Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the Edge, a podcast by Tag Hoyer. Our guest this time is former world champion racecar driver turned tv and web host Justin Bell. In this episode, we speak to Justin about the significance of motorsport's famous triple crown and some of his favorite memories from the 24 hours of Le Mans. He also talks about the Indy 500 and the stories and traditions behind the legendary race, and, of course, his relationship with Tag Heuer. I'm your host, Naomi Schiff, and this is the Edge, a podcast by Tag Hoyer.
Justin, thank you so much for joining us on the Edge podcast today. It's wonderful to have you with us. So I'm gonna start by asking you a question that we ask all our guests at first. Where in the world are you?
[00:00:51] Speaker B: Nice to meet you, Naomi. This is great. Thank you for having me. Do you know, right now, I'm in Las Vegas, Nevada. I'm shooting my podcast, drive to Wynn in a minute, about Formula One. So it was. I'm looking out of the. Well, I think, the 70th floor down on Las Vegas. Yeah. At the Wynn.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: Fantastic. So, are you there to record your podcast, or can you tell us why else you're there, or is that the reason you're there?
[00:01:15] Speaker B: I come out here every week after a Formula One race to do my show. Yeah. So it's always taped on a Tuesday. But as you know, everything's remote most of the time, unless I get to the Grand Prix week, and then everyone's in town. So I feel a little bit lonely staring at the camera. But you know what that's like. You have this beautiful studio, and it's just me, but I hear voices in my head anyway, so there's always two of us present.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: Totally. Absolutely. Well, I know a little bit about that feeling. Now, another thing I know a little bit about the feeling of, it's the love for motorsport, and that is something that you clearly have, and I know that it runs in the family, but I would love to know, when did you first fall in love with racing?
[00:01:56] Speaker B: I think that's a really good question, because it's not necessarily as evident or predictable when you're a second generation as I think it is when you come from the outside, like a fan. I've often said that kids that sat there and read Autosport, and, you know, when Autosport was the Bible, you know, it was the only way before social media, we had any connection to racing, really. And I think people would watch James hunt on. On tv and listen to Murray Walker. I think they came with a maybe deeper rooted passion as an enthusiast. Whereas I was always surrounded by it. But I didn't really know I was surrounded by it. I didn't. Wasn't everyone's dad a racing driver? That's kind of a moment that you feel. And I've talked to other guys and I know you've interviewed so many of them, but, you know, whether it's Damon or. I mean, I've never spoken to Max, but, you know, Damon and Paul Stewart, we all came from the same sort of cloth we were cut from. And it was just. It was weird for me. It was when I.
I think going to those big races, like spa, going to nurburgring with dad for the thousand kilometer races, I remember thinking, this is, this is like a circus that's on the road. And how do I become part of that, that moving carnival of people? And I love the fact that everybody was. They weren't friends off track, really. But then you have this community when you're at the track, and it's not that they're not friends, it's just, you know, you have 10,000 friends in a way when you're at a racetrack. But for me, it was. My dad definitely tried to distract me from becoming a racing driver. I did motocross instead, rather poorly, but that's what I did. Never touched a go kart because he was still racing so much. And then I went to the Formula Ford festival with my best friend James and his dad, and I went, oh, my God, these are kids my age. Now I get it. And I'd never been to a small race. I'd only been to a big race. And, you know, that sort of. That's when I went, okay, now I want to do it. So it was a bit of an epiphany at 17 when I saw that.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: So when you had that epiphany, I'd love to know what your then goal was and how far you wanted to take it because I know you've obviously been very successful in the 24 hours of life, and I would love to ask you about the 24 hours of Le Mans as well, and what exactly that meant to you as a driver and also maybe what it means to you now as a presenter.
[00:04:20] Speaker B: Well, that's, you know, I think that's a great sequence because for me, as a driver, when, you know, when you get behind the wheel of a car, I don't think anyone in the last 25 years could probably say they got into racing with a naivety that it was just going to be a nice gentleman's sport. Maybe they did in the fifties and sixties and early seventies. But now with social media and everything, I don't think anyone gets involved not knowing what it could become. And obviously, I was a little pre social media, but there was a realization and appreciation for what my father was. The minute I drove a racing car, the minute I literally came home and went, dad, I get it. I now understand why you are the way you are, why you go away for so long. I now understand why you and your friends risk, you know, your peer group, risk your lives doing this. It was really like, boom. I got slapped with a whole bunch of reality.
Especially when we went to Le Mans. Going to Le Mans and seeing, you know, driving out the pit lane for the first time, which, where I'd watched my dad for 20 times and just driving out onto the track was just this eye opening experience.
Mix of terror, mix of anticipation, mix of, oh, my God, I can't mess this up. And really, the big stage, a bit like I imagine when a young football soccer player walks out into a big wembley for the first time, it's no longer Portsmouth United, you know, and you go, holy cow, that's what going into a big race like Le Mans does. And as I did Le Mans all those years, only ten, but, you know, walking out there year after year, realizing that it is so much more than what the drivers are experiencing. It's this culture. It's actually a destination for 300,000 fans that. And you realize, oh, my God, I'm now part of this family and I'm part of this heritage. It doesn't matter how you do it. Le Mans, it's like you've ridden the unicorn and you're there. So I really enjoyed that transition. And then the final element was when I started doing the tv.
That was a totally different perspective. And I wrote a blog about it for a while just for myself, called pit lane perspectives. Cause, as you know, you get to see something that no one else sees. The team's all, you know, huddled around from the back and Toyota and Porsche and everybody and Audi from the back. It's like trying to get into Fort Knox. There's big french security guards and everything, but from where we stand, they're naked, right? They're standing, they're literally in the pit lane and we can see straight in. And I loved that exposure to it. And then, in a way, that transition as a driver again, that I know you're aware of is when.
When you're a driver and you're in your career, you really only think about you. You don't think about the landscape as a whole. I think you just think about, what am I doing? Can I do better? Etcetera. And when you're there, you suddenly go, oh, God, he's a good driver. Oh, she's doing really well. Oh, I mean, you suddenly open your eyes and everybody isn't an idiot anymore, because when you're driving, you kind of protect your feelings, and when you're doing medias, you're like, oh, my God. I have to be analytical, and I can actually appreciate everyone else's skills. So I love the journey. Then, I don't know. Hopefully it's not over.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: Sounds like a fantastic journey. And I think you said only ten years. I mean, as a driver, I think you might agree with me with this, but most racing drivers grow up to either want to be a Formula One driver, driving in WEC, essentially 24 hours of Le Mans or indy or NASCAR. Those really are the holy grail. And I've actually never even attended the 24 hours of Le Mans. I will actually be doing that for the first time this year. So I can't wait to see everything that it has to offer as a spectator. But I'd love to know, from your perspective, was there anything specific that really stayed with you from the 24 hours of Le Mans? Any moments that really stayed with you?
[00:08:35] Speaker B: Special moments for me at Le Mans really came at the most unlikely times. And I had childhood memories that then dovetailed to my adult memories. And if you don't mind, I'll say both, because the. The childhood memory for me was when the pit lane was very small and intimate and actually horrific. Naomi. I mean, what you'll see this year is not what we saw. It was like in the film Le Mans. It was that, you know, everyone was peeing outside against the wall, and then you walked in, there's the pit lane. And, I mean, it was gross as a kid. It was brilliant, but, I mean, I remember being within touching distance of the drivers as they would go across the wall to get in the car, which was 6ft away. And I remember that really resonated with me. And then at the end, very fortunate as a kid. 1975 was the first time. And standing on the corner of the garage, the last garage or the first garage, it is looking up at dad on the podium, and I swear he caught my eye. I swear that out of 300,000 people down there, mayhem. He could see me. Anyway, fast forward. The garages were bigger. I was with Dodge Viper. And at that point, you know, watching. Actually, it was McLaren was the first year in 95, and we're driving the Howard's McLaren, and it was a moment in the middle of the night when we're in the garage, and dad. I got out of the car and dad was getting in, and I remember thinking, well, this is my father. This is the one I've watched all these years, and yet, you know, he's the one that raised me. He's the one that disciplined me. You know what I mean? He provided for me. He was my dad. And he's getting into the car, and I could feel his energy and his nervousness, and he wanted to talk to me, but we couldn't in the quick pit stop. And I remember it was a very intimate moment for me and a very human moment. And then next thing, he's off and he's out there doing 226 miles an hour. So that was a moment. And I thought, oh, gosh, that's a connection to me being a child. And then when we were third and we were on the podium, we went up to. We were standing, obviously, in third spot, and he said, you should take it all in. And we went stand at the front. So I went and put my hands on the railing and looked around, and there's, you know, there's 100,000 people in the pit lane. As, you know, they swarm it, and there's 70,000 brits go. And you could hear them chanting. And of course, they're probably saying Derek Bell. But I isolated the bell Parton, adopted it for myself. I was like, okay, they're talking to me. And it was just. It was the most brilliant, emotional, tangible, physical feeling of this energy of these people. And I looked down, and at the corner of the building, I could see my sister and my girlfriend at the time and my best mate, James. And I thought, yeah, you can see exactly what I thought I could see as a kid. Yeah. Really amazing.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: Amazing. Well, I mean, I totally can't even imagine what that feeling must be like, especially to share it with your father in that moment. Both the childhood and the adult memory sound fantastic.
[00:11:43] Speaker B: Oh, by the way, you are going to have the best time. One thing, when you go to Le Mans this year, you're going to. You've been to Monaco, you've been to the other big ones. When you go there, you're going to understand that these big events are happenings, right? You're going to really feel Le man. You're going to go, God, I wish I had driven it, you know, because it is such an extraordinary experience.
[00:12:05] Speaker A: I did participate in the 24 hours of nurburgring. And even that as an event is so.
It's huge. And it's an incredible feeling to drive when you've got so many people camping around. And I'm sure that the 24 hours of Le Mans is that and then some. So I can't wait to see exactly. Yeah, you're gonna learn what the atmosphere is like now. I want to know what it felt like to win at Le Mans. And if in any way or shape or form, it changed you.
[00:12:29] Speaker B: You know, participation in any of these big races, especially sports cars, is, you know, you can get your way there, you can buy your way there, you can. Driver's a gentleman driver, but to be there as a factory driver is something really special. And you feel the might of that and the weight of that.
Just to complete the 24 hours, you feel like you've had a victory. You just cross the line, and normally your car's limping, everyone's knackered, and, you know, everyone looks like crap, and you get to the end and, you know, you've completed something, but to hit the podium is just, wow. And. And you stand there knowing you've done something really special. But to take the top step of the podium and to be there and realize that no matter what else happened, you won the race you're in. And obviously I won the GT two category, and people said, oh, you didn't win. Overall, I go, well, it's kind of like the race we were in.
So in multiclass racing, you can only win the race you're in. And it was a, for me, in a career that hadn't been quite so, had the trajectory that I really had wanted. You know, you said earlier, you know, we all want to go to Formula One or Indycar, whatever. Yeah, I did, too. That was why I did formula cars. And having the burden, albeit one that I didn't, I never acknowledged until I was older, of having such a successful father. For me to stand up there was like this watershed moment again with David Donahue, Luca Druddy, who is my teammate.
We were the third car. We were the car that wasn't supposed to win, but we just kept on going. We never came in, other than for fuel and tires. We never lifted the hood. I mean, it was the perfect race. Meanwhile, everyone else was like fireworks going off, and we just kept on going through. Not quite the tortoise, but definitely the hair. Not the hair. Until we were released in the early hours to go faster and so they could ensure a victory for me to win really did almost justify my decision all those years ago to have become a racing driver, actually. And for the first time I had the, you know, I didn't have to have my dad, who was very british and very afraid of nepotism, you know, where he didn't really help me too much in my career, you know, certainly not like a yoss or someone like that. My dad was still racing and was like, you got to get on with it on your own. So I felt like I'd really achieved something. And I felt for the first time I could walk, walk through the paddock and, and be proud of who I was and not have to excuse it. Although in make excuses. Although in the middle of the night, this guy came out, I've got to tell you, this, this belgian journalist who's such a tool. And he came up and he said, I mean, I just got out after 3 hours in the car. And he goes, what's it like knowing you'll never be as fast as your dad? And I looked at this little short, unattractive man and I said, there are about 200 other drivers in this pit lane that aren't as good as my dad. So.
And I'm proud of him. What else do you want me to say, other than I wanted to punch him? But it was, you know, you. After that race, I kind of felt better about myself, actually. And it really propelled a really good end of the decade with Dodge.
[00:15:55] Speaker A: Well, sometimes those full circle moments come in different shapes and forms than we expected them to in the beginning. But we can't take anything away from you. I mean, regardless of what class it was in, to be on the top step of the podium at Le Mans, which is the absolute pinnacle of endurance racing. How many people can say that they did that? So, congratulations.
Now let's talk a little bit about the man whose shadow you just mentioned. You maybe sometimes had to walk in your dad. There's a great story out there about your dad, the legendary racing driver Derek Bell, Steve McQueen and the movie Le Mans. Now tell us a little bit about that story and how it relates to your connection with Tag Heuer.
[00:16:34] Speaker B: The bell's story with Tag Heuer really goes back to the making of the film Le Mans in 1970. Dad was just a young racing driver in his late twenties and very vibrant. And they were all young drivers out there racing Formula three, Formula two, trying to get to Formula one and driving sports cars. Back in those days, they raced everything they could when they got the opportunity. And it wasn't unusual. You could bump into Ken Tyrrell on a Wednesday and drive for him on a Saturday, on a Sunday. It was a very organic place to be when you were one of the drivers that was being talked about, and dad was one of those. And at the same time, Steve McQueen was the most famous actor, I think, in the world at that moment. And so when the opportunity came to do the movie, dad leapt at it, like a lot of the drivers, but he was off racing at weekends. And Steve loved that fact that the guys he would work with and collaborate with and in many ways wanted to be, like, way more than he did to be an actor. He just bonded with those drivers. And in a way like Patrick Dempsey has, Patrick really would switch one for the other. I mean, he doesn't get paid as much to be a driver. He never would. But to be an actor and then a driver, my God, the perfect thing. So my memories from that time, even though I was there, are those wonderful secondhand ones when you watched, seen enough pictures and heard enough stories that you adopted. But dad really became very good friends with Steve, and they had some really enjoyable moments. And we ended up even sharing a house for, like, six weeks as a family with Steve and Chad and his son and everything. So it was definitely a good bonding for him. But there was a moment when Steve asked Dad, dad, would you like a watch? Which watch do you want? And what was funny was that he didn't. Dad wanted the Monaco, but Steve didn't want to give him the Monaco. He wanted to give him the gold chronograph, because he was sort of like, well, that's going to be the bigger watch, you know, down the road. So dad actually took the chronograph, which got stolen about 20 years later, unfortunately.
But it was funny, that moment and that connection to them has created, as I move into my phase, a great friendship with Chad. And, you know, I saw him just a couple of weeks ago, and I actually. I've got a beautiful portrait I took of him because I like taking portraits of him in his dad's 911, which he's never washed inside Naomi. It's as in it's never been detailed. So his father's DNA is in the car, and I think that's incredible. Anyway, so I'm seeing him next week to take in the picture, but just having that sort of legacy friendship and the fact that he was way older than me. He was, like, eight years older than me. So what was. I was just a kid running around on a tricycle. Probably no fun for him, but it seems to be a rather nostalgic magical moment in time. I think it's when Tag Heuer became, you know, that affiliation with racing and really dangerous in a way. Daredevil men that defied. And again, this is me getting sort of reminiscing about it. But we all had this fondness for that era. There was no social media, the cars were dangerous, there was no electronic aid. There was no crazy balance of performance. You just went out and built the car that you could, and these men really risked everything and without really much reward. So I think that's why my nostalgia for tag Heuer and Le Mans and the McQueen family is so strong. And of course, to this day, we know the brand.
[00:20:34] Speaker A: So I cannot believe your dad lost the gold chronograph that was gifted to him by Steve McQueen. What a story. My goodness. So you seem to have.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: Yeah, he had it restored. You know, he had it cleaned up by tag, went home and someone at Brand's hatch went into his kit bag and took it.
[00:20:49] Speaker A: Gosh.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: Although, funnily enough, when he just, he, after 25 years, he just got new sofas at his house in Pagham in England, and he cut every pillow and cut everything because he swore the watch was inside his. Somehow it slipped down the back. So all these years later, he thought he was going to find it in the sofa, which he didn't.
[00:21:09] Speaker A: I mean, that's a tough loss. That's one of those frustrating ones that I think is a tough pill to swallow. But how do you feel about his choice to go for the gold chronograph rather than the Monaco? Because from what I understand, you have somewhat of a connection with the tag Hoya Monaco. Tell us about that.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: Yeah, well, dad still has a moniker that Chad gave him and was engraved to him. And then when they did the making is a movie called the making of the movie of Le Mans, like a documentary. And Chad was very involved. He asked me to host the Q and A in Hollywood, and he was like, well, we got a little bit of budget for that, for the talking job. And I said, no, I really want to watch. So I got an engraved Monaco from him, and I really love it.
And then the other day, I got the new Monaco with the black face and the skeleton. It's just so beautiful.
So I don't know, when you wear a Monaco, I don't care who you are, it does, again, transport you back to feeling you're cooler than you actually really are. And it's one of those watches that even the big collectors, if they see you in it, will go, oh, I love your watch, you know, so I think there's just something that really. That watch has a place in the timeline for a pun of motorsport. That watch plays as much a role as someone turning up in a nice old 911. It's just an incredible, incredible timepiece.
[00:22:41] Speaker A: Absolutely. And it sounds like they're all attached to fantastic stories as well, so make sure you hold on tight to them and don't. Don't lose them in the couch.
[00:22:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: Now back to motorsport. The motorsport term triple crown refers to the three most prestigious and renowned races in the world. Monaco, Grand Prix, Indy 500, and the 24 hours of Le Mans. Now, I'd love to ask you, from your perspective, why you think these three races are the most coveted.
[00:23:05] Speaker B: The triple crown in motorsports is, you know, between Le Mans, between Monaco and the Indy 500 couldn't be more different. It's rather like saying, oh, the triple crown in any other sport is a three legged race. Tennis at Wimbledon and, you know, croquet, you're like, what the heck is that? But, you know, when it comes to motorsports, in a world where drivers are forced to be so specialized so early on, I'm going to be a Formula driver. F 321. I'm going to go into sports cars. I'm going to be a rally driver. It seems wild that the interdiscipline opportunities are still there, which is why I think it becomes so difficult and elusive.
Graham Hill, Phil Hill, you know, these guys managed to pull it off back in the day, and we'll get close to it. Fernando Alonso coming in his break from Formula one to be there. And I remember being in the pit lane, going fanboying on the fact that Fernando Alonso was right there in our Le Mans pit lane, racing in our race, when he's a Formula one driver. I remember it being incredibly powerful and reminiscent of when drivers, like I said earlier, could jump from discipline to discipline. The fact that you have Monaco, which is just such a frantic, gladiatorial, coliseum like environment, where it's driver against driver, but really driver against yourself and qualifying and all the difficult things that comes with it. But there's a nostalgia to that race, and that's why, God forbid, it ever gets taken off the calendar. I think Formula one would disappear, but it's the same. That has one set of disciplines. Then you go to Le Mans, where it's all about endurance, and yet, with modern technology, the cars don't ever back off. I mean, they don't have to manage gearboxes, they don't have to manage the engine. They just go as fast as they can. So Le Mans changed, and the Indy 500, which is, for me, the most dangerous form of motorsport in the world. And just because of the sustained high speeds, and it's so different because for a european driver who's never been there, and suddenly all you're doing is turning left at those sustained speeds, but it's got an endurance side to it as well. They actually like, well, you know, it's like watching any racing. You get going at the beginning, and then it balances out, and everyone gets on their strategy, and it really is an endurance race right up until those last 50 laps. And it's positioning and posturing on the strategy to get you to that. But they couldn't be more different. So for anyone approaching either as a manufacturer or as a driver, to even attempt to lock in those three wins, Mario Andretti didn't pull it off.
He really wanted to. And he and Michael, they actually finished second the year we finished third in the McLaren. And it was too elusive for him. And he said to dad, once I would give a Formula One championship to be able to win Le Mans. So that's how important the triple crown is.
[00:26:19] Speaker A: Wow. Okay. Well, on that note, I hate to put you on the spot, but I'm going to do it anyway. If you had to pick your favorite of the three, despite their differences, which one would it be and why?
[00:26:29] Speaker B: Do you know what? I'm gonna go with Le Mans. I'm gonna go with Le Mans. I am gonna have to go with Le Mans. But Monaco, I can imagine trying to win. And Indy, I just can't imagine at all, because I scared myself into next week when I tried to do it. So, yeah, Le Mans, Monaco, perfect.
[00:26:46] Speaker A: So, Le Mans, your favorite. Now I have to dig deeper into why there is so much trauma around your Indy 500 experience. First of all, tell me what the experience was like and what kind of preparation goes into getting ready for a race like that. And if there was anything you could have known in advance, what would you have liked to know now that you've been through it?
[00:27:04] Speaker B: It was 1996, and it was the first year of the IRL, the Indy Racing League. And I had just come off the back of Le Mans, and obviously fancy myself as having a career in anything I could kind of feel like. And I saw America and Indy car racing as a big opportunity, career wise. But they weren't really looking for foreign drivers. They wanted it to be all american at the time. So I begged and pleaded and eventually got a drive, had a little sponsorship from a hair replacement group, which is very weak. So I have a lot of hair, but so this guy was. Was a fan and put some money into it. So I turn up at Indy, and I'm very excited. I walked past the bearski, and I walked past. I walked past all these really fancy teams and then found my garage and walked past it and went back and went, that can't be my car. I mean, it looked literally like, I don't know, they found it a swap meet. And so anyway, I get into the car to try and do my rookie orientation, and the car never worked. Every time there's a big black digital board on the back straight. That's like your black flag number 15 rang up. Every time I went past. It came in the pits. And the, you know, the scrutineers are looking at the rear of the car, seeing this fluid coming out on the rear tires. And then it was raining, basically. My confidence eroded. Naomi. Or every day it eroded. We had terrible weather. Meanwhile, like Michel Jourdain and all these other rookies cleared rookie orientation in a minute. My car would just not even do it. And it became so unstable that in the morning, I would pack my wash bag in my room because I wasn't sure that I was the one coming back to clean my room up. So I was. That's not the way to go racing. It was really very negative and something that should have been this triumphant experience. And, you know, I was very sensitive to tyre, where I was a good endurance driver, so I thought that would translate to IndyCar. And we all felt like we were on an even keel, but being there in a car that was so underperforming, and it made me underperform even more. And then Johnny Rutherford, multiple winner at the race, and my sort of mentor there, he came up and he said, you need to go. You should walk out of here before you can't, because I don't think if you hit the wall in that thing, you will not be walking out. And that was the final straw. And then Scott Brayton, who was my actual, you know, you're assigned a driver during that week, that month, to, like, shadow. I listened to him die on the radio during qualifying, and I was like, I am done here. And I never went back to drive.
I figured there's some things I shouldn't do, so that was it. You know, pretty pathetic when you think other drivers have gone on to such good success there. Gilles de Ferran, you know, who was my best friend, he and I talked about it at length, and I just would sit there over a drink in awe of what he could do on an oval and how he relished it. And there's a part of me that was like, God, I think I could have done it, you know? But that one experience just took me out of it, to be honest.
[00:30:18] Speaker A: Tell me what you're looking forward to going there now.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: My memories of the Indy 500, other than my own driving there, which was this anomaly, have just been one of that fits in with that whole Triple Crown concept, as in, it is the largest gathering of humans one day outside a religious event, I think, in the world. So. And it's not like at Le Mans, where you might have 350,000 people over hundreds of square acres.
They're in that coliseum, they're in that bowl, and you can see them, and it's the noise and the power and the raw energy of the place. It's palpable, and it's very exciting. And you know that feeling when you stand there and there's just some tracks that make you. When the cars go by, you go, all right, that's pretty wild. And so I'm really looking forward to being there, too, because as an entertainment spectacle, it is unparalleled in that way when they all take off. So I'm really looking forward to being a part of it. Obviously, there's lots of.
It's also a bit of a class reunion just in. Our friends are there, whether it's Dario Scott Dixon. There's so many great drivers there. I love the fact that you've got.
While people can run the pace Catherine Legge got in the field, how is she going to do? She learnt lessons from last year. And seeing it as it is very much a strategic race. So to see that play out, obviously, Alexander Rossi, he's qualified for. I'm going to be talking to him on the Saturday night on this panel. And I just find it the extraordinary blend of man and machine, man and woman and machine, because they go so fast.
If you're doing 230 miles an hour average, what are you doing down the front straight before the tires scrub off the speed? It blows my mind. And maybe there's still an element, Naomi, where I. Because I never did it, never cracked it. I have even more admiration for everyone that does it.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: I can totally imagine that. Now, what about some of the traditions around the Indy 500? Because there are some very quirky ones that we don't see in other forms of motorsport. Do you have a favorite? I mean, there's the milk bottle, there's the brickyard. Do you have a favorite.
[00:32:41] Speaker B: Well, I guess it's great. Unless you're lactose intolerant, right? And then you're like, well, no.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: They're able to choose what kind of milk they want, so I'm pretty sure there's an oat milk version or an almond milk.
[00:32:53] Speaker B: I bet there is. Can you imagine how funny? They've probably got a refrigerator full of all these different milks out the back. Yak milk. So I think, yeah, you can probably get around that. Isn't it an interesting tradition that evolved? And I don't know if everyone, people can sometimes trace the origins, but at what point did it become a good idea? As you know, you're hot, you're sweaty, when champagne goes on you and you go back to the motorhome, right? I mean, it's. You stink. And that revolting, sticky, sweet, nasty smell. Milk. Milk must be the most gross thing in the world. So I'd rather kiss the bricks. And of course, the bricks, when they lifted up the millions of bricks that were there, they left that probably four foot strip on the start finish line, which the cars cross over every time, which is very cool. And so when they go and kiss the brick, I think that's a much more palatable tradition than covering yourself in milk. But I like traditions. I think, you know, we don't always remember the origins, but we enjoy the way they've evolved. And there's something unique to seeing a driver being covered in milk. Oatmeal or not.
[00:34:04] Speaker A: Totally. Exactly. I can't wait to see what milk's been chosen this time around. Now, I have to ask you, by the time of recording, obviously the Monaco Grand Prix still hasn't happened. By the time this podcast will go out, it will have happened. But I'm going to ask you what you think your predictions are for the whole triple crown, if you'd like to give me one.
[00:34:23] Speaker B: Okay, that is really good.
Well, I would have asked you the same question. When it comes to Monaco, I'm very excited coming off the back of Imola to see how the gap has gone tighter. I am really enjoying hearing a little bit of squeakiness in Max's voice when the pressure is applied. And as we know, he's not going to succumb to pressure. He's too good for that. But it does. I like seeing McLaren in there now. They have winning ways. I think I always said on my show, the minute Lando works out how to win, because he is a winner, he's won in everything else. I think you're going to unleash the beast and I think that he's already got swagger. So I think now that's going to be even more of a swagger. And their upgrades are obviously working. Qualifying, I think, is going to be the most fun this weekend in Monaco. I think it's just going to be so stimulating to watch because that's really the whole race, isn't it, there? So wouldn't it be incredible if Oscar Piastri did get Paul there? I mean, that's, you know, he did do really well, you know, but I just have a funny feeling that he's going to get his act together. But then so is Charles Leclerc. He's at home. I mean, it's so complicated. I don't, I really can't take one. Pick one, pick one long run. You have to put money on Max.
I'm actually going to say let's be fun. I'm going to say Leclerc is going to win in Monaco.
[00:35:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, that's what I don't want to say hoping for because I'm not hoping for anything. But what a romantic story that would be for him. The only Monagasque on the grid to win at home for the first time. It's gone wrong a few times for him there. It would be great to see him kamal triumphant, to be honest.
[00:36:06] Speaker B: I think there's so many good teams. I think it could be a good Porsche year at Le Mans. They know how to win Le Mans. Porsche have this approach to Le Mans that I find very systematic, having been a part of it with my father. So I think that could, for Le Mans, really, it would be great to go with Porsche. That's where my heart emotionally would be. And for Indy, Alexander Rossi, of course, he's gonna have to win because he's got the same watch on as I have. So, you know, Scott Dixon is always the one at these big races to watch for. You know, he's the giant amongst them and he is our Fernando Alonso. But Fernando Alonso in Max Verstappen's position basically. Right. You know, he's the oldest guy and he keeps crushing them. So I wouldn't count him out. But I think we're going to, there's so many good people at the front of these, so. Yeah, but this weekend in Monaco, let's go with Charles.
[00:37:06] Speaker A: Well, there you have it. You heard it here first, Justin Bell's predictions for the triple crown. Now, that is all we have time for today. So just before I let you go, I'm going to ask you a question. We ask all of our guests when we come to the end of this podcast, and the question is, what does the edge mean to you?
[00:37:23] Speaker B: The edge, for everybody who's an athlete of any form or whatever you tries to excel in, is, I think, defined by your own imagination.
For me, the edge was definitely a place where, when you win, you don't have to make excuses. And I think a therapist could probably get into this with me.
That moment when you win and you can go home and you just go, I won. And it's you go, how did you win? And you go, well, everything came together in the best way possible. It was the team, it was me, it was circumstance, it was our pace, it was the tires, it was the track. And so for me, the edge isn't really a place. It's the culmination of everything coming together to give you that edge. And almost when it does, Naomi, it's not very difficult. You know, all the work was done before, and actually, the execution of the win isn't as complicated. And you realize that's what the edge means for me, when everyone is performing at the best and circumstance and luck and all the things that come together do align and you win, and you sometimes walk away going, and I know Max must do this on a weekly basis. You must walk in the motorhome and go, it wasn't that hard. And yet for everyone else, it's a cluster. So the edge for me, is purely the alignment of the stars and it all coming together.
[00:39:00] Speaker A: Well, I love that answer. We haven't heard a version like that yet. And what a positive spin to the word the edge.
Thank you so much, Justin, one more time for joining us on the podcast. It's been a pleasure to have this conversation with you.
[00:39:12] Speaker B: Very nice to meet you. Thank you. I love watching you on tv. Thank you. It's. I enjoy it.
[00:39:27] Speaker A: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Edge. If you'd like to listen to more episodes like this one, then check out our interviews with race car drivers Neil Yani, Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, and Justin's legendary dad, Derek Bell. If you enjoyed this episode, then don't forget to subscribe or leave us a review. It truly does make a difference. Thank you to Justin for joining us on this episode. I'm your host, Naomi Schiff, and I'll be back next month with another episode of the Etch, a podcast by Tag Hoyer. See you soon.
