Flat Chat Podcast: Looking ahead to F1 coming home

Silverstone is expecting 140,000 fans through its gates on race day thanks to the British GP’s status as part of the UK Government’s Events Research Programme – a controversial development since November’s Australian GP has been cancelled owing to logistical issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

GP Racing editor Ben Anderson and columnist Mark Gallagher join host Stuart Codling to discuss what is likely to be a hotly debated topic as the UK enters what its own leaders call “uncharted waters”.

The British GP is attracting capacity crowds partly through pent-up demand but also because the home crowd has three local drivers to cheer on.

This month’s GP Racing – and our panel – takes a look at all three, beginning with an analysis of Lewis Hamilton’s championship mindset.

Is it the case that Hamilton, like many drivers, relied on talent alone until reaching a transformative turning point in his career which enabled him to reach ever higher peaks?

George Russell and Lando Norris are at different points in their career trajectories to Hamilton but are demonstrating all the signs of future greatness.

GP Racing examines Russell’s role in lifting the once-great Williams team out of the doldrums – to the extent that the team’s new leadership is ready to put up a fight to keep him out of Mercedes’ hands.

Norris, meanwhile, is arguably one of the most impressible drivers of the 2021 season so far – a remarkable feat for someone who was once considered to be some way behind Russell in terms of future prospects.

Speaking exclusively to GP Racing this month, Norris was very frank about his early crises of confidence and how he’s developing towards becoming a complete F1 driver.

And as F1 bids farewell to Carlos Reutemann, our panel pays tribute to a driver who fell short of winning the world championship but who played a key role in driving F1’s global popularity at a time when TV coverage of races was only just becoming widely available.

And what happened in that controversial final round of 1981? Judging by some of the debates on social media, it’s a topic that still inflames passions today…