Bring Back V10s - Classic F1 stories

Michael Schumacher's F1 debut lasted only a few seconds, yet he made a huge impression and by the time of his second appearance he'd already switched teams. In this episode Glenn Freeman is joined by Jordan designer Gary Anderson and Edd Straw to revisit what happened in 1991 around Schumacher's famous debut, from how he got the Jordan drive for Spa, to why the team didn't have him under a secure enough contract to stop Benetton snapping him up for the next race at Monza. We also look at how Jordan's other car could have won the Belgian GP that year, how Roberto Moreno almost stopped the Benetton switch happening, why Flavio Briatore ordered Alex Zanardi to walk around the Monza paddock in Benetton overalls, and what led Ayrton Senna to weigh in on the saga in public. There's also the second contract controversy of Schumacher's career that happened just a few months later when he was preparing for his first full season in F1. ASK US ANYTHING: Get your questions in for our series finale, where you can ask us whatever you like about F1 from 1989-2005. Use #BringBackV10s on Twitter to submit your question! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Juan Pablo Montoya arrived in Formula 1 in 2001 after two sensational years in America where he claimed the CART title as a rookie in 1999 and won the Indianapolis 500 at the first attempt in 2000. In this episode Glenn Freeman and Mark Hughes are joined by Jonathan Williams to discuss Montoya's rookie F1 season, with Jonathan offering a unique insight from what it was like being inside the team created by his father Frank when Montoya arrived. We cover the impact Montoya's signing had on Jenson Button (and if Williams could have ever had a Montoya/Button line-up), how expectations were set following Alex Zanardi's struggles two years earlier, tension with Ralf Schumacher that started before they'd even raced together, that stunning pass on Michael Schumacher at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Montoya's struggles after that race to find his feet in F1, team tactics fallouts with Ralf later in the year, how he handled more missed opportunities to win, and how it all came together for a long awaited maiden victory during a sombre Monza weekend. ASK US ANYTHING: Submit your questions about F1 from 1989-2005 for our series finale using #BringBackV10s on Twitter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 1993 Portuguese Grand Prix fell in the middle of two of the busiest weeks for off-track stories in Formula 1 history. Ex-F1 driver and Sky Sports expert Karun Chandhok joins Glenn Freeman and Edd Straw to look back at all the big talking points from late-1993, from Nigel Mansell's sensational rookie Indycar success (and Bernie Ecclestone's failed attempt to get him back to F1 for 1994), Ayrton Senna effectively forcing Alain Prost out of Williams, plus McLaren dropping Michael Andretti, promoting Mika Hakkinen, and trying to sign Michael Schumacher! We also look at how Hakkinen upstaged Senna in qualifying for his McLaren debut, and the effect that might have had on Senna's remaining races with the team, how Schumacher salvaged a difficult weekend to catch everyone out to win the race, the first signs of a Ferrari revival under Jean Todt, a scary crash for Gerhard Berger, and why McLaren decided against Lamborghini engines to team up with Peugeot. HAVE YOUR SAY: Submit a question for our series finale using #BringBackV10s on Twitter - ask us anything about F1 from 1989-2005! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Austria 2002 remains an iconic moment in Formula 1 history... for all the wrong reasons. In this episode of Bring Back V10s we look back at everything that went on around that race, from why Ferrari was so dominant in 2002, how McLaren and Williams were dropping the ball, to how Ferrari management justified its actions even though Michael Schumacher already looked untouchable early in the 2002 season. We also look at how Schumacher's version of events differed from the way his bosses were explaining it, why Barrichello thought he'd never be asked to give up a win, and the role a similar incident in 2001 had in how everyone handled this controversy a year later. There's also time to remember Takuma Sato's lucky escape in a crash with Nick Heidfeld, and how Eddie Jordan and Honda disagreed over the terms of their contract, resulting in a big payday for EJ but no more Japanese engines for his team in the future - even though it was beating Honda's favoured team BAR. Finally, we look back at the FIA hearing Ferrari faced, why it couldn't be severely punished, and why the FIA knew a ban on team orders that followed was always destined to fail. HAVE YOUR SAY: Get your questions in for our series finale. Ask us anything about F1 from 1989-2005 using #BringBackV10s on Twitter, or leave us a podcast review and ask a question there! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 1990 French Grand Prix was the setting for one of the most remarkable turnarounds in F1 history. The plucky Leyton House team went from failing to qualify for the previous race in Mexico to coming within a couple of laps of winning at Paul Ricard with Ivan Capelli. In this episode we look at how that transformation happened - thanks to some fine work by a young designer named Adrian Newey... just before he was let go by the team! As well as tracking Newey's falling out with Leyton House and his year-long bid to work out what was going wrong with his designs, the other stories we look into include politics and fallings out at Ferrari, Arrows trying to make big moves on the recruitment front, Jordan's engine deal that nearly upset Benetton, contract dramas for Jean Alesi - including why his 1991 Williams deal fell over because of Ayrton Senna, how Leyton House came up with an almost-winning strategy to defeat Alain Prost's Ferrari, and why this heartbreaking near-miss was still a cause for celebration at the team. HAVE YOUR SAY: Get your questions in for our season finale using the hashtag #BringBackV10s for anything to do with F1 from 1989-2005. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Honda nearly entered F1 with its own full works team in 2000, and in preparation for that it ran a test car in early 1999 with Jos Verstappen behind the wheel. The project was part of its evaluation of an F1 project, but two months after the car ran alongside most of the grid in pre-season testing, the idea was canned and Honda signed a works engine deal with BAR instead. Glenn Freeman is joined by Gary Anderson and Scott Mitchell to look back on the 1999 Honda project, from early discussions with Eddie Jordan about buying his team (and why he turned the offer down), how it put together a test team under the guidance of Harvey Poselthwaite, why Poselthwaite's HRD group pitched for a budget as big as Ferrari's and the possible impact that had on the direction of Honda's F1 ambitions, and how the Japanese manufacturer's mind was already made up before Poselthwaite's untimely death when the test car was still running in April. We then look at how the BAR deal came together, how Flavio Briatore tried to stop it, and why Honda chose to partner up with the team that was new to the grid in 1999.HAVE YOUR SAY: Ask a question by leaving us a review on your podcast platform, or use #BringBackV10s on Twitter to submit a question for our series finale, where we'll talk about whatever you want from F1 1989-2005. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Season two of #BringBackV10s is here! The wait is over, and we're kicking things off with our first episode dedicated to Ayrton Senna. Rather than choose one of the obvious Senna stories to look back at, we're reflecting on his final Brazilian GP in 1994 - the only race he completed a decent amount of laps in behind the wheel of a Williams. Glenn Freeman is joined by Edd Straw and Brazilian broadcaster Lito Cavalcanti to trace the story of Senna's final home race all the way from the day his Williams deal for 1994 was announced, to the moment he spun out while chasing Michael Schumacher. We look at what the expectations were for Senna, McLaren's audacious bid to get him to change his mind, why he felt he needed a fresh start in F1, his awareness of the pressure he'd be under following the retirement of Alain Prost, how Prost almost ended up back on the grid with McLaren, how Senna reacted when he realised Williams had lost its advantage of the previous two years, the impressive nature of his performance in Brazil even though it wasn't going to be enough to stop Schumacher, and what Adrian Newey discovered was wrong with the first iteration of the FW16. ASK US ANYTHING: Get your questions in for our series finale using #BringBackV10s on Twitter, or leave us a 5-star review and submit a question there too! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bring Back V10s is... back! Season 2 is almost here, and to get you ready for our first full episode Glenn Freeman and Edd Straw get together for a quick chat about team orders at McLaren between Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard in the late-1990s. This subject came from a question asked in a review that was left on Apple Podcasts - why not leave us a 5-star review of your own and ask a question for our series finale? Alternatively, you can get your questions in using #BringBackV10s on Twitter. Get ready for season two! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BONUS EPISODE: It's series finale time, and to celebrate #BringBackV10s taking a temporary break before series 2, we're answering more of your questions about F1 from 1989-2005. Mark Hughes and ex-F1 technical director and car designer Gary Anderson join Glenn Freeman to discuss a range of topics, including: What made Kimi Raikkonen so good at McLaren, and why did he struggle to recapture that magic in the years that followed; how out of control F1's 'driver aids' era of the early 1990s would have got if the rules weren't tightened up; why Gary had to get drunk with Stefano Modena to prove he didn't hate him; how Eddie Irvine made his mark on his F1 debut before getting punched by Ayrton Senna; why Gary joined the group of teams sprouting the hideous X-wings in 1998; Jacques Villeneuve's stunning qualifying margin of 1.7 seconds in the 1997 Australian Grand Prix, Martin Brundle's transition from F1 driver to top-line pundit and commentator; Allegations of Benetton running traction control in 1994; Mika Hakkinen's disappointing final season, and what we'd bring back (other than V10s!) from this era to improve modern F1. Keep your questions and episode suggestions coming in to @wearetherace on social media using #BringBack V10s, and we'll update you very soon on when series two will launch! Thanks for listening to everything we've done so far, and please tell your friends what they've been missing out on. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've reached the end of the first series of Bring Back V10s, but we've been so overwhelmed with the number of questions you sent in using #BringBackV10s that we're turning our series finale into a double header! Edd Straw and Matt Beer join Glenn Freeman for part one, where we'll tackle topics including: Why Toyota's megabucks team was always destined to fail, why Benetton never recovered from losing Michael Schumacher, Jean Alesi's aborted switch to Williams, what might have happened in the years that followed if Ayrton Senna had WON the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, Ferrari's hideous 1996 car, how Olivier Panis's leg-breaking crash in Canada in 1997 altered his career, Lola's 1997 disaster, plus our favourite cars and races from the era and much more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Schumacher's 1990s rivalry with Damon Hill ignited at the end of the 1994 Formula 1 season. In this episode Andrew van de Burgt and Edd Straw join Glenn Freeman to look back at the final three races of '94, when Schumacher returned from his two-race ban with just a one-point lead over Hill. Schumacher won comfortably on his return at Jerez, but why was Hill fuming with his Williams team, and left him 'pulling teeth' trying to get an apology from management? Why didn't Williams make it clearer it believed in Hill? How did the dynamic at Williams change when Nigel Mansell returned? How did Hill pull off the drive of his life in the rain of Japan to set up the famous Adelaide decider? Who did he ask for help at the start of the crucial final lap - and what phenomenon did he experience over the first part of that remarkable lap before he 'took back control'? Why did he lash out at Williams in public before the finale in Australia? How did Williams get on terms with Benetton? What made Schumacher's car harder to drive in the title decider? What was Schumacher's explanation for the controversial collision that decided the championship in his favour, and was he telling the truth? How did Hill find out Schumacher had already hit the wall? What did he think when he first saw the footage? Did Williams consider taking action? What did Hill do the following day - that Schumacher used to his advantage when he returned to Germany? And did the right man win the championship that year? HAVE YOUR SAY: Next week we start our 'Ask us anything' finale - which will now be in two parts! Get your questions in using #BringBackV10s to @wearetherace on social media. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the start of our Bring Back V10s era in 1989, Formula 1 had as many as 39 cars turning up trying to get onto a 26-car grid for a grand prix. After an initial pre-qualifying elimination process was introduced for the first practice session in 1988, a formalised session was added to race weekends for the following season, to narrow the field down to 30 contenders before free practice even started. Edd Straw and Matt Beer join Glenn Freeman to look back at a crazy time for F1 backmarkers. What was the crazy initial pitch for pre-qualifying that got rejected? Why did some teams that were clearly quick enough to qualify for races still have to go through the ignominy of the Friday morning session? Who were the worst teams to try their luck at getting into F1? Which driver completed a full season without ever getting through pre-qualifying? Which team's engine supplier once timed the lifespan of its engine from fire-up to failure at four seconds? Why did so many no-hoper teams try to get into F1 at this stage? What were the best results scored by teams who came through pre-qualifying? Who were the drivers who produced the best stats in pre-qualifying sessions? Who never made it onto an F1 grid in their careers despite appearing in pre-qualifying? How did Jordan turn pre-qualifying into an advantage on its way to finishing fifth in its first season? Were there really teams with works engine deals competing in these sessions? Was the shambolic Andrea Moda team of 1992 the final straw for F1? How did F1 go about raising the barrier to entry in the years that followed, creating the 'closed shop' championship we have today? Coloni, Life, EuroBrun and many more minnow teams from this era all get their moment in the limelight in this episode. HAVE YOUR SAY: Get your questions in for our season finale. Ask us anything about F1 from 1989-2005 using #BringBackV10s @wearetherace Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nigel Mansell and McLaren never felt like a match made in heaven, and when they joined forces in 1995 the alliance was short-lived. Sam Smith and Jack Benyon join Glenn Freeman to discuss why this partnership went so wrong. How did Mansell go from thinking he had a Williams drive to getting a phone call from Ron Dennis? What were the driving forces behind McLaren taking on a driver who had been one of its biggest rivals? How lofty were McLaren's and Mansell's expectations, and were they justified? What did Mansell think of the car when he first drove it? What were the specific problems he described that made it so unsuitable to his driving style? Why didn't it come to light earlier that he didn't fit in the car? What was Mark Blundell's side of the story of how he found out he was being called up as a stand-in? How did Mansell manage to do over 100 laps of testing in the original chassis before the wider one was available to race? Why did he think the bigger car would solve McLaren's aero problems? How did he stack up against Mika Hakkinen? What was wrong with the car when Mansell parked it in his final GP? What changes to McLaren's radio etiquette were put in place after Mansell's 'performance' at Barcelona? Did McLaren ever get on top of the car's problems? HAVE YOUR SAY: Get your questions in for our season finale - ask us anything using #BringBackV10s @wearetherace on social media Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The dominance of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher came to an abrupt end in 2005, when rule changes caught the team out and left it struggling to get on the pace. Glenn Freeman is joined by Mark Hughes and Scott Mitchell to look back at the factors behind Ferrari's troubles, the key moments from the year, and to ask if someone else finally winning a championship in the 21st century was a good thing for F1. Did Ferrari know it would be in trouble when the last-minute rule changes were forced through for 2005? How did Ross Brawn used to fight these changes, and try to steer ideas more towards something Ferrari could work with? Why was the dominant F2004's concept unable to translate into a strong F2005? How did strong early showings in Bahrain, and famously at Imola, not translate into a better season? Was it all Bridgestone's fault or was there more to it? How was Ferrari's car and engine concept compromised? Should it have done more to avoid the Indianapolis '05 fiasco, or was it right to feel bitter towards rivals that had pushed for changes to knock it of its perch? Who did the Italian media try to pin the blame on for the F2005's failings, and did they have a point? Why were there flashes of speed from the car but never a consistent run of competitive performances? What caused Schumacher to finally crack and call out Bridgestone? And what did Ferrari and Bridgestone learn from the experience? Finally, how did Michelin feel when the tyre rules were changed back for 2006? HAVE YOUR SAY: Get your questions in using #BringBackV10s to @wearetherace on social media. Ask us anything about F1 from 1989-2005 for our series finale! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In late 1999 the combination of Jordan and Heinz-Harald Frentzen was at the peak of its powers, and it so nearly pulled off a world championship upset against the might of McLaren and Ferrari. Glenn Freeman is joined by Matt Beer and Edd Straw to revisit the final few races of the season to work out how Jordan found itself in an unlikely title fight. They assess how good the Jordan 199 really was given only one driver was doing anything with it (sorry Damon!), the fragilities that were costing McLaren and Mika Hakkinen, why Eddie Irvine's form was so inconsistent following his incredible spell in the summer after Michael Schumacher broke his leg, Jordan and McLaren's opposing theories on Hakkinen's memorable Monza blunder, the lap of Frentzen's life in qualifying at the Nurburgring, how the same problem that struck Frentzen's car while he was leading that race also resulted in Pedro Diniz's terrifying roll-hoop-busting crash at the start - and a rare explanation of the trick system that was behind that mysterious glitch! We also look at why the fizz went out of Jordan's season after that Nurburgring heartbreak, and why it would never scale those heights again.HAVE YOUR SAY: Get your questions in for our series finale to @wearetherace on social media, using the #BringBackV10s to ask us anything about F1 from 1989-2005! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us for an in-depth look at one of the most famous heartbreak stories from F1 in the 1990s: The 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix. Glenn Freeman, Matt Beer and Edd Straw revisit all the key talking points in F1 from before, during and after the weekend, as well as trying to work out how Arrows managed to have its day in the sun with a car that was hopeless earlier in the season. They also look at how the Ferrari v Williams battle was shaping up in the summer of '97, if this was another race McLaren threw away with its poor reliability, how Benetton went from winning the previous race to having one of its cars finish behind a Minardi, how Jordan had the right strategy but was out of the hunt before race day, what on earth happened to the usual lead Bridgestone runner Prost GP, why Michael Schumacher tested a Sauber not long after this race, Jan Magnussen's shot in F1 with Stewart and why it didn't work out, and how F1 races with extreme tyre wear are interpreted differently today. Plus they uncover which driver really should have won this race - and it wasn't Jacques Villeneuve. We also look at the big storyline off-track after Hill's heroics, as he entered into contract talks for 1998 with FIVE teams, receiving a variety of offers that were lucrative, offensive, and in one case even upset Alain Prost. HAVE YOUR SAY: Get your questions in for our 'Ask us anything' series finale about all things from 1989-2005 in F1. Contact @wearetherace on social media, using the hashtag #BringBackV10s Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can one of the top teams in F1 at the time produce a car that was never able to race? Glenn Freeman is joined by Edd Straw and ex-McLaren F1 mechanic Marc Priestley to discuss the McLaren MP4-18, which was supposed to race in 2003 but never made it to a grand prix. Why was McLaren launching the car late? Why did that launch date keep getting pushed back? What role did the success of the interim MP4-17D have on McLaren's plans? What fundamental problems did Adrian Newey discover with his radical design? How did McLaren's handling of the project set the wheels in motion for Newey to leave the team? Was McLaren right not to risk the car while Kimi Raikkonen was fighting for a championship? Could Raikkonen have beaten Michael Schumacher to the title if more effort had gone into the MP4-17D? And last but not least, did this famous unraced car in fact end up racing after all?? HAVE YOUR SAY: Contact @wearetherace on social media using #BringBackV10s with comments and questions you want us to tackle in our series finale! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our monster first story from F1's past reaches its chaotic conclusion as we reach the final weeks of Alain Prost's time at Ferrari. Karun Chandhok and Edd Straw return to help Glenn Freeman chart the total downfall of this relationship. Why did Ferrari's promising debut for its new car mid-season not carry on? What were the failings behind the scenes at Ferrari that showed how far behind the times it was in F1? Should Jean Alesi have won a race? Why was Ferrari still obsessed with peak engine power when its rivals were moving on? How did Michael Andretti fit into all of this? What was Prost expecting to do for 1992, and how did he get on when he later tested a Ligier? And most importantly, did he really get fired for calling the Ferrari a truck?! HAVE YOUR SAY: Get your questions and comments in for our series finale by using #BringBackV10s on Twitter to @wearetherace Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our first episode revisits the famous saga that led to Alain Prost being fired by Ferrari at the end of 1991. Glenn Freeman is joined by Karun Chandhok and Edd Straw to trace this story back over the course of more than 12 months. How did Nigel Mansell's involvement in late-1990 lead to the first cracks appearing between Prost and Ferrari? Why was Ferrari so confident it would start 1991 ahead of its rivals? What was going on behind the scenes at Maranello? Why did it release two new cars in a single season? Why was the second of those cars so good on its debut and disappointing after that? This episode takes us up to the middle of 1991, when things were starting to look up for this partnership even if the chance of another world title push was off the table. BE PART OF OUR SERIES FINALE: Send your questions and comments about anything to do with F1 from 1989-2005 to @wearetherace using #BringBackV10s and it could be included in our 'Ask us anything' series finale. https://www.the-race.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is Bring Back V10s? Host Glenn Freeman explains what you can expect from our new classic F1 podcast, and gives you a little preview of a clip where we revisit one of the less-famous Senna vs Prost moments from their epic rivalry. Make sure you subscribe to this feed so you are the first to know when our opening episode is released! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.