Reaction to Japanese GP qualifying
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Concept
gaps in qualifying
In qualifying, “gaps” are the time differences between cars. Bigger gaps usually mean the race order is less of a surprise and less of a fight. The speaker thinks that’s why qualifying doesn’t feel as exciting as before.
Concept
better competition
“Better competition” means more teams are close enough to fight at the front. When that happens, qualifying gets more exciting because you see real battles. The speaker is hoping the gap between teams closes.
Term
Q1
Qualifying is split into timed sessions. Q1 is the first one, and the slowest drivers get knocked out before the next session.
Term
bottom six
In Q1, the “bottom six” are the six slowest drivers who get eliminated. This framing matters because it highlights how close the cutoff can be and how small issues can decide advancement.
Term
losing a lot of time in the straights
“Losing time in the straights” suggests the car wasn’t reaching expected top speed or acceleration. In F1, that can point to power/ERS delivery issues, drag changes, or a technical problem that shows up most when the car is flat-out.
Term
software glitch
A software glitch refers to an electronic or control-system malfunction that can affect how the car behaves. In F1, this can impact engine/ERS mapping, traction control behavior, or other driver aids, costing lap time.
Term
left something on the table
“Left something on the table” means the driver could have gone faster but didn’t. It’s usually because of small mistakes or conditions that prevented a perfect lap. So the lap time might not fully reflect the driver’s true pace.
Concept
teammate comparison
Fans often compare a driver to their teammate because they usually have very similar cars. If one driver is consistently faster, it can suggest they’re getting more out of the car.
Term
on the radio
“On the radio” means the driver is talking to the team during the session. If the driver sounds frustrated, it often suggests the car isn’t behaving the way they need.
Term
Hülkenberg
“Hülkenberg” is Nico Hülkenberg, an F1 driver. The hosts are naming drivers who didn’t make it out of Q2.
Term
Ocon
“Ocon” is Esteban Ocon, another F1 driver. The podcast is listing who got knocked out in Q2.
Concept
Q3
Qualifying is split into timed rounds (Q1, Q2, Q3). Q3 is the last and fastest round, so if you don’t reach it, you’ll likely start the race from a worse position.
Brand
Red Bull
Red Bull is the team Verstappen drives for. If the team brings new parts and they don’t suit the car, the car can feel worse and be harder to control.
Term
generational driver
“Generational driver” is a compliment meaning someone is on a whole different level. People expect them to be great for a long time, not just have a few good races.
Concept
wheel to wheel
“Wheel to wheel” means two cars are right next to each other while racing. It usually happens when the drivers are close enough to fight for position.
Concept
aero package
In F1, the aero package is the car’s wings and body shapes that push the car down onto the track. If teams change it, the car can grip better or be faster, but it can also make the handling worse if it’s not the right direction.
Brand
Ferrari
Ferrari is one of the biggest and most successful Formula 1 teams. When they’re named among the top teams, it sets the standard for what “fast” looks like.
Concept
three-tenths off
“Three-tenths off” means they’re about 0.3 seconds slower than the car they’re comparing against. In racing, that’s a big difference—especially in qualifying where everyone is very close.
Brand
Mercedes
Mercedes is a top Formula 1 team. When they look competitive, it means their car is fast enough to battle near the front.
Concept
FP3
FP3 is one of the practice sessions before qualifying. Teams use it to try things and get the car ready for the fastest laps.
Concept
pole
Pole position means you’re the fastest in qualifying, so you start the race from the front. It’s a big deal because it usually means your car is working really well for that track.
Concept
F1 qualifying
Qualifying is when F1 drivers try to set the fastest lap to decide who starts where on the grid. If you qualify well, you usually have an easier path to race well because you start up front.
Concept
team dominating
If one team is clearly faster than everyone else, it can make the season less exciting. But if two different drivers can still win races, the championship can stay interesting.
Concept
P2
P2 means second place. In F1, second on the board usually means you’re right near the front and have a good chance in the race.
Concept
aerodynamically things not being correct
When a driver says the car’s “aerodynamically things not being correct,” they’re usually pointing to issues with downforce and balance—how the wings and bodywork generate grip at speed. Small setup changes can significantly affect confidence, tire temperatures, and lap time.
Concept
don't get baited by one track performance
This is a caution against overreacting to a single circuit’s results. Track-specific characteristics (aero balance, traction, braking demands) can make a car look better or worse than its true overall level.
Term
missed 30% of the session
Missing a large portion of a practice session is a big deal in F1 because teams lose track time for setup work, tire evaluation, and data collection. It also reduces opportunities to fix problems before qualifying and the race.
Term
rubbered in track
As more cars drive over the track, they leave rubber behind. That usually makes the surface grippier, so times can get faster later.
Term
sector one
Tracks are split into sections for timing. “Sector one” is the first part, and looking at it helps figure out where the car is faster or slower.
Term
a tenth
In F1, “a tenth” means one-tenth of a second. That sounds small, but in qualifying it can be the difference between positions.
Concept
F1 season
An F1 season is the whole year of races. How teams start can strongly influence what people expect later.
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Hello everybody and welcome back to the B1 Podcast
with Matt and Tommy.
Japanese Grand Prix qualifying is in the books.
It's done and it's still a Mercedes-Benz one too,
but lots of things to discuss.
The legendary Suzuka circuit.
It's always great to see these cars go around here.
It's a great opportunity to see the cars go around here.
And I don't know how you would,
how would you sum up your thoughts and feelings right now,
Tommy, after that?
Oh, I feel wonderful.
Obviously, favorite driver aside.
I do think a lot of the criticisms of qualifying,
it's not as amazing as it used to be for sure,
but I do think a lot of it is because of the gaps.
And I think as soon as we see better competition,
which hopefully will happen,
please feel to catch up Mercedes.
We'll enjoy it a lot more
because at the end of the day,
you want to see battles for pole.
And yeah, the field spread was absolutely enormous.
I mean, like 1.5 seconds between the top 10,
we were used to way less than that
of the entire field last year.
We certainly were.
So why don't we get into the first part of qualifying?
Q1, where the bottom six were Albon,
Bearman, Perez, Bottas, Alonso, and Stroll.
So I think there's one outlier there
because it's not two Williams,
two Cadillacs, and two Aston Martins.
There's a has in there, Oli Bearman.
Question from P1Patreon member Edith is my middle name.
What happened to Oli Bearman?
Been absolutely flying the last two qualies
and now knocked out in Q1.
Well, let's sound the little bell, shall we,
of driver had a problem
because it sounds like that's what happened with Oli Bearman.
So something that I've seen after qualifying
is that he mentioned he had a problem in the car,
losing a lot of time in the straights,
some kind of software glitch
and doesn't really understand the details.
Then in run two, didn't find any pace.
So little bit gray area
as to what exactly happened with Oli Bearman and the has.
You have to assume, fairly assume, I think,
that there must have been something wrong with the car
for Bearman to be knocked out in Q1
because as Edith said with this question,
he's been phenomenal so far this year
and looked to have a great handle on the car.
So the fact that he's reported that as well
makes a lot of sense
and obviously is a big shame for Bearman,
who has scored some,
well, he scored one less point
than McLaren have the entire year so far,
which I don't know if that says more about McLaren,
seems like Bearman's.
Yeah, definitely.
It's a big shock for Oli Bearman
because as said here,
that he's had an absolutely unbelievable season,
fifth in the championship,
done so, so well.
And to get knocked out,
we thought it was gonna be another two by two by two
with the whole Cadillac, Aston Martin and Williams.
But these situations of,
it's so hard to know how good a performance is
and when a driver's left something on the table now
because everything you hear
and we'll get into Albin as well.
He said something very similar is,
oh, what's going on on the straight and the deployment
and now it's all done on the software
and how that when you attack into corners,
the computer can almost be like
tricked into not deploying the right power
because you're going too quick through the corners.
It just, it's so bizarre
and it's just something in qualifying
that makes it so hard to understand as a viewer
what is a driver error,
what's a brilliant quality lap,
what's a bad quality lap
and yeah, getting my excuses in already
for Max Verstappen and QT.
Yeah, I mean, it's excuses up and down the field
and I think that's something I've highlighted
already this season and it continues currently
that yeah, we don't know exactly how good a performance is
and that's really tough
and I think quite difficult as a fan to watch
because that's one of the fun things is to be like,
ah, he's performing really well against his teammate
and he's doing quite well against whoever.
Obviously that will improve
as we go further down the line with these regulations.
It's very early stages,
there's going to be a lot of glitches,
a lot of problems with the cars and with the teams.
So I guess you have to give it some element of patience
but also I don't think we've ever seen it to this degree
even at brand new sort of regulations in the past
where we've questioned what we're seeing.
Do you know what I'm saying?
So yeah, 100% the drivers have never gone,
oh, the new floors are really weird.
I didn't know how to drive it
or I was just, the car just didn't drive
into a corner or something.
We've never had this level of drivers,
I say being outspoken,
they almost are not allowed to be outspoken
and certainly not.
Unless it's over the team radio.
Unless it's over the team radio
that only gets clipped up on social media
because they don't play them.
No, well they're not.
Yeah, no chance they're going to play that.
We'll get on to that
because that is a Charles Leclerc generation
or quote that we will discuss a little bit later.
You were mentioning Alex Albon,
let's talk about him now.
Question from P1Patreon member Meg underscore Laran.
What is happening to Albon on the streets?
Sines is a brilliant driver
but if he's able to get into Q2,
Alex should be able to as well.
Indeed, yeah.
We heard more frustration from Alex Albon on the radio
getting to here because should have been,
said this before,
should have been such a big year for Williams
and they're really struggling.
And in this situation,
Albon's come on the radio and basically
in my reading of it is it's almost like a sarcastic.
Well, people would just think that it's a driver problem
or my driving style or my driving still.
I don't know which one he said,
but either or talking about his driving
when he fully believes and based on murmurings
and every other quote from every other driver,
you tend to believe him that it's all about deployment
and the software and why he's not getting that power
in the straight and it's making it hard to understand.
You know, these are the best drivers in the world
and the best racing teams in the world with so much money,
so much, you know, these amazing facilities and everything
and they just don't understand
what's going on at the moment.
They don't, I, for this, I feel as though perhaps,
and we've seen Alex Albon lash out already this season
and in the past, you know, he does,
he's quite an emotional driver,
I would say, and he absolutely tells us and the team
when he feels aggrieved.
When you look at the comparison between science and Albon,
it's less than two-tenths of a second
between the two of them.
They were both, you know, very, very close to each other.
So it's not as if they were fighting racing balls, Audi,
and those kind of drivers and teams
because they were still very much on the cusp
even without whatever the supposed issue is with Albon
because science wasn't exactly half a second down the road.
Like, it still is marginal
and I guess that's where Alex is feeling aggrieved
because he wants to beat his teammate.
That being said, who knows what Carlos went through
or didn't know was going and happening throughout Q1 as well.
Whatever you're saying, Tommy, I'd love to have known,
but you're muted, so.
You don't have to say.
I realize.
It's fine.
I mean, I just thought because your mouth was doing that
and I couldn't hear anything, was it interesting?
I was just going to say that Albon isn't actually,
is literally one place behind Carlos anyway.
Exactly.
So it's not like Carlos is all the way up in eighth
and then he's absolutely distraught
because he had a problem.
He's kind of where you expected, if not one higher
because of Bearman's problems.
Yeah, so just a bit of frustration for Alex
and I completely get it.
If you just feel as if you're sat in the car
and you're doing everything right
apart from losing time, potentially in the straights.
We don't know.
We don't know exactly what Alex was complaining about,
but I think one slip through the net, didn't it,
that team radio where it wasn't clear
he was slandering the regulations,
but I read that absolutely as the car doing something
he doesn't want to be done.
And I love how they were asking him.
I think Rachel Brooks was going, so it's about the chassis?
I mean, we've heard about the chassis in the past
and he's like, no, I'm good in the corners.
So that's all.
Press the play button on that radio.
There was a knock at the door and Dominic Carly
and the FA president just walked in immediately going,
why have you just played that?
Why have you played that?
Why have you played that?
Right, let's move on to Q2,
where the bottom six in this session were Verstappen.
Verstappen.
Sorry, am I reading that right, Tommy?
Verstappen?
No, that does say Verstappen.
Yeah, Verstappen.
Ocon, Hülkenberg, Lawson, Colopinto and Sines.
Just in case you all missed that,
maybe Mike had out Verstappen out
and did not make it through to Q3.
Tommy, question for you, unsurprisingly.
P1Patreon member Madeline,
on a scale of one to 10, how depressed is Tommy?
I don't feel great.
However, I'm gonna kind of use your kind of quote
from last year and it's almost like,
I understand the feeling now.
When you're nowhere, it almost hurts less
because there's no expectation in a weird way.
Obviously, Verstappen going out in Q2, yeah, it sucks.
And it's been a long time coming
that you have these moments.
But when he's challenging for the championship in Brazil
and obviously got knocked out in Q1,
that hurts so much more because the expectation is high.
You're already like, expecting the worst.
And yeah, Red Bull, they bought upgrades.
Seemingly Verstappen's got,
is running like new parts and things.
And it's not worked because he said that it's undrivable,
he's bouncing around in the corners.
And yeah, they're just even worse than what we've seen before.
Indeed, I've always believed
that Hadja is a generational driver
and he's finally proved it.
No, actually, it's just software.
It's just software.
It's gotta be software, it's gotta be software.
It's a software in your brain, maybe.
No, I think obviously I am basking in the glory
of Tommy being depressed.
That's something I've prayed for since God knows when.
The amount of years of Tommy saying,
I really wish Max Verstappen could be caught by somebody
so I could see him race wheel to wheel.
Well, now he's in the midfield,
you're gonna see a lot of that, my guy.
Permanent Max Verstappen mini box
for the rest of the season.
I tell you, actually, in terms of depressed,
one thing I'm depressed at is I saw that it's Max Verstappen
head-to-head with P.I. Gasly.
It's four-nil to Gasly.
Yeah, four-nil to Gasly.
That's...
Yeah.
Gasly finally gets his payback after all these years.
So...
I'll be into him to be.
Back to Max Verstappen.
Yeah, you mentioned about the different Aero package.
They're very much in a stage now where,
they're bringing things.
I thought, oh, Red Bull, they're bringing upgrades.
I mean, most teams are bringing upgrades,
but perhaps they will take a step forward,
but it's not worked.
And Max obviously wants to be that driver
if there isn't enough parts to have both drivers having it,
where they are comparing, right?
And that's probably even a better strategy for the team,
is having one driver, Max Verstappen, try new parts,
had your stays with the baseline package that they've had,
they can make comparisons,
and they can move forward from there.
Sadly for Red Bull, yeah, they are in...
They're in Struggletown.
They are firmly in the midfield,
and not even close to getting to the top three teams,
which include Ferrari and Charlotte-Cliff.
They're three-tenths off Gasly, even with Hadjar.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I wasn't gonna double down on things,
but there you go, you've done it for me.
Well, they're just in a whole world of pain right now.
You know, it's absolutely horrendous for Red Bull.
We thought as well that it was gonna be
maybe the engine that was gonna let them down,
and with the fact that it's the first time
that they're building it themselves,
and they've got Ford and Red Bull powertrains,
and that's where a lot of the struggles
we're gonna be from.
But it's clear that the car is nowhere near up to scratch.
We mentioned yesterday about being overweight,
and you look at the guy that knocked out Verstappen
was Limblad driving the same power unit
in what's meant to be the worst car,
the sister team with pennies compared to
the big Red Bull outfit and their amazing facilities
in Milton Keynes, and it just shows that, yeah,
like Red Bull have not got it right at all this season,
and yeah, very much in the midfield.
Indeed, it's a tough times,
and also I imagine a social clip's being made of this,
but if you weren't watching the watch along,
Tommy celebrated the fact Max had made it through,
not realizing that Arvid Limblad was on a lap.
No, I didn't celebrate Holkenberg
because I thought he was the only one
that's gonna knock him out, yeah.
Yeah, you didn't realize that Arvid was on a lap.
You did celebrate, don't even,
and that's the end of that.
Is this what it's like?
There will be a clip made, yeah, it is what it's like.
It is literally like, what's that film face off?
We've just swapped this year.
You get the enjoyment and I get the pain.
Yeah, yeah, well try doing it for multiple years in a row,
especially the hope, like, oh, Red Bull
are bringing something that could bring,
oh no, they did, those are the,
that's where your character's really tested, okay?
So good luck, good luck is all I'm gonna say.
Next question, Craig Tilley 95.
Is Max's sheer and utter disdain
for these new regulations starting to affect
his on track performance?
I'm not going down this rabbit hole.
I'm absolutely not saying that Max is not driving
to within an inch of what the car can do.
We've mentioned that he's running a different aero package.
So again, we can't go like for like with Hajar,
yes Hajar, I've qualified him,
but Max is trying different things
and right this, it's not as if Max has made an error.
You know, he's not snatched a break
and ended up in the gravel trap.
The thing that happened in Australia was a car failure.
There's nothing right now for me to sort of even think
that, ah, Max hating the new regulations
or going and doing GT driving
is starting to affect his performance.
This guy has done enough, like more than enough,
cataclysmically enough,
that we don't immediately start questioning
whether he's doing a good performance.
The second he gets out qualified by his teammate
because the team's struggling
and they're sort of scrambling around for answers.
Yeah, exactly.
Like the guy's not forgotten how to drive
and this is the thing with Formula One.
If you, you know, car performance is so much of the sport
and the driver can make that extra kind of moment
we'll see in this year whether they can
with all the issues they're having and stuff
because we're obviously having these discussions of
it's harder for the driver to be able to do things
that are particularly in qualifying.
But yeah, Verstappen, you know,
he's proved himself for his whole career,
not just in the kind of regulations that we've just had
but before that as well.
And, you know, Red Bull are clearly struggling.
You know, if Hadja was miles clear
and way up the standings and Max was nowhere,
then you start to question it a bit more.
But obviously it's clear that Red Bull
have struggled a lot.
I don't think it's probably helping things.
He's not, I can't sit here and say that
he's having the best season and it's all down to the car
because it's not, he's had poor starts and things as well
and it's not gone his way.
But, you know, if you gave him a good car
like many other drivers in this sport,
he'd be able to challenge at the front.
Of course he would, like he's not forgotten how to drive.
But yeah, it's not going well at all for him at the moment.
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And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's
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But here's the catch.
Stephen here has not read Mistborn before.
That's right, hey, hey.
So each week you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions
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And along the way, we'll do character deep dives,
magic explainers and Stephen will even try
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Spoiler alert, he'll be wrong.
News flash, I'm never wrong.
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Let's head to Q3, where the top 10 was Antonelli, Russell,
Piastri, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton,
Gasly, Hadja, Bortoletto and Lindblad.
Let's go to a question.
Who on Patreon remember Blackson?
Is it time to believe we have a championship fight at Mercedes?
I really hope so because it's all we've got at the front
because Mercedes are very clear, it feels like.
And Antonelli, so far, has stepped up.
He was the first race, he made a lot of errors,
had that crash in FP3,
but he managed, then had the poor start,
worked his way back to the front
and we were kind of praising,
can he do it now?
Was it just that George Russell was easing off?
Well, now he's won the last race
and he's had another brilliant qualifying
where he stuck it on pole.
And what we were discussing, and I'm really fascinated by,
is how that dynamic of George Russell and Antonelli
is gonna change this year if Antonelli continues
to be putting in these great performances.
Because George was so.
I just thought of that picture.
Just keep getting flashbacks to that picture
of him getting out of the car with the headband in.
It's just, it's the funniest picture I've ever seen,
but that is the dynamic I fully expect.
Yeah, exactly.
And you almost feel like,
and I don't think he was being patronizing,
but George had that kind of idea of,
oh, Kimmy, well done, well done mate,
really happy for you.
He's my young teammate, but I've got three tenths on him.
It's fine, the championship's mine.
And now, I think you were already starting to see a little bit.
He didn't have a very good poker face
in the qualifying interviews
of maybe a bit of realization of
this isn't not gonna be plain sailing against Kimmy Antonelli.
And it's a really good thing for F1
because at least if we've got one team dominating,
if two drivers can win races,
it will still be a fantastic championship.
Exactly.
Kimmy Antonelli right now has stepped it up.
It's been really impressive to see.
George, of course, China had those issues in qualifying.
Still managed to put it P2,
but with the pesky Ferraris,
you never know what's gonna happen on a Sunday
and one thing led to another.
And Antonelli had a really big gap in China.
Again, seems as though for Russell,
qualifying did not go smoothly.
He was on the radio complaining about
aerodynamically things not being correct
and sort of struggling to find the pace
that he had shown in practice earlier on that day.
But this is kind of the way round I would like to see it.
I wanna see Antonelli on the front foot as a rookie,
not rookie, but as a very inexperienced driver
in comparison to George Russell,
being the one that's putting the hammer down.
Like George Russell is a phenomenal driver.
He has shown that over countless seasons,
especially when he was teammates with Hamilton.
And this is going to be fascinating to watch.
I can already see in the post-qually interviews and stuff,
just after Australia especially,
I'm sure his confidence was sky high for George Russell.
Like he was in control.
And then it started to slowly,
through one reason or another,
whether it's car full or whatever,
starting to maybe level out a little bit.
And what I want to see tomorrow,
more than anything, is these two actually fight.
So I'm sort of torn between LeClaire taking the lead
on the road tomorrow.
If LeClaire can take the lead, fine.
Let's keep Antonelli and Russell together.
I just want those two together to fight on track.
There's part of me that doesn't want to see that,
because then they might accidentally turn up their engine
to 100 and then there'll be 20 seconds.
And then by 50 seconds.
Yeah, exactly.
So I just wanna see these two fight
because it has, in my opinion,
got Rosberg and Hamilton Spain written all over it.
I do genuinely see these two coming together
if they go will-to-will.
Russell is a great will-to-will racer.
Antonelli yet to probably prove
that I would say in his career so far.
Like he's a phenomenal talent, don't get me wrong.
But he's also prone to a little bit of a mistake.
So I think that's what makes it such a fascinating.
And Russell's prone to contact as well.
Both of them have definitely got some contact in them.
So it's gonna be, I do think as well,
we have this conversation about Leclerc and Hamilton
and how everyone thinks they're gonna collide
and we've kind of been like, oh, no, I don't see it.
I do see a collision at some point
between Antonelli and Russell, 100%.
And I think it's gonna be fascinating
how that dynamic shifts.
Because you've also got the dynamic of Antonelli
being like Toto's favorite son.
And if Russell feels like Antonelli
is starting to get on top of him
and having these races where he's doing better,
you do wonder like, yeah,
like how's Russell gonna keep it together
and his mindset going into a championship fight
with Antonelli if you have that dynamic where,
yeah, like Toto doesn't really hide the fact
that Antonelli is the golden boy
and the kind of the young kid
that Toto would love to see win
and prove everyone wrong.
I mean, Toto's team radio last time out
when Antonelli won a race.
Imagine if he won the championship.
Be like, I told you so, look how good this guy is.
It would be fascinating.
Fascinating indeed.
Question from positively underscore F1.
Have McLaren finally got it figured out?
I don't want to speak too soon,
but they look like they're starting
to look like their old selves.
I said it after practice, then I thought,
well, maybe I've jumped the gun a little bit here
after seeing the FP3 results.
But then we fast forward to qualifying
and Lando has had issue after issue
after issue this entire season,
whether it's deployment or hydraulics
or whatever it might be.
So Lando, I still kind of see him
just trying to build up confidence in the car
after having all of these issues.
For Oscar, obviously he's not even started a race.
So he's had his fair share of troubles as well.
But I will say that Oscar's lap was really impressive to me.
Three and a half tenths off Antonelli's pole time.
I think Antonelli left a little bit of time on the table
after that lockup.
He didn't improve on his final lap, but it was very close.
I think he could have easily stretched that gap
by a tenth or two had it not been for the problem.
But for Oscar to still put it third,
quite comprehensively third,
with other drivers maybe making mistakes behind him.
And it's a step forward for McLaren.
It's not the fix and also I will say
that don't get baited by one track performance.
I think that's the key thing here as well.
I'm fascinated to see once the teams have had five weeks off,
how the quality differences perhaps change maybe,
or if we have to wait till the first engine unlock
of the season for things to change.
But yeah, much better from McLaren.
It doesn't really matter
because Hamilton and Leclerc will be ahead of them
come the start and in to turn one.
But a good quality showing will the same.
Yeah, McLaren have looked strong here.
I do firmly believe that they will just figure it out
even more throughout the season
and wouldn't be surprised if they were ahead of Ferrari
and whether they could challenge Merck
with how far Merck are ahead.
We don't know.
But yeah, they have done a solid job.
But they just need to finish races.
You mentioned about Lando having all these issues.
And then yeah, like Oscar too,
like not even starting a race is absolutely insane.
And the list of issues that Lando's had,
it's almost seemingly every session is absolutely crazy.
Like FP1, he had a gearbox problem,
FP2, power unit issues, FP3, deployment issues,
quality deployment issues, this was just round one.
Round two, sprint quality, deployment issues,
quality, he had a issue again.
In the race, obviously didn't start.
Then FP1 today had straight line issues
and missed 30% of the session.
FP2 had a hydraulic leak.
And then it seemed like he had another ERS issue
and he's gone through a lot of parts already, it seems.
And then of course you go to Piastri,
who's had more time in the car,
but not even started a race yet,
which summarizes just how painful it's been for McLaren.
But once they figure it out,
I do genuinely think that that could be
comfortably the second best car behind Mercedes
and but they're just too far behind
in the championship really to challenge.
And it's a mad thing to say after only two and a bit races,
but it's too much for them to catch up.
It's extreme, Tommy, to say they can't challenge
in the championship after two races.
I think, yeah, I know that from like a,
looking at the competitive stat like viewpoint right now,
I get it, but to say that they can't,
when Landau's already said that they've overhauled
a bigger margin and deficit in the past,
when McLaren have found huge upgrades
to propel them up the order,
I think it's unfair to say that they can't find something
and challenge Mercedes,
especially if Mercedes are taking points off each other,
you've got Antonelli and Russell
constantly swapping wins in the first few races,
McLaren finally figure it out.
Like the key thing here is unlocking the engine
that they've already got.
So maybe it's slightly pre-emptive, I don't know.
I mean, I'm happy to, my words,
if Mercedes don't win the championship by an absolute mile.
Don't get me wrong, they are the favorites,
but to write them off, I think is a bit unfair at this stage,
but especially I think considering-
I was writing everyone off apart from Mercedes.
It's true, it's true, but you should keep hope
if you're a McLaren fan because-
Oh yeah, I think McLaren will absolutely win a race this year.
Yeah, how many races and when will they do it?
It's up for debate.
Let's go to a question from P1Patreon member Mercedes on top.
User name, crazy.
What is up with Ferrari always falling off in Q3?
I just washed, aren't they?
No, I think-
Crazy.
Yeah, yeah.
It's not that Ferrari leave anything out there.
It's the fact that I think Mercedes turn it up
and similar to what we saw last year,
it's an even more extreme version of last year's qualifying
where we always say our Q1's really, really close,
but then the top teams can unlock more performance
as they get into Q3 and Mercedes can do that even more.
In Q1, there's absolutely no reason
that Mercedes need to put stress on the engine
or anything or turn the wick up
when realistically both Aston's, both Cadillacs
and two of the midfielder are going out.
They're going to be fine.
They've got such a huge performance margin
that they don't even really need to go for it that much.
And it's quite clear that when we get to Q3
and it's something that Hamilton said
that they've got, whether it's a party mode or whatever,
they can turn it up to full beans then
and go actually, see you later everyone, we are very clear.
So I don't think it's Ferrari falling off.
It's just that they're probably the Mercedes runners
in particular can have an extra power boost
if you like, going into that final qualifying session
where it really matters
and Ferrari don't make as much of a step up.
I personally think it's a mixture.
There is the Mercedes Q3, whatever you want to call it mode,
which gives them a bit extra power.
Hamilton has said that in an interview.
That's what Mercedes have
and he suspects that they have that again this year.
But there is also a point to make about Ferrari
not making any step forward from Q2 to Q3.
There will be a more rubbered in track.
We naturally see a progression of a tenth or two at the least
for most drivers you would expect between quality sessions.
But for Charles Leclerc, he went a tenth slower than he did in Q2.
Now, whether that's because he had a generational Q2 lap,
which I think you know, sector one need to watch that on board
for both Q2 and Q3, his sector one,
I think might well go down in the history books.
However, it then comes back to my other point
from earlier on in the podcast of deployment,
Yadda Yadda, Charles Leclerc after qualifying.
So we made a social clip about this,
but I will also read it out now in case you haven't seen it.
Charles Leclerc said after qualifying,
I honestly can't stand qualifying.
It's an effing joke.
I go faster in corners, throttle earlier.
For F's sake, I'm losing everything in the straight.
So there's that to factor in.
But he went a tenth slower,
which is obviously not what you want to see.
You would expect, as I say, a two tenth maybe improvement
from Q2 to Q3, especially when you risk it all.
But then Charles already said,
isn't he about how qualifying isn't about risking it all anymore?
And then also with Hamilton,
he improved by two hundredths between Q2 and Q3,
but then it's not like for like,
but you look at Antonelli, he improved by three tenths.
But I mentioned the engine, of course.
George Russell improved by six tenths.
Oscar Piatri gained three.
Lando gained three.
Pierre Gasly gained two.
Hajar gained just over a tenth.
So even without Mercedes engines,
there were slight improvements
for some of the drivers out there.
So there was, I think, an element of Ferrari
not utilizing that, whatever that might have been,
because of, we're not sure, but I also don't know.
And then, of course, let's factor in the fact.
Yeah, of course, Charles didn't improve from Q2 to Q3,
but made that massive mistake on his final lap as well.
So let's not forget that.
I'm not sure whether he would have beaten Oscar without that.
He would have, of course, lost time
all the way down the straight after that lovely drift
that you were like, wow, that looks so cool.
And I was literally levitating with anger
with the fact that he'd gone sideways.
It's just not, it's not fast.
And that's the problem that it should be fun
and cool to watch, but it's not fast.
And obviously, Charles' frustrations have been made.
With how he feels about qualifying,
because that was his kind of specialist subject,
if you like, and how good he was in qualifying
was something that was really strong about his game,
but now he's finding that, actually,
when you're throwing it into corners, you're just slower.
You certainly are.
Let's go to a question from P1Patreon member,
FlowDissRoll, who will lead after term one?
The big question, the huge question.
Which Ferrari will it be?
If it's Hamilton, that would be ridiculous.
Term one, yeah, it's crazy.
I think that Antonelli will lead into term one.
I feel as though it'll be Antonelli, Leclerc,
Piastri, and then Russell Fourth.
I think that's what happens, Oscar.
Like McLaren are reasonably fast-starting cars.
That's something that I think people are forgetting.
Is that when Piastri actually starts on the grid,
I think he'll get away very well,
and he's on the clean side of the grid.
So for the fight we want to see with Antonelli and Russell,
I'm concerned purely because of Leclerc's very fast-starting
Ferrari and Oscar on the clean side of the grid
in a McLaren that I think will do well as well.
So yeah, I think for me, Antonelli,
should he get the same start he did in China?
There is still slight question marks for me
as to whether or not he'll have consistent starts
after what we saw at the start of the year.
But yeah, Antonelli for me.
Yeah, I think turn one could very easily be Antonelli
or Leclerc, probably Antonelli.
However, my prediction, of course, was it being lap one,
and that I do still see Leclerc getting into the lead
on lap one from fourth position.
They fire up those tyres.
They really do.
Yeah, the fact that they've got that kind of smaller turbo
that can fire up quicker, they're just absolutely rapid.
It's not even just a case of the starts.
They are just so quick on that first lap.
We've seen it, even when Hamilton didn't get into the lead,
he made the move later in the lap.
And you've got to feel that while the others
maybe struggle a little bit more,
I'm calling Charlotte Clair at the little hairpin
after the criss-cross dive down the inside.
Yeah, yeah, Kobyashie turn.
The Kobyashie dive bomb hairpin.
Now that is a reference that some people
that have watched F1 before would appreciate.
You just have to be there.
Yeah, if you've watched F1 for a while,
you'll appreciate that one, I'm sure.
Right, that is it.
Thank you everybody for tuning in.
It's been a pleasure looking forward to tomorrow's race.
Remember, the clocks go forward now if you're in the UK.
So just don't miss the start of the race.
Yeah, do it on your phone, not on the old clock.
Yeah, if you've got some sort of old clock,
then make sure you set it forward an hour before you go to bed.
And that is it, Tommy, what are your final thoughts?
Final thoughts are hoping for another generational race
where we have lots of swapping of positions and excitement
and make the most of it before we disappear.
Well, we're not going to disappear,
but Formula One disappears from that.
We've got lots of ideas.
Shall we share some of them?
Because there have been questions as to whether we're
going to make content.
Yeah, what are you going to do?
Shall we give people a little sneak peek
of what we're going to do between the eight of us?
Just say people will tune in.
So yeah, so make sure you check the channel.
Yeah, we're not going to just completely disappear
off the face of the earth, because obviously,
we can dive into the new regulations, which
we've mentioned a little bit, but feel like a dedicated
podcast and video about them.
That would be amazing.
Of course, there's a lot of talk about what circuits
we wanted to see maybe replace Bahrain and Saudi,
which they didn't do.
So we'll dive into maybe ours and some of yours as well,
the circuits you want to see back on the calendar.
And then one to the worst starts to an F1 season as well.
We're looking to like other teams and new regs
and how has there been any worse a start than Aston Martin?
Things like that.
Yeah, definitely.
And one thing, one I'm really looking forward to,
which is always hilarious, is you guys really enjoyed
three, four years ago now when we did that 2026 prediction
very early.
So we're going to predict the 2029 driver lineup now.
You best believe I am going into Google and looking up
some drivers in Basingstoke F9 and I will.
You won't you Kimmy has value moment.
Yeah, I will.
I will really find some very obscure driver.
You best believe it.
So yeah, from the cart track is going to be.
Exactly.
We've got lots of content coming your way.
And of course, we'll react to any F1 news that comes out
like Max Verstappen joining Mercedes throughout April
as well, so it's all leaving full stop.
So look forward to all of that.
Don't worry, we're not disappearing.
We're just going to have to talk about different things
until Formula One returns for Miami and we'll be out
in Australia at that point, so.
We will.
Get your tickets.
Which actually reminds me to get your B1 live show,
Australia Tickets.
It's about a month until we start traveling out there.
And we would love to see you at one of the shows.
I can't wait.
Honestly, I think they're going to be the best B1 live shows
just from an energy perspective, the fact.
We're not going to come back for probably quite a while.
It's a very, very, very long flight,
but we wanted to come out and see
all of you lovely Aussies out there.
So yeah, get your tickets.
We'd love to see you and we'll see you tomorrow
live on Twitch, YouTube and Dream 11.
Of course, for our watch along.
Race review, everything else coming your way as well.
See you soon.
Lots of love.
Goodbye.
Bye.
Bye.
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Howdy, howdy ho and welcome to Fantasy Fan Fellows.
I'm Hayden, producer of the Fantasy Fan Girls podcast
and your resident lover of all things Sanderson.
And I'm Stephen, your bookish internet goofball,
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But here's the catch.
Stephen here has not read Mistborn before.
That's right, hey, hey.
So each week you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions
to every single chapter.
And along the way, we'll do character deep dives,
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Spoiler alert, he'll be wrong.
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About this episode
Suzuka qualifying sparks plenty of debate: Mercedes stays on top, but the field is unusually spread out, and drivers keep blaming software/power deployment quirks rather than pure driving. Oli Bearman is knocked out in Q1 after reporting a straight-line time loss, while Alex Albon fumes about not getting the right deployment despite being close to teammate Sainz. The big shock is Max Verstappen going out in Q2, with Red Bull’s upgrades seemingly making the car undrivable. Then the focus shifts to Mercedes’ Antonelli vs Russell, McLaren’s signs of recovery, and Ferrari’s puzzling Q3 drop-off.
Original notes
We're back at Suzuka for more confusing qualifying runs, with a SHOCKING Q2 exit leaving one of us very unhappy...
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