The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Dutch GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: August 30, 2025

The McLaren drivers are closer than ever, with razor-thin margins creating an exciting qualifying session in Zandvoort! Ben and Sam break down all the action, from a surprising P4 to a double Ferrari Q3 performance, and Stroll’s costly mistake... >>> Don't miss out - limited tickets left for our 2025 LIVE SHOW in Austin TX! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CLICK HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to grab yours or for more info!

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Welcome to the Late Breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking. We're back reviewing Live F1 for the first time in weeks. Dutch Grand Prix qualifying we're reviewing today, Sam. We were just discussing before we came on air. it is good to see little race cars go around a track.

Well, not so little. They may be next year, but yeah, big boys go around a little track because Zandvort really is a small, tight, twisty circuit. If you're new to F1, your first time watching this kind of race track, then let us know your thoughts in the comments below. But it is so good, so, so good to see F1 live on our screens, and we've got this championship hotting up

because those McClara boys put on a show for us today. So much to get into, Ben. to get into indeed. And as reference, despite the fact that we have had a summer break of nearly a month, not a lot has changed out front when it comes to the pecking order in F1. Oscar Piastri taking pole position just about ahead of Lando Norris by 0.0.0.12 of a second. Max Vastappen is then third, albeit 0.263 back. Both Ferraris in Q3. We'll discuss that a little bit later on, not both Mercedes in Q3. We'll discuss that later on as well,

and plenty more as we go throughout the midfield too. But let's start out front with that McLaren battle. We saw Lando Norris was fastest in all three practice sessions leading into qualifying. Early parts of qualifying, it still felt like Lando Norris might have a very slender advantage over his teammate. But it's something of a repeated story. Not the first time we've said this year.

When we get into crunch time, it's Oscar Pastery who delivers. Yeah, it seems like it came down to one corner to begin with. In that first sector, you've got that incredible banks left-hander. It's such an amazing call. I've seen so many views from there over the last couple of days through practice and now through qualifying. Watching a Formula One car fly through that banking is incredible.

It's a real must-see-out. We need to go and see it in person, Ben. But they commented, especially on comms, that it looks like Landon Norris had a different way of getting the car hooks into that corner. He was able to get the rotation in that sweet spot where it meant that you weren't losing the kick off the corner from the rear tires. He wasn't breaking the traction, which meant he got a bigger exit from that core due to that rotation. So he carried the speed all the way through that incredibly fast and tight and twisty middle part of the racetrack. And we're talking very

fine details here, but Piastri was losing out. It was milliseconds, but milliseconds in Formula One can be a very big margin. It looked like after seeing some footage, after rings of data, Piastri started to recognize where that failure was becoming for him, and he started to pull it back. And you suddenly started to notice that Piastri would have a green fur sector, and then suddenly a purple middle sector. And that's where that sector starts during that fast, twisted sector. So he really started to develop interesting that both drivers used their ties up rapidly throughout the lap. And regularly their file sector was often a yellow sector and not improving, not even a personal best for them. So so tight, incredibly close.

I can't believe once again we've had a pole margin of 0.0.0.12, less than two tenths of a second again between these guys. Let's like a tenth of a second, sorry, between these guys. It's incredible to see that whilst the rest of the grid do seem very far off this McLaren pair, at least we have two incredibly talented drivers going toe to toe to toe, wheel to however you are going to say it, every single race that we get here. I think someone's mentioned that we're during our McLaren crash and that turn one is incredibly close. to go wheel to wheeling. Yeah, I mean, whoever's not in the lead coming out of term one is going to find it difficult around a track like this to regain that initiative. So that is going to be one to look out for tomorrow. This McLaren is still very good update.

I don't think there was much suspense heading into this Grand Prix about whether that would be the case. We mentioned in our preview, it's not like this McLaren really has any weak tracks, but we felt like this was going to be one of their stronger ones so far this year, based on the characteristics. And that's exactly how it played out. As you referenced, like the final sector, that basically the only straight on the entire track,

is really where McLaren were giving up a little bit of time. But a lot of it is intentionally, they can get away with it, and they can just be so much quicker, particularly in that first sector ahead of everyone else. The middle sector, it was really only Vastappen that could live with them. So they're just so far ahead after two sectors

that it kind of didn't matter. but this is another showing of just how close these two are. We saw two runs from both of them, so four laps really, and all four of them are within like a tenth of a second or so, two tenths of a second. And it was just going to be a question of who could hook together those three sectors. I'm not even convinced we actually saw that 100%. I think Piastri gave up a little bit on his best run,

but he got the most that either of them got across. those four laps. And it's not the first time we've said that this year. I think Lando Norris will be disappointed. He's not walked away with Paul here. I think this is the sort of track where he maybe natively has a slight advantage on Piastri, and that was showing throughout the practice sessions. But as we have so often seen, Piastri does find a way of reviewing the data, improving as the weekend goes on, and finding something when we get to Q3, right at the end of Q3. even throughout practice, the gap between the two of them looked like it was going to be two temps, two and a half temps.

But you never felt like it was going to be that much when we got to qualifying because Piastri would put together a great first sector in FP3 and then not a great middle sector. You felt that if he was able to hook them all together, the gap between him and Norris was going to be, well, nought. 0.0.1, too. It was always going to be really close. fair play to Piastri,

crunch time, he gets it done again. He does, he does. And whilst I think that's a real benefit of Piastri's ability and what he's able to do, if I'm Landon Norris, I'm in Landon Norris' camp, would look at this too downheartedly? There's been a couple occasions where Norris has qualified behind Piastri, especially at tracks like this, similar to example.

Imola springs to mind, Hungary springs to mind, where actually not being in the immediate runging has ended up benefiting Landon Norris because he's been able to take on a different, strategy approach. We saw on both occasions, especially in Imola, that Piastri was almost baited into the wrong strategy line and that made he finished behind his teammate. The same could be said here. You know how hard it is to overtake? Strategy is going to be key. If we get a wet session or a rain affecting session in the race tomorrow, as every chance, if you can time that pit stop well

enough, neither norris can still very much come out on top here. My biggest takeaway from this, which is a backhanded compliment McLaren is just how far away. every other team is right now. The gap between, in Q1, the gap between, I think, fifth and 16th was about three-tenths. But the gap between, you know, P-1 and P-3, in Q-3,

was over three-tenths. And even back then, like the Ferraris are seven, eight-tenths off in one of the shortest racetracks that what you have on the calendar. They are so, so far ahead of everyone else. So it's a little bit painful to watch now, you know, and realistically,

no one else is going to be getting close. Yeah, I think that's the case. And it wouldn't surprise me if that is the case, a lot of the tracks that we go to for the rest of this season, but particularly here. I mean, the gap between themselves

and Vostappen and even the midfield, it's actually less than what it was looking like it was going to be after free practice three, which is ridiculous to say. But yeah, incredible performance, once again, from McLaren, and we'll see what they do, see what they do tomorrow. Speaking of, Max Vastappen,

felt like a box ticking exercise, which kind of downplays what he, done here, but it felt like P3 was achievable and P3 is what he's got. I mean, he's nearly three-tenths of a second clear of everyone else behind him. But realistically, that first sector, that Red Bull just couldn't live with the McLaren, right? No, it couldn't. I actually think this is a secret masculap from Max Verstappen here. I really think he's pulled something out of the bag because you look at the previous form of where that Red Bull is being. Hungary is a very relevant racetrack right, right before the summer break. And it's very similar in the type of

of corners that we have here, the level of downfall is required. And he can barely touch the top five, getting close to the top five in Hungary. Yeah, we rock up here to Zambor. And, okay, the setup might be a bit more comfortable for him. They might have re-agressed some things over the summer break. But they haven't had any running in that time. They've had some practice to build into it. And that's all.

So the fact that he has put three tents between himself and George Russell is a major achievement for Max Verstappen. That is an incredible achievement to be that far clear of Ferraris, which have been looking better over all as a package, of Mercedes, which have been better over all as a package. The fact that the closest team to him is the Cisker team, Isaac Hager, who is fourth,

which is incredible. The fact that we'll get on to Hager, because what a beautiful lap that was. But Max Verstappen has essentially put himself in a field of his own where the McLaren as a vehicle can't be touched. I think realistically, the top seven or eight drivers in Formula One right now if they're driving that car,

get on the front row of the grid. I think you've got to be really quite poor not to. And Max Verstappen has done what Max Verstappen does, and he's outclassed the rest of the field, and a car that I think realistically probably shouldn't be in P3. Yeah, it's one of those where I think he has pulled out an excellent lap. And annoyingly for him, he could have pulled out a five out a ten lap for his standards, and he still would have been third. Like he could have afforded to have been two and a half tenths slower,

and he still would have been third. But it was another excellent session we saw even for, throughout like the early stages of Q1, where he was able to take on used tires, where others needed to use new sets to make it through to Q2 and Q3. And his times were competitive even on used rubber, which, you know, is not easy, particularly around a track like Zambor where we are using softer tires here than we did last year. So fair play to Verstappen for what he's been able to achieve. It will be tricky if there is no rain tomorrow to do anything about the McLarence in front of him.

But he has every chance of finishing on the podium for sure. As you just mentioned, alongside Verstappen on the second row of the grid, not his teammate, but maybe his future teammate, who knows? It is the sister team and it is Isaac Hadja pulled out an excellent lap towards the end of Q3. still over half a second behind the poll time of the McLarence, but I don't think we were ever expecting the racing balls to be competitive with the Papaya team. But outside of that, he's a net P2, so not too bad whatsoever. Not too bad whatsoever at all.

And this lap was a real surprise, a real surprise, because if you're expecting a rogue car to appear in P4, you might be looking at and thinking, Fandu a long-soe, maybe on outside sharks, maybe Carlos Sikes, who did well to get where he was, even more so, maybe Liam Lawrence. who was having a really good qualifying session and was regularly out driving Isaac Caggar in the earlier sessions that we saw here. But it looks like once again, Isaac Cajar is kind of soaked up the pressure and in the last minute,

being able to deal a bit of a killer blow to his teammates' momentum. That's a real shame for Liam Lawson, who I actually think, and this is no real slight on him. It's just when Liam Larson is having a good session and I feel like he's driving well, it must be so frustrated to look over the garage and see that your teammate has got to put it next to Max Verstappen and is in P4. You were thinking, I was doing all right. I got into Q3. I beat you in a couple of sessions.

I felt like I was going really well. My biggest shock is just how competitive the racing ball actually is. After seeing it go around the last few races, after seeing it's kind of become a bit of a confused state, the way that car was building. And they were being overtaken. They were one of those cars that was being passed by the likes of the Kixalba. It was interesting to see just how well they came back into this summer break afterwards.

And actually they've delivered two cars inside Q3. and comfortably inside Q3 as well. A brilliant qualifying for both, but Hajjar, the real star here. It just shows you how talented this young man is. This racing balls is, I think, a reasonable car in the midfield. And it has been fairly solid throughout the year. I don't think they've had too many ups and downs compared to some of their rivals.

If you look at Aston Martin, they've really struggled at a few Grand Prix. But equally, they've had some brilliant ones like Hungary. Salba started awfully now quite a bit better. racing balls have kind of just been there. They've just been there all season long. But I think their strength is qualifying. Like they have managed to put together more double Q3 appearances and similar to what we've had today, more often than a lot of their rivals. Their issue is often can they convert that into race pace.

But this lap was so important from Hadjar because it is Zambor. It is going to be tough to make overtakes, even if some of those cars behind are quicker. And in many respects, he might have a bit of a buffer because if you've got the Ferraris and George Russell directly behind, let's say that all three of those do make their way past Hajjar, by the time that's happened, he might have a solid gap on Liam Lawson, Carlos Seines, Fernando Alonzo behind. So it could work out really well. If you're going to qualify P4 anywhere, make it somewhere like here or Monaco, if you're a midfield driver. So excellent from Hadjar. One point I did want to make.

and this is going to sound, not critical, this is going to sound like I'm down playing what Hadjar has done here, but it's not, it's a compliment. I think everyone below Hadjar underperformed in Q3, all six drivers below him. If I was having a look at the Q2 times versus Q3 times, I'm pretty certain Alonzo Seines, Lawson, Hamilton, LeCler, all went slower in Q3 than they did in Q2,

and Russell was about the same as well. Hadjar was the only one, that got out in Q3 and actually improved his time. And it's a point I've made before where not only is Hadjar making Q3 quite regularly, he's doing a very good job of taking advantage while he's there. He has had quite a few P8 starts, P7 starts this year. This obviously goes beyond that. But whereas others were kind of matching or even going worse than what they did in Q2,

Hadjar just pushed it out again. Yeah, it's interesting you bring that off. I've got the stats here. Hagear improves by two-tenths Q2 to Q3. Russell improves, but only by six one-hundredths. LeCler does not improve, is 4-100 slower. Hamilton is a 10th slower. Who comes next?

His teammate, Lawson, is a 10th and a half slower. And then behind him, Sainz is, or essentially almost bang on the same time. But it's Fernando Alonso, that's the big problem, because he is three-tenth slower. And if he puts that timing, he actually gets pretty much in front of both Ferraris and sits on the side George Russell. Yeah. And this is the point I wanted to make as we sort of go throughout this, the bottom half of the top 10 is that I think Lawson,

Sines and Alonzo will all be a little bit disappointed, particularly I think Alonzo and Lawson. I think Sines probably got the most out of the Williams. But, you know, in Alonzo's case, there's a few positions he's missed out on here. I actually think this is a really tough day for Ascom Martin. I think they've rocked up here and arguably they've got the third or fourth fastest car, around here and you look at where Alonkso has been put in this both in practice and in the early

parts of qualifying. He was sitting very pretty in the top five or six on regular occasions. So to lose Lance stroll in the fashion that they did, I mean, two sessions, two blimming car ending crashes, when the car is as good as it gets. What an absolute gumpsey. We'll get on to him in a minute. But Fanandro Alonso is arguably the bigger disappointment here because you expect so much from Fernando when he gets a competitive car in a place where he can attack. To end up being at the back end of Q3 is really almost poor form for Fernando also. So he'll look at Hajar in P4 and go, this car is good enough to be in P4. If he's beating a Mercedes and then Ferrari, we've got a better car.

We should be beating a Mercedes and a Ferrari. And I really think they have absolutely washed out here at Zambor. They should have two cars in Q3. One of them should probably be in the top five. Yeah, there'll be disappointment there for sure because throughout Friday's practice sessions, it looked like they would, they actually had a legitimate chance over one lap to be the second fastest car. Now, I think that was maybe slightly misleading and they didn't make as much progress from Friday to Saturday as some of the other teams did. But even so, I think you're right,

that mix from fourth down to 10th is so close that if Alonzo hooks together a fine lap, like he's, he's sick, fifth, something like that. And if he can do that, then so should his teammate. So Alonzo was probably underperformed by a couple of spots here, again, at a circuit where it might be tricky to get overtakes done. And I think a car that is maybe a little bit better over one lap than it is particularly the end of stints where they struggle a little bit more versus their rivals with tire wear. But it's still fewer positions that he's underperformed versus his teammate, Lance Stroll. What a waste, absolute waste of a car that is good enough. to score not only points but good points this weekend.

Yeah, I think this might be one of the biggest throwaways that we've got. When you look at how poor they were in spa, you can accept that they were both in the bottom, you know, they were both out in Q1. But you rock up with an opportunity like this, and they were, and also was good again in Hungary in the tracks of so many similarities. So to go from challenging those top runners

and to have such poor form to being last and tense, that a track that's so difficult to overtake at, when that big field battle is so tight and Ashton Martin are looking to improve and develop, it's so frustrating to have the foundations built so strongly, but then to have that finishing touch be so clumsy and so messy. So this is a really frustrating session for Ashton Martin. Yeah, I won't mince my words on the stroll incident. I think it was horrendous.

I think that's an awful mistake. The practice one, fine. I don't mind that whatsoever because there were quite a number of drivers that went off throughout the practice sessions, either into the barriers, are very nearly into the barriers. We had Hamilton spin quite a few times. You're trying to find the limits of the track and you get those throughout practice. I understand that. That's fine.

I didn't think it was that marginal what he did there. Like, he was very comfortably on the grass. There were a few others that were pushing it a little bit. I didn't think it was a, oh, that's unlucky. He's literally just got it. He went quite comfortably onto the grass. for that incident. I thought it was pretty inexcusable for a driver at his level. I just think it's frustrating that he's done it twice across this weekend. I know it's not the same

crash, but it's very similar in the way that they've had this incident. And so to throw the car into the war at this level, so early on in qualifying as well, essentially your first proper run, it really is embarrassing. It is embarrassing for such a highly qualified athlete who's being in the game for this long with a team that's got this much promise to be throwing it into a wall like this and you've got drivers who sit on the sidelines like Drugovich, who have never driven a Formula One car competitively, and they'll never get a go in this sport, because a driver like Lance Stroll is just misery impersonated in a Formula One car right now. It is abhorrently bad. He's so, so terrible at having a consistent run. No wonder he's got the most Q1 living

agents of all time, because he cannot drive that car consistently at all. He'll have one race Sarc's Silverstone where it's groundbreaking, and then the next day, he is the worst driver on the grid. I don't know, you know, if it wasn't for money, you'd be long gone, but when it's enough, enough. Okay, we've still got quite a bit to get into. We'll take a quick break, but after that, we're going to be looking at Mercedes, Ferrari, and everything from Q2 and Q1. Let's go to Ferrari next, shall we, Sam. So, P6 and P7, next to each other on the grid, half a tenths separating the two of them. It looked like Lewis Hamilton might actually have a small advantage over Leclair, but ultimately, Q3, it's LeCler that's won out by a small margin.

Correct me if I'm wrong. Your bold prediction was that they would both miss Q3. After Q1, I thought there is a good chance that could happen. Yeah, a bit of sweet for me on that one. Yeah, I got my bold prediction wrong, but also was surprised that they were both quite comfortably actually into Q3 in the end and were closer to the pointy end and they were the back. So good for Ferrari that it wasn't as close cut as we thought it was going to be. But I don't know what they found. I don't know what they understood. But you're right.

Between that first kind of run on Q1, where LeCler especially looked like he was in the drop zone, all the way through to the end of Q3 where they've ending up right next to each other, less than a tenth apart, it tells you that both drivers pretty much ending up maximizing what they could get in that car. I think Hamilton will be a little disappointed that he's. hasn't ended up in front of Charler LeClaire, but at least he's right next to him, because we've seen with so many other previous qualifying sessions

that the Clare will be P4, P5, P6, and Hamilton could be as far down as P15 or P16. The gap is minimised this time around, and that's what Ferrari need. So I'm not sure what they found. I'm going to hopefully read some stories about it, we'll get some research down, we'll see maybe what they've come to be more settled

or more comfortable, but at least they have found themselves positioned nicely in the middle of that Q3 session. It's still not good enough. They're still nearly a second away from the McLarence you are up front. And they are lucky as anything that we're going to have an entire new set of regulations coming out at the end of this season because they need a huge overhaul. Being this far away when your car is a team as prestigious as Ferrari is appalling.

It's so bad. If you'll understand those new regulations, go check out a previous episode. We did. We went through every 2026 regulation, how it's changing. Hopefully you enjoy it and find it interesting. And hopefully Ferrari have a listen. they can learn how to maximize what they're bringing to the new season because they need it. Fair play to LaClorian Hamilton for getting something out of it.

But the fact they're beaten by Hajjar tells you everything you need to know. Yeah, I think the peak of what they could have done today would have been fourth and fifth. So sixth and seventh is an okay results based on where the car is at the moment. Not particularly great, but equally not a disaster. And we keep coming back to it. But there is a reason that Ferrari are, albeit a long way back from McLaren, There's a reason they're second in the Constructors' Championship, and that's because LeCler and Hamilton are both pretty good drivers.

Even if Hamilton is underperforming versus what we've seen in the past, he's still there with LeCler half a tenth behind, whereas you look at Mercedes and Red Bull neither of which have a double Q3 appearance. So, yeah, a bit disappointing that they're not at least on the second row of the grid or maybe locked out the third row of the grid, but they're in the fight at least. I fought after LeClaire's second run in Q1. I didn't like the look of that whatsoever.

They were really struggling, particularly early on in the lap. And they found something, at least, as you said, when they got into Q2. I think they managed Q2 quite well going out as early as they did on the U-S set, setting a pretty good lap on the, or good laps on the new set. And then almost going out last at the end of Q2 to see if they needed to burn another set of new tires. In the end, they didn't. So I think they played that quite well. If they improve a little bit from Q2 to Q3, then they're probably looking at 4.4.5 here.

But yeah, they're in the mix. I mean, what are the expectations here that are around something like Zanvor, hope that they can maybe out-stratize the likes of Hager or maybe get the better of the single Mercedes of Russell? at most they're going to end up what? If there isn't a weird chaotic Grand Prix, they're going to end up, fifth and sixth, maybe fourth and fifth at best. Fourth and fifth is probably the target.

It's probably the target. They at least have, and it's a sad thing to say about Ferrari, they have the strategic advantage that they can 2V1 of racing bulls. Like, are we really there? Are we really there? Come on, Ferrari.

Let's just sweep the rest of this season under the rug. We'll get our team predictions out of the world. way because that's going to be an embarrassing sight and then we can move on swiftly. Yeah. Mercedes P5 and P11. So George Russell making it through to Q3 just about getting inside the top half of that Q3. Antonelli, the last one not to get through to Q3 in 11th.

It was looking closer between Russell and Antonelli. And even the gap between them in Q2 wasn't massive. 0.18. So just under two tenths of a second. I felt it was a little bit more encouraging from Antonelli. It was encouraging. And he made a really good improvement as well between Q1 and Q2. I think there was about a four-tenth difference between his two lap times,

which shows that he had great progression between the sessions. Unfortunately, just not enough. And this is where I get a little bit worried with Antigelli, a little bit skeptical with him, because they've changed those upgrade packages. He accepted that the car wasn't comfortable for him. So they've adapted the car to make sure that he's more comfortable. We come to a track where, in theory, this was saying he should be quite good.

They were a little bit unlucky that this is the hottest it's being all weekend. We're going to hit qualifying. We know that historically that Masegis just doesn't thrive well in very warm temperatures. But I was expecting this Mesaig's duo to both be in Q3. And whilst I think Russell will be okay with where he is, I think he'll have won't be to Tadja. He's more got one guy in front of him that realistically he would have beaten. Antigal is going to have a lot of cars that he should have beating. I think he probably should have been a heck of science.

I think he should be a heck of Lawson. With Alonso's poor lap, he should have beating him as well. But actually, I think Alonso should also be much further up there. I think if Antigelli is two places further forward, you accept it. At a racetrack like this, though, 11th place is going to be so difficult for him to recover into proper points from. Yeah. And it's kind of just where F1 is at the moment with you've got McLaren a long way out front. and then you've got these other teams, really, all other nine teams,

it's so close to the point where if you are two temps behind your teammate, that can be six positions difference. Like if 0.18 seconds, that's the gap between Russell and Ansonelli and Q2. If Norris is that much slower than Piastri, he's second. And we say this quite a bit about the Red Bull duo, for instance, and we'll get on Sonoda in a moment. There have been times where, you know, if Perez was nought point, 1-8 slower than Vastappen a couple of years ago, that's good enough for second.

If Sonoda's that gap behind, he's actually more, but if Sonoda's that gap behind, suddenly he's not next to Vastapan. It's, yeah, it's the way that it's worked out for Antenelli in his debut year, that Mercedes have kind of gravitated back towards the top of the midfield, in terms of time, at least, that if you're not on it, like Russell consistently is, you do run the risk of getting knocked out in Q1 and Q2 quite frequently. So it would be tough, tough to get many points from 11th on the grid. We'll see how many.

I'm not sure if it's a compliment or not, but it's very interesting to see that Russell and Bastappen are always very close together on the grid. And it looks like here today, their teammates are right next to each other on the grid. Now that Red Bull is famously very difficult to drive in that second seat. Is it worrying, do you think, that Seng Oga and Antingelli are this close to each other? I'm fine from Antenelli's perspective. It's his debut year. mentioned, it looked, it was a fairly consistent gap, like two tenths or so between him and

Russell. I think you're okay with that. Because if you can develop a better car, similar to where Mercedes were at the beginning of this year, I don't think that gap has changed as we've gone throughout the year. It's just a case of if you're two temps slower than Russell now, you run the risk of being knocked out in Q2. First couple of races of this season, if you were that gap behind Russell, you're like 7th or 8th. So I think it's just the way in which the grid is formed these days. I think from Sonoda's perspective, this was a bad session. This was a bad session because there were a lot of drivers that had a two-tenth gap to their

teammate. In fact, nearly all of them seemed to be around that margin. but he was, I think he was a couple of attempts slower in Q1, but Vastappen was on used tires versus Sonoda's best run that was on new. And then we get to Q2 and there's half a second between them, which around Zambor is a big margin. Yeah, he's 2.9, well, 1.2.9, sorry, on Q1, but then in Q2 it moves to 5 tenths of a second,

half a second between teammates. And that's just not good enough. we gave Perez the same level of frustrated comments when he was going through it. Sago has got talent and the car is tricky but five tenths I don't think is in that car I do think that realistically a better driver currently maybe whether it's confidence,

whether it's understanding, should be closer to Max Verstappen and there is enough in that car to be, even if he is P-Teng, even if that's where he sits right now, that would have been an acceptable amount of difference between those guys, but to be beaten by as I already mentioned,

both racing balls, handedly both racing balls, the Williams of Carlos Seitz, Kimmy Anting earlier in his debut year, realistically, the only people that should be beating him, I think are the two Ferraris, George Russell. And then he should be Sonoda, realistically. Yeah, it's tough for what Red Bull do here, because, like you say,

half a second is not an acceptable gap. But it's just, we've been saying the same thing for years, and it's just the teammates that's been changing. We say Sonoda should be closer to Vestappen. We also said Perez should be. We also said Gazzley should be. We also said Albin. It's an easy enough decision to say if you're Red Bull, well, okay, let's try someone else.

If that car really is geared up to the way Vestappan likes to drive and Hachar gets in that seat and suddenly he's where Senoda is, what do you do then? Like you just keep going through this conveyor belt. Something's got to give at some point. But yeah, they still haven't found the answer. and Sonoda is again a long way off? I think unfortunately for Sonoda after being drafted after only the second race of the season, he's basically either got to ride this season out by the seat of his pants and hope that they give him next season to say, we recognize that the car is the problem with the new regulations.

We're hoping to build a more balanced car that suits both Max Verstappen and the second driver, whoever that might be, and you then have a season to prove yourself, or he's got to hope that he pulls some time out of somewhere in this car. He gets a grip of it because otherwise I think this might be his time up in Formula One if he doesn't nail something by the end of this season. As we go out like into Q1 and Q2, is there anything else in particular that caught your eye? Once again, Bortoleto doing the job of his teammate.

It was close between the two of them. Actually, Hulkeberg had the advantage. But I think Gabby's done a good job here again. He's showing again why he's such a talent, why he's the reigning F2 champion. And I thought the sale were actually were going a little bit better around here. Not quite as good as I thought.

No, my fantasy team is going to pay the price for that as well because I took a risk. But hey, he's a hang of his teammate by a good few places. And if something happens in front where a couple of people collide into each other, look, he's right there on the customer points and they could get that right there. Pit stops have been better. He's done a good job of getting that car where it should be.

On the flip side of things, in terms of being beaten by teammates, Alexander Albin. He had a right old go over the radio, didn't he? Yeah. he really struggled at the end of Q2 because I think this Williams is a little bit stronger here than it has been at some of the other tracks that we've been to recently, to the point where Carlos Sines was able to get through to Q3. And Sines looked pretty good in the early part of qualifying as well.

Race-paced Williams looked pretty good, at least amongst the midfield. I think outside of Aston Martin, they were showing the best long runs in free practice. So Sines is in a position to capitalize on that tomorrow, if indeed that Williams is as quick as practice looked. Albin definitely isn't. I mean, it's still not a massive margin between Albin and Sines at the end of at the end of Q2. But, yeah, Albin, I don't think he improved on any of his sectors

in that second run. Yeah, it ends up being three tenths between them when they cross the line. Yeah, and the final one for me to point out, all your thoughts and harsh. It looks like they've just given up this season. It looks like they've thrown in the towel. I'm not sure what Bearman could have done,

and I will admit, I don't know why he abandoned his second run. It looked like earlier in the session, and indeed in practice, he had a few temps on Ocon, in which case I think he could have made it through to Q2. I don't think that car was capable of getting through to Q3 this weekend, but I think at his best,

Bearman maybe could have got around where Bortoletto is, around 13th or so. Ocon, he was consistently a bit slower than Behrman, but Ocon has actually been able to get a last run in, whereas Beerman couldn't. We know qualifying's been their issue all year. This isn't the sort of track you want one of those qualifying issues because there's not much you can do about it.

But yeah, I mean, we've seen that some of the other circuits, like Monaco, another tight and twisty circuit, O'Con really delivered in qualifying there. Not here. Their race pace is good enough. at least versus the midfield, but they're just not putting themselves in good enough position

to take advantage of it. Yeah, the worrying statistic for me around here is that Ocon, who was the lead Haas here, despite other signs saying that maybe Behrman had the legs on him, he is four-tenths slower than Albon who, you know, obviously ends up being

the car in 60th place overall and qualifying. Now I know that's obviously slightly different because Album's fastest time is, you know, faster than gasoline example and Bortoletto was the car that was in 15th, but there's still two tents between Occon and Bortoletto, who was the 15th fastest car in Q1, they just don't seem to have the one lap pace required.

And unfortunately, in the world of Formula One, when there's a lot of tracks that are quite difficult to get a move done, what are you meant to do? How are your drivers meant to get into the point when they're starting, you know, 18th and 19th place? This is a really, really tricky place for the harsh drivers to be in. I hope that Hart to look past this. I think they will do.

And don't maybe judge Berman, for example, too harshly and realize that the data is there and they go right, going to the new season. I hopefully we can build forward from there. Yeah, I don't put this on the lineup. Ockon has shown over a number of years he is a more than solid qualifying driver. And Behrman in a better hash over one lap last year when he was needed to deputize with Magnuson sitting at a couple of races, he showed he could be there with Nika Holkenberg.

So I don't think this is on the lineup. I just think that car, they've just swung it too much the other way. Like they used to be able to qualify and not race. now they can race but they can't qualify. Yeah. Well, there's always next year, Haas. There is always next year when you won't even be

the premier American team on the group. I'm joking, Hask. Who was driver at the session? Hadjar for me. I think he managed to capitalize where others fell down. But I also want to give a shout out to Piastri. I think he did a great job in that first run.

It looked like it wasn't going his way and then he pulled back out the bag. Fantastic job, though, from Hadger. Yeah, easy choice for me was Hadjar. Vastappan and Piastri would be second and third, I think, maybe in that order. But yeah, Hadjar getting all the way up to P4 again, just managing to get that lap in when he needed to at the end of Q3. That's got him at least three positions on where he could have been with no improvement. So good job.

Well, there was plenty to review from qualifying Sam, but there's going to be so much more to review when we do the race review tomorrow. Yes, fingers crossed that we might just have a big of a chaos-filled Grand Prix. There is rumours that the rain may make an appearance, and you never go around, Zandvalt. We've had some tricky ones before, and yet Pohl always seems to prosper. Will we have that trend faltered tomorrow? Make sure you come back to the podcast, check it out straight after the race.

We record immediately. Also, you can get your Discord submissions in. We ask for those straight after the Grand Prix. Join the Discord. The links in the description. And if you want even more F-1 content over this weekend, then we'll do power rankings on Monday where we review every single driver's performance

and give them a number where we come up with our driver of the season towards the end of the year. Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow in the meantime. I've been Sanghage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late. Podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.