helpful. Like try try being the second seat driver that they've had for the last several years. You're super seasoned veteran. You have a pretty big ego, you know. You wanna blame the car, right? Like you wanna blame the car, but everybody else is like, No, it's you, you're the driver, you're the problem, it's not the car, look at Max. Maybe now it's a little bit different hearing it from Isaac, who has, you know, been in the Red Bull Driver Academy, had a really strong season with V Carb last year. He's having a good year this year, but he's that he does seem to, you know, I don't like maybe it's like the relationship with Laurent Mekis and him, of like him actually probably being able to be in a safe space to give feedback without the finger being pointed at him and not having the pressure of Helmet Marco breathing down your neck with like, you know, getting ready to fire you. I would imagine it's a combination of all those things. He's progressing really well. I've been very impressed by him, but I think that maybe their the team is a little more open at this point to looking at addressing it from a comprehensive space, including the the car was a shitbox. Josh: I think too, there's something to be said that there's not another driver immediately breathing down his neck that could be like in his position, right? Like Lawson is just he's a V car boy, right? He's gonna be in V carb until he ends up somewhere else or gone off the grid. ⁓ Lynn Blad is just he's he's got a lot of promise, but he's just not quite there yet. So I feel like Hajar has a little bit of space to learn and grow and be himself right now, which most of these other guys haven't or didn't have. Meredith: Yeah, he's the he's the new Yuki Sunoda. Josh: ⁓ throughout their tenure 'cause it was almost like the next man up mentality. It was like, Well, if you can't perform in a couple of races, we'll just get the next guy 'cause he probably will. Meredith: Yeah, 'cause it's like, look how deep my roster is. They've run through the they ran a train through their roster. And now they're like, Josh: Yeah. Yeah. Who whoa, we're stuck. We're we're we have these three guys, one of which we tried didn't work. We've got a guy in reserve who tried, didn't work. We've got this kid, Hajjar who's actually gotten some performance. All right, well let's keep him in here 'cause we have no one else for a couple of years. So that I think it it it probably takes a lot of pressure off his shoulders. Like it's it's a little bit of room to learn the cards and new regulation. You know, everybody's starting from the same playing field. It's it's probably the best to be honest for Padar. Like I think we sat here last year and we were kind of we were w we were a little worried about Isaac ⁓ into that seat, right, and how long it might last and how that may affect his career, but I think the timing might have worked out extremely well for him. Paulie :D: And I think yeah, I think you bring a good point in Sweek's volume to the fact that he doesn't have somebody breathing down his neck and he can just relax and focus on on his job. 'Cause let's face it, you Y Yuki's not much of a threat there to take him take his seat back. Josh: I mean I'd love Yuki to get back in the grid and I d I just I don't think it's at Red Bull. he ha I saw he he did two full race distances in the car over the last week. So he's still getting plenty of seat time. So, you know, he's he's still an out there outlier to get a spot back on the grid. So we'll just have to see. I I like Yuki. I think he is quality. I just think that he got kind of shafted by the I mean the Red Bull fucking machine. Just I think kind of chewed him up and spit him out, to be honest. Meredith: I also do think it's helping Isaac's case that there's not a massive gap in performance between him and Max this season. Like Max has had a rough season, the car has been a challenge. So I think that also helps alleviate some of that pressure when it's not like is killing it and then Isaac is down here. So I think that's also helping the case. Paulie :D: Alright, Meredith, give us the juicy numbers we're all dreading to hear. Meredith: Okay, let's talk those juicy numbers. Okay, to Monaco, we were at eight, one, and Josh ate Paul and Meredith point. And unfortunately, with the podium, had predicted Charles Lewis George and a McLaren above Kimmy. So Josh, you got a deduction for Charles and F. Okay. and then Paul, you predicted Lewis, Max, Oscar, and then Alpine double points and a Williams in the points. Yes, you got Nada. Hey, can we not can we not zoom during points recap? Bizcuit has thoughts on that. ⁓ and then I predicted Charles, Lando, Lewis, and Haas points. So I got a fun little deduction, negative from Charles. Paulie :D: Mm-hmm. Shift. Meredith: A negative from Lando, but I cancel one of those out with a Haas. Okay, so let's see. At yeah. so that brings us to ⁓ with nine points. No, wait, hold on. So Josh, no, okay, no. Monica, we did a minus one. Yeah. No, you got Lewis right though. Just kidding. So yours, yeah, yeah, you zero out because you had Lewis. So you're good there. You negate. Josh: Seven, two and one. ⁓ That's wrong. I that's the wrong way. Okay, so cool. Cool. Meredith: Paul, you actually get negative one because you had predicted max. Josh: Zero. Meredith: So you are to zero. And I also have negative one because I had Charles and Lando both DNF, but I did pick up my hoss point. So that brought us to eight, zero, zero. Okay, but Barcelona predictions. Josh predicted Kimmy, George, Lewis, McLaren double points, and one of them in the top five. Paul, you predicted Lewis, Kimmy, Charles, Williams, and Alpine points. I predicted Kimmy, Lando, George, Gasly. Paulie :D: What walk? Josh: Yeah, wall wall. Mm-hmm. Meredith: So Josh, you got negative for Kimmy for a DNF, but you got George, so those cancel out, and you pick up a point for your shocker. Paul, you got a point for Lewis, you lost a point for Kimmy, you lost a point for Charles, so you are negative one. and then I zeroed out. So I had Kimmy, so I get a DNF for that, but then I picked up ghastly points. So it is now at Josh nine. Paul negative one, Meredith one. Paulie :D: Yeah. And on that somber moment, let's end the episode. I'm kidding, guys. This sucks. Meredith: No, now we gotta talk about Lamont. Paulie :D: Yes. Okay. Let's we done with F one? Can we move on? Meredith: Yeah, I need a break for a minute after those points. Yeah, it's unless there's any other F one news that you guys have heard that I haven't. Paulie :D: Josh. No, the only thing that they came out with was they're gonna change the power to electric ratio in the next couple of years and not go fifty fifty. I don't know. It was too much for me to understand. I went to public school. Meredith: Yeah, the ratio. Yeah. And Charles Leclerc re signed. ⁓ wow. Everybody's shocked. Wow. Yeah, no idea. No. Paulie :D: And and and according to Josh, that's why he sucks because he re-signed a long-term contract. ⁓ Josh: What I mean Meredith: I I love I love me some Charles and I do love him at Ferrari. I hope they get it figured out too. Back to back DNFs from a boy Charles is a little heartbreaking for me. So I'm I'm really hoping we come back strong in ours in Austria, which I actually do think the Ferrari could be really quick in Austria. Paulie :D: So One can hope. We still gotta give our Austrian predictions because that is in two weeks, but we'll do that here in a minute. Josh, what do you think about Laman? Meredith: That's it though. That's in two weeks, dog. Josh: Yeah, we we ⁓ we can do that next week. Meredith: Yeah. Paulie :D: Fine, we'll do it next week. Gosh, we're gif ⁓ we're producing on the fly. Josh to tell me about goddamn Laman. Josh: All right, Ferrari's terrible. Terrible. They sucked it up so hard. also, Cadillac sucks. They had a chance to be in the lead and win. The whole thing. They literally were in the lead and had to retire the car from the lead. That sucks. That sucks real hard. Wayne Taylor Racing. Hate that. It sucks. But it is fun to see it is fun to see an American team and franchise in the very, very top of Le Monts. That's super cool. That means like Paulie :D: Ferrari shot end of story podcast over. Meredith: You had a chance. Sickening. Josh: It's only their and they've only done this like the last couple of years. So it's really something that they are dabbling in. I think it's their second year racing in Lamont. So it's super neat. Also, completely separate from the racing itself, we did find out that starting next year, the regulations between IMSA and WEC are gonna be identical. So it's super cool, because that l opens up more manufacturers to doing both series, which is super cool for American franchise or for man American manufacturers that want to dabble, and really cool for WEC. Meredith: ⁓ that's amazing. Josh: ⁓ teams that are either American based or want to dabble in Imsa for the extra, you know, seat time. So really neat. And I think that's that's really good for for endurance racing since those seem to be the two larger series right now that people are following. I mean I know Elms is up there and and Asia Lamont Asian Lamont's got ⁓ kind of picked up more so as a feeder series that kind of got announced that there's gonna be more of like a stair step up to the top. kind of like a F three, F two, F one kind of situation. So there all this to be said, endurance racing seems to be becoming a little bit more structured and becoming a little bit more equal across the board, which is going to be awesome for for you more racing and more teams that can be involved. And it's just it's just really good for the sport. Laman's was fun. unfortunately it looked just kind of sad as far as some manufacturers just really were behind the game. Like, you know, Genesis looked okay, but it's their first year, you know. Peugeot is just terrible. Which sucks. 'Cause I like their cars. They look really cool. They they look the ⁓ the Alpine looks sick. The Alpine looks sick. And I know Alpine is not racing officially as a manufacturer next year, but there is rumors that ⁓ some privateers are gonna pick up those cars, buy ⁓ out, and then race them, in the WEC series next year. So perfect. That's fine. ⁓ it's it's kind of like how we've seen Meredith: It does so. I was gonna say the cars are really cool. The Alpine, like that Alpine and that brake light. That'd be really cool. Josh: Porsche kind of go down, especially in IMSA. You know, there's a lot more there's well, there's one now, but going to be more privateer Porsche drivers ⁓ in teams. So that's good for the hypercar series since there is seeming to be a lack of teams that want to pick it up. ⁓ McLaren is gonna be one of the few. And there's a a a private French team that I'm not I don't know the manufacturer, but random French manufacturer that's picking up a hypercar starting next year. So Meredith: Cool. Josh: Yeah, so it's like it's good for the grid. Like there's there's plenty of teams, plenty of manufacturers, plenty more seats for good drivers to pick up. So that's fantastic. The GT racing was fun as always. Honestly, it really wasn't that eventful of a race as far as wheel to wheel battles. It will really was more No. Then no, definitely not. It definitely it seemed like there was pretty clear category winners. ⁓ the Toyotas were phenomenal. Meredith: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it didn't it was definitely not as eventful as last year's. Josh: and had been from the start. Like their their pace was just great. The only ones that look like they had a chance were the Cadillacs. And unfortunately the Cadillacs just really seemed to to lose that war of attrition and to lose the you know, the the the war of Lama that keeping a car running for twenty four hours is. So Toyota Toyota looked great, right? And that's really good. Meredith: Insane. Yeah, give everybody go buy yourself a Toyota. They appear to be sturdy. Josh: They appear to be extremely sturdy. ⁓ which was cool because it's the first year that Toyota's kinda operated under their own racing brand again instead of Toyota Gazoo. So it's ⁓ completely separate brand now. and it and they brought an Evo package so that's a completely different car than we saw last year with the Toyota team. So pretty neat stuff going on. ⁓ it's it's cool to see Meredith: And super cool for Kayashi to get his second Le Mon win. Like that's that's insane. And Nick DeVries first, like that was so awesome. I and ⁓ Mike Conway, like I whenever whenever he was on his final lap and Mike and Nick were together in the garage and they're both just tears welling in their eyes, I was like, the empath in me cannot handle this. And then all I had to think of me seeing Nick DeVries and going, Howdy, and walking off. And then I'm like, Yeah, okay. Josh: Right. Meredith: Never mind, my second hand embarrassment of myself just cancelled out all my sadness and happiness all in one. Paulie :D: Now was it Ford? Ford was in this one too, right? Meredith: I think Josh: ⁓ in the G T three category. They're they're now they are another manufacturer which remember all this is happening that is going to be producing a hypercar over the next next couple of years. So they are now with Meredith: In the G T three class. Yeah. That merch is gonna be sick. What forward racing has been doing from a merch standpoint to be studied because I they have missed such an opportunity. I mean, that like Cadillac has missed such an opportunity that forward racing is already killing it and capitalizing on. Like we thought Cadillac Racing, especially with like their ties with Tommy Hill figure as a sponsor, like I was expecting some dope. Paulie :D: Yeah, I did know that. Josh: ⁓ yeah. Meredith: ass merch, you know, and I know we've already talked about the Cadillac merch, but Ford Racing, they are building a brand. And it is, I mean, they've had a brand, but like I'm talking about like a fanship with their merch and apparel. Like everything is just clean, good merch. Big fan. Josh: Yeah, and I feel like with Fort Ford as a brand, is gonna be in a unique opportunity like in a yu a unique position to bring like a larger American fan base to endurance racing, just I feel like they're gonna really bang on like the American look, this is an American team and endurance racing, you know, th they're gonna harp on like I mean everybody's seen the movie Ford vs. Ferrari, right? They're gonna talk about the sixties and the success of ⁓ of those back in the Shelby days. So I feel like it's a really good opportunity for Ford to say, like, not only are we in Formula One building motors, we are in WEC building these ridiculous cars that last forever, you know, it you've got a a Mr. What is a kilometer Logan Logan's Meredith: I have something to show keep talking. I have something to show you related to this. Josh: You got Logan Sargent, Mr. Who is a what is a kilometer gonna be racing in the hypercar, I'm sure. So it's gonna be cool. I I I I mean, I'm not I I'm excited to see, especially 'cause I think Ford would be one of those that would probably do both Imsa and Wec simultaneously. So that would be really neat to see a team take that on. Yeah. Paulie :D: Especially with how much they're dipping their toes in motorsports. You saw, you know, Ford with red Red Bull in F one. So I think that brand is really starting to put their fingerprint more on motorsports again, 'cause they were such a big one. So it's it's it's really cool for that. Meredith, drum roll. Josh: What you got? Nice. Meredith: Not one. Paulie :D: That's pretty cool. Meredith: Not two. But three. Paulie :D: Yeah. Those are pretty dope. Josh: Badass prints. Meredith: So besides this wall in my office is motorsport themed. All my shelves are motorsport themed. Everything on my floating shelves over here are motorsport themed. And much as I love this and think this is cute, it is not the vibe of my office. Like this is like if I was having like a little girly pond where I drink and gossip. So I found these at Goodwill and they are in absolute perfect condition with the matting. So now I'm gonna go get these bad boys framed up and redo my office. Josh: Nice. Paulie :D: That's pretty cool. I like it. I like it. Josh: So I guess we're all in on Ford now. Meredith: I y you know, am I supposed to be? Like, is this a sign? Paulie :D: I don't know, I'm kind of a Toyota guy. I'm kind of a Toyota guy. I gotta Toyotas are very reliable. Get you a Toyota, go to your local dealership today. Toyota, feel free to sponsor us. We're gonna edit Meredith: W they are reliable. I want a sixty seven Shelby Mustang. may not be reliable, but I want that bitch. ⁓ or a nineteen seventy eight Mercedes convertible. I'll take either. Josh: I'd settle for it to coma, thanks. Paulie :D: I'll be outsider with the Toyota Prius. Meredith: I'm from Texas, I ain't driving a priest. Paulie :D: Fair enough. I live in Colorado now. I got I gotta drive an electric car. Well Meredith: Yeah, you do. Yeah, I mean I overall I thought Lamon was great. I la I loved seeing them on the podium. I love I loved them winning. That celebration was really fun. I d and I was just on LinkedIn before we hopped on. Look, I sound like such an old ass. I was just on LinkedIn before I hopped on. And and I did see Toyota posted their shut up. Paulie :D: Did you also log on did you also log on to your MySpace there, Grandma? Meredith: Toyota posted their celebration on LinkedIn, which was really cool. And I followed them and it was, it was fun to see them celebrating at the factory. It was a great race. It just wasn't as exciting as last year. Last year was like action-packed for so much of the race. So yeah, another good year in the books. Eventually I will go. It's on my bucket list. But I think we need to do 24 hours of Daytona before I can commit to 24 hours of Le Mans in another country, you know. Josh: Agreed. Paulie :D: Done. Alright, guys. Well, there was no indie car this week. indie car ⁓ week there was no indie car this week. They are in the great state of Wisconsin. Boom. In Wisconsin. NASCAR was in the triangle of pogonos. And Hamlin wins again. That dude is on a tear. I don't want to jinx it because Denny K, you know. Meredith: Road America, baby. Okay. Paulie :D: We all know what happened last year, but Denny is on an absolute tear. He is three for three, three poles and three victories back to back to back. He is on a tear. Meredith: He is. And he's giving Tyler Reddick a run for his money. Like everybody thought Tyler Reddick was gonna run away with this season, and now it's super, super close in the point standing. So it's coming down to a really fun part of the NASCAR season where there's still so much racing left to go, but we've already been through so much. So Paulie :D: Absolutely. Right now, if you're a NASCAR guy and your bum bum is sitting in a Toyota, you are feeling great because the Toyotas have something figured out. you are in a Chevy right now and you are under the name of Hendrix, you are sweating bullets because you really can't seem to figure out what's going on. ⁓ if you're in Meredith: Kyle Larson can beat any F one driver, Paul. Josh: He's the best driver in the world. ⁓ Paulie :D: He just got an Amazon Prime documentary, guys. Meredith: Yeah. I would love to see Kyle Larson and Liam Lawson go head to head in an ego battle and a racing battle. Honestly, I just think it'd be a lot of fun. Josh: Yeah, because Liam would probably dust him and he's like nowhere near the best of the Meredith: Exactly. And now that I know that Liam's actually like a nice guy, I'm like I that makes it even better because he has this kind of like, you know, douchey kiwi persona, but he's actually like a really cool dude. So yeah, smoke Larson's ass. ⁓ we got San Diego this weekend for NASCAR, Paul. Paulie :D: Absolutely. Yes, San Diego. They are in Coronado, California at the Naval Base. It is a street circuit. So it is currently Wednesday, June 17th, and SVG has already won the race on Sunday. So we're super proud of SVG. Congratulations. He's already won because he seems to do amazing at road courses. Denny, Denny finished probably anywhere between 10 and 15. So congrats to FVG and that team. Super proud of him. Meredith: so That'd be iconic. Congrats, S E D. ⁓ I did you see the hospitality setup they have inside the hangar? Paulie :D: No, I d I saw a video on TikTok earlier they did the ⁓ drive through of the course. Meredith: ⁓ their hospitality is in the fighter jet hangars. They have these like pit sectionals just all in the hangar. It is so dope. I'm like, that is amazing. And I can't I can't wait to see the movie that they made with the Navy about like Yeah, I can't wait to watch that. That'll be good. But yeah, I think it's just a good weekend of racing. Road America and San Diego. Paulie :D: Yes, I saw the poster. They looked pretty cool. Josh: Nice. Paulie :D: And And as we wrap it up, and as we wrap it up for the day, Josh has a t-shirt on. Guys, I know it's it's a more motorsport podcast, but one of the best sporting events in the whole world is happening on right now in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The World Cup. Josh, show that shirt t-shirt a little bit. Josh: ⁓ yeah. If you're if you're in the United States and you're not representing what the United States national team is doing right now, you're lost. I I travel quite a bit around the East Coast to watch any and all of the men's national team games and and right now the our form is off the chain. This is the best I've ever seen ⁓ play. I I do think that the United States has got a really good chance at being really good throughout this tournament. So if you have ever wanted to watch a game, no, they they kicked Paulie :D: Listen, they they kick some ass. Josh: a a major ass and I feel like they're going to continue to do that. So if there was ever a time to dabble in watching a little bit of soccer, now's the time. Get on board. You know, hype up the national team. You know, the the if not very often in our lifetimes is a is a home, you know, a a we're is the United States going to host a World Cup and our team actually have a chance at doing something good. So let's embrace it. Let's enjoy it. Hype up the national team watch some soccer. Meredith: Yeah. ⁓ give me some give me some text me some tips because I know not a single thing about soccer. so I don't even like know where to begin. But like we're we're hosting some matches here in Houston, obviously. ⁓ and the videos of people going to like Bucky's and Bucky's and H E B I love it so much. I am living for the World Cup content ⁓ just like people coming to experience what it's like to be in the US and ⁓ Paulie :D: Yeah, all all and all. Josh: ⁓ yeah. Paulie :D: I was Meredith: I am loving it. And it makes me it's like I've actually found places from these TikTok videos that are like, the Houston viral, whatever. And I'm like, I've never even heard of this place. So now when the crowd leaves, like I get this whole new source of all these incredible places in Houston I've never even heard about that I get to go try. Josh: Nice. Paulie :D: I was just gonna talk about that. The TikTok videos and the content that's come out of these foreign fans coming to the US and experiencing American culture. And you know, I've seen videos of Europeans going to Waffle House for the first time and eating that and all our desserts. But the funny part is some of the comments are like, if they're blown away by this, wait till you see what we do at the 4th of July. Because the World Cup's gonna go into the second, right second week in July. So most of them are gonna be here for the 4th of July. And they're like, just wait till you see what America does for that. Meredith: ⁓ my god. Paulie :D: That has been awesome. All in all, they've been all really great matches. I've I've tried to consume as much as I can. Some really great matches. The fandom has been amazing. These countries have come out in droves both in all three of these countries. It's been amazing. not lot of drama either. There hasn't been any fighting or arguing. It's it's just it's true what they say that soccer really does unite the world or football, wherever you are in this world. And I can't be more excited. I'm watching Meredith: ⁓ I love it. Paulie :D: Ghana and Panama are playing right now, and I never thought I'd even want to watch that. But it's been so much fun. And like Josh was saying, the US team has been amazing. They they came out with a swagger that I have not seen a US team play with in quite some time. you know, it's been so great for them. If you want to watch it, they're playing on Friday, June 19th at 1 o'clock versus Australia, if I'm not mistaken. ⁓ Yeah, so Friday, Friday, June 19th at 1 o'clock, I believe. I think that's my time in Colorado. Meredith: How's that? Text me, I have the day off. I'm I'll watch it. Paulie :D: I don't know what that's. Yeah, so guys, tune in for that. I'm really excited to Yeah, really pumped to see what this US team can do. It's they're young, they're hungry, and they might I I don't want to jinx it, but the US team might make it push deep into the knockout round. Josh: Yeah, it's so be too centr too central. Meredith: twelve our time. Two how is what is time but a construct? Don't jinx it. Josh: Yeah, yeah. I a win a win on Friday would secure or pretty much secure a a a trip to the knockouts. So I mean that'd be a huge deal. unexpected. Australia actually might be kinda good this time around. They ⁓ they beat Turkey A, which was a huge surprise. So we'll see. Turkey. Turkey A. Yeah. It's their name. This the country of Turkey with the capital of Istanbul. Meredith: Maybe what? Paulie :D: Turkey A? Meredith: Turkey? Josh: Turkey. It's that's how they pronounce it. That's and and and ⁓ I hadn't either, but over the last couple of years that's like the been the big push with like the commentating is like they are going to pronounce the the countries by their preferred pronunciations. So it's cutter like cutter. Paulie :D: Also, did you Meredith: I'm like, I've literally never heard this in my life. Paulie :D: Did you Meredith: I totally I I'm here for that. I love that. Like you it should be pronounced the US. I just didn't know. This I'm so I learned something new every episode, Josh. Josh: Yeah. There you go. Paulie :D: Also, Josh, did you see that Boston ran out of beer? The Scottish fans drank Boston dry because they have been having they're even going to baseball games. I saw they were at the Red Sox game they are just having the time of their life. The Norwegian fans and the rowing, the the whole like Josh: Yep. And they've been having a great old time. Paulie :D: The whole fan section just like rolls like a Viking ship in like cadence. It is amazing. Meredith, you should go you should TikTok watch it. And they did it on they're doing it on escalators, they're doing it on everything. It is so much fun. These fans are taking over the US. Meredith: Send it to me. I just wish I was in Dallas where all the Dutch people are because the Dutch people are so much fun. I was watching all the videos of the Dutch bus driving all across Texas and then like landing in Dallas. And I was like, no, I'm so jealous. ⁓ it was the Dutch bus coming to Houston, if the Dutch were here, ⁓ would be over the freaking moon because I love the Dutch. So I'm so jealous of the people going to Austria this year. Josh: Yeah, it's so much fun. Paulie :D: So Yes, guys, on that note, there is no F1 this weekend. here or next weekend they'll be in Austria. But on that note, so watch some damn soccer, damn it. Meredith: To watch some soccer. Josh: Yeah, perfect weekend. Meredith: Watch some soccer, right, Jelly? Jelly wanted to come say hi. Josh: Hi friend. Paulie :D: What's up, puppy? that note, guys, please like, share, rate, review, sh give us all the likes, tell us what you like, dislike, comment on our stuff. It's been a fun episode. It was fun. It was we know we had some technical difficulties, but we rode with it. Josh has a th Meredith: I blame it on Paula. She was in here zooming around. I think she was zooming so hard she was shaking my internet, you know. I don't know. Paulie :D: Hey, it happens. It happens. Guys, Josh, any last final thoughts before we wrap it up? Josh: Nice. No, no, it's been a fun one. We've got plenty to talk about. I was glad to to talk with you guys about what we had the last couple weeks. So nice break to watch some soccer. I'll be in Atlanta for a World Cup match this next coming week. and we'll we'll yeah, so I got I got two to be at this next couple weeks. So it's be a blast. I'm I'm I'm in soccer mode right now. I'll be in motorsport mode, you know, just in time for Austria. So ⁓ it's ⁓ it happen better time. Paulie :D: Whoa. Absolutely. Meredith, final thoughts. Meredith: No, I'm just I I've just I was so ready to debrief this and it was just such a fun episode just catching up on all things racing and yeah, now I'm like I'm excited for you guys to give me tips about soccer because I'm like, ⁓ World Cup, wow, just cause I don't know anything about it. So now I'm excited for some tips and some races to watch. Races, matches, sports, ⁓ sports! Paulie :D: matches. Yeah, yay, yay both teams. Josh: Ports. Meredith: Yay running! Paulie :D: On that note, guys, please take care. Have a great week. We'll be be we will talk to you guys soon. Bye, guys. Meredith: Peace. Josh: See ya.