Grand Prix at Monza 2023

Get yourself ready for the Grand Prix at Monza! Laura Winter summarises all the big talking points from the Temple of Speed.

Heikki Kovalainen

Tom welcomes one-time Grand Prix winner Heikki Kovalainen onto the show to discuss his roller-coaster Grand Prix career, which began with Renault in 2007 and took in 111 starts, with stops at McLaren, Caterham and Lotus. 

The amiable Finn discusses the challenges of going up against an all-time great in Hamilton – their sporting bets and what separated them on the race track – and looks back on his only F1 win in Hungary in 2008. 

There are also stories on his breakout defeat of Michael Schumacher at the Race of Champions, that massive crash at Barcelona in 2008, the struggles that saw him end up at the back of the grid and much, much more…

Belgian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton's fifth win in the last seven races extended his championship lead over Max Verstappen to 47 points with just 10 of this season's 17 races remaining. Hamilton's Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas came in 8.4 seconds behind him but ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, meaning the Finn cut the gap to second place in the standings after Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix. 

Daniel Ricciardo, who took the extra point for fastest lap, finished fourth ahead of team mate Esteban Ocon who snatched fifth from Red Bull's Alexander Albon on the final lap. 

But it was another low point for Ferrari. The Italian team has won in Belgium for the last two years but Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc failed to muster a point between them, finishing 13th and 14th respectively. Ferrari are yet to win a race this season.

Sunday's victory was Hamilton's 89th career win, meaning he moves to within two wins of Michael Schumacher's Formula One record and takes another step closer to equalling the German driver's record of seven career titles.