Fresh Rubber

Jason opens with a question: do we need a Singapore sprint next year? Gav's answer is no more sprints on tracks where it's almost impossible to overtake. Singapore gives them the case study: nine retirements in a wet sprint, Norris and Piastri spinning out of the same corner, and Hamilton left out on softs for 42 laps while Verstappen takes his first Singapore pole and win.

Plus: Norris's post-sprint interviews, Russell's luck, Max and GP's one-way radio, Antonelli's double overtake, and a COTA preview.

The "Bahrain" Grand Prix is run in Malaysia, and it's chaos from the formation lap on. Max Verstappen finally takes his first pole and first win of 2026, tying Michael Schumacher for the second-most wins with a single team.

Lewis Hamilton stays out on slicks while Ferrari begs him to pit, then climbs from P15 to the podium. Plus: Mercedes' safety-car pit call, Alonso's top-10 finish, the three open seats on the 2027 grid, and whether Malaysia deserves a permanent spot on the calendar.

George Russell delivers the drive of his career at Baku — pole by over eight tenths, every lap led, fastest lap, the win. His first ever Grand Slam, and it barely matters that it won't touch the title fight, because it's simply that good. Max Verstappen claws back from P8 to within 0.196 seconds at the flag after Russell loses turbo power.

Plus: Kimi Antonelli's Q1 crash and recovery drive to P5, Piastri's brutal one-corner collapse from P2 to P15, a heated debate over whether Pirelli made this race boring, the pile-up that reshaped the back half of the field, Hadjar's political tightrope behind Verstappen, Christian Horner's book and his shots at Adrian Newey, and a first look at a "Bahrain" Grand Prix happening in Malaysia.

Lando Norris puts together the lap of his life at Madrid's brand-new Grand Prix — pole position despite missing an entire practice session — and looks set to win it outright. Then Lance Stroll donuts into the wall, a Virtual Safety Car comes out on lap 14, and Norris is a fraction too late to catch the free pit stop everyone else grabs. Kimi Antonelli inherits the win and openly admits it was lucky — a moment of genuine class Jason and Gav can't stop talking about.

Plus: Ferrari's gamble to leave Leclerc out on his starting tyres, evil Piastri driving angry through the pack, Hamilton finally getting his own medicine back from Verstappen, Lawson's continued Red Bull redemption arc, a heated debate about whether this is the worst-designed track of the year, and a first look ahead to Baku.

Kimi Antonelli wins his home Grand Prix from 19th on the grid — the first Italian driver to win at Monza in 60 years. A first-lap red flag for Leclerc's crash resets the race, and what follows is a three-stop masterclass as Antonelli carves through the field. Then Mercedes makes its call: fresh tyres for Antonelli under a late safety car, and George Russell left out to dry on ageing hards.

Jason and Gav break down whether that's the moment Russell's title hopes officially died, plus Pierre Gasly's historic French pole, Ferrari's Hamilton/Leclerc tension boiling over, Verstappen's entertaining battle with Russell, and a first look at Madrid's new hybrid street circuit.

Max Verstappen's race lasts less than one lap after he loses the car on a wet line and crashes hard, triggering a 29-minute red-flag stoppage that ironically dries out the only rain of the weekend and kills any strategic chaos. What follows is anything but the procession the dull Sprint promised: Antonelli and Piastri both mug George Russell off the line, a five-second pit stop wrecks his afternoon further, and then Mercedes asks him to hand second place to his teammate so Kimi can chase a Lando Norris who's eleven seconds up the road — a gap that was never closing.

Jason and Gav dig into whether that call makes any sense, Liam Lawson's impressive stand-in job for the injured Hajar, Ferrari's blisteringly fast but strategically invisible weekend, Verstappen's surprise 2030 Red Bull contract extension, and a first look ahead to Monza.

Lando Norris wins a genuinely unpredictable Hungarian Grand Prix, but the story is Ferrari's weekend fizzling out right when it mattered, Oscar Piastri's misfortune striking twice over, and Kimi Antonelli coming within four-tenths of an outright win.

Jason and Gav break down a wild qualifying (gusty winds, a Verstappen crash, a late penalty that cost Hamilton pole), McLaren's team-orders standoff resolved by Norris's own overcut, and whether a five-second penalty was ever going to be enough for the collision that ended Piastri's race. Plus George Russell's recovery from an anti-stall disaster, Verstappen's turn-one dive-bomb, and Aston Martin's Alonso finally cracking Q2 for the first time all season.

Charles Leclerc finally gets his Ferrari win — his first in roughly two years — but Kimi Antonelli was closing him down before a broken wheel shield turned his race into a fight for one point, and a five-second penalty dropped him to 16th.

Jason and Gav debate whether the win was gifted or earned, break down the Max/George/Lewis battle through the middle of the race, and dig into why Max sounds more resentful than angry about the 2026 regulations.

Plus Aston Martin's brutal weekend, Hadjar quietly outqualifying Verstappen again, and Hamilton's Silverstone record — nine wins, 16 podiums, most of any driver at a single track.

Kimi Antonelli takes his sixth win of the season at Spa-Francorchamps, but a VSC pit cycle hands the lead to Charles Leclerc first: he has to go and take it back.

Jason and Gav break down what that finish really means once you strip the safety cars out, Lewis Hamilton's genuinely cursed race (a penalty, an unsafe-release scare, and a front wing that never got fixed), and Leclerc's driver-of-the-day run that also nearly cost Oscar Piastri his front wing. Plus George Russell's car mystery, Piastri's disappearing form, Sergio Perez's brutally honest take on life as Red Bull's number two, and a first look ahead to the Hungaroring.

George Russell wins in Austria — but he earns it. Verstappen closes to 1.6 seconds on fresher rubber, Antonelli is right behind in third, and the top three finish inside two seconds.

Jason and Gav break down the yellow flag controversy that shaped qualifying, why Ferrari went backwards from the front row again, and what Toto Wolff's "stallion" quote tells you about how Mercedes plans to handle Kimi Antonelli. Plus Silverstone preview, Hadjar's quietly decent weekend, and a disagreement about drone camera footage that gets personal.