P1 with Matt and Tommy Jan 20, 2026

Our reaction to the Audi F1 car launch (Live from Munich)

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0:00

17:17

Car

Audi Revolute F1 Team car

The Audi Revolute F1 Team car is a racing car used in Formula 1, which is a top-level motorsport series. These cars are built for speed and have special designs to perform well on racetracks.

Term

livery

Livery is the way a car is painted and designed, especially in racing. It helps people recognize the team and looks cool on the track.

Brand

Audi

Audi is a well-known car brand from Germany that makes luxury cars. They are also involved in racing, which makes them popular among car enthusiasts.

Concept

Formula One

Formula One is a type of car racing that features very fast cars competing in races around the world. It's known for its exciting events and cutting-edge technology.

Concept

Formula Two

Formula Two is a type of car racing that is a step below Formula One. It helps young drivers learn and prepare for the more competitive Formula One races.

Part

front wing

The front wing is a part of a race car that helps it stick to the road better by pushing it down. It's important for making the car handle well during races.

Part

end plates

End plates are parts of the wing on a race car that help it go faster by improving how air flows around the car. They help the car stay stable and stick to the track better.

Term

DTM

DTM is a racing series in Germany where modified cars race against each other. It's known for exciting races and high-performance vehicles.

Term

F1

F1 stands for Formula 1, which is a type of car racing that features very fast cars and is considered the top level of motorsport.

Term

front-end mechanic

A front-end mechanic works on the front part of cars, fixing things like the steering and suspension. This is important for making sure cars drive safely and smoothly, especially in racing.

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Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the P1 Podcast with Matt and Tommy.

We are here in real life.

You're here.

Stop touching me.

For the Audi Revolute F1 Team car launch.

That is right.

We're here in Berlin.

We've seen the car.

We've got an amazing backdrop.

We are almost professionals of the game.

Tommy, how are you feeling?

I'm feeling great.

It's happy to be here.

Happy to be at a car launch.

I can literally see Gabrielle Borsaletto right there.

We're proper in the thick of it here.

Yeah.

Nico Holkenberg walked past a little while ago before we started recording.

It's electric to be honest with you.

The venue is awesome.

We're going to talk about all of that.

Talk about our experience of just what it's like to go to a car launch.

I think a lot of you are probably wondering.

And of course, talk about the car delivery and everything else in between.

So, you're happy to be here.

I'm happy to be here.

This is a very cool backdrop, as I say.

Lots of helmets.

You actually know the colors, by the way.

I do.

I've been told the colors.

You need to come up here.

I've been told the colors.

You need to come over to YouTube because it's a very cool backdrop.

It's a very cool backdrop.

So, these are the colors in the livery, which you'll have seen by now.

Chalk, titanium, graphite, lava red.

So, there you go.

They're the official colors of the new Audi Revolut F1 team livery.

Unsurprised.

And by the way, we have been brought out here by Audi and Revolut.

Big shout out to them.

I would say that's my favorite by a country where I wonder why.

The lava red.

I will try and steal one off the wall if I possibly can.

It pops.

It pops, doesn't it?

It does.

So, we've seen the car.

First thoughts.

Let's talk about it.

It's been revealed.

My first thought is that I've already seen it.

To a point, yeah, yeah.

I've already kind of seen the livery.

It was revealed quite...

Two months ago.

Two months ago, they did the initial kind of Audi launch.

Obviously, since then, they've gathered many, many sponsors.

Lots of writing.

Yes, lots of writing.

Many sponsors on board.

They're not sure of sponsors, that's for sure.

Revolut title sponsor, of course, as well.

And, yeah, they've launched the car as it's going to look on the track.

Exactly.

And what do we think of the livery?

For me, like, I struggle a little bit with the blocks of color.

It's something that I have always done.

I prefer it when it flows.

And like Hass, for example, I really like the way the Hass has kind of flowed

with the more prominent white this time round.

For this, it feels a little bit jarring in that sense.

But I do quite like the silvery grey, I don't know what color...

Sorry, what color is that?

Titanium.

I like the titanium on the front.

I think that's really cool.

Yeah, that is cool.

But yeah, like, just to be here and to see the car unveiled in person,

to see the old sheet come off,

I think there's definitely more professional and cool term than sheet coming off the car.

But the presentation is good.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing it on track as well.

Because here, as we mentioned, that kind of lava red, as we've mentioned,

like that color, it's so, so vibrant, like it stands out loads.

It would have been cool to see maybe even more of that on the livery,

the back in particular, like the rear wing looks great

with the Audi logo on the back and in that lava red on the black.

It's very cool.

It's very different, like you say,

the fact that they've gone for that kind of block color

is going to stand out and be very different on the grid.

And yeah, it's cool to see it in person here.

And I think the most exciting thing for us,

not just going outside,

but to see a 2026 Formula One car in person

for the first time, not just the livery,

but also what the cars are going to look like.

And for me, it can't get out of my head that it looks rather Formula Two.

The front wing in particular, a lot more narrow, of course, on the front wing

than you have these very strange looking end plates,

which are kind of almost colored, very dark,

so you don't really notice them as much.

But yeah, the small changes of the 2026 car when you see it in person,

it doesn't, and as we said before on the podcast,

it's not like a radical massive change.

We're like, whoa, this is going to take some getting used to.

It's not as far as that.

But yeah, you can see that also the sort of older school potential.

I don't know if that's why it doesn't feel like a big change

because it feels like I've almost seen that era before

because as soon as I saw it, my first thoughts were like,

that looks like a 2004 era car or a 2005 era car.

You've got that kind of, as you mentioned,

like the front wing is minus those big end plate bits.

It's very thin and smaller.

We're used to like the cars feeling so wide.

I think that that is one thing, like looking at it in person.

I remember when we saw those old cars,

the most kind of recent before this one,

those cars for the first time,

you looked at them a lot of the time and went,

they look absolutely massive.

Like no wonder they can't overtake at Monaco and things like that.

These ones do look smaller even though we were kind of maybe

taking the mickey a little bit about how like,

oh, it's only this much in centimetres or whatever it is.

But they do actually look a lot more kind of reduced

and less kind of enormous, I think.

And yeah, the first thing that I thought was like,

that looks like a car from like that 2000s era,

which in my opinion is one of,

if not the best looking era Formula One cars anyway.

So I'm absolutely here for it.

Yeah, let's not get too ahead of ourselves.

They measure the decrease in size by millimetres,

which sounds a lot bigger than they would measure it by centimetres.

I think it can be very cleverly done in the way in which

the design is.

As I say, like the front wing looks a lot narrower,

but it's not actually.

But then when you actually look at it in person,

you realise that it still goes up to the wheels.

Yeah, exactly.

So I know for a fact when we get to Monaco,

they will still look enormous and they still won't be able

to overtake, but we will have to wait and see.

And they look cool. I like them all.

So of course, as we're here, right?

We're like literally some reason, like how...

We've been doing this for over seven years,

and I'm still like, cool.

We're here.

Yeah.

Because when you do it at home all the time,

you kind of forget that anyone even watches or cares

about our content.

But Audi do, and they wanted us here.

And what I will say is the car launch,

this is an awesome car launch.

I've been lucky enough to go to quite a few of them.

This one, like the ambiance and the lighting

and everything else that they've done here,

it looks awesome.

It really does.

You come in, you might wonder what the process is, right?

So first and foremost, obviously we flew here

from London City Airport.

Never flown through that from that airport before.

And a very pleasant experience.

No queuing.

We flew in this morning to Berlin, got picked up

and then dropped at the hotel for literally five minutes

and then got in a shuttle.

Yeah.

Then we arrived at the car launch.

We signed and we have a little wristband.

Look at that.

Very nice.

There's another Audi motorsport cars downstairs

as well, isn't there?

Yes.

There's a rally car and rally car and a DTM car as well,

which is really cool.

Like they look awesome.

A nice, like, way to get you hyped

to kind of walk in and go, oh, OK, like, Audi are back.

We've got it.

I wonder where we are.

Yeah.

It's really cool.

You know exactly where you are.

Then we head upstairs and that's when, you know,

we're getting to the big league stuff.

You know, we can see the car under its sheets

and things like that.

You start to get a bit excited over there.

You have one of the Audi road cars.

I'm sure we can show you some stuff

like the helmets, the gloves.

There's unbelievable food.

I'm not going to lie to you.

Wow.

That prawn curry they were serving.

Oh, no, the lights are going down.

What's going on?

No, we're fine.

What's happening?

Oh, no, we're losing it.

Is it going to be complete darkness?

No, we're fine.

Why is it every time we go to a car launch in person,

the lights turn off?

I think they're trying to say something.

And now it's happened again.

They invite us and as soon as we start the podcast,

they're like, come on, guys, get out.

We were supposed to leave 10 minutes ago

and they're like, right, these influencers won't leave

unless we turn the lights off.

Then they can't record the content.

Either or.

I'm still telling you about the car launch experience.

We spoke to Jonathan Wheatley,

which will include at the end of the podcast as well,

some wholesome and funny answers from him.

And overall, Tommy,

you can't complain as a Formula One fan

to have this kind of access.

Absolutely.

Like, you know, as you know,

we've grown up watching Formula One for years

and as fans.

So to actually like be at the car launch,

you know, it's something that you could never,

we'd never imagined being here at Kinseth

and to get here and you're kind of like

walking around and you're seeing the whole experience.

It feels like you're kind of going behind the curtain, doesn't it?

Right, so they are getting ready now

because this was like a media part of the day.

They're getting ready for the big launch event later on.

We'll add a bit of reaction piece after that as well.

So for the first time ever,

I think we're doing a podcast in two parts.

Yep, because we're getting kicked out.

Take care.

Goodbye.

OK, so you might be wondering,

Matt, Tommy, where has your lovely backdrop gone?

Well, they kicked us out

because they were getting ready.

Well, they would get doing their rehearsals, weren't they?

For the actual car launch later.

So it's like media car launch, rehearsals,

actual car launch.

And we're currently in this spot right now

where we've seen the car and everything else.

We haven't had the real thing that everybody else is going to see.

Exactly.

So they're going to be the car launch that you've all seen

by the time this has gone out,

reveal the car, you know,

the big lights and everything

and speaking with the drivers and all that stuff.

Because we had a little bit of a speak with the drivers,

although we were observing.

We basically saw what it was like to be in a press conference

and like a media pen.

They called it the F1 driver round table

and that just made me think of the traitors,

which if you watch that, you'll know exactly what I mean.

But yeah, we were essentially just sat there,

people were asking questions.

The funniest thing that happened was,

of course, you know, there was loads of different influences

from different countries and there was this German influencer

that I think you're not journalists.

It was supposed to be for influencers.

No, he was a journalist.

Well, it was supposed to be for influencers

because he was supposed to give us a taste

of what it's like to be in the media.

So realistically, he should never have been there.

However, what was the funny part

was that he essentially recreated the 30 years ago meme.

Not deliberately, I might add.

Not deliberately, but it was the longest question ever

in German.

Nobody else had any idea what was going on.

And then he was told to repeat it in English.

So it was literally...

Yeah, it was quite something.

So we had that.

Another funny story is that, of course,

where we're staying in Berlin, everybody is.

The whole of Audi.

Everyone's going to the launch.

Everyone's here.

Yep, they're all here.

And I was in the lift going up to my room

and Matteo Bernotto steps in

and he needs to go down, not up.

So I had to say to Matteo Bernotto,

I'm going up and he went and then left.

Why?

What a lovely interaction.

That is, I think, as we kind of mentioned

about when we're at the car launch, all these surreal things.

It's a nice little behind the scenes of all those moments

where you're just like, what is my life?

When little things like that happen, it is so bizarre.

It's like a fictional character walking into the lift

and me going, that is a real person.

Do I ask you about Charles Clair's hard tyres at Silverstone?

Or do I not?

Is this an inopportune time?

Not over it all these years later.

And I never will be.

But yes, I think another thing that I think I alluded to

at the start of the podcast that we'd love to do now

is to give you a bit of an insight to Jonathan Wheatley,

the team principal, of course, of Audi.

And I got to speak to him for a few minutes.

So why don't we roll into that interview right now?

OK, so we're here with Jonathan Wheatley.

Thank you so much for coming on the P1 channel.

Got some questions for you at the car launch.

Very exciting time of the year.

First thing, look, F1 team principal.

How does that feel?

What's the feelings coming into this season

and with a brand new look and feel?

Well, firstly, thank you very much for inviting me.

It's nice to be stood here now

with something that we've been calling a project for some time

that is now real.

It's now a Formula One team.

And of course, to stand here as the team principal

of the Audi Revolut Formula One team

and to say that out loud is an incredible, I don't know,

it's a moment in your life that you want to savor.

Now, as an F1 team principal,

could you go and drive the F1 car if you wanted to?

Oh, 100% I doubt.

When are we lining up?

No, you know, I wanted to be a racing driver.

Never quite worked out for me.

And what these guys do,

I wouldn't want to belittle that in any way.

You know, it's extraordinary.

Their level of ability, the things that they do in a car

is something else.

And I'm looking forward to seeing what they do in this car.

Now, if you could change one rule in Formula One,

we ask drivers this when we get them on the channel,

what would you choose?

What would be one rule you'd change?

The inner, I don't know, the inner passionate race fan

would be to get rid of nearly all the regulations

and say, you have a box, it has to fit in

and it can't weigh less than this.

So I think, you know, to see that engineering freedom,

given that we've got a cost cap would be fantastic,

but in the real world that we live in,

that would never work.

Dreams are there.

So you started off as a mechanic.

What would you tell your younger self now

considering what you've said about the fact

that it's an amazing position you're in?

I think just try to enjoy every step

on the journey that your career is.

You know, Formula One's been amazing to me

and maybe it's a great example for everyone out there

that dreams of doing something special in their life.

I mean, I was largely unambitious.

I started out as a front-end mechanic on a Formula One car

and then I got asked to run a car

and then I got asked to run the test team

and then run the race team

and then I got asked to join Red Bull.

You know, I've had an extraordinary career

and I've loved every second of it,

but sometimes you just have to stop

and take it all in and appreciate it for what it is

and I'm going to try to do that today.

Absolutely.

Now, we've heard about driver's group chats.

Is there a team principal one

and do you send each other memes?

Do you argue? What does it look like?

If there is one, I've not been invited to it yet.

So maybe I'm the black sheep

and I'm the one that they don't want to have in their group.

No, I mean, we have a great working relationship

I think across all the teams to be honest

what do we all share the same ambition

which is to treat this sport carefully,

look after it, look after our teams

and provide the best show that we possibly can

for all of our fans out there.

Awesome. And one final thing, on our podcast

we like to do crazy predictions for each weekend.

Can you give us a crazy prediction for the entire season?

What would be something that just out of the blue

might happen this year,

putting you on the spot,

first interview of the day?

Yeah, exactly. And I don't know.

You know what I'd love is that at the end of the year

just how competitive

the Audi Revolut Formula One team was in its first season

and I would take tremendous amount of pride

if we could just keep the momentum that we started last year

and just show the world what we're capable of.

But we're on a long journey,

it's an ambitious journey

but I would love to be making progress.

And one final thing I want to ask, as you are

used to being a mechanic, the new regulations

as fans we're excited to cause a massive shake-up.

How do you see it from your side?

Is it a huge opportunity?

Is it quite scary with the amount of change that's coming?

How do you see it?

Well, firstly, you say, you look at my background

and I guess something draws me to the car every year.

So when the car's being built, I like to be around it,

I like to see the bits that go on the car,

what makes it, where the new technologies are,

where you're doing something different,

bringing together this incredible chassis and powertrain.

I mean, for us and for everyone in Hinfel,

it's the first time for a very long time

they've had a works engine installation into a chassis.

It just looks like a racing car

and I'm excited to get it on the track.

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Right, we're back once again in the hotel room

and hopefully you've enjoyed this car launch.

I would say chaos.

It's been chaotic.

It's been a chaotic podcast, video,

whatever you're watching on.

So Tommy, how would you go about giving your final thoughts?

My final thoughts are, yeah,

I hope you guys have got a little insight

into just how manic but amazing these car launches are.

It's amazing that they can put on these events

for so many people, obviously so many people want time

with drivers and things, everyone's doing their own thing.

Massive event, really cool to be here, absolutely awesome.

And yes, we're on a flight here to do this,

then we're flying back

and then we're doing the Autosport Awards,

which is amazing and I just want to again say thank you

so much for everyone that voted for us on that

because we'll be wearing some suits tomorrow.

We'll be all smart.

Sounds luxurious.

The realistic view is that we've packed our suits

into a small suitcase, come to Berlin

because we're going straight back to London

and then going straight to the award show.

Not looking forward to how creased my shirt is.

Don't look at any pictures from the Autosport Awards

because it will look like we have just rung it out.

But look, thank you again, as Tommy said,

for the Autosport Awards voting.

Maybe, just maybe, fingers crossed,

potentially maybe we might win.

I hope so for everybody that has supported us

to show something to be like,

oh my God, we actually got recognized for something.

That would be cool.

All right, that is it.

Thank you everybody for listening

and we will see you very soon probably for another car launch.

Indeed, the next one will be Mercedes.

Mercedes.

A couple of days.

Can't wait for the leak at 9am

and the actual launch at 1pm.

Oh, they love that, don't they?

Beautiful stuff.

Bye.

Bye

Until a great trip starts with peace of mind.

0:00

17:17

Our reaction to the Audi F1 car launch (Live from Munich)

Audi Revolute F1 Team car

livery

Audi

Formula One

Formula Two

front wing

end plates

DTM

F1

front-end mechanic

About this episode

Original notes