When Brian Muller and Matt Elisofon first picked up their microphones to document the debut episode of Pink Flags, they had been making an attempt to fill a distinct segment they’d acknowledged within the Components 1 world: “I used to be like, the place is the podcast with the Invoice Simmons of F1? There wasn’t just a few man on the market who’s only a lunatic taking pictures the shit together with his good friend. So we turned the podcast you need to see on the planet.”
The F1 podcast area might be grim. Nearly any present hosted by a journalist, character, or driver affiliated with the game will inevitably be measured, a relic of the period the place F1 was presided over by Bernie Ecclestone. Upset Ecclestone — even for one thing extremely minor — and you could very effectively present as much as the following race to seek out your credentials had been deactivated. Regardless that the open-wheel ship is underneath newer, friendlier administration, there’s nonetheless an angle which you could’t piss anybody off. Too a lot of these F1 podcasters depend on F1 for his or her paycheck. They will’t simply have enjoyable.
That’s a part of what has made Pink Flags such a surprising romp. Hosted by two American “childhood enemies, turned greatest mates, turned F1 husbands,” that is the present you go for while you fall in love with Netflix docuseries “Drive to Survive” and marvel the best way to entry this new-to-you sport in an equally compelling manner. It’s the present with essentially the most power, essentially the most yelling, and essentially the most chaos, all catering to the “little sluts who dwell for the drama.” And rattling, does it work.
Muller and Elisofon have recognized one another since they had been kids, however as their podcast bio suggests, it wasn’t all the time clean crusing.
“Matt and I grew up collectively in New York,” Muller stated. “We had been enemies.”
As Muller explains it, he “inherited” Elisofon from a special good friend group, and the similarities between the 2 meant they really hated one another for some time, feeling as in the event that they wanted to compete. By their senior yr of highschool, they had been collaborating on a sketch comedy present and, regardless of rising aside for some time, Muller was the primary particular person Elisofon referred to as after watching Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was a traditional F1 love story, identical to everybody else,” Elisofon added with amusing. The 2 males watched a couple of races collectively over Zoom — by way of unlawful livestream, at nighttime, in mattress, subsequent to their girlfriends, as they tried to remain quiet reacting to the chaos of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “I used to be like, all races should be like this. That is the best sport of all time — and each race is thrilling as a result of we’ve solely seen that one.”
They had been all-in. Elisofon famous that he wished to “devour every bit of media, all of the content material” about F1, however there was one thing missing: Persona.
He continued, “Plenty of the British [F1] podcasts, they’re so measured and so afraid of pissing all people off as a result of they don’t need to run afoul of individuals once they get larger. Brian and I, we had been like, we’re not going to fret about that. We’ll by no means be that large. We actually wished to be the sort of followers that weren’t afraid to be followers.”
In fact, it helps that Elisofon and Muller didn’t initially intend to work inside the Components 1 world, which gave them extra freedom to share their true ideas and luxuriate in themselves.
“I need to be on Broadway,” Muller stated, noting the performing and screenwriting aspirations of himself and his co-host. “I can’t be like, oh, this [Broadway] present sucks — even when I feel that. However with F1, we’ve got the liberty to let our hair down.”
However the ardour and humor of the Pink Flags Podcast resonated. They posted their first episode of the podcast and earned a grand whole of “like, 30 listeners,” Muller instructed me. They began clipping elements of the present for TikTok, and a type of bite-size clips rapidly gained traction.
“We had simply launched a clip the place we had been speaking about [Lewis Hamilton’s dog] Roscoe’s sperm, as a result of we discovered Lewis had frozen it, as a result of he wished to breed Roscoe however he saved having, y’know, nightly emissions. Simply jizzing all around the home,” Elisofon stated. “We put that clip out, and there was like, 400 views. Then 600 views. Then, unexpectedly, it was like, 1,000 views, after which 3,000.
“Brian and I had been on the telephone collectively simply refreshing the web page, and all of a sudden, 30,000 folks had seen this clip. The subsequent time we launched an episode, we jumped from 30 listeners to 200 listeners.”
However that viral expertise helped the 2 males higher perceive what folks wished. As they recorded future episodes, they started noting the moments that might make nice social clips — and as extra clips went viral, extra folks started listening to Pink Flags. They gained a producer. They gained interns. They obtained sponsors and partnerships. Now, their Instagram web page sits at 131,000 followers, their TikTok at 11.9 million likes. They’ve interviewed Mario Andretti, Willy T. Ribbs, Liam Lawson, and Will Buxton, together with a large checklist of different names each inside and outdoors motorsport.
Now, they’re increasing. Each Thursday, they’ll drop a brand new podcast referred to as Vankah Hours, with co-host Guenther Steiner, former Haas F1 workforce principal. Their method — doing their very own factor, with out worrying about what others thought — has labored out fairly rattling effectively.
That development got here with greater expectations and extra strain — however as Muller notes, they work onerous to maintain that strain from impacting them.
“The extra strain [Red Flags] has, the more serious that product will turn out to be,” he instructed me. “However Matt and I each have particular person pursuits exterior of F1.” Specializing in these pursuits have helped take away the stress of engaged on a profitable podcast, whereas additionally serving to Elisofon and Muller hold their priorities in line.
Elisofon famous that there are such a lot of issues about Pink Flags that would take away the enjoyment: lengthy conferences, calls with legal professionals, numerous spreadsheets, and a lot extra. However he additionally notes that the trade-off for these frustrations is the flexibility to have enjoyable — and contextualizing that pleasure is what it’s all about.
“I can say, it’s sort of like being an actor, as a result of a lot of being an actor is bullshit,” Elisofon instructed me. “You’re doing self-tapes. You must get new headshots. You’re sitting round in auditions, or in your trailer. While you lastly get a gig, you’re most likely performing one minute for each hour you’re on set. You’re used to going by means of hell to get to the enjoyable factor.” All of the work that goes into sustaining Pink Flags is made value it when the Zoom name begins and the mics activate.
“It sounds cliché, however holding the flame lit from that spark of the unique concept, that’s the primary factor,” Muller added. “That trumps the whole lot: whether or not or not individuals are listening, whether or not or not it’s going effectively proper now.
“It’s not value it to place [this podcast] out for short-term achieve. We’ve got a friendship to guard.”
“That’s the toughest half to navigate,” Elisofon continued. “Going into enterprise with your pals, it means it’s important to separate the friendship from the enterprise, though, in loads of methods, the friendship is the enterprise. That’s what we’re promoting, in a bizarre manner.”
After a lot reflection, I used to be anticipating one thing equally introspective after I requested Elisofon and Muller to share crucial factor they’ve discovered all through their endeavor. Their reply got here nearly in unison, and was nearly completely Pink Flags: “At all times hit document.”
