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

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

Another sprint weekend means we're straight into competitive running, as this hugely unpredictable season takes yet another unexpected turn!Join us for our End of Season tour across the UK this December! There are still some tickets available for London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol right here!Sign up to our Patreon here! You'll get access to bonus episodes, our classic race podcast series, every P1 episode ad-free, early access to live tickets and merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with other F1 fans!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. It is Qatar Grand Prix sprint qualifying edition. We're here. It's a Friday. It's competitive. It's exciting. It's not just practice. We're not even going to talk about practice.

It was pretty chaotic and there were a lot of mistakes. But we're not going to get into that, are we, Tommy? We're going to talk about the real deal, sprint qualifying. The competitive sessions have begun already. And yeah, it was an unusual one, actually. Particularly the final run was quite an odd. watch where you didn't think they were going to get another run than they kind of did. But yeah, it was still an exciting session and lots to talk about, as always, in this season.

Absolutely. Now, before we dive into it all, just want to say, go get your P1 live share tickets. That's all I've got to say. There's five venues around the UK, in the middle of December. Go get your tickets. That's what I'm going to say. Lots of love. Do it.

Okay. Nice. Just a little do it there. If Tommy says do it, you do it. All right. Exactly. Q1. The bottom five.

Perez Sonoda Ocon, Joe and Colopinto Perez What Ding ding ding

ding let's wheel it out the Perez debate well firstly let's go with the question Hollywood Jet

why does Checo think he's going to keep that Red Bull seat we were discussing this a little bit yeah we were discussing

this a little bit weren't we on the stream Tommy Matt Pee on Tommy on Twitch if you haven't followed us or checked us out

before it just it just doesn't feel right from like a fan's perspective that Checo is just kind of saying, look, I'm going to be driving next year. I've got a contract. It's all good. It doesn't even feel like there's any kind of, it feels like that whole like, my, yeah, my driving's not great is just out the window now and it's just very much,

well, I have a contract, deal with it kind of vibe, which I mean, I'm sure he's very bored of hearing the same questions, but also the same questions need to be asked because Red Bull has, a driver that's just won the World Championship, World Drivers Championship, and Perez is out in Q1 again. I predicted him multiple points. We go again tomorrow. We see how it goes there.

But it's just, it's not good enough. I mean, how far was he behind, seven-tenths of a second behind Vastappen in Q1? Yes, the rebel isn't dominating, but no, you cannot be getting knocked out in Q1. It's as simple as that. Yeah, he's got another attempt tomorrow to get out of Q1, so good luck.

Good luck to him, but it's so bad for Perez now. And like you say, we were discussing on the stream and the fact that there's no kind of, he's not, when he's talking about I've got a contract, it's never, the way he words it, maybe this is just what I've seen in interviews and things. It's never a case of him almost acknowledging he's struggling and saying, well, I'm going to bounce back next year, I'm going to be better. I know I'm having a, there's no acknowledgement. of his performance and it's just kind of like

well I don't care because I have a contract and I will continue to be rubbish and I don't care. That's the kind of that is the kind of perception that but that's what it gives off. Yeah. That he gives off that he's kind of screw the haters, I've got a contract so I don't care. And

obviously with that, that's what causes us to go. Well, it's clearly the money or the sponsorship or the power or something that's keeping you there. Yeah. And I hate to say it, but I think he's, I think he might be then next year. But we keep changing it again and again.

But it does feel like he's just not, I think he could well stay next year, I think, which would be insane because a little swapparoo. I feel like a little swaparoo could be on the cards because Perez has nowhere else to go. I think Red Bull will, in my opinion, they cannot keep Perez there. They just can't. If they actually are a serious Formula One team that want to do well next year with both drivers, it's got to be a demotion for Perez, which I think he will have,

well, he will take, and he'll have to take. I completely disagree. You think he would, really, you think he would go? Yeah, yeah, no chance. So he would rather stay in a red ball being knocked out in Q1 every week and be slandered for that than...

Yeah, 100%. A million percent. Okay. Wow, a million percent. All right, well, we'll see next year what happens. There's no one. I, I'm 99.9 percent convinced we'll never see Sergio Perez driving over Veckel. club.

Interesting. It was a million percent a second ago. Now it's 99.9. So there's always a chance. I think Perez still, you know, wants a few more years

in Formula One and clearly, obviously, because he keeps saying he's got a contract. And if that's the only route for him, then I see that being

his next port of call, as much as it'll be as something to certainly take on the chin, we will have to wait and see. But I cannot see Perez in that second car next year now.

I think it's just, I mean, it's been too much for too long now. But we will see who's right. And then one of us will have to, you know, be like, you know what? We disagreed on the P1 podcast for the first time in two years. Well done, everybody. Next question, P1PITR member, Alan Enderpey. Has Sonoda's inconsistency not made him an eligible candidate for the second Red Bull seat?

This is what Helmut Marco said in the run-up to this weekend is that Sonoda doesn't provide the stability that they need. Of course, Perez is providing that stability. of constantly being knocked out and not scoring points and maybe that's what they want is just constant zeros. We don't need like a little zero than a victory. That no, far too unstable for our liking. Of course, it's not great to see Yuki down in 17th in the sprint. Sprint quality, sorry, but this is surely,

this is what Formula One teams are happy to accept, at least most teams on the grid, a driver that can perform, can do something amazing, has the speed, sometimes makes the wrong decisions, sometimes makes mistakes, but that can be trained and harnessed. You harness that power of Yuki Sanoda.

But alas, they just seem to make any kind of excuse and just run with that. And this will be another one that they'll run for the next three years of why Yuki Snowden didn't get the seat because he missed out in Q1 and SQ1 in Qatar. In one session, exactly. In regards to the,

the inconsistency. No driver this year other than Max Verstappen, in my opinion, correct me if I'm wrong, has completely whitewashed their teammate, maybe Lonzo and Strolled to a point. But the drivers up and down the grid, you know, we have moments where we're like, I know we banter about it, but like, oh, science has done better in LeClau this week, or Piastri's done better than Norris and all this kind of stuff. It happens. So I don't feel like just because Lawson's had one, you know, performance.

performance now. It's like, yeah, Yuki's finished. Get him in the bin. Doesn't deserve the seat. It's this classic, like, knee-jerk reaction that's constant with it. And Sonoda was 200ths of Lawson when he got knocked out. So it's not like he's been absolutely trance by him. I know it obviously like reading where they've finished and that is Formula One. But yeah, it does feel like they're going to, if this is the case, they're just going to find an excuse because he's still a young driver. and he's performing well and he's going to have off days like every, well, almost every driver has an off day. So I just think it's ridiculous to suggest that just because he's finished 17th

in a sprint qualifying session, it's curtains and it's game over and or whatever. But I personally do kind of feel like these are the kind of excuses they want to make. They almost like want it to happen. and say they can be, look, look, see, Sonoda, can't do it. And it's not the, it's unfair in my opinion. It is unfair.

And you make a good point. There are always teammate discrepancies and moments where, you know, the second driver, if people see them as that, get the better of the first. Max Verstappen is one of the greatest drivers to ever grace the track. Granted. But Hamilton, Schumacher, all the great drivers have been beaten occasionally when they've been out on track. It's not like they have dominated and white,

watch their teammates for the entirety of seasons gone by. There has to be these moments that you go, okay, yeah, cool. You've got a handle of the car. What on Perez, you beat Vastapa this weekend. I saw a stat going around that the last time Perez actually finished ahead of Vestappan on track was 43 races ago. Yes. I was literally finding that statistic.

43 races. To read out. Someone listed it. It was back in last year, right? Yeah. Someone made a great kind of graphic where they basically put like the last time someone, someone beat their teammate basically and it was like 0-0-0-0-0-1. I think I think it was like Albin 5, Piastri 5, something like that.

And then it jumps from 5 to 42 and it's now 43. It's 43 now with Sergio Perez. Insane. But this was finishing ahead on track, I think, as in the race. Sorry, yeah, finishing head on track. So it's 42 in total. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean 42, 43.

it's still a massive number. Yes, Perez would have beaten for Stappen this year in Baku, but then he decided to have a shunt with Carlos right at the end of the race, didn't he? Which was a shame for him because he would have been able to break that streak.

Next question, Ace Lared. Why is the gap so big between Ocon and Gassley? Well, O'Conn has not got the updates that Gassley has and that is not ideal for him, for sure. I will say, and I think Ghazley needs to be commended

on the fact that he's on this incredible run of form at the moment. And yes, I mean, he was even going too fast that his engine exploded in Vegas. That's a pretty cool thing to say you're retired because you're going too fast, not because you hit the wall, but because his engine reached a higher RPM that it could manage. And Ghastly, yeah, unbelievable. Eighth place today in the sprint. I think Ocon has been struggling a little bit in qualifying.

You just look at the runner form that he's been out in Q1 quite a bit, hasn't he, recently? And I think it's a little bit of Ocon struggling, but also Gansley doing incredibly well. I think it's a little bit of both. Yeah, Ocon's using the older spec front wing, if you like, where if you actually look at it, Alpine, of course, was struggling massively at the start of the year

because they were actually failing, they failed a crash test, which meant that they had to basically put a lot more crash structure and everything around their front nose. So Ocon has got the thicker and heavier nose, if you like, and Gassley has got the new Slimline one that now, of course, has passed a crash test and seems very good. However, I do think Gassley is just performing very well.

I think Ockon is just struggling a bit at the moment. I don't think it's all on the upgrade, but we have seen those two be very close in the past. There's normally not much to separate them, so I think it's quite clear that there's some upgrades and things there that Ocon doesn't have. And of course, when you don't have a quick car underneath you, you also lose confidence anyway.

They kind of go hand in hand. So that's why I think Ocon's probably, to be honest, I think Ocon's probably, despite having a fantastic moment in Brazil, probably just desperate to get to Hasse now, to be honest. Yeah, of course. is a bit of an anomaly compared to the sort of last, let's say,

eight grid positions. So from Netherlands, he's had 16th, 15th, 19th, 13th, 13th, 20th, and fourth in Brazil, and then 11th in Vegas. So it's not been

the best sort of over one lap, especially recently. I think that's where Gassie's been taking the headlines, hasn't he, a little bit, with his performances. So fingers crossed for Ocon,

he can bounce back tomorrow, but probably not with the fact he hasn't got the upgrades. But I think he will have it for Abu Dhabi, so it'll be a good one for him to finish on. if he can get close to Ghazley, because that is a teammate partnership

that I always see as the absolute closest. It's always so unbelievably close between those two. So there's clearly something going on there, which is causing a slight difference. Let's go to Q2 then. We're the five out were Alonzo Albon, Botas, Stroll and Magnuson. P1 Patreon member, Chilar, asks, what is happening with Salba lately?

unbelievable. That's back-to-back 13th places on the grid, isn't it? Yeah. For Joe previously and now Bottas in the sprint. A world championship for them. The thing is, it's not changing anything. No, they need to get points, didn't they? It's not like they have another terrible team to try and beat for zero points, is it?

They are the only one with zero points, and they are very much set, unless they do something very crazy to be. finishing 10th. But no, it's been a promising end. I mean, it's a shame, I think, for both Joe and Bottas that they've been putting in, well, Joe obviously last time out, Bottas this time, some kind of potential to then be not driving for them next year. Neither of them are. Any kind of confidence just vanished.

Maybe there's a part of that where you're like, let's just send it. These are the last few races of potentially my F1 career. We've seen that before with Bottas, haven't we? For example, when he left Mercedes or, you know, when he's been free, He's let loose a little bit and yeah, great to see Bottas up in 13th. Yeah, like you say, they've got nothing to fight for. I know Williams have been unlucky with Alpine recently

but I think James Vows would wonder what he's done wrong if Kixalba managed to get a second place and leapfrog Williams into the championship. Imagine just a completely rogue race. That would be crazy. But yeah, Bottas was performing incredibly well, almost look like you might get into Q3 at one point but at least maybe like they can do something

and fight in the pack because I think before Joe and Bottas depart unless Bottas there's now obviously rumours and thoughts circulating of could you go to Red Bull which I can't see personally but just because he's a free driver and has been a second driver before 12 million percent chance I think no personally. Yeah, a weird one. But I don't,

but at least they can actually race people because they've not done it recently. So this is a niceish way to end the year. Could they get a point maybe? Botas has a P-13 again. He needs it in the qualifying tomorrow, really, because that's where big points are handed out. It's a top eight, isn't it?

Yeah, exactly. You've got a serious cows. Exactly. You've only got one slot with, really now with Peres not finishing in that top eight normally that someone can slot into with the top cars. So very difficult score points, but maybe.

Just maybe. Maybe indeed. Other drivers to talk about. Alonzo, I think had a pretty solid performance. I think him and Stroll were looking very close throughout qualifying until that final lap in Q2 where Alonzo managed to get up to 11th, but not close enough.

Albon, quiet, dispatching of Colopinto. it has to be said Colopinto having a very poor qualifying. Of course he's running basically recycled parts out of a dustbin

by the sounds of it because of how many crashes they've had. Olds stuff. They're basically like, mate, will that fit on the car? I don't think so.

Just chuck it on. Just literally just super glue it. And that really is kind of showing within being half a second off the back of Jeux Guanyu. He was 23.4 was Franco. So Albon,

up in 12th, a much better showing from him. And yeah, let's see what he can do. Then obviously stroll. And Magnus is a little bit disappointing. It has to be said with his teammate up in ninth. K-Mag was looking pretty quick, I think. He was quicker than Holkenberg in Q1, but fell off in Q2.

Let's go to Q3. With the top 10 were Norris, Russell, Piastri, signs LeClaire, Vestapp and Hamilton, Gassley, Holmber, Lawson. First question, P1, Patreon. Will Lando and Oscar play nice in the sprint? well if they were front row together i'll be like ooh that could be fun i still think it's going to be very fun with norris russell and piastry the top three uh but i think oscar is absolutely going to have to play the team game here with mcclaren they have to just finish ahead of Ferrari

whatever means necessary of course it's a sprint it's an all out push to the line there's no sort of there'll be a bit of tire where obviously to still manage but there's no pit stops to worry about signs fourth, Lecler, fifth, they can't mess around because Ferrari, they're on the back foot a little bit here for sure. They were looking quick in free practice one, and I'm thinking, hello, game on. In Abu Dhabi, I think that Ferrari will be back up there and perhaps on part, if not quicker than McLaren.

But right now, this is where McLaren have to try to win the Constructors' Championship. McLaren need to capitalize on this because they are looking absolutely mighty around here, which is what we all thought would be the case. But now they kind of need to basically back up their pace because that's something that they've really struggled with this year is actually getting enough points and as many points as that car should have got.

And that's with both their drivers, of course. Piastri, I think, I agree with you really, that if they'd have been on the front row, I could see Oscar maybe fancying a better start than Lando, as I predicted. Because it's always going to be antics, isn't there, a little bit on lap one? because Oscar will go, well, I had to obviously just drive as fast as I can on the first lap because I don't want to be overtaken from behind. Exactly, but P3 is going to be a bit tougher.

Lando would touchwood have to make a really bad kind of start, wouldn't he, to really drop behind Piastri. I think you mean touch with that he won't have a bad start. Touchwood that he won't, sorry. Sorry, I've just jinks him now. You just sounded like Lando. You were like, I want Lando to have a terrible start, touchwood. That's not what we're saying.

Lando, yeah, would have to have a very bad start for Piastri to be kind of battling him and we have to get into the debate of, or stop racing each other and stuff, because I think the rundown to turn one will be between Norris and Russell personally and what a, yeah, like Russell's going to, while McLaren have the championship to win and they need to play nice or just basically just maximise the points, George Russell's got nothing to lose. Nothing to lose at all for George Russell. We'd love to see it.

Young Original 03 asks, is George outperforming the car or does Mercedes have some potential this weekend? That P2 was not on the cards. I think George, and he's very much showing it in these last few races,

is outperforming that Mercedes for sure. To be out-qualifying Lewis Hamilton just in general, we keep saying it, but I'm going to keep hammering it. Excuse the pun. I'm going to keep hammering the fact that George,

he is beating Lewis Hamilton, who has statistically the most polls ever. Of course, Hamilton's not seen as being this qualifying specialist and yet he has the most polls in the history of Formula One. So he's still pretty damn good. But putting four tents on him in Q3 is utterly brilliant. And I think George, the one thing that stands out for me was Brazil, where his car looked like an absolute shopping trolley in those conditions.

And he still managed to fight for pole position. even there. See, I think George, I mean, how could I possibly biggest flop him? It's absolutely disgraceful from me, but I thought maybe my powers were strong enough. It's overthrown Max Verstappen before, but clearly not George Russell, because he's doing fantastically well and I think, yeah, really outperforming where that Mercedes should be. Mercedes have done way better than I expected, and I think as we both expected, I thought they'd be comfortably the fourth best car, but then it's not as warm in Qatar as maybe we expected

this weekend, but still can't take, George has been absolutely superb again. Qualifying is known for being unbelievable, and he's an aggressive, very aggressive driver, and I can already see him absolutely going for it against Lando. Personally, my sprint prediction and how I see it going is Russell gets Lando into term one but then probably doesn't have the pace

to keep maybe the McLarence behind but Russell just superb again and what an end to the season I think he's it's such a good time for him to have it as well because Hamilton leaving

George's of course going to be team leader at Mercedes and there's been a few question marks of you know is George Russell can George Russell really lead Mercedes and he's doing an unbelievable job for sure yeah what a time to really hit a curve of performance for george and yeah i think for the the entertainment factor for for the race tomorrow yeah george getting lando i think will give us a

much better sprint than if lando keeps the lead into term one next question p1 patron member captain obbs 3420 why is lewis struggling so much to put together a proper final run in q3 i mean i'd love to be able to tell you i'm sure hilton would love to be able to tell you as well yeah but he struggled all year. I think that Vegas, the back to back errors in Q3 is something I can't remember ever seeing from Hamilton. Of course, we see occasional mistakes and him being knocked out,

but back to back in Q3 in Vegas. And then, yeah, not just not having the confidence, as you say to me. I think it's just a car that he, he's mentioned so many times in interviews, isn't he,

that he just basically despises the car since 2022. And, yeah, perhaps Hamilton, I mean, he showed in Vegas that he still got it. The race pace is still there, and I still fully expect him to challenge. But over one lap, he's just not had it over George.

He hasn't. I could see it being the same tomorrow in qualifying in the main race qualifying that we get. Another situation where George does a superb job, Hamilton struggles, and then, yeah, that Hamilton kind of improves in the race. But when you are struggling with the car and he's not enjoying these,

well, he's not really been enjoying Mercedes at all since the new regulation. It has, of course, had his moments, mainly in the races. And it goes back to saying again that if Hamilton had more front row starts in these kind of last few years, maybe you could have got a lot more victories. But when you have no confidence in the car,

a track like Qatar, you only have to watch an onboard of Qatar, throwing it into corner, it is pure commitment and just hoping that your car sticks and has got the downforce and I don't think it's any surprise that the guys full of confidence at the moment are the ones that are performing in comparison to their teammates. So yeah, tough for Lewis again, but would not be the least bit surprised if he bounces back in the race. Okay, next question.

from NG Wenya Jiv-135-19. Why were Ferrari slow at the end of Q3? I mean, I'm not going to say slow. I mean, they were both sort of two and a half to three-tenths off

Lando Norris at the front. This is the beauty of sprint weekends, right? Just because they were quick in free practice one, the only practice. The run plans are so different. Of course, they do a little soft-tire run at the end, but you don't know just how much

they can improve over the course of this weekend. And that's something that will be interesting to see. They have limited data. Ferrari did look quick, but then over one lap, they just weren't able to deliver. Shal made a bit of a mistake at the end, which perhaps cost him to Carlos.

But they're not miles off that they're going to have no chance. Similar with Max Verstappen, we've not mentioned him. He's down in sixth. He's three-tenths off. That could easily be overturned into qualifying tomorrow when they learn a little bit more about the car and how it's behaving.

it's a really close weekend. That's what we should get excited about. And that's how my Ferrari copium is really kicking in as well. And I tweeted this and I'll say it on the podcast as well, that this is such an exciting teaser for next year where you just go from track to track. And it's a different team almost every week at the moment that's quickest. Or there's multiple teams fighting for bold position.

This is dreamland for Formula One fans. And next year better be good. we're all going to be incredibly, incredibly depressed. Ferrari have to hope and pray that this is just a kind of a one-off. And we get into qualifying and the main qualifying, and they're a lot closer to McLaren because if you're going to have, I know they say slow, they definitely weren't slow, but it's not ideal for them to be fourth and fifth would be a disaster for them

in the main race if that happens. and it finishes where they are. But you've got to think that with more, more data behind them, they'll have a whole sprint as well. And more running, you think Ferrari would be quicker. I think the concern for them is George Russell's popped himself in the mix

with the McLaren's looking so mighty and looking odds-on favourite, surely to get a one-to tomorrow in the sprint. The fact that George is probably going to be fighting the Ferraris and potentially putting some more ground in between the McLaren's and the Ferraris is basically exactly what Ferrari don't need in that Constructors' Championship fight. Yeah, it's Dreamland for McLaren if George does take a few more points off of the Ferrari boys. And yeah, that's it. We're done. That is our sprint wrap-up, sprint qualifying wrap-up, done and dusted. We'll be live tomorrow twice on Twitch. Matt P1, Tommy. Go and see us there.

Remember as well. P1 live show tickets are still available. We'd love to see you there. I know we shout about it a lot, but we also want to see as many of you there as possible, because it is honestly one of my favourite things to do every year is the UK tour. It brings a massive smile to my face, to Tommy's face, and hopefully to a lot of your faces as well. So we'll see you very soon. Tommy, what are your final thoughts? Final thoughts are another shout out, but just all you lovely people that have bought merch

and supported us through that as well. I know a lot of people have been kind of desperate for those beanies. and things that we've kind of teased for a long time now, but all the other stuff as well. Great to see that the shop has gone down well with all the effort that we've put in. So good times. Yeah, thank you for the love on that. And go and check it out if you haven't already, Matt P1Tommi.com. And finally, because, well, actually no, we say bye, and then I'll say this bit because it's

for audio only. Bye, YouTube. Bye. Okay, sorry, I nearly mentioned some chore stuff. and that's not for the YouTube edit. That's all for, you know, the final part of the audio podcast. I had a message from Joel who said, all right, you guys have been doing the chores thing after every episode,

and I chuckled because I'm usually driving home from work when I'm listening. But today, the drive rating for Vegas came out when I got home from work, so I decided to listen as I do my nightly routine. Well, I shaved my face this morning and forgot to clean out the sink. Not only did you mention to clean the sink, but it happened the exact moment I was cleaning my beard hairs from the sink in the bathroom. That is crazy. I never thought it would happen to me.

but smack me silly and call me show, it happened to me. Call me show. Yeah, well, there you go. I thought I'd just share that at the end. That's a great one. Continue with your dusting, everybody. All right, that dust right there, just go get it because it's been laying there for a while,

your naughty sausage. Right. Is that it, Tommy? Any chores from you? Any final chores? No, I'm more caught up. Fold that washing. No, to share with everyone else, there you go.

Oh, okay. Not for you. I know you're a beautifully clean man. From head to toe. Right, bye! You're waving to audio. Lots of love. Bye audio.

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