The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 British GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: July 5, 2025

WHEW! That was close... Ben and Sam review a thrilling qualifying session at Silverstone, where pole position was hotly contested and a surprise name emerged on top despite his struggles. They break down all the key moments, from the heartbreak of those who narrowly missed out, to those languishing at the back... >>> Tickets are now on public sale for our 2025 LIVE SHOW in Austin TX! ⁠⁠CLICK HERE⁠⁠ to buy now or for more info!

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Thank you for listening to the late-breaking F-1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Welcome to the late-breaking F-1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, reviewing qualifying for the British Grand Prix, a thoroughly entertaining session that saw Max Vastappan get pole position right at the death in front of the two McLaren's Oscar Piestri will join Vastappen on the front row, Lando Norris, the leading Brit from third, with the Mercedes and the Ferrari guys following very soon after.

I say it was thoroughly entertaining, Sam. At least that was my opinion. Blanky loved it, mate. Absolutely loved it. The pressure, the tension, it felt like it built perfectly. Always had light threat of rain. We saw a few drops here and there coming down. You can ever go, I say that, about an hour south of Silverstone.

And he just started torrentially raining. So I imagine that it might get hit by it in the next few minutes. So they've just missed that. You never knew when it was coming. Interesting strategy throughout a few sessions of teams using new sides or old sides at certain points. We'll discuss that later as well. And then that battle for poll, which, I think,

two tents separate the top six, which is incredibly close. Yeah, so much fun. Such a great session. Silverstone delivers once again on its 75th British Grand Prix. Of course, we're all of them here at Silverstone. at the 75th rung of the British Grand Prix. Really, really exciting.

Let's get stuck in. Yeah, plenty to get stuck into here. Even throughout Q1 and Q2, there's quite a bit to talk about that we'll get to later on during this review. Let's start out front, as you rightly say, just over two temps separating the top six drivers at the end of Q3. It felt like throughout the early part of qualifying, you weren't sure which way this was going to go.

Both McLaren and Ferrari looking pretty handy. but Vastappen and Russell equally looking pretty handy and those six drivers have formed the top six on the grid. But ultimately, Max Vastappen, with his second lap in Q3, getting the job done just over a 10th clear of Oscar Piastri in second. We saw him go purple in both of the first two sectors. Wasn't a personal best in the final sector, but still had enough in order to wrap up that poll.

What did you make of the lap first and foremost? I was blowing away. I was blown away. It was Max for Staff and Magic. When you look at the talent that is in that top six of that field and how close they are, I think David Kauter said this on the Channel 4 commentary. He was kind of come a bit speechless. I feel much picture myself that we're seeing this level of talent.

And we are, we are witnessing such an incredible level of talent that it felt like any of those top six at any moment with one turn of the wheel slightly different could have ending up in pole position. And after Max's weekend, which has been. driving a car that looks more like a shopping trolley than it done a Formula One car, falling off the racetrack on numerous occasions, so he always get around corners. He is moan till high heaven and back this weekend. But if he has to moan and moan and moa and then he pulls a laugh out like that at the end of Q3,

that is sublime. It looks like he's never been the quickest in the first part of the lap, all the way up to that final lap. It looked like he was unable to get the car slow down properly in the slow sections. and they built that car downforce-wise to be properly fast in a straight line. And I mentioned this thing, are qualifying, not qualifying, in the race preview, that it's the closest thing F-1 has to an oval circuit. So being quick at outright power is really, really important.

And I think that's what Red Bull are doing. I think they're maximising their outright power. But you can see him struggling through the really slow corners. But it paid off. I think the decision really started to pay off because it looked like he really got to grips with it right on that final run. He did what someone is good as maximum staffed. does and he pulled it out of the bag.

And everyone else had a slight fall, a slight downcoming shortfall on their final lap, where they didn't improve somewhere. You know, Lewis Hamilton looked like he was absolutely incredible through the first two parts of the lap, and they had a slight issue going into the club section right at the end of the lap, and that probably cost him a tenth,

and that's the difference between the two of them there, and he starts away back in fifth place. George Russell, who did his first run on old ties with six tenths off and jumped to being less, than half a tenth away from Max's lap time on pole. He was just not quite there. This is why someone like Max Verstappen is regarding as the best there is right now, because he could do that in a car that looks almost impossible to drive quickly.

So was mighty impressed with what he was able to produce throughout that final lap. It felt there for the taking, not only for Vastappen, but for a number of these drivers that have started, that are going to start near the front of the grid. You go into some qualifying sessions, particularly with how good McLaren have been for for the majority of this season. You go into qualifying thinking this is likely a Norris or Piastri pole, unless one of the others can put together an outstanding lap, as we've seen a couple of times, Vastappen at Suzuki immediately springs to mind.

But this one did actually feel quite even. This one genuinely felt like any of that top six. If they were able to string together the lap, they would have enough to get this done. And ultimately, Vestappen proved why he's as great as he is. he was the one that did it. And I think you're right. When you look at the other five, none of them quite hooked it up. Like they got 95% of the way there or even 97% of the way there, but none of them quite got that 100% lap in. And I think there will be, when some of those

drivers look back and we'll talk about them in a bit more depth in a moment, some of them might look at that and go, that was there. That was there. I could have had that. But ultimately, Vastappans, the guy who's got the job done. What I'm incredibly fascinated about is this setup, because they seem to have taken a bit of a gamble with putting all of their eggs in going the going fast in a straight line basket. And that's worked well today. Will it work well tomorrow? That's going to be the leading question, because we don't know what the weather's going to do. If it starts to rain tomorrow, even a bit, that ain't a setup you want to be on. No, I know Max is good in the rain. I know he's fantastic.

It gets wet, but there ain't a rear wing. It just isn't there. He's just got like a stick across the back of the car to make it technically legal. And when it rains, you want to keep that car planted through the corners. You need as much grip as you can get to be able to traction yourself out of those corners. And that is not supplying a lot of traction. He's not getting the downforce that he's going through the straits. I do think that he is sensational, but I do think he's in trouble if we get even a few laps of enough rain where intermediates at least will be required.

Do you think it's a setup good enough to hold off the McLaren's in DRS, etc? Do you think he's got enough in that car to be able to hold them back for that long? Because I don't think he'll be going to pull away in the corners. I think that's going to be a struggle for him. I think there's a chance. I think if we were looking at similar conditions to Friday in terms of temps, I'd have said no, because we've seen from McLaren, particularly in Austria, how close they can stay to another car in Austria was themselves.

but if they have proven that they can stay close to another car for multiple laps at a time and not really impact the tyres and sooner or later I think they would have got an opportunity into stow with conditions looking like they'll be cooler, rain or no rain, it might be trickier and this is a bit of a risk-reward scenario for Red Bull because yes, they've risked this in that they might not be quick through the corners tomorrow. But if they've created a car with a driver as good as Vastappan who just cannot be overtaken, it might work out for them, even in wet conditions. Like, if we know it's even more difficult to make overtakes,

even when you have a pace advantage, you often need a couple of seconds or so pace advantage over another car in order to get a move done in the wet. Well, if Vastappan can get away, it doesn't matter if he wins this race by 20 seconds or by two temps. If no one could overtake him, this will have been a gamble that pays off. I'm really intrigued by this one tomorrow.

I don't know how it'll play out. It feels closer to a Monsa setup rather than a Silverstone set up almost. And the other issue, the other predicament that once again, Rebel find themselves in is that the second car is not even in the top 10, right? Uki-Signoda qualifies in 12th place. I think after penalties are applied, he's going to be in 12th place. Berman will drop back and so will Antingelli, but I don't think Antingelli will affect him. Yeah, Berman will go behind him, but Antele will won't.

So he'll go up one place. P 11. Yeah. So currently, the issue here is Silverstone has the longest pit lane time. You're in the pit lane longer than anywhere else on the calendar here. So overcutting and undercutting can be really make or break for a race strategy here. And McLaren have the two versus one once again where they can go, right, I don't know, let's say Piastri gets that off ahead of Norris as they're situated on the grid to start with. He's stuck behind Max Verstappen.

But Norris is maybe a. second and a half back. Or maybe they go for the undercut. Or maybe they decide to run him really long. Those guys get wrapped up in a really long pit lane. And actually, he's able to unleash himself into clean air because he isn't stuck behind the Staping anymore. And he gets the jump. It's going to be so interesting how they will play this tactically over Max Verstappen, who is flying solo at the front there with this, what feels like a really experimental racing setup. Yeah, I, when it comes to Sonoda, he's half a second behind Max Verstappen in Q2. And that's ultimately led to him being knocked out, for Stappan is safely through.

The problem is half a second with the current grid, that's a lot of time. It was four, in Q1, it was four tenths to the drop. Yeah, yeah. Between first and 16th place, there were four tents in it. That is crazy how close this ring is. Half a second, like five years ago, and he's qualifying P6, P7 every time. But you can't get away with it now. What he really needed to do was be where Antonelli is, which is, sure,

Antonelli didn't trouble Russell, and he didn't trouble any of the top. top six, really, but he saw off the rest of the midfield, which Sonoda isn't able to do. Looking at the practice times on Friday, and yes, it's a difficult comparison because we don't expect conditions to be the same on Sunday compared to Friday. But the cars in front of him, Carlos Seines, Alonzo, Behrman, he wasn't quicker than them in the long runs. Like he was, it's not like he was off the pace of the midfield, but he was very firmly in the midfield when it came to that long run. So I don't know, maybe he'll make a few positions, but it wouldn't shocked me if he didn't. McClaren, second and third, Piastri just ahead of Landau Norris,

not much to separate them this time out. Piastri had provisional poll after the first run, didn't improve on the second run. Lando Norris did improve, but not by enough with not being able to improve in the final sector, meaning he couldn't get ahead of his teammate. Pretty close between them. As expected, as has been all season long, where they are this close to each other. I think You mentioned it back after the last Grand Prix, that every time that Norris has gone to wing, Piastri has seemingly gone and bounced back immediately, either taking a better qualifying result or the victory itself.

And he's kind of done it here today. It looks like after practice, Norris might have had the upper hand and might have been the fast of the two drivers. And maybe race pace will dictate that that could be the case here. But qualifying, Piastri hanging the whole way through. I don't think at any point really it looked like Norris was outright going to be beating Piastri. And every time Piastri went at the second lap, it was there or better than Norris is.

And that was displayed in Q3, even though he didn't improve the first run enough to still beat Land. And Norris kind of said everything you need to know that on worse conditions, on more of a banker-style run where you're not risking everything, Piastri is able to outdo Norris, despite the gap that they had at the Austrian Grand Prix last time. It shows that Piastri is back. He's bounced back very quickly from the second place in Austria. It'd be really interesting to see how they race each other off the line

when they're stuck behind Max Verstappen. And if they go aggressive, if they work together, and then maybe fight later wrong in the race, how the team prioritises this. Because we heard, obviously, from the radio message in Austria, that, you know, Oscar, don't do that kind of move again, no, 50-50 moves, be careful around each other. It will be really interesting to see how,

when neither of them are wing in the race, how they decide to actually play this and whether they're allowed to go at it one by one. What do you think, Ben? Well, yeah, it would be interesting because Austria, they had a massive advantage. and it doesn't look like they're going to have that advantage here. Qualifying and practice indicates they won't,

even if they do end up being the fastest car. It's probably not a large margin. But we have seen Suzuki earlier in the year where Vastappen got pole position and Piaastri and Norris are both directly behind him. And even then there was a little bit of discussion about how to play it and Norris having had a number of laps behind Vastappen, should Piastri be given a go. If that sort of situation unfolds again,

I don't think it will play out the same way again. So I'm not sure how it goes. I think both can be happy with their efforts in qualifying. I don't think either of them will be delighted. I think both of them will look at that poll up of Vastappen and say, if I hooked it all together, I could have had it. You know, Norris, that final sector, Piastrian couldn't improve on the second run. It feels like an obvious statement here, but Vestappen will be delighted,

as we heard in his radio message when he got told that, a poll, you know, that's simply lovely coming over, which is great to hear again in that excited time. It's lovely to hear, I'm actually excited. But Oscar will be happier than Lando, right? He may not have poll, but his title rival is behind him. And essentially, if the race ends in the same one, two, three that we have in qualifying, Oscar Priostri extends his championship advantage over his teammates.

So, yeah, he'll come out of this and go, I could have had poll, but, ah, the guy who has got pole isn't my teammate. So that's a wing for him. Landon, on us will be by far the most frustrating out of the three there. To be that close and to be all the way back in third will be a real frustration for him, especially after the exceptional performance that he put together in Austria.

He'll be looking at that. In fact, when we're going, I'm not on the front row there, I'm that close to the front and I'm not on the front row that my teammate is and that's the real difference between it. He'll be, I think, quite gutted that he hasn't been able to convert this and beat his teammate. I think so as well because when you think, when you think about the way Austria panned out,

we said all the way throughout the weekend and in the review, it felt like Norris had the advantage from the off on Friday, well, from FP2. He didn't do FP1, but from FP2 onwards. It always felt like Norris had the advantage. And then he carried that fruit to qualifying

and then carried it through to the race. Here it looked like Norris yesterday had a bit of an advantage on Piastri, but it hasn't gone the same way. Piastri has worked his way back into it today. He was far more competitive today than he was yesterday. And it's a fine margin, but that's what you're going to get with these two.

Five margins that will decide whether you're second or third on the grid. And Norris being the chaser, yeah, he's got to be the more disappointed of the two. Looking slightly further back, and I say slightly, because there wasn't a large gap separating those two from George Russell in fourth, 0.137 away from the pole position time of Max Verstappen. Kimmy Antonelli, a little bit further back about three and a half temps. he's in seventh. What will Mercedes-maker that session? I think they'll be really happy with the way George Russell performed.

They spoke about this in commentary how, obviously, George Russell was in his first lap in Q3 on used tires and the deficit between using new tires. They were saying was around six tenths of a second. And at that point, he was, I think, 0.617 or something like that off a pole. So the fact that he's ending up only being a tenth away from pole position and that close to the McLaren, who you'd argue before we finished Q3 were the favourites,

quite comfortably to go into pole, to be that close, that's really reassuring for them. But it once again, seminks that the Mercedes can be quick in conditions that completely suit them. In a call a day where the rubber doesn't really matter if it goes off that quickly because again, it's a qualifying lap, where clean air is clear. The Mercedes is good. It's competitive.

It's completely able to be there with the Ferraris, with the McLaren's. And I do think that Russell has kind of burgled this one because at no point that I think he was going to be in front of both Ferraris. I thought at least Hamilton or LeCler would have been there in front of him and would have been the ones fighting Norris for that P3 spot at a worst case scenario it felt like through a lower qualifying.

So George Russell, I think, will be really, really happy actually to be in fourth place. Whereas Kimmy Antingelli, this is, this was good, but also not great from Kimmy Antingelli. And he built into this session because there were a couple of instances

in earlier Q1, Q2. He looked like he could be going out. He had to get a lap him right at the end of Q1, put him all the way back up to P8 or P9, I think it was. But he was sitting in the drop zone before that, and he was P17, and he needed to get a lapping at the death, and he does. But Q2 is the same. On that final run, he goes out.

I think he's in P-13 at that point. Has to get a lapping. Just does. Goes up to P8. It's not that convincing, but gets it in there. And then Q3 comes around. And as we mentioned, only against Sengoda, he's able to do what is needed. He beats the three cars that have snuck into Q3, you know, you're gasoline, you're a long.

So he beats those guys. but he's still a ways away from the rest of that pack, the actual top six. And that's where we now need to start seeing him consistently close the gap, not necessarily beating Russell, but closing the gap to be a part of that conversation. But seventh isn't a bad thing. If something happens up front, he's in the fight, if he gets a good strategy going on, he could definitely be a headache for those in front of him. But I think Mercedes will secretly be wanting just a little bit more.

Yeah, it was okay. It was, and it's difficult to give it any more than an okay. And it might be semantics, but it's a question of whether you think he's leading the midfield or he's on the back of the front runners. Because that's kind of the position he's occupying here. He'll move back a few positions with that three place grid penalty, but equally, that could have been worse. I think he was going into this session hoping that he'd only have to overtake a couple of midfield cars in the race rather than half a dozen as it could have been if he was subject to a surprise Q2 knockout. So it's okay from Antonelli's side. from Russell and I guess more Mercedes overall their side,

it's better than I thought it was going to be because Friday looked bad. It didn't look good at all. And it might not be good tomorrow. We'll see what race pace looks like. But he's further ahead than I thought he was going to be. I thought we were looking at a 6-7 or a 7-8 or something like that for Mercedes. So it's difficult to say, obviously they went early in Q3 or at least the second run.

They went very early probably because of the fact they were on used to. tires for that first stint. At that point, I think you've got all the track evolution out the way. So it's probably not going to impact too much that they didn't go right at the death. But equally, we are talking about a third of a tenth of a second here, separating him and Piastri. If he goes right at the end, the same way that Vastappan does, maybe it's enough for the front row. He doesn't have to make up much time at all. Orang, Ali, we heard Trinando Alon also be quite vocal on the team radio.

certain Mercedes that was in his way. That's a penalty for sure. Good for us. Less positions that we have to make up. It wouldn't matter anyway, because a longso will make up the place regardless. But what did you make of that? You think that was blocking?

Think that's a penalty? It's just a lot of so being a longso. It's just a longso being a cheeky little bugger, isn't it? I mean, he's got a point, but like, he knows exactly what he's doing. Yeah. He's playing the radio there and I hope that he gets something.

Although, I don't think it will really matters. We know that Antigali will go back to what? 10th place to start the race? Yeah, I think so, when all the penalties have worked their way through. But yes, Alonzo Wilson indeed start ahead of him. Let's take a quick break. We've still got Ferrari to discuss on the other side and plenty more from Q1 and Q2. At Desjardin, we speak business.

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with unbeatable promotions and jackpots that can turn any mundane moment into a golden opportunity at Golden Nugget Online Casino. Take a spin on the slots, challenge yourself at the tables, or join a live dealer game to feel the thrill of real-time action, all from the comfort of your own devices. Why settle for less when you can go for the gold at Golden Nugget Online Casino? Gambling problem call connects Ontario 1866531-260-19 and over physically present in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nuggettcasino.com for details. Please play responsibly. Welcome back everyone. Sam, I have to admit, going into this qualifying session or at least going throughout the qualifying session,

I thought there could be a pole on the cards here or very close to a poll. And it's not like they're miles back in fifth and sixth, and both of them, Hamilton and then LeCler, just over two temps back. But I can't help feeling that, nearly. I'm going to be really uncouth here.

I was blue-bald. Fair. It was almost there. It was almost there. and then it never happens. It just never happens for you. When they are 1-2 in Q2, and they did that strategy brilliantly.

Their Q2 runs were brilliant, sensationally timed, dig it all right. Why so many teams, and maybe you know more on this thing I do than my idiot brain, why so many teams did their fresh tires at the start of Q2

and then did their faster run on the used set at the end of Q2, when Ferrari did it the other way around, and massively benefited from that, I don't know why you would do that, but it paid off a Ferrari because they absolutely nailed the positions. They nailed the runs. Brilliant for both.

And it is the first time, even though Hamilton has now beaten LeCler a couple of times in qualifying, this really felt like the first time where it was every session. It was expected. Yeah. Hamilton was doing the work. He was doing the job. And I saw a few reactions to, you know,

Hamilton normally and Hamilton when he rocks up to Silverstone. And let's just say, the ancient beast is awakened. And here's something else around here. So when you get to the end of sector two in that Q3 lap and you see purple, purple, and you're going, uh-oh, uh-oh, Silverstone's about to erupt because Lewis Hamilton's about to pull it on pole in a Ferrari at Silverstone.

And then he's fifth. That is heartbreaking. Heartbreaking. Yeah, it might be a bit of British bias. Who cares? It is heartbreaking because that is a great thing for all F1 to. see for Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari on Parliament. That would be awesome.

But it was a slight mistake. Nonetheless, that slight mistake still puts him in front of Charlotte Clare, which is impressive. Is Charlotte Clare just seemed half a step off of it today? Unable to really ever feel 100% comfortable. Still doing a good job putting it the space behind his teammate. You know, they're right there together. I do think that Ferrari is still obviously not right there with the McLaurians and Vastappan. But they should have been in Russell today.

I do think that they should have both been in front of Russell. They have the car. They have the drivers. They should be there. Russell's burgled his way to fourth. But if the race pace is good, if they're able to play the weather and strategize well, which they have been slightly better at, then there's a real chance that they could be in with a chance of a podium for at least

one if they've got both of their drivers tomorrow. Yeah, the session that nearly was, and it hasn't been their strength full season long qualifying. They have really struggled. We had early in the season at Imola where both cars even failed to make Q3. So starting fifth and sixth, not the end of the world, but it did feel like two, three, two, four, three, four. All of these were possible and maybe even a pole position with how they went in the first couple of sectors. Good to see Lewis Hamilton somewhere back to his best and being the lead Ferrari.

It's not something that needs to happen for him every single weekend at this stage. There'll be a lot more emphasis on what happens next year. but it hasn't happened at all really this season, apart from a couple of times. So it's good to see him be the lead Ferrari. Leclair, like you say, it always felt like he was not 100% on it. And to the fact that Leclair,

not 100% on it is only two terms back from pole. She'll tell you everything you need to know about Charlotte LeClaire. So, yeah, they might feel like they've lost a position or two versus what they could have achieved. In terms of race pace, difficult to judge. So hard, so hard to go where they're sitting at the moment. Lewis Hamilton's run on Friday was not good, and he said he was suffering from graining,

so if that was a bit of a one-off issue, then he'll be okay. Charles LeCler's long run pace on Friday, very good. Not far off, I think, the McLaren's, and clear of pretty much everyone else. Verstappans were, again, a bit tough to read because he didn't do too many laps. but in terms of like Ferrari versus Mercedes, Ferrari were very comfortably clear in the hands of LeCler. So if things go their way, I wouldn't be surprised if one or even both of them find a podium.

I think that should be a target for at least one of them starting fifth and sixth. It was so hard to read that practice session. Hamilton topping FP1, LeCler was brilliant in, was it, FP3? But then Hamilton gets a red flag on his best run in FP3 as well, isn't able to convert the time. It's really topsy-turvy. for them. So hopefully, we, hopefully we get the right conditions where all of these teams at the front feel like they can really push and go at it and we get a real, I mean, Silverstone nine times

out of ten will deliver a belter. So I'm expecting something pretty great tomorrow. But yeah, tricky to see how Ferrari going to turn out. In the midfield, absolutely classic has story here. Olly Bearman struggled a bit with qualifying this year. He's had a few Q1 eliminations, not had too many Q3 appearances to this point in the season. Finally delivers one here. Not only that, he is the lead car in that midfield in 8th. He picks the weekend where he's got a 10 place group penalty. It's so harsh, isn't it?

It's so harsh. How do you muck it up again, Haas? It's not even, it's what Haas's fault. It's Oliverman's fault. It's a silly mistake the way he sped under these red flag conditions. Putting it in the wall as well in the pitch. lane. That's a real rookie error. It's on him.

It's a rookie error. It's silly. And it's cost him today. And this is a learning for him because he had the pace. He's got brilliant pace. His qualifying was always brilliant. All over the sessions. Never looked in doubt. At one point, it goes up to P3 in one other sessions with a great lap. The hearse

has clearly got some pace if they can actually unlock it. He was comfortably better than Ocon. He did a great job at delivering over Ocon. Again, that's always great to to see if a rookie to it. Yeah, right? That's a huge gap to beat your experienced teammate. But it's really frustrating to see a driver perform so well at one moment. And then he's already costing himself.

He's going to end up starting, what, P-18 tomorrow? Yeah, if he doesn't take further penalty, which I guess he won't. But if you're getting any P-U in there, maybe it's worth doing, maybe. But it's a real loss, unfortunately, because points were definitely on the cars if they were able to start the race where he actually qualified. But a great lap and the raw pace is there and HAST did look competitive. So maybe if they do go at it and it goes well for them tomorrow, they can make up some points.

We've seen Oliberna on more than one occasion go from last place to a P-Tang or a P-11. Maybe he could do it again here somewhere. He's definitely very quick. So it's not all doom and gloom. It's just a lot more work to do than he would ever actually need to. Yeah, the negative is it was an awful error from him in FP3 and a very deserved penalty, I think. It's still four penalty points.

I understand it, and I'm not against that decision in isolation. But when you consider the Colopinto incident in Austria does not get four penalty points and the Norris Fiatria incident got absolutely none. I understand the red flagginess. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I understand that. I understand it's a safety violation. Yeah, yeah.

Sure. I'm not against this decision. It's just with all the other decisions. I'm like, yeah. Yeah, it's hard to add them up. Yeah. But from a better news perspective, what a great lap. And not only is he the lead car in that midfield,

he is a 10th and a half, exactly, clear of Fernando Alonzo in 9th. That's not a small margin to the rest of the midfield. That's impressive. He's less than a 10th away from Antonelli in P7. And he's less than six tenths away from the poll time of Max Verstappen. That is a wonderful effort. And it's not like it was a one-off brilliant lap from Berman. He looked good throughout all of qualifying.

Indeed, most of the practice as well when he wasn't binning it into a wall coming into the pits. So, and overall, Hask and qualifying this year haven't meshed very well. Like, they've been solid in terms of race pace, and that looks to be the case this weekend as well. But their qualifying pace has often been missing. Not here. That's a good sign for us. They just need to do it for both cars on one weekend. I don't know what it is, but it seems like where one driver goes well, the other,

really struggles. So you need to work back out for this new set of regulations. Fernando Alonzo P9, he'll start P8, we presume. He's the one with the upgrades this weekend. But yet it somehow felt like the same story as last weekend. Landstrol looks very good on Friday throughout the early part of practice. We get to end of FP3, started qualifying. Alonzo turns up.

He's got a Q3 here. And Landstrol doesn't turn up. out in 18th place. Again, he doesn't have the upgraded car. It's just pretty much the same story as last weekend, though. Yeah, I think Alonso just really likes to build into his race weekends. He takes, he takes his time in practice. And he's aware, I think he knows what practice is for. Practice isn't the time to go out there and set your best lap of the weekend. It does feel like, stroll reaches his 100% by the end of FP3. And that is all he's got for the rest of the weekend. You can't go any fast in that. And Alon says, like, okay, I've literally just

turned on. I've just hit the power button, wait until I boot up fully. And I'll, and I'll I'm arriving, you know. And he has. It's a great lap. The Aston Martin's upgrade seemingly keeping them with the pace of the rest of the midfield. It's not set in the world on fire. They're not electric.

But another Q3 appearance of Fernando Alonso. And that's what we need to see until we get to 2026, where hopefully Nui is able to kick in and we see an ultimate Aston Martin with a very hungry Fernando Alonso in theory. So this is good. This is good. Let's see if the race basically translate. It's a brilliant job, of course, last time out in Austria. Let's see if he's able to do the same again here at Silverstone.

Yeah, and this season so far, the race pace for Alonzo and Aston Martin has at times been a bit dodgy. Tireware hasn't always been great. It looked a bit better, I thought, on Friday. So I think there's more hope of him holding on to that position similar to what happened last time out in Austria. Alpine, might as well take a look at them. So we've got another team where there's one Q3 appearance and one Q1 knockout. Pierre Gazley's in 10th. which will be ninth when

Berman's penalties applied. Colopinto all the way down in last largely related to the crash that brought out the red flag in Q1, Q Flavio Briatore with his head in his hands. Positives and negatives here. Gassi should go twice, right?

Antigali will go behind him? Oh yeah, good point, yeah. So we'll be up to eighth, which is... Very true. That is, in that album, the Alpig is a dog. It is, and that's rude to dogs. if I'm honest. Yeah, I like dogs.

Yeah, I like dogs a lot. And I'm helping a much slower than a lot of dogs. Your little pip will outrun that alping. Easy, pizzie, mate. Easy. You know. So Gassley's doing magical things in that car. This is his second Q3 appearance in a row at this point.

He's able to really get something out of that car. And Gass is the kind of guy that because of his Red Bull appearance so early in his career, much like Albin, he's kind of shafted him, because he's had to reset. He had to go back to the back. He had to prove himself to everyone again that he's actually got this brilliant pace. And for years now,

he has been one of the best drivers in the midfield for years consistently. And he can't get a car. He can't catch a break. You know, that Alpha Tauri, when it was Alpha Tauri, was good, not great. And he regularly performed brilliantly in that.

The Alpine was okay a couple of years ago. And when it was all right, he was performing well. And it's a big of a steady downhill slope in terms of form for them. But he's still elevating it much higher than he was. On the flip side, Colopinto, this is bad. This is not a good look for Franklin.

Timing. Yeah, and you could see it from Flav's reaction, right? You can see the head in the hands. I don't know if he's going to be in that car after summer. I do not know if that's going to be happening for him. You saw how quickly they would get a ring of doing. And I think Flavio Briatore is so happy to go, you know, see you later. You're yesterday's news that if he's got someone that's available that is willing to drive for him,

he'll make that cool. I don't think it's about cash. I don't think it's about, you know, sponsors. I think it's just about he wants two drivers in that car that can elevate Alping. When you've got one guy binning it into the wall and then retiring the car and the other guy is able to be in Q3,

he's like, well, why can't both my drivers be at least that close? Why can't one B and P-11 and 1BP saying it should be possible? Colopin's been nowhere in here. He's had one good weekend in terms of a total package. This is a really poor start for him. Also, that Alpine can twerk. It can. which we didn't know.

Yes, which in real pace terms probably isn't a great thing, but at least you've got something going for you, Alpine. You say that he might not be in the seat after summer. I'm not convinced he's going to be in the seat of Belgium, to be honest. It wouldn't shock me. It is Alpine. They are capable of pretty much anything, apart from winning races. Yeah, it's a bad error.

and it was at a time where grip was seemingly pretty low for everyone. Everyone was struggling in that final sector to really keep those tires alive for the last two or three corners. You've got to feel it out at that point. There's still a long way to go in Q1. So a poor error from Collopinto. Pierre Gasley, working wonders. That car doesn't deserve to be in Q3. That car in race trim and qualifying trim, I thought going into this session was the slowest car.

Wouldn't be shocked to see him outside the points again tomorrow just based on how bad that car is. Yeah, he might be needing rain to ensure that overtaking is difficult or something along those lines because maybe tireware won't be as difficult for him to manage as it was in Austria, but I think there are a number of cars behind him that will have better race pace inherently than he will. I wanted to spend just a couple of minutes on racing balls because they looked really good yesterday. and that pace seems to have faded today. Hadjar's the leading racing balls driver, but he's only 13th.

Of course, we've seen him in Q3 quite a few times this year, but he's middle of Q2. Liam Lawson couldn't even make it that far. He was 16th, first person knocked out in Q1. I thought there was going to be a bit more than from them. Yeah, it just seemingly didn't work for them. What's odd is it hasn't worked for both of them. And that's usually not the story with Racing Bulls so regularly.

one of them has been just knocked out in a session and the other has gone on to be, usually in Hajar's case, the guy that's in Q3, usually where you see Oliver Berman, that's more often than not being Isaac Hager. So the fact that he's sitting Plum Central, which is a famous expression,

in Q2, and you've got Liam Lorsing, who sat there in 16th place. You know, there are only three places away from each other in the end of it, which I think will relieve Liam Lorsing after he was that car knocked out in Q1. It's really odd. And the conditions, whilst they were different to Friday,

I don't think they were that drastic to see such a shifted pace. So maybe their qualifying pace around here is a great. And actually, their race pace will come alive a little bit. And we might see them moving their way up through the field. Hadja's got Sengoda right next to him. Be interesting to see if he could beat him off the line. The Williams of Sites in 11th place, which again will move forward, I believe, to 10th. That will be a tricky car to overtake.

It looks like he's finally started to get that Williams working for him. And they've got album right behind as well. So if Alba is actually feeling better in the race pace rather than qualifying, it could be a really, really tough battle for the final couple of points there. And racing balls have just made it a little bit harder for themselves. Yeah, I was going into this session thinking, right,

they need a double Q3 appearance here because they seemingly have the best qualifying pace of the midfield runners. They don't have the best race pace of the midfield runners. I think Aston Martin, at least in the hands of Alonzo, have an advantage over them. Based on the Sims that I was running, I think Williams have got an advantage over them as well.

They seem fairly similarly paced to the likes of maybe Hass and Salba, but equally, if you're similarly paced, you're probably not making any progress. So a bit of a disappointing session for them, really. A quarter of a second separated Hadjar and Lawson in Q1, and that kind of felt like where they were versus one another. This is a weekend where I think Hadjar has been the faster of the two, probably buy about that margin. But yeah, disappointing for them

that neither of them could find their way into Q3. Any last things, catch your eye before we had to drive with the session? I was disappointed with Salba today. Well, she says a lot about where Salber are at the moment because to have them both fucked out in Q1 was actually a bit of a surprise. I thought, especially with Borseletto's initial run,

where he popped it in into the top 10. I thought he had been fighting out there. I thought he might have been, you know, 14th or 15th come the end of qualifying. And he's a bit further back than I expected. And they also bailed very early. Yeah, that's my problem. They were the first two cars out, parking it up.

And that is when you're one of those teams where it can make or break a weekend by being maybe two or three places higher, that's a bizarre choice to make. So really frustrated with how Salva handled the session. Yeah, that was my biggest takeaway was, you know, Bortoletto and Holkenberg are separated by a tenth of a second. I don't think either of them have done particularly badly here. No.

But, yeah, I just thought, Q1, you get a lot of track evolution. We saw, I think it was Alex Album went out very late in Q1 and improved drastically to go somewhere in the top three or four. There was opportunity to improve if you were late out on track. And they weren't. So I don't think they got the best of the conditions. Maybe they'll make a bit of progress. We've seen Holkenberg do it before.

We saw him do it last time out when he started 20. if it ended up in the points. So not the end of the weekend, but the only team that has had a double Q1 knockout. You can definitely overtake here. That's a benefit for this. Very much so.

Who was your driver at the session? Easy one for me. After that, Matt, it's Max Verstappen. I doubted him at my peril. I never thought he was going to end up kicking it on pole position after the moaning,

and he delivered an absolute peach, absolute beauty. So easy for me. Max Verstappen. Yeah, Vastappen's definitely in the mix. bearman definitely would be if he serves a shell position

at a principle I'm not going to give it to Behmer because of the penalty in FP3 I appreciate we're rating qualifying here but that 10 place penalty is going to hurt him

and then really the other contender for me is Pierre Gasley and that's how we'll give it to I think that car is the slowest car on the grid and he's got it for Q3 yeah it's really impressive

you look at Stroll Lawson out in Q1 Gassie realistically should be one of those places really really brilliant yeah I think so And he was very close to be in one of those places. He was.

He was. Together the lap at the end of that Q1 session. A very interesting qualifying review, Sam, but I feel like the race review might be even more interesting tomorrow. Oh, don't jigs it, Ben. Don't jigs it. Let's like it simmer. That tension is definitely building.

And Silverstone, as I mentioned, always delivers a banger. So hopefully we get some epic six, seven carway fight for a victory where you never go until the final lap, who it is, it's going to come out on top. skip with us for the weekend to come back straight after the race we will be doing our race review is usually out within a few hours after the race goes we'd like to try to be the first out there so you know make sure you come back and if you're thinking oh one a little bit more a little bit more patrons down below the links in the description where you can get power rankings and we do that on

on Monday as well so we go through every single driver's race and give them a score out of 10 and we talk about our driver the season so far worst driver of the season you get the picture come and give it a go you can always cancel it after a month anyway thanks for listening we'll see you tomorrow In the meantime, I've been Tongue and Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late. Podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.