The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Mexico City GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: October 26, 2025

Ben and Sam break down a thrilling qualifying session from the highest circuit on the calendar! With surprise performances, unexpected disappointments, and one spectacular pole lap, the boys cover every twist and turn... As we hit our 600th episode, a massive thank you to everyone who’s been listening and, for whatever reason, continues to do so! 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. Today, back to our regularly scheduled programming, qualifying review for the Mexican Grand Prix. Sorry, the Mexico City Grand Prix, is it officially titled? Why is that a thing? I don't know, mate.

But we have a very interesting grid on our hands for tomorrow after what was a very interesting qualifying session. Lando Norris taking pole position ahead of two polar bears in Arlington, also known as Ferraris, Lecler in second, Hamilton in third. If you're asking where are Norris's championship rivals, you have to go all the way down to P5 for Max Verstappen, and even further down to P8, which will become P7, for Oscar Pastery. Sam, we were just very briefly talking before we came on air because it is quarter past 11 here, so we didn't waste too much time to hit the record button. But we were saying that was fun.

That was stellar. That's what Formula One qualifying is all about one hour of drive, is absolutely pelting it around the racetrack. And that little bit of mystery in what's going on, who's the best, who's going to get on that top spot, doing a special lap to deliver. And we saw an array of disappointing. appointment, potential car problems, and what I think, which we'll get onto, was a really special lap by a driver. So, plenty of discuss. Buckle up, folks. We've got a good 40 minutes or so of

qualifying goodness. Indeed, a lot to get through. But let's start out front. Let's go with the championship battle as a point of emphasis to start things off, because as mentioned, it was a drastically different day for each of the three contenders. Oscar P. Astri looked to be a little bit off the pace of his teammate, Lando Norris coming into the session. Might well have had a DRS issue throughout that cost him some temps, but he is going to start P7 after Carlos Sines' five-place grid penalty for his contact with Kimmy Antonelli in Austin. Max Verstappen will start P-5. He ended up about half a second off the pace of Lando Norris.

But Norris, who did set the pace in FP3, coming into this, he was the fastest driver as well in Q2. he delivered a lap at the end of this session, a 115-5, he went seven-tempst faster than what he did in Q2. We haven't always seen this season, Sam, the best of Lando Norris and qualifying. That might be the best we've seen for him so far this year, I don't know. I think that was the best of Lando Norris. I've tweeted it out. I put it in the Discord.

That was special from Lando-Norris. You know, when you're in a championship fight, when you've got the pressure on your shoulders, when you're chasing a championship and not only that, you've got Max Verstappen who is chasing you down for said championship. Being able to pull out a gap of that measure is phenomenal. I can only take my hat off to Landon Norris.

And you do have to stand and applaud laps like that. We get them maybe once every couple of seasons where a driver is able to turn out a performance that the car clicks, the driver feels great, the track is working for them, the temperature is just right. And he's got this buffer as well with it. The fact that he's not only got, you know, say Max and Piastri right behind

him, he's got two Ferraris, who you never go with Ferrari, where they're going to be, what they're going to do, how they're going to run. Literally no idea. There are cars lined up between him and his championship rivals, and there is a real case here that if it finishes as it starts in the race tomorrow, Landon Norris will leave Mexico

as the championship leader. He's Max Shostka Piastro for pole positions now this season, which is fantastic. They're 10-10 across the board. His form has been, really supreme and he's delivered a belter here today. It's the middle sector, right? We said this in our preview. We expected that to be the key sector here and that McLaren is locked in in the middle sector. It's so on rails. The grip is able to carry through the S's just carrying over

so much extra time. The bit that surprised me, though, was his ability to dominate sector one on that final lap. It was incredibly quick because Ferrari looked really good in sector one. Actually, I think they were not holding onto their tyres as well. So you saw both McCleart and Hamilton actually back off in the sector one to maintain tireware for sector three, which is obviously quite tire heavy. And that's what's kept them relatively in contention here, but land there on every sector, just supreme. Yeah, it was an excellent lap.

And I think both he and McLaren will be buoyed by what he was able to do because, you know, we have seen over these last few races, Max Verstappen has really seized the initiative. and even though in terms of championship points, he's still the one chasing, you've kind of felt like the momentum has been with the Stappen for a little while now. Even if it was only with one car today, this was evidence that McLaren, they're still there. They're still the ones with the points advantage. They're the ones to be beaten. And Lando Norris, you know, the car delivered, Lando Norris absolutely delivered as well.

You're right to pick up on the middle sector because he was phenomenal through there. we did mention it in our preview that as soon as you mess up one of those corners, you have the potential to mess up all the others, but it works the other way as well. If you can position the car well for the first couple of corners in that middle sector, the rest of it kind of goes with it in terms of the rhythm. We saw with Verstappen, for example, in Q1, not that it was one that mattered in the end,

but he made a small error at one of the corners in the middle sector, made a big error at the very next corner, because he's out of shape. McCarron very good through there. And they held on to the tyres quite well throughout the final sector. And Lando Norris did that on his lap that took the pole in the end.

We saw cars really struggling to keep those tires alive as we got into the stadium section. That left-hander as you go sort of into the stadium section, that is a clunky old corner, isn't it? And a lot of drivers were struggling. Norris kind of nailed it.

So to come away with two and a quarter temps between him and Charles LeClaire, nearly five temps between himself and Vastappan, and DRS issue or no DRS issue to put six temps on Oscar Piastri. That is very, very impressive. What about Max Vastappen? So we saw he was pretty quick over one lap yesterday, but long run pace didn't look particularly great versus the McLaren's.

Their tyres seemed to be going off quite quickly. It is believed they made some changes overnight to address that. pace, it might well have come at a cost of this qualifying pace. He's still in the mix, but not on one of those front two rows. How do you think he'll address this session? I think the changes have been made to ensure that tire life is good across the race. So we obviously know that the points are scored on Sunday, right? It's great to be on pole position on a Saturday. But if you can't hold onto that pole position due to set up, there's almost, it's almost counterintuitive. There's almost no reason to stick with that set up.

We'd rather sacrifice a couple of places to have a better performance where the points come. I think this is a more drastic turn than he was expecting. I'm sure he wasn't expecting to have Russell, Hamilton, LeCler, all in between him and Norris. I think he'd probably think maybe, I don't know, maybe just LeClaire and Piastry, maybe just one of those guys. So I think he's further back than he would want to be. And I think having Russell, Hamilton, and LeCleur in front of him is not a great trio. But if the rumours are to be believed and the tieware is fixed due to this setup,

I expect their long run pace to be much stronger. And we saw in Austin, in the heat, just how well that Red Bull managed things, just how easily it scampered away, just how good it was on its tires, which is being an advantage from McLaren all season. And we've only seen recently that the likes of Red Bull have started to be able to balance out that advantage that McLaren have. So I think it's positive. I think McClough has done all right.

I don't think he was expecting the gap to be so big. And he will now have more work to do than expected. tomorrow in the race. Yeah, I think the move to go towards race pace was the correct one. And we'll see how that plays out tomorrow. But I think that was the correct call because looking at some of the long run pace yesterday as I was doing from FP2, Lando Norris in particular was a long way clear of Vastappen.

And you don't know how cars are fueled up in practice session. So maybe it wasn't quite as bad as it looked. But Vastappen did seem concerned, concerned enough that it appears as if they've made some some tweaks. P5 doesn't put him out of the picture completely. I think he would have loved to have been on that second row just based on how you can attack that first corner if you get a good start. Evidence of that is Max for Stappen. If you look at the last four years, we've been here. So we didn't race here in 2020, but we've raced here the last four seasons. On one of those four seasons, the guy on pole, for Stappen in that instance, led after the first lap. In one instance, the driver

starting second had the lead after the first lap. That was also Vastappen, I think. And then on two occasions, the driver starting third was the driver that had the lead at the end of the first lap. And again, Vestappen was one of those two. So I think he would have loved to have been even two positions further up because I think he could do some damage from P3 on the start. P5, that will be trickier. He'll be hoping, I don't think for the lead after lap one, but can he dispatch one of the Ferraris? Can he dispatch George Russell? I think that's what he's. what he'll be looking for. The good thing about Mexico turn one,

I put it right up there as one of the most dangerous turn ones in Formula One, in terms of where drama can happen, like one turn one. I think you've got Austin, I think Monza. I think these are the three where, you know, if you're going to have a turn one,

being a chaos, starting fourth or fifth here, ain't no disaster. You definitely can make a lot of ground up here. And the likes of Lewis Hamilton and George Rosser will be rubbing their hands together thinking, just a little touch between maybe Lecler and Norris fighting for the lead year, because the clothes got nothing to lose,

and we can maybe speak into a first or a second here. So plenty to take advantage off, plenty of drama that we can see in turn one. You're guaranteeing how I've said that, it will be the most boring term one Mexico's ever produced. But as Isaac Hagell's helmet says, you can go from P-13 to first in this Grand Prix as Mr. Pross once did.

So it can happen, and maybe it will. That's baller, by the way. I love that helmet so much. Yeah. Anything you want to say on Oscar Piastry before you move away from the championship contenders. We witnessed in Austin, didn't have a great weekend, thought it might be a bit of a weird one-off.

Dare I say, it looks like it's carried over here. If he's got DRS issues, sure. Okay, that is going to take away a couple of attempts. It looked like he started to find his feet a little bit in Q3 and then others just kept dropping better and better lap times. Dare I say, there's some confidence missing there. He can't seem to really put the car in the absolute fine margins where it needs to be.

And we heard a rumor of a P.U. issue that was causing him some problems. I think it was in the Q2 session. If DRS issues are coming to play as well, then, okay, that's not going to help. But it's not like this lack of pace in comparison to Norris and Bostappen is a new thing. This is carrying over not from just Austin,

but from the likes of Singapore, back where he didn't make it through. You know, this is continual now. This is becoming a trend, and that is where it is most worrying. This could be the weekend. We say it in the preview, where the whole championship flips on its head if it stays as it is.

And you look at some of the gaps that were forming between teammates out there today. It was incredibly slim margins. One of the reasons why we love this session so much, it is difficult to hook a lap together here. And the gaps between some of these drivers were minuscule. We saw, for example, we'll get onto Mercedes in a bit. Kimmy Antonelli was, what, five and a half tenths away from the fastest time in Q1, and he was the bubble boy. He was 15th.

Bubble boy. Bubble boy. But we saw that, for example, Leclair and Hamilton in Q3, a tenth of a second. Russell and Antonelli in Q3, a tenth of a second. Behrman and Ockon in Q2, the difference between one making it and one not, half a tenth. Even the likes of Sonoda and Vastappan,

a pairing we would often see really big gaps between the two drivers. Two temps. That was it at the end of Q2. And here we are looking at six temps between Norris and Piastro. It shows how close that field is, which you're right to say, Agile writing to get through to Q3 was 0.0.1-2 away from an elimination. But at that point, he was only 5 tenths away from the Provisional Poll Time. That's how close his field is.

Yeah, yeah. It was really crazy. And it carried on into Q3 as well. I think from Piastri's perspective, I had to sort of similitate to you where he pulls out a really great lap, or what was a seemingly great lap in Q3. and it was a bit of an odd session in terms of improvement throughout the session. So we saw Q1 a lot of improvement from the first part of the qualifying session to the end, typical of what we'd see in Q1.

That really slowed as we got to Q2. But then we get to Q3 and there's a heck of a lot more track improvement again. Piastri improved by six temps, Q2 to Q3. But so did everyone else. For example, like Isaac Haja, like he set a 16-2, I think it was, 16252 in Q3. That was good enough for 9th. That matched Norris's best time that led the session in Q2. That's how much improvement we saw between the sessions and ultimately others found more.

It's amazing. It's amazing how quickly you can go from being the guy at the very top of the standings at the end of Q1, which was great to see, by the way. He's having a great weekend all the way down to now. P9. I mean, Behrman, Hajar, science, I think they've been excellent. We get onto them after the break, I'm sure.

But it's crazy the way that you, these fine margins, it's Formula One, but at one hundredth of a second can separate you being a hero to being an absolute zero. Yeah, absolutely. Ferrari, let's focus on them because...

How? Why? Two very good questions. One of their Achilles heels, and I'd stress one of, because their biggest Achilles Hill this year has been being fast, but one of their Achilles heels has been qualifying. They've generally been,

better race pace on a Sunday than they have been qualifying pace on a Saturday. We've been used to seeing them six, seven, five, six, four, five, something like that. Here they are second and third. Now, they're still two and three temps away from Lano Norris, but they're beating Mercedes. They're beating Vastappen. They're beating Piahtri. Where on earth did that come from? And they're both there.

That's the crucial thing. So we've seen the club this season multiple times go, right, I'm going to put it in third. and convert that often into a podium, where Hamilton has maybe been languishing down in seventh, eighth, ninth place. But the fact that Hamilton is right there with the clerk and has been all weekend as well tells you that the clear direction Ferrari into going is going to race in space. No oxygen in this high altitude that Mexico has.

Apparently, let that engine sing. It absolutely loves it in the high-speed sections. And what's crazy is when McLaren was so good in sector two, Ferrari were matching them. Ferrari aren't good at fast, high-paced corners. That's not what you do well at the moment. I mean, you don't do anything well at the moment, but that especially is not where you're good at.

Also, heavy braking. There's a longer heavy braking around this track, specifically turns of one and four, and they were very strong there as well. So I'm not sure what it is about Mexico, and maybe it is particularly track-specific here. But let's see if they can convert that into actual race pace there. They're FP1, two and three times.

I mean, when Ignore Hamilton, of course, he was in FB1, but they look positive. Hamilton came straight back in FB2, and he was on the pace. He was actually a hell of LeClaire at one point. So if they can deliver great tire where they can be competitive, if there is an issue with Norris, they could be young for a wing. I'd be so Ferrari to win this weekend, wouldn't it? Or to win every race we have left. Yeah.

It would be nowhere. Exactly. I've got nothing for you, folks. I've got no idea where this came from. I remember we spoke about, Charles Leclair, was it after Singapore or before Singapore, maybe when he was talking about, he was pretty downbeat, talking about what tracks might suit Ferrari the rest of this season. He wasn't able to list off many.

I don't remember Mexico being part of the list. And here they are in second and third. You know, when Lecler set that lap in the 15s, the one that essentially got provisional pole on the first run, I thought there'd been a mistake. I thought Leclair had just not done the middle sector. just drove straight across it. It'd just gone through people in the stadium section or something. I don't know, because I didn't think that time was legit.

But fair play to both him and Lewis Hamilton. I think this was a day where either of them could have finished ahead of the other. The fact that they are only half a tenths separated at the end kind of points to that. Whether they've got enough for race day or not, I don't know. If Norris can unlock the pace that he showed in the practice sessions, I struggle to believe that they'll match him, even if they do. get him on the start. But who knows versus the rest of the field?

It would be very funny if they did this. I had my sort of race-paced rankings. I had them behind Mercedes. So it would be really funny if they've turned up with a great qualifying car this weekend, but it can't go in the race. But we didn't get actually a huge amount of data from Ferrari when it came to FP2 Sims.

So maybe that's a red herring. And actually they will be the second fastest team up there. I think the key to their success is both of those cars getting in front of Norris into turn one. If they can both do it, then they can do what all Ferrari fans fear the most,

and that is communicate and work together. Because they can't do that. We're proving it time and time again that they just, conversation around that team is like the Da Vinci Code. They'll never unlock it.

They're going to take each other out, aren't they? That's what will happen. They were both getting front of Norris and then they will just collide and it'll be game over. And they'll leave one and two for about three seconds.

Sure. Put your votes in, folks. Double DNF or Double Dess Q because it's going to be one on the other. Pick your poison. I don't know which one it'll be. Right, that's going to do it for the first half of this qualifying review. On the other side, still plenty to get into. Welcome back to the second part of today's qualifying review of the Mexican Grand Prix,

and we now turn our attention to Mercedes. Fourth and sixth, they'll line up on the grid. George Russell, ahead of Kimmy Antonelli, separated in the end by less than a tenth of a second. They seem to be in the mix, Sam, but nearly. ever quite threatened the top couple of spots? This feels like the story of Mercedes' actual season. This feels like the norm for Mercedes. We've had so many moments of blinding success

where they've gone on to be weirdly competitive in sessions we weren't expecting. And actually, I think this is more returning to a bigger status quo. Russell once again delivers a really strong lap. I think he maximizes what the car can give. A little more, maybe he gets around where Hamilton is. I don't think he's ever going to challenge for the front row. And I'm really pleased with what Anting Allen is being able to do as well.

He's closely enough to Russell around here. That it's successful, shows that the car is where it's meant to be, and they're delivering a strong result. But I just think they're out of the mix. I don't think they've got something special that Max can maybe put out the bag. If Piastri's car is 100% operational and he finds his confidence, I think he could comfortably cut through quite a few of the cars in front of him. I think Mercedes were more than like to be playing defense,

rather than offence when we come to the race. They didn't look great in the first sector versus Ferrari, or McLaren, in which case, maybe making overtakes will be a bit of a struggle. But we'll see. I mean, they might have gone with this sort of race set up like Vestappen has rather than than focus on qualifying, in which case, fourth and sixth isn't a bad result. I think George Russell has done, sounds boring to say at this point. George Russell's done what George Russell has done all season long, just kind of take

what's there for him to take. P4 is a pretty solid effort. Antonelli, if he had to summarize his, his session in one phrase, it would probably be all as well that ends well, because it didn't look very comfortable until it did. He was 15th out of 20 in Q1. If one of those other drivers Bortoletto, Albin, if they put together a lap, Antonelli's having to come through the field from like 16th or 17th here. And that ain't fun at Mexico, because despite the fact that you do have a very long straight, it's not the easiest place to overtake. It's very easy to get caught

up in dirty air in the middle sector to the point where you don't have an opportunity going down that start finish rate. So the fact that he's avoided that Q1 elimination is a good start. And then obviously Q2 as well, I think he finishes eighth in that session. So he's, I think, under a tenth away from being knocked out by Yuki Sonoda, doesn't matter in the end. He's made it through both sessions, even if he only squeaks through. And he makes something of Q3. I think that was the closest he'd been to George Russell throughout the whole session. So it's good for Mercedes to have that second driver in the fight. I know these teams won't massively care about it at this point,

but there are just 10 points separating Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes in the Constructedist Championship. Ferrari have two drivers in the mix, so do Mercedes. And right now, Red Bull don't. So they'll be happy that Antonelli's there. Kimmy Antingale in tow while Mexico really scares me. That boy doesn't break for anyone. Yeah, you know the runoff. I suggest he just uses that.

Yeah, just don't bother. Don't bother, mate. No. And then when you get to turn four, mate, do it again. Antonelli is either P1 after term one or he's out. He's already meeting us in Brazil. I'm off, lads. I'm going south.

I'll see you in the Cargavelle. Yeah, so a fairly all right session for Mercedes. The car is just such a jack-of-all-trades master of gun. They don't seem to do anything brilliantly. I mean, a really minute condition will fit them perfectly. certainly they'll be able to do it. But they need to work that car out. I think they will be on to big things next season,

but there are still some problems. Let's focus on the other members of the Q3 shootout. So we've got the representatives of the midfield, which sounds very official. Carlos Seins, who has qualified seventh here, but will start P12 as a result of the five-place grid penalty that he got from his contact in Austin. Hadjar has finished ninth,

bareman has finished 10th, they'll both move up one spot. So three different teams represented there. Which one do you want to focus on first? I want to ask you a question, Ben. When you made your bold prediction, did you remember that he had a five-place grid penalty? Yeah, I was going even bolder with that five-place penalty.

The right attitude, I own it. Yeah. I don't know. I don't feel great about it now, though. No, I can't see it happening. But hey, where things have happened? Carlos Sites is on one at the moment. He is being, I mean, obviously,

he had the incident with Anthony Elliott, and that was a real blemish on the record that he's had. but he stepped up over Alex Album. We had questions going into the summer break. You know, it's taking longer to adapt to Williams than we expected. Albuhr had these, you know, several top five, top six places in a row, felt like the real team leader. And actually, since we've come back out of the summer break, since we've kind of gone into this kind of Baku, Singapore, Monsa area of the season, Sites has just been on it. He seems to have clicked with the car.

It's going his way. And he seems really settled coming around this next. Coast Grand Prix. He seems like the car is working as one for him. And whilst we're not expecting miracles from Mac Williams, he is outperforming and matching a lot of cars that are much faster than him. He's not far off Antiglii whatsoever. He's right there with Piastro if he starts behind because of the penalty, but beats him in qualifying, comfortably of Hakey Sankoda. And then he's got the two guys who are also the reps of the midfield, which quite frankly, a bit of a different league. Even with the mind you details, I don't think they're ever really troubling Carlos Sines. So he is doing a fantastic job.

real shame he's going to take this penalty. It is a real shame because he has absolutely nailed it. It does feel like this track really suits him. Obviously, he's the defending champion here for Ferrari. We're not expecting that again, but the smooth operator is his nickname. But it's his nickname for a reason. And it's this sort of circuit that requires that kind of smooth approach to qualifying where you are hooking up that middle sector. You are keeping the tires alive for the final sector. He kind of comes alive here. and I think he's done an excellent job. The fact that he's gone Q1, 17, 1, Q2, 16, 6, Q3, 161. He's not five tenths of a second off of both qualifying sessions,

which is what you won, that kind of improvement. I didn't think he would improve by that much from Q2 to Q3. The fact that he did is highly impressive. And he might be, he might be doubly kicking himself for contact with Antonelli in Austin, because not only did he cost himself probably a few points there, he might well have cost himself points here too. I don't know whether he'd keep the seventh place, and he might still score points, who knows,

but he's made his job a little bit more difficult. But a great lap, I am massively intrigued by Williams tomorrow because they seem to have gone set-up-wise quite drastically different from nearly everyone else in the midfield. They have really prioritised straight-line speed versus most of the other midfield contenders. Whether that pays off or not, I honestly don't know.

So I am fascinated to see it. I think it would have paid off had Carlos started to P7 because I don't think he was moving too far forward anyway unless he got a lucky turn one, but if contact in front of him, maybe. But the great thing about Mexico, well, it's not great if you enjoy wheel to wheel racing,

but the great thing about defensive driver is overtaking in sectors two and three is nigh on impossible, unless you get the run of all runs. So you're overtaking if it does happen, down that start finish straight and down towards turn four. So if you're creating a straight line and you're trying to combat people behind you with DRS, a straight line setup is really important.

I've just found out that Carlos Sines is out qualifying album, six straight races in a row if you exclude the double DSQ in Singapore. So he is on the best form he's had since he's being in this Williams team. I hope you can get a couple of things. I think he's worthy of a couple of points. Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets in there. Breaking news, Agar's really great at qualifying.

Here he is. P9, another Q3 appearance. Nothing seems to phase this guy. He had a shocker in Coatner. Yeah. He had a real slump. And you know what? As a rookie, you're allowed a couple of those in a season.

And he has hung a couple of those. So the way he bounced back. He is wiped the slate clean to come back in there. Lawson, up until the point, looked like he was matching him. He looked quick. Not when it came to Q3, they pull it to bed. Like I said, the tiniest marking to also beat Yuki Sangoda into Q3 helps him get into 10th. He is, has been saying earlier, the bubble boy.

And then to not be sitting there at the back, not to be so far off the pace, to be fighting with the big guns in this racing ball. It shows you with that fast in Q1 session, he has got real pace here. The car is able to deliver it. And whilst he didn't step up as much as the other thing around him, it's kind of to be expected. He's in a racing ball. You know, LeCler found, I think, almost a second across the whole session. I wasn't expecting the same from Hager, but he was still right there and competitive. The King is able to put the car in the right place to get the most out of the racing a Sunday.

Absolutely. I continue to be really impressed by what he's able to do this season. We don't know what's going to happen with him in 2026, whether he, well, I mean, it'll be driving. It's just a question of where he's driving. But I hope regardless of whether it is, he continues with this same, this same start. the same attitude. I really love it. We had not that long ago, was it Baku maybe where he qualified relatively well, but he was absolutely gutted with how the final corner went. It might not have been Baku, I apologize, I don't remember where it was, but he was really kicking himself that he

couldn't get even further up the grid when we were all saying, what a great lap that is. And that's the kind of attitude he has. Him getting through to Q3 is a great achievement, but it's not enough for him. He wants the absolute most that he can get in every session. And here he is. He's a tenth away from Piastri. He's a tenth away in a bit from Antonelli. Like, he's right there. Great effort from him. Great effort from Behrman as well. He, I feel a bit smug when it comes to Behrman because I feel like I've been telling you all, it'll happen for him. It'll happen for him. There's a good driver in there. It feels like he's finally starting to show it. Yeah, I said this cue before we, so I can record it, but the stat that Olly Beerman has had three

through the three consistent races in the top 10 in a row, and Ocon has had two all season, just shows you that he is really starting to match. The quality that Ocon brings is a really strong midfield driver and a team that is so topsy-turvy. They're so kind of one seems to work, one seems to not work, but Behrman is seeming to find his stride. He's really finding form and consistency in a midfield area

where it is so easy to fall to the back and then come back into the niggle and fall to the back again. And where you've got the likes of Lawson jumping around where a long-so might usually be, Behrman is the one that is consistent in this approach. If he can get another couple of points on the board, if he doesn't make a silly mistake

in one of these heavy braking callers and pick up some penalty points, he could have a real brilliant end to this season and really show Ferrari, remember, he's contracted to them that there is a driver in there for the future. Yeah, I was very impressive what Berman did today. maybe he'll be slightly disappointed that he couldn't get a bit closer to Hadja Piaastrian signs ahead of him, but to even make it through to Q3, he's scored back-to-back points now.

He is really starting to emerge as a solid driver for Hasse, even this early in his career. I thought the gap between him and Ocon today was pretty all right for both drivers, in that Ockon was attempt faster in Q1, Behrman was half attempt faster in Q2. Credit to Behrman that he was able to pull it out the bag in the end. important session, but both of them seem to be fairly on it this weekend. And again, tough to say with race pace, but it looked pretty good. It looked pretty good from past his perspective. So I think he can hold on to points tomorrow. We'll see. As we move into those knocked out in Q2, Sam,

anything in particular catch your eye here. I think we've got five different drivers from five different teams here. We do. I think it's frustrating for Yuki Sankham. He was out by the absolute with financing of margins, less than two hundredths of the second, of course, to Isaac Hadrow at that point, when the guy needs to deliver for his career, really, right now, he's in those conversations. This, again, is not really ideal. When your teammate, okay, he isn't poll, which is a first for him, right? At the moment, the recent form, the fact that he's fighting a battle and the stabbing isn't winging.

This is a chart to show you could be right with him. And he was, as you mentioned, right? Two tents. But two tents around here, unfortunately gets you knocked out in Q2, and it's not good enough again because every other big team has their teammate inside the top 10. So if he's going to get anything out of this, he's got to have a great start. And actually, you can say it's not been having great starts recently either. He's been getting stuck with a lot of midfield running.

So it's going to be a real uphill battle for him. Anything that stands out for you? I did want to focus on Sonoda for sure because it felt like this could be the weekend where not that he could go and beat Vastappen, but that it might just look a little bit better for him in comparison. We know that Vastappan didn't do FP1. Sonoda did. Obviously, that's an advantage to Sonoda.

Sonoda has the updated front wing this weekend. Finally. Finally. So it felt like maybe this is the time where he could get into Q3 and not be too far off Vastappan at the end of the timings. If he gets through to Q3 and he can get to within a tenth and a half of Vastappen, that's good enough for 9th, which would then be. become eighth as a result of signs his penalty. And you're looking at fifth and eighth on the grid.

It's not too bad on a weekend where Vastappan hasn't been as dominant as we've seen him at other race weekends recently. But again, fine margins. He is not that far off of P10. He's not that far off of like P8, P7 in Q2. But he's the wrong side of it. P11 still. I mean, it will become P10, obviously. That will still give him good opportunity, I think, in the race. But if he finds himself five or six cars away from Vestappen. After the first lap, you have to imagine Vastappen's going to drive away from him again. Astor Martin don't look great this weekend.

Their car is so confusing. They're such a downforce-reliant car, I think, which is odd because the Mercedes engine wasn't being the most problem in terms of outright top speeds. Both McLaren and Mercedes are able to make that work. And even Williams now really started to find form with the top end of the Mars per hour range.

And yet, Astor Martin still can't unlock that side of things. Lance Stroll, I think, was 0.04 away from being bottomed to Colopinto. Yeah, about that. Yeah. Crofty made the most hilarious comment without meaning to be hilarious, classic as well. I'm laughing at him for the wrong reasons. But he comes out and says, it's a tough weekend for Alpine. They're regularly right down there at the bottom of the time.

I know. I was the same reaction as like, What have you been looking at all season if you think this is a surprise? This is the same as we've seen for the last dozen races. It baffled me. And the biggest sting about this is actually that Mark Strull was only lost

to one of the Alpins in Gassley, but he was so close to losing to both of them in Colopinto. And Colopinto didn't look comfortable here at all. This is the most I've seen him struggle, I think in qualifying for a little while now where he weren't flying over one of those curbs. So tough day for Ashton Martin.

I think a long so is could have maybe, gained one, maybe two places. So we've expected him to beat Holkenberg. I would have liked him to challenge closer to walk on. But that's about it. I can't seem getting into Q3 here. So I'm not sure there's much on the car from in the race. No, I'm not convinced there is either.

Their race pace didn't look brilliant. Salbers did look all right in comparison. So maybe they can do something. But I felt like Holkenberg and Alonzo were probably battling for P-13 as the maximum they could get out of this session, which I think would have became P-14, if not for Liam Lawson not setting a time in Q2, felt like that's all they had in their respective cars. Alonzo's three and a half, nearly four temps quicker than Lanchdrol, which again, based on some of the margins we've seen is a big old gap to your teammate. And Holkenberg gets the better of Bortoletto, not by a huge amount, it's a tenth and a half, but we saw with Bortoletto, seemingly with his first run where he locked up into T12, that seemed to cost him because all of that pressure goes on later in the session.

But yeah, both teams here, Aston Martin and Sal, but maybe not as on it as they've been in other races this year. Lawson will be the one that's kicking himself a little bit here. Yeah. His pacing Q1 won that really good. I think he was only two tenths away from Hadrow, who of course topped the session, which is a really, you know, that's still great pace.

And if he converts that two-tenths improvement, slightly more so, which a lot of people found into that Q2, if he sets a lap time, there's a real chance he is actually fighting to get through to Q3 with his team mate. It wouldn't surprise me. No, and this happened.

so often with these two guys where one of them just has a little bit extra that they can pull out of the bag and sometimes it's been larsing more often than not though it has been agile and we've seen that trend reappear today and starting 15th where your teammate is going to be starting inside the top eight is ah it's a tough pill to swallow when you're fighting for a seat and there's a real chance that actually you might be one of these guys that gets dropped these are the results you need to be on the better side of final quick question before we give out our driver of the session. You're concerned about Alex Album? I am. Yeah. I'm not sure what's going on at the moment, but the pace especially in qualifying is what's worrying me here. We brought up the stat earlier

about being outqualified by Sites so regularly. But the issue is it's got like Scyx is say P7 and albums P8. It's more often than not actually, currently the Sites is getting into Q3. Album is being dropped in Q1. That's the reality of the situation right now. So the turnaround of going through the first half of the season up to the summer break and seeing Alvin be the hero, we praise him endlessly by how well he was driving. It's such a swap. I'm not sure if something's changing the car that doesn't suit his driving style. I'm not sure if maybe he's packed it in for the season and going to what, I'm going to focus

on next year, tough to do as a driver. But this is worrying. He needs to work out, even if it's just to get himself relatively back to fighting for some standard points, something's going to change here. Yeah, I don't know what's going on there. He seemed to be bemused, a bit flummoxed as to why he was like. But every session he is. Yeah, yeah.

He couldn't really point to, he can kind of point to why, but not, he can point to the what, but not the why. And, you know, they'll look at that and, you know, fingers crossed from their perspective, they'll be able to sort that both overnight and for the remaining qualifying sessions of the year. But yeah, Albin has definitely taken a step back on where he was at the beginning of this season. I still think the net result for the year is way more positive than negative, but yeah, it hasn't been a great run

for him. All that leaves us to do is to hand out our driver of the session. Who you're giving this to? Easy one for me, and everyone thinks, oh, you give it to the pole guy just because he's got pole. And yeah, that's fair. But that lap I genuinely believe was maybe

what second best lap I've ever seen from Lando. The other one being, what, the Austrian qualifying, where he pulled out an absolute belter of a time. Yeah. You know, but it's right out there. It's one of those two for me currently.

And that is a real cherry on the top of taking a title fight to your rival. So for me, Delando gets it. Yeah, this gap being over two and a half thames of a second really sealed it for me. Because, you know, the next two and a half times back, you've kind of got to go back to Antonelli. So the gap between Norris and LeCler pretty much matches the gap between Lecler and Antonelli and P6. And because of that margin, I think I have to give it to Lando Norris here as well.

despite the fact that I do also want to really shout out Carlos Sines because I know the five, I'm not factoring the five place grip penalty for this session in particular. I'm only looking at what he did out there today. He was brilliant to get that all the way up to P7. So a very strong second place from him, but I am also going to go with Landon Norris. Lovely.

Lovely indeed. And I think that will nicely wrap things up for this qualifying review of the Mexican GP. Good news for the folks at home though, Sam. We're going to be back to. tomorrow for a race review, and we're going to be back on Monday for some power rankings. Oh, oh, back again, back again, back again. That was episode 600 of the late breaking F1 podcast. When we started this, I was really hoping episode 600 would be a Mexican GP qualifying review, you know? You know what? I've got it in my calendar for a long time.

Yeah. It has not let me down. If you've been here for all 600, why? If you've been here for 150, if you've been here for 30, if you've been in for one, why? If you're counting, like respect to you, either way. Please do count. Please. I'd like to see tallies in Discord, which you can join the links in the description. And if you have joined Patreon,

again, thank you to your support. You'll get your power rankings on Monday. Join it if you haven't. You can give it a month. If you hate it, you can always cancel it. I promise you won't notice the date in your bank account because the cost is tiny.

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We will be back for power rankings. So much more to be had. And hopefully a lot of action to discuss in the Mexico GP. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast, network.