The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2023 Italian GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: September 2, 2023

Ben, Sam and Harry review qualifying from the 2023 Italian GP where Carlos Sainz delighted the Tifosi with pole position around the Monza circuit. The boys discuss whether this gives Ferrari a chance to finalloy stop Red Bull and Max Verstappen's winning streak - they also chat through a tough session and a disastrous session for Alpine. 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. Welcome to the Late Breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking. Of course, qualifying review here, Monza, Italian Grand Prix. It's such an exciting qualifying session that all three of us have bothered to show up for this. you know it must be a good one if that's the case. Sam, Carlos Sines, taking pole position

from Max Verstappan and Shao LaClaire to Fosie cheering. I mean, talk about that. Chearing. I don't know how long they're going to be cheering for with the fact that they managed me the only team that went too slow around the track to possibly pick up a penalty. We don't know what that means.

They're all good, mate. Yeah, what? Did you turn it off? Yeah. It cleared. Oh, yes. Sam fell asleep and they were like,

we ain't dealing with this. FIA, like, I'm out. I'm not doing this. I was, honestly, I was like a member of the Tophoos I was jumping around, scream with a car like, so was on pole position.

I was so happy. I'm like, yes, a Ferrari's on pole for Monson. I've missed all the commentary. I did not hear anything that was going on the screen. I was just very excited.

Well, that's great. I'm very happy. Very happy in the words of a long time. I really, honestly, I really, I know, we, what's the word?

I don't know. We're hard on the FIA sometimes. I admire the whole I ain't doing this guys. I'm not doing it. Homer Simpson into head. Yeah, literally like, I'm dealing with this. I'm going home.

See you later. Crap. They got pole. What are we doing how? Do we want to die this weekend? I see nothing. Bye-bye. If I speak, I'm in trouble.

I love how Jose Rino's made an appearance on the late breaking podcast. Yeah. So, as I, identified that. Carlos Seines not only qualified in pole position, but he gets to keep it as well. The FIA deciding either rightly or wrongly that no penalty will be applied for the potential of going

too slow, which would be the most Ferrari penalty of all time, but they've avoided that. Max Verstappen in second place. So he's still got a relatively good shot at winning a Grand Prix tomorrow. That'll be interesting to see. And Charles Leclair in third place. We'll start out front. Sam, you already sort of have to described your jubilation for Carlos signs, but what do you make of Ferrari's overall

pace? Their roller coaster of the season keeps going. I mean, I think I've started to decipher it, but you're right, it is a big of a roller coaster. The fact that, you know, in the likes of Belgium was good, Zangvort terrible. It appears that actually, if there's more straight than turny bit,

they're quite good at the F-1. If there's more turny bit than straight, not very good at the F-1. So, you know, that was proof. with the fact, you know, like Spar, Sectors 1 and 3, they were very, very good, they would go around Austria as well, relatively good around Silverstone, of course, a power track. And now they're good here, which, of course,

the Temple of Speed is the home of no-turny-bit or straight-line. So, yeah, it's, you know, the roller coaster is, we only want to do straight lines, don't do twisty bits. They're having a great time. They might win the championship. And I think if they can get away, or they could do a two-versus one moment against Max Verstappen, they might be able to break the DRS distance,

which, of course, Red Bull have such a dominating ability to hone in that DRS power. They're so strong when it comes to DRS activation when it comes to slip streaming that I'm nervous that if the staffing is still within one second window come lap three, if one of them can hassle the staff and the other one breaks free, I do think they've genuinely got a chance at winning this. And obviously, Carlos Sainz still hasn't picked up a podium. He's the only person in that top set of running teams and not have a podium now

other than Oscar Piaastri. I mean, that's, you know, I think, harsh, putting those drop against each other at the moment. And I think I heard the stat on the telly that if he doesn't pick up a podium this season, he'd be the first driver at Ferrari in 40 years, not to get a pogging for a whole season. So, you know, this is the big opportunity. He now has to turn this into a great result. He's got the perfect start.

It was a great weekend for him. He really seemed on it way more than LeCleur for pretty much the whole weekend. He just felt very, very comfortable in his skin, which is great to see from Carlos. And Shal felt a little bit wobbly. but I thought right at the end, Charlotte done it. He didn't. Carlos did. And he now used to, you know, capitalize on this great start for Sunday.

What were your thoughts on the Science Poll, Harry? And what might that do for Science's confidence, as Sam mentioned, of course, a podiumless season so far? Yeah, I mean, great lap from Carlos. I think, like Sam, he seems to have had the edge on Shal all weekend, which is, can you tell me a time of that's really happened? I mean, when he's out qualified, LeClau, it's rather he's been ahead all weekend. So impressive stuff from, from Science.

I did think LeCleur might be trying to beat that lap. And he obviously did beat the original lap, but science went even quicker. So nothing really LeCler could do there. I know he said about he missed out on a toe, but, you know, whether that would have made a difference or not, who knows. The only thing is, his confidence, I'm sure, is really high and it's great. And I think he does have a shot of the podium. my confidence in Ferrari converting this into a winner's low, not just because it's Ferrari,

I just think the radio message from GP to Max afterwards where they sounded quite happy. Well, yeah, not bothered, but also like that was a really good lap. I was like, you've got way more downfall, son, haven't you, you, lads? Like, you're quite happy with P2.

So, yeah, so that's not a criticism of signs of Ferrari, really. I mean, I'm sure they could find a way to mess it up, but I'm just a bit worried about Vestap. and he's only less than a tenth of way in Kuali and they've probably put some more wing on, aren't they? So, you know, anything could happen tomorrow. They could get taken out of turn one.

Russell's not that far back. That's a joke. It's a joke, George Russell fans. Come on. But yeah, I just think Vestappen's got this one under control, even though he's not on poll. But we'll see. Obviously, completely different circumstances,

but GP's radio message and his conversation with Vestappen, had all the signs of 2004 Michael Schumacher got a load of fuel in the car has done a pretty good qualifier and you just know he's got he's got a hundred times more fuel than Yarno Trinckx's got in

classic he's going to do like he's going to overcut it by 15 laps and he's going to win the race it had vibes of that I think obviously not fuel related but perhaps more downforce related here I think you might be right on that. But certainly it was a really encouraging day for Ferrari.

Not only for Charler-Leclair, but yeah, for Carlos Seins, who obviously Charlotte-Clau got pole position at this circuit last year. I think the expectations probably going into the weekend was if anyone was going to do it again, it would probably be LeCler. But similar to your point, Harry, the encouraging part about this wasn't necessarily the one-off lap because it wasn't a fluke. Carlos Sines was quicker than Charles Leclerc all throughout the weekend leading up to this. He was fastest in FP2, he was fastest in FP3, all throughout the previous qualifying sessions as well.

He was looking good in comparison to his teammate. And even when Charles LeCler raised the bar on that second stint, signs were still able to go faster again. That middle sector, his car was just hooked up in that middle sector, which can often be the difference when you think sector one and sector three. if you've got a similar-ish setup, the difference between sector one and sector three can be quite negligible, whereas sector two can be where that different comes about. And that's exactly what happened. I think Ferrari, if they are to stand a chance of winning tomorrow, they do need to capitalize on that 2V1 situation. And honestly, I think part of it might depend on can Sergio Perez get past Russell as quickly as he possibly can and get in that fight. Because if it does end up

being 2V1 in Ferrari's favour, that might be their best opportunity to create something of this race. But even if they finish, let's say, second and third or second and fourth, that's a step in the right direction, even if the wind doesn't come their way. From good to not quite so good. So we've already mentioned George Russell had a pretty good effort in Q3, but Lewis Hamilton unable to match him, being in the lower parts of Q3. I don't have a lot of sympathy because he decided to announce his contract

after our last recording sessions. As far as I'm saying, he could have been knocked down in Q1 and I'd have been quite happy. I'm kidding. What did you make of Hamilton's inability, Sam, to get up with his teammate in Q3 because he had a struggle to get out of Q2 as well?

Yeah, it feels like he's being plagued by the same issue that happened at Zangvo. Again, there's kind of lack of confidence in the car, the setup, the rhythm that you need. And I think Lewis Hamilton thrives on that kind of really setting your rhythm and you're just knocking out lap after lap. And what's brutal is the position counter makes it look way harsh and in the actual time gap between the drivers.

I think it's about a tenth and a half between them. But Hamilton obviously sits in eighth, thrustle sits in fourth. On any other track, a tenth and a half will maybe be a position. Hamilton might be fifth or sixth there and it really, you know, it gets any real problems and you'll make it up in the round. race, I imagine. But this is the second weekend in a row, since the summer break coming back, that Hamilton has failed to get close to Russell when it comes to qualifying, made up for it, of course, in the race at Zandvon. He's hoping, I imagine, to do exactly the same again.

But something is lacking there with Lewis. Something is causing him to not have the confidence, the faith in the car, to pull out these laps that we're so used to Lewis Hamilton seeing. Of course, this is one of his most favourable tracks. They rant on about it, all qualifying session that he's got the most pole positions here and joint most wings. So the guy knows how I go very fast, around a very fast place, and he holds the lap record, he knows what he's doing. If you're unaware, he is good at the F-1. But the last couple of sessions, not showing it.

So while I don't think this is disaster territory, I really don't think, you know, it's his cause for proper worry. He's on a little bit of a downward streak. And I think coming straight out of the summer break is not the time you want to be on a downward streak. I think you want to be maintaining that momentum going into the last few races at the season and then you can lift off with a couple of races to go if everything's all sorted. Russell's having up his turn though. He's doing a great job. He's thriving here and qualifying

and it's, we commented on the summer break that his form was worrying in the first half of the season and he's really putting that to bed. So great to see from Russell, not disastrous from Hamilton, but I was, I was expecting more from him. What were your thoughts on Mercedes, Harry and Lewis Hamilton not quite getting up there with his teammate? I mean, I'm going to ship off the fifth row of the grid to the retirement home. A pair of them, Hamilton and Alonzo, washed. No, jokes, obviously.

But you get a feeling those two, even though they're ninth and tenth, then probably not in their strongest car. They'll get something out of tomorrow, probably. But I don't know what it will be. But in terms of quality itself, yeah, Hamilton was, I don't know, most of the weekend, Hamilton's looked like

he's had the edge on Russell and even maybe Q1, he did. But it just sort of didn't. didn't happen for him as the session evolved. And you rise, I think it's like the unpredictability of the car that he's, he's, one lap he can go out and it's fine.

And then the next lap he goes out or the next session he goes out. And the car's an absolute handful to drive. And again, we saw that in Zandvoi. It does look, I know obviously it's Monter's the running low down force. But riding on board with Hamilton, like through like a scari, for example,

he is fighting away of that wheel. like he's it's a struggle to get through it. So yeah, it's a strange one. Again, I trust, like I said, I trust Hamilton to get a result out of tomorrow. And I'm sure he probably will be up there with Russell. But it doesn't help. It was the same with Russell before the summer break where he was not qualifying quite where he should be. Again, this is, you know, he stood on the top 10, Hamilton.

But where Russell was not qualifying where he should be and they had to work hard on the race to get back up to where that Mercedes should be or the pace should be. so yeah, not a great one. Again, Monza's qualified, Monza qualifying is so tight that, you know, it only takes a lockup or a slight slide and you've dropped like three places down the grid. So I don't think that it's a disaster in comparison to Russell, but it's, yeah, he didn't seem particularly happy this session, did a, did Mr. H? Yeah, it was, Martin Brundle on Sky Sports Commentary,

to Mercedes as surviving this weekend. And I don't think there's a better way to describe it than that. It does just seem as if the car's not quite suited for this circuit, which isn't the first time we've come to a circuit this year, and that's been the case. Just not quite there. Certainly in the first sector as well, you'd often see that the Ferraris and the Red Bulls

and even the likes of Williams and Alpha Tari at times, we're all on a very level playing field through that. first sector. And every time you'd say, okay, George Russell set a green sector and he's still two and a half thames down on the likes of Estabana signs. And I think they were just being quick enough in the middle sector and the final sector to not have that much damage. But it was a struggle. I think for both of them, certainly George Russell was the one who was able to extract the most out of that car in Q3. And Hamilton just didn't seem very comfortable with that car. I know early on in the weekend, he mentioned not being fast enough on the straits.

They changed something. Didn't really do anything. Yeah, I think this is a case where experience will probably play out tomorrow and he will get something. But just not there with the Ferrari and the Red Bulls this time out. I wonder if the car is such a hangful through those corners that they're having to adapt with more downforce, more wing. And obviously, folks, if you're unaware, more downforce, means you go slower in a straight

line and therefore they're just losing that ultimate pace when it goes through the first sector, which of course is straight out, you know, foot to the floor, all you want is top speed. So I wonder if the car is so unbalanced that they're having to counter at that with more front winging. It's just lacking. I wonder though if it might be a really good race car. I wonder if actually their race pace long distance-wise when they're not relying entirely on flat out pace on an empty track might come to benefit them. Okay, we'll take a short break. We've got more qualifying chat after this. So, guys, did you notice that there was at least one Williams that made it through to Q2 today?

There was at least one Hasse that made it through to Q2 today. There was at least one Alpha and Mayo. In fact, I could see nine different teams made it through to Q2 today. Well done to all of those. Oh no. Oh, no, no. I don't remember seeing an Alpine. Oh, dear.

A tough weekend so far for Alpine. and at least based on practice and qualifying, it's difficult to see it getting much better in the race. A bit of a come down after Pierre Gasley had a podium last time out at Zanvort. Both cars being not done in Q1, Sam. This just doesn't seem to be their track whatsoever. Yeah, you know, you mentioned there the difference between Zandvort and Monsor of the juxtaposition between such a high and now such a low.

And we spoke about the saying he's surviving this weekend. Well, Alpinga are failing miserably. surviving. They are very much close to dying, I think, when it comes to their performance around their car just ain't made for the straight bits, very much unlike Ferrari. They like the turny bits. And you look at the tracks where they've succeeded and the two tracks they picked up podium, Zanvot, Monaco, they were quite good around Hungary as well. And this is the total opposite of that. And of course, we've had the debate on the podcast. You've got brought up as well during the commentary if you're watching the Sky Sports UK commentary about the engine humongulation.

I cannot say that word. Homola, homologation. I like that Crofty said the engines are frozen, and then Martin Brunter was like, yeah, homologation. And that's how I feel we are. Surprisingly didn't go with equal lives or something like that. Yeah, yeah. So it made me laugh so much when he said Frozen. I went, we're not, you know, keeping them in the fridge, mate.

So, yes. So obviously, they've complained about that and said that they are on a deficit and they want it to be rebalanced. and maybe we are really seeing evidence of this. But with a powerhouse like Alping, it's up to them. It was up to them to get the engine right. And they clearly are failing at that aspect.

So, yeah, this is going to be a big of a horror show for Alping. I think they're going to be hoping for some kind of miracle moment with maybe a red flag or a safety car that plays into their hands or they can maybe sit in a DRS train to keep up. But I think for Ocon and Ghazli, they are going to be just dragging themselves in hope that they can get to Singapore as soon as possible. Where I imagine we'll see them very much come back.

into the top 10 again. At this point, just break Park Fermi. Just do a test session for Singapore. Just try and get your set up right before you even get there. It's going to be a long race for both of them. You're right, unless something such as rain, a red flag, or potentially like a track invasion might help them. I don't know.

I'm really scrambling for ideas. An alien invasion might help them. even that, I feel like might disadvantage them at this point. They are really struggling. And yeah, to your point, I think overall this probably does just prove the point that, yes, their power unit is down. I know there was some suspicion about whether that was actually the case when it was raised by poor Otmar, rest in peace a few months ago. And particularly Lou Ferrari, I think, ironically, mentioned that I don't know if they're telling the truth on this. And yeah, it was the case where I think here it was proven.

Yeah, they're a bit down in terms of power unit because nothing is going to expose a poor power unit like Monza is. So, yeah, I would say overall, tough day for Alpine, probably not getting better tomorrow. If I'm them, I'm probably just changing my flights and going straight to Singapore. Harry? Yeah, I'd just go home, lads. I wouldn't even bother. Oh Sorry, that was my desk

I rattled my desk I would try to top myself in It's another sound makes it on to the late breaking ever podcast I'm really sorry No no, all good Yeah, just

I wasn't expecting big things from LP this weekend But yeah, that car's garbage around this track It's it's No good whatsoever So, I mean Yeah, you saw...

Didn't work, did it? No, I know. And you saw how hard Ocom was trying, because we saw his trip through the gavel at the exit of Ascari. And I think that proved just quite how hard he was trying to push that car. But it just wasn't not happening. Just not happening. So going to be a long afternoon tomorrow,

unless there's anything crazy happening for the Alpine, the Alpine guys. Yeah, that engine deficit, whore. It's not great. Never mind, A, L'A, L'Pie. The plan. Yeah, right, Leplan. Sorry, I forgot to mention, Lepland actually starts Singapore.

Oh. Yeah. I'm sure Othamar said the same thing. No, it started at Zanthor. It started at Zanthor, but they just were like, forget, ignore, Monsor. Don't worry about it. Yeah, yeah, that never factored in, so don't worry about that, everyone who's counting on that coming through.

another team I wanted to chat about was Alpha Tauri. Liam Lawson in his second outing for the team. Yuki Sonoda, a good outing from him as well. Both made Q2 and they'll actually start alongside each other on the grid tomorrow. 11th and 12, very nearly making it into Q3. Sam, they seem to have some solid pace. What did you make of both of their efforts? Firstly, genuinely surprised at what the Alpha Tari was able to do.

They were really on the cusp of getting into Q3. obviously less than a tenth away from knocking Landon Norris out in the McLaren, which was a little bit of a surprise to see them struggling at the end of that session. But also that Liam Lawson is, what, 0.15 away from Yuki-Sing only his second qualifying session of his Formula One career. He is growing in confidence already, and I think he's impressing people already. And my microphone will not stop changing volume on its own. Just want to see you to be quiet, son.

You just see the green light going up and down. It's great. It's incredibly annoying. I'm having to hold it in place. It's doing it. Sorry, everyone, this is a nightmare for you. Great. Good.

Point is, Norse is doing a great job. And I'll have to talk really loud, Toby at counteracts. And I'm quite impressed. But obviously, also at the same time, I also think the track is quite flattering, realistically, as I've mentioned already many times on this show,

you go on a straight line a lot, and you have to break. And that is really the fundamental part of any Formula One driver. So he's doing it well. Let's see if he could keep it up in Singapore, which it looks likely. he's going to be making appearances more and more. Harry, what do you make of their efforts?

Yeah, Lawson in particular, I know again, maybe we fell into this trap last year with the freeze. I ain't doing it again. I ain't doing it again. I ain't going to do it. The one thing is not happening. He is not getting points in this race, and I'm not picking him in teammate wars next year.

That is not happening. Yeah. By the way, on predictions, Sam's old prediction, they're pretty good so far. do this until tomorrow, but so far if it's finished like this, there's a point on the board.

You've just kinked it. Sound well? Well, that's the hope. But yeah, again, not going to fall into the freeze trap, but having you said that, an impressive effort from Lawson, considering how much time he's had in that car, and how much time he's had in that car

when it's been a dry day and there's no rain or mixed condition. So to be, he was only like a tenth, basically off Sonoda. and the pair of them were only attended a bit off being in the in Q3 I think so yeah pretty impressive and actually a good effort

all around from that Alphitarie I guess maybe they're like Ferrari maybe their strengths lie not in corners I'd suggest just because the way that was but they're in a good position for tomorrow they could pick up a couple of cheeky points

what happens if Lawson gets points in terms of teammate battles where do we go then I think we're Well, we've just got to ignore that. It doesn't count. See if it was out the window. It's so out the window. This is a bit unfair because that, well, anyway,

people that might have picked Ricardo, he's not had many races to, to get the point in their mind. That's your fault for picking someone so fragile. Fratile, such brittle bones. I am, of course, joking. Yeah. I, I'm not, I'm just, I'm not falling into the trap.

I'm not doing it. It was a really, it was a good effort from Liam Loss. Don't get me wrong. And I think, I think Yuki Sunoda in particular might just be a little bit disappointed. He didn't make it in Q3. I think he had it in him.

I think he had a Q3 appearance in him today. And he couldn't quite drag that out in Q2. I think Liam Lawson probably maximized where he's at with the car. I'm going to wait. I'm waiting until Singapore qualifying. I want to see what the gap is there. Because if the gap is at Singapore,

a 10th, 10th and a half, sure, I'm sold. but not here at Monza. But yeah, I think they did a pretty good job. And I think they will both have a chance of scoring points. They might need one or two things to happen in front of them. But generally speaking, at least one or two things tend to happen in front of you. So, yeah, they just need to, I think they just need to get stuck in, don't they?

Just make sure that they're the ones not making the errors and picking up and capitalizing on where others do. That would be their optimal race, I think. we almost saw today Ferrari get penalised for being too slow and we know that they put in the FIA that is put in a minimum lap time sorry maximum lap time for any outlaps to make sure that we don't have the farcical efforts of a few years ago if you remember 2019 qualifying for anyone who was a fan back then you'd have known how nearly everyone didn't make the line at the end of Q3

because everyone was trying to be the last one over the line and gain a slip stream. What did you make of, I'm not quite sure what the right term is, Sam, but what did you make of the overall qualifying conduct out there? Do you think it was pretty well managed between them? It was definitely better than what we've seen over the last few years.

I'm not sure it's been resolved as a problem. We still saw, you know, the likes of Land and Norris go, I got absolutely beeped on the last group. Bossass flew past him. Impended is that word. Thank you. That's the correct word. You know, so it's not ideal.

It's not perfect. But we didn't see the 2019 traffic jam. And we also haven't seen the mess that happened in the junior formerly that were racing here at Monsa as well. Because in their qualifying, it was also an absolute state. I think if F3 was chaos. There was about 18 cars all on one corner at one point. It was genuinely terrifying. So not perfect.

but I like the incentive they're going for. I enjoy the point they're trying to make. And I think that it's definitely step in the right direction for trying to clear up a little bit of the traffic jam. But at the same time, I kind of love the traffic jam. And I kind of love the chaos. And you're already getting it in Monsa, and I'm here for it. So let it be.

I don't mind the chaos as long as they get their lapsing. Certainly, the end of 2019 qualifying was such a disappointment because there is such excitement about the last runs of Q3. and I'm just glad that overall the teams I think have learned from that, even though it wasn't necessarily perfect. We still had a team investigated for breaking those rules. It was still far better managed than it has been in previous years. And ultimately, we got the excitement at the end of Q3.

Fair play to Ferrari for establishing that they could be burned by this because they sent both of their drivers out very early in their last runs of Q3. they were over the line very quickly. Same with Vastappen as well. And I think overall, I can't remember Lewis Hamilton was last across the line, wasn't he? And that was still relatively comfortable. And we saw Q2 and Q1, there was at least a question mark about the last driver over the line. But I think in both instances, they weren't struggling to make the line.

It was 10 seconds or so still to go. So, yeah, I think because it's Monza, it's very difficult to demand perfection when it comes to conduct. in qualifying. So if it's good like it was today, I think you take that. Harry, what do you reckon? Yeah, I agree. I think that's probably maybe as good as it's going to get,

and I'll take it. I'm not sure we're going to get much more than that. I am with Sam. I do like for the sheer hilarity of it, I do like the chaos somewhat with we had in 2019, but, you know, for a spectator not seeing all, I love Monser qualifying and not getting them to have the rule final, or have their final lapse,

it would be a disappointment. So that was so badly worded. I don't know what happened to all the words that came out my mouth then. Anyway, I hope you got the point there. But yeah, so I don't think there's much more they could do. I'm almost in favour that we have that sort of thing at every track. Because I know Monsa is a special case,

but it does happen elsewhere where they start tripping over each other. and I thought we were supposed to. Well, me too, but it felt like quite a tight time. The rest of the other tracks you've had it at feels like maybe it's a bit longer. But it forced them to get a move on today. So I'm in favour of that. The only thing was a criticism, maybe we don't know, we don't know the, we don't have the evidence,

is if Ferrari were, both Ferraris were over that lap time. And I know a joke about the FIA, just not wanting to, you know, be murdered in Bonza. But if they were, then that's got to be a slam dunk. I don't care if there's any mitigating circumstances that Ferrari like to use. But if they are over,

then it should be a penalty. But anyway, we don't really have enough info on that. But also I'll remain silent on it. But I hope there was no poor decision made by the FAA. But in general, I think it worked well. Before we go, Sam, Who is your star of qualifying?

What is this new thing? Oh, yeah, this is a really outlandish thing. We'll get another theme tune. We'll work that out. Well, it wasn't Logan Sargent, who's absolutely butchered any chance of success this weekend already.

I've added to that dig in there. I'm sorry. We ever brought him up yet, and I was really quite disappointed. It's Kirby, Carlos Sites. This is the weekend he needs. He has not had a spectacular season.

Hopefully it kickstarts now. He really put his mark on the old Ferrari map today. And I was impressed. Hopefully he delivers tomorrow. Star-qualifying, Harry. I will go for, do you know what? I'll go for George Russell

because I don't think that Mercedes deserves to be in fourth. So I'll go for Georgie Russ. I would tend to agree with that, to be honest. I think, in all honesty, those two are the drivers I would pick, just to throw another name into the hat. Alex Albin pulled off another good qualifying effort, and it's encouraging that we haven't picked up on it.

Yeah, that's fair. It's kind of so normal that we expect Alex Albin to do such a great job in qualifying. He's on the third row of the grid in a Williams. At this point, it's like, yeah, all right, he's a good driver, and he? Of course he'll do that. So fair play to you. We don't want it to go unrecognized just because it's becoming a bit more normalized. He was, oh my God.

I went out last night and my voice is gone. He is 0.09 away from being fourth place in that Williams. That's how tight it was. He's really smashing it. Straight line merchants. Straight line merchants. They developed a rear wing just for this race. I love that.

Other teams don't really bother anymore, but Williams like Monza. Yeah. I mean, other teams develop wings for Monaco, but they're like, Williams are like, we're not doing that. We're going on. I mean, it'd be a waste their time, wouldn't it? We're a real waste. Improving from 20th to 17.

Probably not worth it. Okay, that'll do it for the qualifying review. Of course, all three of us will be back tomorrow for the race review. Sam, anything you want to say before you get us out of here? No, thank you for listening. We'll see you tomorrow. Enjoy your weekends. And we love you all.

Wow. That's good. Bye-bye. Keep breaking, mate. Bye. Bye.