The Dream Team Behind Mercedes: Meet The 'Brackley Boys' | Beyond The Grid | Official F1 Podcast
Join host Tom Clarkson as he shares the stories of the world championship winning Mercedes 'Brackley Boys' - Ron Meadows, Andrew Shovlin, Simon Cole and James Vowles and the collective highs and lows that bond them together like brothers throughout their joint time in Formula 1.
Topics in this episode:
0:00 - Welcome to Beyond The Grid with ‘The Brackley Boys’
3:53 - The ‘identity crisis’ at Brackley before Mercedes
7:17 - The humble origins of Brackley’s F1 team
10:22 - Aiming for wins with British American Racing
14:18 - How data has transformed the team
18:15 - ‘Naughty boys’: BAR’s race ban
23:40 - ‘An incredible race’: victory with Jenson Button
25:58 - Honda pulling out
29:58 - Creating Brawn’s ‘monster’
34:05 - Championship bets at 2009 winter testing
36:00 - Champagne and redundancies
39:45 - Brawn on the brink: clinging on in 2009
48:12 - ‘Are we worthy?’: racing with Mercedes and Schumacher
53:06 - ‘My biggest regret: striving for Schumacher’s 92nd win
55:56 - A new era
1:00:28 - Dominating the 2014 season
1:01:43 - ‘We had two drivers that wanted to win at all costs’
1:05:12 - How Nico Rosberg evolved to beat Lewis Hamilton
1:07:09 - ‘You can’t find any weakness in Lewis’
1:09:26 - ‘Lewis, it’s James…’
1:14:21 - The bond that holds The Brackley Boys together
1:24:30 - Tom reads your stories of meeting our previous guest, Kamui Kobayashi
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Subtitle is a must for non native English speaker
Keep fighting Michael
Insane when your team goes from zero to Hero. Respect for the "Brackley Boys"
WE NEED TO MAKE A SONG FOR LANDO NORRIS LIKE WE HAVE FOR SUPER MAX!!! PLEASE LIKE SO PEOPLE CAN SEE THIS!
Why is Schumacher getting this much credit for Mercedes success? That makes no sense. Schumacher left in 2012 driving V8's. He never got anywhere near the hybrid cars.
Love the concept of this BTG episode, reminded me of another group interview, very similar and also very funny, "The Brabham Boys (Ecclestone, Lauda, Blash, Whiting, Piquet) Interview With Martin Brundle"!
You should consider doing these interviews with Video... it would so much better... don’t take me wrong love the podcast but recognizing who is who on this interview would be great... Tom you are doing a superb job, not only for the current fans but imagine these interviews playing back in 20, 30 years... what a legacy... Congrats...
SCHUMACHER!!!! Miss him dearly around the F1 paddock.
Love the show, but this must be the best episode up to now! What an insight into the team. Great to hear how the team grew over the years.
I love that half of this is devoted to pre-Mercedes days, which is about half of the time that Brackley has been around. Pretty well balanced, sometimes these old stories get lost in the more recent stuff
Best one yet!
This is absolutely brilliant
Brilliant work Tom Clarkson! That was a fantastic insight into the history of the Brackley Team, the things that make a team sucessful, and the passion that goes into getting to the top in F1, and then stayng there. I'm much more a fan of your interviews with Team Principals, Designers and Engineers, than drivers, and this was the best yet! Can you look at lining up interviews with some of the other leadership teams that have been together for a while in the other teams, their tales will be epic too.
Michael Schumacher = King of F1
Great podcast I do disagree with these guys in why they are sounding kind of passive-aggressive when they discuss Nico leaving, he left cause he did everything he wanted to, it's not running from a fight if you won why not leave on top with everything then leaving when you are lower down and not focus on really important things like family.
So interesting and such a candid interview. I can't help think it's perhaps a shame that generally people aren't aware of t great values MS has as individual.
It's interesting what people think. Especially the "experts" on the internet often deny that Michael Schumacher was able to build a team. But it's funny that almost everyone who has ever worked with him claims exactly the opposite...
no mas f1
mono marca mercedes hamilton
Lewis gave y'all 7 constructor's championships and the 8th is loading. But yeah keep on kissing schumacher's buttocks. "We are winning because of schumacher" are you for real ? Undermining everything lewis achieved for this team. Laughable. My respect for the 'brackley boys' just went out the window. That's why LH said somewhere "trust no one ".
Everyone knows he has nothing to do with Mercedes success today. He left the sport long before the hybrid regulations and he wasn't even Mercedes best driver. Rosberg was better than him every year. Unfortunately due to Schumacher's illness the people at Brackley are holding him up higher than they would if he was still fully healthy. Happens all the time when people die or get very sick.
Who else saw “dream team” and took a second to realise it was f1
Missing James Allison
Amazing to hear about the team’s love for Michael, commentators always say it but brilliant to hear just how much he meant to Merc senior leadership
@j v Schumacher didn't have much directly to do with the current generations of cars. That is definitely true. However, to say he has nothing to do with their current success is a bit of a stretch. Schumacher directly contributed to the current culture that exists @ Brackley. The biggest thing I've heard them reiterate is how much they learned from Michael & the way he went about racing: he was supremely analytical and relentless in seeking out performance, leaving no stone unturned. His work ethic was also incredible. Rosberg "leveled up" massively after studying Schumi. No doubt all that mattered & help shape the way these guys go about the business of data analysis when it comes to design, setup & adding performance to the cars, highlighting & overturning performance deficits & getting their current drivers & machines to gel. I'm the biggest Lewis Hamilton fan, but his success with Mercedes is irrelevant to their opinions in this case, IMO. They weren't asked who was the best, or most successful: simply who their favorite was. Again, huge Hamilton fan, but he's not my favorite F1 driver ever either: Senna is... Mika & Lewis are probably a joint 2nd...
@j v lol
@CommentToR v Nothing I said is untrue.
@j v i guess you didnt listen the podcast
@Damjan Stevanovic I mean.....not to be rude but we all know Schumacher had nothing to do with Mercedes success today. How could he? He left in 2012 driving V8's. The sport had a massive regulation change to V6 Hybrid cars in 2014. Schumacher never got anywhere near these cars. Never even drove them, never mind tested then to give feedback to the engineer's. And he wasn't even Mercedes best driver. He lost to Rosberg every year. You do realise that they are only saying this about Michael because he's ill, right?
Best podcast! Truly enjoy listening to the way progress over the years! Bono would be great to hear from. Excellent job!
So that 'get in there' is quite ancient
best episode so far. never liked mercedes but this is amazing. cant deny that the guys are the best in the biz
Finally we get to hear from the "Valteri its James" guy
Lewis is a great driver no doubt about that. But he has also been in the most dominate car with very little competition since 2014. Outside of Nico its been pretty much racing himself. When Nico has the second most wins since 2014 yet retired over 4 years ago... You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to realize that the car is the reason... Where as the four bracelet boys were and remain in awe of Michael Schumacher. Michael could win in any car in any situation and in any condition. He could enter a struggling team as he did with Benetton and Ferrari and win them multiple titles. Michael at 42 years old entered a completely different F1 and still held his own. He moulded the team to work harder and prepared them for what was too come. Lewis as Ross Brawn stated entered Mercedes when they were primed for success. Lewis did not need to build a team, the team was built. All he had to do was show up and drive fast... Once again Lewis is a great driver but Schumacher was and will always be another level. And the 4 Brakley boys agree. Cheers!
Why didn't Michael win in the Merc, oh he was saving the wins for Lewis...
@Jay kugee It seems MS managed to escape from facing Kimi because Kimi was racing for top team (Maca), he absolutely on MS radar. However, Nico isn't in top team, so no worry to teammate with him, but this time MS made a big mistake. It seems also Merc took a wrong wing man to partner with him.
R u talking about the same MS who run from the sport when he was told by Ferrari he is going to race Kimi without his usual #1 driver treatment.
If Rosberg need 1000 laps to catch Hamilton to equal a Hamilton doing 2 laps already up to pace, How many laps MS need to catch? You need to know Merc choose a wrong wing man for MS. Period. If Merc stayed with Ruben regarding Brawn GP or choose Heidfield instead Rosberg, he would beat them easily.
HHF PLEEEEEEEEESE
I really want someone to make a movie about that 08/09 winter in Brackley, there's so much ups and downs in the whole story, it's incredible!
"Mercedes F1" is, like most teams in F1, a British team.
and your point is........??
Get them, this are the guys that made mercedes op, go catch them
"Brackley bois"
0:58 So the phrase "Get in there" has been a part of Brackley since the BAR days
They are all look-a-likes right to left; ted, toto, a younger hobo Otmar Szafnauer, and Christian Horner 🤣🤣
Hotstar
great interview such a pity it did not remain Brawn !
LOL they all prefer Michael to Lewis.
“Literalmente el 99% de las personas ignoran este mensaje: que Dios guarde tu familia y a ti de esta enfermedad “ 🙏🏻💖
best one yet!
Permavirgin over level 9000 Galore! Go team!
Would love video for these podcasts. Seeing the reactions.
They are dominant now but they surpassed their limits to be so. Ferrari take notes please
Best episode yet. Made me, as a fan, fall in love with F1 all over again.
maybe this is easy for me to say because much of my f1 fandom has involved merc dominance. however, i know enough about f1 to know that the show, much of the show, takes place off track. merc deserves their success. there is no way you stay that dominant and it not be a beautiful thing to watch. they've had to fight.....increasingly over the years with other teams. its not easy staying on top.
We want bono podcast
James its Patrick hold position please.
Hearing stories about the Brawn GP 2009 season - it will never get old. In 50 years when I'm 80, I will still enjoy hearing that story. Every detail is better than the most finely written script.
can we get video on these @formula1? it'd be great
Amazing cast. I have so much respect for every single Mercedes' team member. Increbible stories!
there are no subtitles for this video, not even automatic ones. someday, the f1 account will understand how important this is. but not today. pain
I think there is a chrome plugin / google addon that automatically create subtitles for any kind of audio on the internet
The greatest season of all time 09 the brawn era thank you guys for such an awesome year without you and Ross that year would of been so so so different.
Brackley Four Horseman of the Mercedes
Brackley Boys, we like that.
Taking a quick look, but the 2009 Bahrain GP was definitely not a night race, so I don't know what they're talking about.
My favorite so far
Wonderful episode. Really enjoyed this one.
Just add some video with it even it is just them talking.
The team should still run with a British license.
Dream Team = made a ilegal car for years , paid MAFIA and stay ok!
I loved every moment of this podcast, super, all 4 are legends.
WOW More Mercedes. Just what I wanted to hear! For the last 8 years we haven't heard enough. lol
How many Mercedes personnel (besides Lewis, Valtteri & Toto) have been on the show?
And yet here you are. Lol indeed.
The Brackley Boys . . . That’s new. You have an incredible talent for getting fantastic interviews. The Fantastic Four is the best interview yet. Getting these four together for a single interview - Great stuff!
In my school zoomcall All messup here we get 4 talking with civil manner
Bar was a start up team built from the ground up .... really ???
Best BTG podcast ever. Super revealing not one of them said Hamilton was their favorite driver to work with despite their 7 years with him.
And that's your main take away from this interview?
@Scott Meredith What exactly is revealing about that? They didn't say nico, bottas, ant Davidson or rubens.
@Black Girls Rock I’m living rent free in your head? Well that’s flattering, but find a new hobby 🍻
Living rent free...🤣🤣🤣
Just an idea - would be great if you could identify who is talking by circling their photo in the video (or any other way).
Lol can't you tell 😂😂👍🏿
Why this is not allowed to watch in Europe?
2009 monaco was also the race they fitted a wheel deflector on the front wheels the wrong way
It not hard to work out why Nico left he was a coward
Truth!💯💯
Wow, F1 is really putting out some amazing content! All of this and not behind a paywall! Love it!
Someone needs to go and find that plumber 😂. He seems like a TOP lad
Oh...something new! Great! GreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaT! =)
so intersting to hear these guys just chatting between themselves amazing listen
Back F2 Livestream in You Tube
💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Well done but had enough of you guys winning. Time for other teams to take over. didn't bother to watch most of the races last season as it was a real borefest.
Amazing
Stealing the nickname 'Brackley Boys' for future use
A German team with both engine and chassis F1 factories in England and ran almost entirely by Englishmen with an English star driver. 🇬🇧🇬🇬
Lads from London, Brackley Boys,
you mean Brackley Boys TM
Hey, they were there before you guys! 🤣🤣
The best admins on the grid
Keep this coming! Love the people behind the car are getting the recognition they deserve
Never knew that these guys were the ones behind those rough BAR years. Newfound respect for their dominance and hard work
BAR Honda became Brawn GP which then became Mercedes so it makes sense.
Best in the business
Ed Sheeran in Mercedes...
02:31 "The bond between them!" Haha! It's twofold. 😄 👋
the Dream Team did a bad Job.
Was enjoying this interview before realising that this interview emitted alot of what Sir Lewis brought to the team I found it very disrespectful now that can be the questions you asked or edited, you spoke on everyone else on what they bought to the team and nothing really on what Sir Lewis bought and the differences he changed from when Michael was there and the things he's said he's changed on the car
So, the guys who've lead the Team have a view different from your preconception, but its not your preconception that needs changing??
Someone asked Pete windsor about what the four Merc guys said about liking Michael over Sir Lewis and he was perplexed and asked did they really did say that and he would know, results speak for themselves and they have a driver with a Knighthood leading there team all who think Sir Lewis doesn't gave the respect where it counts only have to look at the car livery being black that should say it all, besides I think it looks much better, more meaner In black anyway.
@Jazz Zsm Well this interview says something else
No where in this interview did they say they didn't like working with Sir Lewis or that they preferred Michael over Lewis, remember it's Sir Lewis that has put them into the history books and made them all well known. I would have liked if they had spent some more time talking about what Sir Lewis has brought to the team because in other Interviews when they are asked they they tell you about the changes he made ie the smaller steering wheel, which Nico also adopted the brake Bias moved from a lever to the wheel which was Michael's preference and Nico had used before Sir Lewis changed it and also adopted it . As well as brake lining changes & suspension preferred setup to the way he liked it.And don't forget that Merc's disrespected him by changing all his mechanics that he had got working his way and swapped them with Nicos and that was the year Nico won and Sir Lewis lost by unreliability. It's the interviewer who asked the questions and edited it, nowhere did they say they preferred working with Michael, what they did say was that it was a pleasure working with a legend and they would have liked him to have experienced some wins with them, get your facts right.
@Scott Meredith You're right they enjoyed working with a washed up schumacher that couldn't match a determined Nico. TBH, Michael was known as a people person within ferrari. Worth noting in 2010 michael was the finished article, unlike Lewis in 2013. Interesting, Ron was quick to highlight Lewis being the complete package. No weaknesses, the same cannot be said of schumacher....
So weird to me how all these podcasts on here don't have video. If they had video they'd do so much better on YT. I also dislike just listening to a podcast.
@Lastname Firstname podcasts dont have video by definition
@Scott Meredith No. Where did I say I was mad? Your assumption is flawed.
So you're mad a podcast is a podcast because you don't like podcasts. Lol wow
Tyrell -> BAR -> Honda -> Brawn GP -> Mercedes
Mercedes and Michael Schumacher if Michael stays, he would get more championship and Hamilton will stay in the GP2 Engine McLaren Honda hahahaha
Mclaren Mercedes in 2013 and 14. Would have stayed Mclaren Mercedes if they were winning races, a feat not achieved in 9 years since Lewis Hamilton left.
@niuean3000 If you look at the results between 2011-2012 when all things were equal and both MS and NR finished without car related issues. MS won the battle and out finished NR 15 to 11. Plus MS had 3 times the car related issue NR. NR has has stated and considers MS the best of all time!
@niuean3000 Well said!💯
@niuean3000 👍
Rosberg was beating MS constantly in qualifying and races, so MS would not have won any more championships, next time just be upfront with it and say your jealous and hate LH 🤣
The Brackley Street Boys 🎤 Quit Playing Games 🎹
In other words, quit playing games with our cars
quit playing gamess with myyyy Mercedes-AMG F1 M10 EQ Power+, 1.6 L (98 cu in), 90° - V6 turbocharged engine
There's no one who says Max Verstappen more than Tom Clarkson, and it grates every single time when he says VerSHtappen!! He doesn't even have a lisp, there's no excuse for it.
Boyband with middle age crisis
If the crisis is money and success then, yeah
Er the past dream team ,you mean
Pure F1 History! Thanks for sharing!
How many top people at each team are excluded from the coming salary caps? Will they draw straws, flip a coin or do rock/ paper/ scissors to decide matters? ;^)
all time # 1 ranked team in F1 history
@Gnar No, you are false.
Very True.
False
Can't wait to take the dog for a walk out tonight and listen to this!
Wait... that’s Simon Cole in the picture? I can’t recognise him 😂
F1 maFIA Mercs Benz, beyond the HAMboring time zzzzz.
Hello, folks, it's James
Is this the James who's famous for the radio message to Valtteri?
@Black Girls Rock my mistake,sry
@William Stephens thanks for the correction
@vaishnav suraj That’s not correct. This James is the correct James from the radio. James Allison doesn’t talk to any of the drivers and he’s not on the pit wall.
@vaishnav suraj No, it's not. James Allison is the technical director. James Vowels is the "Valtteri, It's James" guy.
no that is James Allison
Non video
With People like that, a team menager like Mr Toto, and a driver like Sir Lewis Hamilton, almost everything must go well,or better, very well,I think| Stay all safe!