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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 Transcript
AssemblyAI transcript ID: d0e11142-d4ce-4a0b-bf00-405b9f2010d9
Status: completed
Duration: 2399 seconds
Speaker mapping: A = Chuck Hayes, B = David Gould
[0:00] Chuck Hayes: Welcome to the checkered Flag report. This is Chuck Hayes with David Gould and we're here talking Formula one. Why? Because it's on the top of everybody's mindset. If you're involved in motorsports, you want to know what's going on. And David, great to be with you. And we'll talk about what happened in round number 11 in Hungary, but there's vacation time now, so. You look like you're dressed for vacation.
[0:26] David Gould: Yeah, well, I'd actually like to be on vacation, but I'm not on vacation, so I might as well dress like I'm.
[0:31] Chuck Hayes: Can you be on vacation while talking about vacation?
[0:34] David Gould: Sure, as long as I have a drink with an umbrella in it, I'll be just fine.
[0:37] Chuck Hayes: Chuck Hayes with David Gould. We want to thank our presenting sponsor, Chavez. Realty development, apartments, business affairs, real estate assessment. That's 6264-4915-4562-6449-1545. Okay, so let's look at it from this standpoint. If you are Lando Norris, David, you're
[0:59] David Gould: right, you're riding on a cloud, man.
[1:01] Chuck Hayes: And you know, he was in the podium, at the podium and then in the ceremony, that beautiful trophy that only Hungary has, beautiful porcelain, did not get broken. And he was obviously very aware of that because what did we get to see? We saw the Lando Champagne blast.
[1:22] David Gould: Yeah.
[1:22] Chuck Hayes: Which I love that. And nothing was harmed?
[1:26] David Gould: No, nothing was harmed. Nothing was kicked over, nothing shattered. That was actually kind of a funny experience last year because it was, it was at the Hunger ring, I think.
[1:36] Chuck Hayes: And he was third. Max was the guy. Cuz he broke Max.
[1:43] David Gould: Well, anyway, it was great race. Messy, Very, very messy. Very controversial.
[1:51] Chuck Hayes: Is it a good race when Lando Norris beats max Verstappen by 15 seconds?
[1:58] David Gould: Under these conditions, these standards, I'd say that's about what you could expect. And I, I, I do. And we'll address this later, of course, that is. There's a much bigger issue, festering, if you will, behind the scenes to get
[2:16] Chuck Hayes: everybody up to speed. The hungry Grand Prix at the Hungaring Lando Norse 139.56 was the victor. Max Verstappen in second place, 15.08 seconds off the win. Kimmy Antonelli third on the podium, 18.72 seconds. Then it was the two Ferraris. Charles Leclair 23.84, Lewis Hamilton fifth at 24.54. Isaac Hajar, 55 seconds off the pace for Red Bull. George Russell, probably one of the better seventh place finishes that I've ever seen in Formula One. 57 seconds off the pace. Liam Lawson, Nico Hulkenberg and Arvid Lindblad all one laps down. So, okay, as they say, David, let's go to the start. We'll take it from the beginning. And unfortunately, software came into focus again because of what happened to George Russell. So let's put that out there. And what you saw.
[3:16] David Gould: Well, I saw what you saw and what everyone else saw, which was the lights go out. And I saw George almost standing still. It seemed it was very weird. And about half a dozen cars or more passed him while he's just rolling at. And apparently the. What they're telling us anyway is that the anti stall feature of the car had kicked in and therefore there's. The energy deployment obviously is not there. And the guy's. The guy. I, I think he rolled back to 14th or 15th just coming out of the first. Just in the first lap. It was, it was crazy. It was absolutely crazy.
[3:58] Chuck Hayes: You know, and one of those things that you look at is that F1 standing start is something that is one of the most exciting yet one of the most dangerous elements of motorsports. It's really what you see. You don't see like in every other sport where everybody gets their lap going and then everybody's in line and the green flag goes, no, this is going from a stop. The lights go out and you go. And he was really a sitting duck. And that whole group behind him took evasive action.
[4:31] David Gould: Yep.
[4:31] Chuck Hayes: And when someone takes. It's like being on the freeway, having that experience of everything stopping in front of you and you're going full tilt, where are you going to go? And if you go left and three other cars go left and that happens, or if you go right and then somebody gets clipped, that's when you have the issue. We want to remind everybody to follow us on X at lvchecker flag, at LV Checker flag. And what do you say, David?
[4:56] David Gould: Please, please give us a like and please, please retweet to whoever you know.
[5:01] Chuck Hayes: So he, you know, was competitive. It got back up to seventh, which tells me he could have won the way he raced.
[5:09] David Gould: Right. But it's got to be frustrating. I mean, that's. And again, that's what we're going to get into later. Because I think there's an aspect of this thing that becomes. It starts to be. Get into your psyche. It starts to get into your, into your, into your brain. And I think it's also coming into play because everyone is so anxious jockeying for position that safety and protocol seems to be going out the window. I noticed several times, one. One in particular, where. And there was a no call on this, where Hamilton and Verstappen tapped each other. It was wheel to wheel. And there was no consequence, of course, because we can see that Verstappen came in second. Yes. Max came in second in this thing. And also considered the conditions, which is not. You know, it was very windy, it was very warm, and there is a dirty side of the track, and there's a clean side of the track. And people were discussing a lot about starting on the dirty side, how hard it is because you don't have grip.
[6:16] Chuck Hayes: Chuck Hayes with David Go. We're talking Formula one and a tremendous season so far. We've gone through a lot, and we're at that point where we just finished Budapest. And there's the summer break to round 14, Zandvoort in the Netherlands, coming up on the weekend of August 23rd. So, all right with that podium. And again, you saw the defending world champion who looked himself in the mirror and said, I'm the world champion. And he was standing there hoisting the. The victory trophy. Max Verstappen, who was not happy with the entire car. No, entire race, but still finishing second, 15 seconds off.
[6:57] David Gould: That's. That's impressive, I think, because he was complaining about damping, I think it's called. Is that the correct term?
[7:05] Chuck Hayes: That's the term that he used.
[7:06] David Gould: Yes. Damping in. In turn in lap seven. And it forced him to start going from aggressive to defensive because he ca. He had Hamilton right on his rear that whole time and was trying to keep him from passing and was successful in the end. However, that's got to be a struggle when the car is not cooperating.
[7:29] Chuck Hayes: And then, of course, Kimmy Antonelli, the point leader right now, 219 over Lewis Hamilton's 169, ended up in third and a good run. And again, one of the things that we're seeing is the aggressiveness that Kimmy races with in regards to what could possibly. Track limits and penalties. That is something that is ongoing now. Do you think now that the more that you're seeing this is that that's Kimmy's personal struggle with the car that you keep talking about?
[7:59] David Gould: Well, yeah, these new cars, one of the things you have to remember is that the car is actually a little bit smaller and they made the tires slightly more narrow. Therefore, in my, you know, grip is definitely an issue. And when these guys, when you drive like Kimmy does and frankly drive Like Max does, which is very aggressive. He's very, it's, it's, it's like General Patton, which is like we're not stopping and taking prisoners. We're going ahead, we're moving forward. But when you drive like that, you regularly, and Kimmy does this regularly exceed track limits, which they allow for a certain amount per race and then you're going to get penalized.
[8:40] Chuck Hayes: But yeah, go ahead. As you say that when you get penalized, then it's mainly five seconds or maybe right back, back situation.
[8:47] David Gould: Like I think, I think. What was it? Yeah, Hamilton would have been in fourth place, but he couldn't, he couldn't get that five seconds. The five seconds was going to keep him from moving ahead. And Charles, you know, and, and Charles eventually took, took fourth as a result of it.
[9:08] Chuck Hayes: Chuck Hayes with David going to remind everybody the show powered by coach Harvey Hyde Football Promotions of Nevada, the fastest on radio. Dave, we come up to our first break to box, box, box to get fresh Pirellis because grip. Well, you're speaking about. We're going to set you up for session two of practice here. We will qualify later on, but session two, you're just working out the bugs. We're going to go inside Dave's brain. This is a feature I love to find out because you look at things from an analytical standpoint, things that hit you during the course of the broadcast that you say, hey, what's really going on here? This is what I want to address. We love the fact you're here. Follow us at lvchecker Flag. At lvchecker Flag, Chuck Hayes, David Gould. We're going to take our first break. Come back, box, box, box. We'll talk. Welcome back. Session two, checkered flag report. Chuck Hayes, David Gould, and it's always great to be able to get out there and, and get out on the track and, and get it going. And man, I'll tell you what, when they, when they get ready to go out for the first time and they pull out of the garage, that is an experience in itself watching people get their little grid positions jockey before they go out. And of course it's the same way when they do their quality. But Dave's brain again, our presenting sponsor, Chavez Realty Development Apartments Business Affairs Real Estate Assessment, 626-449-1545. Okay, David, it's yours. You've got the headset, the helmet's on, you're hearing from the crew and then you're giving them feedback. What do we got going on now?
[10:42] David Gould: What I want to address is really the psychology of F1 currently at the moment. Not this overarching thing about racing, but understanding what I would like to see in racing. What I see now is, did Lando Norris really win that race or did Lando's car not fail? In other words, we're. I'm. I'm seeing too many. I'm seeing too many problems out there that are keeping. Keeping us from being competitive. When you're seeing a gap between first, second and third of 15 seconds off the pace, 18 seconds off the pace, I'm wondering if that's what. If that's what somebody's definition of racing is. And when. When are the drivers going to reach a breaking point with this thing where they're just going to lose it? Because, you know, it's got. George Russell must be going out of his mind. And I know Max is, and Max has always been, you know, accused of being kind of a whiner, but in the end, you know, Max has got the. Max has got the pedigree, he's got the chops, and he's got the World World Championships to back him up. He is a great, great driver. You're going to comment.
[11:53] Chuck Hayes: Yeah, I was just going to say among that, though, every team has had one of those yin yang moments. It happened to George.
[12:02] David Gould: Right.
[12:02] Chuck Hayes: It happened when Kimmy's power unit shut down. Max, we saw in the gravel this week, we see Lando win, but Oscar Piase was just as good as Lando and he had a gearbox failure.
[12:14] David Gould: Yep.
[12:14] Chuck Hayes: And he had a dnf. We saw Hamilton have success and his teammate leclaire have the worst spring of the year. So it seems like there's been a. And we're not even getting into the Alpines or the Aston Martins or Cadillacs.
[12:28] David Gould: Right.
[12:28] Chuck Hayes: We're talking about the upper crust.
[12:31] David Gould: Right.
[12:31] Chuck Hayes: Your viewpoint? Well, one week it's one thing with one, and the other week it's something with the other one.
[12:37] David Gould: Why, why. Why are the racing bulls. Who are the. The Red Bull second team. Not the first team, the second team. Why are they more entertaining to watch than. Than the guys in the front, than the big names? Why is that? Because I can't figure it out. Why. Why can they do it and the others can't? These cars are extremely unpredictable and far too complex. And I think it's removing the ability for human error to, to, you know, this like not driving your best or not taking that risk. You're not taking that chance as a driver. It's removing that from, From Racing and you know, there's a lot of money in the sport and we both know sometimes when there's a lot of money involved with something that you're kind of wondering, well, you know, are people not changing this thing because there's too much money invested, that sort of thing. And let's see, I have, I have something here. The, the cars are, are, are constantly drifting and snapping and the drivers are forced, forced to, to recover all the time or not A lot of times. You know how many times we see guys in the gravel more than in recent memory for me, losing it because the car is just not responding the way it should. Constant over, over steering and under steering. I, we, we're seeing that more and more with this, with this new generation of car. And again, just back to my first thing is like, did somebody win because they were really the best, they drove the best, or did they win because the other cars weren't performing at the right time? The energy deployment, et cetera, et cetera. So that those are my, those are my thoughts on kind of the state and how this is affecting the drivers mentally.
[14:41] Chuck Hayes: You know, we heard from Fernando Alonso, he's the veteran voice in the garage. And Aston Martin finally got their upgrade and it worked out for Alonzo. He was able to get into the second level of qualification and, and you showed some real promise there.
[15:00] David Gould: Yes.
[15:01] Chuck Hayes: And they came with, you know, Honda said they're going to give them better support engine wise.
[15:06] David Gould: Right. And how it goes, huge thing for the, for them.
[15:09] Chuck Hayes: Right. So from that standpoint, why did it take till the round in Hungary for that upgrade to happen? When things were so bad early on at Aston Martin, did they just not have it coming into the season?
[15:26] David Gould: Maybe, maybe Aston Martin just doesn't have the quote, unquote star power that the big names have. I mean, Austin Martin's a big, a big deal and certainly money is, shouldn't be an issue. However, you know, they have Newey too. I think that's still happening in that development. Right.
[15:46] Chuck Hayes: Of this.
[15:47] David Gould: Right.
[15:47] Chuck Hayes: I'm asking from your standpoint, is this more of an acceptance that we're not here to be a top five program, but we're here to compete and because we're doing that, we're fulfilling what our expectations are, even though it's a, a wink and a nod that yeah, we want to win, but is it really when you're Aston Martin, the greatest brand ever? I mean, one of them, of course.
[16:17] David Gould: Oh, absolutely.
[16:18] Chuck Hayes: And to be celebrated historic. We got into qualification in round two. Yeah, that's a win for them.
[16:24] David Gould: Well, that's what I don't like because it should be every team's attitude. We're here to win, we're here to win. Not, you know, and, and we don't see, we're not seeing this. We're seeing like the same two or three teams regularly. And very seldom do we see a lot of the Alpines or that kind of stuff. Breaking into the top 10. I mean, it happens, but. Or breaking in. How about breaking into the top five? Let's put it that way. It's just not happening often enough. But I will say, as far as competitive and entertainment value watching racing, I'd rather watch mid pack than the leaders because there's nothing going on. Better stories when you have a 15 second separation, then you're going okay. Then you're talking about pace. And that might take four or five laps to make up that gap if your pace is better. But come on, man, this is just, this is just not the racing I want to see.
[17:19] Chuck Hayes: Chuck Hazy, David Gould follow us on X. Like us retweet us on X @lvchecker flag, @lv checkered flag. So what you're basically saying, and it happens in a lot of motorsports, that money equals speed and speed equals winning. That because of the amount of money that McLaren won last year with Ferrari, has the Red Bull support system, the Mercedes, that. That separation is so pronounced that you're not going to see it. You're just not going to see that group. Where the racing bulls are right now.
[18:02] David Gould: Yep.
[18:03] Chuck Hayes: When the racing bulls are on the heels of their bigger brother.
[18:08] David Gould: Right.
[18:08] Chuck Hayes: That's a story.
[18:09] David Gould: Oh, yeah, yeah. And that's, you know, that's why I like watching them. That's. That to me is more exciting than watching this other, this other stuff. And with all due respect to how it's being covered, there isn't enough coverage of mid pack stuff. In fact, I hear the guys, the, the commentators talking about something like, oh my God, what, you know, what just happened there? That's amazing. It's not even on the screen. It's like, hey fellas, we got to be, you know, we got to figure this out. Because there are different components to racing. Entertainment is definitely one of them. But I'm not, I don't want to be entertained because of a battery and deployment or lack of deployment or the fact that a guy's suspension broke because it's just so. It's so complicated. It's so complex that it's like you're driving a Swiss Watch around the, around a track.
[19:02] Chuck Hayes: Chuck Hazel, David Gould. We've just gone under the helmet inside Dave's brain and from that standpoint and we get ready to talk more in, in segment number three we're going to talk about summer break and, and what that means because everybody needs to reboot and, and get another leg up in regards to this next run that what you're talking about. We don't hear so much from the principals. They'll bring them in the press area and they just like it is what it is and they'll make their little comments and then they'll go on their way. It's the driver's place to be put under it. But they're not about wanting to talk about it because they're tired of talking.
[19:46] David Gould: Yeah. And it's, it's a, there's a bit of the Emperor's new clothes going on there too. Nobody wants to be the one who actually says something's wrong with these cars. This, this, the, the overarching design of, of all this stuff and the new regs are just, it's killing us.
[20:05] Chuck Hayes: Well we saw what happened when Sergio Perez was unhappy with Red Bull.
[20:09] David Gould: Yep.
[20:09] Chuck Hayes: It cost him his ride.
[20:10] David Gould: Yep.
[20:11] Chuck Hayes: And they hung him out to dry during that whole summer break thing where he was saying that his car was not where it should be. And this is after Max was dominating for a year and a half.
[20:23] David Gould: Right.
[20:23] Chuck Hayes: Perez was being a good sole teammate and covering him off and doing everything. And then the car started getting bad and Max's performance started to wane and Paris had said see this is what I was telling you what was going on.
[20:39] David Gould: Yep.
[20:39] Chuck Hayes: And it, he was out of it for a full year. Now back at Cadillac and last time I checked Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez have hit The Dean Wormer 0.0 midterm grade, disappointment ongoing.
[20:58] David Gould: And how many DNFs do they have?
[21:00] Chuck Hayes: But when in any sport have you ever heard the drivers listen to about what their deal was? It was basically go out there, you have a great job, go out there and drive it. And that's just the way it is going to be.
[21:14] David Gould: Well plus when you talk about these kinds of dollars money, nobody wants to be the one that upset that apple cart because you know, tens of millions of dollars these guys are being paid every year. Hundreds of millions are team bound, arguably billions for F1. And you know, it's, it's like, well that's the way it is. And as long as that money keeps rolling in we're, the longer I Think this thing gets stretched out before they change?
[21:42] Chuck Hayes: Chuck Hayes with David Gould. We're coming at the end of segment two. We're going to box, box, box for four fresh Pirellis. We come back, we'll talk summer break and we'll talk about Dave's top. Welcome back. Segment three, checkered flag report. This is Chuck Hayes with David Gould and, and we're talking Formula one. And I want to thank on behalf of David, our presenting sponsor, Chavez Realty Development Apartments business affairs, real estate assessment. That's 626-449-1545. Chavez Realty Development. Okay, we got the schools out. Alice Cooper has sung the song and everyone's going their separate ways until they meet back the weekend of August 21st, 23rd in Zandvoort, Netherlands. So let's go to the top of the pylon and look at summer break and we'll, we'll go from a discussion point, Dave, where I'm going to ask you about the state of mind. We're not doing a Carnac thing where you hold the card up to your temple and think that you know exactly, but just from your, your standpoint. Yeah. Okay. The leader he is with 219 points. 19 year old Kimmy Antonelli. Spring break for Kimmy. What's your thoughts?
[23:01] David Gould: I don't know what a guy in this position at that age does for spring break. I mean I know what other kids would be doing. They'd be going to, you know, Lake Havasu or they'd be heading to the beach areas or having a good time. But I don't, I don't know what this would. Because this is serious business. I mean this is, we're talking money here. So it's like, hey, Kimmy, no, put down your surfboard, you're going into the sim, that kind of thing. I, I think that this, there'll be a little bit of breather. I mean there is a, there is a, these guys do need a rest. It's a grueling schedule and Even if you're 19 years old, you're, you're, you got to be worn.
[23:42] Chuck Hayes: Well, sleep's a big thing in regards to this.
[23:44] David Gould: Right.
[23:45] Chuck Hayes: You can oversleep and after a couple days you get out of your regular routine. I'm sure it's there. He's got a strong family unit around him.
[23:53] David Gould: Yes.
[23:54] Chuck Hayes: Doesn't live independently from what I understand.
[23:56] David Gould: Sure.
[23:57] Chuck Hayes: And so you know, after a while when you're not on schedule and you're not in, in the, in the offices as you Say of Mercedes, maybe they told them to go away and come back and, and come on this day. But I think that's an interesting thing. All right, so on the flip side of the coin, the guy that's the secondary news, his teammate is George Russell. George getting a little antsy but still optimistic because he can look himself in the mirror and go, I drove the heck out of that.
[24:29] David Gould: Yeah.
[24:29] Chuck Hayes: Mercedes and got to a, a place where I finished seventh on the, on the lead lap. 57 seconds off with one when it cost me at least 25 seconds.
[24:42] David Gould: Just get, just getting out of the gate. Yeah, it was, it was, it was ridiculous. I don't know, maybe he's going to spend it in the psychiatrist couch or something.
[24:52] Chuck Hayes: I don't know. Is there such thing as racing psychologists? Would that be an interesting dynamic?
[24:57] David Gould: Oh, I guarantee there goes in.
[24:59] Chuck Hayes: No, we have performance coaches.
[25:01] David Gould: We know that. Yeah.
[25:02] Chuck Hayes: But inside.
[25:04] David Gould: Oh, there's no doubt, there's no doubt there's a professional psychology component to this thing and that therapists are being used because you can't, I mean this is, this is, this has got to be, you know, if you're, if you're Hunt and you're just, you know, that's what you live, you, you know, you, you chew barbed wire for breakfast, that kind of stuff and you, you just live to drink, drink to excess and do all this stuff. That's one thing. That's, that's your psychology. But that's not what this is. This is, this is a different ball game because can you imagine what Hunt would be doing if he's pressing buttons for, for power and it's not there? The guy would be, he'd be like a one man psychopath. He'd be out of his mind.
[25:49] Chuck Hayes: Chuck Hayes with David Go, we're talking Formula one. Okay, let's go to Ferrari right now. They're in a position of 307 behind Mercedes by Mercedes of course. Big at 379, Ferrari at 307. Charles Leclaire who beat his teammate Lewis Hamilton this week. And let's go into Charles first. Let's look at Charles because to me, with 138 points, he's within striking range of Hamilton, but he's still got a long way to go in regards to his teammate Lewis Hamilton. So when you look at the two Ferrari drivers kind of give me your, your 30, 000 viewpoint feet viewpoint of Charles Leclaire and Lewis Hamilton on what their summer break is, I've got an inkling of what the Hamilton experience might be.
[26:48] David Gould: Back to that again. Yeah, Lewis will probably be, you know he, Lewis's demeanor is so unusual for, I mean he, you rarely hear the guy say anything obscene or anything like that. Doesn't use F bombs or anything like that. You know, at least you don't hear it very much. He's like ah gee whiz, you know that kind of stuff. It's very subdued. You know he's very, very British subdued. Very British subdued. So you gotta wonder about that. But I would say that Mr. LeClaire is the, the Frenchman I believe is, is probably a little bit more hot headed and even though it doesn't come across that way when he's interviewed
[27:36] Chuck Hayes: he,
[27:36] David Gould: you know he just seems like he could, he might be getting a little, a little antsy. I think he'd like to be, I think he'd like to be up there too and I think he's frustrated because the car's kind of crapped out on him a couple of times.
[27:49] Chuck Hayes: I think he sees himself as a man of Monaco. I think that's. Even though he has the French roots in there, I think he sees himself more as a person from Monaco.
[27:58] David Gould: You know what the tax rate is
[27:59] Chuck Hayes: in France of what he identifies.
[28:03] David Gould: Sure.
[28:04] Chuck Hayes: Again he, but he's got to be optimistic because sure looks had a great fourth place finish and he's coming off the worst spring as, as we mentioned. So you know, is there the chance David, when you draw the line on Ferrari here, Mercedes at 379, a struggling George Russell, a kid that's been overperforming in Kimmy Antonelli Ferrari still, you know, they haven't been put in the dust like McLaren did last year.
[28:33] David Gould: No, Kimmy's, Kimmy's up there 219 points. Lewis is behind it with 169 and George Russell is kind of a great story because he's only third and he has been. I mean what a, what an absolutely frustrating and horrible year it's been for him. Ups and downs and he's 1, 2, 12 I think 2, 2, 2 wins this year, hasn't he? Yeah, I think it's 2 but still, you know, 160 points versus Louis 169. So it's going to be very interesting what happens after the break and after maybe they start tinkering with the cars to try and solve some of these problems.
[29:11] Chuck Hayes: I saw a note that Toto was talking about team and how they weren't going to sacrifice a championship for team that everyone needs to be on the same page and I don't know if that was a message because I didn't see Antonelli being the issue, that if I'm telling somebody that it's about team, then you're talking to George Russell about let's not rock the boat, let's stay the course. So yay or nay in the second half of the year, David, do you feel that Ferrari can overcome Mercedes? Is that a real possibility? Or do you think the way Toto is the captain of the, of the ship that that's not going to happen?
[29:52] David Gould: Well, interestingly enough, they have similar problems in that they have one driver who's killing it and one driver who's having problems with their car. And I think it's, you know, anything's possible, but Kimmy's got a pretty substantial lead. And if they're going to do it, they better do it soon because if he keeps, if he keeps this up and keeps getting podiums, it doesn't even necessarily have to win. But if he keeps getting podiums, he's gonna, he's going to make it impossible.
[30:19] Chuck Hayes: Chuck Hayes with David Gould. Want to thank coach Harvey Hyde Football Promotions of Nevada for powering the fastest hour on radio. Which brings us to our Red Bull friends, Max Verstappen, who I think if, when they went to break hadn't been on the podium with a second and I'm not sure. I always look at him when he gets the trophy and he sees one of those smaller ones and not the big one, whether that goes out the door doesn't even, he doesn't even look at it.
[30:47] David Gould: It's hard to tell this year because I think he's just. Overall, I think he's just disillusioned.
[30:51] Chuck Hayes: But you understand what I mean by this because he has so many and what that means. I don't think a second place in Hungary, you know, really does it for him. No kind of disposable. And then yet on the same side, Isaac Hajar, his teammate, is sitting there at eighth behind Oscar Piastri with 68 points. Oscar, of course, with 92. So kind of give me your Red Bull season and what we can expect in the second half.
[31:20] David Gould: Red Bull has consistently underperformed, I think overall this season. I don't, I think they've had lots of problems. They have not shown the consistency they had two seasons ago. Two seasons ago, when Max was ripping it up, I mean, he was just on a tear. Nobody could stop him. I don't see that changing. I don't see that. I, I don't know if it's A leadership issue or not. But for Max personally, I think he, he could, he could probably pick it up and get into the top three. If not, who knows? But I don't see it going past the top, second or third in, in drivers.
[31:59] Chuck Hayes: For right now, Max Verstappen with 109 in reference point, Antonelli is at 219, so that's a long go. So. Right, let's go to the world champions last year, Papaya McLaren. A great weekend for one. They were running really well. Oscar was competitive and doing his thing and then he got into it with Carlos signs and he was not happy. Kind of threw him off and then the gearbox failure and Lando ended up winning by 15 seconds, which easily could have been Oscar Piastri had he not had those issues. Right, so your mindset of those two, which I think are two of the most competitive people in McLaren's excellence, what do you see for the second half? Because right now they are a distant third at 220 points.
[32:52] David Gould: Well, I don't know. They've seemed to have turned it around rather quickly and, and that's a positive. I think that they. Again, this is, you know, it's hard to predict because there's no, doesn't seem to be a trend for any one of these things except for Mercedes with, with Kimmy, with one driver and with the exception of maybe Hamilton for Ferrari, is consistent and that's, that's, you know, Max I don't think is as consistent, but seems to be, you know, it's Max, I mean that guy can, he can, you know, sell ice cubes to the Eskimos, that kind of thing. So I don't see, I don't see any team making, really making any changes as a team.
[33:43] Chuck Hayes: After the break, Chuck Hayes with David Gould. We're going into our third segment completion. Follow us at lvchecker Flag. At lvchecker Flag. We come back. We'll talk about the rest of the season here and thank you for joining us. Welcome back. Final segment, Checkered Flag report. Chuck Hayes with David Gould. We want to thank our presenting sponsor, Chavez Realty Development Apartments Business affairs for all the great real estate assessment and all the needs that Chavez Realty Development. Okay, David. Well, news coming out of the break. Formula One president Stefano Domicelli says the 2026 championship will end in Europe if the conflict in the Middle east makes it impossible to hold a season closing races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. He said they will make a final decision by the middle of September, but what they've done now, to replace Bahrain is they're adding In October, the F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix held in Malaysia. Now, the only time I've ever heard something like that happen, happen during the pandemic, when the Rose bowl in Pasadena was held in Dallas, Texas. And so this is that version of that in regards to Bahrain and it being hosted in Malaysia.
[34:57] David Gould: Yeah.
[34:57] Chuck Hayes: So right now we've got a situation where Qatar and Abu Dhabi could be called off. But if they were to do that, the strong front runner would be Imola in Italy. That's just the reality of the world. And as we continue to watch this, we see that a race is added because these are economic losses of magnificent, huge amounts that if you don't have that. So coming back, we have this break, and I'm sure this figured into it, too.
[35:33] David Gould: Yeah.
[35:33] Chuck Hayes: With three weeks off, they're like, well, we could have stuck one in there, but we just couldn't get everybody scheduled together. So we'll push it back. We got Zanfort in the Netherlands, August 21, 23. Then we come back Labor Day weekend and we go to monza for Italy, September 4th to the 6th. Then we go to Madrid, September 11th to 13 for Spain. Then September 25th to the 27th, you have Baku for that race. Then you go to Singapore for round 18, October 9 to 11. Then you got a gap, you're already in Singapore. So it's an easy go to go to Malaysia for what they're looking at, to insert that one in there. Then October 23rd to 25th, Austin, Texas, round 19, United States Grand Prix. Then down to Mexico, October 30th, November 1st in Mexico City. Then to Brazil in South America, November 6th to 8th in Sao Paulo. Then, of course, what we're targeting, November 19th to 21st, round 22, Las Vegas, Nevada. On a Saturday night, 9:00 o', clock, the lights go out on Las Vegas Strip. Then you have November 29th, lusail cutter. And then December 6th, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. All right, let's give a reference point for attendance and moving things around. In 2006, NASCAR went to Indianapolis for the first time. Back in 2006, long time ago, they had a quarter of a million people. This past weekend at Indianapolis, they had 70,000 people. Now, NASCAR says, well, 70,000 is the NFL sellout. But I certainly don't see it in the same way in regards to how that goes.
[37:32] David Gould: But why? Why is that?
[37:33] Chuck Hayes: Well, do we look at gas prices in America? Do we look at the price of tickets in Indianapolis? Normally, it's a trip all roads lead to Indy.
[37:44] David Gould: Yeah.
[37:44] Chuck Hayes: So within that whole area are people making their minds up with their, with their pocketbooks to say, I don't want to go to Indy and watch what people consider to be subpar racing for stock cars.
[37:57] David Gould: Yeah.
[37:57] Chuck Hayes: You brought the same topic UP is a 15 second win by Lando Norris over Max Verstappen. Not good racing.
[38:06] David Gould: Yeah, that's true. And that's, that's comes down entertainment. And you got to wonder when, if, if this phenomenon that just happened hits F1 at any point where people start to go, you know, I'm not terribly pleased with what I'm watching. I'm not being entertained by what I'm watching. It's too wonky with these crazy new cars if people are going to start voting with their wallets.
[38:31] Chuck Hayes: But you know, one of the things, I'll play devil's advocate, if we look at the European tour of this timing in the calendar, the numbers are off the.
[38:41] David Gould: Yes, they are. They, they are.
[38:43] Chuck Hayes: And it doesn't appear that the racing, whether it's at Silverstone or Hungary or in Austria, that it even mattered. And because it's the happening almost like an annual, like Oktoberfest or, or Monaco.
[38:59] David Gould: Right.
[39:00] Chuck Hayes: It's not, it's not. I hate to say that the racing is secondary, but it almost seems to happen.
[39:06] David Gould: Yeah, yeah.
[39:06] Chuck Hayes: And I don't want to ever position it that way. But David, you know, we're rapidly coming to the end of this where the checkered flag is going to hit.
[39:14] David Gould: Yep.
[39:14] Chuck Hayes: I look forward to getting Digger deeper into this next week. We have the ability, the vacation time to do that. Great being with you today. Great racing. Excited about the rest of the year. Kimmy Antonelli, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Charles LeClaire, Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri and Isaac Hajar leading the way in Formula One this year.
[39:38] David Gould: Yep. Well, it's, it's, it's, we'll see, man. I, I, I'm, I'm, I'm curious myself. I, I'd love to stay, keep watching. And, and I just want, I just want to see competitive racing, that's all. Just follow us.
[39:52] Chuck Hayes: Follow us at lvchecker Flag. At lvchecker Flag. Give us a tw much for joining us. We'll catch you next week.