F1 Beyond The Grid

Daniele Audetto was a key figure in arguably one of the most tumultuous and exciting seasons in F1 history: 1976. As team manager at Ferrari, he reported directly back to Enzo Ferrari from each race – and that included giving him the bad news when Niki Lauda was critically injured at the German Grand Prix. In this week’s show, 45 years on from that dreadful moment, Audetto recounts that weekend in detail, as well as Lauda’s heroic comeback and that tense title finale with James Hunt in Fuji. He also discusses life after Ferrari, and in particular his stints at Lamborghini – when Senna tested and nearly raced a Lambo-powered McLaren – and everyone’s favourite minnows, Super Aguri.

This week’s guest may not be a household name, but for 20 years he was at the epicentre of Formula 1. Between the late 70s to early 90s, Peter Collins worked for Lotus under Colin Chapman, then Williams under Sir Frank, then Benetton alongside Flavio Briatore, before returning to run Lotus. In various managerial roles during that period he worked with some great drivers too: Keke Rosberg, Nigel Mansell, Gerhard Berger, Mika Hakkinen and Johnny Herbert. And the great news for us is that Peter has great anecdotes about all of them! So settle in for fabulous insight into a golden era of the sport – including the time he dispatched Hakkinen to do the school run… This episode is sponsored by:  SumUp

Charles Leclerc returns to Beyond The Grid for a second time – and hasn’t a lot happened since his last visit? Charles last came on the show in 2018, when he was in his rookie season with Alfa Romeo Sauber but had just signed to race for Ferrari. Since then he’s become a superstar of the sport, winning races and taking brilliant poles, but also having to endure heart-breaking loss and team mate tension, amongst other things. He chats to Tom about all of the above and more, including what he likes to get up to away from the track, his relationships with new and former team mates Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel, and how it has felt to race for Ferrari, in good times and bad… This episode is sponsored by:  SumUp  

This week’s guest, Norbert Haug, held one of the most influential jobs in motorsport for more than 20 years. As the boss of Mercedes-Benz motorsport, he oversaw all of the company’s racing activities – indeed it was him who decided to return the Silver Arrows to F1 as an engine supplier in 1993. Once back, Mercedes enjoyed great success in partnership with McLaren – and Haug has great anecdotes to tell about Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton. He also opens up on his role in Michael Schumacher’s career, and Mercedes’ decision to buy Brawn GP at the end of 2009, setting them on the path to their recent glory as a fully-fledged works team… This episode is sponsored by SumUp Express VPN/GRID - get an extra 3 months for free 

F1 Beyond The Grid welcomes back Red Bull boss Christian Horner, who was one of Tom's first guests on the back in 2018. Since then the team have re-emerged as title protagonists, with a real chance of taking both titles in 2021. Horner discusses their turnaround in fortunes, plus the journey they’ve been on to reach this point. There’s talk about the key staff in the team, the new power unit department, the most influential drivers in squad’s history, and of course the team’s dynamic driver duo of Max Verstappen and Checo Perez. Oh, and they also reveal the things that had to be cut out of Horner’s original episode in 2018… This episode is sponsored by: Express VPN/GRID - get an extra 3 months for free

Jacques Laffite was part of a wave of fast French F1 drivers who hit the grid in the 1970s and 80s. His 12-year F1 career brought six race victories and he had more than one shot at the World Championship. It’s a record he’s pleased with, but as he reveals, his career is tinged with regret. Jacques tells Tom Clarkson about his eye-opening debut at the original Nürburgring, his championship chances, and admits he wishes he’d worked harder. He tells great stories about turning up to practice in his pyjamas, how wearing big shoes made him faster and the eyedrop mix-up that once stopped him racing. Jacques also remembers the 1986 crash which ended his career and his emotional return to an F1 cockpit at the age of 64.

Ivan Capelli is probably most familiar to F1 fans for driving that iconic ‘Miami blue’ Leyton House March car in the late 1980s. It was for that underdog team that he scored three podiums, worked with a young and innovative designer by the name of Adrian Newey and caught the eye of Ferrari. As an Italian, a move to Maranello was a dream come true, but it soon turned into a nightmare that lasted less than a year. In a feature-length and highly engaging conversation, Ivan discusses all of the above and more – with wonderful anecdotes on Newey, Ken Tyrrell, Jean Alesi and more…

Our guest this week is a driver who never actually raced in F1 – but he did test an F1 car and very nearly raced one: Jeff Gordon. The Californian is a four-time NASCAR champion and global motorsport icon, who in 2003 enjoyed a life-changing F1 test with Williams. He tells us all about that outing, how close he came to a switch to F1 afterwards, why he loves Grand Prix racing, the differences between NASCAR and F1, his friendship with Lewis Hamilton, and whether an F1 driver would succeed in stock cars…  

Some drivers seem destined to race in F1. Others have to fight for it. Roberto Moreno was in the latter camp. He arrived in Europe from Brazil with no money, yet he managed to climb the racing ladder on talent alone. An F3000 champion, he got test roles with Lotus and Ferrari, yet the bulk of his career - for one reason or another - was spent with teams at the very back of the grid. In this week’s show he tells us his inspirational story, from performing heroics to make the cut in Monaco with Andrea Moda (described by some as F1’s worst team), his dream debut podium with Benetton in Japan in 1990, his childhood friendship with Nelson Piquet, and how his frontline F1 career was abruptly ended by the sudden emergence of one Michael Schumacher…

On-track he’s been audacious, daring and fast; off-track he’s been witty, animated… and has occasionally used very colourful language. Yuki Tsunoda is a very welcome addition to Formula One this year and on this week’s show he discusses the start to his Grand Prix career, his infamous radio mannerisms, his love of food, his relationship with Red Bull supremo Helmut Marko, and much more…