P1 with Matt and Tommy - Reaction to Monaco GP practice

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

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Hello everybody and welcome back to the B1. What should I call it, the Charlotte Club podcast? Oh, come on, come on, come on, come on everybody. Let's put our hands in the air like we just don't care. It is Monaco Grand Prix practice review. Ooh, wow. Is this what happens when dreams come true, Tommy? I don't know, but I know I'm getting far too ahead of myself,

but I actually don't think I am. We're going to get into all of that. Tommy, how are you? How are you feeling? How did you enjoy Monaco? I enjoyed Monaco. I'm feeling quite fast with my words right now. It's really excited and energetic. However, I will actually say practice around Monaco was actually really entertaining. It is. It's the only session that, like the practice session of the year that I watch and just sit and watch every second of it and love it because, you know, people make mistakes. They're pushing the limits. You know, they're skimming walls and things. And it's just awesome to watch. even if it's a unrepresentative or competitive session. But like you say, I still think you have many reasons to be cheerful.

So let's get into Free Practice 1, shall we? Where the top three were LeCleu Verstapp and Norris. Yeah, LeCleur, top of Free Practice 1. However, it didn't look like it was going to potentially happen, did it at the beginning. The first 10 minutes, you might have seen the social clip that we made quite quickly after this occurred. Two minutes into Free Practice 1, Charles LeCleur, well not even just I think it was his first lap

out the pits and went down the escape road in that sort of downhill right hander. Crofty's been calling it Strasser Rosberg which I'm really sure Nika Rosberg is not going to be enjoying that being coined that particular area but the exit road, whatever the escape road

sorry and I'm thinking has it begun already? Is this what's got is this what 2025 Monaco has in store and then eight minutes later Later, Lance Stroll decides, I'm in time trial, and that the hairpin lets one car through and then just swipes back onto the racing line. And of course, Charles Lecler is arriving at that point into the hairpin, loses his front

wing, Stroll had massive diffuser damage, and even, I think, Charlele had to have his floor replaced. And I thought at this point, this isn't going to be a fun weekend. Yeah, exactly. like I said in the clip, it had to be Charle-Claire, didn't it? Of all the drivers that could have felt the wrath of Lance Stroll, forgetting

how to use mirrors for the umpteenth time in his career. Of course, you know, maybe a bit of a late call communication issues and things. See people defending Stroll. It's funny how it's always seems to be Stroll doing it and having the collisions with the kind of incidents

where awareness and kind of looking in your mirrors and stuff. But of course it was given a penalty, so they deemed it his fault. But of course it was Charlotte Clare that he hit. But luckily for Charlotte did more damage to Stroll than it did for Charlotte Clare himself. Yes, Stroll was at fault, and he was the one to receive more of the pain by being literally punted from the backside. And that is not the only pain that he received, because he also got a one-place penalty. The classic one-place.

for that particular incident. Now, do we think that's fair? For me, I think yes. It's practice. I probably would have been calling for a disqualification for the rest of the season had Lecler's front left just flown off. But of course, Leclair was able to continue in the session. Not that it matters the consequence.

But still, I think that is correct. I'm not saying that Lance Stroll is dangerous to society after this particular dartback. But it was his fault and it was careless. and I think it is a fair penalty. Do they normally give penalties for practice incidents? Probably not blocking, but collisions. Yeah, I mean collision.

When it's categorically someone's fault, then it has to be a penalty. But the thing is, we don't tend to see that all that often in practice. No, I'm trying to wreck my brain at a time where a driver has been essentially got a penalty for an incident that happened in a practice session. Very rarely happens in practice. You don't have to.

It's normally close calls, isn't it? Exactly. So this is a literal collision where a driver was at fault and I think it's entirely fair. So yes, free practice one, LeCleur was fastest. Now we go to free practice two, where, of course, it is the most representative session and Charlotte Clare was fastest. Head of Oscar Piatry and Lewis Hamilton. A massively chaotic two practice sessions, of course we had that red flag because of

the Stroll Lecler incident. And then we had two more red flags in free practice too, but Charlele-le-le-was unfazed and went fastest once again. Let's go to a question from Lecler 1644. I wonder who they support. Why is Charles LeCler always so quick in Monaco? Even in years where the Ferrari is not competitive, Leclair is always very quick in Monaco.

He's a Monagasc. He's from Monaco. He loves it. He breathes it. And he's good around street circuits. Let's not forget Baku as well. is a Charles LeCler stomping ground. So it's not a surprise to see LeCleur great round here

because as much as he's had a lot of bad luck, the reason we've noticed his bad luck is because he's been running in such amazing positions. So I am not surprised to see him up there. I am surprised to be talking about an FB1 and FB2 LeCleur fastest. But he just has confidence around here. You can see it when you're riding on board with him. Other drivers are taking two stabs at the wheel into a chicanne,

but Leclair was quick from the get-go. Even on the hard tyres, the medium tyres, it doesn't matter what he plonked on that Ferrari. He just looked good around here again. He did. It's such a strange thing, really, isn't it? Because Monaco, it's not like a Grand Prix circuit that is used a lot. Say, like, for example, Max just happened at Zandvort.

You go there in 2021, and Max will have done a lot of running there because he's raced it, you know, throughout his career and things like that. but Monaco's you know they race there in Formula 2 but you can't just go out and do a test day there obviously you can but you're stuck in traffic on a public road so it's not really the kind of thing you know you can practice I guess and do lots and lots of laps and get really good at it but my word to have your best circuit where you always deliver pace of all of the ones to be it's your home race and Monaco the one everyone wants to win and I don't don't remember a driver, very few drivers in history that can deliver this level of performance

no matter kind of where the car is when they go to this track, because looking back through history, I'd argue 2023 is the only year at Ferrari that Charlotte Claire has had where he probably couldn't have won the race because his pace was absolutely amazing first year at Ferrari, 2021, yeah, okay, had the incident, but unbelievable pace shouldn't have been there in the first place on pole position because, you know, they weren't there all season, 2022, last year he won it. It's just so, so, so good around there. It's actually incredible to watch as well because in a practice session, normally people rain back a bit, but I don't think you can really in Monica, you have to kind of push. And if anything, when you rain back is probably where you, you

make mistakes and have laps of concentration and stuff. Exactly. So it's looking good. That's all I'll say. I was reading actually as well. I can't find exactly where the quote was from, but Andrea Estella was saying that he believed that Ferrari were going to be fastest this weekend. And I mean,

the wheel knowledge on that bloke is unbelievable. And they do, don't they? And they actually look to be one of the fastest teams. You just think maybe he was trying to get the pressure off of McLaren, but then boom, here we are. Leclair and Hamilton first and third in free practice too. A question from people on page, remember Heathermore or less. Ferrari look good.

Where has the pace come from? Well, it's interesting this one because they've decided, shall we plonk on the rear wing from last year? And so they did. Of course, you do have specific front rear wings, depending on whether you're at the Monsas of this world or the Monocos. There are some track-specific pieces of aerodynamics. whatever the word would be, with wings.

And of course, there is a cost cap as well, which means that they can't just make 24 custom rear wings for each track. So they've plonked on last year's rear wing, which of course, you know, it might sound like, oh, they just have no idea what they're doing with this car. It might well also be due to trying to save a bit of money. But either or, what I'm seeing is that we need to get back the rest of the car in 2024. They've put a piece of the

2024 car on their first and third. So what I, okay, and obviously Ferrari, you know, they didn't work at every single track last year, but you best believe I'm asking you to bring back every carbon fibre bodywork bit for Monza after seeing what's gone on so far. But of course, you know, there has to be a working philosophy as well with this Ferrari.

Just because you plonk on a rear wing that worked last year doesn't necessarily mean it would work for this year, especially because they've overhauled the car massively. So maybe there is a hybrid version of which Ferrari might win the World Championship. Almost like they shouldn't have changed the whole car. But to be fair, there's a very easy narrative to push. It is unfortunate for them that, not unfortunate, because obviously if it wins them the race, they'll be more than happy.

But the talk of why did they change the whole car and then they've put an old wing on and they're actually now looking quick. but I do think just the nature of Monaco for whatever reason the cars have to run a little bit higher I mean Mercedes are a great example here that their car even Alex Albin has questioned the legality of it

because it runs so low at some of the tracks you can't do that here and it's really showing because they are scraping along the floor sorry we just wait there's still the two-stop master class yeah you think Kevin Antonelli's going to still Oracon. I'm not sure yet.

Or O'Rocon. He was 19th in free practice. But yeah, Ferrari is just very, very well suited. So I'm looking forward to them having a great Monaco and then kind of action stations ready for the Monsa set up to win that one as well. And then they bag their two wins. And then they bag the non-FARRI flop of the year as well. Because that will not count as a flop.

And I know you've been so confident about Tommy. Question from P-1Pet. Remember, Hazer. Are the McLaren's finally losing pace? No, I don't think so. Tommy just mentioned that they, of course, the cars are slightly more raised off the ground because they are less. We don't have as many mediums, well, we don't really have any, maybe one medium-speak corner around the whole of Monaco, two, maybe two.

So of course, they ride the cars a bit higher. There's a lot of bumps around Monaco as well. And that can change slightly the pecking order, like we said coming into this, like we said in our predictions, that Monaco can, throw a little spanner in the works to the pecking order. So McLaren of second and fourth. So no, they are not losing pace. I still believe that they will be in the hunt,

hopefully for my prediction's sake, finish fourth and fifth. So they look like the second fastest car at the moment. Red Bull look nowhere. Mercedes looked nowhere after today, although I will say with Red Bull and Max Verstappen, you can never count them out going into a Saturday. And I'd be fully confident for Max to,

secure a top five in quality at the very least. But no, McLaren, you know, if they're quick round here, they're going to be quick everywhere. Yeah, McLaren is not the car that I think has lost pace here. I think it's the Red Bull, but we'll get on to that in a bit. McLaren, they are good at every circuit. We know this. And Monaco, if it was going to be any circuit, a bit like we saw with Mercedes and years gone by, when they were dominant, they'd come to Monaco, maybe other people could challenge, and it looks like Ferrari are going to be the ones to take that to them this time.

But I don't think they'll be the slightest bit concerned or worried with being second and fourth, particularly when matchless happen is down in 10th. Of course, it is only practice, but yes, I'm not surprised, and I know that you kind of mentioned this, that they never red bull never show their hand and particularly max and always turns it on in qualifying I'm still less confident it will happen here I could see I kind of thought it at Imala when

they went there McLaren looking mighty and that's the trend we've seen all year but I would be absolutely amazed if Max isn't the top three in qualifying but I'd be proved me wrong and he has done many times when you've gone in shorts just small dips of depression I have much larger craters yeah Miami maybe is another one that thought they'd be terrible at and he somehow pulled it out of the bag. I would say a small saving grace for you, Tommy,

to pull you out of this depression because Ferrari are really quick and I feel bad to see you in this kind of sad state. It's that Sonodas four thousandths of a second behind Max Verstappen, which we've not really seen at all this year. I think he's had the very minute pop-ups in a practice, but Max, in my opinion, is going to have two, three-tenths on Yuki at the very least. So we will see. James B, CFCF1 asks, racing balls quicker than Red Bull this weekend?

Throwback to the start of the season. Well, Hajjar's quicker into the wall. Hadjar had, wait, did we have three red flags? I don't think the second one for Hadjar was a red flag. No, was it not? Was it just to crawl back? So the second one where he, yeah. So Hadjar made a lot of mistakes today.

He even said he was so stupid. That was like a Charlotte-Clau back who at the, castle section kind of vibe. That's what it was giving me. He was just calling himself dumb. But, I mean, the overall pace of the racing balls look really good. Lawson's had a really, I would say, a big confidence builder in this particular practice session up in fifth, just ahead of his teammate, which we've not really seen. But I think a part of that is the fact that there was a double crash for Hadjar as well. But they can take some saving grace in the fact that they look very quick. Two inexperienced drivers around Monaco. Yes, there have been mistakes, but you can easily

rectify that. And considering Hadjar crashed twice, the overall damage that he actually caused wasn't the biggest that you could have around here. No, I'd be surprised if R.B. continue that. They've kind of done that a lot this year, where they've looked incredibly fast on Friday and maybe baited us a bit. I still think they could have good pace, but yeah, I'd be very surprised if they were fifth and sixth but you never know um that being said i wouldn't be surprised if they did kind of maybe um split the red balls in i think you know you mentioned that yuki was very close to max he always you know kind of struggles and and we've seen that with the second red ball driver kind of forever now that that when it kind of comes to the crunch of qualifying uh even after a good

practice. It just doesn't seem to come together when you kind of have to have all the confidence in the car and you're kind of pushing flat out. It's obviously saying the racing balls may be a little bit higher than what you expect. Are you going to say that as well for Fernando Alonzo who just has just crept into P7 or are you going to say for him that he's actually been holding back a lot? I can't wait. I'm just Fernando Alonzo, I'm just holding my, I've just got no kind of hope anymore because I know he's going to get absolutely shafted. I feel like he could qualify for first at Monaco and still finish 11th.

It just seems to be that year for him. But he has looked very good. Wouldn't you if Alonzo was in the top four? Just an easy, boring strategy race. Boring race, please. Two red flags. Cancel the mandatory pit stop and we're solid. Actually, speaking of crashes, like we were just speaking about Hajar.

Of course, Piastri had a crash as well into term one. LeClaire had just gone fastest. That's how I remember it. Like it happened two seconds ago, because of course I was celebrating that. Then the camera pans to Piastri in the wall. Of course, he only lost his front wing, so it wasn't the worst thing again to happen for Piastri. He managed to reverse it out and carry on his merry way

and still popped it in P2. I love how the commentary were like, this could be the opening, Philando Norris. It's like, guys, it's practice. It's reversed out the wall. I know they're talking about confidence, and it is a confidence track, Monaco. But Piastri very quickly silenced those potential doubts.

because he is ice cold and it is something that I will continue to say that is a massive strength for him as a driver is that he can bounce back. Of course we haven't really seen many mistakes from him but to pop it 38,000's behind Leclair after having those issues again proves who Oscar is as a driver.

I think he's very different in the sense of Landau Norris that can get in his own head and you know, Lando wears his heart in his sleeve, doesn't he? And can get in his own head about things. and he's admitted himself that he feels a lot of pressure, whereas Piastri seems very much the opposite, whereas he could go fastest in a session or finish last

and would have exactly the same preparation going into the next one. It was slightly amusing that the commentary team were talking with the classic commentator's curse of how they can't remember the last time Oscar Piastri made a big mistake in Formula One, like you don't seem crashing very much on this kind of stuff, and then, of course, at FP2, he's in the wall. but it was such a nothing incident and of all the times to crash. He hit the wall at the correct angle, didn't he? He hit the wall straight on and then it's just the front wing.

If it's an angle, then it's angle, you rip your suspension off. You know, going in with the left rear. And also that graphic, I mean, can we talk about the graphic for us? The too close to the wall stuff. Look, I love that Formula One are unsurious on like social media and stuff, but I don't know how I feel about it seeping during the session. Yeah, yeah.

Like broadcasts where it's a sport. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, I get it's supposed to be a little bit tongue in cheek, but I was just like, guys,

come up. This is ridiculous. We don't need memes during the coverage and stuff, do we? Can you imagine if it just had H-E-R for VIR now instead and has Herman instead

for his little three letters? Just to confuse everyone even more. Yeah, exactly. I wouldn't be, I wouldn't put it past them, to be fair. Next question. People on pitch.

Remember, Alan Enderpe. Is this going to be the toughest weekend for the rookies? We've touched upon Hadjar, of course, but also Colapinto's looked like he's been struggling for confidence out there. I did wonder if Antonelli was going to be going along a similar path when he was first doing some laps, but he was just building his way up by the looks of things for Kimmy. For Franco, he's finished last in both Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2. Quite a way off Gassley. And this is a thing. Gassley is only 17th in FPT. So if Alpine are indeed the slowest car, Colopinto's got no hope in hell to get anywhere near the back,

because this is a really tricky track to get up to speed. We've seen Hadjar, of course, he has got up to speed, but he's made mistakes. And perhaps Colapinto's just going, don't make a headline. If I finish last, it doesn't really matter. And it doesn't. It doesn't. Reattori's already said this five race deal is a load of rubbish, and that he just wants him to not crash and learn the car and get quicker. So I think for Franco, we just accept Friday.

Okay, the Alpine's not very good. Let's just finish Monaco, shall we, with no issues. Yeah, exactly. You know, I guess with doing when they made that decision, they had to put Franco in for a triple header. Otherwise, it would have been afterwards. You can't kind of put a driver in halfway through a triple header. But what are first two races for Franco to come in mid-season?

And Imler and Monaco, where I can't think of two circuses. that punish mistakes more really, you know, absolutely insane, maybe other than Abakou. And yeah, he's just struggling for pace out there. Hadjar has looked very quick. I think we saw a little bit of the Hajjar that they've spoken about before, actually, where it can be incredibly self-critical. And he's been praised a lot actually recently that he's kind of not, not to press the radio button and shouted a load of expletives and things like that,

you know, something Yuki Sanoda did, for example, and made a headline of himself. But this time with a double mistake, he couldn't resist calling himself dumb and things like that. These new drivers are so harsh on themselves, aren't they? It's mad as well with that whole sort of team radio comms and stuff. They are literally one button press away from changing the whole sort of, you know, vibe that people have of drivers. Like, Hajar you can see is visibly absolutely raging with himself. I don't think I've seen anyone so animated in the cockpit.

It's like he's literally screaming in his helmet, just losing his mind. But if he doesn't press that team radio button, we're like, oh, well, you know, he's a little bit annoyed. But as soon as he goes on the radio going, I'm this, I'm that, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, that's when we look into it more. He said a perfect example when he first joined Formula One. and you know it cost him really didn't it yuki because you know it took an insane series of events and to even get the red bull seat even when he started delivering so um hadjar i'm sure he'll

learn from it monaco's always going to be tough um but he's got the pace which is the important thing and i've bought saleto's done very well as well speaking of the the rookies bearman was quicker than than Ocon as well. So worth, of course, you know, we're speaking about the ones that have caught the headlines for the wrong reasons, but yeah,

it's worth mentioning those two looking reasonably strong on the Friday. So there you go. That is FP2 pretty much done and dusted. A lot of impeding, a lot of drivers

getting annoyed at each other. You had Hamilton, I think, going quite slowly. I sent it over a curb as well. It literally launched it. Airborne. So, it's so,

many little things that you just go, another one, another one, another one. And I think that Q1 is going to be, of course, incredibly interesting to see if, you know, the top drivers can not pick up a penalty, because as much as we're talking about them getting through, it's so easy to pick up a penalty around here and accidentally impede someone. So I'm really looking forward to it, Tommy. We're going to be live, aren't we, on YouTube and Twitch, Matt P1, Tommy. I mean, I'm going to be unbearable because I believe Charlotte is going to win. You're going be unbearable Tommy because you love Monaco more than anything in your entire life. Oh my gosh. So what are, what could possibly be your final thoughts? That I just cannot,

cannot wait for the session because the fact that as well they have 20 cars in, during, you know, the first part of qualifying, they don't split it like Formula 2 and Formula 3 do to try and make things. And well, I think it's more interesting than ever, isn't it? Because we've kind of gone into this race talking about this two-stop thing. Every person they've spoken to about it has kind of mentioned the word lottery and could be a bit of a headache for the strategists. And we're actually going to have to kind of calculate things on the fly and maybe go for

something bold and crazy and not just kind of blindly trust their computers and things. So I also am just so hype for that. I'm really, really intrigued to see how this is going to go this weekend. And they won't hopefully go 10 seconds a lap slower and almost be Formula 2 pace because they have to eke out of one stop. So that will also be very interesting to watch. But if they do, Esteban Akon to win from 20th. No, Colopinto, I think it's got P20 May. He's got that lap one, lap two, double stop out of the way, wins the race in utterly amazing fashion.

Right. Thank you, everybody for watching and listening. Can't wait for tomorrow, can't wait for Sunday. We'll see you live on our watchalongs, or we'll see you here for our podcast. Lots to love, take care, bye. Bye. Child like that.

Win it all. Honestly, though, my chore, my chore gang, what are you saying? My chore is to just talk to me in the comments of Spotify right now or wherever you're listening and just be like, if you pull this off, Matt, again,

with your predictions, did it last year? everyone laughed at me. This year, they laughed at me even more. And they might still laugh at me because they might not come through. But come on, just be like, just say something like, I believe in you, Matt. If you're the chore gang, come on, come on, chore gang. Just comment, believe. Get involved. Believe. Believe.

Do you be in love and love? All right. Thanks, everyone. Tommy take it. P1 is a stack production and part of the ACAST creator network.