The Race

SPECIAL: Simon Pagenaud pays tribute to Gil de Ferran

This special bonus episode features a heartfelt interview with 2016 IndyCar champion and 2019 Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud, who drove his late mentor Gil de Ferran's car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week.

Pagenaud raced for 2000-2001 CART champion de Ferran, who died in late 2023, when the former first came to America, and through the rest of his career de Ferran was a close friend and confidant Pagenaud could always lean on.

Speaking to The Race, Pagenaud discusses t...

Hamilton’s team-mate struggles explained + Your questions answered

Why is Lewis Hamilton struggling to get the better of George Russell? Could Red Bull's slight downturn in form lead to Max Verstappen jumping ship to Mercedes? And has Ocon's latest team-mate tangle cost him any last hope he had at landing a seat at one of F1's top tier teams? Those are just three of the questions sent in by The Race Members' Club that Edd Straw, Mark Hughes and Glenn Freeman tackle on this episode of the pod.

Originally published on 29 May 2024

Shanghai EPrix: The title fight narrows

Sam Smith and Andrew van de Burgt are joined by motorsport writer and The Race contributor, Alice Holloway, as the business end of the 2024 Formula E season arrives, with talk of the title fight now being a straight scrap between Jaguar’s Nick Cassidy and Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein.

But neither of them took the wins as the all-electric world championship returned to mainland China for the first time since 2015. It was their respective teammates Mitch Evans and Antonio Felix da Costa ...

Bagnaia saves his title bid at Catalan GP

Pecco Bagnaia went from a bizarre final lap crash while leading MotoGP's Catalan Grand Prix sprint to pulling off a very intelligent Sunday race win that keeps things poised in the title fight.

But he was just one of three riders to crash from the sprint lead - all for different reasons. And with Bagnaia, championship leader Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez finding ways to all take nearly identical points hauls from Barcelona despite having wildly contrasting weekends, this strange event g...

Newgarden on consecutive Indy 500 victories + O’Ward's heartbreak and Larson's rollercoaster run

Less than a couple of hours after his Indianapolis 500 win, Josef Newgarden joins The Race to discuss defending his title with a spectacular move on Pato O'Ward for the win.

Newgarden discusses the move that won it, what it means given the controversy surrounding him and the team after he was disqualified at St Petersburg earlier this year, and how qualifying laid the foundations for the success.

After that, JR Hildebrand joins Jack Benyon to analyse the key moments of the race wi...

James Hunt and Hesketh: The serious racers behind the playboy image

On this episode (the final episode in season 1 of the podcast) Matt and Richard tell the tale of James Hunt and Hesketh Racing - perhaps the ultimate underdog success story in Formula 1 history.  

They explain how a small, privateer racing team with a crash-prone driver rose to prominence in the 1970s, culminating with them beating the might of Ferrari to take victory at the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix.

Their reputation is one of party loving playboys, but is that an entirely ...

Tech Show: Inside F1’s development war - and why it's getting closer at the front

On this episode, host Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson look back on Imola and ahead to Monaco, as they discuss the latest phase in F1’s increasingly intriguing development war. 

First, Edd and Gary discuss Red Bull’s difficult weekend in Imola, and whether that, combined with other teams’ gains, hints at the world champion team nearing the development potential of their current concept.

Next, they look at the contrasting development fortunes...

What YOU'D change about MotoGP

We debate YOUR suggestions for what to change about MotoGP. We've never had such a huge influx of listener input when we've done a callout for questions or suggestions.

With the 2027 rules freshly announced and plenty in the paddock making suggestions for what they think could be better about MotoGP regulations, organisation, officiating or promotion, your ideas covered everything from rules preventing riders remounting after crashes to MotoGP test chances for Moto2 stars to race format...

Paying tribute to motor sport’s pioneering female drivers

On this episode, Matt and Richard remember several pioneering female drivers from the past; each an inspiring character who competed on equal terms with their male peers and who achieved, against the odds, some incredible things.  

Those discussed included Maria Theresa De Filippis (the first woman to compete in a world championship Grand Prix), Pat Moss (the talented rally driving sister of F1 star Stirling Moss), Lella Lombardi (the first woman to score an F1 point), Desire ...

Berlin EPrix: A tempestuous weekend at Tempelhof

The Race Formula E podcast takes an in-depth look in to a tempestuous weekend at Berlin Tempelhof where Nick Cassidy and Antonio Felix da Costa triumphed amid a hail of carbon shards and intra-team and manufacturer recriminations.

The Race team explain why the racing was so fraught and what the slow-build and then quick burst peloton style of racing means for Formula E’s future.

The bigger picture of what Cassidy’s bumper points haul means for the title race is also analysed, ...

Indy 500: Europe's impact on the great American race

For many motor racing fans, the month of May means one thing: The Indianapolis 500. Famously known as 'the greatest spectacle in racing', the Indy 500 captured American hearts from its inception in 1911 - but the race has also tantalised Europe's racing elite over the years, charmed by its big prize pot and unique challenge.

On this episode, Matt Bishop (journalist, editor, novelist and PR) and Richard Williams (journalist, author and broadcaster) take a look at the roots of oval racing...

MotoGP's new rules revamp - and what we'd change

MotoGP has unveiled its new rules for 2027, with some of the current bikes' most controversial elements outlawed and others pegged back.

But has it all gone far enough and are these the right moves for the world championship?

Simon Patterson gives his initial take on the changes to engine capacity, aero allowance and concessions, plus the ban on ride-height devices, in a bumper episode of The Race MotoGP Podcast.

Plus Matt Beer invites Simon and Valentin Khorounzhiy to sugge...

Tech Show: McLaren's race-winning upgrades + What should Newey do next?

On this episode, host Edd Straw and former F1 technical director Gary Anderson discuss the upgrade package that helped Lando Norris and McLaren snap Max Verstappen and Red Bull's stranglehold on the Miami Grand Prix. They look at what McLaren changed, how it has helped the team, and whether this means McLaren will be able to fight at every kind of track going forward.

After that, Edd and Gary switch gears to discuss the other big technical talking point of the moment: What Adrian Newey ...

Imola '94: The fallout and lasting legacy (Part 3)

Matt Bishop (journalist, editor, novelist and PR) and Richard Williams (journalist, author and broadcaster) are here to reappraise the past - and they'd love to have you along for the ride!

In the final episode of our trilogy marking the 30th anniversary of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Matt and Richard look at the fallout and lasting legacy of F1's so-called blackest weekend, when both Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna were killed in action.

They discuss what happen...

Big Cat reigns supreme in Monaco, plus Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds interviewed

Jaguar’s peerless 1-2 at Monaco is picked apart by Sam Smith and Andrew van de Burgt as the Big Cat captured only its second 1-2 in the all-electric world championship.

Mitch Evans victory was only one key aspect of a busy weekend which also saw plenty of off track news including Jaguar’s commitment to the Gen4 rules era, the unveiling of the Gen3Evo model that will race from next season onwards and the hiring of former Indycar entrant Beth Paretta.

Smith and Van de Burgt also...

Imola '94: F1's blackest weekend (Part 2)

Matt Bishop (journalist, editor, novelist and PR) and Richard Williams (journalist, author and broadcaster) are here to reappraise the past - and they'd love to have you along for the ride!

In the second part of our three-episode mini series, marking the 30th anniversary of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Matt and Richard take a chronological look at the events of F1's so-called blackest weekend, when both Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna were killed in action.

It's b...

Imola '94: Prelude to disaster (Part 1)

Matt Bishop (journalist, editor, novelist and PR) and Richard Williams (journalist, author and broadcaster) are here to reappraise the past - and they'd love to have you along for the ride!

2024 marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most tragic events in motorsport history: The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, when both Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna were killed in action. In this episode, the first part in a three-episode mini series, Matt and Richard examine how F1 had ev...

How Hitler's Nazi regime weaponised motor racing

Matt Bishop (journalist, editor, novelist and PR) and Richard Williams (journalist, author and broadcaster) are here to reappraise the past - and they'd love to have you along for the ride!

On this episode, Matt and Richard take a trip back to Germany in the 1930s to explain how Adolf Hitler used motor racing as a tool - and perhaps even a weapon - of the Nazi regime.

They discuss why Hitler felt it was so important to have a state sponsored motor racing programme, how Mercedes an...

Michael Schumacher: F1 revolutionary

Matt Bishop (journalist, editor, novelist and PR) and Richard Williams (journalist, author and broadcaster) are here to reappraise the past - and they'd love to have you along for the ride!

On this episode, Matt and Richard are taking a close-up look at Michael Schumacher: One of F1's greatest and most revolutionary drivers ever.

Over the course of this episode, we chart (with the usual first-hand stories and anecdotes) six ways in which the seven-time world champion changed the s...

Ranking Ferrari’s Top 5 British F1 drivers - ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s arrival

Matt Bishop (journalist, editor, novelist and PR) and Richard Williams (journalist, author and broadcaster) are here to reappraise the past - and they'd love to have you along for the ride!

On this episode, Matt and Richard are ranking the Top 5 British drivers to have raced for Ferrari in F1, in anticipation of Lewis Hamilton's blockbuster move to motor racing's most famous team in 2025. With youngster Ollie Bearman having recently joined the list, there are 12 drivers to pick from - b...

Brawn GP: The overlooked consequences of an F1 fairy tale

Matt Bishop (journalist, editor, novelist and PR) and Richard Williams (journalist, author and broadcaster) are here to reappraise the past - and they'd love to have you along for the ride!

On the first episode of the podcast, they look back on arguably the greatest fairy tale in motor racing history: Brawn GP's miraculous 2009 F1 season, when the team rose from near oblivion to claim both drivers' and constructors' titles. But what's fascinating, with hindsight, is the chain of events ...

F1 Extra: Our trackside observations in Bahrain

The Race always makes the effort to watch from trackside during testing to build up a picture of how the new cars behave, and on this podcast episode - exclusive to The Race Members' Club - Edd Straw and Gary Anderson share their thoughts on how each of the 2024 machines looks out on track. They discuss how each car is handling, in what areas each car is struggling, how consistent each car looks, and more.

Originally published on 23 Feb 2024

F1 Extra: Uncut interviews with Bottas, Zhou and Key at the Sauber launch

Fresh from the Sauber/Stake F1 Team launch event in London, where the team took the covers off the striking black and fluro green C44, Edd Straw brings Race members exclusive uncut interviews with Zhou Guanyu and technical director James Key, and all the audio from media sessions with Valtteri Bottas and managing director Alessandro Alunni Bravi.

Originally published on 06 Feb 2024

BBV10s S4 E10: BAR's terrible 1999 F1 season

British American Racing arrived in F1 talking of fighting for wins and championships... then it finished bottom of the standings with no points in its first season. So how did a team with a huge budget, a star driver and a famous technical partner get it so wrong?

Edd Straw and Sam Smith join host Glenn Freeman to look back on the entire story of BAR's miserable first season, starting with the team's controversial attempt to race with two separate liveries for its cars, which resulted i...

BBV10s S3 E9: F1's epic Jerez finale in 1997

The 1997 European Grand Prix produced one of F1's most exciting championship deciders, with the destiny of the title coming down to a controversial collision between Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher.

Karun Chandhok and Jonathan Williams join Glenn Freeman to revisit a memorable weekend in F1 history, where drama and controversy were never far away. We look back at Villeneuve racing under appeal in the previous race in Japan, and Williams's decision to drop that appeal agai...