P1 with Matt and Tommy - Reaction to Canadian GP sprint qualifying

Episode Date: May 22, 2026

We react to the first competitive session of the weekend, as some changing tyres and a red flag shook up the order throughout sprint qualifying!Our brand new live show 'Super Podding' is coming to the UK and Amsterdam this autumn! Get your tickets here: http:/tix.to/p1liveSign up to 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. For the 9 millionth time we are so back. We've never been more back. Finally, some Formula One to enjoy and lots of competitive sessions. We've had our first one today already, Sprint Quali. We're going to get into all of that, Tommy. But how excited are you to get your teeth stuck back into some Formula One? Just so glad just to see Formula One cars.

running competitively and being back to actually talk about cars on track. Finally. Finally, indeed. Now, something I want to tell you all about, which I think we're both feeling a little bit smug about the actual name of it because we're quite excited. But it's our brand new P1 live show tour and it's called super podding. I think it's one of the best super clipping different type name thing that you could possibly do. I don't know about you, Tommy, but I'm absolutely buzzing with The graphic, the graphic is unbelievable. It's so good. If you're listening on audio, you have to go check out the graphic if you haven't seen it already.

So we are going to Amsterdam on the 20th of August, the Delamar Theatre. 11th of November, Leeds, Glee Club. 12th of November, Cardiff, Glee Club. 14th of November, Manchester at home. 15th of November, Glasgow. Glee Club, unsurprisingly. The 17th of November, Birmingham, Glee Club. And the 18th of November, London, the O2 Forum.

Tish town. No, that is not the O2 arena. We are not playing to tens of thousands of people. I don't know. If we sell out, maybe we'll move it. Maybe. Maybe we will. But there you go. If you want to go and get your tickets, we'd love to have you there. It's going to be an awesome way to round out the season and have a lot of fun. And of course, Amsterdam is not that far away. But the tickets are flying off the shelves, I think, for Amsterdam. So go and get your tickets if you want to come and enjoy some super podding banter. right Tommy let's get into sprint qualifying and start with SQ1 where the bottom six were Perez stroll Gazley botas albon and Lawson now we've mentioned the bottom six if you didn't watch sprint quality and you sometimes just use our podcast to get up to speed Albon and Lawson didn't even take part albon sadly came with had a collision with a groundhog which was actually a massive crash for him. It took out the front left tire of his car, speared him into the wall, and you could

see that pretty much instantly that he was not going to be able to make sprint quality only a couple of hours later. Yeah, it's going for Album, particularly when you see what Carlos Sites managed to do in that session, and so unfortunate. We've seen people, yeah, you know, hit groundhogs before and things at this track. It's been a problem that's kind of not insane, but like it's happened a few times, you know, over the years. And it's just so unfortunate for Album that it wasn't even like took his front wing off or something. The fact that, you know, it damaged his car, speared him into the wall, big damage. And yeah, couldn't even make it out for sprint qualifying.

You're okay, mate. No. Emotional there with your voice. Like you really, it's these late nights, mate. They're catching up with you. And then also Lawson as well had problems in free practice one and also wasn't able to take part in sprint quality, which I think was more of a surprise to not see him out there because Lindblad was cooking. And I think racing balls had a phenomenal opportunity to potentially

score points with both cars tomorrow. But it's all in the hands of Linblad, which we'll get onto a little bit later on. And then a big scalp, apart from the two that obviously didn't take part, was Gasle. Considering the fact we had an Albon and a loss and not taking part in Sprint Quali 1. You think, well, that opens up the door for not many other drivers that are quick to be knocked out because you'd think the two Aston Martins, you'd think the two Cadillacs, and then it's done. Signs still delivered, closed the door.

But no, because Alonzo did some Alonzo things, drove, was driving pretty fast, doing pretty good things, and then speared into the wall because he was going too fast and locked up both of his front tires. At a corner that we've seen so many times, you need that. point one of a second reaction to bail out of the corner. But Alonzo had a little lock up, decided, no, I'm going to try and make the corner. And it ended in, I was going to say tears. He made it out of SQ1, so maybe he's not too upset about it.

Yeah, yeah. It wasn't, as I joked on the watch along, you know, it's not like a Michael Schumacher, Raskass moment where he's done it deliberately. But it obviously did help him in a weird way. I think he was very quick anyway that he could well have got through. He did a great job. I love in his interview afterwards. It's just classic Alonso that was like, well, you know, I put the car where it shouldn't be

and I've got to drive really, really fast. So these things happen. And yeah, I think if you mentioned at the start of, you know, if you're listening to this podcast and you've not watched the session, one of the first thoughts is probably where's Alonzo in that list of SQ1? because we've not seen any of the Cadillacs or Aston Martins make it into a Q2 or an SQ2 this year. But Alonso, good surprise, gets in into the session, doesn't he? Tommy's good surprise who also ended up in the walls.

We will be discussing that, of course, on Sunday, depending on how it all unfolds from here. But yeah, a brilliant job up until that point for Alonzo, but of course it also secured him a position out of it. However, which way you see that, we will leave that up to you. But, yeah, apart from that, of course, Perez actually, you know, we speak about Perez being knocked out. He was very close to making it through as well. And I think that was a phenomenal job from Czecho. Eight tenths he put on Bottas, which is a big old margin. If you speak, I will bring up the P13 from Bottas in China.

So, you know, I've got to back Valtrey where I can. But yes, Bottas is definitely struggling for raw speed at the moment. So question, be on Patreon member, Justin. If not for the red flag, could we have seen Checo into SQ2? I think there was definitely a chance. I guess with no red flag, everybody's getting clean laps in. There was, of course, a manic rush right at the end, because there was about 35 seconds of leeway between a fast lap and then the prep time.

Which became 15 seconds when Hamilton didn't go. When Hamilton was like, you know what, I'm a chill. I'm a chill, guys. I am in no rush. But I think Perez probably still would have missed out, but it's not to take anything away from his performance. I think he's just hampered by what that Cadillac can do. But he's certainly got everything out of the car.

Yeah, definitely. He seemed quite gutted about not making it into SQ2, which maybe shows, you know, how much Cadillac have improved already. And he's having a fantastic season. You know, he's been able to do things this season. and put in decent performances and race midfield cars. You know, we've mentioned it quite a bit in drive ratings

that he's managed to put in these good performances, and this was another one from Perez. He's having a really good season so far, despite the limitations of the car. And, yeah, it's a shame for him, but at the end of the day, realistically, had he got into SQ2, he's finishing, like, 16th anyway, so it's not making it a huge difference,

even though it would have been like a nice feel-good story. Yeah, it would have been. But if Cadillac keep on this sort of trajectory, I think they will have their moment in the sun because they are certainly improving. They've improved a lot since the first race of the season, and I think they can all be very proud of what they've achieved so far. Question from P1 Patreon member Lex Wakeman,

otherwise known as maybe a Pierre Gazley slash Czecho fan boy, maybe. Why on earth did Lewis go out on the final bit of SQ1? because he and anyone else can do whatever they want and that is just part of the game and yeah you could argue that why did he need to do it because he was comfortably through he was in actually in first wasn't he at that at that stage looking very very quick in sq1 and yeah it was kind of amusing not for the people that wanted to do a time that it was it was lewis that was quite far i think it was third in the queue and was slow kind of starting so anyone that was already very close didn't make it but i think you know you can blame louis you've got to question why a lot of the the people that were so desperate to get through and on the bubble weren't further up and i know alp and it's difficult for them because uh as far as i'm aware they're quite far down the pit lane um i think they're the first garage with where you know they've finished in the constructors championship um so

it doesn't help but you do wonder if it's possible had they just kind of gone early and waited there or what they can do to make it happen and I know Gassley we saw him overtaking cars like crazy but it was all a bit a bit too late it certainly was I really don't think there as much that Alpine and Gassley could have done in that situation I think they are just hampered by the position that they are in the pit lane and the fact that they're not allowed to just go out and you for minutes on end, especially if there's been a red flag. I think they have to wait for a call to be able to enter the pit lane, to be able to then go out on track. So I'm sure that they are switched on enough to know that they weren't supposed to be languishing around and allowing

other cars to go out there. Back to the Lewis question, completely agree with you, Tommy. You can do whatever he wants. I think that the comical slash annoying, depending on who you support thing, was the fact that he was just trundling down the pits when it was a Why didn't the people behind overtake him, though? I don't know if they're allowed to at that stage. The Gazley did, didn't he? No, he did it on the exit. So once he went past the pit exit line, whether you turn off the pit limit.

Yeah, but I feel like Lewis was already passed and still quite slow. But I guess, yeah, I guess you can't overtake him in the pits when he had stopped, I guess. Yeah, I think that was where most of the time was lost anyway. But, I mean, realistically, you look at the, I know that, you know, not much has gone on in SQ1 when Corinne Chandox on the skypad analyzing Bottas missing the line by about eight seconds. So it wasn't like there was a driver that missed it by a really small margin. You know, Gazley was nowhere. So as much as Ghazley passed about six cars on the outside of the pit exit, which I found to be very entertaining and almost F1 game-like, to be

honest with you. But yeah, Lewis can do whatever he wants. And it's just, it was just a bit of a unfortunate time for Fernando Alonzo to have put it in the wall. Question from M. Sully 013. If a groundhog runs across the track and causes a crash, should the team still take a hit on their power unit or gearbox allocation? Or should an external incident like that be excluded from the unit cap and not cost them an extra P.U. or box. Gearbox. I assume that means.

I am of the opinion that if you start I mean as much as it's such an unfortunate moment I don't think you can have these external factors to be brought in when it comes to allocation because where do you limit this where do you where does it begin where does it end you know if a bird flies across the circuit a driver has to take avoiding action hits the wall

their P.U. is broken. It's just the nature of Formula One. It's like having a failure. As much as it is really annoying, really unfair on Alex and for Williams. I just don't think it's something that can really be introduced. I'm trying to think back to like when we had the drain cover stuff. That was the Carlos Sines one that comes to mind that he got a penalty for that actually.

Didn't take Carlos because he damaged his car and had to essentially like replace the parts. and then I think it ended up with a grid penalty potentially or something along those lines and there was a lot of outrage over it because it wasn't his fault. But you're right. Unfortunately, it is just the luck of the game or bad luck of the game. And it's just part of Formula One. You sometimes have good luck and sometimes you have incredibly bad luck and you to groundhog and go straight into the wall and don't even qualify.

It's just really unlucky for Alburn. but it opens a can of worms if you start allowing for these things because then teams start going, oh, well, this was an external factor or we did it on this curb that was loose and like teams will just try and find loopholes everywhere and it just would be a bit of a mess. Yeah, I do think that when it comes to circuits and perhaps a lack of, you know, surveying their own track conditions, that there is like a financial link there where teams can start, you know, chasing circuits to be like, well, the circuit literally wasn't up to scratch. But when it comes to allocations for stuff

and the actual effect that it has on the sport, I don't know, I just, I think it has to be a hard and fast rule. There's a lawyer side of like damages and things. I'm thinking like Malaysia when they had the, was it, was it a Lotus, I think, ran over a drain cover in Malaysia and then they were chasing damages from Sopang and maybe that was actually one of the reasons why they weren't able to continue on, I don't know.

But yeah, it was those kind of things I can understand where teams will go after financially, but from a sporting perspective, I think it just has to be a... It's just bad luck. Yeah, exactly, as much as it is very, very annoying. Let's now head to SQ2, where the bottom six in this session

were Holcombeau, Bortoletto, Colopinto, Ocon, Behrmann and Alonzo. It was pretty close as well for Max Verstappen. I have not said his name. Although at one point Tommy, you thought that I might well have been saying his name because he had a very steady lap and that's putting things nicely. It just wasn't really hooked up. He was down in ninth, but there was enough of a gap between him and that next sort of run of midfield cars,

about two or three tenths, which gave him that that buffer. And that's something we've just seen just in general, I think, so far in 2026 Formula One, that the chasm between the top eight, the top four teams and the rest of the field is so big that even if there are these moments of poor laps, like LeCler for example, I remember him in those first couple of sessions, what was constantly backing out of laps for one reason or another, and he's a second off the fastest time, but he's still chilling. Yeah, and then you're a second off the fastest time last year and you're in 16th or something. So this is the kind of good fortune for those top teams that there is this massive chasm

and kind of what we saw after testing. The only driver who will get onto is Limblad that somehow managed to, you know, and racing bulls looking quick, we didn't get to see what Lawson could do. But yeah, Max was saved very much by the fact that we saw just the top four teams were so clear and Limblad and it just meant no one else could could kind of touch them and we've mentioned kind of you know Ghazly and how how crazy it was but I think even even Alpine this weekend didn't look like they were well clear of the kind of midfield like we saw last time out so it does feel like that midfield kind of pack could well even though they're so far off the

top teams that the kind of the fight for ninth could could change a lot as we kind of see it throughout each race. Yeah, I think it's to be expected with the nature of where we are with these regulations. There are constant massive halls of upgrades coming. Some teams not upgrading at all. I'm looking at Ferrari and Aston Martin. They've brought nothing this weekend. And then you've got Mercedes bringing, I think, eight pieces of upgrades.

You've got McLaren with seven, even though they're a bit smaller. One thing you can count on is Audi being 11th and 12th, no matter. how much the midfield mixes up, Audi lock in 11th place every week it feels like. And then one of them won't start and the other one will have issues and neither will score points if Audi's season is anything to go by.

Fast but very fragile. Ocon outqualified bearman, of course Ocon had all of these incorrect rumours going around about him being replaced mid-season. Of course he absolutely wrote off the front of his car in Free Practice 1 and we were wondering what was going to really happen for him

for the rest of the weekend, but he was able to beat Bearman who had a very scruffy session in SQ2, which was a shame because Ollie's had a great start of the season, but maybe a couple of steady weekends is not what I expected to see, but Hasse may well just be falling behind already,

which is a very quick turnaround from what we had seen in the first couple of races. Definitely, I do wonder, where Hath just really, good around Melbourne maybe and but they had a decent start didn't they and they did well in China as well and we kind of thought that they were you know comfortably it looked like Hass and Alpine were like the stars of the midfield but has of yeah like really fallen back it it feels like and particularly

bearman had that amazing start to the season where I think you were scoring you know like P7s and P8s and things and looking really good but it's not not going his way at all and the gap again is just absolutely massive to to the top teams and you mentioned this in the watchalong the for a lap that's you know like a 113 the field spread is absolutely enormous certainly is it can only get smaller over the next however many years we have these regulations for let's now go to the final part of sprint qualifying sq3 where the top 10 were Russell, Antonelli, Norris Piaastri, Hamilton, LeCler, Vestappen, Hadjar, Linblad and Sines. Two by two by two by two, and then Lindblad and Sines.

First question, straight into it, Formula LT63. Is George Russell back? Kind of, but I think it's a very kind of quick thing to jump on and say that Russell's turned his season around completely because at the end of the day, he was 0.07 quicker than his teammate. And, you know, it's a very small margin. Could have easily gone the other way. He looked a lot more comfortable, even though, you know, he had that spin in FP1 and we're thinking, oh, no,

like, is George Russell's season really unraveling? But, yeah, he's got pole position, but it is just one session. And at the end of the day, Mercedes are clear. we're kind of like it feels like a reminiscent of the start of the season seeing that three-tenth gap when we all thought that maybe people had caught up and that little qualifying trick that they had that got blocked would slow them down a bit but no they are rapid again miles clear on a very short lap as well to be three-tenths clear of the McLaren's and yeah Russell has improved but it's such a small margin.

You know, we were used to seeing Russell putting quite a lot of time on Anthony last year, and it was still very close between them, but it's all going to come down to tomorrow, not just the actual sprint race, but also qualifying again for the big race where the big points are handed out. Exactly. I think it's very early to say whether he's back or not, but it's a strong performance out the blocks from George, but it's not like he has the advantage he had over,

Kimmy last year when they were around Canada, but of course two very different cars. So you can't really say that the form that we saw last year will be completely translated to this year. But Georgia's done a great job. This is what he needed to do. You think about the squeaky bum time that he had in free practice one where he very nearly wrote the front right suspension off when he had a spin into the first couple of corners and had a little love tap with the wall.

To bounce back from that to get sprint pole position. going to be fascinating to see how turns one and two go with those two if they are side by side into the first couple of corners. But let's wait and see. If I come away with about six points this weekend in the predictions because I've backed George Russell the entire way through, then George Russell may well be back. Let's put it that way.

So we shall see for the rest of the weekend. Question from P1 picture member, Captain Ops 34020. Will Ferrari ever figure out the soft? tires. So I said a few things in the watchalong, very much broken clock, right twice a day type vibes, but I did 100% predict that we were going to see, you know, we saw Hamilton fastest in the first session and basically looking incredibly competitive up until we get to SQ3 where they go from the mediums to the softs. And we have seen this so many times where they just don't have the same level of grip and confidence than they do on the mediums.

I don't understand what it is. Clearly there's something within the car and the way they fire up the tyres that the mediums just work better and have done for a very long time. Hamilton wasn't miles off. Don't get me wrong. Half a tenth. He had a lockup into the hairpin before the long back straight. Without that, he's he's P3 and maybe we're not talking about that. But Lewis was looking incredibly impressive. He'll be pretty gutted, I would say, starting P5 tomorrow. Perhaps a chance in Maine qualifying to sneak into P3. But I said, I was like, when we get to SQ3, I guarantee both McLeans will be ahead of the

Ferraris, and that is exactly what happened. And it was instant as well, wasn't it? We saw Hamilton mess up his first run. Huge moment coming out of the turn to, like, the kind of getting on the traction. And yeah, it's the same odd story with Ferrari that they look very quick and as soon as we get on the soft tires, they don't have the same level. You know, I think Hamilton definitely could have got the two McLaren's had it gone his way. But yeah, it's a disappointing one for Ferrari for sure because, yeah, I guess their only saving grace is the fact that McLaren aren't miles ahead of them, which I thought might. might be the case.

It's a small win, I guess. A small win to be behind them, so not really a win in the slightest, but I think a weird small win, and I can't believe I'm saying this, is that I'm happy with the Charlotte-Clair P-6, 800s off Hamilton, because it looked like it was going to be so much worse than that. LeClair looked like he was on the back foot the entirety of the qualifying session, and then, yeah, to be four-tenths off pole and starting P-6 is obviously not what I was hoping for after Bahrain pre-season testing.

but it's kind of the best I could have hoped. For him to be alongside Hamilton when Hamilton, yeah, like you were thinking that Hamilton would have been like three or four places ahead of him. But it was not so a great bounce back from Ferrari, P5 and P6 on the grid. Love that. It's not even like I can really rely on their fast starts anymore because McLaren have literally the same starts as them nowadays. So maybe all four of them will be ahead of the Mercedes come term one.

Don't think so. It was a very short run. Next question, actually, completely linked with it. P1 Patreon member Cece Hollister. Who leads after term one? I'm going to be boring in say George Russell. I know that the McLaren's will be strong. Lando has given himself an amazing opportunity

to think that he was actually P9 in that first run, looking like he'd messed up his lap completely. To start third, they start quick. It'll be on the clean side. so I think a lot of people will say that Lando has a good chance. But I just see a really short rundown to turn one. I do think Mercedes may have figured it out based on, you know, George Russell hasn't had particularly bad starts anywhere near as much as Kimi Antonelli,

even though they've not been amazing compared to the likes of McLaren and Ferrari. And it is a short, a short rundown to term one. Then even after that, there's not really many. places to pass and I think by the time we get halfway round the lap you think Mercedes should have kind of fired up everything and be fine so I'm gonna say Russell leads but I'm still I'm still very hyped for it because I think it's still very very tasty indeed to see just how much Antonelli risks I think to get into the lead where they plays it safe because

because it's only a point. It is only a point. I think it's Antonelli. Yeah, exactly. I really don't think that, Kimi, judging by all the things we've seen so far this year and the fact he's on the dirty side of the grid,

I think it will be Russell leads out of term one, just from Norris, then it'll be Piastri, and Antonelli will be fourth, then it'll be the two Ferraris. That's how I see it, unless Antonelli has sorted it out, Mercedes have said they found fixes and this, that and the other.

They'd also said they'd found things in the simulator, I think, prior to this weekend. So, yeah, if McClaren can get off the line, which they absolutely can, then Antonelli will be under pressure. Despite it being a short run, it doesn't take much to lose a position or two. So we'll see. That will definitely challenge Antonelli once again, being the championship leader. Does he just settle for a third or fourth? Doesn't really matter too much. If two or three points lost to George?

So yeah, let's see. That's going to be interesting, isn't it, with Antonelli? Like, is he... Yeah, when he manages... Yeah, how he manages this. Is he thinking about the championship already and thinking that it's better just to lose a couple of points of Georgia and not do anything silly?

Or is he going, no, I am absolutely certainly on my teammate to turn one? Yeah, ideally, Antonelli gets a slightly better start than Russell when they're side by side into turn one. That's what I want to see and how that would unfold. That's the best scenario. apart from Leclair, of course, leading out of turn one. And finally, I guess a quick shout out to Limblad. I think he deserves one of those for sure because he was,

I don't think he really got his plaudits, at least from what I could hear in the broadcast, of not only being P9, but just so far clear of the rest of the midfield, it was like he was in a Red Bull. Yeah, it was such a great performance from Limblad. and he's been off the back of a couple of pretty steady races, it has to be said. Of course, the first race of the season was amazing for him.

But then, of course, he was on the back foot in China. I think he only managed to get a few laps before they went straight into a sprint weekend. But Limblad here with this sprint weekend, it's worked out phenomenally well so far. So it's a well-done to Limblad and then for signs as well to make it into the top 10, although they need to be in the top eight to score points. Indeed, yeah. It's a shame for them that it looks like the top eight. kind of all things normal.

We know that doesn't always happen in Formula One, but the top eight are going to lock it out. But Limblad's been, you know, it's not even a case where he's just kind of putting an amazing lap in SQ3 and got into P9, he's consistently great. Don't want to take anything away from him, obviously, like we didn't get to see what Lawson could do to see whether it is just the case that the racing balls is fantastic.

But at the end of the day, as a rookie, he's delivered a fantastic performance and you know almost beat hijar which was looking like he might even beat hadjar or or even vestappen you know with with the pace that that racing ball had so yeah a great performance from from limbladen we've not really seen a huge amount from him since his amazing debut so it's nice to see and also you know you're saying about we don't know what lawson could have done well thankfully we have have a sprint weekend. And that means we have another qualifying session. Yes, Lawson will be slightly on the back foot in terms of practice running, but we will see that other racing ball, ideally, in another fast competitive session, qualifying session to see just where that racing ball deserves to be.

But I really don't think there's much more that Lindblad could have done. Otherwise, they're beating the main team of Red Bull. So there you go. We are finally poised for the sprint race tomorrow. and of course main qualifying, we'll be live for every single competitive session. If you want to come and join us for our watch-along, we'll be live on YouTube and Twitch.

So please come and join us there. Tommy, final thoughts, please? Just bring on the race start. I'm so hyped for it to see wrestling Antonelli side-by-side and what the McLarence can do. And yeah, it's just great to have Formula One back finally. And yeah, looking forward to the Watchalong, and please join us because it's going to be a good one.

certainly as we will see you very soon. Lots of love. Bye. Bye. P1 is a Stack production and part of the Acast created network.