Qualifying is when drivers try to set their fastest lap to decide the starting order. “Competitive qualifying” just means it’s tight—more than one driver or team is actually fighting for the best spots.
“Turn one” just means the first corner on the track. In races, it’s usually where things get most crowded because everyone is trying to set up for the next part of the lap.
Sprint qualifying is a race format where a short race decides where cars start for the main race. Because it matters for grid positions, teams usually drive more aggressively than in normal qualifying.
Track limits are the “stay inside the lines” rules on a race track. If you go outside them, your lap may not count, and officials check video to decide.
Onboard footage is video from a camera mounted on the car. Stewards use it to see what happened during the lap, like whether the car went outside the track.
A sprint is a shorter F1 race that decides where cars line up for the main race. If penalties or lap deletions happen late, it can mess up who starts where in the sprint.
In F1, there are race officials who decide if rules were broken. They can review events and then change results, like deleting a lap if it doesn’t follow the rules.
The FIA is the main organization that sets the rules for international motorsport. They’re the ones behind rule enforcement and could be involved in new systems to detect things like track limits.
Runoff is the “extra space” next to the track that cars can go into if they miss the racing line. It’s there to help slow the car down and reduce crashes.
VAR is a video review system in soccer. The idea is that officials double-check close calls using replays—similar to how F1 can review track-limit moments.
In F1, the engine is the car’s power source. Better engine performance (and how well it’s matched to the rest of the car) can make the whole car faster.
Upgrades are new parts or changes teams add to the car to try to make it faster. But adding lots of parts doesn’t always guarantee big gains if the team hasn’t figured out how to get the best out of them.
Free Practice 1 is an early practice session before qualifying. Teams use it to test the car and learn what works, but it doesn’t always mean the upgrades will instantly make them faster.
Ferrari is a top Formula 1 team. In this segment, they’re mentioned because Ferrari brought a lot of upgrades and the hosts expect that to matter for qualifying.
Lando Norris is an F1 driver. They’re saying his season has been frustrating because the car kept having problems, but he did great once everything worked.
Pole position means you qualified fastest, so you start the race from the very front. That usually helps because you’re not stuck in traffic at the start.
Term
sprint quality
They’re talking about the sprint session, where drivers try to be as fast as possible over a shorter, more pressured format. It can affect how the rest of the weekend plays out.
Soft tyres grip the road better, which helps you go faster. The downside is they don’t last as long, so you usually use them when you really need a quick lap.
A chicane is a section of track with quick, linked turns that forces drivers to slow down and change direction. It’s a tricky part of the lap where small errors show up fast.
The front wing end plate is a small aerodynamic piece at the front of the car. If it breaks or falls off, the car can become less stable and harder to drive fast.
F1 cars don’t just use power all the time—they have systems that store energy and release it strategically. Teams decide when to use that stored power to go faster and when to save it for later.
Concept
90-minute practice session
Teams get less time on track than usual in this weekend format. That makes it harder to test changes and dial in the car before the sprint and race.
The sport sometimes changes the rules for how the cars can be built and run. The host is asking whether the latest changes are making the racing closer and more predictable.
Red Bull is a top Formula 1 team. The host is saying it also looks less dominant than usual, with more cars close together.
Concept
energy rich track
Some tracks let the car use its power and energy systems more effectively than others. That can change how fast teams look and how they plan their energy use.
They’re talking about how close the cars are. If the top cars are only separated by around seven-tenths of a second, it usually means the race should be more competitive.
A “loophole” is a gap in the rules that a team can use to get an advantage. Here, it’s something teams were doing in qualifying to make the car stronger than the rules were meant to allow.
“More power” in F1 usually means the engine is producing higher output, often via settings or operating modes allowed (or previously allowed) by the rules. In qualifying, teams may try to maximize power for short bursts to improve lap times.
The front row is the first pair of starting positions on the grid (pole position and second place). In a sprint qualifying format, starting near the front is especially valuable because there’s less time to recover from a bad lap.
F1 sometimes runs a sprint weekend. Sprint qualifying is a shorter, more intense qualifying setup where teams fight for track position quickly, and it affects where they start later.
Russell is discussed as the driver showing slower pace in the first sector and as part of the Mercedes performance picture. The hosts imply his results could affect how the championship battle develops.
In F1, “deployment” refers to how and when a driver uses the car’s performance settings during a lap—especially power delivery and energy usage. It can affect lap time consistency, particularly in specific sectors.
The track is divided into timing sectors, and the “first sector” is the initial portion of the lap used for split times. Teams analyze sector performance to diagnose where a car is losing time—often due to grip, traction, or setup.
The McLaren 12C GT Sprint is a special racing version of a McLaren 12C. It’s designed to compete in track events, where how quickly it accelerates right after the start can matter a lot. That’s why it may come up when people talk about getting off the line from different parts of the grid.
Charles Leclerc is quoted here to make a point about race performance. The host is saying that even if qualifying looks one way, the actual race pace can be different.
In F1 qualifying formats, being “knocked out” means you fail to advance to the next segment of the session. That can happen when your lap time isn’t fast enough, so you end up with a worse starting position.
Term
Kersen
KERS is the system that recovers energy when you slow down, then uses it later to give the car a boost. It can change how strong the car feels when accelerating.
The rear wing is the big wing on the back of the car. It’s there to help the tires stick to the road, especially when turning, and that can make the car faster.
Sprint pole means the car that qualifies fastest for the sprint starts first. If you’re only a little behind sprint pole, you’re showing you can be right at the front.
Acclimated means “getting used to it.” Here it’s about a driver learning how to drive the car and work with the team so they feel more comfortable and faster.
“Best of the rest” means the best finish among everyone who isn’t in the lead group. It’s like saying, “Even if you’re not first, you’re still the best of the other teams.”
A “back marker” is basically someone who often ends up near the back of the race results. They’re saying that label might be unfair because the driver can still show speed.
Term
P4
P4 means the driver finished 4th. In F1, that starting position and points can be important for the next race.
FP1 is the first free practice session of the weekend in Formula 1. Teams use it to gather data, test setups, and understand tire behavior before qualifying and the sprint.
“Tweaks” here means small setup changes between sessions, such as adjustments to car balance, aerodynamics, or tire management. The idea is to unlock more performance for the next day’s race.
Qualifying is when drivers try to set their fastest lap to determine starting position. “One-shot” means they don’t get many tries, so one bad lap or one small issue can ruin the result.
Term
regulation shake up
The rules for the race can change from one season to the next. When that happens, teams have to adjust their cars, and the racing can feel different.
Practice is when teams and drivers try different settings and learn how the car behaves. If there hasn’t been much practice, it’s harder to know who will be fast on race day.
Race pace means how fast the car is when it has to keep going for a while, not just one quick lap. It’s a better indicator of what you can do in the actual race.
F1 tires come in different types. “Medium” is one of the options that’s usually a middle ground—good grip without being as short-lived as the softest tires.
Term
tyre data
Tyre data is basically the numbers and observations about how the tires are doing. It helps predict who will stay fast as the tires wear during the sprint or race.
A “flying lap” is when the driver is going fast and then hits the track section that’s being timed. It’s the lap you want to be as clean and quick as possible.
LIVE
Looking for a race that's more than just a run?
This one gives back to the trails you race on.
Join us May 9th in downtown Helena for the Don't Fence Me In Trail Run, the happiest
race in the West.
Climb iconic trails, take in big views, and when you cross that finish line, you're part
of something bigger.
Spots are limited so don't wait.
Sign up for the 26th annual Don't Fence Me In Trail Run today.
Sign up at Dfmi.run.
ACAST powers the world's best podcasts.
Here's a show that we recommend.
If you've ever dreamed of quitting your job to take your side hustle full-time, listen
up.
This is Nikela Matthews-Akome, host of Side Hustle Pro, a podcast that helps you build
and grow from passion project to profitable business.
Every week you'll hear from guests just like you who wanted to start a business on
the side.
If you can't run a side hustle, you can't run a business.
They share real tips.
And so I started connecting with all these people on LinkedIn and I saw Target Supplier
Diversity was having office hours.
Real advice.
Procrastination is the easiest form of resistance.
And the actual strategies they use to turn their side hustle into their main hustle.
Getting back in touch with your tangible cash and sitting down and learning to give your
money a job.
It changes something.
Check out Side Hustle Pro every week on your favorite podcast app and YouTube.
ACAST helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere.
acast.com
Hello everybody and welcome back to the B1 Podcast with Matt and Tom.
We are away from each other as normal to be fair.
Like we're not usually together, but we're also in the same country, but not the UK because
yeah, we're touring Australia and we are still of course doing all of our usual content.
It's a little bit of a, you know, bodge setup, but we figured it out and I think we're still
going to sound crispy and we're still going to be here to cover everything that goes on
in Miami because we could not miss this Tommy six weeks away.
It's, it's finally back until we have to then be away for three more weeks, but that's fine.
Let's not talk about that because formula one is fixed and super clipping is less.
No, I mean, kind of it to be fair.
It wasn't actually that bad to watch.
I don't get, I don't buy that super clipping thing to be honest that they're not showing
it at all in energy.
The sessions Tommy and it's an energy rich track, but yeah, I would the whole super
clipping thing at the end of the day, if we're going to have competitive qualifying, this
is something we've mentioned before in the qualifying sessions that you kind of, when
you go into every single qualifying session and you just expect one team to walk it, it's
always going to be boring no matter what kind of happens.
So the fact that that's now not happening, I think you can almost excuse the other bit.
So yeah, the super clipping, we didn't see much, much of, but probably with a bit of
clever camera work and not showing them at the end of the straight on board.
I think we saw it maybe once found to Nelly's lap, but he was of course last on track.
So yeah, welcome.
It was a joke.
I know that there's definitely super clipping still out there, especially, I think going
down towards turn one, it felt like they were, they were genuinely sort of walking the car
towards.
We thought Russell was on a, on a, like a second push, like a second slow lap, didn't
we? Oh no, he's actually pushing towards turn one.
Before we get into all of the sprint quality action, we wanted to tell you something very
exciting.
And that's the fact we have announced our brand new tour where we are heading to both
Amsterdam and the UK for our super podding P1 live show tour.
That's right, Tommy, we are super podding our way around.
We are indeed and quite possibly the best tour poster ever.
And one of the best things I've ever done, actually, that, that, that poster is legitimately
real.
We were in a toy car driving down a road in a state.
The only thing I will say is the blurred Dalmatian going to the toilet.
That was an addition from, from the editor.
But let us tell you the shows.
So August the 20th, we head to Amsterdam at the Delamar Theatre.
And then in November, it's the big UK tour.
First and foremost, we go to Leeds for the very first time.
November the 11th at the Geely Club.
We then go to the Geely Club in Cardiff the next day, November the 12th.
And then we have a couple of days off November the 14th, Manchester at a place
called home, quite literally home.
And then November the 15th, Glasgow, another Geely Club.
November the 17th, Birmingham.
Oh, you guessed it, a Geely Club.
And then finally, November the 18th, it's a big boy.
It's a big boy.
It's London.
It's the O2 Forum at Kentish Town.
So if you're wondering where you can get your tickets,
Patreon subscribers, you can get access to presale tickets on Wednesday,
the 6th of May at 10 a.m.
your local time before they go on general sale on Friday, the 8th of May.
So make sure you sign up to the Patreon now to guarantee yourselves early access
as well as lots more perks of course at patreon.com.com.
Slash map P1 Tommy.
Very excited to go on and it's literally one of my favourite parts,
if not my favourite part of doing this, Tommy, is the live shows.
And I'm very excited.
Absolutely.
Yeah, going to some new places as well, which is always a lot of fun.
And hope for another tour.
Yeah, Leeds going to be good fun, excited to go there and do a show.
Anyway, let's dive into Sprint
Quali and start with the very first session, SQ1, where the bottom six
were Lawson, Ocon, Perez, Bottas, Alonso and Stroll.
So despite us being six weeks away, you had Fred Viser at the end of Japan
saying, Miami, it's going to be all different.
That bottom six ain't different at all.
It is still very much, you know, both the Cadillacs,
both Aston Martins, Ahas with Ocon and then Lawson.
So, look, one of the strange things that happened in SQ1 was
and I don't know if this was happening for everybody.
If you aren't watching Sky or having the Sky broadcast, is that Lawson
was potentially going to still make it through to SQ2, because Alex Albon,
who as of recording right now is being investigated for track limits.
For that reason, right, Lawson thought that he might have been
able to get through to SQ2, even though everybody had got through.
Then this this bit of on board surfaced and it felt like something that we'd had.
I want to say it's Austria Perez, where he also extended track limits, got through
and it was chaos. So that is obviously a misstep from the FIA to not see that.
Should he have actually exceeded track limits?
Because the only thing we saw was the on board and sometimes
both front tyres can look like they're out, but the rear tyre is actually still in.
Yeah, I think I would say that the only kind of bad side to what I think is a really good
qualifying format now, obviously, we've gone through so many different qualifying formats
in Formula One and used to be just like one hour continuously.
The only kind of problem I guess with the knockout format is if you do need something
investigating, they can't sit there and wait half an hour for the next session because
TV and everything and we need to get going into the next session.
So when you have that awkward situation where someone believes they've been hard done by,
you can't simply just, if it was one straight hour qualifying and everyone sets their laps,
you could penalize the driver that's gone and they bumped down the order.
But someone like Liam Lawson, obviously, we're looking at the
going into SQ2, they didn't look particularly quick anyway.
But that's kind of not really the point that if you miss out for SQ1,
imagine if it was like one of the top runners and then you find out later that, oh no, Alex
Alban did have it, you can't reinstate them and it's ruined your whole qualifying because you
don't know how high up the order you could have been had you been able to do the other sessions.
Yeah, the sprint part of this weekend is ruined. We had a question and a sort of statement,
I guess from people on pitch. Remember a good Karen. How is it that in the big year of 2026,
we can still have a situation where the stewards only investigate a track limits breach by a car
in SQ1 after SQ3 is over, deleting Alban's lap post session won't give Lawson his chance in SQ2 back.
I think, you know, when we look at these two drivers, as you say, that has not really changed
their weekend much, they're going to be about 14th or 15th anyway. But the problem is, yeah,
the actual, the fact that it has been missed, the fact that this can still happen this year,
I know that, of course, I can't remember exactly when it was, but I read, and again,
it might have been complete rubbish, but the fact that they were looking into Formula One and the
FIA, some kind of AI track limits detection type system, which obviously still isn't in
force right now. But it's something that that I would probably understand why they would go
down that route, because it must be quite difficult to have eyeballs on every single driver at all
times. And then, you know, reacting to potentially teams saying, look, this has happened, this has
happened, and I'm not excusing them, but I can understand with their current system how things
like this can happen. So, yeah, the big year of 2026, it cannot be acceptable to allow this,
because it could have easily been championship leader Kimmy Antonelli doing a little cheeky
track limits, or whatever. So, yeah, it's annoying, of course, it's annoying for Albon,
it's annoying more so for Liam Lawson, that, you know, he could have popped it in a P12 P13,
but don't forget, it's only the top eight that score it in a sprint. So, in terms of the actual
end result of this, it's really not going to change much. But yeah, it's, it's not something
we've had for a while. But the fact that it can still happen makes me think, how many times have
we missed? How many times have, how many times have this happened? And we've just never seen,
you know, an onboard or whatever. Exactly. It's such a difficult situation for Formula One. And
it's just the nature of F1 now that you go down these routes of having these circuits with big
runoff, you know, back when, you know, they used to have gravel, gravel traps, or even just like
really high kerbs. So you just couldn't because if you ran wide, you would be penalised and you
would be slower. So it wasn't faster to go off. And then because there's so much of it around
every circuit, you can't, I know we say like F1's got so much money and that they can do this and
that, but it is quite a crazy thing to, you know, be able to put cameras and everything on every
single track. And there's so much to try and police, it makes it incredibly difficult. But
track limits is a really annoying part of Formula One in my opinion. And one thing that really
bugs me a lot when we have to have track limit conversations, because it's just so
irritating that a sport that you can have these things where like a millimetre off track
can make that huge difference. And we still don't really know, have you, have you not?
Almost kind of feels like a bit like VAR and football kind of vibes. And yeah, it's not great.
It's funny how sports can vary in their sort of, I guess, severity or whatever the word is to follow
the rules. Like, obviously, we're both in Australia and I went to this Aussie rules football game.
And there's so many like, I mean, Formula One fans watching that would be just irritated because
the amount of things that I just put down to, I think he's been holding on to the ball for too
long kind of vibe, rather than like it being a strict amount of time. But it's just funny that,
yeah, with F1, everything has to be measured and finally analysed in order to make it as fair
a competition as possible, because every thousandth of a second counts. So yeah, track limits,
we can take that off. So they just, they just some, you go to like a GT, if you watch like a GT
race, a Kota, they just let them just go everywhere. And which also would lose their mind. It looks a
bit farcical, but yeah, it's very, very odd. Very odd indeed. Other things to mention,
SQ1, Ocon had a big old lock up into turn one, I believe it was, which sort of scuppered any
opportunity for him to make it out of the first part of qualifying. So again, once again,
we're talking about Ocon struggling on a, I was going to say a Saturday, technically is a Saturday
for me right now. So I was not wrong with that. But of course, the first part of qualifying
sprint part of the weekend is not as important. And then yeah, no surprise for the Cadillacs.
And then for Aston Martin, you're thinking, all right, six weeks off, they're going to,
they're going to have gone to the drawing board and figure out what's going on. Oh my God, no,
they have not. Alonso didn't even set a lap time within the 107%. I think it was 12 seconds off
or something like that. Saw an onboard of him just going to Narnia. Looks like a horrendous car.
We've also had Lance Stroll basically just slandering the regulations on the run-ups of the
weekend as well. And I saw a comment saying, essentially, we just love to see, and this is
something we've spoken about in the podcast as well earlier, of like the drivers that have no
concern about losing their seat or the ones that are properly popping off about this.
Yeah, the Aston looked terrible. And again, they're at the back of the grid with no
sort of window of opportunity to make any kind of progress at the moment, it seems.
Let me hit you with the wildest Aston Martin stat I've seen probably all season.
So the fastest Aston Martin time in sprint qualifying was a 141.3. The slowest formula
two time in qualifying was a 141.1. So Aston Martin would have been last on the Formula
Two grid as well. Okay, so yeah, the hope, I thought maybe they might have made like an
incremental improvement coming into Miami after the time to kind of go back to the drawing board,
but clearly there's so much fundamentally wrong with that car that it's going to take a lot,
lot longer. So yeah, that's SQ1 done and dusted. Let's head to sprint qualifying two,
where the bottom six for this session were Bortoletto, Hülkenberg, Bearman, Albonne,
Sainz and Linblad. May I go back to Fred Versailles saying the whole championship is going
to change and that SQ2 looks no different to me really than what I would expect after Japan.
But look, I think there's a few things to mention here. I think one of them being Carlos Sainz.
Wow, that man was vocal after qualifying, essentially saying there are three steps behind
and clearly a lot of frustration for Carlos and I can completely get it. I understand it.
I myself sold down the James Valls hype train. I am sitting next to the conductor,
I'm chew-chewing all the way down to the station of potentially loads of podiums
and what have they produced this year? Williams have gone back massively and again,
no real signs of improvement, no pun intended and I'm talking about Carlos,
no signs of improvement for them either. Of course, Albonne, he had those struggles as well
and both of them, as of recording, we don't know exactly if he's going to have his
lap time stripped, but either or, nowhere really near to troubling the top 10 and it seems like
Alpine that they showed a little bit of performance with Gasly once again have taken maybe another
step forward. Yeah, definitely. Williams surely, other than Aston Martin, got to be the most
disappointing team of the season so far because there was a lot of hype going into it.
We thought Mercedes engine, easy, you look at what a Mercedes engine and a year of basically
going down that route of all the eggs in 2026, just go down that route, focus completely on
and what absolute wonders that has done for Alpine who were the joke of the field to now getting
both cars in SQ3 compared to Williams who are still struggling massively and they're such on
the back foot, obviously had a horrendous start to the season with the fact that their car wasn't
ready compared to everyone else and yeah, it's just really, really bad start and
I'm sure we'll discuss this later in the season, but if this carries on at Williams,
how long is Carlos Sainz realistically going to want to stay there?
Another team. Yeah, another team. He jumps around an awful lot, but he would be such
a prized asset to so many people on the grid that he should not be down fighting for 15th.
So I think this is a good point in the podcast to mention the amount of upgrades that each
team has brought and I will say actually on the Aston Martin point that I made in SQ1,
despite us thinking that they might have taken a step forward, perhaps
understood the car a little bit more, they brought zero upgrades, they brought absolutely
nothing to Miami, which I still back the comment of like, I thought maybe they would have at least
understood the car a little bit more and that's perhaps what they're trying to do at this stage
is there's no point just putting loads of random stuff on the car when they don't really understand
what's going on with it. So let me run you through the list of them. So from least to most,
so Aston Martin zero upgrades has with a singular one upgrade and maybe that's a slight
indication as to why they've seems to have fallen back ever so slightly. Mercedes only
with two upgrades, Audi with two as well, and then we have a big jump to racing balls and
Alpine with six upgrades. You have McLaren, Red Bull and Williams, Williams with seven upgrades,
but then again, look, you have to think, right, this has literally been one day of running.
Yes, they had 90 minutes in free practice one, but like, just because you bring upgrades does
not necessarily equate to big performance gains. That being said, the most was, well,
second most was Cadillac with nine upgrades and then Ferrari brought 11 upgrades to this weekend
and obviously the hype is real, the hype was real all the way through SQ1 and SQ2.
And now after SQ3, which we'll get into, just to the right of where this camera is,
there's a microphone shaped hole in the wall as I came off, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, obviously not.
But yes, so those are the amount of upgrades that was brought to the table and yeah, interesting
to see that Williams, despite a lot of upgrades brought, I mean, maybe a tiny step forward because
they were kind of getting knocked out weren't they in in Q1, at least they made it through to SQ2,
but still it's not like a marked improvement. No, yeah, that is quite insane reading actually
to see that Williams have bought that many upgrades and still on the back foot, you know,
Aston Martin have bought nothing and they're still terrible, but yeah, like Williams seemingly,
no improvement and the drive of frustrations are just hitting hard, like I can't imagine how
frustrating it must be for Alex and Carlos to believe in this project and have so much hype
around them and the amazing season in Miami last year, it comes to mind of Williams fighting the
Ferraris and thinking, wow, how good is team going to be in 2026? That's what they're really
focusing on and it's been an awful, awful start. Very tough. And then finally, Audi look despite
them both being knocked out in SQ2 11th and 12th is not bad considering a couple of upgrades brought
and still still have some pace, that's for sure. Right, let's head into the business end of Sprint
qualifying with the final part SQ3. The top 10 were as follows Norris Antonelli, Piastri Leclerc,
Verstappen Russell, Hamilton, Colopinto, Hajar and Gasly. First question straight into it,
P1 Patriot member Daniel 2606 is Lando Norris back? I think to quote Daniel Ricciardo, did he ever
as he ever left? Because I think it's really unfair to judge his season.
He's went to leave the garage, that's for sure. Yeah, exactly. It is so hard to judge Lando's
season because he has had an absolute shocker with reliability. It's been so bad for him,
we reeled off a load of things last last race podcast, which feels like many moons ago,
about how many issues Lando has had, seemingly every single session. He's had the DNS in China,
so many problems here and there with replacing batteries and engine parts and all sorts and
so many times missing huge amounts of practice sessions where he couldn't compete.
And I think realistically the only session, one of the only kind of clean
weekends or sessions we've seen was like the sprint race in China and he did a fantastic job
there. So it's so hard to judge his season when it's been up and down, but what a performance.
Now he's got the car, he's had the time to actually do practice, had no issues,
the McLaren's looking very, very good and boy did he deliver over two tenths clear of the field,
over two tenths clear of his teammate as well, he was looking very, very quick.
And yeah, what a job from McLaren and Lando to grab a pole position.
Indeed, I'm not saying that I saw it coming, it's a good surprise to him.
I can't move out of the piastry and I've got the wrong McLaren.
You did. That makes me really happy for the sake of the predictions,
championship and how far you are ahead. But I saw this coming if he had a clean weekend
and he has done so far. As you say, Tommy, it's so difficult for a lot of these drivers and this
is where I guess some kind of annoyance has come from for both us and Formula One fans of
not really knowing how good a driver is doing at the moment because there's so many problems
going on with so many cars and so many teams. But Lando did a phenomenal job in qualifying and
it's mad, we haven't spoken about this yet, but it's mad to see the field spread and it's mad
to see the improvements when a driver hooks it up. Lando was a second off in sprint quality too
and he then comes into the final part, puts on the soft tyres and manages to get into the 27s.
Do you think about how they don't know how to, even now at this stage, what's best to do in terms of
like it feels like such a different formula to drive that you have to like go slow in certain
sections to like sacrifice almost certain parts of the track which must be really weird for a
Formula One driver to then use so much power here and there and it's just a constant like
almost a weird game of yeah, like hooking up a lap must be so different to last year. I don't
remember last year having these like massive changes between sessions. For sure, you know,
the drivers are clearly still getting used to the car and I think as well, yeah, there are
mistakes in there. We've seen it into the final hairpin before the yeah, basically the start finish
line where drivers have been struggling to slow down the car. We saw Lando I think again in SQ2
where he was all over the kerbs in that middle sector, you know, the really fiddly left right
chicane in there where Max Verstappen's championship unraveled. Do you remember
where he lost a part of his front wing end plate and then everything opened up from there but
yeah, it's definitely, it's so hard to kind of measure what's going on at the moment in Formula
One and it is difficult clearly to hook it up, you know, you have different, you know, it is very
different. You have the way in which the energy is deployed as you say like teams are still learning
what's the most efficient way of doing that and especially when you only have one 90-minute
practice session, I'm sure there's so many things that you have to get through but McLaren
has done a phenomenal job and so has Lando. So he's starting from the front and if McLaren starts
anything to go by after seeing Oscars in Japan, he should be at least eight car lengths clear
of Antonelli come term one. So let's see, let's see how that one goes and I apologize if no words
not all of my words are formed correctly. It is very early and I'm very jet lagged.
Okay, next question. Engine, Eng7 Iceman. I thought that was like an engine man, it's not,
your name is not engine man, your name is Eng7 Iceman. Are the new rules working? Everyone
close to each other now? Even Red Bull. I'm not gonna, this is like jumping the gun at free
practice too. This is the first day of a sprint after some changes that we've mentioned before
and a lot of upgrades brought to the teams. I will say that it's very exciting. It's exciting to see
that Mercedes in some way have gone backwards slightly despite, I mean to be fair they only
brought a couple of upgrades and I think McLaren and Ferrari have taken a step forward. You would
hope so with Ferrari's 11 upgrades. The new rules working, I think there's less super clipping but
then how do you compare it between tracks when all tracks are very, very different and we're
also being told that it's an energy rich track. So I am taking all of this with a very large pinch
of salt. So look, I think it was more enjoyable. It's always more enjoyable when it's competitive
and to see Mercedes slightly paid back and to see Ferrari and McLaren a little bit further forward,
it's pretty good to see. It is interesting how this point says it's close. The top seven, which
is the top four teams excluding Hajar who we'll talk about in a bit, but top seven, seven tenths,
that was the whole field last year. So there's still some big gaps but it is great to see.
It's not two by two and maybe it's a bit more kind of what we expected from or prayed from testing
where we were hyped about the fact that the top four, yes, there was a massive gap to the
midfield and everyone else, but the top four looked very interchangeable and yeah.
My lights have turned off because the hell's got to go and get some some coffee. So it's fine. You
can still kind of see me actually. It's not too bad. It's suspenseful and intense. So we'll carry on
because she's going to be back any second and the lights will be back and we need to get this
podcast out because there's so many podcasts happening this weekend and we'll be there for
all of them. Don't be worried. This episode is sponsored by ruler. You know when you look back
at certain points in your life and think, yeah, I probably should have gone to therapy then.
Maybe after a breakup, maybe during burnout or just when stress was quietly piling up in the
background, but then you actually try to find a therapist and realize it can be quite complicated.
Either they're fully booked, they don't take your insurance or it's just way too expensive.
That's why ruler is so great. Ruler helps you find licensed therapists and psychiatrists who are
actually covered by your insurance. They work with over 100 insurance plans and the average
co-pay is about $15 a session, sometimes even less depending on your cover. Plus they match
you based on your goals and preferences. You can actually find a therapist who feels right for
you and appointments can be available as soon as tomorrow. Thousands of people are already
using ruler to get affordable, high quality therapy that's actually covered by insurance.
Visit ruler.com forward slash matt and Tommy to get started. That's R U L A dot com slash matt
and Tommy. You deserve mental health care that works with you, not against your budget.
Looking for a race that's more than just a run? This one gives back to the trails you race on.
Join us May 9th in downtown Helena for the Don't Fence Me in Trail Run,
the happiest race in the West. Climb iconic trails, take in big views and when you cross
that finish line, you're part of something bigger. Spots are limited, so don't wait.
Sign up for the 26th annual Don't Fence Me in Trail Run today. Sign up at dfmi.run.
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, magic explainers, and Steven will
even try to guess what's next. Spoiler alert, he'll be wrong. News flash, I'm never wrong.
Episodes come out every Wednesday and you can find fantasy fanfellows wherever you get your
podcasts. This is a Monday dot com ad, the same Monday dot com designed for every team,
the same Monday dot com with built in AI, scaling your work from day one,
the same Monday dot com with an easy and intuitive setup. Go to Monday dot com and try it for free.
OK, the lights are back on. We're now going to get into a question from Mr Bear 15.
Have Mercedes fallen off or has McLaren gotten faster?
I think a bit of both. McLaren have obviously brought some upgrades. They've found something.
They promised a lot last time out anyway in Japan and they've just improved on that even more.
And this whole thing that we mentioned, if you watch predictions, we were speaking about it and
how Mercedes and Red Bull have had a kind of qualifying loophole where they're able to run
even more power. And the FIA have closed that loophole now to stop them. And the wonder going
into this weekend would be, would Mercedes lose that qualifying advantage that they had?
Now, they were so clear, I would thought maybe they'll lose that qualifying advantage,
but it might be still a one, two or a lot closer. Antonelli's second,
over two tenths off Landau and Russell's all the way down in sixth, over six tenths off.
So Mercedes do look like they're struggling a bit and it's always the case, isn't it,
when you have teams dominating and there's been one session where they don't do very well,
it's so easy to jump the gun and be like, oh my God, this is crazy. And there's always that thing
in the back of your mind that goes, surely not. Surely this could just be an outlier, but Mercedes
have been struggling here. Potentially, the heat maybe doesn't suit their car, which is something
that Mercedes have had in the last few years where they didn't like the heat with their car.
Obviously, very different now with the new regs, but yeah, Mercedes has been the big shock of
qualifying. It's the fact that if you'd have said that Mercedes would be even not on pole,
but second and sixth is crazy. Yeah, I find it fascinating how this qualifying has gone down.
I mean, a similar boat where I'm not going to start saying that Mercedes are the third
fastest car or anything like that because Antonelli is still second. It's on the front row.
Still seconds on the front row of the grid in a sprint quali session, which is so frantic and
chaotic anyway, one mistake in SQ3 and you're out of the top five and this is what we're seeing with
Russell. I also found it interesting how slow Mercedes in particular Russell was in the first
sector. It was four tenths just gone like that and whether that's down to deployment or if it's
just because there's no grip for that Mercedes in the first sector, it's yet to be seen. But
I think it's obviously exciting. It's building my excitement for the season if this can actually
continue because no one wants to see Mercedes to just dominate and romp away and it being
Antonelli versus Russell and that title fight can easily just be, can easily swing one way
if someone has a DNF or something like that. Obviously, the championship is still looking
good in Antonelli's favour at the moment. He's the championship leader and he's ahead of Russell
at the moment and showing more pace than him, which is what we thought would happen considering
last year and this was one of Antonelli's star moments from last year was getting sprint pole.
He needs to get off the line though. He needs to get off the line on the dirty side of the
grid as well. So I firmly believe it will be McLaren 1-2 come the end of term one. I think
if you're going to put any money that would be a pretty safe bet. So to see McLaren this quick,
this early on makes me think that they can absolutely challenge Mercedes for the rest
of the season and maybe take it to them and in tracks where Mercedes might struggle. I think
it's going to be a really cool thing to watch. I want to see Norris and Piastri in the fight.
Of course we do. We don't want to see Mercedes win by 30 seconds like I predicted in predictions
that they would win by the biggest margin of the season. I'm recording that immediately. But let's
see. It can all change. Tweaks can be made and as Charles Leclerc said, you know, race pace is
better and we can get there. Sorry, I don't know how I've made that about Charles Leclerc, but we
will talk about him very shortly. But first, this question is ridiculous, but we're going to get
into it anyway. The vocal hero asks, is George washed? No. No, George is not washed and I still
firmly believe he's going to win the World Championship. I think he will go on a run of
races in the European season and we will look back at these moments and go, ah, yeah, fair enough.
We thought George was a little bit struggling and he is, right? I'm not I'm not mistaking him for that.
But I think to immediately say, Kimi Antonelli is the better driver and that he's going to win
the World Championship after a very small sample size. After what George has already done in his
career at Mercedes, I think is very unfair to him. So let's see if he can bounce back in the main
race weekend part of Miami because it's going to be important for him. He cannot have another
P6 in main qualifying tomorrow. There's no doubt about that. Otherwise, Kimi starts to get a very
healthy lead. But to say he's washed is very unfair. Yeah, definitely. There's two sides to it that
one, yes, he hasn't had the start to the season that we all expected, particularly with how well
Antonelli has done. And we as Formula One fans in general is a very fast moving sport, no pun
changes based on like one session. And George had a difficult race in Japan that didn't go well for
him. And then one sprint qualifying. And it's kind of like, oh, yeah, Russell's washed. He's
terrible, which is certainly isn't the case. He can bounce back. And I think in a weird way, George
would probably, you know, we can look back at last year and had these very similar conversations
with Lando Norris, and he ended up winning the World Championship where, you know, Lando was not
comfortable with the car at the start. It wasn't to his liking, he was making a few errors here and
there. And he didn't have the greatest start to the season. And then once he found his mojo,
obviously, you know, ended up winning the World title. So George can, it's so early in the season,
it's mad to think that, you know, we're going to be going into June with essentially four,
you know, only four races down pretty much because of how weird this break is. But
it's still such early days. And I don't think that Russell is going to be so easily, you know,
winning the World title. But because I thought at the start of the season, he would have easily won
the World title. He's making a lot harder work of what I thought, but he's still got an absolute
huge chance to win it. And I think he's still the favourite, weirdly, despite everything that
has happened. George is not washed. And I firmly believe he will bounce back. Question from people
on Patreon member Justin. Thoughts on Red Bull's pace so far this weekend, Tommy. He didn't say,
Tommy, but I'm interested to hear what you're saying, because are you going to be pessimistic?
A little bit, but not not is looking a lot better. The fact that Max is there or there abouts,
you know, he's beaten a Mercedes, which is a mad thing to think about and a Ferrari. They were
nowhere, you know, it looked like that he was going to get knocked out of the session. Obviously,
I flopped him. I was worried that that was going to be the case where, you know, he was going to
get knocked out again because of everything that happened last time. But they've definitely found
something. And Verstappen in particular, you know, for all the talk of had jars broken, the
Kersen stuff, Verstappen put a second on on had jar, which is quite insane, actually. And had jar
is found himself kind of in that midfield pack. It's only again, it's only one race. Sorry,
it's not even one race, it's one sprint qualifying session and also one day and one lap.
Exactly. Yeah. And so it's don't want to jump the gun and react to that too much. But
the fact that Max can challenge a bit more fingers crossed, because even if you aren't a
fanboy like I am of Verstappen, and even if you don't like him, it's a much better formula one
where Max Verstappen is fighting other cars, because it makes it even more exciting. So
yeah, it's good to see Verstappen up there. Fifth place feels like a win.
That's a brilliant qualifying from from Max to out qualify both Russell and Hamilton in a car
that is absolutely inferior is is a brilliant, brilliant bit of work from him, the Macarena
wing doing some serious work crazy. I mean, the innovation that Rebel have done there,
I didn't think that the rear wing could look more open than the Ferrari, but then enter Red Bull.
That is that is quite something and clearly it's it's worked to some degree because yeah, Max is
half a second off of sprint pole, which is much better than what we've seen so far this season.
So I'm excited to see Max Verstappen potentially fighting somewhere near the front. So yeah,
let's see how that goes goes tomorrow. A question from P1Patreon member Justin.
Colopinto is the leading Alpine. Does that mean he's starting to finally feel acclimated?
Acclimated? Acclimatized? Isn't it acclimatized? Acclimated? Whatever in the car. I don't know
if I just had an internal thought during that question. But whatever. Is he starting to feel
comfortable in the car? There you go. That's an easier one. Franco, what a performance. He said
after to qualifying, he was basically mentioning that there was a lot of things that had to be
figured out with the car, which is kind of just the running trend and narrative of this season.
Isn't it really of drivers trying to figure out what on earth is going on in their spaceships?
And I don't know that there's part of me, obviously, unbelievable performance from Franco.
I'm also going like, what happened to Pierre? Because Pierre has been so great so far this
season. But take nothing away from Franco. P8 has a chance of scoring a point, maybe,
and being best of the rest come tomorrow. So these are the kind of performances Franco needs
because he needs to show his potential, which he did show when he jumped in at Williams.
Then he had a bit of a lull. Now he's coming back. It's really important for him if he wants
to stay in Formula One, I would say. He's got an amazing fan base. People love him
from where he's from. But that won't necessarily save him if he's going to be massively behind
Gasly. So this is a great sort of big old tick in his book of, yeah, it's not too far into the
season to be able to start a bit of a momentum. Colin Pinter had a moment in the last year where
he was out qualifying Gasly and having some good performances. But the problem was they were
way down the back of the order and no hope of points. And we were kind of saying that maybe it's
overstated that people saying that he's not very good and he's a kind of back marker,
which I think is unfair. And you've seen here that he's able to, this is where he needs to now
take an opportunity with a very good Alpine car because that's exactly what Gasly has done this
year where he's just delivered so consistently this year. I think that that's been the key thing.
And Colin Pinter has struggled where there has been this big gap. And Colin Pinter sort of found
himself very much in the midfield, maybe even further down, whereas Gasly has just been topping
that midfield pack consistently. And you're racing, racing like the Stappen and stuff as well. So
Colin Pinter needs to make the most of this opportunity because, as you say, the whole kind
of sponsorship side and his amazing fan base, it's only going to carry him a certain level.
It's obviously a great thing to have in Formula One, but he needs to deliver results as well.
And this is a fantastic opportunity for him to kind of show that driver that we saw at Williams
when he impressed so much and why he's kind of had this hype around him when
at the back end of 2024. Yeah, it's got to keep PA and actually score that point. There's no good
finishing ninth or below if you don't get a point in the sprint. So this is an opportunity for him
that he has to take. So interesting to see if he can do that. And finally, you're all been waiting
for it. Let's get into Charles Leclerc, shall we? And just generally Ferrari, very close to being
top in SQ1. I think it was a hundredth off Lando in SQ2. He was fastest. And I said word for word
in the stream. I'm not looking forward to Ferrari putting on the soft tyres, because I just don't
think they're going to be able to carry over the pace they've been showing. And lo and behold,
for the nine millionth time of watching Ferrari change over tyres and sprint qualifying,
they're not able to carry over the same pace and Charles P4. It feels devastating. We're not even
in the part of a season now where I go, P4? Well, I'd be P1 by 2 and 1, mate. I don't have that.
Not with McLaren's vibe. No, exactly. McLaren's are just as good off the line these days.
Might be able to get Antonelli, potentially. That could be interesting. But overall,
it feels like a bit of a disaster. But it's not. It's P4. I need to get a grip. But he was fastest
in FP1. They just love beating me. They just love making me think, oh, well, what if Ferrari
mount a comeback and they can be part of this championship fight? Charles did say that race
pace is better and that they can make a few tweaks going into tomorrow to essentially try and unlock
a bit more performance. So that again, once again, I'm hookline and sinker. Put the hook in my mouth.
I am going to hope and pray that they can find more pace and be able to challenge again. But
yeah, a slightly disappointing one. And for Hamilton, I think he was four tenths back
from Charles Leclerc. That's the kind of performances we were hoping we weren't going
to see from Hamilton this year and haven't seen. So yeah, a bit of a headscratcher for that. But
once again, we're judging off of literally a one-shot quali in cars that are very
unreliable to completely. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, definitely. I think the saving grace for Leclerc
is the fact that we almost need to reset our brains that if anything, obviously, they're
looking at different starts and things and there's been a slight regulation shake up for this race.
But we kind of need to reset our brains of qualifying isn't everything like it was last year
where if you're on pole, you've basically won the race. This year, we've seen a trend, if anything,
where we've been talking about how it's basically a free shuffle the pack from turn one or lap one.
And for I've been very, very strong in that sense. And if they've got a good race car,
that's looking much better for them because they're going to have a good start,
you'd think, with how it's been going. And then there's talk of McLaren, maybe their
Degg isn't as good from what we've kind of seen in the practice sessions and their race pace didn't
look all too special. But it's a very short, it's a longer practice session, but in terms of a weekend
where there's not been a huge amount of data because there is only one session, even if it's a
longer one. So Leclerc still has every opportunity to deliver a great result even in fourth. It's not
like the fourth place of 2025, where you go, well, that's going to be a fourth place in the race.
Because it's not really the case anymore. So there's still opportunities for
Charles. And if he's quick on that, that medium tyre, it's a positive sign when it comes to
the actual Grand Prix and also the sprint, depending on what tyres they choose to go with in the sprint.
What's Charlotte Clair finished fourth now after Tommy saying that? I promise she was happening.
And one final thing I noticed in the in the sort of tyre data and stuff was that,
I'm not sure if I think it says more about Hadjar's lap than it does Colopinto's, but Hadjar was on
brand new soft tyres and Colopinto finished that session on seven lap old soft tyres
in that SQ3 session. So Hadjar clearly making a mistake or two on his flying lap. Right,
that is it. Sprint chat done or sprint quali chat done, we've got more sprint chat coming for you
tomorrow. If you're in Australia and you haven't got your P1 live show tickets, what are you doing?
Come and CS live in a few days time, we'll be doing Adelaide and then we'll be off on our tour.
So yeah, there you go. Tommy, what's your final thoughts? My final thoughts are, yes, go excited
for another tour, obviously in Australia first while we're here, which I think the vibes are
going to be incredible. And then going on tour again across the UK and Amsterdam will be a lot
of fun. And yeah, that poster was also an insane amount of fun to record, but also not with being
nearly 40 with back problems, trying to sit in a kid's car. But apart from that, it was a lot of
fun. Yeah, no, sitting in a toy race car for my job. It's tough, but someone's got to do it,
really. So yeah, get that violin out, mate. Thank you everybody for tuning in. We'll see
you tomorrow for a couple of podcasts. We will be hitting you with the sprint race podcast,
as well as the main qualifying ones. So look forward to both of those and we'll see you very soon.
Lots of love. Bye. Bye.
Looking for a race that's more than just a run? This one gives back to the trails you race on.
Join us May 9th in downtown Helena for the Don't Fence Me and Trail Run,
the happiest race in the West. Climb iconic trails, take in big views,
and when you cross that finish line, you're part of something bigger.
Spots are limited, so don't wait. Sign up for the 26th annual Don't Fence Me and Trail Run today.
About this episode
Miami sprint qualifying sparked a mix of frustration and excitement, with the hosts first tearing into a track-limits stewarding mess that may have changed the SQ1 order. From there, they moved through Aston Martin’s shocking pace collapse, McLaren’s step forward, and Mercedes’ unexpected spread. Lando Norris’ pole drew praise, while Ferrari’s early speed faded on softs and Colapinto’s strong result was framed as a chance he needs to convert into points.
We're delighted to see F1 back on our screens, as the new changes to the regulations take effect in Miami. So have they made a big difference? Er....
We're in Australia this month! There are a small handful of tickets for a few of our shows - get your tickets at: http:/tix.to/p1aus
Sign up to our Patreon for just $5 a month! You'll get access to every P1 episode ad-free, extended versions of every 2026 race review, early access to tickets & merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now: http://patreon.com/mattp1tommy
