F1: Beyond the Grid

In a special one-off episode, we look back on the thrilling 2019 F1 Esports Series, speaking to everyone from drivers to organisers to explore what makes F1 Esports one of the most compelling and fastest growing racing series on the planet.

Lando Norris on the quirks of his lifestyle, Twitter trolls and his pre-F1 meeting with Helmut Marko... Beyond The Grid is back, and to kick off the new season Tom Clarkson sits down with a driver who proved a rookie sensation last year, both on and off the track: McLaren’s Lando Norris. In a revealing conversation, the British racer opens up about his hopes for 2020, whilst also discussing his love of gaming, his relationships with other drivers, dealing with Twitter trolls, and his rather extreme approach to cleaning the house...

Pedro de la Rosa on spygate, Hamilton vs Alonso, and racing Christian Horner. As a racer, Pedro de la Rosa competed in more than 100 Grands Prix, and drove many, many more miles as an F1 test driver for the likes of McLaren and Ferrari. And on this week’s show the Spaniard gives host Tom Clarkson a fascinating perspective on F1, from life behind the scenes during the explosive 2007 season at McLaren, to what it was like being in the garage during Lewis Hamilton’s maiden test. Then there are stories of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, racing against Red Bull boss Christian Horner, life as a test driver, and what happened when he handed in his resignation to Ron Dennis…

Flavio Briatore on crashgate, Schumacher vs Alonso, and winning the title for 'a t-shirt maker'... He may have been out of the sport for a few years now, but how could anyone forget Flavio Briatore? The former Benetton and Renault boss was one of the biggest and most controversial characters in F1 throughout the Nineties and Noughties, but he was also one of the most successful, with his inimitable style leading Benetton and Renault to multiple championships. On this week’s show he opens up about his unlikely journey from the fashion business to F1 team boss, about working alongside Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, locking horns with McLaren boss Ron Dennis, and that most controversial topic: crashgate...

Mark Blundell on F1 in the 90s, friendship with Martin Brundle, filling Mansell's seat and more... Fans of F1 racing in the Nineties will remember Mark Blundell well as part of a brilliant ‘Brit pack’ of racers including Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert and his pal Martin Brundle. The gritty racer reached the podium in underdog machinery three times in that period, whilst also acting as test driver for the two best teams at the time: Williams and McLaren. On this week’s show he discusses all of this and more, including the financial realities of racing for a back-of-the-grid outfit, his ‘useful’ friendship with Brundle, filling Nigel Mansell’s hastily vacated seat at McLaren, learning from Ayrton Senna and much more…

David Brabham on growing up as Black Jack's son, Imola 94, and the potential of Brabham returning to F1... Like Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Nico Rosberg, David Brabham knows only too well what it’s like to forge a path to F1 under the shadow of a famous father, in his case triple world champion Jack Brabham – the only driver to win the title in a self-made car. On this week’s show, Brabs tells us about his unconventional start to racing, the perhaps surprising influence of his father, his stop-start Grand Prix career, the legacy of Brabham, and that dark weekend at Imola in 1994, when his team mate Roland Ratzenberger was tragically killed…

Technical genius John Barnard on his revolutionary F1 innovations, working with Ferrari, and more... John Barnard can stake a claim to shaping all modern F1 cars. Not only was he responsible for victoriously introducing the now ubiquitous carbon fibre chassis to F1, he also was the brains behind the semi-automatic gearbox that is now an integral part of every Grand Prix car. On this week’s show he gives us an eye-opening look into these innovations, as well as describing what it was like to negotiate setting up a Ferrari factory in the UK with Enzo Ferrari, what it was like to work with the likes of Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost, and the remarkable story of how he discouraged Ayrton Senna from joining Benetton…

'Quick Nick' Heidfeld on his fastest team mates, his toughest rivals and the best F1 car he drove... This week’s guest was one of the quickest and most consistent drivers of the 2000s. In fact, Nick Heidfeld stood on the podium 13 times, which is the most any driver has in history without winning a race. But don’t think of that as a dubious honour, more a reflection of the quality of a man who went toe-to-toe in equal machinery with the likes of Robert Kubica, Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen and frequently came out on top. On this week’s show Quick Nick chats to Tom Clarkson about his 183-race F1 career; the cars, the teams and the rivals who impressed him most – plus what it was like to grow up in the hot bed of driving talent surrounding Michael Schumacher’s home kart track…

Julian Jakobi on looking after Senna and Prost, and the art of driver management... As one of the most successful driver managers in the history of the sport, Julian Jakobi has worked with the very best – including managing rivals Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at the same time! Currently managing Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, Jakobi – who oversaw some of F1’s biggest ever deals - gives us the lowdown on how an F1 driver’s contract is drawn up, plus regales us with some must-hear anecdotes about Senna, Prost, James Hunt, Michael Schumacher and more!

Daniil Kvyat on podiums, pressure and phone calls from Helmut Marko... Few drivers have experienced as many ups and downs as AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat in his near century of Grand Prix starts, from the elation of three brilliant podium finishes to the dejection of demotion and losing his F1 seat. This week, the Russian opens up on the mental resilience needed to bounce back in F1, why his sabbatical year with Ferrari inspired him to fight back, that redemptive podium in Germany last year, and his thoughts on Red Bull supremo Helmut Marko’s school of hard knocks…

Martin Brundle on the best F1 cars of each decade... F1 turns 70-years-old on May 13, so to celebrate we have invited perennial favourite Martin Brundle back on the show to discuss the best F1 cars he’s ever driven. The Englishman, a nine-time F1 podium finisher, is one of the only people on the planet to have driven race-winning cars from every decade of the sport, so he’s perfectly placed to describe how the unique challenge of driving flat out has evolved over time…

On the 12th April, the world of motorsport lost a giant with the news that iconic 16-time Grand Prix winner Sir Stirling Moss had passed away aged 90. In the final few years of his life, Moss stopped doing public appearances and interviews because of his health. But he did sit down for a chat with Mia Forbes Pirie, a close family friend, for what is believed to be his final in-depth interview, providing us with a compelling and poignant first-hand account of an incredible life lived at full speed.

Technical director Andrew Green on giant killing with Racing Point, surprising with Jordan and more... When it comes to giant killing in F1, few have done it better than Racing Point in recent years – in fact in 2016 and ’17, with the smallest budget on the grid, the then Force India team outperformed many well-healed opponents to finish fourth in the constructors’ championship. One of the architects behind that success was long-running Technical Director Andrew Green, whose F1 career started in the very same squad in 1991, in their Jordan guise. On this week’s show, Tom chats to Andrew about what makes Racing Point such a lean, mean fighting machine, why under an Aston Martin re-brand they could become race winners, what it was like seeing Michael Schumacher drive an F1 car for the first time and much, much more…

Heikki Kovalainen on making bets with Hamilton, his sole F1 win and the ups and downs of his GP career... Tom welcomes one-time Grand Prix winner Heikki Kovalainen onto the show to discuss the ups and downs of his Grand Prix career, which began with Renault in 2007 and took in 111 starts, with stops at McLaren, Caterham and Lotus. The amiable Finn discusses the challenges of going up against an all-time great in Hamilton – their sporting bets and what separated them on the race track – and looks back on his only F1 win in Hungary in 2008. There are also stories on his breakout defeat of Michael Schumacher at the Race of Champions, that massive crash at Barcelona in 2008, the struggles that saw him end up at the back of the grid and much, much more…

Riccardo Patrese on the wins, pranks and fallouts from his epic 17-season F1 career... Riccardo Patrese’s career began in the era of Hunt, Lauda and Andretti and ended 256 races later in the era of Senna and Schumacher, by which time he’d become the most successful Italian racer since double world champion Alberto Ascari. On this week’s show he talks us through that incredible 17-season career – the team mates, the rivals, the cars, the victories. Expert wonderful anecdotes on that famous Monaco win in 1982 (the race nobody wanted to win!), the time he was pranked by Nelson Piquet, the inside story on his falling out with James Hunt, and much more...

Alex Zanardi on his rollercoaster F1 career - and his extraordinary life since... Alex Zanardi only raced in F1 41 times, never finishing higher than sixth. But for millions of fans around the world, he remains both a hero and an inspiration. A dazzling racer, who only really showed his true talent in IndyCars, Zanardi’s career story took an unexpected turn in 2001 when he was gravely injured in a Champ Car race and had both legs amputated. But remarkably, Zanardi would battle back. Battle back to race again at the top level in touring cars, but perhaps even more remarkably, battle to the top of the Olympic rostrum, having taken up and then completely dominated in paracycling. He tells the full, incredible tale.

Stefan Johansson on racing 80s monsters, almost winning for Ferrari and tangling with wildlife... This week we welcome blonde-haired 80s Super Swede Stefan Johansson onto the show. Stefan was a 12-time podium finisher, and he would have been a race winner too were it not for team orders or Lady Luck intervening. A terrific raconteur, Stefan regales Tom with some incredible stories from his career, including fascinating insight into what made Alain Prost so good, his heartbreaking near miss at Imola ’85, his barely conceivable weekend to forget in Austria in 1987, and much, much more…

Mika Salo on giving up certain victory, racing through injury and more... Mika Salo on giving up certain victory, racing through injury and more...

FIA Race Director Michael Masi on mentor Charlie Whiting, driver penalties and more... As the FIA’s Race Director and Safety Delegate, Michael Masi’s job is to run F1 races – to keep an eye on everything that happens on track, and plenty of stuff off it too – including running driver briefings and dealing with protests. On this week’s show the Australian gives TC the inside line on one of the most interesting and pressurized roles in F1, discussing – amongst other things – his interpretation of the ‘let them race’ philosophy, his re-introduction of the black and white ‘warning’ flag, and what it’s like trying to fill the boots of his late mentor Charlie Whiting.

Pat Symonds on Fernando Alonso's F1 return with Renault. In 2021 Fernando Alonso returns to the F1 grid with Alpine, the new name for the Enstone team with which he won two world titles in 2005 and 2006. In this episode, the man who engineered him to those championships – Formula 1’s current Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds – gives us the inside line on all things Alonso. With fantastic anecdotes, Symonds discusses what made Alonso such a great racer in the past, his areas of weakness, the things he learned away from F1, and just why he thinks the 32-time Grand Prix winner will succeed again.

Willy T. Ribbs on his pioneering F1 test and the push for diversity in motor sport... This week’s guest is a man many of you may not have heard of. But Willy T. Ribbs’ story needs to be heard. In 1985 Ribbs became the first black man to drive an F1 car, when he tested for Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham team. But despite that milestone moment, he’d never crack F1 full-time, returning instead to his native US to pursue his racing dreams against an undercurrent of racism and discrimination. Those who opposed him called him ‘Uppity’- a term Willy would wear as a badge of honour as he fought for inclusion, and the also the name of the fantastic recent documentary about his life. Listen as Willy discusses racism, diversity and inclusion in motor sport, his friendship with and admiration of Lewis Hamilton, the advice he was given by Muhammed Ali, and much more…

George Russell on racing close friends, getting Toto Wolff's attention and more... This week we welcome one of the bright young stars of Formula 1 to the show: Williams driver George Russell. The British racer has been making waves this season, dragging his car far higher up the grid than many thought possible, and giving us a glimpse of the talent that made Mercedes sign him as a young driver. So listen in for some great stories as he describes the unusual way he approached Silver Arrows boss Toto Wolff, how Alex Albon’s family used to cook him dinner, why he’s flattered by comparisons to Williams greats, and much more…

America's most-experienced GP racer Eddie Cheever on living his F1 dream after walking away from Ferrari. No American has started more Grands Prix than Eddie Cheever, the Phoenix-born, Rome raised racer, who took nine excellent podium finishes in the 1980s. In his long stay at the pinnacle of motor sport Cheever drove for eight teams (including Renault, Ligier, Tyrrell and Alfa Romeo), experiencing the highs of reaching the rostrum and the lows of losing fellow drivers. What’s more remarkable is that he achieved all this after walking away from a Ferrari test contract, so determined was he as a youngster to make it - right away - in the sport he loved. On this week’s show he discusses all of the above, plus his lifelong admiration of his former boss, McLaren legend Ron Dennis, his admiration of team mates Alain Prost and Derek Warwick, the loss of Gilles Villeneuve, and his post-F1 success at the Indy 500…

Fred Vasseur on guiding Alfa Romeo back to the front and nurturing some of F1's most talented drivers. 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…

Johnny Dumfries, the aristocrat racer who was team mate to Senna. 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…

Mercedes engine guru Andy Cowell on the art of creating the perfect F1 power unit. 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...

Jochen Rindt remembered - by Helmut Marko, Jackie Stewart and Bernie Ecclestone. 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.

Antonio Giovinazzi on learning from Raikkonen, his unusual route to F1, and how fast food shaped his career. 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…

Racing for Ferrari - Part 1: The Enzo Ferrari years, with Andretti, Scheckter, Brooks and Berger. 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…

Racing for Ferrari - Part 2: Mansell, Prost, Vettel and more on the modern era. 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.

Zak Brown on running McLaren, bringing billions into the sport, and owning classic F1 cars. 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…

Sebastian Vettel on life outside F1, changing priorities and leaving Ferrari. 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…

Chase Carey on his role in shaping F1's future and guiding the sport through a global pandemic. 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…

Toto Wolff on his love of F1, missing Niki Lauda and disinterest in chasing records. He’s a workaholic, whose team is about to win a record seventh consecutive constructors’ championship. Yet his desire for more trophies remains all-consuming. We welcome back Mercedes boss Toto Wolff for an intimate and relaxed chat at his home in Oxford. Topics up for discussion include his future, how Niki Lauda remains a big influence in his life, the realities of the Rosberg/Hamilton relationship (and why it makes a future Hamilton/Verstappen duo unlikely), how his relationship with Hamilton has evolved, and why records mean nothing to him...

Safety Car driver Bernd Maylander shares the secrets of the job. He's led hundreds of laps in F1 – but you may never have heard of him. That’s because Bernd Maylander is the Safety Car driver, and has been for the last 20 years. When the weather is bad or there’s a serious incident, Bernd takes to the track to lead the field around at a safe speed – not fast by F1 standards, but still seriously quick. He gives us the inside line on his job, revealing who is the most aggressive behind the Safety Car, the worst conditions he’s ever driven in, how he feels about Lewis Hamilton always giving him the hurry up, and what happened with that massive re-start pile-up in Mugello recently…

Eric Boullier on managing Raikkonen, dealing with Kubica's accident and switching from Team Principal to Promoter. Eric Boullier was Team Principal at Renault and Lotus before he became the Racing Director of McLaren. He resigned from that role in 2018 before switching camps to Paul Ricard, where he is now managing director of the French Grand Prix. In this episode, Tom probes Eric about his life in the sport, from the challenge of managing Kimi Raikkonen to dealing with the aftermath of Robert Kubica’s accident. There’s also time to chat about McLaren and the drivers he worked with there – Button, Alonso and Vandoorne – plus Eric brings us up to speed on all things French GP…

Jochen Mass on a career tinged with tragedy, racing Lauda and Hunt, and mentoring Michael Schumacher. Jochen Mass’ F1 career began with a bang and ended more than a decade later in a fiery crash. In the 1970s he shared podiums with the likes of Lauda, Hunt, Fittipaldi and Scheckter. His talent deserved more than a single victory, which came on a dark day in Spain in 1975. Tragedy struck again in 1982, when Jochen played a blameless part in the crash which killed the legendary Gilles Villeneuve. Tom Clarkson uncovers the twists and turns of Jochen’s time in F1: the near-victories, cars, bosses and teammates which shaped his character. Jochen is certainly not afraid to speak his mind – a quality he put to very good use in later years when advising his Mercedes sportscar team mate, a young Michael Schumacher.

Renault stalwart Alan Permane on 30 years of stars, success and struggles at Enstone. He joined Benetton in the late 1980s as a bottom-rung mechanic and he’s been with the team ever since, as it morphed into Renault then Lotus and now back to Renault. Alan Permane, Renault’s Sporting Director, has seen and done it all in his time at the Enstone factory. He was Michael Schumacher’s mechanic, Giancarlo Fisichella’s race engineer, and he stepped up to lead the team after the Crashgate scandal. He also had an expletive-filled team radio exchange with Kimi Raikkonen in India. Alan reveals the secrets of Renault’s success in the mid-2000s, and how they’re planning to take on Mercedes with Fernando Alonso in 2022.

Lord Hesketh on James Hunt and the authenticity behind F1's original party team. When Hesketh Racing burst onto the F1 grid in the 1970s, they took everyone by surprise. They appeared to be playboys, having fun on and off track. But away from the yachts and the parties, was a small, well-organised group of passionate racers who were determined to win. With James Hunt at the wheel, they did. Lord Alexander Hesketh, who bankrolled and ran the team, tells Tom Clarkson how he ‘accidentally’ got into motor racing, rose to the top, and challenged the old guard of Ferrari, Lotus and McLaren. Lord Hesketh explains the unique quality behind his team’s success and reputation, what made James Hunt a great driver, and why F1 will never see a team like his ever again.

Lance Stroll on answering his critics, his love-hate relationship with F1, and the journey he's shared with his Dad. He’s one of the most exciting young drivers on the grid, with two podiums and one stunning pole position to his name, and yet Lance Stroll has had to deal with a minority of critics throughout his time in the sport. On this week’s show, the Canadian explains how he deals with those voices, how he’s evolved as a driver and person since his debut in 2017, how he was forced to learn from his mistakes on the road to F1, and his relationship with father - and boss! - Lawrence Stroll, the owner of Racing Point...

Mattia Binotto on the pride and pressure of leading Ferrari, rebuilding for the future and more... The job of Ferrari team principal is arguably the most prestigious in Formula 1 – but it’s also the one that undoubtedly carries the most pressure. The man whose task it is to lead the Scuderia right now is Mattia Binotto. Binotto is a Ferrari lifer, having joined the team straight out of university and worked numerous roles over his 25 years stay. He tells us all about that journey, which included working as an engineer for Michael Schumacher, as well as the joyous highs and intense lows of managing Ferrari over recent years. There’s also plenty of chat about Leclerc, Sainz and Vettel, plus discussion on how he intends to guide the team back to the front in the years to come…

This is our final episode of 2020, and my goodness what a year it’s been, both in F1 itself and on this very podcast. We’ve had lots of great guests, lots of wonderful anecdotes, lot of laughs and quite a few tears too. And - we hope you agree - some real insights into some of the sport’s high-rollers. On this special episode, Tom has picked some of his favourite stories and anecdotes from the guests he’s spoken to this year, including gems from Sebastian Vettel, George Russell, Lando Norris, Riccardo Patrese and more!