F1 Beyond The Grid

For 20 years, Italy waited for a driver to join Giancarlo Fisichella as a Formula 1 Grand Prix-winner. Now, Kimi Antonelli is flying Il Tricolore on the top step of the podium once again. Fisi tells Tom Clarkson about the pressures of carrying Italy’s hopes in F1 and what Kimi needs to do to end the nation’s even longer wait for a World Champion. Fisi looks back on his own F1 career - the ‘hard’ m...

Lando Norris achieved his lifelong dream in 2025, becoming Formula 1 World Champion for the first time after a rollercoaster title battle that went all the way down to the wire in Abu Dhabi. Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Lando talks about not being nervous before that season-finale, what it really means to achieve the goal he’s been chasing for so long, how becoming champion has changed him and whethe...

Flavio Briatore and ‘Team Enstone’ go back a long way. As Benetton in the 90’s, he led them to multiple World Championships with Michael Schumacher. And as Renault in the 2000s, he did the same with Fernando Alonso. So how can he achieve similar success with Alpine? Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Flavio talks about the progress the team have made since he became Executive Advisor, what he makes of his...

As a child, Formula 1 was his dream. As a young driver, he was on the same trajectory as Michael Schumacher. Tom Kristensen was offered a chance to join a Formula 1 team, but he saw it as too risky. Instead, he found success in sportscars and made history at the Le Mans 24 Hours with a record nine victories. Tom tells Tom Clarkson about the ‘risky’ offer he received from a Formula 1 team in the 19...

In Barcelona, Alex Albon became the driver with the most race starts in Williams history – surpassing Nigel Mansell’s record of 95 Grands Prix. Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Alex talks about what that milestone means to him and how he’s changed, as a driver and as a person, since joining the team in 2022. Alex also tells Tom why Williams have had a difficult start to the new era of Formula 1 and how t...

At the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix, Jean Alesi achieved the sole Grand Prix victory of his Formula 1 career. Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Jean relives the standout moments from that unforgettable moment in Montreal – like only finding out from the fans that he was leading the race, doing a lap of honour on the back of Michael Schumacher’s car, and then being whisked to the Vatican in Rome to celebrate....

He learned how to win at Ferrari. He believes Audi can become Formula 1 World Championship contenders by 2030. For Mattia Binotto, the first step is raising the ambition of every person in his team. Audi aren’t on the grid to take part. They’re there to win. The Audi Team Principal tells Tom Clarkson how he plans to turn the former Sauber team into winners. Mattia talks about the pressure and oppo...

The Formula 1 driver market is potentially just one domino away from exploding into a frenzy, so what exactly does an F1 driver need to do to get themselves into the best seat on the grid? With multiple wins, poles and podiums throughout his 15 seasons at the pinnacle of motorsport, David Coulthard was often fighting at the front. But how did he make his way into the fastest cars? Speaking to Tom...

20 years ago, Jenson Button added his name to the illustrious list of drivers to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix, when he emerged victorious at Hungary in 2006. A moment long overdue after multiple podiums, Jenson admits he did get to a point where he thought a win might never happen. So how did he feel when he finally did cross the finish line and take the chequered flag first? Speaking to Tom Clarkso...

Why would a double F1 World Champion at the height of his powers walk away from a winning car? For the 1976 season, Emerson Fittipaldi stunned the sport by leaving McLaren and setting up his own team. He wanted a challenge, and he certainly got one. 50 years later, Emerson tells Tom Clarkson why he and his brother Wilson launched Copersucar,  a team based in their home country of Brazil. He also r...

‘I’ve always been the youngest, the new kid, the underdog. It helps me not be intimidated’. Arvid Lindblad, the fourth-youngest F1 driver in history, is full of confidence. In his first race he fought wheel-to-wheel with World Champions. The Racing Bulls driver has made a fast start to his first season in Formula 1. He always believed he’d race at the top. He’s living his childhood dream and he’s...

Formula 1 has always been a dream for Colton Herta. Walking away from IndyCar to race in Formula 2 is a gamble. His reward, should he prove himself, could be an F1 drive with Cadillac. Colton has come close to F1 before. This time he’s determined to make it. Speaking on the day he had a seat-fit for Cadillac’s F1 car, Colton Herta tells Tom Clarkson about growing up at racetracks with his father,...

At this year’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Bernd Maylander reached a remarkable milestone of 500 races as the FIA Safety Car Driver. Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Bernd reflects on how the Safety Car and his job have evolved since his first race back in 2000 and some of the most iconic races he’s been involved in over the last 25 years. He talks through what a Grand Prix weekend looks like f...

From the first time she sat in a kart, aged 9, Doriane Pin has wanted to race in Formula 1. F1 ACADEMY champion, Mercedes Development Driver, poised to drive an F1 car for the first time - Doriane is getting closer and closer to that dream. Doriane tells Tom Clarkson her racing story so far, from feeling like a 'superhero' in her kart, to seeking sponsors at the age of 11, taking on the Le Mans 24...

Red Bull Racing were at a crossroads when Laurent Mekies took over as Team Principal halfway through 2025. After a difficult first half of the season, should they continue working on their 2025 car or write that year off and prioritise the new regulations for 2026? Their decision to stay focussed on the ‘25 car paid off, with Max Verstappen going from more than 100 points behind to missing out on...

Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu is Tom Clarkson’s guest on this week’s F1 Beyond The Grid. Ayao has been with Haas since their debut season 10 years ago, but he’s only been in charge since 2024. What has he learned about leadership in that time? How did he guide the team’s recovery from such a difficult start last season? And what are Haas’ targets in the new era of Formula 1? As for the drivers,...

The son of a motorsport legend, a racer since childhood, Formula 1 was Jacques Villeneuve's destiny. In 1996, the young Canadian arrived at his first Grand Prix and immediately proved he belonged there by taking pole position. In his rookie season Villeneuve won races, went wheel-to-wheel with Michael Schumacher and took Williams teammate Damon Hill to a final race title-decider. 30 years on, he s...

The newest team in Formula 1 are here to compete. Cadillac have earned the respect of their rivals. Now they’re pushing to get faster. CEO Dan Towriss takes Tom Clarkson back to the start of the story - how he and his TWG Motorsports company first became involved in discussions about F1, conversations with General Motors and Cadillac, the work to build a team, choosing their race drivers and makin...

Five years after Carlos Sainz left McLaren, his former team and his former teammate are the reigning Formula 1 World Champions. As he watched Lando Norris reach the summit of world motorsport, did he ever think ‘that could have been me?’.   Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Carlos reflects on leaving McLaren and becoming a race winner with Ferrari before joining Williams. He remembers feeling ‘powerless’...

A title fight full of twists and turns, a new World Champion, rookies reaching major milestones and Formula 1 on the big screen. The 2025 season was nothing short of dramatic on and off track. Here, on F1 Beyond The Grid, Tom Clarkson has sat down with the people in the thick of all that drama and in this end-of-year special, Tom picks out his highlights. You’ll hear from the new World Champion La...

As Formula 1 enters an exciting new era of fast, thrilling and sustainable racing in 2026, what can we expect on track? Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff, and Managing Director of Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains, Hywel Thomas, explain how the new power units and advanced sustainable fuels will enhance performance and demand different skills from the drivers and teams. Toto and Hywel tel...

2025 has been a year of firsts for Laura Mueller and Esteban Ocon. For Laura, it’s her first season as a race engineer. For Esteban, it’s his first season with Haas. And it’s their first time working with each other. So how are they finding it? What do they need from one another to get the best out of each other? And how do they communicate in and out of the car? Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Laura an...

Winning four Formula 1 World Championships is a feat only six elite drivers have achieved. Competing under the highest pressure, year after year, has given Sebastian Vettel rare racing insight. Since retiring from the sport in 2022, he’s been raising awareness of causes he cares about, and reflecting on his career – the peaks, how he learned to balance risks and rewards, and the years where his co...

Every driver who wants to win with Red Bull needs to impress Helmut Marko. The veteran Motorsport Advisor oversees the team’s young driver programme and helped launch the careers of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen. A former F1 driver himself, he knows what it takes to race under the highest pressure. Helmut tells Tom Clarkson about his life in racing: childhood adventures in Austria with futur...

With three rounds left of the 2025 season, Oscar Piastri is still in contention to become Formula 1 World Champion for the first time. So what’s it like being in the thick of an F1 title fight with so much at stake? Speaking to Tom Clarkson before the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Oscar opens up about the pressure of a title battle and why fighting a teammate is different to racing against any other drive...