Welcome back to Trackside Tea, your non-techy guide to all things Formula 1!

This week, we’re heading to the forests of Belgium for one of the most iconic

races of the year — the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

And of course, it's all wrapped in your favourite no-jargon, judgment-free F1 chat!

Whether you’ve been watching F1 for years or just found out

Spa isn’t just a wellness retreat — this one’s for you.

Follow Trackside Tea on Instagram @tracksideteawithrebecca and tell me your dream Spa Belgium scenario!

Confused by softs, mediums, and inters?

This easy F1 tyre guide breaks it all down—no heavy jargon, just tea, tyre drama, strategyish, and fun, Trackside style!

#TracksideTea #F1Tyres #F1Podcast #F1BeginnerFriendly #Formula1 #Podsplainer #F1Fans #girlsintoF1

TRANSCRIPT

Hey.

Hey

And welcome to Trackside Tea, the podcast that proves you don't need a degree in aerodynamics to enjoy formula one.

Now there was no Grand Prix at the weekend.

So today I'm catching up with things that you've commented on and also I'm doing that pod splainer I've been wanting to do.

We're tackling something that seems simple but is weirdly confusing, f one tires.

Yep.

Those big round black things everybody yells about on race day.

So let's get into this.

What's the deal with tires in F1, and why does it matter?

What are these tire colors all about?

First off, Pirelli makes all the tires in f one.

No other brands, just Pirelli.

Every team, every car, they're all the same.

There are six different compounds of basic tyre which is basically the makeup of the tyre plus intermediates and full wet tires.

Each team is supplied with three of the basic tires which is decided before the race based on weather and track conditions mainly.

Now each tire has a color stripe on it: red, yellow, white, green and blue.

Each one has a different use I suppose is a reasonable way of putting it.

Different weathers need different tire types.

So let's work through the days.

A normal dry race weekend.

Now a dry one you would have red, yellow and white.

Red is the soft tire, the fastest but wears out quickly.

Yellow medium tire.

It's balanced not too fast, not too slow.

White hard tyre slower but it does last a lot longer.

So basically it's speed versus durability trade off.

Soft as your sprinter, hard as your marathon runner and medium is your steady jogger.

But what about the wet races?

Rain?

Chaos like in Silverstone this year but I also seem to remember Belgium was horrendous last year.

We had a friend sat on one of the hills in the pouring rain.

Poor Hedley.

So cue the wet tyres.

Green intermediate.

Light rain with a damp track.

Blue is full wet.

Heavy rain, big puddles, chaos mode fully on.

You'll hear commentators say things like 'they've gone to Winters' and now you can nod along like we totally get it but of course we actually do get it now so that's not too bad.

What are the tire rules?

Okay so the FIA, which is basically the f1 rule bosses, says that in dry races drivers must use two different tyre types during the race.

That's why you'll hear things like mandatory pit stop.

So if they start on mediums they'll have to switch to either soft or hard at some point.

They can obviously change more than that but they have to use at least two different types.

No exceptions.

Unless it rains.

And basically in a wet race the rules go out the window and the teams can do pretty much whatever they want.

How do teams decide what to use?

This is where strategy comes in like a game of chess but at 200 miles an hour.

Want to start fast?

You go for softs.

Want to run long and avoid traffic?

Hard tyres are the ones to go for.

Trying to split the difference?

Go for mediums.

Weather, track temperature, how good be the surface is?

All of that factors in.

It's why sometimes drivers complain about being on the wrong tyre because it really can make or break a race.

As much as the crew can help it is only the driver that can feel how the tires are when he's driving.

Any fun tire drama?

Absolutely.

F1 and tire drama go hand in hand together like tea and biscuits.

Back in the day teams

You were there, I was there, and what a weekend at Silverstone! In this episode of Trackside Tea, we relive Lando Norris’s emotional home win in wet-dry chaos, Oscar Piastri’s controversial penalty, Nico Hülkenberg’s epic first podium, and Max Verstappen’s wet-weather woes — no telemetry, just sheer F1 joy.

Speaking of Joy...what has happened to Christian Horner!!!! :-)

Listen now, relive the magic, and share your standout moment!

Follow/Subscribe op Insta: @tracksideteawithrebecca

New episode every week — no telemetry required

• Landos Dream Win
• Wet Weather Roller Coaster
• Piastris Protest and Penalty
• Hulkenbergs Emotional Podium
• What else went down?
• The Standings
• Celebrities with The Brundle
• LandoStand
• OMG - Christian Horner
• Virtual Safety Tea

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey.

Hey, everyone.

Welcome back to Trackside Tea, where we skip the nerdy engineering stuff and just drive into the emotion, energy, and entertainment of f one.

I'm Rebecca, and today's episode is truly special because I was at Silverstone last weekend.

You all felt the British Grand Prix magic.

Right?

Rain, chaos, home heroics.

Let's get into it.

Lando's dream win.

Let's kick off with the epic headline, which everyone's talking about.

Well, actually, there is more than one epic headline, but we'll start with this one.

Lando Norris.

What an amazing moment.

Wicked pace in the wet dry conditions and a home victory in front of his crowd.

He was even getting emotional crossing the line, funnily enough.

Oh my god.

We did it.

And when I say his crowd, not only was it a home crowd as in the location at Silverstone, but he had his own stand, the Lando stand.

Stow corner a, b, c, and an added extra d.

It was all pure Lando.

They decked it all up the sides with a logo, etcetera, and we all well, most of us got a free t shirt to wear as well.

More about that little issue later.

You definitely couldn't miss his fans.

That's for sure.]

I'm kinda glad it wasn't a stupid hot weekend.

With floral yellow T shirts, we would have been a wasp flying bee's favorite area.

Not sure I would have fancied that, to be fair.

It's been years since a Brit outside of Hamilton won at Silverstone, and it's the first McLaren win there since Hamilton himself back in 02/2008.

Lando, you are a legend.

And what made it even better for him?

His whole family were there, including his grandparents.

So sweet.

Wet weather roller coaster.

Oh my goodness me.]

The weather was bonkers.

It's like Silverstone has its own little microclimate, a bit like Avebury.

The amount of times Paul and I, my husband, for those who don't know, have been there, and it's glorious until you get to the outskirts, and then it's hammering down with rain.]

And then to drive out the other side, and it's gorgeous again.

This is how it felt at Silverstone.

We were keeping an eye on the weather all week before we left, and it kept changing.

So we genuinely had no idea what was gonna happen when we got there.

As much as they tried to predict the rain coming, it still felt a little bit unpredictable.

So the rain definitely set the tone for the race.]

There were multiple safety cars, lots of shifting tire strategies, and a pretty treacherous track underneath them.

I have to say ponchos are king at event like this.

Best purchase ever.

And we had see through ones, so you can still see our fabulous color t shirts underneath.

But you know that point when you get part of you wet, and then you just think, screw it.

I'm wet now.

Who cares?

That...