Inside Line F1 Podcast

We know Roger Federer's prize money from his Grand Slam wins. We also know of Real Madrid's earnings from their exploits across various football championships. It's a norm for most sports series to reveal winning prize money, so why not for Formula 1? We would love to know (officially!) what Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton earn from Formula 1 for raising the performance bar to newer levels every fortn...

The 2019 Formula 1 Championships aside, Ferrari seem out of contention for the 2019 Free Practice World Championships too. Or is it that the former World Champions are too embarrassed to keep topping the not-so-relevant sessions? We discuss more in this week's episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast.  Also, this episode is a summary of What They Said This Week - the 'they' in question being Toto Wol...

Picture this: Formula 1 is a country; its fans (all of us!) are its citizens. This would make Chase Carey its Head of State and the teams and drivers the government functionaries - working hard to deliver a good championship fight. In all of this, is Formula 1 overselling its agenda and plans for 2021? Is Carey sounding like the politician who is asking its citizens to sacrifice today and be patie...

Should Ferrari use team-orders or not? They were trolled for not doing so in 2018 and now are now being trolled for doing so in 2019! As for China, we believe Ferrari was right in using team-orders. But before you jump onto us for this statement, tune in to this episode. We also talk of how 'disbelief' is governing Ferrari's title campaign for 2019 and how the team and Sebastian Vettel avoided maj...

Sebastian Vettel - from spinning on track, he's now spinning in the simulator. Is this Vettel's way of trolling his trolls? Let's remember, the German has an impeccable sense of humour too. Instead of wins, pole positions and fastest laps, his spin count (4 in the last 10 races) leads the chatter among Formula 1 fans. One thing is for sure, Vettel will bounce back. But which race will it be?  In t...

The start to the 2019 Formula 1 Season has been strange. For starters, we were almost on course to see Ferrari and Mercedes' (supposed!) number 2 drivers win the opening two races while their superstar drivers were have been found lacking. Okay, more so for Sebastian Vettel than Lewis Hamilton, but we still stand by our assessment.   In this week's episode, we also discuss the strange form, pace a...

The rookies are out to take Formula 1 by storm. Max Verstappen started the trend, followed by Charles Leclerc and now there's four more on the grid in 2019 - Lando Norris, George Russell, Alexander Albon and Antonio Giovinazzi. But there is something about these millennial rookies that makes them formidable talents. We can't last remember when Formula 1 had so many rookies line-up on the grid. Bas...

Williams F1 Team - is still in the pre-season spotlight; for all the wrong reasons. One wonders what it could be like once the season starts, but then, we could have other under-performers to focus on. And would that be Mclaren? Well, Helmut Marko certainly thinks so.   In our pre-pre-2019 Australian Grand Prix episode, we talk about Ferrari's masterstroke for Mission Winnow or did common sense ju...

The pre-season tests of the 2019 Formula 1 Season have concluded. We share our summarised notes from #F1Testing - the bigger story being Mercedes' rumoured two-spec car approach for the season. As smart as it sounds, could such a strategy also backfire? While Williams struggled to build one car on time, Mercedes seems to have built two! We discuss this and more in this week's episode of the [Insid...

The first official pre-season test of the 2019 Formula 1 season has only just concluded. Apart from Ferrari and Alfa Romeo's radically different (and similar?) front wings, what was our highlight of the test? This Ferrari engineer spying the Mclaren car in a not so spy-like manner. Given how testing form goes, we say that spying is the best form of flattery. Will Mclaren use this image in their sp...

In the 'battle of the energy drinks' in Formula 1, everyone is talking about Rich Energy vs. Red Bull Racing. But what about Monster? Wouldn't growing horns and wings make one a Monster? Yes, there's this and more in our episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast.  We talk about the livery reveals till date - can we also stop calling them 'car launches' please? Will Honda offer the mid-field teams a ra...

Formula 1 is set to introduce a new television graphics package in 2019. This could mean that drivers will not only battle each other, but against advanced artificial intelligence algorithms that will tell television viewers the probability of an overtake happening. Whether you enjoy such data or not, the 2019 Formula 1 Season will see the 'man vs. machine' fight play out on a different level alto...

Will Fernando Alonso give us a chance to miss him? What year could Alonso be back in Formula 1 - 2020, 2021 or 2022? Also, more than what year, it will also be a question of with which team. We certainly don't think it would be Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull.  In this week's episode of the [Inside Line F1 Podcast](http://bit.ly/ilf1ponkf1b), Mithila and Kunal wonder if Alonso's exit would see a mas...

Will Lewis Hamilton clinch his 5th World Championship title at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix? Will Donald Trump follow Vladimir Putin’s lead and attend the race at the Circuit of the Americas? Well, what we are more concerned about is Formula 1 not replacing our beloved and iconic chequered flag with a digital version next season.  Also in this week’s episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcas...

Helmut Marko has denied being in talks with Mick Schumacher to join the Red Bull Junior Driver program. Could this actually be a hint that Red Bull are already in talks with the young Schumacher? There's going to be a race to sign him - who will win this one? But of course, Ferrari did.  In this week’s episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast (http://bit.ly/ilf1ponkf1b) , we have Ashley give us a bri...

After weeks of rumours, the Raikkonen-Leclerc swap was finally announced. Hats off to Ferrari for making an exception and realising that an early investment in Charles Leclerc's progression in the world of Formula 1 is only going to pay them early dividends. But is this also a sign from Ferrari that they are beginning to lose hope in Sebastian Vettel's erring ways? In this week's episode of the In...

Will Ferrari re-sign Kimi Raikkonen? Or will Kimi Raikkonen resign from Ferrari and Formula 1? There are tons of rumours doing the rounds last week and while we ignore them all, we wonder if Kimi Raikkonen would actually be well suited to become Vice President.  In this week's episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, Mithila and Kunal argue over Raikkonen's possible extension, Nico Rosberg's sudden...

The 'points for all' topic is disturbing. No, please don't go down this road, Formula 1\. We've gone from awarding points to top-6 to top-8 and now 50% of the grid (top-10) scores points. By increasing the base of points scorers to 100% (all-20), we will go from incentivising drivers to win or finish higher to simply just finishing races. Is this Formula 1's way of retaining Fernando Alonso? In th...

Renault has joined the list of demotions at Red Bull Racing, while Honda find themselves with an unexpected promotion. In this week's episode of the [Inside Line F1 Podcast](http://bit.ly/ilf1ponkf1b), Mithila and Kunal wonder what would crack first in 2019 - the Honda engine or Max Verstappen? (But of course, we're kidding!). On a serious note, Red Bull Racing seem to have a made a sensible decis...

If you have family and friends who are on-the-fence fans of Formula 1, the 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix could go a long way into dropping them onto our side of the fence. The nail-biting and edge-of-the-seat action from Bahrain was definitely the perfect advertisement that Formula 1 could ask for.  In this week's episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, Mithila and Kunal rejoice the season's first of man...

What does Max Verstappen need to do to finish a race this season? His dismal luck reminds us of Michael Schumacher's 2000 title campaign! Either way, it is time Verstappen goes woo-ing his Lady Luck, again. Maybe, Red Bull Racing needs to rename the RB13 to get rid of the bad luck! In the Red Bull Racing ecosystem, Daniel Ricciardo seems to be the only driver 'happy'. Carlos Sainz Jr. had a public...

After the incredible Chinese Grand Prix, we wondered what most Ferrari fans would've wondered - why did Ferrari not ask Kimi Raikkonen to move over and let Sebastian Vettel pass? Could this strategic move have altered the race result? Did this 'no team order' strategy blunder cost Ferrari more than their tyre strategy for Vettel? Frankly, we're happy that Ferrari let their drivers race. Yes, it's...

As we near the start of the 2017 Formula 1 Season, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull Racing are busy trading the 'favourites' tag with each other. In this week's episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, Mithila and Kunal tell you that despite their lack of pace and reliability, Mclaren-Honda are definitely the fan favourite for 2017. The million dollar questions staring at Formula 1 right now are: Will...

Sauber is on pole position - to launch 2017's first Formula 1 car. The strange part is that two relatively unknown drivers (Ericsson and Wehrlein) will unveil the new looking Formula 1 car. Given the excitement around the new look, couldn't Formula 1 (read: Liberty Media) get some of their superstar drivers to do so? But this pole position works well for Sauber. It is a PR masterstroke. This unvei...

Is this Formula 1's busiest 'off-season' yet? There's been an overdose of stories in this period: from Mercedes hiring Valtteri Bottas as Nico Rosberg's replacement, Formula 1's sale and Bernie Ecclestone being forcibly replaced to Juan Pablo Montoya's Race of Champions victory on debut and Sebastian Vettel's single-handled efforts winning Germany their 7th Race of Champion Nations Cup! (PS: we lo...