P1 with Matt and Tommy - Reaction to British GP practice

Episode Date: July 4, 2025

We were at Silverstone for the first of three awesome days at the British GP - and one of us was VERY happy to witness the red cars up near the front. Plus, silly season looms!We'll be performing on the main stage at Silverstone on Race Day! We'll be onstage at 10:30.Please fill out Stak's listener survey! It'll help us learn more about the content you love so we can bring you even more - you'll also be entered into a competition to win one of five PlayStation 5's! Click here: https://bit.ly/staksurvey2025You can listen to an extended version of every Race Review episode this season over on our Patreon! You'll also get every P1 episode ad-free, 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 to the B1 podcast with Matt and Tommy's car. And Tommy. Tommy and Tommy's car. We are outside of Silverstone now and we found a remote location to reflect on practice because of course we can't film anywhere near a racetrack. Otherwise we will get demolished. So here we are Tommy in real life in person. Look at us.

Indeed. We got to see some Formula One cars. We did indeed. We saw Formula One cars and yeah, very very good. cool to experience it as always because despite maybe some people thinking every time I tell them what I do they go, oh do you go to every race

then it's like no. No this is our first race of the season. It might not be our only race in the season, we don't know but yes it was awesome to be out there. It wasn't just to see the cars in the flesh we had an amazing time and let's reflect on what happened in practice. FP1

and the driver fastest is the only one we need to speak about is of course Lewis Hamilton. fastest in the Ferrari. Looking very good indeed, it has to be said. To be fair, free practice one and free practice two, consisted of two Ferraris and two McLaren's. So, have I actually had a worldly in the predictions? Maybe. Of course, we were basically fighting over going for Hamilton. Good surprise. Of course, he does always deliver going into Silverstone, despite, of course, he's had a tricky season at Ferrari. It has to be.

said, but you just can't count him out of Silverstone, can you? Because he always just seems to turn up, or even if he's having a difficult race, just delivers. Yeah, I mean, the fact that he hasn't had a podium since Vegas last year is outrageous, isn't it? For the standards of Hamilton, it's his longest, yeah, of course the sprint, but it's his longest drought of a actual Grand Prix podium in his entire career. And I've seen so many people making memes videos about the fact of, like, if Ferrari doesn't allow him to keep this podium streak up at Silverstone that's been going since 2013, then people are going to throw hands. Yes, it's been going a very, very long time.

I also saw a crazy statistic that Hamilton won his first British Grand Prix for McLaren on the 6th of July 2008. He won his first British Grand Prix for Mercedes on the 6th of July 2014 and the race day is the 6th of July. Okay. If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know, is it written in the stars? Look, I will, on one occasion only, being the British Grand Prix, allow for Hamilton to do very well.

And if he wants to be quicker than Charles Lecler, I give him a one race pass. One race pass. However, if he wins and I don't see Charles winning in front, I don't know. I don't know. Emotionally, I will struggle, let's put it that way. Also, of course, worth mentioning, through practice one, we had a couple of rookies. We had Lindblad and we had Aaron, Lindblad in the Red Bull. of course highly regarded high a lot of potential supposedly for Limblad a lot of

sort of news circulating about him potentially getting some kind of call up got a super license of course now of course that's 17 years old so special exemption or whatever you want to call it to the rule so he did a pretty good job he was running obviously in sonoda's car which had the non upgraded floor the Stappen having the upgraded floor although I saw some videos of max in FP1 and it looked like the car could not go around a corner That was painful to watch. Yeah, thankfully they managed to get some good lads in the end. But good to see Limblad in the car and he wasn't half a second off max.

We don't know the run plans. We don't know anything. Of course, Alex Dunn did a phenomenal job in Austria. But to be half a second off max, no matter whatever the run plan is, it's about as close as the second drone has been in about three years. So when you put it that way, he's probably the closest anyone's been, but of course it's only a practice. But yeah, he obviously went into straight back into Formula 2 afterwards as well. He did indeed, yes. That's the hard thing of juggling that.

Is you like, yes, I'll have the free practice one. Oh, but then I don't get to practice in the Formula 2 car. And then all of a sudden you're in qualifying. It's pretty intense. Question from Zed Shark. Is Hamilton back? Hopefully, I think for the, for just, you know, it would be, yeah, if there's any place. Even if it's for one weekend only.

Yeah, if it's, I mean, he's obviously done. the China sprint which was, it doesn't even feel real that weekend when you compare it to the rest of his season. It feels like forever ago. It does, doesn't it? But he's unbelievable around Silverstone, not just British bias. He is. The records show that. And to be immediately on the pace alongside, and to be quicker than Charlotte-Clau. I know it's only practice and whatnot, but he's not really shown that that much so far this season. No, he hasn't. And he just oozes confidence when he gets to to this Grand Prix and dare I say even if he delivers a brilliant race there's no guarantee that next time out because he's still learning of course Ferrari have upgraded their car recently

still didn't quite go to plan in Austria of course they were looking better that the fact that they finished third and fourth which they'd take where where they were at the start of the season but obviously still having problems with the floor of course you know scraping on on the ground worrying about, I don't want to worry about getting disqualified again and things like that. But of course, you know, we also don't know what the conditions are going to be. And if it rains, which is looking very likely to on Sunday, Hamilton's very good around here. Of course, he won last year very kind of unexpectedly, I guess. Yeah, that was an unbelievable occasion last year.

Question from P1Pitch, remember Ruben 4.0. What is Alpine doing? Just straight to the point is Ruben. questioning how Alpine are just anonymous this year. 11 points in the constructors last. They're literally last, which is unbelievable to even comprehend. With Gassley, who we know has got a brilliant performance in him. But the turmoil at Alpine,

I remember watching Drive to Survive when they were fighting for seventh, and they were losing their minds, they're last. And I can't see them scoring many points unless we have a Gassley Worldie, for quite some time still. Something incredibly, well, not amusing if you're an Alpine fan that I saw was that Austria marked when Alpine joined Formula One and obviously took over Renault and it became the Alpine brand. Lauren Rossi, who was the CEO at the time, had this big press conference and said, you know, Alpine, we're determined to get back to the front.

and they had a 100 race plan and Austria marked that 100th race of their plan and they are last in the constructors. I forgot about this. They had that, was it four or five year plan? And that was... Were the 100 race plan? And that was that.

And that was them, you know, both out the points and last in the constructors, which are not gone to plan, has it? And of course, since then, 2021, you think they've recycled through drivers, piastri, situation. Alonzo's situation, Ocon situation, all the team principles that they've had. Not going well.

100 races, they take one of the zeros off 10th in the constructors. At least it looks good on paper, if you like numbers that are in some sort of pattern. Let's go to free practice two then, where Landon Norris was fastest from both of the Ferraris and Oscar Piastri, about half a second back in P4. But once again, as I mentioned, Ferrari and McLaren, Mercedes is not particularly not particularly up to speed at the moment, but then again, slightly warmer today. We go to tomorrow. You could easily see George Russell and Kimmy Antonelli right up there once again.

It's looking like it'll be 19, 20 degrees, a bit of rain in the air as well. The conditions we had today aren't going to be representative really in the slightest if we do get the weather that is forecast. No, I don't think so. And, yeah, Mercedes will be very glad that these aren't the conditions because, of course, they were nowhere were they in Austria. just absolutely nowhere. In complete no man's land, they were a minute off the lead with Russell

who's normally been pretty good. So yeah, they are very much, I think will be more than happy to see some grey clouds tomorrow and it'd be a lot cooler. Absolutely. A question from P1Petri member, Alec. Should Piastri fans be worried

about this pace and the possibility he gets trapped behind the Ferraris or do you think he'll show more quality or race pace? I don't think you can really sound the alarm just yet for Oscar Piastri. It is practice. We'll say that so, so many times, but, you know, reflecting on what we just said, the conditions are going to change, you know, whether Ferrari will get better or worse, as we go

into, if it's actually raining, I can't see them being competitive. I just, rain and Ferrari does not click in my eyes. Of course, Hamilton won last year, but that was in the Mercedes. So I think that they... Well, yeah, they were spinning around, right they in Melbourne and stuff. Sorry to remind you. Yeah, cheers. I just wanted to just be like, yeah, they weren't that great. Didn't we need to go into too much detail. So... I think as well, you know, Piastri, yeah, he's looked a little bit off it, but completely different conditions. We can't take too much from free practice. We've seen that this year, particularly this one, because, you know, it's, we're going into completely different conditions. So I don't think it's panic stations for Piastri

that he's half a second off Lando. Of course, if it happens tomorrow, then it's a worry. I think, I think if Landau has a good race again, he could well maybe even take the championship lead or be very close to. And you think with all the kind of low moments that Landos had during the season, he is still absolutely right there. And it's looking like a 50-50 chance between the two of them. Yeah, I think as much as we're not sounding the alarm for Oscar, it can be said that Landau has looked really good today. and it has the confidence that we know. Now, I've always kind of heart back on. I feel like he is a bit of a momentum driver.

Once he kind of gets into that groove and has that confidence, then he can pull out these performances. And he has to be the favourite for pole tomorrow unless we get these changeable conditions, which will throw it up in the air once again. But Lando, for sure, looking really good. And I was hoping that Charlotte Clare would have topped FP2.

But instead, he decided to ruin that. I did enjoy you. basically clapping and cheering as Shell went fastest and everyone just dead silence around us. Yeah, I just unashamedly was like, Yes, come on!

There are people looking around like McLaren gear, I don't care. I don't care. I'll back my boy. Question. People want to bet you remember Sophie. Is this an actual three-team fight this weekend? Three? Who's...

I mean, two? I was thinking more at the moment, it seems as though it's Ferrari and McLaren Claren's still having the edge. But you could easily, I mean, look, you cannot discount Max, especially when we get to those rainy conditions, you put him right back in the hunt for the win. And then, yeah, I still fully back that Mercedes will be better tomorrow and Sunday, just

purely because of the conditions that are coming. You know, it was pretty hot today. So you fully expect the pecking order to be adjusted slightly, although my Ferrari delirium hopes, praise that they don't go backwards. the change of conditions. Yeah, they weren't too bad, were they Mercedes Antonelli Struggle beat

Russell, so true, but I guess compared to Piastri and again we don't know but of course they're always going to struggle more in these conditions so yeah you're kind of more confident of a two-team fight

I'd say maybe four let's be positive. Well no I think if the changes conditions for sure I think you're back to three and a half teams. But if you think, the last two seasons, not saying it happened again, unless you know,

why not? Let's throw Kicksaber into the mix. But of course, the last two seasons, we've gone to Silverstone qualifying. And 2023, McLaren weren't favoured, really, at the time. And they bought that upgrade

and were like, oh my word, McLaren have come out of nowhere and done amazing. And they locked out the front row, I believe, or were a chance. challenging Max, I believe. And then of course, last season, you had Mercedes that came out of nowhere last year as well.

So teams do love to spring a surprise and qualify. This year it's Ferrari. Locked in. People on page remember Crazy Casper 3112. Will Red Bull sort out their car going into quality tomorrow? Or is this their true pace if it stays dry? I think dry, I think they're pretty screwed personally. I think that they...

Yes. It wasn't a fun watch. No. Watching the Stapin keep crossing the line and seeing six tenths and five tenths as he was crossing the line. There wasn't really any point where you went. Max is sort of near the true pace. Now I know that we say that changeable conditions are coming Saturday Sunday.

If it's four, five degrees cooler and that's all it is, I don't see a miracle for Max and Red Ball. I think a miracle for Mercedes could because point one of a degree cooler is what could turn that car into a monster. But with Max, I know he's running the upgraded floor and whatnot, but he did just look out of sorts throughout the entirety of practice. He really did. Yeah, that, you know, a clip that went quite big online and a lot of people sharing it and, you know, the replay of Max going through the after Abbey, that kind of slow section, 345 before the Wellington Strait. And the car looked, it looked like watching the second Red Bull driver that we've seen a lot, fighting the car.

struggling, looked like they're all. The other wheel wasn't connected to the tires. And it's absolutely insane to think that, you know, he's the one with number one on his car that's won the championship last year. And, you know, we had a few questions many about Red Bull when we put questions out to this saying, I know we've said it so many times, but the downfall of Red Bull is absolutely insane. Like it has to be one of the biggest, to say that we've not even gone in.

into a new regulation. Yeah, I think that's what is so shocking about it is it's not like we've jumped regulations like we saw with Mercedes, for example, in 2022. This is the same set. And this time last year, Max had almost won every single race at this point. Madness. It is absolutely madness. Well, segueing into this next question from P.on and Petrieve, remember Scribe 42,

why are all the commentators saying Max might go to Merck? It's ridiculous. He wants a pay rise. This chatter from people who should know better is stupid. It's interesting, isn't it? Like pay rise is, you know, of course, like any person, right? If you want a pay rise at your job and you are needed in that job, you go and find another job offer and you go, hey, I've been offered this job,

match this salary or I'm going. It's more than that, in my opinion. I don't agree with Scribe 42 in the sense of that it's ridiculous to fathom that Max might go somewhere else. I think it's crazy when you look back that it would be Mercedes potentially that he's going to of all teams. To seeing Toto Wolf with his arm round him and Max and Mercedes just seems such a cursed thing if you watched 2021 really. Exactly. I think for me how I see Max's position is that he does want to stay at Red Bull if he believes and dreams of more titles with them. He has said for many years and how much do you take this?

with a pinch of salt is up to you but Hamilton said he wanted to finish his career at Mercedes did he? No. He went to Ferrari because he thought that there was somewhere well to be fair Merck didn't want to commit to him and even before that you kind of Hamilton was the McLaren

Golden boy and you thought he might stay there forever yeah and he didn't so I think with Max it's slightly different because I do feel like he is loyal to that team and he's been there through thick and thin hasn't he but I 100% think he is weighing up his options and the most sensible thing

and what Christian Horner has kind of been saying is I don't think it's about 26 I think it's more about 27 that's maybe seems like the most logical thing rather than uprooting yourself and going to a different team not knowing that they're going to be the quickest you are the most in-demand driver

so it just depends how much of a it depends how sick he is of the Red Bull camp right now we watch that though and mine your reaction was that does not fill me with confidence that's like oh go on max please stay another year and then when we're terrible then you can leave um because look this this may age incredibly badly but i don't believe it will i think Mercedes is going to be light years ahead of red bull um going into new regulations it's an engine formula red bull are building you know they've got Ford that they've not worked with before of course they're spending a lot of money and and they're working with it um but

they've lost a lot of key personnel and however much you can kind of go oh it's about money or max is really loyal to redball of course is he that loyal to christian hornet that's another question and also and he was obviously quite loyal to other people that were leaving now helmet marco is still there of course and that's who he's very loyal to but you've got to think like as this goes on and on and on, you've kind of got to be selfish and think about, you know, look at Fernando Alonzo is the perfect example of you've got to be in the right car. And I think this is an absolute dream situation for Max that he could go into a team that starts winning and starts the new regulations really well. And he has that a massive opportunity to do that at this stage. I feel

like you should jump at the chance, but that's just me. Yeah, I mean, that's coming from you. You know, you've kind of, you've got, you're very much a glass half empty with Red Bull's future. And I think a lot of people do as well, as you say, they've lost a lot of key members. It's just whether or not, you know, you have to look at it from a human level as well of, you know, Max, does he want to change teeth? Does he have loads of, like, really close friends there that he just, you know, loves working

with and does he want to jump ship, change his whole routine? He's just had a kid. You know, there's things as well that, I guess, from a human level that you have to, decide as well. The Red Bulls sponsor is GT team and all that kind of stuff and the allowing to do is high racing and all that. You can have all about that. Well exactly. Exactly. They they they would but yeah it is it's a fascinating story and I do think it's very telling that while Max is obviously being very careful with what he says about to not get misquoted he's also not saying no it's all kind of like and he was saying no before he was saying there

before you were saying, well, I've got a contract with Red Bull, I'm staying, whereas now he's going, to be fair, he has still said, I have a contract at Red Bull. Yeah. But it feels less convincing, I think, is the key part here, isn't it? It really does. And then, of course, you have the other side of the coin that's George Russell going in the press conference. Like, I don't think, I'm not talking to anyone else because I don't think I'm leaving, which, oh, it's a crazy situation.

I thought after last year, there's no way we have another crazy silly season. They're certainly doing their best to make it crazy again. I mean, look, we love the spice. We love the news. We do. Yeah. This would rock Formula One again. It really would.

It would. It's down to Ferrari. Okay, well, there you go. We've talked a little bit about Max de Muck. There you go. I know some of you were messaging saying, do a video about it. Well, we've had a little brief chat in Friday practice Roundup,

which, you know, if you watch this, then you're welcome because that's a little bit of added, added juice to the content. So, Tommy, what are your final thoughts? Final thoughts? I am, even though we're going to be there, Of course, a little bit of rain will be lovely for quality as long as... Just in the session. In the session.

Nowhere else. And a little wet to dry session as well. So it kind of... Is that too much to ask? Just the perfect level. Or as Tommy says, dry wet, dry wet, dry wet, dry wet. Is that okay? Yeah, so the switching ties all the time and... Bortlet is on pole. And not after his spin, mate, he's not going to be.

Geez, that was a big one. That was a big one. Gassley as well, both of them at exactly the same corner of the cops. 360, a copse. Yeah, Borlette, I think, did like a 1080 probably. Anyway, we will see you tomorrow for another podcast in the car, but we'll also see you maybe at Silverstone. Thanks to those of you that have come and said hello already. We'll be doing potentially a meetup tomorrow as well, so keep an eye up on our socials for that on Saturday.

And of course, we're on the main stage on Sunday at 10.30 a.m. So come and see us there. And we'll see you very soon. Lots of love to take it. Bye. Bye. P1 is a Stack production and part of the Acast's Created Network.