26 episodes

Hosted by Michael Kosta of the Daily Show and tech, culture, and F1 commentator Toni Cowan-Brown, this is "Choosing Sides: F1". Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsports to more than one billion fans worldwide, with death-defying races, state-of-the-art machinery, exotic locales, and billions of dollars at stake. But to many Americans who follow only the Big Four sports, it’s still a fairly new sport that offers more questions than answers.
But with now three races in the USA - Miami, Austin and Vegas - Formula 1 is growing in popularity and increasingly being discussed in spaces outside of motorsports. 

In season One, Daily Show correspondent Michael Kosta, got the dirt on teams, their history, and their drivers, from how they came up through the sport to the messy problems they’ve had in recent seasons. In Season Two, he's coming back to the table with more questions, and new co-host, Toni Cowan-Brown, will help Michael figure out what type of fan he is. Unlike other sports, Formula 1 offers a wide range of interesting topics - the gossip, the fashion, the logistics, the technology, the business... you get the point. 
New episodes of "Choosing Sides: F1" drop every Tuesday, beginning March 12th but why not binge Season One with Michael Kosta and Lily Herman in the meantime. 

Choosing Sides: F1 Sports Illustrated

    • Sports
    • 4.5 • 175 Ratings

Hosted by Michael Kosta of the Daily Show and tech, culture, and F1 commentator Toni Cowan-Brown, this is "Choosing Sides: F1". Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsports to more than one billion fans worldwide, with death-defying races, state-of-the-art machinery, exotic locales, and billions of dollars at stake. But to many Americans who follow only the Big Four sports, it’s still a fairly new sport that offers more questions than answers.
But with now three races in the USA - Miami, Austin and Vegas - Formula 1 is growing in popularity and increasingly being discussed in spaces outside of motorsports. 

In season One, Daily Show correspondent Michael Kosta, got the dirt on teams, their history, and their drivers, from how they came up through the sport to the messy problems they’ve had in recent seasons. In Season Two, he's coming back to the table with more questions, and new co-host, Toni Cowan-Brown, will help Michael figure out what type of fan he is. Unlike other sports, Formula 1 offers a wide range of interesting topics - the gossip, the fashion, the logistics, the technology, the business... you get the point. 
New episodes of "Choosing Sides: F1" drop every Tuesday, beginning March 12th but why not binge Season One with Michael Kosta and Lily Herman in the meantime. 

    The Speed Junky

    The Speed Junky

    For this week's episode, we have an incredible lineup to help us understand what it takes to race these cars every week and the speeds they reach. Michael and Toni were joined by Scott Mansel, Madeline Coleman and Romain Grosjean. We'll finally be answering the age-old question - Driver or car?

    Scott Mansell, founder of driver 61, is  a former racing driver and YouTuber with millions of subscribers who will help us understand all the driving skills in racing. Madeline Coleman, F1 journalist at The Athletic who has this incredible ability to ask drivers how they would describe themselves and explain in depth what it's like to be them. And finally, Romain Grosjean, ex-F1 driver and current IndyCar driver talks with us about what it’s actually like to race an F1. He also spends some time talking about that moment on November 29th 2020 when he crashed his car during the Bahrain GP and was stuck in his car on fire for 28 seconds.
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 46 min
    The Gossip

    The Gossip

    Can we have sports without entertainment? Or is sports entertainment first and foremost? What is 'WAGagadon'? In the context of F1, these questions become even more interesting and layered, as Elizabeth Blackstock puts it - "Liberty Media is currently stuck marketing a sport when they were sold entertainment."On this week's episode, we discuss all things drama, fashion, gossip and entertainment. Toni has assembled a phenomenal group of fans and experts to convince Michael there is so much beyond the actual race to look forward to. We are joined by Rashi Gaur, the woman behind the lifestyle account that captures and shares every detail of Lewis Hamilton's outfits. As well as the duo, Hannah and Zoe, behind the popular Fan Behavior podcast and last year's co-host Lily Herman, F1 journalists and the author behind the newsletter - Engine Failure. 
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 40 min
    The Logistician

    The Logistician

    You've probably heard this saying - F1 is a travelling circus. On this week's episode, we are joined by two of the best experts to help us understand the sheer complexity of putting on every year this 'travelling circus'.Joe Pompliano is an entrepreneur and investor with a passion for breaking down the money and business behind sports. Giorgia Tirabassi is a Trackside Operations Manager at DHL Global Forwarding - DHL is one of the longest-standing sponsors in F1 and the main partner in charge of logistics. We also briefly touch on the hot topic of how many races should the F1 calendar have. Is 24 races too many races?
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 42 min
    The Tire Head

    The Tire Head

    Anyone who follows Toni's content knows how fascinated she is with tires - the one thing that actually touches the track and yet it’s the one thing that the teams do not have full control over. The big question is can Toni convince Michael of this? Convert him to the tire head camp. To help with this, she’s tapped the biggest self professed  tire fanatic of them all, Matt Trumpet - an F1 fan, fellow F1 podcast co-host and musician. Tune in as we go from rubber compounds to tea cosies from bespoke wheel nuts to deep life lessons.  
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 45 min
    The Data Analyst

    The Data Analyst

    All modern sports are inundated with a seemingly endless stream of stats and data. As with everything else, F1 takes it to another level. With hundreds of sensors collecting all information possible, the F1 data fans are spoiled with endless possibilities. To better understand some of those possibilities we spoke with Tareq Nazlawy, founder of Trace - a Digital Assets Venture Studio, and Sean Kelly, F1's unofficial chief statistician.  Will Michael overcome his aversion, join the ranks of the data nerds, and start coding his own CFD prediction models? Have no idea what we are talking about? Put your geek cap on and smash that play button.  
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 34 min
    Game Strategy

    Game Strategy

    In many ways, F1 is more like a chess game than a straight-out race to the finish line, but to appreciate this, Michael will need to understand the complexities behind the team's strategic thinking. We invited LMDh engineer and ex-F1 race engineer Blake Hinsey (AKA Brrrake) to help break things down for us.
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 38 min

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5
175 Ratings

175 Ratings

Heather NK ,

A good take on a great sport

F1 (and motor sports, in general) deserve more love, and I’m happy to see the increased coverage. Felt like some of the team and driver bios didn’t tell the FULL story, but the show more or less delivered on what it was trying to do. But, for real, George should not be your favorite driver… total tw@t.

Brooksmanzella ,

ASMR Warning

If like me you want to claw your ears out at the sound of ASMR then be warned that they’ve started adding more and more gratuitous ASMR noises to episodes. Started out as a few here and there but now it’s up to multiple PER SENTENCE. They’ll say the word whisper and then meditate and both of those words got a horribly grating ASMR sound effect in the same sentence. Really sad to have to unsub.

whyDoYouHateMN? ,

Cringe

The forced jokes and the production inserts on jokes is actually forcing me to bail on this pod. It’s cringe. If you have a concept, great, don’t add all the goofy sound drops and awful dad jokes.

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