P1 with Matt and Tommy - Reaction to Bahrain GP (in Malaysia) qualifying

Episode Date: October 3, 2026

There were certainly some unexpected turns at Sepang, but doesn't it feel good to be back at the tricky track? Join us as we break down everything that happened in Bahrain GP qualifying.Come and see our live tour 'Super Podding' this November! It's a brand new show and there are a few tickets left: http:/tix.to/p1liveFancy even more P1? Well, join our Patreon for just $5 a month! You'll get access to every P1 episode ad-free, extended versions of every 2026 race review, early access to tickets & merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now: http://patreon.com/mattp1tommyFollow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTokP1 with Matt and Tommy is the world's biggest F1 podcast. Subscribe for new podcasts around every single race throughout the 2026 Formula 1 season! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Oh, look at that smug little face, waving away. A bit of happiness for Tom Bellingham in the 2026 Formula One season. It makes me feel sick. He has predictions wrapped up. He's getting Max Poles. This is not the season. Contagherst-compet to his teammate.

It's back to normal, isn't it? Okay. Okay. All right. I think there's at least a few shal stands out there. They're throwing shade at you right now. Welcome back, everybody. Great to have Malaysia back, as we said in practice, as we've said in qualifying.

And I'm sorry if we're butchering the way we say Sapang. It's just the way in which Sapung, I'm really sorry. Okay, but you're going to have to deal with it. We're going to go with Malaysia so that it doesn't affect too many people in the way that we pronounce. But yet, qualifying done and dusted. an interesting surprising result in some ways. Maybe not surprising after what we saw in practice, but surprising in the lead-up to this weekend

as to maybe some form teams that we expected to do well and also teams that were bringing massive upgrades and apparently went backwards. Tommy, looking forward to this one. What do you think? Yes, very much so. What a session. I think we should race at this track every week and not just because much of this happen

is absolutely dominating and just loving life. Dominating. Oh, I hope that goes to bite you in the bottom. Right, let's get into qualifying, shall we? And begin with Q1. With the bottom of six were Holkenberg, Behrman, Ocon, Albon, Bottas and Perez.

Well, oh dear, Holkenberg apologising. I think Albon doing exactly the same mistake as Holkenberg, turn 14. Such a tricky track. I love it. I love to see mistakes. I love to see drivers having to, thread the needle and make sure that it's not a standard racing line, is it?

No. It's make your own way around. How's the car set up for you? Does it work? And that's what practices for is to dial it in to make sure that when we get to qualifying, they don't make mistakes like this because it ruins the lap entirely. And that's what we saw for both Albon and Holkenberg on their final flying laps. We did.

Yeah, turn 14. it's such a tricky corner we've seen many people go off there obviously famously it's the corner where Perez when he was chasing down Alonzo made that mistake but it's not surprising because it is a really challenging corner way I feel like you to give more context there that's just some round in 2012 a lot of people might not have seen back in 2012 surely we're all seen the classic race 14 years ago my guy oh god that makes you feel so old doesn't it um but yeah Perez was was catching Alonzo in a cell burn in wet conditions Perez looking for an amazing first win in Osaba, catching Alonzo in his Ferrari, which was also a tractor that year,

and had this amazing battle for victory. And Perez ran wide at turn 14, exactly the same way that, you know, obviously this was a dry session, but it catches a lot of people out that turn 14 because of the way, you know, a lot of tracks when you get into a breaking zone, you're just breaking in a straight line. And that's exactly what you want to do when you're breaking. but you're kind of flying into that chican and then turn 14 comes around quite quickly. And a lot of people can easily lock up, run wide. And that's exactly what happened to Alban and Holkenberg,

because we saw science get into Q2 and particularly with Audi. We saw a brilliant job from Bortoletto that got all the way into Q3 and Holkenberg's getting knocked out in Q1. So a big mistake, particularly for Holkenberg, because Audi had some pace. Indeed. and the form book changing, as I sort of mentioned, at the top of the episode, one of the teams being has to some degree,

has to be said, has to be said, sorry, didn't mean to do that pun. But they were scoring points in Baku, a lot of chaos, don't get me wrong, but they were there to sort of mop up the pieces and the points that were on the table and now double Q1 elimination once more,

Olli Behrman putting two and a half tenths on his teammate Esteban Okon, but both of them, out in Q1 and just looking like a handful once more. And then of course, the two Cadillacs, but Valtry Bottas, low grip circuits,

turns into an absolute demon, puts three tenths on pairs. It is genuinely like, if Valtry Bottas can find a live, find an F1 like alternate universe where all they do is race at low grip tracks, he would be the max for stab. Rally.

Why didn't he do a rally? Really. Maybe one day. Rally, really. Rally, really. As for Hasse, they had a great Baku, but this is maybe a bit more the norm of what we've seen with Huss in more kind of recent races before that.

You know, the saving grace for the Q1 section is we've now got official confirmation that S van Ocon will be leaving Hasse. So we don't have to have the conversation of, will Ockon keep his seat? after getting knocked out in Q1 because as he's already officially confirmed now with the team

he kind of hinted at it in he last week which kind of felt like a bit of a plea of like I'm not going to wait around for this team to tell me I'm gone please I need to let everyone know I'm a free agent before the final seats go which are only racing balls

anyway so it's not going to It's not going to happen for Ocon. Certainly not. I know that we say that we're not going to get the questions of canestab and Ocon save his seat, but it will be Canestaban if he made it to Q3? Will he? Will teams? Will has changed their mind?

Will V-Carb? Sign Esty Besty out of nowhere? Imagine. No, I do not think that's going to happen, sadly for Ocon. Right, Q2, the bottom six, Lawson, Alonzo, Sines, Stroll, Colapinto, and Lindblad. Now, of course, we have some penalties, which we remember. mentioned in practice, which meant that some drivers could only do so much. One of them being Arvid Limblad.

I can't believe that the commentary didn't realize what Limblad was doing until it basically happened, but Arvid was trying to get his good old teammate and friend from Baku, Liam Lawson, who going around liking slander reels about the incident. But yeah. I then went, right, mate, can I have a tell now. I'll forgive you if you give me a tape. If you get me through a Q3 and he didn't, so maybe the beef is still there.

But Limblad, you know, with joke, of course. But Lindblad, of course, trying to help Lawson on the back straight. But that was not enough for Liam Lawson, who missed out by a couple of tents in the end. But yes, Limblad, colopinto as well, of course, in this Q2 session after what happened in Baku,

and I think he's taking some new parts as well. So those two were 15th and 16th, but the big talking point. Aston Martin. The big talking point is we're talking about Aston Martin seven minutes into this podcast and not one minute into this podcast. So true.

Yeah, rather than saying 21st and 22nd, a Lonzo and Stroll. People on Patreon member, Triceratops. I love that, by the way, because it's called Sarah, which is clearly their name, but it's a dinosaur. Wow. Sorry, based on Aston Martin's pace today, getting into Q2, will we potentially see them fighting for points?

at the end of the season. Well, you're not laughing at me now, are you, for that Alonzo surprise podium by the end of the... No, I'm kidding. It's not going to happen. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is like Alonzo going to a track that he knows, of course, incredibly well.

And I do genuinely think experience does play a factor here. You've got some drivers that have never seen the track before. But you've got others, the Alonzo's, the Vestappans, the Hamiltons, that have, unsurprisingly done incredibly well. It's a Vastappan Hamilton. front row. You have Alonzo making Q2. Lance Trow, of course, making it to Q2 as well.

I genuinely think this is a flash in the pan. Where is this? It's not like they've brought an enormous package like they did at Hungary, for example. This is, for whatever reason, whether it is down to experience or just suiting the car a little bit more, perhaps not as power sensitive, it's suiting them. But I do expect this to be a rare occurrence. I'm not going to lie. a rare occurrence, but we know Assa Martin is such an unusual car that this is, it's going to be like a circuit specific thing because if we get to a track again that has a massive long old straight like we had in Baku, like we had in Monza, is P21 and 22 locked in again.

I don't think they're going to be improving on that sense. But we've seen Asa Martin improve to a certain level, you know, in the kind of corners and things like that as the years gone on. So when it's not so reliant on, I know there is two quite long straights, but it's not as extreme as something like a Baku or a Monza. So that's why they're kind of improving. And also,

we're going to be having this question a lot in the podcast of like, what happened to this team? This is unusual for this team. This track is so unusual because of the tires and the abrasive surface that I think it's just, for a lot of it has really just like thrown the pecking order like completely like all over the place as we've seen at the top as well as someone like astern martin who maybe you know are actually a bit better on their their tires and when

it's not a track that they're so reliant on their they kind of Honda power they can do a pretty good job and also to add to that yeah alonto of course has experience around here looked very quick in a lot of the sessions this weekend. I've got his first poll position here as well, of course. So, yeah, Alonzo looking very good. You know, P-12 just feels like a victory for us to mind in these days with how they've been. But I don't think it's going to be a fight for points on the regular

and is it even a fight for points anyway this weekend? They're going to need some retirements, I think, probably. A few retirements, but they've also put themselves in with a shout but then let's not forget Colopinto and Limbladd, both of them not trying, you would have to say in qualifying because there's nothing to really race for them

in quality. So yeah, they'll have their work cut out, I think, Aston Martin, but take nothing away from them. As much as it's a really unique experience and it's really hot conditions, the tyres are melting, the track is really different. It's the highest power

circuit that Aston Martin have done well at. So there are some positives to be taken here. It's not like, yeah, if the backstrait didn't exist, then maybe you could argue, are it's just another complete outlier. But there is, that last sector, is big old power. So fair play to ask the Martin. They found something.

And let's see if they can stay there. But I do firmly believe that there will be a few drivers behind them quite a bit quicker. Let's go to people on pitch. Remember, Captain Ops 3402. How depressing is it for the midfield teams and drivers that the top eight could literally sit in the pits for the final runs in Q2 and still be through comfortably. Welcome to new regulations. And Formula One in general.

Yeah, it's been like that for ages. It has been like that for ages. And James Vowles said something interesting in the Team Principal's press conference about how he believes the budget cap is creating like a divide between certain teams where you've got the top four teams and everyone else. but I don't think I agree with him because, you know, pre-budget cap, you still had that. You know, you look at something like 2017, and the running joke was how you had Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, kind of almost like lapping the whole field. And there was an absolutely, probably even bigger gap than there is now, to everyone else.

So this is just Formula One how it is. Yes, it's depressing for the other teams, but maybe a hot take. and, you know, controversial, but Formula One should have a pecking order in some sense. You know, like, Gassley's pole position would not be anywhere near as exciting if he was finishing third and fourth every week or occasionally, you know, there needs to be that lure of the top teams. We all want Formula One to be closer, and I think it is close, and this track in particular is bigger than normal. But this is just the nature of Formula One. They're going to be some some big teams

and this is just how Formula One has been for years now there's a big four. What's the nature of sport? It's not just Formula One. There are always going to be bigger, more successful teams and when an underdog does well then it's a big storyline. So yeah, I do get

where James Vals is coming about the cost cap being something that should be good. If everybody gets off on the front foot and they've done well, then it should keep everyone together closely. But if a midfield team does, really badly, i.e. Williams, and that's why he's probably complaining, then it is hard to catch up because they have to spend the same money. So, yeah, it comes across the bit, Carlos Science with us.

I think we should do reverse grids. I think we should swap cars. Everyone should, everyone should swap cars so I get to go in a good car. Exactly. So, yeah, I do get it in that sense, but then you're bringing in somewhat of a balance of performance kind of vibe if you're going to let the slower teams catch up in a bigger way than perhaps, you know, the adjo stuff that has done marginal stuff, but not really changed. The pecking order all too much. Anything else to mention here? Carlos Sines did a pretty good job up in 13th compared to his teammate Alex Albon.

And that is pretty much all of Q2 covered. Let's go to Q3. Actually, no, sorry, before we do. Q2, Antonelli, the big mistake. Antonelli, big old mistake, which, you know, You know I'm Ron Burgundy, and if you don't put it in the sheet, I won't remember. But Kimmy Antonelli, we did. We did. I'm proud of both of us. Kimmy Antonelli, of course, making that mistake, which we thought might be crucial,

especially when he went out after the first runs in Q3 and was on his own for one flying lap and wouldn't have had the best of the track conditions and so on and so forth. But yeah, the mistake itself was track limits, of course, in that double right-hander, a great corner which I think has been reduced slightly to 2026 regulation standard, which is a shame. But he still runs wide there and was questioning actually whether or not it was track limits. I was like, bro, you're all over the curb. How do you not know that you're off track there? And I know that he's getting a little bit of a sort of reputation, isn't he, Kimmy Antonelli,

for having track limits all the time. So, yeah, it was a what looked like a small mistake. Oh yeah, track limits. But the problem is with here and the track being so abrasive, as we've mentioned, and the tyres melting and only being good for one lap, is that he couldn't, he didn't have the luxury to just go for another lap on the same set of tires. He had to pit and put a fresh set on. He did.

And then also, obviously, that affects him going into Q3 as well. Yeah, Antonelli's kind of getting a bit of a reputation with track limits. It seems like quite a lot of races. It seems rare you don't see a kind of black and white flag or here. oh no, maybe give Kim me a warning of like one more track limits and you're in trouble. And then again, you know, it's kind of put him under pressure here. Maybe needlessly as well, because when you watch his second lap when he, you know, was doing that in Q2, he could be so cautious around that corner.

They've got the comfort blanket of even though Mercedes have struggled in this session, still light years ahead of, you know, the midfield, as we've kind of spoken about in the previous question. Well, similar to the conversation we had in Baku, isn't it? Like, it's exactly the same. But why are you risking? Yeah, exactly. Like, why you're risking, you know, why are you trying to gain so much?

I know, you know, there's the battle with your teammate and he's going for the championship and that's just how he's driving. But yeah, it was kind of unnecessary. But thankfully for him, you know, he still kind of made it through fine. It was never in doubt, really, as long as he kept it on the. track, but of course it continues going into Q3 because it means that, you know, he only gets one opportunity. And then he really did need to stay on the track. Certainly did.

Okay, let's move to the big old session. Q3, where the top 10 were Vastappan, Hamilton, Hajjar, Antonelli, LeCleur, Norris, Piastri, Russell, Gasly and Bortoletto. I saw the nod. I saw the nod. It's been a while since the Stappen. reading his name out first. It's been a while since a Mercedes non-engine pole, isn't it?

So, congratulations, Max Verstappen, for taking the first 2026 non-Messadeus engine pole. And, you know, what better engine than the best one to do it, hey? The best one to do it in. Yeah, I mean, it was sensational from Max. It really was, you know, Red Bull are looking very good. You can see that from the fact that, that had Charles put it P3,

Red Bull looking very strong, but Max has put still, you know, nearly half a second on his teammate. He's looked very dominant, really, really strong. And yeah, it's amazing what Max has been able to do

in this session. It kind of really didn't look ever in doubt, which is crazy to think. You know, we thought it was going to be a closed session. Could Max challenge the Merck's? But pretty much from like all the sessions, he was looking, really, really quick.

And then, you know, after the first runs, we were kind of like, this is probably done. And that's why it didn't feel like a kind of crazy end to qualifying in terms of the battle for pole, because Max kind of had it in the bag. He certainly did. Yeah, I completely agree with the non-surprise, which is mad to think.

You know, coming into Malaysia, you think, okay, McLaren should be quite quick. If we're, you know, if, well, that's what I thought anyway. That's what you thought. And Ferrari probably not that great. Oh, well, Hamilton P2. Yeah, perfect. All right, what's the point in predicting anymore?

But, yeah, Max was sensational. You know, his pole lap is brilliant. You know, I was looking at the comparison between his lap and maybe George Russell, for example. And you could just see, like, the Merck and George in particular, just constantly wrestling the car and trying to keep those tires in a good window. And, yeah, I think these kind of laps are mainly, you know, obviously, Max has done a phenomenal job. but in terms of like the limitations, it's the tires,

especially with how hot and how much they degrade over one flying lap. You can see that the minute you spike those tire temperatures, you are in so much trouble. And I think that was for George, one of his main problems today. I wonder how much that is a factor here as well, because it's interesting that, you know, we've seen a lot of very close gaps between teammates this year,

you know, the talk of how, these regs, it's hard to make such a big difference, and that's why we've seen it very, very close. And then, you know, we've had seen a massive gap here between Vastappan and Hadjar that maybe is that experience showing of how to manage these tyres, perhaps. Perhaps, but then Leclair's not done well,

so I'm not saying it's down to drive a skill. I'm saying it's, you know, anything, anything but. People on Patreon member, Obsessed Rower, has asked the question, is Red Bull just getting things right at the moment, or is it just Max being Max? No, we're not going to start glazing Max for Stapinol, yeah, because apparently we do it every single episode.

But it is Max being Max, of course it is. It's almost like he's a good driver. Good, come on, he's a better superlative for your literal lover boy. But, yeah, he's phenomenal. He's done a brilliant job this weekend. His lap, as I kind of said, was almost perfect. And then as for Red Bull, yeah, they've been knocking on the door for a while.

we've been saying on this podcast, Max has been getting podiums left, right and centre, he was less than two tenths off the win in Baku. It's coming together for Red Bull, which is so impressive. They've taken the engine in-house, and they're like, cool, we're just going to fight for wins now. And this is looking very good, if you're a Red Bull and Max Verstappan fan for the future now, because they are able to be somewhat competitive over a variety of different tracks over the last seven or so races. So yeah, you have to give Lauren Mecki's credit.

You have to give Red Bull credit. And you have to also say that Max is doing everything and getting the car in the right window. So it's a perfect package at the moment. And yeah, Tommy, are you excited? That's the question. Are we getting ahead of ourselves? Of course I am. I need the win.

Like a poll position is great. But Tommy, what about that prediction that you made at the start of the year where you said Max wouldn't win? Oh, that some people think I would actually be sad if he won because I lose a prediction. Like, oh, I'll know anyway, you know. I'm sorry, but like, one, it's one point anyway. It's a point that doesn't even like matter. Like it's not even the main prediction championship, but I wouldn't mind it anyway. Which no one cares.

Yeah, of course. It's all that family predictions. That's the big title this year. The fight for family. But with Max, it is a bit of. of both, I think. Red Bull definitely turned a page recently. You know, long, it seems a long time ago now that we were talking about,

Max Stappen, kind of looking like Red Bull potentially in the midfield, even, at the start of the year and really struggling. And even when they were that top four team, they were very much, like they were fourth fastest. That's kind of where the chat about Hadjar has kind of come in and saying, well, he's, you know, he's finishing these great positions. but it's kind of like six and sevenths and stuff like that where he's he's kind of there's this massive gap as we mentioned earlier between the midfield but what max is doing now is he's obviously

got the car in a comfortable window and he's also elevating that car as well with you can see that with the gap that he's put on how jr even though how jill has done a fantastic job but you know that gap a few years ago is separating between about maybe like 15 cars this is it right I just feel the need to remind ourselves because it's so easy. I'm not going to take anything away from Hadjar. He's doing what Red Bull want of him. But when you look at the gap, that is a gap that we used to say, oh, the Red Bull number two is just not close enough to Max.

He's been knocked out in Q1. That's genuinely the conversation we were having only a matter of years ago. We're now here, Hadjar's put it third, four tents back from Max. And people are like, yeah. But it's all circumstantial, isn't it? the fact that that is a P3 and okay fine he's not closer to Max but it it doesn't it doesn't matter because the result is still there it's it's such a weird thing to talk about when you look at how things have changed over the years well yeah like just i'm just like looking back at

Australia last year as an example and half a second of max estappen's lap in Q1 would have is actually the people at the bottom that have been knocked out, like Nika Holkenberg knocked out in a kick sailber. So that is crazy, isn't it, how the perception has changed? It's not to take anything away from Hadjar. He looked a little bit gutted, I think, with his lap anyway. I think he knew he could have got more out of it. But I think it's going to be a good one to watch with Hadjar coming through the field

because last time out, Hadjar was very, very impressive at Baku. And there was the worry that it might just be a bit of a flash in the pan, because we've seen Baku weirdly be that track where the second Red Bull driver actually has a bit of confidence compared in like recent years but Hajjar's proved again that you know he can he can deliver a really strong result just a shame for him that it's going to have that that penalty but there's the opportunity to come through the field it's all going to be about tyres tomorrow I think absolutely agile will start eighth and yeah if his race pace is what 10 seconds off max at the end of the race that's perfect that's fine It's when it becomes half a minute, 40 seconds.

That's where the discussion opens up. There's going to people on picture. Remember, Katie, will we have a Monza or Silverstone, 2021 repeat? Or will Lewis and Max behave? I really hope not. One, because I want, obviously, Vastappen to win. But also the fact that, you know, shout out to Lewis Hamilton,

what a lap out of seemingly nowhere. Ferrari have been good in that middle sector. but a front row you'd have said you know if we'd have predicted that even before the the session you'd have been like what on earth you're talking about why would Hamilton be on the front row a sensational lap from Lewis as for the actual question in will they behave this is going to be famous last words here when they do collide but I do think that they will be more sensible you know, it's very easy to look at 2021 and go, oh, they've collided loads. But Hamilton knows he's in a great position.

Max has matured. He still drives the way he does and he's going to do everything to win, of course. But I think Max will know that even if Hamilton gets him at the start, it's going to be a tire management race. He's got the pace to deliver. And there'll be opportunities later in the race. So I don't think it's a situation where, you know, let's be honest, 2021 was a very unique situation

where it was all or nothing between the two of them and it didn't matter where anyone else finished in that race it was all about them beating each other that is not the case tomorrow they're just about getting the best result possible

so I don't just because you look at that and go for Stapp and Hamilton wow shades of 2021 I don't think we're going to see like a collision between them or they're not going to do something even if we do I don't think it's going to be like a desperate, crazy lunge and they're going to do

everything to beat each other at turn one because it's not 2021 anymore. They're not going for the world championship. And they know that they're both sensible and experienced enough drivers to know there's a really strong result from them, even if they are second into turn one. So I watch them

collide now. Yeah, I know. That's the thing. My gut instinct is that nothing will happen and they'll be fine. But the more and more you spoke about it, I was like, yeah, but Max does love a little squeeze. if, you know, he'll know that the opportunity is there for him. If he loses the lead to, yeah, well, do they anymore?

Like, you know, maybe 10 races ago. But, yeah, I think that it's important for Vastappen, I think, to maintain the lead out of term one, because Antonelli is his biggest threat, in my opinion, tomorrow. So if Vastappan loses the lead, of course, then Kimmy is right behind him. And there is more of a pressure, whereas I see that. that, you know, no disrespect to Hamilton. He did a phenomenal lap, as you say. That middle sector was ridiculously fast.

Quarter of a second quicker than anybody. I wonder if, you know, maybe there's some deployment there that's different, but maybe it was just the fact he completely hooked it up. But yeah, it's, I think that Hamilton could well be a little bit of a good buffer for Max. That's how I see it. I think Max is going to have the best race pace. I think Kimmy will have marginally slower and then Hamilton will be maybe marginally slower than Kimmy. that's how I see the race

Yeah, it feels like Hamilton's overdelivered in qualifying rather than Ferrari really quick this weekend. Yeah, because we've spoken about Kimmy making mistakes and Kimmy himself said that P2, P3 was probably possible if he had two goes in that final qualifying session. So yeah, Hamilton's

overdelivered and yeah, may well play a crucial role as to whether or not it's an Antonelli Vastappan ding dong throughout the entirety of the Malaysian Grand Prix which would be great to watch although I think Tommy would be completely utterly insufferable with how much he would be

complaining. We mentioned about those two. I just like to be easy. Yeah, we mentioned about those two and like, oh, what's going to happen between Max and Lewis? You know, it's quite a long run down to term one.

It's incredibly wide as well. You know, we could see them three wide going into that corner. It wouldn't surprise me. Certainly could. And let's go to be on Patreon member Piper MZ mimic X. Merck upgrades worth three tenths.

More like three tenths backwards. Is this an outlier? Or, they in trouble for the rest of the year? Now this one is interesting because we all expected, did we not, Mercedes to be light years ahead. They said as they were bringing this upgrade. They were hoping to be more in line with McLaren and where they were strong from previous races and all this sort of stuff. But I think this is an outlier.

I'm going to firmly say it's an outlier through. and the reasons that we've already mentioned in this podcast, I think it's tire-related, I think it's track-related, and I don't think it really suits them. It's very, very hot, and we know that hot conditions don't tend to favour Mercedes when you look at previous form and previous history. So I do think this is very much a rare occurrence

and something we won't see moving forward for the season. And it's hard to then measure what the Merck upgrade and the engine side of things is when George Russell was soaring at the wheel in his final flying lap. Of course, he was off sorts compared to his teammate anyway. But yeah, I do think that we shouldn't get too excited that there are, you know, well, I say too excited. George is realistically the only person that can challenge Kimmy and he's in the same team. So it's not really championship back on, but might well open up the door at least for this weekend for a different team to win. like Max for Staff.

Yeah. I'm going to coin a new phrase now that I'm going to regret saying because people are going to start saying it. But there's a lot of upgrade bait this year. And that is very much a thing that seems to be happening a lot where you see an upgrade and you look at it and I said this before as a video game where you press the button, you get an upgrade and suddenly you are quicker and it equals to this amount of lap time. and Formula One is not that simple. We were having this conversation in the last race where Audi bought loads of upgrades and they weren't very strong. We're going, what's happened to the Audi upgrades?

And now they've come to a track that's more suited to them and Bortolettos put it in Q3 and they've looked strong. But with this one, it's more, like, it's to the engine, right? That's the main upgrade here. I think that that is less of like a questionable thing. I think they have got the upgrade that they were hoping for from a power perspective or whatever they've improved, but they are just shocking in the other areas

that had they not brought the upgrades, can you imagine where they'd be? Well, yeah, exactly. This is what I'm saying. Like, you don't look at this and go, oh, the Mercedes power unit is terrible. The upgrades haven't worked because you could get to the next race

where there's not this insane track surface and they are clear of the field and I wouldn't be surprised if they were. and it's quite clear that the Mercedes are struggling on their ties, particularly George Russell, who has been, you watch his onboard. And my word, he's like skating around, fighting the car. And it's clear, you know, that's nothing to do with power here. This is the fact that, you know, he's struggling on the tyres,

and it's not where Mercedes have had the kind of luxury in a lot of races where they've been able to, they've had this amazing deployment, particularly at the start of the year. And that's where they've gained a lot of their, their time. But, you know, this, this circuit is such an outlier and so unique. That's why we're seeing such a strange order. It's why we've got Hamilton, you know, on the front row out of nowhere, we're just put in a really good lap and deliver a great performance. And you can challenge Russell, who was so comfortable in the last race and looked completely dominant, is now back to

being absolutely nowhere. So we don't, it's not a case of just like looking at the upgrades and going, this is, this is this. There's so much more going on this weekend than just who's got an upgrade package. It's such a bizarre circuit. It really is.

Craig Tilly 95 has asked the question. Is Kimmy beginning to feel the weight of the pressure of being the championship leader? No, I think you just love to track limit warning. I really, you know, at the end of the, the day he's put in he's had one opportunity with uh one shot one shot i literally could not say that without thinking of that but he has had you know he's essentially had one lap qualifying it in in that key three because of what happened in q2 and he's delivered not a not a great lap but he's going to start p3 which is fine but he's quite of a second head of george for crying out loud he's well ahead

he's well ahead of his teammate you know it's not the greatest lap in the world but i think it's more that, you know, he has delivered. So I don't think there's a worry, because at the end of the day, the only championship contender is George Russell, and he's seemingly fallen off a cliff here again. You know, I'm sure the George Russell conspiracy theorists will be saying that Toto's come back now and suddenly George is nowhere again. You say that, like, you aren't one of those people because you literally text me

and we're like, oh, Kimmy's now quicker and Toto's back in the garage. It is so funny, isn't it? But George's is struggling massively on the tyres compared to Kimmy. And yeah, even despite Kimmy's slight mistake is such a

nothing issue really, I think. You know, one track limit warning like boohoo. Yeah, if he had the track limit warning in that final Q3 lap and starts 10th, this question is valid. But he's delivered. Like, he's made a mistake.

drivers can make mistakes. It was a small mistake. It was track limits. Yes, we know Kimi Antonelli loves a track limit warning. But he's bounced back and he'll start third after Hadjar's penalty.

That is more than fine. If Russell was on poll, again, this is probably a little bit more of a valid question. But George isn't. The Mercedes isn't there and I think it was a decent lap what Antonelli put down.

So it's all working in his favor because the only person that can realistically beat him is Russell. And Russell hasn't delivered this weekend when George needs to win every single race. He said it himself after Baku. Doesn't look like that's going to happen. George did say after Quali that he thinks perhaps a podium is on the cards. If things work out,

it's all going to be about tyres. But you think Antonelli is going to be challenging for the win, right? From where he is. Potentially, it depends on the Hamilton situation. But yeah, it's going to be fascinating to watch. Can Russell make it through? Can Russell get driver of the day? That'll be big for my prediction. He saw it. He saw the, he was like, Look, you need to start lower. That's what I need to do. Yeah, that's it. He's trying to help me out.

Appreciate you, George. You get driver of the day, I get a point. Lovely. That's a good trade, that is. Other things to mention is that Oscar Piastri was very close to Lando Norris. Only 5,000ths of a second separating the few McLaren drivers. That's a lot better from Oscar. But generally, McLaren seemingly struggling, which is crazy to me.

I thought this track would really suit them. But alas, it has not. And then a small shout out to Gassley and Bortoletto, both making it through. Pierre Gassley just sort of strolling through qualifying at this point. Both of them, interestingly, not taking a fresh set in that final Q3 session, not bothering.

And it was basically like a scrubbed set shootout between Gassley and Bortoletto. They just know, don't they? Yeah, it's the fight for ninth. And the payoff of saving a set of tyres, versus one extra position on the grid is much more valuable. So speaking of saving of set of tyres, it sounded like I think it was the Ferraris and someone else have saved a set of softs. That's what George said.

They went for the mediums, didn't they? Yeah, after qualifying. So expect the softs to come out at some point, perhaps the start of the race. I don't know what Ferrari are cooking up here, but they might well be looking for a Hamilton soft start, whereas Max may well start on the mediums, gives Lewis an opportunity to take the lead. I take it all back. They're colliding.

They might collide. But I think there's less of a likelihood than 2021. I am scared for anyone starting on the dirty side of the grid, though. I think that that could be very bad. That's how I would... This track has been dormant. And, of course, you know, pole and everyone starting on the odd side of the grid

have had, of course, is the racing line. there is some grip laid down but yeah i'm i'm concerned for those that will be on the uh dirty side yeah for sure it is is going to be a situation where and i love this conversation of going into the race on sunday and not knowing what ties they're going to use what strategy they're going to have um because normally after the session we know we've got previous data of like and everything from from practice but this circuit is so unique the the fact that the the tires i think lewis hamilton said that they're literally going to be from lights out struggling on the tires and immediately into tire saving mode which i don't know if that excites me or concerns me exactly it depends it could

go either way couldn't they're just going to be touldling around at two three seconds like gap between each other because they don't even want any remote sort of dirty air as long as max is leading go one or the other. Oh, shut up. It could go one way or the other, but I really hope it's the way of like just some are struggling and we get great battling. But it's going to come at a cost, isn't it? The likes of Russell that will want to come through the field, they will have to push their tires at some point to get close to make moves. But then that could basically be not reaping the rewards, reaping the consequences later on in the stint. So please be good. And imagine it's an absolute stink of a race. And instead,

all reminiscing about Portoletto and Linblad's FP2 battle is the greatest moment of the weekend. God, please know. All right, okay, we're done. Thank you, everybody for tuning in. We'll be, of course, watch-longing tomorrow. Come and join us, and the main race podcast will, of course, come out as well.

Thank you so much, everybody. We will see you soon. Looking forward to it. Come on, Malaysia. Tommy, final thoughts? Come on, Max. That's my final thoughts. Perfect.

Yeah, I almost forgot to ask you, and then you thought I wasn't going to ask you, and then that's what you said. All right, come on, Max. and come on Charles from P4 yeah woo although yeah yeah dirty side of the grid oh it's over it's so it's never been more over actually know he'll be started uh oh no I I I've done the way very early I looked at FP1 classification and thought for a second that Charles starting third though he's not I was gonna say I thought it was

chambre it back on for a second I mean it would be if it was FP1 results yeah all okay all right shut up okay let's leave it there all right by everybody Bye. Charlie Clare, champion. Bye. Bye. Charlotte, Champion of the world.

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