The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2023 Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: November 25, 2023

Ben and Harry review the 2023 Abu Dhabi GP qualifying where Verstappen took pole ahead of Leclerc in P2 and Piastri in P3. They discuss who may best challenge Verstappen in Sunday's race, whether Perez can make it back up to the podium, and how qualifying has impacted the Ferrari-Mercedes and Williams-AlphaTauri Constructor battles.. Join us tomorrow for the race review! FOLLOW us on socials! You can find us on YouTube, Instagram, X (Twitter) and TikTok SUPPORT our Patreon for bonus episodes JOIN our Discord community JOIN our F1 Fantasy League BUY our Merch EMAIL us at [e-mail]   & SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. And a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Eid and me, Ben Hocking. Abu Dhabi qualifying review, last qualifying review of the season. And it was Max Verstappen who took pole position ahead of the Ferrari of Shaol-Aclare, Oscar Piastri in third, George Russell in fourth, and then Lando Norris rounding out the top five.

Harry, I mean, it's the last one of the year. What are we going to do? We're at that point now where everything is the last. It's the last of everything weekend. Sad times. And Abidabie served us with a mediocre qualifying session. So, cheers everybody. How do you even do that?

How do you produce a mediocre? 23 of all the years and it still cannot be good. And the most ridiculous thing about it as well is, by my reckoning, there were eight of the 10 teams represented in Q3. There was like six tenths separating first and elimination in Q1. How is that still mediocre? That's just the recipe for success. I don't understand it.

But anyway, cheers abidabby. Anyway, what have we got coming? up on today's episode. We'll talk for everything when it comes to qualifying, a great performance by Yuki Sanoda in the Alphataris. So we'll focus on that in a little bit. Struggles for, struggle for Williams. Ferrari versus Mercedes battle is perhaps even more intriguing after qualifying. Let's start out front though. Max Verstappen, he wasn't very happy all weekend, didn't compete in FP1, wasn't happy in FP2, wasn't very quick in FP3, shows up to qualifying. actually yeah, it's all all right.

Were you surprised at all, or is that just what we'd expect to see from Max Verstapp and even when he's struggling throughout a weekend? After FP3, when the pundits on Sky were saying, oh, well, they're not happy, they're struggling, could this be a chance for someone else? I still didn't buy it even then. And I just think he's making fun of people.

Maybe he was trying to make Helmut Marco bet with Christian Horner that he wasn't going to be on the front row. He was just trying to swindle Helmutel Helmut Marco out of 500 euros, apparently. But yeah, it was not good for them in practice. But the problem is with Abu Dhabi practice. And we have the same thing when we go to Bahrain as well. Like FB1 and FP3 are quite possibly the most relevant practice sessions in history. Like, could you might as well not have them? and just go straight into qualifying,

because the difference in the track temperature, the weather conditions, it's so different to when they actually practice that you could have a good car in FP1 and 3, as George Russell did, because he topped both of those sessions. Sure. But they're not in actual qualifier when it matters,

and vice versa, as we saw with the Red Bull car. So, yeah, they clearly have. he wasn't happy in FP3 for Stappen especially and we saw him making setup changes but I wasn't considering how this year's gone I didn't think necessarily they were going to be miles off the pace

and in the end they were he was miles ahead of everyone not miles ahead but yeah that first lap he turned in Q1 I was like right okay we're back here again never mind there was some hope but it's been dashed so

yeah they're They've turned it around, but again, Vastappen was miles ahead of Perez. I think there was another Vastappen factor in there rather than the car, because McLaren and apparently Charles LeCler sometimes were relatively close to him in the end. So I think Max has pulled out of the bag.

Yeah, he did. It was thoroughly impressive. This was a weird one in that, as I think I mentioned this on the preview episode, Ferrari have claimed more pole positions than Vestappen has across the last 10 Grand Prix. So at least in terms of qualifying,

Vastappen has been far more vulnerable than he has been versus, say, the Grand Prix itself. But even with all the struggles leading up to qualifying, it felt like he always had this one in the bag. I don't know why, but it always felt like he had this in the bag, even though the gap itself wasn't massive. It was, what, a tenth and a half between himself and Lecler,

and it probably would have been a very similar amount between himself. and Lando Norris, if he'd been able to, you know, do Sector 3, just a bit of a tip for you there, Lando. But yeah, it still felt comfortable, though. Max Verstappen had a great advantage. And, yeah, it just, it's another example. I think you're absolutely right. Sergio Perez couldn't unlock that same level of pace

where others could, including Max Verstappen. So, yeah, thoroughly impressive day for him. based on the struggles yesterday, obviously we're looking at race pace as well. Do you think now Vastappen is a heavy, heavy favorite going into tomorrow or do you think any of those struggles that he was having might rear their head again when it comes to race pace versus quality pace? Yeah, I guess it's kind of a bit more unknown because he didn't do FP1.

I know we said that's irrelevant. FB2 was very interrupted, so they didn't really get a chance to do much race pace there. McLean must feel slightly confident that they can at least challenge Vastap and during the race, but as we've seen for the rest of the year, he's just been very

he's been very quick on one lap, but he's also been very quick over a race distance. Two, three, four, four laps. All of the labs he has been quick on. So yes, I think they will

not necessarily on the back foot, obviously, because he's on pole position, but they'll go into the race with a lack of knowledge on where they stand in terms of race pace. And maybe the McLaren drivers have an advantage on that. LeCler, I'd say, as brilliant as he was today, he even knew that he had some issues on scrubbed tires, which that bodes badly for race pace,

because if your tyres can do one lap and no more, then that's not good. unless you want to pit every lap for a new set, which I don't think is technically doable. Ah, has, yes. So I would probably count him out slightly of this one, but a slight disadvantage as to where they normally are. Vestepin won't have had the track time he've wanted, but like I say, he's been pretty good this year at that,

so I'm not too concerned about where he's going to be race-pace-wise. Given we've got Shao LeClair in second, who at least in terms of qualifying pace, was a 10th or two behind. You've got Oscar Piastri of McLaren, you've got George Russell of Mercedes. So the three closest challenges

in qualifying, at least in terms of pure position, three different teams, who is going to, who's going to be the number one challenger, do you think, tomorrow? Will it actually not be any of those three? Will it be Lando Norris from 5th?

What do you think? I think Lando should have been on the front row today. so I would not count him out as being the main challenger. As you say, he should have done sector three properly. It was not a drifting competition. Straight line. Straight line. It's a good way to go about your lap. So, yeah, I think obviously it's a little bit of a thing for Lando this year.

He's done that a couple of times when it's mattered. But yeah, so I think I'd go for him. I think, as I say, Lecler's race pace and not, I don't think will exist. Mercedes, so with Russell, they always tend to go better in the race, so they might be in their mix, but I think the McLaren looks like the stronger package. So I'll go for a Norris, but again, Piastri's been impressive all year, as we said. So those two are probably going to be my bet as main challenger. Yeah, I think in terms of the McLaren duo, Lando Norris, it does seem, has a minor pace

advantage over Oscar Piastri. I don't think it's, I don't think it's massive. So Piastri starting two positions ahead, Lando Norris, arguably with that pace advantage, they might well see themselves around the same position, not too long into that Grand Prix. Charle-Claire, I ain't got a clue. I have got no idea with Charle-Clau.

He could challenge for Stappan all day. He might also be 12th. And maybe something in between. Yep, I'm not making any predictions when it comes to Charles, Claire, and exactly where he's going to end up. But yeah, and George Russell, I mean, this is my own fault, but I've been duped by Mercedes this weekend bad. Like, I had F1 fantasy decisions to make, and I think I've made bad decisions because I've, I've gone on the back of Mercedes rather than McLaren.

And as soon as some of those laps started coming in today, I was like, George Russell, you have sent me, not for one. You've sent me for two bags of chips, one for FP1 and one for FP3. to your point, not representative whatsoever. And I think he's done all right to get fourth place in all honesty. I think the number one challenger might well be Lando Norris from fifth place, just based on what he was able to demonstrate today, obviously not when he needed to right at the end, but across a full race distance,

I'm going to go with Lando Norris as the closest challenger. What about a bit further back? Like I say, we had multiple teams, in the top 10, eight teams out of the 10 appearing in Q3, one of which was Red Bull, but Sergio Perez is going to start ninth after his lap validation. He otherwise would have been a few positions ahead. What do you think is realistic from his side? Could he get back onto the podium from that position? Yes, he should get back on the podium for that position when your teammates P1. I know I said there's a max factor in that poll, but, you know, it's still the

Still the best car on the grid. So, yeah, he should get back there. And as you say, I think people like LeCleur may drop back with their tire pace. He's got Nico Holkenberger front in a house. So, I mean, that's one easy, easy target. I don't know. Holkenberg, he's got some, tire wear. He's pretty good at it.

So are the two. Yeah, they might be right. All good. But aside note on that, Nico Hulkeberg, eight times in Q3 this year in, in that complete crap box of a car. Like how, I mean, fair do's for even getting in. I know this point was made as well.

That's particularly impressive given he didn't do a valid lapel session. Somehow he still managed to make it a Q3. Didn't do anything then. I'm here. I'm in Q3. But yeah, I think Perry should be, that's got to be, at a minimum that's got to be his target is the podium, if not, if not P2.

yeah and as it has been all year the Achilles heel of Sergio Perez's season has been his qualifying and he wasn't out in Q2 or anything but he still should have been closer I think after that and also not got his lap time deleted fair point

it is a fair point yeah I think a lot of it is going to depend on that early progress as well a lot of the time it is with these drivers looking to come back through the field is how much progress can you make in the first, really the first lap or even first half lap. So if Perez, it's not a long run down to turn one admittedly, but given the amount of slip streaming that's going to happen

down the back straight, there will be opportunities for Perez to make up a few of those positions early on. I think he needs to capitalize on that if he is to get to the podium, as you mentioned. our lead topic on the midweek episode in the preview was Mercedes versus Ferrari because there's four points between those two drivers going into this weekend. Mercedes have the advantage by four points. However, Charles LeClaire is starting second place, which is higher than any Mercedes driver. George Russell's then fourth, Lewis Hamilton's then 11th and then signs is 16th. So they are really spread out across this grid. I feel less certain than I did in the midweek about what's going to happen here.

have any idea, what, what do you think? Do you think Ferrari might well have the advantage based on where LeClau is starting, or do you think that Sines has got too much work to do? And actually, it might be Mercedes. Yeah, they've kept it interesting. I'll give him that. Thank you, Ferrari and Mercedes. As you say, I'm not, I'm not confident about Ferrari's race pace in general. Well, Sons will get further up than where he started, I'm sure. I think, I think LeCleur will drop back. but as you say, Ben, it's pretty much impossible to decide or predict where that Ferrari will be.

So, yeah, it could well be decided by Russell and Leclair, given where Hamilton assigned start. Again, I would expect Hamilton to make his way up as well, but I mean, his car, his car looked terrible today. I think he did well to get up to where he did. I think he could have been out, maybe out in Q1. I don't, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it was looking bad.

Yeah. So, yeah, maybe it's going to come down to those two. But as you say, I thought maybe Ferrari, I know it wasn't on midweek, but I think I would have said potentially Ferrari could have nabbed it, given where we were after Vegas, but I don't know. It got the clue. I mean, they have the momentum with them. I think, again, it's really difficult to tell,

particularly in the case of Carlos Sines with the crash he had an FP2, in that he's got to make up significant positions tomorrow to even get into the points. And the only data we've got is, I mean, FP1 and FP3, we've already said you can kind of throw those two out. He only did a little bit in FP2 before bidding it. It's just got no reference point as to whether he's going to be able to make up a lot of these positions or not. I mean, he's going to be, you would imagine he'll be fairly confident that he can get the likes of, well, even like one position ahead of it is Daniel Ricardo. We know what

his teammates done. So it is difficult to tell. Like how much progress is the likes of, I mean, Alex Albin, are they going to have better race pace than that Williams versus what they had at Las Vegas, quite possibly? Lange Stroll, I think he, in fairness, I think Lanchstrol might have been quicker than Alonzo today. And he just didn't quite produce it on the lap. So again, he might have better pace than what he's showing in 13th place. It's really tricky to tell how much progress signs is going to make. And that will ultimately probably be the decider.

Because George Russell, if he can hang on to Charles LeCler, even if he finishes one position behind, let's say, you're doing enough if Lewis Hamilton can then also get into the points, which from 11th place seems likely. As you referenced, Nico Hulkenberg's ahead of him. That's probably a position. I think Pierre Gasley has probably outqualified where that Alpine deserves to be in 10th.

So that's arguably two positions. And it might be a case that Hamilton claiming 7th place might be the difference between Mercedes or Ferrari winning this. It's going to be intriguing on this one. It's like who wants to win it. And they're both kind of going, Nah. Not us. Nah. I don't want it. Overrated me.

Signs is like, yeah, signs is like, you know, I'll take a braver. I'm out in Q1 after crashing it earlier in the weekend. Mercedes, it's yours. And Lewis Hamilton's gone, yeah, no, let's keep it going a little bit longer. I'm out in Q2. Don't fancy it. And then you think, Shao LeClau's like, ah, I'm going to give it up a bit here and finish it towards the back of the top 10. Just kidding. I'll keep it interesting and qualify second. It does feel like it's just changing every minute. Anyway, we've got a few other things to look about. We'll be taking a short break now. On the other side, we'll discuss Alfatari and Williams. Yuki Sanoda, did it all right, didn't he?

Little rocket ship a week later than Sam predicted, apparently. Yeah, he wasn't wrong, he was early. Just early, early breaking. Yeah, Yuki was very impressive. Obviously, that car has got some updates on it. a lot of a big update for last race of the year. Like, they're throwing everything at this P7, if they were trying to get P7.

So, but not only was Scarquic, Yuki was, I think, quick over Daniel Ricardo for all session. So, yeah, very impressive from Lil Yuki, or Hall of Famer. He was probably my little, my little, I didn't mean to say little, but my star of qualifying. Yeah, fair. But I mean, seven points as well separating Williams and Alphateri. If he were to hold sixth place, that's eight points. That would be enough if Williams can't get into the top 10.

I'll do it. Yeah, it's going to be intriguing to see if that's enough or not. I mean, it would be the best result that Alphatari have delivered all year and he is going to have some fast cars behind him. But that Alphatari has shown, Vegas aside, that it does have pace in recent Grand Prix. I know we've also gone on about William's comments about maybe it isn't their number one priority to come out here and claim seventh ahead of Alpha Tauri. But in their last season, we have to assume as well that Alphotauri will be disqualified next year if indeed they do go with the name Racing Bulls. I think that is means for disqualification. Absolutely vile. Like, please do not tell me that's true.

I was, I thought Racing Point might be the worst name of all time. and then here they are, they're trying their best to beat it. What if we got point and we made it an even worse word, balls? Come on, Matt. Just go back to Toro also if you really want to. Why not? Yeah, go for it. Yeah, come on. Bring back Manardi.

Please. It's funny as well. We completely wrote off the chance of Alfatari beating Williams in the midweek episode, which of course Alfa Tauri took that personal, which is why they're so quick this weekend. Nice one.

But there you go. Yeah, Yuki Sinoda is starting well inside the top 10, and if he were to stay there, it would require one of the Williams drivers getting into the top 10. Logan Sarger's got a long way to go from 20th. Alex Albin from 14th. Do you think it's going to be race-paced-wise

if they're going to struggle with this graining in the same? way that they did in in Vegas. Yeah, I don't know whether it'll be the same graining issues. The problem is for Williams, if they are going to struggle, they're starting much lower down than they did in Vegas. So that doesn't bode well. I think it won't be, because I think Vegas was quite unique in that sense.

It was not never tire temperature-related. It was all in this graining, which Williams struggled with. So it might be slightly different, but it's going to be a, it's going to be a tough ask for Albon. I think Albon, again, like you say, with like Stroll, I think he will be disappointed where he ended up because he might have scraped through the top, into the top 10, but it would have been, you know,

maybe four places closer to Sonoda than he is right now. So I think it could have matched Holkenberg. Yeah, I think that's what I mean. I think it could have been around that eighth, ninth area. So there's some important. improvement there, but like you, like we said, I don't know whether their race pace is going to be, it's going to be great. It's going to be interesting. The only thing that will bodes well for them is that they are the straight line speed merchants are back with full fours. Because they are the quickest

things in that straight line. So that will at least help them in the race. They just got to hope for a bit of, a bit of luck involved. Because if they can get into a position where even if they're defending, they're going to be so hard to pass going down those two back straights. Which is going to be even more frustrating as to why they're not further up the grid than what they are. Because if they were starting in a similar place

to where they were in Vegas and they were straight line speed merchants, they could probably hold off a lot of teams from getting past them. Instead, the onus is on them to make the overtakes. I think you're right. Alex Almond in 14th place was I'm not really entirely sure why Q2 the pace seemed to fall off because track evolution

seemed to work for everyone else apart from Williams. They looked pretty good up until that point, but Q2 just nothing came together. I appreciate they decided to go a bit earlier and to avoid, I assume, any potential yellow or red flags, which is fair enough. Sometimes that will work out for you. But here we could tell, and I think even the commentary team were saying that Alex Albin put in an improvement, but you could kind of tell just based on the first few improvements from everyone else, that time probably isn't going to hold. And soon enough, he was down in 14th place. So I think, I think Albin will be disappointed here. I like I say, I think eighth place, Nika Holkenberg territory would have been achievable. And then suddenly, you know, Yuki

Sonoda being in such a strong position isn't the end of the world, even if he keeps that, if Alex Albin can also hang about in this top 10. Complete a side point here as well. We're talking about Williams versus Alfa Tauri, seven versus eight for the championship, obviously looking at quite low positions. I think it's really good that we're talking about some of the quote unquote worst teams in F1, battling it out until the end of the season. But we're talking about them potentially scoring some.

solid points. Point being like 10 years ago, or not even 10 years ago, these battles further down the championship, it was 2-1 at the end of the season and like four points to 2. And it was often a case of who could get lucky once a season and just scrape some points. Whereas here, it doesn't feel like the worst or the worst of battling it, if that makes sense. It does actually feel like they have a chance to score points legitimately, which is good. Yeah. I saw a tweet from Kareen Chandock, who made a point about there was like 0.6 seconds, top rate, separating the top,

or top rating, which is separating the top, all in one word. But separating, I can't remember the exact, maybe it was the entire field or something. Yeah, it was something like that. It was a good chunk of the field, and it was making the point of, in terms of raw pace, I don't think F-1's ever been closer and inevitably someone underneath,

was having a whinge about it because it's Twitter. But what you just said there, Ben, I think proves that point. Yes, I know we haven't had the battle up at the front and that's a shame. But no longer are we having got these teams towards the back who are like scraping for points. Like it's a proper battle, which is good. The worst team in F1, at least if you're looking at points, has had a driver. one sole driver make it through to Q3 eight times this season. Exactly.

There you go. You would not have had that with a caterer or a Mauritia. No, not at all. Not at all. Yeah. Overall, I think that's fairly encouraging. Logan Sargent, just to speak on him, because we've spoken about Alex Albin, he will start from 20th place and last.

Seemed to have some fairly solid pace, but this isn't the first time this has happened this season either, just could not keep those four wheels where he needed them. Do you think Williams at this point should be more encouraged that the pace seems reasonable or more discouraged that he can't seem to pull it together a lot of the time? I think yes on the pace. It's been encouraging for Williams. This weekend, again, I know Album still had an edge on him,

but he was there, like he was there with Albon. And I think... Two towns. Yeah. If it had got another way, maybe it could have been... looking at Albon P8, as we say, Sergeant 12th. And their position for the race tomorrow looks much rosier than it does right now. Yeah.

But I feel like I always say this. It's better to have a driver that's quick and you can iron these things out. I guess the problem is that the ironing is taking. It's a big old part of ironing. It's a good sergeant. It's just taking a while. So yeah, it's going to be frustrating. And they spoke to James Vowles on the pit bull, didn't they, during the Skycommitry.

And maybe this was in practice, I can't remember. But they were saying about, you know, do you like hype him up or do you try and like calm him down? Like, you know, don't get him over excited. And James Fowles were saying that they're just trying to keep him calm because I think he's putting the pressure on himself. But I think that showed today he had the pace. He just had to deliver it. It's something we've seen with Perez this year, where he's clearly had the pace.

I'm thinking like Austria, when he quite literally couldn't do any laps without falling off the circuit. Yeah. Where he easily had, he just had to knock a tenth off what he was doing, keep it in the white lines, and he would have been,

he'd been absolutely fine. So a frustrated one for Sergeant because I think he was having a decent weekend up until this point, but it's going to be a long, old race for him tomorrow. Yeah, it's fine lines between, good, well, I was going to say

great, but it's fine lines between delivering something good versus being last and ultimately, yeah, Logan's like he's going to have a really tough race, partly owing again to how close this field is. I think he will fancy getting past both of the, the Alpha

Amos, he'll probably fancy getting past Kevin Magnuson if Magnuson has tire problems, but outside of that, it's going to be difficult for him to get much higher up the grid, and it will be frustrating to him because, again, he wasn't that far of Alex Albin. It was, I think, about two temps, separating two drivers. And, um, look, when it comes to track violations and, you know, going over the white line,

I think it's absolutely right to penalize the drivers and don't get me wrong, they, the laps deserve to be invalidated. But equally, he's not, it's not like the gap is two temps, but it's only two temps because Sergeant is cutting corners. They are saving, like, minuscule amounts of time by violating track limits. So that pace is genuine. That pace is there. But ultimately, if you can't string it together and avoid these limits, then you are going to be suspect to starting at the back of the grid. And as reference, this isn't the only time this has happened this year. I think Williams overall will certainly be encouraged by the pace. And actually at Vegas as well, it was fairly similar. So that's two races in a row.

which in fairness, when Sergeant needed it the most, he's been able to put something together. I think at this point as well, could be wrong and excited for me to be wrong on this. I'm pretty sure Sergeant is going to be in that seat next year, just based on any other option, seems to be going in a different direction in terms of their racing career.

We know Mick Schumack has now been confirmed in terms of the World Endurance Championship. We know that Liam Lawson has repeatedly said it isn't going to be him. So I think Sargent is going to be there next year. But as to your point, a lot of ironing to do. But at least you can iron it out. Whereas if you slow, you're slow. There aren't too much you can do about it.

Yeah. I think that will probably do it for today's review. Anything else you want to say, Ari? Abu Dhabi, the tracks still sucks. and it's been 14 years. So... You know what? I've got a really good idea.

Brazil. Brazil. Oh, man. Yeah, it's just... Anyway, I hope that tomorrow is an absolute banger and it proved me wrong, but my hopes are low. What would Sam say at this point

to get us out of here? Something like radishes. I don't know. Oh. Something entirely random. Eating a radish is much like subscribing to us on YouTube. Both enjoyable, depending on who you are. Good point.

Oh God, I hate doing this bit. We suck at this bit. This is probably Sam's, this is why we have him. Just to do the outroes. Sam, you have a place on this podcast, buddy. You always will, thanks to this. Right, who have you been? I've been

it's a Saturday I've been Harry Ead only comes out You have been Harry Yeah yeah That's true And I've been band hocking And remember

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