Reaction to Australian GP practice | Mixed Mercedes engines, insane speed differences, and will Aston make it?
P1 with Matt and Tommy
Reaction to Australian GP practice | Mixed Mercedes engines, insane speed differences, and will Aston make it?
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Term
Grand Prix
A Grand Prix is one race in the big Formula One racing season. Drivers compete in many of these races to see who is the best overall.
Concept
Formula One
Formula One is a type of car racing where the fastest and most advanced cars race on tracks all over the world. It's like the top level of car racing with special cars and teams.
Term
practice
Practice is when drivers get to drive their cars on the track before the real race to see how well the car works and make it better.
Term
qualifying
Qualifying is a short race before the main race where drivers try to be the fastest so they can start the big race in front.
Concept
Formula 1
Formula 1 is a type of car racing with very fast and special cars that race on tracks worldwide. It's like the top league of car racing.
Concept
Netflix Drive to Survive
"Drive to Survive" is a TV show on Netflix that shows the stories and excitement of Formula 1 racing and the people involved.
Car
Ferrari 12
The Ferrari 812 Superfast is a very fast and powerful car made by Ferrari, with a big engine in the front. People talk about it because it's one of the fastest cars you can buy and is related to Ferrari's race cars. It's famous for being really quick and exciting to drive.
Brand
Aston Martin
Aston Martin is a company that makes fancy and fast cars, and they also race in the top car racing series called Formula 1.
Term
podiums
Podiums mean finishing in the top three in a race. The drivers get to stand on a special stage to get their trophies.
Brand
Cadillac
Cadillac is a brand that makes fancy cars and is now involved in top-level car racing.
Concept
FIA
The FIA is the organization that makes the rules for many car races and makes sure everyone follows them to keep racing safe and fair.
Brand
Honda
Honda is a big car and engine maker from Japan that also makes engines for race cars in Formula 1.
Concept
McLaren
McLaren is a famous racing team from Britain. They had some problems in the past, and others want to avoid making the same mistakes.
Brand
Mercedes
Mercedes is a famous German car company that makes powerful car engines, including those used in racing cars.
Concept
team principal
The team principal is like the boss of a racing team who makes important decisions and leads the team.
Term
engine formula
In some races, the type and power of the engine are very important and can decide who wins.
Term
shakedown
A shakedown is when a car is tested for the first time to make sure everything works okay before real racing starts.
Term
sandbagging
Sandbagging means a racing team is pretending to be slower than they really are so other teams don't know how fast they can go.
Term
pole position
Pole position means starting the race at the very front because you were the fastest in qualifying.
Term
lifting and coasting
Lifting and coasting means letting go of the gas pedal early so the car slows down a bit and saves fuel during the race.
Concept
F1 cars
F1 cars are super-fast racing cars used in the biggest and most famous car races in the world. They are built to go very fast and take sharp corners.
Term
Red Bull
Red Bull Racing is a top team in Formula 1, which is a type of car racing, and they have some of the best drivers.
Term
FP2
FP2 means the second practice time before a race where drivers try out their cars and plans to get ready.
Concept
turn one
Turn one is the very first corner of a race track where cars often try to pass each other right after the race starts.
Concept
Leclerc
Leclerc is a famous race car driver in Formula 1, which is the top level of car racing. He drives very fast cars and tries to start races in the best position.
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This episode is sponsored by Sky Sports. The F1 season is back on the 6th of
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Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. The
season is finally underway. Practice for Australia is in the bag. Well, the first
two practice sessions. Friday is in the bag. Tomorrow is qualifying. Finally,
just one more day until hopefully some questions are answered. A lot to get
into over the first two practice sessions of the season. Tom Bellingham,
Netflix Drive to Survive Sensation. Surprised you get up this early considering
your stardom. How are we feeling now that the season has begun?
Happy to be back, of course, to see F1 cars back on track. And yeah, just getting
used to my brain of this new Formula One and we'll get into this. But seeing cars
slowing down and realise they're not backing off their lap, that is just Formula
One now potentially. So yeah, it's a whole new way of watching, I feel like,
sometimes. Wow, Tommy's straight in with... Let's be positive. This is great.
The race is good. It's going to be amazing. We like them slowing down on a straight.
Right, let's get into free practice one, shall we? Because this is the one I want
to talk about the most as it was a Ferrari 1-2, Charles Leclerc, nearly half a
second clear of Lewis Hamilton. And I thought we're in for something special.
You thought it's so over, but it's so over because Charles Leclerc's already won the
title. Yeah, I almost started posting on social media. I'm really starting to get
bored of Charles Leclerc dominated sessions, but I didn't and I'm glad I didn't.
So one of the big talking points from free practice one, unsurprisingly, was the
vibration team themselves, Aston Martin. They managed three laps for Lance Stroll
and he managed to be 30 seconds off Charles Leclerc. But that was better than Fernando
Alonso, who did not manage a single lap in free practice one, a truly poor start to the season.
Yeah, it's awful for us to mine. There was still, no matter how many times,
that there was always like point one of my brain going, wouldn't it just be
absolutely hilarious if this was all just a joke? Like come on, Fernando, just press the
throttle down now and actually go faster. So it's all just a joke. There's that copium.
Exactly. It can't be said enough. I know we're talking about Aston Martin all the time, but
it can't be said enough like how embarrassing this is. This was the year that was meant to be good
for them. They were once racing point, working in a shed in Silverstone and somehow getting
podiums. They got a win with Perez. They were always scoring points and now they've kind of
got this billionaire owner. They've made all these amazing facilities. They've got Adrian Nui,
the cheat code on board, and they are so bad. We're talking at this moment,
reminds me of the new teams in 2010 that came in, the HRTs and the man the racings,
that they are that bad. They're acting like their Cadillac or their Audi.
They should be. That would be the expectation for an Audi or a Cadillac to be like Aston
Martin are this year of having huge teething problems, but they're not. Audi have looked
incredibly strong, I would say, on this Friday and Cadillac have done pretty well themselves to
just put some mileage down. Question from Dikid underscore solo. Will Aston Martin even make it
to qualifying? I believe they will make it to Saturday. They will put a lap on the board,
but I guess the question is then if they are unbelievably slow and also in my brain, it's
not just the fact that they are the slowest car with the fact they can't fully express the power
within the engine and the speed in the car, but also they have highlighted there are clear
health concerns for the drivers in the car with the vibrations. For me, I'm sat here thinking,
do the FIA have a decision to make on this Aston Martin? Should they be five, six seconds off
clearly above that 107 percent you're supposed to be within pole position, then you're supposed
to apply, aren't you? Oh please, can we race? But then you've got all of these quotes coming
out of potential nerve damage after a certain amount of laps. Is there a decision that needs
to be made here? Because this is not as simple as, yeah, we're just a little bit slow.
Yeah, exactly. And there's talks of Aston Martin potentially not even turning up to this race at
all, but the Concorde agreement obviously means that you have to commit and it would be a disaster
for many things, you know, all the sponsors that are on board and everything, it would be probably
even more embarrassing than what's going on now for them just to not show up at all. But
if they are genuinely this slow, I mean, like FP2, it continued and they were last,
you know, Alonzo was a second slower than Bottas in a Cadillac who were a new team.
Like go Bottas, tell me you're right. Well, that's all Bottas, isn't it? That is.
But I'm amazed at how bad it is. I expected them to be bad this year, but this is
an absolute joke, really. It's so, so bad. Well, no one anticipated this. You mentioned
that Adrian Newey is the cheat code. But even he's come out and said this weekend or a few days ago
that the chassis element, the thing that Adrian is supposed, you know, is the goat for,
he measured them to be fifth fastest, three quarters of a second to a second slower than
the top teams. Now, there are other factors in there, the fact that the whole timeline is quite
condensed and he's not had as much time to work on it as he would like. But it's not as if Aston Martin
sitting on a car that could win them a championship if Honda had had an engine to supply them.
They would be fighting at the bottom end of the top 10.
Exactly. It's not, it's not all on Honda this situation. And they need to be very careful
that they don't go down the routes of McLaren that we've said before, where they just put all
the blame on Honda, which I don't think they are doing. But, but obviously that a lot of the
narrative is that the Honda engine isn't very good. But I think even had they got the Mercedes
engine still in that car, the chassis isn't up to scratch either. And I think there are
question marks to be asked of whether maybe this is a separate discussion when we see what they
are in the race, but like Adrian Nui is team principal. Is he really the right guy to be front
and centre as well of all this when he needs to be working his magic on the car and doing what
he's best at, you think? Now, I am wondering, of course, how much this Friday running actually
means when we get into the rest of this season. But everything we've hammered home so far is
it's an engine formula. It's an engine formula. And yet we look at Alpine's running today with a
Mercedes engine in the back of their car. And it's not as if they've shown any signs of life of being
the fifth fastest team. Now, of course, I'm sort of touching on FP1 and FP2 here. But I find that
the kind of most striking thing and striking element, of course, you know, Williams as well
have the Mercedes engine and they aren't quick. So, Tommy, have we been chatting out of our behind
that it isn't just an engine formula this year? Yes and no. I know that's a great answer. And
it's a great answer. It kind of isn't in terms of there will still be teams, I don't think it's
as extreme. It's certainly nowhere near as extreme as 2014. That's a very good thing, by the way.
We're not having a situation where it is just Mercedes, McLaren, Williams, Alpine and then a
gap and then it's all the Ferrari powered cars and a gap and then it's all the Ford powered cars
and a gap. That's kind of what happened in 2014 where it was very difficult to make it up in the
chassis department. Now, we've still got those top teams and it's not a case of an Alpine just
because you've got a Mercedes engine maybe being amazing but equally at the same time,
dare I say Alpine, surely they're not that bad but you never know because they've been hyped up
quite a lot, particularly by me. And yeah, they're down there at the moment with Williams
and you thought with the Merck engine that they'd be up there.
Now, the one final thing to mention from Free Practice 1. I mean, there's a lot of
sort of gremlins in the cars as they put them out the pits and that's something that
see as much in Bahrain. Of course, in the shakedown in Spain there was definitely
some problems but across F1 and FB2, we saw some technical issues happening and for Lando,
he only managed seven laps in Free Practice 1 and was all the way down in 19th.
So, let's move on to Free Practice 2, the juicy one as we all know it.
Maybe we see some slightly faster running. The top three,
Kimmy Antonelli and George Russell. Where are the Ferraris? Well, Lewis Hamilton was 1,000th
of a second slower than George Russell so it's not all over just yet but then I am currently in
the mindset as we speak about Free Practice 2 that it is so over that we're so back with Free
Practice 1. Question from P1Patreon member Cakebomb7. Mercedes finally stopped sandbagging
but are they actually much quicker than Ferrari? We don't know yet because
they're still leaving a lot on the table I think. You don't want to look too much into
these times and we always get this with a new regulation that I think if Mercedes had been
fastest we'd be going, oh, it's completely over and it's funny how we're just so in this mindset
of Mercedes is going to be strong this year. George Russell is the favourite for the championship,
they're going to be clear that even when they weren't there we'll be saying, oh, they're sandbagging
and then when they are there we're going, oh, they're clear now and no one's got a chance.
It is looking close and that's the good thing. I think, you know, we're mentioning Mercedes but
Piastri topped the session and we spoke about McLaren didn't have the big dog Mercedes engine
for a lot of testing either and now that's in the car they're obviously doing a lot better and
could be up there challenging and they don't have that, Mercedes don't have that luxury that they
can just turn their rivals, I say rivals, people with their engine down like they could in 2014 and
just be clear. So yeah, it's close and Ferrari are up there. I think that's the important thing.
I don't think it is so over. It's looking close between them.
Yes, not yet. Although, as you say, we haven't seen the full form of these teams yet. You know,
we look at, I was just comparing what free practice to the times were last year and it was a 16-4 for
Leclerc as the fastest time and God, that was a good time when I believed ever so slightly.
So the fact that Ferrari haven't topped the timings means that it is so over again.
But it's interesting to see them about 3.3 seconds slower at this stage of the new regulations than
they were at the end of last year with, of course, the end of the regulations. For Mercedes,
they were clearly running lower power in FP1. There were lots of telemetry things being flown
around on social media. They were both 1.1 seconds off Charles Leclerc's at 1 minute 20.2 in FP1.
So very clearly they were not pushing that engine in the slightest. Then they started
to stretch their legs a little bit in free practice too. It's clear to see. But yeah,
Oscar Piastri is probably the shock in some ways to see him at the top of the classification,
despite them literally winning the constructors and the drivers last year. But as we know,
massive shakeup and the form book is supposed to go with it. But right now, yeah, Oscar,
I think he did a very solid lap to go fastest. But in terms of Mercedes vs Ferrari, Mercedes
potentially quicker. But I saw at the end of FP2, the Ferrari launch again. And I remembered that
it is indeed so we are so back because my God, that Charles Leclerc launch. Yes, he did exit
his grid box earlier than George Russell. But my God, there's something, there's something still
there. Yeah, it was so funny because you, I think you were watching on a very, very
just slight delay from me, just of your skybox. Because I was, I'd watched the practice start,
so Ferrari had got off the line and I was like, any second now, Matt's going to watch that and
I'm going to get, what's that? And then just gifts, dancing gifts, constantly just appearing. I
Matt's just watched the practice start. And it was amazing, wasn't it, that it was Ferrari and
Mercedes side by side in that moment where they did the practice start and the Ferrari was just
gone again. Because there was a lot of talk of, was it all over played and testing and now we've
got this new start procedure, could it not be as big of a thing? But that's got the hype going
all over again, I think. I just wish they'd gone off at the same time. I just wish that
we'd seen them exactly the same time and had some lights, but I'm trying to see it on Sunday.
As long as Charlotte Collo qualifies P3 year, then we are absolutely, we're in with a shout.
I can't wait. When he doesn't make a single position off the line, you are losing your mind.
When he loses a position off the start, that's when, yeah, we need to check in on my mental health.
Speaking of Ferrari, let's talk about them and really sort of decide where we think they are.
A question from Bing Ping Ching's, are we so back or is it so over for Ferrari?
Where do I sit? What do I say? Where do I sit? How is this going to get clipped up on Sunday?
I don't think we have the fastest car. I think it's clear that the Mercedes power, I think, is
FP1 and we were half a second clear. Probably not, but I do believe that,
I mean, judging by FP2, that's the most representative conditions for qualifying.
They're going to have been pushing quite a bit. We don't know exact fuel loads. We don't know
the engine modes and yada, yada, yada. Seems like Ferrari might have the third fastest car,
but the fact is, it could well be very close. Just because it's the third fastest car could
mean that they're two, three-tenths slower than the fastest. If they're launching off the line
and gaining five positions and it doesn't really matter, as long as we're third fastest and no
slower than that, they will absolutely take it. Right now, I was hoping for a little bit more
from FP2 after seeing FP1 from Ferrari would have liked a one-two, but it's fine. We're not
Aston Martin. That's all that matters. True. Dare I say we're going on about the starts and this
and that. I think we could, in theory, be in a situation where qualifying in the race are very
different. We've seen that before with Ferrari and how quick they've been in qualifying sometimes
and not had the race pace and equally red bull one year. We're not really getting a lot of pole
positions and then dominating. We're looking at all these lap times, I think probably based off
what we saw last year and going, whoever starts this is the quickest car. But as we go into the
race, even after qualifying, I think we're still almost like guessing just from the fact that
the lifting and coasting and the power deployment and everything is going to be so interesting
to see how that evolves in the race because you could have an unbelievable qualifying and be like
a one-lap specialist and you've got the car really well set up. But if you're not harvesting and
managing and doing all those things correctly, you're going to be a sitting duck on the straight
and we've seen that a few times, even in the practice sessions of cars, how much they're
like lifting off in certain sections or running low on power and things. In theory, we could see
something completely different from qualifying in the race as well, which is something to bear in
mind. Yeah, in my head, I'm really thinking that the racing is either going to be diabolical
or incredible or we're going to have like, say first and second are very close.
Let's say first and second are close. They could genuinely pass and repass every lap because
with the overtake mode and the fact that you get basically so much more power than the car ahead
and we've seen just how powerful that can be, then it's, I don't know, there might well be
tactics around you have to get past that car as soon as possible to try and then extend a gap of
one second, otherwise you're going to get past again. It's going to be interesting because
I just really hope that it's not either so artificial and so silly that we're not, you know,
that the defending driver has no chance. That's one of my main concerns and the other one is that
two ends of the spectrum, one is I don't know if they're going to be able to pass at all and the
other ones, I hope they don't pass too much that overtaking becomes like almost standard and they're
just doing some sort of peloton formation and just constantly, you know, constantly going past
each other because they have more energy. It's a big unknown in Formula One at the moment for me
in my brain and we will have to just wait and see but I guess as we're talking about this,
we're talking about energy and things like that. We, as human beings, don't like change
quite clearly. We don't like things that we've been used to. Some of the things that I've been
watching on board, I'm like, oh my god, I feel physically unwell. Like the deceleration, the
super clipping. I love how they've tried to give it a fancy name for basically going slower at the
end of a straight by calling it super. Like when it's not super, it's terrible. It's terrible
clipping. Like you're riding on board. What's Monza going to be like? It's so funny as well because
you can clearly see already that the TV direction have been told to cut away as they start decelerating.
Yeah. Because like the cars still look awesome through the corners. I will say that especially
at the really fast left, right, that they have an amazing camera angle for and the F1 cars aren't
slow even if they are taking it a little bit easy in the corners. But the thing for me is the
deceleration. That's something that is quite literally ingrained in my brain from the second
I've watched Formula One when I was plonked in front of a TV at three months old. So
that's my biggest thing I'm going to have to get used to this year.
100%. Yeah. That was my biggest shock watching practice and seeing the more
representative. I know we've watched a lot of testing, but you never know what runs they're
doing. But as they were doing quick laps to still see them, ease off so much going into a corner
and hearing the car make those noises. It was very confusing and it is that balance, isn't it?
If we get amazing racing, will we care as much when we get down the line? No. But at this moment,
it is very, very weird and very strange. I can already hear the keyboards right now tapping
going, ha, ha, ha. What do you mean you're not used to it, Matt? Ferrari were lifting and
caching the last year loads. Well, they're practicing. I've just covered that one off.
Yeah. That was actually testing for 2026. My goats, they're so ahead of it.
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Question from the fake Kelsey Itu. Will the term harvesting become incredibly annoying
by the end of the season? I think so, and what I hope is we don't end up in a situation like we did
with when Pirelli first launched the tyres. It was just constantly talking about tyres,
and I think there's a level where there's a side to the commentators as well and everything within
Formula One of making sure that it doesn't just feed the narrative and it's always talking about
that, because that will be annoying if it's just constantly mentioned and you do have to
leave a little bit on the table and just go, well, this is the norm. Let's not keep talking
about it again and again and again. At the moment, obviously, it is new and it's going to be a
massive talking point this weekend. There were moments, I think we're on board with Max Verstappen
and I was the same, the commentary were like, oh, is he lifting off? And it's like, oh, no,
that's his, that is just how you drive now with these cars and how you deploy all the power onto
the straight. And there's going to be a few times in qualifying, I think, where we're so not used to
it that we will probably watch a car think they've backed out of their qualifying lap and then gone,
oh, no, that is just how you drive these cars. And so it's going to take a new way of watching.
But as we said, if in theory, if the racing is really good, I just hope that means we can
forget about it because the worry is, is the motorway passing. We don't want to see too much of that.
I think we were chatting, weren't we, on WhatsApp when we were watching, because I think it was
Colin Pinto had a moment where he just had no power down the straight and we think there could be
some really sketchy moments here if we have cars running out of power on the straight.
Because the deployment is so extreme that the cars will be going so unbelievably fast,
because that is the thing about these new cars, is they are absolute rocket ships on the straight
when they have all the power and everything that they can do. But if another car is going slow
and they're caught off guard, it could get very sketchy, I think. I think the Colin Pinto incident
was frightening. But very frightening. The closing speed of Hamilton versus Colin Pinto was
quite frankly almost... It was Mark Webber Valencia vibes. Yeah, it was worse than that.
In terms of the difference in speed, Mark Webber crashed into a car that was also going at racing
speed. This was Colin Pinto going 10 miles an hour and Hamilton over 200. So, I mean, for Franco,
I'm not really sure why he hasn't peeled off the racing line when he knew he was going really,
really slowly because I think visibility is not the easiest as well going into Turn 1 Australia,
just because I think the way in which the sun and all that sort of stuff. But yeah, thankfully,
nothing came of that. But back to the harvesting subject, I don't think we're going to be able
to not talk about it because it's so important to the racing. It's so important to drivers' pace
that they can't make up the time in the corners if they're not doing that. It's not as if there's a...
Oh, well, it's either pushing or... Everything is about the battery. Everything is about the
battery this year. Fernando had some incredible, also very concerning quotes from testing about
the chef being able to drive around Turn 12 at Bahrain because they're going so much slower.
So, yeah. I mean, look, if it creates great racing, then of course we will still
look at it fondly, but there are parts of me that I'm trying.
Qualifying will be the biggest shock, I think, of them all. Watching qualifying and seeing people
lift off on a lap. And also in the race where someone has got a run on someone else and then
they just run out of energy and then they're just going... Although that will then allow at least
for some outbreaking maneuvers. They're taking the breakings. Although apparently breaking according
to what we've seen in free practice today is essentially a lottery where sometimes the engine
will be doing something slightly different and you'll lock up and just go off. The amount of
mistakes we saw today of the greatest driver of all time, Charles Leclerc. He went off many times
at Turn 3. You had, of course, let's speak about the moments as well, Max Verstappen.
The Max Verstappen one was absolutely enormous. And I say, to give you guys insight, myself and
Tommy were texting away the entire way through the practice session, you should see the emotion.
It's not just me though. Tommy as well is like, I can't believe I said this about Alpine.
Our Red Bull have so finished. Now all this sort of stuff is absolutely brilliant as a back and
forth. It was good as well because I was there going, Max is off and you were obviously like
having a banter and then Leclerc run wide immediately straight after. And it's just...
There's going to be a lot of mistakes, I think, isn't there? Going into this as they're driving.
One thing I do like though is that... And you do wonder last year if Max had gone off in that
moment. He's just spearing straight into the wall with how you can save these cars. Whereas now
they're having these big moments, but so far they're sort of saving them a lot of the time. And
we even saw that in testing, didn't we, as well? I just love the excitement of the new season as
well. And chatting whilst we're watching Free Practice, which we know how you feel about Free
Practice anyway. And then Max obviously making a mistake going off and Tommy's like,
my goat, everyone else would have been in the wall there. And I'm just like, there he is.
There's the fanboy. We love to see it. I mean, it was an amazing save. Don't get me wrong. We've
seen Max in Mexico last year. The save that he did there was absolutely ridiculous. But yeah,
there are a lot of mistakes that can happen. And we could well see that in the race as well,
not just qualifying. And that's a positive. We've said that for a long time that we want...
We don't want cars on rails. We want to see the drivers challenged and maybe hopefully
challenged in the right way. But if they're making mistakes, it could be better for the
racing because that's what we want to see. That's why we love wet races and things a lot of the
time because people are going off and that's how you get passing. And in terms of mistakes,
one really niche reference I want to make here is that the way in which they can save the car
reminds me of how I used to play the F1 2010 game, where if you lose the back end, you just
slam on the brakes and the car would just come round. That's literally what happened with Perez,
I think in free practice one, where he had like a massive what looked like surge from the engine
or something. He was saying it was engine braking, whatever it might have been. And then his car just
came back all the way round. It's like an auto correct. Yeah, you just hold the brake and it
just puts you back on. Exactly. So it's a very different way of saving mistakes. But I think
that could help in terms of seeing them, but also drivers being able to put their skill to the test.
Okay, let's go to the next question from P1Patreon. Remember steel head, have we jinxed the reliability
issues? Now we were of course full of praise for the entirety of Formula One for
and the teams creating bulletproof cars for most of testing. Now it turns out because of course
the whole conversation was, you know, we need to have it behind closed doors. It seems like
Friday practice Australia should have been behind closed doors because the amount of
yeah, reliability issues, gremlins that were going on were quite big. Of course I jest, of course
I'm joking. But yes, there's a lot of of course differences between Bahrain and Australia as a
track and I think generally just a team turning up to a race weekend and not having the luxury of
eight hours a day to set the car up and we'll roll out the pit. Oh, it's not really working. Okay,
come back in. These are restricted timing sessions now. You have an hour for FP1 and an hour for FP2.
So there's pressure on the teams to make sure everything works and clearly with these new
regulations, with it being a brand new car, there are going to be teething issues at this stage of
the season. So we kind of touched upon it I think in our predictions for the season and stuff like
that, that reliability issues could play a factor. And I think when we were talking about our P-WAT
prediction that we did, which if you haven't seen our predictions episode, essentially we just pick
a random, well a random number comes up and we have to predict who will finish in that position.
And we were saying, okay, well that person might finish in P9 if everybody finishes,
but everyone may not finish at the start of the season. Exactly. Yeah, it's so true. The
reliability has been a surprise. We kind of went into this first race thinking, well realistically
it's Huston Martin and Cadillac that are having these issues, but everyone else seems pretty okay.
And within two minutes of the very first practice session, which we didn't speak about when we're
covering FP1, is Oscar Piastri had a lot of issues as well and his car struggling. So that's,
you know, a top team equally in FP2, Max came straight out of the pits and had a problem. I mean,
Verstappen did 13 laps, which was the same as Lance Stroll, did less than Fernando Alonso. So
wow, when you put that into perspective, the Red Bull did less, well Max did less laps than the
Huston Martin, shows that they didn't have a great session in terms of mileage. So it's happening
up and down the grid. And that could be a massive factor of this season going into the championship
is that reliability. Because we don't know how these cars are going to race and how
when they are pushing or how much they're pushing and they've got to manage,
manage, there we go, bingo, bingo card. Please no, but they're going to have to manage a lot
during the races and reliability could end up being such a key part of it.
Let's go to a question from Poo on Patreon member Ilaria Roll.
Could the Red Bull Second Seat Curse finally be over? Hadjar was well within a second or even
faster at points. I love how within a second of Max Verstappen means the curse is over and
they're so back. At the end of the day, he's had a good, yeah, he has looked more impressive,
but let's not forget, three tenths, he was behind Max in FP1, and what was he, six tenths, well,
yeah, so and obviously Max didn't have much running. I think we're going to see,
it's going to be a very interesting year for that second Red Bull Seat. And even if Hadjar maybe
doesn't perform as well as we'd hoped, he might be saved by the fact that the top four teams
are very strong. And let's not forget, we say, oh, Hadjar was it within a second,
he's doing a lot better and oh, he's three tenths here. Yuki, a lot of the time could have been
three or four tenths off Max. But the problem was last year, three or four tenths off Max would
put you 17th because the field spread was just insane. Now you look up and down the grid and
we've got six seconds and it's Aston Martin, but even up to Colopinto, nearly three seconds covering
that whole grid, there's a lot more margin for error. And I think it's far too early, far, far,
far too early to say that Hadjar's done a good job yet, because it's the races when the pressure is
on. And we've seen many times where the second Red Bull driver has started quite strong and then
the relentless pressure and how much Max just dominates his teammates gets too much. So I don't
think we can speak about this till maybe even four or five races, even if he does do a good job.
I absolutely love how this question has come in. And yet Arvid Limblad literally went fast and
Hadjar did too. Which is the same as what we saw in... And actually, I think we need to speak
about Limblad, who's very impressive in that session. We will, we will. We're still talking
about the Red Bull lesson there. I know we're very excited, Tom, and it's trying to have a structure.
We're so eager to talk about everything. But let me just quickly talk about Red Bull and where I
stand on it. I think that it is, I agree, completely far too early to start singing the Hadjar's
broken, the second seat curse, because this doesn't really tell... FP1 is FP1. As much as I'd love to
say Ferrari 1-2 are winning it all. FP1 means very little. In FP2, I think 6-10 is kind of concerning
because Hadjar 27 laps on the board compared to Verstappen's 13. Max had a lot of problems in FP2.
Now, concerning is maybe a slightly too strong of a word. But there's nothing to suggest right
now that Hadjar is on the pace of Verstappen. There isn't. We'll have to wait and see in the first
few races. And also, it's kind of a bit of a mixed bag, really, because on one side, I think it works
in Isaac Hadjar's favor in the fact that we have a completely new regulation set, new car. But also,
it doesn't work in his favor in the fact that I think there's no excuses if he is really far off
Max, because I don't think the Max Verstappen has this car built around him crew have any real
leg to stand on at this stage of the regulations. Yes, Max has a driving style, and this, that,
and the other, but they strip back the aero, more like a Formula 2 car maybe, whatever the
quotes have come out and said. So, in that sense, Hadjar needs to perform. He does. And we'll see.
We're literally talking about practice. He could have been on a completely different run plan,
could have been in different power modes. We don't know. But I think to say that the second
seat curse is over is just because Hadjar's not last. Yeah, exactly. Because, of course,
Lawson had a big struggle at the start of last year. So, it's not over yet, but Hadjar's in a
good place to build from. And the fact doesn't have helmet marco there as well, which doesn't have
helmet marco and doesn't have the entirety of the midfield behind him waiting to capitalize
just yet. Now, right, this has been a great chat. And we have to now use all of our information
that we've spoken about, absorbed and choose pole position right now. And who would we pick?
Okay. So, my pole position for the Australia Grand Prix
is George Russell. I think George Russell is going to get pole position. I'm not changing any
thoughts about that. I still think Merc are holding a little bit back, especially as we've
had hints of that in FP1. Have they really rolled out in FP2 with full power? Have any of the teams
rolled out with full power? We don't know at this stage, but I think George Russell would be a safe
bet for pole position. And to be fair, that's what I put in my predictions. And then Charlotte
glares straight off the back of the grid to take the win in that one. Yeah, I will also go for
George Russell. But I mean, so far, again, we don't know what's been left on the table. But
Kimmy Antonelli is worth a shout as well of the fact that he's looked comparable and he's looked
strong. And he's been better than, well, better than Russell. He out-practiced Russell in FP2.
We have lost it. Out-practiced is now a new term in the P1 podcast. It's called the Jumping
to Conclusions podcast now. That's what we are. Exactly. But Piastri was quite a surprise, I would
say, with how strong he was. I know we don't know the full potential of everyone yet, but
yeah, that was a nice shout. And maybe you going for Russell, so I couldn't pick Russell, me just
backing going for Piastri might end up. Yeah, it might well come in. Because again, like,
it feels as though that Piastri laps a little bit of an anomaly at this point and that Mercedes
should be favourites. But perhaps in the hands of Oscar Piastri, he could do something pretty
special. I've got a bonus question for you. Jump in. Before we do that, we do need to talk about
Arvid Limblav very quickly. Yes, we do. Before we forget. I love it. He's amazing. He absolutely
out-practiced the life out of Liam Lawson. My goodness gracious mate. He out-practiced him crazy.
I don't know what you're saying. Anyway, yeah, I think that Limblav's looked really,
really good so far. Fifth in FP1, eighth in FP2, had a few problems with the car as well
across today. But yeah, he's really come out the blocks with a lot of confidence.
He definitely has. And this is something that a lot of the kind of pundits were talking about,
of saying, there's two sides to this of, is it better that he's come in
in a completely new regulation? And a lot of pundits were saying, actually, it might be even
more difficult for him because he's having to learn Formula One in the most complicated Formula One
that's probably ever been. So while it is almost a blank slate for everyone, he's come in and
yeah, done a really, really solid job so far. Really? But they're trying to say that it's,
I completely disagree with that statement. I think that it's an advantage that he comes
where everybody else is learning. How can it not be? Surely, you know, if you come into a team
at the end of a regulation set where your teammate is fully up to speed with the car if they've been
there a few years, I just, I can't see that being an advantage. I think that this is...
Which bias, isn't it? Let's be honest.
There it is. There's the first bias mention of the season. But no, I mean, not to take anything
away from what others have done, but I think that, I can't say it because we've literally
been saying and banging on the drum of Hadja having a great opportunity this year because
it's a clean slate. So, of course, he has not much experience under his belt. Okay, we could
probably talk for literally ever because there's so many exciting stories, so many things to talk
about. But I think we'll leave it there for now. We'll be, of course, live streaming across the
weekend. So, look forward to that. And also, as it is Australia, if you haven't got your Australia
P1 Live Tour tickets yet, go and get them. They will be, I mean, literally just type in P1 Live
tickets. It will come up on Google. It's across our social media and our links and our bio and
things like that as well. We'd love to see you there. Of course, it's literally just under two
months away now, isn't it? Before we fly, maybe like a month and a half, a month and three quarters.
So, yeah, looking forward to that one. Tommy, final thoughts, please. The first
final thoughts, first competitive final thoughts of the season.
I want a bonus prediction from you, which is where does Leclerc qualify and where is he by turn one?
Okay. Oh, God, I can already see myself melting at the fact that he's not in the top three.
I think, I think Charles Leclerc qualifies fourth and is first by turn one.
Okay, perfect. God, you tell me, God, what do you think?
I think, I genuinely think he just stays where he is in position. I think he will qualify
third or fourth and stay there. Are you getting emotional, my God?
Yeah, yeah, I'm losing my voice. I love how he's spoken for 40 minutes and yeah, just that's it.
Yeah, just it. Final thoughts, my voice was just... So, you think he qualifies where?
I reckon about fourth as well, yeah. And he stays there by turn one.
Yeah, I didn't think he's making a preposition. I think it's all over high.
Why do we have to end on a negative? That's really, really sad and upsetting for me. So,
cool. All right, thank you. I can't wait for the watch along.
Yeah, me neither. Well, unless what you just said happens, in which case, I don't want to do the
watch along. True. But thank you for tuning in. It's so exciting to see Formula One back,
as you can probably tell by the fact that we've spoken about practice for 40 minutes.
Hopefully, we speak about the race for as long as not longer. If not, then something
good, I don't know. Right, bye, everyone. See you soon. Lots of love. Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye.
Bye. Ferrari, they're winning it all or winning nothing.
We'll say that. It's over. We'll say that. We'll say that. Tommy's voice is gone.
One. My voice is over. We'll say it back.
Tommy's checking out for the entire season now.
Yeah, I need to manage my voice. Oh, harvest it.
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About this episode
The podcast dives into the opening practice sessions of the Australian Grand Prix, highlighting Ferrari's strong pace and Aston Martin's severe struggles, including worrying vibrations affecting driver health. Hosts discuss whether Aston Martin will even make it to qualifying given their performance issues and compare their situation to new teams from previous years. They also debate the impact of engine performance across teams, noting that Mercedes-powered cars like Alpine and Williams aren't dominating as expected, suggesting the season may not be purely an engine formula. The episode captures the uncertainty and excitement of a reset F1 grid with new rules and teams.
Original notes
Race day is getting closer and closer!
Join us after today’s two practice sessions which showed that, just because you’re running a Mercedes engine, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be quick… At least it’s close at the top!
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