If you like F1, or you like listening to people talk about it, then there's plenty out there to pick from. Here's a few of my favorites that I'd recommend.
Some people like to sit down on Sunday, take in the two hours of (hopefully) action and good racing that an F1 Grand Prix gives, and then go about their week without thinking about it. Others can't get enough of the sport, and on top of watching nearly every practice, qualifying session, and the race, still look for technical breakdowns, podcasts, race reviews, or watch-along streams, always having something F1-related in their YouTube or Spotify queue. To no surprise, I'm in the latter camp.
Now, I certainly haven't seen every F1 creator out there (there's now a lot more than, say, 10 years ago when I started watch F1 stuff on YouTube), but even within what I've seen there is a huge variety of content out there. Different things appeal to different people, and so I've tried to pick one or two channels or creators which different types of people might like. This ranges from the casual fan to the technical deep dives to everywhere in between. Here's my picks for the various types of F1 fans:
The data-driven mind who just wants the full(est) picture:
BrrrakeF1
Platforms: YouTube / Twitch
Content: Post-race data deep dives (with telemetry data from practice, qualifying, and the races), live watch-along streams during FP2, qualifying, and the race itself
This is one of, if not the best channel for F1 content on YouTube if you really like trying to objectify things and analyze data. Blake Hinsey (aka Brrrake) is an ex-F1 performance engineer (think like the no. 2 race engineer for a driver) from Red Bull and before that Force India, so he knows what he's talking about (even if he constantly refers to himself as a fraud). I don't usually watch his live streams (simply because I'd rather watch the race or qualifying myself), but his midweek post-race breakdowns of the main talking points are always fascinating. He tries (and usually succeeds) to give an objective explanation for why certain cars or drivers underperformed over a weekend or in qualifying, and tries to add context to seemingly confusing decisions and events that happen in the race.
Sometimes he has interesting one-off videos (such as the time he tried to compare the F1 video game to a real life qualifying lap) which can feature guests. He also has a light-hearted (although occasionally quite blunt) weekly podcast called Engine Braking with fellow ex-Red Bull employee Dan (@EngineMode11 on Twitter) which is less focused on data and more focused on a loose discussion of the events or news of the last race or week. More about the vibes, less about telemetry data, let's just say. Also he's a bit of an outlier when it comes to F1 content creators because he's American, which is a departure from the (usually British) norm.
The casual fan who's just here for the vibes:
The Pitstop Podcast
Platforms: YouTube / Spotify / Apple Podcasts
Content: Bi-weekly F1 podcast about recent news, or upcoming/previous races, sometimes with special guests
If you only started following F1 recently, and don't want to feel overwhelmed when you don't know which team finished 7th in the 2017 constructor's championship, don't' worry, because Jake Boys and Fabio Bocca ('Jake and Fab') don't know either. These two are also new F1 fans, and are cornering a pretty unique audience of the F1 content sphere, because they just want to share their F1 journey as new fans. They tend to have pretty good paddock access, so there's always a chance of some interesting stories, but probably the best part of their shows is the fact that they don't pretend to know everything (in fact, often the opposite), so they don't come off as some pretentious or superficial F1 fan who's just grafted themselves onto whatever's popular at the moment.
Plus, they often manage to get figures from within the F1 sphere to come do a show with them, which gets interesting, because they clearly aren't (nor pretend to be) some kind of professional journalists; they just chat with people like they met them on a street and are random strangers. Previous guests include F1 presenter/commentator Will Buxton, F1 commentator David Croft, F2 champion Felipe Drugovich, McLaren F1 driver Oscar Piastri, and Formula E driver Jake Hughes.
The long-time F1 fan who considers racing both a sport and an art form:
Peter Windsor
Platforms: YouTube / Twitch
Content: Practice, qualifying, and race breakdowns, technical discussions, and historical anecdotes, sometimes with special guests
Peter Windsor is one of the channel's I've followed the longest in my time watching F1, but there's always something interesting going on. Peter has been around F1 and the greater single-seater racing world for decades, stretching all the way back to the 1960s, and is probably best known for being a team manager at Williams during its 1990s heyday, although he has connections with so many people you can't keep count.
His main (and in my opinion, best) content is his race weekend videos, with separate breakdowns of Friday practice, qualifying, and then the race on Sunday. But unlike Brrrake, Peter doesn't pour over telemetry data to try to find out what's going on. There is some light number crunching, but most of his analysis is qualitative or at most comparative. He's still the only channel I can find where he talks about things like steering, braking, and throttle inputs, weight transfer, etc., all things relating to the look and feel of a car or driver rather than just a telemetry trace. Over the past decade, I've found out you can learn a lot just by looking at a car's behavior, without any fancy data.
Is he the best channel for newcomers? Maybe not; although not because he talks about things in a complicated way, far from it. Mostly because he does often tend to pull anecdotes or references to specific races over the last 50 years out of nowhere, so if you don't know what he's talking about, it could be hard to keep up. He also does semi-regular technical discussions with Craig Scarborough (@ScarbsTech on Twitter), which are nice. Very occasionally he floats little rumors or speculation out there which can be annoying if they are unfounded, but it's not enough to deter me and it shouldn't deter you, either.
The prototypical F1 fan:
Tommo
Platforms: YouTube / Spotify / Apple Podcasts
Content: Discussion of F1 news, race previews and reviews, and some more researched content
If I had to show somebody an F1 video and I had absolutely no read on what kind of person or fan they were, I'd probably go with Tommo (Tom McCluskey), because his content is probably the most well-rounded of all the F1 content creators I follow. He doesn't sit there and bombard people with data, but equally not everything is this big joke; there's just a good balance in his content. His pre-race and post-race "chinwags" are perfect to put on in the background or listen to when driving or walking in the park; he details the main talking points and then goes through each team and discusses good or bad things about the upcoming or previous race.
Is he the most knowledgeable F1 content creator on the planet? No, but he knows more than enough that he can talk in a decent amount of detail about things past or present without sounding superficial or condescending. I say he's the perfect creator for the prototypical F1 fan because he probably caters to the widest audience and somehow manages to not annoy most people, which is impressive.
He also has a high-production live studio show he co-hosts with Adeniran "Niran" Yesufu (@TheOfficialFNG on Twitter) on a weekly basis, which includes live race watch-alongs and podcasts, both usually featuring one or two special guests who are either other F1 content creators or are connected with F1 in some way (for example, they recently had on an F1 helmet designer who talked about the different drivers' race helmets and what they are like to work with; something quite different but still interesting).
Honorable Mentions
Josh Revell
Platforms: YouTube
Content: Researched videos and discussion on a variety of F1 topics and drivers, as well as other series from time to time
New Zealander Josh Revell doesn't quite produce the same quantity of content as those I listed above, but most of the videos he does make are extremely high quality. He tends to do more research-focused videos with a spotlight on certain drivers, teams, races, or general historical events relating to F1 or racing in general, although occasionally there are more topical and low-key videos as well. Plus, he has a good sense of humor which makes it easily to follow along, even if you'd never heard of whatever he's talking about when you clicked on the video in the first place.
P1 with Matt & Tommy
Platforms: Youtube / Twitch / Spotify / Apple Podcasts
Content: Topical F1 discussions, watch-alongs, race previews and reviews
Formerly of WTF1 fame, Matt Gallagher and Tom Bellingham have left to start their own F1 media juggernaut in the not-too-differently named 'P1' channel. If you just want to hear about F1 nonstop, these two are probably your best bet. The venture has only been going since January, so perhaps they are in a honeymoon period, but they release a new video, podcast, or have a livestream seemingly every single day. Do they provide the most insightful content? Not necessarily, but their visible and audible enthusiasm is in a class of one, even if sometimes it borders on getting stale every time they lean into the same joke or tropes.
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