James Allen On F1

In F1 the numbers never lie; whether it’s zeros on a paycheck, thousandths of a second on a stopwatch or points of downforce on a new front wing. At the halfway stage of the F1 World Championship, the points tables for drivers and constructors tell their own story. McLaren are well ahead in both; Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull trail badly. But by looking at the underlying numbers we can spot trend...

On this week’s podcast we speak to the most powerful woman in F1 today and the American who plans to be one of the two most powerful men next year. As Chief Commercial Officer of F1 and CEO of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Emily Prazer is responsible for bringing billions of dollars of revenue into the sport. She tells us her plans to make Vegas bigger and better this year and reveals its economic imp...

In this emergency podcast we react to the news that Christian Horner has been sacked with immediate effect by Red Bull Racing. During 20 years in charge of Red Bull Racing Horner won eight Drivers’ championships, six constructors’ and took 124 Grand Prix wins. But after some key departures and the poor performance this season of the car the team has dropped Horner. His role will be taken by Racing...

This week we get behind the numbers to find out what fans think of F1, as the 2025 Global F1 Fan Survey is launched, ahead of the British Grand Prix. Over 100,000 respondents took part from 186 countries. Fans were self-selecting, so this isn’t a complete picture of all F1 fans worldwide, but what it does show is that F1 is managing the juggling act of attracting new fans, while keeping its long-s...

A new F1 documentary film launches next week that brilliantly shows both the raw emotional journey and the lived experience of an F1 driver. It covers Damon Hill’s life from when his idyllic childhood was shattered after his World Champion father Graham Hill died in a place crash to finally winning the F1 World Championship in 1996. It’s a story laced with good and bad luck and a burning desire to...

Finally.. it’s F1 movie launch season. But is the film, dubbed by one critic “Barbie for men” any good? Our correspondents were given a preview showing in Montreal and give their verdict. We hear from the producer Jerry Bruckheimer and one of the stars, Kerry Condon.  Plus we examine the fallout from the Canadian Grand Prix - for the second consecutive race we saw a collision in the closing stages...

This week we look at what’s going on at Silverstone, as we count down to the British Grand Prix in a few weeks’ time, the UK’s largest ticketed event. We look at how the Grand Prix is broadcast with Channel 4 TV presenter Lee McKenzie. Lee gives her view on Lewis Hamilton’s struggles at Ferrari. And as a woman who has worked in the F1 industry for over 15 years, she gives her take on how F1 has ma...

It’s a packed edition this week as James travels to the impressive new Aston Martin factory at Silverstone to speak to CEO and team principal Andy Cowell, the latest in our series of F1 Team Principal interviews. Cowell speaks in detail about Adrian Newey’s involvement in the design of the teams Honda-powered 2026 car and how he’s ‘provoking’ the team to reach an ultra-high performance level. Max...

Monaco was not the most exciting Grand Prix, Lando Norris closed the gap in the title race on his team-mate Oscar Piastri with his first victory on the streets. McLaren extended their already massive lead in the Constructors table and no-one looked happier on the podium than McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown. But away from the track, Monaco was a huge weekend, with more people, more boats and more goin...

We are in the middle of another triple header, the second of the F1 season so far. Imola proved a more exciting race than anyone expected and Monaco is next with a new rule making two pit stops mandatory. Max Verstappen and Red Bull came roaring back to dominant form in Imola, while Ferrari had a weekend of two halves in front of the tifosi. And Aston Martin found some speed … in qualifying at lea...

This week we are doing something a little different. It’s the season so far in numbers. We are a quarter of the F1 season down already, six rounds to analyse and comb through for narratives, patterns and trends. Whether it’s points, killer stats or fractions of seconds, we have all the key numbers from the season so far after Oscar Piastri extended his Championship lead over Lando Norris and Max V...

Today Autosport broke the news of a challenge to FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem from former WRC and Paris Dakar champion Carlos Sainz Sr. In this emergency JAonF1 podcast we discuss why Sainz is taking on Ben Sulayem and what happens next. Motorsport Network’s Global Editorial Director Rebecca Clancy, who broke the story on Autosport and Motorsport earlier today, joins James Allen in the studi...

It’s Miami GP week. We have an exciting podcast with two special guests from different parts of the F1 spectrum. Racing Bulls F1 team principal Laurent Mekies invites James up to the new factory in Milton Keynes to chat about what it takes to be a modern F1 team boss as well as the season so far with all the dramas of Hadjar, Lawson and Tsunoda. And ahead of this weekend’s Miami GP we speak to one...

The first triple header of the season is done, some tired faces have headed back from the Gulf for a short Easter break before attacking the standalone Miami GP next week, then another triple header: Imola, Monaco and Spain. We get into why Max Verstappen is heaping praise on Oscar Piastri, despite their Turn 1 incident, Piastri’s many father figures, Williams’ best start for a decade. And with Le...

F1 has taken some very interesting turns in the last week, and we don’t mean hairpins.  As we transit from Bahrain to Saudi, we have seen three of the leading drivers - Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris - admitting they are a bit lost, leaving the super-consistent Oscar Piastri and George Russell to hoover up the big points. Verstappen’s mentor at Red Bull has suggested they may stru...

This week, we take the temperature as F1 leaves Japan after its brief Asian swing and heads to the Middle East. We examine some possible consequences for F1 of President Trump’s heavy tariffs on car manufacturers and how other companies invested in F1 might be affected. And though Suzuka wasn’t the most exciting F1 race ever - the top 6 finished in grid order, which is never good - is the outline...

There’s a famous saying - “In F1, you are either giving pain or taking it.” And after just two rounds of the World Championship there are plenty of examples of that. We’ll dig into what’s gone wrong for Liam Lawson and why, after just two races, he will no longer be Max Verstappen’s team-mate at Red Bull. And we’ll look ahead, based at some of the key talking points from China: We’ll get into Osca...

Lando Norris tamed the chaos in Melbourne to win the opening round of the F1 season. In doing so, he put down a marker for his teammate Oscar Piastri, his rival Max Verstappen, and anyone else who wants a say in this year’s world championship. Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari debut didn’t quite go to plan, while F1’s five-and-a-half rookies (Liam Lawson being a semi) had a torrid time. From Hadjar’s tears...

In this week’s edition, we look back at this November episode, exploring how F1 teams make key decisions on areas like driver recruitment, development, and race strategy and comparing it with how things are done at a top Premier League football club.  F1 is a sport built around technology, whereas, in football, the smartest teams have only begun using technology in the last decade for recruitment,...

We’ve just returned from Bahrain, where the F1 teams did their only test last week ahead of the new F1 season kick-off in Melbourne. People say testing is boring but if you know what to look for, it’s anything but. The laps are on track, and the body language of the cars needs to be analysed. But there is also the body language of the people – the teams, engineers and of course the drivers. Will F...

This week as we digest the F175 launch and head off for pre-season testing, we speak to one of F1’s top race promoters to find out what goes on behind the scenes to stage an event for almost 300,000 people. This year is Miami’s fourth as an F1 host venue, part of Liberty Media’s drive to expand F1 in the US market and engage new fans. Miami does things a bit differently and they do it with a sense...

This week F1 held its spectacular season launch event at the O2 Arena in London in a ceremony that was all about entertaining the fans, particularly F1’s new fans. Hot on its heels F1 is launching the latest Global Fan Survey, which is being conducted by Motorsport Network, Autosport’s parent company, in partnership with F1. This is where F1 fans around the world have a chance to make their voices...

Motor racing has a long tradition as an incubator of technology. AI is the latest example as tech companies flood into the sport as partners, helping teams harness AI to improve performance. F1 increasingly uses AI in its TV and online coverage to provide insights and content tailored for fans. The FIA is also getting in on the act; this week it announced that AI will now help the F1 race official...

This week we have a special interview with newly minted F1 World Champion team boss, Zak Brown. Zak has been McLaren's CEO since 2018, but it’s taken him several attempts to get the right team structure and management team to bring a first Constructors’ World Championship since the heady days of 1998. Zak has developed into a strong leader and here he shares some of his management techniques. He u...

Hello and welcome to the James Allen on F1 podcast, brought to you by Autosport. This week we chat to F1’s youngest team principal, Oliver Oakes. The 37-year-old was parachuted into the Alpine team in August last year when they were struggling in 9th place in the Championship. They ended the season 6th. Oli is the first to admit that there was a slice of luck involved, as the bulk of their points...