The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: December 6, 2025

The stage has been set for the championship decider with all 3 contenders locking out the top spots. Ben and Sam analyse the day's action, and of course who holds the strongest hand heading into tomorrow’s trophy decider... Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get: Ad-free listening Full-length bonus episodes Power Rankings after every race Historical race reviews & more exclusive extras! Give the 'gift' of Late Braking this holiday period with a Patreon gift subscription,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and your favourite F1 fan can enjoy anywhere from 1 month up to a full year of top-notch F1 content! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingf1/gift⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Late Braking: You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats! Think you can beat us? Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and prove it! Get in touch any time at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At Fandual Casino, you get even more ways to play. Dive into new and exciting games. And all of your favorite casino classics, like slots, table games, and arcade games. Get more on Fandual Casino. Download the app today. Please play responsibly 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. If you have questions or concerned about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1866-531-2-6-600 to speak to an advisor free of charge.

Get you and your crew to the big shows with Go Transit. Go connects to all the main concert venues like TD Coliseum in Hamilton and Scotia Bank Arena in Toronto, and Go makes it affordable with special e-ticket fairs. A one-day weekend pass offers unlimited travel across the network on any weekend day or holiday for just $10. And a weekday group pass offers the same weekday travel flexibility from $30 for two people and up to $60 for five. Buy yours at gotransit.com slash tickets. Reason number 59 why Nissan is built for our winter. Because when winter storms make on-road feel like off-road, we've got you.

Rogue comes standard with intelligent all-wheel drive and remote engines start to conquer even the harshest winter conditions. Now lease a 2026 rogue S for 0.9% for 36 months. Or get $4,000 cash purchase bonus on remaining 2025 models. Visit your local Nissan dealer today or nisone.C for more details. Conditions apply. Thank you for listening to the late-breaking F-1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday.

Hello and a very warm welcome to the late-breaking F-1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, the final qualifying session of the year is in the books. Abu Dhabi qualifying, a very important one for three drivers in particular. And what do you know, they make up the top three positions. Max Verstappen getting pole positioned for Red Bull ahead of his two McLaren rivals, Lano Norris and second, Oscar Piastri in third. Sets it up quite nicely tomorrow, Sam. Yes, the scene is set for the final performance of the season.

and our gladiators ready to do battle one last time. I thought it was quite a thrilling qualifying session, actually. You know, with Abu Dhabi, it could be very hit and miss. It could be a real stinker. But this year, Ben, I thought it was pretty exciting. Tough to predict. All the way throughout. There are some qualifying sessions where you get into it.

And I don't know, you've seen what the pace is like in FP2, FP3, and you get into qualifying, you think, okay, Q1 has kind of followed that through. And then it kind of goes the same way as you get. down to Q3, even if the margins sometimes get a bit smaller. You can somewhat predict what's going to happen. Here, very tough to predict. I think we have three different drivers lead each session, Q1, Q2, Q3. Lando Norris was probably the favorite, I would say, going into this qualifying session. He wasn't one of those three that led a session. It was very difficult to predict, I thought. And you talk about margins being getting smaller, usually across the sessions.

the gaps that we saw between kind of the top of the session of being eliminated. Q2 was wild. At Tinelli out, I think what, P13, P12, Russell is P1 in the session. There's three tensets between them. Yeah, Russell was first in Q2.

Stroll was 15th, 0.367, from fastest and slowest. You almost can't blame them at that point. You kind of just like, all right, yeah, fair enough. You could breathe on the car and you're going a tent. That is how small a margin we're fighting with here. Hamilton, of course, out in Q1 by less than what, 100th of a second. It really is make or break without tying in the markets were up and down the entire grid. And yet, Max Verstappen who picked up pole,

one of the biggest markets across the entire grid. Yeah, I mean, let's start there. He's ended up just over two temps clear of Lando Norris in second place, Piastri, again, a few hundreds back from that. But as referenced by GP, when he congratulated Vastepen over Team Radio to end this thing, two laps that were good enough for pole position. Martin Brundle said it on Sky Commentary. I fought it as well even before he said it,

that that first lap, that might have been good enough because he was a good sort of four, four temps clear of what anyone had done in Q1 or Q2. He went even faster in the end, but he didn't need to. No, he went even fast. I can't believe it. When we saw the toe from Yuki Sengoda, and that is what Red Bull had been missing all season long,

having two drivers available to them in Q3, Yuki Sengoga having one of his best sessions, gets into Q3, he's actually able to assist Max Verstappen on that first run, but that's where Max Verstappen comes along and shows you why he is who he is. That's why he's a four-time world champion, hunting down that fifth, because he's basically turned around to everyone and said, toe or not, teammate or not, I'm still going to go quicker again. And that second lap, despite already having pole in the bag,

despite already doing the job, teammate or not, the way he then adds another tenth onto his time without any assistance from anyone was, unreal. I can't believe he pulled out more time out of that Red Bull around there to go overall two-tenths faster than the Maccas. And it just felt gradual. Like, it felt across the whole lap that he just did a little bit more on that second run to secure the pole position that, as we know, was already secure based on the McLaren's lap. But to, yeah, just to go that little bit faster, really impressive. And I thought going into this session, as I mentioned before, I felt Lando Norris was the favorite based on everything I'd seen so far this weekend.

And the reason for that was the McLaren's advantage in that final sector. It felt like Vostappan and the McLaren's were pretty much neck and neck for the first two sectors. But then Lando Norris would really stretch his legs, used the McLaren's advantage when it comes to tire preservation to get the most out of it in the final sector. We saw cars really struggling with the tires through the last three or four corners. And I think that's where the difference was today. The Stappan and Red Bull found a way, whether it was via set-up or Stappan's genius, they found a way to keep those tires alive for that final sector

and not only be a match for McCarran, but to even beat them in that sector too. So really, really impressive to find that when I didn't think it was coming. No, I didn't think it was coming either. So the fact that he goes that two-tenths faster is unreal. Poll here is so important, of course. It's won the race 10 times in a row here at Aangab. Dabby. So when you've got a championship fighting your hands and you need to win the Grand Prix, taking the top spot in qualifying is amazing. Now, you spoke about that benefit or, you know,

the adding extra that McLaren are bringing to sector three. Kind of feel like that only works in qualifying. And the moment you have that advantage in the race, it's null and void. Overtaking is so rare in that final sector. If you're not leading, sure, yeah. Yeah, you know, you can kind of mitigate it. You need the advantage. You're almost in the second sector. And that's where you get either you're overtaking done or you need to make sure you're defending from a car. behind you. Once you're into the final sector, if you're ahead, 99% of the time, you're staying ahead. So, I feel like McLaren going into the race, have already lost the advantage that they had. Yeah, it's something that McLaren have done for the majority of this season, and to be

fair to them, it's worked quite a lot, is focus a great deal on these medium and high-speed corners, and essentially in a straight line, and for these lower-speed corners to go as fast as they reasonably can whilst not giving up a disadvantage to these other teams and then letting the medium and high-speed corners just be their pure advantage over the rest of the field. And like you said, that works very well when you're on pole. But when you've got chasing to do, it's a bit less effective. But I'll be interested to see what happens in terms of race pace. Lando Norris looked pretty quick from the limited number of laps that we had in practice.

But Vastappen is clear where their focus has been this weekend. because he did the longest race stint of any driver in FP2. And it was pretty consistent. It started to maybe trail away on the medium tires when he got to like lap 15, 16, 17, as you might expect. But overall, fairly consistent and in line with what Norris was doing. So there's every chance, Norris, sorry, every chance for Stappen, with that pole advantage short run down to turn one by the number sort of race.

He could very well go on to win this. I think what's scary is what GP said in his interview after the practice session, so that they basically didn't focus at all on qualifying and that the pure focus was on long-form race pace. Yes. And yet he still pulls out that two-tenth advantage over the McLaren's in qualifying when they were basically saying, we're kind of ignoring qualifying as a practice run. We're going in for that long-form race pace. That's where we're going to try and get the points this weekend, obviously.

So the fact he's come out with such an advantage over the McLaren's, a track that I think should very much suit the McLaren's. It's kind of scary. Max has really found his form right at the wrong moment for Landon, Norris. Speaking of Lando Norris, and speaking of a potential for Stappan win, that by itself, not enough for Max Verstappen. He needs Lando Norris to fall back versus where he's qualified, of course, qualified on that front row in P2, but he will need to drop two positions if Vastappen was to go on

to win that race. It didn't look comfortable the entire session, I don't think, for Lando Norris, but he has managed to get that front row start. I think he'll be pretty okay with this. he seemed disappointed and i can understand why i think he probably wanted to just get the job done at the first hurdle get himself on pole position and run away with this grand prix so he hasn't got any mitigating circumstances to overcome if it's fully in his control it's exactly that it's fully in his control here though he's on the front row he's got his teammate who i'm going to admit it's going to be very ambitious i think going into turn one i wouldn't be surprised if we see a audacious lunge um from oscar pierce to try and get alongside mando norris and because norris is not on pole but only the the front row, he's leaving the door just a little bit open to lunges, to someone trying to try something down a different outside of him, inside of him. It's just the risk factor dials itself up a little bit. So whilst I think he'll be okay with it, I'm not sure he's going to be

properly happy with what happened. I think he'll be all right enough about it. And like you said, I think obviously he would have preferred pole position and to be able to dictate this Grand Prix. And who knows, with a good start tomorrow, maybe he still gets to do that. will be some concerns that with the dirty side of the grid, that's exactly what happened in Qatar. And that didn't work out very well for Lando Norris there. So we'll see how that goes. We saw throughout the first part of practice, Piastri seemed to have a pace advantage on him. Second part of qualifying was okay. But where Lando Norris has been, I think the best driver in the practice sessions, that advantage did seem to erode away to the point where going into Q3, it could

have gone a lot, lot worse than this second place that he's managed to pull out. I mean, even though Vastappen is there on a 122, 2, and Norris is still pulled out at 122, 4, which was four attempts faster than what he did in the second part of qualifying. So when he needed to deliver a good lap in the context of the championship, he was able to deliver at the end of qualifying. So I think he'll be okay with this situation. what he might be concerned about is the driver directly behind him because George Russell, if he can get in the mix,

I think he is maybe the only thing in terms of a standard race to potentially spoil Lando Norris's party. I don't think anyone else has the pace to match that top three, but he could be the key to getting the fourth place that Vostappan needs. Yeah, he's got two almost live wires right behind him as Lando Norris. Max Vastappen, would be the guy you would be afraid of, but he's already starting in front of you. And you think, okay, let that go.

Let Max go and win that Grand Prix. I can finish in second place. I'll still win the World Championship. But then you've got Oscar Piastri, who remember missed FP1. He had to have the rookie driver stepping. So he's had less running time. So the fact that his qualifying time is only ending up being 300 slower than Landon Norris. With a whole FP session removed, it's slightly worrying, I think, that they are that close already

at the end of this session before he even got to racing. And then you're right to bring up George Russell. George Russell, who is already trying to think in such a savvy way, the way you hear him come over the radio, get me behind Max for stabing on his outlap so I can get the toe in there. Max knows that George isn't in the fight. George knows that Max wants him in the fight to disrupt. They both need to work together. Our two lovers, our two best friends, you know, these guys can benefit each other massively. Russell might be able to get himself onto a podium.

Max might be able to use Russell to block the others from getting a podium. Max will want George to fly down the inside and cause. absolute chaos from the moment the lights go green. And that is where Landon Norris' biggest worry will come from. It was an up and down session for Oscar Piastri. So going into this qualifying session, as you say, he misses FP1 isn't on the pace of Vastappen or Norris in the practice sessions, but Q1 delivers an absolute belter of a lap, a 122,6 to lead the session and lead it quite comfortably. So there's the first up, I guess. And then Q2 doesn't go quite as well. And I think people are maybe missing out on how close he was to actually being

eliminated. I know he wasn't like P10 on the limit, but time-wise, he wasn't that far off at all, but then it improves again as we get to Q3, not enough to beat his teammate, but he is right in the mix. Bit of an up and down session, I would say for him. Yeah, I think you're right. If I'm reading my notes here properly, he did a 123.021. The elimination, well, what Berman was in 11th place, it was a 123-04 one. So only a couple of hundreds in it, between himself getting through to Q3 and being knocked out alongside the likes of Antingelli and Olly Berman. A little bit worrying, a little bit worrying indeed, but what confused me the most about

Piastri's qualifying session is the second use of new tyres in Q1. I'm not really sure what the need was from McLaren's point of view to put Piastri on two new sets of tires right at the end of the session and not allow him to have another new set going into Q2. It felt like, again, is it a fairness situation because Norris was slightly behind Piastri in Q1? Or they just being overly cautious? I don't know. It feels like McLaren of being a little bit paranoid about how badly this could go. Potentially. I think Piastri, again, weirdly, even though he's the third ranked of these three, both in terms of championship position and, of course, GridSpot, I don't think he's in a bad position as well, because

even though we know Oscar Piastri, like Vastappen, needs to win this race, Piastri needs more to happen than Vestappen does in terms of Lando Norris's finishing position. So from, you know, Max Vastappen's perspective, Norris can finish P4. He needs to finish even further back for Piastri to win this championship. So I feel like he needs to win this Grand Prix, but he probably needs something odd to happen with Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, maybe contact. I don't think it's the worst thing in the world that he is going to have a great viewpoint going into turn one with his two rivals potentially going wheel to will. I think he might be okay with that. Weirdly, second place, I think it would have been the worst position for him. I think he might be

right. He needs those two to be together. Whether it's first and second, whether it's second and third, him being in the middle of the two immediately mitigates any drama between the two people he needs to essentially crash and while we don't want to encourage drivers crashing into each other for Piastri to have success he needs both of these guys facing the wrong way at 10-1 pretty much.

Like just a complete hypotheticals here but this situation he's in now I think is better than the situation if he had got pole and Norris was second. I agree. Again, he needs to win this Grand Prix but he also needs something to happen with those two I think. maybe not in an awful position.

We've already mentioned George Russell very briefly, but just to sort of conclude the Mercedes chat, because it's not two Mercedes in the fight this time. Russell's in fourth, but Antonelli down in 14th. Already said that the margin isn't that big at all. And Antenelli looked pretty good in Q1, but he's going to need to do a little bit of work to get back in the mix tomorrow.

Yeah, he is. And he's going to be really frustrated that he got knocked out in Q2. Again, it's the finest of margins. I think he's only about five or six hundredths away from getting through into Q3. As we spoke about, Russell was the top driver in Q2 on a, I think, a 122-7, but Kimi Antigelli's done at 1-23-0. So the fact there is less than three-tenths between them, and one was at the top, or one was nearly at the bottom of that session.

It tells you how competitive it is right at the end of this era. All the cars are really started to condense. They all know all the little loopholes, all the finite details to make these cars come closer and closer together. And, I think probably just the fact that he's still lacking that time a little bit of extra experiencing the way the car works. He's first time probably racing, Abidabian and Formula One car as well. It's a lot to learn. It's a lot to take in.

So what essentially is this compact, this condensed. I'm not going to be too critical on him for being knocked out, but he personally will be very frustrated that he hasn't got through to Q3. Yeah, I said he was complaining. He complained that there was a lack of grip towards the end of Q2, and he seemed to be very quick early in the lap, and then it faded a little bit the further he got in. but yeah just to be three and a half times behind your teammate but there to be 13 positions

difference in Q2 is pretty wild the annoying thing for Antonelli will be he was third place in Q1 if he just sets the same lap time in Q3 compared to Q1 no improvement at all he starts sixth so and again that's with no improvement whatsoever so there was definitely something there pace-wise outright pace to get in that sort of four-fifference range. I don't think Russell or Lecler, oh, sorry, I don't think Russell absolutely nailed Q3. So there might have been an opportunity to get four-four-fifth. So it's tough to make overtakes as well, as we know, at Abu Dhabi. And goingly tough to make overtakes. Yeah. And safety cars aren't too common either.

No. In fact, I don't think we've had one since. 2021. I don't remember much by the rest. Maybe a Canadian involved. Maybe. should we take a quick break and then on the other side we'll get to the rest of Q3 and then all the action from Q2 and Q1 maybe it's just a phase you're going through you'll get over it I can't help you with that the next appointment is in six months you're not alone finding mental health support shouldn't leave you feeling more lost. At CAMH, we know how frustrating it can be trying to access care. We're working to build

a future where the path to support is clear, and every step forward feels like progress, not another wrong turn. Visit camh.ca to help us forge a better path for mental health care. Canada can be a global leader in reducing the harm caused by smoking, but it requires actionable steps. Now is the time to modernize Canadian laws so that adult smokers have information and access to better alternatives. By doing so, we can create lasting change. If you don't smoke, don't start. If you smoke, quit. If you don't quit, change. Visit unsmoke.ca. Canada's Wonderland is bringing the holiday magic this season with Winterfest on select nights now through January 3rd. Step into a winter one.

underland filled with millions of dazzling lights, festive shows, rides, and holiday treats. Plus, Coca-Cola is back with Canada's kindest community, celebrating acts of kindness nationwide, with a chance at 100,000 donation for the winning community and a 2026 holiday caravan stop. Learn more at canadaswunderland.com. Welcome back, everyone. Oh, Ferrari. Contrasting fortunes yet again, Lewis Hamilton knocked out in Q1 for the third time in a row. Charles LeCleur managing to pull something out of this car to get fifth place. I don't know if you want to focus on the positive or the negative first. I mean, the car's a dog, right? And not a nice, cute one that you want to bring home. It's the mangy one

that's old. It's called its back legs broken. It desperately needs to be put down. Put it out of its misery, please. This Ferrari is horrific, absolutely horrific. The way that Charlotte Claire, the faster of the two, is having to quite literally, in his own words, become a rally driver around this racetrack to maximize the performance head of his car, and he's scraping through the sessions. It's a miracle that he's in P5. He will not have the race pace to keep up with those top four in the Grand Prix. I very much think that he'll be in no man's land between the likes of the Aston Martin and the Sauer behind him or whatever scraps going on in kind of 10th down to seventh or sixth,

and then the guy's in the front four, unless there's chaos, he will just be sat in fifth all on his own, I believe. I don't think there's anything else he can do. But it's Lewis Hamilton, who I'm absolutely gutting for. When you think,

do you want on those medium tires to start with, he and LeCleur. What are they doing with that, man? I don't know what they're doing for that. I get giving him a sight of lap, but like, why you're bothering using a set of mediums for that?

Just send him out on a lap. Yeah. For Clare as well. Just, why he's sending LeCleur out afterwards? I don't know. But it's 0.0.08 away from making it through to Q2. And he's only a couple of tenths away from Charles LeCler as well. It's just, it's really a story of his whole season, this qualifying session of his pace is fine.

That's the problem. His pace is fine. In any other year of Formula One, being two tents behind your team mate, if McClure's starting fifth, Hamilton's probably starting seventh, maybe eighth. That's really how normal Formula One is in. every other year. Here, three-tenths back, he starts over 10 positions behind his teammate, and it just looks really bad on him again. He's clearly gutted. You saw on this post-quality interview that he's like, sorry it's happened again. He clearly blames himself, which has to be

so frustrating for him. I just think he used to put this final race to bed and just completely reset for the new year. Yeah. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Ferrari have cooked with this Abu Dhabi upgrade that they were bringing. In fact, this car looks identical to the one that had in Qatar, which wasn't a good one to begin with. Yeah, from Hamilton's perspective, like I say, it's pretty close to him getting through to Q2, but we're also talking about Lewis Hamilton nearly making it to Q2, as if like that would be some massive achievement based on previous form, and weirdly it would be. Yeah, I think Hamilton weirdly said everything that needs to be said after this race, after this qualifying session, in that he didn't say anything at all.

implying that he has already said everything that needs to be said in previous sessions because it's just a repeat of what we've had so many Grand Prix in this at least final stretch of the season. From P16, I just don't know what he's going to be able to do. I don't think that Ferrari has enough of a pace advantage or indeed maybe any pace advantage on the Has cars,

on the racing balls cars. I just don't know how much. further he'll get into this one. He'll be lucky to get points, I think. I think you're right. Charle of Clare, though, P5, it's so annoying because he has wrestled that what you called a dog of a car to P5.

He is over half a second behind the pole time and it's a great lap. It's really great that he's got there. But it's annoying because a great lap for Charles LeClau should be a pole position or a fight for a pole position. And it never is because of this God forsaken Ferrari.

We might be watching the greatest qualifier of our time, but you won't know because the machinery is, it's like watching a master carpenter trying to create the Sistine Chapel, but he's using a lollipop and a glue stick. You just don't know what he's going to be like a mate because he hasn't got the machinery. It sounds like you're joking when you say, he's done really well to get ahead of the Salba and the Hass and the Aston Martin.

It's not a joke. It's a great effort to do that. That's how awful this first. Ferrari is. It looks like it wants to kill him every corner. Yeah, I don't know what John Elkin's looking at when he says, we built a good car. The engineers are doing the right thing. He's looking at the F-2004. That's what he's looking at. Honestly, I wouldn't say my eyes off it, so I get injured. Honestly, honest mistake to make, fair enough. First, first time ever I've gone, all right, fair play, Mr. Elkin. Yeah, great effort from LeCler, but as you said,

to kick off the point, I don't think he's going to be able to compete with the four cars in front of him. Master and Stuart. student sixth and seventh, Alonzo, followed by Bortoletto. Both of whom have outqualified their teammates quite considerably. Stroll will start 15th, Halkenberg will start 18th. Good effort from both of them. Good effort from both of them. Once again, the salvo drivers cannot have a session where both of them seem to actually progress

properly, always one out, always one in. You know, shake it all about. I'm sure one of them likes to do. But Bortoletto is back. He's a big of a poor run, is Bortoletto, being out in Q1, quite a few times consistently, Holgerberg is reawoken at the end of this season. And I think it's probably good for his confidence. It's what, 12-12 now in the head-to-head and the Salber guys,

they've matched each other across the season. And look, if Audi can reciprocate that again, if they can repeat that in the new season with a car that's better, and those guys go 12-12 again, you feel a really good team. I know he do teammate wars. If we said beginning of the season, Bortoletto, Holkenberg, qualifying 12-12 by the end of the year and you're Borteletto, you take that.

Easily, easily take that. And I imagine Holkenberg's probably look at this going, maybe I've let myself down a little bit here, but he's got a podium, so who cares? He's been brilliant. So once again, I think it's probably outdriven a car that doesn't really deserve to be in P6, and he's maybe lucky that a track like this, it's so difficult to overtake. I wouldn't be surprised if we see him trying to scamper off in the final sector every time we get a lap, just breaking the DRS enough before we get to the back straight because I don't think they're

very quick and a straight line, but they are very good in the first couple of corners and the last few corners. So well done Alonso. I think he's outperformed the car again. I can't see it gaining any more points than what he's picked up at the moment. Yeah, respect to both of them because they've kind of got the same, their 2000s difference in the end, Alonzo just ahead of Bortoletto. But they've kind of got about it very different way. So Alonzo, very good, pretty much from the off today. As far as I'm aware, he was fourth in the first part of qualifying and then fourth in the second part of qualifying. So actually his sixth place, which is to be expected when all of the McLaren's and Russell and Vestappen hooked together their laps.

It's actually weirdly the worst of the three sessions, him in P6, but really consistent across the board. Bortoletto, a very different way of getting there, because it looked like coming into this session, Salba had a bit more here than they've had at some of the other race tracks we've gone to recently. And then it got to Q1 and it was like, oh, is it maybe slightly disappeared?

Because both he and Holkenberg were struggling to make it. And in fact, Bortoletto makes it through to Q2, but only not even attempt faster than Holkenberg, but that was the difference because as soon as we got to Q2, Bortoletto found the pace and carried that through to Q3 as well. Both Alonzo and Bortoleto went ever so slightly slower in Q3 than they did in Q2. So maybe Bortoletto might be a touch disappointed not to get that one extra spot, but overall, a good recovery on where he's been at a few races so far. He's on the right side of the track as well. He is.

Yep. Very important. A rare sighting as Ockon out-qualified Berman. Yeah, and you know what? Fair play to Estabang. This is what we want to see from him. He's had a bad second half of this season where Bairn has come along. I had five points scoring finishes in a row.

Obviously, had the D&F in Qatar, which we all believe is not really young him. And Ockong has been, you know, struggling to match the pace regularly a Berman, not appearing in Q3 often at all, more often than not out in Q1. rather than getting into Q3, and yet here he is. In front of the likes of Hajar, who he praised so highly, right behind the likes of Alonzo as well. This was really good from Ocon. And if Hars get more of this next year,

they will also have a very competitive lineup. Yes, indeed. I think, yeah, O'Conn's done a really good job. Berman, he might be a touch disappointed not to get through to Q3, particularly because that Sonoda Lap looked very close to the track limits, but... I think Sanagos being a lucky guy,

only to then not actually. do a proper lap in Q3. Must be so frustrating, for Eddie Berman. Yeah, so, yeah, Berman knocked out in 11th. I still think he could do some damage from there

because that has looks pretty good on race pace again. He looks strong throughout the practice sessions, at least in the context of the midfield. So I think he'll be a contender for points.

But yeah, well on to Ocon. Speaking of Sonoda, will there be any disappointment from Red Bull's side that they completely disregarded his first run to just give the Stap and the toe. But second time around, he did get a lap in.

I think he was as high as P6 before that lap was done for track limits. It's just annoying, isn't it? Could he have got, I mean, maybe it's too much to ask, but if he's in P6, is there any chance that with a good start, he can play a role in? Well, yeah, he's only got to get in front of LeCler and Russell. And he's right there with the McLarence, of course, are tucked up behind Max for Stappen.

This is what I was talking about at the start of this qualifying review. that Red Bull had been lacking the support. Hadjar is again in front of Sengoda, despite him having a lap at the end of the session. And it's not for lack of pace. He should have got that P6 and had the track limits. And that's, you know, he got punished almost for him at the right time, the right time for Red Bull

by not losing his Q2 lap. He lost his Q3 lap instead. But this is what's so annoying about Yuki Sanoda. We praised him for season after season about being this kind of plucky underdog that's done well with the car that's not been great. And he's really deserved the shot. And it gets the shot and even right at the end of it, when he's at his last ever Q3 run in a Red Bull,

it doesn't get the lapping. It's very, very disappointing. And someone like Bearman, who is knocked out in P-11, is going to look at this and go, you got lucky with your track limits, you then helped your teammate on the first lap. When you're going to lapping, you didn't put a lap together. It's blimming annoying for other drivers

who are desperate to prove themselves to get into that session. So he'll be annoyed. Red Bull will be very frustrated, and that is an opportunity for support for Max for Stappen out of the window. We'll see what Sonoda can do in the race. It looked like similar to a few drivers that he had the pace of roughly the pace of Vestappen in the first couple of sectors, but then the final sector he really dropped off. So, yeah, we'll see how he does.

Probably not going to be a factor in this championship fight, but maybe some points on the cards in his last race for Red Bull. As we head outside the top 10, the team we haven't really spoken about yet is Williams. Doesn't seem to be their track, I would say. No, although I think Carlos Sykes will. be annoyed at this. He's 1,000th behind Olly Behrman for P11, and I think he's less than 100th away from actually getting into Q3. And his first lap seems like it was pretty solid. It seemed like he was right there on the pace. And he did improve from his Q1 lap to his Q2 lap by over a 10th.

So I think he'll be a little frustrated that he hasn't got literally another hundredth in the lap to get himself through to Q3. Alex Halber, on the other hand, you put him under pressure, I think, Ben. It's just another poor showing from Alex Alvin. I don't know what's going on in the final half of this season, starting so well, there is every chance, again, that if Sites gets a good start and scores a good set of points, they could be right on top of each other in the championship at the end of this race. Yeah, a quarter of a second between Albin and Sines in Q1, which around most race tracks, you wouldn't bat much of an eyelid at, but here, that's a lot of time. Again, there was 0.387 separating 1st to 15th in Q2. So to be quarter of a second

behind your teammate is not a small gap. Yeah, Albin P-17. Carlos Sines, as you say, I think if he hooks together his best possible lap, he gets through to Q3 and maybe gets 8th or so. Instead, he'll need to come from 12th. Of course, William's season pretty much wrapped up. Thanks to the points that Sines has got recently, they are now locked in P5.

Can we talk about Alpine very briefly? Please do. please talk about Alping. Pierre Gazley is 19th, and in fairness to Gasly, he is right in that mix in front of him. So, Gazley is less than a tenth away

from Hamilton in 16th. So only, he is 19th, but only a tenth away from making it to Q2. Colopinto is then a further four tenths back. He's quite a long way back.

I just love that on a weekend where there's so much focus on the championship battle, I think the more intriguing battle is Alpine versus turn one. Colopinto doesn't go, white line is. They had six attempted laps in Q1 and I'm pretty sure three of them were ended at

turn one. Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, one is fine. I could deal with one. If it's your first run of the day, you go out the type of track limits, it's going to happen. It happened to many drivers. Also, it was the only two drivers that this happened to. Fine. Whatever. You're pushing the limits. The fact that you know you haven't got a lap timing and you need to get a lap timing. So then the second run is also outside track limits on the same corner is abysmal. And then to get a lap in that It's four-tenths slower than your team, mate. It's really bad. It's really bad.

I thought he was going to be closer than this. He's had some good spell throughout the season. This is a worrying sign qualifying. I don't want him to carry on into the next year. Yeah. And again, I've mentioned this a little bit recently. Colopinto seemed to be on the pace of Gasly. Colopinto gets his contract extension.

And ever since that point, Gazley has had him by a few temps pretty much every session. and here, yeah, I know they're next to each other on the grid, but four-tenths is a big old gap. He's lucky it doesn't matter. He's lucky literally means nothing. Yeah, of course. It's completely irrelevant in terms of the championship at this point.

Anything else that you want to focus on before we get to driver in the session? You know, I think the only person we haven't mentioned is Lawson, who once again has a good Q1 and then just on the wrong side with the fastest time needed to get into Q3. Not even a 10th slower than his teammate. And that's the gap. That's the story. That is the story of this season for the racing ball driver.

And that's four positions between them tomorrow. Yeah. And that's why Hajjah's moving up and that's why Lawson isn't. Yeah. So driver at the session, who are the contenders? Who have you got? Easily pick for me is Max Verstappen. I thought that was absolutely sensational.

I say, well done to Borotetto and Alonkso and Lecler, who I think in their own right in those three places have all got there in a very different way, but deservingly so as well. So they're my four callouts, but I'm going to give it to Verstappen. Yeah, I think fifth through seventh. that Lecler-Alonso-Bortoletto group have done a very good job. I'd maybe consider Alonzo and Bortoletto if they had gone faster in Q3 compared to Q2. I'm really not that far off giving it to LeCleur and P-5, which sounds ridiculous.

And I think maybe if he'd pips George Russell, I'd have given it to him in fourth. But instead, I will go for the pole man, because a two-tenth gap around here, it is pretty notable on a day where it looked like mid mid-122s might be enough for pole, he then does two laps in the 122-2s. Very good indeed. Well, this time tomorrow, pretty much, Sam, we will be back for a race review talking about our new world champion or indeed still our world champion in Max Verstap

and three drivers still very much in the fight, starting first, second and third. Yeah, one final fight to cap off, as being a rather extraordinary season, a three-way battle for the World Championship. Nothing else matters. Let's see if Zach Brown shakes everyone's hang fairly after not getting a single driver on pole position.

That's quite funny to watch when they were walking through the qualifying one, two, three. Come back to us after your Sunday race and join us in celebrating if you're happy, commiserating if you're sad, but enjoying what will hopefully be a really fantastic championship decider. We'll see you tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'll be Samuel Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late.