The Race F1 Tech Show

On a special bonus episode of the pod, host Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson chat to Dr Tom McCarthy, executive director of ASPIRE and a key figure behind the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League aka A2RL . This pioneering autonomous racing series is new for 2024 and pitches eight teams against one another in modified Super Formula SF23 cars chasing a $2.25million prize fund....

Host Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson cover a lot of ground on the latest episode of The Race F1 Tech Show, starting with a look at Mercedes' latest struggles, before moving onto an analysis of Red Bull's latest upgrades and why cooling has become such an important factor in this era of F1. After that, we hear from Williams team principal James Vowles who gives The Race's S...

One of the big stories of the Australian Grand Prix weekend was Williams only being able to field one car in the race after Alex Albon tore a hole in one of its two monocoques with a crash on Friday. He was then given Logan Sargeant’s monocoque for Saturday and Sunday, finishing 11th. But how did a team like Williams find themselves in such a position in the first place, and what can be done to so...

After two seasons of struggles, Mercedes abandoned its old car philosophy for something new in 2024. But although the W15 has shown flashes of speed, there were worrying signs in Saudi Arabia that the new machine is suffering from an affliction that has haunted the team since the start of the current ground effect era: Porpoising. On this episode of The Race F1 Tech Show, Edd Straw and former F1 t...

The Race F1 Tech Show is back, and for our first show of 2024 we have something very special. Oracle Red Bull Racing's 2024 car - the RB20 - has been talk of the F1 paddock ever since the world champions rolled it out at pre-season testing and revealed a surprising (and some might say radical) new design direction. On this episode, host Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson dive...

The Race F1 Tech Show will be returning with a new series very soon, but before then we wanted to let you know about a new podcast from The Race. With so much going on in Formula 1 these days, it's not always easy to keep your fingers on the pulse of all the big talking points. Introducing The Race F1 Briefing, designed specifically to provide an overview of the key stories that matter from Thursd...

After focusing on Red Bull in the first of our season review episodes, host Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson turn their attention to the rest of the field on the final show of the year. They discuss who did the better job out of Mercedes and Ferrari, which is best placed to challenge Red Bull in 2024, and what performance elements they need to fix to make that happen. They...

With the end of the season just around the corner, host Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson present part one of our technical review of 2023, which deals with Red Bull's all-conquering RB19 - undoubtedly the car of the season, but should it be regarded as the best of the modern era? We debate that question, assess its various strengths and minimal weaknesses, and ask how much...

Host Tim Silvey is joined by Sean ‘Virtual Statman’ Kelly and our resident racing driver Alex Brundle to bring you fresh perspectives, performance insights and statistical surprises to enhance your enjoyment of Grand Prix racing. On this episode, Sean gives us a deep dive on ambiguous statistics, after Max Verstappen's run of dominance led to statisticians reappraising previous records. Following...

The latest episode of The Race F1 Tech Show takes an in-depth look at the key technical talking points from the Brazilian Grand Prix. Host Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson begin by taking a look at Fernando Alonso’s extraordinary defence (and then attack) of Sergio Perez’s Red Bull, and the way the Spanish veteran used all the tools available to him within his car to secure...

On this week's show host Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson dive straight into the topic of those dramatic disqualifications to Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the US Grand Prix. Gary explains how each car came to have excessive wear to the planks on the car's underfloor, why the plank is there in the first place, and why it was surprising the two te...

Host Tim Silvey is joined by Sean ‘Virtual Statman’ Kelly and our resident racing driver Alex Brundle to bring you fresh perspectives, performance insights and statistical surprises to enhance your enjoyment of Grand Prix racing. On this episode, Alex muses on how the Sprint weekend format contributed to Mercedes and Ferrari running into ride height problems in Austin. Following that, Sean lets hi...

On this episode, host Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson dive into the subject of Andretti's bid to get a team onto the F1 grid, looking specifically at the technical challenges that they'll face if granted the final green light. Having been heavily involved in starting the Jordan F1 project from scratch in 1991, Gary is well placed to comment on what's needed, even if he con...

Can anyone catch Red Bull? That’s the question everyone is asking in F1 and as it’s long been clear that won’t happen this year, what about in 2024?  With McLaren on form at Suzuka, Mercedes struggling and Ferrari the only team other than Red Bull to win this year, it’s far from clear which will be best-placed next season.  Gary discusses the Mercedes weaknesses shown at Suzuka, delves into Ferrar...

Host Tim Silvey is joined by Sean ‘Virtual Statman’ Kelly and our resident racing driver Alex Brundle to bring you fresh perspectives, performance insights and statistical surprises to enhance your enjoyment of Grand Prix racing. On this episode, Alex explains the rationale behind the old motor racing adage, of trying to win a race at the slowest possible speed, and why in F1 going fast is sometim...

Flexible bodywork: It's been a big talking point in F1 for years, with the rules technically outlawing it, but the teams forever drawn towards exploiting 'aeroelasticity' for performance gain. On this week's episode of The Race F1 Tech Show, host Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson dig into the subject, ahead of the new technical directive issued to teams by the FIA ahead of t...

Host Tim Silvey is joined by Sean ‘Virtual Statman’ Kelly and our resident racing driver Alex Brundle to bring you fresh perspectives, performance insights and statistical surprises to enhance your enjoyment of Grand Prix racing. On this episode, Sean digs into the stats to discuss F1's sometimes complicated relationship with dominance, where highly successful teams and drivers can be both celebra...

When 3D printing technology started to creep into F1 in the late 1980s, nobody would have foreseen how widespread its use would become.  Host Edd Straw is joined by Matt Jones from Stratasys, who tells us all about how additive manufacturing is used in F1 today and how much the technology has evolved over the years. It might surprise you to hear just how many parts are made using such techniques. ...

On this week’s episode of The Race F1 Tech Show we’re taking a deep dive into the world of F1 simulators. We’ll hear from Kia Cammaerts, the founder and technical director of Ansible Motion, providers of the kind of high-fidelity Driver-in-the-Loop (DIL) simulation tools used by F1 teams. He tells us how the technology has developed and evolved, how teams use simulators as a performance tool, and...

On this week's show, host Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson jump into discussing several technical matters of the moment, including the FIA's recent 'spray guard' trial, which aims to use clip on attachments to improve visibility in wet weather racing. Gary gives his thoughts on the design, and suggests a possible improvement after reports of an unconvincing first trial. Edd...

Host Tim Silvey is joined by Sean ‘Virtual Statman’ Kelly and our resident racing driver Alex Brundle to bring you fresh perspectives, performance insights and statistical surprises to enhance your enjoyment of Grand Prix racing. On this episode, Alex discusses mid-season driver swaps, and in particular how it affects the person behind the wheel when their seat is under threat or if they are given...

Having had the chance to watch cars on track together at Silverstone, host Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson open this week’s podcast with some eye-opening observations about this year’s pack.  They then get into the big topic of the British Grand Prix weekend - McLaren’s upgrades and subsequent jump in performance. They discuss what new parts the team introduced, how they’v...

Host Tim Silvey is joined by Sean ‘Virtual Statman’ Kelly and our resident racing driver Alex Brundle to bring you fresh perspectives, performance insights and statistical surprises to enhance your enjoyment of Grand Prix racing. On this episode, Sean explains why F1 stats aren't always what they seem to be as he reveals how an oft-mentioned historical stat about consecutive laps led was discovere...

On this week's show host Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson shine a spotlight on Williams, a team that once were perennial championship winners, but have spent the last decade struggling for competitiveness at the wrong end of the grid. Gary explains where Williams have gone wrong in recent times and details the steps he thinks they can make to move back towards the front, ta...

Host Tim Silvey is joined by Sean ‘Virtual Statman’ Kelly and our resident racing driver Alex Brundle to bring you fresh perspectives, performance insights and statistical surprises to enhance your enjoyment of Grand Prix racing. On this episode, Sean turns his statistical lens towards Max Verstappen's recent domination, and in particular the 224 consecutive laps he's now spent in the lead of Gran...