Inside Line F1 Podcast - What Could Be Sebastian Vettel's Future In F1?

Will Sebastian Vettel go the Fernando Alonso way? Or will he retire from the sport as a quadruple World Champion? Or will he follow Michael Schumacher's footsteps and take on a team management role? What are the chances of Vettel jumping ship to Mercedes; a German driver racing for a German team and all of that...! Let alone young drivers, the lack of competitive teams in the sport could catch out this former World Champion too! From fighting Mercedes, Ferrari seem to be fighting within themselves.

In this week's episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, we tell you why Red Bull Racing should sell its vacant Toro Rosso cockpit to a wealthy pay driver. We applaud Daniel Ricciardo's comic timing while also questioning why Vladimir Putin arrives closer to the end of the Russian Grand Prix every year. Finally, we predict by what race this season would Lewis Hamilton seal the 2018 Formula 1 World Championship. We picked Brazil or Mexico - what's your pick? Tune in!

00:00-2:00 - Should Sebastian Vettel be called title contender for 2018 anymore?
2:00 - 5:00 - Will Vettel go the Fernando Alonso way? What could be Sebastian Vettel's future in Formula 1?
5:00 - 7:00 - Red Bull Racing to make money from their vacant cockpit at Toro Rosso?
7:00 - 9:00 - Good timing for Ferrari to introduce a new livery? Should Formula 1 allow teams to use one-off liveries?
9:00 - 11:00 - How would Mercedes deploy team orders in case they had a three car team & all three of their cars were 1-2-3?
11:00 - 13:00 - Daniel Ricciardo's comic timing - he cracked a doping joke at the Russian Grand Prix!
13:00 - 15:00 - Why does Vladimir Putin arrive closer to the end of the Russian Grand Prix every single year?
15:00 - 17:00 - What Wolff Said This Week section + Looking forward to Suzuka & the 2018 Japanese Grand Prix
17:00 - 22:00 - Moments in Time with Lucien; by which race would Lewis Hamilton clinch the 2018 Formula 1 Championship?

(Season 2018, Episode 34)

Subscribe to the Inside Line F1 Podcast on iTunes and on audioBoom (RSS feed) for your weekly dose of Formula 1 humour

Motor Verso F1 2018 Season Summary - Russian Grand Prix review

Photo: Octane Photography

The Motor Verso F1 season summary has been duly updated with my take on the Russian GP. As is often the case at the Sochi circuit there wasn't a huge amount of thrills, but of course from this one there was no shortage of talking points. Not least team orders and all that...

As ever the summary's illustrated with fantastic Pirelli photography and my selection of the best of F1 content on YouTube.

You can check out the latest summary incarnation here: https://www.motorverso.com/2018-f1-summary/

Russian GP Report - Order and progress

"This is probably one of the weakest F1 circuits for me, if not the weakest..."

Lewis Hamilton won again - this time aided by his team-mate
Photo: Octane Photography

So said Lewis Hamilton early in this Russian Grand Prix weekend. And while there were conspicuous adventures along the way, he still managed to exit the round with his championship lead extended yet further. Now it's 50 points over Sebastian Vettel with five races left.

And again on a weekend many thought in advance would be one of damage limitation. While Singapore last time out we reckoned wouldn't suit Mercedes, Sochi this time out we reckoned may not suit Mercedes and more likely wouldn't suit Hamilton personally. But, in keeping with F1's theme of recent weeks, Mercedes and Hamilton somehow got the result. For the title number five on offer we're now in something like the endgame.

This time, in a minor variation, Ferrari was off the Mercedes pace fundamentally. Come the race it had a glimpse though, as Vettel successfully executed an undercut at the solitary stops to get ahead of Hamilton for a net second place behind poleman and track specialist Valtteri Bottas in the other Merc. But in keeping with how things have been going for the Scuderia lately the joy was fleeting. Hamilton dived back past at turn four a lap later in a fine move. Vettel chased gamely from then on but wasn't especially a threat again.

Inside Line F1 Podcast - In F1, Ferrari = Google, Mercedes = Apple

The Ferrari vs Mercedes battle in the current Formula 1 season is like the Google vs Apple battle in the world of smartphones. There's little doubt why Mercedes have managed to come out on top for two consecutive seasons. Tune in to hear more on this analogy.

Also in this week's episode, we have Lucien's 'Moments in Time' section where we remind our viewers that there is more to our Russian Grand Prix memories than Daniil Kvyat's torpedo moment. Will Daniel Ricciardo's haste with Renault turn into waste? Is it cheaper to pay for a young driver's seat elsewhere than run a third car altogether? And have we seen the first signs of a crack in the otherwise strong relationship between Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari? Tune in!

A summary of this episode and what is discussed when:

00:00-3:00 - Hello & Welcome! :D

03:00-05:00 - Why Ferrari is like Google and why Mercedes is like Apple…

05:00-09:00 - Will we have a USA vs. Russia in Formula 1 too? Or will it be a USA vs. China? And how is it that Mr. Putin isn’t doing a demo run in a Formula 1 car to promote the upcoming Russian Grand Prix?

09:00-11:00 - RIC-Renault, let’s hope haste doesn’t make waste

11:00-13:00 - VET, VER, LEC and GRO on sports psychologists.

13:00-16:00 - BOT’s ambitions & aspirations, can he win a race before the end of this season? OCO-KUB pairing at Williams? VAN to Formula E?

16:00-18:00 - ‘What Wolff Said This Week’ section!

18:00-21:00 - Moments in Time with Lucien

21:00-23:00 - A first visible crack in the VET-Ferrari relationship?

23:00-25:00 - VER-RBR talking like McLaren-ALO did in 2017? Did RBR talk to ALO behind VER’s back for RIC’s seat in 2019?


(Season 2018, Episode 33)

Subscribe to the Inside Line F1 Podcast on iTunes and on audioBoom (RSS feed) for your weekly dose of Formula 1 humour

Russian GP Betting Preview - A familiar conversation

As George Constanza once asked, haven't we had this conversation before?

Can Ferrari at last thwart Lewis Hamilton
Photo: Octane Photography

Mercedes has never been beaten in a Russian Grand Prix at Sochi since the round landed on the calendar in 2014, but that may be a bum steer. Once again it's a circuit on which Ferrari should be on top - it's a power track which will suit it plus it locked out the front row here last year in an age wherein such a thing was rare. The place suits Sebastian Vettel's driving style too.

Plus unlike at Singapore Lewis Hamilton may not be thwarting Ferrari with a personalised tour de force, as he hasn't always gone well here - even though he's won twice in four visits. He didn't get a set-up or rhythm here last year indeed and was well off his team-mate in qualifying and the race, plus he's been out-qualified by his stable mate in the last three Russia visits. The bookies still make Hamilton favourite for both pole and win, but for the reasons given it may be worth putting your money elsewhere. Unless you fancy him to confound us once again.

Sochi Preview: Now or never?

The song remains the same. Ferrari should be on top in this weekend's Russian Grand Prix at Sochi. But we've said that a few times in recent weeks about the Grand Prix before us, only for something to come along to ensure it doesn't come to pass. Victory or not will likely again be a matter or whether the Scuderia can at last avoid treading on its own tail.

Can Ferrari at last get something over Lewis Hamilton?
Photo: Octane Photography

Matters now are getting critical. With its previous failures Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel you feel simply must get something back on Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton this weekend to salvage what is left of their diminishing title chances. And not just due to the championship points mathematics.

It again goes in with a few identifiable causes for optimism. Some 70% of the Sochi lap is spent on full throttle - it's a slightly Montreal-esque collection of straights and sharp turns around an Olympic site - and we've seen repeatedly that the works Ferrari has a notable grunt advantage over all others. Even last year the red cars locked out the front row of the grid in an age wherein such a thing was rare. Vettel goes well here too; his high-momentum corner entry style suits the circuit.

Russian Grand Prix review for Motor Verso - Bottas turns silver into gold

Despite appearances (and a lack of overtaking, and stuff) F1 cannot be said to be predictable. And it wasn't in Sochi.

Photo: Octane Photography

In advance we thought it Merc's - and by extenion Lewis Hamilton's - to lose. Then for much of the weekend itself it looked like Ferrari would run and hide. Come the race though it was none other than Valtteri Bottas who faced all down to win for the first time ever in his F1 career.

Like The Alchemist, everything in Bottas's universe aligned in his favour. Like the alchemist, Bottas turned silver into, this time, gold.

I give my take on it all in my review of the Russian weekend for Motor Verso. You can have a read here: http://www.motorverso.com/russian-gp-2017-review-bottas-turns-silver-gold/

Do check out the Motor Verso site too; you'll find motoring news, car reviews and features - the team on the site carry out week-long test drives of the latest cars - as well as photos and videos of the machines.

Russian GP Report - Valtteri's validation

Again, what the hell do we know? Practice and qualifying for this Russian Grand Prix in Sochi both told us that in F1 things aren't quite as simple as they may seem in advance. And sure enough neither were they in the race.

Valtteri Bottas had a fine - and unexpected - debut win
Photo: Octane Photography

It was Ferrari's to lose they said, refusing to learn from the above aphorism. Yet within just about a blink of the red light going out the race indeed looked very different. As in this game we have a thing called a standing start.

In among the predictions of a Ferrari walkover there was the odd murmur that the apparently struggling Mercedes is very quick in the long run to the first (proper) Sochi turn, and it might just be able to take advantage. The odd murmur it transpired was a portent. A combination of a fine launch, a slipstream and Merc grunt (plus Sebastian Vettel spoke ruefully later of a head wind not helping him) meant third-place starter Valtteri Bottas swept clean by poleman Vettel's red car before the first braking zone to lead.

And then Bottas - who'd never won a race before and moreover had hardly led one - indeed led like one born to do it. It was a reminder that Bottas's race pace from Friday looked good, it's just that few of us thought he'd be in a position to take advantage of it. Also some worried about Merc's ability to warm its tyres up early on, but an immediate safety car period (brought about by Romain Grosjean and Jolyon Palmer wiping each other out in a big way) seemed to head that off a treat. After one lap of green flag racing Bottas was 1.8 seconds clear. After 20 laps his advantage was 5.5. As outlined, the day had changed.

Sochi Qualifying - Not so simple

In F1 in 2017 things rarely are as simple as assumed in advance. So it has been this time in Sochi for the Russian Grand Prix. And was so more than once in a single Saturday afternoon.

Ferrari beat Mercedes once again - this time in quali
Photo: Octane Photography

It started in the build up. This one definitely would be Mercedes country we said (including your dear author). The Sochi track always has a feather touch on the tyres, and this would take away Ferrari's apparent trump card of being able to handle the Pirellis better over race stints. The red cars may also struggle to, in the parlance, 'switch the tyres on'.

Not so. Or at least not that simple. The Ferrari for this campaign is a very different beast to previous ones and two problems it's had traditionally - tyre warm up and fuel thirstiness, two things that would really be punished here in Russia - seem much more licked this season. Indeed in practice it was the Mercedes that struggled to get the Pirellis into their operating window quickly - struggling with the old Sochi bugbear of getting the front and rears into the zone at the same time (a consequence perhaps of the W08's long wheelbase). The Ferraris by contrast were able to get down to pace quickly, to use a Mario-ism looked painted to the road, and topped every practice session. Pole actually looked in advance like the red team's to lose.

Russian GP Betting - Migrate back to Mercedes?

May you live in interesting times. Such a phrase is usually said ironically; reckoned as it is to be a Chinese curse. But for the gambler interesting times can be a blessing.

By Липунов Г.А. - Own work, CC0, https://commons.
wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48625978

Of course there are many opportunities for online betting these days – there are a variety of sports you can take a punt on the outcome of, as well as online poker, real money casino sites and many other things. But you could make the case that right now it's the F1 fan who wants to put his money where their mouth is that has the most potential joy. F1 in 2017 is indeed living in interesting times – with a surprisingly competitive season featuring a surprisingly strong challenge from Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari. And perhaps it all has increased the opportunities to make hay.

And conversely for the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi taking place this weekend this all may have added to the value of backing Mercedes to bounce back; you can back Lewis Hamilton to bag the Sochi win at a relatively long even money.

There's a rationale behind it too. Unlike Bahrain last time out when Seb and Ferrari won for the second time this campaign, Sochi may be Merc territory. Tyre wear and degradation is traditionally low here, as are the ambient temperatures, which not only may take away some of Ferrari's tyre longevity trump card it may also give the red cars a problem getting their Pirellis 'into the zone'. And Merc might have won in Bahrain anyway without treading variously on its own tail.

Mercedes getting on pole is a safer bet; it's got all of them this year so far and with some comfort. Lewis can be backed at 11/17 for pole position in Russia.

The bigger question may be which Mercedes takes it and indeed the 'other' Merc of Valtteri Bottas got pole in Bahrain (albeit aided by a sub-standard Lewis lap). Bottas has a good record at this track – in each visit he's qualified third (in a Williams...) and might have got pole in 2014 without an error. With all of this, his odds to repeat his Bahrain feat by bagging pole in Russia at 7/2 look generous.

And if you fancy a safer punt on Valtteri, you can get 1/2 on him to finish in the top three this time. Given the above considerations, the general lay of 2017 competitiveness, as well as the way Kimi Raikkonen has been going lately, that's a minimum expectation for Valtteri with a trouble free run.

The Red Bulls have struggled to get the soft tyres to work this season as they don't have the downforce required to warm them up. But in Sochi it can avoid the soft and run the ultrasoft and supersoft if it prefers. In Bahrain the Bulls ran with the leaders until having to bolt the softs on – and you can back Daniel Ricciardo at 9/2 or Max Verstappen at 7/2 to finish on the podium in Russia.

Williams as intimated has a good record here – reflecting that 70% of the lap is at full throttle at the Grove car is strong in a straight line – and you can get 4/7 on Felipe Massa to finish in the top six. If you fancy a cheekier punt, then the other Williams of Lance Stroll can be backed to do the same at a whole 9/1.

Inside Line F1 Podcast - McLaren Saved Formula 1 From A Honda Destruction

Thank you McLaren for vetoing a Red Bull Racing - Honda partnership a few seasons ago. IF not, we'd have had 6 GP2 cars (or worse!) racing in Formula 1. By the way, there's talk of Mercedes helping Honda with their power-unit. This is after Bernie Ecclestone suggested that Mercedes helped Ferrari. If that's the case, why not help Renault too? Or better, let's just give everyone Mercedes engines.

In this week's episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, Mithila and Kunal discuss Fernando Alonso's Indy 500 preparations, Ecclestone-Vettel's friendship, Lauda's support of every Hamilton challenger, Renault's 2030 F1 concept and IF Fernando Alonso will retire his McLaren-Honda in the upcoming Russian Grand Prix too.

Tune in!

(Season 2017, Episode 16)

Subscribe to the Inside Line F1 Podcast on iTunes and audioBoom for your weekly dose of Formula 1 humour.

Sochi Preview: F1's ugly duckling

There's always one, isn't there? That F1 venue people find particularly hard to love. No new thing either. Nivelles, Detroit and others have had periodic pariah status historically. More recently it was Valencia. Then it was the Mokpo venue in Korea. Now, dear reader, I give you Sochi in Russia.

The Sochi venue in Russia has been hard for F1 to love
By Липунов Г.А. - Own work, CC0, https://commons.
wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48625966

It has ugly duckling status for a number of reasons. The race was in many eyes tainted at source, even though Bernie Ecclestone's attempts to get a Russian/USSR round onto the calendar stretched back literally decades. A Grand Prix in the Soviet Union to be held on the streets of Moscow appeared on the provisional F1 calendar as long ago as 1983 indeed and several mooted options came and went in the years that followed.

Yet even by the time the race finally was penned to debut in 2014 - around the buildings and circular medals plaza of that year's Winter Olympics venue of Sochi - plenty thought we could nevertheless wait a little longer. Its very existence was controversial from several months out with unrest in Ukraine and Russia's alleged contribution to it dominating many headlines. Some thought too resultant sanctions would mean the race's money would run out.

Inside Line F1 Podcast - Red Bull-sh*t

Red Bull Racing did post-Russia what everyone imagined they would do towards the end of the 2016 Formula 1 Season. They gave wings to Max Verstappen's Formula 1 career while clipping Daniil Kvyat's. The former World Champion team's decision evoked applause from most quarters and shock from a few. Would they have taken a similar decision had Kvyat rammed into a 'less important' driver? What if Verstappen would've committed a similar error?

While we hint of 'favouritism' in Formula 1 (well, it's human nature!), we also point out Bernie Ecclestone and Mercedes's favouritism towards Lewis Hamilton.

We reveal Nico Rosberg's ONLY issue in the recently concluded Russian Grand Prix and how Fernando Alonso is now playing 'sales agent' for the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix organisers.

Lastly, we tell you how the 'right to engine' clause will still unsettle the new regulations Formula 1 announced for 2017-2020.

Tune in!

(Season 2016, Episode 14)

Russian Grand Prix review for Motor Verso - It couldn't happen, but it did...

Really, what are the chances?

Photo: Octane Photography

We know what to associate with F1 in 2016 so far. Everything, somehow, going Nico Rosberg's way. His presumptive closest challengers all having something impede them, often early in proceedings.

And surely this one, round four in Russia, would be the scene of the return to normality? Perhaps even the start of the regression to the mean? Nope. In an extraordinary case of repetition we got loosely the same again in Sochi. The upshot is Nico now has four from four and the rest have a mountain to climb.

I give my take on it all in my latest Motor Verso race review. You can read it here:
http://www.motorverso.com/russian-gp-2016-review/

Do check out the Motor Verso site too; you'll find motoring news, car reviews and features - the team on the site carry out week-long test drives of the latest cars - as well as photos and videos of the machines.

Russian GP Report: Everything's coming up Rosberg - again

That thing we all said couldn't happen, did happen. We couldn't have another weekend in which everything would fall for Nico Rosberg, giving him an open goal in which to drive the ball home with aplomb for victory. But that's what we got. Again. Four wins from four this campaign are his.

Once again it was Nico Rosberg smiling after this one
Photo: Octane Photography

In the Russian Grand Prix today luck didn't turn; things didn't begin to regress to the mean. Yet it would be harsh in the extreme to say that has been the entire story. Yes Nico by his own admission has had the fortune so far in 2016, but that's hardly his fault, plus there is little to say that whatever the distribution of chance thus far Nico is at anything other than the top of his form right now. Fast, flawless, nailing things when it matters, that all continued in the Sochi weekend too. And perhaps to bring emphasis to that it's not all a matter of Goddess Fortune smiling his way, Rosberg set a fine fastest lap of more than a second under the track record on his penultimate tour, long after the important matter of 25 points was framed as coming his way. Now he has a seven up of consecutive wins - only the fourth in history to do so - and probably more important a ton up in points already.

Some four rounds in we still await our straightforward weekend where we get our close fight and measure of the lay of the competitive land between not only the two Mercedes but also between the Mercedes and the Ferrari. In these regards we're not much further forward than where we were in pre-season testing. Yet in the meantime Nico is making all of the hay he can as the sun shines upon him, and going a long way to building a title with it.

Inside Line F1 Podcast - Why Bernie Ecclestone Backs Donald Trump For President

We love Bernie Ecclestone, we do! F1's CEO loves to make controversial statements and we love to extract our pound of humour from those controversies. In this week's episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast, Mithila and Kunal tell you why Bernie Ecclestone backs Donald Trump for President. And if you're a Hillary Clinton fan, we tell you why he wouldn't back her candidature.

But this episode isn't about Ecclestone alone, we talk about Filipinho Massa's victory over our favourite, Daniel Ricciardo. Massa Jr.'s celebration skills must be applauded - mark of a true champion. Did Felipe hire Max Verstappen's PR agency though to work on his son?

Should we undergo a rule change for 2017? Why is Mercedes resisting it and why is Red Bull Racing for it? Also, what should the rule changes be? We share our perspective and tell you why the teams will always differ in theirs from us fans.

Rio Haryanto seems to be running out of money. Is F1 in BIG trouble if pay drivers run out of money too? Btw, aren't the Indonesian Govt. doing a little too much to fund his race seat? It's a Manor, after all.

In this day and age of super hero movies, it comes as no surprise to us that Super Formula > Formula 1.  And are the new-age 'rocket science' F1 cars no longer attractive for the upcoming drivers too?

Finally, will Lewis Hamilton win his third consecutive Russian Grand Prix OR will Nico Rosberg leave Russia with 100 points? And apart from Vladmir Putin, who else will join the Mercedes drivers on the podium?

Tune in! (Season 2016, Episode 13)

Russian GP Betting Preview - Go for a fastest lap long shot?

Usually after the first three races of an F1 season we have a pretty good sense of the year's likely competitive order, but as we keep pointing out this season so far has hardly been a standard one. This may give additional opportunities to the F1 betting punter ahead of round four this weekend in Russia, and Paddy Power offers a range of odds on the impending Sochi gathering.

The Mercedes pair look worth backing
Photo: Octane Photography

Yet some things look to be fairly clear. As laid out in my Russian Grand Prix preview on this site, the Mercedes drivers are clear favourites for victory in Sochi and for reasons that even are over and above the bare fact that they've won the opening three rounds of this season, as well as the last six of 2015. And you'll get more than double your stake back backing either of its drivers to win again this time, with odds of 6/5 for Lewis Hamilton and 11/8 for Nico Rosberg.

The close odds between the pair reflect too that while Nico has triumphed in all 2016 races thus far there in fact has been little to choose between the two Merc pilots generally other than Lewis's near-monopoly on foul luck. There's also been little to choose between the pair in the previous two Sochi visits, though Lewis has won both of them following something impeding Nico in either Russian race.

Sochi Preview: F1's ugly duckling

There's always one, isn't there? That one F1 round people find particularly hard to love. For a while it was Valencia. Then it was the Mokpo venue in Korea. Now dear reader I give you Sochi in Russia.

The Russian Grand Prix in Sochi divides opinion
By premier.gov.ru, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.
wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36104002

And it has this ugly duckling status for a number of reasons it seems. The race was in many eyes tainted at source, even though Bernie Ecclestone's attempts to get this round onto the F1 calendar stretched back literally decades. A Grand Prix in the Soviet Union to be held on the streets of Moscow appeared on the provisional F1 calendar as long ago as 1983 indeed.

But even by the time that the race finally was penned in to debut in 2014, at that year's Winter Olympics venue of Sochi, plenty thought nevertheless we could wait a little longer. Its very existence was controversial from several months out with unrest in Ukraine and Russia's alleged contribution to it dominating many headlines. Some thought too resultant sanctions would mean the race's money would run out.

A year on too for the second F1 visit as well as Ukraine matters being far from resolved there also was the uneasy background noise of Russia's activity in Syria, including that some of the missiles fired therein weren't landing all that far from the Sochi venue. In both there were concerns more generally about Russia's human rights record and particularly its legislation prohibiting any 'positive mention of homosexuality' in the presence of minors. That Russian President Vladimir Putin has associated himself closely with both F1 visits hardly helped de-couple it all from the event in the minds of onlookers.

New Grand Prix Times article: Why, whisper it, I quite like the Russian Grand Prix

The second Russian Grand Prix of modern times has just happened, and it's fair to say that the Sochi event is one that does not command universal popularity.

"F1 Grand Prix Russia 2014 start lane" by premier.gov.ru. 
Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F1_Grand_Prix_
Russia_2014_start_lane.jpg#/media/
File:F1_Grand_Prix_Russia_2014_start_lane.jpg

This is for a number of reasons, some more legitimate than others. In my latest article for Grand Prix Times I explore these, as well as outline why I, despite all this and while it puts me very much in the minority, actually like the Russian Grand Prix.

I also look at a matter that was made obvious by the debut Russian race 12 months ago, and was hinted at by the latest one, that F1's problem of aerodynamics that don't allow cars to get near each other, at least without sticking plaster solutions such as gumball Pirelli tyres, has not gone away.

You can read the article here: http://www.grandprixtimes.com/news/display/10793

Inside Line F1 Podcast - Russia vs. USA In F1 Too?‏

Congrats Mercedes for dominating and winning the 2015 Formula 1 Constructors' Championship. Congrats to Sergio Perez and Force India for a well earned podium finish in Russia. But this week’s episode of the Inside Line F1 Podcast has much much more.

Mithila and I wonder if Vladmir Putin's interest in F1 in Russia puts Barack Obama under any pressure to match up at the upcoming GP in America. Is there a Russia vs. USA cold war developing in F1? (Read: F1 Teams, TV Black Outs And Bernie Ecclestone)

We also talk of Raikkonen's Maldonado-styled move on Bottas, Alonso's possible retirement in 2018, Sainz's luck at turn 13 in Sochi, Pirelli's disastrous PR skills and if making team radio private makes any sense. Tune in! (Season 2015, Episode 35)

The Inside Line F1 Podcast is hosted by Mithila Mehta and Kunal Shah. This Formula One podcast offers a unique humourous view on the sport. Follow us on Facebook and on Google+.

Follow on Twitter: Mithila Mehta and Kunal Shah.