The Suzuki Samurai is a small SUV made for off-road driving. It was designed to be tough and handle uneven, rough ground. People talk about it because it’s a simple vehicle that can go where many normal cars can’t.
F1 cars can make power from two places: the gasoline engine and the hybrid system. A “50/50 split” means they’re aiming to use those two sources in equal amounts, which changes how the car feels and how teams plan energy use.
They’re talking about changing how much of the car’s power comes from the engine versus the battery. If it’s more engine (60%) and less battery (40%), teams have to adjust when they save energy and when they spend it for acceleration.
The FIA is the organization that makes the rules for motorsport, including Formula 1. If they’re in the meeting, it usually means rule changes are being discussed or finalized.
“Harvest” means the car recovers electricity while driving. Instead of wasting energy, the system stores it in the battery so it can be used later for extra power.
F1 cars aren’t just pure gasoline anymore—they use a hybrid system. Part of the power comes from electricity stored in a battery, and the rules limit when and how that electric power can be used.
This is about where the electric motor helps the car move. Instead of only assisting the main drive setup, it would help the front wheels too—like adding electric push to the front axle.
Audi is the car company mentioned as having experience with similar electrified racing ideas. The speaker suggests other teams worried Audi would be especially strong if that approach were allowed.
“Engine formula” refers to the technical rule set defining what power units and hybrid components are allowed in F1 (and how they must operate). Changes to the engine formula can affect everything from energy harvesting/deployment to how teams design their cars for straights and overall race pace.
Volkswagen is a big car company that owns multiple brands. Here it’s mentioned because the speaker is saying the broader group behind Porsche and Audi was pushing hard for involvement in F1.
Red Bull is one of the big Formula 1 teams. Here, they’re mentioned because their involvement (or decisions) affected whether Porsche could join F1 at that time.
The speaker is talking about F1 possibly going back toward more traditional engine technology instead of heavy hybrid systems. The idea is that it could be easier to build and would reduce how dependent teams are on a few big engine programs.
Sustainable fuels are fuels meant to be cleaner than regular gasoline or diesel, not just in the tailpipe but across how they’re made. The speaker is saying F1’s plan for these fuels ended up working better than some people expected.
Ethanol is a type of fuel that can be made from plants. The speaker is saying F1 doesn’t want fuel made by using farmland just to grow plants for energy, because that can compete with food and other land uses.
Offsets are like paying for other projects to “cancel out” emissions. The point here is that F1’s sustainable-fuel policy isn’t relying on that kind of workaround—it’s focused on the fuel itself.
In F1, the power unit is the car’s main engine system, including the hybrid parts. “R&D” just means the engineering work to develop and improve it, and the point here is that a return to simpler engines could reduce how specialized and resource-heavy that effort is.
Hybrid means the car uses both a normal engine and an energy system that stores and reuses energy. The speaker is suggesting that if F1 moved away from that, it could be simpler and require less specialized development work.
Throttle mapping is the car’s “translation” between how far you press the gas pedal and how much power the engine actually sends. It can be adjusted so the car behaves the way the engineers want, even if your pedal movement stays the same.
This is the idea that the car has a limited amount of “boost energy.” You use it at certain times, and you also have ways to get some of it back later, so you can’t just use full power all the time.
Boost mode is when the car gives you extra power for a short time. It’s not unlimited—whether you have it depends on how the hybrid system has stored energy.
Here, “overtake” means trying to pass another car. The point is that hybrid power limits can change how strong or reliable those passing moves feel.
Term
afterburner mode
“Afterburner mode” is a nickname for a huge power surge. The speaker is saying that F1’s current hybrid power delivery doesn’t feel like that big, exciting surge when you need it.
Term
battery stuff
“Battery stuff” means the battery part of the hybrid system—where the car stores extra energy and then uses it later. The speaker is saying they’d rather focus on that than other hybrid rule directions.
Formula E is a racing series where the cars run on electricity instead of gasoline. In the early years, teams even swapped cars in the pits, so managing the battery was a big part of the race.
A pit lane car swap means the team replaces the whole car during a pit stop. Early electric racing sometimes did this because the battery didn’t last as long, so swapping helped keep the race going.
V8s are engines with eight cylinders. The “V” shape is just how the cylinders are arranged, and in racing talk it usually means going back to a more traditional gasoline engine sound and feel.
Active suspension is a suspension system that can adjust itself while you’re driving. It uses sensors and computers to help keep the tires planted and the car stable.
Onboard electronics are the car’s built-in computers and sensors. They let the car react quickly to what’s happening on track, which makes advanced features possible.
Traction control helps stop the wheels from spinning when the car doesn’t have enough grip. It does this by cutting back power or adjusting braking so you can accelerate more effectively.
F1 isn’t just about driving fast—it’s also about teams constantly trying new engineering ideas. Since the rules change over time, teams race to find the best way to use those rules for speed.
F1 changes its rules from time to time so one team can’t just figure everything out and stay on top forever. It pushes teams to keep improving and adapting.
In some endurance series, organizers use “balance of performance” to make sure different cars race each other more evenly. They may limit power or require extra weight so one car doesn’t run away with the results.
A “prototype program” is a team’s big effort to build a dedicated race car for endurance racing. If the rules are too flexible, only a couple teams can spend enough to be competitive, so the rest fall behind.
The “hypercar formula” is the top class of modern race cars in endurance-style events. It’s built so different manufacturers can bring different technologies, but the rules try to keep the racing competitive.
“Balanced performance” is basically the same goal as BOP: make cars with different strengths race closer together. It’s done by changing limits or settings so no one car has an automatic advantage.
BOP means the race organizers try to make different cars perform closer to each other. They do this by adjusting rules so one design doesn’t automatically dominate.
The “24 hours of Nürburgring” is a race where cars run continuously for 24 hours. It’s tough because the track and conditions can wear out both the car and the drivers.
A metric/imperial mix-up is when someone uses the wrong unit system for a measurement. In aviation, that can cause big mistakes in calculations, like how much fuel is needed. Here, it helped contribute to the fuel shortage.
The fuel sensor tells the crew how much fuel is in the tanks. If it’s wrong, the pilots may think they have more fuel than they really do. That can lead to dangerous decisions, like taking off with too little fuel.
Flaps are parts on the wings that help the plane slow down and land safely. They usually need power from the aircraft’s systems to move. If that power (hydraulic pressure) isn’t there, the plane can’t use flaps like normal.
A forward slip is a way pilots can “side-step” the airplane through the air to control how it comes down. It’s often used in smaller planes and gliders. Here, it was tried because the plane couldn’t use flaps the normal way.
Defensive driving is about driving in a way that helps you avoid accidents. You practice spotting danger early and reacting calmly instead of panicking.
Aquaplaning is when your tires ride on top of water instead of gripping the road. When that happens, the car can feel slippery and harder to steer or stop.
Drifting is when the tires lose grip and the car slides sideways, but you still try to steer and control it. Training it helps you understand what to do if the car starts sliding.
Driving under the influence means driving when you’re impaired, like after drinking alcohol. It makes it harder to react quickly and judge distances, so the training tries to show what that feels like.
Ecological driving is driving in a way that uses less fuel and produces fewer emissions. It teaches you habits like slowing down smoothly and using hills efficiently.
Gear shifting is changing gears so the engine runs at a better speed for the situation. For fuel economy training, you’re taught when to shift to use less fuel.
This is when one driver deliberately lets another driver go by, usually because the team told them to. The hosts are describing a famous last-lap moment that upset the crowd.
In F1, team orders are when the team tells one driver to let another driver pass. The FIA can penalize teams if they think the situation breaks the spirit of the rules.
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Hello race fans and welcome to Shift F1, a podcast about speedy race cars.
Daniel Dwyer here. Once again, deputizing for Drew Scanlon, who is on assignment.
Rob Zakni, how you doing? Apologies, I'm once again coming from a hotel room in Los Angeles.
Apparently, this is what I do now. What illicit things do you think I'm doing down here? Why
do I constantly end up in cheap motels in Los Angeles? Well, I mean, you know, I'm a passionate
devotee of Warren Zevon, so I assume you're just having some sort of drug induced existential crisis
thinking about how your life led you to this point and how you've thrown away all the opportunities
and the love of a good woman for a sad fate in Los Angeles. Do I have to get into Zevon as well?
I feel like there's this big black hole of American, Americana music that I've been filling
in slowly. Well, Zevon is like, I think half American, half UK. I think it's Russian expats,
I want to say. It's a great name. He sounds like a rock star.
But I think you've got, his self-titled LP is just classic. That's one of the best albums ever,
so you've got to listen to that. All right, I'll add it to the list, my friends. It's a funny week.
After coming back from a break in F1 that nobody expected, we are once again sitting on another
sort of two week break, so there is no race next week. We're going to be back talking about Canada
the week after that, and then we're into the European series with Monaco and everything
else. So summertime racing is coming, but for the moment, we are once again sort of in a
holding position here. We do have a little bit of news, though. There's not that much news,
but we've a bit of news. We've got some emails, so we're going to make the best of it here, folks,
and have a good chin wag about Formula One in some respect. I did watch that Formula
2 race weekend, though, Rob. Remember, we talked last week, and I hadn't actually watched it.
Boat races, man. Boat races were great. The sprint race was crazy. Was it the feature race that
basically went down to like a three-way, like basically three cars going right till the finish
line? It was wild. Lots of incidents doing that second race because of the rain.
Yeah, no, the second race, it was either amazing racing or it was like yellow flag. It was like
those two settings toggling between them. But yeah, it's a really fun series, and I think I was
really glad we had just done the primer because being down there, I was like, oh, hang on. It's
a funny thing. I think it's maybe harder to get into it using the F1 TV app because it is so clear
like this is the lesser product. You don't get the timing and scoring. You don't get the full
broadcast coverage, et cetera. But if you're there in person, you're just like, hey, I just care about
the good racing. It is not inferior in a lot of ways. And so I was really tickled by how much I
was getting out of it, having just talked through this stuff and like, oh, yeah, I remember this.
I know that livery or I know why this guy is for that team and his livery doesn't match.
It's a blast. That was a great race.
Yeah, it's good stuff. Yes. And if you want a little taster of it, you can always just go to
the F1 YouTube channel and they have the decently done highlights similar to F1.
And of course, if you want more information on it, become a patron and listen to our
Formula 2 primary we did just last month. It gives you details on the sport, but also
the drivers and the teams, which is the most important thing, especially in F2 where, as Rob
mentioned, for reasons that we won't get into here, some of the drivers do not have cars with
their own liveries. With the teams liveries, they run their either not sponsor, but they're,
I guess, the team that they're associated with, perhaps. So you do see some sort of F1 looking
liveries on there as well, which can be a little bit confusing. Yes, but a massive shout out to
our title sponsors. First of all, happy birthday, Kathleen at the military industrial complex,
War Rizzle, or IP Egberto and Igor Furman, tbgp.tv, the video game podcast, Let's Margo Racing,
Eaching Wells, Dr. V, Dinge, It's a Me Faradio, Cryptocurrency, Mojo Nixon, Get Rich or Die Ryan,
It is absolutely an acquired taste. And I think these days only available in Austria. Red Bull
Cola was advertised on the F1 car from at least 2018-2025, which was deeply confusing given that
one could not get it in those years. Personally, I still import it, not least because it reminds
me of grad school in England back in 2009 when it was ubiquitous. It has no comparator in taste
and it may as well not be cola. That is bizarre. Clove and cardamom. You know what it sounds like?
You just made a drink with your granny's ingredient drawer, like her seeds drawer.
You just threw everything in. That is fascinating. God, I do want to give it a whirl. Do you know
where they live? Because they're importing sodas internationally. It seems like it might have
been the UK. That seems like an expensive pasta. It must be really good. It must have the sauce.
Yeah. I'm now, because I'm like, did I see it when I worked at Red Bull? I don't think I did.
But now, just hearing that delicious brew. Only the sea sweeds got us at Red Bull, Rob. You were
too much of a peon. They only let you have the sugar-free Red Bull. It wouldn't even give you a
full fat. You got to work up to it. Okay. I wish Drew were here for this, but this email is titled
The Time an Airliner Landed on a Racetrack. Hello, shifties. In light of the previous podcast
email about landing a jet on Shanghai Strait, I thought you all might be interested to know
about a real incident where an airliner landed on a racetrack in 1983.
Whoa. Due to a faulty fuel sensor, miscommunications, and metric imperial mix-ups,
Air Canada Flight 143 took off with less than half the fuel it needed.
When both engines sputtered out mid-flight and with no page in the manual for dual-engine failure,
Captain Pearson put it... Wait, isn't there a Pearson airport?
I mean, it's a common surname. Yeah, but I'm wondering...
I think it's named after him.
I wonder if this is how you end up with an airport named after you.
Oh, maybe.
Captain Pearson put his glider experience to work and set first officer Quintal to
calculate how far they'd go. Determining no airports were in range, Quintal suggested
the decommissioned RCAF Gimli where he had once served and with ATC approval, they redirected
there. Unbeknownst to the pilots in ATC, RCAF Gimli had been converted to the Gimli Motorsports
Park. Danny, check to make sure this isn't pulling my leg. There's a Gimli Motorsports Park?
Do you think this is a Lord of the Rings fan?
We call Gimli is really bothering me here. RCAF Gimli had been converted to the Gimli Motorsports
Park and on that day, the Winnipeg Sports Car Club had just finished hosting a race.
Parts of the runway had been incorporated into the track and a guardrail placed down the middle.
Oh boy.
The area was surrounded by campers, cars and spectators and without engine noise,
people on the ground had little warning of the danger.
Needless altitude, without gaining speed and lacking hydraulic pressure to deploy flaps,
Pearson decided to try forward slip maneuver. Typically only used in gliders and light aircraft,
the pilot applies water and lands in opposite directions causing the plane to turn sideways
through his dip, but before hopefully snapping back up to level. It works and the plane lands
straddling the guardrail. The nose gear failed to lock into place and collapse shortly after
landing. This proved fortuitous as the extra friction helped bring the plane to a stop,
avoiding kids biking on the straight. A fire broke out the nose of the aircraft.
Marshals and drivers on the ground used their extinguishers to quickly put it out.
There were no fatalities and the only minor injuries occurred at the rear side,
which was at a much steeper angle with the nose down.
Dubbed the Gimli Glider, it is a legendary story of airmanship and crisis management
and tangentially related to racing. Hope you all have enjoyed this little diversion in dark
times. Oh, hang on. There's pictures, bro. Hang on. Let me.
Yes, I've given the motorsports park.
Send you this picture. Does exist. I have the picture of the
looking straight down the barrel of the plane, and it is basically just looks like it's
regularly parked. That is crazy. That is absolutely insane.
Well, it kind of sounds like with the fire, they may have been lucky that there was a motorsports
event there. A hundred percent. And then slipping, doing that with a plane where you don't have any
thrust is insane, like trying to stop a plane from like because you're essentially just fighting
stall at that stage the whole way down because you're trying to make sure that you don't have
too much speed. But then like the weight of that back of that plane with all those people
and cargo like that is, oh my God, that's incredible. Unfortunately, Gimli Airport is
not named after this guy. It's named after the 14th Prime Minister of Canada.
But it should be. Sorry, not Gimli, Pearson Airport, Gimli Airport.
Yeah, Gimli was the first Prime Minister. There was not a before me country with a Quebecois.
It's grateful, grateful. That's why they kicked all the elves out of Canada.
That is what a story. Oh my God, that is insane. How is there not been a movie made about this one?
Dude, that is so cool. Like the the level of sang froid that like pilots have to have
in those situations is ridiculous. Our next email is asked and required for your account.
Sean, welcome to Ammo Latino to ensure you stay in the loop with our exciting updates.
Please confirm your email. Okay, I was very confused. Did you say Ammo Latino? Ammo Latino.
So is this Ammo to be used by or against? This feels either way. Well, not either way.
Those aren't the same thing. I retract that statement. That is okay. Ammo Latino. I mean,
yeah, it kind of sounds like something you've been. Is this a GTA 6 marketing?
Dude, it feels like yeah, Ammo Latino is marketing directly. Okay, so team 10 writes,
hey guys, on the recent topic of Switzerland being a weird country, I thought I had my own
perspective. I am Swiss born and bred, but crucially, I am not white ethnically Swiss.
Instead, I am Asian, specifically half Singaporean half Thai. I lived until I was 18 in Switzerland
and since then have lived in several different European and Asian countries. So I have
a more international detached background. That's not a good start. They got out the second they
were allowed. Yeah, it doesn't bode well for Switzerland here. Everything the American and
Switzerland the emailer mentioned is painfully accurate going beyond just housing. They are
very anal about their garbage and recycling to everyone being assigned a place for their rubbish,
which must be strictly categorized. My French teacher once forgot to dispose of his bag of trash
to his assigned dumpster in his house and decided to throw it away in a random neighborhood.
A few days later, the bag of trash showed back up at his doorstop. A doorstop with an angry note
attached addressing him by name and a threat of a police report if it was done again.
Turns out a local resident noticed the out of place trash bag opened it,
rifled through it, found my French teacher's personal details and address and had the bag
sent back. Hey man, there are some things you learned during World War II about ratting on
your neighbors that you know just kind of stick around. Yeah, Swiss making sure nobody's getting
asylum here. However, I also did want to bring up another topic that perhaps is more related to
shift F1, driving licenses. Similar to other countries, you are required to do a set number
of instructed driving hours before you qualify for your test. And you must also do a theory test.
Beyond that, there are several more requirements to qualify for a learner's license to do your
instructed driving hours. You must first do two courses first aid where you learn CPR, bandaging,
etc. And to sensitivity training. This is how I best translate it. Sensitivity training is 40
hours of required class time, where you learn about car accidents and their gruesome nature and
the various ways your body could get fucked up after a crash. We watch our accidents and people
getting very hurt sometimes fatally and discuss how it could have been prevented and what surgeries
the victims then needed. I believe the purpose of this was to shock students and to understand
that driving a car is no joke and people can get seriously hurt. After these two classes,
you can do your practical test and assuming you pass, you are then awarded a temporary license,
which lasts for two years. At the end of the two years, you're expected to attend two additional
classes to convert it into a permanent license for life no renewal needed.
The first class is defensive driving training, taking place in specialized facilities. Here
you learn how to drift, experience aqua planning and learn how to react, gain back control of the
vehicle, experience driving on ice, learn what it feels like to run over a human, a dummy of course,
and experience driving under the influence. And experience driving under the influence.
For the latter, they have eyeglasses that simulate what your vision looks like after
a certain number of pints, i.e. one pint, two pints, four pints and eight pints. You drive around a
simple obstacle course with each pair of glasses. Trying to drive it with the eight pint glasses
was a nightmare and genuinely made me feel like puking. I still remember the intense headache
I had for several hours even after removing those glasses. The second class is ecological driving.
Here they teach you techniques on how to stay fuel while driving, such as speeding up and
coasting, early braking, early late gear shifting, using inclines to your advantage.
There are many hoops to jump through to get a simple driver's license. Are they troublesome?
Yeah, but are they effective? Arguably also yes. Switzerland has among the lowest
fatality rates on the road, about two per 100,000. In contrast, the U.S. is at about 12 to 14 per
100,000. You guys might find this amazing. Did you also know that Switzerland has a navy?
Really? Nothing. No, just leaving that. That's a Wikipedia rabbit hole.
That's a great dot, dot, dot allow for the next email. I feel like that's like
lake defense, right? That's got to be the way there were naval actions on the Great Lakes
and on Lake Champlain in the war of 1812. You know the way the navy also always has
helicopters and stuff, you know what I mean? Usually you have ocean access, they have none.
So it has to be like a lakes thing, I think. Do we have a navy in Ireland? We barely have an army.
We must have something. We have a Coast Guard. Water Guard Eye or something like that.
That's crazy. That's a great email. Big fan. That's of the, I mean, 40 hours of watching people
in car crashes seems like it might actually make me go crazy. Like the clockwork are installed.
It is interesting though. Americans do not think about how stuff could go wrong,
they just don't. And you have like one class, like you take a little driver's education class,
and there's like one of those classes, like one class segment, like 90 minutes or whatever you
learned about, like, and you know, this is serious. But nothing equivalent to, hey, let's look at some
actual incidents and what the consequences were. And then also how could this have been avoided?
It's the funny thing, right? It's like
the good kind of goes with the bad. Like a really anal retentive, like high social
conformity control country is also going to be really good at, hey, if we're going to give you
this driver's license, like you really need to know what you're doing. This bit about like
going to a defensive driving course before ever getting your license, everyone should take those
because like your first, your first exposure to aqua planning or hydro planning should not
be when it just happens to you and you haven't encountered it before. That's
Scandinavian countries do that a lot as well, obviously, because it's just so prevalent with
our own approach, all the ice. The Irish driver's licenses, we don't do any of that sort of stuff.
My dad did a defensive driving course to bring down his insurance, but then he worked in insurance.
So that was kind of just like the things we advanced driving, I think it was called. And
I think he did some of that stuff in there. But no, most people don't. The Irish driving test
though is quite hard, not as hard as the English one. The English one is legitimately like I think
a lot of people fail multiple times. And the American driver's license by proxy was that
absolute ridiculous. I failed the Irish 13 times, I think. I never got my Irish driver's
license. I moved before I resatted and they get you on anything. Like I got, I got dinged on.
I actually got dinged on something I didn't think I had done, but I had hit the curb when
I was doing my parallel parkings that he hadn't noticed. He thought I'd hit the brakes. So
I felt like it came out in the wash, I guess. But I think I failed twice maybe and then never got
the third one because I moved to the UK and then I lived in London, so I didn't need it.
So you can't drive there? No, I have a US driver's license, so I can drive there fine. Yeah,
it's yeah. But they shouldn't recognize it sounds like none of these
countries should recognize our driver's license because like we are just, it would sound like
assholes. In some countries, in some countries you have to get like an international driver's
permit if you have an American license. Maybe not a few, maybe it's for all licenses, I'm not
sure. When I went to set Korea, for instance, I had to go to the DMV and have them basically
give me a special certificate so I could rent a car. I would just log in to my Gran Turismo account
and be like, so here's my B license that I completed. So I think we're good to go.
The other question I had here is the trash thing, Danny. What's the trash? Because here's the thing,
like you can sort of mock it, but the same thing like trash disposal is tricky, especially for
a tiny country without a lot of like easy access to open land. Like Switzerland, you probably don't
want to be like sending tons of waste to the dump or you're sending it out of the country.
So I can sort of see where they get at this. And I've heard similar things where like Japan,
you know, I started to take for granted, like, well, public spaces have tons of
of litter areas. They have tons of trash cans out there. And I've heard like Japan doesn't
actually expectation. Intercity stuff, especially, and this has to do with those, the siren gas
attacks that happened on the Tokyo subway. Do you remember? It was similar in London, actually.
Sorry, say again. I do remember those. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's similar in London,
actually, when I moved there, there was big chunks of London, like around Bank and certain
other tube stations that didn't have bins because of IRA activity that had gone on in the 90s. So
I've heard that they're bringing some more trash cans into Tokyo because what's happened is there's
sort of piles of trash has started to accumulate instead. But yeah, obviously, they have a culture
of, you know, you bring a little plastic bag with you at all times. If you have any trash,
you put that in and you bring it home. Definitely in Europe, like every time you go like camping or
stay at a hotel, there's like different rules around how that stuff works. Ireland's, we have
a three bin system that's taken, I don't know if it's taken that seriously, but like for instance,
the big thing in Ireland now that came in that probably would shock people over here is the
the levy on bottles and cans. So there is a significant tax levy on any can or bottle.
I think it's like 50 cent on each one. And basically, instead of crunching them up and
putting them in the recycling bin, you now have to bring them to a machine that will essentially,
you have to feed them in individually. I think this stuff has been fixed up a bit when it first
got introduced, it was these massive lines. But yeah, you basically get then a voucher at the end
for a decent amount of money, usually, because it's like you put two cans in and that's a euro.
And when you consider how much Irish people like to drink, there's usually a lot of cans lying
around. So that's one area in which like, that's just in the past year, people have had to sort
of adapt to being a bit more anal about that. I've crunched up bottles in my brother's house
and then be like, damn it, sorry, you know, because you're supposed to get that money back.
Yeah, I think it's easy to underestimate. I think there are a lot of ways in American life
has this baseline like anti social quality to it. In the US, if you want to prevent trash just
going everywhere, you have to put down trash cans everywhere because people will just dump
shit then no matter what. And that is kind of the ethos. So it's like the default expected
behavior in the US is like, oh, I will just toss my trash there, whatever. And so I sort of like
roll my eyes at this. But at the same time, like, this is kind of like that level of like, hey,
you can't just be tossing your shit wherever you like is kind of a baseline.
It really quickly goes the other way, right? The minute one person like tosses a piece of litter
somewhere. This is why when I lived in law, like they clean out the canals every year. The second
someone threw one tire into a canal. A week later, shopping carts, TVs, cages, broken window theory
in effect, you know, yeah, in the UK, it's known as and in Ireland too, actually, we use the term
fly tipping. I don't know why it's called that. But yeah, it's basically like illegal dumping on
farmland and stuff like that. And that definitely happens. Yeah, like somebody drives out with a
truck or a car full of crap and just throws it out on the side of the road. And it happens in the
U.S. obviously as well. You see lots of science up saying like, if you're caught, you're going to
basically get a, you know, massive fine or a prison sentence for doing it.
But yeah, I can't wait more pros with the one here a little bit. Yeah, we're all a little bit
fascist. You know what I mean? Well, you know, just in certain types of our life, we're like, no,
order is good. Orders. But also education, I think is an important thing. Like the TV, the
driver's license thing and like the that to me isn't like fascist. That's like, hey, these things
are dangerous. And we're going to make sure you are prepared for the stuff you're going to encounter
during a lifetime on the road. Hey, buy a pack of cigarettes in Ireland. See what the, see all the
lovely pictures on the outside of it. You know, of like rotten lungs and we used to have hardcore.
I think it was an Irish and a UK thing where we had some really hardcore commercials that were
like, you know, if your ball goes into the electrical substation, don't go after it.
Because we're going to show you what happens to that kid when they go, yeah, we had some like,
like during the day infomercials that were like, you could get fried. Oh yeah. Like and the car crash
ones in Ireland when I was growing up were insane. They were just like gross and like,
you know, super affected people and like shocking and they'd broadcast like two o'clock in the
afternoon. You'd be like, Jesus, have you seen the new one? Your man's head gets chopped off.
I have to send you some. They're absolutely the only one we have of that in the U.S.
is Exima commercials, not for Exima, but for medications. Oh, right. Because that's just
everywhere now. You turn on a sporting event and you'll see someone like, oh yeah, the worst thing
in the world is not being able to wear a sleeveless summer dress. Yeah. Slow to moderate or something.
Yeah. All right, Danny, take us to the grimoire. Okay. Yes. Let's run into
electrical substations in the grimoire. No, unfortunately, there is a death at the top on
May 12th. The McLaren team was mourning the loss of Paul Morgan, who died today in 2001.
Morgan founded Ilmore with Mario Illian and the company that built the Mercedes F1 engines for
the McLaren team. Morgan died when his light aircraft crashed. Very sad. Today in 2002,
one of the most controversial races of recent times took place at the A1 ring in Austria.
Having dominated qualifying and the race, Rubens Barrichello was ordered to yield for
teammate Michael Schumacher, which he did on the final lap, much to the disgust of the crowd who
booed throughout the podium ceremony. Schumacher tried to push Rubens onto the top step, but the
damage was done. Both the blatant use of team orders and the podium debacle earned Ferrari the
displeasure of the FIA who find them half a million dollars and banned team orders. In November 2008,
Barrichello claimed he had been threatened with the sack on the last lap if he did not
allow Schumacher through. He said, I was told to think about my contract. For me, that was an order.
Is it better for you to lift your foot? Otherwise, you're going to go home.
Yeah, it's an infamous moment in F1 history. It's hard, right? Because Rubens was obviously
the victim, but also history has shown us that sometimes you don't do it. You don't follow
the orders when you win the race. I'm not sure his F1 career was better after that incident.
It's one of those things that I think it was never quite the same. I think unknowably, Schumacher
was the stronger driver of the two. Barrichello was quite good. On his day, he was brilliant.
I don't think anyone was served by it. I think the funny thing is over the time since his career
ended, the way I think Schumacher's reputation has shrunk. It was so big in the early 2000s.
Like, this was the greatest driver of all time, etc. Michael Jordan of F1.
As opposed to the Eddie Jordan of F1. There's too much of the stuff where it's like
he bent the rules. He used the position of the team to notch wins he didn't deserve.
That stuff lingers to a degree where you remember that stuff a lot more than you remember the
brilliant drives or the dominant flag-to-flag qualifying through race performances.
That is indelible him trying to shove Rubens onto the top step of the podium. It made him look bad
on two levels. One was for the team order situation giving them the win, but then also not being
willing to stand there and be the villain and take it and try to be like, no, you're right.
Like, we all love Rubens. Yeah, lose, lose perhaps in that situation. Have you seen the
Trader for the Kaiser, the new Michael Schumacher biopic, which I believe is in German.
Was my feeling. Okay, it's about as 90. No, is it about his whole career? I'm not sure.
I thought there was another one about his early career. Yeah.
The Kaiser. Yeah, it's probably coming out this year. I think it's a Netflix joint, is it?
I have never heard anyone call him the Kaiser. The Kaiser. No, I mean either. Yeah.
Is this just that we couldn't get the Schumacher name in there? So we went with the Kaiser. I don't
know. I don't know. And also, okay, so I'm pretty sure the trailer I saw also like the needle drop
is spirit in the sky. If yes. Okay. Any trailer where spirit in the sky comes on, I'm like, no,
sorry, this sucks. Like there's something about that guitar riff where it's like,
it's trying so hard to be cool. But anytime I see it used in a movie, I'm like, no, man.
This sucks. This is going to be lame. Yeah, I don't. He's also not dead. So I feel like that's
a weird song too. Yeah, I don't know. It is interesting how perhaps families,
estates can massage or keep their, I think there's definitely an element of this being.
Also, people don't talk about Michael because it's very hard to talk about Michael Schumacher.
Yeah, for reasons that are very tragic in his family and obviously. There's been more rumors that
his condition is actually improving. Oh, really? I feel like I saw more rumors that like another,
that there've been more positive signs. I just hope he's able to communicate with his family a
little bit. Like that's ultimately all that matters. And yeah, I just feel so sorry for all of them,
all his kids. But once he sufficiently recovers, then people can be like, and now that Michael's
back in our lives, we can say, fuck that guy. He was a prick and I always hated him. Mika Haken
has come close to saying it. Oh, really? Yeah. Even on the Schumacher documentary,
was it on the Schumacher documentary? It might have been on Beyond the Grid.
But he's talked about, they tried hard to be friends. Didn't take.
He just couldn't do it. Yeah. Yeah. It's a funny old legacy that he has. Hey, look,
his legacy is not that bad. He was obviously a great driver. If we want to talk about families
whitewashing their folks within their family, just go watch that Michael Jackson biopic.
Jeez, Louise. Yeah, that one seems like it's maybe one of the most lonesome pieces of media
ever constructed. Yeah. Yeah. We might have a new worst family biopic offender in that one.
Apparently his dad also comes across as like a really nice guy, which seems. Well, there it is.
I mean, that's all you need to know, right? Like the. Oh, yeah. So it's so funny because these
things, I know you need to go, but the last thing I'll say on this is these sort of whitewashing
efforts. It's like, we can't even acknowledge that there's still a version of the Jackson family
story you can tell where like the dad is, he may have been a son of a bitch, but you have to admit
like he created, you know, an entertainment powerhouse and like it's a complicated man,
but you can still tell a story like that that fundamentally embraces this notion of,
hey, like sometimes, you know, you got to hand it to the guy in whiplash. He sure taught that kid
the drums. Oh yeah. That's that's that's the ending lesson of whiplash. Yeah, like, but the
inability to circumfront anything, right? Where it's got to be like, no, everyone in the story was
great. Yeah, nothing. No, no, no, no ill, no foul. Hey, look, our recording made it over an hour,
so I'm pretty happy about this because yes, I have to run out the door and record a bunch of
interviews in a couple of minutes. Thanks folks for for being patient with us. I hope you enjoyed
this week's podcast and we will tell you later that you forgot race around the world. It's fine.
Yeah, I did, but I didn't have the time. I was like, we're gonna we're gonna get to the good stuff.
Race around the world. Rob already covered it 24 hours in the Rupert rain. Go check it out. Max
for stopping fans. Have yourself a fun time. If you'd like to support this show and get access
to all our bonus episodes, the ad free version of the podcast and the official shift F1 discord
you can do so for a patreon.com slash shift F1. Have a great waste weekend, folks. We will see you
all next time.
About this episode
Rain and broadcast coverage shape a Formula 2 weekend the hosts watched during the F1 schedule break. The news then dives into F1’s hybrid rule changes—moving away from a 50/50 engine/battery split, addressing insufficient battery power on long straights, and limiting manufacturer veto influence—plus how throttle mapping can make overtakes feel arbitrary. The discussion broadens to sustainable fuels, endurance-style balance of performance, and F1’s broadcast-rights deals (Sky and Apple). Listener emails cover Red Bull Cola availability and a famous “Gimli Glider” emergency landing.
Danny and Rob return for another mini break in the schedule to talk about 2027 rules, Max at the Nürburgring and answer some of your emails.
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