Is the championship McLaren’s to lose? We answer your questions after F1 testing

03/04/25 • 75 min

2 Listeners

How strong a favourite is McLaren? Is Lewis Hamilton able to drive the way he wants to in the Ferrari? How worried should Aston Martin be? These are among the questions we answer in the latest edition of The Race F1 Podcast.

Ben Anderson and Scott Mitchell-Malm join Edd Straw to work through listener questions about the upcoming Formula 1 season based on what happened in testing.

We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Bahrain as a test venue, the performance of the rookies and the thorny question of sandbagging.

We also share some trackside watching tips, lay out Fernando Alonso’s thinking and ponder whether Gabriel Bortoletto should be worried.

SPECIAL OFFER: Get 90% off your first month when you join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today - we even have an F1-only tier! Head to Patreon.com/therace

An edit of our London live show is available to purchase here (free for Champions tier members): https://www.patreon.com/posts/live-show-race-121105739
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Ben Anderson and Scott Mitchell-Malm join Edd Straw to work through listener questions about the upcoming Formula 1 season based on what happened in testing.

We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Bahrain as a test venue, the performance of the rookies and the thorny question of sandbagging.

We also share some trackside watching tips, lay out Fernando Alonso’s thinking and ponder whether Gabriel Bortoletto should be worried.

SPECIAL OFFER: Get 90% off your first month when you join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today - we even have an F1-only tier! Head to Patreon.com/therace

An edit of our London live show is available to purchase here (free for Champions tier members): https://www.patreon.com/posts/live-show-race-121105739
Follow The Race on Instagram, X and Facebook
Check out our latest videos on YouTube

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

Testing Day 3: What's the pecking order heading to Australia - and are Red Bull in trouble?

F1 the final day of F1 pre-season testing complete, Edd Straw is joined by Jon Noble and Scott Mitchell-Malm to assess every team's performance and rank where each sits in the pecking order heading into the first race of the season in Australia.

Amongst the topics discussed are whether Williams or Alpine will head the midfield, whether Red Bull are in trouble after a more difficult than expected test, and whether McLaren are really as far ahead of the rest as some in the paddock would have you think.

Mark Hughes also returns for a deep dive analysis of the top four teams' times.

SPECIAL OFFER: Get 90% off your first month when you join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today - we even have an F1-only tier! Head to Patreon.com/therace

An edit of our London live show is available to purchase here (free for Champions tier members): https://www.patreon.com/posts/live-show-race-121105739
Follow The Race on Instagram, X and Facebook
Check out our latest videos on YouTube

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next Episode

Why Aston's at odds with Ferrari, flexi wing row latest, and Raikkonen's engineer on testing

We hit the big news stories in Formula 1 and delve into the stories of pre-season testing with the help of Kimi Raikkonen’s former race engineer Julien Simon-Chautemps in the latest edition of The Race F1 Podcast.

Along with Jon Noble and host Edd Straw, Simon-Chautemps sheds light on the successful legal bid mounted by Ferrari to prevent Enrico Cardile starting work for Aston Martin before July, and the latest in a long-line of flexi wing controversies.

We then look back at pre-season testing, which includes Simon-Chautemps running through long-run pace analysis produced by motorsport software, data and technology company Paceteq and shedding light on how teams approach analysing and improving their own performance - and that of rivals.

He also explains what teams do between testing and the first race of the season in a bid to implement the lessons learned.

And finally, we discuss the latest FIA controversy with Motor Sport UK’s David Richards launching a public critique of president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

SPECIAL OFFER: Get 90% off your first month when you join The Race Members' Club on Patreon today - we even have an F1-only tier! Head to Patreon.com/therace