Max in control. Perez under pressure? Alonso targets Mercedes - Canadian GP preview ft. Safety Car driver Bernd Mayländer

Former Renault driver and F1TV commentator Jolyon Palmer joins Tom Clarkson to preview this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. After their awkward team orders in Monza, how do Jolyon and Tom think McLaren are managing the title fight between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris? What impact will that incident have on the rest of this championship battle? Max Verstappen was back to winning ways in Italy, so will he be fighting for victory again in Baku? Or will Charles Leclerc, who has taken pole four years in a row at this track, lead Ferrari to their first Grand Prix win of the season? Plus, the guys discuss a ‘change in tone’ from Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff on Kimi Antonelli, why Carlos Sainz is struggling at Williams and how crucial the upcoming races are for Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, while Jolyon remembers his nightmarish race at Baku in 2017. Listen to more official F1 podcasts In-depth interviews with F1's biggest stars on F1 Beyond The Grid Your F1 questions answered by the experts on F1 Explains It's All To Drive For in 2025. Be there! Book your seat for a Grand Prix this season at tickets.formula1.com THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY... Square: F1 Nation listeners can get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at square.com/go/f1nation

15 Sep 53min

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella, L'Equipe's Fred Ferret and Brazilian journalist Julianne Cerasoli join Tom Clarkson in the F1 paddock to dissect all the big talking points from the Italian Grand Prix.  Max Verstappen produced a Monza masterclass, taking his third win of the season and Red Bull’s first victory under new Team Principal Laurent Mekies. How has Max’s approach changed under Mekies? And what does Laurent’s reaction to this result tell us about his leadership style? McLaren had an awkward ending to their race. You’ll hear what both drivers made of the situation and Team Principal Andrea Stella explains McLaren’s decision-making and how the team have 'learned lessons' from previous championship battles between team mates. Ferrari and Charles Leclerc couldn’t repeat their home race heroics of last year, with Charles in P4 and Lewis Hamilton climbing from 10th to sixth. Are there encouraging signs for the Scuderia ahead of the next race in Azerbaijan? More from F1 Nation Valtteri Bottas on why he chose to join Cadillac for 2026 Listen to more official F1 podcasts In-depth interviews with F1's biggest stars on F1 Beyond The Grid Your F1 questions answered by the experts on F1 Explains It's All To Drive For in 2025. Be there! Book your seat for a Grand Prix this season at tickets.formula1.com This episode is sponsored by: Indeed: listeners of this show will get a seventy-five dollar sponsored job credit at indeed.com/NATION Trade: get 50% off 1 month of cold brew with Trade at drinktrade.com/NATION

8 Sep 48min

A special home win for Ferrari? A fightback from Lando? Ferrari ambassador and former F1 driver Marc Gene joins Tom Clarkson to preview this weekend's Italian Grand Prix. How will a 34-point gap at the top of the Drivers' Championship change things for leader Oscar Piastri and challenger Lando Norris? Marc assesses how they will approach this race and the rest of the season. What does it take to be quick at Monza, and does this year's Ferrari have it? Marc thinks so! He explains why he's hopeful the Scuderia can delight the tifosi this weekend. More from F1 Nation Valtteri Bottas on why he chose to join Cadillac for 2026 Listen to more official F1 podcasts In-depth interviews with F1's biggest stars on F1 Beyond The Grid Your F1 questions answered by the experts on F1 Explains It's All To Drive For in 2025. Be there! Book your seat for a Grand Prix this season at tickets.formula1.com

4 Sep 18min

Marcin Budkowski, who worked with Oscar Piastri at Alpine and held engineering roles at Ferrari and McLaren, joins Tom Clarkson in the Zandvoort paddock to reflect on an action-packed Dutch Grand Prix. After Lando Norris’s late mechanical failure, Piastri’s seventh victory of the season moves him 34 points clear of his McLaren teammate at the top of the Drivers’ Standings. What does that retirement mean for Lando’s title hopes and his approach for the rest of the season? How did Oscar end up getting the better of Lando after trailing him in all three practice sessions?  Marcin shares fascinating insight into how different Oscar is in the cockpit compared to out of the car with his helmet off, and why the Australian has surprised him this year after having some doubts about his title-winning credentials. Lando’s loss was Isack Hadjar’s gain, as the Racing Bulls rookie jumped up a place from P4 to P3 to score his first podium in Formula 1. How did Isack execute his best weekend in F1 so far? Should Red Bull promote him to be Max Verstappen’s teammate in 2026? And Ferrari had a weekend to forget with a double DNF, after Charles Leclerc was taken out by Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton crashed into the barriers. Marcin tells Tom why he thinks Antonelli is going through a difficult patch at Mercedes and why Lewis’s struggles with the car remind him of Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren. Listen to more official F1 podcasts In-depth interviews with F1's biggest stars on F1 Beyond The Grid Your F1 questions answered by the experts on F1 Explains It's All To Drive For in 2025. Be there! Book your seat for a Grand Prix this season at tickets.formula1.com THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY… Vanta: Visit vanta.com/nation to sign up for a free demo today!  BetterHelp: F1 Nation listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/f1nation.

1 Sep 47min

Valtteri Bottas joins Tom Clarkson in the Zandvoort paddock to discuss his eagerly-anticipated return to the Formula 1 grid with Cadillac in 2026. Ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, Cadillac announced that Valtteri and Sergio Perez will be the team’s drivers for their first season in F1 next year.  Valtteri tells Tom why he chose Cadillac, why they chose him, and what his expectations for 2026 and beyond are. VB also talks about working with new teammate Perez and how they’ll get back up to speed after a year out from racing in F1. DUTCH GP PREVIEW Jolyon Palmer and Alex Jacques join Tom for F1 Nation’s preview of this weekend’s Dutch GP Listen to more official F1 podcasts In-depth interviews with F1's biggest stars on F1 Beyond The Grid Your F1 questions answered by the experts on F1 Explains It's All To Drive For in 2025. Be there! Book your seat for a Grand Prix this season at tickets.formula1.com

28 Aug 10min

Former Renault driver, Jolyon Palmer, and F1TV lead commentator, Alex Jacques, join Tom Clarkson to discuss Formula 1’s return to action at this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort.  Oscar Piastri leads Lando Norris by just nine points at the top of the World Championship. With just 10 races and three F1 Sprints to go, who would the guys rather be in this title fight?  Should Oscar have a bigger lead in the standings? And has Lando’s mentality changed throughout the season? Max Verstappen hasn’t been on the podium in the last four races. Will the support of the Orange Army and his incredible record at this track help him get back in the top three? What is the rest of 2025 all about for Max and Red Bull? And is Yuki Tsunoda fighting for his F1 future in these last 10 races? Ferrari are the only team in the top four yet to win a race this year. Will that change before the end of the season? What should Team Principal Fred Vasseur do to get the best out of Lewis Hamilton?  And Jolyon, Alex and Tom debate who they think has been the best rookie so far this season. Listen to more official F1 podcasts In-depth interviews with F1's biggest stars on F1 Beyond The Grid Your F1 questions answered by the experts on F1 Explains It's All To Drive For in 2025. Be there! Book your seat for a Grand Prix this season at tickets.formula1.com THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY... Trade Coffee: For a limited time, Trade is giving 50% off a month of cold brew. That’s around 60 cups of cold brew, for 50% off when you go to drinktrade.com/nation Square: listeners can get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at square.com/go/f1nation Caldera Lab: Head to calderalab.com/nation and use NATION at checkout for 20% off your first order.

24 Aug 58min

Nine-time Le Mans winner, Tom Kristensen, and Fox Sports Mexico journalist, Diego Mejia, join Tom Clarkson in the Budapest paddock to dissect a thrilling strategy battle at the Hungarian Grand Prix. After losing two places at the start, how did Lando Norris make the one-stop strategy work to take his fifth victory of the season? What did the guys make of Oscar’s late lunge into turn 1 on the penultimate lap? Lando joins the pod to share whether he did anything in the car to avoid contact with Oscar. And with just nine points separating the McLaren teammates, who’s the momentum with going into the summer break? Charles Leclerc took a shock pole position on Saturday, so why did he end up finishing off the podium after leading from the start? Did Ferrari get his strategy wrong? And after Lewis Hamilton described himself as ‘absolutely useless’, following another disappointing qualifying session, where does the seven-time World Champion go from here?  George Russell secured his sixth podium of the season and his first since winning in Canada. Why were Mercedes quicker in Hungary after a difficult European leg of the season? And how will the news that Max Verstappen is staying at Red Bull in 2026 help Russell and Kimi Antonelli going forward? Plus, we discuss Gabriel Bortoleto’s career-best finish with P6, Aston Martin’s incredible turnaround from Spa and a disappointing weekend for Red Bull. Listen to more official F1 podcasts In-depth interviews with F1's biggest stars on F1 Beyond The Grid Your F1 questions answered by the experts on F1 Explains It's All To Drive For in 2025. Be there! Book your seat for a Grand Prix this season at tickets.formula1.com THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY: Indeed: F1 Nation listeners will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com/nation BetterHelp: As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. F1 Nation listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/f1nation

4 Aug 49min

Mercedes Reserve Driver Valtteri Bottas joins Tom Clarkson to look ahead to this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest. Before they dive into the big talking points, you’ll hear from Max Verstappen after the four-time World Champion confirmed he’ll be staying at Red Bull for 2026 to end weeks of speculation around his future. Oscar Piastri goes into the weekend 16 points ahead of Lando Norris at the top of the Drivers’ Standings. Whose driving style does the Hungaroring circuit suit best out of the two McLaren drivers? And with the summer break meaning a four-week wait until the next Grand Prix in Zandvoort, how important is this weekend in the title race from a psychological point of view? Ferrari have announced that Team Principal Fred Vasseur has signed a multi-year contract with the team. What statement does that send about their intentions? And with Charles Leclerc scoring four podiums in the last six races, and Lewis Hamilton winning a record eight times in Hungary, will the team continue the progress they made with their rear suspension upgrade in Belgium? Plus, Valtteri gives us the lowdown on Mercedes – why have they struggled for performance in the European leg of the season? What are their chances of returning to the podium in Hungary? And what advice has he given Kimi Antonelli after his recent confidence issues?

31 Jul 19min