P1 with Matt and Tommy - Reaction to Mexico City GP practice

Episode Date: October 25, 2025

We were treated to two surprisingly interesting practice sessions over in Mexico City. The relative Championship contenders' form continued, some impressive rookies took to the track and we face more tedious tyre trouble this weekend. Join us! The Delusion Tour is only a few weeks away! We're heading to North America in November and there are still a few tickets available - click here to grab yours: tix.to/p1liveYou can listen to an extended version of every Race Review episode over on our Patreon! You'll also access to 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 back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Ran out of air there, but we are, well, to be fair, that was a good joke because the attitude. Anyway, Mexico City, we're here, another weekend, bish, bash, bosh. We love the fact that it's back-to-back weekends because of everything, all the storylines, all the question marks after Austin, 40 points between the top three. And Friday is done and dusted. No sprint weekend to get excited about Tommy.

We had two honing of the cars, but two very different practice sessions as well. For practice sessions around Mexico City, which doesn't usually get the blood flowing, you had rookies in one, and then, oh dear, piastri maybe in the other. Yeah, we had the continue of form of essentially the reverse order of the top three in the championship and their performance going into it. So it's certainly, you know, got everything. everyone very excited going into the competitive sessions of qualifying in the race on Sunday. Now, before we get into FP1 and FP2, we love to sort of kind of just look into the things that have been spoken out in the run-up to this weekend.

And it's repercussions gate. We need to dive into that once again. But that is because it's all fair in love and war. And it's fair right now, apparently, according to McLaren, because ahead of the weekend, Piastri confirmed the repatri confirmed the repatri. repercussions that were given to Landau after Singapore, which was supposedly, for the rest of the season, have now been eradicated because of what happened in Austin Sprint, you would assume, and the fact that Oscar did that questionable move that we kind of highlighted. And now they're back to having a clean slate. So I know that it's now supposedly a level playing field. I'm like, just leave it alone now. You've got to just leave it alone if we get another.

incident, does Oscar, if Oscar's at fault, does he then have the repercussions that Lando had initially, or that was going to be for the rest of the season? But I beg, McLaren, just leave them alone now, let them race. It's absolutely pathetic, isn't it? I mean, McLaren have just been doing this all year. And I think it says a lot about this World Championship, how, you know, badly and how annoyed Formula One fans are, and neutral Formula One fans, or even McLaren fans themselves at how much McLaren are just trying to micro-manage this championship with every single little detail. And I think it speaks volumes that even Max Verstapp and haters are literally begging Max to win the

the world title now. I think that says everything you need to know about people's thoughts on how McLaren are going about this championship. What's the phrase? Max needs new haters because the old ones are starting to love him or something like that. Yeah. I was never a Maxfussab and Hater. I always appreciated his ability.

But now, of course, I am fully in the fandom. And looking forward to my daddy, I love him, T-shirt to also arrive. No, I haven't ordered it. Don't worry. Maybe I need something. Right, let's get into free practice one. Charlottler fastest. Now, part of that, I'm sure, is because there were nine rookies that were taking part in FB1.

But we ignore that as a Ferrari fan who, I mean, literally Mexico was the last time Ferrari won. We ignore all that and we say Charlotte Claire's back, Ferrari back, such a shame he's out of the championship hunt at this point. But of course, Charlotte Claire fastest with 183. Kimmy Antonelli was second and Nika Holkenberg was third. It's clearly a very representative session. Representative.

That's the main word here, Tommy, right? Yes, there's not, like you say, there's not many of the full-time top drivers in competing. so, but that being said, Ferrari did look quick straight out the blocks, although not with their other car, but they would always be on the back foot. Obviously, Antonio Fouca was a, you know, 29-year-old that's jumped in the car to kind of, let's be honest, tick a box for Ferrari to, you know, he's not going to be the next driver in Ferrari or anything like that. It's just to kind of tick off that box really.

And the Ferrari out of their ticker boxes. put me in the car for the next time they need to tick that box. You know what I'm saying? Like, come on. I mean, imagine a 29-year-old rookie. That'd be something, wouldn't it? Particularly as no GPS as well in the chaos, which made it even more challenging for the rookies, essentially.

Chaos with the broadcast, where we literally just had the international feed and that was it. No on boards, no live timings, apart from obviously the timing tower. And then more so, of course, for the teams and being able to spot kind of. cars around a track that maybe doesn't quite come across just from first glance that it would be such a traffic heavy circuit. But it is. It's a one minute 18, one minute 17 lap with 20 cars out there. Yeah, a lot of blind corners, a lot of fast corners. So I think, to be fair, the teams and the drivers did a phenomenal job to not have anything of real notes that you went,

God, that was close to being an absolute plane crash. Or in fact, having a crash out there, there wasn't one. So considering all the problems, fair play. Yeah, absolutely, because we have seen it before. I think it was last year, was Alex Halbern had a crash with someone during one of the practice sessions last year, I believe. So off the top of my head. But you mentioned the broadcast as well. You've got to feel sorry for them because, of course, they got absolutely cooked and rightly so in Singapore.

But the feedback from Austin was actually, you know, the broadcast was doing a great job. You could tell they listened to the memes and were affected by the Formula One community ranting and saying, finally, yeah, finally sunk in. And we actually got to see so much of the track. They weren't cutting away from, you know, to the garage shots all the time and drivers, girlfriends and all that. And they finally get it nailed after, you know, Austin. And then they go into the next race and all their systems go down and they can't deliver it. on board so hopefully that's back for for the main thing well free practice too it was sorted as well so it was very much a one session thing fingers crossed still focusing on free practice

one question from p1 patron member one ming yp1 arvid linblad setting a faster fp1 time than yuki sonoda the only rookie to beat his teammate in fp1 what's the final straw for yuki wasn't it I was actually chatting about this with my girlfriend, Ellie. She's a big Formula One fan. She listens to the P1 podcast. Big shout out to you, of course, part of the crazy family prediction series that we do. I was just trying to think about how this is going to unfold at the Red Bull family because I just feel like it's so unbelievably unfair for Yuki Sonoda to have had all the hype to a degree in the run-up to.

to the Red Bull seat. And then he's had absolutely no opportunity to really showcase his ability purely by the fact that that Red Ball is categorically a car that only Max Verstappen can drive. We can all sort of accept that now. We've had far too much evidence to suggest anything else.

Of course, seeing this, I feel, yeah, I think it's more about Limblad doing a phenomenal job, I would say. It's free practice one, let's not forget. I'm not saying that Yuki Sanoda has put down the lap of his life and he's eighth in free practice one, seven tenths off. He also, by the way, has a new front wing now,

which supposedly, depending on translation, seems as though they were expecting for Yuki to be within three-tenths of Max Rastappen. That's how some people have been reading it. Either way, there should be some sort of performance gain for Yuki this race. So I'm not going to go ahead and start saying Yuki's this, Yuki's that, Yuki's terrible for a free practice one time. I think this is more an opportunity to say,

say that Arvid Limblad did exactly what he needed to do to put himself even more on the map than perhaps he was. I mean, this is where the hype is with Arvid at the moment anyway. But to put down the sixth fastest time in a red ball that's supposed to be very difficult to drive, hats off to you. Absolutely. And I'll thank him as well because I had Yuki Sanoda as my big flop for the weekend and him being beaten by a rookie is, that's just locked in already, even if he wins the race. no I'm joking but I think this does say

I mean I said this so many times I think it's the final straw it was the final straw for Yuki Snowda anyway I don't think it's fair that that is the case he was fighting a losing battle being matched as a Tappan's teammate particularly joining in I'll say halfway through the season two races into the season and not having

the testing but unfortunately for him I'd be really surprised if he stays in the Red Bull family as well. But it says more about Limblad for sure because I think he's done a good job in Formula 2. There's a lot of hype around him. He's not been like absolutely unbelievable in Formula 2

that it's kind of a, oh, he absolutely has to be in like we've maybe seen with certain drivers like you George Russell's, you LaClauze, you Verstappans. But that being said to go... Did Vastappen do F2, bro? I meant just Juniors. Sorry, just thought I dropped some Vastappan law there. Actually, they would be questioning that.

Yeah, there will be. You can't be saying Vastappans. But Limblad, the fact that he's jumped straight into a Formula One car in a in a session, like a proper Formula One session, and beat in Yuki Snowda. Like, if he already, he's obviously like, it seems like he's like 95% confirmed anyway. If you needed that extra 5% like, easy, easy done. like he's in that car next year, not the Red Bull, but a Formula One car in the V-Cub. Makes a lot of sense, to be honest with you. I just hope that he's able to perform to the level that everybody is expecting.

Now, before we dive to free practice two, probably also worth mentioning that we've got the exciting step difference in the tyres this weekend, similar to how we had in Austin as well, which made the hard tyres completely and utterly useless. So the C-2... So which tire is useless this week? Yeah, and I would imagine, well, let's see, but it's C2, sorry, the C, let me make sure this is correct, because I'm pretty sure the step is the hard, so I'm pretty sure it's the C2C4C5, if I'm not mistaken. Let me just 100% check this right now, Mexico Pirelli tires.

We're doing a live check. I'm pretty sure it's the C2, C5, it is. So in the sheet, I've been thrown off, but that's because I'm pretty sure I said that initially to you and then got the numbers wrong. C2, C4, C5 is, or other tires available, which, yeah, again, would suggest that perhaps the hard tires won't be used, which is what Pirelli, I think, are trying to do here is get those two softer tires on the car

and perhaps push them into a two-stop. Whether that will happen, who knows? Because as much as we have long straits and high downforce on the cars, doesn't matter, there's no air. Therefore, there's no slipstream, and it's probably as hard to overtake as it is in Monza. But I do like the fact that Pirelli are doing it again.

That is, that's a double. You put them in, put them in, put me, that's Wirelli right now. I do like they're doing it. I do like that they're doing it for sure. But unfortunately for them, it does rarely work just from the fact that, I mean, it's better than them not doing it. But it's just more the fact that it does rarely work just because they, they are always allowed to obviously.

off one of the tires because they only need to use two. So just get them to use three. Come on. It's an interesting point, isn't it? Because on paper, if they're forced into a two-stop, that's a win, right? That's what they're after. But the problem is if the teams are able to do a one-stop, that it is a very, it's a very normal strategy. There's not much difference.

You either start on the softs or start on the mediums like we saw in Austin and then just change to the other tire and it's a one-stop. So there isn't even that excitement of starting on the hards and then doing the softs because if the hards are useless and it looks like they are. I think they're 1.7 to 1.9 seconds a lap slower than the soft tires in raw pace. So let's see. I await to be fully excited by this, but at the same time, I like the theory of it. I just want it to actually happen and for the tires to degrade. Yeah, yeah, agreed.

That's what needs to happen, but I don't, yeah, I don't want to slander probably. because it's not their fault. It's that they only doing what they can and they're trying something to try and spice it up. But until we get this kind of rule where they have to use three compounds, which I think is such an easy thing to implement, and they should be doing it. I don't see why they haven't even questioned it or have been brought to the table yet.

It's not going to make a difference. Let's head to Free Practice 2, where Max Verstappen was fastest ahead of Charles Lecler, and Kimmy Antonelli. Lando Norris was P4, Piastri, P12. Let's get into the first question on this session. P1 Patreon member Blackson, panic stations at McLaren? I think certainly for one driver, who will obviously go into more detail with,

I mean, McLaren, yeah, they, of course are, they seem to have almost maxed out their car. They obviously have that amazing advantage, particularly in the middle part of the season, where of course we didn't think Max was going to be in this title at all because they went through that middle part of the season where they were just getting one-toes easily every single weekend, you know, around Silverstone time,

and even, you know, continuing into, after the summer break we got into Zamvort and they would have got a one-two again, obviously without the mechanical failure from Norris. So they were looking so dominant and now other teams have still got, you know, upgrades and particularly Red Bull in the locker. And McLaren don't really have a huge amount left.

There was a graphic come up on the screen saying that they were third fastest. I don't believe that for a second. Explain the graphic that you saw for those that were seen. Yeah, so if you've seen at the start of the sessions, they like to do a performance graphic where they tell you which car's fastest, and it had Red Bull first, Mercedes, 2nd. and McLaren is the third fastest car now,

which I think it's a bit extreme to think, particularly that they're slower than Mercedes. I think Singapore, you know, was a brilliant lap from George, and there's obviously loads of data involved in it. It was also incredibly difficult to judge the Red Bull when you've only got one driver delivering as well. But, yeah, I think McLaren, they certainly do not have the dominance that they,

had before. They're not far and away the best car. They can still challenge for victories. I still think last time out in Austin, you know, Lando had the pace of Max. You saw that when he got past Leclair. So they do have a very good car underneath them. But I think it's more panic stations for Oscar Piastri being so far off his teammate again, particularly as he is the, you know, he's the one that did do FP1. Yeah, Oscar's post-practice interview was quite telling, I think, in the sense of not exuding confidence, sort of saying the car was reasonable, which I think is about as polite as you can get with a driver that's PR trained to say,

if you read between the lines, he's not happy with the car. And this is, I think Jacques Villeneuve said in commentary that it seems like it's a continuation for Oscar Piastri, and I have to agree that this is not, as much as Friday's nothing, right? It's practice, you're trying to figure it out, maybe he's trying loads of different ways of driving the car, things like that. But I feel like he is scrambling now to try and claw back the deficit that he has now to Lando and to Max. He doesn't have the healthy buffer that he once had. He's never had a massive buffer in the championship, but he was turning up almost week in, week out with this pace that we expected to be as quick as Lando, if not a little bit quicker. So for me, this is the absolute opposite of what Oscar Piaastri needed.

He literally had an extra practice session. Lando was the one sitting out, had Pato Awarding for FP1 instead of Lando. So Oscar's had an additional practice session. Now, I'm not saying he's 12th fastest. It was a scruffy lap from what we saw. But I really don't think he was troubling the top five with that lap, even if he had put it together a little bit better. Oscar tomorrow needs to be in the top four minimum.

That absolute minimum he needs to be in the top four. With Mexico City, of course, there is an opportunity for slip streaming down towards term one. So it's not the end of the world if you're not on pole position. but the problem for him is that, and we've said this before about other teammate comparisons like Max with Synod or Max with literally anybody's ever had in the Red Bull, tracks like this where the gaps between the teams aren't that big.

If you are three, four tenths off your teammate, you could well be starting eighth, ninth, tenth, because of how quick this circuit is. It's one minute's 17. So for Oscar, I'm a little bit concerned for him, for sure. And I'm not saying it's panic station. yet, but it's not looking great. And also just quickly, finally on this one,

the Ferrari team radio was a bit of an insight as well, where Charlotte-Clau was questioning, all right, you know, a McLaren light years ahead, how was the pace? They said Lando was looking very quick. I'm assuming here, but I reckon they were talking about race pace because they can see the time. Charles doesn't need to ask, you know, where is Oscar and things like that. And they said that Lando looked really fast

and basically not so much Oscar. It is fascinating how the, I think the thing here as well is I don't think Oscar is going to be that far off. I'll certainly be hoping that he's not. But it does increase that pressure, doesn't it, going into the rest of the weekend? However much it is a session that literally doesn't matter, the fact that he now has to end the day. And that will be the headline that might just happen as fast. again, and Oscar Piastri is 12th. You know, it's a really poor position to be in

and he'll be, of course, you know, bombarded with questions going, and there'll be all this talk. And that as well is the pressure of the championship. Another thing I saw actually, I'm sure you saw this as well, that there's a lot of talk about these FP1 sessions and how Oscar obviously still has to sacrifice one of them.

And going into the final few rounds, of course, they're not going to pick Vegas because it's a street track. they're not going to pick the two sprints. So he's very, very, very likely that he's going to have to sit out FP1 at Abu Dhabi, which of course is going to be the title finale. I know it's a non-representative session. Of course. But, well, yeah, you don't know how it's going to pan out.

But that's another kind of confidence blow, I think, going into that session and just increases that pressure a little bit more. Absolutely. A lot of fascinating stuff going into this weekend's action. Question from One Pablo SF1. Is there foul play going on on Oscar's side? No. It's just we discussed this, didn't we, in the last podcast, that Oscar hasn't been as good at these final circuits throughout S career so far.

Of course, there's a very short Formula One career, so there's not a huge amount to go on. And obviously he's struggling for confidence in that car. We know that the start of the season, the McLaren was incredibly quick, and it suited Oscar massively and his driving style. And that was Lando's biggest problem, wasn't it, that he struggled with the car. And now it seems that Lando, as that cars developed, Lando's got a hold of it much better, and Oscar's the one that's struggling a lot more.

But there's no way that McLaren sabotage their own championship leader. I do think, and I said this about Monsa and how that mentality is kind of shifted since that moment. And of course, the papaya rules situation and there's been a lot of talk about papaya rules being this thing that they use. And it seems that every time Oscar needs the papaya rules, they kind of say, no, you're not allowed to race. And every time Lando can, it's like, okay, it's fine. And there's been a lot of talk of that. But they're not going to completely sabotage it. it's far too risky because of course Max the Stappen as well is knocking on the door of the championship.

So a team can have their favourites, no doubt, but they will never sabotage their own car. That's just a ridiculous thing. No, it's an absolutely insane thing to think. If McLaren don't win this driver's championship, it is the greatest crumble by a team ever when it comes to trying to win the Drivers World Championship. Yes, they've won the constructors. Whoopty do. but everybody remembers the driver's champion. I don't think it's foul play.

No, not a chance. However, I do think there's mismanagement, which we're seeing unfold before our very eyes with Oscar Piastri. And perhaps that is layered with the fact that they have a slight bias towards Lando in some ways. You know, Zach Brown, we know, he would rather see Lando win the championship

because he's friendly with him and he plays golf with him and things like that. It's not foul play, but it's, I think these things can add up. And, you know, people have been collating all of these moments that have favoured Lando over Oscar, of course, it's going to play on anyone's mind for sure. You can't say it's categorically that. I think there is clearly some things here where Oscar's just feeling the pressure of the championship closing up and so many

things, the tracks, as you said Tommy, the tracks in his record, in his very small racing record, have not favoured him. He's finished eighth, I think, in the last two Mexico City Grand Prix. he got knocked out in Q1 Am I remembering that? That was correct. So he's got a lot of things going against him coming into these last few rounds, but there's also on the more positive side,

if you're an Oscar fan, there's very similar journeys and paths that Oscar has had in previous formula where this exact scenario has played out and he's ended up winning, I think, both championships. So he can do it, but he does need a very good qualifying tomorrow. Next question, P1 Patriot member Alan Enderpe,

how much of a hindrance will Mercedes and Ferrari be towards the championship fight since they look great in pace? I am absolutely convinced that Mercedes and Ferrari are going to play a role in the championship fight and may well even be in Abu Dhabi. Their pace is very, very close to the McLaren and to the Red Bull out in front.

shouldn't, on paper, beat them, but they also have. Singapore was an incredible performance from George. Ferrari looking strong, although question marks over whether they're using a little bit more engine mode to get those headlines. Don't mind it. Give me any headline. Just give me hope. Just give me faith, Ferrari. I love you. But I am convinced that a slightly poor weekend from an Oscar, from Alando, from a Max, and Mercedes and Ferrari, especially in the hands of Charlotte Claire and George Russell in particular, and Hamilton, who looked good in Austin, they can take so many points away

from one of these three championship protagonists. And, yeah, I think they are going to be a massive factor in these next five races. Absolutely. I think they already, you know, they already have been with the fact that Ferrari took points off in Austin, took points off Oscar, of course. And then equally, you know, George was the one that, that stopped Maxisthappen winning the race and gaining even more points on the McLaren.

So they're already playing a part and it looks like they are going to be even more as we're going to the final races because we are seeing the pack closing up. It's kind of weirdly gone in the opposite way I thought it would this season where if you look at something like 2013 when there was a big rule change and Sebastian Vettel started dominating and it already kind of, you know, wrapped up the championship and everyone just put all their eggs into 2014 and Sebastian Vettel went on that massive winning streak of winning nine in a row. And I kind of felt like that was going to be the same with McLaren, especially after they got all those one-toes, everyone else is just going to say like, enough's enough. We're hundreds of points

behind. We're not, we're not, you know, we're not going to be anywhere now. And McLaren were just, you know, dominating at that mid part of the season. I thought that was how it's going to to pan out but if anything the pack has come closer together and we've kind of got that the championship that we kind of thought we were going to have right from the start of the season of the fact that you are get the battle of a pole is between the top four teams all the time so yeah they're definitely going to play a play a part and it's going to be crucial for the championship because of course max needs them to be in that gap to gain even more points off the McLaren's but equal equally, as we saw in Singapore, they could beat him and stop him from getting the maximum

point. So yeah, it's so much intrigue going into these final races now. I can't believe it's gone the way it has. Me neither. It feels not as extreme, but still kind of like Braun GP in the sense of McLaren were so, so good and easily the fastest, even literally back in Zanvort, they were miles clear. And I'm sure, and quite rightly, strategically, McLaren have probably said, right, tools down, cool, we'll look to next year. And they've made, you know, very little progress from that point on.

And they are now being caught at a rate of knots to which we're actually questioning whether they are the third fastest car, according to the F1 graphic. I don't think it's as bad as that. It's like last year, but you literally swap Red Bull and McLaren around almost. It's bizarre. It is bizarre. and that pretty much sums up Friday practice.

I cannot wait for qualifying tomorrow. How is it going to stack up for Sunday? This is just so mad that this is where the season is right now. I hope everybody is as excited as we are for this because it has injected a new, just a new feeling of, wow, we could be about to witness something absolutely mental. and I'm not even a, I know I joke, but I'm not a Max Verstappen fan like you, Tommy. How are you even sleeping at night?

I'm literally thinking about this championship, like most moments of the day, because it is just like how on earth does this happen? And as he's kind of like making this comeback, my God, don't want it to happen so, so badly, even if the, you know, the result will be me getting my first ever tattoo. But it's a sacrifice on your forehead saying, Daddy, I love him. Is that right? Is that what was said?

Can't remember. We'll go back on the tapes. Right, that is it. Thank you, everybody, for tuning in. Can't wait for tomorrow. Can't wait for Sunday. We will be live on Twitch and YouTube as always. Come and join us there.

Remember as well, P1 Live Delusion Tour. We literally fly to America next week. So please come along to one of our shows. We'd love to see you there. And that is it. See you soon. Let's love, take care. Sweet dreams.

Quite literally sweet dreams. It's 10 to 1 in the morning. Goodbye. Goodbye. That was your final. thoughts. I did it right. Oh, also actually, let's add a chore because someone literally was like basically

having a breakdown about the fact that we hadn't done a chore for a while and they were getting in trouble with their parents. I can't remember what it was. So get that mop out and start doing the kitchen floor because it's looking a little bit grubby. You know, I live with a dog now and Bruno he likes to just... Do you malt? No, no, no, it doesn't malt.

I don't know why I'm still waving. This is literally for audio. It doesn't malt, but he's just kind of like, just dog food gets in places that you wouldn't expect. And I just feel as though if you have a dog, you should, you should do that. Although actually similarly and oppositely, oppositely, is that a word? They do clean up for you as well. So that's my 10 to 1 a.m. 10 to 1 a.m. That doesn't feel right saying that either. Yeah, having a dog and a baby when you're like first. feeding a bit. This feels like a... We're going on...

Yeah, it is, because you literally don't have clean the floor, like everything she dropped. Frank's just there, like a snapping turtle. But then Franks dropping some nuclear farts after that because he's even things he shouldn't have. Oh my God, honestly, Bruno's farts linger for a good 30 minutes

in the room. I'm not even kidding. I will leave, come back and be like, how the hell have I been sat in here? Anyway, this has gone wild, isn't it? See you soon. Goodbye. That's what you can expect from the Patreon. P1 is a stack production and part of the Acast's creator network.