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Bring Back V10s: Fisichella's dream Renault start at Australia 2005
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The 2005 F1 season marked the beginning of a new era, as Ferrari's run of consecutive championships with Michael Schumacher was about to come to an end.
And that was evident from the beginning of the year, when Renault got off to a dream start with Giancarlo Fisichella easily winning from pole position, and Fernando Alonso charging through from a lowly grid position to almost complete a one-two.
Meanwhile Schumacher was a high-profile victim of changeable weather on F1's first aggregate qualifying weekend, and his race ended with a clumsy collision with new Williams driver Nick Heidfeld.Glenn Freeman is joined by Matt Beer and Mark Hughes to look back at the start of the 2005 season, with a race that won a members poll on Patreon by just two votes!
Off-track, the big topics were how Ferrari would get on starting the year with an updated 2004 car, how Bridgestone and Michelin felt about in-race tyre changes being outlawed, and Minardi's war with the FIA that featured an in-weekend court case, and the entirety of international events in Australia coming under threat!
There's also Red Bull's impressive F1 debut, BAR's cheeky intentional double retirement, Williams starting rumours about BMW and Sauber, and how Eddie Jordan found his first race weekend after selling his team and no longer being part of the paddock.
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Italian GP driver rankings: Leclerc hits rock bottom
39:18|Kimi Antonelli made up 18 places to win his home race in Monza, while Charles Leclerc crashed out spectacularly at the end of lap two. Unsurprisingly, the latter is bottom of Edd Straw's driver rankings this week - but will Antonelli be top? In our latest driver rankings podcast, Josh Suttill grills Edd Straw on how he ordered the drivers after the Italian Grand Prix, armed with questions sent in by The Race Members' Club.Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening, sign-up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.
Italian GP: Ferrari's bruising home outing + Has Antonelli killed Russell's F1 title chances?
01:00:09|Edd Straw is joined by Josh Suttill and Jon Noble, fresh from the Monza paddock, to review the Italian Grand Prix. It proved a race where the home fans went home happy, despite an abject race for Ferrari, thanks to a virtuoso drive to victory from local hero Kimi Antonelli.Was this the weekend that Antonelli killed off any hope of Mercedes team-mate George Russell beating him to the world title? And is Antonelli's star power changing the nature of the tifosi's support at Monza? Those are two of the questions tackled in the podcast.Edd, Jon and Josh also look in detail at Ferrari's miserable home outing, which saw Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc come together at Turn 2 before the latter crashed out in dramatic fashion. Hamilton wasn't pulling any punches when he spoke to Jon after finishing a disappointing sixth - but where do the Scuderia go from here?Verstappen's brilliant run to third, Gasly's shock pole position and Tsunoda's strange start are also discussed, while the guys also tackle plenty of members' questions.Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening - sign up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.
In-Car Insights: Unpacking a day of explosive politics and intriguing track action at Monza
26:07|As a special bonus, we're making the Friday edition of our In-Car Insights podcast - usually only available to The Race Members' Club - free for everyone to listen to.In the latest episode Jon and Josh discuss everything they learned in the Monza paddock on Friday. They begin with an exclusive bit of news gleaned from running the track - that there's resurfacing work going on down at Turn 1, with new asphalt being laid - before discussing an intriguing day of track action that saw Ferrari do enough to keep the home fans dreaming and Haas emerge as the surprise midfield package.Jon admits he didn't watch much of FP2, having spent much of the afternoon digging through FIA regulations and International Court of Appeal procedures after Alpine's Flavio Briatore detonated a bombshell in the team principal press conference, questioning the independence of the judge involved in the Pierre Gasly Monaco podium case.In short, if you want the clearest read on Monza’s Friday picture and the controversy threatening to keep growing, this is essential listening before qualifying.If you like what you hear - and we're confident you will - head to Patreon.com/therace to sign up to The Race Members' Club and enjoy these bonus episodes (and much more besides) on every grand prix weekend.
Tech Show: Is Mercedes at risk in F1's development war?
59:39|In the latest episode of The Race F1 Tech Show, Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson discuss F1 2026's intriguing development war.Following Toto Wolff's comment that Mercedes can't respond to McLaren’s Formula 1 resurgence with an urgent upgrade because it hasn’t “got the money”, Edd and Gary ask whether the Silver Arrows has erred in its development strategy and leaving itself open to being out-developed by rivals.There's also talk about McLaren's decision to bring its rotating 'H-wing' to Monza and about how Alpine's recent upgrade package will influence the midfield's own development battle.We also hear the latest news about the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL), which races at Imola this coming weekend, and Gary tackles YOUR tech questions, including those on battery safety, TPC testing, and the five-second start procedure delay.If you'd like to ask Gary a tech question, send it to podcasts@the-race.comGet bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening, sign-up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.
Will Ferrari's engine upgrade give it the edge in Monza?
47:56|Edd Straw is joined by Ben Anderson and special guest Lawrence Barretto to look ahead to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, and a big weekend for home favourites Ferrari.The Scuderia is introducing its latest engine upgrade this weekend, but will it give them the boost it needs to contend for victory?Edd, Ben and Lawrence also discuss how all the teams - and in particular Ferrari - might approach the issue of towing in qualifying, and how the 2026 regulations will impact the type of racing we'll see at Monza.They also debate how championship leader Kimi Antonelli will approach his home race, given he's set to start from the back of the grid. The Italian hasn't had the best of fortune on home soil to-date, but will that change this weekend, or will George Russell be able to capitalise gain ground on his Mercedes team-mate in the title race?Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening - sign up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.
Is Norris even better in 2026?
48:19|Is Lando Norris performing even better this season than in his title-winning campaign last year? That's one of the questions tackled in the latest episode of The Race F1 Podcast, which follows the news that the 2025 champion has extended his McLaren deal through the 2030 season.Mark Hughes and Valentin Khorounzhiy join Edd Straw to assess how Norris has improved as a driver, and how his 2026 campaign contrasts with that of team-mate Oscar Piastri's.Before that, we round up some recent news stories, including Franco Colapinto's new deal with Alpine, F2 points leader Nikola Tsolov's recent Red Bull test, and the FIA's ADUO ruling. Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening, sign-up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.
F1 Rewind: How Vettel's Ferrari dream was stolen from him
01:10:55|In the very first episode of our new F1 history podcast, The Race F1 Rewind, hosts Edd Straw and Mark Hughes look back at Sebastian Vettel’s six-year stint with Ferrari and a partnership that promised much, but delivered nothing like what was hoped for.Driven by the romantic dream of replicating the golden era of his hero Michael Schumacher, the four-time world champion arrived at Maranello in late 2014 ready to lead the team to new glories, only to find that his footing was already being undermined by internal wrangling and political upheaval at the Scuderia.Edd and Mark explain the timeline of events and extraordinary behind-the-scenes details that meant Vettel never stepped into the supportive environment he thought he was joining.They outline how Vettel came to leave Red Bull, how Ferrari's incumbent star Fernando Alonso was blindsided by his team's secret talks with Vettel, how the rapid turnover of senior leadership continually impacted the German's standing, and how the sudden promotion of young phenom Charles Leclerc served as an internal test of Vettel's worth.Edd and Mark also hit the fast forward button to explain how the hangover of this period is still felt today, with Leclerc having faced many of the same issues as his former team-mate.Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening, sign-up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.
Hamilton's apology, Monaco appeal latest, and Domenicali vs hardcore fans
57:34|Lewis Hamilton has apologised for his in-race outbursts towards his Ferrari team at Zandvoort, but did he really need to? That's one of the topics up for discussion in the latest episode of The Race F1 Podcast, in which host Edd Straw is joined by Jon Noble and Glenn Freeman to round up the latest F1 news.Also on the agenda, we delve into what’s going on with the Red Bull and McLaren appeal against Pierre Gasly’s Monaco podium, update on the 2027 F1 calendar and how it might evolve, and reflect on the latest backlash-triggering comments from F1 boss Stefano Domenicali about F1's rules.There's also chat about Williams, with the Grove team's season of woe hitting a new low in Zandvoort after Carlos Sainz drove into team-mate Alex Albon. Jon recently sat down with James Vowles to try and understand exactly why things have gone so badly wrong, and he reveals what Williams's team boss had to say...Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening, sign-up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.
Dutch GP: Who hit a new driver rankings low in Zandvoort?
35:46|Lando Norris made it back-to-back wins with a masterful victory at Zandvoort - so he’s a shoo-in as number 1 in our post-race driver rankings, isn't he? And how low will Max Verstappen rank after his messy exit from his home race? In our latest driver rankings podcast, Ben Anderson probes Edd Straw on how he ordered the drivers after Zandvoort, armed with questions sent in by The Race Members' Club.Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening, sign-up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.