F1 Beyond The Grid

No American has started more Grands Prix than Eddie Cheever, the Phoenix-born, Rome raised racer, who took nine excellent podium finishes in the 1980s. In his long stay at the pinnacle of motor sport Cheever drove for eight teams (including Renault, Ligier, Tyrrell and Alfa Romeo), experiencing the highs of reaching the rostrum and the lows of losing fellow drivers. What’s more remarkable is that he achieved all this after walking away from a Ferrari test contract, so determined was he as a youngster to make it - right away - in the sport he loved. 

On this week’s show he discusses all of the above, plus his lifelong admiration of his former boss, McLaren legend Ron Dennis, his admiration of team mates Alain Prost and Derek Warwick, the loss of Gilles Villeneuve, and his post-F1 success at the Indy 500… 

This week we welcome one of the bright young stars of Formula 1 to the show: Williams driver George Russell. The British racer has been making waves this season, dragging his car far higher up the grid than many thought possible, and giving us a glimpse of the talent that made Mercedes sign him as a young driver. So listen in for some great stories as he describes the unusual way he approached Silver Arrows boss Toto Wolff, how Alex Albon’s family used to cook him dinner, why he’s flattered by comparisons to Williams greats, and much more…

This week’s guest is a man many of you may not have heard of. But Willy T Ribbs’ story needs to be heard. In 1985 Ribbs became the first black man to drive an F1 car, when he tested for Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham team. But despite that milestone moment, he’d never crack F1 full-time, returning instead to his native US to pursue his racing dreams against an undercurrent of racism and discrimination. 

Those who opposed him called him ‘Uppity’- a term Willy would wear as a badge of honour as he fought for inclusion, and the also the name of the fantastic recent documentary about his life. Listen as Willy discusses racism, diversity and inclusion in motor sport, his friendship with and admiration of Lewis Hamilton, the advice he was given by Muhammed Ali, and much more…

In 2021 Fernando Alonso returns to the F1 grid with Alpine, the new name for the Enstone team with which he won two world titles in 2005 and 2006. In this episode, the man who engineered him to those championships – Formula 1’s current Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds – gives us the inside line on all things Alonso. With fantastic anecdotes, Symonds discusses what made Alonso such a great racer in the past, his areas of weakness, the things he learned away from F1, and just why he thinks the 32-time Grand Prix winner will succeed again.

As the FIA’s Race Director and Safety Delegate, Michael Masi’s job is to run F1 races – to keep an eye on everything that happens on track, and plenty of stuff off it too – including running driver briefings and dealing with protests. On this week’s show the Australian gives TC the inside line on one of the most interesting and pressurized roles in F1, discussing – amongst other things – his interpretation of the ‘let them race’ philosophy, his re-introduction of the black and white ‘warning’ flag, and what it’s like trying to fill the boots of his late mentor Charlie Whiting.

Winning in F1 is incredibly hard - giving up a certain victory is even harder. Many people will remember Mika Salo from his time as a super sub for Ferrari, when Michael Schumacher broke his leg in 1999. Racing alongside title contender Eddie Irvine, Salo starred, most memorably in Germany where he was faster than his team mate, but asked to move over while leading. That was just one of the topics on the list when TC sat down with the Finn, who also frankly discussed his stints with Toyota, Lotus and BAR, his secret trip to Ferrari HQ, his life as an FIA driver steward, plus – of all things – racing with a hole in his lungs... 

This week we welcome blonde-haired 80s Super Swede Stefan Johansson onto the show. Stefan was a 12-time podium finisher, and he would have been a race winner too were it not for team orders or Lady Luck intervening. A terrific raconteur, Stefan regales Tom with some incredible stories from his career, including fascinating insight into what made Alain Prost so good, his heartbreaking near miss at Imola ’85, his barely conceivable weekend to forget in Austria in 1987, and much, much more…

Alex Zanardi only raced in F1 41 times, never finishing higher than sixth. But for millions of fans around the world, he remains both a hero and an inspiration. A dazzling racer, who only really showed his true talent in IndyCars, Zanardi’s career story took an unexpected turn in 2001 when he was gravely injured in a Champ Car race and had both legs amputated. But remarkably, Zanardi would battle back. Battle back to race again at the top level in touring cars, but perhaps even more remarkably, battle to the top of the Olympic rostrum, having taken up and then completely dominated in paracycling. He tells the full, incredible tale…

Riccardo Patrese’s career began in the era of Hunt, Lauda and Andretti and ended 256 races later in the era of Senna and Schumacher, by which time he’d become the most successful Italian racer since double world champion Alberto Ascari. 

On this week’s show he talks us through that incredible 17-season career – the team mates, the rivals, the cars, the victories. Expert wonderful anecdotes on that famous Monaco win in 1982 (the race nobody wanted to win!), the time he was pranked by Nelson Piquet, the inside story on his falling out with James Hunt, and much more.

Tom welcomes one-time Grand Prix winner Heikki Kovalainen onto the show to discuss the ups and downs of his Grand Prix career, which began with Renault in 2007 and took in 111 starts, with stops at McLaren, Caterham and Lotus. The amiable Finn discusses the challenges of going up against an all-time great in Hamilton – their sporting bets and what separated them on the race track – and looks back on his only F1 win in Hungary in 2008. There are also stories on his breakout defeat of Michael Schumacher at the Race of Champions, that massive crash at Barcelona in 2008, the struggles that saw him end up at the back of the grid and much, much more…