Max Verstappen started 21st at the 2026 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix and finished second, while Lando Norris converted pole into a convincing win in São Paulo.

Dianne Bortoletto is joined by Josh Fordham of The Second Seat Podcast to unpack a rain-soaked Formula 1 qualifying, the engine penalties that reshuffled the grid, George Russell's aborted pole lap and Lewis Hamilton's early call for slicks. Mercedes sealed the constructors' championship, and Hamilton made his 400th Grand Prix start.

Qatar is still on the calendar and MotoGP is threatening riders with race bans if they stay away. Josh d...

Ep94: F1 Mexico GP: Kimi’s Crown, Ferrari’s Meltdown

Kimi Antonelli finished third at the 2026 F1 Mexico City Grand Prix, and that was enough to make him Formula 1 world champion with four races to spare. He is the youngest ever champion and the first Italian to win the title in 73 years.

It should have been Ferrari’s day. Lewis Hamilton took his first pole for the team, then Charles Leclerc ran wide at turn four on lap one, kept the place, and Max Verstappen slipped through to win. Leclerc’s five-second penalty didn’t undo the d...

Max Verstappen reportedly lifts himself off his seat at two corners of the F1 Austin Grand Prix circuit because the bumps are that bad.

Kimi Antonelli won the 2026 United States Grand Prix from pole at the Circuit of the Americas. He now needs only ninth in Mexico to become the youngest Formula 1 world champion, by three years. Behind him, nine points separate George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Max and Charles Leclerc.

Dianne Bortoletto and Ciara Gillan of Formula Live Pulse unpack the late VSC that cost Ferrari, McLaren's team orders and Isack Hadjar's radio frustration. The...

A three-day F1 ticket in China costs about US$68, while a weekend in Lewis Hamilton’s House 44 in Las Vegas runs to around A$26,000.

Dianne Bortoletto and Ciara Gillan dig into the real cost of attending Formula 1 races, from a full season done on £20,000 to Paddock Club passes that do not actually get you into the paddock.

Ciara argues everyday fans are being priced out of their own home races, while Di weighs up whether influencers belong at the track when sponsors such as Louis Vuitton and Barilla are paying to bring them. So who is...

Lando Norris dive-bombed McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri on the second-last lap of the 2026 F1 Singapore Grand Prix sprint, put him out of the race, then told reporters it was a race, end of. Di and Ciara Gillan take apart the move and the media pen.

Max Verstappen took both poles, the sprint and the race at Marina Bay, his first Singapore win at the 10th attempt and his 250th Formula 1 start. Lewis Hamilton ignored Ferrari’s call to pit under the VSC, ran 43 laps on softs and slid from a possible podium to sixth.

After at...

Max Verstappen took his first win of the season at the 2026 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, and Di was in the grandstand at Sepang to see it. She rates the racing as first class and the organisation around it as dangerous.

Rain delayed the Formula 1 start by an hour and 40 minutes, then a software bug had Ferrari telling Lewis Hamilton to stop and reboot. Hamilton still finished third behind Kimi Antonelli, while George Russell retired and now sits 84 points behind his Mercedes teammate.

Di tells Ciara Gillan what the weekend was like for fans...

George Russell led every lap of the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku for the first time in his career, then crossed the line less than two-tenths ahead of Max Verstappen after losing turbo on the final lap.

The Formula 1 race turned at the lap 35 restart. Franco Colapinto locked up and hit Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, who took out Lando Norris. Norris came out swinging, saying some drivers shouldn't be in Formula 1 and calling for a race ban. Ciara Gillan says a world champion running eighth at a restart is just another driver in a car.

The Formula 1 2027 calendar is out with 24 races, 10 sprint weekends and Australia no longer the season opener, and Dianne Bortoletto and Ciara Gillan have problems with most of it.

Bahrain and Saudi Arabia open the year, Qatar and Abu Dhabi close it, which puts the Middle East at both ends of the season while this year's races in the region were cancelled. Di and Ciara weigh two theories: a consolation prize for the host nations, or a tidy way to drop four rounds without leaving gaps if the conflict continues. Neither is confirmed.

Sprint weekends go...

Kimi Antonelli won the 2026 F1 Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid, then said it probably should have been Lando Norris's. Di disagrees: McLaren pitted Lando after the virtual safety car had ended, then took seven seconds to change his tyres. Mercedes called Kimi in within three seconds. The better team won.

On a Formula 1 weekend both hosts rate the dullest of the season, Di and Ciara Gillan still find plenty to argue about. Max Verstappen cut a corner and gave the place back before the stewards had to act. Lewis Hamilton lost his brakes on lap six for...

Kimi Antonelli started 19th at the 2026 F1 Italian Grand Prix and was leading Monza by lap 18. He pitted, did it all again, and won: the first Italian to take the Italian Grand Prix since 1966.

Behind him, Ferrari fell apart and Flavio Briatore accused McLaren of corruption in the team boss press conference. The open question is George Russell: second on the grid, second in the race, barely a word for his teammate afterwards. Has Mercedes already chosen its number one in this Formula 1 title fight?

Plus Lewis Hamilton's barn-find F40, Charles Leclerc turning up in...

Two race trips dominate this episode: Monza next week, and Sepang, hosting Malaysia's first Formula 1 race since 2017.

Journalist and author Stewart Bell has worked both. At Monza he explains what the oldest track on the calendar feels like on foot: the historic banking too steep to walk up, and Ascari taken at speeds that look impossible from trackside. The practical layer is all here too. Stay in Milan near a metro, take the train from Milano Centrale in roughly 25 minutes, and leave the car alone. Then eat properly: risotto alla Milanese, cotoletta, and aperitivo with a Select...

McLaren put Oscar Piastri on hards, pitted him for another set of hards 13 laps later, then cost him a further second and a half with a 3.8 stop. He went from third to sixth. Di and Ciara Gillan spend most of this episode trying to work out why.

Lando Norris won it, his second in a row, and left Zandvoort sounding like a man who thinks a second title is live. He is 83 points behind Kimi Antonelli with 11 races to go.

Max Verstappen was out on the first racing lap. He caught a wet patch, hit...

Silly season is meant to be silly. This one has been oddly missing all the silliness — until you look closer.

Di and Ciara Gillan from Formula Live Pulse close out the summer break with the rumours that actually matter: Max Verstappen’s exit clause has been triggered, Carlos Sainz has reportedly been offered €30 million to stay at Williams, and Cadillac has already sacked its team boss six months into its debut season.

Plus the question nobody wants to answer out loud — if Max walks, who replaces him? And would you wish that seat on Oscar Piastri...

Dianne Bortoletto and Ciara Gillan recap the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring, where Lando Norris took his first win of the season and McLaren's strategy left Oscar Piastri fuming before a gearbox failure ended his race. Recorded with Ciara reporting from Budapest on her final morning in the city, and Di in Melbourne.

70 laps, 4.38 kilometres a lap, 14 corners, all of them newly named after Formula 1 drivers, and 310,000 fans through the gates across the weekend.

Piastri started third after Lewis Hamilton was penalised for impeding him in qualifying and Kimi Antonelli picked up a grid...

Dianne and Ciara Gillan recap the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, where Kimi Antonelli took pole by the biggest margin of the season, on his dad's birthday, and converted it into another win to extend his lead in the Drivers' Championship. Recorded late Sunday night in WA after a rare dry Spa race.

Also on the table this week: George Russell's heartbreaking lap-one DNF after clipping with Lewis Hamilton and the five-second penalty that neither Sky Sports nor we agreed with, Russell close to tears in his post-crash interview, Mercedes admitting all Merc-powered cars had start-line issues...

The mid-season break has barely started and the paddock is already on fire. Di is in Margaret River, Ciara is in Berlin, and this week they unpack every rumour worth talking about in the 2026 silly season.

Is Max Verstappen really talking to McLaren? What would actually be in it for him, and what would Jos Verstappen do inside a team with two number one drivers? Then there's the other side of that swap: Oscar Piastri to Red Bull. Di and Ciara debate whether Laurent Mekies can build a championship-winning car around him, and whether McLaren would ever...

Show notes:

The British Grand Prix delivered wheel-to-wheel battles, a championship leader fighting a broken car, and a finish that left almost every fan deflated. Charles Leclerc took Ferrari's 250th Formula 1 win at Silverstone, but it came under a safety car after Max Verstappen's late DNF, which is exactly as unsatisfying as it sounds.

Dianne Bortoletto and Ciara Gillan, motorsport journalist at Formula Live Pulse (f1livepulse.com), break down everything: Kimi Antonelli's fighting spirit on a mechanically compromised car, George Russell's fortunate second place, Ferrari's decision to keep Lewis Hamilton's five-second penalty quiet until...

Ferrari arrived in Austria with a big upgrade package and left with Lewis Hamilton fifth and Charles Leclerc eighth. George Russell inherited pole position beating a split-second yellow flag, then he led every lap, and won.

Dianne Bortoletto and Ciara Gillan break down the race, the qualifying controversy, Kimi Antonelli's chaotic opening laps, and why the Red Bull Ring broadcast left viewers feeling seasick.

Also this week: the FIA removes presidential term limits, Rachel Brookes departs Sky Sports, Cadillac's double DNF inside five laps, and Carlos Sainz's proposal that would change Formula 1 entirely.

...

Most Formula 1 fans file Monaco under one day, one budget you don't have: yacht money, championship-week crowds, a Sunday grandstand seat that costs more than the flights. Motorsport historian Colin Johnston has spent years doing it the other way.

This week Colin joins Dianne Bortoletto to show how to experience Monaco, Goodwood and the great old European circuits as an independent traveller, without the championship-weekend price tag. He makes the case for the Monaco Grand Prix Historique: the same iconic circuit, the cars you grew up watching, a fully open paddock, and three days of racing from 150...

Dianne is wearing every piece of Ferrari merch she owns, because Ferrari are finally back. After a 595-day drought, Lewis Hamilton took his first race win in red at the Barcelona Catalunya Grand Prix. It came almost to the day, 30 years after Michael Schumacher won his own first race for Ferrari at the very same track, and Hamilton now has seven wins in Barcelona, one more than Schumacher ever managed. If that does not give you goosebumps, Di is not sure what will.

Di and Ciara Gillan from Formula Live Pulse break down how it actually happened...

Monaco is the race everyone loves to call boring, and this year it was anything but.

Nineteen-year-old Kimi Antonelli took pole, led every lap, and won, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the Monaco Grand Prix and stretching his championship lead to 66 points after just six rounds. It is the kind of statistic that stops you in your tracks. Behind him, the race fell apart.

Max Verstappen stalled on the grid and was out before the first corner, the first of seven retirements from a field of 22.

The stewards handed out...

Emily Selleck walked into her first Formula 1 paddock at the Australian Grand Prix and had an interview with Max Verstappen within five minutes. Five years later, she is one of the most well-connected Australians in the sport, having covered races across the calendar while building a distinctive perspective at the intersection of motorsport, culture, and commercial strategy.

In this episode, host Dianne Bortoletto and regular co-host Ciara Gillan from Formula Live Pulse talk with Emily about what the paddock really looks like from the inside. The conversation covers Oscar Piastri's championship potential and the McLaren internal dynamics...

The 2026 Canadian Grand Prix delivered one of the most action-packed races of the season so far, and Dianne Bortoletto and Ciara Gillan have plenty to say about it.

Kimi Antonelli claimed his fourth consecutive Formula 1 win in Montreal, becoming the only driver in history to win his first four races back to back. It should have been a George Russell weekend, and for the sprint it was, but a power unit failure on lap 29 ended his race and handed Antonelli the kind of result that championship battles are made of. Lewis Hamilton stepped onto the second step...

Stewart Bell has been covering Formula 1 from the inside for more than 20 years. He's had a front-row seat for some of the sport's biggest moments, from being the only media in the garage for Daniel Ricciardo's first Albert Park run, to interviewing Ayrton Senna's press officer about the day he died at Imola. Now he's turned two decades of paddock access into a book, published by Penguin.

In this episode, Stewart joins Dianne Bortoletto to talk about his career, the drivers he's worked with, and what Formula 1 looks like from the inside when the cameras aren't rolling.<...

What if your frequent flyer points could get you driven through the gates at Albert Park, into the McLaren suite, and down to the team garage after qualifying? In this episode, Dianne Bortoletto sits down with Chris Chamberlin, freelance travel journalist and frequent flyer points expert, whose work appears in the Australian Financial Review, Business Traveller and Traveller.

Chris breaks down how he pieced together an entire Middle East trip across five different frequent flyer programs, why he flew Emirates first class for the same number of Qantas points as a domestic reclining seat, and how a...

After a five-week break, Formula 1 returned with an action-packed sprint weekend in Miami, and it delivered chaos on lap one, big performances up and down the grid, and plenty to unpack (including another round of Ferrari frustration).

Host Dianne Bortoletto is joined by Ciara Gillan from Formula Live Pulse to break down the Miami Grand Prix feature race and sprint, key moments, strategy calls, penalties, and what it all means heading into the next round.

In this episode

Miami GP recap: the layout, the challenges, and why this sprint weekend felt especially hectic<...

After a five-week break, Formula 1 is back and Miami is a sprint weekend.

In Ep69 of Away We Go Podcast, Di is joined by Ciara Gillan (Formula Live Pulse) to unpack what’s changed off-track, what matters heading into the Miami Grand Prix, and the biggest rumours swirling through the paddock.

This episode covers Ferrari’s latest speculation, Red Bull’s long-lead departure news, and why super-clipping, lift-and-coast and battery management are becoming the new battleground in 2026.

In this episode

Sky Sports F1 broadcaster and author Rachel Brookes joins Away We Go Podcast for a wide-ranging chat that moves from the chaos (and thrill) of live TV to what it really takes to build a career in elite sports broadcasting. Rachel shares unforgettable paddock moments (including an early run-in with Bernie Ecclestone), how Drive to Survive and Liberty Media changed Formula 1’s reach, and why she wrote F1 Racing Drive for new and long-time fans alike.

We also talk travel: jet lag, race-weekend reality versus the glamorous perception, and the routines that keep Rachel going through a re...

What do you do when you photograph one of Formula 1's most compelling personalities, pitch the story to every major magazine, and get knocked back by all of them? If you're Esme Buxton, you build your own magazine.

Esme is a fashion photographer and the founder and editor of The Paddock Journal, a Formula 1 fashion and lifestyle publication that launched just over a year ago and has already become one of the most distinctive new voices in the sport. Based in Cheltenham, England, she joins Di this week to talk about how a single photoshoot with F1...

Japan Grand Prix trip planning starts here, this is a Suzuka special for those thinking of going to the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix.

In this episode, Di chats with Japan travel expert Tess Moone from Tessomewhere.com to help you plan a proper Japan trip, not just fly in, see the race, and fly out.

We cover where to base yourself (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, or Nagoya), how to get around Japan using IC cards like Suica, how the Shinkansen works, what to eat and day trips and lesser-known spots like the Nakasendō trail hike in t...

Kimi Antonelli won back-to-back races at Suzuka to become the youngest championship leader in Formula One history, and he did it while sipping sparkling rose water on the podium — because at 19, Japan's legal drinking age of 20 means he wasn't allowed champagne.

Oscar Piastri returned from his race absence to lead for 15 laps and finish second, and the result raised a lot of questions about what both drivers are capable of this season.

Di and Ciara break down the race from Suzuka — the 5.8-kilometre, 18-corner figure-of-eight circuit that has been part of the Formula One calendar sinc...

F1 journalist Reilly Sullivan left Sydney, moved to Beijing, and came straight out of the Shanghai paddock to talk to us. This episode is part race review, part travel guide, and part honest conversation about what it is actually like to pack up your life and move to China.

Reilly covers his first Chinese Grand Prix from inside the media centre, one of the most impressive press facilities on the calendar, purpose-built when China joined the Formula 1 calendar in 2004, and talks through what race-by-race media accreditation looks like for a freelance journalist working their way into the...

Shanghai delivered one for the history books. Di and Ciara break down the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, a race that had it all, DNSs, DNFs, a teenage winner, Ferrari back on the podium, and both McLarens failing to even start.

Italian driver for Mercedes Kimi Antonelli becomes the youngest ever F1 pole sitter and converts it to his maiden race win in only the second race of the year, and the second season of his career. Di gets emotional. Very emotional.

After Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton battle all the way in one of the...

The 2026 Formula 1 season opened in Melbourne with a dramatic Australian Grand Prix. Mercedes locked out the front row, Ferrari launched brilliantly at the start, and Max Verstappen charged through the field after starting from the back.

I’m joined by Simone Scanu, co-founder of Formula Live Pulse, to break down everything that happened at Albert Park — from strategy calls to rookie performances.

Key Talking Points

Episode Overview

The 2026 Formula One season brings the biggest rules overhaul in over a decade — and we have the perfect guest to break it all down. Host Diane Bortoletto is joined by Simone Scanu, co-founder of real-time F1 data and telemetry app Formula Live Pulse, and co-host Ciara Gillan for a deep-dive pre-season debrief covering Bahrain testing, Ferrari's jaw-dropping engineering innovations, the new hybrid power units, and who's already in trouble before lights out in Melbourne.

Whether you're a die-hard fan or still wrapping your head around Active Aero and Overtake Mode, this episode has ev...

This week on Away We Go Podcast, Di sits down with Ciara Gillan — co-founder of Formula Live Pulse and now a regular voice on the show for the 2026 season.

You’ve heard Ciara on race recaps. You’ve heard her talk strategy, telemetry and team politics. But this episode is about her.

From asking “too many questions” during races (Simone’s words) to co-building one of the most data-rich second-screen experiences in Formula 1, Ciara’s journey into the sport is refreshingly modern — and unapologetically curious.

How Curiosity Built an App

Ciara didn’t grow up g...

This week, Away We Go Podcast sits down with Luke West, editor of the brand-new Pole Position magazine - a 2026 grand prix season and Australian Grand Prix preview.

We talk about Luke’s career and how he came to be the editor a new print Formula 1 magazine in Australia.

He also shares how he witnessed history watching Ayrton Senna win a rain-washed Adelaide Grand Prix, how he was a proud member of the Gerhard Berger fan club, being at the biggest sporting event by attendance in Australian history, and is personal goal of attending the tr...

Inside the F1 Exhibition, Dianne Bortoletto chats with Nicole Piastri, Oscar Piastri's former high performance coach Kim Keedle, F1 Academy Drivers Avia Anagnostiadis and Joanne Cicconte, and the producer of the F1 Exhibition.

The F1 Exhibition is held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre until April. https://f1exhibition.com

Download my free Melbourne Grand Prix Travel Guide here

Includes insider tips at the track, best places to eat, a list of great roof top bars and awesome day trip suggestions and reasons to stay longer - download it here

You’ll...

Formula 1 and motorsport journalist and podcaster Matt Clayton has worked in F1 for close to 30 years. He pioneered Formula 1 podcasting back in 2010 before, erm, everyone became a podcaster.

Matt sits down with Di and his thoughts about the 2025 F1 season, McLaren’s papaya rules, Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and of course Oscar Piastri.

He also shares stories of Bernie Ecclestone’s tactics to control interviews and the incredible headlines he generated around the country for two days, sitting down with Daniel Ricciardo and interviewing the voice of Formula 1, Murray Walker.

You can...

No yellow flags, no safety cars and no contact. The final race of the 2025 Formula 1 season was tense, because of what was at stake, but also quite boring as far as race action goes.

With Australian Oscar Piastri trailing championship leader by 16 points, his McLaren team mate Lando Norris, cinching the title was going to take more than pure race craft. Oscar needed a miracle, “a Bradbury”, especially with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen also in striking distance trailing the lead by 12 points.

Max took pole position in Abu Dhabi and finished the race on the to...