Chequered Flag Extra: Selfies, Curses & F1 Hot Takes

Who would take pole for Saturday’s sprint? Would George Russell’s domination continue? Can Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari keep the pressure on Mercedes at the front of the grid? Harry Benjamin, former McLaren Formula E driver Sam Bird and the BBC’s F1 correspondent Andrew Benson reflect on sprint qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix, and look ahead to the weekend’s action.

Izzy Hammond and Harry Benjamin digest the latest F1 trends and biggest discussion points after the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.Are F1 curses real? Are the ‘burger curse’ and ‘Red Bull second seat curse’ impacting F1?We also celebrate Izzy’s favourite Melbourne memes and discuss your hot takes, including the prediction that Aston Martin will win a race in 2026!

Are we going too early to say George Russell will be crowned the 2026 world champion? After his dominant victory in Melbourne, Harry, Jennie and Marc look back at the opening race of the new season and ask just how big Mercedes’ advantage over the rest of the field might be. They hear from Russell, his teammate Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton.

So, Mercedes are going to run away with both the drivers’ and constructors’ titles… right? After their dominant display in the first qualifying session of the season, Harry, Jennie and Marc pick through the bones of what happened. They hear from many of the drivers and discuss what it all means heading into Sunday’s race.

Will the two Aston Martin cars make Sunday's starting grid? Harry Benjamin, Jennie Gow, Marc Priestley and Andrew Benson look back on the first day of on-track action at the Australian GP. Who is the team to beat? And why are Aston Martin struggling so badly? We hear from their team principal Adrian Newey.

Are Mercedes really favourites? Can Lando make a successful defence of his title? And are things really that bad at Aston Martin? Just a few of the questions Harry Benjamin, Andrew Benson and Jennie Gow tackle ahead of this weekend’s season-opening race in Melbourne. Lando joins us on the pod to tell us whether life has changed since becoming world champion. Lewis Hamilton explains why he’s so positive going into the new season. Plus, we hear from one of the new faces on the grid, Arvind Lindblad.

Harry Benjamin and Jennie Gow are joined by ex-McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley and former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer from Mercedes’ Brackley HQ ahead of the new F1 season. With the new rules and regulations dominating the build-up to the 2026 campaign, we ask whether they are a good thing for the sport. Will we have a four-way fight for the title? Will Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari have a resurgence after a disappointing 2025? And how will defending champion Lando Norris fare? We hear from Norris, as well as British rookie Arvid Lindblad, plus motorsport content creator Izzy Hammond joins the team.

The countdown to Formula 1’s new era has begun in earnest. There are now just days to go until the teams unleash the new-look cars that will carry their fortunes in the landmark 2026 season. Concepts crafted inside the team’s fiercely-protected factories are about to spring into life on the track.It’s mid-January, and the Cadillac Formula 1 team are preparing for a huge milestone on their journey to the grid. At Silverstone’s famous circuit, the race crew has assembled for a shakedown, a chance to run the 2026 F1 car for the very first time. Sergio Perez, making his F1 return for the American marque, is the first driver to put some miles on the clock for the team. The Mexican fan favourite is confident that Cadillac is “here to do great things” when it joins the F1 grid in 2026. It’s been nearly half a decade since America toasted its last F1 World Champion, 1978 winner Mario Andretti, who has also been offering his words of wisdom to the Cadillac F1 team.The Haas team are also ticking off the milestones signposting the way to F1’s new era. Team principal Ayao Komatsu reveals how Ollie Bearman’s positive attitude is a real asset to the team’s ambitions. The British racer, about to enter his second full season in F1, has goals of his own, winning races and future World Championships.Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff paused his birthday celebrations to outline how he is also developing the team’s next generation, Kimi Antonelli, into a future race-winner. As the sport enters a new era, Wolff is as curious as anybody about how the pecking order is going to shake out when racing resumes in 2026. The first questions were about to be answered when the new Mercedes F1 car took to the track for the very first time - and our intrepid guides Sarah Holt and Holly Samos were there to witness the all-important car shakedown on a rainy day at the Silverstone circuit. After completing the first flying laps, George Russell gave his verdict on the car that carries his hopes for the 2026 season. Mercedes Technical Director James Allison and the Head of Mercedes High Performance Power Trains, Hywel Thomas, were also on hand to give feedback on the fruits of their labours.As Kimi Antonelli prepared to climb into the cockpit for the first time, he spoke of his gratitude to everyone back at base who had got him this far. The Italian has already been on an incredible journey with the Mercedes team but 2026 is just the beginning of what lies ahead in Formula 1’s new era.F1: Back at Base is an IMG Production for the BBC, hosted by Rosamund Pike Co-hosts & Executive Producers are Sarah Holt and Holly Samos The Producers are Alasdair Cresswell, Joe Aldridge, Jack Winstanley and Mitchell Marshall Production Management from Abbie Collingwood, Katie Killeen and Giulia Duggan The Senior Producer is Ollie Kneen The Executive Producer for IMG is Steve Tebb The Story Editor and Scriptwriter is Sarah Holt The Showrunner is Holly Samos And the Commissioning Editor at the BBC is Stevie Middleton

The new year has been rung in and, for Formula 1, 2026 is here at last. The landmark year of change that the teams have been chasing for months. Inside the closely-guarded F1 factories, there are whispers of speculation about the redesigned cars and the potential for a new competitive order. But only when the cars break cover at the first race in Australia will the secret be out at last.For Kimi Antonelli, a fresh start for 2026 began a little closer to home as the teenager flew the nest and moved into his own house in San Marino. The next milestone in his preparations for the new Formula 1 season is a training camp in Florida with his performance coach Sergi Avila, who already has a long list of physical goals for the Mercedes star.Back at base, Mercedes reserve driver Fred Vesti has been putting in the work on the driver-simulator to unlock the secrets of the 2026 car. Holly Samos and Sarah Holt went to meet the Danish driver at the team’s Brackley HQ to find out what he’s learned about the new car so far. For Haas driver Ollie Bearman planning for the race season ahead is also now in full swing. He’s on a flying visit back home to Britain to don his 2026 race suit and the new Haas kit at a series of photoshoots. But, like all F1 drivers, he’s already thinking about getting back inside the car and is seeing the new set of technical rule changes as an opportunity.At Cadillac’s Silverstone base the fledgling team are also counting down to the looming season. There are just over 50 days until the team makes its F1 race debut in Australia and the hustle-and-bustle at the factory is now in fifth gear as Sarah and Holly found out on their latest visit. There is an air of concentration in the race bays as the car build begins, overseen by chief mechanic Nathan Divey. Cadillac Formula 1 team’s CEO Dan Towriss wants to bring an American spin to Formula 1 - and it doesn’t get any bigger than the Super Bowl. The team will unveil the livery for its 2026 car in a TV advert aired during American football’s season showdown - watched by hundreds of millions around the world.F1: Back at Base is an IMG Production for the BBC, hosted by Rosamund Pike Co-hosts & Executive Producers are Sarah Holt and Holly Samos

Formula 1 is in a moment of pause. The 2025 racing cars have been wheeled into storage, and the racetracks have fallen silent. But inside the top-secret F1 factories, each team is facing a winter like never before. Revised rules for 2026 are reshaping the cars and redefining what powers them, and that means the pressure is on for the hundreds working back at base.Before diving into the future, the team at Brixworth, the home of Mercedes High Performance Powertrains, are marking the end of an era. It’s here that the engine - which drove Mercedes to eight straight Constructors’ Championships between 2014 and 2021 - first came to life. Brixworth boss Hywel Thomas has planned a very special celebration to mark the end of this engine cycle and our expert guides Sarah Holt and Holly Samos were there to join in the festivities. This is an important time of transition for Formula 1’s engine suppliers. Thomas and his Brixworth team have been developing the new engine that will power Mercedes and three other teams, on the grid in 2026.There is parallel work going on at Brackley, where Mercedes Technical Director James Allison is overseeing all other aspects of the new season’s car design. The British engineer has more than three decades’ experience in F1 but even he is a little daunted by what he calls the “biggest ever” rule change in the sport’s history.While the work intensifies inside the F1 factories, it is, in contrast, time for the drivers to unwind. Italian Mercedes star Kimi Antonelli is heading home to spend some time with his family and friends, while Haas driver Ollie Bearman is holidaying in the Maldives before spending Christmas with his family in Monaco. Back at base, the Haas team are hard at work preparing for F1’s new era in 2026 and that means both sides of the garage are collaborating too. Laura Muller - who works alongside Esteban Ocon and is an F1 trailblazer as the sport’s first female race engineer - has just wrapped up her first season on the pitwall. Like Bearman, she knows the experiences of 2025 will help her navigate what lies ahead.F1 race-winner Valtteri Bottas is preparing for his return to the grid with the Cadillac Formula 1 team in South Australia. But even in an idyllic spot for winter training, the Finnish favourite is already counting down to pre-season testing and getting to the first race in Melbourne, Australia as he starts the next chapter of his F1 career.F1: Back at Base is an IMG Production for the BBC, hosted by Rosamund Pike.Co-hosts & Executive Producers are Sarah Holt and Holly Samos.