The Race F1 Podcast

Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert are back for the first 2026 episode of their F1 podcast, Stay On Track! They discuss the impact winning the F1 world title will have on Lando Norris (and his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri), and share their view on the mindset Isack Hadjar needs to have going into Red Bull Racing alongside Max Verstappen. They also weigh up which team will get the new regulations right, and who might get them wrong, and what impact multiple exits will have on Red Bull. There's also talk of Lewis Hamilton's pivotal second Ferrari season, plus Hill and Herbert make their champion predictions for 2026...Want to listen ad-free? Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today - we even have an 'F1-only' tier!

While the F1 world is a little quieter, we’re dropping a special three-part series into the feed as a winter bonus. As you might have guessed from the title, it's not about Formula 1, but we think it’s such an incredible tale that many of you will enjoy it, and possibly even be amazed by it. It features our very own Edd Straw, alongside host Glenn Freeman and US racing expert John Oreovicz, and it tells the barely believable story of how Indycar racing was torn apart in the mid-90s, shortly after Nigel Mansell had helped make the North American series so popular that Bernie Ecclestone saw it as a threat to F1.Episode 1 deals with the immediate aftermath of Indianapolis Motor Speedway boss Tony George announcing, in early 1994, that he would be forming his own competitor to the hugely popular CART Indycar series. We hope you enjoy the show, and we’ll be back with episodes 2 and 3 very soon (in between the usual F1 episodes!).

We untangle how F1's strange 2026 pre-season will work in the latest edition of The Race F1 Podcast. Jon Noble and Josh Sutill join Edd Straw to explain what the car reveals and testing can and cannot tell us, and reveal the significance of ‘the bucket of knowledge’.We run through through the launch events and pick out the ones that might be the most significant and impactful, including F1’s dalliance with the Super Bowl, and explain why the unusual behind-closed-doors Barcelona test upsets the rhythm of this process. There’s also a look at how pre-season testing will be approached with the new cars, as well as what can be learned from the on-track running. Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today and enjoy bonus F1 podcasts and ad-free listening.

It's 2026, and what better way to start the new year than with an episode of The Race F1 Podcast! And there's no better place to start than with a look ahead to what the 2026 Formula 1 season has in store. Jon Noble and Scott Mitchell-Malm join Edd Straw to explain what to expect in 2026, in particular in terms of the quality of the racing on track. We look at the impact the energy demands of the new power units will have on how the season plays out, and what on-track battling might look at.The question of how likely it is a team will start in dominant form, Brawn 2009 or Mercedes 2014 style, and how quickly others can catch up. We also run through the key questions of the year, including Lewis Hamilton’s prospects, the chances of the new Red Bull power unit being a hit or miss, Aston Martin’s hopes and whether Cadillac will be anything more than a backmarker. Plus, in a special segment with Shell, we explore the 2026 changes to fuel. Learn more about race fuel via the Shell Motorsports Website and follow @shellmotorsport on Instagram Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today and enjoy bonus F1 podcasts and ad-free listening. GET YOUR 2026 WALL CALENDAR TODAY - Go to shop.the-race.com

It’s not even 2026 yet but the first controversy of the new regulations has already erupted, as we discuss in the latest edition of The Race F1 Podcast. Jon Noble joins Edd Straw to explain what Mercedes and Red Bull are understood to be achieving in terms of the compression ratio of their V6 and how its rivals to react to it. We explain what we know about the benefit in terms of power and efficiency, and why rivals are questioning it. We also look into what the FIA might do about it in either the short or the long term, and how the politics of the situation might play into it. Finally, we ask if it’s a problem given pushing the limits of the regulations has always been what motorsport is about.Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today and enjoy bonus F1 podcasts and ad-free listening. GET YOUR 2026 WALL CALENDAR TODAY - Go to shop.the-race.com

We ask how the cars of the 2022-2025 rules era will be remembered in the latest edition of The Race F1 Podcast. Mark Hughes and Jon Noble join Edd Straw to judge how well they worked against their key objectives in terms of improving raceability and closing up the competition.We also explain why the most significant legacy of this rules set might be something only indirectly related to the cars on track. And we reflect on the teams that made the biggest impact with these ground effect cars, and those who underachieved.Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today and enjoy bonus F1 podcasts and ad-free listening. GET YOUR 2026 WALL CALENDAR TODAY - Go to shop.the-race.com

For the season finale of And Colossally That's History, Matt and Richard tell the twin stories of Phil Hill and Mario Andretti; two American drivers who couldn't have been more different, but who'll be forever linked by the eerily similar, eerily tragic similarities between their crowning moments.There were 17 years between Phil Hill becoming America’s first F1 world champion at Monza in 1961 and Mario Andretti being crowned the second - also at Monza - in 1978. But rather than being able to celebrate their triumphs unconditionally, both men's title success was overshadowed by their team-mate being involved in a fatal crash in the very same race.Matt and Richard trace the very different paths that Hill and Andretti took to the top of world motorsport, before identifying the similarities in their stories, including how both found themselves in the most dominant car in their respective title winning seasons, and how both were paired alongside fast and flamboyant team-mates, Wolfgang von Trips (in Hill's case) and Ronnie Peterson (in Andretti's).The events of the climactic Monza weekends are also discussed at length, as well as how America's pair of F1 champions dealt with the aftermath of such tragedies.Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today and enjoy bonus F1 podcasts and ad-free listening. GET YOUR 2026 WALL CALENDAR TODAY - Go to shop.the-race.com

On the final tech show of the year, former F1 technical director Gary Anderson gives his verdict on the outgoing F1 regulations, and explains where he thinks the incoming regulations have missed a trick.He also answers questions from listeners about how to write better rules, the lack of geometry tweaks by the FIA, and whether active suspension should have returned.We also bring you the second part of our interview with Atlassian customer CTO Andrew Boyagi, who explains how the company’s AI technology is helping Williams reach new performance levels.Get information when you need it with Atlassian Rovo. AI that knows your business. Click here to get started today.Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today and enjoy bonus F1 podcasts and ad-free listening. GET YOUR 2026 WALL CALENDAR TODAY - Go to shop.the-race.com

We work out who were the real stars of the 2025 Formula 1 season in the latest edition of The Race F1 Podcast. Every year, our team of F1 journalists picks their top 10 drivers of the season, with Scott Mitchell-Malm, Mark Hughes and Ben Anderson joining Edd Straw to discuss their choices.  The final top 10 is based on the combined voting of those four, plus Jon Noble, based on each driver’s overall performance relative to machinery over the year. We explain why the world champion isn’t the obvious choice as number one, why it was so tight in terms of picking between the leading midfielders and how we went about factoring in experience levels. There’s also a look at the leading drivers who missed out on our list, including Ferrari disappointment Lewis Hamilton. To add another perspective, we also look at how our ranking differs from that voted for by The Race Members’ Club.Get information when you need it with Atlassian Rovo. AI that knows your business. Click here to get started today.Join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today and enjoy bonus F1 podcasts and ad-free listening. GET YOUR 2026 WALL CALENDAR TODAY - Go to shop.the-race.com