The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2024 Hungarian GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: July 20, 2024

It was a spicy qualifying at the Hungaroring with changing weather and red flags playing havoc on the session. Ben and Sam break down all of the action including McLaren's front row lockout that leaves Verstappen with work to do tomorrow, a disastrous day for Perez, and a shock early exit for Russell... 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. And welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, following an interesting, lengthy Hungarian qualifying, where McLaren wrapped up a 1-2. Lando Norris on poll for tomorrow's race ahead of his teammate, Oscar Piastri, Max Rastappan in third.

A couple of red flags, Sam, some interesting conditions. It made it a spicy afternoon. It was a real roller coaster of an event, wasn't it? We had some highs and we definitely had some lows. And I must admit, whilst I do like a rather, you know, weather-impacted, uncertain qualifying session, I do think it was a bit of a shame that Sondos red flag came out when it did with only a couple of minutes ago,

because you saw the likes of Bostafing along, so getting out of the cars before they even got ready to go again, You think that's a shame. We're going to see a bit of an anticlimactic end. But we did see plenty of action throughout the rest of the session. As you mentioned already, two reg flags, two heavy hitters out in Q1, and a few newer games entering into Q3. Yes, and we will absolutely get to all of it.

But we will start at the front. Lando Norris set his provisional poll time on his first run. Oscar Pastery could not beat that on his second run. And before Lando Norris could get his second run done, the red flag for Sonoda came out. That left about two and a half minutes on the clock when the session resumed, but no driver outside of Daniel Ricardo was able to improve their time, meaning Lando Norris held on to that first place.

Obviously, we've got Max Verstappen directly behind the top two, Sam, but it's very much a two versus one scenario. How impressed were you by the McLaren duo? And do you think Vastappen can do anything about it tomorrow? This is exactly what McLaren is going to do. This is the first time I think we've seen. the pure pace that that papaya machine is capable of

deploying. Everyone was going wild, myself including when Max Verstappen delivered a lap that seemed to be far and above everyone else. You're thinking when Sighton set his up on his use soft tyres and Max Wastappen at one point throughout all of qualifying was going a second sector faster. You thought

bloody hell Max Vistappen is not coming here to play around that he's back. The upgrades on that Red Bull are working. The new downforce version of the car that they decide to start employing is very positive. and it's getting the results in. So when Landon Norris turns up in Q3, then goes a full three-tenths faster than Max Verstappen,

it's impressive. That is genuinely an impressive lap time. You know, he managed to get the right lapping when it mattered. The weather didn't really seem to play too much as we thought it might. And Piastri, I think, did a very, very good job. But, you know, sounds awful, not bustling it and putting the car exactly where he needs to right behind his teammate. I really do think this is McLarence to lose tomorrow.

That car looks brilliant around this Hungara ring. Yeah, it'd be very very very. very good. It'd be very fast. But that's only half of the puzzle. You set up your car as best you can for a weekend, but your drivers have to deliver on that. And they both did. I think Lando Norris deserves a lot of respect for the pole position here. And it's related to what I said in the intro to this topic, which is the fact that he did that on his first run on a consistently evolving track. So we know that he had a very comfortable margin over both Max Verstapp and and Oscar Piastri on that first run. It was about three temps back to Vestappen. It was about six

temps back to Piastri. Piastri improves his time going just slower than Lando Norris. We know his first run wasn't very good. And Max Vestappen, of course, improved his time as well, but not as good as either Piaastri or Lando Norris. If Norris, with those continually evolving conditions, we saw a lot of improvement from drivers further back as well. Sines is another one that made a lot of progress from first lap to second lap. If Norris gets that second run in, he might have well established a three-tenth gap again. That would not have surprised me whatsoever just based on how things were ramping up. So the fact that Lando Norris was essentially at a disadvantage to only have that one run and yet still have enough to get the pole position ahead of his teammate and Vostappen, that I thought

was very impressive because that could have easily gone the other way. Agreed. I think what was equally impressive for Lando was the qualifying as a whole didn't start out well for him. You know, during Q1, it looks like he got a little lucky with the way the track evolution went a different direction because much like Russell, who of course, we'll speak about later, did get

knocked out of Q1. Norris for a little while looked like he was going to be pushed towards that danger zone. He was definitely outside the top 10 for quite a long of that session. Couldn't get the car under the conditions he wanted to, couldn't nail a perfect lap. And Piaschre did look like he maybe had a slight edge on Norris throughout the

first portion of qualifying. And then throughout the session as he evolved in his ability and the car got more comfortable with the track and the track limits and the conditions that we were seeing, it really started to come together. So to go from being at risk of being knocked out to declaring a pole position with almost a three-tenth gap, especially because someone outside of your own team, of course, a sublime turnaround for landing. This was arguably his best qualifying of all time. Yeah, as good as Spain was, I think this is right up there. And I think, look, we'll get on to Sergio Perez's crash later on in the episode in full.

But this is another instance where Christian Horner will be looking at what's happened today. Obviously, the crash itself doesn't do Perez any favours. But Vastappan, now having to go and fight two McLarence by himself tomorrow, that's almost the second kick that's coming afterwards, right? it's, I don't know, it highlights the fact even more because there's a, there's a lot of difference between, you know, Vestappen going against Lando, as has sometimes been the case this year, Vestappen going up against Lando Norris and Piastri down in eighth or Piastri down in sixth. This is both McLaren's locking out the front row.

They've got the strategic advantage. And suddenly Vestappen is in a very similar position to what he was in about five years ago, four years ago, when he was up against the Mercedes of Bottas. and Bottas and Hamilton before Perez arrived, because we know Albin and Gassley consistently couldn't match Vastappen's pace when they were at the team. And it was left to Vestappen to come up with these creative strategies to try and get ahead of at least one of the two Mercedes,

if not both of them. But that two versus one fight is not brand new to Vestappen, but it's just been a long time since he's been in that spot. And it seems like here he will be in that spot again. it's coming at a terrible time for Vastappen as well with I think the evolution of that McLaren car and the devolution or the stalling of the progress that the Red Bull car is making its upgrades

to the fact that we're seeing the fact that Perez's form is continually dropping off and we're going to get onto him later. So Vastapping is not only having to battle a team all his own again, but he's having to do it in a car that is no longer dominant. If he had last year's ability in the car rather

against these two McLaren's now, you think he's still probably got this his max for Stappen, he's more than got enough ability probably to out drive Norris and Piastri. But that red ball is probably not the fastest car here this weekend. The McLaren seemingly is those two together in front of your way from the start, a track like hungry, which can be difficult to overtake or with your teammate all the way back about 20 places behind you, not literally obviously, folks, you know,

it's going to be difficult for any progress could be properly made over the McLaren boys, I think. Yeah. And like I say, it is probably going to take the step and doing something a little bit different because outside of turn one and I guess then the run down into to three and four, there aren't many opportunities to overtake on this circuit. And I'm just not sure there's a very realistic scenario where Lando Norris has a slight advantage on Piastri in terms of race pace. And Vastappan is maybe stuck behind Piastri.

That could happen. Vastappan might come into the pits earlier than perhaps is optimal to try and get a strategic advantage. McClara might say, all right, we'll do the same thing with Piastri then. And Lando Norris will keep him running what we think is best. And one of those two is probably going to win. It's just, it really makes it difficult for Vastappan and Red Bull to completely think outside the box when one of the two drivers in front of you could just very easily cover off exactly what you're doing. Speaking of thinking outside the box, something that McLaren need to do in this situation is not think outside the box, not overcomplicate.

things, right? We've seen them make mistakes in almost every area. Usually it's just one mistake or the rest of it is perfect, but it is enough to prevent a race wing, prevent a solid double podium finish. Here it cannot be a better scenario for them. It's a track you can barely overtake at.

The car is seemingly incredibly good round here. Piascri hasn't had an issue in qualifying. He's right behind his teammate. Norris has got a clear run. At worst, they need to turn this into a one-three. At absolute worst, I think. Yes, I agree with that. And I do want to give McLaren some credit for how they handle today's session, actually,

because it was something that we posed as a question in our preview, the near misses that McLaren have had in recent times. And they haven't always been the best team when it comes to strategy and communication with their drivers. Today, I think they were spot on it. So regarding Oscar Piastri, he doesn't have a good first running Q3 whatsoever. It makes quite a big error at turns one and two. they, with weather being uncertain, their play was essentially right, we're going to get

Oscar Piastri out there straight away for a second run. We're not going to wait at all. Even though it was like five and a half minutes left of the session, you just don't, when you've got a fast car, don't take gambols. And they didn't. And I think they played that right. And also as well, it was quite unlikely that any of the top drivers were going to improve based on how quick they had to do their outlaps, based on cold tires, etc.

period after Yuki Sanoda's a red flag, the comms to Piastri to basically just look, don't mess that we don't need to pick up a needless penalty when it's unlikely that these other drivers are going to improve anyway. It's just playing it safe. But that's what you do when you're in such an advantageous position as McLaren have been this weekend. I thought they played it well. Yeah, I think Piastri managed that traffic really well. It was just enough that he knew he was getting his lapping if he needed to without impeding anyone, but you saw immediately how someone like Carlos Sykes went, that's it, game over, I'll peel straight off into the pit lane. And Sykes looked like he could have been a potential late threat. The Ferrari at certain

points are like it really did have pace under its wheels with the kind of the way they set the car up. And the way it seems to have strengths around these slower speed corners and these tracks similar to Monaco, of course. Yet they didn't really seem to ever materialise. So I think they delivered very well, they got the result they needed. Can they capitalize tomorrow where the points are scored? Well, that leads us quite nicely on to Ferrari and Mercedes. Of course, Ferrari have not been in the mix as they would like to at recent Grand Prix. It seems as if that trend is continuing here at Hungary. Mercedes have been in the mix, at least at Silverstone, again, not having the pace to contend with Verstappen and the McLarence today. So signs will start fourth, Hamilton, fifth, and Charlerc, 6th. Obviously, there's a rather large absence in that fight of George Russell that we'll get onto in just a moment's time. But in terms of those three that will be in the middle of the top 10, and their fight, how disappointed do you think they'll be that they couldn't get more out of this session? I think Mercedes will be having a bit of a dawn of realization. That realistically, the results that they had in Silverstone and in Austria are more outliers than they are consistent fighting pace.

And fifth is okay. After where they were at the start of this season, when they have been the previous year, to sit there would be like, we're definitely better, if not equal to the Ferraris at worst. On our day, we could beat a Red Bull and we can maybe beat in a club. Aaron with how far back they'd been, so that they were closer to the Ashton Martins at the start this year rather than the front of the grid, I still think this is good progress made for the Sages.

And I think Lewis Hamilton will also be quite happy because he's just seeing his teammate absolutely throw himself out of contention all the way down in Q1. He almost did as well. I mean, he really did not make Q3 by much. Was it what, one- one-hundredth of a second? Yeah, I think it was. It wasn't a great deal.

Dugas, what I say thank you to George Russell, though, who is my time-soo driver in fantasy this week. So, Mando Norris was, and I swapped him over. So. Oh no. Oh, no. I've had a great time. Thank you, Judge.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely bottled that. So cheers, Mercedes. Thanks, guys. But I don't think Mercedes are a front-running car. And this has put that to bed, I think, for us and for them, when we were kind of speculating, do we have another car in the fight? Our Mercedes is the fastest car now. I think no is quite clearly the answer.

The car was struggling. And realistically, the conditions, the type of track. that we're having here, I think should have suited the Sesegis. And if they couldn't capitalize somewhere like this, I don't think they've got it in them to start being a regular threat throughout the season. What is good for them, though, is that they're still beating a Ferrari.

I'm sure if George Russell was following the fight, he'd be right there in the mix with Hamilton. He might have been all of them. He might be in the middle of them. Who knows, but he'd be there. And that's very positive for the Sege's saying that this is an outlier for Georgian, not the common denominator. Ferrari, on the other hand, I think that they're going to be even more disappointed

because we know that they've struggled at tracks that are very different to Hungary. And that's okay, all right? They were good at the start of the year. They were great at Monaco and got that win, of course. They brought in these upgrades that haven't worked. But they've come to a track so similar to Monaco where they were so good, and then they still haven't got the result that they were wanted. That's quite worrying because that now means that they are the third,

if not the fourth fastest car at every form of track, not just the tracks that are completely different to the strengths of their car. They've really fallen down the pecking oil. to be so far away from McLaren, at the start of the season, you were right there with them. That's a bad turnover for the Tophosi. Yeah,

I think from Ferrari's perspective, it became fairly apparent yesterday in practice, at least in terms of the long runs that Carlos Sines was doing. Of course, Charles, LeClaire crashed the car, so he wasn't in contention for those runs. But Sines' long run pace just wasn't there.

And it was quite evident from that point on that they weren't going to be in the fight. And it's disappointing, but it is largely, just continuing what we've had recently. I think Martin Brundall put it best before the session when he just said they seem a bit lost. They're at sea. I don't think Ferrari quite know where to go with their car now after this Imala upgrade of a few rounds ago just hasn't paid off whatsoever. But rather than completely reverse the decision or completely stick with the decision,

what they've essentially chosen is there were some parts of the upgrade that looked okay, keep those on the car. There were other things in the upgrade we didn't really like. We'll bin those. That's a difficult line to go down. So, a Frankenstein creation that we spoke about before, right? Yeah. And it's rare that that pays off. So I'm not surprised to see them fourth and sick for this session. Lewis Hamilton, obviously in fifth, had a tough session. He seemed to like the conditions early on, those really changeable conditions, which I think he would have hoped we're going to stay around for the whole session. Yeah, they just didn't know.

And I think fifth is about where that car deserves to be. But as we've mentioned, that rough lap at the end of Q2 very nearly cost him probably six more positions than this. So at least one of their cars is in the fight. George Russell, I could be wrong on this. This is his first Q1 knockout since Hungary of last year. Is it really? I believe so.

proving the point that George Russell can only do two things at Hungary, get poll or get knocked out in Q1, interestingly enough. Jordan, are they know next year, though, if he makes it through to Q2, that's Paul. That's everyone else might as well give up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In terms of George Russell, he was interviewed after being knocked out in Q1,

he looked at the incident and said there were two issues. there was the number one issue of him even needing to put in a lap because he couldn't get the job done earlier in the session. And secondly, the car not being fuelled up for all of that last run. What do you make of his comments? Are they fair that this sits with Russell and the team? I think Russell was very diplomatic in his response. But I do think this is morong Russell.

He is a big enough pro now. He's got the experience. has been around the game the longest time. He does it rarely, but, you know, it is his fault. This one is on him, I think. The fact that he had a chance to get that car over the line properly. And it didn't need to be a lap as good as Hamilton's, you know? That was evident.

But equally, he just needed to be five-tenths faster. That's how big the gap was between them at one point. I think Hamilton was sat at the very top of the timing tree. And I think Russell was 1.3 slower than Lewis Hamilton, which is a mad gap. Because the qualifying battle between those who, of course, there's so much in Russell's favour. I think it's now, what, 11-2 or something like that, 10-3, something like that to Russell?

Yeah, that might have been the third time maybe that Hamilton's out-qualified him. So Hamilton is having a bit of a duff year when it comes to qualifying, and yet he's getting the job done. At least he's getting through to where he needs to be. But this was on Russell. You shouldn't have to moment your team for any two laps, extra fuel, just to get the job done. You know, everyone else managed to get it done.

Lewis Hamilton in the same machine or he got the job done. You mucked up. You didn't get the lapping. I'm gladly put his hands up and admitted that bit, but I do think the dig about the field is a bit unfair because realistically, everyone knows that qualifying is outlap, lap done, in lap. You don't really tend to then go for another immediate hot lap straight after. And I'm sure with the rain being so imminent,

they probably were expecting the need to go straight out again. I just think he's tried to deflect a little bit here. I think Russell's assessment is spot on. I think this is both on him and on the team. So the reason that they were in the situation in the first place is 100% on Russell because like you say, Hamilton was doing a great job earlier in Q1. Russell was not. So the fact that Russell was sat, I think 14th or so at that time, that's on him

because that's not a small margin between him and his teammate. That's large. And he was admitting of that as well. But equally, I think the team is at blame here as well because other teams got this right and Mercedes just didn't. all of the other teams that went out around George Russell to try and set that lap time fueled the car for the rest of the session knowing that the track was just going to get quicker and quicker, which was inevitable. I don't understand how Mercedes can make such an error

where with one lap to go with the track at the driest, they don't have any fuel. And all the other teams do. You know, the likes of Salba got it spot on. And if Salba are getting something right, then there's something really wrong. Strategically, yeah. But I can understand his first frustration at the team for not getting that right. If he gets a lap in with a minute to go, I've got no doubt that he's, he's home and dry. But yeah, equally, as he has actually done, he needs to look at himself and ask why he needed that lap at all to begin with. So I think it's on both.

Well, I see a point. But I think that's why I do give Russell the blame because he should be matching. It's capable of beating his teammate, let alone matching him. And I expect it of him. So they're in that. They're in the crap because of. him. And if he gets his finger out and does it properly, he hasn't got on other money at something else for getting X, Y, Z sorted, and they shouldn't have been after in that position in the first

place. So they're having to repair a situation that's already damaged because of his inability to do the job in the first place. So that's why I still blame Russell for what went on. I'm going to call it 50-50, I think. Don't give me that one. Yeah, true. You can't even get that wrong. It's opinion. We'll take our break on this qualifying episode. There's a lot of action that we still need to get through after this. So Q1 was an interesting session, Sam. We've already spoken about one of the five eliminations from that, which was George Russell.

It was a slightly unexpected session because we had both Alpines go out in interesting circumstances. We'll get to that in just a moment, but we'll start with Sergio Perez. Hasn't had a good run in qualifying whatsoever recently. It was looking somewhat more positive. I think he was just about in the top 10 until he crashed the car, causing a red flag, and ultimately ending his session.

It was unknown at that point whether he'd still technically make it through to Q2, but that ultimately didn't happen thanks to Kevin Magnuson's late lap. Again, that would have only got him at one more spot anyway. P-16, at best on the grid tomorrow, depending on if they need to give it a pit lane start or not. I mean, it sounds like a horrible question. What's they left to say at this point? Firstly, I'm going to wave the flag of, brought out a red flag. Time should be deleted.

You should start from the back. Just so we get that in there. Waving that one, moving on. It's a shocking display again, isn't it, from Sergio? He made a mistake that no one else made. I know that it was tricky conditions, and there were some areas that were a little damp and tires were going a little bit cold, but Sergio Perez isn't not a rookie. This is the kind of mistake that last year, someone like Piastri made or someone like

sergeant made. I go, all right, you know, it's tricky conditions and they're getting used to things. Hungary is a tough track. Sure, you can make that mistake. And as long as you're good the rest of the year, I can accept it. But this is just, you know, putting the cherry on top of a really disgustingly tasting cake, which is making up a Perez's form. It ain't good.

It tastes like poo. And no one wants a pooey cake. And that's what Perez's form tastes like. Pooh cake. It's good content, isn't it? How would you know what that tastes like? That's for Bill of Breaking, I reckon. It really isn't.

It's not looking good, though, is it? It's not looking good, breath. And the fact that this is another result, how many times it's being outqualified by Logan Sargent, let alone not made it into Q3? Oh, God, I forgot about that season. That's another one. That's another one this season.

I think that's the fourth time this season in 13 races. That's over a 30% conversion for Logan Sargent in the Williams on Sergio Perez. I don't want to run off about it, but I'm just going to say it again. Two year contract. Two years for this. why did you do it so early in the year

when he's delivering this absolute level of poo again it's just such poor, inconsistent performances if he was finishing 7th every single race you go all right, it's not great but at least points are coming in regularly he's got to claw his way back up again at a track that is so hard to overtake on in a car that is no longer the best

the championship's looking touch and go in terms of constructors I really think with the way McClarion has started to capitalize on that form they could be in a spot of bother coming of the season. Yeah, and that's why I mentioned earlier on, that Sergio Perez crash in the car

won't help his case whatsoever, but it's almost that second factor of they have now just seen McLaren go one, two on this grid. We'll see what that ends up in terms of a race result, but equally it's not the biggest points gap in the world between Red Bull and McLaren, and that will come down fairly quickly if it's two versus one consistently,

which, let's face it, is quickly becoming that way. The problem is that the incident itself, the error, is a marginal one. There's not much in it. The problem is, and I think you were getting at this, is the regularity. If he has one of these every 12 races or so, fine. Yeah, two a year. It happens. It happens to nearly all drivers.

The problem is it's a Q1 elimination following, you know, a spate of Q1 and Q2 eliminations, even when he's made it through to Q3 recently, it's been, I think, eighth place or so on the starting grid. So it's not just a one-off. This is very consistent. What will hurt Perez and probably Red Bull the most is this was up until that point, I think Perez's best weekend for a while. Now, that is relative, but he was looking pace-wise yesterday,

far closer to Vestappen than he has been at other races so far this year, despite the fact that Vostappan has an upgrade this weekend that Perez does not have. But it's just, it counts for nothing because it's been thrown away. Hungary is a very difficult track to make progress at. I'm not sure what's going to be capable tomorrow, but it's probably not going to be anywhere near as high as Red Bull would like. So at this point, and we don't know whether they'll move on at the summer break, there's a lot of talk of that and who would be in line to replace him.

at this point, I wouldn't mind Sergio Perez not being a Red Bull for Perez's sake, because I can't believe that a driver who has been consistently in F1, a very good driver for over a decade, has just overnight lost it. I can't believe that yet. So, you know, Perez was so highly regarded in his late-force India days, right? I'd just, I'd like to see that again. I want to see, and I don't know whether it's the Red Bull car itself, whether it's his driving style, not meshing with Red Bull, whether it's the pressure, I don't know.

But I enjoyed watching Perez be a good driver. He contributed a heck of a lot to F1. So at this point, if a new environment helps him out, then maybe I'm okay with that and that's what he needs. I think what's crazy is the difference in form switches the moment we essentially get to the European leg in Formula One. If you look back to the races up to before Imala, before we got to Europe for the first time, right? The worst qualifying position he has is the first race of the season. Bahrain, fifth place he is.

He has a two thirds, two seconds and a fourth. More than good enough. More than good enough. Totally acceptable in that Red Bull. No one's complaining at that really. We know that Perez's weakness is qualifying. So that's fine. Fifth at worst, totally fine.

We move into the European section of this. So you've got Imola, Monaco, Canada. Spain, Austria, Great Britain, and now hungry, of course, Canada, not in Europe. I know. Thank you. But those qualifying forms are the best he's had two eighth places, Canada and Spain, right? Sorry, Spain, sorry, Spain, Austria. After that, he's had an 11th, an 18th, a 16th and 19th and a 16th.

Like, how does it go that quickly? A snap of a finger. How does he go from being constantly in the top four or five to be constantly in the bottom four or five? What's changed that quickly? I think it's two factors added together. So firstly, we know he's not as good in the European. Like you say, he's not as good at these European tracks

as he tends to be at the beginning and the end of a season. But I think it's that plus the fact that he doesn't have that margin that he had at the beginning of this year in terms of that Red Bull being better than everything else. So at that time, Vestappen was, he had what, the first eight polls of the season or something ridiculous like that. Yeah. He was, you know, Vestappen was using that.

to claim polls by a comfortable margin. Now Vastappan is in fights to get polls, and today we've seen him get third, for example. And really, it's the same impact for Sergio Perez instead, but where Vastappen is now in terms of qualifying, isn't too far away from where Perez was at the beginning of this year, which is in that fight, but not necessarily an overall advantage. So the gap of McLaren getting closer, Ferrari, Mercedes getting closer,

that has just essentially pushed Perez back into, you know, even that eighth place finish, like you say, that has been, that was on pure pace. Both of those were on pure pace, right? It's not like he was making errors in those sessions. But, you know, we'll see what he does tomorrow. But I don't think we've, we haven't heard the last of what could be his future and Red Bull's future. I think what's interesting, why it frustrates me so much at how Red Bull have conducted themselves with his contract and the timing that they've done it is if you look at last year from

Monaco down for the rest of the season. The form is almost identical. Last in Monaco. 11th in Spain. 12th in Canada. 15th, then Austria, 16th in Great Britain. Ninth in Hungary. Right? That was one of his best performances for the rest of the season. His best qualifying for the rest of the year was third in Belgium and he's never inside the top five again.

He has a couple of fifth places, but he's never inside those front two roads ever again across the entire season. Once the form seems to go in the European leg, he seems to really struggle. to pick it back up again. Maybe Belgium will suit it next time out and you can regain some of that form for the summer break. It's not looking good though. Well, we'll see what exit clauses Red Bull have,

but even if they do end up using one of those, there's still a reputational damage to Red Bull for giving someone a two-year contract and either seeing that through, but with poor performances, or not seeing that through, and that just doesn't look good on you, does it? So we'll see where that goes.

It wasn't a good day for our, Alpine, whereas Red Bull had one car knockdown in Q1. Alpine said we can do better than that. We'll have both for them out. And not only that, they'll start on the back row of the grid, 19th and 20th. Ocon 19th, Ghazly 20th. So to summarize, the track was getting quite a lot quicker at the end of Q1. And that's why there were 18 cars on track.

Oh, eight, how many cars have we got in Formula One at the moment? We've got 20 cars in Formula One at the moment. I'm just going to do some math here. No, no. I'm wrong. I'm wrong. There aren't. There are 18 cars and two jokes. That's unfair. Neither driver is a joke. But this team is a joke. They weren't on track when it was getting much quicker and they plummeted down the order until the point there were 19 for 20th. They were looking all right as well. Like it was a little touch ago, but it was better than Silverstone.

Both cars that had the pace to be 11th, 12th, 13th, ish. They were in the mix. Guys, let me open the book of F1. Got to send a car out to get a lap time in. So why didn't you do either of them? What is the risk-reward situation? What do you lose? A set of tyres? Come on.

Why are you losing? Come on. What are you gaining? It's basic F-1, just being on the track at the right time. Now, I know it was, when you've built a consensus between nine teams, and I can't stress enough, that is 90% of the grid. When there is a consensus form between all of those, they've probably got it right and you should follow them.

As soon as you see, not even as soon as you see a green sector, as soon as you see George Russell do a second run in the first sector, and he's tenths away from his best. At that point, you should know, okay, we got to get out of here now. He went from being six seconds down. Exactly. he's so far away. That change is monumental in Formula One terms.

And I don't know if anyone's told Alpine, but it's very warm in Hungary this weekend. That track ain't gone stay damp for very long. And again, even if your assumption is correct and no one can improve their time, so what? You just go out on track and no one improves. You've lost one set of tyres.

that everyone else has lost as well. I'm on. But they're sat there now, smug at the back of the grid. We've got a set of softs that you don't have. Can't wait to use our set of softs to wing the race from last. The thing is, they were looking quite bad in practice as well, like 17th, 18th.

So actually where they've qualified seems about right. But they had the opportunity, based on these conditions, to maybe get further up the grid than otherwise they could have done and they've done the opposite where they've underperformed in these conditions.

That's not what bad team's supposed to do. At a track where you can't overtake, if they're qualified 11th and 12th, what happens in? Entirely possible. Right, safety car. Reg flag comes out. You get a good strategy.

I mean, it's out of pink. Clearly they can't make a good strategy call. Just, what are you doing, Ben? So get out. I'm trying. There's just no one else around me. Did you have to make the call? Run over to the garage,

undo each tire blanket individually, then get them out of your same. yourself. Oh, it is an abomination at that team, honestly. And do remember as well, we are pretty much one year removed from when Alpine made the decision that they weren't performing well enough and they should get rid of some of their staff. It's going well.

It's going well, right? Yeah. That slide is definitely going the right way for them. Yeah. No joke. What else we got to talk about? A good session, I think, for two teams. Ashton Martin and R.B.

Because they had, they took advantage of some other Q1 eliminations, but Fernando Alonso, Lance Drol, Daniel Ricardo and Yuki Sonoda. We'll get onto the crash in a moment. But all four of them did make it through to Q3. Your thoughts on both of their sessions. Surprised was the word that came to mind. I really was surprised. Surprise.

Surprise. Thank you, Gavin and Stacey fans. I was. I was. I was quite critical of Ashton Martin's form, especially at the British Grand Prix, where Fernando Alonso came out and said, you know, we're back to the old

Austin Martin. We back baby, and I'm like, you've judged yourself for one performance where there were multiple issues around cars directly in front of you. Don't doubt, Fernando. No, Fernando knows best. Fair play to you, Big Fong's. But they put themselves exactly where they left the British Grand Prix. And now, yes, Perez and Russell

are both not in Q3. So you argue on at least 60% of the time, they're going to be comfortably inside that. area and they probably push Askin Martin back to 9 and 10. But 9 and 10 still ain't bad, even on a bad day for Askin Martin. So they can pack themselves on the back. They can be happy that they're together. They've both got there. The car is clearly in a good enough place that both drivers are on a tricky track. And we've seen that that car's a handful have been able to deliver a 7th and 8th performance. I think they can walk away from qualifying and go, right. If we finish 7th

and 8th and 8 tomorrow, we're all right. We good. And well done to them for turning it around. if they had, if it's consistent, we're yet to see it. Yeah, I thought Astor Martin did a good job. They were there on genuine pace. I think 7th and 8th was about where they deserve to be. And the good news for Astor Martin is Fernando Alonzo was faster than Lance Stroll, which in itself doesn't mean much because quite consistently Alonzo is faster than Lance Stroll, but at least this weekend, Alonzo has upgrades, Stroll doesn't.

Therefore, Alonzo should be quicker. And that way you can kind of know that maybe those upgrades are performing at least somewhat. But the fact that Landstrol is there with an old spec car, that's good news as well. So I think they had a good session. In terms of the, also just bonus points for Fernando Alonzo, like Max, Rastap and just going, nah, can't be bothered to go back out. I'm getting out. It's a bit late for me.

I can't be bothered. Done for the day. Yeah, pretty much. And then in terms of the Rube drivers, so Daniel Ricardo, it was a bit touch and go-for-in, wasn't it, in terms of Q1? but after that difficulty, he, you know, he seemed to have solid pace. Yuki Sanoda is going to be dependent on whether he can actually start P10 or not, because if that gearbox is, I'm almost swollen, if that, if that gearbox is,

if that gearbox is beeped up, then he's going to have to start from the pit line. So remains to be seen whether that's the case or not. That could really, you know, that could change a lot because obviously P10 to, pit lane. That is a big old difference. Boy, you could be flying. And I mean literally airborne. I know. It's very rare to go off there. It is. I felt like deploying the shooting stars meme. Oh, God, that's a...

You know it. You know it. Do you go it well? Maybe our country has improved. I didn't think it had, but... I don't know. That was top qualities to get content. If you think that was top quality, then I'm right. I've never said that I am the master of quality, so there you go. Yeah, I think that was a real downer, what felt like a very positive day for Arby. This is the first top 10 for both cars since 2018,

that that seems have both cars inside the top 10 in qualifying. So that's a mag stat. Six years, they've got both cars for the first time inside the Q3. And yet, you think, well done to Daniel Ricardo for snatching that one from the jaws of the defeat. He's really got himself back up there, as you said, wasn't looking good. And then Yuki Tsangeloagena literally throws the car through the air like a paper airplane. and they've got a lot of work to do now to get that back together. I hope they do get it back together

because it would be great to see them start alongside each other and see what they can achieve. If he starts all the way from the back, that's another one of my fantasy team in the absolute mud. Oof. Yeah. Just some quick thoughts as well on Hass and Williams. Obviously, they both made it through Q1, but made it no further.

Holkenberg was the closest to making it to Q3, but he was just outside of Lewis at Hamilton's time in Q2, so he'll start 11th. Valtry Bottas in 12th and then you've got the two Williams drivers 13th and 14th, Magderson and 15th. Your thoughts on their sessions? Haast, totally fine. K-Mag, dig everything he could.

I really don't think the harsh suits this type of track. So the fact that he's an 11th place, I think he's a really solid result. And I think he's actually got to be unlucky. To have been 100th fastest to knock out. Halka-Berg. Yeah, Holgerberg, sorry, to knock out Lewis Hamilton. I want to shout out Valtry Bottas. We know how bad that Salver is. We know how slow it is.

The fact that he's in 12th place and he's beaten so many cars that are faster. him. Some of them, of course, are circumstantial. You know, the Alpine didn't make it out. We saw the fact what happened with Perez, of course. Russell didn't get it together and they mucked up the fuel. But nonetheless, as we've said so many times, you've got to be in it to win it. And that's what you do in a bad car. You take advantage of other people's downfalls. 12th place is a real result. Something goes wrong in the race for someone else. Points could happen for Salba. Also thought Logan Sargent did a really good job. Again, I was pretty happy. Not blown away,

but it's what he should be doing. He's pretty much there with Albaugh on the entire way. not being in, but right there with him. So if Alba was hit in 13th, he's within a place or so, perfectly acceptable. K-Mag, I don't think he cares. There, really. Yes, and of course, on a future episode, we will get to the news that Kevin Magderson will not be racing for Hass next year. Yeah, I think Hass weren't particularly quick here this weekend.

I'm sure Holcomberg will just be a bullet in a straight line and no chance whatsoever anyone getting past. Bottas, I think this album might be a little bit better here versus previous races, but again, P-12 is a good effort. Two Williams drivers, yeah, I think they might be a tad disappointed not to get Albin into Q3. I look like it was possible at one point. Yeah, I think it might have been.

And one thing they may be, it's hindsight, so I don't want to blame them too much for this, but they went a little bit early in the end of Q2, at least compared to Holkenberg and Bottas. And that could have been the difference on an improving track. But even so, I think they can be quite happy with 13th, if Sergeant holds 14th,

or if at least he stays within what, you know, roughly where Alex Albin is, and there was only a 10th and a half or so between the two drivers in this session. I think you could probably say, I definitely say this would be his best two race run with Silverstone that he's had in his F-1 career. I also have on relatively okay Austria quality.

So it's starting to get a bit of form under his belt. Yeah, I don't know if it's going to change anything. I don't think it will. Does feel a little bit, you know, too little too late. Yeah, he has been better. And yeah, like you said, I mean, Kevin Magnuson, I don't. He was lucky to make it through to Q2 at all, to be honest. But yeah, I don't think he had much more to offer.

No, I think if either Perez or Russell, even get a normal lap in, KMAG's longer. Driver of the session? Tricy one. Driver of the session. I think I might have to give it to. Lando. I really do think that first lap in Q3 was absolutely spectacular and he blew me away a little bit with just how good he was. Also, I hate to say it, but Max Verstappen is again, I think doing the

utmost in that Red Bull. I really don't know if it should be in third place anymore, but Lando smashed it. Yeah, I like to try and sometimes go away from the obvious answer, but equally I think this one is the obvious answer. Lando Norris, like I say, if he gets the second run in in Q3, I don't think that gap, I don't know what that gap, gap ends up being, but I don't think it's going to be a few hundreds of a second as it was. The fact that he did it on one run versus everyone else around him on two, pretty impressive. Yeah, Piashri did a good job as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. And we'll see what that leads to tomorrow. An interesting Grand Prix. Two McLarence will kick off. Vastappan trying his best to disrupt things from third. Sam, if you wouldn't mind,

getting us out of here. Folks, will Bottasco bowling once again at the Hungarian Grand Prix. You'll have to tune in to find out, won't you? Because it could be spicy. I'm going to be live streaming the entire race as well. So come watch along with us on Twitch. Make sure you follow us in the Discord, because you can get involved in your moment of the race submissions.

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