The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Japanese GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: April 5, 2025

Ben and Sam review the thrilling qualifying session at Suzuka, where a surprise driver snatched pole from the leading McLarens with a blistering final lap. They break down the stunning pole lap and analyze the action from across the grid - from the days of the Red Bull teams with Tsunoda's debut and Hadjar's cockpit struggles, to the teammate gaps at Williams and Haas... 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! 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. Welcome to the Late Breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, for qualifying at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuki, a qualifying session where Max Verstappen took his first poll position of the season ahead of the two McLaren's of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, respectively. Sam, once we'd got rid of all the fires at the track,

we actually had a good session. Suzuki can't handle just how hot F1 is right now, you know? That was worth waking up early for it. I say early, it was, you know, I had to get up at up at a 6 in the morning. It's really not at the end of the world. But when it's that good, when it's that good, ho-ho, F-1 is worth watching. That was such a fun qualifying session.

much to talk about up and down the field. I'm very excited to talk in a second about that lap from Max Verstappen, though. Yes, because outside of a pole position, Max Verstappen also claiming the lap record at Suzuki, managing to get into the late 126s eventually. It did look as if McLaren had the edge on the field, as was expected, for the first two and a half sessions of this of this session. But Max Verstappen, at the end, pulling out a brilliant lap to go 12,000ths of a second faster than Lando Norris. What a lap? Dare I say, his best ever qualifying lap in Formula One. I've already had remarks of Monaco, 2023, which I think is a fair shout as a combatant to this. but there you know how good that 2023 season was what he picked up 19 wings 21 podiums across that year

realistically it was max for stopping at the beginning of the peak of his powers plus a car that was very much at the peak of its powers combining here on the other hand he's the defending champion arguably in the third best car at the moment and wowser what a lap that was where we saw piastri make a mistake in the first sector where we've seen Norris not been able to get a full lap, a hundred percent tied together despite electric pace for both McLaren drivers. Max Verstappen, setting his post lap interview, to be able to push here, it's just special. It's something different with that newly resurfaced sector one. They could push even harder through there and watching a driver who is an absolute master

at his profession and make no doubt about it, he is a master at his profession, be able to deliver something that special, I think that lap goes down in the Hall of Fame of qualifying maps. It was genuinely, in my opinion, that sensational. Yeah, guys are right, isn't he? He's pretty quick. That was sensational. And it feels odd to say it about Max Vastappen,

who is a multiple-time consecutive reigning champion, but it did come as a surprise. I don't think anyone was expecting that Vastappen was going to be able to topple both McLaren's in this final session, or indeed anyone, outside of those two, because it looked for all the world throughout practice, and in terms of Q1, Q2, the first run of Q3, at least for Oscar Piastri, that it was going to be either a McLaren 1-2 or a one three. It didn't look as if there was going to be one driver who could topple both of them, and it would have taken a sensational lap to do so. And that's exactly what Vostappen delivered.

I could be wrong on this, but I don't think he had a purple sector. I think you had Lando Norris claimed purple in the first sector, Piastri claimed purple in the second and third. And I think that is the mark of a very good lap for a driver that isn't necessarily in the best car, is that he produced a very well-rounded lap, that he produced everything he needed to in all three sectors. Suzuki is a wonderful qualifying challenge.

and it's one of those where you have to push all you can, like in any qualifying session, but the margins for error are just so small. We saw that with multiple laps, some of which we'll get into in a little bit. Vastappen was just able to deliver at the right time, which is what he's been known for for so long. And going into tomorrow's race,

you know, it was alluded to by Lando Norris that we might see weather conditions similar to what we had in Australia. In Australia, Vestappen didn't have the advantage of starting first. If the weather is poor tomorrow and Vestappen is starting from pole, good luck, rest of the field. That is not a challenge I'd like to step up to. So yeah, Raylan. Bad day to race at Suzuki, Max Wastapen woke up. Yes, I believe is what they all be thinking. What will be really interesting, if we get rain tomorrow, that newly resurfaced sector one in the rain. We've seen how bizarre new rubber can be where it gets very, very wet and the lack of grip that we get.

So imagine there could be some carnage going through sector one tomorrow. But Suzuki is very much almost like a litmus test of how good you are as a racing driver, really is a driver's track. And when you can knock it out the part like that over one lap, and you can raise a car up. They spoke so much on the Skycoms about how Max Astapen's Red Bull was set up very differently from Yuki's Red Bull. on less downforce in the car, which actually meant that he got less understeer and it allowed him to push through that middle sector as well going down towards 130 R. And that was the difference maker.

Well, it shows you just how comfortable he managed to get. He's saying in his post lap interview, how many tweaks they were finding. They never found the correct balance 100% right until the end. So it shows you there could be a little more that he could get out of that car as well, constantly tinkering. I'm just so impressed. I mean, it sounds ridiculous to say this to a guy that's got well over 50 wings in his career. He's got four world titles. that he's found another way to stun me coming out of a Formula One session, but he's done it again. The other thing is you can always tell with Max Verstappen,

just how much he rates a lap in qualifying based on his reaction. There are some drivers who will always be at 100 if they get a pole position. There'll be other drivers, Kimmy Rikin, and where you are really struggling to tell what they think of it. Vestappen, I think, is a good one to. Vestappen will be very honest and open and just very natural with his reaction. Sometimes he won't react much when he gets a pole position, in which case you have to assume that he was expecting that based on the car advantage. But then you also have sessions like this where he was overjoyed by the lap that he was able to deliver.

So very, very impressive from him. The McLaren's will start second and third. So far from a disaster from them, but maybe not the pole position they were hoping for. Lando Norris, we saw first run of Q3 didn't put together a great lap, recovered it for. recovered it for the second one. Piastri had a pretty awful first sector on his second run and then followed it up with two purple sectors, which was nearly enough to get on the front row.

What will they make of their session? I think whilst Landon Norris came out and said that if he did that lap again, he wouldn't be able to go any faster than what he did. I think secretly McClain will come away disappointed with this. This looked like the track where if they were going to dominate anywhere, Suzuki was that track. Their car is suited perfect.

for a track like this. Fast, flowing, long corners. The McLaren is so stable, so smooth, so good at holding onto its tyres throughout the racetrack, just like this. So to see them not on pole position, even as you said, they were one and three. I think that would be better than two and three

where they've sat, and that would be closer to their expectations. Neither driver seemed to get in the ultimate lap when it actually mattered. They were great in the first session of qualifying, great in the second session of qualifying. And they were speaking. about how much Landon Norris was able to improve session on session, how much time he was finding.

Nine tenths was the time quoted between session one and session two. So you think with that much progression, okay, the confidence is building. The McLaurin is growing even stronger. So the fact that neither of them were able to deliver right at the death is really, really worrying. And I think this ironically comes out from a quote where Landon Norris has said, oh, it's not the car that means that we're league in the championship. It's because we've got the best line up in Formula One. Well, ironically, I think if you probably put Max Verstappen in one of those McLaurin,

so the gap out front was a big even bigger because that car is clearly made to dominate here. Piastri will be the one that's very disappointed because I actually think Piastri was a big of a dark horse today and it looked like he had the outright pace could take pole positions. So the fact that he dropped three tents going through that first sector, that's where he lost all his time. He definitely had the ability to take it away from Max Verstappen to go right at the death. And even if he did, even if he only matched his best, even if he was only marginally slower, that his best, it would have been enough for pole position, but to drop three tents,

we saw that crosswind go through turn one, it caused a lot of drivers and a lot of problems. That will be really disappointing for Oscar Piastro. Yeah, I think both will be marginally disappointed without it being a disaster for both of them. I think if you'd said to Oscar Piastri before the session, you're going to finish third. He'd go, I really want to be on the front road today.

And if you went to Lando Norris, you're going to start second. he'd probably go, all right, my teammates obviously beating me. In which case, both of them, both of them would be a bit disappointed to find out how it actually went down. The margins are very slim. Both of them are within half a tenth of Maxfussappen, so it's not like the giving up a lot of time here, but I do think if either of them put together the ultimate lap, they're qualifying

on poll by a couple attempts here. We've seen all throughout the weekend that that McLaren does seem, as we suggested it probably would in the preview show midweek. It does seem to have an advantage on the field. The good news is they are in a good starting position even in second and third, and their race pace does look pretty massive. So if they're able to use that from second and third, then they won't be too disappointed at where they've qualified. But certainly, I know Landon Norris did say that if he ran the lap again, he wouldn't go quicker. I think there's another 10th or two in there. What about Ferrari? So fourth and eighth for them.

Charles LeClaire's three temps back in fourth, Lewis Hamilton seemed to really struggle in Q3 was in and amongst the likes of Hadjar an album, which is obviously not where he would have been hoping for going into that session. What do you make of them? They still don't seem to have the pace. No, they haven't got the pace. I don't think they feel comfortable in their cars at the moment. You hear Charlotte Clare come over the radio at one point and went that sector one was really

rubbish from me, which is such a British expression. to say that was rubbish. My office when they went bowling the other day before Suzuki happened. So not good from Ferrari, but LeCler is closer.

Lecler is only a couple of tents back. He's probably in the best position I think LeCler probably could have picked up. He's beaten Russell here, which is really, really positive from his point of view. He's beaten both the Mercedes, beating Russell especially who was on it

apart from turn one on his final lap which is a real shame for him. We'll get on to that in a moment. But it looked like the fates of the Ferraris. swapped throughout qualifying Hamilton, who's starting on the medium tyres on that lap one. An interesting choice, Ferrari.

Good job. The only one, right? The only one. Super pace, apparently, they seem to think was going to just appear on this McLaren't. Where is super pace? Lewis, you have let us down. I know that the ties are great here

and the mediums might hold on longer, but come on, guys. It's the hardest compounds of tyres that we bring to Japan here. They're not. They're not mega quick. they quickly swap over. And then Lewis does find very good pace on that soft tire initially.

Both Ferraris are kind of appearing in that top three to six region quite comfortably. And as the sessions go on, Hamilton seems to start drifting further and further back in that top ten. While LeClaas seems to be going to remain stable in that kind of fourth to sixth region. And their face is kind of swap. So we get to that final lab, Hamilton seemingly nowhere. He'll be, he'll get out of the car and he'll be really disappointed to be that far. back on a track like Suzuki, or it's so difficult to follow, so hard to overtake. If the weather's bad, it's going to be even worse for him because he's, this is maybe

slightly unfair, but he's surrounded by rookies and rookies are going to make mistakes, especially in tough conditions. And a track like Suzuki where you might just suddenly understeer straight off alongside on the racetrack, you don't want to be on the outside of a rookie at Suzuki. So he's going to need to find a way through the rookies, get past both and the Sages, if you can. And that's even getting near his teammate. let alone to being a fight for any chance of something like a podium.

Genuinely, LeCler, he'll be frustrating at the Ferrari, but I think it's probably the best he could have gone out of it. Can't see him beating Eden McLaren. And Vastafel about Wonderlap, there was no chance that the Clare was getting near him. Yeah, I was disappointed with Lewis Hamilton in Q3 because it was, it's a bit of carryover from his Mercedes days where him and Russell would seem relatively close through the first two qualifying sessions, get to Q3,

and it seemed to be Russell, particularly in the last year of Mercedes, where it was Russell that was able to extract the most out of the car and Hamilton that was maybe left feeling a little underwhelmed. Similar story here, Hamilton is over six tenths away from pole, which is saying something of Ferrari as well as it is Lewis Hamilton, but he's three temps back from Charles LeCler, which isn't the biggest gap in the world, but equally it's not, it's not under a 10th. It's not that close either. So to see them separated by four positions,

that will be a disappointment for Hamilton for sure. Charle-le-clair, I think fourth was the best he could have got. Maybe he could have got time-wise a little bit closer to the top three, but equally, I don't think it's a disappointment at all, just based on where that Ferrari is. I don't think going into the session, he would have fought Russell was beatable. And Russell kind of helped Lecler get there as well just based on the error that he made. But to be ahead of both Merck's, ahead of his teammate, and to ensure that none of the other midfield drivers spring a surprise, fourth is okay for LeCla. And then what of Mercedes then?

So they'll lock out the third row of the grid. George Russell in fifth was very close to finishing ahead of Charles LeClau. Those were separated by just two thousandths of a second. but Antonelli was a couple attempts further back and was kind of the lead of the group that really goes back to ninth place with Alex Albin. There was just nought point, nought six, separating Antonelli in sixth and then Albin in ninth.

So what do you make of the Merck days? I think they're both walking with very different opinions of how their session went. George Russell, for me, looked like the guy that if anyone was going to weirdly beat McLaren to pole position at one point, it was going to be George Russell.

He's being flying this season. And the first two sessions of qualifying were no exception. He was less than a tenth away on multiple occasions from these McLaurans. The lap times he was putting out there were fantastic. So to walk away, P5, and you saw it, we were on board with him from the camera view, the helicopter camp. He just got a wash of understeer going through that turn going. I do think that's where the crosswind caught him out. His gentle driving nature, though, through Suzuki seems to really benefit him.

He seems to be like almost caress the car really nicely through so many. corner is barely taking anything out the ties, which will massively benefit him for the race. If that's how he looks after his rubber, it means he might be going to go a lot longer. Maybe a one stop could become an option where others may need to two stop. So that's positive. But that loss of time, I think it was two and a half tense going through that first corner. That's the difference between him being around this fifth area to possibly on a really good lap, challenging for maybe third place alongside Oscarpiastery.

It really could be the difference maker between those two positions. he'll come away disappointed. On the other side, Kimi Antingelli, the guy was almost out in Q1, then his lap times were a bit close to the cutoff time for Q2. So to find himself leading that pack behind and sitting right next to his teammate, and actually being one of his best starting positions, of course, in his career so far, this is a very positive turnaround for Kimmy Antingelli, and he's got it together. He's worked out.

He's got the set up in the car right. He was struggling with tie attempts and getting the tires switched on for the lap at the right time. He's worked that out as well. The kid is learning fast. That's what we like to see. Now let's just hope it translates into the race pace where he's able to maybe just stick close to George Russell. I'm not expecting him to beat him, but be right there with that whole race, learn from him, follow his lines. Make sure you've got that outright pace with him.

This could be a really positive weekend for Mercedes. Russell will be disappointed with how Q3 went for sure because you're right. Going into qualifying, it looked as if anyone was going to spring a surprise on McLaren, it would be Russell. And we spoke in the midweek episode of the parallels between Vastappan and Russell this season so far and how they are doing a remarkably similar job in a car that isn't quite as good as the McLaren at this stage. Today, Vastappan maximised what you do with an inferior car. George Russell didn't. So there will be disappointment that he wasn't at least in that fight,

even if he only gained one spot and he was still a tenth back, that would have at least been a better lap. I've got no idea how these two are starting side by side that Merck's because Antonelli was a long way down on Russell for the majority of this session. And even when George Russell makes a pretty sizable error in the first sector, he's still got over two temps on him. Like Antonelli, I'm not sure, has he ever raced at Suzuki before? They don't go there, do they?

No, I don't think he has. Anyway, he must have either little or no experience at this track. And it seemed as if throughout practice he was really struggling, particularly in the first sector, got it together a little bit towards the end. We have to remember it's just his third race. Like, he is still learning and it's not on all. I mean, he's sick for where others have fallen much, much shorter than he has. So like, it's not a disaster at all to be on the third row of the. grid. I just don't know how he's got there.

Like you say, it could have been knocked out in Q1, could have been knocked out in Q2, and he just squeaks ahead of the likes of Hadjar and Hamilton in this final part of qualifying. Yeah. I don't know. George Russell will get back to the garage with Antonelli. But, oh, yeah, we're starting alongside each other on the third row. How?

How have you achieved basically the same thing I've achieved? That doesn't make sense. You know the meme of Dwight Shrewt walking through the casino and he looks to his right. Angangelo has suddenly appeared. He's like, that is George Russell and Kimmy Anting Annie. How did you get here? Pretty much. But it gives them something to fight with.

Fifth and sixth tomorrow is puts him in the ballpark. Let's take a short break on this episode. On the other side, we'll round out the top 10 and get into Q1 and Q2. Welcome back, everyone. A couple of the midfield runners that managed to get through to Q3. Should we start with racing balls and look at Hadjar and Lawson? Isaac Adjar really struggling throughout the session in terms of his setup within the cockpit. Manages to still get seventh place, though, within six tenths of pole of Verstappen.

Lawson will start from, I'm going to say 14th. I know Carlos Sines has a potential penalty on the way, which might. That is coming. I would think so, in which case, that might well become 13th, but he at least qualified 14th. There was about a 10th and a half between Lawson and Hadjar and Q. two, which saw Hadjar get through and Lawson not. So what do you make of both of their sessions? Hagjar, yeah.

Felt quite sorry for the young lad. He looked like he was in genuine pain for a lot of qualifying. Clearly something going wrong with a seatbelt. And I imagine that those cockpits are so confined and so close that if you get something squeezing the wrong area, as you're going to go further detail, then it could be quite difficult with G-force being applied to certain parts of your body as well. But no pain, no gain, and a sensational qualifying performance from Isaac Hadjar to not only get himself out of Q1 where he was really suffering, he did a great job to do so, but to then carry forward that momentum, carry forward that form. And to beat Lewis Hamilton, his idol, who will start alongside in Suzuki, is fantastic to beat Alex Albon, who I think is being mighty impressive, to be Ollie Bearman, who has been doing a brilliant job in that house.

He's once again proving why actually, Hajar's a bit of the real deal here. I really think that if he continues this way forward, there's a real talent in that youngster, and he's doing a great job of proving himself. He does need to address maybe how he comes across on the radio, because as much as I love these raw radios that we're getting from the drivers, saying things like, I just can't focus is not the best message to put across to the public,

but I guess when you are having your sensitive areas, pinched incredibly hard with a seatbelt. I imagine I couldn't focus too much on a lot of things either. Now, the gap to Liam Lawson, I do think, though, I'm going to give Liam Lawson the benefit of the doubt a little bit here. He has had to go through quite a difficult two-week period. He's had to get back to readjusting. It's a different car to drive that he hasn't driven this season. At a track that he is comfortable at, but again, in a car, he's not driven it out for a little while. So the gap between them, whilst positions-wise, it doesn't look good. Time-wise, it's not terrible.

And I do think there's probably a little bit of settling that needs to be done here for Liam Lawson. So not perfect, not amazing. I'm not going to give him too much praise. But I am going to give Liam Norse to the benefit of the doubt that, you know what? If he had been in that racing Bulls car from the first race of the season, I think he probably is closer to Isaac Hajar than what we've seen here today. Yeah, I agree with your assessment that, The position difference is maybe slightly misleading and the time difference is far more encouraging for Liam Lawson because Q2 was very close all the way throughout those that were eliminated.

And then the first, the couple of guys that did make it through to Q3, there wasn't much whatsoever. Again, there was about a 10th and a half separating Lawson and had JAR in that second part of qualifying. It scraped through to Q2 to begin with. there wasn't much separating him and a couple of the drivers, the Salba's behind. Overall, I think it's okay for now. Again, it's his first session back in that racing balls.

Obviously, the first session this season that he's raced in that car. I think it's okay enough. I'd like to see him make... He beats Sengoda, right? And that is probably a big... That is probably a deep breath off of his chest that he's going, you know what?

I'll be in Sengoda and I'm not in Q1 where I've been for every other race. Yeah, I mean, getting out of Q1, one is certainly progress. The Sonoda comparison, I don't think he should read too much into it, because I think Sonoda being where, Sunoda had the pace to be better than where he was. And, you know, he ultimately, he will start 15 for a reason. But Sonoda probably should have got through to Q3 based on the pace that he was displaying. In terms of what Lawson was able to do, though, it's something to build on for the race. If he did this session next time out,

and the session after that, you know, looking at Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, I'd be a bit more underwhelmed. I'm okay enough with this, though. One of the biggest gaps we saw in qualifying was the hash drivers. So we had one knocked down in Q1, one make it all the way through to Q3. So Oliver Berman will start in 10th place. Esteban Ockon will start in 18th. So at least in Q1, four and a half tenths separating the two drivers. So a bigger gap maybe than what I was expecting What do you think? Yeah, that is oddly sizable in this modern kind of day and age of Formula One. You're expecting anything over maybe two or three tenths between teammates.

You kind of look at that and go, mistake, or are you really struggling? And we're yet to know why Estabank O'Con struggled so much through this first qualifying session. I haven't seen any absolutely major mistakes that have caused him to drop nearly half a second. And maybe he's just got that comfortable with the car. But unfortunately, for Eskman O'Con, it would be one thing if it was. skill going up against someone like maybe if Nico Hulkeberg was still at hearse, you go, all right, well, Hulk's got those years, I grew his belt, and that's his team. It's going up against Ollie Berman.

This is his first proper season in Formula One, and it's got like he had a glowing Formula 2 season beforehand, and it's got like he's got more time racing that car. You know, unfortunately, O'Conn is the experienced driver, and he comes in with the guy kind of putting his arm around Berman's shoulders as if to say, I'll help you, I'll guide you into F1. there's eight places between them and half a second in time. Behrman was impressive. Behrman really impressed me.

Seeing his dad's reaction as he got into Q3, was absolutely lovely, deserves all the praise in the world. Because I think Behrman is putting that horse pretty where it should be, maybe elevating it slightly. I think O'Kong is underdriving that hearse here and has let himself down. Behind both Salbers is,

that's just not really good enough, unfortunately. That's a really poor performance from O'Con. So I need to see a reason why he's dropped. that much time. Yeah, I think where Estabon Ocon finished is roughly where I thought the Hasse guys were going to be in qualifying based on where they were throughout practice, because the trend throughout the three sessions was Aston Martin, Hass and Salber all looked to be very similarly paced and probably fighting to get out of Q1.

And obviously we saw both Salbers didn't make it. We saw Stroll didn't make it either. So Berman making it out of Q1 and O'Conn not. not making out a Q1. I don't mind too much. The time gap is a really interesting one. What Baerman was then able to do to make it through to Q3, that was seriously impressive. And he might be a bit disappointed that he's not more in the mix in Q3, which might be setting expectations a bit too high at this point in his career. But he set a slower lap in Q3 than he did in Q2. His Q3 fastest lap would not have been fast enough to make it to Q3. And I don't

think his Q2 lap would have changed his position. I still think he would have been 10th, but he would have been more in the fight with the likes of Albin Hamilton, Hadjar. But I was serious, there are some good signs with Oliver Berman at this point in his career. In fact, I'll just extend that out to the rookie class as a whole. I've been pretty impressed with the rookies through three races or two races and one qualifying session. Bearman, Antonelli, Hadjar, Bortoletto. Agreed on Boiseletto. They're all showing that they can hang quite early in their careers. So very impressed by Behrman.

He'll be in with a chance of points, obviously starting inside the top 10. Let's go to a quick word on Williams, Alex Albin again, proving that he's no slouch at all versus his teammate Carlos Sines, getting through to Q3, whereas teammate could not. Closer, though, than it has been. Is that at least a little bit more encouraging for Sines? Yeah, I think we're so accustomed to that. to people coming to a new team and seemingly jumping straight in and doing brilliantly. I think Carla Sikes is probably doing what I would expect most drivers could do. It's going to take three to five Grand Prix to really get on your kind of your A Star game

and get up there with a guy who's been in that team. And he's commented on this as well. It takes time. It takes time to adapt a new situation. Clearly that Ferrari is quite unique to drive and this Williams is a whole new experience. And we've gone to some pretty difficult tracks with some pretty difficult scenarios to kickstart the season. I think, you know, give it to Saudi. And if he's still finishing three tenths or so behind Albon,

then okay, that looks like that might genuinely be the order of play. But I'm not worried with Carlos Sykes at all. I'm not worried. What I am actually is impressed with Alex Albon because Alex Albon is continually delivering at a very, very high level. And we all questioned it. Can he step up? Can he deliver?

When the car is there, when the teammate is there, is he going to become a second driver? or has he got the extra bit to get him in front? Seemingly, he has got this extra bit to get him in front. To the point where actually when Q3 finished and I looked down the timing order and it took me all the way to 9th to see Alex Albon, I actually felt slightly disappointed for him

because I actually think he probably had the pace to beat Hamilton and Hageau with the laps that they actually put in. I do think that... He wouldn't have had to improve by much. No, on his A game. If he absolutely nailed a perfect lap, I think he starts seventh, not ninth. genuinely think there's a bit in it that he could have done. But nonetheless, the Williams is

competitive and Albaugh is really driving brilliantly at the moment. So pat on the back for Alex Albu, it's great to see that he's finally getting a competitive car. He's able to deliver in it. But don't count Carlos Sykes out yet. Whilst again, he's going to get a penalty. He's going to move backwards. It's not been the smoothest start. I'm not worried. I think give it another two or three Grand Prix. We'll start to see Sikes be a lot closer to Album. Yeah, Albin only needed to improve by 600ths of a second and he'd have been sixth. So it's very close between those four drivers. Just so happens he's the fourth of those four drivers here. But it still gives him a good spot to work with in the race tomorrow. Carlos Seins, yeah, I do think it was more encouraging.

It was less than a tenth that separated Sines and Albin at the end of Q2. And Carlos Sines has spoken about how he needs to almost unlearn some things from Ferrari and adapt to the car. And it will take a little bit of time. But this was, this was better than what we've seen so far. So, yeah, even though he will probably go back three spots, it's still, in terms of his pace, it gives him something to work with.

So, yeah, I think that's pretty good from him. A dealer's choice outside the top 10, anything else that particularly caught your eye. I thought Gassi gave it a good go again. That Alpins pace is actually really difficult to kind of predict where it should be sitting in the pecking order. I think Gasly is probably driving for his absolute life in that car and he's doing a really good job of sitting around where the likes of the Williams are

because I don't think that helping is as good as the Williams. I don't think it's as good as the racing balls. So the fact that he's always in that conversation at least is very positive. Doing on the other hand, I was really positive about him at the start of the season and it looked like he came in swinging and made a good impression. and that has really started to slide down quite a slippery slope. This is another disappointing session from Jack Dewin. I wasn't wow to get that monumentally big crash in free practice too,

where is it genuine that he tried to keep the rear wing open going through turn one? I haven't seen that. I can't find anything that validates it. If it's real, silly, silly boy, if it's not real, which I think it's not real, which I think it's not real, then, you know, that car just absolutely lost traction and slammed it into the war. And I'm glad he got going okay. And that will shake your confidence. But he's not quick enough. He's too far off the pace. I think about how Pete he should be getting through to Q2. I do think it's probably good enough for that. Gas is doing a great job. Doing, I think he's a step up. He's the rookie that's really starting to give me some cause for concern.

I mean, Oliver Oakes essentially said after the incident that it was on Jack doing. I can't remember the exact phrase he used, but it was something about misjudgment or something like that. And I think it was just Jack Dew and forgot to turn off the DRS, which you should probably do. Don't do that, Jack. Yeah. But it seems to be something different every session with Jack doing. And I will maintain, I'm still not massively disappointed pace-wise. Here he didn't deliver on his second run in Q1.

In the first run of Q1, there wasn't all that much separating him and Gassley. So I still think there might be something there, but it just seems to be one weird error after the next at the moment. So the fact that he was about seven tenths down on Gisley in that first part of qualifying, that's not going to get it done in an Alpine right now. So for Gassley, though, he's got potential in the race. If you remember back to China, we obviously had two qualifying. sessions there. And in both of those sessions, he was knocked down in Q1. And even though he displayed pretty good race pace, he was just starting too far back to do anything about it. Starting from

P11, though, he could do something about that and finally get some points on the board for Alpine this season. Final one from me, just the gap between Stroll and Fernando Alonkso, seven positions separating the Aston Martins. Alongso finally stepping back into what we know is Fernando Alonso. He's had a quiet start to this season. And Stroll has been arguably the more impressive of the two. You know, we had that crashing Australia from Alonso. We had them in the failure in China, so he couldn't really show what he was capable of doing. And Stroll has been actually quite decent at the start of this season, but somewhat back to normality last on the back row. I think whilst the Yaskamite is not great here, that's too far down the order. I don't

think that's really good enough. But for a long ago, has got a chance at points. Yeah, Stroll went off on his second run in Q1, which ultimately, yeah, that's going to cost you an opportunity to get through. He's a long way back from Alonzo in that first session. He was nine times back and he wasn't very close to being safe. He was seven times back from Holcomberg in 16th. So, yeah, Stroll essentially, the writing was on the wall for him as soon as he went off. Alonzo, I think he's probably maximized that 13th. I don't think that car would have had that much more to do in terms of getting it through to Q3.

Both Salba's out 16, 17. They're the only team that had a double Q1 knockout. They're in the game. Like, it's not far off. They're obviously the first two cars out of Q1, so they've both got three behind them. It's nearly there. Like, it's not that far off. And again, I know Holkenberg's qualified ahead.

this time. But in pretty much every qualifying session so far, it's not much to separate the two of them. It just seems like it's always them guys around 15th place. So then there's a couple of cars that don't do a very good job behind them. And you know what? It's better than last season. At least they got lying in the back row of the grid permanently and then got a second a lap slower. That's a significant. Yes, indeed. So we'll have to see how they do in the race tomorrow. Driver at the session before we go, Sam. Easy one for me. With that lap, it's Max Verstappen. It just doesn't get better. That was sensation. Yeah, that lap was what qualifying is all about. It's why I absolutely love these sessions, because even when you think

everything is done and dusted, and it's going to be a formality that one driver or one team is going to pull it out the bag, just sometimes you get a very special moment from what is a very special driver in Vostappen. And yeah, the euphoria that he had when he crossed the line and reacted over Team Radio, that was a great moment. And I'm intrigued to say, it makes the race a little bit more interesting tomorrow, I think. Can he, in dry or wet conditions, can he hold off those two McLarence behind him? Speaking of the race tomorrow, we're going to be back for that. We will be back for that. And then we won't be done. That won't be all for the weekend. We'll have power rankings on Monday as well. So if you want to get a full understanding of how we viewed every

single driver's race, and you'll be involved in that conversation because you can actually comments and it's interesting to hear what you rate it as well. They subscribe to the Patreon. The Patreon's in the link below. And everyone that does subscribe already, I can't thank you enough. It generally makes such a difference to the production of this show, that the mics that we've got, the lighting that we have, the cameras that we record for the video that Patreon get, ad-free and the highlights go on YouTube. That's all because of people like you guys supporting. So if you love the show, you're listening a lot,

you think, you know what, I could spare a couple of quid or I could spare a couple of dollars, which we know is hard right now, times are tough. Then thank you. Thank you for whoever it does consider support it because it makes the world of difference here at the show. Join us again for the race review. We'll be back straight after the race in Japan tomorrow morning here in the UK time.

So in the US, you'll pretty much wake up, hopefully, to a review if you haven't stayed up late. for the race and can't wait to watch it. Hopefully it should be an absolute delta. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breakingly. Podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network.