Autosport F1 & Motorsport Motorsport Network

The latest Flat Chat podcast from GP Racing magazine leads on Valtteri Bottas becoming the first and possibly the last F1 driver on the cover with a moustache and mullet.

Bottas is the subject of an exclusive no-holds-barred interview (and an unusual photo shoot) in GP Racing this month. Now free of the corporate leash he’s enjoying life – and racing – once again. He explains why he rejected advice to ‘be more evil’ while at Mercedes and why he’s taking a stand for drivers to be able to express themselves.

GP Racing columnists Mark Gallagher and Matt Kew join editor Stuart Codling to discuss this latest incarnation of Bottas as well as some of the most recent developments in F1.

As senior Ferrari engineer David Sanchez leaves for McLaren, the panel reflect on the chaos which seems to be enveloping the teams currently in the wake of the dominant Red Bull outfit. If former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto was as much a victim of regime change in the boardroom as of operational problems on track, why is his successor Frederic Vasseur – the preferred choice of the new executives – seemingly at loggerheads with CEO Benedetto Vigna?

While team principal and senior executive squabble over peripheral topics such as who gets a paddock pass, the team has bigger issues to face: a car concept that may not be working and a lead driver, Charles Leclerc, who may be on the verge of throwing Ferrari over for a better offer when his contract expires.

At McLaren, meanwhile, what is the thinking behind yet another management restructure? Having dropped the much-derided 'matrix management' system three years ago in favour of a conventional top-down hierarchy, McLaren's decision to have three technical leaders represents a major pivot.

Elsewhere on the grid another team with a new leader, Williams, has enjoyed an unexpectedly positive start to the season considering the latest upheaval over the winter. First impressions are that new boss James Vowles is taking exactly the right approach to dealing with the problems which have pegged Williams back in recent years: measured and diplomatic, but decisive, as befits a leader with a background in engineering and strategy. It’s the opposite tactic to that recently adopted by AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost, who seems to be following the playbook of Antonio Conte at Tottenham Hotspur by throwing his backroom staff under the bus…


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Martyn Lee is joined by Kevin Turner, Alex Kalinauckas and Filip Cleeren to analyse the biggest talking points from Formula 1's race under the lights at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
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In today's Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, it was a Red Bull on Pole Position but not the world champion. One year on from his first pole position came the second pole for Sergio Perez. The Mexican driver posted a stunning lap time of 1:28.265, narrowly edging out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who will start 12th because of a 10 place grid drop.

Third was Fernando Alonso, 0.4 seconds behind Perez, but he moves up to start second, for an Aston Martin on the front row.

Max Verstappen suffered a dramatic Q2 exit due to a driveshaft issue and will race from a disappointing 15th position.

Martyn Lee is joined by Autosport’s F1 Writer, Jake Boxall-Legge, who is in Saudi Arabia to witness the action first hand.  
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Martyn Lee is joined by Editor of autosport.com, Haydn Cobb, to recap today's action at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. They talk about the biggest stories from Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin, Alpine and Williams.
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Martyn Lee is joined by Kevin Turner, Matt Kew and Jake Boxall-Legge to look back at the first race of the 2023 season and assess what it means for the year ahead.
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Listeners of the Autosport podcast asked us to tell them more about what it's like doing our job, behind the scenes. Our Grand Prix Editor, Alex Kalinauckas, has been in Bahrain since he flew out to cover F1 testing. So we asked him to record a few comments at the end of each day and explain about the tasks our Autosport staff do to bring Formula 1 to your screens or magazines.
At the end of the podcast today we come up to date with his analysis of Saturday evenings qualifying and what kind of race we could expect tomorrow.
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