P1 with Matt and Tommy - Reaction to Japanese GP practice

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

After a dramatic driver change already, we were expecting a few interesting stories to emerge from practice at Suzuka. But it turned out to be even more chaotic than we could've thought! You can listen to an extended version of every Race Review podcast over on our Patreon! Sign up to also get every P1 episode ad-free, early access to live tickets and merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Practice Friday in the locker. Not a lot's gone on since China in terms of news and storylines to keep an eye on. So it actually, obviously sarcasm fully loaded there. It actually made for a Friday viewing of interest for sure because of Yuki Snowder, of course, being in the Red Bull, Lawson back down in the V-cub, down or up. We will discuss that. Is it a demotion?

Is it a promotion? But Tommy, how are you feeling, bro? I'm feeling good. Yeah, the first session had the intrigue of seeing how people would do, and then the second session had absolute carnage, basically. Couldn't have been more polar opposite, really. Yes, because, let's be honest, nobody set their alarms for FP1 if you're in the UK, but we did catch up on it.

And it was pretty uneventful. You know, when you watch the highlights and they talk about the liveries and just generally cars going round on track and the lap times that they did that there wasn't much to talk about. Of course, Lando went off slightly, or was it Oscar? I can't remember one of the McLarence went off and Lando in the last chicane.

But the big storyline has to have been from Free Practice 1 and I love how we're saying big storylines attached to Free Practice 1. But Yuki Sunoda, the greatest of all time, one-tenth off of new teammate Max Verstappen, which, well, I was saying and thinking

before we watch Free Practice 2, here we go. Okay, all right. Red Bull have found the solution, but we can't really say too much about FP1, can we? No, because don't get me wrong, he did a good job, and it's a big headline kind of statement to go in and immediately, just for Red Bull Racing to be able to tweet a graphic

that doesn't say P5, P20, that actually has the two cars together for the first time in a very long time. It's good for them. of course we don't know yet because of we'll get into this but obviously Sonoda didn't really set a proper lap in the interrupted FP2 session but the thing is we don't know the kind of pace of the car and if Max was on a hot lap or whatever we will find out in FP3

but it is definitely a promising start for UK that's for sure certainly is first question P1 patreon member Savage Monkey 3.0 how well has Yuki adjusted so far he hasn't binned it, hasn't caused a red flag, like quite a few drivers, Fernando Alonso, and,

I mean, I say that, like I didn't give him biggest as good surprise this weekend. I don't know why I'm saying, but, you know, I just take any,

any sort of opportunity to pray for your downfall. But yeah, at UK, look, he's not made any headlines for any bad reasons. FP1,

as we said, up in P6, a 10th off max. That's all you can ask for and probably a little bit more than we all expected. free practice too he didn't even do a soft representative run we'll get into fb2 a little bit more shortly sandbagging clearly sandbagging yeah yeah yeah he knows he's got all that pace in he's actually gonna just

get get a pole position okay uh but yes i think the the only thing you can say from friday practice is that he didn't do anything drastically wrong and that's great exactly that's all all red bull needed really to just him have a solid session which he had a more than solid session in the first one and then the second one, you know, there'll be headlines and we'll talk about it of which car is actually quicker because of the lap times between the two Red Bull cars, but we didn't actually see what Yuki could do in that interrupted session. So we'll have to find out tomorrow really. And next question, this makes me laugh, but we're going to read it out anyway at McCrickers. Does Yuki's initial performance show Horner and Marco were wrong all this time?

Wow, that is one of the biggest knee-jerk reactions I've seen so far this season. One Friday practice in the locker, Yuki Sanoda, one of the best drivers we've seen in the modern era. They were all wrong. Let's just wait and see. I still think Red Bull are struggling. Overall, we saw some very difficult on boards for Max Verstappen in particular, where they will actually line up. I'm actually quite confident now, and I wasn't coming.

into this weekend about my crazy prediction about racing balls potentially being ahead of Red Bull. But from this Friday running, it's looked like it could genuinely be possible. So we will wait and see on that one, won't we, Tommy? We will. Yeah, we don't know yet. You know, if UKE does do well, we'll have this conversation because I think there's a lot to be said about Horner and Marcos management of the Red Bull team and how, you know, in two races, they've put. to the guy that potentially, well, arguably should have been there in the first place. And so if he does a good job, it does kind of embarrass them, even though obviously they'll want him to do a good job.

One thing I have not seen, though, and I can't believe that journalists haven't asked, is why wasn't Yuki put in in the first place? No one seems to have asked Christian Holder that question. It'd be interesting to see, I think, the team principal press conferences today, I believe, so it would be interesting to see if that gets asked. But of course, you know, Yuki Sanoda was the more experienced driver, the more fan favourite, the more, you know, commercial driver. So why they put Lawson in the first place?

Because we've heard from them, and something that Christian Horner has actually said, is that hearing from the Red Bull team themselves, he kind of alluded to the fact that Lawson was out as dead. depth a bit when they were talking about car setup and how to actually get a handle on the car. So I really want to know why Yuki wasn't putting in the first place for me. So do I. We're not going to get a actual answer, are we though?

If anyone asks that, and they probably have, to be honest with you, I seem to recall sort of wishy-washy answers of the fact that they were both very close and they decided to go with Lorsanova Sonoda. But I think, as you say, very more commercially viable as Soda. Well, I'm a Marco trying to blame Adrian Newey. and then Adrian Newey's wife tweeted, this makes no sense he was on gardening leave. I don't know if you saw that.

I did. I didn't see the Newie wife tweet, but I did see the Marco slander towards Newy. Basically just overall just shows what crazy situation rebel are in. They're all just sort of internally combusting right now. This time last year, they were in McLaren's situation of like, they're untouchable, you know, their four-tenths clear

what's happening. What an absolutely insane thing to think literally this time last year we're going, no one will catch red ball. They're invincible. Let's get on to Free Practice 2 then. And this one was the exact opposite of what we saw in Free Practice 1. It was crazy. We had four red flags, one of which was caused by Jack Duhin, who had a massive crash.

It was such high speed into term 1. And I was watching the sky coverage. I know you were as well, Tommy. Not particularly leaning towards a reason as to why he crashed that way. Immediately when I saw it, that looks exactly like me on the F1 game many, many times where I've forgotten to close DRS and the rear has gone goodbye, and then you just lose all downforce and you're into the wall.

It looked almost exactly the same for doing. And then riding on board as well, you see the replays, Then you see the F1 TV analysis and Jolian Palmer, who is great. And he said that, you know, you can see on the steering wheel that there's these green lights, which suggest that the DRS is open. So as much as from the replays, you can't see necessarily the rear flap open. By the time, obviously, he starts to lose it. He's probably pressed the brakes and therefore the DRS closes automatically.

But if you aren't aware, DRS doesn't close automatically, it's whenever you press the brakes. So press the brake, DRS closes. But into turn one, they press the brakes. so late, pretty much into turn two, that they have to manually close the DRS. And from what it looks like right now, whether there's been more analysis, we wait to see, it just looks like Dewan has forgotten to close his DRS. There was obviously the reasonings potentially of bottoming out, of him dipping a wheel. I don't think he dipped a wheel.

It didn't look like he dipped a wheel. The bottoming out thing is hard to obviously judge. But from what I've seen, that is very much driver error for getting to, close the DRS. It seems a very plausible reason and I'm inclined to go with Julian Palmer, who's a recent you know, Formula One driver that's kind of driven in Formula One failure recently in this DRS era, if you like. As you were saying that, one thing that popped into my mind was back when they were

kind of allowing DRS, there was that moment, I believe it was 2018 at the British Grand Prix and they kind of allowed DRS through corners and things and yeah Marcus Erickson forgot to close the DRS there and it's a very similar crash where the rear just it's like literally like banana peel Mario car the whole back end just spins round and you're a passenger and it looked very very similar to that so I'd be inclined to believe that was the case

but just thank goodness he's okay because you see it's a way thing to say because you know Formula One cars are going fast, but until they go off, you don't kind of almost get that realization of just how insanely quick they're going into these corners because boy, when you kind of see him go off, you're kind of taken back and go, oh my word, this is quite insane. It was quite an uncomfortable watch to see the car going in that quick and just madness that this kind can happen and he can jump out now. It is incredible.

So glad to see Dewan walk away from what we know as unscathed. What I will say as well on the whole Dewan conversation that maybe hasn't been spoken about is, and this kind of points more towards again Alpine, not exactly backing Dewan for his entire rookie season. It's the fact that he had to sit out for he practice one. He's literally a rookie in the third race of the season, and they've put Hirokawa in to replace him. rather than Ghazly,

which tells you, I think, in my opinion, all you need to know about where Alpine's eggs lay. So for me, obviously, Deuan is on the back foot slightly.

Yes, he should have built up more and, you know, the absolute categorical reason has not been put out there, but what we've kind of discussed, I think,

is very plausible with the DRS not being closed. You have to feel a little bit for him in the sense of, if a team genuinely, wants a driver to improve and build into a season, they give him free practice one in his third race weekend. But alas, glad to see Dewan walk away from it okay. If it is put down to absolute driver error, then it's not good for his prospects for the future. Of course, the colapinto

rumour mill will continue on, I'm sure. But yes, we'll move on now to a question from Ellen Louise 87. Were the commentators too nice when saying that Dewan's crash wasn't driver error. He didn't close his DRS. Obviously, we've touched upon this, but I think that it's not necessarily being too nice as commentators. I can understand if there's not a logical explanation right there to describe, then they have to kind of play slightly cautious. We can be a little bit more, well, I think it was this.

But realistically, commentators are supposed to say what they see and then analyze the facts and the camera angles weren't ideal. We kind of needed a rear view facing camera of Duhans on. board and then we'll be able to tell immediately what would happen what happened. I know some people might be saying the DRS was closed but by the time we could actually see it, he was already losing the car and that's probably when we were just going on that green light thing, weren't we on the steering where which supposedly means that it's open and he's turning at that point. I'm sure maybe Formula One and Jolian Palmer has more angles and things because we know that F1 TV going to a lot more detail and

can analyse it. The sky don't obviously get to do that until maybe after the session. where they can get on the skypad and do things like that. So like you say, they can't wildly speculate and go, oh, you know, imagine, you know, if it wasn't driver error. And they were like, oh, Jet Doan, what a mistake. He's in the bin. Get Colapinto in. They can't.

They can't. Next question. P1PATry member Fraser. What's going on with Alonzo? Well, look, as a number two driver at Aston, Fernando Alonzo, he's just building into his rookie season. Look, it's going from bad to worse for Alonzo so far this year. As in, well, to be fair, it's just been worse.

There's been no good moments to speak of of Fernando's season. And I thought, well, all he has to do is finish in Japan. And I've got a biggest, well, a good surprise locked in and can't even finish free practice too, Tommy. So. And he's finished. Look, it, it, it, it, it. It was actually quite an uncharacteristic error for Fernando Alonzo, just literally not understanding the specifications and width of his car.

That is a genuine driver error, dipping a wheel into the grass and then going off at Degna 1. It is uncharacteristic, and I wouldn't expect that from Fernando Alonzo of all drivers. And I'm not going to throw it out just yet. But of course, he is the oldest driver on the grid. he is fighting science and nature as the week's pass Tommy is he getting too old he's he's probably just dreaming of driving that old 2005 Renault and thought it was a lot of a smaller car

than a car and dipped a wheel I think it's just until until we kind of see it in the race where he makes an error it's a load of rubbish yes he spun off it doesn't look great but his his kind of season has been so over-exaggerated with, oh, he's absolutely washed, you know, he's, he's been ahead of stroll when he's retired in both the, both the races. One less so his, his kind of error and

one definitely not his error with just a car mechanical failure. It was quicker than stroll in both sessions. Sounds like a lot of copium over there to, I just think it's absolutely ridiculous to be. Like people have just, you know, he's spun off in a free practice session and suddenly he's, you know, 43 and he's go to the retirement home. Like, no, just no. No, I know. I'm only poking fun when I say he's too old. People do genuinely believe it and that it's a later revision. Yeah, let's assess going into qualifying in the race where it really matters when Fernando Alonzo out qualifies Lancho and there's running in the points, then his engine blows off or something. But yes, we'll wait and see. Until we see Alonzo kind of. people are kind of jumping on and straw's had a good start to the season don't get me wrong but but they're kind of jumping on the fact that you know until lance stroll is just out

qualifying alonzo and beating him every single weekend then i will i say happily unhappily admit that maybe his time has passed but until then he's isn't that's not the case yeah if stroll outscores him this this this season even with these moments of unluckiness and and whatnot then he's just got to call it quits, isn't he? Next question. People on Patreon member, Wilderness Ted. Are grassfires common enough that they should try to do something to prevent them on dry circuits? Well, this is the second time, I believe.

The first being China last year where they had a little grass fire. This one was definitely more visually shocking, especially the second grass fire that was spreading quite drastically. They used, and this is from what Sky said, a chemical last year to try and combat the problems of the floor rubbing against the track and therefore causing sparks. And then with it being windy as well, it would then push the sparks onto the grass and, of course, cause fires. So they're going to have to do something for sure. Otherwise, we could get red flags in the race. We could get red flags in qualifying tomorrow.

And that's not what we want. I mean, drivers are struggling out there enough as it is, let alone having grass. fires as well. So yeah, they'll be working hard. The FIA, Formula One, they'll come up with a solution to this, I'm sure. They're not just going to leave it and go, well, hopefully tomorrow it's better or Sunday, of course, there's going to be a bit of rain, which will help in the morning, whether that will then translate into a race session. We will wait and see. But they will figure it out. They will figure it out. It always seems to happen, you know, happen in China in a practice session and it's better that it happens in a practice session than

halfway through the Grand Prix and then they go, oh no, we've not prepared for this and then it keeps happening. Can you imagine this happening during the race when, yeah, they're not prepared for it and then it keeps happening every 20 minutes or something. So that's kind of, they can consider themselves lucky really that it's happened in practice and they can probably do something about it. Absolutely. Next question. James B.CF, CF1. So when is Max Verstappen getting promoted to V-Carb? Well, as we're into free practice two, let's just read out the top five, Piastri, Norris Hadjar, Hamilton Lawson.

Vastappen was an eighth, Sonoda in 18th, as we sort of touched upon earlier. Sonoda didn't do a soft-tire run. Don't know why. I don't know why they decided to just leave him on a two-and-a-half-second, a lap slower time. I would have loved to have seen a soft-tire run from Yuki, but alas, we can't really judge too much from free practice too.

But it's rather concerning if you're, you're Red Bull. And did I expect the racing balls to be that high up? Absolutely not. It's, I can't see it happening from so many, even just from a PR perspective from Red Bull. Like,

if they genuinely even, they can't do that. They just can't. It just would not work. As much as we joke about it, I cannot see a world unless racing balls are quite literally half a second a lap clear down the road where this happens. It's close. It's a tenth between Vastappan and then Lawson and Hajar ahead. It's not complete panic stations at the moment, but racing balls have got a pretty decent package by the looks of things.

They've got a very, very decent package. I mean, Hajar was what two tenths off Vestappen in qualifying. for the Chinese Grand Prix. We've now gone into another track where, yeah, you need a lot of downforce and the Red Bull is clearly struggling. We saw Vestappen, I think at the end of the session, just fighting the car like he was on a wet track almost. It was quite insane to watch. And I don't think, you know, it would be absolutely ludicrous in all the crazy decisions

that Red Bull have done. that this one would be the most ridiculous of them all. I don't see any way it could will ever or could ever happen. They've of course have that luxury that they've got two teams, but it would just be so embarrassing. They need to sort their problems out there because it does not look great at all to see. I think that is more of a kick in the face

the fact that yes Red Bull are nowhere near what they were last year but even more of a kick in the face that the V-cab is seemingly so quick and looks so good and of course

you know that that team based in Italy don't have the same kind of budgets and stuff yes they have a lot of the you know what they can learn from each other legally but it's not a good look for Red Bull at all. And racing balls look rapid. I know it's only practiced, but they really do look very quick. So for those are you wondering, as much as we say,

I don't think it's going to happen. Max surely isn't going to go to racing balls if they genuinely are quicker. They can make that switch. There's nothing to stop them from doing that. We've just, we've seen it with Lawson and Sonoda. Max could, oh God, that would. Can you imagine the controversy though. Absolutely. Yeah. Because realistically, you think how much controversy Daniel Ricardo doing a fastest lap to take it off Norris at the end of last year was in the sister team, can you imagine if they put Max in that V-car while it's really quick and he does a really good job and then they switch him back as soon as they sort their car troubles out? that would

I know it's so unlikely to happen but imagine the controversy about it that would open up a whole new level of this kind of should a company have two teams in Formula One that would open up a whole new thing that we never possibly could have expected Can you imagine like going into a race weekend

so which team is Max going to drive for that's one of our predictions for the race weekend coming up. There's nothing to stop them doing it even after a practice session, right? I would not be surprised. There's part of me that's like, would it or wouldn't it, where Max goes, just put me in, put me in for FP1. Let me, let me have a, let me have a taste of this. Let me see what this racing balls is. He gets so much. I'm surprised he's not, I'd get him to Fienza and get on the sim and have a, have a go and see if you see what his lap times are compared to the others, because he might be like, what?

Oh, guys, you have a championship winning car? Can I have it, please? I would be surprised if he hasn't already had a go, to be honest with you. It is Max. He loves his simulators anyway. I'm sure he's very interested to know what that racing balls has to offer. But then, you know, as much as we joke and we say, oh, could he go to the racing balls, etc., etc.

If Max then jumps out of that Red Bull, it's basically just signing, sealing and delivering a very poor season for that car over at Red Bull, just purely because they need Max to help develop it. And if he jogs on to the other team, they're just going to go back. And it's already developed in his direction as well for him then to ditch it and go, I like this car, but now it's gone a bit too far. Good luck, Yuki and William. Exactly.

And I mean, we're just living in dream world right now. But then if Max goes to V-carb, do they then rebrand back to Red Bull? So the V-Carb is Red Bull racing again. All the sponsors go over. Oh, God. I mean, that would be a world that literally would not exist. But it's quite fun to think about all the same. Let's now also touch upon the fact that it was a McLaren 1-2,

Piastri ahead of Norris. They were going a lot quicker than what those 28-1s suggest as well. I do wonder if they were using their tyres at a different point in the track because I think Piastri and Norris were both about three-tenths up, or at least Lando was three-tenths up through the middle sector, ended up not improving, or at least not beating Piastri at the end in this final sector. It's close to what you were predicting, Tommy, coming into this, of course. You know, you said half a second clear of the rest of the pack.

I am not convinced that Hajjar is genuinely the third fastest car out there because Ferrari haven't shown their hand. They are low, low, low power engine modes from what I've been told by my delusional brain. but McLaren do look genuinely unstoppable, but they have to deliver, and that's something that consistently over a 24 race season, they need to do for the first time. And Oscar looked like he was a little bit further back than Lando,

but then put that lap in at the end. I'd love to see a half a tenth separate the two of them at the front, but they do genuinely have the best package at the moment. So shout out to Lights Out Blog, combined this of basically the perfect sectors that they did through everything to show like an ideal lap from the practice sessions. Norris would be first, Piastri three tenths off, and then Lecler in third, six and a half tenths off. Yeah, relax.

That McLaren looks very good, but as we know, it's just the driver line up. I... As Landis reminded us... Hey, look, don't take that quote out of context, bro. have an army on you. But yeah, I think that with the sectors, I am convinced that they were just using their tyres in a different part of the track, whether those optimal sectors is actually something that they can deliver on.

I'm not sure. But they have a handful of tents in the locker to play with. And that is it. That is our Friday wrap-up done and dusted. We will see you tomorrow where we will be live on YouTube and Twitch, as always, to stream qualifying. I'll watch along over on there. Come and join us if you haven't before. Tommy, what are your final thoughts? Bring on qualifying. Is that it? Three words? No, because Suzuki is just a banging track for qualifying. It's so high speed. Watching Formula One cars.

It's not the best track for overtaking in the race, but qualifying is just mega, so I can't wait for it. God, you love a quali but can't overtake race, don't? Oh, yeah. It's just monocke. me up. But yeah, it is awesome. Looking forward to that 7 a.m. UK time. We'll be live about half an hour prior to qualifying starting and we will see you very soon. Lots of love. Take care. Bye. Bye. My chore, Tommy's chore, all of our chores. Go get some medicine. Get some medicine. Yeah. Go get some meds. What are you going to be popping? What pills are you going to be popping, Tommy?

Some cowpole. Cold and flu tablets. I'm on at the moment. Cowpole, what a throwback. That used to just be an absolute banging drink, didn't it? It is. It's literally medicine. Grace cowpole and it's like, this is the nicest. Yeah, you kind of almost wished to be a little bit ill, didn't you? Just so you could have some cowpile.

Mom, I think I need another spoonful of cowpole. Anyway, not sure. Goodbye. Take care. Good boss of love, sweet dreams. God, Tommy, you're looking swall today. P1 is a Stack production and part of the Acast's creator network.