Choosing Sides: F1

iHeartPodcasts and Sports Illustrated Studios

Hosted by Michael Kosta of the Daily Show and Lily Herman of Engine Failure. | To more than one billion fans worldwide, Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsports, with death-defying races, state-of-the-art machinery, exotic locales, and billions of dollars at stake. But to many Americans who follow only the Big Four sports, it’s mostly a car series confused with NASCAR. Luckily, the tides are changing. In recent years — and thanks in part to Netflix's ultra-popular Drive to Survive series — Formula 1 has finally gained a foothold in the United States. But there’s more to these teams and their drivers than simple stats, race wins, and championship standings. For instance, when did Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff become both a meme magnet and a thirst trap? How did Haas, the only current American-owned team, lose millions of dollars to a sketchy energy drink tycoon? And which driver received death threats and hired a bodyguard at the end of last season all because he crashed into a wall? In each episode, F1 expert-in-residence and walking pop culture dictionary Lily Herman will give our host, Daily Show correspondent Michael Kosta, the dirt on a team, its history, and its drivers, from how they came up through the sport to the messy problems they’ve had in recent seasons. In the end, he’ll announce the team and driver he wants to support in 2022 and beyond. Who will he choose? It’s lights out and away we go on Choosing Sides: F1. New episodes of "Choosing Sides: F1" drop every Tuesday, beginning June 28th!

  • 33 minutes 10 seconds
    The Finale

    Over the past few months you have joined us as we took F1's favorite newby fan - Michael Kosta, and handheld him through the process of figuring out what kind of F1 fan he is. With Toni Cowan Brown's confident guidance, along with a star lineup of engineers, strategists, super fans, drivers and journalists - we schooled Kosta on everything from logistics to the weather. 
    So, you are all asking yourself - what kind of F1 fan will Michael choose to be? How much of the information did he actually retain? What does Zoltan, our trusted engineer think? all this and more in our Season 2 finale. 

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    28 May 2024, 2:01 pm
  • 38 minutes 16 seconds
    The Meteorologist

    The Brits love to talk about it but the weather in F1 is so much more than a conversation starter. It's a core component of every race strategy.For this episode, we talked with Bernie Collins who's been trackside at F1 for nearly nine years - Former F1 strategist, now F1 analyst. We also talk with two meteorologists who provide motor racing predictions - Dr. Aaron Studwell and Elizabeth Ohlemacher. We also bring back Scott Mansell to help us understand how the weather - heat and rain - affects the drivers, the cars and thus their driving.   As the saying goes - the rain is the great equaliser in F1. The unpredictability of the weather is one of the most exciting parts of a race weekend!

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    20 May 2024, 10:00 am
  • 52 minutes 34 seconds
    The History Buff

    Next year F1 will be celebrating its 75-year anniversary so it's safe to say there is a lot of history in this sport. In this episode, Toni is taking Michael all the way back to the very beginning of F1 to try and make some sense of the puzzle that is this sport. She's invited some very knowledgeable people to help her. Toni and Michael are joined by Matt Bishop who's been in F1 for 30+ years working for McLaren, Aston Martin and was one of the founders of the W Series. James Allen, ex-F1 announcer and now President of Motorsport Business & F1 Liaison at the Motorsport Network Media and Sean Kelly whose work you will most likely know as he is the Chief Statistician to the F1 broadcasters. This is our best attempt at a crash course on the history of F1, how we got here, what's changed and what hasn't.

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    14 May 2024, 10:00 am
  • 47 minutes 4 seconds
    The Tech Junkie

    F1 teams are driven by a single focus - to make the fastest car possible. But how do they create these aerodynamic machines?  This week we will be diving into the technology of F1.  And to help us understand the tech that drives the pinnacle of motorsports is a voice you might recognize - Bernie Collins, ex-F1 mechanical and performance engineer, turned F1 strategist now a Skysports F1 commentator. Together we'll try and answer Michael's most pressing questions - What is DRS, how many parts does an F1 car have and most importantly - how does all this help Michael? So let's talk new regulations, aerodynamics, wind tunnels and duct tape. 

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    7 May 2024, 10:00 am
  • 46 minutes 24 seconds
    The Speed Junkie

    For this week's episode, we have an incredible lineup to help us understand what it takes to race these cars every week and the speeds they reach. Michael and Toni were joined by Scott Mansel, Madeline Coleman and Romain Grosjean. We'll finally be answering the age-old question - Driver or car?

    Scott Mansell, founder of driver 61, is  a former racing driver and YouTuber with millions of subscribers who will help us understand all the driving skills in racing. Madeline Coleman, F1 journalist at The Athletic who has this incredible ability to ask drivers how they would describe themselves and explain in depth what it's like to be them. And finally, Romain Grosjean, ex-F1 driver and current IndyCar driver talks with us about what it’s actually like to race an F1. He also spends some time talking about that moment on November 29th 2020 when he crashed his car during the Bahrain GP and was stuck in his car on fire for 28 seconds.

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    30 April 2024, 10:00 am
  • 40 minutes 9 seconds
    The Gossip

    Can we have sports without entertainment? Or is sports entertainment first and foremost? What is 'WAGagadon'? In the context of F1, these questions become even more interesting and layered, as Elizabeth Blackstock puts it - "Liberty Media is currently stuck marketing a sport when they were sold entertainment."On this week's episode, we discuss all things drama, fashion, gossip and entertainment. Toni has assembled a phenomenal group of fans and experts to convince Michael there is so much beyond the actual race to look forward to. We are joined by Rashi Gaur, the woman behind the lifestyle account that captures and shares every detail of Lewis Hamilton's outfits. As well as the duo, Hannah and Zoe, behind the popular Fan Behavior podcast and last year's co-host Lily Herman, F1 journalists and the author behind the newsletter - Engine Failure. 

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    23 April 2024, 10:00 am
  • 42 minutes 20 seconds
    The Logistician

    You've probably heard this saying - F1 is a travelling circus. On this week's episode, we are joined by two of the best experts to help us understand the sheer complexity of putting on every year this 'travelling circus'.Joe Pompliano is an entrepreneur and investor with a passion for breaking down the money and business behind sports. Giorgia Tirabassi is a Trackside Operations Manager at DHL Global Forwarding - DHL is one of the longest-standing sponsors in F1 and the main partner in charge of logistics. We also briefly touch on the hot topic of how many races should the F1 calendar have. Is 24 races too many races?

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    16 April 2024, 10:00 am
  • 45 minutes 32 seconds
    The Tire Head

    Anyone who follows Toni's content knows how fascinated she is with tires - the one thing that actually touches the track and yet it’s the one thing that the teams do not have full control over. The big question is can Toni convince Michael of this? Convert him to the tire head camp. To help with this, she’s tapped the biggest self professed  tire fanatic of them all, Matt Trumpet - an F1 fan, fellow F1 podcast co-host and musician. Tune in as we go from rubber compounds to tea cosies from bespoke wheel nuts to deep life lessons.  

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    9 April 2024, 10:00 am
  • 34 minutes 16 seconds
    The Data Analyst

    All modern sports are inundated with a seemingly endless stream of stats and data. As with everything else, F1 takes it to another level. With hundreds of sensors collecting all information possible, the F1 data fans are spoiled with endless possibilities. To better understand some of those possibilities we spoke with Tareq Nazlawy, founder of Trace - a Digital Assets Venture Studio, and Sean Kelly, F1's unofficial chief statistician.  Will Michael overcome his aversion, join the ranks of the data nerds, and start coding his own CFD prediction models? Have no idea what we are talking about? Put your geek cap on and smash that play button.  

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    2 April 2024, 10:00 am
  • 38 minutes 56 seconds
    Game Strategy

    In many ways, F1 is more like a chess game than a straight-out race to the finish line, but to appreciate this, Michael will need to understand the complexities behind the team's strategic thinking. We invited LMDh engineer and ex-F1 race engineer Blake Hinsey (AKA Brrrake) to help break things down for us.

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    26 March 2024, 10:00 am
  • 44 minutes 47 seconds
    Down to Business

    Kosta is interested in having his name (and face!) on an F1 car. But how does one even go about that? In this installment, Toni and our experts will explain the crazy business model of F1 and to help us with this is motorsports journalist and novelist, Elizabeth Blackstock. We'll also be briefly introducing a new guest who'll be helping us later on in the season - Matt Bishop, MotorSport columnist, Racing Pride founding ambassador and previously CCO at Aston Martin Cognizant Formula 1 Team.

     

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    19 March 2024, 10:00 am
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