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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.
The Chequered Flag Report
Episode audio: CFR 5_26_2026 full show.mp3
AssemblyAI transcript ID: a4c8ce04-80ac-48d4-a6ca-b8e8191b0ea4
Status: completed
Speakers detected: A = Chuck Hayes, B = David Gould
Speaker mapping inferred from the show intro and host references.
[00:00:00 - 00:00:20] Chuck Hayes: Welcome to the Checkered Flag Report. This is Chuck Hazlewood, David Gould, and we want to thank you for joining us. And we want to thank our presenting sponsor, F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX, the Monaco race. It's coming up. David, great to be with you today and talk Formula 1 as always. And we always love doing this after there's been a great race.
[00:00:21 - 00:00:55] David Gould: Well, let's, let's back up a little bit and say it was a great race weekend 'Cause before that race was the Indianapolis 500, which was a great way to lead into it. And the reason I'm bringing that up, and it seems a little bit out of character, is that I'm watching the TV and boom, there's Zac Brown. And I'm thinking, I'm starting to rub my eyes going, what, am I on the wrong station? What's going on? Is there some sort of a time machine issue or something? And Zach was actually in Indy.
[00:00:56 - 00:00:56] Chuck Hayes: Why?
[00:00:56 - 00:01:29] David Gould: Because McLaren owns one of the team— excuse me, Zach owns one of the team and one of the teams, and he's owned it for about 5 years, or he's partnered, and now he owns it all out himself. And yeah, and they had— they and McLaren had 4 drivers in there, and it was, it was crazy, man. But hats off to Felix Rosenquist for taking it. It was an exciting race. He won the closest ever. He won by half a car length.
[00:01:29 - 00:01:40] Chuck Hayes: So as usual, David, this would be a time for me to mount the soapbox and say that the Indianapolis 500 should be a standalone deal.
[00:01:40 - 00:01:40] David Gould: Yes.
[00:01:40 - 00:01:52] Chuck Hayes: So that all the great racers in the world can come to Indianapolis and show off their skills like they used to do when Indianapolis was part of the F1 World Championship scoring.
[00:01:52 - 00:01:52] David Gould: Yes.
[00:01:53 - 00:03:14] Chuck Hayes: And so that goes back a while. But we want to right now tell everyone that F1 on Apple TV Live in IMAX, the Monaco race. Feel every turn, every overtake, every heartbeat of Formula 1 like never before. On June 7th, experience the legendary Monaco Grand Prix in IMAX, where the cars are bigger, the sound is louder, and every moment puts you trackside. From the tunnel to the harbor, see racing's most iconic street circuit on the biggest screen possible. One race, one weekend, one massive IMAX experience. Get your F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX tickets now to experience all the heart-pounding action at Monaco, June 7th. Tickets can be found at IMAX.com. So when we look at this and we see the result, and again, I've never seen this in the history of the years watching F1. Kimi Antonelli, 4 in a row, uh, a tremendous weekend. You know, free practice, he starts out first. In the sprint, uh, shootout, uh, Russell is the winner there. Uh, qualifying, Russell's strong, but then he has gremlins. And David, there's nothing more frustrating to know you're great but not be able to showcase it, and the guy who is your stablemate ends up with the roses.
[00:03:14 - 00:04:08] David Gould: Yeah, it's, uh, it's got to be a hard pill to swallow for, uh, for, um, Russell. I feel kind of bad for him because I'm a big fan, but you cannot take away from this phenom, this kid, um, who when you, when you see him, when you see him interviewed, when he speaks, you're looking at him going, my God, this guy is, he's so young, and you don't see, you know, in the way he speaks, you don't see that fire as he, you know, like he drives. Anyway, it's kind of crazy. It was elbows out for the race. George was— George was— and you can tell, you can almost see it was manifesting in the driving and how George was driving that it was like, okay, the gloves are off. I've had enough of this crap. This guy's taken all the glory and this is my team. And unfortunately, you know, electrical unit goes out and poor George is off into the grass.
[00:04:08 - 00:04:41] Chuck Hayes: Wanna remind everyone, follow us @LVCheckerFlag, @LVCheckerFlag for all the great social content. So from your standpoint, David, when you hear Toto having to chastise them and then tell Kimi in the sprint race to not put it out on the radio, what are your thoughts in regards to that? Here's a guy that's charging and obviously right now that George, the way he is driving, as you said, elbows out, Kimi's fighting for his life because all weekend long, what have we heard? This is George's, This is George's. I was tired of hearing that.
[00:04:42 - 00:05:48] David Gould: Right. Toto, these are the consequences of being a genius. And I say that a little bit, a little tongue in cheek, but Toto has an eye for talent. He picked Kimi almost seemingly out of obscurity 'cause he did not race in F2. I think he skipped F2 and went right to F1. And as we've mentioned multiple times, he just turned 19 years old. He's incredible. But now— and he's winning, and Russell's right up there with him going— they're going, you know, neck and neck the whole way. So now Toto's got this problem on his hands because he's got two— he's got a kid that's on the forefront. He doesn't want to discourage him because, hell, the kid's got 4 wins in a row. That's big dollars, man. And Russell, you know, Russell's very accomplished, very steady. Any team would want him. Kind of racer. So he's got a problem kind of juggling these things. And, you know, the rules he let out, he, of course, you know, it's Toto's rules, which are no touching, let them race.
[00:05:49 - 00:05:57] Chuck Hayes: You know, David, it's interesting when I watched the podium, actually before the podium ceremony, when Max and Lewis were sitting in the cool-down room.
[00:05:57 - 00:05:57] David Gould: Yeah.
[00:05:58 - 00:06:04] Chuck Hayes: And then when Kimi came in, put his helmet in the number 1 spot, which I always love. They always have that little demarcation.
[00:06:05 - 00:06:05] David Gould: Yeah.
[00:06:05 - 00:06:42] Chuck Hayes: And then when they went up on the, on the roof for the presentation, I thought, this is a moment in F1 history where you're seeing the past, the current, and the current and the future. Because, right, who would have ever thought that Max Verstappen would be an afterthought? Right. And really in regards to this, and he drove a great race and very good. Again, when you look at how this thing finished, Hamilton was 10.7 seconds off the pace and Verstappen 11.2. When they dealt at the end of the race, it was exciting to see who was going to get that spot, right?
[00:06:42 - 00:06:44] David Gould: They were— it was, it was getting crazy.
[00:06:45 - 00:07:03] Chuck Hayes: But Lewis's teammate Charles ended up with 4th, and then everyone else was a lap down. So your vision, David, you're a marketer, you've seen this, the worldwide reaction to seeing that picture of Antonelli, Hamilton, and Verstappen. One for the ages.
[00:07:04 - 00:07:49] David Gould: Well, one, yeah. And one, what struck me, because kind of the same thing hit me too, I go, you know, except for Kimi, that's the Mount Rushmore of racing. Those, those guys are iconic. They will never— when, if they retire tomorrow, they will never go away. They, their names will be repeated throughout history, as is— as so many other greats have been. But, yeah, it just— it just blew my mind because then I'm going, okay, except for Kimi, except for Kimi. So Kimi's this anomaly, man. He's just like— where— he's— he just leaves me kind of floored. Where did this guy come from? And how is he so good? And how is he winning? He's got 4 in a row, which I don't know if it's ever, ever been done by a rookie.
[00:07:50 - 00:08:02] Chuck Hayes: Do you think when you looked and you watched Hamilton pick Kimi up? Yeah, like he did. I kind of looked at Max a little bit and I said, hmm, would Max ever do that to Kimi? I don't think so.
[00:08:02 - 00:08:03] David Gould: I don't think Max would do that to anybody.
[00:08:04 - 00:08:07] Chuck Hayes: It seemed like Hamilton was a lot looser this weekend.
[00:08:07 - 00:08:07] David Gould: Yes.
[00:08:07 - 00:08:12] Chuck Hayes: Remember he said no sim and then he brings his mom to the race and.
[00:08:12 - 00:08:12] David Gould: Right.
[00:08:12 - 00:08:18] Chuck Hayes: Maybe he got some home cooking and relaxed. He just seemed like a different competitor this weekend.
[00:08:18 - 00:08:32] David Gould: Yeah, yeah, he did very, very well, which is great because he did make a statement like, retirement? I don't think so. I'm going to be racing for years to come. And that's, you know, it's good. It's good for racing. It's very, very good for racing.
[00:08:32 - 00:12:31] Chuck Hayes: This is Chuck Hayes with David Gould. We're talking Formula 1 every week, same bat time, same bat channel. And we just want to remind everybody that when we do this, we're doing an analysis, so that you as a race fan can learn to appreciate all the nuances of Formula 1. There's 11 teams, 22 drivers. There's a lot going on. It's a worldwide circus, if you will, traveling from one international hotspot to the other. And of course, coming up, there's a bye week this week, and then they're gonna go at it again in Monaco. We wanna thank our presenting sponsor, F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX. The Monaco race for all their sponsorship activity. So David, as we get ready to come back for our second segment, we're gonna box, box, box. We're gonna come back, we're gonna talk some standings, we're gonna talk about some long-term viewpoint, and then we're also gonna get into the weeds a little bit on the back of the pack because to me, it's a very troubling situation that I'm seeing for some very, very talented drivers and we'll raise again the level of where things are at in regards to sport, because there's some hard chargers in the middle of the deal that are really getting some great excitement. Chuck Hayes with David Gould. Follow us at LV Checker Flag, at LV Checker Flag for all the great Formula One content. Thank you and stay tuned. Welcome back. Segment 2, Checkered Flag Report. This is Chuck Hayes with David Gould, and we're talking Formula 1. And we want to thank F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX, the Monaco race, as our presenting sponsor. Okay, David, let's get right after it because is, uh, not only did McLaren have a challenging weekend, but there came some little, uh, I guess what to call it, uh, post-race, um, analysis from their drivers, which is something that I find interesting because the drivers don't select what tires they go out on. Maybe they have a little discussion or two. Here's, um, Oscar Piastri: Getting to the grid on slicks was not easy. Getting to full throttle was tough. Unfortunately for us, it stopped raining. If it rained a little bit more, we would have looked heroes. It didn't, so we look like idiots. And then, um, Lando Norris posted on Instagram, I looked at myself in the mirror today and I said, I'm a world champion, and, uh, I'll always have to remind myself I'm that guy. So a little bit of anxiety. And again, um, I'm not saying it was because Zach was in Indy. I'm sure the communication was there, but when you hear the defending world champion Lando Norris talking about that. I have to remind myself I'm a world champion.
[00:12:31 - 00:12:31] David Gould: Yeah.
[00:12:31 - 00:12:51] Chuck Hayes: And then Oscar saying that we look like idiots. What about that right now with McLaren sitting third in the Constructors at 106 and Mercedes at 219 and Ferrari at 147? Take me inside the McLaren shakedown now after this race in Montreal.
[00:12:51 - 00:14:04] David Gould: Well, I don't know. I can't— I don't know if I can directly speak to the shakedown, but I can talk to you about what— about this, the tire issue. It did look like there was going to be rain, like there was moisture. There was some misting, and who knows, they're always watching the weather reports. But out of the top 8 cars, they all had— they all had— they were all running softs except for McLaren. And guess whose principal happened to be out of town and at Indy. Now, maybe that's just a coincidence, but boy, it does not look good. And when Oscar's saying stuff like, we look like idiots, that's a pretty bold statement. And, you know, I'd be getting a phone call from the principal just saying, really? You have the gall to say that? You know, we're, we're, we're a top-running team, pal. I mean, you're— this is money. So I don't know where he— I think he's got to be careful. But they did start on the, on the mediums and they paid for it. I don't think that's why Lando was out, but Lando ended up having to retire the car. It was really not— it was a bad race for them. Terrible strategy.
[00:14:05 - 00:14:09] Chuck Hayes: He was great coming off the grid, though, when he went by Kimi fell.
[00:14:09 - 00:14:09] David Gould: Yes.
[00:14:09 - 00:14:13] Chuck Hayes: Fell off and he wouldn't take George out. And then Lando went screaming by.
[00:14:14 - 00:14:14] David Gould: Right.
[00:14:14 - 00:14:44] Chuck Hayes: But again, that didn't last very long. And it's just all part of this tire management and the amount of precision that goes with this and, and how you go and what you think. So, you know, from your standpoint, as we get through this, are we having some hard discussions? As you mentioned, Lando Norris is the defending world champion. He has to remind himself that he's great. Oscar's a little bit cranky because he doesn't like the way things are going. And they keep seeing this 19-year-old dominate, right?
[00:14:44 - 00:15:17] David Gould: Right. It's, it's, it's a little, uh, it's a little unsettling, I think, for, uh, the team as a whole because, all right, look at it from the perspective of, of, okay, you got the driver, you got the principal, you got the guys at the top. What about the, the regular guys that are just like, you know, the guys working in the garage? What about the, just the engineers, the guys running the sim? I mean, this is their livelihood, man. I mean, this is a big deal for them, for this guy to go, we look like idiots. And they do. Quite frankly, he's right. I'm not saying he's wrong. I'm just saying to say that in public is crazy.
[00:15:17 - 00:15:28] Chuck Hayes: Well, this unvarnished let's talk— and I watched, and again, congrats to Apple TV for a lot of great insight because they're not rushing through these discussions. They let people talk as long as they want.
[00:15:29 - 00:15:29] David Gould: Yeah.
[00:15:29 - 00:15:40] Chuck Hayes: And maybe again, maybe, you know, Max is having a little bit of difficulty. Juan Pablo Montoya, he didn't like some of his analysis, but Again, that's a topic for another day.
[00:15:40 - 00:15:41] David Gould: I'm with him on that one.
[00:15:41 - 00:16:32] Chuck Hayes: When you look at this, so we want to remind everyone, F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX, the Monaco race. Feel every turn, every overtake, every heartbeat of Formula 1 like never before. On June 7th, experience the legendary Monaco Grand Prix in IMAX, where the cars are bigger, the sound is louder, and every moment puts you trackside. From the tunnel to the harbor, see racing's most iconic street circuit on the biggest screen possible. One race. One weekend, one massive IMAX experience. Get your F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX tickets now to experience all the heart-pounding action at Monaco on June 7th. Tickets can be found at IMAX.com. So from that standpoint, the good story weekend is that of Ferrari.
[00:16:32 - 00:16:32] David Gould: Yes.
[00:16:33 - 00:16:43] Chuck Hayes: When you see Lewis in great form, Uh, we mentioned his mom was there. We did not see Kim Kardashian anywhere or any of the extra baggage that comes with that.
[00:16:43 - 00:16:48] David Gould: Thank God. Maybe somebody got a hold of him and just said, uh, you know what, just keep it under wraps, man.
[00:16:48 - 00:17:08] Chuck Hayes: Well, not here right now. His mom was happy, and Lewis said that he always wants her to come to the tracks, but she hadn't come to any of them for a long time. Yeah, for a long time. And that Montreal was a great place to come to. And obviously let's credit the people that put on the event in Montreal. It looked phenomenal. It is one of the greatest—
[00:17:08 - 00:17:09] David Gould: Beautiful.
[00:17:09 - 00:17:20] Chuck Hayes: —tracks to watch, and it is tricky. And David, I'm checking the right rear quarter panel on your car. I think you might have gotten closer to the wall of champions.
[00:17:21 - 00:17:55] David Gould: Yeah, I probably did. It's interesting to me also that when Kimi and Russell were going at it, They actually did touch it one time. And I mean, this is nuts what those guys were doing because it's totally against company policy to be doing this stuff. But it was like, you know what, I don't care. I'm out. I'm out to win this thing. It was— I mean, it's great racing. It's great entertainment. But, you know, these aren't exactly fun. These aren't stock cars, man. Bumping and rubbing is not what they're built for.
[00:17:55 - 00:18:56] Chuck Hayes: Chuck Hayes with David Gould. Follow us @LVCheckerFlag, @LVCheckerFlag for all the great content. And we want to thank Coach Harvey Hyde Football Promotions of Nevada for powering the fastest hour on radio. All right. From that standpoint, when you look at this standpoint where we were having 2x2x2x2 and it was the Mercedes 2, then the Ferrari 2, the McLaren 2, the Red Bull 2, the Alpine too, and then everyone else kind of fell into the group on qualifying. Yeah. Should we have a sprint race every weekend now? I think for me it created so much anticipation that this was something that really needs to happen because I think it really gives you a look inside the teams. Forget the top of the grid down at the bottom with Aston Martin, Cadillac, and Audi. Yeah, these are important races for them. They need more and more, more track time.
[00:18:57 - 00:20:32] David Gould: Yeah, they do. Uh, I wouldn't be against having, uh, more, if not, uh, one for every race. Uh, I don't know. I don't know if that's really, um, uh, reasonable to think that way, but you do see, you know, the difference, like maybe the car was actually designed for a sprint race and not these, not the kind of races they have now where, you know, you're you're pitting more than once and you can— you have all this kind of latitude. It's, it's, it's, it's more of a free take them as you get them type of situation. The other thing that occurred to me too is as I was looking at this at the, at the track lineup, you know, you got the first 3 guys, you know, Max Verstappen coming in 11 seconds past. And then, you know, you got Hadjar one lap down, Colapinto one lap down, Lawson one lap down, and it goes all the way down. And then you have Piastri two laps down. You have Hulkenberg two laps down, uh, Bortoletto two laps down, uh, Ocon two laps down, Stroll four laps down, um, Bottas four laps down. There's something wrong. With these, that, that these guys aren't more competitive. 6 do not finishes, did not finish, and, and, and all that stuff, multiple laps down. Something is wrong. And, you know, maybe Ferrari, maybe Mercedes and these other guys have figured it out. But this, this should not be happening.
[00:20:32 - 00:21:47] Chuck Hayes: You know, when I look at that and I see, first of all, the mechanical issue that Russell had where the power plant just died and his reaction when he got out. And I mean, I'll tell you what, he got a penalty. If he was playing golf, that golf club would have gone into the lake, right? It was just that kind of frustration and knowing that this was there for him and it was not going to be. And then the kid just continues on and soldiers on and, and blows the field away by you know, 10 seconds, uh, to Lewis Hamilton, a guy who had won 7 times in Montreal. Right. And again, you know, I watched the trophy presentation and I saw that little trophy as compared to the one that Kimi had. And, you know, it's, uh, large, medium, small. Verstappen's looking at this one like, what do I do with this? I've never seen one of these before. And then Lewis seemed like really happy to have it. And he's showing his mom and I'm like, wait a minute, you got a room with 7 of those things, right? What about that emotional part of relaxation of being up there and then the dousing of the champagne of the kid? Yeah. I mean, that was really, really something to watch that.
[00:21:47 - 00:22:13] David Gould: Yeah. And probably George is ready to hit him over the head with a bottle. It, it's interesting. And you're right, there is a parallel between Lewis and him being so relaxed. And so at ease and so back to form again. And then you see Kimmy, who is— I wouldn't say he's relaxed, but he's so inexperienced that he doesn't have any anxiety about anything.
[00:22:13 - 00:22:15] Chuck Hayes: I mean, other than when George cuts him off.
[00:22:16 - 00:22:33] David Gould: Other than when George— when he almost runs into the back of him. Yeah, that's— but that's, you know, you see some sort of a parallel there that The lighter they— in their case, the lighter they are psychologically, perhaps the better they race.
[00:22:34 - 00:27:12] Chuck Hayes: Chuck Hayes with David Gould. We're talking Formula 1. We want to remind everybody our presenting sponsor, F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX, the Monaco race coming up on June 7th. So as we get ready to box, box, box at the bottom of this hour, we're going to be on our way to Monaco. And we have another week off. Those drivers that live in Monaco, little bit of home cooking, a little bit different, uh, time schedule for everyone. We come back from this, we're going to talk about how these, uh, drivers finished. Follow us at LV Checker Flag, @LVCheckerFlag. We thank you for staying Welcome back, Checker Flag Report. This is Chuck Hayes with David Gould. We want to thank our presenting sponsor, F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX, the Monaco race on Sunday, June 7th. Okay, so now we take the show out of North America. The next time we come back will be Austin in October. So now we're going over to the European side of things and where things are going to get very interesting. We're We're on a timeline that goes like this. It goes Monaco, Spain, Austria, Great Britain on the 5th of July. So as we roll through this and because everyone is back in Europe, what do you think the conversations are like? Let's go mid-pack here, David. Let's go with Alpine, Racing Bulls, and Haas. And right now from a scoring standpoint, Alpine has 35, Racing Bulls has 21, Haas has 19, and Williams has 7. And I got to think that Williams right now is very, very frustrated. And I'm not picking on them. I'm just saying they're above a place where Audi has 2, Cadillac and Aston Martin are not on the grid. So from that standpoint, David, when you look at Williams Alexander Albon and of course Carlos Sainz. Now Carlos can feel pretty good because he got a 9th. Yes, but Albon is struggling. And when they go back to Europe, things happen. Yeah, you've got a reserve driver. Maybe he's getting more time in the sim now. Maybe there's a little pressure. We don't know the internal contract status on a lot of people. But from your standpoint, last year Williams was coming on. They were seeming like they were having a breakthrough, but it seems like they can't get above where they need to be. And that team that is doing that right now is Alpine. Yep. Alpine is, uh, with Franco Colapinto. Yeah. And then, uh, you've got Pierre Gasly. So yeah, you got a gentleman that finished 6th and a gentleman that finished 8th. Yeah. So they have to be really, really pleased. And if you're Williams, And I liken it to this. When you walk into the office on Monday after an event and how the whole organization feels, and if anyone's on an up right now, it's Alpine. Yeah, because they could see Red Bull ahead. It's not like you're way, way off in the distance. They go, hey, you know what, if we do some good things and I'm not saying anything about Max because he is still in a position where he's a little bit behind the curve. He is at 7th. If anyone can get up to what's going on with Red Bull, Alpine would be this period of time. So give me a mindset. You're in the middle of the pack. You're going either your stock is up or your stock is down.
[00:27:13 - 00:28:18] David Gould: No, your stock is up. Gasly and Colapinto have been doing a great job with Alpine. Williams, I'm not so sure. And they've been down for so long. It's, it's hard to say what's going on there. And it's also hard to assess whether it's the driver's issues or the car, because again, this car is very controversial. It's 50/50 hybrid. It's a brand new style this year and they've been tweaking it a little bit and it seems to have gotten better. But, you know, when you have to say, hey, Pierre Gasly, great job and you were only one lap down and you were in— what place was he? He was in 8th place. Yeah, 8th place. Something's off. Something's wrong. And so I think it'd be— if I were Williams, I'd be very careful about changing the drivers, especially guys like Carlos Sainz, who is an experienced guy, won many races. You know, you got to be careful about doing that stuff until you assess whether it's the car or not.
[00:28:18 - 00:29:53] Chuck Hayes: Well, Carlos was, you know, when he got pushed out of the, uh, the Ferrari ride, yeah, for Lewis Hamilton, and then he got a ride, you know, he was up there for a lot of different jobs, but Williams, they said, we're going to make you the guy. And right now Albon's got to be, got to be a little bit concerned. And, uh, we just know that this is always something that's going to be ongoing because there's a lot of young drivers pushing And I think when you're not doing well and you're an organization and you look and see Antonelli's success, you say, well, what are we— what are we doing here? Can we grow with someone else? Is it possible? And I'm not, you know, chastising Albon's driving ability. Like you say, maybe the car, but it's something that you have to look at, especially if you're not getting the response that you want. And when that happens, change happens. I think Carlos Sainz is in good shape. We want to remind everybody that F1 on Apple TV Live in IMAX, the Monaco race. Feel every turn, every overtake, every heartbeat of Formula 1 like never before. On June 7th, experience the legendary Monaco Grand Prix in IMAX, where the cars are bigger, the sound is louder, and every moment puts you trackside. From the tunnel to the harbor, see racing's most iconic street circuit on the biggest screen possible. One race, one weekend, one massive IMAX experience. Get your F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX tickets now to experience all the heart-pounding action at Monaco on June 7th. Tickets can be found at IMAX.com.
[00:29:53 - 00:30:04] David Gould: So I seriously, I seriously hope they have coffee at those theaters. It's going to be an early one because that race, that race is at 6 a.m., man. It's earlier the better. Sunday. I love it.
[00:30:04 - 00:32:15] Chuck Hayes: I think that's one of those great things and get out there and have that experience. So let's take us through and I'll set you up here for this. Yeah, from a driver standing post-Montréal. Yes. Kimi Räikkönen, 131 points. George Russell at 88, probably the most difficult 88 points ever scored in F1. Right. Charles Leclerc, who's not had a great month, but he's there at 75 at third. Lewis Hamilton is fourth with 72. His stock is on the rise. Lando Norris, fifth with 58. I don't know about Lando's stock right now. It probably is a little bit of a hold. Oscar Piastri, 6th with 48. He's not been a happy camper. Max Verstappen, who would have thought it, 7th as we get ready to go to Monaco with 43 points. Then it drops severely. Pierre Gasly with 20, Ollie Bearman with 18. They're 8 and 9. Liam Lawson from, uh, the Racing Bulls situation was 16. Colapinto 11th with 15. Isaac Hadjar with 14, he's 12th. Then it goes to Williams's Carlos Sainz with 6. Arvid Lindblad, who had a weekend to forget, was 14th. Gabriel Bortoletto 15th with 1 point. Then Ocon with 1 point. Albon with 1. The do not score on any level yet is Nico Hülkenberg. Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, and Fernando Alonso. Okay, let's start with Aston Martin. That was Lance Stroll's, uh, home Grand Prix. They had him out front, highly profiled. It's just not happening for them, David. And again, it's not like Aston Martin forgot how to make great cars. I mean, they were competitive. I would say they were the 8 to 16 sweet spot that everyone wants to get in, other than the big guys. You've— you're all in, but you keep coming back with nothing. And it reminds me a couple of years back when we were having a situation where no one would score and you would say, we just want you to get 1 point, that'd be a victory.
[00:32:16 - 00:33:21] David Gould: You know, there's the, the Las Vegas Raiders and the Davis family owns the Raiders. Well, I think we got Tom Brady in there, too. But it, you know, I look at that stuff and I think, well, when the Raiders were— when they got the Raiders, would they get them for a fraction of what they're worth now? But the value is there. So now if you apply that to Aston Martin, Stroll's dad paid, I think, like $175 million for the team, something like that. I think it was the old Jaguar team. If I'm not— I might be wrong about that. But now the team is worth quite a bit more. So you've got your value there, but you got to win races, man. I mean, you're not here. This isn't a piece of real estate. You've got to get— you've got to get something, get some traction here. No pun intended. And it's not happening. And I see Fernando Alonso walking away from a car that doesn't run more than anything else. They just can't get the— I mean, to some points they can't get out of the garage. Excuse me. Sorry about that, folks. Out of the garage.
[00:33:22 - 00:35:47] Chuck Hayes: Yeah, David, one of the things that you have to look at is that it's about sponsorship dollars. McLaren just signed the biggest commercial deal in their history, $100 million per season with Mastercard. The team will be renamed— will be renamed McLaren Mastercard Formula One team from 2026. So winning does produce revenue. Yep. And when you take $100 million a season for a real title sponsor— McLaren, Mastercard— it sends ripple effects through the competition. Yeah. And now, again, you know, Stroll's dad's got a lot of money, and I'm sure that he's got a lot of friends. But again, if you're putting money into an organization and you're not able to score, We see Cadillac in its first year going through what they've gone through. Audi was a rebrand, what they're going through. Williams, where they're at. Haas, where they're at. Racing Bulls, which is a sub-team of Red Bull. So they're, they're getting a double bang for their buck every time they go out there because it's one and one A. Yeah. So we want to remind everybody, Chuck Hayes and David Gould, we're talking Formula One. Follow us at LV Checker Flag, @LVCheckerFlag for all the great social content. And we want to remind everyone, our presenting sponsor is F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX, the Monaco race. All right. So you go into Monaco and as I mentioned, David, get your multiple tuxedos ready to go. Yes, because you have to play the game when you're in Monaco to be able to get ready for what will be the race. But then there's the other part of this. Which is you're entertaining the sponsors, you're having a talk the talk, you're making deals right now. I mean, why did this come out when Mastercard is coming into Monaco? They're taking a look-see and everybody in F1 is going to say, hey, great job. You had a great opportunity to, to have success. Now go out there and win some. Mercedes is on their roll. Ferrari is always Ferrari and where they're going to be. So from your standpoint, what's the talking point if you're Aston Martin? Now, you do— I put you in the spot, but you know it's happening.
[00:35:47 - 00:36:05] David Gould: Well, especially in a place like Monaco where it's, in my opinion, equally as much about the spectacle as it is the race. So I think we're up against a break. So we'll maybe continue this topic when we get back from our break.
[00:36:05 - 00:38:24] Chuck Hayes: Chuck Hayes with David Gould. Follow us at LV Checker Flag, at LV Checker Flag. We're going to box, box, box. We come back, we'll talk more F1. Welcome back. Final segment, segment, checkered flag report. This is Chuck Hayes with David Gould, and we want to thank our presenting sponsor, F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX. The Monaco race, that's June 7th. Tickets can be found at IMAX.com. All right, David. We're on the road. You got the yacht fired up, got the powerboats fired up. Mm-hmm. You got the ground transportation all arranged. We're going into Monaco. High profile. 3 weeks later than— 2 weeks later than what normally happens from this time of the year and where we're at. We have this situation where winning is everything. How is Antonelli going to handle going to Monaco a track that's very, very difficult, a little bit more congested, right, than what he's been doing. He's been running wide on a lot of places.
[00:38:24 - 00:39:44] David Gould: Yes. And, uh, I think Russell's been running a little wide trying to get around him or making mistakes. Actually, I think he made a couple of mistakes just, uh, uh, miscueing the apex of a turn and went wide. Anyway, back to our subject. Um, I think it's going to be very difficult. Monaco is not a race for the modern race car because it's far too large. Back when Monaco was, you know, in the '60s, in the '50s, when those cars were much smaller, it was a much more interesting race. And now there's not only that, but there's 2 more cars on the grid. So what ends up happening is, you know, everyone's out of the gate. Someone establishes the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. There's almost no passing. And then there's this gigantic conga line. And any sort of attrition is going to probably be mechanical or maybe safety car related, but more likely mechanical than safety car. And, you know, it's, it's, it's more of a spectacle than a great race. I think it's great. Everyone wants to win it. It's a wonderful place to be. And I'll be heading right over to the Aston Martin thing, as we were discussing, because they will be serving extra caviar And the drinks will, the drinks will be doubles instead of singles, you know. So because of that, they need to make those sponsors happy.
[00:39:44 - 00:40:47] Chuck Hayes: F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX. The Monaco race. Feel every turn, every overtake, every heartbeat of Formula One like never before. On June 7th, experience the legendary Monaco Grand Prix in IMAX, where the cars are bigger, the sound is louder, and every moment puts you trackside. From the tunnel to the harbor, see racing's most iconic street circuit on the biggest screen possible. One race, one weekend, one massive IMAX experience. Get your F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX tickets now to experience all the heart-pounding action at Monaco on June 7th. Tickets can be found at IMAX.com. All right, so we get through Monaco, David. Let's take your— get your passport ready and your travel bags going. We start with round 9 in Barcelona, Spain. That's June 14th. Then the next weekend we go round 10, Spielberg in Austria on June 28th. Then we have round 11, Silverstone, Great Britain on July 5th.
[00:40:47 - 00:40:48] David Gould: That's a good race.
[00:40:48 - 00:41:51] Chuck Hayes: Then we have July 19th, Spa in Belgium. Tremendous, tremendous facility. Round 13, Budapest, Hungary. August 23rd, we have Zandvoort, Netherlands, and then the weekend of September 6th, Italy at Monza, September 13th, round 16, Madrid, Spain. So I'm going to stop there, David, because there's so much to be said. You're dealing with being in Europe. Then you also have that holiday break. Yeah. And when you go to a holiday break, just ask Sergio Perez how that holiday break was for him. He wasn't exactly having a great time at Red Bull. Yeah. And they hung him out for a while, but then they brought him back. So from your standpoint, I'm going to put your prognostication on— normally I ask you for a podium. Yeah. Will there— and I'm not going to specifically use one team. Mm-hmm. Will there be a change before we get to Singapore, which is round 18?
[00:41:52 - 00:41:53] David Gould: Any of the driver changes?
[00:41:54 - 00:41:55] Chuck Hayes: Any of the driver changes?
[00:41:56 - 00:42:07] David Gould: That's a tough one because just one, all we need is one. Um, let me take a quick look. I would have to say, you know, my instinct says, yeah, Stroll, but Stroll's—
[00:42:07 - 00:42:19] Chuck Hayes: No, you don't have to name a name. Well, all you got to say, will one happen or not? Oh, well, it's kind of like, oh, it's kind of like the head coaching domino deal. Oh, for, by, by, for Monaco or by Spain? No, by Spain. Oh, okay. One driver.
[00:42:22 - 00:42:24] David Gould: I think that that is— there's a high likelihood of that.
[00:42:25 - 00:43:24] Chuck Hayes: That's like saying, will there be a safety car? Right. I'm kind of giving you— or will there be a weather element? Yeah. Chuck Hayes with David Gould. We love talking Formula One with you. We're here every week, same time, same channel. And we want to remind everybody, our presenting sponsors, F1 on Apple TV Live and IMAX, the Monaco race on June 7th. So, David, We take the break, we come back, we go to Monaco. We mentioned that Bottas and Perez will be racing there for the first time as Cadillac teammates. 11 cars on the track. The predominance of a safety car possibly happen. The storylines— can Antonelli— where can he go during a Monaco weekend? I don't think he has a place in Monaco, but I'm sure that he's going to get carted. Mercedes will have a place for him. We're going to pay close attention to this. We want to thank you. For joining us this show, The Fastest Hour Radio. Thanks, Coach Harvey Hyde, Football Promotions. David, it's great being with you.
[00:43:24 - 00:43:27] David Gould: It's great, great time and great season and a good part of it too.
[00:43:28 - 00:43:30] Chuck Hayes: Follow us @LVChuckOrFly. We'll see you next week.