Reaction to Singapore GP qualifying

What are you reaching for?

If you're a smoker or vapor, you could be reaching for so much more with ZIN nicotine pouches.

When you reach for ZIN, you're reaching for 10 satisfying varieties and two strengths for

a smoke-free experience that lets you lean in for chances to break free from your routine

and a unique nationwide community.

Whatever you're reaching for, reach for it with America's number one nicotine pouch

brand.

Find your ZIN wherever nicotine products are sold near you.

Warning, this product contains nicotine.

Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Reggie, I just sold my car online.

Let's go, Grandpa.

Wait, you did?

Yep, on Carvana.

Just put in the license plate, answered a few questions, got an offer in minutes.

Easier than setting up that new digital picture frame.

You don't say.

Yeah, they're even picking it up tomorrow.

Talk about fast.

Wow.

Way to go.

So, about that picture frame.

Ah, forget about it.

Until Carvana makes one, I'm not interested.

Car-Selling Made Easy on Carvana.

Pick up these, may I apply?

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the B1 Podcast with Matt and Tommy.

It's qualifying time.

It's Singapore.

We've seen a session that's maybe not as close as we thought it was going to be

after everything that happened in FP3 in particular, but it was still a very entertaining one, wasn't

it, Tom Bellingham?

It was.

It's always a bit of an anti-climax when you get basically the first run in Q3 as

the pole position, kind of battle, if you like.

Obviously, George improved, but no one else was really going for it at that point.

It was still a very intriguing grid for sure.

If you'd have told me this was the order, my word, like Max Verstappen being two-tenths

clear of the McLarens and somehow I'm slightly disappointed, like, what world are we living

in?

Yeah.

The result, but maybe just swap the two drivers on the front row because I've got another

Max Verstappen t-shirt on for this podcast.

Now, before we dive into everything, it is one month today until we go and do our first

delusion tour show over in North America, of course, heading to Canada as well.

So if you want to get your tickets, you better get them soon.

Fourth of November is Seattle, fifth of November is San Francisco, tenth of November is Denver,

eleventh of November is Dallas, thirteenth of November is Toronto, fourteenth is Chicago,

and sixteenth is Brooklyn in New York City.

We'd love to see you there.

There will be a link in the episode description as well as the YouTube top comment and not

top comment, top description, top comment, I'm gonna chuck it everywhere, but it is a

great show.

We do a lot of different things.

We have a lot of fun with the audience as prizes to be won, a lot of audience participation

as well as bringing some of the podcast source as well, Tommy.

And to be honest with you, look, if you compare a podcast episode to how we are

during a live show, it's rather different, isn't it?

It's a little bit more unhinged.

Yeah, we get good chat, but also chaos as well, which is always good.

And as well, it's sort of shaped by the audience, you know, having like controversial opinions

and stuff like that.

We don't know which way the whole show is going to go because it depends what you say

down the microphone.

Right, let's head into first and foremost, Q1, where the bottom five drivers were

Portoletto, Stroll, Colopinto, Ocon, and Gasly.

The main notable thing in terms of an incident, I suppose, was Gasly, of course, having

a car issue at the end of the session where his steering wheel got heavy,

everything just broken.

I just got to spare a thought for a second for Pierre Gasly.

He must be having such a torrid time in that Alpine, like he's committed to them,

which I think is a fair enough decision for a driver like Gasly wanting to be

a number one driver at a team that is Alpine.

It's Renault, you know, they are not a small out the back of a shed type

team.

And it is an absolutely diabolical season for Alpine.

And it just continues.

The woes continue for Gasly.

At the start of the season, Alpine didn't feel too bad and it maybe felt like

they just weren't delivering the points now.

But it very firmly feels like they are just rock bottom.

And it is just a case for Gasly and whoever their teammate, you know,

whoever's going to be in the Alpine next year, it's just kind of, you know,

riding that storm until we get to 2026.

And then hopefully with Mercedes power and new regulations,

there'll be a lot better.

But for the moment, Alpine are just absolutely woeful.

Yes, very much a tools down.

Just see what you can do, drive around this year, have a bit of fun

and then we'll do it properly next year.

That's that's their hope anyway.

Next year is our year is what a lot of teams, including Ferrari,

tend to make you think.

A question from people on Patreon.

Remember Tony Soprano, is it really that hard

to investigate a yellow flag infringement before the next session starts?

Well, this this is obviously speaking about Russell,

Hülkenberg and then one other driver, Sonoda as well.

Bortolette, there's quite a few of them.

They cleared Russell, didn't they?

They cleared a few, they yeah, they they did a few of them

during the session.

They were kind of like working their way through it during the session.

But I guess the argument is, had it been a penalty,

they're already through.

And obviously, one of the big ones here was Yuki Sonoda.

I mean, he ended up 15th anyway.

But, you know, he gets through and then other drivers

probably thinking, well, you know, we should we should find out now

because I want I want to know if I'm going to be getting through

into the next session and might be able to do something.

You know, Lance Stroll might have been robbed of the 15th place there.

He tries to say completely enough to live seriously.

I will say that, yeah, perhaps I don't know if they do.

Sadly, we don't have a window inside the steward's room.

But a priority of the first thing to sort out would be

where the Bortolette was knocked out unfairly by Yuki Sonoda.

What I don't get here, though, is that if we can,

you know, we're watching in the UK on sky and if Anthony Davidson's

got this footage on the sky pad and can see that Yuki Snow

just lifted or whatever, the stewards must have that footage

already if we can all access it and see it.

But they need to have.

No, but they don't because they're not they're not speaking to them, are they?

Because they always love it.

Yeah, they're like, bring your tax bill, your water bill with you as well.

We need to analyse your entire background before we make a whole back story.

We need that camera from Turn 3, which is only available by a ladder

and you get the SD card out of it.

Like, it's just still very archaic and it's a continuing frustration, isn't it?

Yeah, it should just be a case of they watch the footage back.

This we see they all lifted off and then go, OK, you're all clear.

Done. Move on.

Or equally, if they hadn't lifted off.

You know, I mean, speaking of lifting off before we get into it.

I didn't actually put this in the sheet.

But Lewis Hamilton, obviously, you know, escaped that penalty,

which was quite a shock as well.

If you've seen the footage, I think a lot of people, including myself

and even I think Lewis Hamilton found some self thought that's going to be

a slam dunk penalty from free practice.

Speeding in practice. Yeah, yeah.

From free practice three.

It was a bizarre thing to do, I think, on Hamilton's part,

to just speed away after Lawson crashed.

His pit engineer literally saying, attack the pit exit.

Pit entry. So all this stuff under red flag conditions.

Now, obviously, he was cleared because of the fact that he did not go faster

than the amount of time he was allowed to take between where the red flag

was shown and the safety car line and things like that, similar to how a VSC works.

But at the same time, I'm watching the on board going, how is that deemed safe?

How is that something that under red flag conditions can be allowed

where a driver can be full throttle and attacking the pit entry?

Just because there's a red flag and he's driven past an incident,

how does he not know that there's something else going on as well?

Hamilton was fine.

It's more about the rulings than what Hamilton necessarily did,

but it was cleared and it was fine.

And he managed to out qualify Shalakler, but we got on to that.

Other things to mention.

Yes, Lance Stroll, your biggest good surprise, Tommy, coming into this one.

P17 for Lance.

Aston Martin.

They were looking so good after free practice one,

which is obviously the most representative session in the daytime around Singapore.

But but stroll out and he was not happy actually, was he?

He was not happy in the slightest after he said it always goes bad,

but then he also put it in the wall and say, yeah, not putting the wall in the wall.

A bit aggressive.

Yeah, just lightly, lightly touched it, touched the wall on his way to 17.

Yeah, exactly.

And bought a letter, of course.

You know, the the whole Sonoda thing was a bit of a grey cloud, wondering

whether or not he'd been unfairly taken out of Q1.

But surprising to see him out qualified by Hülkenberg.

Quite substantially.

As soon as I said Hülkenberg points,

Portoletto starts crumbling from the predictions.

I know and we're getting to Q2, but Hülkenberg qualified pretty well as well.

So yeah, maybe he took it personally when we said that he's not

yet full of the people that are watching this first for some reason.

But yeah, it's a disappointing one from Portoletto.

I'm very glad that you didn't allow my prediction from the podcast

episode, if you remember that, that was going to be Portoletto and the points.

And you said it's not crazy.

So I changed it and took something even worse.

So that's fine.

I can't remember what it was now.

Wasn't it like, well, no, Lancer Troll was your good surprise.

What was what was it?

Can you remember what your crazy was?

I've got it here somewhere.

And it was the Lewis Hamilton prediction of him getting a podium for Roscoe,

which certainly closer to Portoletto points at the moment.

But so it might have actually been an inspired choice.

You are welcome is what I'll say to that one.

Let's head to Q2, where the five drivers out were Hülkenberg,

Albon, Sainz, Lawson and Sonoda.

Hülkenberg, very close to Q3, very, very close indeed.

For the first time.

Still hasn't been in Q3 the entire season, which I find insane.

I'm like, how?

Nico Hülkenberg was the star of qualifying last year

and he's not managed Q3 once when his teammate has on a couple of times.

Right. I feel like that status flown under the radar a bit.

It's kind of one of those where you have not heard that one.

And yeah, it is shocking because, of course,

he's got all those really good points finishes.

You know, he's had had a few like massive results, of course, including the podium.

But yeah, as we said, they were at the time,

they were all from really low down the order.

You know, qualifying like 17th and 19th when he got his kind of P5s

and his podiums and things. So yeah, crazy.

Podium's plural.

Maybe.

Absolutely.

What's happening tomorrow?

Right. Can you imagine?

Both of the Williams were out in Q2 as well.

Albon signs, they didn't have the cleanest of sessions it felt like.

It just felt like Williams really not locked in.

Of course, Albon had those problems in free practice as well.

But close to Q3, they were separated by three

hundreds of a second, the pair of them.

But very much coming in potentially with my flop prediction.

So, you know, I'm monitoring it closely

because the championship is going down to the wire, as you know.

But a slightly disappointing qualifying for both Albon and Sines,

especially when Sines was looking at times quite quick.

Yeah, I think so.

Williams, I guess on paper, this wouldn't be their more favorable circuit.

So the fact that they're not too far off points

if we maybe get some failures or they can do something in the pit stops,

maybe they could maybe bag a point.

So it's not like a complete disaster at the moment,

but certainly not their strongest weekend so far.

And then Lawson, obviously, I'm not massively surprised to see him down here

after the torrid time he's had in practice, crashing twice,

ripping the exact same corner of the car off both times as well, the front right.

So Lawson, 14th, just ahead of his good pal, Yuki Sonoda in 15th.

So that will be a battle of the Titans.

Yuki Sonoda, of course, struggling once again.

But sadly, I hate to say it, but what's what's new?

Obviously, he did have a bit of a resurgent.

It's not I can't call it a resurgence.

Yeah, people still miles off.

Yeah, he was, but he just made he didn't make notable mistakes.

And that's why he scored points and he did a good job.

But this circuit is just punishing him.

It is. And it shows that, yeah, unfortunately for Yuki,

that at least so far that Azerbaijan Grand Prix result

wasn't like the kind of golden moment

that's completely changed his whole fortune.

He's been really struggling this weekend.

Yeah, I think this this circuit is all about confidence, isn't it?

And if you don't have confidence in the car, you are going to lose time.

And that's what we've seen.

This episode is sponsored by Factor Meals.

You want to eat better, but you've got zero time and honestly, zero energy.

I feel you. But with Factor, it's not down to you to meal prep or follow recipes.

It just removes the entire problem.

Two minutes, real food done.

How often do you stare at your fridge at 9 p.m.

exhausted knowing that healthy cooking just isn't going to happen?

Standing there googling is cereal or protein?

Healthy eating can be really difficult

if you don't want to give up three hours every night.

Factor Meals are made by chefs designed by dieticians

and delivered to your door.

They're full of lean proteins, colorful veggies, healthy fats.

The stuff you'd make if you had time.

No refined sugars, no artificial sweeteners.

No refined seed oils.

They've got 100 rotating meals every week.

High protein, calorie smart, Mediterranean, GLP-1 support,

even a new muscle pro line.

So you can pick what fits your goals.

Head to FactorMeals.com slash Matt and Tommy 50 off

and use code Matt and Tommy 50 off to get 50% off your first

factor box plus free breakfast for one year.

That's FactorMeals.com slash Matt and Tommy 50 off.

Offer only valid for new factor customers with code

and qualifying auto renewing subscription purchase.

Make healthier eating easy with Factor.

This episode is sponsored by eBay.

The cars you'll find on eBay are just different.

They come with a story that you can't wait to share.

Maybe it's the car history or the story of how you found it.

Like this 1973 Dodge Charger on eBay,

that has been tucked away in an Arizona barn for over 40 years,

only 55,000 miles and somehow in great running order,

even as a rare sunroof.

Suddenly, a car that was hidden for decades is uncovered on eBay

and ready to be delivered straight to your driveway.

Thanks to eBay's secure purchase, the new seamless and secure way

to buy your next car.

In just a few clicks, the title and DMV paperwork is all handled for you.

There are thousands of cars like this on eBay from rare finds

like the Pontiac Grand Prix SJ to unique builds and your next daily driver.

And now a new seamless way to buy them.

eBay, things people love.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.

February can feel like a lot.

Everywhere you look, it's flowers, chocolates, big romantic gestures,

and it can start to feel like everyone else has their love life together.

But the truth is, whether you're married, dating, single or just focusing on yourself,

lots of us are still figuring it out.

No matter where you are on your romantic journey, therapy can help you find your way,

helping you understand what you want, what feels heavy

and how to take some of that pressure off yourself.

It can help you identify what's weighing your relationships down

and find new ways to brighten them up again.

BetterHelp makes therapy easy.

Their therapists are fully licensed in the U.S.

and work according to a strict code of conduct.

They also do the matching work for you.

A short questionnaire helps identify your needs and preferences.

And with over 12 years of experience, they typically get it right the first time.

And if it's not the right fit, you can switch therapists at any time.

So if you're ready to take a little pressure off yourself this February,

sign up and get 10 percent off at betterhelp.com slash P1 pod.

That's B-E-T-T-E-R-H-E-L-P dot com slash P1 pod.

Hey, girl, what's happening? Is that your antiperspirant?

Yeah, let me see that can.

Aluminum butane.

I cannot pronounce that.

You have to switch to native deodorant.

Native simple formula has only clean ingredients.

It gives you effective 72-hour odor protection with no hydrocarbon propellants.

Wow, it smells heavenly.

Clean effective 72-hour odor protection isn't a myth.

Now, Q3, the top 10.

Russell, Verstappen, Piastri, Antonelli, Norris, Hamilton, Leclerc,

Hajar, Bearman and Alonso.

What a line up.

What a grid we have for tomorrow.

Of course, Russell.

Two phenomenal laps.

The first one was quick enough, a pole position.

He then improved by seven thousands of a second,

which again was was clear and he was home and dry.

Verstappen, he was a bit upset.

Wasn't he at the end of qualifying with not Piastri?

As he mentioned in the post-Quali interviews.

Let's go to a question from P1 Patriot member Georgina.

Has Russell proved he's a championship worthy driver with that lap?

I don't necessarily think one lap proves your worth as a

championship winning driver.

I think George has just done that anyway this season for the most part.

He's had a great season.

He's been very consistent, but he did.

He doesn't need these kind of moments.

Someone like Verstappen has had where he excels and he did that at Canada, didn't he?

Where arguably the only chance that the Mercedes were quick and potentially

able to win a race this year, he took that opportunity and won.

And equally in this, I'd even go further that I don't think that Mercedes

are the quickest car.

I don't think so.

I think it was just incredibly close between the Mercs, the McLarens

and the Red Bull of how it was going to go.

It kept changing all the time.

And I think George Russell just delivered an absolutely brilliant, brilliant lap.

So, yeah, I already think that George Russell

could well win a championship in the future.

I think he's all ready to do it if he had the car underneath him personally.

Yeah, for me, nothing's really changed.

Like Russell will win a championship one day.

I have no doubt in my mind if he has a car

and if Mercedes are as clear as everyone thinks they are for next year

and Russell finally gets that contract that he's looking for.

I for sure, I think he's got every every trait as a driver

to be able to deliver that.

But again, it doesn't change with that lap, in my opinion.

I think he did a phenomenal job, as I say, and I agree with you, Tommy.

I don't think you can say Mercedes were categorically quicker.

I think that he just delivered when when the time mattered.

And Max was obviously very close as well.

And so, yeah, that it was very much it's a driver's circuit.

It's you can make the time up even if your car is potentially on paper.

Slightly worse next question.

People on page remember TVR driver.

Is this a statement for contract negotiations by George?

I think people are blowing this way out of proportion.

If I'm being completely honest with you,

George will be driving for Mercedes next year.

You can clip this up and bring it out when he doesn't.

But there's there's no way in hell Mercedes are not signing George.

I think this is very much just a case of George

wanting a certain amount of years.

Mercedes may be going, actually, I can only want to give you one or two

just in case Max gets gets a little bit frisky.

I think that is genuinely all it is.

So there's no question marks in my head around

where George is going to drive next year.

It's just a case of probably George's team and George himself

wanting to lock him into a team that may well enter another domination arc.

Yeah, George probably shouldn't have said that he'd drive for free

to win a world championship because it's probably like, well, yeah,

look at the wind tunnel times of next year at the Mercedes.

You know, your contract is now zero pounds.

But it's not, you know, he's going to be there next year.

Like you say, no doubt it is just fine tuning it.

And we know Mercedes likes to give smaller contracts.

That's why Lewis Hamilton decided, you know, well, see, obviously,

the Lure Ferrari as well.

But, you know, part of that was to do with that as well.

And they want to kind of keep giving their driver shorter contracts.

And we've had this conversation.

I think Alex Alban, when we did the podcast with him,

he said about as a driver, when you've got a longer contract,

it gives you so much more confidence that you can just put aside

the thought of potentially losing your seat or even just the negotiations.

He's probably sick of talking about it and hearing about it.

But he's not going to lose his seat, is he?

No, no chance at all.

Next question, be Nile zero.

Do you think Lando was aware of Max being on a lap?

Seemed borderline from Max's POV.

I'd be interested to hear the team radio.

I wouldn't be surprised if Lando knew it was Max.

I'm not saying he should get a penalty.

You know, it's not it's not a penalty.

He's too far away.

It's one of it's one of those that we that he's not close enough for it

to be warranted as an incident that he'll get a penalty.

But he's but he's close enough for it to be

kind of disturbing the dirty air because we know how difficult these cars are.

And Max and Lando, despite, you know, last year,

this constant like, oh, they're really good friends.

Yeah, there's been it has been a little bit more spicy between them.

And, you know, they're having little digs at each other in press conferences

and things. And there was the radio wasn't there of like your mate,

I think he said, GP said.

And Max was surprisingly like very visibly upset by it

for what looked like it was quite far away.

But as we know, it does really affect the cars

even if it looks like he's nowhere near.

But as, you know, I want to make clear, it's not a penalty in a million years.

It's just it is what it is with with that kind of dirty air situation.

I think that Lando, well, he would have known that there's a car coming, for sure.

That's all the team radio comms is, you know, there's information

so that they that Lando and any other driver doesn't block someone else

and gets a penalty.

I would be absolutely perplexed if Lando did that on purpose

because the last thing you want to do is create an enemy out of Max Verstappen

when you're challenging for your first world championship,

that there is no way in hell in my head Lando would purposely try

and give Max a little bit of dirty air because Lando would know fully

that Max would understand exactly what Lando has done as he goes flying past him.

I think it's just a case of hearing in your ear four seconds by

and two seconds by and whatever Lando is obviously cruising back to the pits.

But it's not it's not a penalty, as we've said.

It's borderline.

And if he's half a second, probably further down the road,

we're probably not even talking about this, but Max had his lap ruined.

Max then said afterwards that he's going to remember this and it's noted

that it's the worst thing you need to hear if you are trying to win

a world championship against both your teammate and a very in far

in the distance Max Verstappen.

So, yeah, as I say, I really I'm giving Lando the benefit of the doubt

that I don't think he's trying to do that for a competitive advantage

because it makes no sense to try and do that.

When Lando is already put in a lap that's not ahead of Max.

So he's not it's not even like he's trying to save his own position.

Lando is behind Max as Max is on his final lap.

So, yeah, it makes no sense to me personally.

It is funny.

Yeah, as soon as we heard that, it reminds me of, you know, a gaming

series where where it was all like scenario based the telltale games.

If any gamers have played that and it and basically you you like pick scenarios

and if you you say something, it affects it and it says blah, blah, blah.

We'll remember this.

And that's exactly what that sentence.

Yeah, you don't want Max Verstappen remembering anything that you've done.

No, you really don't want to do that for him.

So, yeah, question for people in pitch.

Remember, Sophie, three rookies in Q3 in a circuit.

They don't race that in feeder series with tight walls and extreme heat.

Is this a rookie class for the ages?

We've got we've got some amazing rookies in Formula One right now.

We're seeing that all year, you know, Hajar has been unbelievable.

Bottle letters had a fantastic season.

Kimmian Taneis had a tough year, of course, but we know what what he can do.

Antonelli, I think, left some time on the table.

You know, this is another weird one where he's actually on paper.

P4 is great, but he's four tenths off off George.

So he's kind of flattered a little bit from that for me.

The rookie star of that session was actually Olly Bearman.

I think it was a brilliant performance to be P9 when Esa Ban Ocon experienced

teammate is all the way down in 19th.

Hajar, I think, maybe even P6 was on the the cards.

He made a mistake. He was very, very frustrated.

We were that poor steering wheel just gets absolutely beaten up, doesn't it?

Yeah. Yeah, we joke, didn't we off?

I think it was off air about how Hajar

the only reason that we don't have these explosive, like old school

Yukis and Oda messages is because he's not pressing the button to actually broadcast it.

Yeah.

Yeah, otherwise, I think it would be some very loud, high decibel screams coming from the car.

But back to the question around the rookies.

It's it's brilliant to see the fact that

yeah, we have had some mistakes from inexperienced drivers as well in free practice.

And I personally think we may well see some again tomorrow.

Especially as the heat sets in the the fatigue is a very long race,

which you can't prepare for.

You really can't until you you go out there and do it.

But, you know, Hajar has been impressive all weekend long.

Oli Berman, I think that was a performance that came out of a little bit of nowhere,

to be honest with you.

And to put it to Q3 was was brilliant.

Obviously, Fernando Alonso as well.

You know, that was a that was a great drive from him in his first season.

And then, Kimmy, yeah, I echo your thoughts there.

Fourth felt like a bit disappointing.

I think third was easily on the cards.

You saw a replay. I think of his final lap.

He was wrestling in the car.

He was tipiastry as well.

Yeah, perhaps over driving it a little bit.

Thirteen thousandths of a second behind Oscar.

So for Kimmy, a little bit left on the table.

But overall, yeah, the rookies are really talented.

And I've been an Oli Berman stand from day one.

I can't wait to see if that ceiling, you know, that glass ceiling

should be broken through and then he starts winning races.

Next question. P1 page.

Remember, Blackson has McLaren truly fallen off?

So if we're calling third and fifth fallen off.

Perhaps it is.

This was the litmus test for me.

This was a.

Have McLaren at two very well, of course, got Monza.

Then you had Baku.

Now you have this two in the sets in the terms of Monza and Baku together.

And now Singapore, very different characteristics of track.

And they they looked poor this weekend.

In terms of overall speed, I think both of the drivers admitted

they did not have four tents in the pocket to go and still pole position.

I think that they will still be strong in the race.

It just is as we've seen so many times.

But I think even more so here at Singapore.

The dirty air is going to cause just carnage with the tyres.

McLaren, I think they'll look to go long.

As long as they possibly can to try and get some free air.

But then again, I think all of these drivers will go as long as possible

because the undercut just does not work around tracks like this.

I don't think they've fallen off, but they do not have the advantage

that we got so used to seeing in the first half of the season.

I think Red Bull is not a fluke.

They are they have figured out something with this car

and they continue to bring upgrades.

They brought an upgrade to this weekend, as well as I think Mercedes as well.

It's going to be fascinating to see how the next seven races go

where McLaren, they've wrapped up the constructors, of course, they have.

But with the drivers, they should in theory have the drivers wrapped up as well.

So they could tools down, but they can't tools down

because if Max Verstappen wins the title from here,

it could be one of the greatest bottles from a team in one of us.

Got to be the easily.

So this is such a such a difficult thing for them

because if Max takes a few more points out of them,

still very much in the distant championship hunt territory,

what do they do for next year?

When do they think, right,

should we actually try and improve this car a little bit for the last few races?

It's not as simple as saying, oh, well, you know, have they fallen off?

It's what do they do from here if they genuinely think

that their car has lost its advantage?

True. Yeah, they should be home and dry and

easily really of the advantage that they've had this year.

And I think they're only kind of good fortune,

which they're not going to be happy with being nearly four tenths off pole position

because we just don't see that from McLaren.

But lucky for them is that, you know,

even though Max was a couple of tenths clear,

which will, of course, worry them and continue that narrative

of the fact that they are nervous about him.

Max starting P2 with Russell on pole, had Max been first,

you know, I know there's still tomorrow and at a turn one,

but it is very kind of, it's good for McLaren that Max is second

and Piastri is only third and there's not other drivers

that have kind of slotted into that gap.

So yeah, I'm very surprised at McLaren

and how far they've kind of fallen off here.

You know, fallen off, as you said at the start,

being third and fifth is not massive,

but you expect them to be one-two at this track

and be really, really strong here,

like we've seen for most of the year and they just,

they certainly aren't.

They certainly are not.

And the final question thing to ponder on

is how does Max Verstappen play lap one tomorrow?

I see it in my mind's eye right now,

wearing my Max Verstappen Eris tour t-shirt.

I say mine, it's Ellie's.

If Max Verstappen has one millimetre of his front right wheel

to the back of George Russell's left rear wheel,

he is sending it up the inside into turn one.

There is zero doubt in my mind,

it is his only opportunity maybe to beat George tomorrow,

in my opinion.

I see this being very much a Canada situation

where if George keeps the lead,

I think he'll be very, very difficult to beat.

But Max, we know that even if he sends it to the inside

and they both run wide,

there is a question to be asked of who was at the apex first.

And we'll go into the details of the rulings again.

But yeah, I think Max goes full guns blazing.

That's just the way Max is.

I don't think he'll ever really drives cautiously,

but this is such a huge opportunity.

If Max wins George II, Oscar III, that is 10 points.

And that's exactly the 10 points he needs

in every single race until the end of the year

to win the title by one point.

Thank you very much.

I watched back.

Actually, no, a little bit more.

There's a sprint as well.

Yeah, true.

I watched back previous starts of Singapore

to see how much delusion I should have.

2017?

I should be on the hype train and things like that.

And I kind of wish I hadn't,

because second does not go well into 10-1.

It's very, very difficult.

Even though you have the inside line,

it's very dirty offline,

because it's a track that doesn't get used very much.

It's a street circuit as well.

That line just never gets used.

So it's such a...

And we saw Max starting.

Second last year, Tolando had the inside,

and he was actually covering off P3.

So he's going to have to basically get

a really, really good start on George

to be able to challenge maybe the better bet

is after that first section

where you have that fast right-hander

down the straight and maybe a dive bomb into there.

But all being said, Max has happened,

he's going to go for it.

He's got nothing to lose.

And realistically, three points on Oscar Piazzari

isn't going to be enough,

even though this circuit should be

a damaged limitation one for Red Bull in theory.

He needs to start eroding the lead massively,

and three points won't be enough.

So he needs to win the race

if he wants to have this amazing championship come back,

doesn't he?

Chuck a set of softs on,

or Chuck a set of hards on.

Go insanely long.

Yeah, you do wonder if he'll gamble.

Because losing a position at the start

and just because the hard work so well in Baku.

Well, they made that gamble, which, you know,

you can argue is because he has nothing to lose

and he might as well go for it.

So yeah, he has the opportunity of like,

or why not go for soft,

try and get into the lead first,

or equally go hard if he loses P3.

Yeah, probably get a VSC and an early pit stop,

a cheap pit, star pits.

Yeah, there's a few decisions to be made there for sure.

But as you say, it could be fascinating on strategy,

I think, weirdly.

Stacked against him with the fact

that he is on the dirty side of the grid.

Right, I cannot wait for tomorrow.

It's going to be awesome.

We'll be live on Twitch and YouTube as always,

Matt P1, Tommy, to go and find us over on Twitch.

And on YouTube, of course, P1 with Matt and Tommy.

Tommy, what are your final thoughts?

Final thoughts are, I can't believe Ferrari are so S

that we don't even talk about them anymore.

What do you mean?

I talk about my boy Max Verstappen

and he's on the front row of the grid

looking for a championship comeback.

And Ferrari, I watched the Charle-Claire post-Quality interview

and I went, okay, we're done.

Let's just pack our bags and see you in 2026

because he looked depressed.

Hamilton was saying that the process at Ferrari

is just not right.

In the sense of how they use their tires

and he sat at the end of the pit lane

and he's losing five to six degrees.

And it just, again, we talk about it so much.

The communication in that team just feels so broken.

How have they broken Hamilton,

not even in one season, crazy?

Yeah, because Hamilton is clearly,

he said he's losing half a second due to the tires.

That's genuinely what he said.

He didn't think it was in the car.

So it's, yeah, but that's just,

that is Ferrari at the moment, sadly.

I would love for it to be different,

but it is not.

So there you go.

Thank you, everybody, for listening and watching

and we will see you soon.

Remember, get your P1 live show delusion tour tickets.

We're heading to America and Canada in a month's time.

We'll see you tomorrow for the Watch Along

and for the main podcast.

Bye.

Goodbye.

If you're a smoker or vapor ready to make a change,

you really only need one good reason.

But with Zinn nicotine pouches,

you'll discover many good reasons.

Zinn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand,

plus Zinn offers a robust rewards program.

There are lots of options

when it comes to nicotine satisfaction,

but there's only one Zinn.

Check out zinn.com slash find to find Zinn

at a store near you.

Warning, this product contains nicotine.

Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Mitsubishi Lancer

Dodge Charger

About this episode

Original notes