James Allen On F1

F1 Grands Prix have become much than sporting events. They now stretch over four days of fan engagement with star name music acts, cultural events, top chefs and diverse activities for fans. Promoter fees generate around $1 billion of income annually for F1, almost a third of the total revenue. They can also have massive economic impact for a city or country; Las Vegas has pulled in over $900m each year from its race, while Sao Paolo reported a positive impact of £329 from November’s race.  No surprise then that there are more cities and countries wanting F1 races than there are slots on the calendar. Fitting in 24 Grands Prix is no easy task. It falls to Louise Young, Director of Race Promotion at F1, who works closely with CEO Stefano Domenicali and Liberty Media. Louise rarely gives interviews, so what she has to say here is a must-listen for every F1 fan.  We are seeing a trend for longer term renewals, with Miami contracted to 2041 and many races including Monaco GP and the British GP at Silverstone signed up for a decade.  What do these long contracts say about the confidence on both sides that F1 will still be booming beyond 2035? How is the F1 calendar decided each season and will we see more races in Asia, the US or Africa at the expense of rounds in Europe? James is joined in the studio for analysis by Autosport F1 writer Filip Cleeren.  Voting is still open for the 38th Autosport Awards. Vote for your Driver, Team and Rookie of the Year. Go to https://www.autosport.com/awards-voting/ to cast your votes.   Send your comments or questions to: @jamesallenonf1 on X or [email protected]. A Motorsport Studios production for Autosport 

F1’s surge in popularity in the last five years is not because the sport itself has notably changed or improved. It is because people have discovered it, a sleeping giant. The sport lends itself so well to social media - being such a visually rich spectacle. With its extreme personalities and electrifying speed, it is also a wonderful platform for storytelling.  This week we are going to explore this side of the sport with one of the great photographers of the modern era of F1, Darren Heath. Darren works with speed, spectacle and personality. He freezes it, capturing a moment that would otherwise be lost forever, memorializing it for people around the world to enjoy. So what goes through his mind when he looks through the viewfinder and presses the shutter? How does he weave rich storytelling into an image? Which drivers’ faces are the most interesting? How do today’s compare to the greats like Senna, Prost and Schumacher? When he is trackside, the cars moving at 180mph a few feet away, what aspects of F1 does he see that don’t come across for fans on other media like TV or the written word? And how much can someone achieve trackside with an iPhone? This revealing interview takes the audience behind the veil of F1 and offers a fresh, close-up take of the people that make our sport. Send your comments or questions to: @jamesallenonf1 on X or [email protected]. A Motorsport Studios production for Autosport 

We have a new F1 World Champion, Lando Norris. He held his nerve in Abu Dhabi to finish on the podium, which is all he needed to do to become one of only 35 drivers in history to win the F1 World Championship.  It’s a proud moment for Autosport too, because in 2016 Lando won the prestigious Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award. The prize was his first test in an F1 car – a McLaren - the following year, his first step on the F1 ladder. Norris follows Jenson Button as the second Young Driver Award winner to become F1 World Champion.  James Allen wraps up Abu Dhabi and closes the cycle on our Season in Numbers series. At each quarter stage of the season we have looked at the underlying numbers to spot trends and learn more about what’s really been going on.  Joining James in the studios are Autosport F1 writers Jake Boxhall Legge and Ronald Vording.  Fan Voting for the 38th Autosport Awards is open. To vote for the Driver, Team, Rookie and Moment of the Year go to https://www.autosport.com/awards-voting/  Send your comments or questions to: @jamesallenonf1 on X or [email protected]. PA Motorsport Studios production for Autosport 

It’s crunch time in Abu Dhabi, with a three-way fight for the F1 World Drivers Championship. From McLaren’s point of view it didn’t have to be this way. If they had avoided the disqualifications in Vegas, or made a better strategy call in Qatar, they would now be guaranteed their first World Champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2008. As it is Lando Norris will be champion if he finishes third or higher, while Max Verstappen is only 12 points behind him and has chances. Oscar Piastri needs luck to go his way after the crushing disappointment of losing a certain race win in Qatar.  James Allen explores all of this and what it’s like to be in the middle of a title showdown, with someone who was in the thick of it in 2007, when McLaren lost the championship from a position not unlike today’s - former McLaren mechanic now journalist and broadcaster Marc Priestley. And our F1 writer with his ear to the ground, Ronald Vording, joins us from Abu Dhabi. Send your comments or questions to: @jamesallenonf1 on X or [email protected].  -- A Motorsport Studios production for Autosport 

This week we go inside the minds of the competitors for the F1 World Championship.  We explain some of the things that happened during an intense Las Vegas GP weekend – including the dramatic double disqualification of the McLaren cars that sets up an incredibly tense final two rounds for the World Championship And we look ahead in depth to what happens next. We focus particularly on two areas: which teams will have the best car for the Qatar and Abu Dhabi circuits? And with so much pressure riding on it, what is the mental game here? How do the drivers and their trainers cope with the 11 hour time difference from Vegas to Qatar so they can maintain peak performance? How do they cope with the stress and the pressure? And with McLaren making such a costly mistake in Vegas, how do the leaders make sure the team doesn’t lose confidence? With James Allen in the studio to discuss this we have two real subject matter experts. Nick Harris, who trained and mentored many great drivers in the past 20 years from Mark Webber, David Coulthard and Eddie Irvine to Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg.  And Autosport’s F1 writer who can demystify the technical side, Jake Boxhall Legge.  Send your comments or questions to: @jamesallenonf1 on X or [email protected]. A Motorsport Studios production for Autosport