The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2024 Canadian GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: June 8, 2024

The LB boys review the Montreal madness of the Canadian GP qualifying session that saw a Mercedes return to form with Russell securing pole after dead heat with Verstappen. They also discuss the fall of the Ferraris, a bad Saturday for Perez, and some surprise impressive performances... LONDON LIVE SHOW! Join us as we preview the British GP live in London on 2 July, full event info + tickets HERE FOLLOW us on socials! You can find us on YouTube, Instagram, X (Twitter) and TikTok SUPPORT our Patreon for bonus episodes, historic race reviews & more! JOIN our Discord community JOIN our F1 Fantasy League: SIGN UP & create your team, and JOIN our league (join code: C3PHEQHPU04) BUY our Merch SEND us something! We have a brand new PO box - address: Late Braking Podcast, PO Box 821, TRURO TR1 9PE 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's age, and me, Ben Hocking. All in one place today. We are. To celebrate a George Russell poll. That's so Brexit.

We all came here, especially for this as soon as you got pole position. Yeah. We know what it's going to happen. Combine six. six hours of driving and you've done a great job of being here in that three minute session. Yeah. Unbelievable. Everyone knew Mercedes were going to be quick going into this session.

So no surprises here whatsoever. Sure. What an exciting qualifying session, wasn't it? What a good one. We record, K Dogg, we recording our reaction to it and everything. Yeah, yeah. She's very pleased with us. I feel very pleased with us.

If it, like, five minutes of it is usable. That's fine. We just used a bit when they get the same time. The same time. Madness, yes. George Russell getting pole position ahead of Maxx. for Stappen, but as you say, recording the exact same time. 112 exactly as well, which I think it's really cool.

Yes, very good point. But because George Russell set the lap time first, he's the one who gets pole position ahead of the Red Bull driver. To McLarence, third and fourth, doing pretty well. Daniel Ricardo, great effort from him to BP5. Not such good days for the likes of Ferrari. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Can they continue their Monaco momentum?

Probably not. No. And Sergio Perez didn't even make it that far. he was out in Q1, but we'll start with... 16th. 16th. 16th, indeed. Let's start with the battle for pole out front because Mercedes looked very good in FP3,

as they have done in a few FP3 sessions so far this year, but today was different. Today it carried over into qualifying. Both Hamilton and Russell looking very good, and we'll get to Hamilton in a second, but George Russell, hooking together that first attempt at a lap in Q3 and obviously getting the pole position.

Sam, where did it come? from? Well, there go. Where did it come from Coenai Joe? Carl and I, George. You know that's a euphemism

from Chlamydia? Good. Move on. That's what the song's about. Folks, if you haven't noticed we've had a few alcoholic drinks, we did our Patreon deal breaking because we thought of this.

So this is a great qualifying review for you. Where did it come from? That bloody new front wing seems to be working an absolute charm. It's just a bit. Yeah.

They've gone. We'll win at Spain. So bring out the good car now. And they went, oh, crap, it's a race early. They put the W-13 wing on it or something from 2021. They put the 2014 engine back in the car,

ever, I mean, for the whole session, the whole weekend, George Russell has looked very good, but arguably Lewis Hamilton had the league Mercedes driver and famously very good here around. Canada,

he's got seven Grand Prix wings around. His first ever victory came here as well. George Russell, seven one, going into this weekend in terms of qualifying. Hamilton was even asked in the driver's conferences before qualifying and practice began. Are you going to out qualify George Russell this weekend to which you went,

don't know? And you think? You should have said, no. You should have said, probably won't, mate. He'd have been right. Actually, I think I'll bottle it. It's probably what you think he should have said. George Russell delivered such a brilliant lap, 112, which actually was not the

fastest lap that we saw across the entire weekend. The track dynamics could have changed. It got colder, the wind changed. The rain was rolling in through the final period. as well of qualifying. But regardless, he put the lap together. He got the job done wrong. It matters.

And clearly the upgrades that this is the first time that Meseyis can say, we understand what's going on and we've made actual decent... Do they? Oh, I don't know. Maybe they don't be on one. They can say they understand.

If that leads into the right direction, if that's got them a pole and maybe it might get them a podium or something. Don't touch it. Just leave it now as it is. Leave it alone. We've got this good idea for a sidepod design. We're going to introduce it in space.

Oh, crikey. And then, yeah, of course, the fact that Max was tapping, the current world champion, who is driving sublimely well. Because I think we all are in agreement that that Red Bull car actually might not be the fastest car at the moment. Generally, generally might not be up there as the dominant car that was last year at all. And the performance that he managed to putting after clearly a weekend of struggling to go equal as the fireworks continue to go off here in Windsor. In Windsor, a amazing head. Gorgeous times.

If we're celebrating Brexit, apparently. You know, Max Verstaffing has absolutely gone out of his way to deliver a stellar lap. And I don't think that should go unnoticed as well, just how good he managed to turn out in that final run because it wasn't looking. I mean, in Q2 at one point, you were going, he's struggling it.

I don't know how good this is going to look. I think you would doubt even top five at one point. Yeah. So, I wouldn't have been surprised. Putting out the exact same lap time as poll was pretty phenomenal. Well, that's the thing. 1,000 more.

And we're looking at a Max Verstappenpan. position here. The crazy thing is, George Russell, he did two laps. Obviously, he set his best lap the first time around. His second lap was, I think, nought.0.026 off of his best time. If he'd only done that lap, he'd have been behind both Norris and Vastapa, and that just shows how close his session was. Well, Ben. What's your bold prediction, Ben? My bold prediction on our preview episode is that the top four cars in qualifying would be separated by just one tenth of a second, Oscar Pistrian 4th was 0.103 away from George Russell. And you'll see this. You'll see this on, well, you'll maybe see this in terms of our

reactions. I predicted at the beginning of Q1 that Perez was going to go out. You did. That would have been more bold. You used up your life. Yeah, I did. I must admit, fair play to you. You call you right at the start of the session. Counts for nothing. Yeah, literally counts for absolutely nothing. How excellent is it when F1 is like this? I literally just twisted that. When F1 is good. Boy, is it good.

Just going into a call off, I know it was mixed weather yesterday, so it was hard to know anyway, but going into a qualifying session and not knowing who is going to get pole, I know Mercedes looked good in FP3, but still it was still close, and it was close throughout quality,

and it was so close in the end that the second place person did exactly the same time as the first place person, which... Don't see it often. Again, can't remember the last time that actually did happen. So unless it was Herath 90.

It must have happened since Harf 97. Can't be. Anyway, but yeah, excellent. Love that it's that close to the top. Love that it's, again, I know you mentioned Max Stappen doing a great job. And yet I absolutely did because they don't have the quickest car. But it's excellent that we keep turning up and it's not like there's a rival that's the same rival. We're now turning up.

It's a different rival each time. Yeah. we've had Mercedes and then before that Frye then before that McLaren. Max Verstappen versus who every week. He's like,

I go again. He's like the final boss. I will beat everyone that turns up. But that's, yeah, more of that, inject it. It really felt like today that,

and I love it when F1 is like this, driving ability and pulling out the lap really mattered. Commitment. Because there was, there's a reason that George Russell was starting first and Lewis Hamilton is starting seventh.

George Russell hooked up the lap, Lewis Hamilton didn't. And there's a reason that Max Verstappen is starting second and Perez is starting 16th. Perez couldn't hook up the lap, Vastappen did. And that's what we won from F1, is that if you get punished when you can't put together a good lap, and you are rewarded when you can. And that is exactly what we saw. Respect to George Russell, he's great in qualifying. I think it sometimes goes a little bit under the radar, just how good he is.

But he delivered another good lap out there today. the fact again that he set two laps that were basically identical himself kind of shows that he was getting the maximum amount of that car Maxisvast happened it brilliantly well I think to get second and both McLaren's fair play because Piaastri and Norris had a slightly different run plan in Q3 but it worked out for them both cars on the second row given again Lewis Hamilton if he doesn't get a good start from P7 and we know Sergio Perez is down in 16th they're the only team up front

that is going to have two cars in fight, which could matter. McLaren are just doing a really good job at always being consistently about. Unlike the other teams, right, where you've got this issue with Red Bull where it's one or the other. Masegis have only just decided to turn up.

Ferrari clearly are struggling at certain elements of certain race tracks. McLaren may not be on pole position every single time, but constantly both cars, top five, pretty regularly at every single track they go to. That will get the job done.

It will get the job done. And they're so close to league in that championship now. the constructions. It's not, if they get a great result here, if a staff and has a reliability problem, before all you're seeing is,

PAU have issues in practice. The same thing happens again in the main Grand Prix. McClaron will acquire the league of this championship. Yeah, absolutely. Obviously, they are starting third and fourth. Fifth place,

Daniel Ricardo. Now, there have been some rather pointed comments by Jacques Filner on Sky Sports. We'll let Harry run free in a moment. Which, we'll save that for another day because I think that in itself

is probably a topic in its own right. Idiot. But in a season where he's had a good amount of criticism, I'd say some of it is fair. That was very, very good. He was 0.178 away from pole today. I'd no want to say it was because of the comments. But yesterday, Yuki had the edge on him,

and it was during the wet. But today did feel like he came out swinging and was like, all right, fine, here we bloody go. Yeah, good, good effort. I kept jokingly saying whilst we're watching, good to see 2014 Daniel Riccardo's turned up again but it was felt as Crofty kept reminding us 10 years ago to the day that he won in Canada

yeah he looked I mean both RBs looked pretty solid throughout the session but that last lap was a was a special one because I'm not sure really it deserved to be in fifth obviously Hamden didn't deliver the lap that might have effective things but you're going to be in it to win it so fair play to Ricardo hopefully you can deliver

or, you know, convert it into a strong result tomorrow because I'm not to say he desperately needs yet, but it would certainly help things. Yuki's just been signed for another year as well. So in terms of keeping his drive for next year, I think a good result will go a long way. He's cleared the two Aston Martins out there today. He's cleared his teammate.

And he's clear Lewis Hamilton. And he's clear Lewis Hamilton. He came out in the week, and there was a lot of talk, obviously, when Perra's got his extension, and he said, well, he was quite candid and quite humble and quite honest, which was nice to see from him where he said,

you know, I don't think I'm doing enough. Which I think is great to see from a driver to recognise, you know what, they're not hitting the targets that they set themselves. And it's a very illustrious goal to be that Red Bull driver. It's definitely a tough challenge to meet. And you've got to be on your absolute A game.

And I think it is very fair to say that Daniel Ricardo has not been on his A game for a while now. I'm not saying that he's as bad as what Shatfield Nerve has been comparing him to, but he's not been the Daniel Ricardo that we knew in 2018, 2017, when he was kind of engaging

on mid-red ball day. but this lap I feel like he's motivating himself I feel like he's heard what which Jack Villeneuve has to say and you know what there might be every case that Jack Villeneuve walks out of this session and goes I did that that's because

that would be the most Jaguarine a thing to do ever wasn't it just seems like wasn't it just be Jackville and that's why I can't stand him but you know what if that's what it takes to kick Daniel Ricardo at the backside again to start pulling out these incredible results and we've seen Daniel

Ricardo drive angry before there's a few drivers that when they drive angry they're really quite sensational or Lewis Hamilton is another one. When you really get under his skin and you go, oh, don't make Lewis Hamilton mad. Don't make Daniel Ricardo mad. They go, well, I'm going to tell you to the next level.

I'm going to preview at every moment why I am X, Y, and Z. And he did that today. He really delivered. And in any other racetrack, I feel like this season, being a 10th and a half away from pole position, you might be on the front row. That's how much closer this qualifying has been in comparison to so many other racetracks so far this season.

It is a phenomenal lap. You can sing I did a great job. Like eighth plays for the other Rabe is sensational. But fifth, fifth is a really, really sensational performance from Daniel Ricardo. I just hope he can be consistent with it and deliver the race pace alongside it. I don't want this to be immediately washed away by a really mediocre race performance. Yeah. Yeah, it was a phenomenal effort.

I don't have too much more to add from what both of you said. It was a really great lap. And I think it is wide open for tomorrow. I don't think it's a guarantee that he'll drop positions to those around him. So we'll see how it goes. We're a bit less certain on race pace, obviously, based on the lack of running yesterday. But, you know, when that is the case, all you can do is just qualify as good as you possibly can and then hope that the race pace is there.

Seeing out the top 10, so briefly touched on Lewis Hamilton, he's now only, he's only qualified George Russell once so far this season. He's had good pace throughout this weekend. but again in Q3, George Russell was able to pull out the lap. Lewis Hamilton isn't. Will this one hurt even more knowing that a poll was on the cards? That hasn't been the case so far this year. Yes.

And also this is Lewis Hamilton Circuit. We were doing the math earlier, won't me? About how many times he's won here. And he looked on it all of today. He's looked, as you said, Sam, he's the fastest of the two drivers, I think, and until it really mattered. And that is, it all hurt. And it's also just a tiny bit.

worrying for Hamilton because it's just not what you're used to seeing from him at the end of a qualifying session. But that will, that will sting, especially considering he's now ended up, it's not even like he's lost out and his second or third. He's in, he's in P7,

right? So that's going to hurt considering your teammates on poll, especially when you're the, you're the one renowned for being the qualifier of the, you know, of the team or of the whole grid, you're the top qualifier. so he'll dust himself off for tomorrow

and if it's a wet race and anything can happen but it's going to sting a little bit tonight, I think. Yeah, I would agree with that. Should also give props Alex Alman. Alex Alvin, you know what, Williams took a step forward. We've slated them this season and I think rightfully so.

The car has not been good enough. Albon's been driving really, really well. And okay, he lost it out to his team, but even Logan Sargent, I think, did a really strong job today. A 10th improvement he gets. himself into Q3. But Album proved why he got his contract extended,

why Williams want him so badly, why he's a league driver for a team that is developing and moving along the grid, such as Williams. He did a really, really good job today. And I think this is a great return to form where Williams have been really struggling and they're basically at the back of the grid for the rest of the season.

So, yeah, hopefully they convert it. Hopefully the race pace is good. But well down X album, the fact that he's not just in Q3, but he's well inside Q3 as well. I think it's very promising for them. Yeah, and Canada qualifying is always a little bit. I really enjoy Canada qualifying because it does always...

It's closer to Monaco as one of the best ones of the season, I think. It's always spicy because it doesn't usually follow the conventions of other qualifying sessions in the... I know... I don't want to pick on him because I'll pick on him after the break, but Sergio Perez, like him going out in Q1. Yeah. I know I made a big deal of predicting it, but I don't think it was that crazy because if you don't don't get things like the tyre warm-up spot on at Canada, you can very easily be punished. I just think it is a bit less, a bit less traditional in that sense, and it does always throw

up some interesting results. It's like an ulterior Mexico. It's like the opposite of Mexico. Yeah. It's not hot and thin air. It's cold and regularly the temperature drops and the wind can be really tough, and you've got to nail the setup and the car warm up. Yeah, and it gives the opportunity to do something like what Piastri did and you do two laps

in Q3 on one run rather than just that traditional one lap. Both Rbies get the same thing. Yeah. So it is possible to do something like that. And it does throw up some interesting results. Even having said that, a great effort from Alex Albin, as you say, good effort from Logan Sargent as well. And I feel like at Monaco, we were quite clear that yes, it was a great qualifying effort.

And basically, wherever you qualified in Monaco ended up being the race result as well. But I think we were clear with Monaco that it might be an outlier. because their weight issues that they've had all year were going to be mostly nullified at just Monaco. The fact that they've now come out at a completely different circuit like Canada and essentially done the same job in terms of starting position, that should give James Vows and the rest of the team some hope for the rest of this year because I was a bit worried that they might just receive back to what they had pre-monico.

And that hasn't been the case, at least in terms of qualifying. So a good effort from both of them today. Agreed. Before we go to break, live show. Live show. We promise we won't sing there. Okay, I'm all I might do.

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We've got an even better time in Granite because we've had experience. So we know what we're doing. We know the things not to do this time. And it's going to be really, really good fun. So the people already coming, have a great time. You should go out buy a ticket because you'll have a bloody great time. And they're flying off the shelves, folks. They really are. Getting them while they're there. Like hot cakes. Honestly. The link is in the description. So make sure you get in there. Please follow that link. If you do have any questions as well before you

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Literally. We must look popular for the show. Note, that's not true. No, we promise no. But come, you'll have a great time. We'll have a great time. We'll look forward to seeing you there. And don't worry. We will keep banging on about this after today as well. So if you do forget, after you listen to this episode, that's quite. all right, we'll remind you tomorrow. We'll take our break on this episode right now. On the other side, we're going to be chatting through Sergio Perez and the two Ferraris.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Well, we focused on the lucky 10 drivers that made it through to Q3, but you'll notice that none of them were Ferraris, because Charle-le-Claire and Carlos Seines very narrowly missed out on Q3, both of them missing out by less than a tenth of a second. in Charlotte Claire is going to be starting the race in 11th place

Carlos signs starting in 12th we asked the question midweek Sam can they continue their Monaco momentum they're going to need to turn it around

in the race if that's the case yeah there's hope that a race momentum is about a thousand times fast in their qualifying pace it's all right there

because in the race they'll put new tyres on I wouldn't bet on it oh ridiculous so in practice we all sat and watch practice together

and Charlotte Claire comes over the reg he goes, I don't think we're very effing fast guys, or we're really effing slow, proving that they weren't. No. Sorry, they were slow. They were, but they weren't at the same time.

They definitely have the pace in both of those cars. And with both of those drivers, and we've complimented that driver line up as being the strongest driver pairing currently on the grid on many occasions. All three of us have said this. They had the pace to get into Q3. If the likes of Ricardo is fifth,

if Sanoa and Albon are getting through, if Stroll is there with Alonso, the ability in that, Ferrari is to be there. They could be in Q3. But the strategic decision to not use new tyres going into that session and to

only run on your used tyres is so stupid and baffling and so Ferrari. And that's why when you listen to the race preview tomorrow, review tomorrow, we have the big brain strat because Ferrari are the most bizarre and confusing

team ever when it comes to their strategy. Why would you, when you know your slow, You know your car doesn't seem to be working here. You know that everyone else seems to be really, really quick. Go, don't use the new ties. Don't take advantage of the extra grip. New tie's bad. Yeah, new ties bad.

Old tie is good. No, you bloody idiots. Put the new ties on and I get through. Overtaking is hard at Canada. You see a lot of processional moves here. The overtakes are very minimal. It's under the average of overtakes seen across the entire calendar. Get yourself up the grid.

Why don't they know that? How do they not know to bring that home, 11th and 12th is a disaster for Ferrari. They were in trouble, obviously, going into their final runs. We saw that Carlos signs at a moment at the final corner, which pretty much put him out of contention. And Charles Leclair, we were watching on the timing and he had two yellow sectors to start things off.

Not great. Not ideal. No. Yeah, they were not quick, were they today? And when you're not quick, you need to, you need to maximise you know

your positions as much as possible and they decided to put old tyres on instead and old tyres go slower old tyres are slower than new tyres are less grip yes it's just a bit I think we've given a lot of credit to Freddie Vass for you know operationally at Ferrari

they've started he's starting to change things up a bit but that that reeked of Matea Bonotto era Ferrari right there oh hang on who's cool that was I don't know if it was I'm not saying it is Freddie Vass's fault but I'm just saying like that started to be ironed out a little bit and today was just old school

old school Ferrari and it's not good and you can tell how frustrated LeCler is because they can they can almost sniff not that I'm saying there's a world championship on the line here but they can sniff some weaknesses in Red Bull I think they don't know that for sure I think there is a world championship on the line I think there is

Well, this is the point. And LeCler knows that you can't, on the days when Verstappen still came second, but at one point, it'll be like Verstappen may not even be in Q3. Yeah. You've got to be up there to take those points off him if he's not going to be in.

As Crofts, he's said a thousand times, you've got to be in it to win it. Correct. Great point. Great point. And they're not. And I think that's why that showed how frustrated Lecler was. And yeah, if Ferrari, there's problems they've had before.

like stringing they can get performances up and be better and win races but stringing together a championship campaign for them is a struggle. Yeah. And it still looks like it may well be. Yeah. Because at this point in the season, it could be the case that as soon as we, as soon as we leave Canada,

we go to these more dedicated race tracks that Red Bull reclaim their advantage. There's no championship fight in either. That's entirely plausible. That could happen. And they've got upgrades coming to, playing, right? It might. Yeah, but the point is, you don't know that. And your job is to essentially ask the questions as much as you can. So Red Bull have to prove that they are head and shoulders above everyone else. If they do end up being, that's great. But if they don't, then suddenly you're

in the fight. But you can't afford these needless errors. We see at some tracks that there isn't a huge amount of progression between Q1 and Q2 and in the sessions themselves, there's not a lot of, a lot to be gained. Canada, not the case. Canada, like, the track evolution is mad. Especially with the rain that came down. Yeah, it's just every lap that was going by was quicker than the previous one. So the aim of the game in that instance, and it can be argued that this is all of qualifying, but particularly when that's the case, just be out on the right tires at the end of the session. That's where you're going to be able to get through. You could have set a great lap with 10 minutes to spare in Q2,

it had got you like 13th or 14th probably. Like that's how much the track was evolving. Get out of fresh tires at the end. In fairness, I don't think this is in fairness, actually, but if they got through to Q3, I don't think they'd have done much. I don't think that's a quick car this weekend.

9th and 10th? I think they'd have been around the Aston's. Yeah, yeah. Maybe not even that. I don't think that was a car that was going to contend the pole. It's qualifying one-on-one, though, isn't it? right time, right ties.

But again, starting 10th and 11th, maybe they recover to, I don't know, let's say sixth and seventh tomorrow. Maybe it's better than that. We don't know. But if they started 6th and 7th, then they've got more opportunities before. Given where Ricardo ended up, who knows what they could have ended up in Q3? Because it was just a bit of a mixed bag. Yeah.

And we'll never know. Because they weren't there. Yeah. If you're there, you'll find out. Maybe they'd have been slow. Maybe they wouldn't have been. But the point is, if you were really slow, you'd be 10th, which is. one position higher than you were in Q2.

Yeah, it was a bad error from a really bad error. Other things that happen in Q2 and Q1, Sergio Perez, knocked out in Q1. We saw he was struggling for much of the session, set a lap time late on that got him to about 12th or 13th or so. I think it was 13th. It got him safe for the time being, but with others improving behind him

to the point where he was knocked out in 16th place. He's just signed a two-year contract that's not ideal timing. No, as was stated by something in our Discord actually, that contracts leave in 30 days, if not fulfilled appropriately, could be torn up immediately without any consequences.

It's not a good time to start putting some really bad performances. He wasn't just beaten by brilliant cars either, though. If you look at Formalow, he was beaten by Kevin Magnuson, he was beaten by Pierre Gasoli, and he was pitted by Logan Sargent. These are three guys that you think

come on. You know, that is a basic minimal requirement in a Red Bull to be beating those people and he was not near them. That's the worst part.

At one point, Logan Sergeant put his Williams in fifth place. Sergei Perez didn't even get anywhere close to the top five at any point

during Q1. He's after qualifying press conferences, he stated that the issue was that his rear axle he couldn't get warmed up. The tyres weren't lock in properly.

There was troubling with grip. I hate to break it to you, Sergio, you know, everyone else in front of you was able to manage. Everyone else was able to get the side of,

in the right window, everyone else able to get a lamp together. And whilst, yes, your teammate, is considered by menning now to be in the contention of top five or six of all time in that conversation, he was able to match the pole lap of George Russell to the exact 1,000th in the same car as you,

and yet you are 16th place. It's not like your ninth or 10th or eighth, when you think, okay, the difference in quality between Vostappen and Perez has shown there, and Vostappen's done a mega job. 16th, you are behind both Arby's, both

Askins, both McLaren's, both Mercedes, both Ferraris, a Haas, a Williams, an Alpine. It's not good enough. The warm-up on the tyres, not good enough. Not understanding the grip, not good enough. You have the same ability, the same conditions

as every single other person in that session and you beat four cars. Four, one of the being Joe Guang Yu, who's had problems because he's crushed the car twice in practice, the other being Botas, which is in a terrible car. O'Conn, who does not give a crud because what? It's been dropped out of

a seat. And Holkerberg, who's had got is one-off bad performance of the whole season. It is not acceptable to be driving that red ball and going out in Q1 again. And I spoke so many times last season about how qualifying is what let you down and your average qualifying position across the whole season was P-11.

This is not good enough to be maintaining a seat that is that good for two years when you've got people like Yuki Sanoda who can't do any more, who deserve to have a crack. Someone deserves to have a shot of that seat. So I was really disappointed. This is all on Sergio Perez.

He's let himself down. And honestly, this is a real sour taste for those people that push for that contract right now. He's going to do a lot to redeem it, I think. Harry, your thoughts on his performance out there today and also, what is he looking for tomorrow? Because typically he's not been the best driver in the wet, which is possible for tomorrow.

But equally, could that give him the necessary carnage to actually make back positions. Yeah, I mean, today was, again, not. It really, again, it goes back to why did they sign in for two years? Just that decision baffles me a little bit. And again, I know there's probably a break loss in there, but he's not rewarded their faith with much here, has he? Yeah, it was a poor qualifying effort from Perez.

And again, I don't think the Red Bulls is quickest out there today, but it wasn't 16th placeworthy, as Vestappen's already shown. So, yeah, that it's just not... It's not good enough. I just saw then. Logan Sargent's out-qualified Sergio Perez twice now, which is ridiculous.

He's done that, Les to Albonne. Good point. That's awful. Oh, no, no. That's really bad. Oh, no, no. Yeah, it's just not a good, not a good stat for Perez Atoll.

And it's just not a good look. As for tomorrow, yeah, he's not, famed for his wet weather driving but it's probably what he's going to need for it to benefit him and make his way up back up the order because yeah sometimes overtaken can be hard here just due to like you know they have problems with break temperatures and stuff here don't they so it could be a long old afternoon for sergio but again it's all his own doing yeah it's something that he's always he didn't make it out of q1 last year of canada either think you're right yeah i know that was in the wet conditions but it's still the same

sort of tire temperature. The basic requirement for, you know, wet, dry, fine, but it can't be an excuse, really. You might be a bit better, but you need to be able to maintain a certain standard. You don't get to go, I've just panks in the wet, and so you're rubbish. Yeah. You can still went out in Q1 and in that car, not good enough. I think that is an ongoing issue for Sergio Perez is that he just can't seem to get the tyres up to temperature sometimes.

And again, it's not like he was on a good lap and crows. crashed in the final sector or anything like that, that was his pace. His pace is what he delivered, which was 16th. And he's probably going to be a long day for him tomorrow. And to illustrate the point, again, going back to that new contract, we look at Max Verstappen.

And let's say tomorrow, Sergio Perez, it's dry, he's starting 16th. He makes up some positions, but it's not enough to get into the points. That is reasonable. That might happen. Yeah. Let's say Max Verstappen takes Shawdressel at the start.

and he goes on to win the race. McLaren hold their positions third and fourth. They've outscored Red Bull. That's the sort of situation that Red Bull could find themselves in next year. This year it might not be too much of an issue if they can. They've already got a lead, not much of a lead on Ferrari.

They have got a bigger lead on McLaren. So maybe this year it won't impact them. And of course, his contract's already set for this year. But for next year, if one of these teams start well, and we are in this situation where Verstappan,

can win races, but the combination of two other drivers at a different team is actually maybe going to outscore him, that's a worry. That's a real worry for Red Bull. That's the worry that I'm surprised why they've made the decision at this time.

But yeah, it wasn't a good performance and not entirely surprising. I don't think Red Bull want to find themselves in a situation where much like they had with Msege's, where Bottas and Hamilton were regularly as a team outscoring Red Bull, even though the Staffen was incredibly competitive and getting himself pogromes and wings every time.

Driver of the session, Harry, who've you got? I'll go for I'll go for George Russell. Easy one to go for, but he got pole. He did get pole. He did. But he was up there with Hampton the whole time, but when it mattered, he delivered.

So Hamilton didn't. So I'll go for Russell. It's hard to go against the person that was quickest in qualifying because that is what all of the drivers are aiming for logic. Apart from maybe Esteban O'Con, I think he's sabotaging. I'm going to go with Daniel Riccala.

Yeah, that would have been my second pick. A very good effort from him. I mean, you pit the two that I would have gone for. I'll give Alex Albon a shout out because I do think that he's done a great job of pulling that Williams through, but you two have chosen the two that I would have actually gone for.

So any of those three, I think, are a fantastic choice. Well, very interesting grid for tomorrow, a Mercedes-on-Pol, Vestappen right behind. him. We've got Aster Martins, McLaren's, in and around the top seven as well, and potentially Ferraris and Perez trying to come back through the field. We'll be all together again for a race review. Folks, thanks so much for listening. We'll be back for the race review and make sure you check out our power rankings and the live show, of course, happening next month. Power rankings are on Patreon as well on Monday. We appreciate your listening and we'll be back tomorrow

after the race immediately. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hawking and I've been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.