This is the BBC. This podcast is supported by advertising outside the UK. The BBC has been constantly evolving history, the team principal of Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner. In the lead up to this weekend, there were allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague made against Christian Horner. Yesterday, that grievance was dismissed after an investigation was launched by Red Bull. They said that investigation was independent and rigorous.
But there has been a lot going on in the last 24 hours. I'm joined by Harry Benjamin Ali, commentator of the BBC's Chief F1 writer Andrew Benson and Racing Driver and Brawlcaster Alice Powell. We first heard about this investigation, launched by Red Bull GMBH parent company on 5 February. At the time of new very few details about the specifics of this investigation or the allegations, except for the fact that they brought in an external barrister to conduct these investigations.
Red Bull then released a statement yesterday evening and it said as follows. The independent investigation into the allegations made against Mr Horner is complete and Red Bull can confirm that the grievance has been dismissed. The complainant has a right of appeal.
Red Bull is confident that the investigation has been fair, rigorous and impartial. The investigation report is confidential and contains the private information of the parties and third parties who assisted in the investigation. We will not be commenting further. Out of respect for all concerned, Red Bull will continue striving to meet the highest workplace standards.
Since Christian Horner arrived today at the circuit, took his place on the pit wall for both free practice sessions. We've had FP1 and FP2 already honoured on the pit wall. I saw Christian Horner on the pit wall but it was during FP2 and Rebencen that there was a bit of a development. What can you tell us? Horner has denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour after a series of alleged messages were leaked this evening in Bahrain.
An anonymous email with a link to messages in purporting to involve Horner was sent to Formula 1 personnel and media on Thursday. Horner said, I won't comment on anonymous speculation but to reiterate I have always denied the allegations. A drive of messages was on a link in the email which was sent to 149 people involved in the sport. The FIA is aware of the messages and is discussing them at it with Formula 1 management.
This has been a bit of a dark cloud hanging over the sport and Alice Powell is a racing driver, a female racing driver. What's been your reaction to this? How have you felt as you've watched on and seen this develop? Max, for staff and made a comment yesterday that we've got to trust the process. It's outside of Red Bull, a barrister from outside came in and did the process.
We've got to trust it but obviously the main priority for me personally is to keep everybody safe in the paddock. We've got F1 Academy starting next weekend at Jeddah. There are females working throughout the paddock, not just me and you Rosanna but people on the pit wall, females in the paddock and the garage as well. But also other personnel too, keeping the males and everybody safe. We've got to trust the process, haven't we, and hope that it's been done correctly?
You mentioned Lewis Hamilton. He was talking yesterday. It was a media day here in Bahrain. Several drivers in the press conference asked about their thoughts when it came to this investigation. Lewis Hamilton was one of the drivers who commented on it. Let's hear what he had to say yesterday during the media sessions. I think we always have to do more to try to make the sport and the environment that people get to work in feel safe and inclusive.
Any allegations has to be taken very seriously. I definitely obviously don't know everything that's gone on. It doesn't need to be resolved as it's hanging over the sport. It will be really interesting to see how it's still with Moomin Forrest in terms of the effect that it may or may not have on the sport moving forward. I think it's a really important moment for the sport to make sure that we stand true to our values.
That was Lewis Hamilton speaking yesterday in the press conference. Andrew Benson asked him for his thoughts surrounding this investigation into the allegations of inappropriate behavior towards a female colleague of Christian Horner's at Red Bull Racing. Andrew also got some reaction from some of the other team bosses, McLaren's Zach Brown and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolf. They were both speaking in the team principals press conference earlier on today.
While I just read the statement, which was pretty basic, I would say. My personal opinion is we can't really look at behind the curtain. At the end of the day, there is a lady in an organization that has spoken to HR and said there is an issue and it was investigated and yesterday, the sport has received a message it's all fine. We've looked at it and I believe that with the aspiration of the Glover Sport on such critical topics, it needs more transparency.
I wonder what the sport is. What the sport's position is. We are competitors, we are a team and we can have our own personal opinions or not. But it's more like a general reaction or action that we as a sport need to assess what is right in that situation, what is wrong. I read the statement. I think from what I've seen, there continues to be a lot of rumors in speculation questions.
I think the sanctioning body has a responsibility and authority to our sport, to our fans. I think all of us in Formula One are ambassadors for the sport on and off the track, like you see in other sports. I think they need to make sure that things have been fully transparent with them. I don't know what those conversations are and that these would be thorough, fully transparent.
I think that they come to the same conclusion that has been given by Red Bull and that they agree with the outcome. But I think until then, they'll continue to be speculation because there are a lot of unanswered questions about the whole process. I think that's what's needed by those that run the sport to really be able to draw a line under it. Until then, I think they'll continue to be some level of speculation by people.
That was Zach Brown from McLaren and Toto Wolf from Mercedes speaking in between the two practice sessions we had today. We had Fp1 and Fp2 and to be clear, that was before the development we've spoken about happened in Fp2. So Toto and Zach were referring to the statement put out by Red Bull yesterday, Andrew. So where does this leave the sport? They called for transparency. I don't think Toto and Zach were expecting this sort of transparency in terms of a development.
But where does this leave things as we go into this race weekend? Well, everybody's waiting for the FIA and Formula One to take a position on this. They called for transparency from Red Bull when this investigation was underway. There has been no transparency from Red Bull. All they've done is that they've dismissed the grievance. So, so far, I've been repeatedly asking the FIA today whether they will look into the situation, find whether they want to satisfy themselves.
So, the investigation was as thorough as Red Bull say it was. The FIA has the power to take the license away of any competitor who was found in breach of any of their regulations, including the International Sporting Code, which has an article called 12.2, which is a kind of catch all article, which covers all sorts of behavioral issues, basically reputational issues.
So, supposedly when he was FIA president from 1993 until 2009, he used to regularly use the Formula regulations to impose these sorts of imposes, his wishes on these sorts of situations. So far, Mohamed Ben-Soliam, the FIA president has chosen not to intervene, but the Formula One teams are pretty much waiting for that to happen.
So, the FIA doesn't have any power itself, I've formally won Liberty Media, they're the commercial rights holder. But they are concerned about the situation. There's obviously a reputational risk for the entire sport here if these allegations are proven to be true. So, for lots of people in this sport, it's a waiting game, wanting to see what the FIA are going to do.
So, the third impact, Max was stopping in Sergio Perez, perhaps, if the article was triggered because they may therefore not be able to take part, that's as bad as it could get, essentially. No, no, it would never get that far because they're not involved. This is about Christian Horner and his behaviour towards a female colleague, and whether that was appropriate or not.
So, there are all sorts of potential things that could be involved in that. There may be nothing involved in that. That's Red Bull, obviously, decided that nothing to see here sort of thing as Total Wolf put it. But it's not a license for Red Bull racing to be revoked as such, that's what I was saying. Not Red Bull, but Horner, potentially. He could be effectively, he could be banned from the sport.
Like, probably a Brea Torre was after a crash gate, for example, when Renault orchestrated a race fix, potentially, or tried to orchestrate a race fix, and another team member of that team was also banned from the sport for a while. I'm not saying that's going to happen, but it's something that could happen. The FIA has the power to investigate here if it wants to, so far it's chosen not to, but we don't know what's going to happen over the coming days.
Transparency really is the word of the day, isn't it? And I think it will remain so for quite some time. And just on what Andrew is saying, I do think the FIA, the sports governing body, motor sports governing body, not just Formula One, but also Formula One the sport. I know they are limited in power in terms of what they can force Red Bull to do and what not.
But until that transparency is met, there will be constant unanswered questions. And I think the FIA, in Formula One, owe it to not just those other teams that are part of this sport, but the entire paddock to make sure that enough has been done in the correct manner and that everybody is on board of this.
And I think that's going to reveal all the inner workings of it, but that actual process has to be clear as day. So we all know tick box tick box. Okay, that's been followed great. That's been followed great. Okay, they have done the due diligence their work.
And if one owe it to us who work in the sport, those fans who watch and listen to it, Formula One is one of the biggest sports in the world. And this could be quite a pivotal moment for the sports in how they deal with this because, you know, a line hasn't been drawn under it. The statement yesterday certainly didn't draw line it begged more questions today. There are more questions. They will forever go unanswered unless a higher body steps up and the next high body is Formula One and the FIA.
Sac Brown mentioned and I think he's totally right. We are all of us in the paddock drivers, team managers, journalists that we're all role models for the younger generation wanting to come into the sport. And we want the parents to encourage them to take up roles in the sport. There's plenty of initiatives out there to try and get youngsters, particularly girls as well into the sport. So I think that's why we need the transparency.
So we continue to encourage because the sport we want the sport to be safe and the sport is safe. But then when there's all this and everyone's people aren't too sure what's going on. As you said, Harry, it's really damaging for the sport.
And of course, we are entering the season, the longest season ever, Formula One wanted to be all singing or dancing, didn't they this weekend. And it's really casted a dark shadow over the sport. And Andrea, I know you're constantly across what's going on at the moment.
The other question here is Red Bull's partners. So before this verdict came out from Red Bull yesterday, Ford, who are Red Bulls going to be engines, Red Bull's engine partner from 2026, one of the biggest companies in the world, send a letter to Red Bull expressing their frustration at the lack of transparency and the time it was taking to resolve the issue.
And the last Ford for a comment this afternoon, they've got back to me and said that they're not in a position to provide one at the moment. But in the message, the letter that they wrote to Red Bull, it's clear that they, you know, if the allegations were proven, it was not something that they were going to find acceptable.
There's a big question mark over Ford and Red Bull now. Of course, Red Bull are also sponsored by a whole bunch of other major, like multinational corporations. So is Formula One. And in Formula One, when money is at stake, that's when things tend to happen. So that's another thing to bear in mind in this situation.
Christian Order has denied the allegations all along. But do you think at this point, it would be for the greater good, both for Red Bull, for the partners you've spoken about, Andrew, and for Formula One and the FIA, if he removed himself from the sport? Does he need to take the action now?
Well, I don't think it's for us, not for us to make judgments on this sort of thing. But what I think you can say and what everybody in the sport has been saying is normally in this sort of situation with big companies. If a CEO or a figure of authority was involved in this sort of allegation, they would at the very least be suspended until it was properly investigated. That didn't happen with Red Bull.
And lots of people were asking why? And we never got an answer to that question. So as Red Bull appeared to have satisfied themselves that there's, that the horn is not a fault. And he's repeatedly said that he isn't. For now, that's all we have to go on. But we were talking yesterday, Rosanna, on the podcast about how we didn't think this story was going to go away. We've blown the hole. It hasn't. And I don't think it's going to go away by tomorrow either.
No, definitely not. And you can keep up to date with how the story unfolds on the BBC. Andrew Benson, the chief F1 writer, will no doubt have all the latest for you. Look, I'm going to draw a line under this particular story for our sake right now, because I think there is a great season unfolding ahead of us, the 2024 season, a new season, a record breaking one 24 races. We're hoping for more competition. Of course, Max for SAP and has been the runaway leader over the past few seasons.
Let's talk about what we may or may not see this year. We've had testing three days of testing. We've had two practice sessions from that. What are we hoping for? What would we be happy with in 2024, Alice? Of course, an incredible title battle. That's what we want to see, isn't it? Great racing. And after the practice sessions that we've had today, Max for SAP and he certainly in free practice, one he was particularly happy.
Was he on the radio? He always is very sensitive to the gear sinks and the gear changes. He was quite vocal on the radio to his team that he wasn't particularly happy. And then during free practice too, we thought, they must get that sorted. And it didn't look like they... Well, there was no comment on the radio, but we were all expecting Max to suddenly jump up and be at the top of the times.
And he certainly wasn't. It was Lewis Hamilton and George Russell that were leading the way in a much more relevant session to the conditions. Free practice, one was quite warm. It was very windy. Free practice, two. It's going to be... It was run pretty much at the same time. We've got qualifying tomorrow. Yeah, plenty to discuss. We will get through all of that through the show. Harry, for you, 2024. I imagine you're hoping for a tight, title battle. You're going to be commentating on it.
But what more do you want to see from Formula One in 2024? I want to see... Well, I want to see X and Racing up and down the grid. I want to see what was really interesting last year was the development race as well. Formula One is just as much about the on track racing as it is the off track racing. And just to give a bit of an example, this time last year we were looking at the McLaren team with Oscar Piazzri and Lando Norris at the wheel.
And they were wofful. So far back, the car, the Andrea Stella, the team principal said, we're anywhere near where our targets want to be with behind. But then suddenly, few races down the line, they brought this big upgrade package. It worked. And it catapulted McLaren up towards the front. Not as far as Red Bull, but they were suddenly in the fight for podiums.
And I think the position we're in at the moment with some teams, I'm hopeful that we are going to see that because we have got a few teams, certainly Alpine, one of the big constructors in Formula One are right down the bottom. And it's not... No one wants to see that. And at the moment, they're looking if they're not the last team, the second to last team.
And I'm hoping that we're going to see that close up because although Red Bull are a have a gap so far last year, the battles behind them were really tight. And they were certainly worth tuning in for. You were getting excited about the battle for P7 at least. I love a battle for P7 and P6. Bring it on every time. Someone's got to get excited about it. Absolutely. I'm Andrew. I'm going to take it a step back though. I've build it as the record breaking exciting season, 2024, 24 races.
But is that too many races? Is it going to be quantity over quality rather than the other way around? Well, Carla Science, the Ferrari drivers said that he believes it could be, especially if there's domination basically. And that's what everybody expects to see. The headline lap times today with Hamilton in the lead at the end of the second practice session. I don't think we're a reflection of the true competitive order.
The race simulation runs that the teams do. I'm normally a better read of that. And on those, the Red Bulls were clear of the field by about three tenths. I have a second to lap. Mercedes next. Then, oh, sorry, Oscar Piaestry did a good run in the McLaren. But the orders basically what we thought apart from Piaestry's run. So Red Bull ahead and then a really tight battle between Mercedes Ferrari, Aston Martin.
So not much has changed from last year to this, but hey, look, it is very early on in the season. You never know. Well, I normally start with Red Bull. We normally talk about the leaders, Max, for staff and Czecho Perez. But actually, I'd like to start with Mercedes. And Alice, you've chatted a little bit about Mercedes. And Andrew, you mentioned that they were right up at the sharp end this afternoon. But let's talk about the news that sort of got the winter break.
Sort of sort of a bit more excitable, I think. Workers all up exactly. It got us out of hibernation. Lewis Hamilton announced he's going to move to Scuderia Ferrari for 2025. I think quite a few people may have turned on their TV this weekend expecting to see him in red. But no, they've got to wait another year until he joins the Italian team. Is it exciting for the sport? There's still some questions to be answered. Are the people like his engineers, Bono, for example, Peter Bonington.
Are they going to be following him to Maranello? There are a few questions aren't there still to be answered, Andrew? Lots of questions. I mean, it's, you know, apart from what's going to happen on Saturday, it's like the biggest story of the sport at the moment. Everyone's talking about it. It's the biggest story for at least a decade, probably since Hamilton himself moved from McLaren to Mercedes.
You know, the biggest star in Formula One, possibly the biggest star, Formula One's ever had, moves to the most celebrated team. You know, it doesn't get bigger than that. And of course, it ends a relationship between him and Mercedes, which has been the most successful in the history of Formula One. It says lots of things about their relationship. Clearly, his contract negotiations last year didn't go very smoothly. Clearly, he's lost a bit of faith in Mercedes.
We do, we think we know the reasons for that. We can maybe get on to it later if you want to. But it just adds an extra thankfully, because we might need them, an extra dynamic to the season. Even this weekend, Rosanna, George Russell, his team mate has been saying some things that made our eyebrows raised, didn't have any about how the car has been designed around Hamilton and let's hope that works out.
So, yes, it's been, it was a massive deal and I can tell you when the story was breaking on that day, as we were, as I was finding out whether it was true or not, that it was happening, it was one of the most intense dramatic days I can remember as a Formula journalist. And another tense dramatic day was Harry Benjamin hosting the press conference. So you were there listening to Louis Hamilton in the lead up to this particular race weekend, being asked questions about the move.
And he alluded to the fact that George Russell has a very close relationship to Toto Wolf, which I would have said Louis Hamilton had as well, but it was odd that he pointed out how close George Russell and Toto were. Do you think that's part of why the relationship has slightly changed and why he's deciding to pursue other challenges, should we say? Well, Hamilton knows how to play the game perfectly for once.
So he knows exactly what he says and how to say it will always raise interest. And clearly, what Andrew said, what George Russell has also been speaking about this weekend has raised eyebrows. It all goes back to sort of the development of this car and the new regulation change coming in a couple of years ago now and Mercedes going for this zero side pod effect and it not panning out.
And Lewis Hamilton, we've since learned repeatedly asking to go in a different direction and having certain sayings and they're not being listened to and going in another direction. And Mercedes and going in a different direction and not listening to their lead man, the seven time world champion. And I think that has had is one of the big effects is to why he then obviously signed this new two year deal, which we now understand had an opt out clause.
He saw something over the winter. Perhaps he didn't like the offer from Ferrari comes in. He is in his twilight years of his career now hasn't got much to lose. Why not hop over to to Maranello and see out your career in in red much like I think his hero Ed and Senna wanted to do and spoke about. And he gets to live out that dream. So I think there's multitude of things going on here, but I think it's not being listened to by Mercedes and losing a bit of trust.
And he's been with him for a long time since we joined in 2013 didn't he so fresh change can always do one wonders. But it's Ferrari as well when Ferrari come calling doesn't matter necessarily where you are in your career. You pick up the time. Yeah, you go, OK, yeah, fair enough, I shall speak to Ferrari.
As Andrew said, they're the most celebrated team in the sport. And I bet if you went down the entire grid and said, you know, if there's one team, you know, you could drive for and you could have a pick. Pass. Oh, yeah, well, maybe they could design the car around you. It would be flexible, but more flexible. Then it would probably be Ferrari.
And it's just Ferrari. And is this a sign you said, Harry, about his Hamilton's Twilight years? Will this be the moment that we'll see Hamilton go right? That's it. That's the last box. Really sort of realistic box ticked driving for Ferrari. This incredible, fantastic team. If people talk about Formula One or think about Formula One, the first team they're going to really talk about or think about is going to be Ferrari.
Box tick Hamilton one year off he goes. It's going to be very interesting to see how that pans out. I have to say I'm not sure the fit myself, but we won't get into that now. It's going to be interesting culturally to see how he joins that team and how they respond to his sort of wishes when it comes to diversity and inclusion.
I think he's been so pivotal when it comes to Mercedes actions on that and whether he can do the same at Ferrari remains to be seen. But when we talk about Mercedes for this year, Andrew George Russell and Lewis Hamilton working together for a final year. Lewis talking about whether or not George can be a team leader once he's left. He was a bit reluctant to get involved with that question and give his answer.
Finally did praising George's technical feedback and things like that. How's the dynamic going to be this year because it's going to be weird to see Lewis almost excluded from some conversations to be get further into the season. Well, I think Hamilton was being a bit of a scampe yesterday in the press conference to be honest with you.
He played the, oh, I don't want to answer your question as well when I asked about the Christian Horner situation and then he gave an incredibly nuanced, intelligent, thoughtful answer, which none of the other drivers were prepared to engage with. It was a little bit like that with Russell. He played dumb a bit and then delivered a message that he was very clear. He wanted to get across.
So I mean, the dynamic is going to be interesting. I think Mercedes have made a step. You know, all this stuff about the car being designed around Hamilton. I put George Russell's comments to James Allison, the Mercedes technical director this morning, actually. And he was really quite dismissive of it as I expected him to be.
He's like, look, the drivers give us our feedback. George and Lewis have been given us the same sort of feedback for the last year or two. And we design the car as we see fit to give it the best performance. And that's what they've done. It just so happens unsurprisingly that that where they ended up is the same sort of design philosophy as Red Bull have pioneered for the last two years.
Well, you know, blown me over with a feather, you know, it's just like, of course, that's course, that's what they're going to do. So everyone else is doing as well. And it seems that the fundamental weakness of the Mercedes car over the last two years, which was an instability at the rear end on corner entry, which gave the drivers a big loss of confidence as they were turning in the never really knew what the car was going to do.
Was it going to spin or was it going to understand oversteer whatever. And that's gone. It's much more predictable. And so the hope is for Mercedes that now they've got what they call a good baseline. They can start putting performance on the car because they admit that downforce wise, they're not at the level of Red Bull.
Another big thing also to think about regulation change coming up as well in 2026, Hamilton might well have timed this absolutely perfectly because last time the last big move like this was Lewis Hamilton when he made the switch from McLaren to Mercedes joining them in 2013, did one year with them ahead of the new regulation change when the hybrid power came in in 2014.
And well, suddenly he's back on top and winning championships. He'll have 2025 with Ferrari ahead of a new engine regulation in 2026. Could this be absolutely spot on once again from Lewis Hamilton? Well, on that point, Harry, it's actually worth pointing out. I think that the last two big regulation changes in 2017 and 2022 Ferrari started those years with the fastest car.
So, you know, maybe it really is an inspired choice, as you say. The scamp knows what he's doing. Exactly. It is going to be interesting, isn't it? Because Mercedes have had such a difficult time of it of late, Alice. And for him to see out this year in a positive way, I mean, after FP2 topping the time sheets, maybe he's going to see out his time at Mercedes with another championship win and then go across the Ferrari.
I don't know, but Andrews now kicked that down. Isn't he? He's our red ball three tenths up the road, but coming into the free practice sessions today, everyone was saying, red ball, you know, the testing, we're going to see that red ball going to be a top of the time she's and they're going to blow everyone away.
I don't think people necessarily saw Mercedes place coming ice. I certainly didn't. And Hamilton looked pretty comfortable. You know, he's been walking around the paddock going to him from the garage to hospitality with a massive smile. And he's obviously feeling pretty good and pretty confident. So hopefully we will see a great battle heading starting the race on Saturday, of course, because it's all all a day earlier. Hamilton will have Max in there.
Let's stick one of the Ferrari's in there, charging down into turn one. Actually, coming into the weekend, a little bit more confident. We're going to have a good battle on Saturday. Good stuff. That's the voice of Alice Powell racing driver and broadcaster. I'm joined by the BBC's chief F1 writer, Andrew Benson. And I'll leave comment it to Harry Benjamin. It's Rosanna tenant with you.
Later on, we're going to discuss Max for staff and chances this year and assess where the other teams are as we head into this record breaking F1 season. Grab your VIP pass with delving into the secretive world of Formula One behind the scenes with two of the sports biggest names Mercedes and Williams. This is not calm. Manning. This is former Montenegro as they build their new cars. We won't be so much further.
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Welcome back to Bahrain. It's Rosanna tenant here with you and you're joining us from a rather glitzy and glamorous hotel room in Bahrain. We're not at the track. We've left the sparkly lights behind the Bahrain International Circuit. And I'm joined by lead commentator Harry Benjamin, the BBC's chief F1 writer Andrew Benson and racing driver and broadcaster Alice Powell.
Now let's get into what we have seen today in Bahrain. We've had two practice sessions, Fp1 and Fp2. We are going to deep dive into where we think the teams and drivers kind of stack up when it comes to this scene this season a little later on. But Harry first and foremost, let's talk about the runners and riders because actually for the first time in a long time, we've got the same driver lineups.
Haven't we no one's changed their but there have been some changes behind the scenes as well this season. So tennis, who we need to watch out for, who we may miss a little bit in 2024. Oh God. Okay. Well, good for Steiner. That was the first big news in the off season that we got. The team principle of has he was his contract was not renewed with the team.
He is replaced by our command to who moves from his technical role and gets promoted into that position. We also have Laura Meckys, who comes again from a technical position at Ferrari. He moves over and now is the team principle of RB. They were called Alpha Towery. Now they're known as RB. There was a bit of debate on what we're going to call them was going to be racing bulls. We're going with RB. Alpha Romeo, Salber in brackets. Alpha Man, now gone from Formula One for the time being.
And Salber now enter this period where they kind of become Salber. They do have some other names floating about but we're going with Salber for the next couple of seasons until they become Audi in 2026.
We also sadly won't be seeing Andretti coming into Formula One in the near future at least in 2025 and 2026. They were the team that were put forward in the tender that the FIA instigated Formula One have since said no in short. So they will not be coming in. But hopefully they might get another chance in a few years time when Cadillac and General Motors come in with a power unit supply through the Andretti team.
There's also some other news in and around the calendar as well that happened Madrid has been announced as a place on the calendar with a street circuit. What does this mean for Katalunya? That's another question.
And then we have a question. Japan, Suzuko, everyone loves the tracks being renewed for another five years. Silverstone renewed for another 10 years gives them time to revamp everything over there. We've mentioned Christian honor will move on Lewis Hamilton signed with Ferrari. We got that Williams also announced that they signed an extended Mercedes F1 engine deal, which takes them.
And then 2020, which is quite interesting because that's when the new power unit regulations come in. So they've committed to go with Mercedes power and Norris and Leclerc signed long term Formula One deals with McLaren and Ferrari respectively. Harry Benjamin, take a bow and take a breath. If all the commentary fails, you've got a news reading job right.
And then you've got friends asking what I do in the off season. Quite a time. Quite a time. Putting all your Christmas presents together, I'm sure I do. Yeah, there's been plenty to keep us occupied. Maybe some stories grabbing headlines more than others, but yeah, plenty to kind of digest after that. Was it 95 day break that we have for Abby, to stay thin.
It has gone fairly quickly. I have to say, so we find ourselves in Bahrain, the first round of this record breaking season 24 races this weekend is a strange one. We're going to be racing on Saturday night. We're bringing forward the race to Saturday and the same way next weekend. We're bringing that forward in Saudi Arabia as well. We'll race on Saturday night as well.
So we've had F P 1, Daniel Riccardo was fastest in the RB as you said, we're referring to what was alpha, Terry as RB. He was fastest. They bolted on the soft tires, though. So was that a little bit of a red herring that we thought perhaps they were showing their cards, Alion, but maybe they were just running the faster rubber.
I would exactly say that they were definitely running the fastest rubber, the soft tire is always going to be faster than the mediums and the hard depending on obviously when you're running it in a race, but actually I was quite surprised. And Andrew, I think you were fairly surprised as well during when we were watching free practice to the length of time people were actually spending on that that soft tire.
So we're doing a lot of laps. We expected to them to chuck on some medium tires because that's what we're expecting them to be using during the race on Saturday and do a long run. That's why we sadly missed out on long run corner. If you do listen to our coverage, I was very sad. I had a whole spiel to put out for introducing Andrew, but there we go. So I was quite surprised by that. So is there anything that you sort of made from that Andrew?
Well, I think what my interpretation of it would be that because the tire allocation for all the teams is very heavily weighed in favor of the soft tire always. So usually when they start using the soft tire a lot in the practice sessions, it means they're not going to use it in the race. They don't want it. So it looks to me like the race will be focused on the medium and hard tires, which are the two in here in Bahrain that the two hardest compounds that are available out of the paralle range.
And that's not a surprise, Alex says it because this is one of the most abrasive circuits on the calendar. It wears the tires out a lot. There's a lot of strain on the real tires in particular under what they call traction events in Formula One, which basically means acceleration out of corners.
So I think that what we're going to be looking at a two-stop race, I would imagine minimum focused on the medium and the hard. Maybe some people will stick some soft on depending on how the strategies play out. So let's talk about the big runners that we were expecting to be right up at the sharp end and who we expect to be right up at the sharp end for the rest of the season.
Red Bull, Max was stopping Sergio Perez. Are they leagues ahead? Have they made a massive step forward in the winter break? And their car, I was down in the pit lane. Their car looks a bit different, doesn't it, Andrew? The car looks absolutely awesome. It's a work of art. I was standing next to it today when they were doing the car presentations.
They basically, the FIA made the team's wheeler car out into the pit lane for people to get close to it and then we can talk to someone technical in the team. And it just looks like a class apart. It's amazing. But it was an interesting day for Red Bull because they looked so dominant in testing last week, especially when Max just happened to be behind the wheel.
But they didn't look in the same shape today. He was complaining about all sorts of things to do with the car. The car was, it was bouncing. The gear shifts weren't good enough. It was all over the place. He's a swear word at one point. I mean, he likes to have a bit of a complain, Max, when he's not, when he's not absolutely happy with the handling. But, and of course, he wasn't fastest, which he would expect him to be.
So that was all a bit surprising. But then as usual with these things, it's especially in practice sessions and tests. It's just about digging down into the data below the sort of surface level. And as I was mentioning earlier, the race simulations, which the practice was run slightly differently than we expected by all the teams, which through both Alice and I. And I'm very sorry about Longer and Cornwallis. Maybe you can say that one for next time we're together.
It looked like he was in a league of his own parades. Unfortunately for anyone who wants some kind of competition for Red Bull, was the next fastest car, followed by Piaestry and then the Mercedes. So apart from Piaestry's pace, which looked slightly anomalous, but was not completely incredible according to rival teams, that's kind of what we expected. Red Bull, a step ahead of everyone else and then Mercedes Ferrari, Astan Martin and McLaren, really closely behind. That's kind of how it looks.
Yeah, we're not going to know really anything until qualifying. So that I think that really today was weird. Obviously about the FP one daytime session, then we get since the night we thought we'd get a little bit more representative in the night. But as I just said, it was a bit of a weird session. It does give us an inkling, obviously, but the true pecking order will be revealed.
You've done sort of the front half, but the lateral half is going to be really interesting. This midfield towards the back end as well. Where do Williams sit? Where do RB sit? There's a lot of talk around them at the moment and particularly their closer ties with the big sister team Red Bull. They share a lot of the same parts on the car now and there's a couple of exact brown in particular.
The C-O of McLaren, not very happy with their alliances and it goes beyond just the racing track. It also goes extends in F1 commission voting and all this kind of stuff. So that's going to be really interesting to see where they lie equally. We mentioned it earlier at the back has finished last of all the teams last year and they really played down their expectations coming into this season.
Kevin Magnussen and Nico Holkemberg in the car. They actually seem pleasantly surprised with how their pace has been so far. They haven't really so far been chasing any kind of outright pace just trying to get on top of their ties because that is what absolutely floored them last year. Good in qualifying at times went back in the race because they hit their tires. The big question mark at the moment is over the Alpine team.
Previously Renault and Dave's gone by based in Enstone and they look like they've had a tough winter. They've gone for a complete overhaul. Everything has changed except for the steering wheel. But that car is apparently quite overweight and it looks clunky out on track. The times weren't good either and you sort of walked past Alpine and you chat to people there and they don't seem full of optimism.
They're a post free practice so they're a team to watch and see where they lie as well come qualifying. I think that's sort of a picture of how the rest of the grid looks but it's a long season. The most of any 24 races plush you throw in sprints as well and that comes with a whole load of other baggage. What happens if there's an incident damage maintained?
We've got a bit of a reduced format as well. There's going to be a lot of things to look out for particularly that alongside the pecking order for Formula One this year. We've got some drivers under a lot of pressure to perform and hold themselves up the order. I'm thinking of Sergio Perez first and foremost as well at Red Bull. Can he hold onto that seat for the whole season? Not just for going into 2025?
Well, until Hamilton signed with Ferrari, 13 drivers were at a contract at the end of this year. Sergio Perez being one of them. He's been told by Christian Horner and the team that if he doesn't up his qualifying pace and get closer to the staff and that contract and you're isn't looking lightly. He is one of them and this big mover as well.
Lewis Hamilton has gone to Ferrari. He's replaced Carlos Sines. Where does Carlos Sines go? He's a very good driver, very capable and he should be in the team for next year. Where does he go? Who goes and replaces Mercedes? There's a lot of talk around an F2 young hot shots who Mercedes are backing and it seems like he might be their version of Max Verstappen, a driver called Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Fernando Alonzo, there was also being touted as a Mercedes replacement and then you have a little bit further down Logan Sargent, the American, a rookie last year now in his second year on the huge pressure. He gets a second chance this season, but he's got to make it count. He goes up against Alex Albon as his teammate who has reinvented himself since his days alongside Verstappen and a lot of people are talking about him. Could he be a Red Bull replacement again?
That seems to have been muted over the last few months, but I think Helmut Marco, the Red Bull advisor, was having a little look around to see if Albon might be available but James Vaz has said he's ours at least for the next couple of years. But this is what is really exciting. There is a lot of silly season chatter and it's happening quite early on because you know what, to be honest, thank goodness Lewis Hamilton signed for Ferrari.
What would we be talking about this year? But as you said, there's a lot of drivers that are out of contract this year and I think it's just really interesting to see how that's all going to play out, especially. So Perez was down in 10th today. He was two and a half tenths off the staff and who was who was P6. That's in free practice too. Let's say Perez doesn't up his game as Christians requested, then who's going to hop into that seat? It's basically the hottest seat in Formula One, isn't it?
Everyone wants to be in a Red Bull car because it's expected to be winning, but the issue you have there is you're up against Max Verstappen. It's really, really hard. You could say I was destroyed is the wrong word, but he's a teammate. He's broken his previous teammates in Albon and Gasly. Perez, I think he stood up pretty well. He's still there fighting.
He's still there, so that's a good sign for him, but they just want a driver to be there right behind Max, don't they? And that's why Christiana said, look, the pressure, you need to close the gap because we don't want other drivers filling in the gap between you and Max. The last thing a team wants essentially is having a Hamilton or Rosberg situation where you've got two drivers that are fighting up the front and it gets a bit sticky, gets a bit messy, they're crashing into each other.
A team don't want that. They want sort of essentially a number one driver than a number two driver. So ideal scenario for Red Bull, I guess, Max wins the driver's championship and then they quite easily wrap up the constructors title. So that will be the question if Perez doesn't say who's going to take that Red Bull seat Andrew. Well, I was going to say there are quite a few drivers out of contact who've already been Max as that person's teammate and who could take that Red Bull seat.
Would they want to go back against it? I went Daniel Ocaro's ass, he's like, yeah, I want to go back in and be in Red Bull, Max, we got on really well. I know, I get very confused. So Ricardo left because not because him and Vistappin weren't getting on very well, but because he felt that the team were increasingly focusing on Vistappin and I think the straw that broke the camel's back, if you remember back to Baku in 2018. They crashed together.
Ricardo felt that that was Vistappin's fault for doing a double move in defense on the approach to the first corner and the Red Bull management didn't take that view and they were both sort of humiliated in front of the team basically. I don't know exactly what happened, but Ricardo was very unhappy about that and he saw the sort of writing on the wall and he felt, well, I'll go somewhere else and I'll make it my team.
Unfortunately for him, he went to Rano and he was competitive at Rano, beats Nika Holk and Espanol, both his teammates, but the car wasn't. Then he went to McLaren, again, thinking he would make that his own team, then the problem was him, he got beaten by Lando Norris and they fired him essentially and his reputation took a bit of a dive there.
He's got the seat back at the second Red Bull team, but his first focus is to try and beat Yuki Sonoda, which he didn't do convincingly at all, in fact he didn't last year. Sonoda was actually slightly the quicker the two on balance over the few races that they had together. So that's the situation with him.
I would have thought that Carlos Sites would be very appealing to Red Bull. He's done an extremely good job alongside Charles McLare, Ferrari, Leclerc, kind of likes to drive a little bit like Verstappen, he thrives on Oversteer and yet Sites found a way to live with that and look respectable. It's been a long day, exactly. Look respectable against Leclerc. He's still an average of like a tenth and a half off him in qualifying, but it's decent, you know, and he's done well in the races.
So I would have said that's the most solid choice for Red Bull if Sites wants to go there. And the way things is shaping up at Mercedes, it doesn't feel like Sites is that high on their agenda. It feels like Antonelli's like option A, as Harry was saying, and incredible though it might seem, considering all the bad blood between Mercedes and Alonzo in the past that Alonzo might be a sort of backup plan.
But that depends on him wanting to continue in Formula One, which he's, well, he's been giving mixed messages, Alonzo hasn't he? Because on the one that he's been going, oh, I need to decide where I want to do this at my stage in life. On the other hand, look how good I was last year, I'm going to be, of course people are going to be interested in me, I'm the only world champion available. And I'm expensive.
So, and understandably, if you were total wolf and you've got this kid who might be the next max will stop him and Fernando Alonzo is your options, obviously Carlos Sites isn't going to be a higher option on your list than them. Why would he be?
His other option, Sites is Audi or what will still be called Sauerber next year. The problem with that for him is that he's pushing 13 hours and it's going to be probably five years before Audi are competitive. If they ever get there, that's a long time for him to wait for a competitive car. So, it's probably not his favorite choice, but if you're looking at the option of the second red bull against the staffing or Audi, there are pros and cons to both.
Do you think we're going to have to wait a long time for some of these decisions? Because I think the Lewis Hamilton Ferrari decision has come so early on that everyone thinks, they're all going to follow suit now and they're going to be snapping up the seats, but maybe we have to wait till the summer break. Like almost we usually do.
Quite possibly. I think I think science want to get a deal done earlier than the maybe teams are ready to because he'll be quite keen to get on with that. I did just want to throw a name out there for maybe even the red bull seat if it does become available.
Foultery Bottas. Now hear me out. I wondered if he was going to get back to Mercedes. Well, I just think again, that was my head as well. I just think he's out of contract at the end with with Salba. And I, I, I'm not feeling it. Look, we talked about it.
We talked about it. The one a good number two, those teams want somebody who is competent and can be on the podium, can win races when their main guy can't can be in the hunt for pole position, can be used strategically in a race, which at times, Sergio Perez and it's not only him, Gazi was the same,
cannot be always used strategically in a race because they have to cut through the field and try and catch up. Bottas is a solid number two driver. He was close to Hamilton. And you know, there was a reason Lewis Hamilton, I think it said one point.
Valdry Bottas is probably my favorite teammate ever. They were good mates. And that's because Bottas was able to, you know, be there, but not really challenge Hamilton. So could they look at a man like Valdry Bottas, who's only got a few years left in his career, let's be realistic.
As a potential replacement for either maybe a Red Bull or a go back to Mercedes, how would George Russell feel about that, though with Valdry Bottas coming back? I didn't know how that would work that dynamic. Mercedes aren't going back to Bottas. Back to Bottas, that sounds like a terrible book, aren't they? He's not going to Red Bull, that's why. No chance. He's too, he's too happy drinking his coffee and doing his calendar. He does have a whole new use of life.
Okay, so we're putting that idea in the business. Just want to chuck it out there. You can chuck it out there. Who else do we need to keep an eye on that? Who needs to perform to kind of get some teams interested in them? Those drivers that are out of contracts? Talk of Esteban Ockham needing to perform. His contract is obviously up with the Alpine teams. He's another driver that would need to perform.
I would say he's looking vulnerable because he got beaten by Gazzle last year and it was Gazzle's first year in the team. Ockham has been there since Kingdom Come. They really don't get on those two. They make no bones about that. It's all over the Drive to Survive series at the moment. We're never going to be friends, they both say. It's not just not being friends but it blows up every now and again. Ockham seems to be someone who just creates tension with his teammates. That's what he's like.
Which is weird because in the media, Penny's perfectly polite and lovely to us. It's very strange. Exactly, but obviously the competitive fire burns very hot in Esteban Ockham. Unfortunately, at the moment or last year and then also against Fernando Alonso, he wasn't the performances weren't backing it up. I would say he's looking vulnerable. The Sadies wouldn't be interested because he was linked to that before.
He's still linked to them in the sense that Total Wolf has some kind of management role with him but Esteban Ockham's chances of going to Mercedes ended five or six years ago. And then he's looking like a shoe in at the moment. And Draco and Anthony is hot property at the moment. He's skipping Formula 3. He was in the series below that last year. He skipped that one and gone straight into Formula 2. It's not the first time that's happened with a driver.
You look at the staff and in recent history. But it's another driver that you go back to Alonso and Ryke did all similar things. That's how highly Mercedes rates him. But it's going to be hard, Alessas Knit, for him to hit the ground running, having skitsos in their new F2 cars as well. I don't want to get too bogged down in that. But it's a lot for him to learn. Mercedes are also going to be giving quite a rigorous development program too. So it's going to be a big year for him.
It's going to be a massive year. And actually, I would like to see some younger drivers come up through. We've got Olli Bam and he's a driver that everyone is talking about. He did a great job in the house when he came into the practice sessions to reserve, obviously for Hassan Ferrari. There's other young drivers that are in Formula 2 Victor Martin. Is it one of them as well? Formula 2 if anyone doesn't watch it.
It's great. The racing is great. And that is where the next talent is coming from. And there is some fantastic talent that is begging to step up into Formula 1. And they're past several Formula 2 champions. And Formula 2 is a hard category. They don't have power steering. They don't have tire warms like they're doing Formula 1. I'm not saying that it means it's harder. But it's difficult. They have to be serious drivers to win that championship.
They've not got a seat. Drug of it. You want it two years ago. He's still wandering around the paddock as a reserve for Asden Martin. I'd like to see some junior drivers from those deserving junior drivers from those categories come up and take some. One, two, three of those seats. We had your news round up earlier on, Harry. Of course. No, no, no, no. At all. You mentioned obviously drivers who'd signed.
So, Lando and Oro Shalikler, they're looking safe, obviously. What do they need to do, though? They need to be team leaders. They need to be, well, Shalikler needs to be ready to receive a teammate such as Lewis Hamilton in a year's time. He's going to have the upper hand, surely. Well, you would think so with the experience of the team.
That point. He'll know where the loser in Maranello and Lewis won't. But it's Lewis Hamilton at the end of the day. And it's going to be a crucial year for Shalikler. It's going to be a make or break quite possibly for his, not only his career within Ferrari, but also his, his former one career in general.
If Lewis comes in straight off the bat and is actually trouncing him, then Ferrari, go right. Lewis is our guy. Everything's going to wrap around him. Where does that leave Shalikler? Does he then go, well, if I'm going to try and be the number one guy again, I've got to move teams.
Equally, that can go on the other foot as well. Big Yifilö is Hamilton too. And just on Lando, Norris as well. Big Yif for him in terms of its actually his teammates second season, Oscar Piastri again, another highly rated driver. Seen to struggle a little bit with race pace last year, compared to to to Lando, but he's fast and and Norris just got to keep an eye on him because those two were a pretty evenly matched.
So I just could find that he's got a bit more of a FIC team mate than he has done in previous years, but to Andrew, so I know you wanted to come in on the Hamilton and the player. Yeah, I just wanted to say I'll say what's not going to happen. And that's that Lewis Hamilton's going to destroy Shalikler. That's not going to happen. That is not going to happen. Okay. Shalikler is incredibly fast. And I wouldn't even, so is Lewis Hamilton, by the way.
But I wouldn't be surprised if LeClaire's faster than Hamilton on average in qualifying. The races are different matter. LeClaire's got a little bit to learn in the races, particularly not to make errors because he drives on the edge so much. But he, a lot of people in Formula One thinks Shalikler is the fastest driver that there is over one lap. And he certainly looks like it from time to time, right?
Yeah, no, he's pulled out some sensational laps. Hasn't he? In time. So I've got a little bit today, but I agree. I think it's going to be a real fascinating battle that we're going to see it for our next year. Okay, let's talk about the fascinating battle that we're going to see here in Bahrain this week. Oh, yeah. That's not going to take very long, was he? Well, let's talk podium predictions from what you've seen in FB1 and FB2.
What you've seen in testing from what you've heard, who's on your podium this weekend, Alice? Does it have to be in any particular order? Just throw me three drivers. God. No, I'm going to be different. I am going to be positive and I'm going to be different. I'm going to say we'll see a Hamilton. Let's go for Hamilton victory. Let's be different. Andrew's looking at me in absolute disgust. I would say the staffen in P2. I'm why not stick signs up there as well.
Okay, so Hamilton, the staffen, science podium for Alice Powell. You've heard it here first. Andrew, what are you thinking? I'm saying the staffen Hamilton and the Claire in that order. Say again. For staffen Hamilton and the Claire in that order. Okay, dokey and Harry. For staffen Perez Hamilton in that order. Okay, I'm going to say for staffen Hamilton and the Claire in that order.
Because that's how I've said it. Well, there we go. Let's find out if any of our predictions come true this weekend. It's the first round of the 2024 season. It's going to take place here in Bahrain. We'll be back tomorrow for the final practice session and the first qualifying session of the season. We'll red bull pick up from where they left off. We will find out tomorrow. Hi, my name's Eddie Herne and this is no passion, no point.
I'm excited to be back with this new series. As always, I'll be talking to top performers about what drives them. How they gain an edge over competitors and whether their dedication to constant improvement comes at a cost. I love golf. I'll play it until my hands be. I just enjoy going out there playing with no fear. What makes them feel fulfilled? It's not the moment. It's not the trophies. It's the friendships and the memories of golf. And does that change? Is their career progresses?
It's just a girl who grew up playing football and now I'm getting pups like without even seeing the camera like it's crazy. From BBC Radio 5 Live, no passion, no point. Listen whenever you like on BBC Sounds.