This week on the podcast, Wesley Smith and I recap our recent travels with IWC to Goodwood outside of London, and the Miami GP outside of, well, Miami. We chat watch spotting, new releases (and some old ones) from IWC, and of course, race cars. These trips held a few surprises even for us, which we share our experiences around, from trackside action, to biking the circuit.
The race in Miami marked round six of the 2025 Formula 1 season, and with it came Oscar Piastri’s fourth win of the season, expanding his lead in the WDC. We also saw another first for young Mercedes driver, Kimi Antonelli, who, at just 18 years old, became the youngest driver to take pole position during Sprint qualifying on Friday. Both the Sprint and the main race proved valuable learning experiences for Antonelli, who will look to carry momentum into the European leg of the season which begins May 18th at Imola (a home race for the Italian).
On the other side of the garage, George Russell continues to quietly have a remarkably consistent season, having finished every session of the year in the top five. George finished the race in P3, though it was a worrying 37 seconds behind the McLaren cars in front, which had their most dominant weekend of the year.
In addition to taking in the practice and qualifying action, guests of IWC were treated to a behind the scenes look at the team hospitality area, which is situated within the Hard Rock Stadium. We were also given the opportunity to bike the circuit after qualifying, and get a first hand sense of the track, its surface, and its corner sections. While generally flat, there are some tricky sections to negotiate with the Miami GP circuit, particularly turns 14 and 15, which features a blind rise to the apex coming into a very tight corner, even on a bike.
On Thursday evening, IWC hosted an event with Mercedes Team Principal, Toto Wolff, and driver George Russell. The pair were joined by some of the cast of the upcoming F1 movie, as well as producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The group talked about striving for accuracy while making the movie, from in-car experience (which should be similar to Top Gun: Maverick) to the way they move around the track, right down to the correct gears for the corners. Toto was sporting his IWC Shock Absorber in Petronas green, while George was rocking a custom Ingenieur with a black case and bracelet and a bright turquoise dial. The watch was customized by George Bamford’s outfit, and looked pretty spot on in person.
Spotted in the crowd were some pretty special watches, as well as former Haas TP, Guenther Steiner. Through it all, a favorite remained the titanium Pilot Chronograph released during the race back in 2022. Overall, it was a pretty great lineup of watches and collectors, and while I’m generally not a fan of many racing movies, hearing the lengths that were gone to for this upcoming F1 movie has me pretty excited about its release on June 27th.
Podcast Show Notes:
IWC DaVinci Perpetual Calendar