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Chuck Hayes and David Gould break down the world of Formula One with no race at Monaco this weekend — the circus has moved to Montreal for Round 6 of the 2026 season.
Lewis Hamilton is skipping the Ferrari sim heading into Montreal. Kimi Antonelli, who took Hamilton's old seat at Mercedes, cannot be pulled out of his. The contrast tells you everything about where each driver's head is right now.
Antonelli has won in China, Japan, and Miami — three of the last four races — and is consistently upstaging teammate George Russell. Chuck and David dig into what that dynamic looks like from the inside and what George's next move has to be.
Montreal is a Sprint weekend, which tightens the margins and raises the stakes. McLaren leads the Constructors at 94 points. Max Verstappen remains the most dangerous presence on any grid, and the guys make their case for why the bottom of the field — Aston Martin, Cadillac, and Audi — need to stop blaming the car and start asking harder questions.
They close out with a look ahead: the Louis Vuitton Grand Prix de Monaco 2026 is coming to Apple TV and IMAX, the F1 movie Brad Pitt moment at Monza, and early drum beats that Lewis Hamilton could have a big moment at Silverstone.
Follow the show: @LVCheckeredFlag
The Chequered Flag Report is the fastest hour in Formula 1 — a weekly podcast and radio show built for fans who want more than the highlight reel.
Co-hosts David Gould and Chuck "Iron Man" Hayes break down every Grand Prix the way it's talked about in the paddock: race previews and predictions, post-race analysis, driver market rumors, betting lines, sponsorship and the business of the sport, and the storylines the mainstream coverage doesn't get to. Bahrain to Abu Dhabi, Monaco to Vegas — wherever the lights go out, the Chequered Flag Report is calling the race.
David brings 30+ years across business, radio, and the worlds of luxury and sponsorship — the voice behind the business of Formula 1. Chuck brings three decades in Las Vegas media, a CBS Sports Radio chair, and a deep motorsport pedigree from a family that co-owned race teams alongside legends like Dale Earnhardt and Mark Martin.
New episodes every race week. Broadcast on KMET 1490 AM in Southern California and K-DAWN 101.5 FM in Las Vegas. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
TRANSCRIPT — CFR 5/21/2026
Generated: 2026-05-21T02:02:05.199Z
Duration: 40 min
Transcript ID: b1a1a359-2e1e-4267-8e31-38472199fc8c
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[00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the checkered flag report. This is Chuck Hayes with David Gould. We're talking Formula One. And David, great to be with you. And thank goodness we actually have a race to look forward to this weekend.
[00:11] Speaker B: Yeah, thank God, man. I'm. I'm. I really don't like when they have these big breaks, but, you know, logistically, I know they have to go from place to place, but Miami to Montreal is not that big a deal. I don't know why they're taking the week off.
[00:23] Speaker A: Well, again, scheduling is everything in this world. And we want to thank our presenting sponsor, Chavez Realty Development Apartments business affairs, real estate assessment. 626-440-1545. Chavez Realty Development, 626-440-1545. Well, let's just call it as it is. You know, this past two weeks has been one of really, where is your F1 driver and what is he up to?
[00:50] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:50] Speaker A: And again, we've been normal this time of the year is the Cannes Film Festival. And so that's in Monaco, and that's where Monte Carlo is, and that's where all the drivers of them live. I don't know all their personal addresses or where their boats are are moored. Right. But, you know, you've seen a great opportunity.
[01:11] Speaker B: That's where their accountants are.
[01:12] Speaker A: That'd be correct. You see a great opportunity for high profile. Let's get dressed up. And it's not the Met Gala. And we kind of look at it. We make fun of the Met Gala in regards to Lewis and his thing, but, you know, the Cannes Film Festival has its show, too.
[01:27] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:27] Speaker A: And it really is a fat. A European fashion show. And. And all those drivers with their significant others get dressed up in their tuxedos and they make the scene, and it's. It's their front page news.
[01:40] Speaker B: Yeah. But they also do it, I think, in a much classier way. And this really has nothing to do with racing necessarily, but these. These events are really a showcase for women and what they wear. And men are specifically not required, but should wear black tuxedos and be more uniform so that they don't take away from the female spectacle.
[02:07] Speaker A: Thank you very much. You know, that came right out of the Seinfeld episode.
[02:10] Speaker B: That did.
[02:11] Speaker A: It did. I love that. Let's give credit where credit. But, Dave, you're an independent thinker. You've been on the. On the red carpet many, many times.
[02:17] Speaker B: Sure.
[02:18] Speaker A: And you're right.
[02:20] Speaker B: Tuxedo junk in my own mind.
[02:22] Speaker A: There you go. Well, want to Follow everyone at LVchecker Flag LV checker flight, get all the social content. And we want to thank all the F1 community for constantly giving us little insights like that. And of course, when we talk about red carpet, we're talking about Sir Lewis Hamilton, a winner in Montreal, a guy that's had tremendous experience and great run, if you will.
[02:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[02:48] Speaker A: Saying now that he will not be in the Ferrari. Sim. As he gets ready to go to Montreal. So, you know, again, this is kind of like let's throw fresh meat out into the world. Let's chum the. The bay.
[03:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[03:02] Speaker A: Since there's no race at Monaco this weekend, it's in Montreal. Let's put it out there for all the writers and the people covering F1 to say, oh, he doesn't like it. He didn't like the setup last time. He didn't use it when he was in China. So now he's just gonna go, yeah, I'll talk to the engineer. And again, probably you look on his day planners, probably 20 minutes of engineering, maybe. I don't know what's going on, but I thought that was a very interesting dynamic and especially at the level of where things are racing. And then on the flip side of the coin, and I'm going to let you expand upon this.
[03:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[03:39] Speaker A: No sim for Lewis. The other side of the coin is Kimmy's hard at work.
[03:43] Speaker B: Yep.
[03:43] Speaker A: They can't get him out of the sim.
[03:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, you're seeing a drastic contrast. And I think we should call this, you know, Chuck, we should coin this the Kardashian. Kardashian effect. That's what, that's what's going on here with Lewis because he seems to be riding on his. His laurels. You know, his past victories and, you know, he's done a little bit better with these new cars, but not. I think he's made one podium where, if I'm not mistaken, he's made one podium in China. In China. But he hasn't killed it. And, you know, conversely, we have Kimmy who's just tearing it up. 19 years old, mom drops him off with a sack lunch. It's just. You couldn't. You couldn't get two different. More. Two different worlds. Kimmy's just, you know, whatever. It's just. It just doesn't. It doesn't. Something's. Something's odd about that.
[04:36] Speaker A: And you know, when you say that, remember Kimmy got Hamilton's seat. Right. Mercedes, when Ferrari made the big hit, the big splash and took Sir Lewis to. To Italy and they went out. And Toto went out and found Kimmy. And again we're going to talk about this as we get into the second segment about what it means at Mercedes with this. But I think from that standpoint, we've talked about this, where the Discussion out of McLaren, excuse me, out of Mercedes with Mercedes leading at 180, Ferrari second with 110 and McLaren at 94 with the great Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, that the people at Mercedes are saying, we don't want to hear about the car anymore. Look at what we're doing, right? This is tremendous. We don't, we don't, there's no issues here. And that they're. The youngster has got three wins. And then of course the three in a row, veteran Australia Grand Prix winner to open the season, George Russell. So they, they, they're four for four. So they're like, hey, look, we got it figured out, kids. And everybody else, you can, you can chase our dust if you will, but from your standpoint, if you're a principal at Ferrari, you knew what you were getting when you were getting him.
[05:55] Speaker B: I don't think you. Well, you mean Hamilton. I don't think, I don't think that they anticipated this. I don't think they anticipated this at all. They of course have a great driver, a seven time world champion, tens of you know what, 100 podiums or something crazy like that. But I don't think they anticipated this kind of, it seems a little ambiguous. In other words, they, they can't seem to pinpoint what's going on. Of course they can't tell Louis what to do with his personal life. But this is what I was talking about, the Kardashian effect. But when you're dating Kim Kardashian, it's a spectacle, then everything's on you. And of course, you know, he's co hosting the Met Gala and he's running around in these crazy clothes and it doesn't make any sense. I mean, this is racing, man, you don't see, you don't really don't see anybody else doing that. It's just him. And bottom line, man, you gotta win. And if you're, if you're, if you're driving for Ferrari personally, I don't care who you are. If you're not winning, we got a problem.
[07:03] Speaker A: Chuck Hayes with David Gould. Follow us at lvcheckered Flag. At lvchecker Flag. We want to thank Coach Harvey Hyde Football Promotions of Nevada for powering the fastest hour in radio. So when you throw a gauntlet down and, you know you're out there about it. And again, if you watch Drive to Survive, you can see that there's not a lot of filters on these drivers, on the crew chiefs. And then I would call it the underling of pit lane communication, where you have people who are around them all the time, and the scribes or TV people, they like to do their homework, and they're like, well, tell us what you're hearing. And, you know, deep, deep cover, if you will.
[07:44] Speaker B: The F1 proletarian. Is that what you're referring to, Chuck? The. The ambient noise.
[07:49] Speaker A: Yeah, the background hum.
[07:52] Speaker B: Right.
[07:52] Speaker A: Of what goes on. And, you know, we see these guys and they're. When I look at the crew members and, you know, we've had a chance to be on pit road in Vegas.
[08:00] Speaker B: Sure.
[08:01] Speaker A: And you see the people that work there, they are committed. They are world travelers. They've been in this game a long time, and they take stuff. You see the reaction, the crowd shots in the garage, when someone makes a pass or someone crashes. This is their livelihood.
[08:17] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's. It's. It's kind of crazy. But, you know. Know, they're dedicated people. I mean, they're practicing, taking on a tire, putting on a tire, taking it off, putting it on, taking it off. They've got three people per tire. They've got the guy with the jack, they got the guy who removes it, and then the guy who is bringing the replacement tire. So you've got 12 guys just working on tires. Then you got a front end alignment. It's. You know, when you're. When you're working your ass off to. To make this thing work, it's a little bit disconcerting when you got. When. When your gu. Is out there carrying, you know, Louis Vuitton handbags for his girlfriend, it just doesn't make any sense.
[09:00] Speaker A: What about Paris Disneyland? What about that shot? I mean, to me, we know that F1's been wanting to get Disney more involved. I mean, maybe this is all part of the. Because no picture comes out with that clarity unless somebody wants that picture to come out. And that's part of. Part of this marketing game.
[09:19] Speaker B: Real quickly, because I know we're coming up against a hard break. But this is the conflict between F1 trying to expand its appeal and maintain the classy, elegant, and really the foundation of what it was built on. And there's a conflict there. There's a big conflict.
[09:36] Speaker A: Well, we're talking about it. Why? Because we're going to Montreal this weekend. It's exciting. Basically an opportunity. Round six to talk about great racing. Chuck Hayes with David Gould. Stay with us. Follow us at lvchecker. Flagger flag. We're going to box bo Xbox. We come back, we're going to talk about winning because that's what it's about. Welcome back. Segment two, Vegas checkered flag report. This is Chuck Hazel, David Gould, and we're talking Formula One. Why Formula one will be in Montreal, Canada, round number seven. It's a great one. Another great North American race on the circuit. And we want to thank our presenting sponsor, Chavez Realty Development. That's Apartment Business Affairs Real Estate Assessment at 626-440-15452. Chavez Realty Development. Okay, David, let's. Let's get right to it because it's about winning. And I love the column prime tire in the athletic. And we want to shout out to Alex Kalunakas along with Madeline Coleman, who do a great job every week. And so Alex's headline. And this is so hilarious when I think about this, I think about what's percolating at Mercedes. The race Russell must win. And we talked about it last week, that George Russell not only had the fastest lap last year in Montreal, he won the race and he had to pull position. So he had the triple. The triple header there.
[11:04] Speaker B: Yep.
[11:04] Speaker A: And right now, though, his last claim to fame was winning in Australia. And then his teammate, the youngster Kimmy, won in China, Japan and Miami.
[11:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[11:15] Speaker A: So Everybody in the F1 world now is looking at the timing sheet and they're saying this seems very much like the McLaren situation where you have Oscar and Lando battling for supremacy. The only difference is that when Hamilton went to Ferrari and Mercedes took over bringing Kimmy in, George Russell kind of stood next to him. And it was almost like, okay, isn't this interesting? Here's our guy, George, and we talk about the valet. Now that Hamilton's gone, he's the show. And now all of a sudden, this kid is upstaging him.
[11:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[12:00] Speaker A: Not just him, but everybody in F1.
[12:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[12:02] Speaker A: But more personally, this is personal to George. So kind of give me from your standpoint, David, you're a hot shot guy. The guy that was the team Domo leaves. You step up in there, you're feeling pretty good, you like the way it is. Maybe you rearrange the furniture, you got a better office.
[12:21] Speaker B: Right.
[12:21] Speaker A: And now all of a sudden, you look and this kid keeps upstaging you every week. Yeah.
[12:26] Speaker B: Because you're living in Lewis's shadow. And this is before the new configuration of these cars came in. So Lewis was still revered, I think, I think he's still revered but just there's something odd going on. But back to George and Kimmy. It's, you know, Kimmy winning was not an anomaly. Now three in a row means you're legit. This is not just, it wasn't just an outlier. And if I were, you know, George, I'd be, it'd be a little bit upsetting I think because you cannot, you cannot dedicate yourself like these guys do to racing and what you sacrifice during the season to make it happen and deal with this kind of disappointment from a 19 year old kid. It's just, it's, I think George has probably got some, you know, he wouldn't, he's not gonna voice it too much, but I think it's going to start to come out. It's shown, it's kind of peaked. It's, you know, in the, in the conversations between the pit and the car, a little bit of frustration and you know, if it keeps going this way, it's gonna, it's gonna be that way. I, I have a feeling George is going to step up to the plate and be a little bit more assertive. Now that doesn't mean Kimmy won't podium more. But George, George has got to step it up and I think he will.
[13:50] Speaker A: Chuck Hayes with David Gould. Follow us at LV. Checkered Flag. LV Checkered Flag for all great social media content. Okay, so it goes from being a celebration where Mercedes, Mercedes has 180 points. Ferrari with LeClaire and Hamilton with 110. The McLaren group with Lando and Oscar with 94. And then we haven't even, we've done a segment and a half, we haven't even talked about Max Verstappen. But we'll, we'll get with him. Red bull at 30, Alpine with 23. Haas F1 at 18. Racing bulls at 14. Williams 5, Audi 2, Cadillac 0 and Aston Martin 0.0. All right, so if the emphasis that's coming from the national, international coverage is okay, you got this young hotshot, he's won three in a row. George Russell. Hey, you know we're looking at you in Montreal to be that guy. Toto's sitting there going, I look just don't screw it up for everybody, right? If you guys are fast and you're 1 in 1A on the, on the front line, let's not have an issue in that first corner, you know, as we take off. And it was almost a page out of the McLaren book where those guys did not want to back off to one another.
[15:08] Speaker B: Well, not once they, not once they clinch constructors that.
[15:11] Speaker A: Right. But I mean, even during the course of it, like we always talk about, David, I want you to have a great show, but I guarantee we go in that first corner, I'm going to make you lift because I am the guy that's the reason we're here. And, and that's, I think, what George Russell is looking at because every time he looks. And no disrespect to Kimmy and youth, as they say, youth is wasted on the young. Right, right. I mean, George is not that much older than him, but he is a
[15:38] Speaker B: little more world in regards to life.
[15:40] Speaker A: You know, he's got a. More life experiences. So at what point where it becomes annoying and how does Anonelli handle that rebuff? I mean, there's a great picture here that last year they were doing media and they had a picture of George. They caught him on, on the interview grid and he looked like he's just telling Kimmy, hey, man, this is the way I'm at. I'm looking at it. Do this and that. And when does Ann and Ellie go? I don't really care. When does that come? You know, it's gonna come.
[16:12] Speaker B: It may come, but I don't know if it's going to come that soon. One thing about being that young and that with no experience, what do they, what do they call that? The beginner's mind. It's. That's very clear. You're not, you know, you haven't complicated your life with a bunch of distractions and other things yet. So for him, because he still, when he gets up there and he talks and he speaks to the press, he still sounds like a kid. He doesn't, you know, he doesn't sound like a guy who's, who's extremely seasoned. He's like, boy, this is great. You know, he just, it's. I'm surprised he's not like eating a piece of candy or something. But, you know, his time will come. I mean, this will come. And, and, and you are really measured on your losses. In other words, winning. Winning is one thing, but losing and then picking yourself up again and coming back to win is. I mean, that's what Verstappen's all about. Verstappen's been struggling for quite some time, and now all of a sudden it looks like he's starting to get the jive of the car and, you know, for lack of a better expression, all the cylinders are firing and he's pulling up. He's. He's coming from way back in the pack. Remember, he spun out because these cars don't have the same kind of traction. In Miami. He spun to 360, didn't hit anything. 360, picks it up, keeps going and comes in fifth. So he's well in the points and. And Kimmy, I think, has, you know, he's had a couple of crashes and, you know, bumps and bruises, but I don't think he's really had enough defeat in order to pick himself and understand what the resilience means.
[17:56] Speaker A: You know, David's so perfect because when we talk about these things and we go through what we're going to talk about, the timing of where we're at was just what I wanted to see for Verstappen because remember when Max was Kimmy's age, he was charging for Red Bull and doing his thing and he was a little different because of how Joss had raised him.
[18:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[18:17] Speaker A: And he made him a warrior and he had that mentality coming in. As an 18, 19 year old, you didn't look at Max and say he's like boyish looking, you know. No. No disrespect, but when your name is Max versus Kimmy, it's just a natural thing. I don't know, I might go with initials because the Kimmy thing makes him seem like a. A little kid. I just. It really does. It's just part of it. Anytime you say his name, you got to put a smile on your face. You know, you can't be. You're born with what your name is, you know. But Max was the charger and he had success early, but he wasn't too. It wasn't too big for him. And I'm wondering had two years ago, it had been an 18 year old max Verstappen coming in with George Russell.
[19:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[19:07] Speaker A: If there wouldn't been conflict right away, real, real, real fast. It seemed like that first year there was that almost like a. I want to call it a ride along program.
[19:18] Speaker B: Yes.
[19:18] Speaker A: Where, you know, in driver's ed, where you have. The instructor has a break of his own and, you know, the driver that's getting used to driving, you know, he's in control, but he's not really in control. Right. That's what I kind of got the vibe. And I'm not dimin finishing Kimmy's skills at all.
[19:35] Speaker B: No.
[19:35] Speaker A: But it just had that kind of Mercedes looked at it and said, hey, you got to take care of this guy. Take him through what we got to do. Be a teammate, do what we do. It reminds me of the mentoring of the quarterback room in regards to when Steve Young was with Joe Montana. Steve Young was a great player. Montana had already won, but Steve Young was on his shoulder all the time.
[20:00] Speaker B: Yep.
[20:01] Speaker A: And he was in every meeting wanting more information, pushing Joe, pushing the coaches, being around. And I'm not saying that Antonelli is that kind of guy, but George Russell's a lot more like Joe Montana in regards to their personality. And Joe after a while was like, step away, step off, step back. And now Russell can't say that because Kimmy has three in a row.
[20:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[20:25] Speaker A: And I guess what I would say is that we're going to see in Sprint qualifying this weekend, and then we're going to see in the Sprint race exactly how the cards are going to be played.
[20:36] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, two things. Two things strike me about what you're saying. First of all, I see this as a gladiator sport. Let's. Let's put it in gladiator terms. And the guy, he's. He's in the arena and he just gets slaughtered, you know, but this is after a series of wins where he is the titan. He is the. He is the. The guy. And then you see all the other drivers kind of stepping over him, going, how do you feel now, kid? How do you feel now? See, what we see, this is the business we're in, you know, because he hasn't really experienced that. He's been not coddled. But when you have that much, that, that kind of winning right off the bat, you. It, it. You prolong. You put, put the seasoning off, you put the, the hardening, the, the calluses off. And, and the second thing, I completely forgot so.
[21:31] Speaker A: Well, no, you're right on. But again, the kids went out there. He's taking care of business. We know we said we want to keep Verstappen in the rearview mirror. We're going to box. Box. Box. As we conclude segment two here, Chuck Hayes with David Gould at lv Checkered Flag. At LV Checkered flag. We're going to box. We come back, we'll talk about mon. Thanks for joining us at LV Checkered Flag. Welcome Segment three, Checkered Flag report. Chuck Hayes with David Gould. We're talking Formula One. Why? Because F1 is in Montreal this weekend. We're so excited. We want to thank our presenting sponsor, Chavez Realty Development Apartments Business affairs. Real estate assessment, 626-440-1545. Chavez Realty Development, 626 440, 1545. Okay, so everyone out there, this will be an important sprint race. And again, sprint races are something that F1 has opened the door to. They don't do it every week, but let's get the schedule for Montreal. On Friday, they unload and practice one, which will be go out and do a shakedown cruise and then sprint qualifying. And that's basically okay. You had one, one practice. Now go out there and find out where you're going to be. And every team is going to have a different agenda for sprint because, yeah, there's some points involved, but you don't want to throw out the baby with the bath water on the first sprint race. You want to know what's going on with your car so you can look down the road for Sunday. So on Saturday they run the sprint race and I've never really understood why scheduling looks like this. And then they qualify for Sunday. I would have done it completely reverse. I would have qualified first on Saturday.
[23:18] Speaker B: Right.
[23:18] Speaker A: And then run the sprint race, but no sprints. A point.
[23:21] Speaker B: Point counted.
[23:22] Speaker A: Exactly. So, but you, from a timing standpoint, you gotta now maybe go out there and maybe you're a little bit faster, maybe you found some answers to your questions. And then 1 o' clock Pacific, 4 o' clock Eastern on Sunday, the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix. And remember, Sunday is the greatest day of motorsports. It's going to start this year with Indianapolis in North America, the 500. And then F1 kicks in and thank goodness they moved the time back or they were going to go head to head against Indy, which, you know, again, in what world, I don't know why you would do that. But in the past they've been protected because they were in Monaco. Yeah, they had the early morning race. Everyone got fired up on that. A little breakfast of champions. And then you got through Monaco with some champagne and then you made it to Indy and maybe there was a 12 pack on the side or a 12 pack of, of diet soda.
[24:16] Speaker B: Right.
[24:16] Speaker A: And then in the evening, it was the world 600 from Charlotte for NASCAR. And last week we talked about nobody doing a double double. Well, this week was announced at Catherine Leash, who's a female racer out of indie style racing. Yes, she qualified in Indy and she's also going to be put into the 600. So she's going to do what Robbie Gordon did, what Kurt Bush did, what Kyle Larson did.
[24:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[24:43] Speaker A: And. But her pedigree Is that of a, a road racer. She's not really been a great stock car driver at that level. So it may be more of a show. Don't get too excited about it. There'll be over under on laps completed I'm sure.
[24:57] Speaker B: Sure.
[24:58] Speaker A: But with that said David, when you being a principal and you look at, let's go from the bottom here. Let's look at Aston Martin, Cadillac and Audi. What do you think now in regards to the sprint race? What do you want to see from your teams? Because this is the race within the race. Because right Now Audi's like two points. Cadillac and Aston Martin 0.0. And this is Lance Stroll coming back to Canada. This is his home Grand Prix.
[25:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I think it's a problem. I think that they better get on their game. Aston Martin has been a complete and utter disaster this year. No, no question about it. And they just keep pumping money into it and you know his son's, his son's one of the drivers. I don't think he's been, I don't think he's done well. I just don't think he's, he's got the chops for the job. Not when you can get a 19 year old out of there and that the guy is tearing it up. I think this is certainly a bad time for Lewis, Sir Lewis to decide that he doesn't want to get in the sim. Given there's a sprint race you think you'd want to be on the best on your, your top game and you think oh this the Sims, the Sims messing up. And I think that's a bunch of baloney. I don't know man. They better pick it up because now we're starting to get into the meat of the season and once you're, once you're that far back, I mean Mercedes has 180 points, Ferrari with 110 and everyone else is in double digits. You better get on it because that gap is going to be insurmountable very quickly.
[26:36] Speaker A: All right, I'm going to toss you a hypothetical here.
[26:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[26:39] Speaker A: If Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso from Aston Martin, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas from Cadillac, Cadillac were in Kimmy's ride at Mercedes, what do you think would be the placement of those four drivers? There's some talent there.
[27:03] Speaker B: Oh yeah.
[27:03] Speaker A: Say what you want about Stroll, he's always been up in the, in the top 15, top 12. They've just had a horrible two years.
[27:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[27:11] Speaker A: Alonzo is as good as there was.
[27:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[27:14] Speaker A: And he's in there In a situation where it must be just driving him batty to be able to deal with this Cadillac. Sergio and Valtteri are happy they're back in the show.
[27:26] Speaker B: Sure.
[27:26] Speaker A: But what is the difference? What are we seeing here? We know that Aston Martin couldn't even practice in Australia. The vibrations were so strong, they were worrying about permanently injuring their driver's hands. And they had a whole offseason to get the car ready and do that. Cadillac coming in fresh. But from that standpoint, do you think that's immeasurable if you took the, the Mercedes setup that Kimmy and Russell have been running and these two four drivers.
[27:57] Speaker B: No.
[27:57] Speaker A: Do you think that they would be as competitive?
[28:00] Speaker B: No, I think that they're, it's, it's formulaic. It's the team thing and the car thing and the driver thing all blended and, and Kimmy coming right out of. I, I think he even skipped F2, if I'm not mistaken. He came from F3 and just can't. Went right to F1. Toto. Toto brought him in. It's almost like a blank slate. So he can, he can craft this guy, he can mold this guy any way he wants. These are other, other seasoned drivers that have their own styles, they have their own preferences and perhaps are a little bit more rigid when it comes to training. I think that you can't just take one driver, plop them in a great car and expect great results.
[28:44] Speaker A: Chuck Hayes with David Gould. Follow us at LV Checker Flag. lvchecker flag. So I look at this and I see this situation where McLaren is 94 points. They're going to push. Oscar and Lando really are in a situation where they're not used to being fourth. They don't like it. Their team, you know, their group that follows them, the Papaya, you know, collateral collaborative, I would say, you know, they're passionate about that. They're, they're looking at, you know, a defending world championship, and they're placed in four, in, in fourth. Check that third. What is it about what McLaren did last year that they're not catching up this year? It can't be that different. Their engineers, they have the same information that Mercedes had, same information Ferrari has. And it's just an execution situation right now. So is this a big bust out weekend for McLaren to say, okay, we're gonna write the ship here? Although, you know, the history and the trend say this is George Russell's weekend? Yeah, because of last year. But with the change in the car, does it affect Russell more than it does Lando and Oscar.
[30:06] Speaker B: Well, that's exactly what I was explaining when we, when I just told you that there's, it's formulaic there. It's, it's much more nuanced and subtle and not totally mechanical. When it comes to these, when it comes to these standings, I, I don't know if McLaren's going to have much more success given the issues they've had and they're not living up quite to where they were. I see this thing kind of continuing the way it is. I think the variable in this thing is Max, because Max is, seems to be getting it all dialed in and he is coming from, you know, problems where he's 15th in the pack, 14th in the pack and finishing fifth. That, that, you know, if Max continues this trend, I think that you're going to start to see Max putting pressure on these guys, which he hasn't done this year so far. But he's coming up and I think that that's going to be the X factor when it comes to both George Russell, Kimmy McLaren, the whole group of leaders there are going to start feeling the heat if Max keeps this up.
[31:13] Speaker A: Chuck Hayes with David Gould. Follow us at LV Checkered Flag. LV Checker Flag. We want to thank coach Harvey Hyde, football promotions of Nevada for powering the fastest sound radio. So what you're saying, David, is not unlike in other sports. When you were on the floor, you always knew where Michael Jordan was.
[31:29] Speaker B: Yes.
[31:30] Speaker A: Or Dr. J. Or if you're in football, you always knew where did Dick Butkus or Ray Lewis, you always knew where he was. Yeah, Verstappen's that guy in Formula one. And you know again, if he's on your rear view mirror, Large problems. Yeah, you gotta deal with that. And I think that's one of the things about this sport that's really interesting is we start looking at patterns and algorithms and things and we say, okay, performance wise, we can predict this. And they've already done it. You know, whether it's the wagering community, they know the numbers, whether it's the people inside F1 who are handicapping it. Much like a track meet or swim meet where they know where the points are going to come. They're looking at a one stop race or looking at a, a safety car situation. All these things are the variables. And we saw that last week when there was that wreck early on and Max came in early and took those hards and went, I'm going to run the heck out of them all the way. To the end and hope for another safety car, which never happened. And ultimately he didn't get to the
[32:34] Speaker B: situation, but he still, but, but he
[32:36] Speaker A: made that effort, though.
[32:37] Speaker B: He made the effort, came in fifth, and he did it on tires that were literally going to fall off the car. So sometimes you got to take that risk. He took it or the team took it, and it almost worked. I mean, he almost, he almost podiumed with, with those tires, which would have been absolutely amazing.
[32:57] Speaker A: Amazing to hear that. And knowing that Charles Eclair was saying, could someone tell me what's going on? Yeah, can, please tell me why? You know, can you ask me, can you reflect upon whether or not I want tires or not have tires? And what about the rain? And I have not looked at the weather forecast for Montreal, so I don't know that.
[33:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[33:14] Speaker A: Chuck Hayes with David Gould. We're talking Formula One and we just. Thank you so very much for joining us as we do this because this is a passion because we're getting Ready for Vegas 2026, Round 22. November 19th to 21st Las Vegas Grand Prix. Just a great spectacle, a great opportunity. So pay attention. What's going on? And our friends in the city of Las Vegas who do such a great job. I saw a note that they're advertising for Marshalls. Would you be an interesting gig if I wasn't doing this with you, David? That would be something I look at. We're gonna box, box, box. And we come back, we're gonna talk on our final session about the remaining schedule. Chuck Hayes with David Gould at lv. Checkered flag. Welcome back. Final segment, Vegas Checkered Flag Report. The Checkered Flag report. Chuck Hayes with David Gould. We want to thank our presenting sponsor, Chavez Realty Development Apartments Business affairs real estate assessment. 6264-415456-26441-5545 for sponsoring the checkered Flag Report. Okay, David, let's look at the schedule. We get through Montreal, guess what? We got another break. So we're gonna, we're gonna wait two weeks and then we're gonna get down to round eight in Monaco, June 5th to 7th. And again, that's a whole storyline. We can do a month about getting ready for Monaco because the stories and the history and the spectacle of that is. And I know you're, you're, thank goodness, your tuxedos at the dry cleaners right now. You'll have it back in time. Maybe you'll have a couple on there and, you know, depending on what reception you're going to Whether it's the Mercedes, the Ferrari, the McLaren, the Red Bull, the Alpine, the Haas, the racing bulls, the Williams, the Audi, the Cadillac, the Aston Martin, you'll hit all those in.
[35:06] Speaker B: Of course, everybody has a yacht and I'll be on the back of one of them.
[35:09] Speaker A: Superb. And then of course that race, the Louis Vuitton grand prix de Monaco 2026 will be F1 on Apple TV live in IMAX. So pay attention to your local IMAX and see whether or not that show race will be screened. I went to the Miami event at Universal Studios in Hollywood, it was spectacular. I highly encourage out there, if you're not watching at home, to get out there and, and have a Formula one experience. And then we're gonna go to Spain in Barcelona, Round nine and it's the next week, David, so we don't have to have a big time off. June 12th to 14th, then we have a little bit of a break and then we're going to Austria for round 10 at Spielberg. June 26th to June 28th and then 4th of July weekend, America's birthday. Well, Formula One, Pirelli, British Grand Prix, that too will be on Apple TV Live and IMAX July 3rd and 4th and 5th, round 11 is Silverstone, that has another break and then we have round 12, July 17th to 19th, its spa in Belgium. Outstanding track. Always something going on at Spa. Then we have a week off and then we go to Hungary and that's Budapest. Round 13, July 24th to 26 and then August 21st to 23rd. So that looks like almost a three week off that European vacation. Round 14 in Zanfort in the Netherlands and then we go back on round 15, Monza, September 4th to 6 and that's another F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX, the Pirelli Grand Primio d' Italia 2026. And then we go to Baku September 25th to 27th after we've gone to Madrid. So we go to Madrid on September 13 and then we go to Baku on September 27 and then Singapore, round 18 on October 11 and then round 19, the final one that IMAX Live on Apple TV is carrying. And that's round 19 in Austin. So let's hold it right there, David. Yeah, Monaco, Great Britain and then Italy and then a couple of great ones in between. Get out your Google Maps, do your geography lesson, get your passport ready. Other than Monaco, which one is it that you are really excited about because there are some spectacular tracks ahead?
[37:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I like Monza because it's the home of Ferrari, I believe And I think that the fans are extremely passionate as they are. Silverstone, too. Silverstone's a great race, too. I'm not. I can't take anything away from that. But I'd say those two. And between those two, I think I kind of like Monza. I think there's a little bit more. More just life to it. The Italians are very passionate about this stuff, and it's. It's a great race.
[38:16] Speaker A: And you know the old track at Monza, right. F1, the movie with Mr. Brad Pitt, where he's out there running with his team and he's running on the old track.
[38:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[38:26] Speaker A: I think is one of the great underrated parts of that movie. And remember when Ferrari won there with LeClaire, when everyone came down and that great picture.
[38:37] Speaker B: Oh, the.
[38:38] Speaker A: That one was phenomenal. The sea. And then the other one was, I believe, when Lewis won at Silverstone.
[38:45] Speaker B: Silverstone, yeah.
[38:45] Speaker A: With that gorgeous trophy Y. And it meant so much. And, you know, drum beats are out there, and I haven't heard it this week, but they're saying maybe there might be an announcement at Silverstone in regards to Lewis's career. I'm not pushing that narrative. I'm just saying it's out there in the ether. I don't know where it came from. Yeah, I know that it's out there bubbling, but that's one of the things we look at. So Baku. And in regards to that, through the streets, the old castles. Then, of course, Austin, Mexico City on November 1, Brazil, Sao Paulo on November 8. Las Vegas, round 22, and then Qatar and Abu Dhabi. And we hope that everything in the world stays together when they go back to the Mideast to track that back. David, real quick. We only got 25 seconds to go pick the podium, if you will.
[39:38] Speaker B: I'm gonna say Verstappen's gonna make the podium. I'm gonna say that Russell will make the podium, and I think Kimmy might also.
[39:46] Speaker A: Chuck Hayes with David Gould. Thank you for joining us. We love doing this. LV checker flag. At LV checker flag. Stay tuned, and we'll see you next week.