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F1 Summer Recap- WE ARE BACK! · The Apex

• Meredith: Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode of the Apex Podcast. My name is Meredith, and I am joined by my two co-hosts, and it is our first time together in two months. We have had a hell of a summer break, and we are back together and so excited to be recording today. Paul, how are you today? Paulie :D: I feel like we need to start with introductions again because it's been two months. Meredith: Yeah, yeah, re introduce yourself. Josh: In a long Paulie :D: Hi, I'm Paul, and I'm an alcoholic. No, I'm kidding. I'm Paul. Meredith: My pole. Paulie :D: I'm Paul. Welcome back, guys. Josh: I call. Paulie :D: It yes, hi. As as as as we're all drinking. Hey, it's five o'clock somewhere. no, it's been a long two months, guys. It's you know, it felt it felt weird plugging the microphone back in today. Meredith: to go get it out of Joe's office. I was like, why is my podcast mic in Joe's office? Paulie :D: mine is all Josh: Joe needed it. Paulie :D: my mine is all dusty from sitting on the counter. We had to Meredith: well we're gonna brush the dust off and we're bringing her back. Josh: Mm-hmm. Paulie :D: absolutely, but it is good to be back. There's I feel like we have some some points to discuss. I know the group chat has been very interesting the last couple days, and I can't wait to get into it because there's some differentiation of opinions. Meredith: Yeah, for sure. That's what makes the world go round. But we'll we'll jump into all that here in just a bit. Josh, how are you this morning? Josh: Doing good, doing good. just trying to stay as cool as possible without you know, losing my air conditioning here. I I'm sure that thing is tired. That thing is just hurting out there. man, I'm telling you what. So I'm I'm I'm feeling it with everybody out there that's dealing with this stupid summer heat. I'm ready for it to cool the fuck off. Paulie :D: Here. It's sixty it's sixty degrees and cool up here, so let me get let me get a bundled Meredith: Yeah, rub it in. Rub in your Denver Josh: No, well f Meredith: coolness. Josh: yeah, well for the rest of us that live in the armpit of the world, we are not enjoying it. Paulie :D: Yeah. Meredith: I'm like, I'm ready to need a jacket. Like that's Josh: Yes. Meredith: I'm like I thrifted so many jackets over the summer, like preparing for fall. And I'm like psyching myself into it. My fall decor is up. I bought fall candles yesterday. I made chili last night. So I'm like, I'm I'm gonna fake fall. We're just keeping the AC on 68. Josh: Hmm. If I thought about if I thought about chili right now, I'd probably die. My blood would boil. Paulie :D: I had we made we made some chili last week and it was glorious. I have all these I have all these hoodies Josh: god. Like I love chili. shit. Paulie :D: and jackets that I couldn't really wear in Memphis, so now it's like time to dust them off. We're wearing every single one of them this year. I cannot wait. Meredith: I can't wait to see your collection now. Paulie :D: I'm I might even start taking snowboarding or something, like do some cold Meredith: Ooh, do it. Paulie :D: duties. Meredith: Do it. Well, before we get into racing, it has been two months since we have recorded and we have all had a ton going on with work, life, everything. So I figured we would just start by just doing a little summer catch up. So just kind of doing a quick rundown of like what have you been up to during our summer break and since the first few races back. So Josh, we'll start with you. How's life? What have you been up to? Josh: Life's good. Raising a little puppy right now. So he's always, you know, rambunctious as always, trying to keep up with him, keep him entertained, growing real quick. I've been doing like most people, getting out on the water as much as I can, trying to stay cool, getting on a boat and you know, just drinking alcohol to pass the time. So yeah, Meredith: Sounds like a great escape though. Josh: it's it's it is. It's just, you know, a little escape from the problems, trying to play golf, but hating my life when I'm out there. So it's just hot. I'd like it to be cool. I don't I'm not a hot weather kind of guy. So I try to I I live my best life Meredith: And yep, we choose to live where we live. Josh: I I know, it's a terrible idea. I I live my best life through October to March. Meredith: when I shine. Josh: This that's my time. Paulie :D: Listen. Meredith: How's work been? Work been good? Busy? Josh: Yeah, it works me. I always always busy. funny enough, the summer's actually our slow time. yeah. Meredith: Really? I would feel like, you know, like July fourth, of course, I think of like, you know, firefighter EMT, Josh: Well, yeah, July fourth is busy. Meredith: July fourth being busy. But other than that, like yeah, I guess it makes sense. Unless there are like boating accidents, heat exhaustion, things like that, you know. Josh: Yeah, I mean it's it's the medical stuff gets busy, but firefighting wise, it's like, you know, Fourth of July's busy just 'cause it's a big holiday. People shooting off fireworks, stuff catches on fire. But the winter time Meredith: Yeah. Blowing your hand up. Josh: yeah, the winter time when people start, you know, try to heat their houses with their open stoves and stuff, that's when it starts to get a little dicey. So works good. Meredith: I definitely have done it once before when we our power was out. Like it was 2021. We had that ice storm and our power was out for like three days. Josh: Mm, mm-hmm. Meredith: It was so cold. And I was like, we're turning on the gas stove. We're cooking stuff in the cast iron skillet, warming my hands over the stove. And I was like, this is how people burn their houses down. Josh: Yeah. Yeah, that's it. That's the way. Meredith: Well, Paul, what about you? What have you been up to in our break? How's life? You're adjusting to life in Denver in a new city, totally new summer experience for you. How have you been? Paulie :D: Adjusting to life in Colorado. The air is thin, so been adjusting to that. It sucks getting winded walking up the stairs. Weather's been beautiful. We had some few hot weeks there, but it wasn't awful. Humidity almost non-existent up here. They complained, so humid. I'm like, this ain't crap compared to Memphis. Yeah, Meredith: You're like, you guys don't know anything. Paulie :D: y'all don't know anything. But nope, good. I finally landed a fire department job, the one I've been wanting. So my first day on shift is next Thursday. So looking forward to that. Meredith: Congrats. Okay, Paulie :D: yeah, so cheers to that. Looking forward to Meredith: cheers to that. That's awesome. Paulie :D: getting the ball rolling there and yeah. It's been it's been a fun summer hanging out with the pups, the family, just exploring new places, trying new food. Meredith: What's your favorite thing you've eaten in Denver? Paulie :D: You know, I still haven't found my spot yet. Everything around here is green chili. I've learned that. They love green chili in Colorado Meredith: Yeah. They love their green chili. Paulie :D: and they put it on everything. So that's Meredith: Yeah. Paulie :D: been an adjustment. Meredith: Yeah, are you d I mean like you're Mexican, you should be okay with the little green chili heat. when it's in everything, I that's a lot. Paulie :D: I don't mind it. But it's like sometimes sometimes we're gonna Josh: Yeah. Paulie :D: have to sometimes I don't want green chili on my biscuits and gravy. I'm just gonna throw that out there. Yeah, it's sometimes Josh: Hmm. That's different. Meredith: That's b that's fair. Paulie :D: it's sometimes it's good, but other times it's like, alright guys, we need to cool in with the green chili. I do, I love seafood. Meredith: Are you are you a seafood person? Do you like seafood? Okay, my mom's absolute favorite restaurant in all of Denver is called Jax's. And it is they have a great happy hour. Their drinks are phenomenal. Josh: Uh-huh. Meredith: The menu is just pretty exceptional and it's not an insane price point. So check out Jax's fish house. It's really good. Paulie :D: I'm gonna have to check it out. Also, traffic up here sucks. Other than that. Meredith: I bet. It's just like a huge Josh: You got spoiled. Meredith: influx of people. Paulie :D: What's that, Josh? a hundred percent, dude. Josh: You got spoiled in Memphis. You can say a lot you can say a lot of shit about Memphis, but our traffic patterns because of the interstates are actually decent. So we we we're we very rarely Paulie :D: Bro, we've talked about that. Josh: have traffic. Paulie :D: We've talked about that a lot since moving up here. From you know, I lived in Bartlett and I was twenty-five minutes from everything. Josh: Yeah, you could literally be from downtown to the edges of suburbs in twenty five minutes and it's a large expanse of of of ground, you know. Paulie :D: Yep. Now during rush hour, it's at least an hour and a half. It's it's just awful. Like Josh: Yeah. Paulie :D: it's it's the little things you take for granted when you're you know when you're spoiled with good traffic. Now you're up here and it's construction, congestion, and honestly, the problems that any big city has. I'm sure Houston has traffic, bad traffic too. Meredith: Yeah, it's atrocious. Houston is atrocious. Like it's it's it's almost criminal. Like you look at Paulie :D: Yeah, yeah. But Meredith: a map and you see it and you're like, okay, it's only five miles away and you get in the car and it's like forty eight minutes. Paulie :D: Yeah. Josh: Mm. Paulie :D: Yeah, you're going nine miles on the road and it's an hour and it's like, are you kidding me? And the GPS it's all red and yellow and it's like it's gonna be a long day. Yeah, but hey, where has Carmen San Diego been this summer? Because you young lady have traveled everywhere. Meredith: Carmen San Diego has been bingbonging around. a lot of trips to Philly. I'm in a new role at work, a new function for our company. So a lot of trips to Philly just to like collaborate with people up there, my coworkers up there, just kind of building out a new team. So that's exciting. I have really missed managing people, and I have two people who I know really, really well on my team, which is awesome. So super excited to be back in a managing position. was in Philly this week for training on like how Be a better manager, which I love that stuff. As a psych major, I could literally sit in like leadership training and like all that kind of stuff. Like you're paying me to come sit in stuff that I love learning about. Are you kidding me? This is awesome. but my big trip was to the Netherlands. We had our global leadership conference, which was a really insane opportunity to get to go to. It was really cool to just go hear from. I mean, like our CEO of our entire company came and spent the week with us, which is Wild. You know, you would think that a CEO would like pop in for an hour show face. No, she like came to dinner, drank, and hung out, and then spent the entire next day, did a session, like stayed through the entire night, went out with us and did the canal crew. Like, I was just floored by her. She's a total badass. But yeah, it was a really cool opportunity to get to go meet a ton of colleagues from all around the globe. get to go have some time with my team and my my North American leaders. and then just stayed and traveled a little bit after. my buddy Gary came and met me. So that was a that was a fun time. But we got super, super sick. our apparently our leadership conference was a super spreader. So not only did I get sick and Gary got sick, like six of my other coworkers got sick that I know that I like saw and spent time with during the trip. But then in Philly this week, I was talking to some of the other people that were also at the conference, and they all got sick too. So It wasn't just me, but now I've spent the last two weeks trying to recover from pneumonia and get back to a baseline where I don't sound like I have a totally raspy voice by the end of the day. And I'm sleeping like ten hours a night, twelve hours a night right now still. Paulie :D: Yeah, and it's and I just want everyone to know it wasn't for lack of we didn't do this two month break because we had it planned. It it's not for a lack of trying. There was numerous times when we tried to get together, but I was sick, Meredith was sick, Josh has been busy. So like it's not for a lack of trying. We we we tried guys, but you know, Meredith: Yep. We're back in stride though. Josh: Mm-hmm. Paulie :D: listen, listen, there's some brisk air or cool air around here. So plus this is Josh's bread and butter. Tennessee's playing football. Listen, Josh: Mm-hmm. Paulie :D: they we're Meredith: yeah. Paulie :D: We're going in strike. What's the record, Josh? Are they two and Look at look at that. Josh: Three. They won one last night. So that three and Meredith: nice. Josh: going into Texas next week, Meredith. So we got so we got bad Meredith: Ayo Josh: blood. and then the college game day is gonna be in Knoxville. It's a noon game, which is a terrible, terrible time to have that, but whatever. No. No, Paulie :D: Are you going? Meredith: Yeah, are you going? Josh: I'm not going. Unless unless my parlay hits today and I make a whole bunch of money to afford the dang ticket. It's like it's like an eight hundred dollar ticket. Hey, Meredith: Maybe it will. We'll we'll send good vibes for you. Josh: hey, we'll see. Paulie :D: Fingers crossed, man. Meredith: Yeah, but I'm so excited that we're all back together. We have had we've had like four races since the last time we recorded. So we do have a lot of catching up to do. Paulie :D: Can I make it a quick on-the-fly adjustment? Before Meredith: Yes. Yes, of course. Paulie :D: we get into the F1, because that's going to be a long conversation. The thing that's fresh in our minds, maybe not Josh, but yours and mine, let's get into the boxing match that was the Bristol race before we get into F1. Meredith: Like what in the world? This is like the Paulie :D: For hang on, little context. Yesterday, the NASCAR, they're in their chase. They're trying to figure out who's going to be a champion. And they were at Bristol in Bristol, Tennessee. And Ryan Blaney tried to do a defensive move on Carson Holzovar. Everybody knows Carson Hosevar does not play nice in the sandbox. So he spun out Ryan Blaney, cost Ryan Blaney the race. And Ryan Blaney was towards the top fighting for the win. After the race, Ryan Blandy walks up to Carson Hosevar and Meredith: I would not call that walk. Paulie :D: It was a it was Meredith: She charged. Paulie :D: charged right ahead them. They grabbed each other by the by the race suit and Haymaker started flying. Meredith: It was it was straight up like watching Talladega nights. I could not and and Ryan Blaine and Carson Hosovar are my two favorite NASCAR drivers. So for those two to get in a fight, is like it's like it was it was incredible to watch, honestly. Because I feel like there are two things that are happening at once. Carson Hosovar is a very controversial character in NASCAR. There is no no bones about that. Like He has made a reputation for just going full sinned. I'm here to drive. I'm not here to make friends. I don't care if I have friends. but there's been a lot of chatter because he's actually delivering results this season. So, you know, talking a lot of shit, but backing it up with results is kind of the the fine line balance. And some people have the perspective of like, it's great to see this fresh blood, this aggressive driver, you know, comparing him to some legendary drivers. And then a lot of other people say, like, no, you need to play nice, you need to make friends here. Like, You not you don't have to be everybody's best friend, but the way that you're driving is ending other drivers' races and you're not taking accountability for it. So I think there is a balance he's going to have to find. Like to me, Ryan clearly was in the lead. He made the defensive move, but he made the defensive move into what is the normal racing line. You go wide, you go up to the top, and when you need to defend, you start to drop in and you go low. Like that is the normal racing line. Carson should be experienced enough that he should expect that move. His defense cannot always be, well, I was making my move. They changed and dropped in and I clipped him. The last three points of contact that have ended other drivers' races from this incident with Carson Hosovar have been that type of incident. So I Paulie :D: Yeah, he's Meredith: understand Blaney reached a boiling point where he's like, I'm gonna teach this kid a lesson, but I Carson clearly was not expecting that type of reaction. And just watching the replays of it, I mean, he just goes into fight or flight. Turns out it's fight for him. Like he just the second Blaney comes, and he even admitted it. He said, I saw him coming at me. I knew where this was headed, and I just started swinging. So he admitted like he knew the second Blaney charged. I just I knew what was coming and I just started swinging. And I was like Paulie :D: Well, you know, he did the same thing to Brad Koslowski a couple of weeks ago. He spun him out and then had a smug had a smug response in the interviews after the race. So like this has been going on for some time and this like I texted you last night, this is far from over. Meredith: No doubt. I think this is like the conversation has already been there in NASCAR. But now what I, you know, what I think is and I reposted from a girl on TikTok this morning. now the question is like, do we penalize this? Because it goes back to the Kyle Bush, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fight from like many years ago, where it's like, you cannot have a fight like that that is so unprofessional. Like, I understand tensions are high, but Like NASCAR is meant to be entertaining. They allow the guys to say the things that they would never allow drivers to say in other racing series like Formula One. That that's they want that. But if you allow drivers like this to fist fight without penalty, it is going to become a dangerous situation where anytime two drivers get in a disagreement over a racing incident, you're gonna allow a fight. That becomes a very unsafe working condition for any driver. I think you have to penalize both drivers, Carson more so because he threw the first punch, but Carson would never have thrown that punch had Ryan Blaney not charged at him the way he did. And Blaney has to take some accountability on his part too. Paulie :D: Yeah, I think I think NASCAR likes the headline. I think NASCAR likes that, you know, these drivers are going at each other, but NASCAR needs to nip this in the butt before it gets worse. Meredith: Yeah, I mean, I like to me, we like with a fight like that, you need to be talking about race suspensions. Like, I I think if you cause a physical altercation on pit road during or after a race, I think you need to be looking at race suspensions plus fines. Now, obviously the person who starts it should t should have a heavier penalty in my mind, but I d like I I think Brian Blaney has to be held accountable for it too. I want drivers to go up and talk shit and confront each other. I love that. But the moment it gets physical, we need to be looking at race suspensions and fines. Paulie :D: I agree. Something needs to happen and hopefully NASCAR can can s you know stand up and and do something because you know you you can't have racing, you know, we can't have drivers punching each other. You know, you just can't do that. And hopefully NASCAR can do something about it. Meredith: No. But what I will say is that what I will say is that I hope Carson Hosevar does not lose the edge of continuing to drive the way that he needs to drive to make the moves and make advancements. I mean, he finished P3 last night. He had a chance at the win. You know, there is to me, I it goes back to what I said at the beginning, there has to be a balance. He has to understand the racing lines and start to be a little bit predictive of what those defensive moves are gonna look like so he can. Better avoid contact. But contact is inevitable in NASCAR. It happens. And I think I think if any other driver would have done that, they would have been yelled at. But because Carson is getting a reputation for it, that's what led to Ryan Blaney being like, I've had it with this kid. It's happened to so many other drivers on the grid. They're not doing anything about it. And I've had Josh: Yeah. Meredith: it. But that incidents like that happen in every single race. If it was another driver, I don't believe Ryan Blaney would have gone up to them and punched them and and started a physical fight. Carson Hosovar's reputation was just what played into fuel to the fire here. Paulie :D: And NASCAR more than any other sport or motorsport discipline, you need the help of your friends and and teammates around you to give you that extra little bump at the restart to help you when you get towards the top. So you can't really be pissing off too many people, Carson, because eventually you're gonna need the helping hand of someone else to Meredith: Yeah. Paulie :D: to help you get over that that finish line. So it'll be interesting to see what the rest of the week, you know, what next week shows and what NASCAR has to say about it. And Meredith: Yeah. The one thing I will say is that I absolutely love how much Spire Motorsports is backing him. Like it'd be Paulie :D: But Meredith: very easy for Spire Motorsports to like I I mean, like you you you listen to their the to the interviews and the stuff like that and they're like, Yeah, we believe in Carson. We're gonna continue coaching him, but we love that he's an aggressive driver and I love that they're backing that. But it I think it would be interesting to see what their like I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the back of house debriefs because Josh, I think you've said it before it when we were talking about Ayokamatsu with Esteban Ocon. You you brought up the point, like, yeah, as a team principal, as like the face of a team, like you're always gonna show face and support your driver, which is very much what's happening as Fire right now. They're definitely showing public support. I would love to be a fly on the wall and hear like the coaching and feedback conversations about like the the driver performance because they don't want him to change his personality. They're getting a ton of funding. They're getting a huge fan base. So they don't want that to change. But I'd love to hear the the driver performance coaching aspect of it behind closed doors. That would be really interesting. Paulie :D: But I think Denny Hamlin said it best a couple weeks ago. There needs to be an adult in the room to yes, we love how aggressive you are, Carson, but also let's reel it back a little bit. Like there needs to be an adult in the room, you know. And Grant, yes. Meredith: Yeah. I think there is though, we're probably just not seeing it because they are they're getting so much PR and so much media right now and they're getting such a crazy fan base that they're probably not going to outwardly communicate. Like, yes, like we are actively working on that and doing something about it because they're getting so much publicity right now over the chaos. I mean, like, they're fully leaning into the hurricane. Like it's they they want that. Josh: So here Paulie :D: I am not a fan I am not a fan of Carson Brosovar, but that's where I that's he puts ketchup on fajitas. I can't support that. Josh: So from a little bit of an outsider looking and perspective, right? Because I'm not a huge NASCAR fan of grew grew up watching it, but I I grew up watching it in an era where the drivers were allowed to be that gritty, nasty, you know, on track actions were whatever. There was no holds barred. If you want to make contact, you make contact. If you want to beat Tony Stewart and chuck your helmet across the pavement, fine, go for it, dog. Here's my thoughts. Over the last several years, probably the last decade or more, we've seen NASCAR want to take more of like a professional motorsports stand, right? Like they they want to be taken seriously as a a true motorsport series that can be considered one of the more top series across the world, right? Because it does get a lot of publicity in other parts of the world. I've I've met several guys from all over the world that I'm surprised to hear that they actually watch NASCAR, you know, like they enjoy stock car racing. So I almost wonder if NASCAR is still embattled in this like tale of two personalities. You know, there's two sides to this coin where one is they want to be this the gritty, you know, hard knock. You know, it's stock car racing traditionally is a little bit more bang, you know, bang on trade and paint, you know, a lot of contact. It's fine. But then they also want to curtail it and try to be a more professional brand and not Paulie :D: Yeah. Josh: and not carry that as much to the forefront. So how do you take that from NASCAR? You've got these drivers fighting in the in the pit lane, you know, at whatever, a while after the after the race, like you you really have to pick a side. You either condemn it because you want to be seen as professional and you don't want to have your employees fighting each other on the Meredith: Right. Josh: or do you lean into it and say, well, you know what, whatever. We're just gonna have to lean into being that gritty, you know, motorsports category that is kind of known as as being a little more hard knock. I'm fine. I'm fine with it. I'm Paulie :D: And you and you're not the first per Josh: fine with it either way, but I think you gotta pick a side. Meredith: Make Josh: you and and Meredith: a call. Josh: like really establish it. And i if you're gonna Paulie :D: And you're not it Josh: be the gritty motorsports series, like and you're gonna like play the montage from the early two thousands where you had guys just beating the shit of each other. Or you're gonna have to take that completely away, hard condemn it, ban the guy for a race or two, and really cut cut it off now. You can't really live in this gray area in the middle where it just kind of makes it wishy washy and it makes it difficult to kind of figure out where you want a branding to be. Paulie :D: And you're not the first person with a microphone to have said that. They've said that for a couple years now. It's like, does NASCAR just lean into this aggressive fighting all all you know all hell breaks loose? Or they try to be more professional and more clean cut? They have an identity crisis on their hands to try to figure out what to do. It's like, do we go back to the 90s and how it was with Tony Stewart in them? Or do we try to clean it up and be more polished like a Formula One? I don't think Meredith: Yeah. Paulie :D: they had the answer. Josh: No, I think they want to be a Formula One, but their tradition and heritage of that sport alone makes it very difficult. I mean, you saw the way the production was for like their the whether Netflix series and whatever they've done, you know, it's a lot more polished. They're trying to show more storylines. They're trying to be a little bit more present it in a more professional way. Where yeah, well, it's that Paulie :D: More corporate like a formula one corporate. Josh: it's that they saw Liberty Media and the skyrocket that they took Formula One to and they thought that they could, you know, take the play out of the playbook and follow the same program and make it happen. So yeah, either you do it or you don't. I think you either gotta make your own brand. And honestly, there's a there's a space for that. Like you can have the super gritty motorsport, but you gotta tell that story. You gotta you gotta lean Meredith: Agreed. Josh: into that story. You can't be like, Well, well yeah, it's cool Yeah. I mean it's like ice hockey, right? It's it's a little different. Meredith: They do. I I like the rough around the edges racing. Like that's what makes me excited by NASCAR. That's why I got into NASCAR two years ago because I felt like, I wouldn't say like bored is the right word with other racing series. I felt like Paulie :D: After Madrid, yes, board is the right word you wanna use. Josh: Yeah. I I've I've yeah, I'll Meredith: Yeah, we'll get into that. Josh: be honest, I've been pretty bored lately. Meredith: I think okay, Paulie :D: Yeah. Meredith: like for the same reason that like I don't watch a ton of hockey, but anytime I watch hockey, I'm like, holy shit, this is fantastic. Like, I love it, right? Cause it is gritty, it is, I mean, it is just all out there, right? Like, it is not polished. It is just, it is a gritty sport. And I feel like I kind of got that essence when I started watching NASCAR two years ago. It's like, man, like. Everything else is so buttoned up and polished and and you know, it we talk about it all the time, you know, so much in Formula One and even a lot in IndyCar depends on qualifying, right? And so I I think like I've really enjoyed the the gritty, messy side of NASCAR. I've enjoyed them being unfiltered, the lack of media training and things like that. So I I hope they I hope they kind of just quit this identity crisis and just lean into the authenticity of who they are, which is just real gritty hardcore professional racers. It's just a different type of professional. It's it's it's just a a different type of racing series. And I'm okay with that. I like that. I just want them to make up their minds and and just lean into one thing or the other. Paulie :D: So what we're saying is we need George and Kimmy to throw hands in the paddock after the race and get some more some more blood. I know it's a joke. We need George, we need George and Max to throw hands. Josh: No. That's not but f for ma I know. Meredith: George is never gonna throw hands. George would never break a nail. Are you kidding me? Josh: No, but y well well, you remember several years ago when when Meredith: Max would throw hands. Josh: Max and Esteban got into it, this is like twenty twenty, nineteen, twenty, something like that, when they got into it in Park Fermi after a race, I mean, people lost their mind. You'd have thought they had beaten the shit out each other on live TV. Like it was a huge Paulie :D: I mean Josh: deal. And all they did was kind of push each other a little bit and y th and we gotta remember these guys these guys have known each other since they were children. They're bickering like like old friends, right? This isn't like This it's it's a lot different than these dirt track guys Meredith: Make it Pepila Pew! Josh: beating the crap out of each other. You know, it's it's just different but people lost their minds over that. So it's a whole different dull different story. Meredith: Yeah. Yeah. See, like Paulie :D: I mean we've all Meredith: you expect that in NASCAR. You don't like you expect NASCAR drivers after a tough race, if there's any sort of contact, you fully expect them to walk up to each other. They're gonna talk about it. They're gonna get in each other's faces. It's gonna look like they're gonna kiss or fight, and you're gonna question it down to the second they walk away. You know? That happening Josh: Mm-hmm. Meredith: in Formula One, never. Never. Josh: No, very rarely. Paulie :D: Well we will Josh: And when it d and when it does happen, it's played for the next thirty years. What's the one that we all think of immediately when you think of drivers going at each other? Michael Schumacher. Paulie :D: I was just gonna say that. We watched the Michael Schumacher running down and running into the garage to throw hands to I I don't Josh: Going after, I believe, Damon Meredith: Honestly quite the athletic form for running. He looked quite sporty as he jogged. Josh: Hill or Ralph Schumacher. Yeah. It was yeah. Paulie :D: Yeah. Josh: But that was like what, in nine like mid nineties? So we're and here we are, thirty odd years later, Paulie :D: It's it's been a minute. Josh: talking about it. So it just doesn't happen. Meredith: Well, I think that's the perfect segue for us to transition into Formula One. And I think like with how many races we've missed, it's like it's probably doesn't make sense for us to go through like each one. Like, let's just debrief or kind of just kind of like dive into some of the things that are like really top of mind for us from like things that stood out from the races. But I think the first one that is the easiest one for us to debrief is the most recent race, the first. Madrid Grand Prix. So let's talk about Madrid and then and then we'll share any of our other big aha's thoughts, takeaways from the other races. So Paul, we'll come to you first. Paulie :D: I mean, like I said, and if anybody follows me on my TikTok, there's nothing to talk about. Kimmy wins a race. Like I mean, it's Monaco two point Nobody nobody was able to overtake, crate, we have a cool turn where we can get great footage and it banks and it's cool, but Meredith: And it is really cool. It's fantastic. I would like I would love for them to have done some footage, like the Formula One movie, you know, like that last scene where he's quote doing he where he's flying. I would love some like drone footage behind a car there to see it come around the bank. That'd be really cool. But yeah, it is cool turn. Paulie :D: But it it it was a dud. And honestly the most exciting race that I can remember this summer is Max beating a hundred go-karters. That was the most exciting thing. Unfortunately, I hate to say it like that because we have motorsports podcasts, but it it's just I don't know, this summer has just kind of been a little off, especially with Madrid. Meredith: Yeah. What are your thoughts, Josh? Josh: I'm bored. I'll be honest. It's hard to stomach that, you know, after the last what I would say probably two years of really hyping this up and really thinking that that we had something coming into this year. I it's it's boring for the wrong reasons. And I'll I'll explain a little bit. But I it's it's fine for me to see that there's four teams towards the top, right? That's what we expect. You know, there's there's four teams, the four strong teams up top, battling it out. There's there's a good chance that somebody's got a better car. week in, week out than another. But there is an absolute cliff after those four teams. Drastically, drastically, drastically worse through the midfield. And then and then the back markers are just absolutely they might as well be in Formula Three at this point. I think there's Formula Two drives that could be better. Paulie :D: And and and and to and to give and to give some context to what Josh is talking about, Mercedes has 500 points, Ferrari has over 300 points, McLaren has over 300 points, racing Red Bull has 200 points, and then it nosedives. The next best team is Racing Bulls at 77. So there is a huge gap in points from the top four to the rest of the teams. Josh: Yep. And and it's evident. Evident during the races because it's it's honest I mean, it makes it a lot easier to watch the race because you're not worried about what the midfield's doing, but it's absolutely just atrociously boring. And you know, usually we get the first like five laps, have a little bit of fireworks where the cars are close together. But the race pace for some of these teams, I mean, Madrid's a great example. You had an absolutely unbelievable qualifying session from Alpine, right? Alpine on pole. Really cool. That this shit just doesn't happen very often where you see a midfield team hit pole. Those in the in the past that would have been a huge story. Vettel's first year racing at Red Bull got poll in Ma, sure. I think it was one it's one of the Italian races. Whichever whichever Meredith: Mm. Josh: whichever one was first that year, it I wanna say it Meredith: In one of those Josh: was he one of the Italian races. I I don't remember, but he got poll and he ended up winning that race. That's typically how that shit went. If you had through a great qualifying race together or great qualifying lap, that puts you in a position to really have a chance to hold off the field and have a chance at a win. It was from the onset. We knew Alpine just didn't even have a shot, right? Like their race pace fell off immediately. It wasn't even Meredith: Yeah. Yeah, just so drastically. Josh: there. And and it's just, it really sucks to like already going into race nine, like, all well cool, this guy's on pole, but he's going to get, you know, pushed through the first five guys, Meredith: Trampled. Josh: trampled in the first couple laps. It's just there is such a gap in performance with these cars and and it doesn't help that the The power the systems that divvy up this power to the from the battery pack to the internal combustion engine. It just seems to be each team has a different it it's computer driven. And I think that's my biggest problem right now is everything's done with a program and a software, right? All of the teams are trying to figure out the best energy deployment system and it takes the driver completely out of the equation. We've seen very few occasions this year where the actual where the driver has actually made a difference in the car other than, you know, maybe tire savings on long stints and maybe a couple wheel to wheel battles, but it's still mostly determined by the car itself, who's deploying energy, where, who's able to recharge, who has the advantage at the moment. And most of the battles we've seen, to be honest, Paulie :D: And you've y's you've heard Vex be very vocal about that. Like driver input is almost non-existent. It's all computerized. Josh: Yeah. Yeah. Is non existent. And and here's my other thought and I'll I'll I'll digress for a moment. Every I would gamble to say that every single good on track wheel to wheel battle has been between teammates. And I think that's be Meredith: We had a pretty fun spicy one with Oscar or this in Madrid. It was the only like really one of the only battles I liked was, you know, down at P nine, Oscar had a really good battle with an Alpine. That's why I was like the Josh: Yeah. Wow. Exciting, exciting stuff. Meredith: the most exciting moments of the Madrid race for me were Oscar and an Alpine in P nine and the four second long battle with Lando Josh: The Alpines that started on pole. Meredith: and Max at the second to last lap. Josh: Yeah. Yeah. So Meredith: That that there Paulie :D: J Meredith: was never a chance for an overtake because of the way the track was. Josh: But I'm thinking of like all Paulie :D: Josh couldn't hold her excitement. Josh: because several of our like better, better wheel to wheel battles like that have lasted several laps, you're like, okay, wow, we're back. Like, cool, these are great. I I get a lot lot of a lot of Kimmy and George. But here's the common the Meredith: Yeah, a lot of Charles and Lewis battles this year, which has been fun. yeah, dumb. Josh: the common theme here is that these are teammates in like machinery. The only competitor to each team is themselves right now. And that creates a very boring dynamic. And it's it's killing me. Meredith: I that's a good perspective. I feel like we're almost have y'all watched any of the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League stuff? Josh: I I watched the first season a couple of years ago when they did it and all the cars like broke down and didn't do anything. I just have never Meredith: Yeah, it's like I am, I it's like it's been all on my feed lately. I I almost feel like we're kind of in that. Like we're at a point where the drivers are saying, like, our feedback doesn't matter. Everything is computer generated, like they're not making the adjustments based on our feedback because everything is led through the computer programming. It almost feels a little bit like we're watching the Autonomous Racing League, where it right now is less about driver skill and more about the machinery performance. Because even with a driver's like, like I think about you know, the first year that Carlos Sainz joined Williams. The reason he was able to have success in that Williams car was because he was so in tune with how the car felt and delivering such strong feedback that Williams was using to make such minor adjustments on his car. And Alex wasn't providing that same type of feedback to make those minor, minor tweaks where it made such a monumental difference that ultimately led to Carlos Sainz having a great year with Williams. in a shitbox car. Whereas now driver feedback isn't making as much of those finite adjustments because it is so much about the computer engineering and the performance that is led by the machinery. which is a new space for me to be in with Formula One because I don't know shit about fuck when it comes to engineering and computers. So I feel like it's a new year for me of like I couldn't I can really at this point in the season now, I can really sense and understand the driver's frustration. I think at the beginning of the season it was really easy to like point the finger at Lando who wasn't finishing races, who was not performing well and going, well, you're just bitching because you were world champion last year and you're not delivering now and you're just bitching. I think now it's a little bit easier to understand the frustration of the drivers with feeling like no matter what I do, no matter how much feedback I give, it's not changing the results or the action. Paulie :D: I think I think Josh talked about it when we were talking about NASCAR and NASCAR having an identity crisis. I think Formula One is needs to have that conversation within themselves because I don't think we're the only ones with a microphone that have talked about how boring the product is. We've we we we we we talked about it Meredith: No, absolutely not. Josh: I don't think I no. And I would gamble to say that Paulie :D: we talked about it a lot during you know how when Max was being as dominant as he was and and all this stuff and we thought these new regulations were changed and for a little while they were expensive. exciting but now it's like it's kind of just not I hate to say it but it's almost not exciting to turn the TV on a Sunday morning and because the product the product is Meredith: Yeah, and I think Paul you Paulie :D: just gonna be what it is and they're and I don't I don't know if NASCAR is so egotistical and so full of themselves that they or sorry F1 where they think everything's gonna be fine. No no no Meredith: I don't think they think that. I I don't think they think that at all. I mean, they are getting Josh: No, they don't. Nope. There's I Meredith: absolutely destroyed by the fan base. So I don't think they think. Paulie :D: But it goes to show talking about adding a sprint race in Monaco. They don't care what the fan base has to say, as long as these sponsors like Gucci and Mercedes-Benz is putting in hundreds of millions of dollars. Josh: Yeah, they do. Because how how the fans are the ones that have directly influenced the fact that there's going to be a sprint race in Monaco. Because that because that they're Meredith: 'Cause they're trying. They're trying to make it exciting. Josh: trying to add something to Monaco. What they're adding to Monaco is a second qualifying session because the qualifying has been by far the best aspect of the Monaco weekend and what they've what they've done, Meredith: So now they're giving it two qualifying opportunities. Josh: they've given you two qualifying opportunities. Obviously it's not gonna change the race. Paulie :D: Yeah, I I see I s I see Josh: But it does give you an Paulie :D: where you're I see where you're coming from on that. Josh: it gives you one more exciting session. No. Meredith: Doesn't mean I like it, but it me I understand it. I it doesn't mean I like it, but I understand it. We couldn't give two shits less about the actual race results, but from a fan and viewership, if qualifying is the most exciting part of the weekend, then give two qualifying opportunities. Now selfishly, I was real pissed to not see a sprint race at Coda next year. I was like, I I I love the sprint race at Coda. But you know, it's it's gonna be an interesting season. I I was I was surprised to see the layout of some of it. I think, you know, seeing the calendar, like obviously, you know, Paul went into straight planning mode, like, let's pick what races we're gonna go to. And I'm like, bitch, I'm still trying to figure out how I'm wrapping up 2026. Like, am I going to Abu Dhabi or not? Am I going to Abu Dhabi or am I going to Imala? I have to go either way because I'm so in the hole on these tickets. So wherever they have the race, I have to go. United has canceled flights to Abu Dhabi and Dubai until 20 March of 2027. So now I've got to buy a flight instead of using points. But I'm going regardless of where it is. I can't think to 2027 yet. What I will say is I'm very excited to see two Paulie :D: I didn't go I'm not I'm not going to a race this year, I gotta think ahead. Meredith: sprint weekends end the season. Because let's say that they do make some minor changes. Let's say it gets down to a super competitive part of the season next year. Let's say we've got. A really close couple of stat results leading into the final race weekends of the 2027 season. I think ending with Qatar and Abu Dhabi both having sprints, I think that makes it exciting. So I think that was the the positive changes that I was excited about in the calendar. We're seeing that the last two weekends are going to be sprint weekends because it could really drastically change the results if it's close and spicy. Josh: Yeah, I mean if the points are close, but I I just don't see that being the case. Meredith: Yeah, maybe not. You know, it could just be Kimmy and George again, who knows? Josh: I mean, Kimmy's already close Paulie :D: Hey, but listen. Josh: to mathematically closing this one out. You seen that? I that's what I'm saying. Meredith: No, yeah, I meant for like next season. Yeah, well Timmy in the next three weekends, mathodic mathematically, d in the next three races, Timmy can win the championship. Like it was obviously Josh: Right. Meredith: there were like conditional results, but he could win the championship theor Josh: Yeah. Meredith: theoretically. Josh: Yes. Meredith: Okay, one thing that I wanted to bring up that was highly controversial that is related to Madrid was that Paul had one perspective on Carlos Sainz's role in this, and you and I had a different perspective. So Josh, Paul, and I in our group chat, we or it was like I think it was on our Instagram chat, we were talking, and Paul brought up and he was like, Shame on Carlos Sainz for signing off on this. Josh and I shared a different perspective that just because he is the ambassador of the track, because it's his home track, Paulie :D: Mm-hmm. Meredith: doesn't make him at fault. He joined the project after the track layout was already approved and set in stone. And Josh and I shared the perspective that just because you are an ambassador for something doesn't mean that you're a decision maker or have the ability to influence and change something, just because you're the marketing ambassador for something. Now, ultimately, I do think Carlos Sainz. probably did share his thoughts and feedback. There's no way he wouldn't have. Anybody who looked at the width of that track and layout and design of that track would go, hey, cool curve. There are zero spaces for overtaking on this track and it's gonna become one giant parade. But Paul felt like because Carlos Sainz knew that and was willing to sign on, that he like he does deserve some like heat and blowback for for the track layout. So Paul, anything you wanna elaborate and then we can duke it out in paper rock scissors for who's right. Just kidding, we're right, you're wrong, two to one over rules. Josh: Yeah. Meredith: But go ahead and share your thoughts, they don't matter. Paulie :D: I know it's been a couple month break, but if anybody listening wants to start their own podcast, I'm willing I'm willing to jump ship, we could Meredith: You've had two months to pimp yourself out elsewhere. Ain't nobody wants you. You're you're Josh: Ain't working. Meredith: home. You're with us. Paulie :D: If anybody, I'll let you pick the name and everything, we can just host a really cool podcast that we can start. But when I spoke up was before Carlos said that, hey, listen, the track was already signed, sealed, and delivered before I joined. And I get that, right? Meredith: Signs sealed and delivered. Paulie :D: She's here all night, folks. Don't forget to tip your waitress. Josh: Nice. Paulie :D: but Being the biggest name when it comes to that track, it always has to come. It always will come with having to answer questions for the brand. We see it in other things when a big celebrity signs with a brand and the brand does something stupid. Who are they going to focus on? They're not going to focus on the brand people, they're going to focus on the people that have signed with them. So I definitely can see where the backlash with Carlos is coming from because he is a big name. Now, did I speak before getting all the information? Shit, it's what all Fucking fans do. It's what everyone, it's what everyone, it's what everyone, Meredith: Yeah, I was gonna say that's what we're all doing. That's what everybody does. Josh: Yeah. Paulie :D: it's what everyone with a microphone does. They speak without having all the information in front of them. But I still think that maybe not to the extent that we were at going after Sunday's race, but I still think he's gonna have to answer for this because his name shines the brightest. Now, is it right? I agree with the both of you. It's not right, but that's kind of the world and the reality that we live in. Anything that the brand does. you're gonna see the backlash on the person with the biggest name. we we we we Meredith: Yeah. Do you think that it would have been better? Like, okay, you know, hindsight's always 2020. Knowing that we what we know now, that which is Carlos like came onto the project after the track layout was already designed, like how do you think he should have gone about it differently? Like, should he have come out and said early on, like, rather than just hyping it up, what do you think he should have created more realistic esc expectations of like, hey, I signed on? The try I'm really excited to experience this, see if it's different. Like I think there may be some challenges here. Like, do you think he like what what do you think he could have done differently to Paulie :D: I think, as bad as it sounds, it's a lose-lose situation for him. Because if he comes out before the race and tempers expectations, what are what is everybody gonna say? Well, Carlos doesn't believe in his own home race, Carlos doesn't believe in it, he's not as excited for it, and if it was a dud like it was, he's gonna face backlash either way. So I think it's one of those lose-lose situations. Unless it was gonna be a home run. Meredith: Yeah. Maybe there's an opportunity for improvement for next year. maybe they can maybe Paulie :D: There has to be. There you Josh: Yeah. Meredith: they can just race on scooters instead. I don't know. Josh: Nice. Paulie :D: I we w they they talked about it after the race, like Meredith: Honestly, I would die for a pat they all have those paddock scooters. A paddock scooter race, a one-lap paddock scooter race would be. Josh: They won't I feel like they'd be too worried about an injury on that one. Meredith: he'd be so good. Yeah. I hope they do make some changes. Paulie :D: It just changes need to h changes need to happen to that Madrid because as fans we're already bored Meredith: God. Paulie :D: as fans we're already bored with the product that we have now and now we add Meredith: And we've got it on the calendar till twenty what twenty th is it twenty thirty or twenty thirty five? Josh: Yeah, it's a minute. Paulie :D: twenty thirty-five. We got rid of Spa, we got rid of Barcelona, we added this, and it's Meredith: Be Paulie :D: Monaco two point and more it's Meredith: Yeah. Excuse me, I'm just gonna Josh: It's I would go with its worst because of the without the pop in circumstance. Meredith: as I think about it, I'm gonna go ahead and take a nap through next year's Paulie :D: Yeah, I Meredith: race. Paulie :D: I thought about getting my neck pillow and just sleeping, but I don't know. Meredith: I honestly like I cause I've I've been going to the Space City racing club to do the watch parties. And one of the girls that I met, my first race watch party, I hadn't caught up with her in like two or three weeks. And honestly, for like 35 laps, we just sat and caught up and like, yeah, like we were watching the race, but like y'all know it was such a dud that it was like so nice to just like catch up with all the girls that I hadn't seen in a few weeks and just kind of shoot the shit rather than like they're literally the Only excitement in Madrid was that like one Oscar moment and then the second to last lap. Like I the the one thing that I know we texted a little bit about it, Charles's tires lasting all that way on a hard tire. I'm like, with the banking, you know, and Josh, you just brought Josh: Mm-hmm. Meredith: it up like the banking and all that stuff was designed to like do tire degradation Josh: Chew up tires. Meredith: to yeah, and it's like I I was so I was I I think I was even more disappointed than I thought I would be. I didn't expect. I I didn't I ex actually expected chaos because of all the free practice sessions and the crashing. And so I the the race result versus the the leading up to it, which was honestly much more chaotic. I was like, I felt like everybody was just playing it super safe to not send it into a wall that led to a very boring race. Paulie :D: I mean, who leading up to it, who was it? The the week of the race. Who was it? Ghly talked about how he's hit the wall and every time he's gone to the simulator. So we all went into it thinking, dude, this Meredith: Gasly, George Russell. Paulie :D: this is gonna be carnage because they don't know the track. Everybody's gonna be crashing into each other, and it just was a gun. Meredith: I think everybody was just like playing it safe. But like like Josh said, like so far this season, you know, we get like a couple of exciting laps at the beginning and then after that it's like a snoozer. I don't even we didn't even we didn't even make it to the end of lap one before the snoozer started. I mean, those first few curves, by the time they got to La Monumental, it it was everybody was already in their nap pods, ready, Josh: Silver. In position, yeah. Meredith: ready to snooze till the second to last lap. Except for the safety car incident, which, you know. We can't talk about a McLaren pit strategy with Lando. I'll just I'm not emotionally stable enough for that. Paulie :D: That one wasn't completely his fault. The flag came out after Meredith: No, that wasn't his fault. That was, I mean, he he had just he had just passed the pit entry when the virtual safety car came out. I actually do agree with like his I I agree with the thought process. I mean, not just because it's Lando. I mean, this has happened to so many drivers. The virtual safety car needs stronger regulations with minimum requirements. If they are going to deploy a ver deploy a virtual safety car, there needs to be like a minimum lap time. that it is going to be out otherwise it shouldn't be a virtual safety car. Like I I do think that there needs to be a change in the regulations around that because we see drivers getting screwed time and time again from that. And I think it's that's what they're that's what they rely on to create excitement in a race. That's that's a bullshit strategy. Josh: I agree. Yeah, I think that the the argument being currently that I see a lot is that the the the virtual safety car should be if it if deployed should at least be out long enough for every driver to have the same opportunity to pit. I because Meredith: Yes, agreed. Josh: I I think that it because it's a a deployed by race control, it's too easily manipulated. Like you can just stop it at any time. Meredith: Yes, agreed. There's human error. Josh: Right. And and so why should a human error why should human factor from race control really determine the outcome of a race based on when and when not to call in the virtual safety car. So I I don't yeah, I agree. That sh that's gotta be worked on. Gotta be fixed a little bit. Cause it does, there's no reason that should that should ruin somebody's race. Because the whole idea Meredith: Yeah, no reason. Josh: was just the virtual safety car was to allow for more racing laps and, you know, easily mitigated incidents on track, but that so that they didn't have to deploy the full safety car, which does give everybody the opportunity to pit. So I think that's gotta be fixed. I agree. But it's also this Atlando is also benefacted from safety cars several times. So it's you know, yeah. Meredith: A hundred percent. And he was the first to state that. He he was the first to state that. He was like, you know, and I I love I loved what Kimmy said after the race too, of Kimmy being like, It it feels great to win, but like we all know Lando should Josh: It wasn't mine to win, yeah. Meredith: have won today. But I also loved what Lando said after the race. I mean, like, they went to interview him and they expected him to be pissed off, and he was like, I he was like, I mean, it just happens. Like, that's what happens in racing. There have been times where I've benefited from it, and today just wasn't that day. And that's okay. I still had a really great race. And Kimmy had a great race and he won. And that's fantastic. So I I I mean, I appreciate the the honesty that some of these drivers are having about the reality of it of like, yes, sometimes I benefit from it, sometimes I don't, but ultimately I do still think, even though I have benefited from it, I do ultimately think there should be stronger regulations around this to even the playing field so that it's not left up to chance. Of whether or not I benefit from this. Josh: So can I provide a hot take that I've had over Meredith: Yes. Josh: some of these driver comments I've been hearing lately? Meredith: Yeah. Josh: So we have had very few like fiery comments about the racing itself. We've had a lot about the regulations, but I'm not gonna touch those. So many s so Paulie :D: Mm. Josh: of of these comments, it feels like are out of disinterest. Right? Like you would Meredith: Yeah. Josh: expect you would expect Lando to be upset, right, because he wanted to win that race. He just doesn't care. How mu Oscar doesn't care? Meredith: You don't care. He's like he's already like f fuck this season. Josh: So many these guys are like, yeah, because it's like, who gives a shit? You know, McLaren's or not McLaren, Mercedes is so far ahead, Kimmy's so far Meredith: Mercedes is gonna win Josh: ahead. But even like even Kimmy seems fairly disinterested. This is the youngest, what will be the youngest world champion in our sports history. And he seems almost indifferent, you know. It it and Meredith: Yeah. It is weird. Josh: yeah, it's it's it's a different vibe. It's it seems like morale is super low. Paulie :D: Are you saying the drivers are bored? Josh: Yeah, Meredith: Yeah. I will say the most Josh: I am. That's what I'm getting at. I'm I'm saying as it feels Meredith: excitement. I th sorry, go ahead. Josh: No, I that I mean that was pretty much I was gonna what I was just I was gonna say I could see this becoming the beginning of an exodus of drivers out of the sport if truly it is that boring that they try to go do something else that's not. Meredith: I mean, that's we're seeing a massive, massive rise in the vocality of Lando and Max wanting to participate participate in Le Mon. And Josh: Yep. Meredith: even Ben Saulam or however you say his name, I apologize. I'm butchering the pronunciation of that, I'm sure. he even had a whole thing that came out about Fernando Alonso and he had this whole statement about like, we we should be delivering a better product. Like we shouldn't be seeing one of the best drivers of all time. leave the sport because we can't deliver a product that is competitive and exciting for him to drive. I I mean like so he sees it. I will say that and this is big for me. This is growth. I think the most excited I've seen a driver be was in Monza with Max. I mean, he got a podium. He was happy to be on the podium, but he was he felt dialed in from the car. You know Pretty shit qualifying and did. I think he qualified like sixth or seventh and finished on the podium. And it was he in his post-race interviews, he communicated that he felt like this was the first weekend where he felt in tune with the car and like he felt good about it. And then you like it's like, you know, Spain is obviously Spain, but it was like the I I was excited to see Max excited about feeling aligned with his car. That was like the first time where I was like, wow, okay, there's a driver that like really talked about feeling connected to his car. That was exciting. Other than that, I don't feel like we've gotten a lot of Josh: No, we haven't, 'cause I don't think the guys think that they're driving the car. I think they're just they're pilots of a computer. You know, they're steering it. They're steering it, but they really have no control over any other aspect. Meredith: I've been watching a lot of like aviation documentaries lately. Don't ask why. Sometimes I just gotta get in on a bender on a topic. And I'm like, I've always been fascinated by pilots and like flying a plane. And I'm realizing it's like, yeah, it is a giant machine to operate, but 95% of it is automated. Like you're there is skill. There's absolutely Josh: Yeah. Requires very little input. Meredith: skill and knowledge. I'm not discrediting pilots. There's an incredible knowledge you have to take in in to in case the automation stops. But I'm like, Josh: Yeah. But it's it Meredith: it is essentially like it is truly autopilot. I feel like we're kind of in that mode with Formula One. Josh: Yeah, it's almost like they're they're professional troubleshooters, right? Like their their job is truly yeah, I mean, that's what I feel like a pilot is for a lot of it. It's like they're tr troubleshooting any issues that arise. But for the most part, it's plug and play. Paulie :D: Note yourself this podcast is anti pilots. Meredith: It's not anti pilot and I'm like, Josh: Yeah. Meredith: I'm not discrediting I'm just I've been on an aviation Paulie :D: Unit Meredith: binder, okay? Paulie :D: Are you hearing that United? Meredith hates your pilots. I don't know, is that Meredith: No, they've actually been I actually just told somebody I I was telling I had lunch with Gary on Friday. I had the best flight attendants on any flight I ever had on my flight home from Philly Thursday night. So I'm like, it's they were so phenomenal that I'm actually going to write in a positive review because they were just so it wasn't just because they gave me the free prosecco that first class didn't want. That was just an added benefit. I I mean. They were just so nice, so helpful, so kind, spoke to everyone. Yeah. And I'm like on a late night Thursday night flight, it's probably really easy to be a grumpy pissy flight attendant. And they were both just phenomenal. So I was like, good on you f united for these two flight attendants that were phenomenal. Paulie :D: So in other words, if you work in the service industry, just give Meredith free proseco and she'll give you a good review. Meredith: My gosh, yeah, free for Secco gets me Josh: Hey, it's it's that easy. Meredith: literally that easy. okay, any other thoughts? Like, I didn't, I mean, I really didn't have any big standout notes from Monza or Zanfort, other than like I Paulie :D: Do Meredith: thought Max and I thought Max and Monza was absolutely incredible. I think I think him being on the podium, like I was like, if if he would have had a few more laps, I think Max could have, you know, really done done a couple of a couple more things there. But I think Max and Monza was really my only other like big high note that I had to talk about. Paulie :D: Can we start a petition to not have Charles Leclerc ever race in Monza ever again? Meredith: Don't don't break my heart. That like I I can't. It's Paulie :D: I can't I can't handle another heartbreak from that boy again in that track. Josh: Yeah. Meredith: It's it's literally nauseating to me. I can't I can't talk about it. Okay, well let's Paulie :D: Yeah, awful. Also Meredith: let's let's get forward thinking. We've got Baku. Okay, one last thing. Paulie :D: One last thing is I d I don't need Lance Straw to finish the race anymore this year. I think he needs to keep keep on this where he's not finishing races. I wanna see how long we can keep this going. It's like we got the we got a streak. We have a streak going on. I don't wanna lose it now. Meredith: I actually he has a job to do right now. He is our safety car deployer. He's our safety Josh: He is, he is. Paulie :D: Yeah. Meredith: car deployer. He is our only hope. Lance Stroll, we need to all rally around Lance Stroll to continue his streak of being out in Q three. And we need to continue the streak of deploying virtual safety cars or actual safety cars, along with but he needs to be safe in the situation. but he's our only hope and excitement. So we n We need to rally around Lance to continue the streaks. Collective agreement? Paulie :D: this this this podcast is pro Lance Trowe. Anything we've set up until, including this point about him, we take it back wholeheartedly. Meredith: We take it back. Okay, let's switch gears. Let's talk about Baku. I am very biased when it comes to Baku. Baku is one of my absolute favorite tracks. I love Baku. and I, the eternal optimist in me, am excited to see what this car delivers at Baku. So I don't know. I I think Baku's always a really great track. There's always excitement. So I'll be interested to see how this regulation of cars does. a lot more twists and turns than what they've been used to, so I don't know. Paulie :D: I've waited two months for this. Josh, give us another talk. Josh: Mm-hmm. Meredith: Got a nerd talk. Josh: I mean, Baku is a very fun one. I love Paulie :D: Mm. Josh: the old city section. It's one of my favorite sectors Meredith: Yeah. Yes. Josh: in Formula One. I love the the castle section. I mean the castle section's cool just because it's tight and Meredith: Iconic. Josh: very tricky. It's a right, it's very fun. My concern is it's the longest straight in a Formula One track. And no, Meredith: Do we think they're gonna have enough battery power? Paulie :D: So we found it. Josh: absolutely not. Because because truly, because both Meredith: Zero overtakes on this straight due to no battery power. Josh: Bo both straights are towards the back end of this this track. All right. There's one at the end of the old city section then coming back down the hill. So so chance to recharge there. And there's a chance to recharge at the bottom of the hill before the left hander. but after that, there's several high speed corners and the longest pit straight in Formula One. So I don't think it's gonna be able to keep up. I think that's we're gonna see a lot of the the overtakes are gonna happen early on the straight as opposed to late in the breaking zone, which is just boring to me. I would rather see an overtake under breaking towards the end of turn one because that's a really sharp that really sharp left handers Meredith: Couldn't agree. Couldn't agree more. Josh: way more fun when I see stuff happen down there. But I don't think we're gonna get there. I think we're gonna see the the overtakes happen early and then you're gonna have a lot of cars have you're gonna see very little onboards from the straight because it's gonna be a lot of super clipping and no one's you know, people are gonna complain about it. as far as tires, man, I think with these the way these tires and the cars are there it's gonna be probably a a one stop. Strategy. I think it's gonna be a medium hard and it's gonna be fairly even across the board. I you may see a couple of people start on a soft to try to gain places at the start, because really, like we've seen, it's the only place that you're gonna gain positions is right at the beginning of the race. It's impossible to do so anywhere else. So you may see some of the midfield backfield start w on softs to try to get positions, but I don't see it being super exciting, which sucks because I really like Baku. It was one of my favorite tracks on the calendar. But Meredith: Yeah. Literally last weekend we we when we were at Space City Racing Club when we were talking, it was like, we were all like, okay, well, when your like number one track you want to go to be and we were like three, two, one, baku. And I we you know, we tried to make it work last year when we were going over to Josh: Mm. Meredith: Italy for my sister's wedding, and we like try we like try to but I was like, Yeah, God forbid something happened with the flights or anything and we not make it to my sister's wedding in time. Josh: I can't do that. Meredith: I it's also my favorite track to drive on the sim. Paul shockingly I'm pretty decent at Baku. Paulie :D: Listen, I was just gonna say it's fun driving out on the sim. It it's it's a fun track that's straight is a lot of fun. So this is one of those tracks on the sim where I don't crash nearly as often. Meredith: Yeah, I for some reason, like even though like the even though like the the little city turns and like the castle, like those are those are some tight little corners, little spicy corners in there. I'm I'm actually Paulie :D: Yeah. Meredith: I think it's 'cause I drive that one most. Coda and Baku are the tracks that I drive the most. The one I think I suck the most at is Montreal. I don't know why Montreal gets me every time. Paulie :D: Yeah, absolutely. Meredith: Okay, well Paul, what are you looking forward to for this race weekend? Paulie :D: I'm just hoping this I mean I know it's not gonna be a complete dud because we've seen great racing happen there. I'm just hoping we can get some excitement. hopefully Lance Row does not finish the race. Will not Meredith: Yeah. Let's troll. Yeah. Paulie :D: finish. That's gonna be my shocker prediction. And Meredith: Okay. Paulie :D: just overall I hope I hope it's a good race. Meredith: Okay. well, I think that brings us to a really good opportunity to close out with some Baku predictions. But before we do our predictions, I would like to recap where we are on points because yes, I have been keeping track of it. We have been doing a modified system because we've just, you know, been we've been on the go. So we've been adding our predictions into our our into our notes app on our phone to kind of keep track of it. so after hungry, Josh was at 11 points, Paul was at zero, and I was at seven. Zanvoort, I've gotta say, we did pretty good at our Zanvoort predictions. Josh, you picked up a point for your shocker prediction of Audi being in the points, because we had Nico Holkenberg get points. So you picked up a point in Zanvoort. Paul, you picked up a point for George's podium placement prediction. I picked up a point for Kimmy's podium placement prediction. So we all picked up a point. At Znforce. So that brought us to 12, 1, and 8. As of Monza, I had a stellar weekend at Monza. I picked up a point for Max being in P3 and for Alpine double points. So I picked up two points at Monza. So that brought our points total to Josh 12, Paul 1, me 10. And then Madrid was just cuckoo magoo, and we just totally forgot to do predictions. So we nobody gained or won points. Josh: Yeah. Meredith: So as of right now, we are at Josh 12, Paul one, me 10 points. so now that brings us to Baku predictions. So Josh, I will come to you first as our leader in the points system. What are your podium prediction and your shocker prediction for Baku? Josh: podium I'm gonna go Kimmy George Lando. Shocker prediction. All let's see. I'll do something fun. All Mercedes powered. No, I'm not gonna do that because the out the Awesome Aston Martin's gonna fuck that up. Boring. Meredith: I I heard the Austin Martin. I heard it. I heard it. You felt it. Josh: Austin. I know I did. shocker prediction. We will have more than five drivers do not finish. Meredith: Okay. I like Paulie :D: Damn, he took mine. Meredith: that. No, you already had you already told me yours is the Lance DNF. Okay, we'll come to you next, Paul. Paulie :D: I'm I I'm gonna go I'm gonna copy Josh. I'm I got Kimmy George Lando. And Lance does not finish. Meredith: Okay, I had the same one too. I have Kimmy George, but I have Max. I think Max is you know, I think he is getting dialed in. He's just kind of like last year, he's having a better second half of the season than a start to the season. so I I think he's doing great and it's it's exciting to see. So I've got Kimmy George as my talk to Max in third. my shocker prediction, I am taking a page out of Paul's book and I'm gonna do a combo. I'm going both V carbs. Plus one Audi in the points. Josh: Okay. Meredith: yeah. I I just think I think that Arvid has been doing great. It's fun to see Yuki back in the car. Yuki's gonna be in the car again this weekend for Isaac. They're really prioritizing Isaac's recovery, which I hate for Isaac because I hate him missing time this season, which I think is I I Paulie :D: Speaking of that, when is he supposed to come back? Meredith: don't know. I I hope Yeah. Josh: they keep they that's been pretty tight lipped and I'm I'm curious about that myself. I wonder what he did. It's gotta be. Meredith: Yeah, so I don't Yeah, it it's Paulie :D: Is a wrist broken? Meredith: it's broken. Yeah. But you know, I think they've also learned from like when when Danny broke his wrist at Zanvoort, apparently the break is in a very similar location. And you know, Danny rushed to come back and then he just never recovered. And I think Isaac's way too young in his career and they really want to prioritize a full recovery. like it's very clear that Yuki is not coming back to V Carb. I think Liam's performance has potentially secured him an additional year, an additional opportunity to prove himself. So who knows? We'll see. But we'll close out with a discussion on Jack potentially, Jack Duhan potentially taking a seat at Haas. Rumors, there have been a couple of rumors for the Haas seat. There were rumors about Yuki being in conversation for it because of he's got a long-standing relationship on the grid. He knows Ayokamatsu. There is the Japanese connection with Toyota Gazoo Racing and Ayo and Yuki, but Jack Dohan just did a test drive for them this week. So rumors are that they are repeatedly unhappy with Esteban Okan's performance, connection to the team, etc. So it looks like a seat could be opening up at Haas. The top contenders would be Yuki and Jack. I would be thrilled either way for either of them. and I think Paul. said it best, it would just be fun to have an opportunity to have some fresh blood back in there. I think we've seen the maximum performance of what we're gonna see out of Esteban Ocon. and I I think it's it's time to give someone else an opportunity. Paulie :D: I agree. I think you we we've s kind of seen the rumors, the headlines, that they're not really happy with Esteban. They're trying to go a different way and it'll be interesting to see what happens. Also, it just came out that Colton Herda does not want to return to F two. I'm really curious to see what happened there. He doesn't have enough super license points to Meredith: You're curious to see what happened there? He didn't deliver in F2 and they brought him in F2 under the premise that he would thrive in F2 to be ready for an F1 seat when Checo or Botas was gonna go, but he hasn't delivered in F2. He doesn't have enough super lice poisons for F1. He's shitting the bed in F2. There's no open indie car seats for him to go back to now. So he's put himself at a rock in a hard place. And I'm sure Mario Andretti is just kicking his own shins, going, What did I do? Paulie :D: Right, but you know, is it because he just couldn't it was too steep of a learning curve or the team didn't really back up? You know, all things will start coming out here, but it's kinda interesting to know that he's just fed up with F two and doesn't want to do it. Also, congrats Yeah. Meredith: Honestly, I wish he would give it another season. Like you're gonna, you're gonna switch an entire racing series and you're gonna give it one year and go, not for that doesn't look good. You you took the leap of Josh: Yeah, that that something happened on the back end. Something happened on the back end. Paulie :D: Okay. Meredith: faith. You need to commit and give it a good three years, and then say, you know what? No, it's not for me. And if over the next few years in Formula Two you don't feel dialed in, you don't feel good, then you use that time to start your marketing and your PR campaign to get back into IndyCar with a good seat. Like, but you don't do it after one year. Paulie :D: I agree. I agree. He's out of options for next year. I know he wants to race. I I Meredith: And Al Andretti ain't gonna take him back in Indy Carr. They've got a stellar Paulie :D: There's Meredith: lineup right now. Paulie :D: Yeah, I don't I don't think he's going but he's not coming back to the US. He's gonna say an F two for another year. Meredith: Yeah, stay in F2 for another year. venture out, go into WEC, you know, WEC, IMSA, Josh: Yeah. Meredith: consider something like that. But I don't know, I I really wish he would give it a couple of years. Like doing it one year doesn't do it justice. It's it's a massive adjustment. Josh: Yeah. Paulie :D: Yeah. Also congrats to Alex Pelot winning again. What is this, his fifth championship? That dude that dude's on a tear. So Meredith: Yeah, he's incredible. Yeah. Paulie :D: that's all I got. Meredith: Okay, well, we have a very exciting episode next week. We have a very special guest. so we are back Josh: Mm-hmm. Meredith: on this week. We will be back on socials, we are gonna get back in a stride's work has been crazy, but we are gonna get our schedule figured out so that we can put out our episodes weekly moving forward. Paul, I will let you do a little bit of hype talk about our guest for next week. Paulie :D: Yes, I know we were supposed to interview her last week or a couple a couple weeks ago, but anybody got time for that? Meredith: Yeah, Meredith got pneumonia and bronchitis. Sorry. Y'all would not have wanted me to Josh: Yeah. Meredith: hack through that episode because it was Josh: Of Meredith: not nice. Paulie :D: I told her she needs to stop smoking those Virginia slams and she won't be coughing as much, but she can't let them go. I can't blame her. So Meredith: I blame it on the Amsterdam hash. Paulie :D: on Sunday the 27th, we are going to be interviewing Name is her first her first name is Morgan. She is a doctor who works in IndyCar and IMSA. So she is there every weekend. She is doing the doctor things. And I want to learn more about that role. And I'm I reached out to her because I follow her on social media and she agreed to come on with us. So super pumped to talk to her, super talk, super pumped to get to see, you know, they those first responders don't really get the high life that they deserve. So it'll be fun to put on a platform as a smaller ours is to just give her some hype, looking forward to see what she has to say and we get to break her brain a little bit. So super pumped to to get a chance to talk to her. So I can't wait for that. Meredith: Yeah, and if you want Josh: Yeah, it'd be really cool. Meredith: to, if you wanna do a little bit of background and research before our episode next week, her socials are that motorsports doc, that motorsports do c no underscores or anything. So Morgan, we are so excited to have you on next week. throughout the week we'll be posting some videos, we'll we'll hype up when we're recording. We'll do a recording next Sunday with her. but Throughout the week, if we see any announcements or anything that comes up in the motorsport world, we'll share those updates with you all. We are so excited to be back together, be back in stride, and we will see you guys next week. Hope you all have a great week. Bye. Paulie :D: Later, guys. Josh: So yeah.