The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2025 Spanish GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: May 31, 2025

Ben and Sam break down all the action from qualifying in Barcelona, where McLaren put any doubts to rest about the impact of technical directives with a front-row lock out. The boys cover the key moments, from the head-to-head between the McLaren teammates, to more standout rookie performances, and a frustrating session for both Williams and Tsunoda... 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. Welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking. Reviewing today, Spanish Grand Prix qualifying at the Circuit to Catalonia, where McLaren. A lot of questions coming into this weekend about whether they could maintain their advantage with this new technical directive. coming in. They have qualified 1-2, locking out the front row

with Oscar Piastri a couple attempts ahead of Lando Norris. Another good qualifying session, Sam. Very exciting, qualifying, some surprises up and down the grid. We're going to get talking about that technical directive because there's a couple of crafty teams, McLaren being one of them that ran their new

front wing in FP1 at Imola. And has it had any impact? Well, look at the gap. We've got the largest gap to pole that we've had all season, I think it is, over two tempts and that's back to the other McLaren. And there's another car behind that. So really spicy. Some interesting tire strategies that went across here and some big gaps between certain teammates. So lots to dig into about Catalonia. There is indeed. So let's not waste any time. And we will start out front with those two McLaren drivers.

Looked very, very quick in FP3 coming into this qualifying session. But of course, FP3 isn't always representative with the track warming up for Q1. They go throughout the qualifying sessions, looking like the dominant force to be reckoned with, and lo and behold, we get to Q3, Oscar Piastri, able to make the difference at the end of the qualifying session, as you've just mentioned, over two temps clear of Lando Norris in second. So looking at just those two drivers to start, Nico Rosberg on Sky Sports commentary was insinuating that maybe Lando Norris was overdriving the car on that last run. whereas Piastri maybe wasn't.

Would you agree with that? And that's the reason why there's this difference? Yeah, I think Lando's going to come out of this, and he's going to be really peeved off. He looked quick the whole weekend. He looked great through quality one and quality two. It looked like Kim and Piuswere were neck and neck. And I would argue that Norris probably had the slight competitive edge.

So to see it goes such a dramatic difference in time, the other way over two tenths, as I mentioned, which is one of the largest difference in the last one of the largest, just for the largest pole gap that we've had between first and second this season. He's going to be really grumpy about this. I think you could tell in his post-qualifying interview. It was the overdriving of the car, I think, that gave it up to him. You could see just how smooth, single movements it was for Piastri

to get through a lot of these long sweeping corners. You look at turns, kind of for that long sweeping hairpin going out of sector one into sector two. And then in the final sector, heavy braking, of course, into that long sweeping left hand, following the long right hand before the peg ultimate and last corner. Those are really crucial, just calm, build up the traction, one simple steering maneuver. Piastri looks so calm, so smooth with it.

And he did the first time round, but they were much closer. It looked like Piastri held back a little bit on that final run when the track really ramped up. But Norris missed a couple of apexes, a couple of moments of oversteer, which led to understeer due to corrections. And these are such fine margins that over this course of a track, two tents, It's basically like day and night between those two lap times. It really is the difference between pole and second place and why Piastri is just who Piastri is right now.

It's incredible what he's able to do. Norris, I think, will come away quite frustrated. I think he'll be grumpy that he's in second and not in pole. What do you think then? Yeah, I think in terms of getting the most out of the car in that Kuali Llanda Norris did not do that, whereas Oscar Piastri did, particularly the end of Q3. Like you mentioned, I don't think there was a lot separating these two drivers as we were going throughout the early stages of qualifying,

and I expected it to be pretty nip and tuck as we got into the end of Q3. I think from Norris's perspective, there is going to be a slight relief, maybe, along with the disappointment. So the disappointment is obviously the lap couldn't come together. The relief is it hasn't impacted him too badly because that two-tenths gap around Spain is quite a significant gap.

Just to put that into perspective, Ocon Holkenberg signs all knocked out in Q1. Their gaps to their teammates have all made it through, in all three instances, less than the two temps that were separating Norris and Piastri out front. So I think, whereas it hasn't impacted him having a front row start here, it probably would have done if it was, say, Miami or Imola, where the gap wasn't as pronounced between McLaren and its rival. So there'll be some relief there. Also, long run down to term one. So there is going to be an opportunity you feel if he gets a good start. Remember, he was the one who got the good start in Monaco where Piastri didn't. If that's replicated, he has a good chance of leading into term one. And the other bit of relief is, in terms of race pace, Norris does look a little stronger than Piastri. Now, it's difficult to judge because Piastri was doing his main long run on medium tires on Friday compared to Norris on the soft combat. tire, but Norris had a clear advantage. So if that carries through, plus starting on the front

row, plus the advantage that McLaren has, it's not the end of the world for Norris. Yeah, I'd be interesting to see how it turns out with their long run pace. Of course, because McLaren have got this advantage over the rest of the field to tire wear, and Spain is such a front left limiting circuit where the deck is so high, you really do have to be careful with how much you go through your tires, you can quickly end up having to divert your strategy because you can't hold on to the rubber that you've got on the car, if Norris is able to execute that where last season, Piastri had some problems with his tire management.

It was his race management. That was his weakness. Not so much this season, of course. He's really coming on in leaps and bounds, but it's so hot in Barcelona. It wouldn't shock me if the tyres were much faster than expected. It really is up to one of these two drivers can show that they are able to be the tire whisperer,

hold on to that rubber. And I do think that that is what will give them the advantage come the end of the Grand Prix. Yeah, and there might be an opportunity for whichever one comes out of turn one second to do something a bit different. This isn't a locked in one stop. This could be a two stop. So there might be the opportunity to get a bit creative with the strategy. Moving back onto the second row of the grid, we've got Max Verstappen in third, George Russell in fourth. About a year ago, they shared the exact same time when fighting

for pole at the Canadian GP. Not fighting for poll today, but we've got the same scenario where because Vastappan has set his lap time first, he will start third, but they have ended up with exact same lap time. Should we start with Vastappen? What did you make of him not quite getting on a par with the McLaren's, but beating everyone else. Well, Max Vastappen is, I don't know how he does it. He's a magician in that car. He's just got this incredible ability to drive a car that is built in such a way that no one else can. And that's evident from the fact that he's putting it in third place, you know, a couple of attempts behind the McLarings, but also right there with the likes of George Russell and the heck of the Ferraris and his teammate

Yuki Sengoda who we okay he's a world beta but there's no he's no slouch in that car. It's no stouch in Formula One car to be last. Yes there is driverability evolved there but I think that car is so on an eye fetch it's such a slippery car one moment it's full of oversteer and next you're dancing

and understeer and Max Fassaping has a way of almost removing the understere from the car with the setup and he's just happy to live with the oversteer he can just dance the car around the corner as he knows how to counteract it. And it extracts brilliant pace. The issue, of course, for Red Bull here is that only he could do it.

And you need two cars to win a Constructors' Championship. Only one gets you may be a driver's if you built a car that's fast enough to counteract your opponents. But what a lap from Max Verstappen. I'm not sure it should be in third place. If it was in the hands of anyone else, I don't think they have two cars in the top 10. So the way he's matched George Russell and starts in front of him due to get in the

lapping earlier really is a brilliant feat for him. I don't think it should go unnoticed just because he's not on the front row, how good that lap is from that car and Max Verstappen. There's a reason why he's considered one of the great, brilliant stuff from him. And I think George Russell, we'll get on to him. I'll let you talk about him properly as well. But I think my issue point is George Russell will be disappointed with this. From Max Verstappen's perspective, I think there will be mixed feelings.

It is relative to him being such an incredible driver, but I think there was a little bit of time left out there. Whether it would have been enough to get Lando Norris, I'm not sure, but I think there was a bit more on the table. Just based on, at the end of Q2, Max Vastappen had the fastest final sector time, but was losing a fair amount to the McLaren's in the first sector. And I felt that was going to carry on into Q3, and it somewhat did. But when it was said on the first run, Piastri and Vastappen matched each other in the first sector, I was like, oh, okay, if he can do that, and he's and keep going with that amazing final sector, he might, outside chance he might be in with,

he might be able to get one of the McLarency, maybe both of them, if he hooks together, an unbelievable lap. And then his two runs in Q3, whilst neither was bad, neither of them quite hooked together the full lap. The first run, he was, as mentioned, very good in the first sector, and it kind of tailed off towards the end. the second run, he didn't set a personal best in the first sector, and then went purple in the final sector. If he combines those two laps, maybe he gets a little bit closer to Lando Norris.

Maybe he can get a front row start. So I still think it was a great effort, but I don't think it was his absolute best lap that we've seen so far this year. The good news from Vestappen's perspective, they looked very good in terms of race pace yesterday, on a par with Lando Norris, if not marginally quicker. Now, we don't know whether McLaren have found more than Red Bull overnight, Friday to Saturday, but I think he'll be happy with where he's starting. Third place, long run down to turn one, he will be in the slipstream of Oscar Piastri. If their strategy at play, multiple stops, I don't think this stepans out the running for winning

this race, not yet. Yeah, I suppose the big issue when it comes to that strategy element and if McLaren get themselves together is the classic two versus wagonsing it. How many times have we said it with Max Verstappen and where he's managed to put the car? We hang it with Mercedes and now we're having it with McLaren. He's left on his own and he could easily be baited into

pulling off a strategy that follows one of the drivers that doesn't end up working. He didn't do it in Imola, right? He was clever enough to make it work the right way in Imola when Piastri went for that early stop to try and get the undercutting ending up as being caught out. Maybe he could do it again here, who knows? But

he's got to be wise to the fact that McLaren might try and put a fast one. I think from Russell's perspective, he'll be relatively satisfied with fourth place. To have the same lap time as Verstappen and finish and start behind him is a little bit annoying. But if memory serves me correctly, fourth place is where George Russell started last year, and he led coming out of turn one. So that's definitely not the end of the story for him going into the race tomorrow.

I would say with Russell and Mercedes, it looks like they've set up their car. to be slightly quicker in the in the last sector compared to the first sector. They don't look very quick in a straight line, which given he's got a relatively good starting position and won't need to make overtakes on the likes of his teammate and the Ferraris, I think he's in an all right spot. I agree, but when you've got that opportunity to use Kimmy Antingelli to give that toe down the straight,

and you know that's worth at least pretty a tent and a half, if you've got two tents if you really get the toe right. Kimmy Antingley had less tires to use. He had less pace overall. It looked like he was never really going to trouble that top three or four. And when George Russell is offering a toe in the Q2 session, it feels logical to use one of the runs that Russell was going on to be towed along by Kimmy Antingelli,

who was already going to be using up those fresh tires. So I think they missed a trick hitting. I think Russell could easily be third, not fourth, and I think that if he got that toe and then put his best lap together, together, a front road start is not off the cars here for George Russell. So I think he goes away disappointed. I think with a toe, there was maybe another position or two in there for Russell. I agree with that. I think the question is how much Antonelli would have sacrificed in order to get it. So I guess with Mercedes, their two options were either use the first run for Russell

to get that slip stream, in which case with the track evolution, it might not have been that much quicker anyway, or they do it on the second run, of course, using the best of the conditions, but then you are absolutely sacrificing Antonelli, which means he would have had to have set his fast lap on his one set of tyres earlier in the session. And maybe he doesn't get sick. If he does that, maybe he starts seventh, eighth, ninth, ninth or tenth. We saw with Alonzo as an example, he went out slightly earlier than Ghazley and Hadger. I think that's probably cost him eight place. We'll get into those couple of guys a little bit later on. But I hear it. It's a trade-off.

It might well... Who knows? It might well have been worth it to give it a go. Yeah, again, hindsight is a wonderful thing, and we can't deal with hypotheticals all the time, but it was a big interesting you can see, because currently it's Mercedes-Ferari, Mercedes-Ferrari. I think one of those Mercedes could have being a couple of places higher.

Speaking of Ferrari, fifth and seventh here, Hamilton ahead of LeCler, which has been a bit of a rarity in qualifying sessions so far this year. They had a double Q2 knockout at Imala, of course, just a couple of races ago. So they're looking better here than they were there. Given their pace has usually been better on a Sunday compared to a Saturday.

Are they okay with this? I don't think this is the end of the world for Ferrari. I think we've come to accept that for the most part, there's something in that car, but largely it's uncompetitive with the very, very top of the field. Unlike Mercedes on the other occasion, unlike Max for Staffing on the other occasion,

they can't seem to compete with McLaren on a semi-regular basis. It looks like they're always sitting in that kind of fourth, seventh region and they might get the very odd chance at a podium. Hamilton has got in front of LeClerre here and that's only the second time that's happened in a main qualifying session so far this season. Now, whilst I think that's a great achievement for Lewis Hamilton, I do think that there are some mitigating circumstances here that save Charlotte Clare's blushes. He had one less set of soft ties going into qualifying. That was evident when actually we got into Q3 and he did his run.

Do we know why? No, it's purely a choice, I believe, purely a choice between different sides of the garage. Yes. And I think that Charlotte Claire, what is annoying for Charlotte Claire is I don't know why they did their lap so early in the session. I'm really good to use one. I have no idea. No, it feels like a classic Ferrari master class of just, yeah, the session's starting.

Just go out. Why? Why? I understand that track evolution isn't as prominent in Q3 as it is in say Q1 or Q2, but it still exists. It still exists at that point. So I was baffled by that as well. Yeah.

And whilst Hamilton looked okay throughout this qualifying session, I do think there were regular instances where it looked like Charlotte Clare was at least a 10th and a half, two tenth faster than Lewis Hamilton throughout Q1 and Q2. And I wouldn't have been surprised if a clerk also had two fresh sets of tyres, if actually Lewis Hamilton was bumped back to sixth and Charlotte Clare probably would have started fifth, maybe even fourth, depending on how things worked out here. So Hamilton could be happy because. Because race pace, I think, actually is his bigger strong point.

And we said so many times that do okay in qualifying, because he's let himself down a few times there recently. And actually, your race pace, most of the time, can take care of you. It will be all right. You'll be consistent, especially if the ties are a problem, because we know how good he could be on tires that go off very quickly. But Charlotte Claire starting the seventh, he'll want to get past Antingelli very quickly to make sure that he's directly aligned

with Lewis Hamilton. And I wouldn't be shocked. We've seen him do it a few times if they split their strategy. If we see a Hamilton on the medium start, the Claire start on the hard, and we'll see how that works out between them. It's worked out well for them previously. I think we could see it again tomorrow. Yeah, I pretty much agree with everything you said regarding Hamilton and LeCleur

and the reason for the difference in the positions here. I'm not sure why. Maybe it will work out tomorrow, but yeah, having only one set of tires to operate with in Q3 really held LeCler back. I can't quite understand why they didn't go out later. in the session and took advantage of the best conditions. I agree that I think if he puts his lap together based on what we've seen from him, he could have got fifth and I wouldn't have been surprised if he was third,

just based on who LeClaire is in qualifying these days. Hamilton, I think, will be happy with fifth because there were times throughout this weekend where I fought Q2 elimination. I don't think it was off the cards. It thinks it seems possible. Yeah, he's kind of been similar to Miami and Imala. like he seemed to be on the cusp, but if someone, like one of the racing balls

or one of the Aston Martins, like if they deliver a really solid lap and Hamilton's not quite on it, it wouldn't have surprised me at all if he was out in 11th or 12th, but he did well in Q2 and then followed that through into Q3 to be ahead of Antonelli.

So I think he'll be pretty happy. A couple of other names at the tail end of Q3. Pierre Gassley is in 8th, which is probably the most encouraging thing we've seen from an Alpine since his qualifying session in Saudi Arabia possibly? Where is Alpin good? Where is Alpine not good?

Alpine don't know. We don't know. Yeah. And what is really encouraging for Fiergasli here is I think he's built really well throughout this qualifying session. In Q1, he got through, but it looked like his pace and relative to Colopinto's pace was actually not as strong as we've seen it historically.

And at one point, before Colopinto had to retire from the session due to a car problem, he was behind Colopinto. He had gone slower in their first run. So the fact that he's ending up essentially best of the rest here, one seems slightly bizarre because we don't understand Alpine's form at all. Also, quite impressive the way he's understood the car, understood the terms of the pace, and then got the pace out of that car to beat Hajar, who is absolutely flying, and once again, so impressed.

and also who I think should have gone out later in the session, but nonetheless, it's down a brilliant job of getting that Aston Martin, into Q3, I think set a pretty respectable lap time. So Gassi's a heck of a lot of fast cars, most especially the two Williams cars, who will get onto in more detail later, but to be beating both Albonne and Sites, who I think personally have had shockers in this qualifying session,

is a really big staple for Pierre Gassi there in a car that no one understands where the form is. Yeah, I have no idea. how Gassley's managed to make it through to Q3, because throughout the practice sessions, it looked like in terms of one lap pace, they might have an advantage on HASS, and that was probably the end of the list.

So for Gassley to not only make it through to Q2, but then also make it through to Q3, and then also beat the two cars that he realistically could have beaten in Q3, that is a phenomenal effort. Very quick in the final sector was Gassley, another team similar to Mercedes that seemed to have not necessarily prioritised straight line speed.

So he has a chance of being quick in the race tomorrow as well based on that. We've seen it before from Gassley. It's not the first time this year that he's really, when given a chance, showing what he can do on a Saturday. So phenomenal effort. Colopinto, you've already referenced as well. I did just want to shout him out and say of the couple of races he's had so far, obviously we haven't had the race so far this weekend,

but this was more encouraging, Even though he's been knocked at in Q1, very much a mitigating circumstance with his car breaking down in the final run. Because to that point, it looked like he was far closer to Gassley than what we'd seen in Monaco and Emila. Says a lot, though, that that feels like the most promising side of Colopinto we've seen since he's come back in. He was in half of one session. Yeah, yeah. I mean, the first two obviously did not go well for Colopinto. The first two risks weekends at all.

And we've got no idea what tomorrow is going to bring up. either, but yeah, just to be in the same realm as Gassley was better than I think we've seen from him so far. In terms of Isaac Hadjar, it just... The king's phenomenal. The king is phenomenal. He just, every single time you think he might even be remotely at risk, just another lap, just does it again, just puts himself there. I think when Q2 ended, I think he finished Q2 in what P6 and Lawson ends up in P13, but you mentioned the gap out front, the two tenths and how actually that's so much closer for other teammates. Three tenths separated those guys at the end of Q2, but it was seven positions.

And that tells you just how tight the grid is at the moment, that three tenth is at seven different positions. But around a track like Catalonia, Barcelona, the driver can make a massive difference. And I think that's where Hajar has massively impressed me. The fact he's beating along so. the fact he's right they were ghastly. He's fully a gang in competition with possibly getting very strong points at another race track. And every track he turns up to is a different characteristic. He masks it. I'm so impressed again by Hager.

Yeah, you mentioned how close the field was in Q2. Go back to Q1 and it was even closer. I think we had a 10th separating stroll in seventh down to Hager and 15th. It really was incredibly close. Hadja, outside of his obvious pace, the thing that impresses me the most about him is a sense of timing. Like, he not only delivers laps, he delivers laps when he needs it the most. Q1, and this isn't the first time I think we've had this this season, Q1, Lawson was quicker than him. And we get to Q2, and it just always seems to be Hadger that can make the difference in qualifying

versus Lawson. Like, Q2, crunch time, need to get into the top 10. that seems to be when Hadger performs his best, and Lawson can't quite follow him. I maintain that in terms of race pace, there's not much between those racing balls. I really don't think there's much. But what Hadger can do in terms of qualifying and extracting the most out of that car goes beyond what Lawson's doing at the moment. And that can be the different, like their Ford spaces apart on the grid.

And that could well be the difference between Hadger being on the right strategy and Lawson being on the wrong strategy. We saw that at Imola. It can be the difference between Lawson being the one who needs to defend against others, whereas Hadger is prioritised. That's what we saw at Monaco.

This qualifying delta that Hadja seems to have over Lawson is so critical for the entire weekend strategy that they have at the moment. Red Bull, I know you're listening. Don't promote that man. I never thought I'd say it. I do not want his lovely little career

that he's started to create ruined by your cursed second car. Just put a brick in that car. Put Ian the cat in that car. I don't care as long as she's alive at the end of it. But it doesn't matter because they're going to do rubbish anyway. The amount of points that that second seat is collected versus Max Mustappen since like 2021 is audacious, the gap between the two.

The car is cursed. It's set up by agony for everyone else but him. Don't put him in that car because he is brilliant and I don't want it tarnished. Yeah, let's take a break on this episode. on the other side. We'll chat more about Williams and neither car making it through to Q3. Sam, we've been so used to teams doing, William specifically doing a great job in qualifying, great job in the race. We've had a string of double points finishes. They have very much looked like at the very worst, the fifth best team on the grid very recently. And in some instances,

maybe even better than that. But they don't seem to be very happy this weekend. Carlos Sines was knocked out in Q1. So for his home race, he will start. 18th. Alex Albin did make it through to Q2, but he was the unlucky one in 11th, just missing out on a top 10 berth. Where has this come from? Yeah, it's tricky really to analyse because like we've really mentioned how tight that midfield is. It's on the driver a little bit here to be able to maximise what's coming from the car. And it looks like Williams are struggling in the faster but longer corners that we're seeing here around Catalonia. They are great in that start-finish straight sector. They have got their car set up to be quick in a

straight line. So maybe they'll do well with overtaking and holding off possible cars around them when it comes to the actual Grand Prix. But where the lap times actually found through those intricate corners in kind of sector two and the last sector, sector three, they're not performing. They're unable to match those that are going above them and beyond them and getting into Q3. Sightings will be especially disappointed here. This is his worst ever start in a Spanish Grand Prix. And you've got to remember, he drove for Toro Ross at one point. And that car was regularly going out in Q1, late Q2. This would be a real disappointment for him to be around.

Essentially, only people behind him, Colin up into that broke down. And Yuki Sanodia was driving a car that he doesn't ever want to drive. It doesn't work for him. So this is essentially last of those who are driving cars that they're okay with. Alba will be gutted that he hasn't managed to sneak into Q3 because I think if he was able to probably slightly adjust his setup, his tire pressures, get on the ultimate track conditions.

I think he probably could have beating along, so maybe even Haggar and Gasoline on a really good run. So he'll be really gutty. He got to be starting further forward. But Williams have got some odd characteristics in that car. And they seem to always prefer one way or another. Monaco gave it away as well. It seems that the very corner heavy race tracks and race tracks have got corners, they seem to be struggling a little bit.

So hopefully they can bring it back through in race pace. What do you think, Ben? Yeah, I think this is one of the very few things that actually just adds up and make sense because they have traditionally not been very good in Spain. Coming out of Monaco, when both drivers were interviewed, they were like, yeah, we're going to struggle at Spain. We come into the weekend throughout practice, they're not very quick, and we get to qualifying and they're still not quick.

Everything has kind of added up. We're so used to teams and drivers downplaying their expectations to the point where we get all cynical and be like, ah, do you really mean that, though? Here, yeah, they did mean it, and it was right. For whatever reason, they don't gel. This car does not gel. This team does not gel with this track at all, which, you know, you can afford a couple of those every season.

And if they're back to normal when we get to Canada next, then they won't be too worried. Carlos Seines will be disappointed, 10th and a half separating himself and Alex Albin in Q1. So as you say, Colopinto is not really a true. he's beaten him based on how fast that track was evolving and how he didn't get an opportunity at the very end of the session. Yuki Sonoda, his struggles are very well documented and we'll touch on that a little bit more in a moment. So signs will be disappointed.

Honestly, Alex Albin, I think it's all right. I really don't think that car is very quick here this weekend, in which case he'll look at the three drivers that have finished ahead of him, Gassley Hadger and Alonzo. Ironically, I think Gassley, the leader of those three, might be the only one. he'll be disappointed with all of them, but the only one he's majorly disappointed with, I'd say, is Ghazdi. Because I think going into the session, he would have expected to beat him. I'm not sure he would have expected to beat Hadja and Alonzo.

I think he probably would have felt he'd have been on a par at best. And that's kind of what we got, maybe a bit of disappointment not to sneak into Q3 and see what he could make of that. But I don't honestly think that car is that much quicker than where he's put it. Be interesting to see how he starts. So if he gets a good start and he's able to clear maybe a long selling Hager, if they don't start as well, he could be in for a good race where he's able to settle down and get the pace out of the tyres because we know both these drivers are great and longer runs

with tyreware. So they might have an advantage there. It'll be interesting. I mean, my view on their practice pace in FP2 was, at least for Albin, looked pretty similar to Alonzo Hager. It didn't look like there was much in it. So if he can get a good start and get ahead of them, honestly out of those three drivers, whoever leads into term one might take the day.

So we'll see what he can do off the start. Signs had a lot of tire wear. Yeah, okay. Worrying, especially when you start that far back. I'm going to jump to it, Ben, because your bold prediction was that this team would leave the weekend, not last, Borselletto. My guy's in 12th.

They're not slow. They're not slow. Going throughout practice, I felt they had an advantage on Hass and Alpine, and that they were probably in the fight with the teams ahead of them. And I think that's kind of what we saw. I think Bortoletto's made the most out of that session, qualifying 12th. I don't think the car had more than that in it.

But in terms of like Nika Holkenberg as well, I know he'll be starting 16th. He had good race pace yesterday. It was on the medium tire, so it's a little bit difficult to compare with some of those that were on the soft. But over what was not a small sample size either, he had solid pace. So I think they might be for real in terms of, I don't expect them to drop back through the field. I don't know whether they'll make ground or not, but I don't think they're going to drop back through the field.

I'm so impressed with Bortoletto. He is, out of all the rookies, got the hardest audition in Formula One to make an impression, you know. In that car, we said how many times it was trying to murder these drivers off the line, how slow they've been the last few years. It could have gone so the other way where Bortoletto comes into this team. he loses to Holgerberg by a small margin. No one sees anything of him all seizing.

Everyone goes, well, he's not worth it. It's not worth the time. But this is, he's having peaks and troughs, as you expect from a rookie, and this is a peak.

This is a really, really impressive qualifying session because, as you said, they're not slow, but he's still four places in front of Niko Holgerberg. And Niko Holkerberg is no sloucher when he's a veteran. The guy can extract pace,

especially at a trap like Catalonia, where he's being so many times. So to be that class, close to Alvin that close to a Q3 entry, which was dropping first. I am so, so impressed. I think this is absolutely brilliant. John Lovin Wheatley is turned up at the Salba headquarters, and there's a door in the background.

You know when you walk around the new place? You're like, where does this go? Where does this go? And the door, it's a bit dusty, got a lock on it, just give that little whip-wobble. Oh, he's in. There's a kitchen in there. And he's decided, I was going to fire up the hob.

Get the apron on, yeah. He put the big hat on. Now he decided, I'm just going to cook something up. Cook a little pieaer up. for a old Spanish Grand Prix. It's tasting pretty good to me. So they are improving. I think Audi are going to be looking at this going,

okay, we are not absolutely crap anymore. There's something to build on here. So this is good science. I will say with Bortoletto, because I feel like I have been defending him quite a lot this season and trying to give him praise that maybe hasn't been coming his way because it's difficult to do much in that car, particularly reflected on some of my power.

ranking scores, because I do think he has got himself in really solid position so far this year, and it just hasn't gone his way. So Miami, he was not in a bad spot. Car went no. Monaco, his qualifying was fine. The incident with Antonelli pretty much ended what he could do there. Imala, like, he qualified well in Imola. He was in a good spot. They went the wrong way with the strategy. And here again, he's got himself in a good position and we'll see what he can do. from Holkenberg's perspective, it looked like going into the session, actually Holkenberg had a couple attempts on Bortoletto, and it's interesting that it reversed here.

So well done to Bortoletto for that. I will give a small criticism for Salba here because I don't think it was the right call for them to bring him out so early for that final run. Now, they did it with both cars, to be fair, but with Holcombberg specifically, the track evolution was so high in Q1 that if he just waits an extra two minutes, like the other drivers. I think that's probably the difference between him making it and not making it through.

Spain is not, I understand the strategy of going out early to avoid red and yellow flags. They're not that common at the circuit to Catalonia. So I wouldn't have played it that way. Hasse, what about them? 15 for Berman, 17 for Rockham. They're close together. That's something.

How many times have we seen one half, 19th, the 20th and one half's eight or nine? So, unfortunately, they're close together at the back end of, you know, QGELF. to front end of Q1, and they look slow here this weekend. They look slow. Their pace seems to be really falling off a cliff. And I do wonder if they have completely pivoted to focusing on 2026, which makes total sense that you would when you're at this position. They've got a lot of rivals that are coming in that are already focusing on that area.

They need to make sure they get the jump and they're not going to be sat at the very back for a whole new set of regulations. O'Conn, again, losing out to Berman. It seems very topsy-turvy, where one of them will do brilliantly pulling some points or really show us what they've got and then they seem to fall behind their teammate. But the fact they're so close together with only Hulk split between them and the reasoning that you gave of why Hulk is there seems very sound, it shows that that's just where the car is. It just hasn't got a lot on actual pace ground here. Hars historically overheats. It can get quite hot quite quickly.

We've seen it churned through its tires. I wouldn't be surprised if unfortunately the car just doesn't like the fact that it's so warming Barcelona and we know it's just not a top car anyway. So 15th to the 17th is exactly where I would put them to be honest. If I had to predict where they're going will be, that seems about right. I had them nailed down for a double Q1 knockout going into this because they, you're right, they have been slow this weekend, particularly in medium speed corners. But based on that, Behrman, he's taken advantage of a few other drivers, things not go in their way.

I think it's a pretty great effort to get into Q2 from Beerman. And I think where Ockon has qualified is probably closer to where the true representation of that car is. But you're right, there's not a lot between them. we'll see if the race pace is any better. I fear it won't be. But yeah, they've at least taken advantage of the likes of Sonoda not doing a good job, Colopinto, not being able to get a last run in.

So, yeah, but just not a quick car this weekend. No, unfortunately not. Yuki Sonoda, P20. Oh, Yuki. Some of it I can put on here, but some of it I have come, you know, I know we've been saying it for a while now, but Yuki's better than this, right? has more ability than this. Yuki Shiger beating a struggle in Colapinto.

He got the last running. The track evolution was there. 20th is not good enough. I want to make that very clear, the 20th is not good enough. But how far do I realistically think that Yuki was going to get around this track with the way that that car is set up to be so,

again, as I've mentioned, Onging I fage, so slippery. I think Sengoja likes a stable car. I think we've seen that with how well he's done, racing balls, obviously previous Alphatari, etc. he's enjoyed a stable car where he's able to throw it into corners because he likes to be able to commit to corners almost, you know, rashly where he knows that the car is going to be there at the other side of the turn

and he's able to handle it. This Red Bull, you can't do that. Unless your Max must happen, you can't do that in this Red Bull, and it's just setting him back. And Bernie from the Sky Team, she made a really strong point before qualifying started of drivers' new security when they're racing a Formula One car. and if you turn into a corner

and you feel like you haven't got that security, you lose confidence. Every single time you go through a corner and you're losing confidence, that equals time. And every time you go through a corner with less time, across the whole lap, the gap widens and widens and widens. Now, Sengager should be better than this, but I don't know if he's getting into Q3. I don't think that he's got the overall ability

to maximize how poor that Red Bull actually is because it's being disguised by how good Max for stabbing it. So for me, he should be probably where, Albin is, maybe where Bortoletto is, on an all right day. P20 is just not good enough, though. It's, there's a few things, I think, need to be said on this. Firstly, the gap of about six-tenths separating Vastappan and Sonoda, I'm not going to say it's misleading, but it's not actually out of line with what the gap has been for the rest

of this season. It's exaggerated because of how close the field was in Q1, the fact that Vestappen was right out the front and Sonoda was dead last. The gap between Vastappan and Sonoda in qualifying has been larger at other circuits so far this year, the likes of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The gap has been even bigger than what we've seen today. There's not to excuse what Sonoda's done here, but just time-wise, it's not actually out of the line with what we've seen so far. It's difficult to know what else to say about it. I didn't think he was going to be quick going into this session. I'm not surprised that he's been knocked out in Q1. I think I was probably leaning Q2 elimination. I thought

it was an outside chance he was going to get through to Q3 just based on the lack of pace he's had all weekend. He has been the worst type of slow. And the worst type of slow is not knowing why you're slow. And that's what Sonoda has been consistently saying all weekend long. After Friday, it was like, I'm slow. I don't know why. There are not worse words you can have as a racing driver. because if you're slow but you've got an idea why, that can be fixed. If you don't have a clue why, that is far more difficult to diagnose. He said it after his run, didn't he? Yeah, yeah.

I thought that was a good lap. I don't know what else I could get out of this. And that's a real problem. The race pace is no better. I would not be surprised if he makes limited progress tomorrow. Yeah, one point at maximum for me feels like if it's a clean race, no yellow flags, a point on a really good race for him. like. Yeah, I would not be shocked at all if he only makes four or five places up because

as many, like some of those race pace runs will see what progress they've made from Friday to Saturday to Sunday, but his race pace was not better than Lawson. Like, it was not better than Albon. It was not better than Alonzo Hadger. It was on a par if not slightly worse than those guys. So you think Lawson has started to feel a little bit, a little bit of redemption, a little bit of of justice, I think, oh, thank goodness, he hasn't got into that car and started knocking out P5, P6, P7 on a regular basis. To an extent, for sure. I mean, Lawson will probably maintain that time-wise he just didn't have enough time in the car. But yeah, there's got to be that element included because, and it's why I think going out to the Hatcher discussion,

it's why you should be really reluctant to put him in the car because we've seen Sonoda and Hatcher, limited time his teammates, not much in it. Sonoda and Lawson, not much in it. Lawson and Hadja, I would still say not much. It's like, there's a big problem. Even Perez, right? Like we used to adore Perez and we was able to do in that. Midfield was exceptional, goes to Red Bull.

We give him a lot of, you know, negativity because it isn't so clear at that point that the second seat isn't this negative. And actually, what could Perez have done if the car suited him? Questions for Red Bull to answer going throughout the season? two things before we wrap up. Number one, driver of the session. I'm going with Oscar Pierscari. To dunk two tents of your teammate around a track like this is special. That was a great lap. And I think Lando will be hoping he gets a great start in the morning. Yeah, I think that's fair. I kind of had Bortoletto third and then a battle between Piastri and Gassley for first.

I'm going to go Gassley. They were my three. The other thing that we need to sort out because it is the final day of May. So it is time to say everyone's favorite two words. Happy, happy birthday to you. Yes, if you didn't know, if you're new to the show, maybe. We have a Patreon on the links in the description. And on the top tier, the Hall of Fame tier, if you want it, you can have a birthday shout. Happy birthday!

Essentially, you send us a message on Patreon. You just do it on your own volition. You know, just drop us a message, but your name and the date you are shouting out. and it goes into our lovely little spreadsheet here. So we've got a lovely little run here. May one of our biggest months, our second biggest month. Big month. Big month of May.

Happy May birthday. Right, let's do it quickly. Right, Guy. Happy birthday for May 26th. Twyla, happy birthday for May. Sam, not me. Happy birthday. Richard, May 20th.

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If you've got a few quid spare exchange, check out Patreon. It helps to show out massively. And if you're already on the top tier on Patreon and you haven't let us know when your birthday is, unfortunately, we can't read your mind. We don't have access to all of your details

because that would be massively against GDPR. So let us know. They have that elsewhere? Is that in America? There's an American version of GDPR, but the name is absolutely escaping me right now. Sounds like Grand Prix drivers association again. You know what?

That's not important. So let us know, yeah, if you haven't already, if you've let us know in a previous year when your birthday is, we've still got the record of that, so don't worry about telling us twice. But let's know because this time next month, we'll be doing birthday shoutouts for June. Indeed.

Yeah, and also don't mess with other platforms. We don't always see it. Patreon is the one. Thanks for Liskin. We'll be back for a race review straight after the Grand Prix. So, you know, watch your race. Have a little hour or so to chill out,

maybe go and take some time with a family. You know, you do exist, apart from F1. And then come back. Get on some of the podcast and platforms and fill your ears with some late-breaking goodness because we'll be breaking down everything that happens in Catalonia. And if you think, oh, that's just going off. Well, Patreon's going again.

Power rankings will be out. on Monday where we go through every single driver's performance to give them a numerical value. Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow. In the meantime, I've been Sang to Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late.

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