P1 with Matt and Tommy - Reaction to Australian GP practice | Mixed Mercedes engines, insane speed differences, and will Aston make it?

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

Race day is getting closer and closer! Join us after today’s two practice sessions which showed that, just because you’re running a Mercedes engine, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be quick… At least it’s close at the top! Sign up to our Patreon! 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/mattp1tommyFollow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. The season is finally underway. Practice for Australia is in the bag. Well, the first two practice sessions. Friday's in the bag. Tomorrow is qualifying finally just one more day until hopefully some questions are answered. A lot to get into over the first two practice. sessions of the season Tom Bellingham

Netflix Drive to Survive Sensation surprised you get up this early considering your stardom how are we feeling now that the season has begun happy to be back of course to see F1 cars back on track and yeah just

just getting used to my brain of this new Formula 1 and we'll get into this but seeing cars slowing down and realise they're not backing off their lap that is just Formula 1 now potentially So yeah, it's a whole new way of watching, I feel like sometimes. Wow, Tommy's straight in with, let's be positive.

Oh, no. This is great. The race is good. It's going to be amazing. We like them slowing down on a straight. Right. Let's get into free practice one, shall we? Because this is the one I want to talk about the most, as it was a Ferrari 1-2.

Charles LeCler, nearly half a second clear of Lewis Hamilton. and I thought we're in for something special. You thought it's so over, but it's so over because Charlotte Clair's already won the title. Yeah, I almost, you know, started posting on social media. Oh, no. Starting to get bored of Shao Leclair dominated sessions, but I didn't, and I'm glad I didn't.

So one of the big talking points from Free Practice won. Unsurprisingly, was the vibration team themselves, Aston Martin. they managed three laps for Lance Stroll and he managed to be 30 seconds off Charles LeClerc, but that was better than Fernando Alonzo who did not manage a single lap in free practice one a truly poor start to the season. Yeah, it's awful for us and mind.

There was still, no matter how many times, there was always like 0.1 of my brain going, wouldn't it just be absolutely hilarious if this was all just a joke like come on fernando just press the throttle down now and actually go faster so it's all just a joke copium there's a copium in tom william's brain it can't be said enough i know we're talking about assamartin all the time but it can't be said enough like how embarrassing this is this was the year that was meant to be good for them they were they were once racing point working in a shed in Silverstone and somehow getting podiums,

they got a win with Perez, they were always scoring points. And now they've kind of got this billionaire owner, they've made all these amazing facilities, they've got Adrian Newey, the cheat code on board. And they are so bad. You know, we're talking at this moment, reminds me of the new teams in 2010 that came in, the HRTs and the Manor Racing,

that they are that bad. they're acting like, you know, their Cadillac or their Audi. Yeah. They should be. You know, that would be the expectation for an Audi or a Cadillac to be like Aston Martin are this year of having huge teething problems. But they're not. Audi have looked incredibly strong, I would say, on this Friday.

And Cadillac have done pretty well themselves to just put some mileage down. Question from DeKid underscore Solo. Will Aston Martin even make it to question? qualifying. I believe they will make it to Saturday. They will put a lap on the board. But I guess the question is then, if they are unbelievably slow,

and also in my brain, it's not just the fact that they are the slavest car with the fact they can't fully express the power within the engine and the speed in the car, but also they have highlighted there are clear health concerns with the car, well, for the drivers in the car, with the vibrations. So for me, I'm sat here thinking,

do the FIA have a decision to make on this Aston Martin? Should they be five, six seconds off? Clearly, you know, above that 107% you're supposed to be within pole position. You know, then you're supposed to apply, aren't you? Oh, please can we race? But then you've got all of these quotes coming out of potential nerve damage after a certain amount of laps. is there a decision that needs to be made here?

Because this is not as simple as, yeah, we're just a little bit slow. Yeah, exactly. And there's talks of, you know, Aston Martin potentially not even turning up to this race at all, but the Concord Agreement obviously means that you have to commit. And it would be a disaster for many things, you know, all the sponsors that are on board and everything. It would be probably even more embarrassing than what's going on now for them just to not show up at all.

but if they are genuinely this slow I mean like FP2 it continued and they were last you know Alonzo was a second slower than Botas and a Cadillac who were a new team like a botus I'm telling you right now well it's all botas isn't it that is but it's I'm amazed at how bad it is I expected them to be bad this year but this is

an absolute joke really it's so so bad well no one no one anticipatory this. You mentioned that Adrian Nui is the cheat code, but even he's come out and said this weekend, or a few days ago, that the chassis element, the thing that Adrian is supposed, you know, is the goat for, he measured them to be fifth fastest.

Three quarters of a second to a second slower than the top teams. Now, there are other factors in there. The fact that the whole timeline is quite condensed and he's not had as much time to work on it, as he would like. But it's not as if Aston Martin are sitting on a car that could win them a championship

if Honda had an engine to supply them. They would be fighting at the bottom end of the top 10. Exactly. It's not all on Honda this situation. And they need to be very careful

that they don't go down the routes of McLaren that we've said before where they just put all the blame on Honda, which I don't think they are doing. But obviously that a lot of the narrative is that the Honda engine isn't very good. But I think even had they got the Mercedes engine still in that car, the

chassis isn't up to scratch either. And I think there are a question marks to be asked of whether maybe this is a separate discussion when we see what they are in the race. But like Adrian Nui is team principal. Is he really the right guy to be front and center as well of all this when he needs to be working his magic on the car and doing what he's best at, you think? Now, I am, wondering of course how much this Friday running actually means when we get into the rest of this season but everything we've hammered home so far is it's an engine formula it's an engine formula and yet we look at Alpine's running today with a Mercedes engine in the back of their car and it's not as if they've shown any signs of life of being the fifth

fastest team now of course I'm sort of touching upon FP1 and FB2 here. But I find that the kind of most striking thing and striking element. Of course, Williams as well have the Mercedes engine and they aren't quick. So Tommy, have we been chatting out of our behind that it isn't just an engine formula this year? Yes and no. I know that's a great answer. It's a great answer.

It kind of isn't in terms of there will still be teams. I don't think it's as extreme. It's certainly nowhere near as extreme as 2014. That's a very good thing, by the way. We're not having a situation where it is just Mercedes, McLaren, Williams, Alpine, and then a gap, and then it's all the Ferrari powered cars and a gap, and then it's all the Ford powered cars and a gap. That's kind of what happened in 2014, where it was very, very difficult to make it up in the chassis department. now we've still got those top teams and it's not a case of an Alpine

just because you've got a Mercedes engine maybe being amazing but equally at the same time dare I say Alpine surely they're not that bad but you never know because they've been hyped up quite a lot particularly by me and yeah they're down there at the moment with Williams

and you thought with the Merck engine that they'd be up there Now, the one final thing to mention from Free Practice 1, I mean, there's a lot of sort of gremlins in the cars as they put them out the pits, and that's something that didn't see as much in Bahrain. Of course, in the shakedown in Spain, there was definitely some problems, but across, you know, FB1 and FB2, we saw some technical issues happening. And for Lando, he only managed seven laps in Free Practice 1 and was all the way down in 19th. let's move on to free practice two

the juicy one as we all know it where maybe we see some slightly faster running the top three wascar piastri kimmie antonelli and george russell where are the ferrari's well lewis hamilton was one thousandth of a second slower than george russell so you know it's not all over just yet but then i am currently in the mindset as we speak about free practice two that it is so over um that we're so back was free practice one uh question from p1 Patreon member, Cake Bomb 7. Mercedes finally stopped sandbagging, but are they actually much quicker than Ferrari?

We don't know yet because they're still leaving a lot on the table, I think. You don't want to look too much into these times. And we always get this with a new regulation that I think if Mercedes had been fastest, we'd be going, oh, it's completely over. And it's funny how we're just, we're so in this mindset of Mercedes going to be strong this year. George Russell's the favorite for the championship. They're going to be clear. that even when, you know, they weren't there, we'll be saying,

oh, they're sandbagging. And then when they are there, we're going, oh, they're clear now and no one's got a chance. It is looking close. And that's the good thing. I think, you know, we're mentioning Mercedes, but Piastri topped the session. And we spoke about McLaren didn't have the big dog Mercedes engine for a lot of testing either. And now that's in the car. They're obviously doing a lot better.

and could be up there challenging and they don't have that Mercedes don't have that luxury that they can just turn their rivals, I say rivals, people with their engine down like they could in 2014 and just be clear. So yeah, it's close and Ferrari are up there. I think that's the important thing. I don't think it is so over. It's looking close between them. Yes, not yet. Although, as you say, we haven't seen the full form of these teams yet. We look at, I was just comparing what free practice to the times were last year, and it was a 16-4 for LeCla as the fastest time. And God, that was a good time when I believed ever so slightly.

So the fact that Ferrari haven't topped the timings means that it is so over again. But it's interesting to see them about 3.3 seconds slower at this stage of the new regulations than they were at the end of last year with, of course, at the end of the regulations. For Mercedes, they were clearly running lower power in FP1. There were lots of sort of telemetry things being flown around on social media. They were both 1.1 seconds off, Charles LeClaire's,

1 minute, 20.2 in FP1. So very clearly, they were not pushing that engine in the slightest. Then they started to stretch their legs a little bit in free practice, too. It's clear to see. But, yeah, Oscar Piastri is, probably the shock in some ways to see him at the top of the classification, despite them literally winning the constructors and the drivers last year.

But as we know, massive shakeup and the form book is supposed to go with it. But right now, yeah, Oscar, I think he did a very solid lap to go fastest. But in terms of Mercedes versus Ferrari, Mercedes potentially quicker, but I saw at the end of FP2 the Ferrari launch again. and I remembered that it is indeed so we are so back because my God that Charlotte Clair launch yes he he did exit his grid box earlier than George Russell but my god there's something there's something still there yeah it was so funny because you um I think you're watching on a very very just slight like delay from from me just

of your like skybox because I was I'd watch the practice start so Ferrari'd got off the line and I was like any second now Matt's going to watch that and I'm going to get WhatsApp and then just gifts dancing gifts constantly just appearing you I'm like Matt's just watched the practice start and it was amazing wasn't it that it was Ferrari and Mercedes side by side in that moment where they did the practice start and the Ferrari was just gone again because there was a lot of talk of was it all overplayed in testing and now we've got this new start procedure could it not be as big of a thing but that's got the hype going all over again i think just i just wish they'd gone off at the same time i just wish that we'd seen them at exactly the same time and had some lights but

um i'm trying we'll see it on sunday as long as charlacler qualifies p3 yeah then we are absolutely we're in with a shout can't wait when he doesn't make a single position of off the line you When he loses your position of the star, that's when, yeah, we need to check in on my mental health. Speaking of Ferrari, let's talk about them and really sort of decide where we think they are. A question from Bing Ping Ching's, are we so back or is it so over for Ferrari? Where do I sit? What do I say? Where do I sit?

How is this going to get clipped up on Sunday? I don't think we have the fastest car. I think it's clear that the Mercedes power, I think, is pretty mighty. Would I be saying that if we just had one practice session, it was FP1 and we were half a second clear? Probably not. But I do believe that, I mean, look, judging by FP2, right, that's the most representative conditions for qualifying. They're going to have been pushing quite a bit. We don't know exact fuel loads.

We don't know the engine moz and yada, yada, yada. seems like Ferrari might have the third fastest car. But the fact is it could well be very close. Just because it's the third fastest car could mean that they're two, three-tenths slower than the fastest. And if they're launching off the line and gaining five positions,

then it doesn't really matter. As long as we're third fastest and no slower than that, then we'll absolutely take it. But right now, I was hoping for a little bit more from FP2 after seeing FP1 from Ferrari

would have liked a one to, but it's fine. We're not Aston Martin. That's all that matters. True. Dare I say, we're going on about the starts and this and that. I think we could, in theory, be in a situation where qualifying in the race are very different. And we've seen that before.

We've seen that before with Ferrari and how quick they've been in qualifying sometimes and not had the race pace and equally Red Bull one year. We're not really getting a lot of pole positions and then dominating. and we're looking at all these lap times, I think probably based off what we saw last year and going, oh, whoever's fastest is the quickest car. But as we go into the race, even after qualifying, I think we're still almost like guessing just from the fact that the lifting and coasting and the power deployment and everything is going to be so interesting to see how that evolves in the race, because you could have an unbelievable qualifying and be like a one lap specialist

and you've got the car really well set up. But if you're not harvesting and managing and doing all those things correctly, you're going to be a sitting duck on the straight and we've seen that a few times, even in the practice sessions of cars, how much they're lifting off in certain sections or running low on power and things.

So in theory, we could see something completely different from qualifying in the race as well, which is something to bear in mind. Yeah, in my in my head, I'm really thinking that the racing is either going to be diabolical or incredible. Or we're going to have like, say first and second are very close. Let's say first and second are close. They could genuinely pass and repass every lap because with the overtake mode and the fact that you get basically

you know, so much more power than the car ahead. And we've seen just how powerful that can be. Then it's, I don't know, there might well be tactics around, you know, you have to get past that car as soon as possible to try and then extend a gap of one second, otherwise you're going to get past again. There's, yeah, it's going to be interesting

because I just really hope that it's not either so artificial and so silly that we're not, you know, that the defending driver has no chance. That's one of my main concerns. And the other one is that the two ends of the spectrum. One is, I don't know if they're going to be able to pass at all. And the other ones, I hope they don't pass too much, that overtaking becomes like almost standard.

And they're just doing some sort of peloton formation and just constantly, you know, constantly going past each other because they have more energy. It's a big unknown in Formula One at the moment for me in my brain. And we will have to just wait and see. But I guess as we're talking about this, we're talking about energy and things like that. we as human beings don't like change quite clearly.

We don't like things that we've been used to. Some of the things that I've been watching on board, I'm like, oh my God, I feel physically unwell. The deceleration, the super clipping. I love how they've tried to give it a fancy name

for basically going slower at the end of a straight by calling it super. Like, it's not super, it's terrible, it's terrible clipping. Like, you're riding on board.

What's the most are going to be like? It's so funny as well, because you can clearly see already that the TV direction have been told to cut away as they start decelerating. Yeah, yeah. They can't still look awesome through the corners. I will say that,

especially at the most, you know, the really fast left, right that they have an amazing camera angle for. And, you know, the F-1 cars aren't slow, even if they are taking it a little bit easy in the corners. But the thing for me is the deceleration.

That's something that is quite literally ingrained in my brain from the second I've watched Formula One when I was plonked in front of a 10, TV at three months old. So that's my biggest thing I'm going to have to get used to this year. 100%. Yeah. That was my biggest shock watching practice and seeing them more representative. I know we've watched a lot of testing, but you never know what runs they're doing. But as they were doing quick laps to still see them ease off so much going into a corner and

hearing the car make those noises. It was very confusing. And it is that balance. isn't it? If we get amazing racing, will we care as much when we get down the line? No, but at this moment, it is very, very weird and very strange. I can already hear the keyboards right now tapping going

ha ha ha, what do you mean you're not used to it, Matt Ferrari were lifting and coasting last year loads? Well, they were practicing. I've just covered. It was all just testing. Yeah, yeah, that was actually testing for 2026. My goats. They're so ahead of it. Question from the fake Kelsey Ittoo.

Will the two? Will the term harvesting become incredibly annoying by the end of the season? I think so and what I hope

is we don't end up in a situation like we did with when Pirelli first launched the tyres it was just constantly talking

about tyres and I think there's a level where there's a side to the commentators as well and everything

within Formula 1 of making sure that it doesn't just feed the narrative and it's always talking about that because that will be annoying if it's just constantly mentioned and you do have to leave a little bit on the table and just go, well, this is the norm. Let's not keep talking about it again and again and again. At the moment, obviously it is new and it's going to be a massive talking point this weekend. There were moments,

I think we're on board with Max Stappen and I was the same. The commentary were like, oh, he's lifting off. And it's like, oh no, that's his, that is just how you drive now with these cars and how you deploy all the power onto the straight. There's going to be a few times in qualifying, I think, where we're so not used to it that we will probably watch a car, think they've backed out of their qualifying lap, and then gone, oh no, that is just how you drive these cars. So it's going to take a new way of watching. But as we said, in theory, if the racing is really good, I just hope that it means we can

forget about it, because the worry. is is the motorway passing. We don't want to see too much of that. I think we were chatting, weren't we, on WhatsApp when we're watching? Because I think it was Colapinto had a moment where he just had no power down the straight. And we think there could be some really sketchy moments here if we have cars running out of power on the straight. Because the deployment is so extreme that cars will be going so unbelievably fast, because

that is the thing about these new cars is they are absolute rocket ships. on the straits when they have all the power and everything that they can do. But if another car is going slow and they're caught off guard, it could get very sketchy, I think. I think the Colapinto incident was frightening. The closing speed of Hamilton versus Colapinto was quite frankly almost a chican. It was Mark Weber Valencia vibes. Yeah, it was worse than that.

In terms of the difference in speed, Mark Weber crashed into a car that was also going at racing speed. This was, Collarpenter going 10 miles an hour and Hamilton over 200. So, I mean, for Franco, I'm not really sure why he hasn't peeled off the racing line when he knew he was going really, really slowly, because I think visibility is not the easiest as well going into Turn 1 in Australia just because I think the way in which the sun and all that sort of stuff. But yeah, thankfully nothing came of that.

But back to the harvesting subject, I don't think we're going to be able to not talk about it. because it's so important to the racing. It's so important to driver's pace that, you know, they can't make up the time in the corners if they're not doing that. It's not as if there's a, oh, what, it's either, you know, pushing or everything is about the battery. Everything is about the battery this year. Fernando had some incredible, also very concerning quotes from testing about the chef being able to drive around, you know, turn 12 at Bahrain because they're going so much slower.

So, yeah, I mean, look, if it creates great racing, then of course we will still look at it fondly, but there are parts of me that I'm trying. Qualifying will be the biggest shock, I think, of them all. Watching qualifying and seeing people lift off on a lap. And also in the race where someone has got a run on someone else and then they just run out of energy and then they're just going. Although that will then allow at least for some outbreaking maneuvers. Although apparently breaking, according to what we've seen in free practice today, is essentially a lottery where sometimes the engine will be doing something slightly different and you'll lock up and just go off.

Like the amount of mistakes we saw today of the greatest driver of all time, Charles Leclair, he went off many times at turn three. You had, of course, let's speak about the moments as well. Max was massive moment. The Max Verstappen one was absolutely enormous. And I say to give you guys insight, myself and Tommy were texting. away the entire way through the the the the practice session you should see the emotion like ah it's it's so over with some it's not just me though like Tommy as well as

I can't believe I said this about Alpine our rebel so finished now all this sort of stuff yeah yeah absolutely brilliant as a as a as a as a back and it was good as well because I was there going oh max is off and you obviously like having a banter and then Lecler were run wide immediately straight after and it's just there's going to be a lot mistakes I think isn't they're going into this as they're driving one thing I do like though is that and you do wonder last year if max had gone off in that moment he's just spearing straight into the wall with with how you can't save these cars whereas now they're having these big moments but so far they're sort of saving them a lot of the time and we

even saw that in testing didn't we as well I just love the excitement of the new season as well and us you know chatting whilst we're watching free practice which you know we know how you feel about free practice anyway And then Max, obviously, making a mistake going off. And Tommy's like, my goat, everyone else would have been in the wall there. And I'm just like, there he is. There's the fan boy. We love to see it.

I mean, it was an amazing save. Don't get me wrong. Like, we've seen Max, you know, in Mexico last year that the save that he did there was absolutely ridiculous. But yeah, there are a lot of mistakes that can happen. And we could well see that in the race as well, not just qualifying. And that's a positive. We've said that for a long time that we don't want cars on rails. We want to see the drivers challenged and maybe hopefully challenged in the right way.

But if they're making mistakes, it could be better for the racing because that's what we kind of want to see. That's why we love wet races and things a lot of the time because people are going off and that's how you get passing. And in terms of mistakes, one really niche reference I want to make here is that the way in which they can save the car reminds me of how I used to play the F12010 game, where if you lose the back end, you'll just slug. slam on the brakes and the car would just come round. That's literally what happened with Perez, I think in Free Practice 1, where he had like a massive what looked like surge from the engine or something he was saying it was engine braking, whatever it might have been. And then his car just came back all the way around.

It's like an auto-correct. Yeah, yeah, it genuinely feels that way. And it just puts you back on. Exactly. So it's a very different way of saving mistakes. But I think that could help in terms of seeing them, but also drivers being able to put their skill to the test. Okay, let's go to the next question from P1 Patreon member, Steelhead.

Have we jinxed the reliability issues? Now, we were, of course, full of praise for the entirety of Formula One for and the teams creating bulletproof cars for most of testing. Now it turns out, because of course the whole conversation was, you know, we need to have it behind closed doors. It seems like Friday practice Australia should have been behind closed doors because the amount of, yeah, reliability issues, gremlins that were going on were quite big.

Of course I guess. Of course I'm joking. But yes, there's a lot of, of course, differences between Bahrain and Australia as a track and I think generally just a team turning up to a race weekend and not having the luxury of eight hours a day to set the car up and, oh, you know, we'll roll out the pit. Oh, it's not really working.

Okay, come back in. These are restricted timing sessions now. You have an hour for FP1, an hour for FP2. So there's pressure on the teams to make sure everything works. And clearly, with these new regulations, with it being a brand new car, there are going to be teething issues at this stage of the season. So we kind of touched upon it, I think, in our predictions for the season and stuff like that, that reliability issues could play a factor.

And I think when we were talking about our P-WAT prediction that we did, which if you haven't seen our predictions episode, we just pick a random, well, a random number comes up and we have to predict who will finish in that position. And we were saying, okay, well, that person might finish in P9, if everybody finishes, but everyone may not finish at the start of the season. Exactly. Yeah, it's so true. The reliability has been a surprise. We kind of went into this first race thinking, well, realistically, it's Justin Martin and Cadillac that are having these issues, but everyone else seems pretty okay.

And within two minutes of the very first practice session, which we didn't speak about when we're covering FP1, is Oscar Piastri had a lot of issues as well and his car struggling. So that's, you know, a top team. Equally in FP2, Max came straight out of the pits and had a problem. I mean, for Stappen, it did 13 laps, which was the same as Lance Stroll, did less than Fernando Alonzo. So when you put that into perspective, the Red Bull did less. well Max did less laps than the Asson Martin shows that they didn't have a great session in terms of mileage.

So it's happening up and down the grid. And that could be a massive factor of this season going into the championship is that reliability. Because we don't know how these cars are going to race and how when they are pushing or how much they're pushing and they've got to manage. manage, there we go, bingo bingo card.

Please know. But they're going to have to manage a lot during the races and reliability could end up being such a key part of it. Let's go to a question from Poo on Patreon member Illaria Roll. Could the Red Bull second seat curse

finally be over? Hadjar was well within a second or even faster at points. I love how within a second of Maxa Stappen means the curse is over and they're so back. At the end of the day, he's had a good, yeah, he has looked more impressive,

but let's not forget three tenths he was behind Max in FP1 and what was he? Six tenths. Well, yeah, so, and obviously Max didn't have much running. I think we're going to see, it's going to be a very interesting year for that second Red Bull seat. And even if Hadjar maybe doesn't perform as well, as we'd hoped, he might be saved by the fact that the top four teams are very strong.

And let's not forget, we say, oh, Hajal was within a second, he's doing a lot better. And, oh, he's three-tenths here. Yuki, a lot of the time, could have been three or four-tenths off max. But the problem was last year, three or four-tenths off max would put you 17th, because the field spread was just insane. Now you look up and down the grid, and we've got six-second. I know it's Aston Martin, but even up to Colapinto, nearly three seconds covering that whole grid,

there's a lot more margin for error. And I think it's far too early, far, far, far too early to say that that Hajjah's done a good job yet, because it's the races when the pressure is on. And we've seen many times where the second Red Bull driver has started quite strong, and then the relentless pressure and how much Max just dominates his teammates, gets too much. So I don't think we can speak about this till maybe even four or five races, even if he does do a good job. I absolutely love how this question has come in. And yet,

Arvid Lindblad literally went fast and had giant. Which is the same as what we saw in. And actually, I think we need to speak about Limblaid, because it's very impressive. We will, we will. We're still talking about the red. I know we're very excited, Tom. Let's try and have a structure. We're so, so eager to talk about every. thing. Yeah. But let me just quickly talk about

Red Ball and where I stand on it. I think that it is, I agree, completely far too early to start singing the Hajar's broken the second seat curse

because this doesn't really tell, FP1's FP1. As much as I'd love to say Ferrari 1 2 are winning it all, FP1 means very little. In FP2, I think six tenths is kind of concerning

because Hadjar 27 laps on the board compared to Vastapens 13. Max had a lot of problems in FB2. Now, concerning is, you know, maybe a slightly too strong of a word, but there's nothing to suggest right now that Hajar is on the pace of Vestappen. There isn't.

We'll have to wait and see in the first few races. And also, it's kind of a bit of a mixed bag, really, because on one side, I think it works in Isaac Hajar's favour in the fact that we have a new, completely new regulation set, new car. But also, it doesn't work in his favour in the fact that. I think there's no excuses if he is really far off Max because I don't think that Max Verstappen has this car built around him crew have any real leg to stand on at this stage of the regulations.

Yes, Max has a driving style and this, that and the other, but they strip back the arrow, more like a Formula 2 car maybe, whatever the quotes have come out and said. So in that sense, Hadjar needs to perform. He does. And we'll see. We're literally talking about practice. He could have been on a completely different run of run plan. Could have been in different power modes. We don't know. But I think to say that the second seat curse is over is just because Hadjar's not last. Yeah, exactly. Because of course Lawson had a big struggle at the start of last year. So it's not over yet, but Hadjar is in a good place to build from.

And the fact doesn't have Helmut Marco there as well, which doesn't have Helmut Marco and doesn't have the entire. of the midfield behind him waiting to capitalise just yet. Now, right, this has been a great chat and we have to now use all of our information that we've spoken about, absorbed, and choose poll position right now. And who would we pick? Okay, so my poll position

for the Australian Grand Prix is George Russell. I think George Russell is going to get pole position. I'm not changing any thoughts about that. I still think Merck are holding a little bit back, especially as we've had hints of that in FP1. Have they really rolled out an FP2 with full power? Have any of the teams rolled out with full power?

We don't know at this stage, but I think George Russell would be a safe bet for pole position. And to be fair, that's what I put in my predictions. And then Charlotte Glenn straight off the back of the grid to take the win in lap on. Yeah, I will also go for George Russell. Russell but I mean so far again we don't know what's been left on the table but Kimmy Antonelli is worth a with a shout as well of the fact that he's looked

comparable and he's looked strong and he's been better than well better than Russell he out practiced Russell in FP2 but we have lost it out practiced is now a new term it's the P1 podcast five it's called the jump to conclusions podcast now. That's what we are. Exactly. But Piastri was quite a surprise, I would say, with how strong it was.

I know we don't know the full potential of everyone yet, but yeah, that was a nice shout. And maybe you going for Russell, so I couldn't pick Russell, and me just backing, going for Piastri might end up. Yeah, it might well come in because, again, like, it feels as though that Piastri lapse a little bit of an anomaly at this point and that Mercedes should be the favourites. But perhaps in the half. Hans Voskapiastri, he could do something pretty special. I've got a bonus question for you.

Jumped in. Before you do that, we do need to talk about Arvid Limblad very quickly. Yes, we do, yeah, because we forget. I love it. He's amazing. He absolutely out-practiced the life out of Liam Lawson. My goodness gracious me. He out-practiced him crazy. I don't know what you're saying. That sounds sus. Anyway, yeah, I think Limbland's looked really, really good so far. fifth in FP1, eighth in FP2, had a few problems with the car as well across today. But yeah, he's really come out the blocks with a lot of confidence.

He definitely has. And this is something that a lot of the kind of pundits were talking about of saying there's two sides to this of, is it better that he's come in in a completely new regulation? And a lot of pundits were saying, actually it might be even more difficult for him because he's having to learn Formula One in the most complicated Formula One that's probably ever been. So while it is almost a blank slate for everyone, he's come in and, yeah, done a really, really solid job so far.

They're trying to say that it's, I completely disagree with that statement. I think that it's an advantage that he comes in where everybody else is learning. How can it not be? Surely, you know, if you come into a team at the end of a regulation set where your teammate is fully up to speed with a car if they've been there a few years, I just, I can't see that being an advantage. I think that this is... It's British bias, isn't it? Let's be honest.

There it is. There's the first bias mention of the season. But, no, I mean, not to take anything away from what it's done, but I think that I can't say it, because we've literally been saying and banging on the drum of agile, having a great opportunity this year because it's a clean slate. So of course he has not much experience under his belt. Okay, we could probably talk for literally ever because there are so many exciting stories,

so many things to talk about. But I think we'll leave it there for now. We'll be, of course, live streaming across the weekends. So look forward to that. And also, as it is Australia, if you haven't got your Australia P1 Live tour tickets yet, go and get them. They will be, I mean, literally just type in P1 live tickets.

it will come up on it in Google, it's across our social media and our links in our bio and things like that as well. We'd love to see you there. Of course, we're literally just under two months away now, isn't it? Before we fly, maybe like a month and a half, month and three quarters. So yeah, looking forward to that one. Tommy, final thoughts, please. The first competitive final thoughts of the season.

I want a bonus prediction from you, which is where does LeCler qualify and where is he by turn one? Okay. Oh God. I can already see myself melting at the fact that he's not in the top three. I think, I think Charlotte Claire qualifies fourth and is first by turn one. Okay, perfect. Go on, you tell me, what do you think? I think, I genuinely think he just stays where he is in position. I think he will qualify third or fourth and stay there. Are you getting emotional, my God? Yeah, yeah, I'm losing my voice. I love how he's spoken for 40 minutes and, yeah, just that's it.

Is it? Final thoughts. My voice was just... So you think he qualifies where? I reckon about fourth as well, yeah. And he stays there by term one. Yeah, I don't think he's making a position. I think it's all over high. Why do we have to end on a negative?

That's really, really sad and upsetting from you. Cool, all right. Thank you, everybody. I can't wait for the watch long. Yeah, me neither. Well, unless what you just said happens in which case, I don't want to do the watch long. True.

But thank you for tuning in. It's so exciting to see Formula One back, as you can probably tell by the fact that we've spoken about practice for 40 minutes. Hopefully we speak about the race for as long, if not longer. If not, then something bad or good. I don't know. Right, bye, bye, everyone. See you soon.

Lots of love. Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, Ferrari are either winning it all or winning nothing. We're over. It's over. It's over. We're over. My voice is over. We'll say back.

Tommy's checking out for the entire season. Yeah, I need to manage my voice. harvest it.