0:00

I don't know if this is relevant, but I have to bring

0:02

it up. On the way here today I ran into

0:04

my friend who's a comedian, and he goes, what are you doing

0:06

here? You're doing a podcast and a Formula

0:08

One he goes, oh, Max for

0:11

stapping and red bull is my

0:13

team. This is like a friend

0:15

of mine who knows

0:17

a lot about Formula One and it's just unbelievable. It's

0:19

it's in and this happens as you dive into Formula

0:22

One, you start to find there's people out there

0:24

that you didn't know. That our way into it. I

0:26

don't want to use the term closet, if there are a lot of hidden

0:28

Formula One fans, especially in the US. Yeah,

0:31

where you have no idea or it's like the most random

0:33

people I know. I have a friend WHO's like not

0:35

all into sports, but one of her parents is European

0:37

and she watched, she's watched Formula One for

0:39

for her entire life. Okay, UH,

0:42

Michael, we've reached our final destination. We're

0:45

close to the checkered flag, to

0:48

to get metaphorical here. Today

0:50

you're going to make your choice for

0:52

the team and driver you want

0:54

to support, but before we do

0:56

that. We're going to watch

0:58

a race together from

1:02

my heart radio and sports illustrated studios.

1:04

This is choosing sides. One,

1:11

wow,

1:13

wow, hey

1:18

everyone, producer here. So,

1:20

as you may have guessed, this episode is

1:22

going to go a little bit differently than

1:25

our traditional format and, for

1:27

the love of all that is holy, if this

1:29

is your first time listening, go back to the beginning.

1:32

This is not the episode to

1:34

start with. That said, okay,

1:36

how was this episode going to be different? So, for

1:38

one thing, Um, we want to share with you moments

1:41

from Michael and Lily's time watching the

1:43

two thousand and twenty two Spanish Grand

1:45

Prix. Part of the reason we chose the Spanish

1:47

Grand Prix is that we were looking for a great

1:50

beginner race that wasn't such

1:52

a big outlier that would be hard for Michael

1:54

to understand what's going on or why

1:57

certain things matter. Plus, I

1:59

really wanted to a showcase a race that

2:01

had some of the dynamics and other issues

2:03

that we talked about this season, like the

2:06

whole team orders idea that Michael

2:08

really hated, Ferrari, strategic

2:10

and reliability issues and a

2:12

lot more. Yeah, so I'll be popping

2:14

in here and there just to make sure that you've got

2:16

context Um, and then later

2:18

on we'll get back to Michael's

2:20

choices. So, on

2:23

that note, off to the race. Bang

2:25

they're off. Holy Shit,

2:29

here we go. I mean right out of the gate

2:31

there's people trying to make moves. That's very interesting.

2:33

Okay, oh good, the start is

2:35

always chatic. Oh Yeah,

2:39

already a touch. Okay, this is

2:41

terrifying. Oh yeah, lap one, Charles

2:44

Leclair of Ferrari, starting from a very promising

2:46

pole position, keeps the lead ahead of Max

2:48

for stepping further down the grid,

2:51

cars are still jostling for position. How do the

2:53

cars not all just run into each other there

2:55

like they usually do? They do sometimes. Oh

3:00

God, Spye, k

3:03

Mag that was Kevin Magnuson. It was

3:05

Lewis. Yeah, Oh

3:07

my God, still in the first lap. Further

3:10

down the field, Lewis Hamilton's and Kevin

3:12

Magnuson collide. Magnusson

3:14

spins out into the gravel and Hamilton's struggles

3:16

to the pit with the punctured tire. Lewis Hamilton's

3:19

does half timeys do that car and drops

3:21

down through the field. Jolly, so

3:23

that was already Chao. Will somebody like review

3:26

that to see if any shady ship went down. Yeah, we're

3:28

going to do I would say.

3:31

Sorry. Did Lewis just say like

3:34

wrap it up? Yeah, basically, and they're like don't

3:36

do that. Yeah, we still think we can achieve

3:38

point to say today. So he may

3:40

be better. Is he kind of a whiny

3:42

bitch? Sometimes he can be a whiny bitch. Yeah,

3:45

that was Carlos Carlos Science

3:48

lap seven, Ferrari driver, Carlos

3:50

Signs Jr, spins out and drops down

3:52

the field, Carlos and the gravel,

3:55

and just like that Carlos's race prospects

3:57

seemed to vanish.

4:00

Lap Twelve, red bull orders checo Perez

4:02

to let his teammate Max tapping through. Max

4:05

is now in a battle with George Russell of Mercedes

4:08

for second place. Get

4:10

me knocked out o the way, so over take quick

4:12

dude. But with Max suffering from a

4:14

mechanical issue, Checko asks

4:16

to overtake Max to try to get the lead.

4:19

Oh Yeah, so this is drama

4:21

out of the way so I can overtake quickly. Yeah,

4:23

so he's saying, Hey, I'm going to be faster, let

4:26

me in. This is gonna be the issue.

4:28

You see what you're trying about the issue two.

4:30

Yeah, father of three boy, but you

4:32

let me buy have very fish stys.

4:35

I A get back weekly. So

4:38

Checko just checked in with his team and said

4:40

get Max out of the way. Yeah, he's like, I can overtake

4:43

quickly. Wants the fucking podium. Mr

4:45

Pope in the car. Checko's

4:50

request is denied and Max makes

4:53

his move to overtake George Russell. Oh

4:58

my God, Whoa? Okay,

5:02

Oh my God, Whoa? My

5:04

God, this is like me on the four oh

5:06

five trying to get to my audition. Lap

5:08

Twenty Four. Russell and his Mercedes

5:11

continues spending off Max for Steppin's Red

5:13

Bull. Meanwhile Leclair and Ferrari, having

5:15

started from poll is comfortably

5:17

in control of the race. We haven't even mentioned

5:20

Charles Leclair at this point. He's just in first,

5:22

just having to having an espresso just first.

5:26

It works as advantage that George is kind

5:28

of holding up the Red Bulls. Now what

5:34

help? What help? Lap

5:38

Leclaires Ferrari power unit gives

5:40

out. What the funk happened to Charles Leclair?

5:43

I just was saying he's is

5:45

he out? He's dropping. That

5:49

is depressing. Leclaire

5:51

rolls to a stop and he ends up having to retire

5:53

the car. This leaves Russell and Max

5:56

to battle for pole position for several laps.

5:58

Meanwhile, Mike and lily turn their

6:00

attention lower on the grid. So

6:03

I was really excited to watch

6:05

the Alpha Romeo car, which

6:08

we haven't seen a lot of yet. Is

6:10

that Valterie? Yeah, so Valtorie

6:13

is in it. Joe. So the

6:15

rookies? Yeah, so Valteri is

6:17

in p five right now, and then

6:20

Joe is in p fifteen, and

6:22

Joe is the only rookie, so he's he's

6:24

a little bit further down, as if by dark

6:26

magic, as soon as lily and Costa start

6:28

talking about jog and you. So Joe,

6:31

I'm afraid we have a technically shot slow

6:33

down at boxes step. Oh

6:35

No, I'm guessing it was also an engine

6:37

is or some sort of car issue, because I was so

6:39

sudden. The Ferrari engine in his Alpha

6:42

Romeo starts sputtering, taking

6:44

him out of the race. Poor guy.

6:46

I like Joe. They don't spend a lot of time

6:48

on Joe. No, they're like poor

6:51

guy. He was running somewhere in the back lap. Thirty.

6:54

Daniel Ricardo, the always positive

6:56

ausi driver, is experiencing a race he

6:58

will prefer to forget. Kind of prize

7:00

that Daniel Ricardo, who gets

7:02

so much attention media wise,

7:05

is raising a thirteen. And Atlando,

7:07

watched my whole life. But Orlando, WHO's sick?

7:10

I mean he's pitting and he's still in p ten in the pit.

7:12

Yeah, he's probably gonna end up littleit higher once all

7:14

these other guys pit. Lap Thirty one,

7:17

with Max verstappend having pitted, his teammate,

7:19

Czecho Perez finally manages to overtake

7:21

George Russell of Mercedes for the lead. There's

7:26

Checko. He just passed George,

7:29

so he's in first now. Holy Sh it. Meanwhile,

7:32

Lewis Hamilton's and Carlos Science both

7:34

are slogging their way up through the midfield after

7:37

having suffered horrible setbacks at the beginning

7:39

of the race. Lewis Hamilton's is absolutely

7:42

loving its six point four seconds now

7:44

behind Carlos Science, gaining

7:47

and gaining. They're now in p seven

7:49

and p eight, comfortably within

7:51

the points. To Watch somebody creep

7:54

up from P nineteen. He's

7:56

in P eights.

8:01

Meanwhile, I can't believe how much more comfortable

8:03

I am watching this than just an

8:05

hour ago, you know, like I kind of

8:07

get getting the rhythm of it. Yeah, and I'm

8:09

kind of understanding what that is, and

8:12

it's very overwhelming at first. There's a lot of

8:14

stimulation. Yea lapt

8:17

Czecho Perez is now leading the race, but

8:20

then gets instructions to let Max for stopping

8:22

through, handing his teammate the lead.

8:24

Oh, I don't like Max for stepping. I mean

8:27

this he's just he's

8:29

an excellent driver, but come on, dude, it's just this is

8:31

just being served up to him on a freaking

8:33

pedestal. It's outrageous

8:36

to me. Or stoppin will remain unchallenged

8:38

for the rest of the race. Another interesting fun fact.

8:40

So Max is using the number one because he's the world champion.

8:43

Lewis opted to never use the number one during

8:45

his and meanwhile

8:48

Max won it, but it was controversially how

8:50

he wanted and he took it and

8:53

he decided to start using his like racing

8:55

boots are now gold. Oh

8:57

my God this you

9:00

were just saving that to Piss me off right all

9:03

of these episodes, you've been saving

9:05

that. He has golden boots in the number one,

9:08

but despite Michael's hating, on for a step, and it

9:11

is a red bull one to finish with Czecho

9:13

Perez and second and George Russell and

9:15

third. As Max Parks his car

9:17

and jumps out to celebrate with his team,

9:19

Michael Gets his first glimpse of

9:22

the golden boots. Get

9:24

those fucking boots off your feet.

9:29

Following a brief yoga session to gently

9:31

lower their heart rates, Lillian Michael

9:33

Convene at the studio to debrief. So,

9:39

Michael, I

9:41

know you're your biggest thing that you were very disappointed

9:44

in was

9:47

was red bulls team orders,

9:49

for basically you got to see it in action.

9:51

Sergio Checho Perez was

9:54

was told to let Max through and basically

9:56

told to race his entire race around Max's

9:59

racing strategy out. It

10:01

just goes against all competitive spirit.

10:03

You know I mean with I said, the favorite thing

10:06

that I liked about it was that you start here, you finish

10:08

here. Who Does it fastest, and you're basically

10:10

giving one of your athlete orders

10:12

to let him through, three

10:15

to top one, Max, three one,

10:18

and guess what he does? Pulls

10:22

over and lets him through, even though he says it's

10:24

unfair, unfair, but

10:26

okay, it's like that's what my daughter says to

10:28

me when I'm like it's bedtime, you know, and she's like, well,

10:30

that's unfair, but you know, you have

10:33

to be compliant. You have to be compliant.

10:35

So I don't like that. I think that's a

10:38

weakness. I told Yo hi,

10:41

if I was the team principal, I would say

10:43

hey, Checko, I'll give you quarter

10:45

of a million dollar bonus if you can keep

10:47

Max off. And I would say hey, Max, we'll give

10:49

you quarter million dollars if you can pass Checko. Let's

10:52

see that competitive spirit would be nice. I've

10:54

seen them actually have a little Ding Dong, have a little

10:56

fight buck. They could have raced

10:58

it out. They could have raced it out to even the commentators

11:01

said, let's let him, let him have a little Ding Dong. Well,

11:03

not check out. Thank you for that drive. Today was

11:05

a very, very strong drive again for me. So thank

11:07

you for Andin the same game as well.

11:09

What done? Yeah, what

11:13

issignate them.

11:16

If you're Checko Perez, it

11:18

might not wear you down this time,

11:21

it might not wear you down next time, but

11:24

you are not going to submit

11:26

yourself to this over and over and over

11:28

again. Is there anything else that was unexpected

11:31

or surprising to you actually getting to watch

11:33

the sport after hearing about it? Holy

11:36

Shit, they talk about the tires

11:38

a lot. They love they love them at

11:40

tire. Yeah, I mean it must be very,

11:43

very important. Um,

11:45

I was very surprised at how

11:48

much tire talk there is. I was very

11:50

surprised that Ferrari's car just

11:53

stopped working all of a sudden. That sucks

11:55

for the Claire. That'd be like if in a

11:57

different sport, if, like I have to

11:59

drop out of the baseball game my bat is broken.

12:02

It's very odd that you can just be

12:04

out of the match race because

12:07

the equipment is toast. But that sucks,

12:09

but that's that's interesting. Um,

12:13

you know, the teammates

12:16

component was clear to

12:18

me before the race, but in the

12:20

race you really see how, how,

12:23

how that has a lot of layers, especially

12:25

when, like Louis

12:28

was trying to pass. Was it

12:30

your boy valtery

12:32

and they have such a history of being a teammate and

12:34

other competitor. It's like just so much more interesting

12:36

to know that. And I think one of the commentators

12:39

said like Valterie

12:41

not letting Louis passed him

12:43

like he's done for so many years previous. I

12:45

was like, well, that's really interesting to see that, because I could

12:47

see how, if you leave a team now you're

12:50

like, I'm tired of laying up for that guy, I'm gonna

12:52

try to beat him. So it's all very interesting. And you loved

12:54

the pit stops. You're a big fan of very

12:56

cool. I

12:58

hate how fast he goes into the IT. That's

13:03

Checko and it's already off. Fast.

13:09

I mean it's like, don't look at your phone.

13:12

It's over two point six

13:14

seconds. Someone came in at one point nine.

13:17

Are they really doing anything? What

13:20

if they're just stopping and then going kind

13:22

of just so,

13:26

yeah, it's it's fast, fast.

13:28

That's a fast, fast sport.

13:31

You've watched a million races and you know

13:33

all the history of all this. I mean, what

13:36

of this race was interesting

13:38

to you? Um, so one of the things that still

13:41

amazes me after watching so many f one

13:43

races is what team

13:46

chatter on the radio. They choose to show

13:48

us as fans and the audience. Right, that's

13:50

it. That is really fascinating. Yeah, I and

13:53

I do again. They're they're selected with what they play.

13:55

So the fact that they played Louis wanted to quit

13:58

a couple of minutes in. That was one of the

14:00

more fascinating sporting

14:03

observations that I've ever seen

14:06

in every sport. Of all the sport I've

14:08

watched, you basically have the greatest

14:10

driver of all times saying let's

14:12

quit and save the car. As someone who has never watched

14:15

the sport, here's the seven world time champion,

14:17

he's in nineteenth place and he goes hey, let's

14:19

just save the car. was very

14:21

funny. And then the guy on

14:23

the radio has to go like it's okay, we're gonna

14:25

keep racing. Well, you can do it. It's says,

14:28

these are still boys with giant

14:30

egos. I also find it funny that then Lewis kind of

14:32

has his moment of like, okay, I

14:34

guess I will charge my way up the grid

14:36

and almost make the podium. I guess I'll

14:38

be absolutely world class now. Good Lad,

14:40

good lad. So that's people, Lewis,

14:44

was an amazing race. Amazing

14:46

race. You were the quickest car all days, probably

14:48

fast grace time would have gone for the wind.

14:51

So amazing. I remember back

14:53

when we started this, I asked

14:55

you what you knew about Formula One and

14:57

you said. I think there's a Michael Guy from

15:00

the nineties who was a big deal. So

15:02

what what do you think of F one overall? Now,

15:04

I think it's awesome. You can talk

15:07

all day long, but seeing it

15:09

is visually outrageous.

15:12

It is such a beauty

15:15

of machine and man

15:18

and data, lots

15:21

of data. Yeah, the drivers themselves,

15:23

the placements of WHO's moving or or

15:25

beating who. You've got how far

15:27

back they are from the car in front of them.

15:30

You've got sometimes fastest laugh. Yeah, the fastest

15:32

laugh. It's hard to not keep looking

15:34

at it. It's just visually so

15:36

stunning and because there's no stoppages

15:39

of play, you don't blink because you're

15:41

gonna miss something. I just I thought it was really,

15:44

really fun, and you're probably gonna

15:46

get me to watch it now, even

15:48

after this, even even after I'm

15:51

out of your life, Lily, and

15:53

that's the dark dark

15:55

really went downhill very quickly.

15:57

Thank you for guiding me through it. Thank

15:59

you for being my power unit. Is

16:02

that weird? I could

16:06

be your I'm your race engineer. That's

16:08

that's a much better that's a much better term. We

16:11

got a box, box, box. We will in fact

16:13

be right back after the break. Yeah, before

16:20

we get to your favorite and you make the final selection.

16:23

On the opposite end of the spectrum

16:25

when it comes to drivers, who are

16:27

your bottom three drivers where you're just

16:29

straight up like and unfortunately will

16:32

say, uh, Max, you know,

16:34

are our Meno, Heis boss as well, as you have decided.

16:36

Nicholas the TIEF, he cannot be in this,

16:38

in this mix. We were too hard on him.

16:40

Who are your bottom three? Okay,

16:45

well, one of them is unfair because

16:48

he had a terrible race, not his fault, but the rookie.

16:50

Goodbye. Yeah, Joan is

16:53

out. Um, I'm not saying there

16:55

isn't a time for him at some point.

16:57

It's not right now. It's not with you either.

16:59

It's not and it's not. It's not with Michael Costa.

17:02

You know who the second one is? I don't think

17:05

Lance Stroll has it. I

17:07

think he's a paid driver. Goodbye.

17:10

This one might surprise you. Are you

17:12

ready for my my third bottom?

17:16

It's Daniel Ricardo. I

17:18

know, I know, because

17:20

there's so much hype and

17:22

so much media attention and so much

17:25

thirst trap, but he

17:27

it looked like he sucked, which

17:30

I'm not saying he did suck, but this. You know I

17:32

wanted more from him from a performance standpoint.

17:35

Keep in mind, Ly Gentlemen, this is the one race

17:37

I've watched my entire life. So

17:39

I have no idea he's he's never won

17:42

a constructor's cuver. With he he

17:44

actually has placed on the podium for

17:46

the driver's championship. He got third

17:48

once or twice. You know, it doesn't help

17:50

me either. When he was on the

17:53

daily show, the

17:55

introduction, by the way, everyone at the daily

17:57

show loves him, said he was the nicest guy ever. Um,

18:00

but his introduction was one of the most well

18:02

liked racers in Formula

18:04

One. I'm like, is it a liking competition?

18:07

No, it's a racing competition. Interestingly,

18:10

a bit of an update for you since we recorded our

18:12

McLaren episode. Daniel

18:14

Ricardo is out at McLaren

18:16

a year earlier than his contract was slated

18:19

to end at the end of next season. I

18:21

knew it, I saw it coming. He's going to be

18:23

living off grid. That's

18:27

why we pay you the big books. Not

18:30

Fair, Daniel, but I've gotta go with

18:33

Joe. Goodbye Lance

18:35

Stroll, Goodbye Daniel

18:38

Ricardo. Good on your might. Yeah,

18:42

Oh damn, that was that it's

18:45

not fair. No, none of these choices are fair.

18:47

We're not talking about fair, we're just talking about my initial

18:50

interpretation, and that is something that

18:52

you've got to put in the Max camp

18:55

doesn't seem to give a ship what people think about him.

18:58

Doesn't seem to go for the popularity. On

19:00

test I'm going to win, and he

19:02

does also because he's got

19:04

everything handed to him. But Uh

19:07

yeah, sorry, Daniel. You seem like a nice guy, but

19:11

interesting and okay.

19:13

So, of of the drivers, is there anyone that you

19:15

would like to see be

19:18

a world champion in the future who has not

19:20

yet won a world championship? I

19:22

was surprised that I liked Carlos Sands as

19:24

much as I did. I didn't really think I would

19:27

even have a reaction to him. Helps

19:29

that he's driving the awesome Ferrari car, but

19:32

and it helps that it was his home country. But

19:34

I was like, Oh, I keep keep kind of like my

19:36

eyes keep going over there. He sneaks up on

19:38

you, I will say he did for me too. Right again,

19:40

I was kind of okay, good for Carlos,

19:42

and then I slowly over times like you know, yeah,

19:45

he's a fun guy. Everyone's intrually like him. He doesn't.

19:47

He's really interesting to watch drive and

19:50

he doesn't. I mean he did have that spin out and I

19:52

thought he was gonna be out and then he was yelling to his team.

19:56

He was saying check the tires, and I literally turned to lily

19:58

and I'm like, does that mean get out the car and look

20:00

at the tires? And she's like no, they do that like

20:02

electronically. Okay, I

20:05

annoyed. And then just based on yeah,

20:07

like what we've talked about this season, all the teams, all the

20:09

drivers, and just glimpses of what we saw watching

20:11

this race, who is the driver that

20:14

you'd be most likely to

20:16

want to like get a, you know, do

20:18

that shoey when we talked about Dinna Ricardo

20:21

with the champagne and the boot, like basically,

20:23

who who would you feel like you would vibe best

20:25

with if you just had to pick up pick a fave based

20:28

on vibes or aesthetic or personality?

20:30

I have my initial instinct was

20:33

immediate Checko. Yeah, the

20:35

immediate Checko, because I feel

20:37

like this guy is an excellent,

20:40

excellent driver who has been all over the

20:42

place. They cut to one of the Latin

20:44

fan and she was going nuts and you're

20:47

like checko has these like super passionate

20:49

fans, and I'm like, Oh, who? I want to know more about

20:51

this guy. Like he was just told to lay

20:53

up, but yet he it's just it's all fascinating

20:56

to me. I love that he's a dad. You know that. I say that all the

20:58

time, just as his third kid. I

21:00

think it's there's something so humbling about being

21:02

a parent, something so where you're

21:04

not the most important person in the world when

21:06

you're a parent. And yet this profession

21:08

of race car, all it is is b number one.

21:11

I mean ship. If Checho Perez lays

21:13

up for Max and then goes home and his wife's

21:15

like today is your laundry day, you better do it. That's

21:17

gotta hurt. You know that's

21:19

gotta hurt. And then before

21:22

we get to your favorites and we pick the favorites.

21:26

So out of the team principles we've

21:28

talked about this season, is

21:30

there any that you wish could have coached

21:33

you during your your tennis grip, you had to

21:35

have like that archetype. So

21:38

I liked when Charles of Ferrari

21:40

was out of the race and he kind of walked up to the

21:43

team principle of material and they kind

21:45

of had like a secret whisper into each

21:47

other's ears and I was kind of like, Oh, I wonder what engineering

21:50

sweet nothings that he whispered in his ear. You know who

21:52

knows, and you could kind of get the sense

21:55

that that team principle is not an

21:57

old school we funked

21:59

up and this is on. You know, he's more like there's

22:01

more nuance and more subtlety to it, and

22:04

I always would have appreciated a coach who

22:07

was a little more tactical,

22:09

a little more less like uh

22:12

I the tiger, you know, a little more

22:14

like this is a nuance sport. We've got to

22:16

find our openings. That's just

22:18

my sense of how he is. The

22:20

fact that he looks like Waldo probably helps

22:22

that. So, Um,

22:26

that's my initial impression on that. And is

22:28

is there any any team principle that

22:30

you feel like you would have wanted to avoid as

22:33

as an athlete? I feel like red

22:36

bull entire team

22:38

it just all feels tied up

22:41

in in nefarious

22:44

under belly evilness. It

22:47

irks me. He irks me even

22:49

though I like Alpha Torre. So what

22:52

then, does that mean? You know, you're not alone. I

22:55

will say not necessarily,

22:57

because I think red bull can be very poor

23:00

sularizing team like even

23:02

you know, I've been to like race meetups before where

23:04

they are just like die hard red

23:06

bull people who like think, yeah, Christian, he just

23:09

tells it like it is. Here there with helmet.

23:11

Marco too, it might be like a sureness,

23:13

like a confidence that's almost it's almost

23:15

so high it's like just towing it down a

23:17

second, and that's what I've always just wanted to do. With Ferrari,

23:19

it felt confident, but a little

23:21

more like sophisticated. So

23:25

the time has come. We've spent an entire

23:27

season of a podcast leading you

23:29

to this moment. There's been three years of my life exactly,

23:33

and we are going to first

23:35

have you choose your favorite

23:37

team and then your favorite driver. But how

23:39

we're going to do that is almost like a podium.

23:43

So for the teams, who is

23:45

your your third place? You're

23:47

what is that? The second runner up to need

23:50

a second, take a second, I need a second. This

23:55

is big. This is big. We're all on the edge

23:58

of our seats.

24:01

Ten teams, so a third of the teams here.

24:03

Man Did Williams disappoint. You

24:05

know I mean, I was just so wanting them

24:07

to be good. Depth.

24:13

prethidate, prethidate, press. Okay,

24:17

okay, I think I'm ready my

24:19

third team, which means the team

24:21

that I would be cheering for, the third,

24:24

if you understand how numbers work, it's

24:27

Mercedes. Yeah,

24:30

third. I know, I'm

24:32

surprised at this too. When you first introduced me to Mercedes,

24:35

that was like no chance, but

24:38

watching their action, their team there,

24:41

I was impressed. Hate their car color,

24:43

but they got their ship together

24:45

that you can just tell. It's just a well oiled machine,

24:48

as you would expect, and the professionalism

24:50

of their racing team and drivers

24:54

permeates. And is there

24:56

a reason why they're third from the top

24:58

instead of the top top? Probably be their

25:00

car color, the dumbest

25:02

reason ever. I just don't like the color. I

25:04

don't, I'm not like I don't feel anything

25:07

visceral when I see it. At their car. That's

25:09

fair. Okay. So so who is the second

25:12

place? Our first loser, as they would say,

25:14

Um number two.

25:17

For me, this

25:23

was tricky one, but I'm going to go with my gut

25:25

and I'm gonna say Alfhatari, a

25:27

red bull affiliated team.

25:30

How big of you. Well, that's kind of

25:32

why I like them, because I

25:34

don't like Red Bull. All the attention

25:36

goes to Max and check O every time

25:38

they beat Red Bull. Every time, you

25:41

know, Pierre has a good race, it's kind of like an

25:43

F for you to red bull a little bit. I like that

25:45

interesting and interesting, almost inverse

25:48

reason to like them. I do like Pierre.

25:51

I think it's a fun duo.

25:53

They don't seem to hate each other. That's

25:55

nice. Um, and

25:58

I'm the youngest in my family. Four

26:00

kids, John Christy, todd, Michael. You

26:02

don't think every time I have some small

26:05

level of success, I don't call all my siblings

26:07

and say take that, that's

26:09

for having me sit in the car, in the

26:11

car seat, waiting while everyone else gets

26:13

I don't even know where we're going as a family, but

26:16

I'm already strapped in. And that's why

26:18

I'm passionate about them. Alpha Torii

26:20

has this young brother

26:24

feeling vibe the energy.

26:26

You know, Oh look, it's a little red bulls

26:28

brothers here. You know that time everybody called

26:30

me, Oh it's Costa's brother, me,

26:32

even though I am Costa

26:35

Right, but they were thinking of my older brother. So it's

26:37

like. I like rooting for the

26:39

younger brother, the youngest sibling.

26:42

You know, I love when the little guy gets

26:44

in there. So that's

26:46

my number two. And you know what my number one is? You

26:49

know what part of me almost wishes you're going to come

26:51

in here and be like Al Paine, but

26:53

I know that's not gonna happen. So who?

26:56

Who is your number one? After this long journey

26:58

we have been on? It goes back to where we start

27:00

and it goes back to where Michael started, in

27:03

his bedroom as a

27:05

young boy, looking up at the wall

27:08

because mom made me go to bed and I would

27:10

envision this beautiful

27:14

speed demon of machine, which was

27:16

some kind of Ferrari poster

27:18

on the wall that my brother Todd probably got somewhere

27:21

and it's just always in my

27:23

mind. Has always been the epitome of

27:25

cool, fast and

27:29

and foreign, you know, like non American.

27:32

That's Ferrari. So I'm a

27:34

sucker for it. They got me and testament

27:37

to their long term branding, they're

27:39

not changing names every two years and

27:43

I like their drivers a lot. Their drivers are

27:45

freaking awesome. I don't know what happened to their car this

27:47

time. That was really disappointed in that, but I

27:50

just think it's just it's it

27:53

is very, very pleasing on

27:55

the eye. So are their drivers. Let's

27:57

be honest. Come on, I

27:59

have a lot of questions. You know, we have

28:01

seen Ferrari go from

28:04

first race this excitement that they're going to

28:06

be a championship contender, this is their

28:08

time, they're back in business. With

28:11

the Spanish Grand Prix, we start to see those reliability

28:13

issues released come through. And

28:16

then there's the season we've

28:18

had. You know, we have at one point an

28:21

engine being on fire on the side

28:23

of a track. We've got the team at a pit stop

28:25

literally forgetting a tire for

28:27

a driver. We've got endless strategic

28:30

calls that people don't

28:32

understand. So why, after kind

28:34

of the mess that Ferrario

28:37

season has turned into, are you rooting

28:39

for this team? It's just it's

28:41

inside of me, you know, Ferraris

28:44

inside of me. I feel them,

28:47

I am attached to

28:50

them emotionally. Why did

28:52

their engine explode? Because they run it so goddamn

28:54

fast. Why did they forget a tire? Because they burned

28:56

through so many, because they're going so fast. Why did

28:58

the other bad thing happen? I don't know the logical

29:01

answer but I know that I

29:04

laid in my bunk bed looking up at a Ferrari

29:06

poster, this core memory from your

29:08

childhood so ingrained,

29:11

and I'm aware that it's childish,

29:13

but all I can be is me. All

29:16

I can be is me, sports illustrated.

29:18

I heart media, Yohi, Lily

29:20

Rob. That's all I can be as me. And I

29:23

like Ferrari. I like the consonants in

29:25

their word. I like the F it looks fast

29:27

to me. I like their colors, I like the

29:29

poster. It somehow makes me think

29:31

of my brother as well. You

29:34

know, that's Ferrari.

29:38

I'm a fan now. I

29:41

much like F one. We need a brief pit stop.

29:43

We'll be right back after the break. So

29:48

before we get to your top

29:50

three, Michael, which we're all waiting with bated

29:53

breast here, let's let's

29:55

kick it over to the booth and hear what Yohi

29:57

and rob think. After all of this time

29:59

of having to listen to us, do

30:02

we have to wow Michael?

30:05

That? I mean, that was hurtful after

30:09

all we've been through. I

30:11

just wanted to share one thing. This actually

30:14

has changed my thinking and

30:16

now, like I have a clear favorite driver and EST

30:19

I think. Yeah, I mean, first of all, he's just I

30:21

think he's given up the most to be on the

30:23

grid. His parents literally were like, we're

30:26

gonna sell the house and live in a trailer

30:28

so that we can fund your career. And imagine

30:31

racing with that on your weight, like if you don't win this

30:33

F two or f three race now, like

30:36

all of the past three years, all of the money we've

30:38

put into it's all down the drain and you're gonna go back to being

30:40

a mechanic with your dad. And then he wins

30:42

the race. So he knows what pressure

30:45

is in a much deeper level than any of

30:47

these guys and I think nobody's

30:49

really noticing him. But he keeps being

30:51

in the points, he keeps he never crashes. He's

30:53

very rarely crashes or makes

30:55

mistakes that bring him out and at

30:58

the end of the day, I think he's gonna you world

31:00

champion one day. Okay, let it be known,

31:03

rob is like cheering over here because

31:05

I found that he just said it. He said

31:07

what I found. I love this.

31:09

Estebon love, who is this turned

31:11

into a very fun finelle.

31:14

Someone asked Lee Travino, the Golfer,

31:17

like how he stays so cool under pressure

31:19

with these puts for hundreds

31:21

of thousands of dollars, and he said that's not hard.

31:23

What's hard is making at

31:26

put when all you have is five dollars in

31:28

your pocket, and that is

31:31

like Yohis take on

31:33

Esteban ocm. There's more pressure,

31:35

not because of the money in the stakes, because of what's been

31:38

given up for his miss family to be successful.

31:41

I like that. Okay, so

31:45

it's time the driver. Who

31:47

is your your third place driver.

31:52

I'm gonna tell you right now who

31:54

didn't make it. Check

31:58

O. Checko is not in

32:00

my top three. Something about

32:03

this race and the whole red bull

32:05

thing is really irking me. You'RE

32:07

gonna have to talk to him later. Checko made a deal with the

32:09

devil, you know what I mean, and

32:12

that's his he knew it, he signed

32:14

it and that's his deal. Major bed,

32:16

you gotta lie in it. It would be interesting

32:18

for Checko to write a memoir, let's put

32:21

it that way. My third

32:24

most like driver

32:27

is Lewis Hamilton's. I

32:30

know, I know, he's the greatest driver of all time. Blah,

32:32

blah, blah. I just thought it showed

32:35

a lot of uh

32:38

grit, even though he's the greatest driver,

32:41

makes the most money, has the best card. He was in p nineteen.

32:43

Someone crashed into him and he bitched

32:45

about it for a second and then I thought

32:48

climbed all the way up to the front thought that was really that's

32:50

the kind of athlete I would want to coach. My

32:54

second driver is, I'm

32:57

gonna give you a hint. Okay, I'm

33:00

stupid. I'm stupid, Charles

33:04

Leclair. Charles

33:06

Leclair, how did I say his name? Beautifully,

33:09

fine enough. Yes, I just I'm drawn

33:11

to him. He has a self awareness

33:13

that I appreciate that that almost

33:16

seems contradictory to the EGO

33:18

required to drive such a

33:20

rocket ship. Saying I am stupid

33:23

wins me over. I'm a sucker for any

33:25

self deprecation. He just

33:28

seems like he's a good head on his shoulders, you

33:30

know, and I'm rooting for that and

33:32

I like him. And maybe. Is he handsome? Yeah,

33:34

he's handsome and maybe sometimes when I look

33:36

in the mirror I kind of envision

33:38

a Charles Leclair. They're getting ready

33:40

to do comedy. You know, you

33:42

looked into those deep, deep eyes and you

33:45

see a little bit of Michael Costa in Charlotte

33:48

Claire. You know, even though he would only probably his head, would

33:50

make it up to my hips. Michael

33:53

Costa's number one driver.

33:56

At this point, I'm looking at the sheet just

33:58

to throw lily off. I

34:02

just like the class, the Um,

34:06

the confidence and, I believe,

34:08

the the composure

34:10

and the non arrogance. George

34:13

Russell. Yeah, I

34:16

like George Russell, who

34:20

I said I was gonna hate. Okay, so basically what

34:22

you're saying. Okay, well's the first of I'll say more about

34:24

George. Yes, you you like that. George like. George

34:26

is always like George was like. I like that he went

34:28

up to the team principal when he was nine or whatever,

34:30

and he was a teenager. But yes, whatever he's

34:35

he's been passionate about wanting

34:37

to race. I think he

34:40

has probably been overlooked

34:42

in some capacity and maybe

34:44

they sent him off to that little junior camp. That

34:46

was Williams. Um.

34:49

I just like his path and

34:51

um I just responded to it. We're

34:54

also watching him at a fun time too, yeah,

34:56

with the new team, and he's doing great right now, right.

34:59

What is he like out driving a car that obviously

35:02

Lewis Hamilton's, is struggling with it. Well, that's

35:04

also the thing I liked about that today that I didn't

35:06

think about previously was, and

35:08

you brought it up, was he is?

35:12

He was. Well, I mean he's he's outperforming

35:14

Lewis. Hamilton's the greatest and

35:17

he's just doing it quietly and succinctly

35:19

and it's pretty pretty Badass.

35:22

George Russell. So I have to fucking Mercedes

35:24

drivers kind of. Damn it, I'm not at myself

35:26

now. So something that's been

35:28

really interesting about this podcast

35:31

season and I guess by extension,

35:33

this has come up when I've talked to listeners about

35:36

how this has gone. You know, people have a lot of opinions

35:38

on your various choices or your

35:40

your takes. As we've we've gone through all these

35:43

teams and drivers is I've really

35:45

learned just how subjective

35:47

the concept of fandom is. So

35:50

there are a few bad reasons to dislike

35:52

a team or a driver or just anyone,

35:54

but on the flip side, I actually think that there are

35:57

a lot of legitimate reasons to root for

35:59

a driver team. To second

36:01

your thoughts, I'm

36:03

surprised at how subjective

36:06

my own opinions have

36:08

been as well. So let's talk about

36:10

colors for a second. I follow

36:12

closely tennis.

36:15

I don't even know what color anyone ever

36:17

has or wears or what color their racket is

36:20

or whatever, because I guess I just know the players so

36:22

deeply that I'm I'm

36:25

above the color thing, but when

36:27

it comes to this sport I

36:29

realized it's very elementary.

36:32

It was. It was interesting to see that that's still kind

36:34

of what drew me in was certain colors.

36:36

Well, hilariously enough, well, I don't

36:38

really care about car color or whatnot.

36:41

When I first started getting into Formula One, I

36:43

was actually really intrigued by Red Bull because

36:46

I drank a lot of vodka red bulls in college. So

36:48

I felt they weren't even good, but I felt

36:50

a connection. I said, you know, this is your

36:52

core childhood memory. That was unlocked with the

36:54

Ferrari poster of mine was the amount of

36:57

time I spent probably over a toilet bowl as a freshman

36:59

college thanks to about Red Bull.

37:01

Well, the term branding gets thrown

37:04

around a lot for a lot of different things, but really,

37:06

when you brand into our brain, when

37:08

you brand into our emotional cortex,

37:11

it sticks around and, to be

37:13

quite frank, you know we had a whole episode where

37:15

I waxed poetic about my man underrated

37:18

King Beltree bodice. I did not always feel the way

37:20

about Baltrey bodice until I looked

37:22

up his girlfriend and then got intrigued

37:24

by their whole dynamic and how much

37:26

they really seem to enjoy their time together. We

37:29

are complex, layered,

37:32

contradictory beings, but also

37:35

we're pretty simple. They were pretty shallow, like

37:38

his girlfriend is cool, like they seem nice.

37:41

That that drink was what I had a lot

37:44

on weekends ten years ago. So

37:47

how do you suggest like wrapping this thing up, like

37:49

a like a goodbye?

37:51

How do we say goodbye? Do

37:53

we have to say goodbye? That

37:55

feels so definitive.

37:58

You know, I have a lot of questions. We

38:01

didn't even talk about pit stops. I have

38:03

more. I want to know about this intersection

38:05

of Sport and technology.

38:08

We could get into fans, we get into

38:10

how the hell they travel these

38:13

how do they travel? It's not like they're

38:15

going from Kansas City to St Louis.

38:17

They're crossing oceans.

38:21

Tires. We could do a whole season

38:23

on tires. Lily wives.

38:26

Hello the WAGS, which

38:28

is short for and girlfriends

38:32

the contracts.

38:35

Well, I know you loved silly season. Silly,

38:38

we could do an entire season of silly

38:40

seasons. Yeah, plural. You

38:42

know what, Lily, let's not cry because

38:44

it's over. Let's

38:46

smile because it happened. Hey,

38:52

listeners, if you haven't checked out the sport you

38:54

should, because I didn't know anything about it and it's

38:56

very intriguing, interesting and thank

38:58

you for listening to the podcast. I'm Michael

39:00

Costa, along with Lily Herman, Robert

39:04

John Oh leary, the second Max Miller. Goodbye.

39:06

Thank you. Thanks, everyone. This

39:18

has been the first season of choosing sides.

39:21

F One, a production of

39:23

sports illustrated studios and I heart

39:26

radio. This episode

39:28

was produced by Lily Herman and our senior

39:30

producer you. Hi, my Tom, who

39:33

also did the sound design at

39:35

the cutting room studios. We are recorded

39:37

by engineer rob O leary, the second

39:40

mastering by Cello wise blue. Max

39:43

Miller is the supervising and executive

39:45

producer and Brandon Getchus is

39:47

head of audio at s I studios.

39:50

At I heart radio, Sean Ty toone

39:53

is our executive producer. Extra

39:55

special thanks go to David McLeod

39:58

of the cutting room studios, Paula

40:00

Keller, Laurie Dunning, Zev

40:03

leaving, Federica Sazzo

40:06

and Queen Daphne Baricut. For

40:08

more podcasts from my heart radio, visit

40:10

the I heart radio APP, apple podcasts

40:13

or wherever you get your podcasts,

40:16

and don't forget to rate us and tell your friends.

40:18

It'll mean a lot. I

40:24

think for me, if

40:26

my input is given, my

40:28

top driver would have to be Charles,

40:31

because I think he's he's

40:33

a winner and he's young. Um

40:36

o'con will definitely be in there and I think

40:38

in the future there's

40:41

there's a lot there and it could go either

40:43

way. It could fall off or it could go well,

40:46

and then I feel like I have to pick a legend

40:48

too. So out of all like the

40:51

O G s of the sport right now, I

40:55

think I like that

40:57

all