The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2023 Qatar GP Sprint Review

Episode Date: October 7, 2023

Sam & Ben review all the drama and main events from today's Sprint Shootout Qualifying and Sprint Race in Qatar that saw Piastri take his maiden pole AND win, and Verstappen secure his third world title... 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 Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, today reviewing Qatar Sprint, where Oscar Piastri won for the first time in F1 and Max Verstappen. One, I mean, confirmed, I think is maybe the better word. Confirmed. His third consecutive driver's championship with a podium and Sergio Perez not able to finish.

Sam, I've managed to join you today. No more solo pods. Oh, thank God you're back. You finally got off the pedolo that you were trapped on with Harry. I assume he's still floating around in the lake. But it's so nice. Don't worry about him. Just run for yourself.

It's so good to have you back, mate. It was chaos. Hell, I miss you more than you will understand. I haven't actually listened to it yet. I'm waiting for when I'm mentally ready enough. You'll never be, mate. Just accept it's almost like a dream that one day you'll just forget it ever happened.

Well, despite, I'm sure it was great. Someone who's probably not having a great day, Omar Saffnauer, because Oscar Piastri, I think he's kind of winning the Piastri versus Alpine Saga at this point. As we say, he was able to win his first ever sprint. He did very well in his last sprint as well, if you remember back to the Belgian Grand Prix, got pole position for it earlier on today and converted that to a race win. Did get overtaken by George Russell early on,

but the medium tires ultimately ended up winning the day. How impressive was Oscar Piastri out there? Look, to heart back to Otmar, it's all part of the 100 race plan. You all think it's over for him and that he didn't get to complete it, but this is all very much part of it. And as we always like to say on this show and in Formula One, if you do get nine women pregnant, you might have a baby in one month and that means that Oscar eventually is part of the play. No, no. Oh, see, even the... Ockmar is never wrong, Ben. It's just all part of the plague. Piastri, how impressive was he? Let's look at the Sprint Shootout. It's a shootout.

Let's look at that, shall we first? Because that was a little bit less convincing for Piastri. It looked like it was trading places between Max Verstappen and Landon-Norris. And right at the death, Piasstri, obviously, sets a great time. I think he's lessing a tent faster at this point than Landon-Norris. Land-Norris behind him on the track, though, improving. Purple sector in the middle, I believe, green in the first. And it's almost looking like it's simply, you know, what's the expression of that you like to say?

simply academic or it was something academic. Yeah, academics. We'll go with that, sure. Close enough. I'm not as clever as you've been. That he would, in theory, pick up the Sprink Shootout pole position by simply finishing the lap.

But Landon Norris this weekend is a little bit like a bad comedian. All the buildup, no punchline, cannot seem to deliver on the final moment when it actually matters. And displayed it both in qualifying on Friday yesterday, displayed it again today in the Sprink Shootout, of course, the final corner when it seemed to assuing he would pick up the pole spot.

And then again, during the race, falls right back from the starting, has to claw back absolutely everything, only just to get on the podium. But Oscar Pastery, consistent throughout his qualifying lap, to pick up his first pole position. Fantastic. It's great to seeing a rookie season. Ben, Mr. Statman, can you recall the last time a rookie put up pole in their first season in Formula One? Apart from the asterisk of, is it really a poll?

I'm guessing we probably have to go all the way back over 15 years. I think so. I think it's Hamilton 07. To Lewis Hamilton, yeah. Yeah, ironically also in a McLaren. But, you know, fantastic, the fact that it's the first person to do this, it shows a lot of talent. And then come to the race,

I think what we saw here was a combination of a young man who is still very much learning, and that was displayed in, for example, the George Russell restart after he had to follow me, dropped back to nearly two seconds, very quickly because Russell just jumped that restart so brilliantly. But at the same time, we saw a whole heapful of the calm, mentally prepared, level-headingness that is Oscar Piastry. That man is so unrattled that, you know, I don't think, as a clever joke in there, about a baby's rattle or a rattlesnake, but I'm not going to go into it.

I genuinely don't think, though, that anything could have fused him, could have phased him. And he brought the tyres back in, he caught back up to Russell, got the move done. and when Max Verstappen, the now three-time world champion, was the man bearing down on him. Fastest lap, Max Verstappen just pips it, keeps the gap to two seconds, everything's calm, everything's collected, comes across and takes the wing.

He was incredibly impressive, and you now have the Yorker moment where Oscar Piacari has won more in Formula One than Lando Norris has. And that is a conversation, I'm sure, that is quietly maybe going around between Piastri's team, as to say, nice one, mate, you've done something that your teammate

who is lauded by everyone has not managed you could do. So I was really impressed. He really, really delivered when he needed to, and it's more than his teammates done this weekend. When it comes to Oscar Piastri, and this is a weird compliment that I will explain, nothing makes sense with him in that he should not be as composed as what he is. Like, as a rookie, we often see drivers who are unrefined. Like, they've got good raw speed, but they just don't quite have the... The experience, quite honestly, to be able to convert that a lot of the time. With Oscar Piastri, if you knew nothing about him, you'd never seen his face,

you don't know his background, anything about him and you just saw his racing, you would immediately think he's done, he's been doing this for 10 years. Like, you would immediately think this guy is one of the most experienced drivers on the grid. That's how he drives. This would have been a really easy race for a rookie like Piastri to lose. because whilst he did, I'll go to the sprint shooter in a moment, but the actual race itself, it was, you know, whilst he did ultimately have the better strategy, he did ultimately have the better tyres, there was no real way of knowing that in the moment.

There would have been a really easy way for him to be flustered as soon as he got overtaken by George Russell, either fighting that position too hard or also losing the position to Vestappen at the same time or finding himself behind the Ferraris. It would have been really easy for that race to have gone downhill very, very quickly for him. But he's just so composed for a driver of his age and of his experience that it came back to him. It's the same thing that GP was saying to Max Vastappen, obviously Vastappen now a three-time world champion. The race will come back to you, don't worry, stay calm.

That's exactly what Piastri did. the race came back to him. And ultimately, George Russell had very little to defend with once those medium tires were up to temperature the next time around. So, yeah, it's one of those where at the end of the day, Piastri made it look pretty easy. But it really wasn't for someone in his position. You put Alonzo in his shoes or Hamilton in his shoes. Yeah, they're probably converting that no stress whatsoever. And you'd expect them to because they've done it all, they've seen it all.

Piesti hasn't. And yet he still was able to rise above all of that, keep his head and ultimately claim the win. And you're absolutely right that as soon as Vestappen got clear air, matched him. Pace wise, pretty much matched him. And he knew that there were too few laps for him to do anything. It could have again been a situation where Vastappen bared down on him very quickly. And suddenly Piastri is having to look at his mirrors one second behind, DRS active. What am I going to do against him. None of that. None of that even needed to happen because he stuck that two-second lead didn't move. So I, you know, pure pace-wise, Lando Norris, and we'll get on to Lando Norris in a moment, Lano Norris had the better of him today and yesterday, and he might have the better of him

tomorrow, who knows. But if you're in Piastri's shoes and you do have a little bit of a pace disadvantage to your teammate, this is the sort of thing you need to do. Convert where it's possible. So I was really impressed by him today. Yeah. I think impressed is an incredibly fair word. And I guess I know we spoke about this thing, why I brought it up before we started recording. I was a bit miffed that he didn't get to have his own little moment where he drove into the number one spot after the spring. And it was a bit rude that, you know, Vestappen got to drive his car on there and celebrate the World Championship. Because for me, the podium isn't about the overall standings. The podium is about what happened in that event, whether it be the spring now or the

main race. And if the staff we could go and celebrate whenever he wants with his championship, if he was going to jump around with his team regardless, this is a big moment as well for Piastrian. I just think that we shouldn't start changing and whatever, just because something else has happened technically away from that one event. I guess he could have never one spot. That's all.

I'd like to have known what their plan would have been if his race went the same way as his teammate did, Sergio Perez. You should just take the, yeah, taking the forklift all the way back to the podium. Put the car on there. But yeah, it's, I, I'm with you. I don't think it's, I don't think it's necessary to celebrate a championship or a moment, but celebrate the top three, which the Stappen was a part of.

Don't get me wrong, but, you know, celebrate it in the order that it came. It's not quite the same thing as this was done for comedic impact, but do you remember a few years ago, it was the Hungarian Grand Prix, and Fernando Alonzo was on his deck chair because it was the race before the summer break and it was a bit of a, I don't know, have fun in the summer break. We'll see you in four weeks time. And I know it was a comedy moment, but I was a bit like there. Like, geez, really?

Focus on the top three. We don't need that side show. Yeah, you're right. That's a great example. I do feel like Formula One goes, oh, we've got a moment here and forgets that actually for the drivers who are taking part of the event, it's a special moment for them and they do deserve to have a bit of the credit and not just go, well, hey, you're part of a punchline.

But hey, that's my little gripe for the day. There's always got to be one, I suppose. Let's quickly move on to the next topic. From Lano Norris's perspective, it feels to me like this was his to win and he's thrown it away. Certainly, last corner of sprint shootout, he had the pace in the first two sectors

to get that pole position back from Oscar Piastri. Ran wide. The lap was invalidated, but that didn't really matter because he didn't have the pace after going that wide anyway. And really struggled versus Piastri. seem to really struggle in terms of getting those medium tires to work early on in the stints, right?

Yeah, I mean, I've already made the line about the comedian not having the punchline, but you can use any example you want, you know, cooking a gourmet meal and then burning it in the last minute. The guy has failed to deliver at the final moment when it counts on a multitude of examples across this weekend. So far, we're only halfway through the weekend. We've still got the big event to come. On Friday, you speak about it. Again, he drops all the way back to 10th place in qualifying because all of his lap times in Q3, deleted for track limits.

Piazari only drops back to sixth, which again, not brilliant, shows the fluff, the fluff is there, but then he's affected worse. And then we get to the sprint shootout on the Saturday. And right at the last moment when he could definitely, as you said, they definitely have taken the top step in both occasions, I think, to go, had the pace to do so, throws it away with literal seconds to go again, his teammate, who slightly slower and overall pace, but far better with consistency gets the top spot.

And then in the race, Langa Norris is on the front row, despite the slight muck up in the qualifying. He could easily have biding his time, got the first couple of laps under his belt, sat behind his teammate and then unleashed the superior pace that he had. But it's a poor Gengalweight on the dirtier side of the track, to be fair to him. He had probably the slightly harder time of it. But, you know, defends poorly, doesn't get past the Ferraris very quickly, can't make up the ground that the likes of Russell and Sainz and Lecler, who have been struggling.

weekend those Ferraris are able to do, takes them a long time and eventually claims P3. But I really do feel like this weekend could be the weekend that we possibly could have seeing a full McLaren sweep, which is amazing after the start of their season. And yet calamity after calamity ensues. And I feel like they're going to walk away with barely anything in comparison to what they could bring away from this over a weekend. I think it's almost flattering maybe that Piascri has won the sprint race. Because I think tomorrow they realistically had a chance of.

winging the overall thing, but I just can't see it happening now. Yeah, I think qualifying-wise, Lando Norris realistically should have walked away with P2 yesterday and P-1 today, and ultimately, as you say, P-10 and P-2. So he hasn't been able to live up to that. And you're right about Piastri also struggling with track limits on Friday yesterday, but I'm sure you made this point as well, is that that's the value of the bank a lab, right? you get the bank lap in and suddenly Piastri drops a grand total of two positions and Lando Norris is dropping like eight. So that is the value of getting that in there. And yeah,

Lando Norris, I do honestly think he was the fastest driver out there today. And he should have got pole position earlier on. For whatever reason, he really seemed to struggle, I think, in terms of getting those medium tires alive at the start and on the restart. So we know that anyone on the medium tire did struggle in those circumstances. But Lando Norris seemed to more than others. And he was embroiled in a battle with the Ferraris that ultimately Piastri never needed to work around. And I think if you said to Lando Norris, okay, you're going to start P2 in this sprint race. You are going to have the better of the two strategies and your end result is going to be third. He is no way going to be happy about that. No way he's going to be happy about that. If he knows that ultimately

the medium tire was probably the right choice. So, no, I mean, this doesn't change much in terms of my view on Lando Norris, and that he still has extraordinary pace. And he's going to convert one sooner rather than later. But, yeah, disappointing nonetheless. And he knows it as well. All of his comments this weekend, he knows he's the one to blame for what's happened. What did you make of the strategic differences in this sprint race,

the medium versus soft, as it seemed to be not far. of split 50-50 down the field? Yeah, it's one of those scenarios that we occasionally get in Formula One where the teams don't fully understand which compound is ultimately going to be the faster across the entire race length. And you've got positives to each. You saw George Russell take the soft, for example. I think he's the best contender for this, that off the start, he was rapid, right?

Those soft tyres elevating him so quickly up to fighting for the lead. And he did eventually, of course, take the league of the race for a period of time. A long of that, I think, was down to the soft tyres being faster at the beginning of the Grand Prix that we had on the spring. The medium tyres, on the other hand, more consistent in pace, but never the ultimate pace of the soft tyre has. And I want to give, I can't remember saying this, give credit to the sprint race today, because in a sprint grand grand pre weekend, of course, we only have one practice session at the start of the weekend, which I feel limits they're running, which makes testing harder. So the medium or the soft, it is hard to discern. Plus 10 minutes. Plus, we'll get on to that, I'm sure.

You know, is the optional tire to have for a 19-lap race. Secondly, I think that the 30% sprint race rule was actually perfect for mixing up the grid on do we choose soft, do we choose mediums? And I do think that because we saw 807 safety cars come out, the soft tires were able to stay competitive for longer. But I really love it when teams aren't sure on the advanced. They aren't sure on what is what. We saw some teams go, you know, double medium.

We saw some teams go double soft. We saw, for example, Mercedes, was running the soft, Lewis was running the mediums, and we saw the difference in pace coming in the end of the race. It was a very interesting strategic crossover, strategic difference. And what is a little bit sad for us now, and Ben, I'm sure you'll concur with this, is that come the race tomorrow,

those teams are going to have a full understanding of what tire does what, and realistically, how quick, that ties going to run off in an exact race understanding scenario. So I really liked that we got to see that. I just think it's sad that the likelihood is we won't see it again come the race tomorrow where the big points are scored. And that's kind of always been one of my 163 reasons I don't like sprint races is that you do give it away for Sunday, but it's almost like the best sprint race action that we've had over the last couple of years has come from, you know,

strategic differences, whether that's because of weather or whether that's because of tires, like we saw out there today, the best sprint race action comes from the difference in strategy. And the whole reason sprint races exist is that strategy shouldn't matter. Like the whole premise of it is that it's a sprint from start to finish, it's no stops, it's, you know, everyone. And, you know, when strategy gets involved, that's ultimately when it actually becomes interesting. I agree with your point. that I think the medium tire was far better and the soft tire. The soft tire was the worst strategy and this was really the best possible way the race could

have gone for those soft runners because if we didn't have, let's say we had no safety cars out there today. The medium tire runners took one through eight, right? There's no way. Albon probably beats Russell if it's no safety cars. but because of the amount of restarts where that soft tire came alive for a lap and a half before the medium tires caught up to it. Yeah, I think that's why a few of the soft runners were able to hold on like Russell and,

you know, the Ferraris as well, but they really were holding on. If you gave them another five green laps, I don't know where they finish. It's possibly not in the points. That's how fast they were dropping. and George Russell benefited from having no or being able to clear drivers straight away. He'd built up enough of a gap because of how slow the Ferraris were or more accurately how slow his teammate was behind the Ferraris, meaning that as soon as he'd cleared them, there just wasn't enough time for anyone like Lewis Hamilton to take advantage of that.

So I was surprised more didn't go for the medium tire just based on pace-wise. There didn't seem to be much in it in terms of course. qualifying earlier today. Pace-wise, medium tire, soft tire, there wasn't much in it. So I figured they'd just go for the slightly more durable rubber. But yeah, some looking for that fast start, which did create some excitement. So fair play. The only thing I can think of before we go to break is the reason why some may have chosen the soft, I suppose, is are they trying to save as many mediums for the main Grand Prix as a morrow? And those who have run the medium now are obviously going to have way less completely new mediums to run. So we might see an interesting

strategy change because of the spring tomorrow. I'm not going to put any money on it, but fingers crossed. Hey, the amount of tyres we'll need tomorrow might see the intermediates make an appearance. It's going to be like season one of the late breaking online racing league. I guarantee. They can have them off my car, mate, if I'm not bad. They might do, give an alpha quickly they're running through them. Right, we're going to take our first quick break and then we'll be right back after this with some more discussion from the sprint. Okay, we saw quite a lot of action. Liam Lawson retired in the gravel.

Logan Sargent retired in the gravel. And then there was a three car pile up. Three, as you might say, between Sergio Perez, Estevan Ockon and Nico Holcomberg. Sergio Perez and Esteban Ockon, both retiring on the spot. Nika Holcomberg did at least limb back to the pits, but his race was also over. They were at that point fighting for the sort of fringe points, sort of around eighth place.

So there was something up for grabs for all three drivers here. We know Sergio Perez technically had to finish quite highly in order to prevent Max Verstappen from winning the championship. None of that mattered in the end. How did you see that crash? I know they're investigating this, but do you think that anyone was to blame? Or do you think this was just a racing incident? I sort of with my eyes, mate.

You know, they always worked pretty well. Fair play. Yeah, it's good one, man, ain't it. It's good. Got your kicks, but the dag jokes are coming out early. But how can we see the crash? I mean, I imagine Lewis Hamilton was absolutely rubbing his hands together because he was having a big of a shocking weekend up to that point.

He went three in one, thank you very much, sir. All right. All right. He, Christmas comes early for me. And he needed that because he was really started to struggle. But, you know, Perez, Ockon, Holkenberg. Firstly, feel awful for Holkenberg because he was genuinely having a bit of a great time of it. He was really on the fringe of our points, as you said,

Hars possibly could have picked up a point if it carried on going well. Was he on the mediums then, do you know? Holkenberg and Perez were both on the mediums. And if you think at that time, Alex Albin, who scored points, was behind this battle. So there was definite points on the cards for both Holkenberg and Perez here. Yeah, as you say, in theory, if the green running carried on, which it would have done, because that brought out a safety car, but this would have carried on the green running, had they all made it through clearly, that, yeah, Hulk could have possibly got past a couple

of the Ferraris, maybe even George Russell if he did come to fall back. But the crash itself, I have to put 100% of the blame on Esteban Okon. Three wide into a corner is fine. It is possible. We've seen, you know, three wide with a double overtake or whatnot happened before. But Espan Okon lunges down the inside and he doesn't break in a straight line. That's the important thing for me. He is coming across to a right angle, almost just squeeze Holgerberg. and he clearly doesn't fully comprehend that Perez is alongside Holkenberg on the other side.

And obviously they haven't got eyes everywhere, but this is where the team's communication might be helpful for Ocon to understand the full scenario. But if you're making moves like this, you're going to break straight. You're just got to hit the apex in front of you and get through the corner. So I've got to put total blame on Ockon.

I think he was struggling on those tires. He was seeing it about to fall away from him. And then he made a bit of a last gas pretend but keeping the cars behind him, fell apart very quickly, and takes all three of them out the race, which I think a lot of people jump to blame Perez for that. And actually, I think he was really just a poor passenger trying to get around the outside and making the most of his medium

size. Holgerberg as well, absolutely gutted for him because he could have scored points. But for me, it's all on Ockon. It was a tough one to judge. I think Ockon was blameless on this one. I think he was of the three drivers, the driver who was ahead and on the inside of the corner. And to be honest, I do want to see this again. But O'Con on the inside, side of the corner. I think ultimately the only way a crash is avoided is if Perez or Holkenberg do something. I don't think the three went into that corner, obviously. And I think either Holkenberg has to back out more than he did. And I don't think it was Holkenberg's fault in this, because I think he was as quick as he possibly could to realize that this was going to be a sandwich

situation. And he tried to get out of it. He was just maybe half a second too late. But ultimately, he was ahead of Perez as well going through the corner. So I think Sergio Perez was a tad ambitious going around the outside there. I think he probably would have been better served from just waiting to see how that played out and trying to switch back on both of them through the next corner. I kind of agreed with Sky Sports commentary on this in that I think a racing incident is how I would view it. It was one of those unfortunate situations where you've got three drivers, the slowest of which is at the front. The Holkenberg in the middle is probably the second quickest. And then Perez,

who's at the back, is going to be quicker than both of them. They all catch up to one another going into that corner. I think since Ockon's already there, I'm fine with him. And then I just think one of Holkenberg or Perez has to back out. I think because Perez is behind, I'd lean towards it being him. But at the same time, this is a split second decision. And I don't think Perez did anything outright wrong either. So I'd probably go, tough one, racing incident.

It's interesting. It's interesting. I'm watching the replay a couple of times, and O'Cong isn't actually particularly far ahead at all. Hulkeberg is three quarters alongside and Perez is three quarters alongside Holgerberg. So neither really have any right to need to back out

if they don't want to. I agree that from Perez's point of view, he knows he's got the motor under him and the speed and the ties to take advantage later on down the lap or down the start, straight down the DRS. And I think maybe a less panicked driver in his current circumstance would have comfortably waiting for the opportunity.

But he doesn't have to back out of that scenario realistically. O'Conn, when he hits the brakes, is not going in a straight line. And that is what bothers me because he is angled as if, you know, Holgerberg is straight, Perez is straight, O'Con is like this coming across. And that's what causes the sandwich. And that's why Holkerberger then hits the side of Ocon. Ocon turns across the boat. taking them both out. I agree that it is not cut and dry, but I'm putting blame on Ocon for this.

I think it is more him than a full racing incident. I don't think a penalty is really going to come of it. The penalty, of course, is that he managed to take himself and everyone else out of that Grand Prix that was involved in that crash. But for me, I do think that O'Con was on the worst ties and trying his hardest could do what he could disdain from. And O'Con is probably the one who hasn't lost anything from this, which sounds weird given he's gone out of the race. But I think given where he was on those soft tyres, I don't think Ockham was scoring points in his one. No points coming in this way. No chance. No. And, you know, Perez and Holcombberg, like I say, I think Perez probably would have had the chance to get both Ferraris. Holkenberg. I think he's probably

not far off either. I think he's definitely scoring points in that one if he can continue. So, tough one given Hass, you know, on Perez's side, obviously he's scored plenty of points this year,

but from Holkneberg's perspective, points don't come all that frequently at Haas, so that's going to be a real kick in the teeth for him. But it's interesting, this is probably form another discussion

on a different episode, but certainly where you've got these sprint races where tire wear is somewhat equalized across the field, that seems to be where this Hass logically

does a little bit better. The first stints of races, they're generally okay because of how well they qualify. So with a few more sprints coming up as well, we know we've still got Austin and Brazil still to go. Maybe there's some points on offer for him there. Now, admittedly, again, I have to say, I haven't listened to your episode from yesterday, but I'm going to take a wild guess and suggest that Landstrol came up. He had some struggles yesterday. He also struggled today. Didn't make it out of Q1. or sorry, SQ1, and didn't make much of an impact in the Grand Prix.

He was one of the drivers on the soft tires, made some good progress early on. I think he managed to make his way up to about 12 or so. But then ultimately, the soft tire not very good in the second half of that Grand Prix. I know he's not had an outstanding season, but he's really struggling this weekend. Yeah, like this is weirdly enough, actually. resulting sprint qualifying one has matched, it's his best match qualifying result since we came back from the summer break, which was 16th place. He picked back up in the Dutch Grand Prix. But, Ben, you know, feel free to go and listen to the episode. I was quite, I came down quite hard on him.

You know, the way he reacted after what happened after qualifying was out of lying. It's wrong, you know, throwing the steering wheel out. He was being told by his PT that he used to go out the front of the garage. He chooses not to. He gets very physically aggressive with his PT, which is out of and he's clearly taking a lot of these performances to heart now. It's not just, oh, whatever, my seat's guaranteed. I don't know if maybe someone higher up or Papa Scroll has gone, Lance, don't worry, but you've got to help the team here, mate. You know, we don't want to throw you out on your backside,

but you are part of this team, and we are going to fall away from the points tally if you don't start performing. because Fernando has never not being in Q3 this season. And again, he mucks it up in the spring shootout. He's out again. And then he picks the, both Asking's picked the soft tire. Clearly they thought that was the right strategy. So I can't really blame him for that.

But it just compounded the problems he was already going through across this weekend of no pace over a one-lap period. Then the soft tires die off very quickly. And he was complimenting, I think, by the fact that so many cars in front of him and around him were falling out of the race anyway. I think he finished, what, 14th or 15th out of 15 runners. I wouldn't have been surprised if he could have finished 18th or 19th, running around here in the actual spring.

And I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow he does finish on the back row of the grid coming in the race if everyone does finish. His pace is arguably the worst it has ever been at this Grand Prix. And just amazingly, he was so much better with his semi-broken risks at the start. of the season. I know the car in theory was better in comparison to a log of the grid, but also still scoring points on the regular,

alongside still getting into the top 10 in qualifying on every single occasion needed. So it's really getting to him, and it is just compounding again and again and again. Even he's a total reset or he's a total removal from Formula 1 at this point, because if it was anyone else, I think his seat would be gone.

Yes, I would agree with that. And I think, ultimately where Landstrol's frustration comes from here, here specifically at this weekend, is that's kind of it. It's not like he's had a bad spin or a bad error. Take Lando Norris's last corner error as an example. Incredibly frustrating for Lando Norris, but he knows that the pace is there. He knew that if he can convert on that either today or tomorrow in the race, it's still there. I think ultimately, where Lansdroll frustration has come from is that he's giving it all he's got. I don't think he's actually left

anything out there versus what his potential is here this weekend. I think he has delivered what he's got, which isn't much. And when he sees Fernando Alonzo 10 positions higher than him, it must be a frustration because if he had one isolated qualifying attempt where he's 1.1 seconds behind Alonzo. Okay, it's not good, but you can at least say, you know, it's one session and it's one session only. These sprint weekends are good for one thing. And that is exposing where someone hasn't got the pace around a track because he was 1.1

seconds away from him yesterday. He was 0.9 seconds away from him today. When your 0.9 second gap is the better of the two, you're not doing very well. And he can't, I don't, I think the first. frustration comes from. He can't point to anything. He can't point and say, that's why, or I was good, but that. And oh, yeah, but this. He can't do that. It's just a case of he's not quick enough. He's not quick enough versus what ultimately his teammate is doing and what he wants to do. So I will say, I'm not sure it would have made much of an impact. I do think Aston Martin should have pit him for medium tires in this sprint race after the, second safety car, or third safety. I can't remember, but there were so many. At least another set of softs, though.

At least another set of softs. I'd have just stuck on the medium tires because he would have been up against old softs and old mediums at that point and he would have dropped what? Like three positions in order to do it? Give it a go. Like, what have you got to lose at this point? Best case scenario is everyone else's tires fall off a cliff and you could just scrape a point.

It might be the difference come the end. of the season versus McLaren. He's not doing anything else anyway. So I'd have given that a go, but it's kind of beside the point. It's just, it's just a question of pace. Like, it's as simple as that.

Yeah, it is devastating times for Lankstroll. And like I said, any other driver, he's long gone. I think, you know, Logan Sargent is the only driver comparable to him at the moment with just how bad this season is now going. Moving on to Williams, Alex Albin hasn't looked very quick, and all the Williams team, haven't looked very quick all weekend long. And that still might be in the case tomorrow. But Alex Album was able to somehow get into the points here. How impressive was his recovery?

Yeah, I mean, I would just mention Sergeant, right? Spinging off into the Gravallor on his own makes Albon look even better. But Albon what qualifies P-17 in the spring shootout out in Q1. the first time he's being out in Q1 for quite some time. The track is not complementary of them at all, which is interesting because it's got more straights. And arguably, the layout is very similar actually to Zanvort, with its fast-flowing, you know, constantly coming at you corners

with a big proper straight to go down. And you think they're realistically, Williams might be able to pull something out here, but, you know, seems like they can't. And I think Albonne here is getting a combination of a lot of fortune coming his way, and a great strategy pick coming together. He was on the medium tires. He was one of the half of the grid

that shows what turned out to be the better strategy. And well done, great pick. You know, some dig, some digging. And they were on the right side of the day to day. And not only that, he was benefited by loss of dropping out. His teammate was going here. Not that I think that Sergeant realistically will have challenged you for too much.

And then you've got, of course, the triple crash that came along as well. That alongside the poor pace of Zhoguan Yu, Lank, stroll at the moment. He was able to take advantage of the soft run is falling off. The crash is happening around him and then, of course, being on the medium strategy himself. And I generally just think that he was pretty much the only contender left to pick up that final point after everything had unfolded.

And sometimes you've got to finish to win. And he did that. He finished on the right strategy and he picked up the point and he had to also do it cleanly and efficiently and well. And that's what sometimes separates the really, really good drivers from the average drivers, of being able to pull out a result, which he did on a day where everything isn't going your way. So I was still impressed. I do think a lot of things went his way, which he had no control over, but I was still very impressed by what he was actually able to achieve.

And I think it just once again shows where Alex Albon is in the proper top echelon of Formula One drivers that we have on the grid at the moment. It's what the good do to separate themselves from the good and the average. Yeah, it's something I've kind of always fought and said when it comes to Formula One. is it's not what you do when you're quick, it's what you do when you're not. That's what is the difference between championships and second places. And obviously we're not talking about championships

for Williams and Alex Albin, but it can be the difference between points and not points. They have not been comfortable here all weekend long. And at least if you're looking at Alex Albin versus Logan Sargent, and you can either put this down to Alex Albin's lack of form in this Grand Prix or Logan Sargent turning up and doing a better job,

leave that to everyone to decide. But Logan Sargent has been closer to Alex Albin this weekend than maybe any weekend this season, certainly going back to the first few Grand Prix of the year. Zandvort as well, I guess, would be in the mix too. But Logan Sargent was only just behind Alex Albin on Friday's qualifying. And he should have been ahead of Alex Albin today. He had his lap time invalidated, but he should have been ahead. So you've got a situation where Alex Albin is, at least versus his teammate, slower than he has been in a long time.

And yet he's still the one that has picked up the points here because he's stuck around. He hasn't got involved in an incident. It hasn't caused something for himself. And you're right. Sometimes that's all you need to do. That car this weekend is not capable of very much at all. It is incredibly likely that Alex Albin and Logan Sargent will have no points tomorrow whatsoever. they got half a chance here, they took it.

That's what you need to do when you're in that spot. When you're fighting for 10 points in a season or 20 points in a season or however many Williams are going to end up with, it's what you've got to do. So credit to them. Got the right strategy. Any particular star of today that you want to highlight Sam? I think it's got to be Piastri, really.

You know, rookie season takes a victory, outclasses his teammate, even though his teammate has better raw pace over the weekend, holds off Max Verstappen, despite him now being a three-time world champion. And even over the radio at the end, again, what we expect from him now. Just so chill, so chill, he could turn up, he could freeze a freezer, you know that boy? He could re-solidify some bloody icebergs. He's that bloody cold. And he deserves the plaudits that he's getting because he's delivered again.

So he loves a sprint and he deserves all the credit. Yep. hard to disagree with Piastri is the choice. Great day for George Russell as well. I think on the wrong strategy, I said going into this weekend, he needs a result. And he's got a very good chance of a great two-day result given he's obviously got the P4 here, but also he's going to start P2 tomorrow as well.

So this has been a good start to the weekend for him. I'm very glad for his sake that his team don't listen to him when he tries to do strategy sometimes because otherwise he would have... Pit me! No, no, it's really not a good idea, George. Really not a good idea. I can understand his line of thinking, at least, in that they were dead. And he was right that all the medium tires were going to gobble him up.

But there's no point in putting George Russell. No. This is, I think, the first weekend, actually, this season, but maybe fully, that I think George Russell has 100% outclass Lewis Hamilton. It is every session, every round. apart from when Hamilton managed to stick it P1 in Q2, which is very out of character. I think for this whole weekend,

this is being George Russell's best weekend currently, haven't had the race in comparison to Hamilton. Obviously, less safety cars, a couple more laps. Hamilton was on the better tie. It might have been a role reversed. But Russell is doing a fantastic job. Also love that Russell calls out his own overtakes

and compliments them over the radio when he gets them done. I love that self-appreciation. A big pat on the back to me. from me. Well done. It's great, isn't it? Yeah, George, he has, you're right, been very authoritative over his teammate all weekend long. And it might be something to do with these sprint races,

because if you remember back, Bottas quite frequently, did quite well early on in sprint weekends versus Hamilton when they were teammates together. And George Russell seems to have done a similar job at a few sprints as well, but maybe a discussion for another day. I think that'll do it. Anything else you want to say before we wrap things up? No, join us on social media over the whole race weekend,

late-breaking F-1. I'm with Harry to watch the race tomorrow, so you'll get our reaction, which we will film for you. So, you know, make sure you stick around for the highlights, which, you know, Kirstie has a great job editing for us, and it's always very silly. And then we will be back, of course, for the race review after the Qatar Grand Prix.

Also, come and join us on Discord. The links in the description, where we'll be talking the whole way through the race, and you can join in with the action. and get your submissioning for moment of the race. We love you. We'll speak to you soon. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage.

And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late. Pastry is the goat. This podcast is part of the Sport Social Podcast Network.