F1 Beyond The Grid

As Lewis Hamilton’s team mate at Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas finds himself consistently measured against a driver many consider the best of all time. But far from being overawed, the gritty Finn actively relishes the challenge, and has become a consistent race-winning threat.  On this week’s show Bottas opens up about mental resilience, motivation and self-development, and also gives us a fascinatin...

He’s a man with one of the toughest jobs in F1: tasked with leading one of the sport’s grandee teams back to the top, under the weight of huge public expectation. But if anyone knows Renault, it’s Cyril Abiteboul. The Frenchman has worked in a variety of positions for the French marque over the years and, though just 41, is now in his fourth season as Team Principal.  On this week’s episode Abiteb...

This week’s guest is Dutch, caused a major stir when he first jumped into an F1 car, and has the surname of Verstappen… but we’re not talking about Red Bull star Max, we’re talking about his father. Jos Verstappen had the same meteoric rise through the junior formulas as his son, culminating in an F1 debut alongside Michael Schumacher at Benetton in 1994. He’d end up making more than 100 Grand Pri...

A year ago, Alex Albon didn’t have an F1 drive, and his prospects of getting one looked slim at best. He had no affiliation with an F1 team and, despite shining in F2, he was having to looking at alternative series in which to earn a living. It was not the first time his career faced a crossroads, but this time, things were turned upside down when he got a call from Red Bull – the same Red Bull th...

Pastor Maldonado was always a headline maker. The Venezuelan arrived in F1 in 2011 with Williams as GP2 champion, and the very next year delivered the team a first win in over seven years with a dazzling performance in Spain. But for all his speed, and all his talent, Maldonado also found himself on the end of a large amount of criticism, sometimes from his fellow drivers, sometimes from the press...

He raced in an era of heroes; a time when cars had no seat belts, yet could still be raced at averages of 150mph. Many he raced against in the 1950s – the first decade of the world championship – perished in pursuit of speed, but Tony Brooks emerged unscathed with six Grand Prix victories, having come ever so close to winning the world title his talents surely deserved. This week on Beyond The Gri...

 It’s the F1 summer break, and on this week’s episode Tom has trawled through the archives and picked out six of his favourite anecdotes from Season 2 so far. We won’t give anything away, but listen out for gems from Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard and Jean Alesi among others. So whether you’re a diehard fan or a new listener to the show, sit back and enjoy some fabulous F1 conversations with the...

He may not be a household name, but Jo Ramirez is one of those people who has seen it all and worked with them all. He broke into F1 in the 1960s, working with emerging superstar Ricardo Rodriguez. His Mexican countryman sadly perished before his star had truly emerged, but by then Ramirez was set on a path that would eventually see him work with Jackie Stewart at Tyrrell, Emerson Fittipaldi at Co...

He may never have claimed the world championship his supreme talents probably deserved, but Jacky Ickx remains one of the most revered drivers of the 60s and 70s. An eight-time Grand Prix winner, and twice runner up for the title, the lightning quick Belgian also won the famed Le Mans 24 Hours six times in arguably its most brutal era - not bad for someone who never wanted to be a racing driver......

He’s one of the most interesting characters in the F1 paddock: a podium-scoring driver who remains just as busy today as he was when he was racing. Then again, Alex Wurz was never your average racer; from his unconventional introduction to speed as a BMX world champion to airbrushing his own helmets to ensure they looked correct. On this week’s episode, the affable Austrian talks about both of tho...

Among F1 fans, Jean Todt is perhaps most famous for leading Ferrari out of their early 90s slump and into a period of unprecedented domination in the 2000s. As mighty as that period was - and don’t forget that Schumacher’s drivers’ title in 2000 was Ferrari’s first since 1979 - that success was to some extent only the tip of the iceberg for a man with one of the most impressive CVs in world motors...

From the rock ‘em, sock ‘em world of stock car racing to the pinnacle of motorsport, Derek Warwick’s career was one hell of a rollercoaster ride. In an F1 career spanning 146 Grand Prix starts, the tough Brit raced for the likes of Renault and Lotus, and stood on the podium four times, albeit always missing out on the top spot. But he’s perhaps best remembered for the bravery he exhibited: not jus...

The history of F1 is littered with great stories and improbable comebacks, and Brawn GP’s title-winning season in 2009 is right up there with the best of them. It was late 2008 when Honda surprisingly pulled the plug on its F1 project, leaving a team hundreds strong with a bleak future. That the team not only survived but emerged with a grid-blitzing machine is the stuff of legend, and on the tent...

His F1 career began with a bang, with a podium finish on debut with McLaren in Australia in 2014. Though he hasn't hit those heights since, in the intervening period Kevin Magnussen has established himself as a hard-edged, no-nonsense racer who, after losing his McLaren drive and then spending a year with Renault, is now really hitting his stride with the American team Haas.  Tom Clarkson sat down...

He raced for some of Formula One’s top teams, including McLaren and Renault, but Patrick Tambay is probably best remembered as a Ferrari driver. Having arrived in F1 via the circuitous route of downhill skiing, the US college system and the North American CanAm series, Tambay ended up driving for the Prancing Horse after the death of close friend Gilles Villeneuve. He then helped carry the team th...

Jody Scheckter’s life has been anything but conventional. Having arrived in Britain from South Africa in 1970, Jody broke into Grand Prix racing in 1972 with McLaren where he caused a stir with his great speed and somewhat wild race craft. Rough edges polished, he’d go on to win the sport’s ultimate prize - the world title - in 1979 while driving for Ferrari, though in some ways that was just the...

He arrived in F1 in 2010 as one of the hottest properties in motorsport, and showed his promise by scoring a sensational pole position before his rookie season was out. Today, Nico Hulkenberg is still regarded as one of the most talented drivers on the grid, despite the fact he's surprisingly yet to make it to the podium.  On this week's show, the driver known affectionately at ‘The Hulk’ talks To...

This week’s guest on Beyond The Grid is renowned as one of F1’s great innovators and technical brains – perhaps the best. In a 20-year Grand Prix racing career this blue-sky thinker was responsible for introducing such things as tyre warmers, mid-race fuel stops and the ingenious Brabham fan car – not to mention a host of championship-winning machines and the acclaimed McLaren F1 road car. It’s an...

He may not be as well-known as James Hunt or Nigel Mansell, but for a good period in the late Seventies and early Eighties, after the former had retired and before the latter became a household name, John Watson was Britain’s Grand Prix hero.  Over the course of 152 starts, Watson reached the podium 20 times, winning five races – including one from 22nd on the grid! But it wasn’t all roses for the...

As a driver Felipe Massa experienced every emotion under the sun: The joy of winning races for Ferrari; the utter despair of losing a world title at the final race of the year; and the huge uncertainty of recovery from life-threatening injuries. This week on Beyond The Grid, supported by Bose, the popular Brazilian bares his soul on all three subjects - and much more besides. Recorded in Massa’s M...

With his trademark head tilt and unique grip on the steering wheel, there was no mistaking the driver of Ferrari number 27 in the early Nineties. But then in many ways Jean Alesi embodied the perfect Ferrari driver: passionate, fast and driven by heart-on-sleeve emotion. No wonder he was such a firm favourite of the Tifosi.  This week on Beyond The Grid, supported by Bose, the popular French-Sicil...

Mercedes have been the standard setters in F1 since 2014, and this year they've started the season at a relentless pace. This week on Beyond The Grid, supported by Bose, we speak to one of the key figures in the Silver Arrows' incredible winning machine: Technical Director James Allison. In an F1 career spanning nearly 30 years, Allison has enjoyed successful spells with the likes of Ferrari, Rena...

In the current era, it's not unheard of for a driver aged 24 to have hundreds of Grands Prix under his belt. At the same age, Damon Hill had only just begun racing cars. Then again, had his father - charismatic double F1 world champion Graham Hill - not died tragically in his formative years he might never have raced at all.  This week on Beyond The Grid, supported by Bose, Damon talks Tom Clarkso...

He’s renowned as one of racing’s toughest nuts – a driver who gave his all on the race track and didn’t suffer fools off it. And this week on F1’s official podcast, Beyond The Grid, supported by Bose, 1980 World Champion Alan Jones regales host Tom Clarkson with no-nonsense tales from his extraordinary career.  Having arrived in Europe from his native Australia in the early 70s, Jones worked his w...

He’s known as a driver who makes the most of every opportunity – in the thick of the midfield battle, give Sergio Perez a sniff of a podium and the Mexican will normally take it.  This week on Beyond The Grid, supported by Bose, ‘Checo’ tells host Tom Clarkson about where that desire and racing ability came from, taking us on a journey from his childhood in Guadalajara to his formative years in Eu...