We’re back after what was admittedly a pretty dull race…

As expected, F1 will be racing in Qatar this year - but there’s more to the story than just the headline.

Otmar Szafnauer says that the hiring of Martin Whitmarsh won’t impact his role with Aston-Martin F1

Alan Van De Merwe & Dr Ian Roberts have tested positive for COVID-19 and did not take their usual posts in the medical car for this weekend’s race.

New fire resistant gloves were tested by 5 drivers during FP 1 this weekend.

Red Bull and Honda have shared details on how they will be collaborating over the next few years. While Honda insists that it does not have a 2026 engine project underway.

Mercedes explains why they only change the ICE instead of the entire power unit for Lewis Hamilton - but we’re not sure we believe their explanation.

Nikita Mazepin takes responsibility for his near miss with Lewis Hamilton.

Valterri Bottas wins and Turkey and becomes the sixth different driver to win a race in 2021.

Could Red Bull have shifted their focus away from winning the Constructors Championship and solely to Max Verstappen winning the Driver’s Championship? Could Max have realized that he no longer needs to win races but just finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton to win his first Driver’s Championship?

Has Mercedes made a strategic error regarding engine penalties that will cost Lewis Hamilton the Championship this year?

Toto Wolff says that F1 rules need to allow for staff rotation as the calendar grows - Franz Tost says if his folks don’t like the calendar they should get out of F1.

Could there be an actual deal in the works for Andretti Autosport to purchase Alfa Romeo - Sauber?

Imola says that they have the funding for a long term F1 deal - but is F1 interested in a long term deal with Imola?

Changes are coming to Austin before the US GP - but they should be good for the racing.

Somebody made it back from their trip around the Convention Circuit for us to be able to have a show this week.

Martin Whitmarsh is back in F1 - and we’re wondering what Aston Martin is up to.

The Russian Neutral Athlete celebrated his home race as the Russian Neutral Grand Prix.

And a what a race Sochi delivered for us this year!

Another show! We did it! Two weeks in a row with a show!

This week:

The FIA is concerned that the seatbelts in Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari may have stretched too much.

Red Bull says that the new pit stop rules were the cause of Max Verstappen’s 11 second pit stop.

Michael Massi doesn’t see anything wrong with the sausage curb in Monza that resulting in Max Verstappen’s car going airborne.

Alex Albon owes George Russel a few beers

Could the leading prospect for Alfa Romeo still need to qualify for a Super License?

Robert Kubica has realized that he’s not a leading candidate for a permanent seat at Alfa Romeo.

Sebastian Vettel is confirmed for another year at Aston Martin.

Lawrence Stroll is investing big in Aston Martin and building a “reverse MTC.” Take that Ron Dennis!

Is F1 aiming for a 23 race season in 2022?

IndyCar on the other hand is planning on a 17 race schedule in 2022.

This week we think we’ve got the technical issues that plagued us for the past two months sorted because we have a full episode for you this week.

For the first time there might be an agreement to remove the MGU-H from the next engine formula.

Driver line ups for next year are almost sorted -

• Mercedes - Lewis Hamilton and George Russell

• Red Bull - Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez

• Ferrari - Charles LeClerc and Carlos Sainz Jr

• McLaren - Daniel Ricciardo and Lando (Calrissean) Norris

• Aston Martin - Lance Stroll and [unconfirmed] Sebastian Vettel

• Alpine - Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso

• Alfa Romeo - Valtteri Bottas and [unconfirmed]

• Alfa Tauri - Pierre Gasley and Yuki Tsunoda

• Williams - Nicholas Latifi and Alex Albon

• Haas - Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin

Could the new “helmet cam” be sharing too much info?

Aston Martin and Alpine are both fined for chaos during Q2

2mm is what caused Lewis Hamilton’s poor start in the sprint race

F1 doesn’t seem to realize that the problem with the Sprint Race is that it’s a not much of a sprint.

Monza - 3 laps of excitement in an otherwise dull race - but that doesn’t diminish that McLaren had a 1-2 finish.

Mark your calendars - the 2022 British Grand Prix is slated for July 1-3.

Are you looking for Episode 240? Look no more, it’s officially a “lost episode” and so we bring your Episode 241. We’re still trying to figure out why we’re having issues saving episodes after we record them so this abbreviated episode is a way for us to try and sort out the issue and make sure that we published something this week.

In this short episode we’re talking the revised 2021 calendar and the latest silly season developments.

Williams says that they don’t need Pay Drivers anymore - which is probably not great news for Nick Latifi, a Pay Driver.

Was it really gamesmanship in qualifying in Hungary? If nothing else, it didn’t break any rules.

So what would have happened if nobody lined up on the grid during the safety car restart? Michael Masi says there was a plan.

Mercedes sticks by their decision to not pit Lewis at the end of the formation lap.

Lewis Hamilton thinks he might be suffering from Long Covid.

Aston Martin is appealing Sebastian Vettel’s disqualification - and Valtteri Bottas earned a 5 place grid penalty for Spa.

Netflix will be releasing a documentary about Michael Schumacher on September 15.

McLaren makes a strong commitment to IndyCar…

We start off with an update on the standings in The Bloke and A Bird Show Fantasy GP League - There’s a tight battle for 3 place going in to Hungary.

Monza will be getting the next Sprint Race Weekend.

Michael Massi encouraged Toto Wolff and Christian Horner to visit the stewards after the crash in Silverstone - and now he’s saying they shouldn’t do that. He’s also admitted that there’s a crackdown on the rules, but it’s not clear who actually wanted it.

The war of words between Mercedes and Red Bull over the Silverstone crash continues.

Mick Schumacher is on track for a second year with Haas.

Could Valtteri Bottas be going to Alfa Romeo if Mercedes signs George Russel?

We’re back - and so is The Boy in case you were looking for him.

Helmet Marko is talking trash this week…

Daniel Ricciardo might like the first full size model of the 2022 F1 car.

Maybe pit stops won’t be getting slower?

Zak Brown tests positive for Covid-19

And once again we’re talking penalties, clashes and crashes after the British Grand Prix.

Two in a row and coming fresh off the Penalty Grand Prix aka Austrian Grand Prix.

The penalties came hot and heavy this past weekend with just 4 drivers managing to escape an investigation or a sanction this past weekend. We’re hopeful that this weekend doesn’t signify a new trend.

George Russel missed out on points this week - but it was a great showing from him.

Mercedes has one last round of upgrades coming for Silverstone

Lewis Hamilton has a new 2 year contract.

Honda will be supplying “Not a Honda” engines for Red Bull from their Sakura factory next year.

Audi and Porsche participated in a meeting last Saturday on F1’s future engine direction.

It’s Mario Andretti’s fault that we didn’t have a show last weekend… That’s our story and we’re sticking to it…

But we saw Romain Grosjean last weekend - a lot, and we really appreciate how good natured he was about it.

In F1-

Turkey will be replacing Singapore this year - probably….

Esteban Ocon has a new 3 year contract with Alpine

Pirelli says that the tire explosions in Baku weren’t their fault

Mick Schumacher has a seat problem that Gunther Steiner found out about from Mick’s mom…

FIA is slowing down pitstops in F1 - kind of…

Lewis Hamilton has started contract negotiations.

Bad luck again for George Russell

Can Mercedes fight back?

And the Russian Grand Prix is leaving Sochi…

Once again we start off with some losses…

• Like him or not - the late Max Mosely left his mark on FIA, autosport, and road safety.

• Mansour Ojjeh - a key stakeholder in McLaren passed away this past weekend.

• Singapore has cancelled this year’s race for the second year in a row.

A massive rain storm cause severe damage and flooding at Spa. Repairs are underway and should be completed later this week.

The Dutch GP is hoping to have as many as 105k fans in attendance every day of the event. But the Dutch have teams scrambling to get vaccinated prior to the event.

Negotiations are underway to renew Sauber’s deal with Alfa Romeo.

Valtteri Bottas’ Monaco pitstop is believed to have been 43 hours long - and Mercedes says it was Valtteri’s fault, which was news to Valtteri.

Mattia Binotto has lost his seat on the Ferrari pit wall - he’ll be watching future races from the garage.

Was the safety car called out later than it should have after Max Verstappen’s crash?

Pirelli’s initial theory is that the tires that failed in Baku were due to debris.

Sergio Perez almost lost the race he won.

And there’s news about #wesaynotomazepin.

We’re not planning on becoming an every other week show - but we’re going to be every other week for a bit… At some point we’ll be back to weekly - but we’re blaming this on Covid Times…

A member of Sergio Perez’s family security detail was wounded in an attempted car jacking in Guadalajara.

So much for the Turkish Grand Prix… Instead we’re getting two races in Austria again, and the French Grand Prix is moving up a week.

“Flexi Wings” appear to be back - but they’re not supposed to be.

The budget cap is having an impact on testing.

Mercedes had a really bad weekend last weekend.

Did Ferrari take a gamble that they shouldn’t have sending Charles LeClerc to the grid?

Alpine wants Esteban Ocon - and Lando Norris has a new “multi-year” deal with McLaren.

This week’s show may have been posted a bit later after we record it than usual - but it’s here.

Were you excited that F1 will be going to go back to Turkey again this year - curb your enthusiasm, there’s a possibility it won’t happen…

Stefano Domenicali says that he’s encouraging teams to look for American drivers.

Maybe Williams wasn’t trying to build a car with “peaky” downforce.

Red Bull is poaching engineers from Mercedes to support their new engine development program.

Valtteri Bottas and Mercedes both say that he won’t be getting replaced mid-season.

The team bosses are discussing track limits enforcement.

Sergio Perez says that his qualifying was hampered by shoulder problems.

Yuki Tsunoda has likely learned that as a rookie publicly accusing his team of providing him a car that’s lesser than his teammate is likely not a career enhancing maneuver.

Nikita Mazepin’s vast experience of 4 races doesn’t give him a lot of expertise to question how F1 operates - no matter what he says.

Antonio Giovinazzi’s horrible pitstop last weekend was due to a broken tire valve.

Cyril Abiteboul has a new job.

And Mercedes’ newest driver is - Romain Grosjean!

We’re a bit late this week - we all got hit with side effects from our vaccines, but the good news is that we’re all vaccinated and we’re all better now.

In F1 news - Montreal is now officially out, and Turkey is back for 2021.

Alpine has found the cause of their problems - it was a wind tunnel issue.

Kimi Raikkonen’s post race penalty from Imola was reviewed and upheld by the FIA.

Sprint qualifying is coming to at least two races this year, and even if it’s an incredible success, odds are it won’t be adopted for every race.

Three teams were against sporting penalties for violations of the new cost cap.

Helmet Marko is annoyed that track limits are an issue.

Honda is leaving F1 - but apparently are still going to help Red Bull with developing their engine.

And Toto Wolff is spreading rumors…

It’s been a long two weeks - but F1 has returned from it’s two week quarantine to news and racing in Imola.

We got a lot of news from Stefano Domenicali this week - from the announcement that F1 will be headed to Miami for 10 years starting in 2022 to the confirmation that F1 will not be going to two day race weekends.

It turns out that despite his promotion James Allision is not looking to be the next Team Principal at Mercedes.

Daniel Ricciardo is hoping for a run at Bathurst and perhaps a chance at IndyCar.

McLaren’s iconic motorhome the Brand Center is getting downsized.

Aston Martin is pushing the FIA to reconsider this year’s aero rules - we don’t think there’s a chance that this will happen.

Imola has a famous paddock cat.

We know why there was no data for Free Practice 1 this week.

AlphaTauri had to fix the cockpit to make sure that Yuki Tsunoda could reach the pedals - although this didn’t seem to help in Q1 where he crashed and broke his gearbox in half.

Valtteri Bottas thinks George Russel was a fault for their crash - George Russel thinks Valtteri was a fault for their crash.

Kimi Raikkonen and Lance Stroll both earned post race penalties after this weekend’s race.

The Spanish Grand Prix will not be run with fans this year.

The Canadian Grand Prix is at risk of cancellation this year and F1 will be rolling out new graphics this year.

We didn’t have a show last week because even though the season has started - there was nothing to talk about.

This week though we learned what Sebastian Vettel did during the Covid shutdown last year.

Nico Hulkenburg is BACK - as a reserve and development driver at Aston-Martin.

We talk a bit about Drive to Survive.

Daniel Ricciardo doesn’t like it when F1 highlights crashes.

Alpine tells us yet again that they don’t have a number 1 and number 2 driver.

Haas is only trying to beat Williams this year.

James Allison got a promotion.

Silverstone is hoping that vaccine passports will allow them to have a capacity crowd.

And organizers are still trying to make the Miami GP happen.

Race 1 of the F1 season, and for everything that happened during the race - there wasn’t a lot of news…

Renault’s CEO says that Alpine is committed to F1 for eternity.

George Russel is the newest GPDA Director.

Aston Martin believes that the new aero regulations have cost some teams as much as a second a lap.

Michael Masi says that the stewards won’t be as lenient on first lap incidents as they were before.

#WeSayNoToMazepin didn’t make it past the third turn of his first race.

Sebastian Vettel says that his incident with Esteban Ocon was likely his fault.

Track limits at Turn 4 in Bahrain were a hot button issue this weekend.

And could we be seeing a more mature side to Max Verstappen?

Unfortunately again we start off with some sad news - this week it’s the loss of Queen of the Nurburgring Sabine Schmitz.

Gunther Steiner says that he has no issues with how he’s been portrayed in Drive to Survive - although he also hasn’t watched Drive to Survive.

We question William’s aerodynamic strategy this year.

Mercedes says they don’t have an answer for their struggles in testing.

Lewis Hamilton has made changes to his management team.

If sprint races are approved the cost cap will be considered.

We know the layout of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix circuit.

The teams want more testing for 2022.

And this week is our predictions show!!!!! Find our 2021 prediction questions here.

This week our excitement over the start of the F1 season was tempered by the news that F1 broadcasting legend Murray Walker passed away at the age of 97, so we did our best to pay tribute to Murray throughout this week’s episode…

Alpine’s 2021 contender is getting a bit of “body shaming.”

Mercedes underperformed in testing this week, and so did Aston Martin.

Alpha Tauri announces that their whole team will take the Bahrain Government’s offer of Covid vaccines, as will Carlos Sainz Jr and Sergio Perez. Meanwhile Alfa Romeo’s boss Frederick Vasseur missed winter testing due to testing positive for Covid-19.

If they need reserve drivers this year McLaren will be sharing them with Mercedes.

Fernando Alonso isn’t done with his post-accident recovery, once the season ends he will have yet another surgery as a result of his bicycle accident.

It’s more likely that a few sprint races will happen this year.

F1 is realizing that ticket prices are having on impact on fan support.

Could HDR broadcasts be coming to F1? And is Amazon buying the rights to streaming F1?

So this week we actually figured out the date Drive to Survive starts - it’s March 19th…

The FIA has released their report on Romain Grosjean’s crash in Bahrain,

Pirelli has a 1 year extension on their tire supply contract.

Lewis Hamilton has explained why he took the 1 year contract for 2021.

Alpine says that they don’t have a Number 1 and Number 2 driver.

Cyril Abiteboul’s departure wasn’t expected by the Renault/Alpine team and may not have been voluntary. With Cyril leaving, Alpine will not be naming a new Team Principal for now.

Williams was going to reveal their car in AR - except the app was hacked.

Aston-Martin is aiming for a title in 5 years.

The WADA is investigating Haas thanks to their new livery.

Planning on attending the Bahrain Grand Prix - then you need to have been vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19.

Portugal is officially back on the calendar for 2021, and Azerbaijan will be held without fans.

No champagne on the podium in 2021 - instead it will be sparkling wine… Oh and the sprint races, if they happen likely won’t have a podium ceremony.