43: F1 driver contracts: Why exit clauses are more important than money

For the first JA on F1 podcast of 2025, we discuss Lewis Hamilton as he turns 40. The seven-time World Champion is preparing to drive a Ferrari F1 car for the first time this month. In his New Year message to fans, he said “Reinvention is powerful” So how will this reinvention for Hamilton go? What do we know so far about the 2025 Ferrari car he will be driving? And what does history tell us about F1 champions who make late-career moves; how did it work out for them? Is it possible to win a World Championship beyond 40? With James in the studio to dive into Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari are Chief Motorsport Writer Ben Hunt and F1 writer Jake Boxall-Legge. We also hear from our colleague Roberto Chinchero on the excitement building in Italy. Send your comments or questions to: @jamesallenonf1 on X/Twitter or jamesallenonf1@autosport.com. Producer: Dre Harrison A Motorsport Studios production for Autosport

7 Jan 40min

Who will win the 2025 F1 Drivers' Championship? Will Lewis Hamilton score more points than Charles Leclerc? What impact will the struggles of car manufacturers, especially Europeans, have on F1 next year? How might geopolitics impact on F1, for example in the Middle East and Asia ? For our final podcast of the year, we thought that rather than looking backwards with yet another Season Review – we would immediately throw it forwards and Superforecast F1 in 2025. Joining James to look into the future are Jon Noble, Ben Hunt and Jake Boxall-Legge. Send your comments or questions to: @jamesallenonf1 on X/Twitter or jamesallenonf1@autosport.com. A Motorsport Studios production for Autosport

13 Dec 202455min

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 jamesallenonf1@autosport.com. A Motorsport Studios production for Autosport

28 Nov 202449min

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 jamesallenonf1@autosport.com. A Motorsport Studios production for Autosport

14 Nov 202448min

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 jamesallenonf1@autosport.com. A Motorsport Studios production for Autosport

23 Okt 202449min

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 jamesallenonf1@autosport.com. 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

8 Okt 202457min

F1 runs on money and this week James is in Singapore to dig into how F1 is now raking in around $2.5 billion a year in sponsorship.  Since Liberty Media took over in 2017, sponsors have flocked to the sport and its 10 teams and there are now over 300 active sponsors for the first time in F1 history. One of the most effective operators in this space is Jefferson Slack, who heads up Aston Martin’s commercial team. In just five years he has taken their sponsor income from around $30 million a year to closer to $300m.  How have they done it, how important is having world champions like Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso in the car? And how much of a difference will it make to prospective sponsors having the GOAT racing car designer Adrian Newey in the team from 2025? In the studio to analyse all of this, James is joined by Autosport F1 Business Correspondent Mark Mann-Bryans and Matthew Marsh, an F1 sponsorship broker, who covers the Asian market, based in Singapore.   Send your comments or questions to: @jamesallenonf1 on X/Twitter or jamesallenonf1@autosport.com. A Motorsport Studios Production for Autosport

24 Sep 202450min

This week we look at why it is so tricky to build a winning team in F1 and why success is never guaranteed. We go behind the scenes of Adrian Newey’s big-money move to Aston Martin and ask what this means for the competitive picture in F1 over the next five years. And we hear from celebrated manager David Richards, who took BAR Honda to second place in the World Championship 20 years ago against Michael Schumacher’s dominant Ferrari team. Joining James in the studio are Autosport F1 Editor Jon Noble and Chief Writer Ben Hunt, who were both at Aston Martin’s swanky new HQ for the Newey announcement. There is no doubting Lawrence Stroll’s bold vision, nor his willingness to back his instincts with hard cash to buy the world-class facilities and people Newey will work with. But success in F1 is never guaranteed. How will this change the competitive picture in F1 over the next five years? And what can David Richards’ many years of success at the top of motorsport tell us about how winning teams are built? Send your comments or questions to: @jamesallenonf1 on X/Twitter or email jamesallenonf1@autosport.com A Motorsport Studios production for Autosport

11 Sep 202443min