P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our F1 World Cup Challenge, with Alex Albon [Live]

Episode Date: July 10, 2026

Last week, we were so excited to be joined by Alex Albon live on stage at the Atlassian Williams F1 Team Fan Zone presented by Kraken.Seeing as the World Cup is on, we put Alex through our own F1 World Cup Challenge, where 16 countries were represented by some of the best drivers in F1 history. And Alex had the small task of narrowing them all down to one eventual World Cup winner - no pressure! Our brand new live show 'Super Podding' is coming to the UK and Amsterdam this autumn! Get your tickets here: http:/tix.to/p1liveSign up to our Patreon for just $5 a month! You'll get access to every P1 episode ad-free, extended versions of every 2026 race review, early access to tickets & merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now: http://patreon.com/mattp1tommyFollow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTokP1 with Matt and Tommy is the world's biggest F1 podcast. Subscribe for new podcasts around every single race throughout the 2026 Formula 1 season! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the B1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Today's part is a very special one indeed because last week we hosted a live podcast recording with none other than Alex Albin at the Atlassian Williams F1 team fan zone presented by Cracken. Seeing as the World Cups on, we put Alex through our own F1 World Cup challenge where 16 different countries were represented by some of the best drivers from F1 history and he had to decide who made it through the bracket before eventually crowning the ultimate F1 World Cup champion. It was great fun. The audience, as you will definitely hear,

were very enthusiastic and we also asked Alex some of their questions too. There will be more of these events throughout the year, so keep an eye on the Atlassian Williams F1 socials for more info. Enjoy the episode. Please welcome Alex Alba! Oh yeah. How's it going everyone? How long have you guys been up at the front?

How long have you been? Six hours. Four. Wow. I could never. I would... It could... I don't know, I'm trying to think of who would be my biggest, like...

Who would you queue for six hours for? Yeah. Who would I queue? Uh... Nobody? Uh... Adele? Adele.

Okay. Maybe? Well. Please well. No. So, we're going to do something very special. So we're going to film for our podcast right here, right now, with Mr. Alex Albon. So what we're going to do is something very exciting indeed.

So, Alex, I don't know if you've been told or not, but we're going to tell you anyway. We're going to do, essentially, because the World Cup is on in football, we're going to do a World Cup of F1. So it's going to be a bracket system, the top 16 drivers in terms of race wins. and it's Alex's decision as to who goes through. Yes. Spicy. So, 16, there's been 16 drivers on the grid. 16 drivers.

Have won a race? Well, no. So it's a bracket system like that. Oh, okay. So it's a 1v1. One per country. Okay, I was like, my God. I'm really in the minority of drivers who have not one over for the one race.

So it's a bracket system. So it's a bracket system. It's a 1V1, instant knockout. And if Alex can't decide, we'll come to. to you guys in terms of cheer. So, we're going to hyper up as well. If you hear a driver that you love, please go wild. So, round number one.

Tell me. Representing England, Louis Hamilton. Lewis Hamilton. Up against Mexico's Sergio Perez. So, Alex. If I want to come out of here alive, I'll say Lewis Hamilton. Clearly.

Any particular reasons why? No, no, just felt like it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Good, I hope there's other reasons. I'll say Lewis. I'll say Lewis, yeah, yeah.

Okay, perfect. Lewis makes it through to the next round. All right, next up, because it's a few drivers from sort of history as well, right? Okay, so representing Austria, Nikki Lauder. And this one's a tough one. up against Argentina's Fangio. I thought you're going to say Franco,

I got a mint. I was like, a surname Fangio. There you go. Lauda versus Fangio. Yeah, I have no... What, even, Nikki. Because Fanjo... Different era.

Different era. Maybe my granddad would... Should we get him on the phone? Exactly. Have you ever driven a car like that kind of era? No, because I'm not a H-pattern kind of guy. I'm used to FAPPu paddles, and I tried it once. Actually, there's a funny story.

We were in Goodwood, and it was like the first Williams car that we had. It was a FW1, I guess. I hope that's right. It was 1970-something. And it was like a green Saudi cut. And basically, it was H-Pattern, and I could not. drive this thing. It was so embarrassing. I was going into Goodwood. There's like one corner you have

to break on and I'm just like and I'm just like and we have Intercom and the engineer afterwards he's like yeah Leah was much better yesterday Leah is like a professional she's so good at this kind of stuff so she was like

healing towing she was doing all the right things and then there was me just like yeah not very good. So flappy paddles for you? So I don't know how this has got there, but... Louder or Fangio? Louder. Louder.

Okay. All right. Representing France, Alan Prost. Are you okay? Up against the USA's Mario Andretti. Once again.

Well, we have to go Alan Prost. Yeah. We're at a Williams event. It's got to be Prost, doesn't it? You're true. Very good. Champion. He's more versed than you.

Tomah, you are good at this. Help me out here. Okay, next round is Ayrton Sena up against Italy's Alberto Ascari. Well, just by the fans there, Ayrton Senna, clearly. I think that was the closest reaction

to Lewis, but Lewis is still clearly trumped everyone. I love how you're like, okay, so Lewis is going to have to win. We're going to put, Edda said a second Okay, so Senna goes through Next up, okay, this will be interesting

Michael Schumacher versus Charlecler By way of cheer It's default I'm not gonna fall under peer pressure I'm strong to my roots So I'm gonna go Michael Schumacher

You're a bit of a Schumacher I'm like super obsessed with Michael Michael was like my total fan war heroes. So I've said this story before but yeah, I had a bedroom. My dad decorated my bedroom

for me. I had a red carpet. I had red walls. Red cupboard. I had a red alarm clock. Red pillowcase. Red duvet. People say if you came into my bedroom, it looked like a murder scene.

Just terrible. Absolutely terrible. I'm also a shoo-mey fan boy, so I get it. I would love to have a look at that bedroom. Okay. That sounds weird. Next up Jackie Stewart from Scotland versus Kimmy Reichenen, Finland. I'm more on the fence on this one

because I've got to know Sir Jackie Stewart quite well. He's been, he's a very, you know him, he hangs around the paddock a lot and... Someone just bois in the audience, crazy. Was that like a throw-up, Sam? Was that like a throw-up? But yeah, I would say, Kimi.

Rightanen-N-A-Ki. Okay, we'll do Kimi just for the, just to keep you guys, to keep this guy over here, can't. Reikeren makes it through. Okay, next up, representing the Netherlands, Max Vestappen versus Canada's Jacques Vilnerv.

Guy in a Canada t-shirt going absolutely crazy at the front. I feel like you know what's funny is Jack comes to a lot of our races he's that he's our ambassador so he I was like he's not here today though when you when you said that I was like luckily he's not here yeah I would say max I think Max is very careful yeah the final one for the round of 16, Spain's Fernando Alonzo versus Australia's Jack Brabham. Hello, are we there? That was like the easiest. It has to be Fernando, clearly. Fernando, Fernando, yeah.

Fernando makes it through. Okay. Okay. Quarterfinals. Quarter final time, this is big. Okay. Yeah, I'm ready. Lewis Hamilton versus Nicky Lauda. That's close. Close in that I thought.

I still say Lewis. Okay. Lewis makes it through to the semi-finals. What do I, I've realised, what am I judging this one? Just vibes. Whatever you want to.

Do you remember when we spoke last? You were like, I'm judging circuits by their toilets. That's what you said to us. So whatever you want to do, that's fine. Okay, okay. Okay, so Hamilton.

Oh my word, I've just seen the next. Okay, this one is a very close. one. Alan Prost versus Ayrton Senna. Had to be those two together.

Tommy, you're going to help me because we've got the Williams to represent. We need one Williams driver in there and I think he's

our only one, isn't he? Is he on your list? Drove for Williams. Prost obviously won a title for Williams, so who are we thinking? Etter Senna.

Etern Senna. Do we have anyone from Williams left on the list? Have we just got rid of all of them? I'm going to go with no. Just Senna. Just Senna still. Okay. Michael Schumacher

versus Kimmy Reichenen. Michael, I think I know where this is going. Yeah, yeah, I'm glad you said that. Kim is going to be so upset. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And finally in the quarterfinals, Max Vestappen versus Fernando Alonzo.

That's a good lineup. Yeah. I'm going to. Wow. This one is great. This is great. Yeah. I think the Fernando fans are louder. I can hear a lot of Fernando. Max, I gotta go Max. Max Mustafa! Has been chosen. I can't hear a word you're saying Alex but I'm just trying to lip-read from here with the amount of noise. Loving this guys by the way, great energy. Okay, the semi-finals is getting in high pressure now. Okay, here we go. Lewis Hamilton

versus Ayrton Senna. Lewis. Lewis. Lewis is in the final for England. Okay. Oh, this one. Michael Schumacher versus Max Verstappen.

I'm going to go against everyone here. I'm going to go for Michael. I'm going to say. Okay. Okay, so the final of the F1 World Cup is Lewis Hamilton versus Michael Schumacher for the victory. Alex Albon, who has won the F1 World Cup? What do we think?

Michael Schumacher. For me, Michael. Michael Schumacher. Wow, you've got to be doing me. Okay. England will never win a World Cup. We just can't do it. No, we were so close.

I think we've got some fan questions down here, Alex. That was awesome, by the way. That was so good. It certainly was. Right, who's got a question for Alex, and I'll bring a mic to you? Let's start down here. Hello. Hi. Would you rather fight 10 duck-sized men or one George Russell-sized duck? One... 10 duck-sized men?

Yes. Not George's, just men. George Russell-sized duck-sized... 10 duck-sized George Russell, maybe. Or ducks... Or... What was the second bit? George Russell, duck.

A one George Russell-sized duck. George Russell-sized... George... I'm trying to think of what a duck that looks like George. Is George tall? George's tall. We're very similar.

I always think that George has kind of like a bit of a walk to him. Do you know, do you know, he walks on his calves. So he's got like, like, which is not intimidating at all. I'm going to go, I'm going to take George on. I'm going to fight man to man, man to duck. Okay. I hope that answered what you wanted there. Okay, over there.

Another one over here. Here, Alex. Hello. Just a basic one, but what is your favorite pre-race ritual to do? Oh. Okay, so I had a... I was very superstitious, and I guess I still am a little bit. My mom is Thai, and obviously,

Thai people are generally quite superstitious, I would say. Too much, almost too much. So I still have all these like... You call them good luck charms, bracelets. It's kind of what you do when you do good deeds, and basically you get blessings from monks. So that's really it. I have these things.

I kind of have them on and off. You can't really see it maybe from where you are. That's the only thing I do. In terms of routine-wise, I used to have, like, I had to get in the car on the left side. I could only wear, like, there was a version of three pairs of underwear

for Sunday. It worked out quite well, because obviously, if you had one set for Friday, I say Sunday, that's not. What happens, Media Day? Media Day. Yeah, I can tell you I'm not wearing my racing. I'm not wearing my racing underwear, Tommy, for Media Day.

So that's it. I got rid of them all. So I did, I had all this, and then I was like, you know what, I'm going to do one race where I go against all my superstitions. And it went well, which is a weird thing to do. But yeah, that's about it. Amazing. Down here.

Hi, Alex. What is your favourite Silverstone? Grand Prix memory growing up. Oh, okay. I actually grew up and started racing at Silverstone. So I remember my very first time in a go-car, and I had to get my license.

I think you're eight years old when you get your racing license in go-carts. And so my dad took me to Silverstone to do it. And I remember just it was like the basic things. So can they drive? Do you know what the flags mean and all these kind of things? And during that day,

It was Felipe Massa driving like a Sauba back in 2000. It must have been in 2002 or 2003. And that was it. And I just remember I was in my go-car, and I could hear the F-1 car in the background, because back then it was V-10s screaming at the back. And I was like, oh, my God, you know, this is what I want to do. So that was the time. Were you dreaming about F-1 in that moment?

I remember. So after I got my, they kind of give you like a, well-done, you've passed kind of thing. We went, we grabbed like a sandwich and we just sat at one of the corners. It was the old, you guys must know this, it was like an old corner, the one that goes down the hill and... A bridge. Bridge, where the new cart track is. Yeah, yeah. And it was just almost intimidating to me because as a kid I was like, this thing is way too, like this is crazy.

What is this thing? Obviously, I knew it was Formula One, but yeah. Hi, Alex. Hello. What would your superhero origin story be, or super villains? Oh my God. Or supervillain, did you say it? Either or.

That's a hard question to answer on the spot. Superhero origin story. Guys, you need to help me out. Firstly, what's my superpower? And then we can work backwards from there. Superpower. Superpower. You're an animal.

Yeah, okay. Dr. Doolittle. That would be cool. That would be cool. We're going to go for like a doctor do little. hybrid I want to get bitten by in Thailand we have these like huge lizards

they're called monitor lizards they're like you ever seen them they're like they're ginormous I've got bitten by a monitor lizard and then I could communicate to monitor lizards I could then understand other animals how does

this serve me in racing though I don't know I can speak to ground hogs yeah don't come on the track get out of the way get out the way I could tell that Exactly, I could

You could gather them together To block the track to make you win Brilliant Yeah, that doesn't sound dangerous at all that Yeah, yeah, yeah They don't stop, wouldn't they? Exactly, exactly Like a blockade, maybe

Do groundhogs build dams? Are they like beavers? Maybe. This is going down a really strange part We'll figure it out, but there's a storyline there. I wanted to just say, before we get to the next question, I got so distracted by the pole position meme Oh my God.

Honestly, that video I have watched a thousand times of you saying pole position. It's so funny. So, I don't The story of this is basically, I was very jet lagged.

We just arrived to Japan and I arrived quite late. And I don't... I didn't even know this thing went viral. Yeah, oh yeah, it did, yeah. I don't have social media on my phone anymore. And so Carlos was like, going to go in like,

proposition, proposition. And I was like, what are you talking about? And he showed me this video. And I don't know. Why do I look like that? I don't understand. I don't know if it's the grading or the grading of the video. He's not jet lag now.

I have my god okay we've done it too much we've done it too much but uh okay we've got another question down there hi

um if if one just stopped existing which racing series would drive oh if Formula One stopped existing hmm I don't know

I think I would just go like for yes I did a rallying video we did some rallying like last week that was a lot of fun I think I would do that thing where a driver kind of just retires and then does everything he can

like I would love to be able to have the feeling of just jumping in and out so like do a race in NASCAR, do what Kevin did do a race in NASCAR maybe do a couple of races in endurance racing and then just kind of not I don't want to fix myself to one series and maybe try

the Indy 500 things like that okay so Thank you for listening to today's pod. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did with Alex. Big thanks to the Atlassian Williams F1 team for having us. It's the Belgian Grand Prix next weekend, so we'll see you for predictions and all our usual episodes next week. See you there.

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