Stay On Track with Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert

People in F1 have long talked about finding ‘the unfair advantage’, but sometimes the line between clever thinking and outright cheating is not easy to see - as Damon Hill and Mark Hughes discuss on the latest episode of The Undercut.

The engine compression saga that’s engulfed F1 ahead of the 2026 season is the latest scenario where a team looks to have found a loophole in the F1 regulations - but should Mercedes be congratulated for what is undoubtedly clever engineering or should the FIA always look to curb any advantage that could be said to go against the spirit of the regulations?

Mark and Damon discuss this and other 'grey area' scenarios in what is a typically wide-ranging and free-flowing conversation.

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Red Bull was recently declared Formula 1's best engine under the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system, meaning rivals Mercedes and Ferrari will both get engine upgrades during the 2026 season. On the latest episode of The Undercut, Damon Hill and Mark Hughes discuss whether such a mechanism should exist at all, and whether F1 can still be considered a sport if the regulators are trying to artificially level the playing field. They also tackle the thorny topic of whether teams have been actively ‘gaming the system’…

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On the latest episode of Stay On Track, 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill and grand prix winner Johnny Herbert discuss whether Lewis Hamilton should now be considered a contender for the 2026 world title after his thrilling victory in Barcelona.

They also ruminate on Hamilton's resurgence and how he's been able to regain his mojo and galvanise the Ferrari team around him, at the very time that team-mate Charles Leclerc is struggling to get results.

Damon and Johnny also offer high praise to Mercedes' championship leader Kimi Antonelli and some advice to George Russell in how he can fight back against the Italian.

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On the latest episode of The Undercut, Damon Hill and Mark Hughes explore the complex relationship that F1 has with automotive manufacturers - a relationship that many would argue is to blame for the knot that the sport has put itself in with the 2026 regulations. With another big manufacturer - Chinese car giant BYD - exploring joining the grid, is it time for F1 to de-couple itself from the 'myth' that road relevancy was every really an important aspect of the sport? That's the question at the heart of this wide-ranging conversation...

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On the latest episode of Stay On Track, Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert go deep on the most important relationship in F1 - the one between a driver and his race engineer.

They're joined by special guest Pierre Hamelin, who listeners might recognise as Arvid Lindblad's race engineer at Racing Bulls. Pierre has developed a reputation as a man who nurtures rookie drivers, having previously engineered Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz, Daniel Riccardo, Liam Lawson, Isack Hadjar and others. But how does he go about helping a young driver get the best out of himself and the car?

Pierre shares his secret tips and tricks, plus Johnny and Damon discuss the evolving F1 title race and why Canada is such an important grand prix for George Russell...

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On the latest episode of The Undercut, 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill and renowned F1 writer Mark Hughes discuss the topic of driver power. Many drivers on this year's grid have been notable critics of the 2026 regulations - including four-time champion Max Verstappen. So why didn't the drivers' initial skepticism over the regulations carry any weight and should they make a collective play for more power over future regulations? Those are two of the questions tackled in this wide-ranging chat.

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What pieces of advice are Lando Norris, Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton - three F1 drivers at very different stages of their careers - most in need of?

In this special edition of Stay On Track, Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert have their say as they answer YOUR questions about contemporary F1, their grand prix racing careers and much more.

Find out whether either of them would like to drive the 2026 generation of cars (and the answer's a short one), whether they regret not making more of their respective talks with McLaren and Ron Dennis, what happens when friends collide on-track... and, of course, whether Damon really did drive to victory in the 1994 British GP with a Scotch egg in his pocket gifted to him by comedian Bob Mortimer.

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In the latest episode of The Undercut, Damon Hill and Mark Hughes discuss legendary designer Adrian Newey, whose Aston Martin adventure has got off to a very shaky start. Newey is rightly regarded as one of the finest (if not the finest) technical minds to have ever graced Formula 1, but as Damon and Mark discuss, his boundary pushing designs and insistence on doing things his way mean he sometimes walks a tightrope between triumph and disaster. The question is, with almost unlimited control at Aston Martin, can he turn the Silverstone team into winners or has he bitten off more than he can chew?

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Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert return to discuss a polarising pair of races to kick-start the 2026 season. Some have controversially compared the racing to Mario Kart - but is that a fair comparison, and is it actually a good thing? Our grand prix winners discuss what they've liked and disliked about the new rules, debate whether F1 should exist more to thrill the drivers or entertain fans, and share their stand-out drivers of the season so far.

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Max Verstappen has been incredibly critical of the direction F1 has taken with its 2026 rules - but does he have a point? Is F1 still F1?

That's the key topic of conversation in the latest episode of Stay On Track, in which 1996 world champion Damon Hill and three-time grand prix winner Johnny Herbert look ahead to the season-opening race in Australia and contemplate what we can expect from the racing in this new era of F1.

They also discuss whether they'd have liked to have driven these cars, speculate on how the team-mate battles might play out in the 'big four' teams, and pick a winner for the first race based on what they saw in testing.

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