05x06 - Nice Guys Finish Last

[bunniefuu]

- Geraldine, you ready?

- Shall we scare Daddy?

We have the best driver.

Who's the best driver?

- Daddy.

- Exactly.

For me, the summer break

is a time to relax,

to get away from the pressures

of Formula 1,

to spend time with the children,

to spend time with my wife.

It's just getting back to being a dad.

I hate camping.

Darling.

Oh, thank you. That should work.

Is there enough air in there?

Not hard enough, darling.

Mmm.

- Good.

- Anyway, cheers, everybody.

- Cheers.

- Yeah.

- Happy holidays.

- Happy holidays.

What are the rules now?

Are you not allowed to send emails?

No. Technically, working is ill*gal.

Everybody has to take a two-week break.

So the cars are all in the factory

under a sheet, like a racehorse.

Do you think anyone is working?

Yep.

Do you?! Who?

They did say to Lewis,

"We're gonna work through the summer break

to give you a better car."

Technically, that'd be ill*gal.

But you're not bothered about Mercedes.

Not this year.

You know the Alpine lot,

are they really cross with Oscar?

Oscar Piastri?

What did he say?

"I understand that,

without my agreement,

Alpine F1 have put out a press release

late this afternoon

that I am driving for them next year."

"This is wrong, and I have not

signed a contract with Alpine for 2023."

"I will not be driving

for Alpine next year."

- It's very clear on that.

- Dun, dun, dun!

So who is he driving for?

- He must be sure where he's going.

- Exactly. He must have a seat.

You wouldn't do that

without having a seat.

- Doesn't get better than this.

- Yep.

Beautiful.

This summer break, Oscar Piastri

is the hottest talent around.

He has a pedigree not many other drivers

in the paddock have.

Everybody talks good about him.

He was very strong in F3 and F2.

He won the Championship the first year.

Always very good driver.

I know Oscar.

He is very fast,

and he deserves a seat in Formula 1.

I think Oscar is definitely

a potential, uh, world champion.

There we go.

- Little brew, mate?

- Yeah.

So, mate, where's your

where's your head at now?

I mean, firstly, excited.

You know,

there's not many people in the world

that can say

they're gonna be an F1 driver.

But, you know,

certainly not underestimating

that this is just the beginning

of a long journey now

and, you know, everything

that I've done in the last 12 years

has has led to this point and beyond.

- Well done, son.

- Cheers.

Been any chatter this morning, on social?

I haven't seen anything this morning.

News also this morning that people

are seeing this thing coming today.

- That's good.

- Right.

Our statement will be at three o'clock,

and the video goes out at 2:55.

All right, cool.

Hey, everyone.

Uh, wanted to share some news.

Uh, it's not great.

It's bittersweet, for sure,

but I think it's best you hear it from me.

Uh, 2022 will be

my last year with McLaren.

Yeah, just obviously we've put in

a lot of effort on both sides,

but it just hasn't worked

the way we wanted,

so, uh, that's that's that.

I think for the future,

what lies ahead, I'm not sure yet.

Um

Not sure yet, but.. but we'll see.

Good to see you back.

I'm back,

and I'm, uh, a McLaren racing driver now.

Bear, here.

We've invested maybe $4 million in Oscar,

so Oscar signing for McLaren

was a big shock.

It was difficult for me

to understand the lack of loyalty.

I was hoping that, uh, Oscar had

a little bit more integrity

than than that.

So now we've got a spot open

that's, I think, a sought-after open seat,

and we need to fill it.

So, when's your contract over

with Mercedes?

Are you locked out?

You gotta go out and in.

It'll be fine.

Anyway, see you later.

Mates, all I need is if someone tells me

that water's clean enough,

then I'm going in.

If things don't go well,

you might see me floating.

Oh, sh*t.

Knowing I might not be on the grid

or have a contract for '23,

if this is the end of the road,

then it's like, all right, damn, that's

Yeah. It is a bit emotional.

Yeah.

- Mate. You all right?

- All good.

Sorry about the news, mate.

You okay?

- I'm all right.

- Yeah?

It hurts, and I feel it.

You gotta take it on the chin.

Um

You can cry about it,

you can sob and whatever,

but it's it's how it goes.

- I am sorry to hear the news.

- Yeah, mate.

We'll have a good last nine races.

Yeah, exactly.

Get through this year,

and then you can start again.

Maybe win one now, and then just

- It'll be all right.

- Yeah.

Um

Thanks, mate. Appreciate it.

Hey, brother.

Nice break?

Yeah, it was good.

When did you find out?

- Uh

- Long time ago?

Uh, no, no.

During the break.

During the break.

- We'd been talking about it.

- Yeah.

You guys might not

have much to say this one.

Very warm welcome to you all.

Welcome back after the break.

Um, Daniel, please can we kick things off

with you?

News broke that you were going to be

leaving McLaren at the end of this season.

How do you feel about it?

Yeah, it's You know, obviously, um

it's not what we

it's not the result we wanted.

You know, the outcome wasn't

This wasn't desired, you know.

As a collective though, we just didn't

we didn't really get it right.

Just too many kind of weekends that was

obviously just a bit of a struggle.

For sure, the moments of, like, doubt

and frustration and anger

and so many mixed emotions

which were pretty pretty tough.

How do you view the next nine races?

Honestly, you know, I always feel

like I've got a point to prove.

I'm not one

to just drive around and enjoy it.

I wanna drive around

as competitively, as fast as possible,

so, um, there's no slacking off.

Obviously, it's it's a bit painful.

Um

But as much as it's difficult to take,

I feel if I just lay over

and don't pick myself back up,

then nothing's gonna change.

The whole season with Daniel, McLaren,

it's not a nice position to be in.

But, at the end of the day,

I've I've lived

and experienced enough, um, in F1

to know that this is a cutthroat world.

I mean, Daniel has been here

for a long time.

He knows, um,

that he has had a bad few years.

I mean, look, it's obviously

still not the outcome I wanted,

but it is what it is.

So maybe I take a year off,

I go to Mexico.

Yeah.

Just a couple of bits.

For your media stuff after,

he's gonna ask about whether you're ready

to lead the team next year.

I already am.

I know that things are coming

to an end between Daniel and the team,

so it's sad to kind of split and,

um, break up.

Is there any sympathy

for what Daniel's gone through?

I would say no.

People will probably hate me

for saying it.

You know, he's a great guy, a lot of fun,

but, uh, the same with many things,

if you don't perform

and get results, then, uh

that's life.

Congrats on Piastri.

I'm gonna go breakdance in the

I'm gonna go do

I've been working on my moonwalk.

How were they so confident

beforehand, then?

It's a good question to ask them.

Otmar?

I think, you know, Otmar has been

caught with his pants down.

If I was him, I'd be embarrassed.

I just hate losing,

and losing is very painful for me.

You know, they try to do

what's best for their team,

and I understand that.

But, like the great Yogi Berra said,

it ain't over till it's over.

Throw your hands

in the air if you're excited!

You caused some real sh*t,

didn't you?

- Who?

- You.

No, Seb.

How are you?

I'm fine. What are you going to do?

Uh, who knows?

Indy 500?

That's scary!

Yes, okay.

But you'll be there, first, second.

It's very different.

I get it. We'll see.

Yes, but I still want this.

I still like Formula 1.

I told you not to trust Zak.

Thank you, mate. Thank you.

Hey, boys.

Morning.

F1 is so cutthroat

because the value of winning is so high,

and people will do anything.

Thank you very much.

It's a piranha club or a I don't know,

shark-infested waters or whatever it is,

but I'm not fooled by it,

and I'm not afraid of it.

I've, uh, been in this sport for 25 years.

I know exactly what I'm doing.

Is Zak around?

Yeah, Zak is there.

What's up?

I just wanted to say,

with all this Oscar stuff,

although we lost Oscar,

we think we have a good case in UK law.

He shouldn't have taken anything

if he thought he didn't have a contract.

He took a lot from us.

If you know there's no contract

and you take all the offerings

that the other party is giving,

but you don't give back

what you're supposed to give,

then you need to give all the money back.

It's unjust enrichment.

We've done the math already.

The value of that is five million.

But, you know, the downside is

you guys going after him

would be a PR disaster.

Is the five million worth it?

Five million,

you don't just give that up.

I don't think we need

to battle it out in the media.

- We say nothing.

- But some of that might roll our way.

Without getting into my details

of my Oscar contract,

I may have some support

I have to give him,

so his problems become my problems.

And?

I think I have a reputation

of an easygoing attitude,

but I'm still a fierce competitor.

You know, what you see on the outside

isn't necessarily what's happening

on the inside.

The fact that McLaren would potentially

have to pay that for Oscar,

I mean, that's sweet victory for Otmar.

Alpine wanna sue Piastri,

which is f*cking crazy.

Zak's got his own problems. He

needs to pay Daniel out of his contract,

and he's taken a huge gamble on Oscar

that might now cost him financially

because he might

have to pay Alpine as well.

His back's up against the wall.

He needs to find a way out.

Any time something gets challenged

and goes to a court,

you're never totally positive

of what the outcome is.

I definitely didn't see that coming,

but, uh, I've got a plan.

- Hi. Laurent around?

- Hello.

- He's upstairs?

- Yeah.

Cool.

I know they need a driver,

and I think if we can get Alpine

to do a driver swap

between Daniel and Oscar,

I think that would be a

a great solution.

- Good?

- How are you?

Good, yeah. All good?

Um

I feel like I can help.

Let's close this thing out.

We have Hulk, Mick, Gasly.

Yeah. Yeah.

Daniel?

I'd love to see him here,

but that's only 'cause

I'd love to see him stay in the sport.

He's one of the options.

Maybe we'll give him a chance.

Cool. All right. See you later.

- See you.

- Cheers.

- Am I here?

- You are.

All righty.

Would you go to back to Alpine?

Yes. I've still got the drive in me.

I wanna get back to winning.

I wanna be able

to fight for podiums and wins.

I'm gonna race these last races

as hard as I can

and try to make something happen.

The thought of potentially

having a seat next year

to remind teams

that, yeah, I can still drive,

and I'm still hungry and all of that stuff

motivates me to do well.

It's an opportunity

for me to, um, rebuild myself

and come back

come back to the top an alternate way.

Is Daniel of interest?

He's one of the guys.

So, he's he's high on your list?

Yeah, of course he is, yeah.

Gasly, Ricciardo, Hülkenberg,

all of the seasoned

Yeah, all of the seasoned drivers.

All of the people that can jump into a car

and clock in a decent timed lap,

to be honest.

This is what I'm looking at.

But Daniel, he upset everybody

when he left.

It doesn't it doesn't help.

The problem is

Daniel Ricciardo used to drive for Alpine

back when it was called Renault.

Would they take him back?

Let's give a big round

of applause to Daniel, please. Thank you.

They designed and built up a team

around him.

What's your dream, Cyril?

That's easy.

To win with these two boys.

Here comes Daniel Ricciardo.

Wow, brilliant stuff!

Get it, girl! Get it! Whoo!

Daniel Ricciardo

gives Renault their first podium.

What a performance that is.

And then, just as they were

creeping towards getting regular podiums,

Daniel made the decision to leave Renault.

The big news of the week

is that Ricciardo's on his way to McLaren.

It's not the long-term project

I thought we had signed up for.

From Renault's

point of view, they're thinking,

"Come on, we've given you

everything you've asked for and more."

Daniel deciding to jump ship from Renault,

will that come to bear on him?

Potential employers

aren't gonna look favorably on that.

- Hey, buddy.

- Hey, mate. How are you?

We really wanna see you here.

Thank you, mate. I appreciate it.

Obviously, it's not down to us.

Time will tell.

It will all work out.

All right. Have a good one, boys.

We've got a sought-after open seat,

and we need to fill it with,

first and foremost, somebody that's fast.

Uh, secondly, experienced.

We have a good team,

and we're only looking to build,

uh, to get even better.

Hello.

What are the gossips?

Tell me the gossips. What's going on?

- Which page?

- Gossip Girl.

Is that the one which is private?

- Yeah.

- Gossip is for later when we have tea.

No, but I got better things

to do, Fabi, sorry.

Pierre Gasly is fast.

He's a Grand Prix winner.

He went on podiums.

He's very experienced,

but he's still young.

It's hard to judge

whether or not we could bank on him.

He still needs to prove himself.

Go! Go!

Come on, go.

We're gonna be late for our stuff. Go!

This is not going in Drive to Survive,

I'm telling you.

Oh, yes, it is.

I've been with Red Bull Racing

or AlphaTauri for ten years.

But, as it stands right now,

no, it's impossible to win a championship

with AlphaTauri.

It's, for sure, frustrating,

but the seat in Alpine

is a great opportunity.

That's what I want

more than anything else.

There are a lot

of rumors, of transfer, etc.

You have your contract for 2023.

Are you already thinking about the moves,

the new drivers arriving?

Of course, these are things

we are thinking about for the future.

I know I wanna be

at the front, and I belong there,

so I gotta perform at my best,

at my absolute best,

to get the opportunity, to get the car.

Yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be cool.

Time to be a f*cking k*ller.

Welcome to Zandvoort.

It's the Dutch Grand Prix,

and we are about to go racing.

So Lando Norris

will be lining up

alongside Oscar Piastri next season.

Daniel Ricciardo, who knows

where he may end up?

His future is still up for grabs.

Could he be returning to Alpine?

Will Pierre Gasly be at Alpine?

Who knows what's gonna happen?

You know, Pierre Gasly's done a great job

at both Red Bull and AlphaTauri,

and he's very capable,

but I can still see Danny Ric

as a possibility.

You know, as a nine-time winner,

you don't forget

how to drive a racing car fast.

If somebody picks Danny back up

and nurtures him into his driving ways,

he can, uh

he can still perform to a high level.

People just remember your last race.

That's how the sport works.

I've showed what I could do

with a midfield car.

I work my a*s off every single day

because I wanna fight at the front.

Whatever I do, I do it to win.

It's McLaren and Ricciardo

that win the Italian Grand Prix.

Yeah!

P1!

Redemption day

for Ricciardo. He wins in Monaco!

Daniel Ricciardo,

you are our hero.

This is my time.

It's my f*cking time.

Pierre Gasly wins

the Italian Grand Prix.

Oh my God!

What did we just do?!

It's lights out and away we go.

Let's get stuck in. Let's see

what we can do against these guys.

Understood.

That's half a second quicker

than Vettel last lap.

If you can keep this pace,

that's starting to look good.

Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly's

getting stuck into this midfield battle.

Okay, Pierre, position is very good.

Alonso 2.2 behind.

As a driver,

what you want is a competitive car,

and Alpine is currently

the fourth-best team in Formula 1.

I have big expectations about myself,

and this is a big opportunity for me.

Okay,

possibly fighting Alonso behind.

There goes

Fernando Alonso on Pierre Gasly.

Sparks flying

from underneath the AlphaTauri.

Alonso just not alongside enough

to make the move.

I'm in the stage of my career

where I gotta take

every single chance I can

and show that, you know, I have

what's required to deliver the results.

Do you see how close I am?

Do you know how much more pace we have?

Keep working on it.

Head down. We can do it.

Gasly currently P12.

Understood.

Okay, Daniel,

we'll box this lap.

I know, the last 12 months,

in the car, I haven't shown

the best version of myself.

I still feel I have something to prove.

I know I can do it.

Okay, could be close

with Vettel at pit exit.

Daniel, we need good pace here.

Stick with Vettel.

At the moment,

he's too quick on the straights.

Daniel, can we keep this pace?

I'll keep pushing.

I'm just destroying the tires behind.

Under high pressure from Alonso.

I'm gonna get overtaken.

Here we go with Fernando.

He makes that move,

and Gasly instantly under pressure

from Zhou Guanyu,

right behind him in the Alfa Romeo.

I always love a challenge.

It's a good opportunity for me to shine

and show my race craft

and show the mindset.

I'm not someone that gives up.

I would like you

to update me on Ricciardo.

So we're still faster everywhere

compared to Ricciardo.

But we need to keep the pace up.

Schumacher, 0.5.

Just behind.

Overtook.

The straights are k*lling me.

Let's stay with Schumacher.

The car behind is Magnussen now.

Understood.

Good job, Kev.

You pulled Ricciardo into our window.

Come on, Kev, you can get him.

For a car that should be

fighting at the front.

Daniel is really struggling

with his McLaren at the back of the field.

- What the f*ck are you doing?

- Okay, Daniel, just keep going.

Five laps to go.

Yeah,

there's a lot of cars in front.

Okay,

this is very good defending.

Which position are we in?

P11.

We're fighting Stroll for P10.

One more lap. Everything to play for here.

I know I belong

at the front with these guys.

I want it more than anyone.

I gotta be the best I can

to prove the better teams

that I got what it takes

to put the results in,

if they give you the fast cars.

Okay, very good job today, P11.

And Stroll, P10.

I was catching him.

Still, right behind the top ten.

Yeah, a good race from you.

But, look, Gasly couldn't be

any better than that.

What a day. What a day.

Good luck to Oscar.

Okay, Daniel,

that's the checkered flag.

P17. Not the race we wanted, to be honest.

Um Yeah.

I know it's been pretty painful of late,

but we'll keep at it.

Yeah, very difficult.

We'll speak after.

Wow. That was good.

He did really well.

It's not the result Daniel's looking for.

It's not the result we're looking for.

But the facts are what the facts are.

That's how it goes.

Daniel!

- Hello.

- Good morning.

Have you made your decision

about who gets the seat?

We'll be putting somebody in

with experience,

somebody that's won a race,

knows how to win races,

has more than 100 races under his belt,

and, uh,

we'll be we'll be taking Pierre Gasly.

Welcome to Alpine.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

Emotionally,

it's something very unique.

Racing for a French team, being French,

and just be able

to start this new adventure

and this new chapter for my career.

Usually I always read what I sign.

Should I?

I'm happy with how we're doing

as a as a racing organization.

I like what our driver lineup looks like

for the foreseeable future.

I think that's gonna be

a real strength of ours.

You wanted to sue Oscar, right?

So, for me, with Oscar

not coming to our team

and appointing Pierre Gasly,

that could work out even better.

There's no need for a lawsuit.

I'm just happy

that we have two top drivers.

Knowing what I know now,

and looking back

at everything that's happened,

if I were the CEO of McLaren,

I would've taken Pierre Gasly.

Do you regret anything that's happened?

Uh

No. I have absolutely no regrets

in in securing my future,

and, um, fulfilling a dream of mine.

f*ck 'em all.

You have to deliver weekend after weekend.

People have short memories

in this business.

Checo knows

if he's not delivering the results,

we'll have to look outside.

The pressure is really high.

If they can't cope with it,

then why are you here?

Welcome to the heat of Abu Dhabi.

Ferrari made many mistakes this year.

There's been a lot of criticism.

We've really had to hunt them down.

We deserve a second place.

It's game on.