[intro music]

00:00:00 Hannah 

Hi, I'm Hannah. 

00:00:10 Rachelle 

Hi, I'm Rachelle. And welcome to Box Box F1 Pod! Today we are celebrating our second Grand Prix in Austria by revisiting the story of one of the greatest Austrian drivers in Formula One history, Niki Lauda. Woo. But before we kick things off, it's time for our digital roundup. 

00:00:32 Hannah 

So, as we mentioned a few weeks ago, Singapore was cancelled and now in its place is Turkey. Turkey is back on October 3rd. 

00:00:49 Hannah 

No, I was just going to say all I know is that Lewis won there. I think the last time, but that doesn't mean anything. 

00:00:55 Rachelle 

Oh no, it doesn’t. I was going to say all I know is that they cancelled and then they uncancelled. 

00:01:06 Hannah 

Yes, cause they, Turkey originally cancelled due to the quarantine restrictions like I think they.

00:01:12 Rachelle 

But no, did Turkey cancel or did F1 cancel? Because there wasn't enough time between grands prix for them to. 

00:01:19 Hannah 

Well yeah, there was like a 14-day quarantine or something, but regardless. 

00:01:24 Rachelle 

Right, so it's F1’s fault. It's not the country’s fault, right? 

00:01:29 Hannah 

Like Turkey knows the schedule too. 

00:01:33 Rachelle 

Basically, everyone’s stupid. 

00:01:36 Hannah 

Right, like everyone knows, you know there's not that much time between grands prix like, obviously the drivers have to get there like, you know, at least like three to four days before the race. And everyone knows there’s like, usually like a weekend apart, so I think. 

00:01:50 Rachelle 

But aren't we in Sochi? On September 27th? So, do they not have to quarantine between Russia and Turkey? 

00:02:00 Hannah 

Well, that's what I'm saying, like I wonder if COVID’s over now. 

00:02:04 Rachelle 

Maybe it's because the drivers are getting vaccinated now. Some of them were posting that they were getting vaccinated. 

00:02:11 Hannah 

Speaking of COVID restrictions lifting, Silverstone is going to be full capacity. 

00:02:17 Hannah 

Yes, is it Silverstone? 

00:02:20 Rachelle 

I've been saying Silverstone. We have your favourite British commentator back as a guest for Silverstone and I'm sure he'll be, Dyaus, in case you guys forgot. He'll be back. And I'm sure he’ll be happy to correct our pronunciation. 

00:02:38 Rachelle 

Yeah, sure. 

00:02:39 Hannah 

Yes, can’t wait. Yeah, so anyways they opened up to full capacity, which everyone's just been really excited about. Not that I've ever been to a grand prix, but I assume it's more fun with more people. 

00:02:51 Rachelle 

Yeah, you win, and it's just silence. 

00:02:55 Hannah 

That would be depressing. That reminds me, we didn't mention in our last episode that the FIA got super mad that Max was doing like skid burns on the track after he wanted to celebrate and they're like, oh, never do that there. 

00:03:12 Rachelle 

It's called a burnout. He did it. So, basically I think he was like 30 seconds ahead so when he crossed the finish line he's like I have time for a quick burnout but it was right at the finish line like where his team was cheering him on. 

00:03:25 Hannah 

Yeah, it was weird. 

00:03:27 Rachelle 

Yes, I was confused, I though he's just going to get out there like his car was broken or what. But he just, is it fun to do? I don't understand, you’re damaging the track and your tyres. 

00:03:39 Hannah 

I mean, it made squiggly lines. 

00:03:41 Rachelle 

Beautiful. I mean if he's not going to write something like at least make it. 

00:03:46 Hannah 

Why didn't it say thank you? 

00:03:51 Rachelle 

Yeah. Or woo hoo. Do something interesting. 

00:03:53 Hannah 

Or a heart? A smiley face. No, yeah, he just made a squiggly line. Which to his, in his defence, that's very feasible to do in the short amount of time he had before the FIA found him. 

00:04:09 Rachelle 

They’re making a fair point that it's a very dangerous spot. People are going to like bump right into him, but he was 30 seconds ahead. 

00:04:18 Hannah 

He was being spontaneous in the moment, and he's clearly so happy. 

00:04:24 Rachelle 

Like I know, but you know I mean, the formula, which is why it's called Formula, because of all the rules. Fun doesn't really fit into that equation. You can't have rules and regulations and fun.

00:04:36 Hannah 

Right, well, that's why we invented this podcast, to inject fun. 

00:04:42 Rachelle 

We put the fun in formula 1.

00:04:44 Hannah 

Exactly exactly. That’s a great little motto. 

00:04:47 Hannah 

Yeah, that's a T-shirt. 

00:04:49 Rachelle 

Yeah it is. But I was going to say. That Michael Masi just seems to like be constantly, like, processing disappointment after disappointment. It’s an unhappy life.

00:05:02 Hannah 

Like to me, the equivalent of a principal at a middle school which is just like stupid bureaucratic rules. It is not that everyone else is like a teenager, but you know, it's just like enforcing rules that people don't really give a shit about. 

00:05:18 Rachelle 

But it's also like if the teachers banded with the students against the principal. 

00:05:23 Hannah 

Yeah, his life sucks to be clear. 

00:05:29 Rachelle 

OK, so also, we thought it would be good to clarify because we didn't know. But. so we have two grands prix in Austria in a row. Last week, was the Styrian Grand Prix, named after the county the track is in. This week is the Austrian Grand Prix named for the country the track is in. Why name the same exact track two different things rather than like Austrian Grand Prix #1 and Austrian Grand Prix #2? For the longest time I thought Styrian Grand Prix was a typo and that they were in Syria. 

00:06:15 Hannah 

Well, that would be bleak. Like that would not be good.I don't really know if the local community would have any part in that. 

00:06:28 Rachelle 

No, probably not. To be fair, logic should have overridden that confusion. I just didn't process that there were two Austrian grands prix named different things. 

00:06:38 Hannah 

Every grand prix on the schedule has to have a different name. Even though technically Austria one and Austria two are different names. Like be more specific. In other news, BWT, which is the big sponsor for Aston Martin and formerly Racing Point, and if you all remember racing point was bubble gum pink. That was their livery color and then Lawrence Stroll like bought out Aston Martin, rebranded Racing Point, and also changed their livery color this year to British Racing Green, which I find beautiful and classy. So BWT is begging Lawrence Stroll to make Aston Martin pink.

00:07:28 Rachelle 

Sorry I just remembered that when they had their release party or whatever and Otmar had to show up and he's like I had to go to the store and buy all this pink stuff.

00:07:48 Hannah 

Like the entire party, which they showed on Drive to Survive, everything is bubble gum pink, from the carpet to the walls to everyone's attire. I mean it's a lot and I just want to say it's the BWT CEO. Imagine being the CEO of a giant water treatment company, setting up a meeting with Lawrence Stroll and getting on his calendar and your opening line is can you make Aston Martin pink? 

00:08:16 Rachelle 

He had great arguments. He said it was more noticeable, so it was better for marketing. But I’d just like to say that just because we notice you doesn't mean we want to use you. 

00:08:27 Hannah 

OK exactly. And just for context, BWT is an Austrian water treatment company and what their acronym stands for is best water technology. 

00:08:41 Rachelle 

Or how are they at treating water?  Are they good at it?

00:08:42 Hannah 

I mean, if you go to their website, you just think wow they must be the best. But I don't know. I've never seen them outside of F1, which I guess to their point, I only know them from F1, but I'm also like I literally don't know any other water treatment company. 

00:09:00 Rachelle 

So, it worked. If you were to name a water treatment company.

00:09:06 Hannah 

But I'm like that's not why I’m gonna buy it? Are they in my area?

00:09:11 Rachelle 

Is it on an individual basis? Like, who is this aimed at? Who buys water treatment stuff? Like governments?

00:09:21 Hannah 

Why do they need the F1 fans to know them? This isn't a consumer good. No, I have no idea, but basically Lawrence, I think in a nice way said no. I read the interview like that BWT, the CEO, did with like one of the auto sport reporters and maybe this was lost in translation, but BWT said Aston Martin boss, Lawrence Stroll, understands that my heart is bleeding. If the Aston Martin were pink, Cognizant would also have more fun because the recognition value would be much higher. 

00:10:07 Rachelle 

Does he bleed pink? 

00:10:08 Hannah 

Yes, my heart is bleeding bubble gum pink. So yeah, I don't know what they’re talking about, but they're being super dramatic and Lawrence basically has to, he has to slowly put down a water company. 

00:10:18 Rachelle 

I feel like Lawrence can handle this. 

00:10:21 Hannah 

He took fashion to Canada. He could handle a small water company. 

00:10:26 Rachelle 

I think, OK, this is my resolution. If Lawrence is looking for one. They will have a pink livery, should there ever be a grand prix on a Wednesday. 

00:10:36 Hannah 

The BWT CEO took we wear pink on Wednesdays to a whole other level. 

00:10:44 Rachelle 

Yes, he did. He is the Regina George of F1. 

00:10:47 Hannah 

The last thing I wanted to say, so we became famous on Reddit again, but even more. Our meme about curved cap Max versus flat brim Max, people are losing their minds over. So yeah, check that out. But also on Reddit there's a plot, to have everyone vote for Kimi for Driver of the Day, this Sunday. 

00:11:15 Rachelle 

They take it to like during that interview in the car. So, the interviewer like radios in to tell the person that their driver of the day. So, there was a funny video a few weeks ago where when Sebastian Vettel was Driver of the Day. And that interviewing lady like phoned him on the radio and she's like congrats Seb, you’re Driver of the Day and he's like how did you get my number? 

00:11:35 Hannah 

Oh, that's what they were saying. Yeah, I saw that on Reddit and people were like no one will ever beat that. But give Kimi a shot

00:11:41 Rachelle 

No, that was pretty funny. Yeah, I think he’d just be like, k. So, I think it'd be funny. 

00:11:50 Hannah 

Or he'd just say it's a hobby for me. 

00:11:56 Rachelle 

If you haven't seen it, there is a clip going around, I don't know if it's TikTok or whatever, Instagram, of like a compilation of all the drivers going, F1 is like you need, it's like creating a diamond in the rough. It's so challenging. I want to be in the fastest car. I need to beat Lewis. Like this is like everything for me. And then it just goes to Kimi and he goes, this is a hobby for me. I don't have to do it if I don't want to.

00:12:22 Hannah 

So yeah, this is the first time I'm going to vote for driver of the day, but I really do. 

00:12:29 Rachelle 

Do you know how? 

00:12:30 Hannah 

Yeah, you have to go to like f1.com. 

00:12:33 Rachelle 

Oh OK. 

00:12:34 Hannah 

It should be pretty easy. I encourage everybody to do it because I need, I just need this to happen. Yeah, it'll catch Kimi off guard. 

00:12:46 Rachelle 

I think so too. Probably cause he won't be the Driver of the Day. 

00:12:48 Hannah 

And I don't think he peruses Reddit. 

00:12:53 Rachelle 

He doesn't even play FIFA, I don't think he does anything besides dote on his wife and children. 

00:12:57 Hannah 

Exactly, he's a family man. There's nothing to be ashamed about that, but. 

00:13:04 Rachelle 

Also, do 41-year-olds hang out on Reddit? Because if they do.

00:13:04 Hannah 

I mean, who do you think is commenting on all our stuff? 

00:13:08 Rachelle 

I hope not 41-year-old men.

00:13:11 Hannah 

OK so for our Max meme, with the hats, people are just like, he does look better in a curved cap. So I’m like, you're taking time out of your day to just comment, he looks better, I'm just like who does that? 

00:13:28 Rachelle 

A 41-year-old man apparently. I do want to read one of the funniest comments we got on that. 

Oh, “Mercedes is already complaining about the flexibility of the cap. Which I thought was funny, so did 586 other people. For context though, are think of 5.9K upvotes, so. And a lot of awards. 

00:13:52 Hannah 

And no downvotes. 

00:13:54 Rachelle 

No downvotes, yes. 

00:13:56 Hannah 

We got awards for being helpful, wholesome, hugs, and silver. 

00:14:04 Rachelle 

Hannah texted me, put that on your LinkedIn. Which I might. 

00:14:09 Hannah 

Do you want to talk about Daniel and Lando? 

00:14:11 Rachelle 

Oh yeah, McLaren released their usual Unboxed video that they do every Wednesday after a grand prix, showing the behind the scenes, which, by the way, if anyone from McLaren is listening I would really like it if you caption it because most of it is like drowned out by engine noises and I don't know what anyone is saying. But there was a cute moment of Lando and Daniel playing darts and I wouldn't go so far as to say there was chemistry, but the darts certainly brought them closer together than Australian and English snacks. 

00:14:52 Hannah 

Were they playing against each other? Did you see who won? 

00:14:57 Rachelle 

The first time I think Daniel did. He was the closest. Then they took a step back and Daniel ended all of them into the pavement. And some engineer was shouting I just bought those. I just bought those. And Lando got them all in on the board. 

00:15:11 Hannah 

He just bought the pavement? Oh, the darts. Just like what kind of engineers by concrete? 

00:15:26 Rachelle 

The darts.

00:15:27 Hannah 

Alrighty, that makes sense. No, darts are extremely valuable and a lot of people actually like have their own personal set so. 

00:15:35 Rachelle 

I didn't know that. But yeah, so I think in the future, if they're going to be doing more Lando and Daniel content, I highly recommend staying away from food or any sort of thing that requires communication. 

00:15:49 Hannah

Every relationship is unique. Yes, you gotta find what works for you. 

00:15:52 Rachelle

Yes exactly. And they need to be paying attention. They can't just recreate Carlando. 

00:15:55 Hannah

They do not have bants.

00:15:59 Rachelle 

They do not have bants. They each have bands individually.

00:16:10 Hannah

No inter-bants. 

00:16:11 Rachelle 

Listen, we need to find a middle ground. 

00:16:14 Hannah 

Yes, McLaren if you're still listening somehow. 

00:16:19 Rachelle 

Please find my cover letter I wrote you a brilliant cover letter. Should I read it on here one day? I'm going to read it on here one day.

00:16:25 Hannah 

Yes, if our listeners, would like Rachelle to read her McLaren cover letter, please DM us immediately. 

00:16:34 Rachelle 

It was a pretty good cover letter to be fair. 

00:16:36 Hannah 

It was very good. 

00:16:37 Rachelle 

It was good enough to not be ghosted. 

00:16:41 Hannah 

Yeah, but McLaren thinks they're hot shit I guess. So that concludes our digital roundup. And now we will discuss the movie Rush, which you can stream on Netflix and to intro that we're going to give a brief overview of Niki Lauda. So Niki was born in Vienna. And I guess he came from like a pretty wealthy family and business, but he really wanted to be an F1 driver, but his family disapproved, and he went on anyway. Things which I just want to say right off the bat, cause that's kind of how the movie starts out. Like once you get intro to Niki, it's just like everyone’s been through that shit.  No one has lived up to their family’s hopes. So good for you, Niki. 

00:17:30 Rachelle 

Am I am I basically the Niki of my life if I got an English literature degree and my poor Russian Jewish family almost died because it wasn't a doctor, accountant, lawyer, engineer. 

00:17:45 Hannah 

Yes, you are the Niki of your life. 

00:17:46 Rachelle 

Thank you and I have achieved almost the same amount. 

00:17:51 Hannah 

Yes, so yeah. So even despite him coming from a wealthy family, since they didn't support him, Niki had to fund himself and he bought his way onto an F1 team by taking out a personal bank loan. So technically, he was a pay driver.

00:18:08 Rachelle 

Yeah, but he paid for himself. So, cause he set stipulations right? He was like yes, I will give you money if this and this and this happens. Otherwise, you're not getting my money. 

00:18:20 Hannah 

OK, so that's how he got started. It was a rocky start. No one really knew him. He had to pay for himself, but in the end, he became a three-time world driver champion in 1975, 1977, and 1984. And he won his first two championships with Ferrari and the last one with McLaren. And he's the only F1 driver to win championships for both teams and those two are the most successful constructor’s in F1 history, so that's like a big deal. And then he retired from F1 in 1985 to become an airline entrepreneur. 

00:19:00 Rachelle 

Fancy. And he married one of the hostesses. 

00:19:03 Hannah 

Yup he did, but that was later. That was like a second marriage. OK, but I think a lot of people who listen to our podcasts have watched Drive to Survive, so you might recognize Niki from a season 2 episode 1 in Drive to Survive. And just a little history of like his relation to the current day teams. In 2013 he became the non-executive chairman of Mercedes which was around the same time that Toto joined Mercedes. And Niki was very instrumental in signing Hamilton away from McLaren to join Mercedes in 2013. 

00:19:41 Rachelle 

After like watching the movie, it was really obvious how he influenced Mercedes in the way they approach everything. Like you can see a lot of his mindset reflected in how Lewis and Toto conduct themselves, I think. 

00:19:54 Hannah 

Yeah, fully agree. Yeah, the Drive to Survive episode about Niki was of course cantered on Mercedes, and like explicitly Lewis and Toto talk a lot about how Niki has influenced them and their team. And yeah, Niki passed away in 2019. And so, the episode showed all of the F1 teams, and kind of like the whole F1 community, paying tribute to him at the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix. And Toto shared that every single grand prix, he and Niki drove in the same car, just like the two of them to and from and shared meals together all the time and they were like actually best friends. So cute.

00:20:41 Rachelle 

Two little Austrians hanging out. 

00:20:44 Hannah 

If Toto loves you, then I love you. I mean, well, let's get into Niki personality later. I'm again, I think Toto.

00:20:57 Rachelle 

Toto’s a god amongst men. 

00:21:02 Hannah 

Toto’s a god amongst men. That needs to be a T-shirt. Do you wanna intro the characters in Rush?

00:21:06 Rachelle 

Yeah, sure, so Niki Lauda was played by Daniel Brühl. Who was in Marvel! He was a villain in Marvel. And you know who was also in Marvel, Chris Hemsworth. So, this is basically Marvel reimagined. So, Niki Lauda approved Daniel to play him, and they hung out so that he could study his mannerisms. And they even attended a grand prix together. 

00:21:32 Hannah 

Niki, in the movie was portrayed as very intelligent and hardworking, but has literally zero chill, which apparently, after the real Niki Lauda saw this movie, he was like, wow, that's me. 

00:21:51 Rachelle 

I am no fun at all. 

00:21:54 Hannah 

No. Zero fun, zero chill and I love it. But yeah, like his very first scene where James Hunt, his rival is like who's that? They say it's Niki Lauda, an Austrian driver. No one knows him, but he's been up since 5AM doing a track walk. Just like a man who respects a track walk, I mean. Those are far and few these days.

00:22:21 Rachelle 

Good for him. 

00:22:21 Hannah 

Yeah, no one cares about track walks anymore. 

00:22:25 Rachelle 

If I’d been walking a track from 5:00 AM, I would not be able to compete, I'd be tired from walking a track since 5:00 AM. 

00:22:34 Hannah 

But what if you had zero chill? 

00:22:37 Rachelle 

Then I would be, I'm just a machine. 

00:22:41 Hannah 

And apparently, like one of the first like really impressive scenes in the movie is that Niki, somehow they don't even explain how or why, but he knew how to re-engineer an entire F1 car right off the bat. 

00:22:55 Rachelle 

In a night. Yeah, so he seemed very unlikable. Like extremely unlikable at the beginning. But, so this was a different team. I forgot what the team, they don't compete anymore. 

00:23:04 Hannah 

It was just like British racing motors that was actually, BRM. 

00:23:09 Rachelle 

BRRRRM. So his teammate there was, I forgot his name again.

00:23:13 Hannah 

Regazzoni!

00:23:14 Rachelle 

Regazzoni like tried to become friends with him and Niki was like sorry I got to go do a track walk. Basically, just like ignored him. But clearly Regazzoni was impressed because he got offered a spot on Ferrari, or he came back to Ferrari, and he demanded that he would only come back if they also signed Niki Lauda. 

00:23:42 Hannah 

Well, the thing is like when Niki re-engineered his car at BRM, I don't know if this really happened in real life, but in the movie he was like, Regazzoni, get into my car and like do the same track you just did and I promise you it'll be faster or whatever. And it was indeed 2.3 seconds faster, and so I think the main thing is like the value that Niki brought was, he was some sort of car genius and could make them go faster. 

00:24:14 Rachelle 

In a night. In one night. 

00:24:16 Hannah 

Yeah, imagine what he can do in a season. I think you should intro James Hunt and Chris Hemsworth. 

00:24:28 Rachelle 

OK, before I intro James Hunt, at the beginning of this episode, I said that we put the fun in Formula One. The real person to put fun in Formula One was James Hunt. The whole movie, the theme was sort of like putting the fun in F1 versus putting the formula in F1 because. 

00:24:47 Hannah 

That's a great way to put it. 

00:24:49 Rachelle 

Thank you. To all of Niki's like rigid, like, structure and like he was so committed and so serious and so anal, and like didn't have time for anything. James Hunt was the polar opposite. And he’s played by Chris Hemsworth, and if any of you have seen End Game, the last Marvel movie, Chris Hemsworth’s vibes with the pot belly and the drinking all day and all night. That was sort of James Hunt's vibe. He was a British Playboy like and.

00:25:22 Hannah 

Even have like the long blonde hair and everything. 

00:25:25 Rachelle 

Yes, very 70s. And he seemed to be the kind of person that only had to look at a woman and she would immediately have sex with him. 

00:25:35 Hannah 

He apparently, in real life, and in the movie, had a patch on his like driving suit that said: sex, breakfast of champions. He was actually known for showing up to races hungover but also like having sex like that morning. 

00:25:53 Rachelle 

And he threw up before every single race. 

00:25:55 Hannah 

It sounds like a nice pick me up to really get the adrenaline going. 

00:26:01 Rachelle 

So now that you know who we're dealing with, and I think you do. I think that was a that was a good summary of James Hunt, right? 

00:26:11 Hannah 

Yeah, I mean basically. 

00:26:11 Rachelle 

Have fun, party hard, and took risks, which was what made him a good driver. He took risks. He was not consistent, but the risks paid off. Which is why he was worth investing in. Ish. 

00:26:24 Hannah 

Yeah, and like Niki was very adamant on like I forget the exact percentage, but he's like I'm only gonna take like a 20% risk. Like he's like, I'm a genius. But James was like, no like don't put numbers on this because you know every time we get out there we're like risking our lives and the unknown is like what's exciting about it. So, like don't pretend like it's 20%. And Niki was like OK.

00:26:50 Rachelle 

He literally was like, you take the fun out of this. And Niki was like what's fun about it? I'm only doing it cause I'm not good at anything else, which seems like he's clearly could be a great engineer. But he's not. 

00:27:01 Hannah 

But The thing is, he is a really good driver. He has a natural talent for driving and understanding the car and like I honestly think if you had those abilities like you have to be an F1 driver. 

00:27:15 Rachelle 

You're right, yeah, you're right. 

00:27:16 Hannah 

He's not having fun, he's miserable, but this is what God gave him. He was destined for this. 

00:27:23 Rachelle 

Yes, he's like all the, you know, the like chosen one. He was chosen. None of them enjoy the ride, saving the world, saving everyone, but he has no choice. He was born for it and must fulfil his destiny. 

00:27:37 Hannah 

Yes, so basically to sum it up, Niki Lauda was forced to drive an F1 by his natural talent, but he didn’t it really enjoy it, whereas James Hunt was, as a British Playboy who really like driving an F1 for the women and booze and glamour. 

00:27:58 Rachelle 

There was a lot of booze. He was drinking at press conferences. Another thing about James Hunt is his first wife left him for Richard Burton. 

00:28:09 Hannah 

Richard Burton apparently has been married five times, twice to Elizabeth Taylor. 

00:28:15 Rachelle 

Yes, and the thing about Richard Burton. I know he was a great actor, yadda yadda yadda. I don't, the only thing I know about Richard Burton, like the only time I ever hear about him is people leaving their husbands for him like, what was he like? 

00:28:35 Hannah 

Suzy Miller in the movie said she felt adored. There there you go. 

00:28:38 Rachelle 

Like we said, I actually I don't think we've said it, but the movie focuses on the rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt, specifically 1976, the season, the Formula One season in 1976. It was preceded by Niki winning the 1975 championship and he was leading in 1976, but James Hunt was finally in a great car, in the McLaren, and he was able to keep up. Ish. But as Niki kept like, shit-talking him, it's about consistency, not about one race. It all led to the climax, which was the German Grand Prix in 1976. 

00:29:24 Hannah 

So, the 1976 German Grand Prix was at the Nürburgring. During that weekend, like before the race, it was raining and so Niki called like a little meeting with all the drivers, and he was like let's cancel this race, like the conditions are wet. It's already a dangerous track to begin with, like it's not worth the risk. And James, and the majority of other drivers, voted to keep racing so the race moves forward and it wasn't really raining that hard during the race and it stopped at a certain point so they all changed to dry tyres and after the pit stop Niki spun out, crashed into a wall, his Ferrari burst into flames and another car crashed into his car and I think another car came in and collided with them. It was a huge ball of fire. Like really horrific looking. And like the other drivers did try to like pull them out and eventually did. But, of course, like it was really hard to. So, it took 55 seconds and it was over 800 degrees. He was in there for almost a minute, and so he almost died and inhaled hot toxic fumes and suffered several burns like especially on his head like I think like almost his entire ear and like forehead and everything was like burned off and he fell into a coma. And so, he was in the hospital for weeks. Well, I don't know how long it took him for him to become conscious, but he did eventually wake up from the coma. But obviously in like a very like not good state where yeah, he couldn't really do anything, so he was just like laying in bed. And he had the TV on and was watching the Formula One races that were still going on. And those weeks that he was out, he missed two grands prix and James actually won both of them and so he pretty much almost caught up to Niki in points for the championship for that season. And that really motivated Niki to recover. And get back out there. 

00:31:31 Rachelle 

As he said to James later, he said you might have put me in there, but you also got me out, which doesn't sound particularly reassuring. 

00:31:39 Hannah 

Basically, like when he wakes up from the coma, and especially after he takes off his bandages. There's like, he's permanently scarred and like burned, and he had to get like a skin graft like on his like head. And so, it was significant and like, yeah. 

00:31:55 Rachelle 

He came back after six weeks, six weeks. 

00:31:59 Hannah 

The doctors didn't recommend that. 

00:32:02 Rachelle 

No one should have. It showed him trying to put a helmet on his severely burned head. 

00:32:11 Hannah

So yeah, after six weeks of recovery and missing two races, Niki came back for the Italian Grand Prix in Monza and he has a rocky start, but he gets it together and ends up finishing in P4, which is incredible given the condition he was in obviously. 

00:32:36 Rachelle

He's half burned. Half his skin was off his face and his body. 

00:32:38 Hannah 

Yeah, well, so basically after the Italian grand prix, Niki was ahead of James by like 3 points or something very minimal. And so it all came down to this final Grand Prix in Japan. And it was very dark and rainy. Which immediately gave everyone PTSD, I think. But especially Niki. 

00:33:04 Rachelle 

And James apparently, like he took it very personally, that crash. 

00:33:08 Hannah 

Oh yeah, no yes, no. Like there were many people at fault. But yeah, James did take it very personally and felt very guilty. So when he saw the rain this time in Japan, James was like can we cancel? And the FIA or whoever was like, no, we already paid all the television stations. We can't. 

00:33:31 Rachelle 

Cash is king. 

00:33:33 Hannah 

Cash is king. 

00:33:34 Rachelle 

And then James threw up because he was stressed about the rain. But also, he just slept with 33 women, so that must have taken a toll. 

00:33:42 Hannah 

So, they start racing even though it's seriously so rainy and dangerous. And also a weird scene in the movie James, his team drilled a hole in his glass visor, but they did it while his helmet was on his head, so the drill almost went into his eye. They were saying your visor, or like helmet, will fog up from like all the condensation if we don't drill this hole to like error rate it basically and he's like but water will get it and then and they're like no not if you're in the front. You know, if you're behind another car, you get sprayed a lot, but it's like OK, But, there's also rain like I don't sound how water would be kept out. 

00:34:21 Rachelle 

There was a spell in Harry Potter where Hermione fixes his glasses so the rain wouldn't fog up his glasses when he played Quidditch. And I feel like that would have been useful here. 

00:34:31 Hannah 

But I think that's what modern helmets are kind of like. Like they don't get very foggy or have condensation as much as before. They've like created technology around that. Anyways, I think that was just to emphasize how rainy it was, so they're all racing and then Niki decides to stop mid-race and in the movie it shows that like what he's thinking about when he makes that decision is of course he's like terrified of dying like he almost did before, and he's thinking about his wife. But I also read online, that in reality, like one of the main reasons is because he was so quick out of recovery, his tear ducts were damaged from the burns he got, and so he actually didn't really have the ability to blink and so his eyes got super watery. And then combined with like obviously the lack of visibility with the rain he just like legit, could not see. 

00:35:27 Rachelle 

I still think it was an incredibly mature thing to do, because, for example, James Hunt would have continued racing. 

00:35:36 Hannah 

Yeah, well OK. And so, then James get in gets into his pit stop which is like the longest pit stop I've ever seen and it must be a little bit of Hollywood cause they have a full on conversation during his pit stops. And like his race engineer’s like you know, take it easy, he's like what. You don’t have time for this! 

00:35:53 Rachelle 

Get on the radio, Sir. You have two-way communication. 

00:36:02 Hannah 

I'm like seriously, when that scene was happening and they're like taking their time with this conversation. I'm like there's no way he's gonna finish P3 because of this. 

00:36:14 Rachelle 

He literally just plopped down onto the chassis and was like patting his shoulder, and was like James, we want you back in one piece. 

00:36:19 Hannah 

He’s like what's going on. Let's not be crazy out there. And he's like, what do you mean? And the race engineer is like, you know, it's kind of dangerous. It's like let's get you back and alive and Jesus like I forget what he says. But he's essentially like fuck it. Let's do it live. 

00:36:38 Rachelle 

That's what he said. He was in P6 when he left the pit lane. He does some crazy driving and he crosses the finish line. But there is confusion because, I don't know why, but the scoreboard says he's in P5, but everyone's ledgers, cause apparently people took notes during races, said that he was in P3. And James obviously saw the scoreboard and he came, and he started apologizing to the McLaren guy. Like I'm so sorry. I tried hard and the McLaren guy is like what do you mean? You won. 

00:37:14 Hannah 

And that so he finished in P3 and won the World Driver Championship by one point over Niki. 

00:37:23 Rachelle 

Yes, and Niki didn't seem too upset about it. 

00:37:26 Hannah 

No, cause people were like, do you regret like not racing? And he's like no like, not at all like he would make that same decision. Well, Niki kinda threw some shade at the end of the movie cause he was like you know, James, like you need to, cause James after he won was like partying per usual. But really, not like driving that much, just partying. And Niki's like you should get some practice in, you know, like you gotta go do this again. And James is like why do I have to go do this again? And Niki, he's like well to prove to the people you just didn't win cause like I got burned and almost died. And James is like, are people saying that? Oh shit.

00:38:09 Rachelle 

Who said that? 

00:38:11 Hannah 

That's what happened. It was on point and Niki missed two races and was almost dead for the rest of them. 

00:38:18 Hannah 

And he still managed to be only one point behind James. 

00:38:22 Rachelle 

And it was like, he made a good point, the voiceover of Niki made a good point, where he was like James just needed to win one championship. That’s what he needed and he was good. He retired two years later. I guess. One thing I want to say before we talk about our favourite scenes is that in real life the rivalry between them wasn't as intense as they showed in the movie. Like yes, they were rivals on track, but they were actually friends before the burn. 

00:38:51 Hannah 

But they were apparently even flatmate. 

00:38:52 Rachelle

Yeah. 

00:38:55 Hannah 

James was like the only person he could deal with like off the track like you know cause obviously as drivers they hang out a lot and like kind of have random downtime. And he was like I didn't really care for the other drivers, but he would have conversations with James and they hung out off the track. And he said he was like the only person he respected. 

00:39:17 Rachelle 

Which I think means a lot coming from Niki Lauda. 

00:39:21 Hannah 

Extremely. And also, it was really cute Niki Lauda after he saw this Rush movie. He was like, yeah, I really wish James was here to see it because he would have loved it. Basically, the way the movie ends, and this is also something in real life like James died when he was 45 of a heart attack. 

00:39:48 Rachelle 

I mean, I'm surprised he lasted that long. Given the lifestyle he was leading. 

00:39:53 Hannah 

Yeah, no like he was living a dangerous life. But I mean I'm not going to say like it's a happy ending cause it's like a death of someone, but it was like kind of heart-warming, like despite their like rivalry and obviously all this trauma that happened, they actually really respected and enjoyed each other’s company. And like Niki, clearly like missed him when he was gone and like their whole thing was like they both pushed each other to do their best and arguably like they wouldn't have been like who they were or performed how they did without each other. 

00:40:30 Rachelle 

Like you need a rival, you need someone to push you in that way. 

00:40:34 Hannah 

OK, so that wraps up kind of main plot of the movie, but we did want to bring up some of our favourite little scenes. First right off the bat, when Niki meets Marlene, his first wife. They go into Marlene's car on the road, and he can tell there's something wrong with it, and so he tells her what the problems are, and she asked, how do you know what's wrong with my car? 

00:41:01 Rachelle 

He says, my ass. Cause she was like I just got this car detailed. There's nothing wrong with it and then obviously the next scene is them broken down in the middle of the road and then they got picked up by two Italian people who freaked out when they saw Niki Lauda and she was so confused. She’s like am I supposed to know who you are?

00:41:22 Hannah 

They were actually fangirling over him. They were like, oh my God. 

00:41:26 Rachelle 

Yeah, like squealing. 

00:41:28 Hannah 

Niki's in my car Niki's driving my car. And she's like, OK, this is bizarre. 

00:41:35 Rachelle 

Yeah, I love her. I like truly do. And they stayed, so they stayed good friend after they divorced. She's pretty good friends with his second wife. He left her a house and money and like. 

00:41:50 Hannah 

In Ibiza.

00:41:52 Rachelle 

Yeah.

00:41:52 Hannah 

OK, another part that really reminded me of us was the Ferrari scene. When Niki gets into the Ferrari for like the first time, I think you should re-enact the whole thing. 

00:42:03 Rachelle 

OK, Niki gets into the pit box, looks at the Ferrari engineer and goes, it's terrible. It drives like a pig. And the engineer goes you can't say that, Niki. And Niki goes, why not? And the engineer goes, it’s a Ferrari. And he goes, it is a shit box. 

00:42:22 Hannah 

Yes

00:42:24 Rachelle 

And we'd just like to remind Niki that Ferrari is iconic. We loved Regazzoni.

00:42:31 Hannah 

His first name is Clay. 

00:42:34 Rachelle 

Clay’s his nickname. His real name is Gianclaudio Giuseppe “Clay” Regazzoni. Also, I know where he's from. 

00:42:47 Hannah 

OK, where is he from? 

00:42:55 Rachelle 

He's from next to Guenther. Oh wait, sorry OK. He's the equivalent of Guenther in Switzerland, so Guenther is from the German-speaking part of Italy. This man is from the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. His wife’s name is Maria Pia. 

00:43:14 Hannah 

Maria Pia. Mamma Mia. I can't with these people. Can you talk about why you love Clay?

00:43:23 Rachelle 

He's just chill. You know what I mean? Like he tries to befriend Niki like gives him some advice about a girl Niki was considering asking out. Niki just like ignored him. And he wasn't bothered. He just like kind of switched tactics. And then when Niki was an asshole, Clay was like I brought you to this party to introduce you to people, but whatever you're on your own. But like he was still his friend. And then he insisted that he come with him to Ferrari. So even though he was kind of a dick, he like could see past that he could see that that was just like a personality trait yeah of his determination rather than him being an actual asshole. 

00:44:01 Hannah 

And instrumentally, well, actually no, it had no effect. But he did, Clay voted with Niki not to race in Germany. Which wasn't enough to do anything, 

00:44:10 Rachelle 

but the sentiment was appreciated. 

00:44:23 Hannah

Yes, huge vote of confidence in their friendship and another scene that we really liked was when he woke up from the hospital and the doctor told Marlene what his first words were out of his coma. 

00:44:34 Rachelle 

Tell the priest to fuck off. I am still alive. That was so bad. My German accent is terrible.  

00:44:44 Rachelle 

But I thought that was amusing. And I'm not surprised that Niki was not a religious man. 

00:45:00 Rachelle 

But I mean they called the priest in because they seriously thought he was going to die, and so they read him his last rites. 

00:45:00 Rachelle 

Last rites? He's not arrested. Like the death prayer? Are there rights for when you die?

00:45:02 Hannah 

Yeah. What do you mean arrested? I didn't say Miranda Rights. 

00:45:07 Rachelle 

What does that mean? 

00:45:08 Hannah 

It’s when the priest comes to your deathbed.

00:45:10 Rachelle 

No, I know that, but I just don't understand why it's called the rights. Because what rights do you have? 

00:45:16 Hannah 

It's not rights. It’s rites. 

00:45:25 Rachelle 

I’m Jewish. We don't have Last Rites. 

00:45:30 Hannah 

It's the last prayers, I guess it’s like their last hope to get you into heaven?

00:45:35 Rachelle 

Yeah, forgive them for their sins, I don't know. Christians are always asking to be forgiven for their sins, so I guess that's what it is. 

00:45:43 Hannah 

One last time! Let's try this one last time before it's over. 

00:45:48 Rachelle 

I love it that I thought you said Miranda rights. 

00:45:51 Hannah 

Is he arrested? No, he just got out of a coma. What crime could he have committed in a coma? OK, so generally would you recommend this movie?

00:45:59 Rachelle 

Yes.

00:46:04 Hannah

Me too.

00:46:08 Rachelle 

It tells the story and it builds characters and it does the job. 

00:46:11 Hannah 

Something that I thought was funny that someone told me is cause, you know we reviewed this movie to celebrate Niki Lauda, who's like the greatest like, well, he's one of the greatest F1 drivers period. But for sure like the greatest Austrian F1 driver. So, it was appropriate to do it before the Austrian Grand Prix. But someone told me Niki is the most German non-German person ever. And like yes, like seriously like OK, cause you know we were talking about Austrians before. Like you know the previous episode where like Toto Wolf, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Captain Von Trapp. Like those are Austrians. And then you have Niki. 

00:47:01 Rachelle 

Yes, very disciplined, very regimented, very German. 

00:47:07 Hannah 

You know Niki has his own type of kind of like charm or likeability, but it's certainly not, it's not like Toto or Arnold charm, you know like. 

00:47:18 Rachelle 

No, looks very different. He also looks different. 

00:47:19 Hannah 

He's not a massive bodybuilder. Apparently his nickname was Super Rat. And but now I'm just wondering, like is he kind of more your typical Austrian, and then like Toto and Arnold are more the outliers? 

00:47:41 Rachelle

Who is the real Austrian?

00:47:43 Hannah 

Yeah no, there’s no way everyone in Austria is Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

00:47:51 Rachelle 

Yeah, we know about it by now. We've been derailed. Yeah, that wraps up our review of Rush and a lot of other Formula One stuff. 

00:48:02 Rachelle 

This week we're in Austria again, but this time it is for the Austrian GP rather than the Styrian GP. And we will be at the Red Bull Ring. I am making Apple strudel and Hannah is going to eat katsu. 

00:48:16 Hannah 

Katsudon, but it's Katsudon, which is even more, it's like chicken katsu on top of like some sort of rice bowl situation, and it's inspired by the Honda Racing team. I think like one of their like chief engineers or something was eating katsudon and said it's like their pre-race lucky meal. Which really worked for the Styrian Grand Prix, and so he ate it again and posted it on Instagram. So, I'm gonna order that. 

00:48:44 Rachelle 

And it's it's basically Japanese Schnitzel, so it's still culturally. 

00:48:49 Hannah 

Yes, it's all related. Cause basically it's Japanese/Austrian food and it's the Red Bull-Honda partnership that is it's very last season for, like, they're not coming back, so we need to celebrate Honda.

00:49:09 Rachelle 

We'll see you on Sunday. And Box Box. 

00:49:10 Hannah

Box box.