Harry Benjamin

[upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to this episode of the F1 Beat.

I am delighted this week to be joined by Harry Benjamin, F1 commentator and presenter, and Stuart Codling, the senior writer at Autosport.

Welcome, both.

Thanks for having me.

Right, um, I could talk to you two all day.

That was superb.

A massive thank you to Harry Benjamin and to Stuart Codling, Codders, as he's known as.

Um, thank you very much for listening.

This is Essential F1.

I'm Harry Benjamin, standing in for Nicola.

And that was an intriguing Singapore Grand Prix.

I'm joined by the F1 commentator I always looked up to, Ben Edwards.

Formula 1 arrives under the lights in Singapore this weekend.

I'm Harry Benjamin, and this is 5 Live F1.

[upbeat music] So much to get stuck into across the next hour or so, and who better to do that with than the BBC's F1 correspondent, Andrew Benson.

And just imagine it, the two Ferraris have taken each other out, along with Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso.

And so it was a very chaotic, very wet and windy Grand Prix, the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

And we are going to be joined by F1 commentator Harry Benjamin to dissect everything that happened in Bahrain, in Malaysia.

Harry, how are you today?

Hello, I'm very well, thank you.

Welcome to your Checkered Flag Podcast review of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sepang.

It's Harry Benjamin with you.

I'm joined on the sofa by British racing driver Sam Bird and our BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson.

That, I mean, before we even get into the racing action, which was, uh, spoiler alert, won by Max Verstappen in a brilliant first victory of the season.

And well, for Max Verstappen, he was in a class of his own all throughout qualifying, topped all three segments on his way to securing his first pole position of the year.

And to dissect everything that we've just seen from that qualifying, alongside myself, Harry Benjamin, I've got British racing driver Sam Bird and BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson.

And I mean, magnificent, Sam, wasn't it, for, for Max?

Yeah, absolutely.

We'll come onto that.

Uh, it's Harry Benjamin with you.

I'm joined by the BBC's F1 correspondent, Andrew Benson, and Malaysian Grand Prix point scorer Jolyon Palmer.

Good memories of Sepang, Palmer.

Uh, the race itself was a little dull to start with, but a few interruptions spiced things up.

And so to look back at everything we've seen, I'm joined by Mark Priestley and our lead commentator, Harry Benjamin.

Guys, what a setup we've got for our podcast today.

Uh, if you're listening, you won't be able to see it, so I will tell you what's behind us.

We've just watched the qualifying session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and it was Mercedes' George Russell who took pole position with an incredible lap of the Baku City Circuit, eight-tenths clear of his nearest rival, Charles Leclerc, in the Ferrari.

I'm Rosanna Tennant, and I've come down into the paddock, and I'm joined by our lead commentator, Harry Benjamin, and former McLaren mechanic, Mark Priestley.

We've found a nice little table to sit down and review that qualifying session because, Mark, it was hugely impressive what George Russell did out there today.

We don't see that kind of gap in Formula 1 much these days.

Hello and welcome to Azerbaijan and welcome to the Baku City Circuit where Formula One is racing this weekend.

I'm Rosanna Tennant and joining me out here in Azerbaijan is our lead commentator Harry Benjamin and former McLaren mechanic Mark Priestley.

Guys, we've made it to Baku.

Harry and I would say we had an interesting route to the capital city of Azerbaijan, but we've made it.

Okay, well, let's hear.

Might be the slimline version, might not be.

Here's Arvid Lindblad from Racing Bulls talking with Harry Benjamin.

Arvid, first of all, you'll be pleased to hear I'm not running any nicknames by you today.