F1 vs NASCAR | F1 Roars Into the U.S. | 4

Summary

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Business Wars – F1 vs NASCAR | F1 Roars Into the U.S. | Episode 4 – Summary

Podcast: Business Wars
Host: David Brown
Guest: Alex Jakes (F1TV and Channel 4 commentator, author of Grid to Glory: 75 Milestone Formula 1 Moments)
Release Date: May 28, 2026
Theme: The rise of Formula 1 in the U.S., its business transformation, and a look at the new generation of F1.

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Main Theme / Purpose

This episode examines how Formula 1 (F1) secured its foothold in the U.S. and evolved from a niche, tightly-guarded European sport into a booming global phenomenon and a true rival to NASCAR. Host David Brown talks with commentator Alex Jakes about key drivers of F1's recent success, including changes in business strategy, the role of media (especially Netflix’s Drive to Survive), epic racing moments like the 2021 season, and how the sport is adapting—technically and demographically—for a new era.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Allure of Formula 1

• Alex Jakes shares his childhood F1 spark (03:47):
  • Describes the visceral excitement of watching the chaotic 1998 Belgian Grand Prix pileup as a formative fan moment—emphasizing that F1 is both art and adrenaline.
  • “You just put elite athletes in wonderfully advanced technology and then you race them out on the track… one of the most exciting spectacles in sport. I always say… people go to air shows around the world… imagine them racing. That’s basically what Formula One is.” (03:47, Alex Jakes)

2. Alex’s Path to Broadcasting (04:24)

• Progressed from covering junior racing series (GP3/F3, GP2/F2) to F1, likening the process to seeing a small band before they make it big.
• “The great advantage… was that I met a lot of the drivers when they were in their formative years… build a reputation and relationships…” (04:24, Alex Jakes)

3. F1’s Struggle—and Breakthrough—in the U.S.

The Old Guard

• Under Bernie Ecclestone, F1 footage was tightly controlled—nothing was shown without big fees, even on popular talk shows (05:39).
• “Bernie Ecclestone would charge an enormous amount of money for said clip. So you couldn’t even show it to promote an appearance on a chat show.” (05:39, Alex Jakes)

The Liberty Media Era & Digital Pivot (09:04)

• Liberty Media's acquisition in 2018 was a “sea change.” The digital vacuum was filled: highlights, social media, and a proper U.S. fan funnel.
• “There was only one way to watch it, traditional linear television… now social media, YouTube highlights, streaming…” (09:04, Alex Jakes)

The Netflix Effect—Drive to Survive (10:10)

• Unprecedented behind-the-scenes documentary access, focusing initially on midfield teams, revealed “human” side and behind-the-scenes drama previously never public.
• “Guenther Steiner… was so honest and open… not only had new audiences not seen that before, traditional audiences hadn’t seen that before.” (10:42, Alex Jakes)

Changing Demographics (14:29)

• F1's audience is now younger and more diverse, with a significant increase in female fans.
• “To reach an entirely new demographic… is pretty rare. Formula one always reinvents… The chance to bring in a new demographic, that is so rare.” (14:29, Alex Jakes)

4. U.S. Expansion: Tracks and Growth (15:49)

• Austin (COTA) became the anchor for U.S. F1, with Las Vegas and Miami following, reflecting exploding popularity.
• “You can only imagine how people felt about racing down the Strip in Vegas... logistically, that was an amazing feat.” (15:49, Alex Jakes)

5. The Epic 2021 Season—a Gladiator Battle (19:22)

• Verstappen vs. Hamilton—a generational, physical, and psychological duel, captivating a huge global fanbase just as F1 entered the cultural mainstream in the U.S.
• “One of the greatest seasons Formula one has ever seen… physically painful for both drivers… nine months around the world, high speed… fighting for the titles.” (19:22, Alex Jakes)
• Asked about neutrality: “That was the season to test the neutrality, because it was partisan in a way that Formula one rarely is.” (21:02, Alex Jakes)

6. Verstappen’s Meteoric Rise (22:04)

• Red Bull’s unique junior team structure enabled Verstappen to leapfrog traditional ladders, entering F1 at just 16—prompting rule changes as a result.
• “Red Bull could go, you know what, he’s good enough… let’s just stick him in Formula 1.” (22:04, Alex Jakes)

7. The 2021 Abu Dhabi Finale (25:36)

• A race—and decision—debated to this day.
  • “Everyone had pushed themselves to a point of performance and exhaustion that meant that it was always going to be controversial… it’s the strangest atmosphere after the race I can ever remember.” (25:36, Alex Jakes)

8. F1 as Big Business

• Team valuations have skyrocketed (26:59):
  • Pre-2021: Teams sold for ~$120M; by 2026, average team valuation is $3.5–4B.
• New U.S. participation: Cadillac (General Motors) entering the grid demonstrates the U.S. market’s value and F1’s business health.
  • “The idea of General Motors joining Formula One even five years ago would have been laughable.” (27:38, Alex Jakes)
• Top drivers earn in the $70–75M/year range; Verstappen cited as an example (28:07).

9. F1 in Pop Culture

• Apple’s “F1: The Movie” (Brad Pitt) becomes an Oscars and box office hit (28:56). F1 drivers are attentive critics.
  • “That’s a Hollywood blockbuster about Formula One. That’s unbelievable.” (29:45, Alex Jakes)

10. The New Generation and Team Strategy

• Teens like Kimi Antonelli debuting even before earning road licenses (31:32).
• Teams now seek drivers with speed and adaptability/personality—mental resilience as crucial as raw speed (32:37).
  • “It is a mentality game as well as outright speed. And it's another fascinating aspect…” (32:37, Alex Jakes)

11. Safety: Tragedy, Progress, and Reckoning (33:44)

• Recounts 2019 F2 fatality and historical milestones (e.g., Senna’s death) that catalyzed safety reforms.
  • “Formula One was in an existential crisis in 1994… [made] safety front and center.” (35:27, Alex Jakes)
• Despite improvements, inherent risk remains, especially in wet races—a scenario where youthful prodigies often shine and teams are willing to risk on raw instinct (36:55–39:09).

12. 2026 – A New Era of F1 Cars (39:35)

• Major technical overhaul: Cars have 50% electrical/50% combustion power, sustainable fuels, smaller chassis and tires—requiring drivers to literally relearn basics like muscle memory.
  • “Very rarely does Formula One change everything at the same time, and it’s changed everything for 2026.” (39:35, Alex Jakes)
• F1 regularly “shreds” its own rulebook every 3–5 years.

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps & Attribution)

• On F1’s core appeal:
  “Exciting spectacles, full stop… people go to air shows around the world… imagine them racing. That’s basically what Formula One is, and I love it as much as I always have.”
  —Alex Jakes (03:47)

• On Bernie Ecclestone and exclusivity:
  “Bernie Ecclestone would charge an enormous amount of money for [clips]. So you couldn’t even show it to promote an appearance on a chat show.”
  —Alex Jakes (05:39)

• On Drive to Survive:
  “Guenther Steiner… was so honest and open in a way that… not only had new audiences not seen that before, traditional audiences hadn’t seen that before.”
  —Alex Jakes (10:42)

• 2021 Season:
  “One of the greatest seasons Formula one has ever seen… physically painful for both drivers… nine months around the world, high speed… fighting for the titles.”
  —Alex Jakes (19:22)

• On safety reforms after Senna:
  “Formula One was in an existential crisis in 1994… [made] safety front and center and a lot of very, very talented engineers and doctors and medical professionals improved standards…”
  —Alex Jakes (35:27)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Childhood introduction & F1’s allure: 00:58–04:16
• Alex’s broadcasting journey: 04:16–05:20
• Ecclestone’s control & U.S. struggles: 05:39–09:04
• Liberty Media & digital strategy: 09:04–10:10
• Drive to Survive – impact: 10:10–12:57
• Diversity and new fanbases: 14:29–15:15
• Rise of U.S. tracks: 15:49–16:45
• 2021 F1 season recap: 19:06–25:36
• Business metrics (team valuations, driver salaries): 26:59–28:07
• Hollywood F1 movie’s impact: 28:56–29:48
• New wave of young drivers: 31:32–32:26
• Safety, tragedy, and progress: 33:44–36:55
• 2026 rules and new era: 39:35–40:49
• Season storylines to watch: 40:49–41:28

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Memorable Moments

• The story of Verstappen’s accelerated F1 debut and the subsequent rule changes.
• The explosive, controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi GP ending (“you’ll never hear the end of this…”).
• The cinematic experience of racing in Las Vegas and the oscillating skepticism/excitement around new U.S. venues.
• Alex’s recollection of witnessing a fatal F2 crash as a commentator, speaking candidly about the sport’s danger and safety legacy.
• Mercedes’ rationale behind picking a teenage rookie in 2025, learning from missing out on Verstappen.

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Final Thoughts

This episode offers a compelling, behind-the-scenes look at F1’s business transformation, the power of media and storytelling, dramatic sporting moments, and the broader trends shaking up motorsports. Alex Jakes’ insights merge history, emotion, technical change, and cultural impact, providing fans and newcomers with a thrilling window into Formula 1’s global surge.

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Transcript

[David Brown]

Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Business wars ad free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app from Audible Originals. I'm David Brown and this is Business Wars. Foreign. Let's go back in time, shall we? It's August 30, 1998 and a nine year old is at home in the UK watching the Belgian Grand Prix on TV. He can see it's raining hard as the race begins. Soon after the start, there's a massive pile up with 13 cars, parts flying everywhere. Here's the race commentator, Murray Walker.

[Murray Walker]

Great start by Eddie Irvine Fielder. Look at Fielder. And in the wall. Who was that? Coulthard. Coulthard in the wall. David Coulthard in the wall won't stop the race. They'll have to red. They'll have to red flag. Terrible. Oh, this is quite appalling. This is the worst start for a Grand Prix that I have ever seen in the whole of my life.

[David Brown]

The nine year old watching is thrilled by the drama of the crash. That boy is Alex Jakes and at that moment he, well, he knew he had found his sport. It would take years, but eventually he'd become the Voice of Formula One on F1TV and Channel 4. And today Alex is our guest. You might recognize his voice from the Netflix series Formula one Drive to Survive. He's also the author of grid to glory. 75 milestone Formula 1 moments. Alex explains how F1 finally secured a solid foothold in the US market during the pandemic and how it's gaining on NASCAR, especially with younger fans. We'll also talk about the epic 2021 F1 season, the 2026 season, of course. And oh yeah, we'll talk about Max Verstappen. All that's coming up.

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[David Brown]

Alex Jakes, welcome to Business Wars.

[Alex Jakes]

Thank you so much for having me.

[David Brown]

It's a real joy and honor. What is it about F1 that makes you love it so much? That 9 year old watching the Grand Prix now as an adult, Is that what it's all about?

[Alex Jakes]

There's definitely a connection. I think there's a simplicity to it that you just put elite athletes in wonderfully advanced technology and then you race them out on the track around the world. The cars are painted in vivid colors and it is just one of the most exciting spectacles in sport. And exciting spectacles, full stop. I always say, you know, people go to air shows around the world and they're very exciting. Imagine them racing. That's basically what Formula one is, and I love it as much as I always have.

[David Brown]

How did you become the voice of F1TV? Did you start in go karts, work your way up through F3, F2, F1, like rookie drivers?

[Alex Jakes]

Nearly. Very nearly, yeah. I started working for the Formula One group in 2015 on the third tier and the second tier, then called GP3 and GP2, now called Formula Three and Formula Two to simplify. But these are the junior ladders. These are the rungs on the ladder before we get to the top of Formula 1. F2 is like the college football, if you like, or college basketball stage of the sport. The great advantage of that was that I met a lot of the drivers when they were in their really young, formative years. I always liken it to seeing a band that goes on to be big in a pub. But, yeah, as a result, I got a lot of races in these championships. Tend to have multiple races a weekend. Formula One just has the Grand Prix, the main event. And as a result of that, I got lots of reps in, build a reputation and relationships with the people who put on the main show. And eventually I got a tap on the shoulder and they said, do you want to have a go on Formula One?

[David Brown]

I was reading somewhere, Nielsen Sports was saying Formula One now has something like 800 million. What is it, 800 million people in their global fan base. I guess some of those are probably us fans. But I'm curious why you think it took so long for F1 to break into the US market to begin with.

[Alex Jakes]

It's an interesting one. Formula One used to be run, really by one man. It was one group and it was a sporting body, but realistically, a chap called Bernie Ecclestone called the shots and he had a very key ethos that he would keep all the Formula one footage under lock and key. I'll give you a great example of this because it makes no sense in the era that we're now in, but the biggest chat show in the UK is the Graham Norton Show. So whenever you'd have a British driver on the Graham Norton show, any other sports person would have a clip to share. Bernie Ecclestone would charge an enormous amount of money for said clip. So you can even show it to promote an appearance on a chat show.

[David Brown]

Amazing.

[Alex Jakes]

It shows you how under lock and key it was. It shows you that he had an idea of who should be watching and who shouldn't be watching. And he very much had it in his head that this was an exclusive product meant for a defined audience and not a mass market sports league.

[David Brown]

So let's dig a little deeper into Eccleston here. You think there's any sort of parallel between the hold he had on F1 and the France family's control of the NASCAR brand? I mean, you have individuals trying to control this product that so many people have a real personal attachment to. You know what I mean?

[Alex Jakes]

It's interesting when people love something, and I think you always have to remember with sport, this is people's weekends, this is what people look forward to for a really long time. So when you have one individual controlling things, that's a lightning rod, whether it's good, bad or indifferent. Whether it's the Dallas Cowboys, whether it's race car, whether it's Formula one in the old days, you know, for all of the change that Formula One has gone through, it is essentially still a huge sport for enthusiasts and for people who. You can love Formula One for a number of different reasons. You can love it for the drivers, you can love it for the tech, you can love it for the jet set lifestyle around the world. There are so many different ways in so that when one person's at the wheel, that person becomes a target. And it's very easy to be partisan for or against them.

[David Brown]

Hey, make the case here. Why do you love F1? What is it about F1 that appeals to you so much now?

[Alex Jakes]

I love sport in general, but the thing that has always elevated Formula One for me is the fact that we have these young athletes who have devoted years of their life to getting where we are. So many try for decades to get close, we don't hear their name. If you're a good football player, you've got a big chance of making it. There are 22 Formula One drivers. It is such a rare thing to get there. So when you get there, you are guaranteed to be the very best of the best. And I just think it's the greatest combination of sport that we have. We have 1,000 people working for each team. We have these drivers who are at the spearhead of it. And ultimately it just comes down to that raw instinct to race. There are lots of very exciting things in sport. For me, the most exciting thing you can have is a chase for the lead late on in a race that means something, that is high stakes. I love that as much as I did when I was a kid.

[David Brown]

Yeah, you know, see, this is the gospel of F1. You know, it just for years wouldn't catch on in the US and yet something happened in the business world long around 2018 or so. Wasn't that about the time that Liberty Media Corporation acquired Formula One Group?

[Alex Jakes]

Yeah, it was a sea change in the way that the owners saw it. Ecclestone had had a lot of sway for a long time and had been basically been fully in charge since the late 80s, early 90s. Yeah, but there were so many undeveloped pathways. The digital channels basically didn't exist. It's unthinkable now. They weren't utilizing social media, they weren't utilizing digital media, they weren't putting race highlights out in an accessible way. So there was only one way to watch it. That was through traditional linear television. The nice thing about the current role is that we're the voices and my colleagues that I broadcast with, we're the voices on social media. So you can discover us in 10 second clips and then you can watch the YouTube highlights and see it in 8 minute highlights and then you can see slightly more in the featured highlights and then you can maybe take out a subscription to the streaming service and you can watch the whole thing live. And that progression just wasn't there. The ability to get this brilliant sport in front of eyeballs just wasn't there. That was one part of it. The other part of it. Drive to survive.

[David Brown]

Drive to survive. Yeah. This was the Netflix series you're talking about.

[Alex Jakes]

Yeah, the Netflix series that just hit perfectly. It was a phenomenally fortuitous piece of timing that they had already decided to film behind the scenes in Formula one. A senior executive called Sean Bratches, he had decided that Formula One needed a behind the scenes documentary. And all the big teams in Formula One decided that they wanted nothing to do with It.

[David Brown]

I was going to say, aren't they a little sniffy about this stuff?

[Alex Jakes]

Everyone in Formula One is sniffy unless they've seen results. But initially, this first series had only got the buy in from the midfield. Teams that wouldn't always get the same amount of airtime suddenly spied, yeah, I fancy a documentary camera pointing at all of my sponsor logos. As a result, the midfield is just full of characters. You've got to be so good to make it in this game, but you've also got to have street smarts and the personality that I feel broke it. A person that I don't think many would have known the name of if it had not been for this documentary. Guenther Steiner, a racer through and through. Unbelievably charismatic Italian, even though it sounds like he's got an Austrian accent. And he was so honest and open in a way that because of Ecclestone keeping it under lock and key because of that restrictive hand on the rights, not only had new audiences not seen that before, traditional audiences hadn't seen that before, so suddenly here was this brand new side of things that had not been available to Formula one fans and it created a completely different genre of sports documentary.

[David Brown]

Yeah, much more of the human side of the sport that I think, for some reason has always felt like it was behind a glass wall for a lot of fans.

[Alex Jakes]

Yeah. The cars were always front and center, the personalities at the front were front and center, but the human being, the backstory, the journeys that they'd. The fact that they are essentially ordinary people stuck on a conveyor belt very, very early in life, and that just had to be put in front of new audiences. For the reasons that you've heard me get excited about this earlier. It's an incredibly compelling product. The full extent of the story had just never been told. And the great thing about having 10 episodes was at a time where the world had shut down for the pandemic, everyone was binging as much as they possibly could. And here was this incredibly visceral, exciting, multifaceted sport where the drivers were charismatic, incredibly talented, and the team bosses were downright mean to each other.

[David Brown]

You know, this is, I think, what you're referring to, and correct me if I'm wrong, but in your book Grid to Glory, you talk about how Drive to Survive was a sort of docudrama with an emphasis on the drama.

[Alex Jakes]

Was.

[David Brown]

Is there a specific story that comes to mind from the series that kind of gets at that?

[Alex Jakes]

I think there's just lots of honesty that you would normally get brushed up by the PR departments in the past. For example, Liam Lawson, a really solid pro behind the wheel, gets this unbelievable chance to drive for the championship winning Red Bull team. He then gets demoted after two weeks in the job, two race weekends, and they sack him and they send him back to the junior team. They promote Yuki Tsunoda, very, very popular driver. It doesn't work out for either of them. But, you know, you ask anyone in any form of, like, how good were you two weeks into your big promotion? I don't think anyone's doing their finest work 15 days into the job. So to be able to show the brutality of if you do not perform, you are out. And yet here was the show displaying that front and center that that was actually true in Formula one.

[David Brown]

This gets to how Drive to Survive has grown. The Formula one audience, we can take a lot more of this stuff for GR. I think DTS has a cumulative audience of around, what is it, 800 million viewers across its seasons. And interestingly enough, it's not just brought in a lot of younger viewers, but the audience has diversified. I'm really stunned by how many women watching F1 has grown. Does it feel that way to you on your side of the microphone?

[Alex Jakes]

It does. And it's the biggest change since I started attending Grand Prix as press. I started covering the support races in 2015, but I've been on site for a lot of races in the last decade or so, and the composition of who's sitting in the grandstand has changed. And to reach an entirely new demographic with the sport is pretty rare. Let's be honest. Very few sports leagues or sports in general get a chance to reinvent. Formula one always reinvents. That's part of the DNA. They're changing the cars all the time. They're changing the power units all the time. But the chance to bring in a new demographic that is so rare and it's given the sport so much more energy, and I'm delighted it's had that effect.

[David Brown]

You know, I can remember I'm in Austin, Texas, and we have a big F1 track here, but I can remember right around, I don't know, must have been 2010 or so, maybe 2011. There's a lot of talk and a little bit of excitement. I was talking with friends and I was of the opinion that we'd never see it happen, that we'd never actually get an F1 track. But then when it started to come together, began to hear a lot more people really, really excited and enthusiastic about it. And I guess there have been several new tracks that sort of reflect this interest and that has sort of fueled the Monster, hasn't it?

[Alex Jakes]

It has indeed. I mean, if you look at America's Formula one history and there have been more venues for Formula one Grand Prix in the United States than any other, the problem is none of them ever stuck until we got to Austin. It's just an incredible thing to see the popularity explode and I think has grown with Formula one growing the calendar. If you were skeptical about getting a race in Austin, you can only imagine how people felt about racing down the Strip in Vegas and the skepticism that abounded with that. And yet logistically, that was an amazing feat for them to pull off.

[David Brown]

Miami too, right?

[Alex Jakes]

Yeah. One of the just cinematic backdrops for Formula One. That's very emblematic, isn't it, to go for three races in the States when for so many years there wasn't any U.S. grand Prix. Just shows where the attention is market wise. And those are three great events on the Formula one calendar.

[David Brown]

We're talking with Alex Jake and when we come back, we're going to be talking about the epic 2021 F1 season. Don't touch that dial. There's a whole lot more business wars just ahead. Stay with us.

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[David Brown]

Hey, welcome back to Business Wars. We're talking with Alex Jakes, F1TV commentator known far and wide. Alex, you call the 2021 F1 season the Gladiator season. Can you set that up for us? Why was it so epic?

[Alex Jakes]

You had a young pretender in Max Verstappen, who had been waiting for his chance up against the statistical greatest driver in Formula one history, Lewis Hamilton. Most wins, most pole positions, most podiums, and you very rarely get an opportunity to see a future great up against a current great. And yet in 2021, right off the back of the pandemic, when so many fans had decided discovered Formula one through the digital channels and through Drive to Survive, suddenly the second shoe drops. And one of the greatest seasons that Formula one has ever seen. It was gladiatorial. It was physically painful for both drivers. It was aggressive. They were constantly side by side, wheel to wheel, on the edge for the entire season. Not just a phase, not just a race, not just a moment. Nine months around the world, high speed. And these are the two of the greatest to ever do it. Fighting for the titles. It happens so rarely. And it happens straight after. Drive to Survive caught fire.

[David Brown]

Good Lord. And you are in the driver's seat in a sense for British tv. Right. This is your first season calling it for British TV, is that right?

[Alex Jakes]

Yeah. Channel 4 do the network program. So there is a live program on Sky Sports, which is your espn, and then in the network program airs slightly less, but full highlights of the race. That's a coveted job in British sport and it's the one I'd always wanted to do.

[David Brown]

And so did you find yourself taking a side? This would be really hard to maintain a kind of neutrality, I would think.

[Alex Jakes]

You've got to maintain a neutrality. That's the gig. Your job as lead commentator is to tell everyone the stakes and the order and the importance and the details. And then I have racing drivers next to me that year. Mark Weber, David Coulter. Thud. They've been there, they've done it, they've risked their necks. My ethos in the Commentary box is always, if you haven't wrist your neck, you're not giving an opinion. That's not how it works. And that was the season to test the neutrality, because it was partisan in a way that Formula one rarely is. The lovely thing about going around the world is that there is great respect for everyone risking their life out there for our entertainment. But because it was such a combative season, because these two were so good, this championship, and as a result, it just got dialed up and up and up, there was a lot of buzz.

[David Brown]

How did Max Verstappen come onto the scene in that 2021 F1 season? Did he surprise everyone?

[Alex Jakes]

He was a prodigy and there was a arms race to sign him. Ferrari wanted him, Mercedes wanted him. But Red Bull had a trump card that no one else had. They had two teams in Formula one. Formula one was not always the popular product that it is today. And at one point, Red Bull were invited to buy a second team, basically to prop up numbers, and they'd kept it to train up their junior drivers. It meant that when Ferrari offered a seat in Formula 2 and Mercedes offered a seat in Formula 2, Red Bull could go, you know what, he's good enough. It doesn't matter if when we sign him, he's 16 years of age and he's had one season in a single seater car in Formula 3, let's just stick him in Formula 1. And so he was the chosen one to reach the front. From the youngest age anyone has ever been allowed in Formula one to the point where they changed the license rules to try and stop anyone coming through that young at all. They changed the dimensions of the cars to try and make them more difficult to drive. That is how unusual a talent like Verstappen being allowed in so young was. So the fact he eventually made his way to the front to be a championship contender, not a surprise at all, because Red Bull went all in. The people in charge of the team at the time, Helmut Marko and Christian Horner, staked their reput. If he'd been dangerous and crashed in to people time and time again, it would have been an enormous embarrassment. So they put a lot of faith in and he was downright sensational, basically from the word go.

[David Brown]

So you have this generational component and then you turn over to the rival, right? Verstappen's rival in that 2021 F1 season, the British driver Lewis Hamilton. Many people consider Hamilton the goat. I suppose he and Verstappen, as you were describing, just fought wheel to wheel, collided on more than one occasion, I think Verstappen's car actually ended up on top of Hamilton's car in one of those wipeouts. So as those two went tire to tire in 2021, was the fight friendly? How would you describe it?

[Alex Jakes]

No, I would describe it as the most intense title battle I've ever seen. I didn't really think it could get ratcheted up to the level that it was. Really. Yeah, it went way beyond any expectation. And these are some of the fastest ever cars in the history of the sport. And they were brawling.

[David Brown]

Isn't this beneath F1 to be brawling like this? Was there some feeling that, oh, this isn't civil, or were just people all in on this?

[Alex Jakes]

It got intense, but it got intense in a way that people will be talking about 2021 in 50 years, 100 years from now. It is the benchmark of Formula One seasons. It just always will be. And it was thrilling. You know, there's so much respect for the drivers, but I think Max understood that if you're going to take down a driver that many people believe to be the goat, you have got to give it everything. And he chose very aggressive tactics. Hamilton responded and it's just that marvelous thing where you think, oh, they can't possibly improve upon that. I remember thinking in the commentary box in 2021, we're looking at the two best drivers in the and they are miles ahead of the other best drivers in the world. This is something special. And, yeah, they pushed each other to the edge. And what can you ask for more in sport than that?

[David Brown]

And it kept delivering too. I mean, because over the season, you had Hamilton and Verstappen flip flopping for championship points and then they tied. And it all comes down to the last race in Abu Dhabi. What was that?

[Alex Jakes]

Like I said on the last lap, you'll never hear the end of this. And I think it's one of the more prescient things I've ever said. Everyone had pushed themselves to a point of performance and exhaustion. That meant that it was always going to be controversial. And the way that last lap restart unfolded will be debated forever. You had seasoned professionals who'd been there for 30 years in disbelief at the whole season. The performance from both drivers, the performance from both teams. I've covered a lot of sport, I've attended a lot of sport. It's the strangest atmosphere after the race that I can ever remember. There was disbelief at what people had watched. And we were on air for the post show, standing live on TV not knowing, the stewards still had to rule on a couple of things. The race result was still in the air. And then the final clarification came through. That Verstappen, who'd won with a pass on the last lap, would keep the title, that the Mercedes protests had been thrown out. And, yeah, then it turned into traditional celebration. But that hour after the race is unlike anything I've ever seen.

[David Brown]

Yeah. And this wasn't just between the drivers, obviously. We're talking about a battle of teams here. Verstappen and Red Bull versus Hamilton and Mercedes, and a ton of money at stake. Let's talk about the numbers. What's the average value of an F1 team in this league?

[Alex Jakes]

It's gone up significantly. You're looking at around three and a half billion to four billion for a team. That's the average you've got. Ferrari are worth the most. They are the most famous name. They are Formula One's most famous team. That will never change. But you had Formula One teams being sold very, very recently, around the end of 2020, early 2021, being sold for $120 million.

[David Brown]

And now I guess there's a new team on the block, Cadillac. And I guess it speaks to the American audience, too. I mean, just to have the name mentioned alongside Ferrari has got to mean a lot to, you know, a brand like Cadillac.

[Alex Jakes]

Indeed. And I think that's why they wanted to be there. And it's the best place, obviously, by most metrics at the moment when it comes to motor racing, to have your brand. And I think the idea of General Motors joining Formula One even five years ago would have been laughable. So the idea that they badly want in now shows you, again, it's just another metric of where brands want to be and the health of Formula One at the moment.

[David Brown]

How much do drivers make for getting behind the wheel?

[Alex Jakes]

Well, again, to go back to the rather morbid point, this is serious entertainment, but it's also a serious risk. You can get hurt doing this. And Formula One, thankfully, has not had a fatality for a while now, and safety is improved all the time. But as a result, if you're going to go out there, the top drivers are going to command a serious amount of money. The exact details are never known, but Max Verstappen gets talked about around the $75 million a year mark. And if you look at what he's done for Red Bull, you could say he's worth every penny.

[David Brown]

Formula One's momentum in the US obviously continued with Apple's release of F1, the movie back in guess it was June. Brad Pitt in the lead role. Lewis Hamilton, part of the team that made the film. What reception did the real F1 drivers get when they went to screenings of the film? Did you catch that?

[Alex Jakes]

I felt very lucky that we were invited to the drivers seeing the film for the first time. They invited a select group of people to a theater, and the drivers were in there. They hadn't seen it. It was very strange. It had the feeling of a school trip, to be honest. Everyone had their popcorn, and the nice thing about it was we got to see what the drivers rated and what the Dr. Didn't rate. You got to remember they've been doing this their whole life. Their attention to detail is unbelievable. So there are things that, you know, I've been watching Formula one, as we've discussed since I was a kid. There are things that I didn't mention that they picked up. The thing is, the overriding emotion coming out of there was like, that's a Hollywood blockbuster about Formula one. That's unbelievable. And it goes on to win an Oscar for best sound. And it goes on, unbelievably, to be Brad Pitt's most successful film.

[David Brown]

I didn't realize that. That's crazy, really.

[Alex Jakes]

In terms of box office return, it is Brad Pitt's most successful film.

[David Brown]

Hey, it's time for a pit stop. And when we come back, we're going to chat with Alex about the new F1 season. There's a wave of new talent and some major changes to the cars. Stay with us.

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[David Brown]

Hey, welcome back to Business Wars. My guest is the F1 expert and Channel 4 commentator, Alex Jakes. And, Alex, there's a lot of new talent out there as of last season. Why do you think there's so many young guys driving F1 right now? I mean, some of them barely have driver's licenses.

[Alex Jakes]

That's absolutely true. Kivi Antonelli was a Formula one driver before he passed his road driver's license test year, which is. It's daft, isn't it? Let's be honest. That's absolutely crazy that you can drive at 220 miles an hour before he could get an Italian driver's license. But, yes, an exciting group of young drivers. Eventually what happens is, is that one team take the plunge with a new name and like anything, you know, someone turns along with something new and shiny. The others, it's a traveling circus, right? So everyone else looks around, oh, you've gone for a young driver. We'll go for a young driver. Before you know it, you have a section of the grid that are very, very indeed. They all shone last year. All of the rookies had great moments. Everyone had a great weekend where they were the standout. And it's really good to have that generational shift as well because it makes the slightly older drivers, you know, sit up and prove their worth again.

[David Brown]

I'm curious about this, and maybe you can clarify. Do you get a sense that the teams are looking for personalities as much as good drivers, or is it all about their skill behind the wheel?

[Alex Jakes]

It's definitely about the two. The one thing that I always hear from team principals in modern times is adaptability. And so if you think about adaptability, that's a lot of technique behind the wheel. Being able to drive a car that's maybe not working as well. Can you be adaptable? If you can only drive one way, that's going to be a problem. But of course, mentality comes into that as well because you have to work your way through a weekend. If it's not started well and you throw all your toys out the pram, that's not going to work for the people that are traveling with the driver. If the driver's throwing things about and doesn't have the mentality to improve the car, no team is going to be interested in them. And there's always someone who's nearly as quick around or trying to get into Formula one. So, yeah, it is a mentality game as well as outright speed. And it's another fascinating aspect of Formula one.

[David Brown]

You mentioned something about the safety when we were talking earlier and how Formula one hasn't had a deadly crash in a while. But I know when you were commentating for Formula 2 2, you were calling a race in which a young driver was killed during the. I think it was the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix weekend. Do you recall that?

[Alex Jakes]

Yeah. That was the darkest day for a very long time. It was a horrific thing to be part of, because Formula One safety, and therefore Formula Two, Formula Three, just generally the FIA have done amazing work in the last 30 years, two, to just improve safety all the time. To not wait for a big incident to try and change things, but to innovate when it comes to safety and for that era to then present us with a horrendous crash live on tv. You knew it was incredibly serious immediately. And this incredibly intelligent, kind, smart guy. I was lost at the age of 20, and it was a very, very cruel thing to witness happening to his family. And it was a very, very brutal reminder that this thing that we all love and that drivers try for, from the age of, you know, five years of age in a go kart, I think everyone had put the danger to their. The limit of their peripheral vision. Yeah, it was a very, very dangerous, dark weekend and a stark reminder of the fact that this is a sport for the brave.

[David Brown]

I mean, that must be, though, the Nightmare scenario in F1 that you have something catastrophic happen while you're going at speeds of over 200 miles an hour. And I hear you saying that safety seems to be baked into this sport. You sound really confident. I'm curious as to why, because you see these cars going around the track so fast, it's hard to imagine sometimes people survive. If things were to go sideways, it

[Alex Jakes]

will forever be risky. The confidence that it is in a better place than it has ever been is because the safety aspect of it has been deliberate, it has been methodical, and there have been some brilliant minds working on it. It's a safety push that started with the great Sir Jackie Stewart, when it was downright ridiculous. They could hit trees. There weren't barriers. And then Sid Watkins, who was the Formula one doctor for a long time, who implemented many safety changes when we lost the great Ayrton Senna. And the loss of Senna live on TV in 1994 was a catalyst to Formula One going. We've got a choice to make here. We can either be an extreme sport that's a niche, or if we're going to continue to run Live into people's living rooms on Sunday afternoons and Sunday mornings. We're going to have to make this safe. Because if you think of all the reasons that we've talked about, the humanity and the characters and the personality shining through, we can't lose the people. And formula was in an existential crisis in 1994. They made safety front and center and a lot of very, very talented engineers and doctors and medical professionals improved standards and you can never make it fully safe. But it has been done through three decades of really strong advancement of safety, because that was pushed for in the aftermath of Ayrton Senna passing away night.

[David Brown]

You say this, but, you know, they're still driving in the wet. For example, like, for instance, there was, what was it, March 2025 Australian Grand Prix. And it wasn't just that the track was awful. You know, there were a lot of experienced drivers spinning out. And on the Mercedes team you had an 18 year old making a debut, Kimmy Antonelli, I believe, with conditions being what that is, it seems to me a little amazing that you, you have a team like Mercedes taking a chance on such a young driver. Why would a top team do that?

[Alex Jakes]

It's fascinating that in those sort of days, so he was 16th on the grid, he had a very good qualifying. Then it becomes about instinct, it becomes about feel. It's not pure power, it's not pure grip, it's just what have you got when it comes to manipulating the car? And the reason that Mercedes had an 18 year old in the is Max Verstappen. They'd missed out on Max, they'd missed out on signing this young prodigy, really.

[David Brown]

So you think it was like, we don't want to let this opportunity go and Verstappen had a wet race. Right.

[Alex Jakes]

So the amazing thing is about young prodigies is that you can always point to a performance in their junior career that makes the senior management of a Formula one team take a risk on them. Max Verstappen had an amazing wet race. Kimi Antonelli in his junior career, just like Max Verstappen had an amazing wet race. There are days where you'll just see a truly great driver leave the competition behind in the wet. It's in those moments that team principals in Formula One will say, we're going all in on this person. But yeah, Toto Wolff is the team boss of Mercedes. He had failed to sign Max Verstappen. He had then had to sit through and stand underneath the podium every time Verstappen won. So he resolved to himself. The next prodigy that comes through, I'm getting their signature any way I can. So to be 18 years of age and to replace Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes and then mess up your first qualifying session and then come dancing through the field to fourth in the wet. Kimmy's just a great example.

[David Brown]

Yeah. Went on to win Chinese gp, beating Lewis Hamilton, who's now driving for Ferrari, and then he won the Japanese National Grand Prix at the ripe old age of 19. Seems to be adjusting fairly well to the changes in F1 this season. Without getting too much into the weeds, I know you know this stuff inside and out. What would you describe as the big changes? Perhaps they may be adjusted along the way. I understand. Yeah.

[Alex Jakes]

Formula one is always reinventing. It's been this way since the championship's inception in the 1950s. Have the rules for a few years, then chuck them out, try something new. Sometimes they do it with the chassis, sometimes they do it with the power unit. This year we've done it with both. And so there is 50% electrical energy and there is 50% traditional combustion engine energy. And that. That is a really unusual mix. We've got sustainable fuel, the cars are shorter, they are thinner, the tires are thinner. Very rarely does Formula one change everything at the same time, and it's changed everything for 2026. So the drivers who have all this muscle memory from when they were kids in go karts are suddenly having to relearn.

[David Brown]

I was gonna say that's gotta be hard.

[Alex Jakes]

Yeah, it's extremely hard. It's like wearing your shoes on different feet. They'll get used to it, but they're still learning. So Formula One's always been about the latest technology. It's always been about pushing the boundaries and road relevance. And that's why this version of the rules is. Is markedly different. But it is worth saying, in the history of the sport, every three to five years or so, no matter what the rules were, no matter how successful they were, they always get shredded. And there's something new. There's a new exam question set.

[David Brown]

What are you keeping your eye on this 2026 season?

[Alex Jakes]

Just so much to look at how the drivers adjust to the new rules. Whether this young upstart Kimi Antonelli is going to walk into George Russell's team and steal what everyone thought at the start of the year was George Russell's championship. Can Lewis Hamilton get back to the front in a Ferrari? I mean, he had his worst ever season last year, even standing on the top step again, something that he used to do week in, week out. You wouldn't even look up if you heard that Lewis Hamilton had won a Grand Prix on a news bulletin. The next time he does is going to be a big, big event. So there are lots of talking points.

[David Brown]

Is really an exciting sport and it's so much fun to get to talk with someone as knowledgeable as our guest. Today we've been speaking with Alex Jake. He is one of the best known voices in F1. In fact, he is the voice of Formula One on F1 TV and on Channel 4. And Alex, it's been a real privilege to get to talk with you today on Business Wars. Thanks so much for sharing your expertise with us.

[Alex Jakes]

Thank you for having me. A pleasure.

[David Brown]

Next time on Business Wars. After numerous failed attempts from the tech industry, Meta's smart glasses have broken through to consumers. But now that we've invited in this mass surveillance, what happens next? Follow Business wars on the Audible app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes of Business wars ad free by joining Audible. From audible originals. This is episode four of f1's pursuit of nascar for business wars. I'm your host, david brown. Polly stryker produced this episode. Our senior producers are jenny bloom and emily frost. Our producer is tristan donovan of yellow ant. Karen lowe is our producer emeritus, engineered by sergio enriquez. Our managing producer is desi blaylock. Kyle randall is our lead sound designer, executive producer for audible. Jenny lauer beckman, head of creative development at audible kate navin, head of audible originals north america marshall louie, chief content officer rachel gyaza copyright 2026 by audible originals, llc sound recording copyright 2026 by audible originates, llc sam.