Formula 1: Drive to Survive (2019) s02e02 Episode Script

1 You're not mic'd up, are you? - Yeah.
Yeah, I don't care.
- Fuck it.
- They take it out.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The Haas F1 team means a lot to me.
Last year, we were fast Congratulations to Haas for their best-ever finish in Formula 1.
Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Well done, guys.
You're with the big boys, yeah? Finishing fifth in our third season was a great achievement from the team, but we want to try to finish fourth or better.
This year, the pressure we are under is very, very high.
If I have to remind you to do your job every day, you are in the wrong fucking place.
This is not a fucking kindergarten here.
One little mistake and you fail completely.
Obviously, it was a little bit of a clown show today again.
We bitched about the tires enough and we better shut up, because otherwise we look even bigger idiots than we are.
Every weekend, the tension is higher.
As a team principal, you feel responsible and I'm a little bit emotional.
Fucking hell! I don't know what is fucking happening.
Fucking everything is fucked up at the moment.
There's always challenges.
You don't want them to be too brutal, but you know they are coming.
Last season, we made a big step upwards.
We know that our opposition, they have got bigger budgets.
It's very difficult to break into the top three.
But nothing is impossible if you've got enough money and resources.
My name's William Storey.
I'm the CEO and founder of Rich Energy.
This year, I put a personal guarantee down for Haas for £35 million.
They are a new business, they're a little bit rock and roll, and they are Davids taking on the Goliaths of motorsport.
We feel that we're the same in the drinks business.
We're supporting Haas to become as successful as possible, and also having some fun along the way.
Good morning.
I don't know where I am, where to go.
I'm completely lost.
I just follow you.
Welcome to all of you here for the Rich Energy Haas Livery Launch.
We have a pretty exciting morning.
Stu, have you seen William? It can only be a couple of minutes, isn't it now? - Do you live far from here? - Two miles.
You could walk.
I could.
It would be good for you.
For a small team like Haas, we need to do a lot more with a lot less.
So, we need a different model to try to have success.
Now, please welcome the CEO of Rich Energy, William Storey.
Wow! William, you are a popular bloke.
There's a lot of cheers going on up there.
I paid them.
Don't worry.
So it is time to see what is under the covers.
In the beginning, we were questioned and critiqued and doubted because nobody had done it.
To be a team in Formula 1, you have to be a constructor and that means you have to construct every element of your car.
Haas was smart, though, because they bought in as many off-the-shelf pieces as they could, to come into the sport in a cost-effective manner and essentially hit the ground running as a competitive outfit.
So, what do you think? - Looks fast.
- Looks dangerous.
- Looks angry.
- It does.
I think Haas are a wonderful example of a team who are much more efficient, less profligate, brilliantly run.
- Nice suit.
- It is, isn't it? Yeah.
I'm not sure I'd fit into that.
And as such, I think they're starting to make some of the bigger teams look a bit silly.
Having Rich Energy on board as a title sponsor is a good thing for us.
We get some more money that will help us to move forward.
Then hopefully get on the podium.
It's a good looking car, so if it goes as good as it looks, then we should be all right.
Yeah, we should be all right.
It doesn't always work like this.
Exactly.
It's the Australian Grand Prix here in Melbourne.
In a very tight midfield pack, Haas think they've got a very fast car.
Good lap there.
Excellent pace.
Chequered flag, Kevin.
P6.
Woo-hoo! Perfect race.
Good job, thank you.
Car was amazing.
Let's keep this up and have a good season.
Well done, brilliant.
You did one fantastic move.
Some say that you have cut the gap to the top teams.
Do you agree? Let's wait a few races to see where we really are.
Lance Stroll is going to make contact with Romain Grosjean.
Ah! Fucking stupid! The Haas team expected a handful of points today, and it's not really going that well at all.
I'm losing the brakes.
Grosjean lights up his tires, takes to the escape road.
He might have to be coming into the pits again very shortly.
Romain, we need to retire the car.
Okay.
Fucking hell! Remember, mode push.
Kevin Magnussen.
Big accident.
- Are you okay? - Yeah.
They can't find a race setup for these tires at Haas.
Things look okay data-wise.
It feels strange.
There's no grip.
Kevin Magnussen's two laps down.
He's running in 18th place.
I don't get it.
They overtake us everywhere.
This is the worst experience I’ve ever had in any race car, ever.
For us, it's also not a nice experience.
Enough now.
Everything seems to be going in the right direction, so Front row on the grid.
The last two or three races were very bad for us.
It doesn't seem that we can get on top of it.
Coming here in Austria, we need to work hard and try to come up with a solution to our problems.
You can come closer, so I have to shout less.
Are we all Geoff? Doorman? Are we all here? All right.
Coming from fifth now to being ninth in the championship, it's not a good feeling, I can tell you guys.
I'm embarrassed about it.
I don't like this feeling.
I cannot deal with that, and as a team, we never had this, and I'm not saying that you're not working hard, guys.
But in general, we all have to look into the mirror, and see what can we do better, what have we missed? There is a lot to be done.
We are here to fight and get back where we want to be.
Our aim is still to finish fourth in the championship, you know, which is still possible because we're not that far out.
Thank you very much, guys.
Good morning to everybody in the garage.
You go into the weekend with expectations and you're pumped.
But then, as soon as it goes bad, you start just feeling nervous and tense.
Radio check on the race channel.
Radio's good.
Fire up, please.
Green light.
Charge on.
I had so much understeer in that corner there.
I mean, it doesn't feel fantastic.
We've been struggling for pace a little bit this whole year and the car just isn't working.
We don't actually really know exactly what is our problem.
So, we need to look at everything and question everything.
It's a pretty tough situation.
The car wouldn't turn any more.
That was the big issue.
The biggest problem this year is the performance of the car, generally, which is quite poor.
It's not controllable.
The car was very good in Melbourne.
And then, the other teams kept on moving forwards.
But we didn't make any progress.
Yes, a lower speed, basically.
Low speed, as usual.
Every weekend, the teams refine their cars, trying to get more speed in the battle with your nearest competitor.
The Haas upgrades have not been working.
Part and parcel of it may be to do with the business model.
Getting a lot of parts in, putting the car design and manufacture out to third parties.
So, the team needs to get on top of what the core issue is.
Anyone else? Okay, thank you.
Got a minute? I always have a minute.
I'll show you.
This is the official speeds.
I don't get it.
The car was not a piece of shit.
So why did we develop a car which fucking goes slower? Find out the problem and make progress out of it, instead of, "This is better.
" It isn't! "This is better.
" It fucking isn't.
I want to see the progress.
I mean, otherwise, I'll make changes, you know? Whatever happens, I'm responsible to the owner of our team, Gene Haas.
Let's hope he doesn't get frustrated too much.
Can we have two cappuccinos? - Yeah.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
So, it seems like our biggest problem is keeping the cars with their initial speed.
- Thank you.
- No problem.
'Cause it seems like it falls off way too fast.
And the drivers just wave to everybody as they go by.
You have to rely too much on the data.
We've got a lot of data, but we still run like dog shit.
- Sometimes.
- It can't get any slower than we're going.
We just need to figure out a few things, not to make mistakes, and we're good.
Hope you get it fixed.
- You're telling me.
- Yeah.
- Well, every weekend's a new test.
- Yeah, every weekend's a new day.
Let's see if you can pass this one.
Well, in the season so far, we're the ones that have been struggling, which is not good.
It pissed me off, that's for sure.
Gene Haas is supporting us.
But he needs to see if it is still worthwhile for Haas Automation to invest in the team.
So, here we go.
Time for qualifying.
Okay, charge on.
Kevin, slow the car.
We have an issue.
Something went wrong in the gearbox.
I'll tell you now that it doesn't look good.
Okay, it's gonna be a gearbox change.
I'm sorry.
It sucks, man.
I cannot believe it.
It's all right.
We'll get it.
Yeah, we'll get it.
Under Formula 1 rules, Magnussen will have to take a five-place grid penalty for changing the gearbox.
The gearbox has gone.
One race old.
They have to take it out now and change it.
It was new on the last race, so now we get a penalty.
We cannot get one right at the moment, for fuck's sake.
Haas are up against the clock.
They need to get their car ready and out on track before the end of qualifying.
Uh, it's a little over 15 minutes to go.
Do you think we can do it or not? We can try.
Yeah, I'm sorry we've got a five-place penalty, but we still can do a good lap time.
Ten minutes to go.
Ten minutes.
Here we are again.
The new gearbox.
Let's see if it works.
Think this one's any better than the last one? Should be.
It's a new one.
Two minutes to go.
One minute to go.
One minute.
Green light.
Fire up, please.
Keep it up, guys, we can do it.
Okay, let's go.
Chequered flag.
Very good lap.
How's that? P5.
Woo-hoo! Whoa! Fucking love that.
Ah, I can't believe this.
Wow.
Unreal! Fuckin' amazing, guys, amazing.
Good job.
Thank you.
Thanks a lot.
Expectations of Gene Haas is always to do better.
Let's do that without the penalty.
Yeah, fucking hell, five.
I would say it's never good enough.
Kevin did magic there.
I mean, it was a fantastic lap, his last lap.
So, lot of people said we are history and now we will be last this year.
We will keep fighting.
- Well done, mate.
- Motherfuckin' ten! We showed that we are a strong team.
We just need to be confident, focus on your job.
If everybody does that, we are back.
As a team principal, you are judged every weekend you race.
You do good or you do bad.
Yeah, you can do okay, but okay is already bad.
When I qualified fifth, I was so happy about that performance.
One minute to go.
Everything goes from being a little bit hopeless to being possible.
We really need a good one to lift everyone up, and get the belief back into the team.
We have done our best.
But it's out of your control.
We're racing in Austria.
Mode push, Kevin.
I don't understand it.
There's something wrong.
I'm losing rear grip.
Okay, Kevin, overheating is high.
It's weird.
Overheating very high.
Really struggling.
Overheating is the highest it's ever been.
We'll figure something out.
We just got to get these temps calmed down.
Come on, do something.
We are overheating.
We are slow.
Everybody else is not overheating and fast.
Previous lap, balance was all over the place.
Is everything okay on the car? Okay, we'll investigate.
One of the problems is, on the straight, we are so slow.
We are just fighting.
I feel like it's raining.
I've got no grip.
We need to move to the side to cool the car.
No difference.
I don't know how much longer I'll be able to stay out.
Grosjean is definitely having issues with his car.
He's now down to 17th place.
Whatever is wrong with that Haas, the race pace has just disappeared.
And Magnussen is dropping down the field once again.
He's now back in 14th place.
It's annoying, Ayao.
It's like there's no point to sit here.
Kevin Magnussen loses another position.
He just has no pace.
Being overtaken all the time, it just feels so hopeless.
Chequered flag, Kevin.
Tough race, dude.
We just didn't have the pace in either car today.
That's another day of pain for Haas with Grosjean finishing 16th and Magnussen 19th.
When you have a bad car, it's difficult not to give up on it.
Sorry, boys, we couldn't do better.
Obviously, we haven't solved it.
We will keep working.
Fucking hell.
I cannot do this.
I might as well park the car and jump out and go home.
Bad race for us.
Nothing more to say.
- Really? - Yeah.
Nothing.
I don't want to comment on it.
It's enough.
Fucking hell.
Continuing like this is banging our heads against a wall.
There's no point.
I mean, it hurts too much.
We aren't going anywhere.
The car was a fucking rocket before.
Is there something gone wrong? There's something gone badly wrong.
It's difficult to be consistent.
- Yeah.
- If you're on your own, it's okay.
That's what I mean.
As soon as you're behind another car I don't want that one anymore.
I don't fucking know.
I don't fucking I don't fucking know.
It was painful.
Oh.
I was just thinking what to do up there.
I wasn't even watching anymore.
I couldn't give a fuck.
We need to do something.
I mean, sitting here, at least you need - It won't get better - No, it will not heal.
It's not like when you are scratched.
- It doesn't heal, this problem.
- No You need to do something about it.
It's frustrating as hell.
I drive the car and then it doesn't work and I'm like, "What's going on?" It's just refreshing to just get away from it sometimes, and, you know, disconnect from it.
I'm getting into sailing quite a bit and I just feel really switched off when I go on the water.
It's cool to think that we could go anywhere right now.
Fucking hell, I'm cold.
We're freezing our balls off.
So where did you finish in Austria? Well outside the points.
Well, I mean, just so good in qualifying, and yeah, just no pace in the race.
I think everybody knows what the problem is.
It's just shit car.
Hopefully, they know it's not just the drivers.
Being a driver, you feel pretty helpless when it doesn't work.
It's been hard to understand why we haven't been good.
We've actually been pretty terrible, so You could do the lap of your life and then be 15th, still.
And you start questioning everything, including yourself.
Frustrations build up.
We're just running around in circles a little bit.
At the moment, there's enough going on and I need to deal with it.
It is very demanding.
It's part of my life to come and go, but I still like to come back frequently here.
Do you like being team principal? He has been doing it for a long time.
That's his job.
What else would I do? Make ice cream.
Ice cream.
It's just one setback.
It doesn't take me, it doesn't take Haas F1 down.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
But a lot of negative things came together.
When he comes home, usually, he is very quiet, and I think that's the time when he re-charges.
I mean, his job is constant pressure.
It's constant pressure, so you think a lot about it.
That's for sure.
I actually don't suffer the pressure itself.
It's more I would say I get emotional, but the pressure doesn't get to me, really.
Sometimes, I think he drops off the pit wall.
I could picture it, you know.
Boom! Falls off.
What does Gene think? At the moment, Gene is impatient because we've had three good years, and at the moment, it's not going as well, when he always wants more success.
But I think we're in decent shape and we'll get out of this hole.
I just hope it won't take too long because it's tiring.
- Yeah.
- Tiring.
We also have trouble with the drivers at the moment Frustrating and There is this constant paranoia.
I think they always want to fight.
A driver wants to be in front.
I don't think they understand what it's about.
They think it's only about them, and you always need to think about the team.
It can't go on like this.
With the season already in crisis, the Haas F1 Team are facing more pressure after reports that their main sponsor, Rich Energy, is pulling out.
There were some rumors going around that they had made an initial payment, but none had been coming on after that.
Is that true? The performance of Haas in the last two, three months has been very poor.
I would like not to answer any more questions because there are commercial agreements in place.
It's clear that they're going backwards, so I formally canceled the agreement.
I'm getting fucking sick of answering these fucking stupid questions on a race weekend.
I've never seen any fucking thing like this, you know.
- Did that come as a surprise? - Yes.
That's the last I'm saying.
Yes, it was a surprise.
No more questions on that topic.
Move on.
The Rich Energy deal was supposed to be worth $60 million.
This is enough.
This is not worth the hassle.
Other than the initial payment, that was the only money we ever received, so we're done with Rich Energy now.
This year is a roller coaster.
To salvage the season, we need to make a more radical approach and try to do something very unusual.
We are at the stage now, we are just in front of Williams, but we are hanging on in there.
But if in two races, they are ahead of us, we cannot be slower than this.
Top speed, we are nowhere.
We are much slower than last year.
The car is completely all over the place.
It felt that bad.
It was horrendous.
We do need to take some drastic action.
At the moment, we cannot find a solution.
We need to get practical.
And I think in Melbourne, we had a decent car, and I think one car has to change over, go back to Melbourne spec.
At least we have something to compare now, and if it is worse, at least we found out it isn't what we are looking for.
The team is using the race as a testing session, to go out, to try the old car and the new car, see which bits work, see which bits don't.
This is absolutely the end of the road in terms of ideas.
It is very unusual to go back to an old spec car, because you always think the new one is better.
That's what I want to find out.
We are not gonna vote on this, just to be clear.
I'm not gonna tomorrow enter discussion, "We should.
" "We shouldn't.
" "Yes," "No," "Maybe," "I like it," "I don't.
" I don't know who sacrifices himself, who runs on the old car, who runs on the new car.
I wouldn't mind being the one to go back.
Yeah.
I don't know who's going to go back.
Both are pretty happy to do it.
Because everybody's like, "I can't believe this.
" Hey, keep your head up.
I don't care who does it.
I think we need to do it with Romain because he's been vocal about this since day one.
- Okay, we do it with him.
- Yeah.
I'll speak with Kevin if needed.
But if somebody opposes to that one, I'll sack them.
I'll take the responsibility.
I think Melbourne's spec car may be better.
Romain test that one.
Sometimes, you need to make a decision.
I don't think Kevin is that keen on it.
But you cannot have always everybody content.
Somebody will be unhappy.
Deal with it.
We do it for the team, not an individual.
As a driver, we wanna win.
But if you're not in the right car, you're constantly trying to achieve something that actually isn't possible.
I wanted to revert back to the old spec.
For me, it was more a question of, "How can I get better results?" Me and Romain, we had some run-ins.
I don't really feel like I'm an angry person, but you know, I'm aggressive.
Radio check, Romain.
This is good.
Toby, we can go.
Radio check, Kevin.
Radio is good.
The only way I can motivate myself is to find this fire and just go all out.
Obviously, you want to try to beat as many drivers as you can.
Including your teammate.
The British Grand Prix is underway.
Kevin Magnussen coming into the first corner.
Ooh! So close to his teammate there.
Into the hairpin right-hander.
Both Haases lock up! Grosjean on the inside and they're wheel-to-wheel again.
Oh! There's contact! - What happened? - I don't know.
They ran into each other.
They hit each other.
Fucking idiots! Fuck, I have a puncture.
Fuck! Ugh! Fucking hell.
Have you got puncture as well? Okay, both cars got punctured, okay.
That's not good at all.
Both cars are in trouble.
They're both gonna have to pit.
Grosjean and Magnussen right at the back.
Stand by for double stop.
Okay, Kevin, box now, box.
Try and make this to the end, okay? Just bring it back.
Something's loose around my pedals.
Bring it in.
Okay, we don't wanna take any risks, so box now, for retirement.
Race over for Kevin Magnussen after contact with his teammate.
Romain, we saw quite significant floor damage on the right-hand side.
Just call him in.
End this fucking pain.
Box, Romain, box.
We will retire the car.
What happened? I'm so pissed off.
Fuck, there's a lot I can accept, but not this.
Ayao.
I got pushed out by my teammate.
Was it on purpose or not? I don't know.
But as long as he's in front of me, he's happy.
He doesn't give a shit about anything else.
I need to calm down or I'm gonna do something stupid.
- Can you go and get them? - Yes.
- Please? - Sure.
Because then I can fucking go home.
Yeah.
Romain, Guenther wants to speak upstairs.
Let's go inside.
I've had enough of both of you.
You let the fucking team down, me down, which I protected you all the time.
And I'm not fucking going into who is right and who is wrong.
I don't want to hear, "He moved.
He shouldn't have moved," and all that fucking wank, you know.
Gene spends hundred fucking million a year of his own money which wants to pull the plug and let everybody down because you are two idiots.
I've not more to fucking say to you guys and if you don't like it, I don't need you here.
Do not come back, please.
What was that? Kevin just fucking smashed the door.
That's not acceptable.
Fucking hell.
He's not fucking doing that to me, you know? He does not fucking smash my door.
Tell him that.
If he doesn't want to come back, he'd better tell me now.
- Has he just done that now? - Yeah.
- He smashed my fucking office door.
- Where is he? I don't know where he is, but he can fuck off.
I told him, both of them.
Fucking hell.
We have got two fucking idiots driving for us.
This is not acceptable.
We will make changes.
If it would be my decision now, I would sack them both.
Lewis Hamilton now has six British Grand Prix wins to his name, more than any other driver.
The Haas F1 Team means a lot to me.
I think if it is a failure, I would have no idea what to do next.
Whoo! I think we have a good team.
Everybody shows up, but then, when we can't get the cars to perform, the question is, "What the heck happened? What's going on here? What are we doing this for?" We're here to race competitors, you know, drivers and race strategies and we don't do any of that.
So, where do we go in the future? It's a very expensive sport.
If we're doomed to run in the back, I don't think I'm gonna be part of that.
I've seen him with that expression before.
I'll say it in French as well.
Oh, go fuck yourself.
Where's the fucking boot? Daniel thinks he's the best.
But I'm working more than anyone else in Formula 1.
Carlos is just quick, mate.
You should have thrown some banana peels at my rivals.
- Can you win this weekend? - Yeah! - Look at that.
- What's happened there? No, I am so fuckin' sorry.
Tough day at the office? No, it was a fucking shit day at the office.