Bearman is another Formula 1 driver. The hosts are saying he did better than the other driver in his team during qualifying and that helped his starting position.
Term
P13
“P13” means 13th place. In qualifying, that’s important because it decides where you start the race.
In Q1, qualifying works like a cut-down: if you don’t set a fast enough lap, you’re out and you can’t keep going. That’s why it’s so stressful—your starting spot for the race is decided early.
Bottas is another Formula 1 driver. The hosts are saying he was close to beating Ocon in qualifying, which shows how tight the competition was.
Term
purple final
During qualifying, the broadcast colors the fastest times in each part of the lap. “Purple final” means he was fastest in the last section of the track compared with everyone else.
A chicane is a tight, zig-zag set of turns that makes the car slow down. The “final chicane” is the last one on the lap, so getting through it well helps your overall qualifying time.
Term
Ocon's case
They’re saying Ocon didn’t qualify through to the next round. In F1 qualifying, that means his lap time wasn’t good enough to keep going.
They’re talking about lap time. “One minute forty-nines” means the car was just barely short of a 1:49-second lap, and that’s a tiny difference in racing terms.
Teams sometimes bring upgrades to their race car. “B-spec car” means a newer version of the car with changes, and they’re saying it helped but didn’t make them competitive yet.
In F1, an “upgrade” usually means new parts or revised aerodynamic/technical components introduced to improve lap time. Here it’s tied to the “B-spec car,” implying a specific development step rather than a generic improvement.
Aston Martin is the F1 team they’re talking about. The hosts are saying Aston Martin struggled across the board in qualifying, especially on the straight.
A lap is split into a few chunks called sectors. Sector times tell you how fast someone is in each chunk, so you can spot whether they’re strong in corners or on the straight.
“Ramping up” means the car and track get into their best working conditions as the session goes on. That can make early laps look slower even if the car is capable of more.
Bortoletto is the person the hosts are crediting with strong qualifying results. They’re saying he’s been outperforming Hülkenberg in recent qualifying sessions.
Q3 is the last and most important part of F1 qualifying. If you make it into Q3, you’re one of the fastest cars and you’ll be fighting for the best starting spots.
Nico Hülkenberg is a Formula 1 race driver. Here, the hosts are saying his qualifying (the fast one-lap session) hasn’t been as strong as they expected.
“Race trim” means how the car is set up for the actual race, not for a single fast qualifying lap. The setup can be different because the goal is to last and stay consistent over the race distance.
“Head to head” just means comparing two drivers directly to see who’s doing better. In this case, they’re talking about how Hülkenberg and Bortoletto have matched up in qualifying.
Monaco is a famous Formula 1 race on city streets. Qualifying there is especially important, and the hosts are using it to describe a change in who’s performing better.
Belgium is where another Formula 1 race weekend happens. The hosts are saying that in recent races including Belgium, Bortoletto has been the one performing better in qualifying.
That means something in the car’s fluid-powered systems didn’t work. In an F1 car, hydraulics can control important things, so if it fails you can’t keep driving at full speed.
A red flag means the session is stopped because the track is unsafe. Everyone has to slow down and wait for the officials to clear the problem.
Term
VSC safety cars
VSC is like a “controlled slowdown” on track when there’s danger. Cars don’t stop like under a red flag, but drivers have to drive slower and follow strict rules until it’s safe again.
Hard tires are the tougher, longer-lasting tire option. They’re often not as grippy as softer tires, so timing and driving style matter a lot when you’re trying to set a quick lap.
Term
Plan G gravel
They’re joking about a backup plan that involves using the gravel runoff area. Gravel is used at race tracks to slow a car down if it leaves the racing line.
“Crash Gate” refers to a notorious Formula 1 race incident at Spa-Francorchamps where a driver intentionally caused a crash to trigger a safety car and manipulate the race outcome. It’s remembered as a major breach of sporting integrity.
Term
gravel gate
They’re making up a nickname—“gravel gate”—for a scenario where someone tries to cause trouble using the gravel area. The idea is to influence what happens next in the race.
A 10-place penalty means the driver starts the race ten spots further back than their qualifying result. It’s a punishment that affects the grid order.
Race pace means how fast the car is when it has to run for longer stretches, like during the actual race. It’s about consistency over time, not just one fast lap.
Reliability issues are problems with the car that can stop it from running properly. In racing, that can mean retiring or not being able to compete for points.
“Lap one” just means the first lap after the race starts. If someone is leading on lap one, it usually means they got a great start and can avoid getting stuck behind other cars.
Kimmy Antonelli is the driver the hosts think is most likely to win. They’re mainly talking about whether his car will keep working and whether others can catch him.
Silverstone is a well-known race track in the UK. The hosts are saying Antonelli looks just as strong there as he does elsewhere, so they expect similar dominance.
A “tow” is when one car follows closely behind another to get a speed advantage. The air resistance is lower, so the trailing car can go faster—but here they’re saying it still didn’t close the gap.
Tracks are split into sections for timing, and the “first sector” is the early part of the lap. Being fastest there usually helps a driver get ahead before the rest of the track.
Term
re-overtaken
“Re-overtaken” means someone passes another car, but then the other car gets back around them again. It can happen when passing takes too long or the cars don’t have enough clean speed to stay ahead.
“Starved on power” means the cars don’t have as much usable acceleration as they normally would. If you can’t put down strong power, it’s harder to build a gap or make a pass stick.
Stappen is a reference to Max Verstappen, a top Formula 1 driver. They’re saying the current results look like another time when one driver was clearly ahead of everyone else.
Term
Formula
“Formula” means the rules set for the race cars. Different rules can change how the cars drive and how passing works, even if the results look similar.
Teams in F1 don’t just drive at full power all the time. A “deployment strategy” is how they decide when to use the car’s strongest performance so the driver is fast where it matters most.
The “first corner” is the very first turn right after the race starts. It’s a critical moment because cars are close together and braking/acceleration can make people gain or lose spots.
The lap is broken into timed sections. “Sector one” is the first part, and if you lose time there, it means the car isn’t performing as well on that section of track.
A “good start” means the car launches well from the grid and accelerates quickly right away. If it doesn’t, the driver can end up stuck in traffic early.
“Practice starts” are rehearsals of the race launch from the grid. If the driver can’t get off the line, it usually means the car isn’t accelerating cleanly right at the beginning.
Term
FB2
“FB2” is a shorthand label for a specific F1 session/context. Here it’s just telling you when they saw videos of the driver practicing starts.
“Get off the line” means the car actually starts moving strongly right after the lights go out. If it can’t, the driver falls behind because the car isn’t accelerating well at launch.
“Toe” is racing slang for drafting. It means one car follows really closely behind another so it gets pulled along by the airflow, saving effort and helping it go faster.
“On-board” means the camera is inside the car, showing what the driver sees. It helps you tell how close cars really were and what the driver was doing moment to moment.
“Off-board” is the outside-camera view of the race. It can sometimes make the cars look closer than they actually were, so people compare it to on-board footage.
That “camel straight” is a specific straightaway on the Spa race track. It matters because it’s where drivers can build up a lot of speed before the next corners.
Slipstream is when one car follows closely behind another and gets pulled along by the airflow. It reduces drag, so the car behind can go faster down the straight.
Dirty air is what happens when one car messes up the airflow behind it. The car behind then has less grip and stability, so drivers usually avoid getting too close.
Blanchimont is a fast corner on the Spa race track. Because it’s high-speed, how close cars run and how they’re positioned can really affect their speed and lap time.
Term
air and wash
When one F1 car is right behind another, the air gets messed up. That dirty air makes it harder for the second car to stick to the track and turn cleanly.
Spa is a famous Formula 1 track in Belgium. It has lots of iconic, high-speed corners, so it’s disappointing when the racing doesn’t feel as good as it should.
The grid is where the cars line up before the race starts. “Second on the grid” means that car will start near the front, right behind the pole sitter.
It means how far apart the two teammates are in speed. Even though they’re on the same team, one driver can be better at getting the car to work the way it needs to at that track.
Ground effect is how an F1 car uses its shape under the floor to “suck” itself toward the track. That extra downforce helps it stick better in corners.
Term
gravel strategy
This sounds like the hosts are talking about a strategy call during the session—basically a timing/tyre decision. They’re saying it didn’t help because there wasn’t enough time left for it to pay off.
Ferrari is the famous Formula 1 team they’re talking about. They’re saying Ferrari didn’t look strong for much of qualifying, then suddenly improved, and that inconsistency is a concern.
Mercedes is another major Formula 1 team. They’re saying Mercedes looked quick again, but Ferrari might still have a chance if Mercedes has reliability problems later.
George Russell is a Mercedes driver. They’re saying his performance isn’t as strong as you’d expect, which is part of why the team picture feels complicated in this qualifying cycle.
Horsepower is a way to describe how much power an engine can produce. The hosts are saying Ferrari’s update only adds a little bit, so it probably won’t fix their overall pace.
Lewis Hamilton is a top Formula 1 driver known for winning multiple world championships with Mercedes. In this segment, the hosts discuss his title chances and performance relative to Ferrari and Mercedes.
A pit stop is when an F1 car enters the pit lane to service the car—most commonly to change tires and sometimes to refuel or make adjustments. Strategy-wise, pit stops can dramatically affect track position and race pace.
Oscar Piastri is a Formula 1 driver. Here, they mention him getting into the gravel during qualifying, which caused the session to be stopped with a red flag.
Team radio is the real-time communication between the driver and the team during the race or qualifying. If the team says the driver is losing time, it usually means they think something about the car or setup isn’t working right.
Race tracks are split into numbered corners so everyone can talk about the same spot. “Turn 14” means a specific corner on the course, not a general idea.
A power unit is the Formula 1 car’s engine package, including the main engine and the hybrid energy parts. If it’s older, it might not perform as well as a newer one.
Charles Leclerc is Ferrari’s Formula 1 driver. They’re saying he slowed down on his last lap because he thought there was a warning flag, and it hurt his qualifying result.
The pit entry is where you leave the main track to get into the pit lane. The hosts think Leclerc saw a signal meant for that pit area and slowed down unnecessarily.
LIVE
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the B1 podcast with Matt and Tommy.
Qualifying is in the locker.
We've seen it.
We've seen everything that the 2026 cars have to offer on a Saturday around Spa.
And we have some talking points.
We have an exciting race tomorrow, Tommy.
I'm looking forward to that lap one in particular, as we always do around Spa.
But I'm also hopeful that more than one lap will produce around this circuit as well.
Yeah, an intriguing qualifying session.
We had more...
It was one of those unusual ones where Kimi Antonelli looked beatable, didn't hear after
that first run and then was like, actually, you know what, I'm good.
See you later.
But yeah, it's been an intriguing day for sure.
Plenty of talking points to dive into, as always.
And yeah, it's set up a nice race as well.
It has indeed.
Why don't we start at the very beginning?
Q1, where the bottom six were Albon, Ocon, Bottas, Perez, Alonso and Stroll.
Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear.
Esteban Ocon out again, which is won't come to a match.
Ocon loses his seat.
It's not cousin.
So if this is your first P1 podcast, you'll be like, what on earth is Tommy talking about?
Because every single time we talk about Ocon and the pressure that he has most likely on his seat,
we know there are other drivers eyeing that up.
But Ocon, poor performance versus Bearman for sure.
You know, the fact that Bearman managed to make it through.
I think Bearman put it up in P13 or somewhere near that in Q1.
So there was some speed in the hassle not a lot because Bearman will line up in 16th.
But once again, Ocon out and Albon as well.
I wouldn't say a scalp, but you always wonder who that other driver might be.
Certainly, we've seen the situation now where it's, of course, the knockout in Q1.
Six people are out.
It's always two Aston Martins, two Cadillacs.
We didn't see the potential, sadly, for them, although Bottas did nearly be Ocon, actually,
very, very close to finishing ahead.
But yeah, Cadillac couldn't quite do it.
And then it really is always seems to be a Williams or a Haas or one of each.
And yeah, we've seen that today where Williams and Haas are the two biggest kind of struggling midfield teams for sure.
And it's kind of feels like it's always this situation where you get those.
And more often than not, it is Esteban Ocon, of course, as well, as we've kind of mentioned there,
that it's having a really poor season, particularly in qualifying.
And yeah, his struggles continue.
They do indeed.
Yeah, you mentioned those two teams.
Of course, they are usually the ones under threat, but it always appears to be signs
and Bearman that are or have the upper hand over their teammates this year.
I think it's very safe to say that.
But even signs who I think is performing very well can only do as well as 15.
But Colopinto was under pressure, wasn't he, until that last lap where we wondered
if there would be a bigger scalp than than what we expected.
But he managed to put a lap in right at the end.
Both Alpenes were struggling and then suddenly were like, actually,
we're going to be the best of all time in the final sector.
And Gassley put in a purple final, which was like, what on earth has just happened there?
As he cut the final chicane.
But yeah, it was a surprise to see Hass that far.
Kind of sad to see, you know, just how far they've fallen from from the start of the year.
Bearman was scoring points for fun and now they're scraping out of Q1
or being knocked out in Ocon's case.
But apart from that, nothing really to write home about.
The other thing I will mention is that Fernando Alonso was three
thousands of a second away from dipping into the one minute forty-nines.
It's a shame. Close.
One minute fifty point 002 and a one minute fifty point one.
They were two seconds off Cadillac around here.
And I love how, by the way, they're talking about, you know,
these this big upgrade, the B-spec car, whatever you want to call it,
gaining a couple of seconds. That still leaves them last.
It's ridiculous. Of course, this is a longer lap time.
This is a worse track for them for everything.
It can be any worse, could it? Yeah.
I don't know if you saw that breakdown that someone did of where they've showed
where Aston Martin where it was a case of it showed like a bar chart of everyone
in the different sectors, low speed corners, medium speed, high speed and straights.
And Aston Martin were the worst in every category.
But when it came to the straights, it was like, you know, horrendous.
Like way up slower than than everyone else.
So I'm looking at the sector times, the best sector times.
Of course, it's not the fairest comparison.
Of course, the track does ramp up, but also just for fun.
So Antonelli is best sectors compared to Lance Stroll, who's last.
One point two seconds is the gap in the first sector, which is one corner
and then just straight. Yeah.
The middle sector Antonelli is three point one seconds quicker.
I mean, that's us cornering, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah, ridiculous.
And then in the final sector, one and a half seconds.
I mean, why are they even bothering to race until they're upgrades?
That is the question.
I'm sure they're thinking about that all the time.
Oh, yeah, they don't hide it either.
Do they? For sure.
I'm surprised Alonso even agrees to drive the car before upgrades.
But hey, there are worse jobs out there.
Let's move to Q2 where the bottom six were Lawson, Gazzley,
Colopinto, Hülkenberg, Sines and Bearman.
Question, people on Patreon remember a good Karen.
Considering that Lawson has twice the points of his teammate
and has been the form driver all season, did racing balls get this wrong
to give the updates to Limblad instead?
Well, if you are unaware of why Limblad got the updates,
it does look on the face of it a little bit strange.
But racing balls were so that they kind of wanted
and rightly so, because it's the kind of team they are in the midfield.
When you're you're kind of that situation,
you're not really picking like a number one driver.
Are you in that situation?
Because essentially you're both racing for the team,
you're not going for like a championship or anything.
But they wanted it to be fair between the two of them.
So they initially proposed that they were going to delay the upgrades
because both of them couldn't have it.
And apparently the drivers were like, well, that's ridiculous.
One of us needs to have it.
And what they proposed was whoever qualified better at Silverstone
in the qualifying session would get the upgrades.
And Limblad was ahead of Lawson in that session, so it got them.
So it ended up being a little qualifying shootout.
Now, I was trying to try to find it.
I don't think Lawson had the best session now.
I don't know if he had some issues, didn't he, or something as well.
So unlucky for unlucky for Lawson there because he has, of course,
had the measure of Limblad this season and been the strongest driver.
It's been better than him. It's been better than him.
Sorry, that's what I meant.
Yeah, he's been much better, the stronger driver, absolutely for sure.
So it's gutting for him that it was a session where he didn't actually
beat his teammate for once, like because normally he's the one ahead
and almost always has been ahead this year.
So yeah, it's a shame for Lawson because this is no disrespect to Limblad,
but you see what he did in that session.
And yes, they've been close sometimes, but Lawson has been the star of the midfield,
absolutely one of the drivers of the season, full stop.
And yeah, who knows what Lawson could have achieved in that car.
So he's going to be disappointed not only from the fact that
that he's not got the upgrades, but also he got knocked out in the session.
The silver lining, of course, is clearly very good
because Limblad got got through this track and looked very quick.
So that's the positive side of it.
Once he's kind of got over the disappointment that when he gets the upgrades,
we're going to see great things, even more great things for him, I'm sure.
I personally think it's absolutely ridiculous they gave the updates to Limblad.
The fact that it's been measured on a on a Silverstone qualifying session
where Lawson out qualified him in the sprint qualifying
and also beat him in the race, but missed out in this one singular qualifier.
It should be done on on championship position.
I'm sorry, Lawson has 39 points to Limblad's 20.
He has almost double his points and Lawson, as you were saying,
has been one of the best drivers this year.
So to not give me a make a decision, doesn't it?
Well, you got to.
I don't care that they're the midfield
and they're not fighting for championships and podiums and stuff like that.
They're still fighting Alpine for fifth in the championship.
They don't know how this season is going to go in terms of updates.
They can't say, yes, categorically, we're going to be the fifth fastest team
for the rest of the season.
So I think it's really.
It's a really silly decision, in my opinion, to to try and not annoy drivers
means that Limblad, who has been great, don't get me wrong.
It's not like, you know, they've given the upgrades to someone that is not performing.
But but I would have to say that I think Lawson should feel aggrieved for this weekend.
Not that Limblad didn't do a great performance because he did.
But I think simple championship position
and it's not like it was even that close
and like Lawson has been the better driver this year.
So very strange from from from V-Carb there because, yeah, Lawson knocked out P eleven.
So he still has chance of a point or two tomorrow.
But it does look like start.
So of course, he will start higher with the penalties around him.
But he also does look like he's in an inferior car compared to Limblad.
Like those updates have done a solid job
because Arvid looked incredible at times in qualifying this today.
So, yeah, I'm sure Liam will feel great once once the upgrades come for his car.
But he's done a pretty good job, I would say, to still mix it in with the midfield.
Other drivers to talk about, of course, the Alpines 12th and 13th.
Hülkenberg was a disappointment because Bortoletto did a phenomenal job
to get through to Q3.
Hülkenberg seems like his qualifying struggling this year.
I feel as though he has been making more mistakes than perhaps we would expect
from Nico in quali trim.
That's something that just feels like I've not brought any stats to the table.
But that is something I feel like I've spoken about quite a few times this year.
I mean, last year having a scruffy qualifying session,
whereas he has had moments of brilliance on a Saturday.
Yeah, I mean, last year, Hülkenberg was quite poor in qualifying, wasn't he?
And it's where the race actually in the race trim, he was better.
Looking at the head to head, actually, they're seven all.
But interestingly enough, Bortoletto has beaten Hülkenberg now
in the last four qualifying sessions.
It was actually Hülkenberg on top from Miami, Canada, Sprint, Canada,
Monaco, Barcelona, now it's flipped the other way.
And Austria, Silverstone, Sprint, Silverstone and Belgium.
Bortoletto has been the one to deliver.
But a great job for them to actually get into that session as well.
Because that's always been the struggle for Audi is to make that next step up.
And yeah, I think for Hülkenberg, did he have an issue continuing into that session?
We don't know.
Obviously, we saw him retire at the end of it and his car get wheeled off.
I don't know if it exactly affected his lap at all.
Or if there was an underlying issue there.
But yeah, Audi, the reliability, so poor to be breaking down in qualifying,
says it all, doesn't it?
No rogue piece of gravel, as far as we're aware.
It was a hydraulic issue, I think, for Hülkenberg.
But yeah, it's a tough one for Audi for sure.
I think that, oh yeah, that was what I was going to say.
So of course, speaking of gravel, something we mentioned in the watch,
was it Q2 where we had the red flag?
I feel like it probably was.
It was Q3.
Yeah, it was Q3.
There could be some serious gameships played with that gravel trap.
You know what I'm saying?
Because that was a red flag.
Of course, it's not going to be a red flag.
But if gravel comes onto the circuit, we've seen it before,
VSC safety cars can come out if there's enough gravel on the circuit.
You dip a little wheel in when you've not put your hard tires on for your final sin.
Everybody else has gone in.
You're trundling around.
Oh, sorry, I've run a bit wide.
You know, that is a thousand IQ.
It could happen.
Because yeah, it's a clear situation where you're not really doing anything crazy,
are you?
Just running wide.
Plan G gravel.
Plan gravel.
Planned gravel, as Brad Pitt would start chanting to his team.
Yeah, I mean, they could do it.
Yeah, it would be a very devious tactic.
But we've just opened up.
We've seen, well, yeah, we very much have.
And it would be a way to do what was worse in Crash Gate again,
but make it gravel gate.
And you could, in theory, I joked about it in the stream.
But Haja, he's not out of the session.
Wait for Max to do his lap.
Oh, no, sorry, gravel's on the track.
Oh, no, whoops.
So yeah, we'll see how that pans out.
We'll keep an eye on it.
Let's see if we do get a VSC.
Because it is going to be a situation where very likely to happen.
And we see it more and more now, don't we, that these old school circuits who want to see gravel,
but they still push the limits of the track.
And when they run wide, it gets all thrown onto the track.
And they will throw a red flag if it's a qualifying session.
And then obviously in the race, they'll throw like a safety car or a VSC.
Let's head to Q3.
Whether top 10 or Antonelli, Verstappen, Norris, Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton,
Piastri, Lindblad, Bortoletto and Haja.
Let's not forget that Lando Norris will have a 10-place penalty.
So he'll start 12th because Haja goes to the back of the field.
Question from Craig Tilley, 95.
Does anyone have the race pace to challenge Antonelli tomorrow?
No, I think it's worth watching because we don't know if this Mercedes is going to work 100%.
It's broken two of the last three races for Antonelli.
He's not scored because of reliability issues.
The first lap will be intriguing.
Antonelli could easily find himself third after lap one.
To be honest, with Kimmy's start sometimes this year, there could be opportunities.
I think that if Antonelli is leading after lap one, we're in big trouble.
See you at the finish line, my guy.
You said that.
But if he's not, it's so true.
We had to be fair.
He didn't lead lap one, did he?
Yeah, true.
There you go.
There's a Ferrari one, too.
It's still a break, didn't it?
So yeah, I think if his car is reliable and he's leading after lap one,
it's game over.
See you see you in Hungary.
But if anything else happens, which is I think a higher likelihood than him
leading after lap one and checking out, then we could be in for an interesting one.
We're going to have an interesting race, I think, no matter what, because there's always
the worry for Kimmy Antonelli that his car is going to break down.
Antonelli is the class of the field easily.
Again, it looks very much like Silverstone where he's looked so confident.
Many other tracks.
We've gone into another track where he's just miles clear of his teammate, clear of the field.
No one looked anywhere near them.
The guy in second place got a tow from his teammate and still could only get within three
tenths of Antonelli.
So quick in that first sector as well, which is going to make it difficult for him to be passed.
But as we know this season, if you get into battles, it takes time.
Antonelli was so quick at Silverstone and many other circuits, but it's not just a case of
breezing past everyone, because it's hard with the way these cars work.
You can get re-overtaken again.
You lose a lot of time with the...
Will we see Yo-Yo racing again because of the fact that it's such a
similar circuit to Silverstone with how they're starved on power and everything.
So it is still an insane thing to say, because you look at the qualifying order
and it looks very reminiscent of when Hamilton was dominating or when the Stappen was dominating.
But this is a very different formula to then.
These cars are very unreliable and Kimi Antonelli's car is very unreliable.
The starts are a massive thing as well, like you say.
Once you get bogged down and someone gets into the lead, it's not...
Even if Kimi is quicker, he's not going to just fly through the field.
So yeah, it's going to be an intriguing one.
I think if he does get into the lead and his car doesn't break down, yes.
But that's not happened this season at all.
No, it's true.
Let's not forget as well, as much as George, it says fourth in qualifying,
he'll start third and Max Verstappen will still be trying to get off the grid,
10 to 15 seconds after the lights go out, so that'll mean George P2.
Then we might see, finally, the Mercedes drivers fight once more.
And that would be interesting.
I think if George is able to be in overtake mode, I think it'll be very powerful around here.
If he can stay within the second, he'll gain from the extra benefits that he has
with the overtake mode and the extra deployment and so on and so forth.
So yeah, as much as Antonelli is the quickest driver,
it's not as simple as that, as you say, Tommy, and I'm happy.
I'd be happy to see a little Mercedes ding-dong.
That would make my day, for sure.
Another calendar again.
It was epic, wasn't it?
Yeah, and then those two have a little whoopsy,
Charlecler wins, the championship is well and truly on.
Question, people in the picture remember, silly car go fast.
It looks like Red Bull has a different deployment strategy in sector two.
Will that help Max keep pace and go for the win?
It will if he's not 11th by the first corner.
We've forgotten sector one.
Yes, and that's not even because of the fact that he is going to lose time in sector one,
because they're much slower than the Mercedes.
He's not going to be able to, even if he gets a good start,
he's not going to be able to lead into turn five because the Mercedes is so much stronger.
However, I think Max would just take being third by that corner with how his starts have gone.
We saw what happened in Silverstone.
Both of them had issues.
Both Red Bulls still got these problems.
Again, we saw, I've seen videos of Max doing practice starts during FB2 and stuff,
and he couldn't get off the line again.
There's just a fundamental problem with that Red Bull and being able to get off the line.
It happened with Mercedes and Antonelli at the start,
but they've sorted it certainly not as bad, but the Stappen
almost feels like it's still the start of the season again,
and they're still struggling with it.
Kind of like we saw with Audi and how they would just plummet
and lose loads of places at the start.
I think for Max to win would be a miracle.
I think that's not me being pessimistic,
the fact that he needs to start the race and the first sector is going to be incredibly hard.
But I think in this question, the deployment strategy and how
there's going to be different approaches to it is what makes the fact that we're going to
see people overtaking at different parts of the track, and it's going to be
hopefully not too slam dunk and crazy, but I think it's going to be an interesting factor
and could be a bit chaotic, I think, to be honest.
If you've got one car behind that's four tenths quicker in one sector,
and then the other cars four tenths quicker in the next sector,
could be absolutely carnage, to be honest.
Yeah, for me, this different deployment strategy screams to me that Max will be in
more trouble than less, to be honest with you.
As much as sector two is different and they're gaining a lot of time in the middle sector,
that's not where you overtake as much.
In sector one, it's sector three.
And if he's lacking straight line speed there, then he could well be in trouble.
And let's not forget as well that the only reason he's in second place is because of Hajar.
He even said after the race as well, after qualifying, that he would have been maybe P5,
P6 if Hajar hadn't given him that toe, which was perfect, by the way.
The off-board made it look very close indeed.
Made it look like maybe just maybe Max was about to drive into the back of his teammate.
But when you see the on-board, it was to perfection what they were able to do.
And that's the kind of thing that Max needs just to qualify second three tenths off pole.
So for me, I don't think Red Bull have the speed to challenge for the win.
They could deploy in every sector as far as I'm concerned and still probably not be able to
have Hajar at the back.
A lap down just towing Max on the whole race.
The toe is a very interesting one actually because years gone by,
you're always doing it down the camel straight in that first sector.
Because that's just a straight line.
You get the slipstream and you're loving life with the slipstream.
And then the other car gets out of the way and you finish your lap.
Very interesting to see now, maybe interesting is not the right word,
depending on where you sit in the regulations.
But if you love deployment, deployment and batteries,
it's very unusual that they were doing the toe, but you can see why.
Because that's where the most power starved going through that final corner.
And the final sector, sorry.
And what's even weirder is that we've been so ingrained so many years now
with dirty air and how you don't want to get too close to another car.
That I think that's probably part of why we went,
oh my God, he's going to block him here.
Like this doesn't work because he's far too close.
But it shows that the energy is so much more than the importance of
not having being starved of energy and getting that kind of toe and slipstream.
It's so much more than what dirty air.
And this is probably due to the fact that they're so much slower in the corners.
And it's all about as much speed as you can get out of the power unit in these days,
with just as much speed as possible on the straights.
Was very odd to watch to see two cars going that close through Blanchemont.
Because it's not a traditional toe, is it, of what we've seen in years gone by.
And that just shows that they did it very, very well.
That they worked it out and that was the best way to go.
Yeah, it's the sad state of Formula One that we're in,
where Max can follow Hajar that close through Blanchemont
and not have any kind of swapper.
Because he's nowhere near the speeds that he would have been doing
last year and the years before that.
No way you can follow a car that close before this generation of car.
Because you would get a significant amount of air and wash
and you'd be flying off onto the exit part of the track.
So yeah, it was obviously really well executed from Red Bull,
but also a little bit sad that they are so slow down that back straight
that they just need anything and everything to try and tow a car along.
So yeah, that last sector is just something you need to look away from,
to be honest with you.
Yeah.
It's a joke.
It is a joke.
Like yes, we are being desensitised slightly
because we're seeing this every single week,
but it's definitely worse around some tracks.
And yeah, Spa didn't need this.
Spa did not need us to, or Formula One,
to create cars that are struggling through iconic corners.
But we're spoken about it.
Of course he was going to do it because he had a 30-place penalty.
There was actually nothing to gain from him.
And I think, of course, at Red Bull,
it's more of a situation where you're number one and number two.
But I would say that even if that was McLaren and Lando had a 40-place penalty,
Lando's doing it for Oscar in the session and vice versa.
And we've seen that with teammates.
Maybe not as fair as it was last year.
And there was a championship.
Well, I don't know, based on what we saw.
They were very friendly to each other at various points
to help each other with...
Let's help the other car when we're locked in a championship bar with each other.
So I wouldn't actually put it past that happening,
but it was the perfect call for Red Bull and they executed it very well.
Absolutely.
Put him second on the grid for Max Verstappen.
Can't wait to see what he does tomorrow if he does get off the line.
The vocal hero comes in with the question,
how has Norris found such better pace than Piastri around here?
It's that teammate divide.
Some were much closer than what we were seeing yesterday in practice.
But for Piastri, he's had a couple of great rounds this year.
Austria and, of course, Suzuka, where we both believe he should and could have won,
had it not been for that rogue Fiasse, I think it was.
But yeah, for Piastri, he has seemed to struggle a little bit more this year.
And Norris is always very good around here.
Let's not forget as well.
It's a bit of a question mark, to be honest with you,
because Piastri has qualified seventh many times this year
and is just seeming to get the most out of the car.
I think he said after the qualifying session that basically had an issue after FP1,
then he missed a little bit of free practice too.
And of course, so his mileage hasn't been much round here.
But overall, I think he's just struggling with the feeling of the car.
And Lando, as we've said, time and time again this year
has been phenomenal when his car has worked.
And I think that trend continues.
Yeah, it's definitely a combination of factors.
Norris has seemed more comfortable this year, generally.
He's very good around this track as well.
Oscar has had the issue in practice.
And this is something Lando found himself that you,
when you're on the back foot in practice, these cars are so complicated,
you need so much time to work out the whole kind of strategy and everything
that we've seen this before, where I think even in Suzuka,
you can look back to that race where Piastri was strong.
Norris had a problem in practice, put him on the back foot,
and then you're struggling for the rest of the weekend.
It continues into qualifying, continues into the race.
And maybe that's a situation that's happened here.
He's lost a lot of track time, had the problem in practice.
And yeah, Piastri's not, as you mentioned about all those seventh places,
we've not really seen Piastri particularly great in qualifying this year.
Maybe that's something you're struggling with as well,
getting the best out of these very unusual cars in a situation where
his strength last year, it was always in that McLaren,
where you'd go to a track like your Zandvoortz and high-speed corners,
and then throwing it into corners at ground effect,
probably quite similar to Charlotte McLaren in that sense.
And probably that's much better suited to his driving style.
And he's just not really up to speed with this new level,
and maybe doesn't suit him as much at the moment.
But yeah, Norris is looking very strong, going to be gutted I think,
actually, that he's got the penalty,
because it could have been a really strong result for him.
I think in a weird way, maybe he saves his blushes a little bit,
because he made that small mistake.
Maybe he could have got ahead of Max had he not made that.
But he won't worry about it too much,
because it's only really one position, and he ends up dropping down the order.
But he was, of course, when the moment happened, the first runs,
he was looking very good and was actually fastest, wasn't he?
And then Piastri deployed the gravel strategy,
but there was a six minutes left, sadly, so it didn't pay off.
Joking.
Just trying it out.
He's just trying it out.
Yeah, just practicing for tomorrow.
Seeing if they would throw a red flag a little bit.
Let's move on to Ferrari now.
P1P, remember F1Sushi.
What happened to Ferrari's pace today?
Ferrari were very confusing, because they've not really been anywhere,
or weekend.
They don't look like they were a match for Red Bull, obviously Mercedes again.
And probably Lando as well.
And then Weirdly didn't really show anything in Q1 or Q2 either,
and then suddenly we get into Q3, and Charles Leclerc is so close to Antonelli on his lap.
You're thinking, wow, where have they suddenly found time and come from?
I'll let you talk about the little incident that Leclerc had as well on the final corner,
but just a general point about Ferrari.
The worry is again that it's a circuit where they're not able to challenge Mercedes.
I know they're there with the second Mercedes in George Russell,
but he's obviously struggling.
But the worry for Ferrari this season, if they want to challenge for the title,
they've got the good fortune of Mercedes having the bad reliability,
but they need to be better at more circuits.
And the worrying thing is they've come to this track again,
and they don't even look like they're the second best team.
And that's the worry for them, because if they want to challenge for the championship,
or at the very least the constructors, they need to be much better everywhere.
And that's the big advantage of Mercedes is we see Kimi Antonelli dominating here,
and then Monaco, which is a completely different circuit.
Yeah, I'm not surprised that Ferrari weren't challenging for pole position coming.
You look at Spa on paper, yes, there is that middle middle sector
where there's some decent medium speed flowing corners.
But there's so much power needed around here that, yes,
they've had a small, tiny little upgrade to their engine,
giving them a couple of horsepower.
But realistically, it's not changed.
Mercedes have the best engine, Red Bull have the best engine, sorry.
Mercedes have the best overall engine.
Overall power unit, yeah.
And Ferrari, I just never saw them being that competitive.
So that's why it was so surprising when Charles Leclerc got within
sort of half a tenth of provisional pole after the first runs.
But in the back of my head, I was like,
I think Antonelli's got more in the locker.
I feel like there's more time to be found here,
whereas I was keeping an eye on Leclerc's first sector, for example,
and went, oh, wow, like a 30.2, that's right up there,
which is where you wouldn't expect them to be that quick,
but then in the middle sector, maybe that's where they'd gain some time.
But overall, I'm not that dissatisfied.
Maybe I expected a little bit more after the first runs, but overall,
Leclerc and Hamilton starts fourth and fifth.
It's not a disaster.
I'm not expecting them to challenge round here.
It's hungry.
If they don't win round hungry,
then we can just say goodbye to any chance of Hamilton,
obviously much closer in the championship, going for his eighth title.
Because as you say, yes, they've been reasonably quick at some tracks
and been able to win a couple of races.
But overall, that's because Mercedes have melted one way or another.
Of course, Hamilton was phenomenal in spend.
I'm not going to take that away from him, but overall,
there's not many opportunities or times where we've thought Ferrari
actually quicker than Mercedes, and there was more evidence of that today.
So we move on, but reliability could still play a part.
And Ferrari, as of right now, am I going to say it?
Am I going to say it?
Am I going to say it?
They've been bulletproof.
But I've said this before in the season, and nothing happened then.
So I feel confident to say it again.
Nice.
And yeah, shout out to Ferrari for getting Hamilton's car ready
after the FP3 shunt as well.
What about another shout out, Tommy?
I wondered whether you were going to shout this out at any point,
or just going to see if it clocks what that shout out might be.
Matt got the top five completely correct in the graphic.
Oh, yeah, you did, didn't you?
You wanted me to bring that up myself?
Yeah, you bring it up.
No, no, but I thought you could just maybe do it for me,
you know, as a friend of mine, just to be like...
By the way, guys.
You look more humble about it.
You're like, oh, am I really nonchalant about it?
Really? I hadn't even checked.
I definitely wasn't ready to retweet all the comments
that were saying I was crazy for playing Lando first,
when it was actually first.
Yeah, you put Lando first and people were like,
what are we talking about, mate?
The next flag, I was ready to bookmark a few tweets,
ready for later, but it was always going to be add to Nellie, wasn't it?
Did we make a rule back in the day of if we got top five
graphic prediction, that was the point of the predictions?
I feel like I have a memory of that.
I don't know about...
Like a fastest lap point.
Yeah, if you could help me out, I'm afraid.
Outlawed, was it?
What, right now?
I feel like there's a bit more...
Okay, let me know if there's at least one person out there
that also remembers that.
Question from Joe Formula 6P.
Will we see a lot of yellow and red flags because of the gravel?
That we joked about it.
We said there might be a dip of the wheel from someone to maybe...
Oh, oh, VSC, sorry about that one.
Oh, I haven't picked yet.
I guess I'll have a cheap or free pit stop.
Do I think there's actually going to be one because of this?
No, we joke about them using this as some kind of benefit
and advantage to be had.
But overall, in the race, they're pushing less than they will be
in qualifying like we saw today.
Yes, Oscar Piastri went into the gravel
and caused a red flag in qualifying.
But overall, they have to keep their tires in good condition.
And there's no guarantee that, yes, if they dip a wheel in the gravel
that it's actually going to cause a VSC or anything like that.
So I think the drivers will be giving that corner in particular
a bit more sort of forgiveness for themselves if they make a mistake.
I don't think they'll be going to the absolute millimetre of that gravel trap
because they've got to make it to the end of the race and it's a long one.
Disagree.
Yeah, interesting you say that because I will say I'd be amazed
if we don't see a VSC at any point for gravel.
Just even if it's 10 seconds.
The question says we'll be seeing a lot.
Oh, are you answering that?
Yeah, a lot is multiple.
Yeah, I thought you were just saying I don't think we'll see.
We absolutely could see one.
But I was kind of more leaning on the whole.
Oh, I don't.
We'll see multiple would be like a bit of a farce.
That's kind of how I saw the question.
Oh, okay.
Fair enough.
I mean, no, we're not going to see a red flag because of it.
We're not going to see it every five laps.
But I would be amazed if there's kind of, it doesn't happen in the Grand Prix.
I feel like it will at least once that there'll be a moment where
they need to sweep up some gravel because naturally over a long race.
I mean, there's not a huge number of laps this far because it's a long circuit.
But I'd be amazed if we don't see a VSC even if it's for 20 seconds.
But the interesting thing about it is we say that it will only be like a VSC,
of course, or something like that.
If we have the gravel on the track because it won't do a red flag.
If the cars are separated out and there's no place for the marshals to get on track because
everyone's a different part of the track and they're always going through that sector,
we may well see a full safety car.
So it's something to keep an eye out for sure.
Charlotte Klatt, if you are listening to this podcast, do not pit.
Get in the gravel and help Hamilton.
Oh, sorry.
Oh, okay.
As I was saying, Charlotte Klatt, don't pit.
Be the last one to pit because trust me, there could be a cheeky.
I remember that when he's on 40 lap old mediums.
After the race, so Matt told me from the VODCAST to not pit.
Hey, I think there's a benefit there.
Just go really long, see if a little safety car comes out.
I'll go roll around in the gravel if I have to go and go and get a slight bench.
Okay, another question from people on Patreon member Kaylee and then with a love heart.
Should George start to be worried?
Looks like he made no mistake and still off the pace of Kimmy by quite a big margin.
I think George has been worried most of this season.
He's in a weirdly good position that I think based on some of the things we saw today,
practice and just generally like first runs and some of the moments that we saw in
I have to remember the sessions now.
We're going to do another debate of was it Q1 or Q2?
But it was, I think it was Q2 where we were like,
should George go again because he was down in eighth or something.
Yeah, it wouldn't have been Q1.
It was about half a second off.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because the Cadillac's a mastermind and he was never going to go out, was he?
But we've seen this from George and
he won't take any satisfaction from it a bit like his Silverstone P2 where he said,
well actually I'd rather be quicker like Canada, which I do get.
However, he's lining up P3 on the grid.
He's got a red ball that's going to be 11th by 10-1 in front of him.
And then he's got a clean shot Kimmy Antonelli whose car breaks down all the time at the moment.
It's not out of the question he could win the race.
I know that's an insane thing to say, but no one would have thought he'd finished P2
and gained 18 points on Antonelli based on Silverstone and he did.
I don't want this title to be decided by reliability, but it absolutely could be.
And Russell has had some good fortune to get back in this title race.
And it's not like he could easily be, years gone by,
Yuki Snowda half a second off Max Verstappen, he's 17th.
Russell's half a second off his teammate. He's starting third.
So he needs to find an answer, but I think he's also quite fortunate with the position he's in.
And it's not an absolute disaster.
No, it's not a disaster. I think I'll come in here very quickly because there was an interview
that I'm seeing circulating that Toto Wolfer said that George's performances over the last
two races are not his fault. So they are saying there's a problem that they can't explain and
they're basically trying to figure out what's going on. And that would match up with what we've
seen in the team radio and the fact that George is being told he's losing a bit of time in term
14. Fine, we're not saying George is perfect. But then the rest of the time, I think they said
it was like a 10th in turn 14. And then the rest of it was on the run down to turn 18.
And George, am I doing anything wrong? And the answer is no. So it's 2026 Formula One.
It's 2026 Formula One. And this is, you know, comes back to what I've said at the start of the
year. It's like, I don't know. I don't even feel comfortable doing teammate comparisons.
Because sometimes, a lot of the time, they don't have the same working engine and working car.
And I don't think we've ever had it as bad as this in Formula One, since I've been watching,
to be honest with you. So yeah, so that is something to throw in there, which then just puts
a big old question mark as to how far George actually is off. But what we can say is where
he's starting, which is third. And if he still has this performance deficit tomorrow, which you
try and beat Antonelli, if he has this speed deficit, which he has been harping on about,
of course, in Silverstone, which was weird, because then Toto, I felt said over the team radio,
did he not? Oh, you were fine on the straights and almost wanted to shut that down.
To shut the rim as down and now he's kind of saying it is.
And saying, well, actually, George is going through things. This is so confusing and so
annoying, I think, as fans as well. So I'm not going to go too hard on George as a performer.
And to be honest with you, as you say, it's not the end of the world. He starts third tomorrow,
most likely will be second after turn one. And then it's what can he do with the car
that he's got underneath him? Will he go for a move on Kimmy?
Might have to, if he wants to win. Down the main straight, little slipstream.
It'd be good to see them fight each other, because if they can do it, because we've
not seen it, you know, when we got to Canada, and we saw it in the sprint and the main race,
we're like, wow, this title, okay, they're letting them the race. This is going to be great.
Not really been ever that close to each other, really, for a lot of the other races,
which is a shame. So it'd be nice to see them battle again. I think for the good of everyone
based on how good he's looking. Lap 1 is going to be absolutely fascinating.
There's so many scenarios that could play out in that situation, I think.
Exactly. And that's the exciting part of Formula 1, isn't it? It really is.
Just a bit more information on it is that Sky Germany, Toto Wolf, was asked about George
and said that George was losing two tenths in the corners and two tenths on the straights,
and Mercedes do not know why. It might be by the fact that he has an older power unit compared
to Kimmy, but they're still looking into it, essentially. So there you go. That is that information.
And also, information we haven't mentioned, which we moved on to quickly, was Ferrari and
Charles Leclerc and his final lap, being that he thought there was a yellow flag at the final corner,
which meant that he lifted, and it turns out that was something to do with the pit entry,
not the actual last corner. I can only assume that was Hadja. You know,
when we watched the onboarding of someone coming into pits and he was almost blocking the pit
entry. So maybe if you look at Spa and how narrow and how close it is, and there's obviously a very
small wall there, it's not like other tracks where you maybe have a bit of distance between the pit
lane. It's right next to the track. So I assume there was a marshal waving a yellow flag in the
pit lane, and very much could be, I totally understand why he thought that. If you see it,
it looks like it's for the final corner, right? Because if you go round that final corner at Spa,
you're very close to the pit lane there. So they probably thought it was in a marshal.
He probably thought it was in a marshal post. So I could see why that happened.
Exactly. So he lifted and apparently that might have cost him third or fourth in qualifying. So
a little bit annoying for sure. I can see a screenshot actually for it. Weirdly, yeah. So
the marshal is there at the final corner by the pit entry, and he saw that yellow flag and slowed
down, which looking at the screenshot, he did absolutely the right thing to slow down because
I can understand why you'd have thought that was for the actual track, because you see a yellow,
you slow down. That's what people have been caught out before. Yeah, not ideal. Not ideal,
but we might always have got polls. So half a point for my prediction, I think. Oh,
God, no, actually, no, absolutely not. Zero points for you, Tommy. And that is it. Thank you,
everybody for tuning in. We'll be live on Twitch and YouTube tomorrow for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Fingers crossed it's a banger. Doesn't look like it's going to be weather affected. So
a dry spa race for once. I told you so. Not that often. All right, mate, calm yourself down.
Try and say that when we look at your predictions tomorrow and they're all washed.
Matt Gallagher leads after the Belgian Grand Prix. I feel like, come on, baby, come on. I think you
will be. I don't know. I need to score four points and five points in order to actually lead. So
that might be a stretch. Thank you, everybody. We'll see you soon. And tomorrow hopefully will be
a good day. If you're a Charlie Clair fan, back-to-back wins somehow. I'd love to be like,
yeah, yeah, Max is going to do these. I mean, I'd take... He's starting second and you're
literally like, it's almost like he's starting from the pit lane. Well, he will be in the pit
lane by lap two based on what his starts say. We'll see. Wow, goodness gracious me. You've had
one year of just sadness and look at you. You can't cope. I can't deal with it.
Yeah, please try being me. I just take even losing two positions I'd take.
Okay, you stop waving and then you start waving again. So adios, everybody. Goodbye.
P1 is a stack production and part of the ACAST Creator Network.
About this episode
Spa qualifying sparks plenty of debate on P1 with Matt and Tommy: Q1 and Q2 knockouts, late purple laps, and how tiny gaps and sector-by-sector pace shape the grid. Aston Martin’s straight-line struggles and Hülkenberg’s qualifying woes (hydraulics) stand out, alongside talk of upgrades and who deserved them. The conversation then pivots to race odds—reliability, grid penalties, VSC/red-flag possibilities, and whether Antonelli can dominate if he stays out of trouble.
Throw together a big ol' gravel trap, some outrageous predictions from one of us and mystery performance issues, and we've got an intriguing quali pod on our hands!
Our brand new live show 'Super Podding' is coming to the UK and Amsterdam this autumn! Get your tickets here: http:/tix.to/p1live
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