The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2026 Australian GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: March 7, 2026

Albert Park came alive in today’s qualifying session as we got our first real look at the pace of the 2026 cars. Join Ben and Sam as they delve into who’s come out of the gates strong, who surprised us, and which teams might already be showing warning signs for the season ahead... Get involved in F1 Fantasy this season! ⁠Join the Late Braking league⁠⁠⁠ and see if you can beat us... LEAGUE CODE: C6Y6R4ZUY02 Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get: Ad-free listening Full-length bonus episodes Power Rankings after every race Historical race reviews & more exclusive extras! Don't forget! You can also gift a Late Braking Patreon subscription—perfect for loved ones or your own wish list. Choose anything from 1 month up to a full year of top-notch F1 content: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingf1/gift⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Late Braking: You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats! Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and see if you can beat us! Get in touch any time at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak equipment modernization. We're fluent in data digitization and expansion into foreign markets. And we can talk all day about streamlining manufacturing processes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us. And contact Desjardin today.

We'd love to talk, business. Thank you for listening to the late-breaking F-1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Welcome to the late-breaking F-1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, reviewing the first qualifying session of the 26 Formula One season, a qualifying session dominated by Mercedes, a one-two, front row lockout, George Russell getting pole position ahead of Kimmy Antonelli. Sam, there's a lot to talk about in terms.

of where the teams lie, where these drivers have all qualified, but before we get to all of that, I mean, this is the first time we've seen these cars out on track in anger. What did you make of it? Oh, it was so good. It was so good to see cars going.

I would say full pelt around the track, but there were many exorcists as we've now seen where they're not going full pelt around the race track. And that is something that is going to take a lot of adjustment, is corners that used to be heading to them flat out, you know, break at the latest moment possible. That's the whole point of the show,

late braking. and now you'll get breaking 3, 400 meters before the breaking zone to do this super clipping, which is a new phrase that we're having to adjust to. You like that one, mate? I actually, I'm not a massive fan of the super clipping, but I think I dislike the term super, super, oh, I can't even say it, super clipping even more. Yeah, it's like porpoising never died.

It just managed to resurface as something else. Well, that's evil for you. It'll always reemerge as something else. So, yeah, it's a lot to adjust to, but it was an interesting qualifying session. Exciting. Let's hope the race brings even more of the same, but reliability looks like it could be the absolute bug bear. We think it might have been pre-seasoning. It has already reared its ugly head.

It has, and there's plenty of did not start to review. We've got three drivers that didn't even set a lap in qualifying and then others that encountered other problems. throughout. But it was good to see at least that the main contenders, the top teams, for the most part, were there at the end competing for pole positions. So those who are thinking F1 is dead, maybe not quite yet. I think F1's got a few good years in it left. Just recharging, mate. It's just recharging. Yes, yeah, just harvesting. That's all F1's doing right now. Shall we start out from? We'll tackle the whole grid as we always do on these qualifying reviews. By the way, welcome if you knew. And this is your first qualified.

session or maybe your first LB episode at all, which I'm very, very glad to have you here. Russell and Antonelli front row lockout, Russell getting polled by about three tenths of a second, but then George Russell over three quarters of a second clear of anyone else. The next driver up after those two was Isaac Kadjar in the Red Bull. George Russell looked pretty good from the off, right? The car looks mighty. They have fully released the sandbags. They've dropped them back off at your local B&Q.

No need for those anymore. Thanks very much. And the car is flying. And Toto Wolfe's ride damn smile at the camera. Oh, that little rascals. Oh, he goes, his back. Toto's back. He's gone.

He's been working that muscle or winter break. That little right turn to the camera with the smirk. Oh, he knows what he's doing. Smugman. But fair play, because you have produced a monster. And it was George Russell that was able to wrangle. it well. And wrangled it well, he did because it was a very impressive lap all the way through qualifying. He was the top man. He was the man in charge and it felt so comfortable. He gets out

the car in the post-session interview. These cars are difficult to drive. You know, it's tough work. It's tough work. You've got Sergio Perez and like Fernando Alonzo in the garage like, shut that. Fagando Alux was having to chew eight packs of gum and lap to make sure he doesn't get nerve damage. We're not to chat about that today, but goodness me. We'll get on to that after the race weekend, folks. Well, George Russell, tough guys, tough out of here. Anyway, he stands on top of power.

Fair play to him. Great lap, beats his teammate comfortably, who we will get on doing a sec, and beats the rest of the field by a mighty proportion, up to Hajar, who was the next man in line, not the man we expected to be next up, but delivered a very, very strong session for his first in Red Bull. Yeah, it felt to me like George Russell from FP3 onwards.

it was fairly clear that he was going to be the favorite for Paul and the fact that he executed it very well, it deserves a lot of credit. Because whilst it is clear that Mercedes did have the fastest car today and by quite some margin, it still needs to be followed through in this new regulation era, which isn't smooth. And he managed to improve consistently throughout qualifying.

He was the fastest, I think in all three qualifying sessions. he was 195 in Q1, 189 in Q2, 185 in Q3. So he manages to improve by about one second from the first part of qualifying through to the final part of qualifying. And it just felt like the Mercedes had enough by the end of the lap, whether that's in terms of energy management or just pure setup. It always felt like they had enough in hand by the time you got to Q3, sorry, sector three, that they, even if,

if they were level after a couple of sectors, they still had enough right in the last few corners. We saw with sector two, for example, the likes of the racing bulls getting purple sectors there. It felt like the middle sector was pretty level across the board, but it was the first and final sector where Russell really made the difference and a very good start to this regulation for Mercedes. Antonelli, if we say that Russell had the smoothest. run possible to P1. Antonelli maybe didn't have the smoothest run possible, but still got to P2.

My man's in for a bumpy ride across the Friday. He's not taking the smooth option. He likes a little bit of sandpaper. Just kidding him to get it. Because it was rough. Yeah, I mean, crash is in FP3. And what a mighty crash that was, by the way, if you haven't seen it. Look, folks, I'm going to be real honest with you.

I love a good crash. As always everyone walks away, fine. I love a good crash. It's great entertainment. Have you seen the F3 crash between the two Pramacars? I'm avoiding F3 spoilers until I can watch it later on. You've got a fantastic moment coming your way, folks. Go check out the Junior Formula, because they're already delivering great drama as well.

But yeah, Kimi Anting Ali crashes in FP3, gets through, of course, after a reg flag caused by Max Verstappen means that they get the extra time to work on the car. And those heroes at the Mercedes, the engineer is doing God's work out there, repairing the car. So we get to see the tiny Italian man running ramping around Australia. It's a great thing to see. And he delivered immediately for them.

He was straight back into the top four or five. Pace was immediately there. Makes it up the mistakes. We see him lock up in the final sector, right by the pit laying entrance. We see him have a moment as well in turn three where he runs onto the gravel. But at the end of the day, all irrelevant

because he starts right alongside his team mate, only three tents behind. It was tricky, but he got the job done. Yeah. And we saw Mercedes doing absolutely everything they could to get this car ready for running, apart from they probably did a bit too much because they left some stuff on the car

that shouldn't have been there causing a red flag. It'll be investigated after the session. My assumption is that there will be no penalty going Antonelli's way for this. I kind of think there should be. I'm not going to lie. Why? Because the Discord go on your side, I was in the chat during qualifying.

You could join it in the links in the description. A lot of people thinking are plus three, plus five grid drop for Kimi. I actually think that this is not driver error in any way, shape, or formal. It should be a hefty fine on Mercedes for doing this. But why do you think it should be a Kimi fault? Well, I don't think it's driver error, but I think it's more of this win-as-a-team loses a team mentality. It's still impacted. Luckily enough, it hasn't actually impacted any significant laps when it happened.

But it was obviously brought out the red flag, which means anyone on a flying lap at that point cannot complete the lap. So you have disrupted the running, you being. the team here, you have disrupted the running of other drivers. Whether it comes from driver or whether it comes from a team error, I don't actually think is overly important. I think, you know, the consequence for someone on their lap is exactly the same. So it would be incredibly unfortunate for Antonelli, again, because it's not anything he's done wrong. But I still think if you do disrupt running for other cars, there are going to be some instances where the teams at fault and the driver isn't and there's going to be, it's going to work the other way

around as well. When a driver careers off into the wall, the team can say, well, we shouldn't be docked constructors points because that wasn't down to us. That was just on the driver. I personally am fine with it being penalised, but my instinct is it won't. Rounding out the top three was Isaac Adja, who got an almighty cheer from the Australian fans when he was announced in third place. some margin back from the top two,

but still doing enough to get ahead of the two McLarence and the two Ferraris. That's not a bad first impression for Red Bull. This is what Red Bull have wanted. When the main man is downing out, due to a car failure that happens going to turn one, not to drive that error, certain somebody, it looks as though Isaac Hajar is capable

of taking the big step forward. Now, let's not say that Max Verstappen would be right there alongside him. There's a little inkling that Max Verstappen will be up there challenging the likes of Kimmy and Stanley and George Russell, should the car be fully functioning. But he's there. He's P3 and at worst, if Max Verstappen turned up and did his best slap, I think he'd be P4. So if their drivers are two in the top four, this shows you that Red Bulls power training is working really effectively with this new compression ratio that, of course, I'm not certain if they're running the 18 to 1 or the 16 to 1, but there were rumours that

they had unlocked the 18 to 1. So it'd be interesting to see if that is carried through and if they have to make the same change that the saying is does come that summer area. Hajar is able to deliver a strong lap, beats both McCarrans, both Ferraris. He lacked pace early on in the session. He looked like he was closer to the racing balls, but that's okay because he built nicely and he managed to build in time to get through comfortably to each session

and delivers a really strong lap to make sure he's P3. I think Red Bull, Hajar will be really, really happy that their secondary driver is able to step up so early on. Yeah, I'm really impressed, and it's not, it shouldn't be shocking given his qualifying exploits last year in the racing balls, but it wouldn't be the first time we've seen someone perform in a car like racing balls and then fail to deliver once they get to to Red Bull. And still very early days, we've only had one qualifying session. We've got no idea how the rest of this season is going to pan out

for him. But early impression, very, very good. And it's not just what he did in qualifying today. I've been relatively impressed with what he's done all weekend. Like he's been, Vestappans maybe had the worst of the luck in terms of getting up to. speed. He missed some time in one of the practice session. I think FP2 he missed the first section, so didn't get all the race running that I think he would have liked. But even so, you look at FP3, they're right next to each other, Hachar, I think one tenth ahead. The early running of qualifying, I think Vastappan, you know, might have been looking like he could deliver something more than Hachar. I'm pretty convinced he would have done. But these margins are okay for me.

at least like one race in. So yeah, to be ahead of the Ferraris and the McLaren's as well, that is, as you say, exactly what Red Bull have been looking for for a while. We'll see if that carries through to the race tomorrow. It's safe to say, he brought the boom to see you. He did, the Rizzler himself. What about Ferrari?

They managed to follow up their blistering pace in preseason testing with a fourth and a seventh place. Electric. eight tenths back for Charles Lecler, nearly a second back for Lewis Hamilton. Good news is Harry's never wrong. Lecler is going to win the title this year, so we're all right. Thank goodness that Harry E is the most correct man in Great Britain. We all joked, didn't we?

We all joked that they get to the actual first competitive times and they'd be what, sixth and seventh and seventh and eighth. I put on my story after FP1. I think one of you guys had a great post on our story about the, you know, Hopium is increasing with one of our predictions. We can predict that back down now. Just dial it back down, Doctor. Thank you very much.

Oh, God, Ferrari, why are you better on the medium tire than you are on the soft tire? How does it work? Fortunately, their long run pace is solid. It's not the same level as what the say you're able to bring. Of course, they do have the fartist. Fartist. They might do as well.

I'd be a bit farty, but I meant to say fast. this starting car in all of Formula One history, the fact that Charlotte Clare will be on lap two by the time the rest of them get down to turn one might help them out. But it does look like, unfortunately, the giggles have started to show very early on. Hamilton having a battery problem where it wasn't sinking properly. The tyre is not really working for them.

The soft compound tire, they can't, neither of them could properly improve or what they did on the medium. Warning signs are showing again that Ferrari might be back in this awkward spot between almost being there and not actually quite being there. And it's where Ferrari are being now for Nye on 20 years at Formula One. Yeah, the problem is outside of the obvious changes for 2026, if you were just to put the first through, let's say, 20 of place in this qualifying session,

but didn't assign a year to it, you'd have been like, oh, okay, they did an extra race in 2025, did they? That's cool, because it doesn't look that drastically different. from what they did last year. Being eight tenths away from pole was a place where Charles LeCler felt very comfortable last year. In fact, he was probably closer than that on quite a few occasions. I would have just liked to have seen, even if you just say Mercedes, okay, they've got the fastest car, they're clear.

I would have liked to have seen third and fourth place four tenths, five temps away like LeClair and Hamilton. at least at that point I think you've got something to work with in the in the very in the future right you can you can make something of that

but that's a big old margin Lewis Hamilton after his lap unhappy about the engine not sure what was happening with the tyres which again feels very familiar for Hamilton there were clearly car problems for Hamilton he reported it a couple of times

got brought him off two flying laps to make changes, which I guess is promising that he's only two-tenths, three-tenths behind Charles LeCler with proper car issues. You know, let's hope that they can step forward together. What will be fascinating this season will be the moment that compression ratio analysis test, what everyone will call it, kicks in, and we test it, was it 130 degrees and ambient? We might see a massive change in the performance levels of the engine of the Mercedes, and the rest of the grid might suddenly catch up.

So it would be very fascinating to see how that sits in the second half of the year versus this first half of the year. Yeah, but this result is far from a disaster for Ferrari. Fourth and seventh leaves them, again, with their fast starting cars tomorrow. Leaves them in a solid spot. It's not like they've had any cars dramatically go out in Q1, no massive reliability issues that have prevented a driver from even completing a session. They are still there, whether they're in the mix or not is up for debate, but fourth and seventh for them. Shall we take a very quick break on this episode? On the other side, we're going to be chatting McLaren and then getting into the bottom half of the grid.

At Medcan, we know that life's greatest moments are built on a foundation of good health, from the big milestones to the quiet winds. That's why our annual health assessment offers a physician-led, full-body checkup that provides a clear picture of your health today and may uncover early signs of conditions like heart disease and cancer. The healthier you means more moments to cherish. Take control of your well-being and book an assessment today. Medcan. Live well.

for life. Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. Welcome back, everyone. We've discussed Ferrari. Let's go with the team that is essentially in that sandwich. You've got fourth and seven for Ferrari. You've got the two guys in the middle being the McLaren duo of Piastri

and Lando Norris. A bad attempt separating them, but Lando Norris outqualified by a teammate for the first time ever at Albert Park. It felt like Piastri had the advantage all the way throughout the weekend, Sam. And then we got to the beginning of Q3 and Norris manages to put a lap together ahead of Piastri,

and yet Piastri was able to sort of turn that back around in his favour. So I guess in keeping with what the form was all the way up until the beginning of Q3. Yeah, this is the trend we almost saw throughout last year. The fact that Landon Norris will often start off really well, but Oscar Piastri delivered a longer build throughout qualifying, actually came good right at the death, and he does it again here. I was surprised though that Landon Norris has been outqualified by Oscar Piastri, only because if we've looked at both McLaren drivers side by side, you would say the one that has struggled a little more to adjust to these cars and maximise what they're getting out of the car has been Oscar Piastri,

not by a lot, but by enough to show that maybe the absolute outright raw pace has been on the favouring side of Landau rather than Oscar. And they're close here, which is great. It shows that actually the both of them are maximising what the car's able to do in qualifying. Mercedes engine is clearly delivering great pace for them and it's capable of delivering strong results. They just need to work on that aerobackage a little more. And I do think that they can probably extract good results out of this McLaren. It's not as far back as I think maybe myself and a few others were expecting McLaren to be. They're just off the beat.

They could go well here tomorrow. And I think a good result is definitely on the car. They've got some youngsters in front of them, remember you've got Hajjar who, whilst doing well in his rookie season, is still an experience with running a full race right at the top end. Kimi Antigelli took to a little rough around the eggies. There could be mistakes in there. And Ferrari exists. So you never know what might go wrong in that instance.

There could bigger results on the horizon for the propriety. Yeah, I think it's solid. I was a little bit let down by what McLaren delivered. Just based on two things. Firstly, their one lap pace has looked better than their long run pace at this very early point in the season. So maybe that doesn't bode particularly well. for tomorrow. The other thing as well, of course, is they do have that Mercedes power unit. And whilst

you might say the factory team naturally will have an advantage, eight, nine, tenths is a lot of an advantage with that same power unit. So I was hoping, maybe similar hopes to Ferrari, that they would at least be four temps back, half a second back, something like that. And instead, we're looking at fifth and sixth place. But it's a solid position to make something of tomorrow. You know, if, other teams around them run into reliability issues or something like that, then they are well positioned to have a challenge for the podium. Piastri has definitely appeared the more comfortable of the two drivers so far this weekend. Lando Norris seems to have had car troubles pretty much from the off that prevented any real running in FP1, any representative lap in FP1. And then really,

throughout FP2 and FP3, he's been playing catch-up versus OphP-P-1. to the point where it seemed like he pretty much put it together for FP3, just not, for Q3, just not able to maximize that last run, but to only be a 10th back from his teammate, again, even though he hasn't before today been outqualified by a teammate at Albert Park, I think he'll be okay with that result. It could have been a lot worse based on what we saw earlier on in the weekend. He was also a victim, of course, of hitting debris, which had been put on the track by, of course, the Mercedes cooler that have been falling out the side of Kimi Antigelli's car, and it could have done so much more damage to his front wing.

But I think they recovered well, a bit of duct tape, never at anybody, and off you go. Yes. Yeah, the ironic thing, of course, is that he just went faster as soon as that happened. I know we had the red flag in between, but as soon as that happened, goes back out and delivers the best lap of his weekend so far. So maybe he just needs Mercedes. It's just having some Mercedes on your car. It doesn't matter what it is.

Yeah, right. You're going three-tenths, they grace you with their presence. There's some science in that somewhere, just not quite sure where. What about racing bulls? Because if we were to say, before this session,

four teams are going to get both of their cars through to Q3. You might have said, well, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, that's probably three of them. And then the other one is probably running a Red Bull engine. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Just not that team you're thinking of.

Racing Bulls at P8 and P9, Liam Lawson, ahead of Arvid Lindblad. Pretty good going. Yeah, look into my eyes. I am the Red Bull now. That's how it felt when both drivers made it through to Q3. Let's talk Arvid Limblaw first. He is in his first competitive session.

He's had to really come into it in the deep end. And that car overall has been my surprise of the week. weekend before the season. I say it was going to be right down the end there, kind of with Cadillac is what I was expecting. And they are loops and bounds ahead. The four power train is operating really quite brilliantly for them. And whilst they are very far off, you know, the Ferraris, the McLaren's in front of them, they also seem to be doing a good job at sitting in front of the midfield behind them, which I'm surprised. I do think there's more to come from the likes of Aldi from, from Haas as we get further forward into the season. But in the early

stages, very impressive. And I think Arvid did a great job in his first session of dealing with what felt like a lot of pressure. He went straight out the gates and he was being delivering across all sessions. I'm talking FP1, two, three, all the way through qualifying. Actually, it's only up until Q3 that Liam Lawson turns up and gives him a bit of a as your father. You know, I'm going to show you his boss here

and stick a good eight cents on you. Because he did right at the end, there are a fair play to Liam Lawson. I was starting to think it was looking really worrying for Liam, the fact that he's now well more experience than Harvard. But turns up, got the job done right when it matters. And it's great to see the book. both next to each other, promising start for the two drivers.

And as a rookie session, this has gone really well for him. Yeah, really well. What a debut so far this weekend from him. As you say, it's not as if this was some random luck that managed to get him into Q3. And this has been brewing the whole weekend. Like, if you had done the qualifying session after FP1, I think he'd have got to Q3.

If he'd have done it after FP2 or after FP3, I think he has been top 10 pretty consistently all weekend so far. So this is actually just capitalizing on pace that he's shown rather than showing up and qualifying and finding something that he hadn't had at that point until that point in the weekend. And he was the quicker of the two relatively comfortably for a lot of this session. And he'll be maybe somewhat annoyed that by the time he got to Q3 and so did Lawson, that it was that it was Lawson who was able to capitalize on that.

But we are really nitpicking based on it being his first ever qualifying session. And Lindblad can at least look at Lawson's lap and say, OK, you've done a great job in Q3. Well done to you. My lap in Q2 was quicker. Only just, but his lap in Q2 was ever so slightly better. So he knows he's got a bit more pace left in the locker, track evolution. He puts a lap together in Q3.

He probably would have got it. So Lawson will be happy to get the result, but I think Lindblad's going to be just as happy with how that weekend's gone so far for him. Shall we head to Audi because one car in Q3, just about, and I said just about because it pulled up in pit lane. I think we bought Toledo. Good job for him to make Q3.

Probably wasn't advancing any further than 10th anyway, so it might be one of those reliability issues that hasn't actually cost the team. Yeah, on an absolutely. absolute perfect Q3 who bought a letter. I think he may be Snag's P-9. Sure, yeah, yeah. But that's that is, you know, okay, one position.

Yeah, we saw another reliability moment there, and it's for Audi, essentially the other new team, kind of new team, replacing Salber, of course, from last year. I'm not surprised that Audi have had some kind of reliability problem. They are radical in what they're doing. You look at the car shape. It is completely different to all others. But the performance that they are extracting is above and beyond what I was expecting,

originally. They are, anything you called it early on, you think that they might actually have some real good place in the car,

then they're showing that. This is a great start to the season for them to be 10th, the 11th. If the race goes well, if there are some reliability problems around them,

a double points finishes on the cards, but Gabby Bortoletto is doing exactly what I thought Gabby Bortoletto was going to do and that was come out the gates equal, if got better than Nika Holgerberg.

I do think he's done a really good job against the ever experienced Niko Holcomberg, just clinching at Q3 over Nika, couldn't quite get there. But right again, we've shown them that they built a good line up from the start and they are very evenly matched across the board. And that's what Audi will want to see that, hey, if the car can keep improving, those two drivers will also keep going with it, which is

fantastic for a rang team. Yeah, the battle seems to be a continuation from last year, almost only, but not even attempt separating Bortoletto and Hulkemberg in Q2. Of course, that'd be the difference between Bortoleto getting through, even if he couldn't do anything with it. and Nick Holkenberg being knocked out. I think they're in a good spot. Just based on some of the race sims from this weekend so far, it's been tough to judge just based on some disrupted running and I think it being a new season,

some of the run plans are slightly different to what we would normally get. But based on those limited run plans so far, I'm not as convinced by racing balls in terms of race pace as I have been in terms of one lap pace. Racing balls have been the, the class of the midfield comfortably when it comes to qualifying runs. But in terms of race runs, I think Hass and Aldi might have a bit of an advantage over racing balls. So if they can, if that is true, and they can take advantage of that,

then there could well be points on the cards for one or indeed both drivers. But a pretty good start, I think, for what is again a new team. And of course, we can actually say 10th and 11th means they're both in the top half of the grid, weirdly. Ah, I forgot that's how it works. Yeah. I suppose you can't really, yeah. Wow.

Well, good for them. Well, day, Audi. Well, that, Audi. It's almost a bit of Noah Zark in this midfield, because you've got Racing Bulls 8, 9, you've got Audi 10-11, you've got Hass 12 and 13. Maybe about where we thought there'd be.

Maybe a slight disappointment that they're behind two midfield rivals, but equally it's pretty close. if these are the two midfield rivals that they were going to be behind I'd be disappointed if I was Haas if you told me

that you'd be behind Williams for example before we had all preseason you said you know January 1st okay Haas you're going to turn up you're going to be

12th 13th then the car that's in front of you that's just scraping into the top 10 is Williams and then the big boys you go

all right we're not far off here we've got a team to meet before we lead the midfield solid Audi who are of course I mentioned new

and radical and then racing balls who let's be real about it, it means nothing when it comes to the Constructors Championship, that's got the team I want to be behind. They've also got this Ferrari power unit, which has been pretty solid, rock solid of anything. So they'll hope that they can get this jump off the start.

They showed they could in preseason testing. I know, Bairman got a little lucky in Q1. He was the last runner to get through. When I say lucky, he was six-tenths faster than the car that didn't get through from Aalong so. So the gap was more of a gulf than it was a gap. But nonetheless, they were slower than I was expecting. them to being, I do think they've gotten a little bit lucky with some of the early

DNFs, DS, DNSs, don't start, whatever it might be. I think they're a little lucky. I'm a bit more positive about them just based on, and it's a guess again at this point until we see what happens tomorrow, last year qualifying was their weakness and they were much better on race day. If they've carried that through in any way, they're probably in a good spot. although I do take your point that if you were saying not that long ago, which midfield rivals are you going to be behind in terms of pure one-lap pace

and you would say Racing Bulls and Audi, there would be a touch of disappointment there, mixed in with the, I guess, being relatively happy about being faster than Williams and faster than Alpine as well. Speaking of Alpine, just 14th and 16th here, have they done the same thing again, They're just really quick at Bahrain and nowhere else. Yeah, obviously that's how it works for them.

That's what they think is a testing. We get all the points for Bahrain. That's how it works. I mean, Gassley was there, at least, in terms of he was only just behind Ockon, Behrman Holmberg. Colopinto scrapes through, much to the chagrin of Crofti. He forgot it existed. Right.

Yeah, Colopento does make it through to Q2, but then can't really set a last. that's anywhere close to Gasley in Q2, and he was 16 of 16 in Q2. I don't know, thought it'd be a bit more. It's a step forward from last year, but you look at the cars that are behind them. How much of a step forward is it really? You've got Cadillac who are nigh on four seconds off the pace. You've got Aston Martin, who is a health risk for them to drive a racing car, and then Williams, who are having reliability problems out the wazoo.

So at this point, their last of the cars that can actually, actually do regular running. It's not great. I mean, we'll see what the race pace is like. I thought they picked up this Mercedes engine. They've got the gearbox. They've had so much time to stop development of last period's car and going to this new era. It's just not there, is it?

Colopinto, as much as I think he would be an improvement, he is still comfortably off the pace of Pierre Gassi right now. I think if you were just to give this result back, but I don't know, just make sure all the teams and drivers are redacted, you would, I think Alpine would immediately say, oh, that team that's 8th and 9th, that's probably us, right? Just based on... At most the 10th and 11th.

Right, sure. And instead, they are not. They are 14th and 16th. Where else do we want to tackle? We've got, I guess, who we expected to be at the back, Asthma Martin and Cadillac. Yeah. We'll get into Astor Martin folks properly outside of the race weekend.

You'll obviously talk about their performances, but we'll break down what's been going on there. because it is far deeper. What hasn't been going on? Well, checking up in Japan, apparently, about how your engine's being built. We're getting on to that, folks, because it is drama, drama, drama.

But Lance Strohl doesn't set a lap time. That's not surprised. What was the point in risking the car when they barely got enough parts to put an engine together? Fernando Alonkso looks initially positive, but the fact that the commentary, if you're not on Sky commentary,

I do apologize for this. But the way they're going, it's some shining light that Fernando Alonso has just scraped through into Q2, I'll forget that he forgot Colopinto existed. Is that a shining light with how everything's going on?

Weirdly, yes, but that's just, that's how bad it is Aston Martin, right? It's like an iPhone torchlight in a forest of darkness. I mean, it is pretty dim out there for what's going on in Aston Martin. Cagallack, let's talk Cagallat then, because it was a smooth-ish session for Cagallack. No massive reliability problems. Their biggest issue, the pace just isn't there. and they can't blame it on a reality problem. They can't blame it on the fact that they brought their own engine

and it's not working the way they're expecting it to. They're just slow, but it's what we expected. Yeah, I mean, if you'd have asked me before, I mean, if you'd have asked me probably a year ago, where do you think Cadillac will be in that first qualifying session in Australia? I would have said probably three seconds off the pace. Perez, 3.098 off the fastest time from George Russell. So I can't say I'm overly surprised.

Valtrey Bottas, I'm not quite sure why. he wasn't able to get alongside Perez. There was a massive seven-tenths gap between those two. But if we assume, because they have been relatively close throughout the rest of this weekend, that Perez's pace is what they can probably both do. I think it's okay. Like the six or seven-tenths away from Alonzo from Colapinto,

that it's, again, there might be some that are disappointed that they're not more prominent at this very early point in their F-1 career. But I think in reality this was always likely. The person I need to applaud most is Terry Cruz, who is still keeping up magnificent energy despite being that far away from the top of the grid. I love me some Terry Cruz, but I do have to ask the question. When does Terry Cruz fatigue start to set in? Mate, that man's going to have fatigue in his life, and therefore we shall never have fatigue of Terry Cruz.

Okay, I respect that. Is what the official team mascot of Kangalek? Sure. What a job. Can I be that for another team? I would love to just follow you around shouting. Yeah, why not? I can do that thing with my boobies.

I can make them twitch if you can be a tight enough shirt. I can make sure I only give you the most loose fitting shirts of all time from now. Thanks. Good to go that thing dresses me from now on. Yeah. I'm making that cool exclusively on the podcast. Yeah, and then in terms of Asterbite from my side, it is damning that Alonzo was 2.4 seconds away from the fastest time.

And I was like, good job. That's all right, isn't it? Yippee! Yeah, I thought it'd be worse than that, which would tell you a lot. I'm devastated. Yeah. I'm devastating for the fangs.

I'm devastated for Alonso, is what I'm devastated for. This was meant to be his final year, the year he bows out in. He's going to have to spend another year with a GP2 engine, which is rightfully able to call your fare played to you a lot,

so if you do bring that name back. and he's going to be trawling around at the back, getting nerve damage with his teeth chattering away like he's driving down a cobblestone road. Ah, it's just awful, awful, awful. I might go as far as I say, it's an embarrassment for a team with that much money, that much resource. Yes, 100%.

It's a failure in so many parts. It's not just a failure in Honda's part. You've got to be checking up on them earlier than November. But this is truly shocking. I knew it was bad and we got to, Barcelona. But this is so bad. Do you remember when F1 wouldn't let Andretti in because they were worried that they would be an embarrassment to the sport? Yeah.

Yeah. I guess Max Verstappen, just to mention him, because I know we did mention him as part of the Isaac Adjadjah chat a little bit, but he will start, we think, 20th, there's probably going to be some pit lane starts. So it's very tough to say exactly where these drivers are going to start, but it will be at the back for Max Verstappen. Is he going to be able to make much progress in this car? Should he be able to get back to a top eight, top five finish? What do you think? My guy was able to get from basically last to the top four in a car that was far

closer to the rest of the field last year. The golf between the top end of the bottom end of cars this season so far is enormous. It's huge in the power difference, the way that they were able to deploy the aerodynamic ability. Max Verstappen will comfortably carve through, I think all the way up to his Ciscuit team, the racing balls. I think he'll easily get back to the top eight. It just depends how far up the road the likes of Ferrari and McLaren have got to by the time he does get there. But no bones about it. He's comfortably inside the points coming the end of the race tomorrow. Yeah. And we do suspect that he is just playing F on fantasy and wants to get all those overtake points. He's got himself on

triple. You know, he's gone immediately for the big, big points. He's not got to get all the overtakes. to maximize my points. Respect that, Max, respect that. Great, great, trash. He's in the league, of course. Yes. A driver at the session. Driver of the session.

It's hard not to go for George Russell. I must admit, he was mighty. Yep, I'm going to go for George Russell. There was a very impressive performance. I'm also going to go boring and go with the guy that got pole. I would have gone for Limbluder if he out-qualified Lawson in Q3. That was why I debated just for a moment there, yeah. If they were the other way around, I think I'd have gone for him instead.

Hadjar's definitely up there as well but without that Vastappan comparison I think it's a little bit more difficult to say him and I think a lot of the midfield kind of yeah like I said there's Noah's Ark kind of grid everyone for the most part it felt like got what got the most

out of the car so yeah I'm going to go a Russell too well done along so for risking your entire self to do that lap it wasn't worth it yes and we'll see how many laps he does tomorrow and where of course we'll be back with a race review.

Oh, wow. Yeah, I've got to do an outro for that, that's part of what I do here. I can't believe that. Yeah, so we are going to be up super early. After watching it, we do the race review immediately. And folks, you could hear yourself on the race for you because we go to Discord for a moment of the race, for audio submissions.

So if you are a fan of a show, you think, hey, I can hear my own voice on that show. Get into Discord. Wait in the submissions channel where myself, Ben or Harry will do an announcement that says, we're ready, give us your submission, 20 seconds or less, keep it funny, keep it light, keep it interesting. You might hear yourself on this show. We can't wait to hear them for the first time in this year, 26. Thanks for listening, thanks for joining us back on qualifying,

for us on social media, late-breaking F1, and we will see you for the race review tomorrow. Cannot wait. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking, and remember, keep breaking late.