The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2026 Australian GP Race Review

Episode Date: March 8, 2026

With a chaotic season opener in Melbourne in the books, the LB boys break down all the action: Mercedes’ triumph, Ferrari’s questionable strategy, a standout rookie debut, and first reactions to F1’s all-new 2026 regulations after their first race test... 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

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. Well, welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Harry Ead, Sam Sage, and me, Ben Hocking. Back with our first race review of the 2026 season, the Australian GP is in the books and a one-to finish for Mercedes just as they qualify. Russell winning ahead of Kimmy Antonelli, the two Ferraris in behind Charlotte Clerk completing the podium with Lewis Hamilton in fourth. I mean, I'm not really sure what we were expecting

going into this one, Sam. It's a question that we've been asking for many months now, but Mercedes has got to be pretty happy with how things are going. Yeah, I hate that that was the only thing that I probably was expecting to happen. The Ferrari launch off the start and the Mercedes one to finish. it's it was the only predictable thing in what turned out to be a Grand Prix of chaos, confusion, not entirely sure how it's all working. There's a lot going on.

We'll break some of it down, of course, in the show. Harry, you are awake, you've made it. I know this is tough for you early morning, so well done. It is tough. We have it tough as Europeans, obviously. Oh, God. No, not the first race review.

Our biggest city in the world that listens has just turned off. Yeah, well, we certainly had a race. Yes, we're going to run through everything that happened in the Australian Grand Prix. Plenty of retirements, plenty of drivers finishing slightly added positions that we'd expect. But we will start out front with the Mercedes duo finishing 1-2, George Russell, taking the race win after converting that pole position from yesterday. Kimmy Antonelli, not the smoothest weekend.

He had that crash, obviously, an FP3 yesterday, but a great job by the Mercedes mechanics to put that car back together for him to qualify second. and he took advantage of that finishing second as well. I dare say, though, Sam, maybe not quite as much of an advantage as they showed in qualifying, albeit with that first and second place. Pretty impressive, nonetheless, though. It was impressive.

The car is mighty. George Russell, despite saying that he absolutely hates driving the cars after qualifying and they're tough to drive, they celebrate the race by going, very nice. I like this car, I like this engine, which is like interesting. reaction from

I wanted to strip him with the win and I know that sounds severe. I know I think it's fair.

I think it's a fair punishment there's a tiny part of me that loves how incredibly uncool and cringy he is because I feel like

if he wasn't a phone driver he could be the fourth member of this show I don't know the Borat impression versus the Fred Flintstone

impression from a few years ago like it's a close run thing my man's got characters like someone who's got characters I'll respect the way

he does it okay at least he's more successful than me. James next game. I'll see you, George. I'll see you. Fair play to you though, George Russell, because it was really interesting to hear the

call-down room, the way he broke down what happened throughout the Grand Prix. And with these new regulations, we were expecting the drivers to go through some difficulties and difficulties they went through. Both Mercedes cars turned up to the start grid and neither had any battery available to them. Kimi Antigelli, of course, suffering far worse than George Russell. So he did well to manage that when Charlotte-Clau is coming at you like a blin'ing rocket. hit down the start, finish straight. And then numerous times, apparently, going up against Charlotte Clay, he goes, I thought I

pressed overtake, I thought I pressed boost, did they have it on, just forgot to press it, or didn't turn it on properly, good, that's what we like to hear. Mercedes got to be real scary when they figure out how the sport works. George doesn't know what about half the buttons on the steering will do at the moment. Yeah, he still managed to wing. The scariest part, I think, actually, in terms of confidence building for Mercedes is how, on what, 38 lap hold tires, they're still matching the times of the Ferraris,

of the McLaren, of the Red Bull, who were in behind them. And it just felt like it got easier as the weekend went on. Good calls coming under the VSC, not replicated by either one of the Ferraris, which we'll get onto, but they seemed comfortable at every turn

once things got going. I thought good comeback from Kimmy Antigli who did struggle off the line a bit more than Russell. So that's what they'll want to see. Both drivers maximising the performance, their first one to, without Lewis Hamilton since, what was it, 195 was quoted?

1955, yes. Very relevant statistic. I'm glad they brought that one. Hey, you were there. I was, I was me and Moss. Hang a drink after him. It was great. Oh, me and Mossie. Me and Mossie.

I tell you what, I think George Russell is quickly going to become the most unpopular F1 driver on the grid, amongst other F1 drivers. We mentioned yesterday how he was complaining about how difficult it was and thinking back to some other drivers who might have found things a little bit more difficult in a car that wasn't a Mercedes. I love that he's in the call-down room

telling Charles LeClaire, you were quick. No, you were quick, I think. You're on slow. Yeah, I just, I really appreciate that from George Russell. If you keeps that up for the entire year, man's going to pick up enemies real fast.

My man's let PR from Toto Wolf. True, very true. We saw Harry last year, whenever George Russell won a race, which wasn't all that frequent. Basically, whenever he led a race, he went on to win it. He's done a fairly good job in his relatively young F1 career of taking advantage of opportunities when they come his way.

Is this just another example of that? I think so, yeah. He obviously start aside. I'm still quite confused on how the Mercedes didn't have any battery after a whole formation lap. What are you doing on that lap? It feels like the one priority, doesn't it? What is you doing?

His highest battery. They are literally doing. anyway well that obviously hampered him but yeah the opportunity was there for the win obviously strategically Mercedes played the right call by putting under the VSC and then from there on there on in Russell never really looked back and even you know aside from the how good that car is in terms of how it deploys energy etc looks like it's a good car on its ties to which is a little bit worrying for everyone else but yeah he he I'm not going to Looker on the Tyre Whisperer.

But... What about this? Saturday? We've had both of these come out this weekend. No, neither. Not doing it. Not doing it.

Yeah, it was a very, very assured performance from George Russell. So I didn't panic when he lost the lead. And obviously, there was a few back and forth with LeClau at the start of the race. But he never really... Yeah, apart from the lockup he made into term one, there wasn't really any mistakes from him. Yeah, and like you say, he didn't panic.

at the start when things weren't necessarily going 100% his own way. It's not like he was struggling at all. He was still very much in the mix with the likes of the Ferraris. But after going on pole position and being, what, three quarters of a second quicker than anyone who wasn't a Mercedes, he might have been thinking, if I get into term one and I'm leading, I might not see another car for the rest of this race, apart from lapping the back markers.

And that's not how it played out, at least in that first stint. But he stayed relatively composed. And the race came to him. Sure, it was, I'm not going to say, it was handed to him, but it was maybe made slightly easier than it could have been otherwise,

thanks to other teams' strategies. But he still had a race to win. He still had Antonelli behind him with an incentive to catch up to him. And Sam, you said this earlier. It felt more comfortable the further the race went in. And that's an ominous sign for Mercedes.

as we go into the next race in China. A quick word on Antonelli as well, Sam, because we know that this weekend could have very easily gone a different direction than it has done. He only ends up a few seconds back from George Russell, and I think on, at least on Sky Sports commentary, Martin Brundle at the end said that,

paraphrasing here, he's probably going to give him a run for his money this year. Does this performance indicate that? It's a very complimentary line from Martin Brundle. I want to see a few more performances of this car right at the very very very top. I do think that he got back to the front really well. He did have a tough start, got off the line slowly due to this battery issue. But he got back through some relatively quick cars very efficiently.

You know, he's battling with the likes of Norris further back, gets through Hajjar and Lindblard who made great starts really efficiently as well. And that's what I want to see from him. That's the really, really good stuff. And whilst you have this, the Clare, Russell, Hamilton, entail, battle going on there for the top three. Antingelli calmly plugging away, closing down that gap, really, really nicely. There was no faffing around. There was no taking his time to do it, got the car together, got the lapsing, and he was back in that fight well before the pit phase started to appear. So that's where I was really encouraged. The bit that I wasn't to encourage by was, I think Russell held onto his tyres much better. And this is something that Antingelli

is still learning. I do think that there's going to be times where that race management factor comes in a little more and Russell probably shows his experience. And that's okay. Antigelli's He's only in his second season, he might be in a title fighting his second season, which is a huge prospect for such a young man. I do think it's going to take some adapting to. But overall, very encouraged by what Kimi Antingelli is able to bring to the F1 grid. I think Mercedes will be going, our lineups looking all right. I've delivered what we need of them to on their first time of asking.

So they'll come away happy. Harry, the only real competition that Mercedes faced today was Ferrari. Now, there was a decision to make under virtual safety card. Do you pit? It was, in theory, quite an early piece. bit stopped, but both Mercedes decided to take the opportunity. Both Ferrari's decided not to. Was that a detrimental call for this race? Yes, it was.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and easy for us to sit here and say that Ferrari have messed up again on strategy, but they should have pit at least what? If they were set on the strategy that they were, they obviously carried out, they, they stuck to their guns. I think they should have at least split them when Don won. Pit Hamilton and see where they get to. And yeah, because there were so many unknowns

going into this race. More on them also being around the tyres, would it be a one-stop or a two-stop? Obviously, classic, it turned into a one-stop anyway, really, for those at the front. But it's a shame Ferrari didn't do something else because whilst I don't think overall they had, certainly in the latter half of the race,

they didn't have the pace of the Mercedes. So whether they have really been in that battle, I think it would have at least allowed them, it would have given the opportunity to be in the battle that they didn't have after they did their stop later on the race because they came out like 10 seconds behind and they were 10 seconds behind for the rest of the race, basically. So yeah, I didn't think they would have won necessarily,

but like I said, I think we'd have given the opportunity to be in that fight and they, yeah, they were. after they, you know, stuck their guns. It would have been at least interesting to see Ferrari, but it's nice to see that some things haven't changed. Yeah, I would have liked to have seen at least one of them go for this, and partly because I know we advocate splitting strategies a lot generally,

but this is still such a learning phase for all the teams, including Ferrari. It would have been quite useful, I think, to have someone come into the pits relatively early, have someone go much longer. to get a sense of tire life. You get to start to see maybe at some of these other races, a two stops going to become a little bit more viable than they've been in previous years, or is it still going to be one-stop related?

They could have maybe stolen a march on some of the other teams in getting that data if they had gone ahead and done this, but instead they decide to leave both of them out. And I think they've probably, I say they've learned, I hope they've learned, there is a chance this year that F1 race is going to be decided strategically by energy management and not by tyres. I think in the previous era of F1, everything was so tire limited. Like you're not focused really on fuel, you weren't really focused on ERS or anything. It was all about tires. Is it going to be a one stop? Is it going to be a two stop? Which tires are using? That will still be prominent this year. And it might just be the case that Mercedes

are very good in that respect. But I did. think we'll have more races this year where tyres are less of a conversation and it's going to be far more on how you're harvesting that that battery how do you get that power back um and maybe Ferrari have learned a lesson today and i use maybe um for a very good reason can i just say by the way i know it's not a darn me anymore but it's good to hear howlinson is right radio uh and as a raise into this, sorry, on the radio, just disagreeing. He wasn't as annoyed. No, no, no, but traditions.

It is first race. Yeah, they went straight in for big brain strike, I think it, though. They've really gone, it's hard time. It's a hard time to take the crown, what they haven't won it every other year. Yeah, I mean, I don't think it was going to make a difference to the result. I think Ferrari still finish three, four. But you're right? I think it would be close.

I think it would be close. Yeah, I think, I think Antigali still clears Lecler and Hamilton. I think the gap was still too much. unfortunately. It was the pace on the old tires that the Mercedes could deliver, I think was really impressive that even if it was just the clur

on newer tires, unlike Hamilton, who did get closer, the clur barely moved in the time difference. You know, the hard tires weren't really seemingly suiting the Ferrari,

sorry. I think what worries me the most is what you've just raised is that Hamilton is still screaming over the radio. Why aren't you picking one of us? Don't double stack me. Make sure that we're,

you know, like what are we doing? And it's just so clear that race one, new engineer, Some things just do not change. And Ferrari blundering a strategy opportunity is one of those things that they go, oh, it's Ferrari bingo time, muck up the strategy, tick. Still on plan A.

Great, well done, Ferrari. It resulted in no gain. You haven't lost anything. Norris was 35 seconds behind you. You're all the time of the world to play with. And yet they still don't take a risk and do something different. That's the worrying thing here. I don't think they were going to gain anything if they had pitted.

Do you think overall, obviously, the strategy is very much in the negative column for Ferrari's weekend. But if we look at absolutely everything, though, Hamilton looked more comfortable versus LeClerc than he did at most races last year. They could be in McLaren's position, and we'll speak McLaren a bit in a bit after the break. Red Bull had a DNF and Vastappen couldn't overtake Norris. I know it's not perfect, but it could be a lot worse for Ferrari, I feel at the moment. If you gave Lewis Hamilton specifically a list of options coming out of race one where you said, all right, Ferrari aren't going to win the race. That's a done a deal. You don't get that say. But, you know, you might be on the podium. You might be less than a second away from Lecler at the end of the

race. Or it could be like last year where you're sat in eighth or ninth at best and Lecler still get. This is a good start for Lewis Hamilton. The way he was on the brakes, he had that awkward start coming out of turn one. And he's alongside Landon Norris and Alvin Lindblad. And it's down. on the inside of a tricky turn three. And you know what Lewis Hamilton does? He's late on the brakes and he gets the job done efficiently. We haven't seen that from Lewis Hamilton in like two, three years because he's just not confident going into these kinds of fight, side by side fights.

And yet he comes out on top, delivers a really efficient result. Lewis Hamilton could be back in this level of new era that we're seeing here. It's risky. But I think if Ferrari can keep developing the car later on in the year when we see this compression ratio change, the way it's tested, Ferrari could be in the fight here and Hamilton could genuinely play a factor. What do you think, Harry?

I kind of think if you're going on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of happiness, Ferrari can maybe be on about a 7 after this. Yeah, I think that's probably fair. I mean, is it a worry for us that if you want a multi-team championship battle, we've got to rely on Ferrari? Congrats, George Russell,

and winning the championship. and Mercedes for the constructors. It's been a good season. But they certainly seem, at least after race one, certainly seem to be the only ones who are on the same level as Mercedes at the moment.

So they've got to be happy. That start thing is absolutely ridiculous. Do that thing? Well, they just, it doesn't matter. They can qualify like in 10th. And I think if you get, qualify in 10th, somewhere like, I don't know, Spain, they'll be leading by term one.

It'll be a fair advantage. advantage at China and Suzuki as well. They're not short runs down to term one. Yeah. I didn't think it was going to come into play here. I thought they'd game a couple of places. I didn't think he'd be leading out of the first corner because it's quite a short run here.

It was risky from LeCleur to come back in front of Hager. I did think there was a risk. He was about to be tagged from the rear and we'd be able to see a almighty crash, but really well done. Like, surprisingly good. So if they, obviously, it sounds like slightly gimmicky. But if that is the case that they can do that,

they don't have to even qualify at the front. Imagine if they do qualify at the front. God, anyway. Yeah, they don't have to qualify at the front, but it can still be in the mix at the start of a race because, yeah, like I say, whilst I don't think the overall pace was as good as the Mercedes, I think they can be in that fight

when there's energy management at play, as we saw with him and Russell, with Leclair and Russell, I think they can do that again for the rest of the year. And they certainly could be in the mix. So I'm definitely, despite, I think some fans will be unhappy that they seem to throw away a one-two. I think that's probably a bit of a harsh criticism. So I think they can leave Australia pretty happy.

Now, if you're new to the late-breaking podcast, firstly, thank you very much for giving us a go on this first race review of the season. And you've been here for 15 minutes, which means you are now contractually obliged to be with us forever. so sorry about that. Welcome. In our preview episodes, we make bold predictions. And in these race reviews, we like to review those bold predictions and see where we're right. Whoa, whoa. Like is a strong word here, Ben. We do review them. We have to review them contractually.

Okay, more contractual obligations. We have to review them. Sam, what was your bold prediction for this weekend? I said that there will be an issue in the pit laying of one of the cars that were kind of dueling or fighting around the podium. And there was not a signal issue in the moment. pit laying at all. Everyone was fine. How did no one get anything wrong? But just exclusively in the pit lane. Yeah, that was it. I thought, you know, with the start-ups, with the turbos, with the fact that these new front wings are a bit dodgy to get on off. We saw it was science. He had a problem further back.

Everyone was quite literally flawless, still two and a half second pit stops around the board, quite annoying. You know what? That's the first prediction. We've got plenty more. Harry, your bold prediction. I said there would be at least 10 DNFs from the race And there weren't We were tracking nicely at one point And then But we started to come back out onto the track I was saying what are you mugging me off for, I'm to mind

Come on Six is it? How about five? So yeah, it was five at the end It wasn't ten, wasn't anywhere close Ben, what about you? Come on, save us, give us some justification. New Year, do me.

I said that there were be at least 18 finishers. Count them up. There were 17. I just like what? How is this carried on into this year? Ben Hocking at the far post. He's jumped from the header. He's gone for it. Oh, it's off the bar. Every time. He's headed the post himself. He's become the post. Full concussion. I don't even know. It was funny because we went down, I think we went down to 17 and then Stroll reappeared to get it back to 18 and then there was another retirement to go back down to 17. I even said on the preview episode,

I should probably go for like 17 or 16, but I didn't feel that was quite bold enough, so I went for 18. Sorry, mate. Yeah, well, never mind. It's a good start. Well, count them up, folks. That is nought out of three.

Hope your bold prediction went slightly better than ours. It literally couldn't have gone worse. Can we bother to get the abacus out of storage? You know what? The abacus is in storage until it's required. It's picking up dust. It's in the British Museum at this point. It's got being used for so long. Yeah, right. Artifact. Right, let's take our first break on this episode. On the other side, we're going to be chatting McLaren and Max Verstappen. 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 the top four finishes in the Grand Prix, that of course being the two Mercedes and the two Ferraris. Now let's talk Norris and Vastappen, because they were battling it out over P5. Vestappen obviously coming all the way from P20 to get his sixth place finish, but not quite able to beat Lando Norris, defending world champion,

who finishes in fifth. Harry, they were quite a long way behind the top four cars. I don't think we went into this season thinking it would be smooth. Let's start with McLaren. It would be smooth for them. But it feels like they've got quite a lot of work to do based on today. Yeah, that's a long way behind, especially given that they have the mistake. ladies engine now I know that's not everything you have to build the

build the car around it but yeah they I mean we only had one McLaren obviously in the race piastry didn't even make it to the grid but yeah Norris's pace was at least versus the top four was just nowhere near and he seemed to seem to not be very happy on the tires he was on either they question whether he'd do a one store and he was like nah mate that's the most direct to McLaren team radio has ever been. It's because the other car's got in it. They haven't got to try and juggle things.

No, they actually have both race engineers for Norris and bring the other one over. But yeah, so pace-wise, it was not ideal. He obviously kept Vastappen behind, but bear in mind where Vastappen started. That's not a great look for Maka. So, yeah, I think

the, obviously, like I said, they only had one car in it, but they were probably saved. I think they would have been behind both. throw balls if Vastappan had started further up and Hadjar hadn't broken down, I think they probably would have ended up behind them as well. So they might potentially, they would have looked like the four fastest, despite where they qualified four fastest team at the moment. So a bit of work to do for McLaren.

It's not a disaster. And they have obviously got this Mercedes engine in the back of their back of their car. So it's salvageable, but right now it's looking like a tough. a tough ask to try and beat the Mercedes and the Ferrari. I think Sam, based on qualifying, we knew that Mercedes versus McLaren probably wasn't going to be a battle, at least for this weekend, and that's how it played out. But of course, the McLaren's were right there with both Ferrari cars in qualifying.

Yet Ferrari found a lot more in terms of race pace than what, at least Lando Norris could never saw it from Oscar Piastri. How worrying is that? It felt like a big of a false storm at qualifying. It felt like we got a big of a dose of optimism. that maybe wasn't genuinely there. We spoke about this in preseason after Bahrain. It felt like whilst they won that pace of McLaren was really good,

they're not able to maximise the aerodynamic capabilities of the car, unlike Mercedes. Of course, same power train, same battery. So therefore the outright haulspower should be the same, but they're struggling. And Norris, it felt like it took a really long time to fully adjust to the rhythm of the race, actually. Once he got going, once he had the staffed behind him for those last 10, 12 laps,

he was starting to put in very similar lap times actually to Lecler to Hamleting in front of him a couple of times he was faster. That's good progress, but it took him a long time to get there. So either the McLaren's a bit lairy and difficult to drive for reasons that maybe we're unsure of right now, or it's really far off the pace. And Norris is having to deal with a tough car to drive. And that's more worrying because that's problems to overcome. I'm sure Norris throughout this season, smart lad, good driver.

He can adapt to the way these cars get to drive. If that is the problem, they give it two or three races. and I think he'll be right there again. If it is the McLaren that's genuinely a problem and it's struggling aerodynamically, that's a lot more research, a lot more development, money, time that needs to go into how this car is going to develop.

And they do seem really far off the pace. They'll be gutted to know that they were the team last year that was keeping the tyres alive, able to do with hot temperatures. They were fantastic through MiGSpeed corners. And there's a lot of MiGSpeak and high speed corners here at Melbourne and they weren't 35, 40 seconds off the pace from a Ferrari who was well behind them last year.

This is not a good start. Bit of a disaster from McLaren. One car doesn't even make it to the grid because he put it in the wall. It's a really shocking and tough start to the season. For Stappen, nearly manages to beat you from the back of the grid. That's even more worrying. Yeah, I didn't necessarily have high expectations

for McLaren going into this race, as you've both referenced. I didn't think that the race pace of the McLaren was particularly good versus their qualifying pace, at least from what we've seen so far. But as the race materialized, it didn't take long, to be honest, to figure out that they haven't quite got it at the moment. I thought that there would be a margin between them and the top teams.

I didn't think it would be like this. Because even early on, when we had Vestappen obviously fighting through the traffic, I know he's up against at that point, midfielders and back markers, but he's able to do so relatively comfortably. And you see Kimmy Antonelli the way that he recovers the three or four positions he needs to to get back out to the front. And at the same time,

you've got Lando Norris, who could in theory be doing exactly the same thing as Antonelli, just not really able to give it a go. Sure, he's clear of the midfield. And that top four group, as expected, is pretty comfortably ahead of everyone else. But I don't even know if we can call it a top four at this point, because that gap again to the front two, or definitely Mercedes, feels pretty drastic. It is just one race. We might head to China and they're much better there. There will be card developments. We know that McLaren didn't necessarily go ahead with many upgrades going into the second Bahrain test and into Australia. They are pretty much running what they brought to the first Bahrain test. So there might be a bit more scope to improve

versus other teams. But at least for now, it's a touch worrying. And of course, Oscar Piastri, the Australian curse, it's just, what are you going to do at this? point. Max Vastappen, 20th to 6th. We're recording this straight after the race, so we've got no feedback on Vastappen and what he felt of that yet, because that could be quite interesting. But what did you make of his recovery drive, Sam? He is dead excited. He absolutely despises this. It was an impressive recovery, despite all the chaos that was going on in the back half the grid which was still yet to properly see tv management company i would like to watch that um you know so on put was up to 10th colapinto's getting in the back of lawson is in the wall um you've got cars all over

the shop and yet max last stepan the ever calm expert that he is was able to work his way through the chaos quickly i think he was up to 16th after that one and then very quickly got himself into the top 10 it was fast work good progression and that's what you expect from max fasten shows you that the red ball is fast and we expect it to be good and the Red Bull paddle train, when it's alive, was operating well, sorry, Isaac Hager. He was quickly thwarted when he got to the back of the actual

kind of top five, top six pack, and this is what I was expecting. The moment he kind of made a car that was equal to the Red Bull. It became much more difficult to make any progress. Is that the way expecting him to do? Got no further than that. What did you make of the drive, Harry?

Yeah, I mean, it was sort of a classic Bastap and Recovery Drive, wasn't it? yeah he his pace was good relatively so throughout this one and but like Sam said just as soon as he gets to a tougher a tougher car which the first one was really the McLaren of Norris he couldn't really make any further inroad so I like I said I think I think I think Verstappen I think Vestappen would have been the gap between the 30 second gap between Norris and and Hamilton. I think it's where the Red Bulls would have sat during this race,

but he obviously couldn't get past Norris to even try and do that. So yeah, it was good. Nothing spectacular for Max, but there are a lot of drivers who wouldn't have got from 20th to 6th. It sounds like we're being a bit blasey about it, but it's just because he's Max for Staff

and you kind of expect 20th to 6th from, in fact, we expect more, but yeah, it was a solid drive. So a bit of a disappointment then. Yeah, sure. Come on. Come on, thanks. Say it with some chest. I kind of think, yeah, as you said, it's as expected.

If you said, like, which drivers is he going to be able to overtake relatively easily? He did all of that. And the top of the midfield, he struggles with just a little bit more, but not too much. And then he comes up across, you know, Lando Norris, who, who proves much more difficult to overtake. But given the amount of work he needed to put in to even get to that. that spot. That's to be expected. I almost think it might be a good thing that Vostappen went out in Q1 yesterday and had to go from 20th to 6th because I agree with what you said, Harry. If he didn't do that, he might have had the most boring race of all time going from fifth to fifth. And I think he would

be even more scathing about his comments after this Grand Prix because that might have been for him, one of the most dull races he's ever done. I do think Red Bull probably sit right now in between Ferrari and McLaren and that's just here. Again, it might vary as we go to other tracks. But I think he did a really good job. All of these guys are learning how to race these cars, and most of them had the luxury of racing where they should be, if that makes sense. So the likes of the, whoever you are, if it's a top car like the Mercedes or it's a midfield car like the Hasse, they're roughly where they expect to be and can get used to to that. Vastappen had to learn how to make all of these overtakes on midfield cars before he could

get into the groove of, okay, this is what I'm doing lap after lap when I'm not focused on who's the next guy up the road. So I think overall he's done a pretty good job. Bit worrying for Red Bull overall that they suffered one of the reliability DNFs. It won't be the last one this year. But it does feel for now they've got they've got work to do just not overly disastrous. In terms of these new regulations, Sam, because that is naturally going to be one of the biggest talking points coming out of this weekend. Seen some positivity, some negativity, as you would expect. Where are you on this at the moment? If I'm going to talk about the most basic way of enjoying a Grand Prix,

seeing the lead be exchanged more than once is an enjoyable thing. I'm going to be really basic about that. I liked watching George Russell and Charlerc, go back and. forth trying to take the league of each other. I liked the anxiety and excitement of watching Russell lock up into turn one and keeping it on the racetrack. I loved watching Charlotte Clare and go around the outside. That's what I watched Formula One for.

It's just the method that we got to that point. And it's similar to the initial problems that we had with DRS. It felt engineered. And I guess you have to be engineered. Our tagline for Formula One a few years ago was engineering insanity. It's what we have to go for. There is just a little point that it is a little bit like DRS chicken, but battery powered. and battery chickens have been not what looked upon too kindly in recent years.

Our context there will be. Thank you very much. We've got a new one. Good. So we like free range batteries. What are you going to go for here? Where's the... I'm not, that's it.

The allergies down. I'm not going down any sweet shopping allergies. Thank you. Just don't let Bernie Collins anywhere near. She's the farmer. My point here is it felt a little artificial at points. The start was terrifying. I think that will get better with time as the drivers learning, adapt.

It's good that we had that pre-race start to build the turbine. I do think that was needed, despite it still being terrifying. I don't know, once the drivers got into the rhythm of knowing where to harvest, knew when to deploy, the gaps really didn't change at all. Lewis Hamilton was pretty much the only person making proper inroads for that entire last part of the Grand Prix, and the race suddenly went from being quite eventful and interesting to really quite stagnant. And hey, look, we've seen that before the other races.

this isn't like it's unique entirely because of these regulations. I'm just worried that it might become a trend when everyone learns how the best and efficient way of dealing with the car is and the tyres are maybe again the only option to game time. So, look, I'm not furious, but I can't say that I'm enjoying things right now. But they're worse and positives. We saw the lead exchange multiple times, as I said, and that is a good thing. This is a dangerous question to an underslept Harry Ead.

How did you find that? like Sam said I think seeing seeing the lead exchange back and forth that was at the start was great and we want more of that and what I will say with these cars as well

they can follow very closely even more so than we had previously when we started the ground effect here because we've probably saying the same things then I think this is even more so now so that's really good to see. I like that these cars are nimble, a bit more nimble, sorry,

and look at Learid or sketch yet just to drive to handle the drivers feeling that I think George Russell made a comment after the race as well, didn't he about the straight line, one of the straight line modes was meaning they were sort of understeering whilst in the high speed bit, which is interesting, but it's part of it. So that I will say I like, this will seem contradictory. I hate

that we, there's no overtakes in a corner, but none of them. They were all in a straight line. And that, whilst we had that with DRS, I think we DRS, whilst it had many flaws, did often allow for

an overtake to happen into a corner, more often than not. Whereas here we were just, as Sam said, playing battery chicken. which I yeah it's going to be a part of it I I I like that it is very tactical I think that's going to be interesting but it just worrying me a little bit that just everything was all in a straight line and not a lot of there weren't a lot of maneuvers yeah a late breaking maneuver into a corner the one you reference with Hamilton was probably one of the ones I can remember oh gassey and or conquers why not obviously love the game but yeah That does worry me. And like you said,

it then got pretty stagnant towards the end as I think everyone worked out what they were doing. So it's race one. We'll reserve full judgment until we get a few more races in. And I think we'll see vast improvements from teams, whether it's on the starts, whether it's on the pace, the battery deployment, etc.

And hopefully that will continue to improve. but it's it's I didn't enjoy it that much. But I'll conclude. We got to the point. That was good. Thank you. I'll rattle through the negatives I have quite quickly. Firstly, the clipping, super clipping.

Super clipping. And downshifting in a straight line is atrocious. Like, that's awful. And I don't think that's going to be as much. much of an issue at some other circuits. I think it will be... China's going to be ruthless at the end of that back straight. Sorry, that's so long for those cars.

They're going to be fifth gear at the time. They hit the breaking zone. Yeah, I'll bet China. I'm not particularly optimistic about either. But I do think when we get into some of these European races that have heavier braking zones, I think at that point, that issue will become a little bit better. But at the moment, it's a tough...

I'd say it's a tough watch. It's also a tough listen as well, when you're on board with these cars. Also, hard to, sorry, hard to know we've seen on boards when cars break down. I'm like, but are they breaking down? Because they just sound like normal at this point.

It's groaning all the time. I'll admit there was one moment I thought Beerman was in trouble. Yeah, it wasn't. It was just clip. Yeah. So that's going to get some, it takes some getting used to.

I also don't particularly like how I think the commentary team has specifically been told to ham up these new regulations as much as they can. can. It's quite fake. You can see it relatively quickly, I think, which I understand why they're doing it. I just don't like it. And the other thing is what you said about overtakes in the breaking zone. Overall, though, I'm not, I'm not massively negative about this just because this is race one of

these regulations. And I don't think the FIA will neglect making tweaks where they need to. Like, can we make tweaks to the harvesting to the energy management in order to get more overtakes in breaking zones to make sure that clipping is reduced? Like, I think with adjustments, something can be made of this. I'm also in terms of how this Grand Prix itself unfolded, particularly with the second half of this race and they're not being too much entertainment. I think that isn't to do with these regulations. I think that's just to do with it's a new set of regulations. and that always happens, where we see the gaps between cars and teams. Like, they really expand to the point where you will get,

particularly the first couple of races of the year where there are some DNFs, you will get these 20-second gaps between these teams. That will shrink throughout this set of regulation. So I'm not as worried about that. And I do enjoy that these cars can follow. Like to see, I don't think the TV direction did a fantastic job of it, but just being able to see like Ghazly versus Ockon, for example,

Ockon is constantly half a second away from Ghazley. He's not making an overtake, but he's always there with the prospect of making an overtake. And that in itself is exciting. It's not always like an overtake has to be made for F1 to be enjoyable. It has to be a case of at any point, if the driver in front makes a small error, the driver behind can do something about it.

The chase, like that in itself is, I think, really exciting. So positives and negatives for me, I'm doing my best Harry Eat impression. I apologize. It's a nice thing that you got there, mate. Yeah. Well, let us know what your first impressions were on these new regulations, of course. We're going to take a quick break. And on the other side, we're getting into some of the midfield scraps.

You might be tempted to let Taco Bell's new Lux Value menu go to your head. Because 10 indulgences for $5 or less makes you feel fancy. Like you might think you need cloth now. Well, you don't. Just use the ones that come in the bag. Don't let the Lux go to your head. Welcome back, everyone. Unbelievably, eight teams managed to score points today.

And of course, we've spoken through the first four of those, but Hass, Audi, Racing Bulls, and Alpine, all in the points. I don't know which one you want to tackle first, Sam, but it's good to see that eight of the 11 teams are already competitive enough to be in the top 10. I really enjoyed this midfield scrap. It was really fun. to see the way that, you know, almost each team got there in a different manner.

I thought initially Limbaugh did a great job opening the race. You know, this is his first race start, maybe the most difficult kind of race start, maybe other thing in the rain that this could have been for a rookie. And he's up there scrapping with the best immediately. You know, he's going wheel to world, Hamilton and Norris, two world champions. He's trying to keep Hajjar at bay. Norris is behind him for a bit. And he's handling it well.

The fight with Max Verstappen, I thought was fantastic. I thought he handled it really, really. He didn't just bow to pressure. He didn't just get out the way. There was no, all you're the big sister team, Mr Max, the staff and coming through. Put up a fight. It was a good overtake from Max and get the job done.

So the fact that he only finishes just behind Bearman, really, really good for his first Grand Prix. And that brings me on to Bearman, who I thought was fantastic today, really well delivered across the whole Grand Prix, consistent, efficient in overtaking, betters Ocon quite comfortably across the race. And that was fantastic to see that he's carried on that form

again from the previous season to the new season. But it was Boroletto, surprised me the most, not because of his ability, but because of Audi's ability. And I was worried, I thought out of all the teams, they might be the ones that saw proper reliability issues. And of course, we saw with Hulk that he was unable to get to the race start properly. He was unable to really show what he was made of. But after what happened in qualifying yesterday, with the fact that Bortlett couldn't take part in Q3, I thought there's a real risk that we might not see him make the grid or even go out early. And yet very competitive, right up there

immediately with Haas, with the racing balls, beating Alpine. Williams, we'll talk about them in a minute, but see you later, son. They're absolutely nowhere. Bortoleta delivers another great job. And Gasly just doing gassy things. He's lifting up a car that's probably a pile of poo, and actually, he's managed to pull a point out of his backside. So well done, sir.

You've done well again. Harry, I mean, new regulations, or as Kumatsu probably sees it, a new recipe, is cooking again. He's cooking again. Yeah, Hasse were, I think. class were pretty much where we thought they were going to be this race in the end. I think they didn't quite qualify as well but they got that mega Ferrari

engine to do their, or Ferrari Turbo I should say for the for the starts. But yeah, overall, there's some good pace, Berman, Berman especially as well. So it was a solid, solid first race for them. Alpine, yeah, we're in the mix. That, you know,

winning years, really going to really come and get it. So Flav sticking around for that one point. But yeah, I think Gassie was still pretty impressive because, yeah, I don't think the car was brilliant. And then, yeah, Bortoletto too with Audi, which I don't know, felt more of a surprise than I expected. I didn't necessarily think that they were going to be in the point.

We obviously didn't see where Holgerberg could have got to because it never even made into the race. So, a shame for him. But yeah, Bottew was impressive. I think it could be an interesting, if Audi are in that sort of mix with Alpine and Hasse could be interesting little, sorry, and racing balls could be an interesting little midfield scrap once again this year. Yeah, I think it's a great group of cars. And all four teams can probably be Flavio Brutori to one side, can all be quite happy with where they've got to. Hasse definitely seemed to be, better in race trim than they were in qualifying trim, which is a trait they had last year as well. And Bearman in particular, Bearman took advantage of the second virtual safety car, whereas Ockon had the first one.

And yet I'm pretty sure Behrman performed an overcut on O'Con. Now, we didn't get great coverage of what was happening in the pits, so we've got no idea if O'Con had an issue there or whatever. But Bearman's pace, once he managed to get by Lin Blard was really impressive. Speaking of Lin Blad, sorry, Lynn Glude. Got to bring that one out. He was brilliant. And particularly at the start when he's in the mix with cars that he has no right to be fighting, but even after that, understandably went to one side.

Like he went about his midfield venture very impressively. And without those turbo issues, who knows what he might have been able to do? He still held off Bortoletto despite that, which is pretty impressive. Bortoletto himself, I think he can be pretty happy with where a new, power unit, a new team where they've got to, to be P9 in a first race. Very good indeed. And even Alpine, who their qualifying pace was pretty shoddy, I think, seemed to be slightly better in terms of the race. Not as fast as they were at Bahrain, obviously, which is their home now apparently. But how they're so good there every year, I don't understand. They have to

translate that somewhere else at some point. But at least Gassley's fighting. He's in the mix, which can't be said about all the teams. Speaking of Williams, that overweight Williams, Harry, just... She's so chunky. Oh, are you fat? Big batty Williams. There it is. You're nerve to kick.

Yeah, it wasn't a... It hasn't been a great weekend for Williams at all, to be honest. They've gone back, what seven they versus where they were last year, which is not a great place for them to be, especially given all the hype around 2026 for them. They were sort of in the mix, you know, in that, well, I would say end of the top 10 fight,

but they were never really in the top 10. Interesting cool to pit both of them right as the VSC was ending as well. Didn't think that one works. I mean, they don't really make much of a difference to their day, but I can see what they were doing, but it ended and they were both in the box, I think. So interesting one.

But yeah, it's a bit of head scratching to do over at Grove for Williams. It's not the start that they were all hoping for, that's for sure. I do wonder if the second half of this race for Williams was essentially testing because once it became apparent reliability was maybe slightly better than expected and that points probably weren't on the cards, I think they may be committed to testing a few bits because whilst album was P12, to me Sam, it felt like a very distant P-12.

Like Williams were very much not part of the group ahead of them. Yeah, Grove more like Grave, because that early hopes for any opportunities are dead at Williams and, sorry. It is 7 o'clock in the morning and it is morbid here at LBHQ. I can show you it's worse than their headquarters. Yeah, this is shocking. It's really, really bad, really embarrassing. they built this up to be such a key moment in their journey

and there were two teams that came into this Grand Prix where everyone collectively agreed wouldn't score points Kagalak call one, Ascom Martin with the other. There's a real risk that there might have been a third and if you could pick before pre-season testing who that would have been I would not have said that it was going to be Williams and yet here they are so far away from any development they're in nightmare with the front wing changed you to all the cables

and what went on so science ends up even further back Albuang is trying really hard to get the job done getting absolutely nowhere they're so far aggrift even from the likes of Alpine who have had an engine change a gearbox change, new battery, developed a whole new load they've got Flavia Briatore at the helm

who isn't even contractually obliged to be there and yet they are still behind them comfortably it is not good I'm not going on making any apologies for them the car is ugly their performance was uglier it is not going well man, even the livery catching strays. It deserves every word.

The only, I don't even know if it's a good thing, maybe a positive thing coming out of this weekend is that they did both get the full race running, so they do have mileage here. And I think they now have a clearer idea, or they should have a clearer idea, how much of their problem right now is related to the car just being overweight.

Like, can they make a reasonable assumption of we are this many seconds, behind the midfield scrap, let's call it, and we think X percentage of it is related to the weight of the car. Because then when they, in theory, get that weight down, they'll be able to make gains. But if they come out of this weekend knowing actually we could get this car to the weight limit and we're still going to be 10 seconds behind the midfield scrap,

that's pretty worrying. But they should have an idea on that one way or the other in the coming days. So similar risk isn't it to when McLaren were mowing about being with Honda initially back in the 17th time. And they were like, well, then won't we change our engine? We're going to be good. And they changed their engine. And they weren't good.

So there's a real risk that could be the case. The other two teams that didn't score today, unsurprisingly, Cadillac and Aston Martin. Harry Aston Martin, I think, got more mileage than maybe we were expecting. Stroll technically finished the race, albeit four years behind. 15 lapsed down. But I finished it. I did it. And Alonzo was in the points

for two laps, I think. Hey, that's more than we expected. I've just seen his start, by the way. I don't know why they didn't show it. It's just vintage Alonzo. Does he break? Does he get fasting after need to break for turn? No, it's ridiculous.

Yeah, well, kind of like we kind of expected them. I've seen this a few videos as well. Paris is kind of just falling apart. There's bits everywhere. Shedding. One of my favourite practice moments this weekend, was Bottas going, I've lost my left wing. And then about two laps later, Perra's going,

I've lost my right wing. Got enough for a new car, just round the track. Yeah, I mean, we didn't respect too much, but, you know, Perra's had a good old ding-dong with Liam Lawson for no reason. And obviously, Bottas didn't make it to the end, but Peres does.

So that in itself is probably a win for them. Aston Martin, way more laps than we ever anticipated, as he said, was briefly in the points. Interesting that they told him to retire the car, then obviously sent it back out. And they're like, yeah, yeah, we just made an adjustment. Then why did you say we're retiring? What's that about?

My favorite part of that announcement, actually. I'm just going to read the first paragraph. Today was primarily an opportunity to learn more about the AMR 26. Both cars took it to the start. And when it became clear, we could not compete for points. We chose to pit and check the cars over. What do you mean? That was clear in fact.

February, wasn't it? I think so. I think it was clear in Bahrain at the latest. You're going to be in the points. Living off the hopium of Fernando Alonso, man. He put it in 10th. In lap one, they're like, oh, hello. We might be on it.

What think we know in the data? I actually don't think I can bring myself to watch the Alonzo start, because as I'm sure, it's impressive, that's, oh, that's painful. Just like the glimpse of what could be, and then as soon as, like, the race unfollow. old's Aston Martin and its lack of pace becomes apparent. They got, again, they got more mileage than I thought they were going to be able to when we were, Lance Stroll was talking about a 15 lap maximum based on the vibrations of

the car. He was able to do, I'm not going to say a full race because I think he did maybe about 40 laps of the 58th of the schedule, but he still managed to make the checkered flag. Alonzo retired twice, which is just impressive. And I don't know, even know if he's ever done that. But credit to them for doing that, by the way, because I thought other teams, part of the, sometimes there's logic in this, part of my reason for the bold prediction was, I think there will be a lot classified because some whilst they might be out of the running might just stay out there

to get some mileage rather than, you know, even if they're not competing for points, something we see a lot more commonly in IndyCar, for example. And Aston Martin took that opportunity. I was wondering if the likes of Holkenberg might do that. we don't know what the issue was exactly, but if they had a chance to get out 20 laps into this race, maybe they would choose to do that. So I think Aston Martin were right to keep going with Landstrol

and give Alonzo, I don't know, like seven stints. But yeah, we weren't expecting points here. McLean could have done it with Piastria as all right, so them back out. Yeah, that'd have been all right, wouldn't it? Three wheels on the car, why not? Yeah. Shall we do

The first driver of the day of 2026? The verdict is in You're the driver of the day You're the driver of the day You're good at driving This is the one everyone wants to win The first driver of the day of 2026 Sam who gets the honours

It's right up there with the Obies, isn't it? This one Three options for me three can't do that loudly will be murdered by people in this house for me it's between Russell, Behrman and Lindblard I'm going to take easy option I'll give it to Russell

for the first dub of the season but those two youngsters backing what seventh and eighth really really brilliant really good performance so well done to them Harry yeah I think those were my three as well I might have chucked the clarin as well

but I'll go for I'll go for Limbludg given it's his first race and the fact that Martin Brondwell described him as a bandit. I like that a lot. He did. Yeah. Limblandit, yes.

I was waiting for it. It's so bad. Oh, dear. I'm going to keep the variety up. I'm going to go with Olly Berman, but those were three contenders for me as well. Very impressive Grand Prix. He was considering giving it to Russell,

but that post-race radio did it for me. Can't give it to him after that. Disqualified. I think that's what put him to the top for me. very nice I can't wait for to win in China and go

King of the castle King of a castle Yeah so I am going to go with Olly Bermann very impressive run to seventh place where there is a driver

of the day there must be a worst driver of the day get in the bin bin bin bin bin worst driver of the day best driver of the day you suck at driving

Harry who wins first worst driver of the day. I don't really know. It's hard to know if anyone had a really bad day. I think they're all just surviving out there. I will give it to...

Can I give it to Piastri for not making the start? Australia will hate you, but you can. Sorry, Australia. It's Oscar Piastri. Sam. It's Liam Lawson. Didn't get off the grid. All right. in Paris over it.

So, Joe, just call me up again. I'll give you a million Kit Katz. If you're saying, I've said, oh, yeah, can be brought by Kit Kat. Yeah, just got a scrap again for no reason. The thing I called out about Liam Lorsk at the start this blimming season was his race crafting, how he always gets into trouble.

It's day one, man. It's day one. You're scrapping with a car four seconds slower than you. Yeah, it just wasn't good. And then when you look at where his teammate was able to get to his first Grand Prix, the fact that he started in front. I know the start wasn't great, but he could even get back into that fight.

It's not good. Yeah, I feel like Worst Driver of the Day comes with a heavy asterisk this week more than any other because there might be some issues going on with cars that we just don't know about yet. I was considering giving it to Franco Colopinto until I saw what he had to do at the start. And I was like, you know what, just for that move alone, you're escaped from Worst Driver of the Day. and instead I gave it to Liam Lawson as well because it's not ideal when your rookie teammate, the only rookie on the grid,

is very comfortably fighting within the points. And even with the poor start, he didn't make anywhere near the progress. I thought he was going to. I thought he'd at least get back in the mix with the rest of the midfield. He didn't really. And big brain strat.

Bob, we're going to need you to box for wets. What? It's not even raining out. you talking about. Yeah, and Bob, if you get a chance, later. And congrats Ferrari. Well done.

Harry, Big Brain Strat. It's Ferrari. I was not really too critical because, like I said earlier on, I'm not sure whether it would have made a huge difference, but not at least pitting one of them under the VSC. It reeked of McLaren at Qatar last year when everyone was pitt and they didn't. Some papaya, I can smell.

Yeah, a little bit. You just scratch off the red on the throw. It's actually papyrine. but yeah, sorry, sorry Ferrari. Good start. It would also be very Ferrari to have last year's McLaren and still not be able to win in it. But yeah, conspiracy theory there, right? I'm going to go with Ferrari as well.

More specifically, I will go with Lewis Hamilton's team radio about what was going on because he delivered a few great lines that showed that things haven't been completely patched over yet despite the change in engineer for him. Sam? I'm with you. Well, I will go Ferrari, but just to offer some variety, I really enjoyed Landon Norris having the offer of, hey,

do you think you could go 26 laps on medium tires? No, no, not a chance. Two laps later. Yeah, box on to medium tires. Love that, really good. So 24 laps is fine, but Ferrari definitely take it. Well done, Ferrari. This is the race you wanted to win the race to be the first big brain strat of 2026.

Let's take our final break on this episode. And on the other side, it's the return of moment of the race. Where are my gloves? Come on, heat. Winter is hard, but your groceries don't have to be. This winter, stay warm. Tap the banner to order your groceries online at voila.ca. Enjoy in-store prices without leaving your home.

You'll find the same regular prices online as in-store. Many promotions are available both in store and online, though some may vary. In communities across Canada, hourly Amazon employees earn an average of over $24.50 an hour. Employees also have the opportunity to grow their skills and their paycheck by enrolling in free skills training programs for in-demand fields, like software development and information technology. Learn more at aboutamazon.ca. Welcome back, everyone. Before we get into moment of the race, of course, this being the first race weekend of 2026.

It means it's the return of power rankings tomorrow on Patreon on our top tier. So if you're not already subscribed to Patreon, the link is in the description. And new for 2026, we're going to have a form going out to all of you lovely lot on that top tier. So you can vote as well, rating all the drivers out of 10, and we'll take an average of all of your ratings and compare it to us. So you can see where we are similar and where we differ. But those power rankings episodes all the way throughout 2026 will be available on the top tier of Patreon. Make sure you're subscribed if you're not already. Moment of the race.

We have some Discord submissions coming up very shortly. But before we do that, Harry, what was your moment to the race? It's the colopinto and go penalty, anyway. Yes. What a graphic. That was mine. It's an easy win. That's unreal.

I don't know whether that's on purpose or not, but it's superb. World-time F-1. Yeah, that really got me. I only had a couple more, mainly we've already mentioned, but when we got to lap four, there were 20 seconds from 1st to 20th.

I was like, that's some field spread. That's not ideal. But yeah, anyway, call up into a go penalty, easy one. That was mine as well. So good. Yeah, so good. So good.

I'd like to think that he's in the car and he's actually told just as it said, like, okay, you have a colopinto and go penalty? It's like, well, I'm already colapinto, so now I'm going to go. Cool. So it works. Oh, it's so good.

Poor intern is trying to quickly write up that graphic to put it live and they've copied and paste the name into the wrong box, but I had two other ones, which were the multiple sweet shop analogies. Just, no, that's the work. But that's the worst moment of the race.

Yeah, can we have a worst moment with the race? The other thing I've found quite funny was like the battery graphics that we had and how like at the beginning they were like, we'll probably have them at some point this race. And then they had some. And then they came back with another set that were completely different from the first slot. It's like, you do you not think that maybe that was a good thing to test in testing? Like before the first way, it felt like they were just making it up.

They could have literally used footage from last year's races and just put graphics. over the top to see if it works. Like it is possible. And why not? That would have been a re-useful graphic when we had the LeClaire Russell Battle to understand more what was going on there. They also need something on the side on the table

to show who's got the one second gap to the overtake mode, like a little green on their name or something. Just like a little lightning bowl or something. Yeah, something. Highlight their name in yellow. I don't care what it is. Just do something that shows

and we can't see every car. I thought they were going to do that. I was surprised they didn't. Yeah, I didn't want to call them out before it didn't happen, but now I can. Like I have. What was your moment of the race, Sam? Well, you took all the good ones. So I'm going back to George Borat Russell with I like this car.

I like this engine. Very nice. Of course you have. Pick up the cringe, Russ. So we're in my book. Okay, our first Discord submission for 2026. One honor for Graham's staircase. This is Graham's staircase.

your annoying resident Illinoisan. My moment of the race is FFS. Fing Ferrari strategy or for F's sake. Multiple uses. I think that's efficient

unlike Ferrari strategy. Graham, to get on to the next show, you'll need to start your submission with the classic Graham. Sound like, please. It's in no way classic. I love it. Up next.

We have PNW Bum. P&W Bum here. My moment of the race would have to be those opening laps. Just all the action. Absolutely amazing. Not a letdown in any way. Excited for this season. Yeah, I think the first five laps or so

were just the collective like F1 community, what is going on? Like, because just no one had any idea what to expect going into it. That community scene where he walks in everything's on fire for like five laps only. And it was exciting on our basic level. Just want that all the time. Okay.

Up next, we have Collier. My Mona, the race has got to be hearing the word battery in every other sentence done by the commentators. It really brought the whole experience together, really enhanced the viewing. The same was,

because his name was Collier? Yes. Oh, I thought it's a cholera. No. So unfortunate, can you? Not a name. Yeah, not what I've come across.

I think battery chat might be a... That's going to come up a lot this year. It is. Sorry, Collier. But Jurosel, I'm willing to make amends with you if you'd like to sponsor the battery chat set. I will if they pay to be on the show. It's a fickle man.

Kit Katz and cash. That's my life. I have to say, though, with all the battery chat, we got a lot of variations. I love battery chat. I don't remember battery chicken being mentioned once. You only get that on the late breaking podcast. Yeah, it was poor or four, quite frankly.

Great point. Up next is Eames. Hey, it's Eames. My moment of the race was watching the Ferrari pit crew waiting like kids at Christmas, whilst Lewis and Charles roll past under VSC. You can give the circus a rocket ship, but it's always going to be a circus.

Oh, I like it. Very good. The guy who is on the front left side of the wing. There he is. Flips his eyes. What are we doing? What am I out here? That was up. That was having my lunch. What are you doing to me, man? I'm so angry. You all are coming, coming. Blue stick guys for you, man. Blue stick guys behind the camera and waving it around. Also, thank you, Eames, for the submission. That is a man who is not trying to wake someone in the house. Yes. Yeah. Well done, Eames. Hopefully they stay asleep.

We respect the submission. Bungers is back, the Bungalorian. It's the McLaren CEO. Yeah. And the moment of the race is, what it seems like, Fernando and Lance going to use the bathroom and then coming back out to race. And then, yeah, weird race. Yeah.

Nothing wrong with the car. Just both busking for the loop. Alonzo's like 75 now It's a different world Yeah Up next we have Siberian swirl What a name

Siberian swirl coming to you From Albert Park My moment of the race Was all of those overtakes At the start I obviously couldn't see the telecast But I'm assuming we need to send some Condolence flowers to Porcrofty's family

Because his head must have exploited With all of that But you know It made for a great start to the race So on that sad note Keep breaking lane absolutely love a submission trackside. Yes, absolutely.

We love all of your submissions, but if you are trackside, please do take 20 seconds out of your day to get a submission in because we absolutely love to hear it. Speaking of Crofty's head loss, the unnecessary patriotism of there's five British drivers in the top eight.

We're quite good at this, aren't we? Shut up. Shut up. Nigel Croft. We're going to start going to start to be. No. No, that feels harsh. Goddammit.

Logan is up next. My moment of the race, Race Control said, I know that it's back and forth between the Ferrari and the Mercedes and, you know, Ferrari's being Ferrari, but you see we have Gary Barlow? I can't believe.

He didn't have a... How has he not got a mention on the forecast until... That's so true. And the Croughty made a patience joke as well. You know what I did? As soon as I saw Gary Barlow, I'm not watching it with anyone, but I went aloud and said, pun.

Here it comes. Last up, it's a first timer. We love those that's a bit for the first time, and it's Charlotte. Hey, I'll be a long time. First time. My moment of the race was Russell's winning radio, where he channeled Borat. Don't know if he's trying to beat Zach Brown for worst radio allegations. Maybe.

I hope if he wings a lot of races, he does a new character over the radio every time, brings something fresh to every race. You could have 24 to try and come up with that rate. George, here's some options for you. Elmo, potentially, or Mrs. Piggy, perhaps, for the next one. Give it a go. I vote Mrs. Piggy.

That's quite funny. And we found someone like yourself, Sam, that appreciates the BORAT host. The two of you. The all two of you. I can't wait for the little trio group that we go on together to do weird impressions around the world. You, Charlotte and George Russell.

Yeah, that's it. Cool. But actually, there'll be a whole room of us because of all the characters we do. Please submit again, Charlotte. Michael Kane to talk to Borat. I don't think the world needs that. Mush to Borat.

The world doesn't need that. Good news is, folks, moment of the race will return. in seven days time when we review the Chinese Grand Prix. And with that, Sam, if you wouldn't mind until the midweek preview, unless you're on Patreon, of course, at Power Rankings tomorrow, if you mind getting us out of here. Folks, the podcast can only be so long.

So if you do want to hear us really get into what happened with every driver, make sure you get onto Patreon. There's loads of other content as well, including your birthday shout-out, historic reviews and bonus episodes. So give it a little go, if you fancy it, you can always cancel after a month if it's not for you. Join the Discord. If you want to hear yourself on the show,

which should happen this time next. week and we've got the Chinese race review, then getting that discord and get your submission. Join our fantasy. It's not too late to get involved. The links down below. Remember, it's a zero in that code, not an O. Still many of you asking where you can't get the code to work. Just on F1 Fantasy, we've got pretty much as many teams this year as we had all of last year after one race. It's incredible support. Thank you. Love that support. Thanks for turning up. Now, also all of you need to go follow on social media, late breaking F1, want the support over there as well and we appreciate everyone that does. Thanks for listening. We'll see in the week if you

got on Patreon. In the meantime, I've been Sang to Sage. I've been Ben Hocking. And I've been Harry Ead. And remember, keep breaking late.