James Allen On F1

The F1 season is almost over. Max Verstappen has joined Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel as a four-time world champion. But there is one very important matter still to resolve. The Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship may not have the same caché with fans, but it matters a lot to the teams; it dictates how much F1 prize money they earn. But this year it means even more; for the first time in 16 years, the two teams fighting it out are McLaren and Ferrari. This has echoes of the great years of Schumacher and Hakkinen of Hamilton, Alonso, Raikkonen and Massa. Ferrari hasn’t won the title since 2008 and McLaren hasn’t won it since 1998. Whoever wins, it’s going to be epic! Which of these great names will prevail? Who has the stronger drivers? And how did we get here, when the season started with a series of Red Bull 1-2 finishes? With James to discuss this are; Rob Smedley, former race engineer to Felipe Massa at Ferrari, BBC Commentator and former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestly and Autosport’s own Jake Boxall-Legge. Send your comments or questions to @jamesallenonf1 on X/Twitter or [email protected]. A Motorsport Studios production for Autosport

This week we are doing something a little different. We explore how F1 teams make key decisions on areas like driver recruitment, development and race strategy and compare it with how things are done at a top Premier League football club. F1 is a sport built around technology, whereas in football the smartest teams have began only in the last decade to use it for recruitment, for strategy, in-game tactical decisions and so much more. With James to compare how Mercedes recruited Kimi Antonelli with how Liverpool FC discovered Mo Salah, we have two experts in their fields. Rob Smedley, former race engineer to Felipe Massa, head of track engineering at Williams and who now runs Smedley Group which advises across the F1 spectrum on data and AI. And Dr Ian Graham, of Ludonautics and most famously head of the data department at Liverpool FC for 11 years. His data analysis played a key role in building the Jurgen Klopp team that won the Premier League and Champions league. His book How to win the Premier League is a brilliant guide to the way decisions get taken in an elite sport. Send your comments or questions to: @jamesallenonf1 on X/Twitter or [email protected]. A Motorsport Studios production for Autosport

This week we are looking at how you get an F1 team to the next level. In a super competitive environment like F1, where no-one stands still, how do you go from 8th in the championship to the top of the standings using technology and people?  We welcome another F1 team principal James Vowles, who is 18 months into his programme to take Williams, F1’s second most successful team, back to the winner’s circle. It’s been 11 years since Williams last won a Grand Prix. James doesn’t want that to reach 15 years. We’ll talk to James about how he’s empowering youth, as he’s done with Franco Colapinto, why plenty of F2 drivers are now getting into F1 but it’s not the series champions and what AI is already doing in F1 and what role it will play in the future.  With James in the studio to fill in the picture is Autosport F1 writer, Jake Boxall-Legge.  Send your comments or questions to: @jamesallenonf1 on X/Twitter or [email protected]. A Motorsport Studios production for Autosport 

This week we delve into the curious case of Daniel Ricciardo. He once rode a horse into the paddock at Austin, but will not be lining up there in at this year’s US Grand Prix - or any other Grands Prix - after being dropped by Red Bull. Daniel was one of F1’s biggest fan favourites and an 8-time Grand Prix winner. But he’s not been the same driver for a few years now. As always with F1, a sport all about technology and hardware, at the heart of this is a very human story. On this podcast we drill down into that story - what made Ricciardo special? And what went wrong? We hear from a Chief Engineer whose job was to develop Ricciardo for his big-time 2014 move to Red Bull Racing and from the Australian F1 TV host, who’s known Daniel since his early days. With James in the studio are two top F1 journalists who covered Ricciardo’s entire career, Autosport’s F1 Editor Jon Noble and Chief motorsport writer Ben Hunt. Send your comments or questions to @jamesallenonf1 on X/Twitter or [email protected]. Guests: Phil Charles, former Chief Race Engineer, Toro Rosso F1 team (now RB) Greg Rust, former Network 10 F1 Presenter A Motorsport Studios production for Autosport