Pitpass.com

Fresh off the back of the opening round of the 2016 Formula One championship, the Pitpass trio of Chris Balfe, Mat Coch and Max Noble are back in the studio.

It was a weekend which provided the team with plenty to talk about, from the weather to tyre rules, qualifying to safety structures.

One of the key talking points was the all-new qualifying format, which was universally panned not only by the Pitpass crew but those within the Formula One paddock. The drama, the anticipation and the hero lap were all missing, Balfe, Noble and Coch agree. Instead it's replaced with a confusing system that lends itself to over-exciting commentators yelling their way through the broadcast before realising just how silly it all is.

Predictably, Fernando Alonso's crash was discussed at length with both positive and negative outcomes as a result. While pleased to see the Spaniard walk away there were concerns over how easily the crash happened, and how fortunate it was not to have been bigger. That naturally sees the conversation turn to the revised head protection the sport is looking to introduce as the trio analyse whether a halo-style devise would have helped or hindered Alonso.

There are positive words for Haas and Ferrari, and a collective sigh of relief that Mercedes hasn't run away with it - yet - as was feared it might. There's even a special mention for Sebastian Vettel's sense of humour following the banter with former team-mate Mark Webber on the podium post-race.

After a long winter, the Pitpass trio of Chris Balfe, Mat Coch and Max Noble are back to preview the opening round of the 2016 Formula One season.

The first Pitpass podcast of the year looks back at pre-season testing as the crew share their thoughts on the state of affairs within the sport and look forward to the Australian Grand Prix.

For Balfe, testing presented a worrying state of affairs as the status quo from last year looks to have remained. Mercedes' bullet-proof reliability has him most concerned, though there are hopes others have caught up to make a truly competitive season for all.

There are hopes from Noble that Fernando Alonso will need directions to the podium at some point this season as a reinvigorated McLaren challenges in the midfield, a battle Coch is hoping proves as close as it looks.

However there is universal concern over the all-new qualifying format which sees drivers eliminated every ninety seconds. The complicated new system is of course just one of two revisions designed with the express purpose of alienating and confusing fans as tyre regulations also get an overhaul. Though details of the new tyre rules have been published everybody in the Pitpass office now boasts a bald patch where they've been scratching their heads.

Ferrari's debut of the proposed halo system, designed to give drivers better protection, also gets a mention as do ways for the sport to better connect with fans. It's a topic of conversation that sends Balfe off on a rose-tinted stroll down memory lane as he recalls Jim Clark's overalls, Chris Amon's affinity for ice cream and Ronnie Petersen's underpants.

The Pitpass Gala Awards marked the culmination of a year's toil for the Formula One fraternity, which shows its support by staying at home. Instead the event was celebrated in a private room at one of the world's leading restaurants as Chris Balfe, Max Noble and Mat Coch descended on Singapore to dish out the awards for 2015.

Nico Rosberg might have won, but it was Sergio Perez who the team was waxing lyrical about following the season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Chris Balfe, Max Noble and Mat Coch are back in the Pitpass studio dissecting the race and not getting distracted by the prospect of driverless motor racing in future at all. Okay, maybe for a bit, but barely more than five minutes as they salivate as the prospect of engineers with thick glasses and laptops slaving away over line after line of computer code.

Kicking off the show, the trio look at the situation at Mercedes as tension mounts between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg before moving seamlessly onto the impressive Sebastian Vettel as Ferrari goes from strength to strength. Just a shame the season is over.

With little to talk about on track, attention instead turns to the 2017 regulations and the fears over where it's taking the sport. It might not be Formula Robert, as Noble brands the driverless racing series that will support Formula E next season, but it may as well be. Mechanical grip is the key, they decide, in a move that will almost certainly be voted against at the next meeting of the F1 commission.

After a season of honourable mentions, Max Verstappen ends the year with a dishonourable mentioned after a calamitous weekend. Still, it's more than Nico Hulkenberg receives as the German sits quietly in the shadow of his teammate. Even Coch has to finally accept that fact.

Nico Rosberg needs to do a lot more than just win the Brazilian Grand Prix to impress Mat Coch it seems as he's joined in the Pitpass studio once again by Chris Balfe and Max Noble.

The trio are on deck to navigate the flat water that was the Brazilian Grand Prix. For Noble and Balfe it was a race Rosberg should be proud of, a lights to flag victory which he steered home without a hint of chop to the ride. Coch is less impressed and suggests Lewis Hamilton was the better of the two Mercedes drivers. He even tries to defend his stance, though Balfe and Noble are having none of that nonsense.

There's a party in the Pitpass studio and much to Chris Balfe's disdain it shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Editor Balfe is joined once again by Max Noble and Mat Coch as the trio dissects the latest round of Bernie's Scalextric World Championship, though they've lost the track invader piece that actually makes the racing interesting. So instead they focus on other events, laying into Lewis Hamilton like a Mexican wrestler.

Subaru is on the verge of entering Formula One. Okay, it's not, but we bet that got your attention. It's just one of the wild fancies the Pitpass trio throw about in the latest podcast instead of dissecting what was a hugely entertaining race.

Anyone would think we've let Basil Fawlty into the Pitpass studio this week as Chris Balfe, Max Noble and Mat Coch do their best not to mention the war. Instead the trio actually manages to do the rarest of things in the Russian Grand Prix podcast, which is actually talk about the Russian Grand Prix.

Could Renault be in the middle of some Ocean's 11 style conspiracy theory that would shake the sport to the core? Probably not, but Max Noble asks the question anyway as he joins Chris Balfe and Mat Coch for the Japanese Grand Prix podcast.

No stone is left unturned and no subject is off limits in the latest Pitpass podcast as Max Noble, Chris Balfe and Mat Coch again join forces to dissect the Singapore Grand Prix.