Lando’s champion evolution, Vowles’ podium pride + Brad Pitt’s ‘need for speed’ – The Best of 2025

F1 Beyond The Grid

karenellenbevan

Leisure, Sports News, News, Sports, Technology, Automotive

4.8 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 December 2025

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A title fight full of twists and turns, a new World Champion, rookies reaching major milestones and Formula 1 on the big screen.

The 2025 season was nothing short of dramatic on and off track. Here, on F1 Beyond The Grid, Tom Clarkson has sat down with the people in the thick of all that drama and in this end-of-year special, Tom picks out his highlights.

You’ll hear from the new World Champion Lando Norris, who reveals how he changed his mental approach to racing, and his race engineer Will Joseph. Lando’s title rival and teammate Oscar Piastri explains how he made so much progress from 2024 to 2025. And McLaren CEO Zak Brown and Team Principal Andrea Stella tell us how they’ve managed to get Lando and Oscar to buy into the team’s racing philosophy.

Away from the champions, Isack Hadjar reflects on how he bounced back from a nightmare F1 debut in Australia. Esteban Ocon and his race engineer Laura Mueller explain how they’ve built a relationship in their first year working together at Haas. And Valtteri Bottas tells Tom why he’s got unfinished business with F1 ahead of his return with Cadillac in 2026.

From the cockpit to the pitwall, Williams Team Principal James Vowles shares his pride after Carlos Sainz secured the team’s first podium since 2021 and Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur gives his thoughts on Lewis Hamilton’s first year in red.

Plus, four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel reflects on the highs and lows of his career and Hollywood icon Brad Pitt reminisces on what it was like becoming F1 driver Sonny Hayes for F1: The Movie.

Thank you for listening in 2025. F1 Beyond The Grid will return in 2026.

To hear the full interviews with the guests featured in this show, click on the links below…

Lando Norris

Oscar Piastri

Andrea Stella + Zak Brown

Helmut Marko

Fred Vasseur

James Vowles

Brad Pitt

Sebastian Vettel

Transcript

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0:00.0	A title fight that went down to the wire.
0:08.9	The crowning of a brand new world champion, rookies realizing their potential, and Formula One's Hollywood debut.
0:17.0	2025 was, at times, unbelievable.
0:23.2	But all of that did happen.
0:28.6	And on F1 Beyond the Grid, we've spoken to the stars of the show who made it happen.
0:35.7	Hello everyone, I'm Tom Clarkson, and this is the podcast, where the fastest drivers in the world slow down for an in-depth conversation.
0:39.6	And it's not just the drivers, engineers, designers, team bosses, and people with incredible
0:45.4	stories all share fascinating tales of their time in the sport.
0:50.0	From today's stars like world champion Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Isaac Hadjar,
0:55.9	to legends of the past like Sebastian Vettel and even Hollywood icon Brad Pitt.
1:01.5	You'll hear from all of them and many more as we listen back through the highlights of our eighth year,
1:07.7	bringing you the biggest names from the pinnacle of motorsport.
1:11.9	Welcome to the best of Beyond the Grid 2025.
1:16.4	Let's start with the driver who added his name to the shiny silver trophy they all want to win.
1:24.0	After 24 rounds, it's Lando Norris who takes his first World Championship.
1:31.3	It's the Promise Land for Lander.
1:35.3	Oh my God, you made a good dream from True. Thanks so much.
1:40.3	I love you guys. Thanks for everything. You deserve it. I love you, ma'am. I love you guys, thanks for everything. You deserve it.
1:45.0	I love you, Mom, I love you, Dad, thanks for everything.
1:50.0	I'm not crying.
1:56.0	A magical moment for Lando Norris at the title decider in Abu Dhabi. That was pure, raw emotion
2:02.8	after a roller coaster season that saw him recover a 34-point deficit and realize his childhood
	...

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