F1 Beyond The Grid

2025 has been a year of firsts for Laura Mueller and Esteban Ocon.For Laura, it’s her first season as a race engineer. For Esteban, it’s his first season with Haas. And it’s their first time working with each other.So how are they finding it? What do they need from one another to get the best out of each other? And how do they communicate in and out of the car?Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Laura and Esteban take us inside their first year working together and how the relationship between a race engineer and an F1 driver works.They provide fascinating insight into how they talk to each other on team radio – explaining when the right time to speak during a lap is, how often they should speak and why that can change in different scenarios.Laura and Esteban also reflect on the highs and lows of this year – including how they bounced back from a challenging season-opener in Melbourne to score points in China the week after.And you’ll hear all about Laura’s path to becoming F1’s first female race engineer and the childhood hero who inspired this journey.This episode is sponsored by:F1 Store: treat the F1 fan in your life this festive season with exclusive gear from the Official F1 Store. Shop now at F1Store.formula1.comShopify: sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com/beyondthegrid Aura Frames: For a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura’s best-sellingCarver Mat frames by using promo code GRID at checkout Vanta: get started at vanta.com/GRID Honda Vintage Culture: right now, listeners can get 20% off the full Honda Vintage Culture range. Just head to hondavintageculture.com and use the code BTG20 at checkout

Every driver who wants to win with Red Bull needs to impress Helmut Marko. The veteran Motorsport Advisor oversees the team’s young driver programme and helped launch the careers of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen. A former F1 driver himself, he knows what it takes to race under the highest pressure.Helmut tells Tom Clarkson about his life in racing: childhood adventures in Austria with future world champion Jochen Rindt, and the serious eye injury which ended his driving career just as he was about to join Ferrari. He tells the story of how he met Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz, and how they started the F1 team which would go on to win races and championships with Vettel and Verstappen.Plus, Marko explains how Verstappen and Team Principal Laurent Mekies have changed the team’s approach in 2025 and picks the young driver with potential to be a future champion.This episode is sponsored by: CarGurus: go to cargurus.co.uk for complete vehicle details without any surprisesVanta: get started at Vanta.com/GRID.F1 Authentics: discover unique F1 items found nowhere else at the official home of F1 memorabilia. For a limited time, use the code BTGRID10 for an exclusive 10% off your next order. Exclusions apply.Shopify: sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com/beyondthegrid

McLaren have won back-to-back Constructors’ titles for the first time since the early ‘90s.Just eight years ago, in 2017, they finished second to last, so how exactly have they transformed into World Champions since then?Speaking to Tom Clarkson at the McLaren Technology Centre, CEO Zak Brown and Team Principal Andrea Stella outline how they’ve masterminded McLaren’s remarkable turnaround together, revealing just how desperate the team’s situation was at the start of this journey, and how they’re planning to sustain their recent success in the years to come.But in the immediate future, their eyes are on the next prize, as they chase a first Drivers’ World Championship since Lewis Hamilton won in 2008. Going into the final four rounds of the 2025 season, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are separated by just one point at the top of the standings. Zak and Andrea discuss how the pair have evolved during their time at McLaren, criticism of their approach to this title fight, and whether they’ll have any regrets should Max Verstappen beat Lando and Oscar to the crown. This episode is sponsored by: Vanta: get started at Vanta.com/GRID Indeed: listeners of this show can get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at indeed.com/GRIDShopify: sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial and start selling today at shopify.com/beyondthegrid

Ahead of a new era of Formula 1 in 2026, Italian engineer Enrico Cardile moved from Ferrari to Aston Martin. Working alongside Adrian Newey as Chief Technical Officer, his aim is to turn Aston into winners.Enrico tells Tom Clarkson how he studied Ferrari at university, before joining the company as a young engineer in the road car division. He moved on to the F1 team, developing single-seaters which took Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc to Grand Prix wins.Enrico left Ferrari and joined Aston Martin in summer 2025. He describes the differences between an established team and one which is still building. He describes working with Adrian Newey at Aston’s state-of-the-art factory, what Lance Stroll has in common with Raikkonen and how driver feedback from Stroll and Fernando Alonso is helping to drive the team forwards.This episode is sponsored by: Truewerk: get 15% off your first order at truewerk.com with the code GRID.Honda Vintage Culture: right now, listeners can get 20% off the full Honda Vintage Culture range. Just head to hondavintageculture.com and use the code BTG20 at checkout. Shopify: sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial and start selling today at shopify.com/beyondthegridSalesforce: visit salesforce.com/f1 to learn more about how Formula 1 drives fan excitement with Agentforce - the powerful AI from Salesforce

With 16 Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships combined, Williams are the third most successful team in Formula 1 history – behind Ferrari and McLaren.But they haven’t won a title since 1997 and it’s 13 years since they last won a race, so Team Principal James Vowles is on a mission to bring the glory days back to Williams.In 2025, the team have taken big steps towards success. Carlos Sainz secured the team’s first podium in four years when he finished third in Baku, and they’ve amassed their highest points total since 2016.Speaking to Tom Clarkson, James reveals what he and Carlos spoke about over dinner before that sensational podium, why that result means so much to the whole team, and the reasons Carlos had endured a frustrating season up to that point.On the other side of the garage, James shares what he thinks is different about Alex Albon this year and how he’s risen to the challenge of having a much more experienced and competitive teammate.And while Williams have performed better than expected in 2025 with such a strong driver line-up, their main focus is 2026. So what opportunities will the new era of Formula 1 bring them? Given James’s first-hand experience of the intense championship battles between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at Mercedes, what would his approach be if Alex and Carlos are fighting for a title in the coming years?This episode is sponsored by: Indeed: listeners of this show will get a seventy-five dollar sponsored job credit toget your jobs more visibility at indeed.com/GRIDShopify: sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial and start selling today at shopify.com/beyondthegridVanta: visit vanta.com/GRID to sign up for a free demo today

Franco Colapinto didn’t take long to make a name for himself in Formula 1.He became the first Argentine F1 driver in 23 years when he debuted with Williams in 2024. It only took him two races to then become the first Argentine points scorer in the sport since 1982.More than a year since his incredible breakthrough, and now racing for Alpine, Franco tells Tom Clarkson the story of how a boy from the outskirts of Buenos Aires reached the pinnacle of motorsport.Franco remembers the sacrifices he made by moving abroad as a young teenager to pursue his dream, the challenges of leaving his family and living on his own in a different continent, and how an unexpected visit from an F1 legend inspired him to keep going.Franco also talks about how his experience at Alpine compares to his time at Williams, what his relationships with teammate Pierre Gasly and Alpine Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore are like, and his future in F1.This episode is sponsored by: CarGurus: go to cargurus.co.uk to make sure your big deal is the best dealVanta: visit vanta.com/GRID to sign up for a free demo todayLiquid I.V. : get 20% off your first order with code GRID at liquidiv.com

Aged 11, Gabriel Bortoleto left Brazil, determined to make it in motorsport. His family’s passion, hard work and sacrifice gave him a start. His talent saw him accelerate towards a racing career. A two-time World Champion saw he was special, and helped guide him to Formula 1.Speaking to Tom Clarkson, Gabriel looks back at his childhood, how his parents worked hard to fund his racing dream, how he made the difficult decision to leave them behind and go to Europe to further his career, and why Fernando Alonso’s support was essential as he climbed the racing ladder.Winning the Formula 3 and Formula 2 championship titles earned Gabi a place in F1. He explains how he is adjusting to the driving and living in the World Championship, the pride he feels representing Brazil, what racing against experienced teammate Nico Hulkenberg is teaching him, how his manager and on-track rival Alonso continues to help him, and why he spends hours on his home simulator immediately after every race weekend.This episode is sponsored by: Vanta: visit vanta.com/ GRID to sign up for a free demo today!SelectQuote: save more than fifty percent on term life insurance at selectquote.com/beyondthegrid