Pitpass.com

As teams and drivers pack their bags ready for the flight to Melbourne, the Pitpass team jumped into the studio for the first podcast of the 2017 Formula 1 season.

Who was the best driver and which was the best team in 2016? That's what the team has gathered to discuss in the Pitpass.com end of season podcast, as well as the slightly awkward fact that they forgot to talk about Nico Rosberg last time around. Chris Balfe, Max Noble and Mat Coch return for one final lap in 2016 to hand out the chocolates, with awards for best pass, most memorable moment and best innovation. There's disagreements, differences of opinion and plenty of bad jokes. But there is more than just the handing out of awards, with discussion turning to all the key topics of the moment. For instance, no podcast would be complete without the mention of biscuits, and the team goes to great lengths to quantify Rosberg's world championship. Indeed, it spurs Balfe into asking the obvious question about the newly crowned world champion, the one nobody had thought to ask. There's another question to be answered too, and that's who does Mercedes replace Rosberg with or, more to the point, is the Mercedes drive a poisoned chalice? Stepping in alongside Lewis Hamilton is a daunting task, and the team runs through a list of drivers and what they might stand to gain, and lose, should they fill the vacancy.

As the 2016 championship draws to a close, the Pitpass team gets the band back together to review the final race of the season. It's been a few weeks since the guys have caught up, but they get straight back in the groove as they discuss the merits of Max Verstappen, and try to quantify just how good he really is. The general consensus is varying degrees of 'bloody good'. That poses a raft of new questions too, such as what does it mean for Daniel Ricciardo's career, and Lewis Hamilton's ego. If Verstappen's career has Chris Balfe, Max Noble and Mat Coch salivating in anticipation, the retirement of two of the sport's most popular drivers has them reminiscing. After more than 300 grands prix there will be no Jenson Button on the grid in 2017, nor Felipe Massa – two drivers who enjoyed successful careers in a sport which has been so brutal to so many. Of course there's no escaping discussing Hamilton's performance at Abu Dhabi. Did he overstep the mark, play to the letter of the law or bring the sport into some sort of disrepute. The team's opinion is unanimous, while Noble, who once again dons his Mercedes team boss cap, suggests a quiet word in the new year is all that is really necessary to calm things inside the team. Of course if that doesn't work there are a range of other options. The crux of the discussion is not however over whether what Hamilton did was fair and just, because there's no doubting it was, but whether it was moral. Indeed it all gets rather philosophical as the team compares the three-time world champion with the man he bested to claim his first crown. With one more season-wrap to follow, the guys for once manage to stay (more or less) on topic in their analysis of events in what was a dramatic, enthralling, nail-biting race.

Was the Japanese Grand Prix the turning point of the season, or the next chapter following Nico Rosberg's breakout drive in Malaysia a week earlier? That's what the Pitpass team is in the studio to discuss this week, along with the plight of Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen's defensive driving and the storm that was Hurricane Lewis. Chris Balfe, Max Noble and Mat Coch managed to forget the biscuits in all the excitement of Japan, preferring instead to marvel and applaud the performance of championship leader Nico Rosberg. After a getting a glimpse of the sort of confidence the German currently has the race before at Sepang, the Japanese Grand Prix saw him stamp his authority on the race in style. Was in the race that broke the back of the championship? We'll have to wait and see, though team-mate Lewis Hamilton appears to be feeling the pressure. Has he reached meltdown though? The team discusses at length Hamilton's comments from the weekend, analysing what might have caused them and whether there are other forces at work behind the scenes which saw the reigning world champion pick a battle with the British media. It's a fight Balfe suggests he's not likely to win, the Fleet Street firm seemingly in the process of knocking down a man they turned into a superstar. So what does Hamilton do from here, and was he showing the sport the direction it could or should be going by engaging with his followers on Snapchat instead of journalists across the weekend? If Hamilton is feeling the heat so too is Sebastian Vettel, a man who according to the team looks a shadow of his former self. The swagger is gone, the wins have dried and instead of a boss with a twitchy foot he now works for a boss with a savage tongue, one all too ready to throw the team under the bus in pursuit of success. Is that the right approach, and is Vettel the man to lead the team out of its comparative dark ages the way Michael Schumacher did? McLaren's weekend on pseudo home soil in Suzuka didn't go to plan with a weak performance from both drivers. After a number of positive glimmers from the team in recent races it was a blip on the radar, one that came at perhaps the worst event of the season for a team whose engine manufacturer owns the Suzuka circuit. Force India and Max Verstappen caught the eye of the team, while Williams caught their ire for another Grand Prix that saw them comfortably outperformed by their nearest championship rivals.

Despite the quick turnaround between the Malaysian and Japanese Grands Prix, the team has found time to sneak into the studio to record the latest episode of the Pitpass Podcast. Chris Balfe and Max Noble once again join Mat Coch to discuss a race which, according to Balfe, was better than nail-biting. Indeed it scored a Full Packet on the illustrious Biscuit Board and would have left our editor giving it two thumbs up if only he hadn't bitten one off in all the excitement. But while there were moments too exciting to chow down on a shortbread there were points that had one absent-mindedly munching away while pondering the enigma that has become Felipe Massa. Set to hang up his boots at the end of the season, boots which will probably not smell faintly of champagne on current form, the Brazilian's performance has left Noble at odds with Coch and Balfe. A stellar career he might have had debate rages on whether he's gone on too long, and what Williams options are as they begin looking towards 2017. The solution proposed by Balfe is so obvious nobody has yet spotted it. One thing the team does agree on was that Malaysia was perhaps the race of the year for Nico Rosberg, an event in which it seemed he started to believe he could be champion. Where once he'd roll over and sulk he drove the race of a champion, refusing to give up and stealing third place at the flag as a result. But if it was the race of the year for Rosberg, what does it mean for Lewis Hamilton as the team discusses the fall out of the world champion's engine failure, and Lord Almighty do they pull no punches in that regard.

It's all tea and biscuits in the Pitpass podcast following the Singapore Grand Prix, an event that saw Nico Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo's grandstand finish overshadowed by a lizard and a moustache. Chris Balfe is once again joined in the studio by Mat Coch and Max Noble, the three probing and prodding at all of the fleshy bits from the Singapore weekend. There's of course talk about Nico Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo's dash for cash at the end of the race, and a discussion on Balfe's innovative biscuit based race rating system. This year's Marina Bay encounter netted an eight butterscotch rating, though we've no idea if that's good or bad or if Chris just got hungry mid-race. Never one to shy away from the big issues the team also tackles the difficult subject of people on race tracks, though at Singapore that doesn't seem a particular challenge given a lizard a drunk and a marshal have all enjoyed unique views of the event in recent times. There is though a serious side to their debate given there were severe safety problems over the weekend, some emanating from race control but others from the drivers themselves as they chose to believe those yellow flags marshals were waving were just their nostalgic support for the Jordan Grand Prix team. That causes Coch to lose his rag and brand the lot of them amateurs - clearly he wasn't a Jordan fan. Ferrari and McLaren get a mention, as does Williams though Valtteri Bottas is politely asked to ensure his seatbelt is securely fastened throughout the duration of the show. It was a bumpy weekend for Haas too, with Romain Grosjean's moaning almost of Lewis Hamilton (who has been on the backfoot all season, even while winning six races in seven) proportions. However there was on topic from which there was no escaping, and one which Nigel Mansell will perhaps be glad finally raised its head. For the first time in decades the Best Moustache in Formula One Award has left his mantelpiece and has been whisked across to the office of Chase Carey with minimal fanfare. Carey was of course on a meet and greet mission and shook hands and had conversations all weekend. So too did Bernie, and one suspects that may be the first glimpse of Liberty Media's new commercial strategy for the sport; the ultimate in reality TV shows as it follows the sports powerbrokers to decide who has the best handshake and small talk. Exactly what Liberty's involvement will be remains unclear of course, that's the way Bernie tends to try and keep things wherever possible, but Balfe in particular isn't sold on the idea. It's probably because he hasn't got any shares. PS, Don't worry Nige, you've still got the best eyebrows.

There's just something special about Monza, home of the Italian Grand Prix, that gives the team goose bumps as they dissect the latest round of the championship. Chris Balfe, Mat Coch and Max Noble can't hide their enthusiasm for the fabled Italian circuit, suggesting it goes a long way to make up for what tend to be fair predictable races. The question is however, for how much longer given the suggested fate of the parkland circuit. The race, or moreover Nico Rosberg's performance, had Balfe thinking. Perhaps there really are two Nico's and the evil twin Max Noble has previously suggested does actually exist. Does that mean there are two Lewis' too, and the one who can start races well had the weekend off? Nothing tough gets the team's motors running quite like Jenson Button's sabbatical, an announcement Balfe in particular takes great exception to. There's business sense there of course, and Balfe concedes that on McLaren's part, but doesn't hold back on voicing his opinion on how the situation was handled. That however proves only to be the curtain raiser for discussion on Ferrari. While it may have nabbed third place on home ground there are confusing and concerning messages coming from the squad's top brass. For Balfe and Noble they fear a return to the dark ages - the period from 1980 to 1999. The possible sale of the sport is also discussed briefly, with suggestions there is far more to any buy out than meets the eye. A date clash with Le Mans is considered a Bad Move while Balfe saves some late praise, and even more bad puns, for late on.

As the Formula One season reconvened at Spa so too has the Pitpass team been busy discussing a Belgian Grand Prix that created more than one talking point. It's a podcast with a bit of a difference, as the trio of Chris Balfe, Mat Coch and Max Noble discuss and analyse the impact of the race on the sport as a whole. There's much noshing and wailing of teeth over Max Verstappen, and the tactics the young Dutch (or Belgian, delete where appropriate) employs. More than that though Balfe traces the Red Bull driver's approach back to its genesis moment in the sport, and it's not quite where you might expect. Of course Kevin Magnussen couldn't escape without a mention, and though the team stop short of awarding points for artistic merit do suggest that such incidents are a warning shot across the bows of the sport. Furthermore they ponder whether that such a crash has happened, and Magnussen escaped relatively uninjured, is perhaps one of the reasons drivers like Verstappen can employ the tactics they do. Yes, it's a real chicken and the egg episode which inevitably leads the team to talk about whether the sport is a sport or if the sport isn't a sport and the sport has become not a sport because sport doesn't sell as well as sport used to. Sport. Then again maybe it's just all business and we should be happy we've got a show to watch, and that it's not been cancelled by fat cat television execs as audience numbers fall. Somewhere in amongst it all there are discussions on Nico Rosberg as Coch and Noble try to work out exactly which one - Nico or his evil twin - turned up in Spa all the while trying to calculate exactly where Lewis Hamilton should have started from. Somewhere near Brussels, was Balfe's guess. Unlike the team radio though it's not all moaning and negativity, though there is groaning about the moaning back to base. It's all a bit like the school yard out there with everyone running to tell teacher - in Verstappen's case, while holding scissors. Still, Max Noble has the solution to all of F1's problems with a neat little rule change that could be enacted next week. It's a simple, elegant and fuss free way of managing penalties. So it'll never happen.

It's the mid-season break and with the teams on summer holiday that's left the Pitpass trio of Chris Balfe, Max Noble and Mat Coch to dissect the first half of the year. In a show that's best described as a marathon and not a sprint, the guys look at each and every team, evaluating their performances and prospects in 2016. There's also discussion on the plight ahead of Nico Rosberg, and just how the German let a seemingly insurmountable points advantage slip through his fingers. Speaking of slipping backwards, Ferrari too has shown worrying signs to Balfe, who suggests the once mighty Italian team is at risk of another dark age. But such is the way with Formula One, as one team's star rises another falls, and as those in red begin spending more time looking over their shoulders Christian Horner and his Red Bull squad must be rubbing their hands together though. Enter Max Noble, who has a cunning conspiracy theory on the current engine situation at Milton Keynes. With its Renault engines - sorry, Tag Heuer engines - working a treat the transformation in the team has been evident in the season so far. There are worrying signs though, and not of another era of Red Bull domination but in its general attitude and swagger according to both Balfe and Coch. The pros and cons of Sauber's new owners is debated as is the fate of Rio Haryanto, Daniil Kvyat and Jolyon Palmer. Indeed the Coch asks his fellow presenters to put themselves in the hot seat at Renault and decide just what it does on the driver front for 2017. Williams, Force India, McLaren and Haas also get discussed as the sport enters its final week of summer holidays, as the Pitpass team brings you bang up to date with everything that we can expect to see in the nine races ahead, with the benefit of the hindsight gleaned from the opening 12 races of the year.

Hot on the heels of the European Grand Prix, the Pitpass team have headed to the studio for the latest episode of the show in which they discuss carpets, SLR cameras, cats and toe-tapping national anthems. It was the flying carpets that got editor Chris Balfe's mind racing ahead of the start of the race around the streets of Baku, dredging up memories of Morocco. Max Noble meanwhile was salivating at the thought of telling his cat all about the track as he commentates his way around the circuit on the latest Formula 1 video game. Yes, carpets and cats, all the ingredients are there for a hugely entertaining podcast, or at very least a couple of poor choices in floor coverings. Still, when they were serious the team lamented the new circuit, which they agreed lacked soul, atmosphere and, as Balfe pointed out, spectators. It also lacked any sort of reference to show the speed of the cars down the long front straight, meaning the bragging rights of it being the fastest street circuit of the world were more or less meaningless. Plus it kind of ruins the rest of the lap the team agrees, since any gains on the fiddly bits are lost in the slipstream down towards turn one. Those fiddly bits caught out almost everyone, and Lewis Hamilton's qualifying misdemeanour didn't go without mention. It was an off weekend for the world champion, with Mat Coch suggesting he should spend a little more time reading the instruction manual. But if Hamilton's performance was a surprise Red Bull's wasn't as the Renault, or is that TAG Heuer, engine puffed and wheezed its way down the straight. The team might blame the Pirelli tyres but nothing beats horsepower down a drag strip reckons Noble. There's discussion about radio rules, compliments for Sergio Perez and eyebrows raised over Williams' performance - not to mention that of Toro Rosso. Whichever Nico it was in the Mercedes in Canada and Monaco looks to have jumped into the Force India since Hulkenberg had a dismal weekend when Rosberg showed the form with which he started the season once more. It raises questions on both fronts, with no easy answers on either. There's a host of other topics covered too such as Noble being accused of animal cruelty, Sergio Marchionne's emergency sweater surgery and Balfe's displeasure at having the end of Le Mans ruined by some overzealous television commentary.

Just where was Nico Rosberg at the Canadian Grand Prix? That's the question being asked by the Pitpass team as they once again gather to run their critical eye over Formula One. Following an intriguing Monaco Grand Prix and a week in which Chris Balfe had been performing daily rain dances in an attempt to spice up the action in Canada, the weekend proved comparatively reserved. There were casualties and the race wasn't bad, and unusually cold, but it wasn't the blockbuster the Giles Villeneuve circuit can sometimes deliver. Lewis Hamilton's performance, particularly at the first corner, set chins wagging and raised the question of driving standards; not because the reigning world champion had done anything wrong but because Formula One seems to be the outlier in terms of world motorsport according to Mat Coch. Sebastian Vettel may not have stolen victory following his lightning start but he did steal the show post-race according to Balfe after hijacking Lewis Hamilton's television interview to share his love of ornithology. It was unscripted, off the cuff and showed the personalities of both Vettel and Hamilton and that, according to Balfe, is where the sport could win so many new fans. There were notable mentions for Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz while a quiet pondering over Force India's weekend, not to mention a chink of the glass for McLaren and Fernando Alonso. In that glass is of course the sport's official frosty elixir, as announced over the Canadian Grand Prix. With another race this weekend the team also shares its thoughts on the forthcoming European Grand Prix, and why getting your hair cut this weekend might be a bad idea.

Having finally dried out after a soggy Monaco Grand Prix weekend, the Pitpass team have found their way into the studio to discuss everything that happened around the streets of the Principality. Chris Balfe is back on the grid alongside Mat Coch and Max Noble as they sink their teeth into the meaty issue that is Red Bull and its inability to perform a pit stop. The former world champion team put in an amateur performance in Monaco which cost its defacto lead driver a likely win and probably his loyalty to the squad too. For that reason and others Balfe suggests heads should roll at the Milton Keynes squad Speaking of heads, while they roll away from the Red Bull factory there's some serious work that needs to be done inside Max Verstappens. Following a breakthrough win in Barcelona both Balfe and Noble share concerns that he's perhaps starting to get a little too big for his britches. It might have been the perfect way to start his career at the time, but the duo are left questioning whether in reality it was the worst possible thing that could happen as it hasn't given the youngster time to adjust and acclimatise to his surroundings. His attitude across the Monaco weekend didn't do the teenager any favours. Almost missed under the steaming pile left in Red Bull's pit box was Lewis Hamilton's performance, the Mercedes driver putting in a solid day's work to make the most of his performance. It wasn't lost on the Pitpass team who all agree that while he wasn't the fastest car out there he did all he needed to do to remain in contention, as the very best always do. In many respects the same can be said for Sergio Perez who seemed to out drive the Force India to nab third place from under Ferrari's nose. More than that the Mexican racer is beginning to embarrass Nico Hulkenberg, leaving Noble to question whether Perez is getting better or Hulkenberg is getting worse. Thankfully there will be plenty of opportunity for Noble to assess that in the coming weeks as the championship heads off on an eight week tour that takes in six different countries. It's an important phase of the championship, one which the team hopes Nico Rosberg bothers to turn up for.

After yet another thrilling grand prix, the third in a row if you believe Mat Coch, the Pitpass crew is back to make sense of it all. Max Noble joins Coch in the studio as Chris Balfe takes a week off, the duo sharing their thoughts and opinions on everything from the mud-slinging happening at Ferrari to the warm fuzzy feeling Noble gets while reading headlines about Max Verstappen. The Spanish Grand Prix was a sensation for the young Dutchman, and while he receives his fair share of praise the attentions of both Noble and Coch were elsewhere. According to Noble the Barcelona encounter was proof that the old Kimi Raikkonen had returned, while the Finn's performance would have left Coch having a stern talking to the man who finished second best. Proving he'd be a harsh task master, Coch then sets his sights on Ricciardo, for the second time in as many shows, suggesting the Australian's time at Red Bull has come to an end. The arrival and immediate success of Verstappen is Ricciardo's death knell, he reasons and while understanding his perspective, Noble plants himself firmly on the fence. And it's from that vantage point he draws his conclusions over the first lap incident between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. But while he isn't willing to apportion blame, Noble does admit he'd be giving both drivers a stern talking to, going so far as to threaten them both with the sack if they don't lift their games. Predictably, Coch has a different view and lays the blame entirely on one of the two Mercedes men in a passionate rant that ultimately ends up with him questioning the driving standards in Formula One. There's a half-baked conspiracy theory and some words of encouragement for Romain Grosjean before Coch and Noble just about come to blows over their opinion of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Poor Daniil Kvyat is copping it from all sides this week. Not only do the rumours swirl that he's been ousted from his seat at Red Bull but the Pitpass team is showing no mercy either. Chris Balfe, Max Noble and a terminally ill sounding Mat Coch have once again entered the Pitpass studio to dissect the race, with Balfe and Noble adding their voices to the chorus of criticism young Kvyat has faced since the Russian Grand Prix. Surprisingly it's Coch who leaps to his defense, a point not lost by Kvyat who seemed determined to interrupt the show by continually texting Balfe. But if the team couldn't unanimously agree on just how much at fault Kvyat was, they could at least agree that it was, as Russian Grands Prix go, a pretty good one. It wasn't China good, but it was certainly not Abu Dhabi bad, which on balance means it was probably above average. That doesn't all owe to the racing either as the weekend's events provided plenty of ammunition for the team away from the Vettel's offensive on Russia's western front. Lewis Hamilton had chins wagging, and not for the right reasons with the reigning world champion showing all the signs of having been up well past his bed time and having the strops for not getting ice-cream because he didn't eat all his vegetables. Yes, the team agrees his attitude over the weekend was childish, and they're not shy in airing that view. Whatever medicine Coch is on has clearly left him in feisty mood, the Australian taking objection to everything that anyone was saying. He's anti-team radio, anti-canopy, anti-Hamilton and, well, anti-anti. If further evidence was needed his suggestion that selling Daniel Ricciardo for a buck and dropping Max Verstappen alongside Daniil Kvyat at Red Bull is the way forward says everything you need to know.

The Chinese Grand Prix proved almost too exciting for the Pitpass team as they gather once again in the studio to dissect the race. Chris Balfe, Max Noble and Mat Coch can't hide their after what they suggest was easily the best race of the season.