Brian (00:01.166)
Hey son, while you were off the other side of the world, I was here at the center of it. America. Unfortunately, I got a bad cold, so I may not be able to talk as much. Not necessarily a bad thing. But we got a good race and some big, big news. News we predicted. All right, you ready to go,
Patrick (00:24.343)
I am ready to go.
Brian (00:27.406)
Hello, welcome to Hard Compound, the American take on Formula One. Just finished watching the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the new Monaco, the Super Bowl of F1. Over a billion dollars in economic impact, a few hundred thousand people showing up. Every private jet, think, was flown into Vegas this weekend. Max's win made it onto the cover of Wall Street Journal front page. I tell you.
It's getting big here in the U.S. And we had George Winn, that's seven, yep, seven multiple winners this season. Even better, Ferrari in fighting. That's always fun. That's always fun. And not a shocker, but a little disappointed it came so soon. Max, his fourth championship. Of course, I'm not sure how many people actually saw this live since
in their esteemed wisdom. The Las Vegas Convention Bureau, whoever's making these decisions, says, all right, we'll put this race on at midnight Eastern US time, which is like 5, 6 AM in Europe. All right. right. Give me your take on the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Patrick.
Patrick (01:38.127)
1am actually, but yeah.
Patrick (01:45.43)
Yeah, mean, well I guess for any Europeans that are watching this that don't understand what the Super Bowl is, it's like the Champions League final, so there's a reference for you. Yeah, I'm aware. But yeah, great.
Brian (02:00.148)
I don't know what that is.
Patrick (02:08.901)
Great weekend. Las Vegas is incredible. think we knew that it would be, it continues to be in its second year, out of 10 years running. I don't care what anybody else says. this is the premier race on the calendar and will be until, you know, it finishes its run. and.
Yeah, we saw Max crowned champion. It was inevitable. was coming. Lando and McLaren, they put up a good fight for a lot of the season. But when it came down to it, Max showed his class.
like his, his race engineer has said, max just keeps getting better every year. And this year, I think really he showed that again. He's just continuing to improve. He's still young. He's younger than I am. That kind of pisses me off. and I mean, like, what is, what is ahead? I mean, if you're talking about, if you're talking about.
Brian (03:10.67)
Haha.
I know and he's just, it's crazy.
Patrick (03:24.143)
the best drivers of all time? think you have to include him. mean, four championships is no joke. What is it now? 56 or no, like 62 race wins, something like that. I mean.
Brian (03:29.197)
I think you have to.
Brian (03:41.326)
Two, two of his wins. Now one was controversial, but he did not have the best car this year. You can make the case. had third best. You can make the case Patrick. had the fourth best car. I mean what.
Patrick (03:53.713)
I think you can make the case. I don't think the case necessarily is accurate.
Brian (03:57.742)
Okay, I mean look Lando's good Charles is good, but it's you know, I say this over and over it's like You want it to be like yoga yoga bitch and the doll but It's like Michael Jordan I always compare my terms like he's just so insanely good combined with so insanely competitive
that the very best at his time simply just can't do it. mean, Ferrari is getting better. They could they could actually win the Contragno Championship. They're they're they're in the running. Let's say they're better next year. Lewis is there, but I just think Lewis lost a step. But yeah, I mean, this four in a row. Not the best car, I mean, look, every every year, Lewis wanted Mercedes. That was the best car.
I think there's maybe one year you could say, and then for R was equal, the best. This is.
Yeah, Prost. Found you. Schumacher, Lewis.
Patrick (05:05.519)
Well, I think, look, if you're making, if you're making a Mount Rushmore drivers, it's Lewis, it's Schumacher naturally. And then I think you have to include Senna and Max. Senna had his, his, you know, time was cut short, unfortunately, but I think his lasting impact on the sport is, is what, you know, has really been.
Brian (05:21.614)
Yes.
Patrick (05:34.607)
been the biggest driver for him. Not only was he so good, but he made, made the sport kind of into what it is today. Or at least he started that movement. So, you know, that would be my Mount Rushmore of drivers, you know, there's plenty of other guys in the sport that have contributed to it.
Brian (05:58.062)
Now, yeah.
Patrick (05:58.285)
Overall but but max I mean as young as he is to be up there is pretty remarkable
Brian (06:05.824)
It is. And I, I joked that no one saw it live because of the time, but I actually did. I'm fighting this cold and couldn't sleep and I watched it, but there was before the race of Martin Rundle short. was good. I it's sky sport. Anybody hasn't seen that recommended Martin Rundle did something on Max. you know, pre pre-taped little bit. It was good. And like, yeah, he's there. He's there. He's there with Santa. He's there with Schumacher. You sort of like.
Patrick (06:31.793)
You
Brian (06:36.086)
At this point, it's like, the only ones who could beat him are the very best ever at their best. You know, this is why don't think Lewis, even if Ferrari. Will be able to beat him next year. It's like you have to have Lewis at his best. Schumacher is the best. Senate is best and Max there.
Patrick (06:55.193)
Right. Yeah. I mean, just, just an incredible talent. Yeah. You mentioned his kind of mindset, his, his instinct, his talent and his just competitive drive. I think all of those coupled with a team that supports him and puts out at the very least a competitive car. I mean, that's a, that's a good recipe right there.
just to go back to the race for a moment. I agree with you. This race needs to be earlier. I liked the idea of having a night race in Las Vegas. It's November. It's standard time. We're not in daylight savings time. This race can be at eight o'clock Vegas time. Right. So that's still late. It's still 11 PM out on the East, but
Brian (07:28.77)
Hmm.
Patrick (07:51.671)
at the very least locally, it's, it's going to be an acceptable time to have this race or a little bit earlier even. mean, it gets dark by five o'clock here. So.
Brian (07:59.714)
Yeah, I think...
Brian (08:03.97)
Yeah. I think the only thing I can think of is the one night race, but also it's just like, how can we make sure people are in the casinos for as absolute long as possible? You know? Yeah.
Patrick (08:15.001)
Yeah, there's ulterior motives for having it as late as it is. yeah, I think for future runnings, they may choose to have this earlier. I think as many people around the world deserve to be able to watch the race live as they can.
Brian (08:41.422)
And
Patrick (08:41.797)
I mean, for me, right, European races are hard to catch live sometimes. you know, there are other races around that, that it's difficult. It's a global sport, time changes, whatever. But I have to imagine it's not that easy for the drivers to get acclimated or the teams to get acclimated to be, you know, racing at 10 PM. that seems a little bit weird. so.
Brian (09:08.526)
Now before you give me your top five for Las Vegas, the big news is we're recording this. F1 has announced that GM Cadillac will be the 11th team as we predicted. 11th team now. The thing is, it's not Andretti GM, it's GM Cadillac. Which we can talk about later, but that's some big news.
Patrick (09:35.407)
Yeah, that is exciting. think we kind of knew this was coming. There was no reason for the original bid from Andretti Cadillac to be rejected. There were no grounds for dismissal of that. was really F1 owners and teams were like, just don't really want to have, you know, an additional member at the table.
because that would blow for us. When in reality, thinking ahead, it was very obvious that this is an improvement. This makes a difference in the sport in a positive way.
Brian (10:15.97)
Yeah, listen.
Brian (10:21.006)
Yeah, it should definitely grow the pie bigger. You know, disproportionately bigger than than one additional slice, so but that's some big news. But yeah, give me. Yeah, I'm here. I know GM Cadillac, that's as big. Give me your top five.
Patrick (10:27.373)
So yeah, that is, that's exciting. I'm happy that that was good.
Patrick (10:38.545)
top five hokey-doke las vegas i mean what a place to to win max did a last year and george did it this year in a dominating way i think he was clearly the best driver car on track really nobody nobody could come close to matching him
Brian (10:52.332)
Mm-hmm.
Brian (11:08.79)
I think Lewis could have. think Lewis has checked out.
Patrick (11:10.597)
Lewis could have if he didn't, if he had not kind of blown his qualifying, right? He qualified so far back that he just didn't quite have the tires left after fighting through everybody to be able to match him near the end. and I think George was just sort of, you know, he knew he had it. he was just looking after his tires and still won by, you know, five, six seconds, something like that.
Brian (11:16.864)
Yeah, I think...
Patrick (11:40.761)
so George, I think, you know, drove a great weekend. I find George a little bit frustrating because he's just so inconsistent. It seems like he has a weekend like this and then, you know, it's like the next race he'll go and crash out and qualifying and then we'll, you know, bump into somebody in the race. And it's just a whole thing. It's like, George, what are you doing? You're better than this.
Brian (12:07.437)
Yeah.
Though, to be fair, there doesn't seem to be any good car as temperamental as the Mercedes.
Patrick (12:19.669)
probably true. but Russell definitely best of the weekend, think. Hamilton then is my second. I think he just he made up for his lackluster qualifying in the race and really proved, okay, the Mercedes is the fastest car around this track right now and
I'm gonna have to fight through a bunch of guys and I'm gonna do it come through clean and pick up my P2. think it kind of, you know, we caught glimpses this weekend of the Lewis that we kind of know. And that was good to see. Then I've got Max. I mean, he wins his fourth title, driver's title this weekend.
by virtue of beating out Lando. And Max drove really well. He didn't necessarily have a super fast car, but I think he picked his battles really intelligently. And he knew all that he had to do was stay ahead of Norris. And that's exactly what he did. And frankly, Lando didn't even come close to him.
So, I mean, just a really smart drive, strong drive from, from him. And, you know, once again, just proving how much better he is than his, his teammate, Sergio, you know, had another bit of a disappointing result, but, even he looked kind of feisty in the race. So good for Max.
Brian (14:11.586)
Yeah, he had a nice pass there. Yeah.
Patrick (14:15.429)
Then I've got Hulkenberg, you know, getting four points, P8. Leapfrogging Alpine again. So Haas back into that sixth position. This might go down to the wire. Alpine was looking pretty good there with Gasly until they had some reliability issues. So we'll see. Two races left. This is pretty fun down the order here.
Brian (14:24.11)
Yeah, I'm house.
Brian (14:36.718)
Talk about checkin' yeah.
Brian (14:43.03)
Talk about checking out Alpine, they're selling the whole thing for parts. You know, Gazze had the great qualifying and his car just died on him. And Okan goes to pit and they're all asleep. And then he said, I'll circle back, okay? You guys, know, when you guys are ready, I'll come back in.
Patrick (14:58.797)
Yeah, yeah, a little, little ridiculous. And then lastly, I'm gonna give it to Sines. I thought he drove well. And I think, you know, at this point, I kind of like the attitude. I like that he's like, you know what, F you Ferrari.
F you Charles. I don't care. I'm gonna get another podium. I'm not gonna just let you waltz up in here and take whatever you want.
Brian (15:40.846)
Charles needs, you know, I mean, because Charles whined about it and I like Charles, but he's starting to get whiny. And you know what? Back when Lewis and Nico were having battles, Nico's like, all right, I'm going to take you out. mean, Charles like, look, you can't just keep complaining to management, you know, he's becoming a bit of a Karen. and, you know, so no, but I think that's a good, I think I generally agree with George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Hulkenberg having a great season.
Patrick (15:58.399)
haha
Brian (16:09.76)
and Carlos Sainz. you know, it's before I start getting to the standings, I remember watching a race and the first couple laps were so good. was like, damn, there's so much action going on in the mid, mid pack. There's so much action going on in the back. This is awesome. And I'm like, wait, maybe this is just the first time Sky has actually decided to show us fricking action in the back of the grid, you know, which I thought was funny.
Patrick (16:09.982)
season.
Patrick (16:31.249)
Ha
Patrick (16:37.399)
Maybe, but I think the track is a fun track. I know that there are people that have issues with like, it's just a three kilometer long straight. Like who cares about that? But you know, I think this Vegas circuit breeds competition. It allows drivers to get a little bit feisty.
know, really pull off some challenging and kind of fun overtakes. I think as much as maybe the production work, camera work helped kind of enliven the action, I think the track actually does a good job as well.
I think overall Vegas is a good weekend for fans and drivers and fans of racing.
Brian (17:47.0)
Yeah, I agree. All right now driver standings. This is less important this week because Max has won it He's got a but I mean really I mean the big stories here Max has won it with two races left and not the best car in my opinion Over the course of the season But I mean Landon's 21 up on Charles for second So I think he's got this in the back
Patrick (18:05.201)
you
Brian (18:16.78)
But it's not guaranteed. know, so Lando's up. And then, I mean, to me, the other big story is just Sergio. It's just, I don't, I don't really know what Red Bull does with them at this point. There's two races left. I'm not sure the value of getting rid of them, you know, but I mean, my goodness, 250 plus points. That's just, that can't happen. And, and Alonzo, he's got,
think. I don't have the numbers here. think it's 62 points. But Lattri had about 200 plus. I mean, think Alonzo's lost this, but it's like, man, that Aston has regressed more than any car. You know? And it's just bad.
Patrick (19:00.137)
Yeah, I mean I think to that end you kind of have to look at at Stroll also as the know the weathervane because he's much further down down the order there as well. That Aston has been quite a disappointment this year I think after
so much kind of excitement last year. And with Alonso kind of breathing new life into that team and they looked good and were consistently scoring you know top 10 finishes and podiums and now they're not anywhere close. So that is pretty disappointing.
Brian (19:51.086)
Yeah, constructors, that's, still a good battle here. McLaren at 608, Ferrari at 584. That's 16, that's 24 points behind with two races left. They could Ferrari. I visit it. I mean, I think, I mean, I we got max fans, which are Red Bull. got Mercedes fans, but really, if you want to see a team win, it's going to be Ferrari or McLaren.
Or maybe some old Brits want to see Williams, which isn't going to happen. But I mean, this is, you know, one, two, McLaren, Ferrari. That's good. That's what we got to focus on.
Patrick (20:29.081)
Yeah that is good. I think you know the way McLaren and Ferrari have both looked the last few races it's looking like Ferrari might be able to close down that 24 point gap by the end of the season and just by the skin of their teeth take P1 we'll see but McLaren you know
almost looked like they were going to run away with it about five, six races ago. And now, you know, they're, they're going to have to put in the work the last few, last few to make sure. I saw something interesting though, that I forget where I saw it, but something like if Max were to happen since, since he
came into F1 in his first full season in 2017. If Red Bull used only Max Verstappen's points, so disregard his teammates points, they would finish in exactly the same position in the constructor's title.
every year except for two which is just insane to me that he basically outscores his teammates by so much that like Red Bull basically doesn't even need a second car.
Brian (22:01.742)
That is amazing.
Patrick (22:02.743)
And this year, it looks like maybe they would drop a place, but it'd be close. He's almost outscored Mercedes, which is crazy.
Brian (22:10.286)
You know what they're saying is.
Patrick (22:18.158)
so I just, yeah, I mean, it's pretty incredible what he's been able to, to achieve.
Brian (22:25.506)
You know, I don't think I don't think Haas is going to catch Aston, but Haas is 15, Alpine is 49. So that's the other fun one. That's that's another good one. And I mean, Hulkenberg is just driving great. Alpine, think is, you know. They're they're down in dumps. This this could happen. Haas could finish six.
Patrick (22:48.581)
Look I tell you what, I tell you what if I am Ayo Kamatsu the Haas team principal I'm telling Kevin Magnussen you got no penalty points brother. Last two races you are going to smash into the Alpines both of them just take them out whatever you need to do.
Brian (23:03.448)
Hahaha.
Brian (23:08.152)
Ha ha.
Brian (23:12.174)
Funny. Funny.
Patrick (23:16.87)
Like these these these fines this you know the car That's less money than we're getting for this position. So Take them out
Brian (23:28.048)
Good point.
Brian (23:31.916)
Alright, switching to the soft compound. Now, we talk about hard compound being an American take on Formula One. I sometimes say, America's taken over Formula One in partly ingest. I mean, part of the reason we love F1, the pinnacle of motorsport. It's the best technology, best cars, the best drivers, best racing. But also it's global, it's glamorous. It's got that Eurocentric vibe that we still like.
And I like that. But man, America's Ascendant. I mean, we now have this Las Vegas. I mean, look, F1 runs one race, Las Vegas, and I think it's becoming the premier race of the year.
GM Cadillac. They're going to be the 11th team. Merit, a true American auto company eventually becoming a works company. Unlike house, which farms everything.
I mean, we've got this Hollywood movie. They're spending 300 plus million. F1 is working on a big deal with ESPN.
We drive to survive every big American tech company. think the sponsor. This is. This is getting big. This America is having a massive impact on F1 just as F1 is growing in America.
Patrick (25:01.265)
Yeah, it's exciting. think just a few years ago when we started this, these were all kind of things that we were hoping and sort of expecting to happen. I think, you know, the American market and just hunger for sport and action is too great to ignore. And F1 is sort of
found itself in the middle of that and is
Patrick (25:39.489)
Yeah, I don't know if takeover is the right word, but at least it's, it's integrating. and that's pretty exciting. I mean, mentioned GM Cadillac. How, how fun is that to have a real American team in just a couple of seasons and, you know, a power unit supplier.
and, just a couple more by 2028. I mean, that's, that's awesome. That, that should give so many people, the opportunity to work, to develop a formula one car, to work in formula one in motorsport from the U S without potentially needing to, to, you know, pick up their whole life and move across.
the seas. That's exciting. Vegas, exciting every year. People can say what they want. you know, look at how few people are in attendance in FP1. Like who fucking cares? It's at 10 p.m. on a Thursday. Same thing happens elsewhere. People are excited about this.
Brian (26:39.63)
Yeah.
Patrick (27:06.789)
The race is good. Drivers seem to like it. I mean, what could be better than going to Vegas and having a big show put on for you?
Brian (27:17.314)
Yeah. And as much as I'm disappointed and a little angry that it was clearly F1, hide hot chose maybe some Liberty media, wigs. They took it personal with Andrade. They didn't like him, Michael Andrade. And so they kind of axed him out. The upside of that though is, I mean, Andrade was ready to put their facilities in England. I really, really hope GM Cadillac does not do that. Do we have legit F1 team headquartered?
Not just in name only, but headquartered in the US.
Patrick (27:52.197)
Yeah, that would be the best thing, I think. It would be pretty exciting. And to have kind of an influx of kind of new ideas and new technology coming through GM and down into their actual consumer.
vehicle lineup. That's pretty cool and I think I would expect to see that in the near future.
Brian (28:29.228)
Now I have this conspiracy theory because I'm always working on conspiracy theories. And I don't like this one, but I love conspiracy theories. it's a, you know, it's a mixed bag. And that is
Brian (28:46.676)
F1 accepted the GM Cadillac bid because Cadillac is going all electric. And I'm like, does that mean F1 is going all electric, which I don't want to happen?
Patrick (28:59.409)
Who's to say? I think a lot of people are sort of disappointed by the move, I guess, to move to more electric and kind of the hybrid era of Formula One. Everybody loves the sound of those giant V12s and V10s that we used to have.
running around, but you know, the 2026 regulations and the 2030 goals for like, renewability and sustainability and stuff are seemingly trying to preserve the engine. So I'm hoping like you, I think that we're, that we're not moving to just all electric.
We already have formula E. I think that can be improved and continue to grow as well, but in tandem, I think with F1. I think we don't want to necessarily lose the spirit of formula one by moving to all electric, right?
Brian (30:13.55)
Right. Now, another topic. So 30 years ago, MMA, we called it cage fighting back then. It was ridiculous. was this guy who was like a bar bouncer who could, you know, you could knock him down and beat you in a fist fight and go up against some Brazilian jujitsu guy. was stupid. It was ridiculous. I hated it. I never liked MMA. But in 30 years.
It's become a cultural force. Okay. Last week, there was a UFC fight. President Trump was there. The speaker of the U S house was there. Multiple cabinet appointees were there. Multiple big Hollywood stars were there. The media was all there. And I'm like, man, they did that in 30 years. It was, it was what I thought was just ridiculous.
niche extreme sport. I wonder what could tip F1 into that realm where the Las Vegas race is already a huge deal. It's the American Monaco. But I'm like, we're just, you know, the president's going to be there. All the top Hollywood stars are going to be there. I'm curious if that's going to happen.
Patrick (31:38.265)
I think it will as soon as we get allowed American to do something good in the sport. think, you know, we like to see one of our own, you know, doing something awesome and, you know, being the best at their profession or whatever it is. And I think, you know, there are...
a Americans that have made an impact, I think very clearly in the sport. And, you know, the obvious one, I think is Zach Brown currently the, you know, CEO of McLaren racing. and he's really been able to, turn that team around and into some, into a competitive and exciting team.
I think there's still plenty of work for them to do, but you know, I think what we all kind of crave is an American driver that, you know, really can go out there and be exciting and get some points and win races and that kind of thing. And we haven't had that in a long time. And I'm hoping potentially.
with the GM Cadillac entry, then maybe we can get somebody like that in F1.
Brian (33:14.114)
saw that Yuki got held up by customs for several hours. And I was like, if someone was going to do something bad in that one, who would it be? I'm like, yes, Yuki. You can't trust Yuki. Like when I was a little boy, watched.
Patrick (33:28.049)
Somebody told him to bring something on the plane for him and he's like, yeah, sure. I'll do that.
Brian (33:33.134)
When I was a little boy, watched Gamera, Ultraman, Johnny Sacco. Basically, if there was a Japanese boy running around in shorts, I watched it. I'm like, yeah, that's Yuki. I could see Yuki in there. Yuki's fun, but I could see him somehow dealing with Giant Robot or something and just getting into some trouble and getting in the mix.
so I can see why customs would hold in for a few hours.
Patrick (34:05.357)
That is ridiculous and I think seemingly accurate.
Brian (34:11.182)
Now, another thing I've thought of. Mentioned is, I think we talked like maybe we should have the Sprints be just all rookie drivers or, you know, have these these new drivers to practice more than I think that's twice a year, twice a season a team has to use them. Because, you know, we want to these young guys going and get them some experience.
But I've also said in this new era of F1 where there's this hard spending cap and it's not that much money right now that you just can't trust your car to these rookie to these young drivers. No, the Cullop into this is two crashes in a row, right? I mean, it just it's so costly. However. I could be wrong, which is a shock. Like former Ferrari boss Mario Bonotto.
I think he's with Audi now, right? I mean, he was saying, you know, all these young drivers. They're doing great, so he's bringing up, you know, they're bringing up along with Hulkenberg with a Gabriel, how do you sell it? Partoletto. Yeah, but I mean, you look, you've got Liam Lawson, Oliver Baron, Kimmy, it's a Nelly Oscar Passer, he's young, Colapinto might still, you know, have something. I don't know. Be a reserve.
Patrick (35:26.363)
Something like that, yeah.
Brian (35:40.3)
So, I mean, we're really seeing sort of the rise of the young driver, which I, like I said, in a salary cap year, was spending cap year. I was thinking, no, you got to go with the botas, for example. You know, he's going to be reliable, not crash.
Patrick (35:44.465)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick (35:57.071)
Yeah, I think it's hard to say, right? mean, is someone that is reliable and slow better than someone that can score points, but on occasion we'll get into an accident. I don't know. I think you have to do the cost analysis on that one.
Patrick (36:28.633)
And for some of these, you know, bottom feeder teams, it's interesting to see what they can bring. But I think in addition to that, right, you have some sponsorships that that might be willing to fork over a bunch of cash, as long as you see the driver that they want. Right. So.
There's a few different things that go into it, but I'm excited for all the young drivers. think that's part of what makes F1 fun is sort of the carousel of drivers and seeing a lot of talent, new talent come in pretty consistently.
Brian (37:05.838)
Yeah.
Brian (37:15.468)
It's probably not a coincidence that we're seeing the rise of the young driver and they signed a big deal, a big sponsorship deal with Kit Kat. Now I don't, I don't like Kit Kat, except for Japanese Kit Kat. I bet Yuki has like can get you the best Kit Kat, you know, Yuki gets those Japanese matcha Kit Kats, I bet you. but you know, I mean, look at sponsorships of F1, it's alcohol, cigarettes, you know, expensive watches.
Patrick (37:25.158)
You
Brian (37:45.538)
And now bam, KitKat. mean, I think we're multiple, I don't say revolutions, but just pretty profound changes, just sort of slowly building. I mean, KitKat is an F1 sponsor.
Patrick (38:07.097)
Well, that's fun. KK should be an F1 sponsor. I mean, cause we have, yeah, I was going to say Oreos, but you know, but, yeah, we, we've had the sports drink or energy drink sponsor for, for a while now. And naturally you have, massive global brands like
Brian (38:08.812)
Yeah, it should and oatmeal creampies.
No, daddies.
Patrick (38:36.737)
like Coke and Walmart and that kind of thing. But yeah, to have Candy as a sponsor is pretty cool. And I think, yeah, some of these changes are potentially necessary. I think, you know, there's an element of the old kind of dinosaur crowd.
if you just have ads for tobacco and alcohol on your car. you know, better to have crypto, I guess. I don't know.
Brian (39:09.422)
All right.
Brian (39:14.856)
Right, right. Crypto and KidKat. F1 cars are becoming all software. Yeah, that's funny. Speaking of KidKats, I can't get off of KidKats and Japanese boys running around in little shorts. I know, I know. But when I was a kid, all the good shows, the heroes were little Japanese boys running around with little tight shorts. Okay. I don't know why, but they did.
Patrick (39:31.301)
That's fucking weird, but okay.
Brian (39:44.15)
Okay, just watch. Look at Johnny Sacco. All right. Look. okay. But F1 kids, we need to have F1 kids every race.
Patrick (39:55.493)
Yes, yeah, I agree that F1 kids is great. They should do that far more frequently than they do. It's fun. It's a little bit silly. I think the kids that they actually bring on to talk about F1 are all really good. They seem very smart. They seem interested in the sport. And I think
Brian (40:18.114)
They are.
Patrick (40:25.005)
that can really help kind of boost interest, young interest in the sport and then even outside of just the sport in kind of STEM fields and interest in kind of the educational aspect as well. I think having F1 kids frankly is a must that needs to happen for every race, I think.
Brian (40:57.358)
cross the line. That's our segment where we predict the top five of the next race. The next race is Qatar, then the final race, Naba Dhabi, in across the line. If our driver comes in top five, we get a point. If we get him in the exact right spot, we get three points. Patrick, what are the current standings across the line?
Patrick (41:18.423)
Okay, after Vegas, just two races remaining.
I have a pretty big gap on you. 24 points. Up 81 to 57. I scored three points this week. You scored two. So your top five was Verstappen, Sainz, Norris, Perez, Ocon. So you got two points, each for Verstappen and Sainz. Neither one in the correct position.
Brian (41:29.26)
Oof. Ugh, I'm not thinking that's gonna happen.
Patrick (41:54.819)
I had three points. Leclerc, Piastri, Russell, Hamilton. Lawson was my top five, so I got a point each for Leclerc, Russell, and Hamilton, none of which were in the correct position. Two weeks remaining, 24 points. I'm getting dangerously close to being crowned champion right here.
Brian (42:06.796)
Okay, well.
Brian (42:15.234)
that you are. So I'm not even going to look at last year's race stats. I'm just going to just pick Wildly. know, just shoot. Awesome. All right. So Max was getting drunk in Las Vegas and the team was out partying. So I am not picking Max. I'm going to pick George Russell to get.
Patrick (42:18.117)
haha
Yeah, you have first picks, so...
Patrick (42:36.251)
who also was getting drunk in Vegas after a win but...
Brian (42:39.63)
Yeah, I think George can handle it better
Patrick (42:44.709)
That's probably true. That's probably true. All right, you got George. I got Louis.
Brian (42:51.799)
okay.
Patrick (42:54.257)
Lewis is gonna win one more at Mercedes before his time is up there. Then I've got Carlos. He's just gonna keep on keeping on with Ferrari and kind of giving them the FU.
Brian (42:58.488)
That'd be nice.
Brian (43:14.862)
All right, well then I'm gonna take.
Brian (43:19.63)
a McLaren two three. We're going to reverse it. We're going to go Oscar and then Lando.
Patrick (43:27.627)
Ooh, that'd be big for McLaren. Putting a gap, putting a gap between them and Ferrari. Well, I'm gonna take Max, because you can't really keep him down. And then I will take...
Brian (43:29.784)
Yep, yep, then pull away.
Patrick (43:47.761)
Charles.
Brian (43:52.366)
Okay, well I'm going to take Yuki. We've talked about him so much.
Brian (43:59.285)
Eh.
Brian (44:02.744)
Give me Sergio.
Patrick (44:04.599)
All righty. Sergio. Let's see, that leaves me with...
We'll go Alonzo. P5. Getting back up in there.
Brian (44:20.653)
Ooh.
Alright, so I've got George Russell, Oscar, Lando, Yuki, and Sergio. You've got Lewis, Carlos, Max, Charles, and Alonzo. If I'm correct, Claren almost has it locked up.
If you're correct, this is going to come down to the final race for who the constructor is. That's a good one. Any crazy predictions, Patrick?
Patrick (44:43.141)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick (44:52.499)
I don't know if crazy, but I have predictions. One, Red Bull will pay the outrageous fee that is being asked for Colapinto to sign him for next year.
Brian (45:13.123)
and would he be in Red Bull or be car? Ooh.
Patrick (45:16.685)
Yes, he would be the Red Bull driver. So Lawson and Yuki would not be happy about that.
Brian (45:20.6)
That's thrown into the wolves.
no they would not. That's thrown into the wolves.
There's a great movie. It's called Brotherhood of the Wolf. You should see it. It's like French Canadian movie. yeah, I'm like, Ooh, would he be one? Would he be the killer or would he just be devoured by the beast? I wonder. I don't know that that would be a fun to see.
Patrick (45:43.171)
Mm-hmm. That would be interesting to see, I think. Then, my other prediction is for in a couple years, but the GM first lineup of drivers will be Colton Herda, current IndyCar driver.
Brian (46:09.92)
must yes
Patrick (46:10.165)
young American kid and dreaded driver. So Colton Herda, second in IndyCar this year, by the way, finished second behind Alex Polo. So we know he's a good driver. If he wants to be in F1, he deserves to be in F1.
Brian (46:32.096)
You should. That would be, that would be great.
Patrick (46:35.177)
And their second driver, well they're gonna need an F1 veteran. Who better than Carlos Sainz? They will pay out the rest of his contract with Williams because who the fuck would rather be with Williams than GM?
Brian (46:43.886)
so he breaks?
Brian (46:53.026)
Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, I mean, just think of all just the brand ambassador opportunities with Jim Cadillac versus with Williams. I've got a better one, not as good as Colton Herda.
But you brought up the GM Cadillac team in 2026 at the end of this year, because he's an old man.
And because Aston is shit, Fernando Alonso retires again. In the 2026, he unretires. He joins Colton Herda at GM Cadillac.
Patrick (47:18.417)
Yeah
Patrick (47:32.645)
That would be cool. That would be cool to see.
Brian (47:36.59)
Alright, want to thank you all for listening to everybody's most beloved father and son. F1 podcast is much appreciated. Also want to thank the Andretti family. They actually made this happen. A true American team. And we are lights out.
Patrick (47:53.278)
Thanks for listening.
Hey son, while you were off the other side of the world, I was here at the center of it. America. Unfortunately, I got a bad cold, so I may not be able to talk as much. Not necessarily a bad thing. But we got a good race and some big, big news. News we predicted. All right, you ready to go,
Patrick (00:24.343)
I am ready to go.
Brian (00:27.406)
Hello, welcome to Hard Compound, the American take on Formula One. Just finished watching the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the new Monaco, the Super Bowl of F1. Over a billion dollars in economic impact, a few hundred thousand people showing up. Every private jet, think, was flown into Vegas this weekend. Max's win made it onto the cover of Wall Street Journal front page. I tell you.
It's getting big here in the U.S. And we had George Winn, that's seven, yep, seven multiple winners this season. Even better, Ferrari in fighting. That's always fun. That's always fun. And not a shocker, but a little disappointed it came so soon. Max, his fourth championship. Of course, I'm not sure how many people actually saw this live since
in their esteemed wisdom. The Las Vegas Convention Bureau, whoever's making these decisions, says, all right, we'll put this race on at midnight Eastern US time, which is like 5, 6 AM in Europe. All right. right. Give me your take on the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Patrick.
Patrick (01:38.127)
1am actually, but yeah.
Patrick (01:45.43)
Yeah, mean, well I guess for any Europeans that are watching this that don't understand what the Super Bowl is, it's like the Champions League final, so there's a reference for you. Yeah, I'm aware. But yeah, great.
Brian (02:00.148)
I don't know what that is.
Patrick (02:08.901)
Great weekend. Las Vegas is incredible. think we knew that it would be, it continues to be in its second year, out of 10 years running. I don't care what anybody else says. this is the premier race on the calendar and will be until, you know, it finishes its run. and.
Yeah, we saw Max crowned champion. It was inevitable. was coming. Lando and McLaren, they put up a good fight for a lot of the season. But when it came down to it, Max showed his class.
like his, his race engineer has said, max just keeps getting better every year. And this year, I think really he showed that again. He's just continuing to improve. He's still young. He's younger than I am. That kind of pisses me off. and I mean, like, what is, what is ahead? I mean, if you're talking about, if you're talking about.
Brian (03:10.67)
Haha.
I know and he's just, it's crazy.
Patrick (03:24.143)
the best drivers of all time? think you have to include him. mean, four championships is no joke. What is it now? 56 or no, like 62 race wins, something like that. I mean.
Brian (03:29.197)
I think you have to.
Brian (03:41.326)
Two, two of his wins. Now one was controversial, but he did not have the best car this year. You can make the case. had third best. You can make the case Patrick. had the fourth best car. I mean what.
Patrick (03:53.713)
I think you can make the case. I don't think the case necessarily is accurate.
Brian (03:57.742)
Okay, I mean look Lando's good Charles is good, but it's you know, I say this over and over it's like You want it to be like yoga yoga bitch and the doll but It's like Michael Jordan I always compare my terms like he's just so insanely good combined with so insanely competitive
that the very best at his time simply just can't do it. mean, Ferrari is getting better. They could they could actually win the Contragno Championship. They're they're they're in the running. Let's say they're better next year. Lewis is there, but I just think Lewis lost a step. But yeah, I mean, this four in a row. Not the best car, I mean, look, every every year, Lewis wanted Mercedes. That was the best car.
I think there's maybe one year you could say, and then for R was equal, the best. This is.
Yeah, Prost. Found you. Schumacher, Lewis.
Patrick (05:05.519)
Well, I think, look, if you're making, if you're making a Mount Rushmore drivers, it's Lewis, it's Schumacher naturally. And then I think you have to include Senna and Max. Senna had his, his, you know, time was cut short, unfortunately, but I think his lasting impact on the sport is, is what, you know, has really been.
Brian (05:21.614)
Yes.
Patrick (05:34.607)
been the biggest driver for him. Not only was he so good, but he made, made the sport kind of into what it is today. Or at least he started that movement. So, you know, that would be my Mount Rushmore of drivers, you know, there's plenty of other guys in the sport that have contributed to it.
Brian (05:58.062)
Now, yeah.
Patrick (05:58.285)
Overall but but max I mean as young as he is to be up there is pretty remarkable
Brian (06:05.824)
It is. And I, I joked that no one saw it live because of the time, but I actually did. I'm fighting this cold and couldn't sleep and I watched it, but there was before the race of Martin Rundle short. was good. I it's sky sport. Anybody hasn't seen that recommended Martin Rundle did something on Max. you know, pre pre-taped little bit. It was good. And like, yeah, he's there. He's there. He's there with Santa. He's there with Schumacher. You sort of like.
Patrick (06:31.793)
You
Brian (06:36.086)
At this point, it's like, the only ones who could beat him are the very best ever at their best. You know, this is why don't think Lewis, even if Ferrari. Will be able to beat him next year. It's like you have to have Lewis at his best. Schumacher is the best. Senate is best and Max there.
Patrick (06:55.193)
Right. Yeah. I mean, just, just an incredible talent. Yeah. You mentioned his kind of mindset, his, his instinct, his talent and his just competitive drive. I think all of those coupled with a team that supports him and puts out at the very least a competitive car. I mean, that's a, that's a good recipe right there.
just to go back to the race for a moment. I agree with you. This race needs to be earlier. I liked the idea of having a night race in Las Vegas. It's November. It's standard time. We're not in daylight savings time. This race can be at eight o'clock Vegas time. Right. So that's still late. It's still 11 PM out on the East, but
Brian (07:28.77)
Hmm.
Patrick (07:51.671)
at the very least locally, it's, it's going to be an acceptable time to have this race or a little bit earlier even. mean, it gets dark by five o'clock here. So.
Brian (07:59.714)
Yeah, I think...
Brian (08:03.97)
Yeah. I think the only thing I can think of is the one night race, but also it's just like, how can we make sure people are in the casinos for as absolute long as possible? You know? Yeah.
Patrick (08:15.001)
Yeah, there's ulterior motives for having it as late as it is. yeah, I think for future runnings, they may choose to have this earlier. I think as many people around the world deserve to be able to watch the race live as they can.
Brian (08:41.422)
And
Patrick (08:41.797)
I mean, for me, right, European races are hard to catch live sometimes. you know, there are other races around that, that it's difficult. It's a global sport, time changes, whatever. But I have to imagine it's not that easy for the drivers to get acclimated or the teams to get acclimated to be, you know, racing at 10 PM. that seems a little bit weird. so.
Brian (09:08.526)
Now before you give me your top five for Las Vegas, the big news is we're recording this. F1 has announced that GM Cadillac will be the 11th team as we predicted. 11th team now. The thing is, it's not Andretti GM, it's GM Cadillac. Which we can talk about later, but that's some big news.
Patrick (09:35.407)
Yeah, that is exciting. think we kind of knew this was coming. There was no reason for the original bid from Andretti Cadillac to be rejected. There were no grounds for dismissal of that. was really F1 owners and teams were like, just don't really want to have, you know, an additional member at the table.
because that would blow for us. When in reality, thinking ahead, it was very obvious that this is an improvement. This makes a difference in the sport in a positive way.
Brian (10:15.97)
Yeah, listen.
Brian (10:21.006)
Yeah, it should definitely grow the pie bigger. You know, disproportionately bigger than than one additional slice, so but that's some big news. But yeah, give me. Yeah, I'm here. I know GM Cadillac, that's as big. Give me your top five.
Patrick (10:27.373)
So yeah, that is, that's exciting. I'm happy that that was good.
Patrick (10:38.545)
top five hokey-doke las vegas i mean what a place to to win max did a last year and george did it this year in a dominating way i think he was clearly the best driver car on track really nobody nobody could come close to matching him
Brian (10:52.332)
Mm-hmm.
Brian (11:08.79)
I think Lewis could have. think Lewis has checked out.
Patrick (11:10.597)
Lewis could have if he didn't, if he had not kind of blown his qualifying, right? He qualified so far back that he just didn't quite have the tires left after fighting through everybody to be able to match him near the end. and I think George was just sort of, you know, he knew he had it. he was just looking after his tires and still won by, you know, five, six seconds, something like that.
Brian (11:16.864)
Yeah, I think...
Patrick (11:40.761)
so George, I think, you know, drove a great weekend. I find George a little bit frustrating because he's just so inconsistent. It seems like he has a weekend like this and then, you know, it's like the next race he'll go and crash out and qualifying and then we'll, you know, bump into somebody in the race. And it's just a whole thing. It's like, George, what are you doing? You're better than this.
Brian (12:07.437)
Yeah.
Though, to be fair, there doesn't seem to be any good car as temperamental as the Mercedes.
Patrick (12:19.669)
probably true. but Russell definitely best of the weekend, think. Hamilton then is my second. I think he just he made up for his lackluster qualifying in the race and really proved, okay, the Mercedes is the fastest car around this track right now and
I'm gonna have to fight through a bunch of guys and I'm gonna do it come through clean and pick up my P2. think it kind of, you know, we caught glimpses this weekend of the Lewis that we kind of know. And that was good to see. Then I've got Max. I mean, he wins his fourth title, driver's title this weekend.
by virtue of beating out Lando. And Max drove really well. He didn't necessarily have a super fast car, but I think he picked his battles really intelligently. And he knew all that he had to do was stay ahead of Norris. And that's exactly what he did. And frankly, Lando didn't even come close to him.
So, I mean, just a really smart drive, strong drive from, from him. And, you know, once again, just proving how much better he is than his, his teammate, Sergio, you know, had another bit of a disappointing result, but, even he looked kind of feisty in the race. So good for Max.
Brian (14:11.586)
Yeah, he had a nice pass there. Yeah.
Patrick (14:15.429)
Then I've got Hulkenberg, you know, getting four points, P8. Leapfrogging Alpine again. So Haas back into that sixth position. This might go down to the wire. Alpine was looking pretty good there with Gasly until they had some reliability issues. So we'll see. Two races left. This is pretty fun down the order here.
Brian (14:24.11)
Yeah, I'm house.
Brian (14:36.718)
Talk about checkin' yeah.
Brian (14:43.03)
Talk about checking out Alpine, they're selling the whole thing for parts. You know, Gazze had the great qualifying and his car just died on him. And Okan goes to pit and they're all asleep. And then he said, I'll circle back, okay? You guys, know, when you guys are ready, I'll come back in.
Patrick (14:58.797)
Yeah, yeah, a little, little ridiculous. And then lastly, I'm gonna give it to Sines. I thought he drove well. And I think, you know, at this point, I kind of like the attitude. I like that he's like, you know what, F you Ferrari.
F you Charles. I don't care. I'm gonna get another podium. I'm not gonna just let you waltz up in here and take whatever you want.
Brian (15:40.846)
Charles needs, you know, I mean, because Charles whined about it and I like Charles, but he's starting to get whiny. And you know what? Back when Lewis and Nico were having battles, Nico's like, all right, I'm going to take you out. mean, Charles like, look, you can't just keep complaining to management, you know, he's becoming a bit of a Karen. and, you know, so no, but I think that's a good, I think I generally agree with George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Hulkenberg having a great season.
Patrick (15:58.399)
haha
Brian (16:09.76)
and Carlos Sainz. you know, it's before I start getting to the standings, I remember watching a race and the first couple laps were so good. was like, damn, there's so much action going on in the mid, mid pack. There's so much action going on in the back. This is awesome. And I'm like, wait, maybe this is just the first time Sky has actually decided to show us fricking action in the back of the grid, you know, which I thought was funny.
Patrick (16:09.982)
season.
Patrick (16:31.249)
Ha
Patrick (16:37.399)
Maybe, but I think the track is a fun track. I know that there are people that have issues with like, it's just a three kilometer long straight. Like who cares about that? But you know, I think this Vegas circuit breeds competition. It allows drivers to get a little bit feisty.
know, really pull off some challenging and kind of fun overtakes. I think as much as maybe the production work, camera work helped kind of enliven the action, I think the track actually does a good job as well.
I think overall Vegas is a good weekend for fans and drivers and fans of racing.
Brian (17:47.0)
Yeah, I agree. All right now driver standings. This is less important this week because Max has won it He's got a but I mean really I mean the big stories here Max has won it with two races left and not the best car in my opinion Over the course of the season But I mean Landon's 21 up on Charles for second So I think he's got this in the back
Patrick (18:05.201)
you
Brian (18:16.78)
But it's not guaranteed. know, so Lando's up. And then, I mean, to me, the other big story is just Sergio. It's just, I don't, I don't really know what Red Bull does with them at this point. There's two races left. I'm not sure the value of getting rid of them, you know, but I mean, my goodness, 250 plus points. That's just, that can't happen. And, and Alonzo, he's got,
think. I don't have the numbers here. think it's 62 points. But Lattri had about 200 plus. I mean, think Alonzo's lost this, but it's like, man, that Aston has regressed more than any car. You know? And it's just bad.
Patrick (19:00.137)
Yeah, I mean I think to that end you kind of have to look at at Stroll also as the know the weathervane because he's much further down down the order there as well. That Aston has been quite a disappointment this year I think after
so much kind of excitement last year. And with Alonso kind of breathing new life into that team and they looked good and were consistently scoring you know top 10 finishes and podiums and now they're not anywhere close. So that is pretty disappointing.
Brian (19:51.086)
Yeah, constructors, that's, still a good battle here. McLaren at 608, Ferrari at 584. That's 16, that's 24 points behind with two races left. They could Ferrari. I visit it. I mean, I think, I mean, I we got max fans, which are Red Bull. got Mercedes fans, but really, if you want to see a team win, it's going to be Ferrari or McLaren.
Or maybe some old Brits want to see Williams, which isn't going to happen. But I mean, this is, you know, one, two, McLaren, Ferrari. That's good. That's what we got to focus on.
Patrick (20:29.081)
Yeah that is good. I think you know the way McLaren and Ferrari have both looked the last few races it's looking like Ferrari might be able to close down that 24 point gap by the end of the season and just by the skin of their teeth take P1 we'll see but McLaren you know
almost looked like they were going to run away with it about five, six races ago. And now, you know, they're, they're going to have to put in the work the last few, last few to make sure. I saw something interesting though, that I forget where I saw it, but something like if Max were to happen since, since he
came into F1 in his first full season in 2017. If Red Bull used only Max Verstappen's points, so disregard his teammates points, they would finish in exactly the same position in the constructor's title.
every year except for two which is just insane to me that he basically outscores his teammates by so much that like Red Bull basically doesn't even need a second car.
Brian (22:01.742)
That is amazing.
Patrick (22:02.743)
And this year, it looks like maybe they would drop a place, but it'd be close. He's almost outscored Mercedes, which is crazy.
Brian (22:10.286)
You know what they're saying is.
Patrick (22:18.158)
so I just, yeah, I mean, it's pretty incredible what he's been able to, to achieve.
Brian (22:25.506)
You know, I don't think I don't think Haas is going to catch Aston, but Haas is 15, Alpine is 49. So that's the other fun one. That's that's another good one. And I mean, Hulkenberg is just driving great. Alpine, think is, you know. They're they're down in dumps. This this could happen. Haas could finish six.
Patrick (22:48.581)
Look I tell you what, I tell you what if I am Ayo Kamatsu the Haas team principal I'm telling Kevin Magnussen you got no penalty points brother. Last two races you are going to smash into the Alpines both of them just take them out whatever you need to do.
Brian (23:03.448)
Hahaha.
Brian (23:08.152)
Ha ha.
Brian (23:12.174)
Funny. Funny.
Patrick (23:16.87)
Like these these these fines this you know the car That's less money than we're getting for this position. So Take them out
Brian (23:28.048)
Good point.
Brian (23:31.916)
Alright, switching to the soft compound. Now, we talk about hard compound being an American take on Formula One. I sometimes say, America's taken over Formula One in partly ingest. I mean, part of the reason we love F1, the pinnacle of motorsport. It's the best technology, best cars, the best drivers, best racing. But also it's global, it's glamorous. It's got that Eurocentric vibe that we still like.
And I like that. But man, America's Ascendant. I mean, we now have this Las Vegas. I mean, look, F1 runs one race, Las Vegas, and I think it's becoming the premier race of the year.
GM Cadillac. They're going to be the 11th team. Merit, a true American auto company eventually becoming a works company. Unlike house, which farms everything.
I mean, we've got this Hollywood movie. They're spending 300 plus million. F1 is working on a big deal with ESPN.
We drive to survive every big American tech company. think the sponsor. This is. This is getting big. This America is having a massive impact on F1 just as F1 is growing in America.
Patrick (25:01.265)
Yeah, it's exciting. think just a few years ago when we started this, these were all kind of things that we were hoping and sort of expecting to happen. I think, you know, the American market and just hunger for sport and action is too great to ignore. And F1 is sort of
found itself in the middle of that and is
Patrick (25:39.489)
Yeah, I don't know if takeover is the right word, but at least it's, it's integrating. and that's pretty exciting. I mean, mentioned GM Cadillac. How, how fun is that to have a real American team in just a couple of seasons and, you know, a power unit supplier.
and, just a couple more by 2028. I mean, that's, that's awesome. That, that should give so many people, the opportunity to work, to develop a formula one car, to work in formula one in motorsport from the U S without potentially needing to, to, you know, pick up their whole life and move across.
the seas. That's exciting. Vegas, exciting every year. People can say what they want. you know, look at how few people are in attendance in FP1. Like who fucking cares? It's at 10 p.m. on a Thursday. Same thing happens elsewhere. People are excited about this.
Brian (26:39.63)
Yeah.
Patrick (27:06.789)
The race is good. Drivers seem to like it. I mean, what could be better than going to Vegas and having a big show put on for you?
Brian (27:17.314)
Yeah. And as much as I'm disappointed and a little angry that it was clearly F1, hide hot chose maybe some Liberty media, wigs. They took it personal with Andrade. They didn't like him, Michael Andrade. And so they kind of axed him out. The upside of that though is, I mean, Andrade was ready to put their facilities in England. I really, really hope GM Cadillac does not do that. Do we have legit F1 team headquartered?
Not just in name only, but headquartered in the US.
Patrick (27:52.197)
Yeah, that would be the best thing, I think. It would be pretty exciting. And to have kind of an influx of kind of new ideas and new technology coming through GM and down into their actual consumer.
vehicle lineup. That's pretty cool and I think I would expect to see that in the near future.
Brian (28:29.228)
Now I have this conspiracy theory because I'm always working on conspiracy theories. And I don't like this one, but I love conspiracy theories. it's a, you know, it's a mixed bag. And that is
Brian (28:46.676)
F1 accepted the GM Cadillac bid because Cadillac is going all electric. And I'm like, does that mean F1 is going all electric, which I don't want to happen?
Patrick (28:59.409)
Who's to say? I think a lot of people are sort of disappointed by the move, I guess, to move to more electric and kind of the hybrid era of Formula One. Everybody loves the sound of those giant V12s and V10s that we used to have.
running around, but you know, the 2026 regulations and the 2030 goals for like, renewability and sustainability and stuff are seemingly trying to preserve the engine. So I'm hoping like you, I think that we're, that we're not moving to just all electric.
We already have formula E. I think that can be improved and continue to grow as well, but in tandem, I think with F1. I think we don't want to necessarily lose the spirit of formula one by moving to all electric, right?
Brian (30:13.55)
Right. Now, another topic. So 30 years ago, MMA, we called it cage fighting back then. It was ridiculous. was this guy who was like a bar bouncer who could, you know, you could knock him down and beat you in a fist fight and go up against some Brazilian jujitsu guy. was stupid. It was ridiculous. I hated it. I never liked MMA. But in 30 years.
It's become a cultural force. Okay. Last week, there was a UFC fight. President Trump was there. The speaker of the U S house was there. Multiple cabinet appointees were there. Multiple big Hollywood stars were there. The media was all there. And I'm like, man, they did that in 30 years. It was, it was what I thought was just ridiculous.
niche extreme sport. I wonder what could tip F1 into that realm where the Las Vegas race is already a huge deal. It's the American Monaco. But I'm like, we're just, you know, the president's going to be there. All the top Hollywood stars are going to be there. I'm curious if that's going to happen.
Patrick (31:38.265)
I think it will as soon as we get allowed American to do something good in the sport. think, you know, we like to see one of our own, you know, doing something awesome and, you know, being the best at their profession or whatever it is. And I think, you know, there are...
a Americans that have made an impact, I think very clearly in the sport. And, you know, the obvious one, I think is Zach Brown currently the, you know, CEO of McLaren racing. and he's really been able to, turn that team around and into some, into a competitive and exciting team.
I think there's still plenty of work for them to do, but you know, I think what we all kind of crave is an American driver that, you know, really can go out there and be exciting and get some points and win races and that kind of thing. And we haven't had that in a long time. And I'm hoping potentially.
with the GM Cadillac entry, then maybe we can get somebody like that in F1.
Brian (33:14.114)
saw that Yuki got held up by customs for several hours. And I was like, if someone was going to do something bad in that one, who would it be? I'm like, yes, Yuki. You can't trust Yuki. Like when I was a little boy, watched.
Patrick (33:28.049)
Somebody told him to bring something on the plane for him and he's like, yeah, sure. I'll do that.
Brian (33:33.134)
When I was a little boy, watched Gamera, Ultraman, Johnny Sacco. Basically, if there was a Japanese boy running around in shorts, I watched it. I'm like, yeah, that's Yuki. I could see Yuki in there. Yuki's fun, but I could see him somehow dealing with Giant Robot or something and just getting into some trouble and getting in the mix.
so I can see why customs would hold in for a few hours.
Patrick (34:05.357)
That is ridiculous and I think seemingly accurate.
Brian (34:11.182)
Now, another thing I've thought of. Mentioned is, I think we talked like maybe we should have the Sprints be just all rookie drivers or, you know, have these these new drivers to practice more than I think that's twice a year, twice a season a team has to use them. Because, you know, we want to these young guys going and get them some experience.
But I've also said in this new era of F1 where there's this hard spending cap and it's not that much money right now that you just can't trust your car to these rookie to these young drivers. No, the Cullop into this is two crashes in a row, right? I mean, it just it's so costly. However. I could be wrong, which is a shock. Like former Ferrari boss Mario Bonotto.
I think he's with Audi now, right? I mean, he was saying, you know, all these young drivers. They're doing great, so he's bringing up, you know, they're bringing up along with Hulkenberg with a Gabriel, how do you sell it? Partoletto. Yeah, but I mean, you look, you've got Liam Lawson, Oliver Baron, Kimmy, it's a Nelly Oscar Passer, he's young, Colapinto might still, you know, have something. I don't know. Be a reserve.
Patrick (35:26.363)
Something like that, yeah.
Brian (35:40.3)
So, I mean, we're really seeing sort of the rise of the young driver, which I, like I said, in a salary cap year, was spending cap year. I was thinking, no, you got to go with the botas, for example. You know, he's going to be reliable, not crash.
Patrick (35:44.465)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick (35:57.071)
Yeah, I think it's hard to say, right? mean, is someone that is reliable and slow better than someone that can score points, but on occasion we'll get into an accident. I don't know. I think you have to do the cost analysis on that one.
Patrick (36:28.633)
And for some of these, you know, bottom feeder teams, it's interesting to see what they can bring. But I think in addition to that, right, you have some sponsorships that that might be willing to fork over a bunch of cash, as long as you see the driver that they want. Right. So.
There's a few different things that go into it, but I'm excited for all the young drivers. think that's part of what makes F1 fun is sort of the carousel of drivers and seeing a lot of talent, new talent come in pretty consistently.
Brian (37:05.838)
Yeah.
Brian (37:15.468)
It's probably not a coincidence that we're seeing the rise of the young driver and they signed a big deal, a big sponsorship deal with Kit Kat. Now I don't, I don't like Kit Kat, except for Japanese Kit Kat. I bet Yuki has like can get you the best Kit Kat, you know, Yuki gets those Japanese matcha Kit Kats, I bet you. but you know, I mean, look at sponsorships of F1, it's alcohol, cigarettes, you know, expensive watches.
Patrick (37:25.158)
You
Brian (37:45.538)
And now bam, KitKat. mean, I think we're multiple, I don't say revolutions, but just pretty profound changes, just sort of slowly building. I mean, KitKat is an F1 sponsor.
Patrick (38:07.097)
Well, that's fun. KK should be an F1 sponsor. I mean, cause we have, yeah, I was going to say Oreos, but you know, but, yeah, we, we've had the sports drink or energy drink sponsor for, for a while now. And naturally you have, massive global brands like
Brian (38:08.812)
Yeah, it should and oatmeal creampies.
No, daddies.
Patrick (38:36.737)
like Coke and Walmart and that kind of thing. But yeah, to have Candy as a sponsor is pretty cool. And I think, yeah, some of these changes are potentially necessary. I think, you know, there's an element of the old kind of dinosaur crowd.
if you just have ads for tobacco and alcohol on your car. you know, better to have crypto, I guess. I don't know.
Brian (39:09.422)
All right.
Brian (39:14.856)
Right, right. Crypto and KidKat. F1 cars are becoming all software. Yeah, that's funny. Speaking of KidKats, I can't get off of KidKats and Japanese boys running around in little shorts. I know, I know. But when I was a kid, all the good shows, the heroes were little Japanese boys running around with little tight shorts. Okay. I don't know why, but they did.
Patrick (39:31.301)
That's fucking weird, but okay.
Brian (39:44.15)
Okay, just watch. Look at Johnny Sacco. All right. Look. okay. But F1 kids, we need to have F1 kids every race.
Patrick (39:55.493)
Yes, yeah, I agree that F1 kids is great. They should do that far more frequently than they do. It's fun. It's a little bit silly. I think the kids that they actually bring on to talk about F1 are all really good. They seem very smart. They seem interested in the sport. And I think
Brian (40:18.114)
They are.
Patrick (40:25.005)
that can really help kind of boost interest, young interest in the sport and then even outside of just the sport in kind of STEM fields and interest in kind of the educational aspect as well. I think having F1 kids frankly is a must that needs to happen for every race, I think.
Brian (40:57.358)
cross the line. That's our segment where we predict the top five of the next race. The next race is Qatar, then the final race, Naba Dhabi, in across the line. If our driver comes in top five, we get a point. If we get him in the exact right spot, we get three points. Patrick, what are the current standings across the line?
Patrick (41:18.423)
Okay, after Vegas, just two races remaining.
I have a pretty big gap on you. 24 points. Up 81 to 57. I scored three points this week. You scored two. So your top five was Verstappen, Sainz, Norris, Perez, Ocon. So you got two points, each for Verstappen and Sainz. Neither one in the correct position.
Brian (41:29.26)
Oof. Ugh, I'm not thinking that's gonna happen.
Patrick (41:54.819)
I had three points. Leclerc, Piastri, Russell, Hamilton. Lawson was my top five, so I got a point each for Leclerc, Russell, and Hamilton, none of which were in the correct position. Two weeks remaining, 24 points. I'm getting dangerously close to being crowned champion right here.
Brian (42:06.796)
Okay, well.
Brian (42:15.234)
that you are. So I'm not even going to look at last year's race stats. I'm just going to just pick Wildly. know, just shoot. Awesome. All right. So Max was getting drunk in Las Vegas and the team was out partying. So I am not picking Max. I'm going to pick George Russell to get.
Patrick (42:18.117)
haha
Yeah, you have first picks, so...
Patrick (42:36.251)
who also was getting drunk in Vegas after a win but...
Brian (42:39.63)
Yeah, I think George can handle it better
Patrick (42:44.709)
That's probably true. That's probably true. All right, you got George. I got Louis.
Brian (42:51.799)
okay.
Patrick (42:54.257)
Lewis is gonna win one more at Mercedes before his time is up there. Then I've got Carlos. He's just gonna keep on keeping on with Ferrari and kind of giving them the FU.
Brian (42:58.488)
That'd be nice.
Brian (43:14.862)
All right, well then I'm gonna take.
Brian (43:19.63)
a McLaren two three. We're going to reverse it. We're going to go Oscar and then Lando.
Patrick (43:27.627)
Ooh, that'd be big for McLaren. Putting a gap, putting a gap between them and Ferrari. Well, I'm gonna take Max, because you can't really keep him down. And then I will take...
Brian (43:29.784)
Yep, yep, then pull away.
Patrick (43:47.761)
Charles.
Brian (43:52.366)
Okay, well I'm going to take Yuki. We've talked about him so much.
Brian (43:59.285)
Eh.
Brian (44:02.744)
Give me Sergio.
Patrick (44:04.599)
All righty. Sergio. Let's see, that leaves me with...
We'll go Alonzo. P5. Getting back up in there.
Brian (44:20.653)
Ooh.
Alright, so I've got George Russell, Oscar, Lando, Yuki, and Sergio. You've got Lewis, Carlos, Max, Charles, and Alonzo. If I'm correct, Claren almost has it locked up.
If you're correct, this is going to come down to the final race for who the constructor is. That's a good one. Any crazy predictions, Patrick?
Patrick (44:43.141)
Mm-hmm.
Patrick (44:52.499)
I don't know if crazy, but I have predictions. One, Red Bull will pay the outrageous fee that is being asked for Colapinto to sign him for next year.
Brian (45:13.123)
and would he be in Red Bull or be car? Ooh.
Patrick (45:16.685)
Yes, he would be the Red Bull driver. So Lawson and Yuki would not be happy about that.
Brian (45:20.6)
That's thrown into the wolves.
no they would not. That's thrown into the wolves.
There's a great movie. It's called Brotherhood of the Wolf. You should see it. It's like French Canadian movie. yeah, I'm like, Ooh, would he be one? Would he be the killer or would he just be devoured by the beast? I wonder. I don't know that that would be a fun to see.
Patrick (45:43.171)
Mm-hmm. That would be interesting to see, I think. Then, my other prediction is for in a couple years, but the GM first lineup of drivers will be Colton Herda, current IndyCar driver.
Brian (46:09.92)
must yes
Patrick (46:10.165)
young American kid and dreaded driver. So Colton Herda, second in IndyCar this year, by the way, finished second behind Alex Polo. So we know he's a good driver. If he wants to be in F1, he deserves to be in F1.
Brian (46:32.096)
You should. That would be, that would be great.
Patrick (46:35.177)
And their second driver, well they're gonna need an F1 veteran. Who better than Carlos Sainz? They will pay out the rest of his contract with Williams because who the fuck would rather be with Williams than GM?
Brian (46:43.886)
so he breaks?
Brian (46:53.026)
Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, I mean, just think of all just the brand ambassador opportunities with Jim Cadillac versus with Williams. I've got a better one, not as good as Colton Herda.
But you brought up the GM Cadillac team in 2026 at the end of this year, because he's an old man.
And because Aston is shit, Fernando Alonso retires again. In the 2026, he unretires. He joins Colton Herda at GM Cadillac.
Patrick (47:18.417)
Yeah
Patrick (47:32.645)
That would be cool. That would be cool to see.
Brian (47:36.59)
Alright, want to thank you all for listening to everybody's most beloved father and son. F1 podcast is much appreciated. Also want to thank the Andretti family. They actually made this happen. A true American team. And we are lights out.
Patrick (47:53.278)
Thanks for listening.
