The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Austrian GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: June 28, 2025

Ben and Sam review a thrilling qualifying session in Austria, where a McLaren driver stormed to pole. They unpack all of the action including Ferrari’s surprise split of the McLarens, Mercedes’ struggles in the heat, an impressive showing from Lawson, and a rookie’s shock maiden Q3 appearance... FOLLOW us on socials! You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUPPORT our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for bonus episodes JOIN our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ community JOIN our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ EMAIL us at [e-mail]   & SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! TIDE: Save more, earn more—up to 4.22% AER (variable). Interest rates are tiered, with the top rate for balances over £1M. Each tiered rate applies to the portion within that range. New Tide members get these rates free for 6 months; after that, your Tide plan’s rates apply. For full offer T&Cs visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tide.co/savings⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. 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. Today, reviewing Austrian GP qualifying, one of the shortest laps on the calendar, which usually means we get some very tight margins. And we did get that, apart from not out front.

Landau Norris taking pole position by over half a second back to the Ferrari of Charles LeClair. And it goes McLaren Ferrari. McLaren Ferrari is Piastri and Hamilton have got the second row of the grid. 0.521, Sam, that doesn't happen to Austria. Have a day off. Honestly, Land, they'll have a day off. I say he bounced back. I say he come back fighting.

And I think it means come back fighting and just wipe everyone out. I mean, you know, give everyone else a bit of a chance to breathe. you'd have a go, you know. Yes, there were some yellow flag issues. Yes, we didn't see the likes of Vastepen and Piaastri get their final running. But, I mean, the gap wasn't going to be half a second, but the gap was looking mighty even before that yellow flag came out. I would be pretty surprised if Piaastri or Vastappan,

or even the Ferraris at their absolute peak today, were going to trouble Landon Norris, who has had an absolute return to form. We've seen this from him a few times this season where he's just rocked up. It seems to have controlled the weekend. He didn't do FP1, but he was fastest to FP2, fastest in FP3, and then pretty much fastening every single session throughout qualifying as well and of course taking whole position.

Half a second faster than everyone else. Around this track of all tracks is pretty darn phenomenal. Yeah, caveat the yellow flag, but still, what an effort from him. Yeah, and let's start our review with the McLaren guys. Got plenty to talk about on today's review. Mercedes 5th and 9 Ferrari with their upgraded car getting second and 3rd. 4th, as you've already mentioned, the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, joint worst qualifying of the season so far, down in 7th,

some surprise appearances in Q3 as well. Lano Norris, obviously recovering from that incident he had towards the end of the Canadian GP, doesn't compete in FP1, sitting that one out for Alex Dunn as part of the, one of the two mandatory sessions, FP1 sessions, that need to be filled by rookies throughout the year. goes throughout practice looking like the stronger driver,

and that continues throughout the first couple of phases of qualifying. But that's not the first time we've seen this this year. We've maybe seen that a couple of other times, where he hasn't been able to convert when we've got to Q3. Here, first running Q3, a couple attempts clear of the pack, and he didn't think that was a great lap, kind of proved it by going even faster, getting into the 103's, the only driver able to do so.

How much of a statement was that? Yeah, you know, that meme that goes around of like statement made that is going around on social media. This is the genuine statement. He is genuinely made one here. This is the confidence he'll need. This is the boost you'll need. I think Landon Norris has been unfortunate throughout this season so far.

You look at the qualifying record. You look at how the points have fallen. I think before today, it was 6'4 in favor of Piastri. That now goes up to 6'5 in terms of where that qualifying head-to-head sits. and throughout certain race weekends Landon Norris has arguably been the better driver but not being able to really convert that pace. Canada was a big one where it looked like he was probably

the outright faster driver during the race. Could it converse it, we all know why. Morocco, he was better all weekend, managed to get the win there. And then Miami as well, I think that realistically, he was right on par with Piastri Miami, but because of the events that took place throughout the Grand Prix, they weren't particularly close when it actually came down to the overall race ending.

there. So it meant that the points again fell Piastri's way. But here, even with a practice session going a ride because he had to give it up to Dung, he did a fantastic job by the way in that first practice session, only a 10th or so behind Piastri. It looked like he just got into the groove so quickly. And he converted that. Piazari always looked like he was a little nervy. He didn't qualify too well here last year.

You remember, he was outside the top five. I think he was maybe seventh or eighth here last year. And that cost him, remember, because Norris and Bastape but came together last year and Russell was able to come through for the wing. Piascri should have been best of the rest.

And again, we see Piascreen falling by the wayside. I'm able to get close to his teammate. And yes, I have to give him benefit of the doubt

because of course the yellow flag came out from Gassie's spinning. He may have been closer. He may have been able to beat Lecler. And you know what? I'm confident

that he probably would have beaten Lecler with a proper final run under his belt. But nonetheless, that lap from Lando Norris, I just cannot see it being beaten by anyone else.

And we know that Lando is a form driver. We know he's a confidence driver. This will give him the world of confidence. You saw in his post-quality interview with David Cautard. He could not hide it. He couldn't hide it. And good for him. Good for him. I love how excited David was interviewing him. And you know what? He had a big smile on his face to Lando and he deserved it because it's not often you dunk half a second on the field at a track that has a one minute three lap time. That is a huge margin. And he deserves a big round of applause because Piastri's had a couple of these moments this season.

It's about time that Landon got one and he's got one. And it was a phenomenal lap. It was. And the whole session was thoroughly impressive. It looked like from the get-go, he was the odds-on-favorant for pole position. And again, that's not the only time that's been the case this year. But here he was able to not only convert it,

but with a lot of conviction as well, there will be some questions as to what the true gap was between him and Piastri, at least on a one lap, on one lap quality trim. But I do not think Piastri is touching that lap. Not today, not with the way both of them were looking. And I've been pretty critical of Lando Norris in qualifying session so far this year. You only have to go back as far as the last qualifying review that we did for Canada to show that. I was highly critical of Norris because I felt that he had the pace to win that Grand Prix.

if he was able to put together that quality lap, and he didn't. This, the complete opposite, he has saved his best for last. Okay, the first lap in Q3 wasn't ideal, even though it was fastest by a couple of attempts. He was aware that he still had more time in there. But even that, we've seen Lando Norris before not put down a strong enough banker lap and therefore putting additional pressure on what he's doing on that second run. That wasn't the case today. He knew that even if on that final run, he did run too wide or something went wrong,

that he had that lap to fall back on. And that would have been good enough for pole position as well because, you know, Piastri wasn't able to set a second lap. And Charles LeClaire, even though he was basically matched his time from his first run. So highly impressive from Lando Norris. It looks like the McLaren has the legs on the field. and as long as he gets a reasonable start tomorrow and can get outside the DRS, I think he'll be tough to stop.

In terms of Oscar Piastri, we have seen him out-qualify Lando Norris, just about more than vice versa. It felt with a couple of off-track excursions today that he was always the second-best McLaren, but he's still second row on the grid and you would still say he's a strong. favorite to be on the podium at the very least. Is this okay damage limitation? This is again where I believe that P. Astrid is a champion in the making because if you're going to have a bad day and that bad day still sits you in P3 and, you know, within a corner, you could be right up there behind your teammate, that's great damage limitation. If that's the

worst case scenario, P3, that's brilliant because if like Monaco, right, we saw in Monaco qualified, scraping the walls, unable to get the car locked down, looked like there was a lot of opposite lock in terms of overstere, and then some understeer where it wasn't wanted. Here is a similar story. We saw him running wide a couple of times in turn six, getting very, very close to the grapple trap out there. We saw him going through the first sector

that he made a mistake going through the first corner on his main run in Q3, not the one, of course, yellow flag affected. And that again costs him a tenth. And you know what, if he's not feeling confident, if the car's balance isn't right there with him, if he's maybe being affected by the crosswind that we're, seeing across Austria this weekend. That's going to happen occasionally.

You're going to get these weekends where you're not 100% at one with the car and it is going to throw you off. But if this is Oscar Piastri, not 100% at one with the car and in qualifying, he's P3, he's got a fighting chance of still coming away with the race victory. And that's been the case, right? That has been Oscar Piacstrue's almost M.O. throughout this whole season. He's not been perfect.

But because he's got this brilliant mindset and he's willing to grit his teeth and grind it out, He's regularly coming away with incredibly good points week after week after week. You only have to look at Canada to see that. It was Oscar versus Lando. They were both going to come out with strong points. And you know what? Lando's the one that ends up making a mistake when it matters.

Oscar walks away with a full handful of points and gets away from Lando, despite being arguably the slower driver in the race. There's every chance that can happen again here in Oscar. He is much closer in the starting position and he was at this time out last year. That's a great step forward. I think this is still okay.

I think Oscar, you can see in his face, looked very, very disappointed. And rightly so. To be that far away from your teammate, someone of Oscar's capability when he's been matching and beating Landon and Norris this season, to be half a second away from Landon Norris despite the yellow flag interruption,

he will feel the sting from that. He will be frustrated with that. So you heard it in his post-quality interview. I'm not here to be on the podium tomorrow. This is the worst place I'll be finishing tomorrow. He's still going for that race wing. He knows that it's still fully on the card. So great fighting talk.

from him. I think he'll bounce back. I think Piaastri has got everything in to go and get this win tomorrow. We should see a great fight between those two teammates. Yeah, we'll slightly depend on the start, but again, it seems as if McLaren's advantage is far bigger than what they had at Canada. And in that regard, it's not a difficult track to make over takes on. He should find his way to P2 at the very least. In terms of today's session, I think the nearly 610th gap is, is slightly misleading just based on Piastri not getting that second run in. I think the truer gap is what we saw after the first runs or after Q1, which was maybe two and a half to three temps, I think is maybe the true gap between these two.

I have to admit, I was very disappointed with Piastri today. I think that McLaren is so good this weekend that it should have been a one-two, even with only getting one run in Q3. and I think he can maybe consider himself a little bit fortunate that such a scruffy session has only cost him maybe one position on the grid. I think if you look at if McLaren were closer to the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari and just the rest of the pack generally, I think he had been punished a lot more than what he has.

It was slightly misleading because we were at the end of Q1 and the three biggest gaps between teammates at the end of Q1 were Holkenberg and Borateletto, Holkberg obviously knocked out in 20th, signs and Albon, signs was knocked out in 19th. The third biggest gap between teammates was Lando Norris in first to Piastrian second. But because of how dominant this McLaren is, that three-tenth gap that was the case at the end of Q1 is kind of meaningless. You know, we saw other drivers knocked out in Q1 like Landstrol, Esteban Okon, Yuki Sonoda, all three of them were closer to their teammates than what Piastri was at the end of Q1. And I appreciate it didn't matter because they were so good.

But my point is, McLaren's dominance, I think, helped Piastri out today to elevate him up the grid a few more positions than maybe could have been the case. As you say, he's in a fine position heading into tomorrow. I think that race pace will win out. And I'll be surprised if he's not on the podium for sure. What about Ferrari? So we speculated a lot on the upgrades for the car, when they're coming, what they're going to be. Some upgrades to the car this weekend.

Second and fourth. They seem to have worked their way into this weekend a little bit. Didn't look great yesterday in practice, Sam, but second and fourth here. Charles LeClauzeck and Lewis Hamilton fourth, less than a tenths separating the two drivers as well. Happy with this session? It's like putting makeup on an old day. dog this is, this result from Ferrari. I think, you know, the dog's got nothing in it. But sure, you can make it look pretty for everyone to look at. This is a second and fourth based purely,

I believe, on circumstance. They are, if you were to say to Friggy Bass, Fred, you're going to be second and fourth, you're going to split a McLaren. How do you feel about that? He'll go, yeah, okay. Looks like these upgrades are working. And then you tell him the time difference, because Lecler got a lapping, a completely clean lapping. have the same amount of fresh soft tires going into Q3 as well. So there was no disadvantage there. So for LeCler to actually be five tenths away, half a second away from a McLaren driver,

and LeCler is a god in qualifying. It's his biggest strength. We know how many times he's picked up a pole position. It hasn't been able to convert it into a race wing because of how much is overdridden that car, how much is going out of that car. I still think this is a huge worry for Ferrari. They've also, I think, benefited massively

from Red Bull's struggling with Max's car. It clearly looks like the balance is off. He's like a little dab of Opo through turn six and seven. It looks like the car struggling for balance and gripping all areas. Yuki Sino is describing that second car, so whether Yuki's bad or the second seat is bad. Who knows? It's red bad rather than Red Bull.

And hey, guess what? Mr. Blue Sky's arrived because it's getting 50-blimbing degrees on the racetrack. And Mercedes has gone, now we're out. You know that mean where the kid like double-tapped his chest and does the peace sign and disappears? is that is Mercedes when it comes to any kind of severe hot weather. They've been found out this weekend.

So they're not competitive. I think Russell in 5th is actually just showing you how good George Russell is because the car is struggling. He was nearly knocked out in Q1. That's how much they were struggling. So second and fourth, yeah, good result. Don't get me wrong, good result. But it's not, they're not there because it's pure pace.

They are not there because that car is generally found something and they're suddenly able to go out there and attack. and I will be flabbergasted if either LeCler or Hamilton can even remotely cling on to the coattails of either of those McLaren's by lap seven or eight of this race tomorrow. I think there's going to be a gulf in pace between those two. And I think very much that Lecleron Hamilton will be fighting with Russell, Bostappen, and Singeli, perhaps if you get through a bit of the traffic behind them. And they'll be lucky, I think, to finish third and fourth. I genuinely think it's actually far closer to those at the back rather than the McLaren's at the front. Yeah, I'll give Ferrari credit for the way in which they have worked their way into this weekend.

I don't think, just based on some of those upgrades, maybe it was unrealistic to expect them to be right up there straight away. But they have made a lot of progress from the couple of practice sessions on Friday compared to what we had on Saturday. I think it's an OK result. Like you say, you kind of have to dig into the Y and you do have to point to Mercedes struggles and for Stappen struggles, but again, you can look at that the other way and say, well, Ferrari haven't built a car that has these issues, which, or maybe they've built upgrades that don't have these issues, in which case you kind of have to respect that a little bit. They have gone from in Canada, very comfortably, I think, the four fastest car to the second fastest car, at least

at the moment this weekend, which is progress. Again, the Y comes into it. But I don't think they'll be massively disappointed by this. They will look at that gap and say, well, if we were hoping to dramatically eat into that via this upgrade and make a charge for regular race wins for the rest of this year, they're going to walk away pretty disappointed. But in terms of their position in the pecking order behind McLaren, I think they can be they can be relatively content.

It's also not that long ago that they were barely faster than Williams or in the case of Miami, I think slower. So progress, but limited progress for Ferrari. Good to see as well that there's not much to separate these two.

I thought there was an outside chance Hamilton might actually out-qualify LeClau this weekend, which hasn't happened all that often this season. But to be, you know, within a 10th, it's pretty good. It shows you just how similar those two are at the moment. when they are both happy in the car,

when they both are feeling that the car is going a certain way and the balance is right for them. And of course, it's a short track. So that does help the size of the gap between the two of them. But regularly, there was a 10th maximum between both those Ferrari cars. So that tells you that's the true pace of that Ferrari car right now. And well done to those two for being the car that is second and fourth. And it is giving McLaren, what, the tiniest of headaches.

Or I've got a sip of water again. It's a slightly warm day. Let me just hydrate. Ah, the headache's gone again. That's Ferrari right now. But yeah, fair play to them. They are there. We're going on else's.

Okay, let's take a quick break on this episode. On the other side, more qualifying roundup. Welcome back, everyone. Mercedes, let's focus on them next. George Russell in fifth place, Kimmy Antonelli in ninth. Look like after the first couple of practice sessions that they might be the closest challenges to McLaren.

but we know that throughout Saturday in particular, it has got warmer and warmer. And with it, Mercedes Pace has got less and less. Not particularly encouraging after what we saw. It seemed to maybe be turning a corner in Canada. Yeah, I think they did a very good job to rescue this session, if I'm honest, because Q1 was really worrying for them. George Russell was a tank faster than the knockout times going through Q1.

that really does send out a warning sign to Mercedes because if George Russell, who is arguably the most consistent driver outside of the McLarency at the moment, is struggling that much, get the car into a Q2 session, you're going to have some problems. And he did a fantastic job in turning the form of that car around in this session. And actually, it went from me being really worried for Mercedes to me thinking, wow, George Russell's really got some time.

He really can drive a race car quickly. and being slightly disappointed, actually, for Kimmy Antingley. After the podium that came about last time out, I thought the gap here was, yeah, okay, I'm not surprised that Russell was beaten Kimmy, but to be half a second away on their first attempt is pretty worried, I think six tenths away on their second attempt, seeing him all the way down in 9th in Q3.

I just think this shows you where Russell was able to raise the game of the car in this heat, in the tricky conditions where the Seasons are struggling, and where Kimi Antigelli is still showing that rookie level form, that rookie level ability and he's got a lot to learn and we are trying to be sympathetic and aware of this but it does show you the golfing skill that Russell was able to overcome

the troubles of the Mercedes whereas Kimi Antigali kind of stalled. He kind of got to his peak at the end of Q2 and was not able to really get anywhere else. The fact that he's been being beaten here by Lawson and by Bartoletto is not really good enough despite the heat or whatever it might be. I would think that he'd be in front of those two.

So well done from Russell, He has elevated the car slightly. I hoped it for a little bit more from Kimmy. I think Mercedes, just from a strategic point of view to start, I think they managed this session quite poorly. So I think they got a little bit fortunate with the way that Q1 ended up because George Russell was in trouble towards the end of Q1. And they left it, I think, unnecessarily late to get him out for that second run,

to just ensure safety. I know that they were struggling more than expected, but they didn't need the absolute optimum track conditions in the same way that some of the other teams trying to fight out of Q1 did. If the same thing happens at the end of Q1, that happens at the end of Q3 with Pierre Gasly, George Russell, if that timing is wrong, he gets knocked out.

And then it's an awfully long day on Sunday. So I don't think they manage Q1 particularly well. And then we get to Q3. Kimmy Antonelli, I think, is the last. driver out of the pits, and he doesn't get to start his last lap. He only gets one running Q3 because they've left it too late, and maybe the Gasly spin contributed to it slightly. But even with that, he was struggling to make the line, I think. And even if he had made the line, probably not with optimum temperatures in his tyres, which is something that is clearly a pressing matter for Mercedes

based on their pace today. So disappointed with the way that that ran out, I think Antonelli was probably losing out to Russell anyway, and it's difficult to tell whether a second run would have got Antonelli, maybe one, two, three more positions, somewhere in that mix. But I think he'd have put together a better attempt than he did on his first run. From George Russell's perspective, yeah, I think he probably made the most of this session just based on how much the team was struggling. you could tell how badly the tires were working for them because every single time, first sector was okay. And the first sector, bear in mind, is one corner, really. It's that right-hand corner,

turn one. And after that, it's a straight run down to turn three. Based on that, you're not really working the tires at all. So you're going to get the most out of them in the first sector. He was right there after one sector. And then you see the timings every time after two sectors. and he's gone again. And it's not like sector two is massively long either, but you get through some of those really long corners that you get in the middle sector of Austria, very difficult on the tires in these conditions.

And Mercedes cannot cope with the rest of them. So George Russell's probably saved it a little bit just to make sure he gets ahead of the likes of Lawson and Vestappen, P5, you know, if they get lucky with the weather or strategy, then maybe he can hold that or even make progress. but yeah, I wasn't particularly impressed with Mercedes as an operation. What about Vastappan? As mentioned, this was his tide worst of the season so far, down in 7th.

He's actually been outqualified by one of the racing balls in Liam Lawson in 6th. Of course, Vestappen, one of those drivers that was impacted by the spin of Gassley towards the end of Q3. I've got to be honest, even if he does get that lap in, and we know what Vestappen's capable of for the end of Q3 sessions. I'm not sure it's worth more than a place or two. I don't know if he's touching the Ferraris even. I think at best he beats Russell.

At absolute best, I think he, you know, if he put a on Wonderlap in that car, the way it was performing this weekend, he may be, yeah, he maybe catches Hamilton. At a real push, he puts an absolute wonderlap. But yeah, it looked tricky to drive a weekend. I do think, I don't, yeah, it does attribute to this. I do think him having GP on the pit wall is probably aiding a little bit of his frustration,

you haven't got your kind of your best barred, the familiar voice in your ear to guide you around the weekend. And Max is a constant professional now. You know, he's able to get through the highest of circumstances and pick up race weeds or polis. I mean, he had the birth of his first child recently and he was still fighting for polions and race wings. Well, that was going on. So, you know, he's able to grit his teeth and get through it.

But I do think it plays a part in the ultimate pace and what you're able to work out. You can hear the difference in conversation over the team radio where he said, I don't have gripping low speed. I don't have gripping meams being. I haven't got even gripping high speed what's going on. And just over the radio, all you hear is understood. And you just think that's, I mean, that's the kind of, we'll get out of the car and discuss it kind of conversation.

But it must be frustrating for a drive way to have that much of a complaint and not get any conversation back. So, yeah, I think whilst Max was denied a second run, the fastest run that he would have got at the end of Q3, he would have been at Lawson. I have no doubt about it. And I do think he can challenge Russell nicely. But yeah, the car just looks rough around here,

which is really surprising because usually, Obviously, he's had five wings here beforehand. He would have picked up a sixth pole here at the Red Bull ring. If he had got it, he was so far off the pace. He was, you know, nearly coming up to seven, eight tenths away from the pace, which is almost unhirdle from a Max Verstappen lap. Yeah, that Red Bull just continues to be really hit and miss. Some weekends, some qualifying sessions, it looks absolutely on it,

and Vastappen can challenge. And there are other ones like this where you can see he is, ragdoll in that car to try and get something out of it. But it's no good. At least versus the McLaren's, it never looked on or anywhere near on. So it's not a disaster. He's made for its Q3. If that race pace is slightly better in the Red Bull, I suspect it will be. He's got a chance to make up at least a few positions in the Grand Prix. And then attention turns to Sonoda to see if he can make progress from 18th, whether he can get back in the points or not. It's a tough one with Sonoda because he's knocked down in Q1,

not the first time this season for Red Bull, continuing to struggle in the car. But on this occasion, I mean, it's not great, but he's a quarter of a second off for Staun. It's not the biggest gap in the world. Like both drivers were struggling to some extent this session. Of course, Sunoda is just a bit more as per usual. But I think that was actually the closest qualifying gap we've had between the two

Red Bull drivers so far this year. Well, let's go neatly on to their junior team, racing balls. So one of their cars managed to get through to Q3, that being Liam Lawson all the way up in sixth place, a strong showing from him. Isaac Adjjar down in 13th, a couple of attempts behind his teammate in Q2 meant that he couldn't get through to the final session. A strong day for them overall, if you consider some of their rivals like Astor Martin and Hass, they haven't got through to Q3.

Yeah, I think this is just a day where Liam Lawson has finally excelled. I think he's finally put together a really competent and brilliant Saturday. And how many times have we looked at Liam Lawson's qualifying? And we've gone, he's just the wrong side. He's just this half a tenth short. He's, you know, the amount of he's just that we've given to Liam Lawson so far this season. And finally, it's gone the other way because you look at the gap between them when Hajar, who was knocked out in Q2 and Lawson gets through,

is tiny in comparison to some of the gaps that you see between teammates. Two Tenths, as you mentioned, knocks out Hagar but sees Liam Lawson go through. As we've already mentioned, the gap between Norris and Pastery was over double. That almost triple that time. And that tells you just how tight it is in a midfook, especially around a track like Austria. I want to give full commendation to Liam Lawson, full praise. He had a really, really good Saturday, P6. If that was Hagear, we'd be absolutely singing his praise.

He'd say, I want to do the same for Liam Lawson because he's needed this. He's absolutely needing to show a weekend where he can excel. And where other teams have been struggling, you know, Antingaling that Mercedes, Sago can't get into Q3 again. He's like a really good job of picking up the pieces at being the kind of the next best thing. Williams looked like they couldn't get a car into Q3, which is surprising after their what looked like a really favourable track for them. This has been great.

So it just shows you how good these guys can be. It shows you how good the Racing Ball's team can be. But we're yet to see a weekend where both. Both of them simultaneously are able to maximise it. So well done to Liam Lawson. Really impressed that he's able to beat the Alpian of Gassley, who of course already got that one running and they hit the spin. Borsetleeto, who will get onto,

has done a phenomenal job of getting it into P.A., but again, can't really touch him there. And then, yeah, like you said, the Ascombe, seemingly just clonked right in the midfield. Bearman did a good job at beating Ockon, but again, can't get near Lawson. This is what racing balls are needing when they have got so many rivals

who are doing so well up and down the field. Great shot from them. a real chance that both cars finish in the points tomorrow. Yeah, Lawson has been impressive all weekend long. And finally, yes, he's been able to convert on that. I don't think it's the first time where Lawson and Hadjar's pace has been quite similar. But when we've typically got to qualifying, Hadjar's made the most of it, got through to Q3. Lawson has had some sort of Q2 and Q1 eliminations.

And because of how close the midfield is, Liam Lawson has found himself in a lot of DRS trains, difficult to do anything in terms of strategy, and has kind of just been languishing down outside of the points, whereas Hadjar has got a little bit more freedom. There might be, again, there might be a train a bit further back that he's able to get free of. And I don't think the core underlying pace has been massively different,

but the flexibility and the freedom that you've got within the strategy makes such a difference in this midfield. And now Lawson has an opportunity to be what Isaac Hadjar has been for the rest of this season. This is great because he was in practice, he put together a really impressive long run as well. So if that can carry through to the race, that is really promising for him. But to be seven places clear of his teammate, one session obviously separating them as well, Massively impressive lap. The headline might be that he's out qualified, Max Verstappen here, and he can take solace in that and great work from him. But realistically, even if he'd

been the other side of that, this is still a brilliant session. In terms of his rivals, he's beating them all. There isn't one driver ahead of Lawson that shouldn't be ahead of Lawson. So points are obviously one on Sundays, but this gives them a great chance at least a few. it shows you where he actually could be though right obviously he took the massive confidence knock after struggling to perform in the Red Bull the first he raced at the season takes you a bit of time to adjust to me back in the racing balls. Hig Charles has been an absolute star this season and rightfully garnered a lot of praise and a lot of attention but it's funny now that he can never get even near a Q2 let alone a Q3 appearance in the Red Bull and yet here he is

less than half a season in and he's beaten Max for staffing a qualifying session in arguably slower machinery. So whilst Liam Lawson may not be a world beater, he might not go on to whether racing his career. He's got some talent. He's got some ability. It was good to be like I see him actually display that properly. And I'm sure there's a few people that have been quiet and slightly,

me included, by such a strong performance in a qualifying session. I mean, the guy was competitive with Sonoda when they were teammates. There wasn't really much to choose between them. So there's no doubt that he could drive. It's just, again, being able to show it on the day. and today he's been able to do so. Salba, they've displayed a little bit more competitiveness as of late

that has resulted in a few point scoring finishes for Nico Holcombberg. But his teammate, Gabrielle Bortoletto, not yet off the mark. This qualifying session gives him his best chance yet at points in a Formula One Grand Prix, manages to make it through to Q3 for the first time, has qualified in 8th ahead of Antonelli, ahead of Gassley in that session as well. Is this a bit of a breakout session for him? What's the polar bear doing in Arlington, Texas? Shock of the session.

Gabby Borteleto, stand up and take the applause, my friend, because not only did I predict my bold predictions, but you to finish the racing, 8th place or better, so keep this up, sunshine, and we'll both be very happy at the end of the weekend. But you can absolutely pat yourself on the bat, because getting through to Q2 when your teammate didn't, would have been a really good achievement as it was,

because when he did get through to Q2 and Nika Holkenberg struggled, there was half a second between them. That is a phenomenal dunking on Nika Holkenberg who is class of the field, really, when it comes to outdriving these slower cars right down the back there, where he is really shooting his shot against a midfield

that arguably is still so much more competitive than that salver. So to be half a second clear of Nika Holgerberg, phenomenal stuff. But so then get through, again, what a lap it was in Q2 to get him through into Q3. absolutely brilliant to beat both the Ashton Martins,

to beat both the Alpine cars, to beat both the half cars. You know, the fact that he sat there right next to a reg ball in a toaster, that is so good. That is so good. He's being a Mercedes. This is genuinely, he's arrived, right?

Gabby Bortoletto has arrived, and he can sit there and say, I made it into a Q3 appearance. I'm fighting for points. I'm the reigning F2 champion. I'm finally getting my moment to shine after my teammates had the first 10 races to himself. He is also being one of those, like Liam Lawson,

that has regularly shown at times some really glimmering moments of great pace, but it's regularly caught up in DRS trains or the car hasn't got the great pace. Or that sandwich wants to kill you the moment you put your foot down at the start of a Grand Prix, meaning you lose anything you gain at the start in qualifying. So it's all coming together.

There's a real chance now that if he could get away cleanly, if he can make sure that he gets his head down and just kind of sits in that eighth ninth area at the start of this Grand Prix and sticks to the back of someone, with a bit of DRS and uses a DRS to train his actual advantage in the Grand Prix, he could pull away from that midfield battle in the back. He could get away from the likes of Albon, who I'm sure are going to come through.

He might get away from Gasly. He might have better race pace and he does qualifying pace. There's a real chance here that Gabby Boroletto scores his first points in Formula One. And that would be a great story for him. It'll be lovely to see. I'm not surprised by this. He's incredibly talented. And I've been trying to shout about Boroletto all year to anyone that will hear,

because I feel he's constantly disrespected based on the situation he's found himself in. You know, the likes of Antonelli, Hadjar, even Bayerman as rookies, have had far more of an opportunity to show what they can do. I think Bortoletto has very quietly been having a good season. And the stats don't necessarily reflect that if you look at just the points. Nika Holkenberg has done a tremendous job where he's been given three opportunities this year, the last two races and also Australia early on in the year. And that's helped him to 20 points. But Bortoletto, in terms of pure pace, has been right there with Holkenberg.

And it's getting no attention whatsoever because, again, it's in a salber. But Nika Holkenberg is a season veteran of this sport who has beaten his fair share of quality teammates. And he is qualifying-wise, I think they might be either dead level now or there might be one in it. So they've been pretty much level throughout the season. And here's Bortoletto with a car that has been improved a little bit. As soon as the car improves, yeah, he can show what he can do and he can make a Q3. He's been in the top 10 in every single session this weekend as well.

Like that Salba has, that Salba has come along just enough for Bortolato to show what he can do. Again, top 10 in all of the practice sessions, he looked good throughout Q1, look good for out Q2, And then we get to Q3. I'm not even sure this was the ultimate lap from him either, because whilst he was able to start his lap, where a few others like Piastri couldn't and Vastappen couldn't finish his lap, Portoleto, I think, was the second to last or third to last driver out of the pits. If you remember, he was trying to get his way in line.

I'm not convinced that his outlap would have been perfect. Happy to be corrected on that, we are recording straight after. But I'm not convinced his out lap would have been perfect in terms of preparation. In which case, I don't think it moves him up any positions. But I mean, given Lawson is two temps away from him, he was on the pace of Lawson for the majority of this session. It wouldn't be a shock to have him in that battle with Stappen as well if he gets a good lap in in Q3. Very impressive. We'll see if he can hold on to it.

It's not like that Salber is, even though it has made improvements. it's not ridiculously quick, so he'll be hoping race pace is as good as qualifying pace and he stands a good chance at some points. Moving outside the top 10, Sam, the thing that caught my eye the most, I think, was how much Carlos Seins has struggled. Again, another Q1 knockout,

a full four and a half temps behind Alex Albin and Q1 as well. I don't know how much I'm attributing this to full pace. I think Carlos Sykes cannot catch a break at the moment. this is his third Q1 knockout in a row, first time it's ever happened in his career. When you hear the issues that he is apparently going through, they make a change of brakes going into qualifying, and every time he hits the brake,

he feels like the car is pulling off to one side. Now, this is a very mundane example, but I don't know if you've ever been driving your road car where the steering is at 100% aligned, and you've got to go get the steering realigned. It's so off-putting to feel the car constantly drift from one side to another. I cannot comprehend all it's like to slam on the brakes from 300 kilometres a hour, you go 200 miles an hour down to what, 50, 60 miles an hour,

and feel the car pulled off to a random side that you were not anticipating. That would throw me off, and obviously the slightest inconvenience going to throw a Formula One driver off if everything is not going to plan. So I do think that Carlos Sites is writing what he said, where he has had the best race pace in the midfield. I do think that he will out drive, pretty much everyone around him. and if the car is optimal, if the weather works well for them, if he could get a good race strategy in,

which I hope Williams can actually pull together because they have been on it, especially with Alvin. I can see him coming through the Bigfield guys. I can see him fighting for a point, maybe two, if all goes to plan. But I'm not going to be too critical on Carlos Sites here. I do think that whilst that Williams is improving, it is the kind of car that if it is to come up against a proper issue, it's going to struggle.

And we saw that today, it ending up struggling. So Albon did a good right job, got himself into Q2. I'm actually a bit disappointed that he didn't make it through to Q3. But I do think that in the race, science will hopefully have a good time coming through the field. So, yeah, I feel a little bit for him. I'm not going to be too harsh. I think the qualifying pace of this Williams,

at least right now, seems to be a little bit worse than its race pace. I know Alex Albin has missed out on Q3. I've got to be honest. I think 12 is probably where that car should be just on those qualifying sims. throughout FP3, they did seem to be struggling compared to, compared to Salba, compared to the racing bulls. And even Alpine seemed to make quite a bit of a jump as we progress throughout practice.

I think he will move forward from 19th, just based on that race pace does seem quite a bit better. Looking at the long runs, I think it's probably the fifth fastest car, which it's been for much of this season, to be fair. But yeah, I think that's where it will shine a little bit more. Depends of those issues that he was struggling with today, how many of those can be fixed overnight. Of course, the advantage of him being P-19 is if he did need a pit lane start for whatever reason, it's not really going to cost him much.

And to be honest, Austria, where there can be quite a few incidents that happen into turn one and turn three, making sure you're away from all that might not be the worst thing in the world. But yeah, not a great. Great session. Again, difficult to say as to why with some of the things he was reporting. Who was your driver at the session, Sam? I want to give it to Landon Norris, but I just can't, mate. I just can't. Why not? I'll tell you one for why, everyone.

Oh, here we go. It's just the yellow flag. Okay. If that gap was a true reflection of the pace, and I think he had the field beat anyway, I've said this enough times, then if he put half a second legit on the rest of the field, drive at the session, easy piece. But I think it would still be two and a half three-tenths. And fair play to Lando. He was phenomenal. And I called it in our preview.

I said he'd get pole. I said he'd be a pedestrian this weekend. And currently it's lining up nicely for me. But I've got to go, Gabby. I've got to go Borcholeto. Sorry, Leo, Lawson. I bet you're thinking, surely I'm in for a bet.

Sure, it's a chance. There's a sound ring, eight, man. There's a polar bear in Arlington, Texas. And he deserves as much for a mention as possible. Well done to Gabby. He's my driver in the session. But Lawson and Norris have been brilliant. And they deserve a lot of praise.

Yeah, that's the easy podium for me, those three drivers. I'll go Bortoletto third, Lawson, second, but I'm going to go with the pole man, Lando Norris, as the driver of the session. Take your point that that second run might have made this gap look a little bit, a little bit better. Maybe we're looking at three temps, two and a half temps, maybe even two temps.

But honestly, if he qualified on pole here by two tenths of a second, that's pretty impressive. So he looked like the better driver throughout Q1 and Q2 So I'll give him the benefit of the doubt Even if we didn't have a true comparison at the end of Q3 Oh British bias, oh British bias, Ben Yeah, that's me Oh well, no mind

Right, should we bugger off? Yeah, let's do it All right, well thanks so much for Liskett, folks We appreciate you always tuning in after a little qualifying A little qualifying, a qualifier review for you I hope you enjoy it Come back tomorrow for the race review We'll be straight back after the Austria

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