Sprint qualifying is a special F1 weekend format where teams race a short “sprint” to decide who starts where. Because it happens early, teams have to get their car working well right away, not just for the main qualifying session.
Car
Mercedes
Here, “Mercedes” means the Mercedes Formula 1 team. They’re talking about how well (or poorly) Mercedes’ race car performed compared to the other leading teams.
They’re saying the weather was hot and that can change how the F1 car works. Heat can make tires behave differently and can also stress the engine cooling, which affects speed.
Car
Lando Norris
They’re talking about Lando Norris, who drives for McLaren in Formula 1. The episode is basically explaining why his car felt good at the end but not earlier in qualifying.
The Fiat 127 is a small car made by Fiat, designed mainly for everyday driving. Because it’s compact and relatively light, some people have used it for racing or track days. When the podcast mentions it with “soft tyres,” they’re talking about how that car performed on a tire setup meant for grip.
“Soft tyres” are a softer tire compound that generally provides more grip for faster lap times, but they wear out sooner. In qualifying, teams often use softer compounds to maximize traction and speed over a short window.
A yellow flag in F1 means there’s a hazard on track, so drivers must slow down and avoid dangerous behavior. It can interrupt a qualifying lap because the driver can’t keep pushing at full speed through the affected sector.
SQ2 is the second segment of sprint qualifying, typically where drivers who survived SQ1 try to improve their times. The hosts describe Norris’s lap as not being “really there,” meaning the car wasn’t delivering the expected performance.
Using “all four wheels effectively” means the car is balanced so both front and rear tires contribute to traction and control through the corner. In qualifying, that usually translates to better turn-in, less wheelspin, and more consistent lap times.
Upgrades are changes to the race car—like new parts—to make it faster or more efficient. Some teams bring them right away, while others wait for a later race.
Ferrari is another Formula 1 team/brand, and the hosts discuss how its upgrade package compares to McLaren’s. They also mention Ferrari’s potential to improve later in qualifying (Q3) and convert pace into results.
“Blocked” means you can’t get past or get a clear track for your fastest lap. In qualifying, that can cost time even if you’re fast.
Term
Q3
Q3 is the last part of qualifying, where the top teams go for their fastest laps. If you’re quick in Q3, you usually end up near the front on the grid.
Concept
180 around the world
They’re describing a moment where the car rotated a lot, like a near-spin. The key point is that Norris still saved it and kept going.
Part
front corner upgrade
A “front corner upgrade” is a change to the car’s front corner area. It’s meant to improve how the car grips and how air flows around the front wheels.
A “cooling louvre” is an opening in the car’s body that helps bring in or direct air to keep things from overheating. Better cooling can help the car stay consistent during the session.
A “perfect lap” means the driver and car are doing everything right—braking, turning, and accelerating with very few mistakes. It’s the kind of lap that’s hard to repeat consistently.
Suzuka is a well-known F1 track in Japan. They’re mentioning it because Piastri did well there before, and that’s part of why they think he has a chance.
Antonelli is the driver being discussed, and the hosts focus on his qualifying performance and how he’s able to outperform his teammate in this session. Driver-to-driver comparisons in F1 often reveal differences in car feel, setup preference, and execution.
Russell is the other driver being discussed, and the hosts analyze why he’s struggling relative to Antonelli in qualifying. The segment points to differences in extracting lap time, especially in the early part of the lap.
The grid is where cars line up for the race. The “front row” is the very first row—pole position and second place—so those cars usually have an advantage when the race starts.
Term
P6
“P6” just means the driver finished qualifying in 6th place. It’s important because it determines where they start the race.
An “upgrade package” is the set of new parts and changes a team brings to improve performance. In F1, teams may update aerodynamics, cooling, suspension components, or other systems, and the size/timing of upgrades can strongly affect competitiveness.
Red Bull is another team that also brought lots of updates. When many teams improve at once, the results can change a lot from one session to the next.
They’re saying Miami is very hot, and that can change how the car behaves. Heat can make tires and cooling harder to manage, which affects grip and lap times.
Low speed corners are the slower turns on a track. They’re tough because the car needs good grip and balance at low speed to keep the tires from slipping.
Tracks are split into timed sections called sectors. The “first sector” is the part right after the start of the lap, and they’re saying that’s where the biggest difference between the drivers shows up.
Some parts of the track are much better for overtaking. If you don’t get away from the car behind before that area, they’ll be close enough to try passing.
A “gap” is the time difference between cars, measured in seconds. In F1, drivers try to build a gap to avoid being caught and pressured, or to close one to set up an overtake.
In F1, an upgrade is new hardware the team brings to make the car faster. The speaker is saying the next set of changes in Canada could help them again.
Free practice is the earlier on-track session where teams try things out and get comfortable. It helps them figure out how the car will behave before the important qualifying runs.
A heavy braking zone is a section of track where drivers must slow down very aggressively, usually from high speed into a corner. Mistakes there can cost significant time and ruin lap attempts in qualifying.
Track evolution means the track gets better (or sometimes worse) as more cars drive on it. More rubber on the racing line can make the car grip more, helping later laps.
The softest tire is designed to grip the road more, so it can be faster for a lap. The tradeoff is it may not last as long, so it can behave differently in a race.
In motorsport, “pecking order” describes the relative competitiveness of teams—who is generally faster and more likely to fight for top positions. The hosts are saying the ranking of teams changed after the break, but qualifying still feels different.
A track infringement means a driver broke the rules about how they’re allowed to use the track. Officials can review it and give a penalty if they decide the driver went outside the allowed limits.
“On board” means the camera view from inside the car, like you’re sitting in the driver’s seat. It helps you see exactly when the driver brakes, turns, and applies the throttle.
POV is just “what the driver sees.” In racing, it’s a camera view from the car so you can understand how the driver is steering and where they’re looking.
A “pole lap” is the best lap a driver makes in qualifying to start the race from the front. Watching it on board shows how they managed the track to set that fastest time.
A “shortcut” here means taking a quicker path through the track rather than the full, slower route. The hosts are concerned it might be masking how well the cars really perform.
Race pace is how fast the car can be for the whole race, not just one hot lap. It includes things like tire grip lasting and how the car feels after many laps.
A “midfield scrap” means the middle of the pack is very close together. Teams are fighting hard for the same range of positions because the cars are similar.
To overtake is to pass another car. In F1, it’s harder than it sounds because cars depend a lot on grip and aerodynamics, so the podcast is pointing out why Red Bull can pass more easily.
A lock-up is when the brakes are so strong that the tires stop rolling and start skidding. Skidding reduces traction, so the car can lose time and feel harder to control.
Qualifying trim is how the car is set up for one-lap speed. Race trim is set up to be fast and stable for longer runs, so the car can feel different between the two.
They’re talking about Aston Martin’s F1 car and upgrades. The point is: if the car is fundamentally not working well, adding more parts won’t fix the real problem.
Term
energy failure
They’re saying the car likely had a serious power-related problem. The result was that the car behaved abnormally and couldn’t keep going.
A push lap is when the driver is really trying hard for the fastest possible time. If a lap isn’t a push lap, it may not reflect the car’s true potential.
The 107% rule is a qualifying cutoff. If you’re too far behind the fastest car, you may not be allowed to start the race unless officials approve an exception.
Stewards are the officials who make rule decisions in Formula 1. In this case, they’re deciding whether a team can be allowed to race even if it didn’t meet the qualifying requirement.
They’re using “pity lap” as a joke for a lap that’s basically just going through the motions, not trying to race fast. It’s meant to highlight how poor the car’s speed seems.
Cadillac is the name being used for the team/brand the hosts are talking about. They’re saying Cadillac’s car performance is very close to the top group.
The Toyota RAV4 is a small SUV. “All-wheel drive” means the car can send power to more wheels to help it grip the road, especially on slippery surfaces.
All-wheel drive means power can go to all four wheels. That usually helps the car stay stable and grip better on wet, snowy, or uneven roads.
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Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday.
Hello, and a very, very welcome to the Late Breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage
and me, Ben Hawking. For the first time in a very long time, we have Formula One
action to be talking about today. Of course, it's been sprint qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix,
sprint qualifying session where Lando Norris has taken the pole position ahead of Kimmy Antonelli
in the Mercedes, but Sam, all four of the big teams, let's call them, represented in the top five.
Yeah, that wasn't in the script, was it? It looks like we've had a month off and everyone's gone,
that Mercedes stuff at the top, pretty boring. Shall we actually try now? Shall we do it? Yeah,
Kylie will do it. And they've done it, and it's actually quite good. I enjoyed that.
It was some good laps coming in. I was expecting Mercedes at every point to step up and take
the top spot, and they just didn't. It looks like in the heat. Mercedes seem to be struggling a lot,
because I don't know if you saw in practice, Ben, many a message from Mercedes-powered cars
saying that we've got weird noises, weird power coming through just doesn't feel comfortable for
them at the moment. There we have it. We've got their kryptonite. We melt Mercedes and we've got
an entertaining sport. Total wolves like being blast at 1000 degrees. Yeah, a lot more competitive
in today's session. I could just imagine Domenna Carly after the last month of
touting how F1 has no problems, is just actually doing one big dab around the Miami lap.
Everyone's walking home. F1, yes.
It's been too long. Yeah, it's been way too long. It's too late in the day to be recording a podcast.
We're already delirious. We're not even two minutes in. Plenty to talk about. Good and bad.
Don't worry, Aston Martin. We'll get to you a little bit later on, but we are going to start
out front. Lando Norris taking the pole position ahead of Antonelli just over two times per second
in the end. We saw that he's been quick all day, Lando Norris. Didn't quite get a lap together
in the one and only practice session as a result being blocked on his attempt at a fast lap.
Saw him pretty quick in the first part of qualifying. Again, didn't quite hook together
the lap in the middle part in Q2. Then Q3, the only person in the 127s, I believe. Very good effort
on those soft tyres. Yeah, the lap that Norris put together would make it like it was plain sailing
for the weekend so far, and that really wasn't the case. As you mentioned, practice was a big
bumpy ride, and then he comes out on SQ1, and he's immediately interrupted by a yellow flag,
because Lank Stroh decided that the car was going to implode, and the wheels would just get a fall
off, which was solid. Then SQ2 goes around, and actually, he said to himself in his post-qualifying
interview, the lap wasn't really there. I think he said woeful at how poor the lap was. He was
almost going to second off the pace at that point, but then Q3 rolls around. The soft tyre
appears to be a tyre that the McLaren is comfortable on, and Lando said to himself,
he's finally got some rear-based grip. He's able to actually push out of these corners,
use all four wheels effectively, and it seems like finally he's able to feel comfortable in
that car and hooking up. This is, of course, only maybe the second four-week end. It seems like
that McLaren has had constant running. It's picking every session, and they're actually able to put
it to good use. So, in theory, this McLaren could be a real threat now to Mercedes-Benz
that we've seen so far. Yeah. We knew that this weekend they were going to be pretty,
one of the heavy hitters in terms of upgrades, and that's exactly how it went out. It was one of
those where the FIA always releases that document before the weekend, like who's bringing upgrades,
what do they relate to, and a brief description about what they're trying to do. On some weekends,
you know that that statement is out there somewhere, but you don't pay as much attention to it,
because it's a weekend where most aren't doing anything. But we knew it was going to be really
important this time out to see who's going to be basically changing the entire car and who is going
to be waiting a little bit. And we got a contrast between McLaren and Ferrari bringing a lot of
upgrades and Mercedes who are holding out for something quite a bit bigger at Montreal. So,
enjoy, folks. This is your 1F1 race of the year that isn't Mercedes dominance. Hopefully, that's
not how it actually plays out. But yeah, Lando Norris has really taken advantage of it. He looked
good from the off, even if the times, as you mentioned really, the times didn't always reflect
it because of one issue or another and being blocked, yellow flags, but it always felt like he
had enough to compete. But you would just, you were sat there thinking, is there going to be a
point where Mercedes turn it on? Is there going to be a point where Ferrari are able to show up
in Q3 and really convert on their pace? And none of them really did. And Lando Norris,
I'm not going to say it was an open goal, but kind of just took advantage of that and
excellent lap from him, really impressed. The thing is, it wasn't an open goal, but he could have
just tapped it in the net. He decided to do a little 180 around the world, backflip into the
net because the gap was immense. Fair play to your Lando. You've been in love with Miami,
you've turned up, but you've absolutely spanked the lap in there. I think fair play. You've really
delivered because I think after we left Suzuka, there were some question marks,
maybe Piasquery is slightly favouring the regulations. We turn up here and as it stands
at the early part of this weekend, Norris has really put a stamp on it.
Really hooked up in the first sector. Not just Norris, to be fair, I'm talking
more McLaren and Ferrari will throw them in there too. Both teams really worked well in that first
sector and we saw with the likes of Mercedes, even though Antonelli was able to be competitive
and get on the front row, George Russell in particular was losing so much time in that
first sector to the point where he didn't really have much of a chance to make it up for the rest
of that lap. Credit to both teams for what they've done. The progression is huge. You saw, as you
mentioned, the list of upgrades. You go through the list that McLaren have brought. I've got it here
and it is really something to behold. You can see that they've found a problem. They've worked on
what that issue is and they've decided to rectify it as soon as possible. They've brought in a front
corner upgrade, an engine cover upgrade, a side parking lot upgrade, a cooling louvre upgrade.
That's French. We all know, if you're a Longwood town, Michigan on this show, me and Frank shall like
best buds. The floor body upgrade, a rear corner upgrade and a rear wing upgrade. There's a lot
of technical performance-based upgrades from McLaren and it looks like they've all been fully hooked
up so far at the early part of the weekend. Just to mention, Piastri, just over two tenths back of
his teammate, good enough for third directly behind Lando Norris on tomorrow's sprint grid.
It felt like, based on some of the comments we were getting from Zach Brown, that he wasn't
quite as happy with the way things were going, didn't hook together the perfect lap maybe in
the same way that Norris did. Equally, with all of that, he's still not too far behind.
Not too far behind at all. He's actually, I think, 1700s away from beating Antonelli
anyway. Not disastrous for Oscar, considering that he picked up the P2 in Suzuka and looked
like he could potentially go on to win that race if the safety card didn't ruin things for him.
It looks like he's in pretty safe hands. Actually, if the worst it's going to be,
it's third starting from the sprint that is. We've still got main qualifying, of course,
to come tomorrow. Then there's every chance that he grows on the weekend. This is the
qualifying you want to mess up. If you're going to get one wrong, this is the one you want to get
wrong. If third is getting it wrong, I think he can be quite comfortable that he can step forward
and match Lando for the rest of the weekend. In the very brief time we've had in the 2026
season so far, we've become accustomed to seeing Antonelli and Russell pretty much permanently
lock out the front row of a grid in qualifying. Not so today. Antonelli took for his, he did his
part. He's second on this grid, but George Russell all the way down in P6. How are Mercedes
reflecting on this? Because this is quite a turnaround from what we saw before this long break.
Yeah. I think, unfortunately, it's a combination of things here. You've got the big step forward
that a lot of rivals have made, right? Ferrari have had upgrades. McLaren has just listed.
They've got mass upgrades. Red Bull have brought a lot as well. Yeah, Mercedes have actually,
as you mentioned, kept their upgrade package low. It's that combined with the fact that Miami is
arguably the hottest place we've been to so far this season. Mercedes have had issues with heat in
the past. In previous years, we've seen that they struggle in really high temperatures and they do
really well at low temps. That's when they found success. I think it's a combination of those few
things. They're struggling in the really low speed corners to maximize the grip from the car,
and yet Antonelli has just managed to get the better of it of the two drivers. It's Russell,
who is struggling to pull those lap times out of the bag. I'm surprised the gap's so big,
and I'm wondering if there's something in the car there that Russell's got too happy with,
because whilst I'm not surprised that Antonelli might beat Russell at this point, it seems like
they can trade blows quite comfortably. I am surprised it's about four, five tenths between
the two drivers, especially this early on in the season.
Yeah. That gap is about four tenths between the two of them, but nearly all of that is in the
first sector. It does feel like, for whatever reason, Antonelli has worked out, and he's not
the quickest guy in the first sector either, because, again, McLaren and Ferrari seem to be
best there. Antonelli's found a way to minimize the damage that he can recover for the rest of the
lap. Russell just hasn't got there yet. It's a bit concerning if you're George Russell. Again,
it's only sprint qualifying, so the damage will, in theory, have a chance of being minimal,
but it's still indicative of what could come for the rest of the weekend.
If you're not quick in the first sector as well in race conditions,
that's tough, because that is going to add up lap after lap.
It's also the area where if you're trying to defend from a car you've maybe just overtaken,
or you're trying to get away from someone, that's the sector that you use to get a gap
before a massive overtaking section. If you cannot pull away from the car behind you,
you will just be a sitting duck going all the way down to turn 11.
Not on today's evidence. They won't be doing that.
Yeah. We'll see how it goes. Final point, I guess, on this in terms of the Mercedes power unit,
you look at the other Mercedes-powered teams, McLaren, big step forward this weekend,
Alpine, about where they were, I think, in the pecking order before this break,
and Williams, better than they were in Suzuka. They're looking at the other Mercedes family cars,
and they're all making a step forward. If they're looking towards the power unit,
they might not find an answer there as to why they've been struggling.
Maybe. It definitely sounds like chassis improvements having added up for them.
Yes, but again, they've got this big upgrade coming in Canada,
which could change everything back in their favor again. Of course, the rest of the weekend's still
to go. Ferrari, we spoke about this before we started recording how Ferrari have managed to
go from second-fastest, have overtaken Mercedes, and ended up second-fastest.
So, Ferrari. Huzzah! We've beaten them. They are defeated. We shall try. Who's this?
Why is there an orange person sitting there? It's McLaren now.
Some hate someone in person.
I'm never going to Charlie in the chocolate bathroom or whatever it's called.
But it is so Ferrari. Yeah, we've done it. We've developed something. Good job, everyone.
Right on the back. Oh, we've been overtaken again just by someone else.
And when they beat McLaren, I'm sure Red Bull had taken a round to go,
yeah, we're here now. Hello. Nice to see you. Ferrari, permanently second place,
which must be really difficult because in the early parts of this spring qualifying,
and in free practice, Charles Leclerc, he looks on it. And actually, their long pace,
I think, feels quite confident. It's inspiring. I feel like they've got Google ability for race
base. So, if they get off the line well, if they can challenge McLaren off the line,
if Charles could get himself into the top two, I think nice and early,
then there's a real chance that an attack from the lead could be very much on.
Lewis Hamilton does seem to be about three, four attempts behind Charles Leclerc consistently.
And he made a big mistake in the heavy braking zone of turn 17, which I think cost him at least
three or four attempts. So, I think he would have been slightly further forward. But either
way, I don't think he's on the level of Leclerc right now. No. And we saw with other drivers
from other teams in that sort of mix of the top seven, top eight, they made a lot of progress
from Q2 to Q3, as you would expect, not only with the track evolution, but also because
we're switching from the medium compound to the softest compound. And whilst it's tricky to say,
because not everyone got a great lap together in Q2, like Norris is improved by well over a second.
Antonelli has as well between those two sessions. Verstappen by six attempts.
Piastri by like four attempts. Leclerc is only improved by one tenth of a second from Q2 to Q3.
I think he will be gutted to not be on the front row, because Norris did a great lap in Q3 and maybe
maybe P2 was the limit for him based on that improvement. I don't know. But there was more
to it than fourth place based on what we saw earlier. It would also be so Ferrari that they're
actually slower on the soft tyre and they're better on the medium tyre and that's now white.
But in race conditions, that might really benefit them. It could do, yes. And plenty to fight for
starting fourth. As you say, Lewis Hamilton down in seventh never fell on it versus his teammate.
No, again, I mentioned this point earlier. If you're going to get it wrong in a competitive
session this weekend, this is the one to get it wrong. I think if you could get a good start,
maybe get himself up a couple of places and just hunker down, get used to the car again,
really readjust. There's a chance he could be on it. But I said this after Suzuki,
there's a real risk that if the other team started to become properly competitive,
I was really worried that Lewis Hamilton was going to start qualifying seventh and eighth again,
and he would just be too far off the pace in qualifying. It's actually challenge regularly
for podiums, for wings, if the Ferrari is good enough to achieve those. And we've had one instance
where Max Verstappen's there. Oh, Colin Pinto is there. Oh, both McLaren's, both Mercedes,
he's all the way back in seventh. It's not where you want him to be.
No. Before we discuss Red Bull and indeed the rest of the grid on the other side of the short
break we'll have. Just wanted to ask you about qualifying a bit more generally, because it's
something we picked up on, obviously, in the first three races that it felt off. There was
something missing versus previous generations of the sport. They've tried to address that.
And obviously, whilst we've got a very different pecking order, maybe, than what we had before
the break, do you think that the overall show of qualifying has improved based on what they've done?
It's actually really tricky to answer that question. Sprint qualifying actually felt
was really poor as an overall format today. We didn't have cars on track for a long time.
We had the whole debacle of the track's a bit dusty, so it wants to go out first. And so there
wasn't a car out for ages. And then SQ3 rolls around, and there's not cars out for almost half
the session. That's not fun for anyone. I don't care how fast or slow people are going. No cars
is terrible. So didn't enjoy that. You also have the added drama that the FIA couldn't make
their decision about this Alex Albon track infringement. That took the entire 45 minutes,
realistically, to see if that was right or wrong. And that was a silly distraction that we were
never informed of, which is just a joke. And I'm bored of that happening for such an elite
industry now. And then you're right, the pecking order is different. And I do think there's a
real risk that we look at the pecking order being different and go, oh, that means qualifying's great.
That means we're having a great time. I didn't see a single on board.
We saw one driver POV in Lando Norris, where Martin Brundle in the Sky Group just kept talking
about how they're looking through a letterbox. And it's amazing. And yes, it is. But I want to see
how a car actually drives. We've got all these new regulations. If it's working, show it off.
If it's better, show it off. I want to see these things. And I have not seen enough properly
to know that this is a step forward yet. Looking forward to qualifying properly tomorrow.
Yeah, it's almost a provisional grade, isn't it? Because there were certainly better elements
of today than what we've had in the first three races. Even seeing, I'm thinking about the last
corner, most specifically, like, well, penultimate corner, I guess, turn 17, where it seems to be
Audi a lot. It was all teams, but it seems to be Audi every time. But they are struggling through
that corner trying to get grip. And that's what you want to see is these drivers struggling
and when you see, I think it was Antonelli who did it perfectly, maybe in Q3,
and you want that to mean something. And it means something when you don't get it right every time
because it's difficult. And I think in that regard, we got closer to something that we need to see
from qualifying. But as you say, there's still limited on boards. I want to see the Norris Pole
lap as they usually do, like a full on board to see exactly what it was like, particularly in
the first sector on board, because you're right, there wasn't a great deal of it.
I'm worried that they're going through turns two or eight at foot half throttle. That's what
I'm worried about. And I want to hear them really chucking it into these corners. Then I'll know
that we're back. If I can hear that throttle really, you know, going for it. I think the reason
they actually take a shortcut to keep up the lap times, they don't even do it.
Just straight line the whole thing now. I think that's Charlotte Clair's favourite trick around
here, isn't it? Hit me if I can do it along, so just want to do those corners. Oh, Aston, we'll
get to you. Let's take a quick break. On the other side, we've got the rest of the top 10 to look at,
and then the teams that didn't fare quite as well.
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Welcome back, everyone. Red Bull made up quite a big part of our preview show,
midweek, questioning whether they were going to be in a midfield scrap, whether they could get
in amongst the top teams. And of course, race pace, we still don't know the answer to that yet.
But at least in terms of qualifying, the Stappens there in fifth, six temps back of the pole time
of Norris, which is still far more than what he'd like. But he is ahead of Russell. He is ahead
of Hamilton. Is this encouraging? Yeah, it is encouraging. It's one small step for Red Bull.
We haven't had the giant leap for Red Bull kind just yet. But hey, that's quite cross key, that
wasn't it. You haven't gone in the right direction, though. We are taking a small stride forward,
and that's good. But I am slightly worried that before these upgrades were brought in,
Hajar was right on par with Max Verstappen. They were so close, if not being beaten occasionally
by Hajar. You look at the times here, and whilst Verstappen, yes, is ahead of a slightly
flailing Russell, it feels like actually when Russell gets his act together, he might step back
ahead. The same with Hamilton doesn't make that mistake in the final corner. The car itself is
able to get itself ahead of Verstappen. It's Verstappen himself doing what Verstappen does,
which is just putting in a fantastic lap in a car that isn't worthy of him to grace it.
But Hajar is another second back from Max Verstappen. And that's where I'm worried,
because Hajar is a great qualifier. He's proving he can hold himself in the first three races in
this Red Bull team. Something has changed in this car again, and it now means that we've got a
separation between those two drivers. And they need to work it out where the car is going the
right way in its development, and both drivers can actually be in really competitive positions
to maximise points, not just Max Verstappen fighting for his life in P5 while the teammate
is struggling further down the pack. That's why I'm struggling to answer my own question here,
because we look at Japan and Red Bull were fighting with Alpine, and we still have that
here for one of the cars. Like, he is in between, Isaac Hajar, in between Franco Colopinto and Pierre
Gasly, and one and a half seconds behind a pole time. If you just take that result in isolation,
that doesn't screen progress at all. But then you look at what Verstappen has done. He's a full one
second up the road, and he's scrapping at least with some of these better drivers, better teams.
But which do you look at? Which do you listen to? Is it just we kind of a situation or Red
Bull won't want a situation where Verstappen's brilliance is covering up some of the underlying
issues of the car? Or is it Verstappen is doing what he should do and Hajar's struggling? It's
difficult to say, especially from just one qualifying session. So we'll see how the rest
of the weekend goes for them. Max Verstappen will at least have something to fight with
in this sprint. But yeah, it's still early to say, I think.
Well, the big advantage that Red Bull bring, of course, is the fact that their rear wing gap is
now so large that when they overtake someone, they can just pass the car that they're overtaking
through their rear wing. They don't have to go around them anymore. They can just use it like a
massive letterbox for Formula One cars. Fully engulfed, yeah. Yeah. I've heard that the Panama
Canal is actually narrower than the Red Bull gap. I think we should start calling it the Red Bull gap,
like the Dorian gap. Yes. Or the Darian gap. No, it's Dorian pan.
Dorian pan, Darian gap. Easily confused. There you go. Good stuff. What about Alpine, eighth and
tenth? What about Alpine? Well, you put Franco Collapinto under pressure midweek,
and he's a big fan of the podcast. He is. Look, there's nothing a little bit of Buenos Aires can't
do to you. A little sprinkler Buenos Aires in your life, and you're suddenly, you're right again.
I'm writing that down. Hang on. If you're having a little trouble in your life,
get a little bit of Buenos Aires in you. You'll be all right. A little bit of that good air,
you know? Yeah. That Buenos Aires. Good wins. Good work from Collapinto though, right? It was
a tenth and a half ahead of Gasly in Q3, but he beat him in Q2 as well.
It did. It was the consistency of it that I'm impressed by, and it was positive. It turned
up for the first time this season, and he is not only on the pace of Gasly, which I asked for in
our preview. I said, you haven't got to be beating him. You've just got to be near him. He has
beaten him. He's a tenth and a half up in Q3. He's in front of a Red Bull as well. This is almost
where I would expect Gasly to be, you know, fighting around the fact that you've got Hamilton and
Russell just in front. You think, oh, Gasly is usually the guy that's in that seventh late spot,
pushing the boundaries of the Alping. It's Franco Collapinto. This is that raw pace that we had seen
glimmers of. We've seen those moments where Franco can really turn out, and again, he's turned up,
and he has turned it out. So do it again tomorrow in qualifying. Do it again in the sprint race,
and do it again in the feature race. I'm not asking for miracles. Just be consistent.
Finish all four sessions competitively between like seventh and tenth,
because then I get a bold prediction point correct, and that's all I want in life.
That's all that matters. Yeah, great work from Collapinto. Great work from Malpin.
It's still the same situation where that midfield is very distant from those top cars. So in all
likelihood, Collapinto is going to need some help to score big points in the sprint, but he could
still very well be… Seven tenths between him and Hamilton, right?
Right. But even with that in mind, he's going to have a chance to fight for probably seven,
four eighths in the sprint, but it's not a bad weekend for Alping to be leading the midfield
as it appears they are again, because if that weather forecast holds for Sunday, and we are going to
have a wet weather race with thunder and lightning about, there could be a lot of DNFs potentially
from some of the big hitters. And if that is the case, Alping might be best positioned to take
advantage of that. 2024 Brazil called. I really, really hope it's a wet race. I'm
kind of buzzing for a wet race, you know. Yeah. Oh, proper drama. No chance of that.
It's going to be a dry, dry boring race I've ever seen. Oh, good. What about outside the top ten?
I already got very close again. Good to see they're inseparable as teammates again,
was what, 100th between them or something like that? Yeah. You know, 100th and a half,
water letter just pipping Hulkenberg. That's where you want them to be, right? If they can't get
into Q3, both of them, at least they're right next to each other. They're clearly maximising the car.
The car is a handful. I think in turn 17, they would be in Q3, right?
Yeah, if they can slow the car down in a normal manner, like everyone else,
I think they're probably going a good 10th or two there, and it does look like a handful under
braking. So they can't start the car and they can't stop the car, but all the bits in the middle,
it seems like it's pretty solid. Yeah, I would agree with that analysis. What about
Williams? They got both cars through to Q2. Talk about inseparable. Alban and Sines, I think,
were separated by 1000th of a second in Q1, and they were then separated by
8000th of a second in Q2. And I was going to be all praise for Williams because they look far
closer to the midfield than what they have done so far. And then we get Carlos Sines' radio message,
where he is not happy whatsoever. No, he's fuming. And I think he's aware that they are actually a
lot closer to getting to Q3, at least here anyway, than they have been at any other point.
I think that's why he's bothered, because I think they've suddenly dawned on them.
If we got that right, whatever it is that he's frustrated with, they could probably gain a
tenth and a half, two tenths, right? We've seen the mistakes, like the Audi going through turn 17.
If they get their one turn right, or their one issue right, surely they can displace gasoline
tenths. So something has gone right. Yeah, there you go. So I think P11 is up for grabs,
I think realistically for one of those Williams, if they get it perfectly right. I'd love to hear
one of those. You know, James Vowles used to come out and do it really well, actually, where he
would come out and explain what the problems are, what went right, and why they were struggling.
I'd love to have a proper upfront, frank conversation about what Carlos Sines is bothered by,
because they are the team that realistically had the most to gain in this winter break,
Aston Martin too far back, Kangalack too new. Williams was the team we all looked at going,
you should be doing more. Are you going to turn up and do more? And they seemingly have taken a
step forward. Not enough in my opinion, but a step forward. I'd love to know what that frustration
was. I think it's pretty substantial, given like, again, we go back to the last sprint we had in
China, they were knocked out in Q1 and SQ1, double knockout, not even that close to getting out of
those sessions either. And here, they have been in and around, and to your point, really, 14 or
15th, that might be an underperformance because they were, I think, maybe 10th and 12th in practice.
That's maybe where the pace of this Williams is, which is far better than what we had before.
So, yeah, it'd be interesting to see why Carlos Sines isn't as happy as maybe I thought he might
be after that session. Anything else from Q2 that grabbed your attention?
Grab that. I got to see the racing balls go around again, just to look at it.
Yeah. Well, for a time it looked like you might see both of them.
And then... What a form, Liam Lawson. They're like, oh, do I get to go again? No, because the
skewers can't make a decision to say. Imagine asking them what they want for dinner. You would
be waiting till breakfast the next day to get an answer. It would take them that long.
Yeah, I'm not taking any, yeah, food advice from the students. That's not going well.
Should we go with your coffee? Yeah, when for next week? Yeah. Yeah, you're getting
seven to ten working days. That's a joke. I've said it earlier, it's a joke. Lawson did the
right thing getting back in the car and waiting to see if the decision came through the right way.
He felt a bit sorry for him, but a glimmer of hope for an F1 driver. And he'll be frustrated
because the gap they got him knocked out was actually quite small. So, I think him having
that chance to kind of have another go would have been quite good for him. But he's been beating
again by his younger rookie teammate. Ocon was probably the real disappointment, as far as we
know, in his turn one, where he managed to lock up, I think, both wheels, which is impressive in
its own right. Very blame-y-esque. Yeah, that's going to hurt you for the rest of the lap. But
even so, it was like six tenths between him and Ben. And so, I'm not even sure without that mistake,
whether he would have been up there with his teammate. But yeah, has of this tendency to just
be better on race trim than they are in qualifying trim, I think that's carried over here. Racing
Bulls, I was a bit disappointed by that. They seem to have, and not by one driver in particular,
either, I just mean the car, seems to be a little bit slower, maybe because of Williams
making progress and Audi looking fairly good in this session as well. And Racing Bulls have
kind of just deviated back to trying to make it out of Q1. Remember, Australia, like,
Limblood was flying in Q3. So, seems to have rolled back. I don't think it's helped that
Red Bull have nicked off their technical department, either. How can they do that with our gardening
leaf? Well, there's another conversation, isn't there? Yes. Can we laugh at Aston Martin now?
Yeah, go on then. Because they're 10 seconds away with their closest time.
There was one team. You're an upgrade. You're an upgrade, show.
There's one team that didn't bring an upgrade this week, and it was the team that didn't need one,
Aston Martin. They knew that car was too good. They cooked.
They're playing Blackjack, and they've been handed like a three and a four. They've got seven.
Stick. Stick. We're good. I mean, I mean, that's got to have a game works.
To play in 21. That's seven. That's five. Don't want to risk it.
Adrian knew he's on the beach. Adrian, we're 21-22. He's misread it. He thinks it's one,
two already. I don't need to do anything. No need for a design.
On a more serious note with this lack of upgrades on the Aston Martin, it feels to me like they
don't understand the car at its most fundamental base level. The upgrades are absolutely pointless
at the moment because you haven't got a base to upgrade from. They just don't understand the car
well enough. It's like building a house when you've never seen the house.
Put an extension on the back of the house, but I'm going to be in the house to do that.
Well, give it a go. It's no point. You're wasting time and resource.
It was quite comical, though, that the first competitive lack we see after four and a half
weeks of waiting, Lance Stroll immediately has what looks like some kind of energy failure,
where it locks up so heavily, he then trundles through a hole, stools, cannot get it going again,
pulls into the garage, gets out the car, walks off, says that he likes F3 Cosmo.
It's quite a funny series of events. I didn't expect this weekend to be the,
I don't know, the coming out of Lance Stroll as this beacon of light in terms of having that,
being the voice of reason with these regulations. I've seen quite a few people say that his relative
security in his role might have helped him in that regard, but yeah,
likes F3 cars, doesn't love F1 cars. Isn't that the last time he won a title?
Yeah, yeah. He was great at F3 to be fair with Prima. Yeah, I was great in primary school as well.
Yeah, Stroll didn't set a lap. Alonso technically did, but it was like 12 seconds slower. It wasn't
a push lap. They will. So I don't even really know why I'm asking this, but I'm going to say
anyway, like they don't have a time that is good enough to race. Like they will have to get permission
from the FIA to say, we haven't made the 107% rule, can we race? And it's been like, I don't know,
12 years or more than 12 years since the last time the stewards have gone, no, you can't.
Is there any evidence from today to suggest they should? Like it is that bad.
The only thing, the only reason they should be given is to allow them to get better,
which is it's sure pity lap time, pity laps for your pity car that can't do any pity running at
any speed because it's pathetically bad. That's it. I want them to be better. So I'm going to say,
yes, go on the racetrack so you can test your car, get them free testing time for like here
right now because this is painful. It's got worse. How has it got worse?
It feels so top gear. It's yeah. It feels like they've had to take a car away and go, oh,
I've made some changes for our road trip and it comes out and it's got those slovings on the
side of it that they used to ride on each other's cars. You're like, how is it worse than it was?
I mean, I've got all of the times in front of me on this piece of paper. I've just got a
install. They've just got a line next to their names because there isn't a lap time. Come on,
guys. I really enjoy that Cadillac are now only one hundredth away from Ocon.
Well, I wanted to ask him asking a 10 seconds behind them.
Yeah, right. I wanted to give some praise to Cadillac here because particularly in the case
of Sergio Perez, who's I know they're 19th and 20th. Perez is three tenths away from Q2.
And at one point, it looked like he was getting through to Q2. Like I was thinking,
oh, this is going their way. This could work well. The Bottas feel like a lap to go.
He didn't get over the lap I was expecting from Valdri Bottas and Sergio Perez really was
the shining light of this session for them. But it isn't as cut and dry as you would think it
would be only four races into the season. They are there. Yeah. They've got, I won't put money on it,
but they are there. They're in the conversation at the moment.
But they've had like qualifying sessions where they have been seconds off the pace needed to
break out of like a Q1 session. Here they are. And we're now talking a few terms.
Maybe it's track specific, maybe, but maybe this upgrade package that they've brought,
quite a significant one, is working. And to just be on the back of that fight, even if they're not
beating the cars that they'd like to just yet, that's something. I was really impressed with
what I saw from them. Yeah. It's, again, a small step forward on a long road. But if they do this
every single Grand Prix, that's good progress. Who was your driver of the session?
It's, I hate this with Spring because it's really hard to not go for the guy that sits on pole.
But Norris was phenomenal. He really did deliver a fantastic lap. He got the most out of the car,
can't have to mess with his teammate and the rest around him. The other contenders for me,
I think the Stappen did really well. I don't believe the car is that good. I think it's
sitting somewhere between him and Hanchard. I was so caught up in, so I was really impressed
with what he was able to do. Yeah. Very fair shout. I thought Perez was in the mix as well,
honestly. I don't know. It's weird. He's 19th, but I really thought six attempts on his teammate
as well. Really impressive. I am actually going to go with Max Verstappen. One second on your
teammate is seriously good at this level of motorsport. Rare, isn't it, to see that much of a gap?
Norris, obviously, a very fair shout, but I'm going to go with Verstappen this time around.
Well, that's one session reviewed, Sam, but tomorrow we're going to be back reviewing two.
We are a dig, folks. We don't come back straight away after the first session. We will review
both the main qualifying and the sprint race in the review tomorrow. Buckling for a whole day of
Google F1 action. It's good to be back. Good to have a full weekend of racing. Don't forget,
you can subscribe to our Patreon if you want to hear power rankings as well. We break down
every single driver's performance from the main Grand Prix. If you think, oh, I didn't really
talk about my favorite driver, we do. The power rankings, we really break it down. You get your
say as well. Join the Discord as well. We're in there all weekend, chatting through the sessions.
We love chatting to you guys again to know you. Follow us on social media,
make breaking F1. It's great to have such a growing community. Subscribe to us on YouTube,
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We'll be back tomorrow. We'll see you then. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage.
And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late.
Slip into the RAV4 with available all-wheel drive. And let's go.
About this episode
Miami sprint qualifying produced a mixed but revealing grid, with McLaren’s upgrade package paying off as Lando Norris grabbed pole and Oscar Piastri slotted in close behind. Mercedes looked unusually vulnerable in the heat, with George Russell down in sixth and Kimi Antonelli ahead of him. Ferrari showed steadier pace than some rivals, while Red Bull, Williams, Alpine, and Aston Martin each offered their own talking points, from close intra-team margins to major concerns about outright performance.
The Miami weekend kicks off with a bang as a new pole sitter joins this season’s list... Ben and Sam break down the session, from the teams surging back into form to those still stuck after the break. Plus, is the qualifying format finally improving or is there work still to be done?
