The Autosport F1 Podcast

Today we're using the build up to the 2022 season to look back at who excelled last year, and therefore who we should be watching this year.  Settle in because this is a long one, with both Top 10 drivers argued out for British Touring Cars and the TOCA support series (Porsche Carrera Cup GB, Ginetta GT4 Supercup, Ginetta Junior, Mini Challenge and British Formula 4). We didn't rush this one out at the end of 2021 because so much of our time was spent with the incredibly late running F1 calendar, plus we knew that we had a healthy gap before these series started again. It's still around a month before we'll even see some F4 or Ginetta testing. And a couple of months before the opening round at Donington Park. Hosting todays podcast is Autosport's Chief Editor, Kevin Turner. He's joined by Marcus Simmons and Stephen Lickorish. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Later than originally planned, the Autosport Awards 2021 were presented on Sunday 6th February at London's Grosvenor House. On the podcast today we bring you highlights of the winners speeches and some of the stars we met on the red carpet. The categories, voted on by readers of Autosport magazine and autosport.com, are below:  Racing Driver of the Year presented by Pirelli Race Car of the Year presented by Blink Experience Rally Driver of the Year Rally Car of the Year Rookie of the Year British Racing Driver of the Year UK Racer of the Year Esports Driver of the Year presented by Motorsport Games Esports Team of the Year presented by Motorsport Games Pioneering and Innovation Award presented by Mahindra Gold Medal Award Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Haas has become the first Formula 1 team to unveil its car livery and design for the 2022 season after releasing a series of renders on Friday. The Haas VF-22 car is the first produced by the American team out of its new design office in Maranello, and offers a sign of what the new cars will look like this year following the overhaul of the technical regulations. On the podcast today, Alex Kalinauckas is joined by Luke Smith and Jonathan Noble to discuss first impressions on the renders, and how Haas is changing the organisation to be more competitive in 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jake Boxall-Legge takes over the reins of our Formula E coverage for Season 8. Martyn Lee hosts alongside Matt Kew as we look at the action this weekend and Season 8 as a whole. How will qualifying changes affect the action? Which teams and drivers are the ones to watch? And we ask how Formula E can reach a wider audience as it heads towards the Gen3 era. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's one month until Formula 1 reconvenes in Barcelona to run new cars for the first time, and we’re reconvening on the Autosport podcast to start our F1 technical coverage for the new season. After a short winter break, attention has turned from a controversial title-decider to how teams will have interpreted a new rule book. This year we’ll be talking about the Venturi effect, listed parts and wheel covers. The rule-makers have even mandated some open source parts which forces teams to upload their designs for anyone to see (because sharing is caring?). Our man who scours the technical regulations is Jake Boxall-Legge (Technical Editor, Autosport) and he tells us what fans should be looking for when cars roll out of the garage. GP Racing’s Ben Anderson looks at what the extra year of development time could mean and, whilst people assume we’ll see a convergence of performance, it might actually mean the top teams stretch their advantage. Any new set of rules have the potential to throw the form book out of the window. But what is the chance of that happening this year? The last team to surprise everyone was BrawnGP in 2009 but, as Ben points out, the Honda team had written off two years of development to put all the might of a works team into that moment.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tom Howard is back on the Gravel Notes podcast for a new season of WRC. Joining him on the shows is Martyn Lee to talk about the new Rally1 cars and championship battle with Ogier running a limited season. We also hear from Sebastien Ogier, Craig Breen, Oliver Solberg, Ott Tanak, Kalle Rovanpera and Elfyn Evans ahead of action starting later today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week's Autosport celebrates many of motorsport’s wild and spectacular machines. We’ve selected some of the most outrageous and, in a few cases, ridiculous cars ever to go into competition for our Monsters of Motorsport special. It is a look at some of the cars that can impress and entertain even if they are going around a circuit (or rally stage) all on their own. We're joined today by a special guest too, as Mark Blundell recalls his monster pole lap at Le Mans, and some of the other machinery he's driven to the limit. Martyn Lee hosts alongside Marcus Simmons (Deputy Editor, Autosport) and Gary Watkins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Between now and F1 pre-season testing, and for the first time ever, we've decided to bring you something different on the Autosport podcast.  Access to our subscriber only sction Autosport Plus. Autosport Plus give you access to enjoy exclusive long-reads, in depth analysis, technical insight and expert opinion.  Each week our editors will be hand picking some of the subscriber content for you to sample via the podcast. If you like it, I'll tell you how to get a massive 50% discount on membership at the end of the podcast, so stay tuned in to the end. Later, we'll talk about Juan Manuel Fangio, as Nigel Roebuck writes about what made him such a gentleman. But first, our Chief Editor Kevin Turner has picked out this article our subscribers first read last week - rating the best drivers of the century so far. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The second part of Autosport’s annual podcast review of the Formula 1 season is here.    In the second part of our season review, we tackle the races after the summer break and how we’re feeling about the events of Abu Dhabi, as the dust begins to settle. Martyn Lee (Head of Podcasts, Motorsport Network) is joined by Alex Kalinauckas (Grand Prix Editor, Autosport) and Luke Smith (F1 Reporter, Autosport). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Autosport’s annual podcast review of the year is finally here! Whilst recent headlines have been dominated by the drama in Abu Dhabi, the balance of power between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton shifted many times throughout the season, and it was a year filled with storylines which deserve to be remembered. Today we go back to pre-season testing to remember what we learned even before the cars would race in Bahrain. With Ariana enjoying a well-earned break, Martyn Lee (Head of Podcasts, Motorsport Network) is joined by Alex Kalinauckas (Grand Prix Editor, Autosport) and Luke Smith (F1 Reporter, Autosport). In the first part of our retrospective we take you from early Mercedes dominance to a 32 point lead for Verstappen by the time teams left Austria, finishing with the first shoots of a Hamilton recovery heading into the summer break. With so much to discuss we split our season review podcasts into two parts. Look out for the concluding part on Monday 27th December. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices