F1 Racing Podcast: Does Valtteri Bottas have the hardest job in F1?

F1 Racing editor Ben Anderson and columnist Mark Gallagher join host Stuart Codling to weigh up whether winning the world championship with Lewis Hamilton in the garage next door really is an impossible dream.

Bottas is a proven grand prix winner, but time and again Hamilton has found an extra gear mid-season and left his team-mate behind.

While Bottas's challenge for the 2019 drivers' championship is running out of steam, he says he's still developing as a driver.

Bottas is trying to erase the weaknesses in wheel-to-wheel combat and tyre management that have occasionally held him back during race weekends, and he has also changed his lifestyle.

F1 Racing's cover feature this month is an exclusive interview with Bottas.

In it, he explains the renewed motivation he found to come out of the blocks fighting this season and answer his critics: "'Fuck them. I can do this.' That was the mentality."

Ferrari celebrated its 90th anniversary with a star-studded event in Milan and F1 Racing reported from the scene.

Our panel asks what it is that still makes Ferrari so special despite its often fraught existence.

The Scuderia's long relationship with Philip Morris International and its Marlboro brand has become a talking point again this season with the arrival of PMI's Mission Winnow branding.

While this is a campaign to communicate that the tobacco industry is undergoing a transformation towards a smoke-free future, rather than advertising a product, many territories F1 visits remain uncomfortable with the idea of the tobacco industry being involved.

But the departure of tobacco sponsorship has cost F1 in the region of £300m a year, and there has not been an influx of other corporates to fill that gap.

F1 is still a great way to communicate a product, but can it communicate an ideal? That remains a challenge as it looks for new partners and revenue streams in an increasingly regulated ad industry.

And as F1 continues to struggle to reach a consensus for the next set of technical regulations, Mark Gallagher argues that it needs to innovate if it is to remain relevant in a rapidly changing world.