The risk-takers, late-brakers and history-makers of Formula 1 slow down for in-depth interviews. Tom Clarkson brings you revealing, feature-length conversations with drivers, team bosses, engineering experts and F1 legends.
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Chase Carey on his role in shaping F1’s future and guiding the sport through a global pandemic
Oct 14, 2020
Show notes
Chase Carey has been CEO and Executive Chairman of Formula 1 for the last four years, and it’s fair to say he’s been busy in that time. New rules – including F1’s first ever budget cap - have been crafted, a new governance structure has been negotiated, and new races have joined the calendar – and that’s before you consider having to navigate through a global pandemic. On this week’s show – the 100th episode proper – Chase discusses all of the above, as well as discussing Stefano Domenicali’s impending arrival and what he learned from working alongside Rupert Murdoch…
Sebastian Vettel on leaving Ferrari, life outside F1 and changing goals
Oct 07, 2020
Show notes
He’s a four-time world champion and racing icon, yet Sebastian Vettel’s fiercely private nature means we don’t know as much about him as we do many of his rivals, whose lives are plastered all over social media. We get to know the German racer a little better, discovering how his attitude to F1 has shifted over his 250 Grand Prix starts, finding out how he likes to spend his time away from the track, getting his thoughts on leaving Ferrari and joining Aston Martin, and learning his views on risk, happiness, the environment, parenthood and much more…
Zak Brown on running McLaren, billion-dollar deals and his F1 car collection
Sep 30, 2020
Show notes
A sponsorship guru for more than 20 years, Zak Brown landed his dream job in 2016 when he became executive director, and later CEO, of McLaren – the team he’d supported as an F1-mad kid in California. On this week’s show, Brown discusses how he’s guiding McLaren back to the front of the grid and why he made the moves he has in the driver market. He also gives us the lowdown on his own racing career, including going toe-to-toe with the likes of Juan Pablo Montoya in F3, discusses his epic F1 car collection, and reveals the mind-blowing amount of sponsorship cash he’s brought into F1…
Racing for Ferrari – Part 2: Mansell, Prost, Vettel and more on the modern era
Sep 23, 2020
Show notes
In the second of our special episodes chronicling what it’s like to drive for Scuderia Ferrari, F1’s most storied team, we fast forward into the modern era, to hear what it’s like to race for the Prancing Horse without founder Enzo at the helm. There are superb stories from Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost, who guided the Maranello team into the Nineties, plus eye-opening insight from fan favourite Rubens Barrichello and current drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc too.
Racing for Ferrari - Part 1: The Enzo Ferrari years, with Andretti, Scheckter, Brooks and Berger
Sep 16, 2020
Show notes
They’re the most storied team in Formula 1 history, the one that’s been around the longest, the one with the most wins and championships, the one that generates the most headlines, and definitely the one with the most mystique. But what’s it like to drive for the biggest F1 team on the planet, Scuderia Ferrari? In the first of two special episodes, we speak to those who have been there and done it, with our focus in part one on those who drove for the Prancing Horse under legendary founder Enzo Ferrari. So get ready for stories from four Ferrari race winners: Mario Andretti, Jody Scheckter, Tony Brooks and Gerhard Berger…
Antonio Giovinazzi on learning from Raikkonen, his unusual route to F1, and how fast food shaped his career
Sep 09, 2020
Show notes
Think you know Antonio Giovinazzi? Think again. Most of you will know that he’s an Alfa Romeo driver. You might also know he’s the only Italian driver on the grid – the first since 2011. But what else do you know about him? On this week’s show we get to know Kimi Raikkonen’s lion-maned team mate a little better, finding out about his unique path to F1 via a stint in China, the inside line on his sudden F1 call-up in 2017, the inner workings of his relationship with Ferrari, and why he owes his career to a certain fried chicken chain…
Jochen Rindt remembered - by Helmut Marko, Jackie Stewart and Bernie Ecclestone
Sep 02, 2020
Show notes
September 5th marks the 50th anniversary of Jochen Rindt’s death, during practice for the 1970 Italian Grand Prix. He’d go on to be crowned F1’s first – and thankfully only - posthumous world champion – but his legacy is much more than that.On this very special episode, we look back on Rindt’s rebellious upbringing and racing origins with friend and current Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, reminisce on wheel-to-wheel battles and his tragic accident with Sir Jackie Stewart, and see the funny side of the Austrian with former manager and business advisor Bernie Ecclestone.
Mercedes engine guru Andy Cowell on the art of creating the perfect F1 power unit
Aug 26, 2020
Show notes
This week’s guest is one of the grid’s most influential people. In fact, he’s arguably one of the most influential people in F1 ever. Since the dawn of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014, Mercedes engines have won 80% of all Grands Prix, and the man overseeing that success is Andy Cowell, Engineering and Programme Director of Mercedes High Performance Powertrains since 2008. Listen as he discusses how the all-conquering engine was created, why failures drive motivation more than success, what makes Lewis Hamilton such a good development driver, and how engine development has changed beyond all imagination in the 30 years he’s been in the job...
Johnny Dumfries, the aristocrat racer who was team mate to Senna
Aug 19, 2020
Show notes
Many of you may not have heard of this week’s guest. To give him his official title he’s John Crichton-Stuart, the 7th Marquess of Bute – though fans familiar with F1 in the 1980s will know him as Johnny Dumfries, one-time team mate of the great Ayrton Senna at Lotus. A descendant of legendary King of Scotland Robert the Bruce, Johnny was far from your average F1 driver – though if you think his connections made his route to the top easy, think again. He worked numerous jobs before entering Grand Prix racing - including as a painter and decorator! On this week’s show he opens up about his unique career, with stories on Senna, Enzo Ferrari, winning Le Mans and being employed by Frank Williams as a van driver…
Fred Vasseur on finding future F1 stars
Aug 12, 2020
Show notes
Fred Vasseur has had a huge influence on F1 for many years, having guided the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg into Grand Prix racing via his junior team, ART. The Frenchman tells us how he plans to get Alfa Romeo back on track, discusses Kimi Raikkonen’s future, takes us back to his days house-sharing with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, and delivers some brilliant anecdotes about today’s superstars before they became household names…
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