The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Monaco GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: May 24, 2025

The Monaco GP delivered the drama as usual, with 5 drivers battling down to the wire in Monte Carlo. The LB boys discuss all of the action from the last-lap heroics, a double blow for Mercedes, and the home favourite finding himself in the mix for tomorrow's race... We apologise for the dip in Sam's audio quality this episode as he is recording from a remote location. Please also note this episode was recorded prior to Hamilton's 3-place grid penalty. FOLLOW us on socials! You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUPPORT our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for bonus episodes JOIN our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ community JOIN our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ EMAIL us at [e-mail]   & SUBSCRIBE to our podcast! TIDE: Save more, earn more—up to 4.22% AER (variable). Interest rates are tiered, with the top rate for balances over £1M. Each tiered rate applies to the portion within that range. New Tide members get these rates free for 6 months; after that, your Tide plan’s rates apply. For full offer T&Cs visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tide.co/savings⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Harry here. Just a quick note to say that Sam recorded this episode from a remote location, so his audio isn't quite as crisp and as clear as normal, but never fear he is still as funny as ever, and me and Ben sound perfect because, of course,

all back to normal next time, so please enjoy our review of the Monaco GP qualifying. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late-breaking F-1 podcast presented by Harry Eid, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking. Reviewing today, qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix, where Lando Norris has managed to secure a pole position on the front row with the Ferrari of Charles LeClaire, with their teammates in third and fourth, Oscar Piastri in third, Lewis Hamilton in fourth. Last few minutes are qualifying Q3, unmatched, never misses. Yeah, it's like the biggest adrenaline rush

Every single year That one three minute moment Pretty much my whole year lived up to that point And the moment it stops again It's kind of what's really worth living for Until you get to this weekend again next year Wow Just living in between Monica qualifying

So it's all weird Just the three minutes in Q3 That's it once that's done What's the point You got a countdown to Q1 Like up somewhere I do It circled around the calendar again

Yeah 365 days to go I gotta say I appreciate my car actually making it slightly more exciting than five, three minutes. Like it was a good five, right? Because they went out there early, right? Yeah, thank you. I liked that.

Enjoyed that. What I'm. Yeah, appreciate that, McLaren. Plenty to get into, of course, with this qualifying session. We will start out front, though. It looked like it was going to be a pretty exciting battle for pole position between Ferrari and McLaren, and that's exactly how it played out.

Charles LeClau was fastest in all of the practice sessions, but in Q3, it was Lando Norris who was able to wrestle away pole position from him, albeit by a fairly small margin. Sam, we've obviously had a lot of questions about Lando Norris and his qualifying form this season. He took poll at the first race in Australia, but hasn't had one since today. Think of Bahrain, think of Saudi Arabia. It hasn't been plain sailing for him in Q3s.

Here, though, how many, I don't know, the critics, has he really answered those with that lap? answering the critics with one lap is not the phrase I would go for, but this is definitely what Landon Norris would have wanted to see coming out of, you know, Saturday of Monaco. There could not be a better result for him. I'm mentioning it a few times. Landon Norris is a form driver.

When the form is going well, he seems to step up and step up and step up. But when the form is struggling or he takes a knock, he kind of gets in his own head a little bit and he needs to kind of remotivate himself. And we had that break. We came back from Miami. He was beaten by Piastri again in Miami. you think, oh no, it's going to come by the way again. But Imola comes around.

He gets the better of Piastri and Imola. And then we come to Monaco where qualifying can not be more important. As you've just mentioned, Ben, qualifying has been far Piastri's strength rather than Norris's so far this season with the difference in Stunt Road starts and pole positions. But he has had the upper hand over Piascri all weekend. Every qualifying session we had here, Naino looked like the bigger threat.

Piaastri looked like he could not control the car going through the pickup thing, or anything like that. It looked like the backhand stuff. out all over the place. And Landon Norris just look really calm, really content. And this is the kind of thing that when he gets that form going and there's no better forms to legal fire than whole position at Morocco, he's going to really take this in his stride.

He's going to be the kind of person now that goes, I can do it, going to go into the race tomorrow, I'm going to lead, I can win. And I really think if, you know, Norris comes on to wing and Piastri coming to get into the front too, we again have a much closer gap in terms of the point. So we're going to something very, very exciting. So Landon Norris needs this more than anyone and I'm really glad to see it because what a lap it was

shocked that came out of that second lap on the used tyres after reading a lap earlier in the session and living in absolute beauty just pipping the post from Charles Leclair who I'm sure will be devastated that he is in off-on-pole position. Harry, what did you make of the lap from Landon Norris? How impressed were you from what he was able to do

and also the McLaren strategy that was different from Ferraris? Yeah, it was a statement statement lap from from from lando norris of all the places to uh you know put down on the statement lap this is probably the the one so um was was highly impressed from from lando it's it's almost like counterintuitive because when maybe stakes are less high he's made mistakes you go to perhaps the highest stakes um qualifying of the year and he he delivers so um yeah it was very impressive and it wasn't just pressure from his teammates pressure from mcclough

the staff and was in the mix too and he delivered um he writes sam but he's looked like the quicker driver all weekend and at one point i thought piastri was just going to nick it off him again at the death um but norris with that second lap uh given that it was the second lap so the tires are not at their freshest i think that in itself i know they're both improved but the fact that norris still managed to find that amount of time is um is uh you know very impressive so um um um Yeah, I was, I was questioning McLaren's strategy on that. I thought they were just going to go for an early lap just to get out of the way. But clearly they were going for,

clearly they were going for a double run and it paid off. So great time for Lando to do that. And yeah, hopefully he can, he can turn it, you know, turn into a winter morning. Yeah, I, that was, that was utterly thrilling to close out Q3. And before I talk about Lando, Norris, I just want to say thank you to Ferrari because, They haven't been competitive in qualifying in a lot of places this year.

And if it weren't for them, Max Verstappan's quite a long way back in fifth. So we might have had, it still would have been exciting between the two McLaren guys, but to have a second team in that fight definitely enhance the viewing experience in that third part of qualifying. Lano Norris, what he was able to deliver, hugely impressed. I mentioned during the preview show midweek that I felt Piastri was probably the favourite of the two McLarency just based on how important. qualifying is, and of the two, it's Piastri that hasn't had these disasters in qualifying.

We have had this year, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, where Norris hasn't been able to perform right of the death in Q3. Here, though, thoroughly impressive. And it's not the first time this year that I felt going into qualifying, going into Q3 that Landon Norris might have a tenth, two temps possibly on Piastri. But in all of the previous instances, Piastri was able to to either provide something in Q3 that Norris couldn't answer or Norris sort of let himself down on what his pace could be. Here, he converted. I think that pace that we saw between him and Piastri

was actually on a par with everything we saw throughout the weekend. So obviously hugely important whole position for him going into the race tomorrow, even with that two-stop strategy looming. And to do it right at the end, very good stuff from him. Harry, what about Ferrari? because all season they've said of their struggles with low-speed corners. We go to a place with a lot of low-speed corners, and here they've delivered second and fourth.

And in many respects, Charlotte-Clearn might be disappointed not to be on poll, given he was fastest in all three practice sessions. Is it a good thing that they're in the fight way more than they have been at most weekends, or is there still disappointment that maybe poll position was theirs for the taking? I think they'll be pleased that they are in the fight, but I think the more worrying thing is they probably don't understand. Why?

Because I don't think I genuinely don't think they were just doing a classic playing down their chances. They haven't been good in the slow corners this year. So you go to Monaco, yeah,

fair enough, probably not going to be that competitive. And then they get to, look, there's looked like the quickest person out there all weekend. And it's only really taken

that, you know, last lap Lando. I'm not bringing that back. The last lap from Lando. Oh, to knock him off the top spot.

So I think the Clair were disappointed. It's certainly not game over for the win because, you know, he starts P2 and there are two stops to have to make tomorrow. You know, it's Ferrari, so it's pretty actually worse. And I'm doing one stop. It'll end up fifth after the first round of pit stops. It's generous, mate. That's kind.

So, yeah, I guess confusing for Ferrari, but they'll certainly take the good result. And like you said, thank God they were, because where Mercedes have been, really this year, they were not, and Ferrari had been there instead. So that's really given us a good battle for battle for pole at the end. Obviously, this happened as well, but he's always there.

So yeah, pleasantly surprised. Whether that means they'll be any good at anywhere else, probably no, but who knows at this point. So, but at this point, we'll take competitive Ferrari any day of the week over non-competitive Ferrari.

I love watching competitive Charles Leclair at Monaco. It's so much fun because he is, if we're talking about a track specialist, then it sounds weird given he only won his first race here 12 months ago. He's right up there. He is so quick here. He was maintaining that sort of three-temp's gap to Lewis Hamilton throughout qualifying.

That's roughly what we ended up with at the end of Q3 as well. Even though he hasn't managed to get pole position ahead of Lando Norris, he was in the fight all weekend. And I think he will be in the fight tomorrow. Thank you Ferrari for actually giving LeCler a car to work with. I am very concerned that you have built a car for one race weekend of the season because that's very Ferrari. But at least for this weekend, I'm very glad to see it.

Sam of your thoughts on the Ferrari duo? I don't understand how they were so fast in a straight line last racing. Now they are so fast and so caught as this race. Yeah, I don't get it to be. Yeah, quite confusing. Ferrari quite confusing. Miscommunication all over the place. you heard of Lewis Hamilton, possibly impeding Max Verstappen,

that he got told to separate messages, thinking all what's going on, and yet somehow they have constructing a car with a setup that was less than a tenth away from securing pole position at Longacoa again. Charlotte Clare is lethal around his home track. He is supreme when it comes to that one lap pace, and you looked at the record books about how many times he's picked up poll here.

I can't believe that he's only one here once, so as being his luck when it comes to the actual races, and maybe it will go the other way. maybe he will start second and it'll actually end up being a positive for him. We might see a Ferrari wing finally this season. But very impressed. And thank goodness that they were closer because even Hamilton right behind Piastri, that's really exciting that we're getting kind of a one McClare and one Ferrari,

one McLean and one Ferrari. It's so good that they're close. We're going to hopefully see some split strategies. Hopefully we'll see them go toe to toe. Actually, the race pace is very similar. And not often do you look at practice results and you go, yeah, that's exactly how it's going to turn. going out when it comes to the actual real qualifying session.

Practices so often a speculation, a possibility, a mere suggestion of if something is actually going to be possible. But just like that, Charlotte-Clauer rocks up, does what he does best. That man is a qualifying guard, and he sticks it on the front row. And, you know, obviously, well done to Landon Norris being able to extract something out of that McLaren around here that was able to just get in front of the Monagas

because an incredible performance saying that front row could cause fireworks. Very excited for the race. one driver that would have been very much hoping he'd be in that fight and instead we'll have to settle for P5 is Max Wastappen. Harry, I feel like as we went through qualifying, it became increasingly apparent that it didn't quite have the pace of the top two teams. In that case, has he maximised what he was able to possibly accomplish today? I think so. I think he was getting more out of that Red Bull than it was deserved. I thought it wasn't on when

I think it was his last lap in Q2 before we were following it and it looked like his his Foner running Q3 from 20203 like he was as close to the walls there as he was then and I think that was the point where it's the penny drop that maybe this was the maximum for that Red Bull

Vestappen was doing all he could and you obviously saw the relative performance of his teammates I think there's not much more he could have done around around this circuit. So again, like I say, he's not out of the game.

He's certainly up there, and we're talking very, very fine margins. But yeah, I don't think for Stauffin could have done much more, much more today. He was hustling with a capital hub. That he was. Sam, what did you make of

the Stappan getting P5? Is there any disappointment there? Or again, do you think he's got the most out of the car? I think there'll be disappointment there. It's Max for Stappen. I think he'll be disappointed with his, his lap. I think he was closer in every other session. I think he wasn't able to take that

step up, take the step up from Q2 to Q2 to Q3. He kind of stayed relative to where he was. I think P5 is a real is a bit of a letdown for Max Verstappen's ability. The car is clearly not perfect here. It's clearly not able to run at the same speed as the way the McLaurang is, it's not on rails and

Ferrari have somehow got it to get for this one off. But I think Max will be looking at this and thinking I'm probably sure about at least beating Lewis Hamilton here. There was a little bit of a gap between Hamilton and Piastri that maybe he can have spot into I said it in our preview episode. Monaco is not

Max Verstappen's track. As much as he's won here twice, he's only ever had one pole position here. Famously, he's not been too successful when it comes to Monaco and unfortunately, it wasn't delivered upon again in Q3. So while Sakaa isn't its ultimate spec, I do

believe that there was probably a little more that someone like Max Verstappen who probably have extracted from it. I thought his Q3 was actually eerily similar to last year's in that I think Vastappen realized that he would need a 100% lap to make any progress and possibly just overdrove it a little bit at the end of Q3. Because like you, Harry, I was watching that Q2 lap and felt there ain't much more in this.

And that wasn't enough to really challenge the top two teams. So I tend to agree with you, Sam, in that if he absolutely nails that lap in Q3, I think fourth place is on the cards. But I think his mentality was likely, unless I go for this at 100%. I'm not going to make any progress from P5, which might have caused that last lap to not really go anywhere. Should we close out some conversation on Q3? Let's head to racing balls,

because both drivers managed to make it through to Q3. Isaac Adjjar starts sixth. Liam Lawson will start in ninth. Liam Lawson's first Q3 appearance of the season. Harry, how impressed for you with those two? Yeah, I mean, very impressed with both. And I think for different reasons, this is, you know, easily Liam Lawson's most convincing performance so far.

I think at least at least a 2025 at a track where, you know, the driver makes more of the difference than any other. I think that's quite an important statement for him. And for Hadjar, who has been impressive all season, after what was a very messy Friday, particularly FP2, where he had a couple of collisions with the barrier, didn't think one was enough.

To get that result, you know, P6 for him was, is highly impressive. So, yeah, both drivers, both drivers will be very,

we'll be very pleased with that. And so should the team, you know, they've got qualified, you know, one of the Red Bulls in Sonoda. And it's a, it's a great starting point for them for Sunday.

for some, for a good chunk of points, especially when Williams are 10th and 12th or something. I can't remember what signs. 11th, yeah, 11th. Yeah, that's a very decent, very decent starting place for racing goals. Yeah, I, it's going to be slightly mixed emotions, I think, for Liam Lawson in the, firstly, congratulations to him for making it through to Q3

because he has shown pace all weekend long. On the other hand, he's probably looking at Hadjar and going, that should have been me. like Lawson has been the quicker driver throughout this weekend, but when it came to putting it all together in Q3, ultimately it was his teammate that, yeah, he hasn't exactly done a massively better job than Lawson, but with Ocon and Alonzo separating them,

there's a good chance with overtakes obviously incredibly difficult here, that Hadjar is going to extend his advantage on Lawson in the driver's championship, but, you know, at least from Lawson's perspective, he's in Q3 for the first time and has a realistic shot at getting some points. Sam, the two drivers in between Hadja and Lawson are Fernando Alonzo and Esteban O'Con obviously former teammates at Alpine

feels like it feels like they've done a pretty good job to make it there, right? I am so amazed with what Hajjah was able to do on that QTUrie performance. He looked like he was the slow of the two drivers, the more precarious, the more likely to go into a barrier and Liam Lawson looked like he had it all sewn up.

So to pull out a performance that gets him into P6, firstly, great start for my boldie P. Can't wait for him to drop into the top four, hopefully, for the race. And then secondly, Mawson will be gutted. But Ocon, a round of applause for Ocon, because honestly, that's in that fast,

that's sensational performance. That's such a good result to end up being in P8. And I think they made the most of the fact that both the Mercedes cars haven't made it through to Q3. And when you do get a dropout like that, you know, only one Red Bull, no Mercedes, you have to be the team that takes advantage of maximizing this. And that's where Williams should have taken advantage of it.

that's where Williams should be lying up six and seven. So the fact that you've got Hajjar and Alonso there with O'Kong in behind them and Lansing behind Matt, that's a real disappointment from the Williams guys, but a great performance from Hager, big points on the board. And I think Alonso's really done well to maximize those upgrades that are bringing in Weller. Someone like Lance Grohl is going to be absolutely dutted

that they're not able to be fighting in that top 10 for points. Surely this is where Alonso actually picks up his first points of the season. He surely can't be the unluckiest driver anymore. He's got to go his way. No, you can't say that. How has Ocon done this, by the way, because he's looked like the slowest man all weekend. And then, oh yeah, top ten.

It's Monaco. How do I, Ocon and Monaco, there's a way to combine them. Maconico. There you go. Perfect. Sure. Monaco. Also, Monaco, yes, that's it. Monaco. That sounds like a trancheon.

former. Yes, and that's what Ocon is at Monaco. I'm annoyed, though, because bold predictions, I don't want to touch mine at all. Was it P6? You said that then? 0.019. That's what separated Hadjar and O'Con in this session.

I may have whooped and or hollered when I noticed that you said top six and not top eight. Oh, he was so close. Right, let's take a break on this. this episode. We'll discuss Williams in the second half. We'll also have a look at what was a disastrous day for Mercedes. Welcome back, everyone. So Williams will start 10th and 11th, Albin in 10th, signs in 11th. Harry, a bit of disappointment from them? Yeah, easily. Signs should have been in that top 10. And then their strategy, which Coffty was so keen to find out with on the Sky broadcast. But their street really was. Goodness me.

It's like he'd cracked some real, real mysterious puzzle. But their strategy of the mediums in Q3 for Albon, nah, didn't work. And I'm surprised they persisted with it because I think it was clear in Q2. They didn't work. Those mediums, all the ones that did run a medium, apart from maybe Alonzo,

because Alonzo did get through on his medium tire run. That's Alonzo. That's a fan, mate. Yeah. Who basically celebrated that like he got pole. but yeah the medium strategy wasn't working because LeClaire tried it as well so I'm surprised they did persist and maybe they'd boxed themselves into a corner by committing to it so either way it has not worked out given how quick Albonne has looked all weekend

he's he's been threatening like the top five for a lot of the sessions and even earlier in qualifying so Albon especially will be disappointed given that he got into you know key three but basically is finished next to his team not basically has finished next to his team, mate. So, yeah, this point from the Williams side as well, because racing balls has already mentioned in front of them. Yeah, not a great strategy call from Williams to go without medium tire. And I feel like at least part of the issue,

or maybe the whole issue, is that Williams are still in a position maybe where mentally they feel like they've got nothing to lose. because any other time in the last couple of years where they've been in this spot, it's like they've had to get there via luck and, you know, they're the ones that can try something different to just try and get a position or two ahead of some of their better teams. They've actually got a quick car.

Like they've actually got something to work with. And I felt like they didn't need to risk it. If Albin sets the same lap time in Q3 that he does in Q2, he's sixth. And honestly, if he improves by a 10-5, he could have had fifth. here. And that's the difference between fifth or sixth at Monaco or 10th is quite a lot, because even if he does think he's quicker than the couple of cars ahead, he might struggle to do anything about it. So, yeah, disappointment from Williams. They just need to adjust to the fact that their car is actually quite good. Sam, what did you make of Williams?

Yeah, I completely agree. Adjusting the fact that you're actually all right at the F1 these days and you're not the bat marker where you'll laugh at because you're two seconds off the pace. This is a gimme. An actual gimme. You don't get many of them, especially at quality. But when you've got both Mercedes, 14th and 15, when you got Sonoda out, and then the cars in front of you are the racing balls and Ocon, you know, historically, really far down the grid when it comes to qualify. And they're not really famed for being in the top six or seven positions. You should be going, right, you've got Boris, you've got the Clare, you've got Piaastry, you've got Camelton, you've got the Stapping. All right, sure, they're going to probably be the top five. They're doing all right.

After that, who should we be looking to be? Everyone. They've shown they've got the pace. the strategy call to go on the mediums, getting off those early. You could see from how gasoline and colipinto ran them, they weren't working. Move on to the soft tires, execute that soft tire strategy. And I think Carlos Sites, out of everyone, will be feeling very relieved that actually Albon is starting right next to him on that starting grid because it could have looked

really dangerous. How Albao ending up being in P6 and Scyt's ending up being in P11, they're clubbing a real points difference between the two of them when it comes to the end of the race. And that would have been another gutting thing for Carlos Sites to miss out again. But he's fortunate, but Williams aren't. This is really unlucky. And when the top team, like I'm saying, is getting either car, EQ3, you've got to maximise your opportunities here,

especially at a place where overtaking, is it such a premium. So Williams out of everyone, despite them only starting 10 and 11th, will be absolutely gutted, I think. I mean, by saying that a year ago that are William and 10th and 11th were disappointed, but I really think they will be. This is the bare minimum from them now, and I think they can have done much more. It's a, they were too risky for what they're actually.

she able to achieve. I think they should just believe in the car and believe in how good their driver light up is and just do something normally. 10th and 11th isn't great, but it is better than 14th and 15th, which is where Mercedes have finished this session. Firstly, thank you Mercedes. You have vindicated my decision

to take you out to my fantasy team. Thank the Lord. Same. I did the same. I'm so play. Mercedes and George Russell. Thank you. Ah, played a blinder. So George Russell 14th, his car went nope in Q2, Antonelli. His car also went a nope, although that was slightly more self-inflicted in Q1, apologies.

So, yeah, not exactly an ideal starting position for them, Harry. I mean, George Russell, to start with him, if you picked a qualifying session throughout the year not to have a very rare error with your car, it'd probably be Monaco. Yeah, not ideal. one for George. I don't think Mercedes looked like it was going to trouble for pole, but I think he'd have been, I think he could have been up in the top five mix, come the end of Q3. And from there, you know, it's Monagher. You don't know what can happen.

So he'll be very disappointed. And he obviously was very disappointed as we saw from his reaction to the car breaking down, which, yeah, like you say, is a very rare one for for Mercedes especially. I know he said he hit a bump, but show me the, is the bump? in the room with us. I don't know why that just is. I think Sam Lowe just broke down.

So, um... Do you think, um, women who get asked, uh, how pregnant are you when they're actually not pregnant

saying the same line? So I'm bumping them with us. Gosh, I've wondered... I had no idea what that was going at all. Um, um, it's me.

Anyway. Yeah. My life flashed before my heart. Oh, Lord. Um, anyway, um,

Yeah, and Fantinelli, this felt like it was, when I thought that he'd crashed at that corner, I was like, he's just not, he's not break for it, is he? He's definitely not brave, but no, I'd take it all back. He had, he'd just turned in too early. I probably break too much because he actually hit the inside curb. So, or I'd say Barry, I should say. But, you know, that's a rookie at Monaco.

And I didn't think it necessarily would be him. I thought I had all the hallmarks of a colopinto, colopinto bin to have been. But, you know, you can't do this. that because he's risen, risen the barrows too much. So, um, yeah, a cost of mistake for, for Anteneli. But to be honest, I'm not saying they would end up 14, 15th. They just didn't, they didn't look that competitive all weekend, to be honest. So, um, yeah, we'll see what, we'll see what they can do from there, but it's going to be a long old Sunday. And I wouldn't,

I wouldn't, I wouldn't bet against him doing something quite odd on strategy or George Russell making them do something quite odd on strategy, like make their both their pit stops lap one. lap two. Please, please, someone's got to do it. It's going to be George. I mean, you talk about their apparent lack of pace, which I completely agree with. Antonelli, I'm not convinced he's getting through Q2 anyway.

I think he'd have been in a fight to get into Q3 because his pace was a bit lacking. Russell was a bit quicker and I think you're right based on what we've seen from him for the most part of this season. He drags it to fifth or six probably. but Mercedes not really on it. But even so, Sam, that's a disastrous result. Yeah, let's get George Ross out the way nice and quick here.

It wasn't his fault. He was doing what he can with the car, absolutely gutting for him to be so consistent throughout this season. And the one race where you cannot afford to have some kind of, you know, car error in qualifying. And he has, he paid the ultimate price here, but I'm not doing anything wrong to hear the car come out like that. And he tried to cruise at home.

We tried to bump start it as much as he took. But, you know, the battery you see it want to give. and it just went an electrical failure there, unfortunately. Thoroughly enjoyed the marshals, pushing it out the tunnel, and then swapping over with the other marshal, so they didn't have to run as far back. All the way back up the hill. Great stuff.

Good work, Mars. Yeah, and the tobogging, I think it was, is what they were using. So George Russell can't blame him, and he's going to be gutted. But, yeah, I want to hear commands over the team radio from George Russell tomorrow, all sorts of weird and wonderful phrases, all sorts of wacky ideas. But George, don't get town, son. Enjoy it. Kimi Anting Ellie on the other hand

usually if this was a seasoned F1 driver let's say let's say that was Oscar Piastri in that car and this is what happened I will be giving him grief he's got enough experience he'll have enough time you have enough ability to make sure that he can make that work give me Anthony Ellie is a rookie man you know it's his first season his first ever

Mongo coming a Formula One car he's only driven in once in F2 it's the hardest place ever to come racing and do a lap at full speed and yeah not ideal crashing not ideal and I thought if he's going to crash anywhere if that chican. He's going to either, like you said, not break,

or he's going to smash his tire on the inside of the wall and it's game over. And that's exactly what happened. His pace wasn't there. He put it in the wall, and it's probably game over in terms of a weekend for him. But he's a rookie. It's going to happen.

The pace wasn't there that they were going to win this Grand Prix anyway. He's probably going to end up missing out on maybe six or eight points in a season where they're not going to go on to win anything either. Whilst frustrating for them, it's not disastrous. So he used to pick himself up. He used to be competitive. He used to try something different to maybe get a great result under a red flag or a lucky safety car, see what they're able to do.

And let's see what the weekend plays out for them. But yeah, the pace in the Mercedes is more the worrying factor. As overall, the constructor was unable to give them a car that even looked capable of fighting with Ferrari. How Ferrari have gone from being this laughing stock to beating Mercedes now two weekends in a row, by the looks of things, you know, if things save the same as they are tomorrow, that is a worrying turnaround. Because that means Mercedes are no longer kind of that bulletproof Jack of Alltrade's second car that just racks up the points.

They're now the team that are starting to look like they've got issues. So fingers crossed that Morocco is a bit of an outlier that we go to Spain, when they want them in love Spain doing Mercedes, and they actually end up being back on the pace and we get a bit of a four-way fight with all the teams again, because this is a worrying turn of events if it comes to their outright ability. I'm a little bit nervous for them. I think how much Antonelli was pushing in Q2

is probably indicative of the lack of pace that he and the team had. it probably wouldn't have been necessary to go all out at many other qualifying sessions, but he needed to here. I do want to say a point on Antonelli's crash because obviously it brought out the red flag, and I know I've made this point in qualifying reviews before. We need a similar rule to IndyCar, where if you cause a red flag, or I would probably extend it to yellow flags as well, you get your fastest lap time deleted. here we've had Antonelli obviously qualify 15th so we've had five cars knocked out in Q1

and Antonelli has technically made it through to Q2 but with no possibility to appear based on that crash I think he should lose his fastest lap and then whoever's 16 makes it through I know I've made that point before but I don't understand why we don't bring it in I think we're very much agreed as an entire show Sam, anything to say on Yuki Sonoda, 12th place? Yeah, he's going to be really disappointed with this is UK. The fact that he's the last runner of the Red Bull family here is not a good look. A track that is so driver-specific.

Now, the Red Bull was clearly not on rails like we've seen it previously around here and even other than the powers of Max Verstappen, which are always mighty. Fifth Place is all that he was able to manage. I expect him to go there to be further down the grid. The Max Verstappen. I didn't expect him to be three places behind Liam Lawson, who I think if you go and check our power rankings

and our Patreon episodes, he's right down there from all three of us in terms of overall average ability, overall performances. So this is a really disappointed performance. It might be his worst qualifying performance so far this season. He did come on the radio and moan about how unlucky he was. I haven't seen any evidences to display that he might have been blocked or having been obstructing.

So both of you have seen evidence otherwise, do let me know. But from what I've seen, he just wasn't quick enough. He just was not fast enough. that that second seat in that Red Bull car is so tricky. On the knife egg, really tough to drive because it is set up for Max for Stapen for the most part. But nonetheless, it's got the ability. And if UK wants to keep proving himself, he has to get it up the grid, the tracks like this.

So he's going to be gutted. And he's going to, I don't know how much he's really going to be able to do when it comes to the race tomorrow. Moving into Q1, Harry, we've seen at Monaco over the last few years that Alpine, who have consistently struggled with their engine compared to their competitors, have overperformed at Monaco versus other tracks because it's not much of a factor

and they're 18th and 20th this weekend I cannot work out this team why are they here they really thought GASD would be at least doing pretty well here this weekend and I know you got blocked by Stroll who was just sort of wandering around the streets

in Monaco at that point I couldn't see anything from the sun Can we talk about sorry we talk about Stroll very quickly that man has been a liability all weekend. He's a moving roadblock. Get out the way, Lance. Just lets a car pass him.

No, the problem is he's out of the way. He's moving back into the way. He lets one car pass and then moves onto the racing line as if there's no other cars to let pass. Oh man, I thought that was Charles. Go to St. Lance. It would have been all right to crash into it if it was a... Look, what?

Yeah, where's the locket? I know. I know it's classic Monaco, but I enjoyed Hamilton's engineer as well saying. Oh, that was awful. The Vastappan was going behind you. Oh, no, he's going slowly. No, he's,

what evidence was it that he's going slowly? He's flying up the hill towards fascinating. Do you think that'll result in a penalty? They stopped looking at it, I don't think, didn't they? Can't remember. I thought they say investigate it after the session. Oh, yeah, no, you're right after the session. I doubt it, given that they've ended up next to each other.

But anyway, um, yeah, Alpine. they just built a car for Bahrain and Bahrain only I'm becoming more convinced of that I know Colapinto's not had the greatest come back into F1 but to be honest for race two in this in this car for him what a crap on what a terrible second race to have to try and learn this car

so I'll give him some pity points on that and also given that Gatsley's only two places ahead of him I don't think that's actually he's been that terrible there so yeah what are they do tomorrow maybe they'll do the one lap one lap two stops

probably makes more sense for them than Russell but yeah it's Alpine so probably it won't yeah I know they were one of the teams that struggled with that that medium tire to get anything out of it but even throughout free practice three it didn't look like they were going to have the pace to really

threaten Q3 three. Colopinto has consistently been one of, if not the slowest driver this weekend. Gasly, I think if he were to absolutely get the most out of qualifying, he gets to Q2, but I'm not sure he gets to Q3 this weekend, which is a shame given. Ghazly, when he's got the car around here, certainly can compete for the top 10 positions. Sam, who was your driver of the session? Oh, I don't even to Landon Norwich. I know that's so boring.

I know he's on pole of long ago, but it's the fact he did it on that second run. fact that even only used set of tires after the slowdown and then going again, he was able to extract that little bit extra that someone like Piastri, who was so regularly outclassed him in qualifying this season, wasn't able to do. And he beat Charlotte Clare, who is an absolute god at one lap pace around this racetrack. So you know what? Well done, Lano, Norris. You deserve your flowers today and a sensational poll that we'll see if it sets you up for a beauty tomorrow. Harry, driver of the session. Norris is a great shout. Just to make it a bit different. I'll go for Isaac Hadjar.

P6 after what was, as I already mentioned, a difficult, difficult Friday afternoon for him yesterday and a team middle like he was quicker than him all weekend. So, yeah, I'll go for Hajar, but Norris is certainly a great shout. Yeah, it's those two for me plus Alonzo and Ocon. Again, Alpine, that was a lineup you once had.

You had them. That was the entire team. Yeah. I think they're both. I know they've capitalised on the Yuki Sonoda not making it through and what happened to the Mercedes guys, but I think they've done a great job to get seventh and eighth here, but I am going to agree with Sam.

Go with Orlando Norris. Well, that's going to do it for our qualifying review. Sam, if you wouldn't mind getting us out of here. Thanks so much for listening, everyone. We'll be right back for the Micro Race Review tomorrow. So make sure you come straight back after the Grand Prix. And if you want to hear a little bit more conversation about the Monaco race weekend and make sure you pull out of Monaco down the slipway and into

Patreon City where you'll find a wonderful bit of power rankings for your entertainers. It's on the cinema actually this week in Patreon City, free showing once you've paid your registry fee into the city and enjoy it, consume it, comment about it, all of the things. Thanks for your support. We'll see you tomorrow in the meantime. I've been Samuel Sage. I've been Ben Hocking and I've been Harry Ede and remember keep breaking late. Thank you.