Fresh Rubber

The "Bahrain" Grand Prix is run in Malaysia, and it's chaos from the formation lap on. Max Verstappen finally takes his first pole and first win of 2026, tying Michael Schumacher for the second-most wins with a single team. Lewis Hamilton stays out on slicks while Ferrari begs him to pit, then climbs from P15 to the podium. Plus: Mercedes' safety-car pit call, Alonso's top-10...

George Russell delivers the drive of his career at Baku — pole by over eight tenths, every lap led, fastest lap, the win. His first ever Grand Slam, and it barely matters that it won't touch the title fight, because it's simply that good. Max Verstappen claws back from P8 to within 0.196 seconds at the flag after Russell loses turbo power. Plus: Kimi Antonelli's Q1 crash and recovery d...

Lando Norris puts together the lap of his life at Madrid's brand-new Grand Prix — pole position despite missing an entire practice session — and looks set to win it outright. Then Lance Stroll donuts into the wall, a Virtual Safety Car comes out on lap 14, and Norris is a fraction too late to catch the free pit stop everyone else grabs. Kimi Antonelli inherits the win and openly admits it was...

Kimi Antonelli wins his home Grand Prix from 19th on the grid — the first Italian driver to win at Monza in 60 years. A first-lap red flag for Leclerc's crash resets the race, and what follows is a three-stop masterclass as Antonelli carves through the field. Then Mercedes makes its call: fresh tyres for Antonelli under a late safety car, and George Russell left out to dry on ageing hards. Jas...

Max Verstappen's race lasts less than one lap after he loses the car on a wet line and crashes hard, triggering a 29-minute red-flag stoppage that ironically dries out the only rain of the weekend and kills any strategic chaos. What follows is anything but the procession the dull Sprint promised: Antonelli and Piastri both mug George Russell off the line, a five-second pit stop wrecks his afte...

Lando Norris wins a genuinely unpredictable Hungarian Grand Prix, but the story is Ferrari's weekend fizzling out right when it mattered, Oscar Piastri's misfortune striking twice over, and Kimi Antonelli coming within four-tenths of an outright win. Jason and Gav break down a wild qualifying (gusty winds, a Verstappen crash, a late penalty that cost Hamilton pole), McLaren's team-orde...

Charles Leclerc finally gets his Ferrari win — his first in roughly two years — but Kimi Antonelli was closing him down before a broken wheel shield turned his race into a fight for one point, and a five-second penalty dropped him to 16th. Jason and Gav debate whether the win was gifted or earned, break down the Max/George/Lewis battle through the middle of the race, and dig into why Max sounds mo...

Kimi Antonelli takes his sixth win of the season at Spa-Francorchamps, but a VSC pit cycle hands the lead to Charles Leclerc first: he has to go and take it back. Jason and Gav break down what that finish really means once you strip the safety cars out, Lewis Hamilton's genuinely cursed race (a penalty, an unsafe-release scare, and a front wing that never got fixed), and Leclerc's driver-o...

George Russell wins in Austria — but he earns it. Verstappen closes to 1.6 seconds on fresher rubber, Antonelli is right behind in third, and the top three finish inside two seconds. Jason and Gav break down the yellow flag controversy that shaped qualifying, why Ferrari went backwards from the front row again, and what Toto Wolff's "stallion" quote tells you about how Mercedes plans...

Lewis Hamilton wins the 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix — first with Ferrari, seventh at this circuit, one more than Schumacher. Ferrari called a three-stop strategy that left Hamilton nearly two seconds a lap faster than the field when it mattered most. Jason and Gav break down the race that won it, what George Russell's bittersweet pole-to-P2 actually means, Kimi Antonelli's DNF cutting his ch...

Six pit lane speeding penalties, five DNFs, one winner who drove a flawless afternoon. Monaco 2026 was either the best race Gav has ever seen or a messy one saved by FIA shenanigans — Jason and Gav disagree. Max DNF'd on the grid before a wheel turned in anger. Kimi Antonelli won his fifth straight while the field imploded. George Russell fell from podium contender to P12 in three stewards&#39...

Canada delivered the most chaotic race of the 2026 season. McLaren started on inters in bone-dry conditions and lost everything. Kimi Antonelli and George Russell went wheel-to-wheel for 30 laps in some of the most intense teammate racing of the year. Then Hamilton pulled off an around-the-outside move on Verstappen at Turn 1 to grab P2. Kimi wins his fourth in five races. Jason and Gav break it a...

The Mercedes honeymoon is over. Kimi Antonelli attacked George Russell around the outside at Turn 1, nearly crashed them both out twice, and lost it so badly on the radio that Toto Wolff had to intervene personally. George wins the sprint by two points. Lando quietly picks up P2 while they fight. Jason and Gav break down whether George intentionally closed the door, why the championship leader sho...

Fresh Rubber is back — and F1 served up a cracker to welcome us home. Jason and Gav dig into Miami's three-way fight between McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes, Antonelli's undercut win over a frustrated Norris, Max Verstappen's miraculous 360 and what it means that Red Bull's chaotic Joker seems to have his fire back. Plus: Leclerc's disintegrating last lap, George Russell outdrive...

Kimi Antonelli wins in Japan and takes the championship lead. But how much of it was skill, and how much was a safety car landing at exactly the right moment? Jason and Gav break down the Bearman shunt, the closing speed debate that's got the paddock talking, Max Verstappen's increasingly uncertain future, and Gasly doing something remarkable in an Alpine. Plus: Jack Black turned up to pro...

Kimmy Antonelli on pole at Suzuka and the generational story is writing itself — Linblad outqualifies Verstappen, Russell finds six tenths when his car fights him, and Piastri is back in the mix. Jason and Gav dig into the Mercedes teammate tension, Gav's comet tail theory on Red Bull's slow decline, and whether F1's new harvesting rules are killing classical racecraft. Plus race predi...

Antonelli wins his first Grand Prix, Hamilton gets his first Ferrari podium, and both McLarens don't even start. The 2026 Chinese GP was a weekend of records, emotion, and a whole lot of questions. Jason and Gav dig into the Hamilton-Leclerc battle that stole the show, debate whether the Mercedes-Ferrari playbook is becoming too predictable, and try to figure out what's gone wrong at McLar...

The 2026 Formula 1 season begins with one of the most unusual races in recent memory. The new regulations have transformed how the cars are driven — with drivers managing electrical deployment, energy harvesting, and a completely different racing style. In this episode we cover: Why the rookies and younger drivers impressed Mercedes’ early advantage and George Russell’s win Max Verstappen’s stunni...

Formula 1 is heading for its biggest reset in years — and it’s not just about faster cars. In this episode, we dig into what the 2026 regulations really change for drivers and teams. Smaller, lighter cars. Active aero. Multiple energy modes. More decisions, more trade-offs, and far more responsibility placed on the driver. We talk through why the new cars may be harder to race than anything we’ve...

One of the closest F1 seasons we’ve seen in years — and it ended with McLaren’s “no number one” philosophy being tested to the absolute limit. In this season debrief, we unpack the three-way title narrative (Lando, Oscar, Max), the moment the McLaren dynamic changed, and why the sport feels healthier heading into 2026’s big reset (goodbye DRS, hello active aero). We also hit the chaos off-track (H...

Lando Norris is the 2025 Formula 1 World Champion – and he didn’t have to become “Max 2.0” to do it. In this episode of Fresh Rubber, Jase and Gav unpack an Abu Dhabi finale that somehow managed to be tense, clean, and deeply satisfying: Lando’s “I did it my way” moment and full hero arc McLaren’s philosophy on trial: equal drivers, papaya rules and long-term belief Yuki Tsunoda’s controversial de...

What a race. What a mess. What a championship fight. Jason and Gav dive into a chaotic Qatar Grand Prix full of strategy misfires, emotional meltdowns, and a title fight that refuses to calm down. We unpack McLaren’s baffling safety-car decision, why Lando somehow still holds the statistical upper hand heading into the Abu Dhabi finale, Max Verstappen’s unstoppable momentum, Lewis Hamilton’s painf...

The Las Vegas Grand Prix delivered one of the most dramatic swings of the 2025 season. What looked like a straightforward one-stop race escalated into a four-hour global refresh-fest as both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were dramatically disqualified for excessive plank wear. The fallout from that decision has transformed the championship fight and set up one of the most intense finales in recen...

Sao Paulo gave us everything: a wild Sprint, a Grand Prix full of storylines, and two title rivals heading in opposite directions. We break down Lando Norris’ “zen mode” weekend, Max Verstappen’s proof-of-standard drive from a poor grid slot, and Oscar Piastri’s form dip since Baku. We also dig into Kimi Antonelli’s breakout P2/P2, what that does to George Russell’s “team leader” identity, and Fer...

The Mexico City GP delivered chaos, controversy, and career-defining drives.   Lando Norris dominated every session (except FP1) and reclaimed the championship lead , while the FIA triggered Hamilton fans with a bonkers 10s penalty. We unpack Max's rogue driving, Bearman’s breakout for Haas and the Russell radio soap opera that summed up Mercedes’ weekend. All that plus: how Aston’s “tyre scrubbin...