Teams don’t get unlimited numbers of some parts during the season. If they run through them quickly, they may have to swap more often and take penalties.
A grid penalty means the driver starts further back than they would have. It usually happens when the team has to change or use parts in a way that breaks the rules.
In F1, the battery is part of the hybrid system that stores energy. Teams can’t use it however they want, because it can trigger penalties if they exceed limits.
Modern F1 cars use a hybrid system: they combine a gas engine with electric energy that’s stored and reused. The host is basically saying Verstappen’s whole setup is the best mix to win.
The Kemmel Straight is a long straight at the Spa race track. It’s where passing often happens because you can build speed behind another car and then brake late to get alongside.
“Damage limitation” means trying to reduce the damage when things aren’t going your way. Instead of giving up, you aim to lose as little as possible—like gaining positions later in the race.
A “90 place penalty” means the driver is punished on the starting grid for making big changes to the car’s power unit. In practice, it usually means starting near the back of the field.
The Toyota Supra is a sports car made for fast driving and good handling. People talk about it a lot because it’s built to be quick, and it’s also popular to modify for more power. In the podcast, it’s brought up as an example of a car that could be used in a high-performance, race-like situation.
A “power track” is a track where having a strong engine and good speed helps a lot. The hosts are saying this circuit still favors cars that accelerate well and carry speed.
Monza is a well-known F1 track famous for going very fast. People use it as an example of a track where engine power and straight-line speed matter a lot.
Barcelona refers to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, a track commonly used in F1 and testing. The hosts contrast it with the current circuit, saying Barcelona is more about cornering ability rather than straight-line power.
“Grunt” is a casual way to say the car has strong shove—good acceleration when you press the throttle. They’re saying Mercedes has a lot of that for this track.
The FIA is the organization that makes and enforces the rules for motorsport. Here, they’re being referenced because the hosts think the real performance story differs from what the FIA says.
“Boosting” means using extra engine pressure to make more power. It helps cars go faster on straights, but it has to be managed so the engine doesn’t over-stress.
Reliability issues mean the car isn’t working as it should—like parts failing or the team having to back off. In racing, that can ruin your chances even if the car is fast.
Ferrari is a famous Formula 1 team from Italy. Here, the speakers are talking about Ferrari’s updates and whether they’re showing up as speed in practice.
A “purple sector” means the driver is fastest in one part of the track compared to everyone else in that session. The host is saying they didn’t see any really standout sector times.
Term
predictions championship
A “predictions championship” is a game where people earn points for guessing results correctly. The host is saying someone might score points even if the team’s performance seems questionable.
A “token” is like a limited allowance for upgrades in F1. Teams can only spend a certain number, so if they use one, it’s expected to help performance.
“Sandbagging” means holding back on purpose instead of showing your real speed. The host thinks some teams are doing that in practice to hide how fast they really are.
“Speed traps” are places on the track where officials measure how fast the cars are going. They can hint at who’s strong in straight-line speed, but they don’t tell the whole story about lap time.
An “engine upgrade” is when an F1 team changes parts of the engine to try to make more power or work better. It doesn’t automatically make the car fastest everywhere, because the whole car still has to work with the new engine and track conditions matter.
“Straight line speed” just means how fast the car goes when the track is mostly straight. In F1, it depends a lot on power and aerodynamics, not just how well the car turns.
“High speed corners” are bends you take quickly, without slowing down as much. Cars need good grip and balance to stay stable through them, not just raw power.
A “power sensitive track” is a track where having more engine power makes a bigger difference to lap times. If the circuit has lots of speed-building sections, the faster-accelerating cars usually do better.
“Heavy brake power” refers to how strongly and consistently a car can slow down from high speed into braking zones. On circuits with demanding braking, brake performance and stability under deceleration can be as important as engine power for lap time.
Monaco is a Formula 1 race track run on city streets. It’s very tight and slow compared to most tracks, so it can be a tough test for car balance and braking.
Red Bull is the F1 team they’re talking about. The hosts are basically asking whether Red Bull’s car is finally fast enough to fight for the lead consistently.
“Race pace” means how fast the car can be during the actual race, for long enough to matter. It’s different from qualifying because tires and grip change over time.
In F1, the “front row” is the two spots at the very front of the starting grid. If a driver is getting those, it means the car is qualifying really well.
Aston Martin is another F1 team/brand. They’re using it as a comparison for how surprising a newly revealed car design can look.
Term
P13
P13 just means 13th place. They’re pointing out that Bottas’s 13th in practice was his best showing so far this season.
Term
half a point
They’re talking about points being awarded for a session result, not just the race. Finishing 13th in practice is being treated as worth some championship points here.
Bottas is the driver the hosts are talking about. They say he had his best result of the season in practice, but the car problems kept ruining the bigger picture.
Perez is the driver being blamed for (or affected by) car problems like parts not staying attached. The host also says his chances were hurt by qualifying and starting-position issues.
Term
Q2
Q2 is the second part of F1 qualifying. It decides who gets to start closer to the front and who has to start farther back.
A grid position mishap is an incident that affects where a driver starts the race on the grid, such as a penalty, procedural error, or qualifying-related problem. In F1, starting position can strongly influence race strategy and the ability to score points.
Track limits are the rules about where you’re allowed to drive on the circuit. If you cut too far past the edge (like using kerbs in the wrong way), the race officials can penalize you.
The Ferrari F40 is a very old-school supercar from Ferrari that’s designed to be exciting and fast to drive. It’s known for feeling intense and focused on performance rather than comfort. In the podcast, it’s mentioned as a car that could handle big, showy driving moments.
F1 tracks are split into a few timed sections called sectors. The “middle sector” is just the middle part of the lap that gets its own time measurement.
F1 tires come in different compounds, and the “soft” compound is designed to provide higher grip for faster lap times. The tradeoff is that it typically degrades faster, so teams must manage how long they can run it.
“Melt away” is a colloquial way to describe rapid tire degradation, where the tire loses grip quickly over a short number of laps. In F1 discussions, it usually points to overheating or compound mismatch with track conditions.
“Pit stops” are scheduled stops in the race where teams change tires and sometimes adjust strategy. The number and timing of pit stops can strongly affect track position and overall race outcome.
“Turn three” refers to a specific corner on the circuit layout. Drivers often look for chaos or overtaking opportunities at particular turns where braking zones and traction limits create chances to pass.
“Quali” is short for qualifying, where cars set their fastest timed laps to determine the starting grid. On tracks where overtaking is hard, qualifying performance can be especially important.
LIVE
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy, notable Red
Bull and Mercedes fans of the P1 podcast.
If you're listening, yeah, if you're listening on audio, go and check us out on YouTube because
you've put Leclerc in the bin already.
What do you mean?
I've never been a...
We'll get into all of that depression and much more, but it's great to have Formula
One back once again, a very hot...
It feels like everybody's talking about how hot it is.
It's massively hot in the UK at the moment.
I know some people will be like, what, 30?
32?
That's a winter's day for me.
I'm already preparing myself for the comments for that, but for me, my God, it is Melt City.
But yeah, it's very hot in Austria as well, isn't it, Tommy, and lots of upgrades, lots
of question marks, and maybe more question marks because we're seeing things that deep
down we didn't think maybe, well, we thought it might happen, but the surface level delusion
took over in our predictions at least so far.
Yeah, certainly with a certain someone, but I think the heat is a huge thing in this race.
This has been a lot of reliability issues during practice already, and we could see
a situation where if you watched our predictions and we had P. Watt and we guessed who's going
to finish 17th, that could be quite a decent...
There could be one of the first people to retire based on how many problems we're having basically
already in this session and weekend so far because these cars don't seem to like the
hot weather.
No, so as much as it might look like a foregone conclusion, reliability can throw in a massive
spanner in the works.
I'm sorry, that wasn't even meant to be a joke, but then as I was saying, anyway, pre-practice
one, let's get into it.
The top three, Antonelli, Russell, Piastri, Mercedes 1-2, Norris issues again, it's basically
just the season recapped, the fact that Mercedes were fastest.
Lando and Norris immediately had problems, which I think took him out of the session
for a good 45 minutes, standard stuff really for Lando, and I've got to apologise.
It's clearly because I didn't predict him to not have issues because every single time
I've done that once, it hasn't happened.
So Lando, I'll be back for you, don't worry, for the British Grand Prix is a crazy prediction
because I've already seen the opening there, but yeah, issues plaguing the grid across
the two sessions.
Very much so, Lando, you just can't write it really with how his season's gone, it's
just every time seems to be his car with an issue, and the fact that it was immediately
the second we started the session, he's in the garage, not able to leave the garage,
hydraulic issue again, and it's just adding up all these failures that his cars keep having,
and of course they have a very limited number of parts and allocations as well, which he's
flying through like crazy.
Well, yeah, I think he's pretty much done for some of the parts, and there's a question
from Mad Dog Claire, when will Lando take his grid penalty so he can get the new and
supposedly improved, slash more reliable, battery?
Look, I think if you look at the calendar, Belgian Grand Prix is usually one of those
where teams will not, yeah, an actual spa day for their new parts, because that is always,
it's so funny, isn't it?
It's deemed as a place you could overtake, and yet it's one of those circuits where
in the last few years, we've really struggled to have any kind of frantic overtaking race,
unless you're Max Verstappen, of course, when you had the car of dreams and the driver of
your dreams as a hybrid combination, he's like, hey, you can start anywhere and still win.
It screams like a data thing where like an algorithm says like, this is the best track
because of these parameters, yet, you know, sometimes you see like crazy other tracks
that you don't think you get lots of overtaking, you see loads or gives you more opportunities.
And as you say, spa is not delivered the greatest racing in kind of the last few years, but
I guess they just see it as a place where you could, in theory, with a new engine,
fly past people down the Kemmel Strait, particularly the midfielders and things,
and make up ground for like kind of damage limitation, I guess.
Yeah, because he's not going to do it unless he absolutely has to at the British Grand Prix
next weekend, because it's his home race, he's going to want to try and win it.
So yeah, I think probably spa is the next sort of logical place for him to do it,
should he be able to get to there. I think that's probably absolutely.
It's only two races time, which my brain cannot compute that that's the case,
because spa was always after the summer break, and kind of like an August race where we kind of
will kind of later into the season. So yeah, maybe we'll see Lando being that kind of first driver
to do it, and potentially maybe it's a McLaren 2015 era McLaren Honda where he changes everything
and gets a 90 place penalty and starts in a different country or something.
Yeah, yeah, may well do. So another thing to talk about from free practice one was the fact that
we had lots of rookies again. So let me run you through what drivers we saw and for what teams.
So for Aston Martin, Crawford replaced Stroll, at Audi, Aaron replaced Portoletto, Ferrari,
Buganovic replaced Leclerc, so already on the back foot, can't believe I've good surprise
Leclerc, and he's not even taking part in free practice one. I will blame that for the rest of
the weekend if that is the reason he has so much space. Yeah, it would have changed everything.
Haas Hirakawa, who absolutely just loves driving for almost every team on the grid,
replacing Ocon, Racing Balls, Iwasa replaced Lawson and Williams Browning, who gets another run out
after we, of course, were very sad the last time he was literally got no running,
replacing Carlos Sainz. And I think when you look at the order, when you look at how
rookies were doing, there's a few standout performances that has to be said. I think
Buganovic did a pretty good job up in P9 in the Ferrari, only six tenths behind what Hamilton
managed in free practice one. Who took your sort of eyeballs, Tommy, for one to a better phrase?
I think Buganovic, even though he's a long way off Hamilton, that's kind of expected,
going into that car and still getting a good amount out of it. But there wasn't maybe like
a crazy standout like maybe we saw with Paul Aaron last time out where he was quicker than
Bortoletto, wasn't it? And really stood out. We didn't see that.
Half a second behind Hulk. Crawford ahead of Alonso, you know?
I mean, I know, I sort of set that up to see if you might just mention that Crawford was quicker
than Alonso. Or just pretend it didn't happen. Yeah, and that's where you went down.
Oh, yeah. Well done, Jack. The minute that they're not strong.
Enjoy the money. Yeah, enjoy the P20 and FP1.
Did you say actually there's a quote from Fernando Alonso this weekend where he's basically like
ranting about, he kind of ranted about, oh, all these teams keep bringing these upgrades.
Like, have they got infinite money or something? It's like, you drive for Lawrence Stroll.
And you're complaining that the other teams have too much money. Like, what is going on here?
And also, I guess, you know, he's very much alluding to the cost cap element of Formula One,
where there is a limit for F1 teams. You can't just constantly upgrade.
But the difference I would probably say here is that most teams on the grid have a functional
baseline package to add a little bit here, there. Aston Martin are creating a
new car, basically, to roll out constantly whenever it is in the midseason. So I get
Alonso's point, but also there is a massive rework going on here because the Aston Martin car is
absolutely diabolical. So yeah, anyway, Crawford quicker than Alonso. So probably the standout,
even though he was P20 in free practice one. Let's now head to FP2, where all the big dogs were
back in the car. Top three, Antonelli, Piastri, and Norris, two McLarons coming out of nowhere,
when they were absolutely writing themselves off. Lando in particular writing McLaren's
coming into this weekend, saying they might even have the fifth fastest car.
Well look, here they are, looking very quick once again, it has to be said.
Let's go to a question from P1Patreon member Matthew Cole04. Mercedes and McLaren,
top two teams this weekend, do you think?
Potentially. I mean, I did think it would be this way with Mercedes and McLaren in the fact that
it is a power track, even though you don't look at it on paper and think it's anything like a
Monza or something, it's one of those circuits where it is very much like
straights, a heavy braking zone. So Barcelona is very different in the sense that it was very much
about cornering ability and that's why we saw Ferrari so good, as they've kind of mentioned
before about how good their chassis is and how they've probably got the best chassis on the grid.
But it's fully believed, despite what the FIA say, that the Mercedes do have the best grunt
and the best power and a track like this, where it is very much heavy braking zone and then just
boosting and kind of pushing your engine to the limit down a straight and then heavy braking
zone again. That's where a lot of the lap time is gained. So I'm surprised McLaren wrote themselves
off so much. I know it's only practice and we have to be a little bit careful because in
particular, I remember Lewis Hamilton last time out in Spain wasn't really like up there or making
any kind of headlines and then of course won the race. So I'm surprised McLaren downplayed their
chances so much because I kind of thought going into this particularly lander who's great around
here would do very well indeed. So here we are. Yeah, I was trying to find, because I remember
him talking about it in the pre-weekend sort of build up stuff, whether it was fifth fastest in
terms of fifth or fifth fastest car, because I can't imagine he would have meant fifth fastest car
when I don't think there's another team entering the fray that would be in the top floor. So maybe
it was fifth fastest just in general, but either or they didn't expect to be right at the front and
they seem to be there. I have to say that they've been really impressive. Oscar Piascio was of course
up there as well in free practice one. Lando wasn't running and when Lando has been running,
he's been right up there. So definitely a good opportunity for them, but once again we've saw
so much reliability issues, so many reliability issues for the Mercedes power units in particular.
I think the Williams drivers were struggling as well and we'll get on to the other issues for
certain teams, one in particular that I said would have the best weekend of their entire season
and they just couldn't stop being on fire or turning off, kind of like, sorry, we will talk
about you shortly. Let's go to a question from P1Pitrememberpiper, MZMimicX. Engine update for
Ferrari and yet they look off the pace. Was Spain an outlier? Now I know you're all tuning in for
this particular question and to understand Tommy's slander thoughts and my obviously Mercedes fan
thoughts. Honestly, I could not be more, we're so done, we're so over, it's so finished. After
watching Free Practice 2 in particular, because also Claire was back in the car, I was praying for
just a purple sector. Didn't see it once. Did not see a single purple sector miles off Hamilton.
Again, I'm hoping, okay, maybe Hamilton with an extra practice session might be able to
stick a lap in, there's a couple of tents off, gives us hope for tomorrow.
No, no, they right now, it makes me feel sick that Tommy might well be getting two points
as well in the predictions championship for going for Ferrari flop. I can't believe we're
talking about them bringing an engine upgrade using their token. They've brought other upgrades as well
and they look not fast at all. So I'm going to say the word that we all hate, the sandbagging.
They are sandbagging. We're so back. No, no, no, we're so finished. We're so done. I can't be
bothered. I will actually be the positive one here and say that surprise everyone that you are back
and don't care too much because it's just the question here is Spain an outlier. I think Austria
is an outlier personally. I think we go back to Silvers. I thought you were about to tell me the
speed traps or something. No, no, it doesn't matter about the speed traps. Ferrari are amazing
round corners. They were last time out that their whole kind of just because they got an engine
upgrade is far too kind of hyped that suddenly just because they get an engine upgrade, it's not
like a Formula One game where you press yes upgrade and suddenly you have the best engine and you
kind of get more power. It's not how it works. They've definitely got a deficit to Mercedes in
terms of that kind of straight line speed and power and the Ferrari, the best of the Ferrari
comes out round high speed corners and things like that like we saw in Spain and cornering and
whether chassis can do a lot of the work. So I think we get into Silverstone and it could flip
back the other way and that they're doing a lot better. I don't, I'm not going to sit here because
only Friday and say I told you so, but I kind of did think that this could happen with Ferrari of
the fact that they could be fourth fastest because they're not, they've not built like an engine that
seems like unbelievable. That's why they were towards the back of the kind of engine upgrade
thing and why they've got an upgrade in the first place. So I do think that I wouldn't worry too
much about this race and I do think this race is more of an outlier because it's going to be different
to what we see on other circuits where they will suit Ferrari better personally.
Okay, interesting. I mean, you use Silverstone as an example, which is also an incredibly
power sensitive track. So it's high speed corners. It's not, it's not straights, is it?
But Ferrari, we've talked about slow speed with Ferrari. Since when are we
doing high speeds as well? Just corners, just corners like Silverstone's not Monza, is it?
There's the hang of straight, but it's not like, it's not straight up power like this track is,
where it's just heavy brake power out of it. I do think that you have to treat this circuit
almost like a Monza almost. Well, yeah, I mean, if that's the case, which is sorry for them to
see that they're all ready to go and cheer Ferrari on, but it's just really good to run there.
Prepare for Monza and Monza only. Or maybe they've done what they do at Monaco.
Monaco didn't work. And then they, right, onto Monza now, let's update the car for that.
Anyway, you know, you're saying all this, any free practice too, mate, like relax yourself,
like you get well too ahead of yourself. Well, I told you so. Yeah, we'll come back tomorrow.
I did say that. I did say, like, we'll see, we'll see you tomorrow.
You're like, I hate to tell you I told you, so no, you don't. But you absolutely love it.
Try to not say that with a smile on your face and then we can, we can revisit.
But anyway, I'm going to say this round on the top of the session.
Next question and away from Ferrari, because I don't want to talk about it anymore,
people on Patreon remember silly car go fast. Are Red Bull finally competitive at the front,
or will their race pace fall behind? I don't feel like Red Bull have maybe taken a
biggest step forward as maybe a lot of fans, including myself, hoped when we kind of saw that car
and the kind of how skinny it was and crazy at the kind of rear of the car and how
potentially like all Red Bull's problems, the dream was that it was all just because of the
weight of the car and they get rid of that. And supposedly they've got the best engine
and suddenly they're really good again. I just don't, it's quite clear that that's not the case
and they were still struggling. Yes, they're kind of nearer towards the front, but we've seen this
before anyway. But before that, you know, Max has got front rows and things like Miami and
Monaco. So it's not completely out of the question and Red Bull haven't always been
fourth and absolutely nowhere. So they're in the mix, but they're still a long way off,
I think of Mercedes definitely and probably McLaren as well, and mixing up with kind of
maybe Ferrari on this track. But I don't know if that will continue throughout the season.
Yeah, it's, I mean, when they unveiled the car, it looked aggressive. It looked like,
oh, okay, have they cooked? It was like seeing the Aston Martin for the first time. Wow.
By design. Wow, by design. And then of course, they had a lot of reliability issues. Max wasn't
happy with his seat, I think in free practice too as well. There was a lot of things that were not
clicking for both drivers throughout both of these sessions that we've seen today. So
when I look at the times and how far they are behind, it does feel as though this might well
be because it's such a big upgrade for them, it might take a little bit of tweaking here.
And we could easily see, like we've seen in the past, a team step, make a step forward overnight
and then into tomorrow with the learnings that they've been able to digest. And I think maybe
that could be the case for Max and Red Bull and could well be in a shout for a podium. He's half
a second off Antonelli, but he's still ahead of the Ferraris, Russell, who's struggling,
which we'll get on to, I'm sure, and of course, ahead of his teammate as well. So it's not a
disaster. It's not like they've gone backwards. It's just more the fact that Kimmy is looking
very, very quick once again. Yeah, I'm really glad we mentioned him in predictions.
It's just like, yeah, cool. I'll just dominate. As I just said, so in free practice too, mate,
everything can change. Exactly. You could still get that P1, P17, you never know.
He could well be. You just don't know. Another question from D-MIL, 1, 2, 3, 4, B.
Can 10 drivers even finish the race? I think this is a perfect segue to talk about some of the
problems that these drivers had. And my most notable one is Cadillac. Huawei, they've brought a
whole host of upgrades and they were just on fire, but in the worst way possible. Bottas was quite
literally smoking. Perez went out the pit several times and his car just turned off.
Absolute disaster for Cadillac, where you kind of maybe think slightly understandable in a way,
if they're bringing these upgrades that they're hoping will take them forward. As a new team,
I think they've learned very, very quickly that changing parts of the car when they haven't had
thorough testing can lead to something like this in a very high temperature scenario like Austria.
So it's not worked for them today, for sure. And I want to retract my best weekend finish
ever this season because it's been a disaster. Two laps for Perez, six laps for Bottas in FP2.
Perez did 14 in free practice, one. And then when you look at where is the other Bottas was
actually up in 13th in free practice, one. That's half a point because that P13 is in fact
the best result for Bottas this year, where he did 21 laps. So they got some, but there was a lot of
smoky stuff going on as well. It was, Cadillac are a strange one because they deserve credit for being
better than Aston Martin, which is a mad achievement. But I think it's more on that Aston Martin are
awful. It's more the embarrassment of Aston Martin than the other way around. And Cadillac,
they do seem to have a situation where reliability is pretty crazy with that car light. You do feel
they give that vibe of they throw parts on and sometimes like no other car seems to have like
bits that like fall off all the time or catch fire. And we kind of saw that at the start where
Perez seemed to, his mirrors seem to fall off like every session at one point at the start of the
season. And yeah, it's showing that Formula One is difficult. I know that's a really stupid thing
to say, but like Formula One is difficult. Tom Bellingham, two-quit 26. But we saw such amazing
reliability in years gone by and used to all 20 cars finishing in it being absolutely fine.
Cadillac have come into a new regulation, which other teams are struggling with reliability. So
it's maybe no surprise that they are struggling the most. And yeah, they're having all sorts of
problems. When their car actually finishes the race and is able to perform without any issues,
they've actually got pretty decent car. And Perez has kind of flirted with Q2 a few times and
obviously nearly would have got that point in Monaco without the grid position mishap. So
they've got a good car. It's just if it all stays together, which is kind of not doing
a lot of the time this season. Yeah, it's a good car. And Bottas showed some signs of
actual pace in free practice one, but then it just kept breaking. So we don't really know
where they can stand. But I guess that is a slight, if we're looking at positives here,
the Bottas P13 and FP1 is the best result of the season.
Other drivers you want to talk about in terms of reliability issues across today? Do we think
10 drivers will actually finish? I think we will get 10. I think if I was to guess now,
I reckon we're having a good six that are out, which does mean P1 would be determined by complete
and utter just bad fortune for that certain driver. But yeah, I can't see a full 22 making it to you,
and that's for sure. Now, how many did we have last time out? Probably similar? Seven? Yeah,
I could see roughly like six or seven. Yeah, we could easily see a surprise winner, I think,
with the fact that it is similar conditions to Barcelona, but also cars do seem to struggle
here more. What's the altitude like for the hills and all that sort of stuff? I don't know if it
actually is up in the hills or if it's just because it's like a beautiful scenery. No,
it's six other beers. So I was just trying to think of why do we see so many reliability issues
around here as well as teammate clashes. Those are the two things you see so much around. I wonder
if it is the nature of the circuit as well with the heavy braking. The years gone by maybe not
as much now they used to proper clutter the kerbs and it's always been quite a difficult track
to stay within track limits, which could be an issue. Yeah, to be fair, you bounce off of the
exit kerbs and stuff, and that can definitely cause maybe a few internals to start flying around.
And there is a 508, no, 481 meter sea level difference, Austria being higher than Barcelona.
So that could make all the difference. And that's why you listen to the P1 podcast,
I can tell you that one for free. Yeah, when you're down the pub chatting to your mates and
there's been nine retirements tomorrow, you go, well, the sea level. Well, you know,
where I found out about the sea level, it was on the P1 podcast. Other silly things to talk about,
before we get onto this, actually, I wanted to do this before I mentioned, because I hadn't
written this down, is the, and this is another level of sadness for Charlotte Clair, is him
realizing this weekend that Lewis Hamilton is allowed to go skydiving, but he's not
in his contract. So, well, maybe once entirely might get the opportunity.
All right. Okay, just thought I'd, just thought I'd like add that in just as a bit of a casual
chat. And no, no, I did see that is like, oh, you get to do that. No, I mean,
it's privileges, isn't it? It's a bit like Max with his whole, he does what he wants and goes
race at the Nürburgring. Hamilton can do that or take a Ferrari F40 around Tokyo,
do some power slides and stuff, and they don't care. Whereas other drivers don't have that,
that luxury a bit like kind of when we discussed with Kimmy Antonelli being like,
oh, I quite fancy the Nürburgring and they were like, no, no, definitely not.
At the end of this year, when he wins the title. So, about that Nürburgring drive,
please, how many do I need? How many world championships? Speaking of world championships,
Max Verstappen on track, I think we need to also talk about this because I don't know why it happened,
but it did. But George Russell and Max Verstappen went side by side in the middle sector. Max
went round the outside of George at the left hander just after the middle sector split.
And I guess technically it's the last sector, but went round the outside of that left hander.
George is kind of running wide a little bit. Max is, you know, there's a car width and maybe a
half left for him. And he dropped in the middle finger just when, you know what, here you go,
take this one. Just reminding everyone about the underlying beef between the two of them,
even if they're all, yeah, adding to the line, even if they're all friendly off camera now and in
social videos together. And it's all fine. When they're in the car, if Max is going to be annoyed
at anyone, it's going to be George Russell, isn't it? And probably vice versa as well.
And yeah, a really weird moment where I'm not sure yet we've not got the full information about
whether Max is on a push lap. That's the reason he was getting blocked or what. But
it looks like quite a crazy move from the clip that I'm seeing in terms of,
you just don't expect to see a car overtake. So I can only assume that he was maybe getting
blocked because otherwise George would have been on the racing line in that moment.
But yeah, another moment. I mean, George probably should speak about him because
his form is only Friday, but the form has not really been there, has it? With what we've kind
of seen. He was close to Antonelli in FP1, but FP2 a long way off. I know he had
didn't have the best session with reliability and stuff, but he really needs a weekend where
he didn't have a car that was working, but come on, George, says Tom Birmingham, do the fastest
lap time. He's still at 23 laps in the best car on the grid. So he shouldn't be six tenths off.
Yeah, I think he was, yeah, I think he finished six tenths off his flying lap on the last lap.
I think he ran wide or at least missed the apex by a country mile in that penultimate corner,
which would have lost him time. But I mean, let's not forget genuine last time out in
Barcelona, he managed to get pole position. So over one lap, he's definitely able to do it. It's
just, yeah, had a bit of scruffy Friday. Also worth mentioning that the tires for this
weekend are the softest we could possibly ask for. But then I think Austria in general is,
I think a lower deck circuit than what we saw in Barcelona. But still interesting and something
to keep an eye on in terms of how the tires are going to behave. I think it did seem like they
could do at least a couple of laps, flying laps on the soft tire before they
decided to melt away. So it's not going to be as extreme as perhaps we saw in Barcelona.
Hopefully, I don't know if I want to see crazy pit stops again or them pushing. I think it's
set up nicely the fact that McLaren looked like they can challenge. So yeah, we'll see how it
goes with pit stops because last time out, obviously, the race was made great with the
different strategies. But I'd be amazed at this track if we saw too many pit stops, even though
it is incredibly hot. Famous last words, bring on a eight stop race now. I don't mind it. I don't
because this track does seem to produce pretty good racing. So I'm hoping that we see lots of
chaos in that turn three in particular because that just breeds action, doesn't it, that place.
So very much looking forward to it. Thank you everybody for tuning in. We are into now, very
officially, momentum month. I don't know what July will be if this is momentum month because
it's the end of June. But we're four races out of five weekends now. So I'm ready for Formula
1. And I think everybody else is as well. So we'll be live, of course, on Twitch and YouTube,
Matt P1 Tommy on Saturday and Sunday. So come and join us there where we watch along to all of
the action. Tommy, final thoughts? Final thoughts, bring on Quali because it's a great track for
Quali where we see cars pushing to the limits and trying to stay within those limits I think could be
an exciting one. And yeah, I think FP, the first two sessions, has kept us guessing quite a bit
even though maybe you look it on paper and go, well, Anthony's walking it. See you later. But
we shall see. Yeah, I'm sleeping well tonight as a Mercedes fan.
I genuinely have got so much free Mercedes merch. I have to wear it occasionally on the podcast
otherwise I feel bad to not wear it. So we didn't actually mention that he was P8. He was
the last of the top top runners. Oh, I love how you said he didn't clarify.
Why would I want to talk about that? I mean, we already kind of slightly touched upon it.
Yeah, he does not seem like he has the feel right now, which is really good. I came into this weekend
utterly convinced that we were going to see a bounce back and we still can. All right, he was
missing free practice one. And I will say when we get to maybe like Singapore, if he's still in
a bad run of form, yeah, but do you remember free practice one from Austria where he didn't run
and lost some really crucial track running? So that'll be like, yeah, the end of the season,
the point steps at Hamilton. It'd be like, if he hadn't had that, if I had had that FP one in
Austria, if only he had, you know, sacrificed less FP ones than everybody else has to do as well.
We're being silly. Lots of love. Take care. Adios. Bye.
Shall I look at my bounce back? It's happening. We're so back.
About this episode
Reaction to Austrian GP practice on P1 with Matt and Tommy, with plenty of reliability talk. They connect Mercedes power-unit issues to repeated failures, question whether teams are sandbagging, and note how quickly things can change overnight. Track analysis focuses on Austria’s power demands, heavy braking, and tricky track limits, plus kerb impacts and altitude versus Barcelona. They also discuss cost-cap limits on upgrades, rookie/stand-in performances, and why soft tires should offer only brief “flying laps” before degrading.
Is it the heat? Is it the altitude? Is it the myriad of upgrades? Whatever it was, the fortunes across the field look *very* mixed as we head into another weekend at the Red Bull Ring.
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