The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2023 Singapore GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: September 16, 2023

BOTH Red Bulls out in Q2 and Sainz on pole! Ben, Sam & Harry review the eventful Singapore GP Qualifying, running through the sessions' main events including the double Red Bull knockout, Ferrari's pole & Q3, and Stroll's massive crash. They also consider whether Piastri can make it up to the points, how Lawson's performance may impact his future, and what it means to have both Haas' into Q3.. 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. Hello, and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Eid, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking, reviewing today qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix with, of course, Max... Hang on, what? Oh, that's good ban to that. I can see there's a one next to Max Verstappen's name.

The problem is there's two of them. That doesn't work. I mean, honestly, qualifying, I'll say it to the boys before we got on, might be the best it's ever been this year. And Singapore has the world, who's going to be another time world champion, he's not even in the top ten. And I don't even know what the biggest talking point is, but I freaking love qualifying.

It just never lets you down. It's so good. I'll tell you what, they should keep that format. Oh, that whole chestnut is back again. Don't mess of that format. Nothing wrong with it. Nothing wrong with it.

It's got legs. It's got legs. I like it. Or wheels. All wheels. Unlike Lance. Or not Lance Strong. Oh.

Yeah, we'll get into that. There's plenty that we will get into. Liam Lawson making it into Q3 where the two Red Bulls don't. That's a lot of banter. We'll be discussing that a little bit. later on. Of course, we saw all of the good teams make it through to Q3, such as Hask getting both cars in, so we'll mention that too. Let's start with the double knockout of Red Bull in Q2.

We knew throughout practice sessions that they were struggling. They weren't leading any practice sessions at all. Vestappen has non-stop been complaining about upshifts all weekend long and come qualifying. They weren't looking great, although I'm not quite sure they were looking out in Q2 bad. But Max Verstappen deciding to go as deep as one possibly can into the first few corners of his second lap in Q2, not making it through at the expense of Liam Lawson and Sergio Perez also knocked out. Sam, your initial reaction to that. Shock or I was just confused because it was very weird seeing a timing screen without a single Red Bull in it. First time I say continually mentioned since the 2018 Russian Grand Prix,

which is a huge statistic. the fact that we are five years on from that, and this is the first time that both Red Bulls have not been in Q3 is an astounding statistic. And yeah, the car goes up like a handful, but I think the biggest shock of this is, even when the Red Ball hasn't been the fastest car, or seemingly the fastest car in practice sessions throughout,

Max Verstappen, especially, surgery press, not so much, has regularly been able to pull the car well above where it probably should be sitting. And it's become very much the expected, it's become the status quo. How many times have we gone, oh, the red ball looks a bit of a handful, or, oh, rebel in practice are fifth and seventh, and then Verstappen pops in at least a third place,

if not sometimes poll. And I think they came up with a statistic that Verstappen has picked up pole position eight times this season when he hasn't been the fastest in a practice session. And that then made it even clearer that even when he is not running super quick through the Friday practice of programs

and the Saskatchee morning sessions, that he still got it. He can still. knock out the times. We know that Vastappen thrives under these pressurized situations. He's so calm, so level-headed. So this is a huge shock. The biggest blow, of course, to Red Bull, is that the Ciscuittee were the ones that knocked him out. I think on the flip side of the garage, Sergei Perez, probably a bit more disappointing himself, the fact that he didn't even get the full lapping and made them

mistakes so early on. And this really characterizes the difference between Vostappen and Perez. Vestappen, I think, was trying as hard as he could in the car, just wasn't really as tuning as they wanted it to be. And after Verstappen's performances this year, I'm not going to be too harsh on him. Perez, on the other hand, he now has a big of a reputation for not being able to get into Q3,

and it was, you know, this is a pure metaphor for its entire season that he gets one cornering, the car flips over in terms of spinning all the way around, and he can't make it around the rest of the lap to even give it a go. Bit disappointing. So, yeah, they start 11th and what, 13th,

I think it is at the moment, and we've got grid penalties to potentially be applied. Max Verstappen has got a slam dunk, blocking penalty on again, I believe it was the Cisca team, Yuki Sengoda. So, you know, it's been a real bad day for Red Bull. It's been a surprisingly good day for the newly upgrading Alpha Towery. Harry, we mentioned on the preview episode that Singapore can throw up these surprise results and sometimes it doesn't follow what we see in previous races.

I guess Red Bull being knocked out in Q2 is evidence of that. Yeah, I didn't see this one coming. as you said earlier, they didn't look great in practice, but I didn't think it was quite being knocked out in Q2 bad. I'm going to put my Tim 4 hat on here for a second. Oh, God. Only five minutes in, man. New technical directive came in this weekend

and suddenly the Red Bulls a pile of garbage. I'm only joking, obviously. But food for thought there, people. Food for thought. Finally, the cheating has come to an end. Stop it. I'm not claiming any part of that. Hashtag cost cap'n.

Anyway, anyway, that Red Bull was looked like a part of garbage to drive all through quality. I mean, as we said, not great in practice,

but it just was, as you said, Ben, through turn three for Stappan was, you know, not far off his own little spin. Obviously,

Perez did it properly and spun on his own. but yeah I was thinking this we had this in the Mercedes dominant era where we turned up to Singapore and suddenly they weren't very good like what?

At the expense of Red Bull a lot of the time yeah yeah and even Ferrari because even like 2015 Vetter one here so a weird one that the dominant car turns up and apparently can't do Singapore anymore but I guess it's just the characteristic of the track

or something like that I don't know, but it's, you know, it was someone bad was going to happen to Rebel at some point this season, or I guess for Stappen, because parents have been out a few times. You know, they've done well to make it this far. Why was this the only weekend that I didn't say for Stappen wouldn't win the race? Why? Why? I'm so annoyed at myself.

He's still going to win it. I don't care. He's still going to win my day tomorrow. It's the hope that gets you. That's all right. And I don't know how much of a chance Ferrari other scoring four points from first and third on the grid. That's true.

If anyone can do it, Ferrari can do it. They won't let me down. They'll bring it home. Three points in total. Hey, if they both retire, we're both right on our bold prediction. So I'm happy to play by that. Back to Red Bull for a moment,

yeah, I was surprised that the Q2 elimination happened. I'm not surprised that they struggled based on the practice pace. But I think, you know, if Vostappen had made it through to Q3, given what he's been able to do with that car, even if it hasn't been optimal in qualifying. This should speak volumes. I don't know if more than fifth place would have been achievable by Vastapen in Q3,

just based on how poor that car looked. I don't think the Ferraris were touchable. And even, you know, Russell and P2, Norris and P4, I don't know whether Vestappan and that horrid car this weekend would have got anywhere near that or would have been able to beat that. Certainly it's always a surprise when something like this happens. But, you know, it's not wildly out of form based on what we saw on Friday and Saturday morning. You know, we saw, as an example, this isn't the first time Max Verstappen's been knocked out in Q1 or Q2 this season. He didn't make it into Q3 at Saudi Arabia, the second race of the year.

But in that instance, it was a freak incident and it wasn't due to a lack of pay. Here, yes, he didn't get a clean lap in, but at the same time, it's not as if he should have been fighting for pole or he should have been claiming second place. He was really struggling either way. So a lot of surprise, Singapore is not an easy track to make over takes on. He has to start lower down than what he did last year, where he only made up one position in the race. That win streak is very much in danger here. It's a long way from earlier in the season where, Miami is an example. Verstappen started towards the back end of the top 10. You still felt as if the win was possible.

Here, I don't know. That is going to be a tall order even for how good Red Bull have been this season. What about Ferrari, though? Back to back polls for Carlos Seines, Sam. Don't even talk to me about Ferrari. I'm genuinely, I've got the grunt with him. I'm in a mood.

Carlos Sites, I don't know what he's out for breakfast. Maybe he ate Shalda Clark. No, didn't do that. because he is a whole new man in the last kind of two weeks of Formula One racing. The fact that he's able to, he picked up one pole position in his entire career. He so rarely outqualifies Charles LeCler and yet back to back. And not only has he outqualified LeClaire here again, there's a car between them. And he's comfortably had the gap on Charle-le-le-le-for the entire weekend.

There was what, two-tenths, three-tenths between them again. Here come the end of qualifying three. He looks so calm. Even when they told him over the radio, we got to get this house. He was like, ha-ha, two in a row.

He just, it's like someone said to him, don't worry about it, baby. You'd be calm. You just take it easy. And he's, this pressure seems to have weirdly lifted from him. And he's driving like I've literally not seen.

The last time I saw Carlos Sites drive this well, I think was maybe his first season at McLaren, maybe his first or second season at McLaren, when he felt like he really gelled with what the car was giving him. And it's, it's returned to form. because he's not been this good for a long time. If you could carry this through to the end of the season,

Ferrari got a real package on their hands. To your point as well, it's not out of character for what he was doing the rest of this weekend. And it was the same story at Monza as well, in that it's not as if Charlotte Clair turned up to the second lap of Q3 and couldn't put it all together. There was that consistent gap all the way throughout qualifying. And in fact, it was closer at the end of Q3 than it had been at any point

earlier in the session. I don't think Charles Seines put together an optimal lap at the end. He put together a session best sector one. He put together a purple sector three. But that middle sector, he went faster on his first run. If he put together, yeah, yeah. If he put together his three best sectors, I think there's a much more comfortable gap than the 700s or whatever ended up being than what it actually was. So that really should speak volumes to how quick Carlos Sines has been. What was your takeaway, Harry, on that pace from signs?

Yeah, he looked just in control, whereas I watched many, many on board this weekend so far from behind a cushion, because it's been a bit frightening to watch half a field drive around here. A lot of them were absolutely ragging their cars.

Lance Stroll, be an example. Even George Russell, he may be a bit nervous watching him. George Russell, how he is alive, I do not has no fear. Mangus loves walls. Esteban Ocon is a wall. He is a wall now.

One centimits is super close. Yeah. Yeah, Russell particularly was pretty fraught. They did it for people who watch Sky. They did a comparison with George and Lando beforehand of the laps on Friday. And even then on Friday, George was just like, yeah, I'm next to the ball the entire time.

Like, no room forever there. just going to ride that wall. Hard as Nails, George Russell. But yeah, that's my point. Signs is probably the only one out there who looks like it was just smooth. He was the smooth operator today. It just looked under control. And his sector three, through that final chain, no one's touching him.

It was mega. I don't know how he's done that, but he was absolutely flying through there. So, yeah, he's on a good run of. form is Carlos. I hope he wins tomorrow because I feel like given his latest run I think he deserves it. And he's taken a lot of flak and probably rightly deserved. But at the moment, he's flying along.

And as you said, it wasn't a mistake. I know Charles came on the radio and said he balsed it up or something. But I don't think it was. I think that was probably the maximum LeClauer had and science was just quicker. So yeah. Did you not think it was well savage? when LeCler came over the radio, I went, oh, I've beamed that up.

And his engine egas went, yeah. And it's just like, all right, we are. We are checking. We know. I do wonder how good Ferrari would have been had the old sector three being put back on the track. Because obviously, essentially, the rest of the track is just straight lines at that point. You've got like maybe four corners now between the end of sector two and the start finish line. A lot of them are very quick corners as well now.

So I do wonder if you put back in the old. sector through that goes under the grandstand if we see a different result. But hey, you've got to work with what you got. Ferrari have made me look like a very silly, stupid, not hard to do, but I do look like a very silly stupid man. So far. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Still time. Yeah, still time. From best to not so much the best, we're recording this about 30 minutes later than we were expecting to because there was quite a large delay between Q1 and Q2. Reason being, Landstrol crashed at the final corner as he was looking to improve and get out of Q1. He was involved in a potential impeding incident with Logan Sargent earlier in the session.

That meant that in his final run, he needed to improve by quite a lot in order to make it through to the top 15, wasn't able to do so largely owing to the fact that he crashed at the final corner. Sam, I mean, we've already spoken about Lance Stroll's struggles. We saw again Fernando Alonzo make it through to Q3 and start in a reasonably good position. It's going to be a struggle to turn around the car tomorrow, let alone score points. I tell you what, I feel so sorry for his team of engineers. The fact that obviously the Singapore Grand Prix is a night race,

so they are now going to have to literally work through the night until the early hours of the morning to make sure he's even got a drivable car for the race is going to be horrible. They're going to be exhausted. Lank Stroll, we talk about this in our midweek preview of any race. We have our under pressure segment, and Lank Stroll massively looks like a driver who is under pressure, which is baffling for a man that probably out of the entire grid, maybe apart from Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, could not be less under pressure with losing his seat.

And yet he does. He looks like he's squirming and he's desperate for any kind of result. And again, sorry to those who don't watch it, but on Sky, for Sky viewers, you've seen the multiple previews of his lap before he crashed in the way that he tried to desperately overtake all of the traffic as far. He said he could that was waiting at the final corner. And that was dangerous. It was scruffy.

He was going full speed past cars that were barely doing walking pace. Not good. Going to the final corner, you see him fiddling with the steering wheel, not roll, steering wheel. And he finally turns on the setting to get the car into what is qualifying mode. Again, that must be quite panic-inducing. You're not exactly going to be calm and ready to go if you're halfway around the last corner and only then it's the car ready.

And then through the lap, he is going to be. juggling that steering wheel. He is almost like he's trying to cut a bit of, you know, wood with a saw with handles on both sides. He was really trying to throw that thing around. And it all came undone in the final corner, which is painful that he went through all of that trouble to then throw it in the wall on the final corner. But this reeks of a man that is not confident, is not comfortable, and he's not delivering the results that I think he knows the team needs. And I wouldn't be shocked if Papa Stroul has maybe given his son a call and gone, look, obviously, seeing nothing, you're going anywhere, but this team can do so much more.

A longso again in Q3, the only person on the entire grid to be there in every single Grand Prix, you're not even getting close to regularly appearing in Q3. You've had more Q2 and Q1 eliminations than you've featured in Q3 so far this season. And the fact that your teammate is regularly fifth and above, you know, it's a bad result for a long so if he's between seventh and ninth, you've got to step, stepping up and start helping the team. and there was all this investment in time and management is for nothing. And it was proven here again. He just needs to settle down and be calm and deliver a result.

And madly enough, usually Lank Struller's been quite famous for putting out the old good qualifying performance. You remember the likes of Baku all those years ago, Turkey in the rain. He's had some brilliant moments in qualifying. This was appalling. If he was any other driving in the other team, I'd be shocked if he had a seat next season. Harry, your thoughts on the crash that saw the end of Q1 with the red flag? Obviously, firstly, Glad Lanza's okay, because it was a nasty old shunt. I mean, he did it properly, didn't it?

Massive on the neck, wouldn't it? Yeah, the side-to-side moving was quite unusual to see, but I was glad to see it's okay. The crash itself, he, again, we spoke about drivers that lurch like they're on the edge. He clearly went over the edge of adhesion. but as you say Sam his driving style it looks frantic at the best of times does Lance

always has been always has been yeah exactly but here just looked like he clearly just couldn't get any time out of that car but it was just overdriving it you saw in the lead up to the crash he overstayed out of the like

penultimate chican and the amount of understay he seemed to have on that car was they pointed this out as guy as well he was like at half lock going through that final turn, which was crazy. So I don't know what's going on there, but yeah, he just was overdriving that car.

It clearly wasn't working for him, but I don't know what the issue is because I don't think Ashtam Martin are quite far up as they'd maybe hope this weekend, but clearly it's a Q3 car, as Alonzo's proved. And even if he hadn't crashed, I'm not sure Lance was even getting out of Q1. So, yeah. I'm not sure, not sure what, what Lance can do. He needs like a reset, doesn't he? Um, because at the moment, it's just not, not happening for him.

And as you say, Ben, that's a lot of work for that car to be turned around tomorrow. Like, I'd be surprised even if the chassis survived properly. So we'll see it, see if it even makes it into the race, but, um, have a lot of work for his mechanics to do. Indeed, indeed. Um, more quality chat. Right after this. Okay, before the break, we spoke about Landstrol's crash.

And apart from Landstrol himself, obviously, the other person that it really seemed to disadvantage was Oscar Piastri, who's going to have to try and make his way from, did he end up 17th? I can't remember exactly. I think so, yeah. And of course, Lando Norris, securing a Q3 spot, and we'll start from fourth place, second row of the grid.

So contrasting fortunes for the McLaren duo. So Sam, looking at both of them, what do you expect from them tomorrow? I think firstly, to point out, incredibly unlucky for Oscar Piaastri, but this is why you need to get your lapping the first time around. It's why you have to position yourself properly on these outlaps and through the session, because reg flags happen, you know, crashes happen, especially at street circuits. It's street circuits, you have to be aware. And, you know, when it comes down to it and you make that mistake,

you get punished for it. And as much as I think Piaastri more than how the pace could be in Q3, today, you have to ensure that you're in the right place at the right time. And yes, he was quite literally the next car to come round the corner when Lance Stroll put it in the wall. But whether you're the next car or you're the 10th car, he was in the wrong place at the wrong timing. He had to be maybe first out of that door because he knew that he wasn't in a comfortable position. I think the real positive for McLaren here is all the upgrades that have been applied to

Landon Norris's car are clearly working. It's clearly another good step forward for McLaren. They very comfortably feel like with that car now, that they are a regular, not just Q3 appearance car, they're a regular top four, top five car now. They can be easily fighting for podiums, fourth, fifth place on most Grand Prix that we have, most different racetracks that we have here.

So I think the saving grace for them is Norris has the upgrades and can maybe do something very exciting when it comes to the race tomorrow, whereas I think if it was Piastri that had the upgrades and not Norris and he went out in P-17, that's a huge disappointment. You're not going to be able to see the full potential of those. So if it was to happen to either,

it happens to Piastrian, that's okay. But I'm sure that realistically, they'll evaluate this and go, next time that we're in trouble, you get the car out as soon as possible. We saw it with Verstappen. Can't remember if it was Monza or maybe Belgium, but one of them had a big of a dodgy first run, and there was a problem. And instead of waiting right until the last run,

they went out with about four or five minutes to go. And they just give the lap again. Immediately, they went, no, we're not waiting around for the end of this session. Just do the lap again and make sure we're safe. And it worked for them. No risks, no problems, and they were through. they should have done the same here for Piastri, especially at a track as high risk as Singapore. Yeah, obviously it's cost Oscar Piastri. It very nearly cost Lewis Hamilton as well. He was in danger at the sort of closing end of Q1. And look, if takes Q3 as an example, you had the two has drivers. They got out there incredibly early. Now, obviously we didn't have any yellow or red flags towards the end of Q3. But if we had, Kevin Magnerson provisionally qualified fourth,

If a red flag follows there, suddenly Hasser on the second row of the grid. Now, he's still qualified P6, and we'll get onto that in a moment because that's a highly impressive effort from the team. But that just goes to show that getting out there early, it can have its benefits. And I agree with your point that when it does come to, there's a reason that you get two or three runs in these qualifying sessions. And that is to, and they all count. And ultimately, every team knows red flags do happen at the end of sessions.

and that's why they don't do one run. That's why they don't just leave it for the last two minutes and save some tires. They have to go out there and make sure that those ban collapse are in for anything that might happen afterwards because it quite often does. So I think Oscar Piastri, certainly unlucky, don't get me wrong, but it happens. That sort of thing does happen. And as you say, Sam, particularly at a circuit like Singapore, from Piastri's perspective, if he can find his way back into the points, I think he's added himself a good Sunday afternoon.

I'm struggling to see how he will advance much beyond 10th. I know that there are signs that the tire degradation might be higher than expected at this circuit, which Piastri should be hoping for, because the more two stops that can happen, the better, I think. But even with the track changes this year, overtaking is still going to be very difficult. So the back end of the points might be the optimum for him. Lando Norris, certainly if he can hold down his,

his starting position. The Ferraris might have too much for him, potentially same with George Russell as well. But if he can stay in and around that last podium spot, I think they can probably consider that a good race weekend after a couple of trickier results for McLaren. Harry, your fault, your thoughts on their contrasting fortunes? My fault.

Your fault? Probably is your fault, to be honest, mate. Yeah. Yeah, it's a real shame for Piastri. just unlucky because I think Piastri was I know I know Norris's got the upgrade but he and had to the advantage in terms of pace but I thought Piastri wasn't that far behind

given that he had the older spec car so a shame for him as you say Sam probably in terms of McLaren it's the right one that got knocked out if anyone had to get knocked out and yeah it's going to be a tough afternoon or evening for Piastri tomorrow I think he might be able to scrum a point. I mean, we think, we assume the two hass will end up at the back of the grid again

by the end of the race. So there's two gone there already. So you can count that out. But yeah, so Pastero might scrape a point. But yes, it's a difficult one. But, you know, the fact that Norris is that far up will give him at least encouragement for Suzuki when he gets the upgrades to. We've already referenced Liam Lawson a little bit. Of course, everyone knew going into this race weekend that only one of the four Red Bull drivers were going to make it through to Q3, and everyone knew that that was going to be Liam Lawson, of course, not even in a seat a couple of races ago. And here he is knocking Max Verstappen out of Q3. Sam, this specific incident, how much does that do for his chances of a 2024 seat? Any good PR for Liam Lawson is,

you know, potentially career building, career saving, you know, this might be a remember. time he ever gets to drive a Formula One car, in theory, you know, Daniel Riccalo could come back for Japan, unlikely, but possible. And that could be it. They might go, yeah, we appreciate your service. You do a good job. We'll see you later. And he might be destined for a lifetime of racing other cars. But when you hear headline stories like junior driver in third qualifying session knocks out multiple time world champion of the Big Brother team, then all of a sudden you go, wait a minute, that wasn't Yuki Sankoda, that wasn't Daniel Riccardo, wasn't even Nick DeVries, who had half a season under his belt.

You know, this was Liam Lawson, who three races ago was scrambling to stay alive around a very, very chaotic Zanvort GP. And every single weekend since then, he's elevating himself again. And he's done it again. And this weekend, he's turned up at Singapore, one of the most demanding Grand Prix you can ever come to. He's never raced here before. And he's done it again.

Yuki Senoda I've got to feel sorry for because I think that again he was very much a little bit unlucky with how situations unfolded. And of course we saw him P1 going from Q1 to Q2. But that doesn't mean anything when it comes to Q3 crunch time. There's only one car that makes it through and it isn't him. Liam Lawson delivered. He was calm. He stayed out of trouble. The Alfatari upgrades are working.

Doesn't matter if they're working. You're not utilising them because he is. He is really making the most of it. And that is a brilliant Q3 appearance in his only third qualifying session. So I, if I'm Alfa Tauri right now, I put Liam Lorsing in that seat next season. I do genuinely think that he's got the age behind him as well. He's a Red Bull, you know, young driver's been around a long time. And he has impressed me week on, week on.

I am very, very pleased with what he's been able to do. Harry, your thoughts on Liam Larson's chances of a seat next season just based on how much he can hang his hat on this. It's not going to do him any harm, is it? Great point that. It is, like, I wouldn't necessarily just give him a seat right away after today. But having said that today was very impressive. And as I say, helps his case massively. Sonoda, I feel for because he, I think he had a slight edge over Lawson.

And I don't know why Sonoda didn't do his final run. He never made it, I guess he just abandoned. it. I think he had an error in the back end of the second sector, possibly. Okay. Because he was looking, I think he'd done two sectors and I think he was looking pretty good. I think it was in the third sector maybe that he had his incident. Yeah, which is down to Sonoda, but he obviously was blocked by Vistappen in the earlier part of that session, which, you know, at this rate, anyone could end up on poll with the amount of penalties we've got to look at. But anyway, but yes, Lawson, very, very impressive

and is giving the Red Bull management, Alphotari management, a bit of a head scratcher as to what they do for, do for next year, because Lawson is looking very good so far. Very good problem to have. Good problem to have. Very good problem to have.

Very good problem. Did you also see that when they were referencing rookie drivers and putting a rookie driver in their car this year, they were looking towards the likes of Jake Dennis. And you just think, Jake Dennis and Isaac Hadja, and you think how many different F2 draw, like Owasa and HALGA, that might end up on the sideline because they've got so much to choose from. So at least six drivers? Yeah, yeah, it's a lot.

Certainly from Liam Lawson's perspective, as you say, it will do absolutely no harm whatsoever. And just, the achievement is great. But I almost feel like the statement of the achievement is even better because it is to say, I knocked out Max Verstappen in Q2 at the Singapore Grand Prix, which is a difficult circuit. And Vastappen's pretty good at the F1. So, you know, you put all that together. That's a pretty good statement to be able to make your case for a seat next season. Certainly I think Yuki Sanoda had maybe a couple attempts on Liam Lawson, but around Singapore

in your third race, I think that's respectable enough. even if you can say Yuki Sanoda's two-tempts faster. I think that's good enough for Liam Lawson at this point. And certainly he's letting other drivers around him make the errors, which is kind of what you need to do when you're not at one with the car. And that's not a shot at Liam Lawson. That's just any reserve driver who comes into that sort of sea. You almost make other drivers around you have the mistakes and have the errors,

and you'd capitalize on that. even if you're not able to display lightning pace. If others are falling by the wayside around you, that will benefit you. So I'm respecting what he's been able to do this season. I'm excited to see what he can do in the race. Certainly, I think points are an option. And yeah, the Alfa Tauri seems to be going pretty well here. So, yeah, I think he has certainly helped his chances.

I don't think it's a done deal at this point. But yeah, a head scratcher for the team. as you say. There won't be many happy faces if he does the same thing again at the next Grand Prix. I'm sure you can snow it will be hoping for different fortunes. Indeed. Let's move on.

Last topic for today, we need to give them some attention here because usually this season, Nika Holcomburg has turned up in Q3. Today, Kevin Magnuson thought, ah, you know what, I might join you. I might enjoy that. And he did enjoy that. He's qualified P6. So two has cars in the top 10. Sam, I know you like to, you like to rib on them,

but that's pretty good going, right? This is where Ashton Martin would have expected both their cars to be sat. I think if you were to pick up the hars guys, throw them out the way and insert a longso and stroll, they have gone, yeah, pretty good. We're happy with that. I reckon Kevin Magnuson has been sitting there asleep, and then he's heard that the qualifying head-to-head might end

if he doesn't beat Nico Hulkeberg at Singapore, or he's gone, right, the comeback song, is it? And he's just going to now power through for the rest of the season. He just likes a challenge as a box office. This is fantastic. Yeah, exactly. Every single race now is just going to be like pole position. Easy, easy, easy game.

This is exactly what Hasked. The big question is, can the car actually carry through the speed? Can it maintain the tire ability? Because it's all well and good with your cars being, what, sixth and eighth or whatever it is that they are. But if it comes to, You're a lap 10 and you're suddenly both cars are 12th and 14th and then come that 30, both your cars are 16th and 18th.

And it's not because there's a problem. It's not because you've had a crash with someone else. It's just because the car cannot actually drive like a Formula One car is fundamentally meant to. Then what's the point in it? So, well done to them. I'm very pleased to see the both in Q3. It was really cool to see both cars in Q3 and not the Red Bull team, actually. What a juxtaposition that was.

I guess hope it turns into something tomorrow and we get onto the review and we go, both horse drivers have scored points. That's a bold prediction we should have said. I really am praying for them that that's the case. You know, we should have seen this coming because as we all know, Kevin Magnuson is the goat at Singapore.

Holds the fastest lap record. Of course, that is probably going to be broken on Sunday because it's a brand new configuration and we're knocking seconds off that time. Magnuson's like, no, I like this record. I want to keep it. He's still going to have the record by the end of tomorrow. Guaranteed.

What a great effort from him. And indeed, both hash drivers to get it into Q3. We've seen it a few times. Well, I've seen it a few times. We've seen it all season long, but qualifying pace doesn't really result in race finishes. So, you know, it remains to be seen exactly what they can do. I will consider myself a skeptic until they actually

deliver something on a Sunday and don't free fall down to 17th place after five laps. I am really excited for Max Verstappen to be stuck behind Nika Holkenberg for like 50 laps tomorrow. But yeah, it's, I think you've got to respect what they were able to do. Certainly if you look at Alpha and Mayo's performance and they really struggled, of course, Bottas and Joe out in Q1 pretty comfortably. I think that points to it not necessarily just being a pure power unit thing as well. Like we have seen a few occasions this year. Spain is the one that springs to mind where Nika Holkenberg's done a very good job in qualifying,

but the Alfaumeos have been quick on the same weekend, which makes you think, you know, the Ferrari pool of drivers are doing pretty well. It might be related to that. Here, Alpha Romeo are a long way off and Hasse are doing pretty well, which kind of points to maybe they've got something right car-wise this weekend. It's not a racetrack you typically associate with Hasse. either. So, you know, it's all, you only get points on Sunday. It is the old adage, but a good result for them today. Harry? Yeah, the impostors have stopped imposting.

Let's not get a hang of ourselves. At least for Saturday they have. You're right. Holgerberg has been doing this all season, but yeah, very timely for KMAG to also be up there. Glad he's woken up. It's good to see. Yeah, it remains to be seen whether they can actually, actually turn us around into some points, but a huge opportunity for them to gain some ground because Williams are down in the bottom half of the midfield. So Alfred May is already referenced, Ben. So they've got to be hoping they can somehow make their tyres work,

which again remains to be seen. So we'll see if that happens. It's like classic LB that we said in the previous. you that Ferrari and Hass will probably be fighting it out down on 18th and 1920s. By lap 10, they will be made. There's still time. Well, yeah, true. But for now, all four of them are in the top 10.

So well done, us. I'll tell you what, though, the one team we haven't mentioned on this show, and there is only one team, is Alpine. And after their appalling performance at Monza, I think they'll be looking at someone like Haas and going, wait, we can't go on a straight line very well. But at the same time, why can't we get into both cars into Q3 properly on a track that doesn't require a lot of straight line speed?

I think they probably will be wanting more coming out of here. No, you try and run a team with three people in it and see how well it goes. One of them's a dog. Hey, Rusty does a good job out there. He's trying his best. One of them's Jeremy Clarkson. They've hired him. Just a fat man with a beer.

Right, that's going to do it for a frog. I am psyched for tomorrow. I am properly pumped for this Grand Prix tomorrow. And Sam, of course, we'll be back with the review of that one. We will be back with a review of that one. I'll be here immediately. So let's hope that there isn't another three-hour delaying what might happen with stewarding afterwards. Keep up with us for the whole weekend on late-breaking F-1 on all social medias.

And we'll, of course, be in the Discord as well, talking the whole way through the race. So if you're enjoying me, maybe you're sat alone at home and you think, I'd like some friends, or maybe you cover an area where Formula One is still growing. Oh, come on. Hey, might be... Maybe you're a loser. Don't join us. The reason we're friends is because of Formula One.

We're losers, so it's okay. You know, join the Discord. Link is in the discreppy, and we will be back for Sunday. And then again, we'll be back midweek for another F1 chat as we are every single Sunday and every single Wednesday. Hope and enjoy it. Thanks for sticking around. And we will see you tomorrow. In the meantime, I've been Samson.

I've been Ben Hocking. And I've been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late. Good old Rusty. Cast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.