Reaction to Qatar GP Sprint Race

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Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy,

the Sprint Race Guitar Edition.

And my goodness gracious me.

What have we just witnessed?

That was...

I know that people joke about this, they say...

Well, no, they don't joke about it.

They say with their chest that it's better to have sprint sessions,

competitive sessions over practice.

Well, my friends, that was a shortened free practice too,

what we have just witnessed.

And my God...

Look, you might be thinking,

if you make a podcast out of this, don't worry,

the worse the race, the more angry Tom Bellingham gets.

And that's what we want to see.

Well, the more annoyed I get at the sprint format

because the sprint format is useless

and this was a showcase of just how useless it is.

It's been saved quite a lot this year

from like random things happening,

like the McLarens colliding in Austin and stuff

and things like that.

But here it was just absolutely awful.

And this is kind of what the sprint does deliver

most of the time, made even more extreme

by the fact that this circuit is also equally useless

as the sprint format, really.

Yeah, it certainly is.

We'll get into everything to do with the format in a bit.

Of course, Oscar Piastri won the sprint.

He's gained two points on Lando Norris.

It's 22 points now, the gap between Piastri and Norris.

The question now, is it too late?

Is it too late for Oscar?

Has he found his or regained his form

with only two race weekends to go?

My answer to is it too late is most likely yes.

Had this been four races to go

with the championship well and truly

in his hands to decide,

then we would say, OK, look,

if Oscar can keep this up then absolutely.

But he has to hope for big things to happen to Lando.

Lando can still finish exactly where he finished today

in the race tomorrow and the race next Sunday in Abu Dhabi.

And he'll be world champion by a couple of points.

That being said, things can happen,

but he has to hope for that.

He has to hope for a rogue George Russell,

a Max Verstappen, a Yuki Sanoda even,

that has to hope for other drivers to be on the pace

in order for him to challenge for this world championship.

So it's not a big enough swing.

It's a great result for Oscar.

It's a brilliant drive,

but Lando just coming home in third.

It's not enough for Oscar yet.

Yeah, my thoughts were really like, why now?

Why now Oscar?

Because a brilliant drive, a brilliant weekend so far.

Fantastic sprint pole position.

Again, equally a fantastic sprint race from him,

led from the front.

Very comfortable, of course.

It's very hard to pass,

but he led away and, of course, he did the job in qualifying.

So absolutely deserves the win,

not taking anything away from him.

The problem is he's lost so many points

over the last few races,

which is why Lando's kind of built up this massive advantage.

And the problem that Piastri has

and why in a weird way,

because McLaren are faster,

but it is true that in a weird way,

it's harder for Piastri to win the title

than the Stappen theoretically,

because the Stappen has a chance that,

and obviously this hasn't happened here,

so far at least,

that the Red Bull could be faster.

And if McLaren are off the pace,

people are going to get in the mix and stuff.

Whereas Oscar, if Oscar's quick,

it's more than likely Lando's going to be quick as well

because they're in the same car.

And Oscar, obviously, what Oscar needs

is a lot of people between him and Lando Norris

like Max does, but he's in the same car.

So that's going to make it incredibly difficult.

He's obviously won and Lando's third.

He needs that again tomorrow in the race.

Actually, he needs more than that

because Lando can just finish third

in every single race from here on now,

and including this one, which he did.

So it's a big gap to maintain

when you're driving the same car as your teammate

because Lando can afford to just be very cautious

and as we've seen, McLaren are very, very quick this weekend.

Yep, they've delivered and answered any questions

around whether they'll have to raise the car

and that will affect their performance.

Not that we've seen.

Of course, when we're recording podcasts,

usually things come in,

so I'm not expecting anything for a sprint race.

Let's now move to a driver that did phenomenally well,

Yuki Sonoda, question from Lumixion.

Hero to zero for Yuki?

I think it's zero to zero, isn't it?

Zero to hero to zero, then to hero, then to zero,

then to hero again.

That just hurt my brain.

Because Yuki's had obviously an awful run.

Brilliant qualifying session from him.

Again, got a great start.

Did what we thought

and he put pressure on Lando Norris,

which is, of course, what Max needs to happen,

but didn't have enough to go round the outside,

run out of room and then, of course,

Yuki did the right thing and just letting his teammate go

as soon as Max Verstappen was even anywhere near him.

I think this question obviously come in

during the fact that Yuki Sonoda

had that five second penalty

and we're going, oh, that's really, like,

soured it for Yuki, what a shame.

But actually, Antonelli then got a penalty straight after

which put Yuki back into P5.

It is a shame he got a track limit penalty

because it was an amazing drive from him anyway

and was very unnecessary, but thankfully for him,

didn't affect his position and, yes,

another, you know, we mentioned about

is it too late for Oscar Piastri?

It's certainly the same as we mentioned yesterday,

too late for Yuki Sonoda.

Why now, Yuki?

Not just for his Formula One drive,

but I'm sure probably Max Verstappen as well

and his title charge.

Yeah, it's been a mysterious weekend

how Yuki has just all of a sudden

clicked with a car around a place where Max

has struggled, of course, with a lot of bouncing

on the car, which I think for you, Tommy,

and everyone watching that's a Max fan

and maybe even a neutral wanting to see the championship

go down to the wire that they fix

ahead of the main part of this race weekend

to keep Max in the hunt.

Of course, if Max Verstappen gets outscored by Lando

at all, then he's out of the championship

as we head to Abu Dhabi.

But for Yuki, we were, I mean,

the five second penalty we were ruined,

we were going, oh no, Yuki, have you undone this

and lost a position to Antonelli?

Of course, Kim has given that back from what we've seen

at least at the end of the race.

And like it's obviously a very good performance

for Yuki.

It stands out for him across a very poor season,

not quite enough to actually do something for Max.

I was thinking at one point when he was almost

side by side with Lando,

could he have gone even a little bit more aggressive?

Surely he's got one job as Yuki Senoda

in that situation, and it's to cause Lando problems

not to take anything away from Yuki's start.

It was absolutely brilliant.

But when I saw a little nose down the inside,

you're thinking, you know...

Stick a wheel in there, like even if it makes Lando

dive out of the way and, you know,

it doesn't obviously need to crash into him, obviously.

No, it's not what we're joking about.

It's not what we're saying.

No, but he was in that position.

He was literally fighting Lando into turn one.

So I was a little bit surprised to not see Yuki do

something a little bit more daring.

But that being said, still a great sprint race for Yuki

and scoring some points, thankfully, finally.

Let's go to a question from Mike9614.

Do you think a mandatory pit stop in this sprint race

would have made it more entertaining?

I don't...

It's not to do with...

I mean, it's a 19 lap sprint.

It was over in...

Well, it was over in a flash,

but it also felt like it was 12 hours long.

It's a short race, isn't it?

So I don't think a pit stop would have done much.

It's the fact that they all start

in the order that they qualify.

And it's as simple as that.

We've spoken about sprint race, you know,

reversing the top eight.

That's what I would love to see.

But of course, that would then need to be combined somehow

into the main race weekend.

Otherwise, why would anyone try and bother to get sprint pole,

whether there's a point available for sprint pole,

something to incentivize the drivers.

But then again, if you think you're only going to get third,

why would you push and then you try and get seventh or eighth?

Then you're on the front row.

There's plenty of loop holes to be figured out

and to work out here.

But I enjoyed the sprint format

when it was all involved in the race weekend,

because it felt like there was more importance

throughout the entire Friday to Sunday,

where we have competitive sessions all the time.

I genuinely just feel as though

there isn't a fix for sprint weekends.

Like sprint weekends, there will be some kind of failure,

whether it is the racing action,

what time it's on, how they put the grid together,

what the points they give out are for.

Of course, this is a cash grab for Formula One.

The only reason they do sprint races

is so that they want more people to watch.

But is it sacrificing other areas of the sport?

I'm still not completely, as you can probably tell,

set on exactly what I'd want to see from sprints

that would tick boxes like

not having a huge session on a Friday.

Myself and Tommy, we are very lucky that this is our job.

We follow the sessions, we get to do it

and the time is flexible for us.

People that have real jobs, I'd be absolutely paved

to have main qualifying on a Friday

or something that means a lot for a sport I love

at a time when I'm at work doing something else

and can't watch it live.

I think sprints are pretty much screwed

no matter what they do, to be honest with you.

I think, I mean, I've said so many times

that I don't like this format.

I don't like the fact that the sprint is today

and then we go straight into qualifying

for the main race afterwards,

which kind of null and voids the sprint.

Although this being said this time,

I do want to wipe that one from my memory

because it's absolutely awful

and will not be remembered for anything

because it was terrible.

Mandatory pit stop, yes, something.

I think for me, there's always been the issue

and I said this before that like,

the sprints a lot of the time do get saved

when there's been an incident

that we can at least talk about

but the sprint realistically always is going to be like that.

This was made even worse by the track

which we'll talk about next

but you're taking, other than the race start

which is the most exciting part of a Grand Prix

that's where the sprint obviously brings the excitement there

that you're getting another race start.

We're all very excited for it

but as soon as you've had that first lap pass or whatever

and they settle in,

it's not, it's just too, there's not enough variables.

It's basically like the worst bit of a Grand Prix

where you're basically settling down

waiting for the pit stops before anything's happened.

No one's going to take too much risk.

People are going to save their tyres, things like that

and be in saving mode.

That's the part of that race that you see in the sprint

so it just makes no sense for it to be the case.

You're picking, of course, a third of the race

and the most boring part of the race

because there's no strategy in pit stops

and things that can change

is always going to be bad

and the only way the sprint can be saved

is by doing a mandatory pit stop

or having reverse grids or something like that.

They've got to do something that mixes up,

that makes it entertaining, makes it different.

From Formula One's point of view, they're fine anyway

because, obviously, us as hardcore Formula One fans

we know what a good race looks like

but they know that they're going to get

many more people watching anyway

and more casuals as well

watching the sprint over a practice session.

So for them it's still more entertaining

and they're winners

but it doesn't make it any less frustrating

watching from home

because the sprint is just a useless format.

I forgot to mention my main bugbear

and it's the fact that they can't overtake

and they can't follow.

That's the problem with sprint races.

If we had close competition

and they could follow and we get overtakes

then the sprint races work just fine

but the problem is they can't...

I disagree in the fact that they're in tyre management.

They're not.

They're in full flat-out mode

but it doesn't matter

because there's no pit stops

and they just push to the end.

It's not like they're in conservation mode

through a 19-matt sprint.

Yeah, I didn't mean tyre management.

I meant more like...

Basically once like a second-and-a-half gap

opened up between everyone

everyone kind of knew that was the race done really

and no one...

Oh yeah, they can't make any...

They can't do anything.

They can't make any inroads.

They're all struggling with dirty air

apart from Oscars, of course, out in front

and enjoying the lovely, beautiful free air

that he has earned from qualifying.

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Let's now head to talk about the circuit from TOTE.

What can be done to make the racing exciting

at this track?

Extra DRS, zone.

It can be, yeah,

it's a completely different circuit

or they need to change the circuit in some way,

but they're not going to.

At the end of the day, it's a Moto GP track.

This track was bought in

during the COVID calendar

as a way to get an extra race in

and it's stuck around.

You can have more interesting races there

and I think we will get a more interesting race.

Again, not by any good reason for the track,

but I do think that there'll be

an element of interest tomorrow,

the fact that we have this tyre situation

where the tyres are going to go off

and it's so hard on the tyres

that they can only do 25 laps

and they're basically forcing to have more pit stops.

At least there's some entertainment there,

but in terms of overtaking and opportunities,

it can't really get much worse

because it is a Moto GP track.

You can see drivers getting

within getting DRS,

sometimes even with half a second

and there's no heavy braking zone

going into the corner because

it's fast-flowing corners

that's made for Moto GP,

so you're never going to see people

passing there because you can't

outbreak it, people in Formula One cars.

So it doesn't work.

It's obviously been made even worse

by the fact it's a sprint

that nulls a lot of the entertainment

and interest,

but yes, the circuit is also

really, really bad for Formula One cars

and particularly this year,

which we all know are worse than ever

when it comes to overtaking.

It is brilliant to watch in qualifying

to see these cars go around here.

It is so fast in that sort of

mid-to-end part of the lap,

those sort of fast right-left.

It's brilliant to watch there,

but sadly,

they can't be going that quickly

through those corners if they're suffering

with dirty air from a car

that's a couple of seconds ahead.

What can be done

is these heavy braking zones.

When Formula One

go to a circuit that has not been

made for Formula One cars, what do we expect

to get from it?

I'm actually

quite surprised that

Formula One haven't been able to have

some kind of say

how the track layout will be

when they go.

These fast-flowing corners,

it's good to have some of them

to see the cars go at absolute top speed

through them,

but there needs to be heavy braking zones.

Turn one needs to be a hairpin.

There needs to be other...

I don't know which corner number

it is, I always get so confused

around the Qatar Circuit,

but the only hairpin pretty much on the track

is where we've seen moves in the past,

right into that left-hand hairpin.

But that's because that's the only place

you can outbreak your opponent

other than if you're side-by-side

into turn one and you swoop round the outside,

which we saw a lot last year.

So, for me, I'm surprised

that Formula One aren't able...

Qatar has more money than cents.

How are they not able to make track changes

between MotoGP going there

and when Qatar...

When Formula One goes there, I don't know exactly when MotoGP

actually races there, Tommy.

But is there enough time for them

to make these changes or not?

No, you can't change the MotoGP

tragedy to safety.

I was just looking this up.

No, I'm saying between, you change between.

You have the Formula One layout

and then you have a MotoGP layout.

Oh, right, I see what you mean.

Is the date difference big enough?

Can you have a...

Well, the card has a thousand layouts.

It's in a desert, there's plenty of space.

Yeah, why can't they just add to it?

I was just checking something here

because I was making sure that I wasn't losing my mind

that this was the case and it was that

it was heavily rumoured that this was the case.

That Qatar, obviously,

was on the calendar

on that COVID calendar,

as mentioned, and it was kind of like,

okay, we've got the

Qatar Grand Prix now

and they were basically talking about

that they were going to move to a

different circuit, like a Doha street track.

It was a placeholder, wasn't it?

But actually what's happened is

this circuit has just continued

to stay on the calendar, despite not

really being suited

to Formula One at all.

And that's the problem.

And it's on the calendar for how many more years now?

I feel like they've signed for a...

Probably till infinity.

Like everyone, it feels like.

Come on, Formula One. Surely you can

work with the circuit

to create an alternative layout.

As you say, they're in the desert.

More money than cents.

Surely you can try and make something that works

for Formula One cars. I mean, that's how I see it.

Of course, not having to

dig up the circuit and change it.

It's 10-year. So yeah, it was

there for 2021. They didn't have it

in 2022 because of the World Cup.

And then there was obviously rumours

that they would do this street race

in Doha 2023.

And then they were like,

no, actually, we'll keep it on this MotoGP track

that doesn't work and we'll have a 10-year contract.

Very much. So yeah, I don't think much

is going to change here. And

do they have a sprint next year?

I'm trying to remember the sprints

because that could be fun.

Let's have a look.

Is it a sprint?

No, they don't actually.

At least that's one race has gone.

Interesting.

Not that we'll miss it at all.

Another thing I won't miss is

Ferrari's performance so far

this weekend.

On the 18th and 17th

they ended up.

Charles Leclerc started 9th

and dropped down four positions at the start

and then he's

dipping a wheel here there and everywhere.

Just Ferrari are

absolutely dreadful.

It feels like they've finally given up

on the car and this is what happens

when they do.

It's not a disaster

because I want them to finish fourth

in the constructors anyway

if they continue this form.

Maybe they've heard my cries

of get that extra wind tunnel time

forget about the money

and we'll win it all in 2026.

Yes, you could almost call them

a big flop, couldn't you?

A big flop for the year, Ferrari.

Do you want to give some context there?

No, no.

We've got two weeks till predictions

so

checking back on the year

the season's almost over. Watch them win

now.

I got my face.

Smug little face.

A Charles Leclerc victory to end the season

lovely. Stops Max from winning the title

underneath that across my room.

He'll be out the title by tomorrow

if I mention Max.

Ferrari just shocking.

I don't want your thoughts on Ferrari

to be honest with you because

people are here for Max.

Exactly. Max thoughts are

he's only lost a point.

He needs some kind of miracle anyway.

As I said yesterday

that he was better

in the main race. He needs to hope

that they can turn something

around like they did last year

and look dominant.

But even if he dominates the race

it's still going to need

Lando to be lower than third, fourth

to really

make inroads

if he wants any chance.

It's not looking great as it

looked for Max and McLaren

as we expected are looking

very, very good around here.

I thoroughly enjoyed the parting

of the Red Sea in those first couple of corners for Max

and then you had Fernando Alonso and Yuki

that just of course Yuki got out of the way

but Fernando was like you know what

come through my guy don't worry about it

whatsoever not even going to fight it

and Max was up to P4

in a matter of corners.

It was literally how I said in qualifying

well after sprint quality but I didn't think it would happen

because that got close to Lando got in DRS

a few laps and we thought maybe there was

a chance to see an overtake around Qatar

but oh no no we can't

because nobody can follow after a few laps

because the tyres overheat and then it is game over

right I think that is

us done and dusted for the sprint race

as you can probably tell

slightly fed up tones after that one

but hopefully you enjoyed the podcast more than you did the race

because that's what we aim to do

with our rants and everything else in between

congratulations to Pierre Gasly

for getting fastest lap on the last lap

on the soft tyres of course Lance Stroll as well

paving the way for a different strategy in the race

and doing a mandatory pit stop

for themselves trying to get some

quality practice in before

quality later on today. Tommy what are your final thoughts?

My final thoughts are

I'm glad that we

don't have to cover

another well

basically watch another sprint

for a long time now

not till March next year

and I will just say to Formula 1 please do something

please just do something to them

they won't

they'll just hope the cars are better and the sprints will

will get better because of the cars being

yeah and then we'll have sprints at Singapore

and Zandvoort they're going to be fun

and lots of overtaking on those ones

hey you never know let's you know

this is 2026 we need to

have a glass half full here Tommy

for a new era of Formula 1

also want to say congratulations to Carlos Sainz

for scoring a point again in the sprint

in the Williams

right that is it we'll see you later on

literally a podcast later on today to talk

everything qualifying for the main race on Sunday

live on Twitch and YouTube as always

Matt P1 Tommy see you later bye bye adios

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Reaction to Qatar GP Sprint Race

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