The Autosport F1 Podcast

Formula 1 is back! This morning the cars rolled out of the pitlane, with Fernando Alonso waiting at the lights to be the first on track for the first competitive session of the season. Today was a new look to F1 weekends. Free Practice 1 and 2 are now 60 minutes, losing 30 minutes each, and the reduced running did give both sessions more energy. Red Bull continue the strength seen in pre-season te...

Autosport is delighted to reveal our plans for expanded coverage from the Autosport Podcast, and a new voice joining the team of presenters. Formula 1 race weekends will now be hosted by motorsport broadcaster Ariana Bravo. Ariana has been a long-time F1 fan and is an experienced motorsport podcaster. Alex Kalinauckas (Grand Prix Editor, Autosport) takes a break from hosting duties but will still...

The 2001 Formula 1 season unveiled three shining lights who would take the challenge to Michael Schumacher – but also delivered a harsh lesson in F1’s cut-throat nature to the fourth member, Arrows driver Enrique Bernoldi. It’s a year which should be remembered for many reasons apart from exciting rookies, and today we look back. Kevin Turner (Chief Editor, Autosport) is joined by former Lola and...

As F1 teams assemble in Bahrain, the countdown to the 2021 season is now being measured in hours, rather than days and weeks. Whilst much has been carried over from 2020 there are still plenty of unknowns. And one of those is how Aston Martin will go this year. They recently unveiled their new branding, livery and a 4-time world champion driver in Sebastian Vettel, at a glitzy launch event. The ma...

It is 30 years since Gerhard Berger was a team-mate in Formula 1 to Ayrton Senna at McLaren and today the Austrian is very active in motorsport as the boss of the DTM. The series has undergone a huge transformation this year, with a change of regulations to GT3. Berger is also overseeing an ambitious programme to create a 1,000 horsepower electric DTM car as one possible avenue for the future. For...

Formula 1's 2021 pre-season testing was a fast and furious three days in the desert. Unlike recent years with three different tests, or going back to further to unlimited testing, the last three days required an intense plan from the teams. Tyres, fuel loads and new aero parts all had to be evaluated in a vastly compressed time.. For McLaren, the only team moving engine partner, they had to assess...

For extended articles and analysis from the world of motorsport, become a Plus member and enjoy the very best we have to offer. New subscribers signing up today can use the promo code PODCAST during checkout to save 50% off their first payment. Go to Autosport.com/plus and click ‘Sign In’ at the top of the page, then use promo code PODCAST for that 50% discount. Mercedes Benz returned to the top o...

For extended articles and analysis from the world of motorsport, become a Plus member and enjoy the very best we have to offer. New subscribers signing up today can use the promo code PODCAST during checkout to save 50% off their first payment. Go to Autosport.com/plus and click ‘Sign In’ at the top of the page, then use promo code PODCAST for that 50% discount. Today was the first day of Pre Seas...

Welcome to our latest episode, a dedicated look at the cover feature topic for this week's Autosport magazine, Ferrari's quest to recover from its nightmare 2020 season. This time 12 months ago, Ferrari was preparing to leave the soon-to-be abandoned Australian Grand Prix under a considerable cloud. Its F1000 car had an extreme aerodynamic design to try and increase the number of places where its...

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Karun Chandhok is your guide to the key issues this season. He answers your questions like: Can anyone stop the Mercedes steamroller? Should Hamilton retire at the end of 2021? Why was Perez the right choice for Red Bull? What does the future hold for Alex Albon? Can Carlos Sainz Jr thrive at Ferrari? What's the ideal amount of races in a Formula 1 season? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit p...

Red Bull has become the latest Formula 1 team to show off its 2021 car, which is the RB16B. It’s an updated version of the car that won twice last year, but had various problems that prevented it getting closer to Mercedes overall. Alex Kalinauckas (Grand Prix Editor, Autosport) is joined by Jonathan Noble (F1 Editor, Motorsport.com), Luke Smith (F1 Reporter, Autosport) and Jake Boxall-Legge (Tech...

This week we assess the greatest Mercedes grand prix cars, including a rare entry which has a 100% win record! First, a caveat, the cars we're talking about include those which pre-date the F1 championship. As a full works entry in Formula One, Mercedes-Benz might have only entered for two stints, but has dominated both times. Plus we take on two more topics covered in the 11th Feb issue of Autosp...

Earlier today McLaren Racing unveiled the MCL35M, their 2021 challenger which will be driven by Lando Norris and new signing Daniel Ricciardo. After finishing third in the 2020 constructors championship, the team move to a Mercedes power unit. Alex Kalinauckas hears from Jake Boxall-Legge (Technical Editor, Autosport) about his first impressions and key areas on the car to look at. Before the car...

It has been another busy week of F1 news as we count down to the 2021 season. On today's podcast we've got news on the F1 Commission proposing an engine freeze from 2022 to 2024. F1 also wants to experiment with sprint races in Canada, Italy and Brazil this year. It would mean qualifying moves to Friday, with Saturday's running being a 100km sprint race, which then defines the starting grid for Su...

This week we look into the reviving fortunes of a fallen F1 giant - McLaren Racing. But is it still a sleeping giant? They have consistently improved their results since finishing 9th in 2017 (with Honda power) to third in the constructors table in their final year with Renault. In 2021 McLaren will compete again with Mercedes power units and a new driver in Daniel Ricciardo. What do they have to...

The development Formula One has long been waiting for finally occurred on Monday morning when Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team announced that seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will be staying with the team for 2021. The one year deal was a surprising development and creates a blockbuster driver market for 2022, with all three Mercedes contracted drivers (Hamilton plus Bottas and Russe...

Shortly after Jonathan Noble finished speaking to Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, he sat down with Alex and Luke around the virtual podcast table to discuss the call. Formula 1's new boss is considering whether a Saturday sprint race could be introduced to freshen up the weekend. He also confirmed that the proposed reverse grids idea is off the table: "Reverse grid is over. That's something I ca...

Williams Racing has fallen far from its heights as one of the championship supersquads, and it has regularly pledged its determination to re-tread old ground further up the grid. That tale will be familiar to F1 fans as the team has yet to recapture any of its old gory, but there were signs from the 2020 season that Williams has finally turned the corner and its revival is really on. This week on...

This week James Allison (Technical Director, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team) opened up on why the team fear they could trip up with the rule changes for 2021. Is it a bluff? Or perhaps an insight into mindset of a team so used to winning? Also this week, Carlos Sainz Jr said his first appearance in a Ferrari is "a day I will never forget". What did our own Jonathan Noble make of his first...

On the podcast this week we're looking at how 2021's Technical Regulations are impacting the teams. There are plans to cut downforce levels by 10%, change the floor design and the token system where to control development. We look at the driver line-up changes and how smaller teams will benefit from the budget cap. Also this week JBL, as Autosport's punmaster-in-chief, casts verdict on Renault's r...

Carlos Sainz will sample a Ferrari F1 car at the Fiorano Circuit next week in a private test, his first time getting real-world experience of the Ferrari systems. Sainz will want to get embedded with the people and team environment. He will be driving the SF71H. Sainz joins the Maranello team at a time of rebuilding and, despite small changes to the 2021 cars, he will be up against a team mate who...

For the first #ThinkingForward of 2021 we speak to WRC Director Peter Thul about the qualities needed to excel in rally, why WRC is backing F1’s strategy that hybrid engines and biofuels are the future rather than electric and why so many co-drivers end up running teams and federations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to our celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the 1991 motorsport season, which is also the subject of a special feature in this week's Autosport Magazine. 1991 was a special year for Formula 1 with new races in France and Spain, the arrival of Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen, new points allocations plus the first stop/go penalty. In our 1991 special, we argue that Senna's campaign -...

Only a month since the end of the season, the Formula 1 world has been busy with news to digest. Alex Albon will be driving in DTM in 2021 whilst also attending F1 races as Red Bull Racing Reserve Driver. We look at how this will impact his F1 ambitions. What's the latest with the 2021 Formula 1 season calendar? Any how did fans react to Alpine unveiling an interim livery? Alex Kalinauckas (Grand...