The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2026 Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: September 25, 2026

The Baku streets delivered an intense qualifying session, with everything at stake at every turn. Ben and Sam cover all the action, from the incredible pole margin amidst multiple contenders, to the mistake that leaves Antonelli with another fightback tomorrow. Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get:Ad-free listeningFull-length bonus episodesPower Rankings after every raceHistorical 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 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Come 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! LEAGUE CODE: C6Y6R4ZUY02Get in touch any time at [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thank you for listening to the Late Breaking F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Welcome to the Late Breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking. Covering today qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. We're a day early, but that didn't mean there wasn't a shortage of entertainment, Sam. At least not for George Russell. I thought you were going to say that we weren't a dollar short thing for a minute. Who would say,

that? I don't know who would come out with such a phrase. Comment below if you have any idea. What a qualifying. That was brilliant. It was exciting. There were mistakes. There was jeopardy. A mixture of how to use your tyres, fuel levels. That was everything I want in qualifying. Never really sure what to predict until George Russell turns up and absolutely smokes the whole field with an incredible Mercedes engine. Yeah. I quite like the way particularly here and other street circuits, you do get that track evolution for out qualifying. And again, like, sort of Monaco, you do get some drivers, some teams just opting to fuel up the car and just keep going and you get this constant stream of lap times just coming in, unlike some other circuits where it's very

defined, one run pit, one run, pit. And you do get that variety. And that's what I enjoy. The other dangerous thing about qualifying at Baku sometimes as well is the yellow flags can ruin the end of a session and it didn't hear. So I think good all round. We saw some moments, of course. We saw some yellow flies. We even had delays, of course, at the start of the session due to what happened in the F2 feature race. But I'm glad that we got the proper shoot out right at the end of that crop process. They called it the qualifying session. It felt like we got to see everyone at full force. A real shame that obviously Anting Annie, who will get onto, wasn't able to also put down his market to see where he would have stood out next to Russell in a Q3 session with that Mercedes

at full chat. But hey, you know, you've got not hit the wall early on in a qualifying session to make it through, I suppose. And that is making it into the book whenever we release that. Well, let's start out front.

Let's get into the action. And I say out front, a long, long, long way out front because George Russell not only has secured pole position for Mercedes. He secured it by over eight tenths of a second,

the biggest poll margin of the season, and probably goes back quite a bit further than that. We are recording directly after it's happened, so I haven't got that stat for you, but I dare say you have to go back a while for the last time someone was on poll by that margin. It looked a bit closer throughout Q1 and Q2, and then Q3 happens,

and he sets down a benchmark that very much separates him from himself and the rest of the field, and then he puts another half a second on that. I think he's just qualified on pole for the 2027 back at Grand Prix. He's that far in the future in comparison to everyone else. What a lap. And the last time I think we saw a lap, again, this could be entirely wrong. It felt like Hamilton in front of Bottas, Austria in the rain during the COVID era.

Oh, yeah, that was a similar margin. And that's the last. So I think we got that close to a full one second gap between, you know, the first and second positions. And he was doing it all on his own as well. That's the most crazy thing about this Bességes engine. It's not like he was tucked up behind Antingelli, trying to, you know, play board teammate or he was tucked up behind a rival maybe behind a Carlos Sites or a Colopinto who I thought teams might look to use because obviously there will be some teams that won't want to play

favorites they won't want to go oh Hamilton you always stay in front of Lecler for example which actually did happen but to get that negative effect of you not getting the slipstream we're going to go out conveniently behind Carlos Sites or Alpine who we know we're faster than generally but it means that both our drivers pick up a toe Russell was kind of out there doing his own thing And that first step that went in Q3, the half a second margin, I audibly went, oh, wow, that is a gap. I just went, that's Paul. Yeah, it would have been, but like, yeah, that's Paul. But the fact that he turns around and not only does it again, there's another three and a half tenths on that lap time.

I think he's found something like seven tenths between Q2 and Q3. It is incredible. Now, I want that nine tenths. Wow, that is amazing. And I want to give credit to the car, because the car is spectacular. we have to do that. And the engine, the power unit, fair play to you. They need get that a dual upgrade.

I'm glad that they're making the most of it. But George Russell, he's got to put the lap in. He's going to get it done. And he was driving that thing to the very edge of those track limits, getting as close to the wall as you want to be that's comfortable. And whilst he could have gone a little easier and not maybe risk the car, it was great to see Russell at full confidence, but in a lap that really deserved that time because that was pretty special.

We don't see margins like that every day. And that was a pretty special qualifying session. The only frustrating thing for me is that that final lap, we saw it in picture and picture in the smaller part of the screen. It looked pretty good from that angle, but I think giving that full coverage would have been pretty epic because, yeah, from what we were seeing in terms of the lines he was taking, the gambles that he was taking with the wolves,

looked pretty special and the lap time very much demonstrates that. This is about as complete a qualifying session as you can possibly get. And you can extend that to the rest of the weekend so far, because even before Antonelli's crash and it looked like Russell has been the fastest driver out there all weekend. And we get through its qualifying. And he absolutely takes advantage of that. He is fastest in Q1, fastest in Q1, fastest in Q2, fastest in Q3, sets two lap times that are easily good enough to get pole position.

He's the fastest guy in the first sector, the middle sector, and the final sector. I'm trying to think of how more complete you could possibly be in a qualifying session, and I'm coming up empty. I've got nothing, because that was brilliant. And it didn't necessarily look like that was going to be the case going into qualifying. It looked fairly close between himself and maybe Vestappen and possibly Ferrari and McLaren getting in the mix as well. And it looked like whilst Mercedes maybe had a marginal advantage in the middle sector,

it didn't look like they necessarily had that in the final sector or the first sector. It looked like Ferrari were pretty good in the first sector, Alpine, very good in the final sector. But then when it was all on the table and he needed to deliver a lap, he was just so much better than everyone else across the board. He delivered every lap. Yeah. He delivered every lap. I mean, is there a risk of it becoming maybe the perfect weekend for George Russell? He led all practice sessions and he's now led all qualifying sessions.

there's a chance if he gets away well at the start of the Grand Prix, he leaves every single lap across the entire weekend. It would be the perfect Grand Slam. He's got the car to do it. And if he's in having that confidence, it will be good for the end of the season to see Russell at full confidence going up against Antingale, who I'm sure will be looking to charge back through the field

at the easiest of occasions. Yeah, I mean, forget the championship and just focus on this individual weekend. Like Russell should absolutely go on to win this thing, just based on the pace that he's demonstrated the pace that the car obviously has as well, he really should convert this. Whether he does or not, it's Baku. It's not going to be easy,

but the pace is there, no doubt. Early stack now, Kirstie is quite rightly caveated that from what she could see, but for Stappen, 2020, Canada, it looks like it was about a 1.2 margin in qualifying. That was a wet quality, I think, with Alonzo.

That tends to be where we do see the really big gap suddenly appear. It's a bit of driver magic. So while we won't put a market down, that is 100% factual that it was the last time over a second. That seems like a pretty fair shout out there, I think. And again, wet session, that tends to happen. You already referenced the one with Hamilton and Bottas at Austria.

You probably have to go back even further for the last dry session that's ended up like this, like very impressive from George Russell. Nearest Challenger, if we can call it that, was Charles LeCler. We spoke about him a lot in the preview, having had a lot of success here in qualifying before, four pole positions in a row. Second place, it'll be on the front row of the grid, not a massively long run down to turn one. He said afterwards that maybe a bit,

he didn't think pace-wise there'd be that far away, but position-wise, this is what they were probably aiming for. I mean, it's pole of everyone not in a Mercedes-Benz, essentially, and I think this is generally the best you could have asked for. This is now what 15 Grand Prix in a row where a Mercedes-powered car has taken pole positions. So Ferrari sitting on P2 really is the best that they can expect right now. They clearly don't have the power to out drag a Mercedes power car. This is a power track.

This is the longest straight. Essentially, I know it's not fully straight, but it is a straight all the way down that you see in the entire calendar at the moment. It is pretty epic. So for Ferrari to be ahead of the likes of the McLaren's, to be ahead of the likes of Kimmy Antigone. It would be interestingly where he could have finished out. To be that much further clear of the Red Bulls as well,

that look really punchy around here during the earlier parts of the session, I think the Clare will be happy. I think they set themselves up well. Hamilton got the advantage with the slipstream in Monsa, and they've inverted that here in Baku. And I think they timed it pretty well going down that start-finish straight. It looked like the Claire was about three or four seconds behind Lewis Hamilton when they crossed the line,

which to maximise corner performance and still get a really good toe, which was so essential here in qualifying at Baku. They really nailed that, I think. And Hamilton has some shoddy sectors. there was a little part of me that wondered if he was instructed whether to give up a little time so LeCler was there or if it was simply a case of Hamilton knew he wasn't performing as expected and so therefore kind of yielded to let Lecler have the full slipstream.

We've seen Hamilton play the ball game before with Ferrari and the teammate game. I wonder if that's lent into it. But regardless, I think Ferrari orchestrating a really good strategy to make sure that at least one of their cars was a heck on a lot of their key rivals. Yeah, this is one of those rare occasions this year that I think, Leclair has just been outright the faster of the two. To, no toe. I just think he was, he's been clear of Hamilton this weekend.

It makes sense, given the type of track this is, this isn't. This hasn't ever really been a happy hunting ground for Lewis Hamilton. And while Charles Leclair, being Charles LeClaire at Ferrari, hasn't converted any of those pole positions into wins, he's still done enough to be on pole four times. So clearly a strength of his. And I was sort of, as I usually do after free practice three, sort of combing through the data and seeing what I could find there. And whilst Lewis Hamilton set a pretty good lap at the end of FP3 to be third,

and I think within a tenth of the fastest time, Hamilton was the one there that got an epic toe down to the start finish line. And Lecler didn't. And as soon as he took that toe away, Lecler was the faster of the two drivers. So I think even if neither of them had a toe or both of them did, I think LeCleur would have had a slight advantage. But given it was this way around where Lecler was the one. who was given the favourable advantage, it's no surprise to me that he's been the clear

winner of that that intra-team battle, but pretty impressive of him to beat some fast cars around him, including the McLaren's and the Red Bulls. Speaking of the McLaren's, Oscar Piastri, third place, Lando Norris down in fifth, fairly close after the first runs. It was, I think, Piastri that got the toe. Lando Norris really struggling in that final part of the lap, but then also very much much struggling in the first part of the lap on that last run, not able to get a final lap in. Lots of ups and downs for Landau through qualifying to go.

We heard the complaints in Q2, maybe a Q1, sorry, that he felt something was wrong with the car, that he thought he saw sparks, that he was locking up regularly. It sounds like he was really struggling to get the car in the right place. And they were pretty much the only top team that was regularly employing the classic style of qualifying that we see. Go out, warm up the tyres, set your lap, cool down the tyres, coming to the pit, reset, let go again. Everyone else typically was staying out and kind of doing multiple laps on the same sagat tires. I don't know if that helped them or hurt them. You can look from the results.

They look like they haven't maximised qualifying because they were higher at several areas. But Piastri looks like he's pulled it together. You know, he's had a poor showing of form. His confidence is a little shot this season. And I ran a track, which we know last year, caused him absolute grief at kind of almost what felt like the tipping point of his championship approach. This year, it was good to see him step back up. basically be the closest challenge to the front row. Norris making that mistake on his final run, running off the slip road.

Glad I think it didn't really cause too many issues with people. I think Verstappen was pretty much the only person that got majorly affected by that, which is a shame. But yeah, it just shows that maybe Lando is struggling with either the confidence or just where to place the brakes. I saw Kareem Chandok also making some great analysis that the way that the wind is affecting the drivers, a lot of them were not expecting either to have more bite on the brakes

than they thought because of the wind or actually the grip was being removed in areas they weren't expecting with the wind picking up. And it is fascinating with these street circuits. One of the things I do like, the buildings they were talking about this in commentary was that they act like wind breakers, but then you get tunnels of wind essentially. And that can really disrupt very specific parts of racetracks. And that's why like turn seven, for example, became quite a feature for lockups and people running off the racetrack.

So fascinating, Mando Norris kind of bites the dust a little bit in terms of not maximizing this qualifying session. But with his form recently, I'm sure he'll be totally. totally fine to be one row directly behind this team, mate. A very quick, Sky-specific shout out here, just because you've mentioned it there. I think Karin Chandok has been brilliant on comms all weekend. He's been very, very good in the way.

Yeah, there's a lot of data that he brings up that other co-commentators don't bother to, and I think those details go a long way to his broadcast style. I think it works very well. Yeah, in terms of McLaren, yeah, Piaastri, if you were to put together a combination of Piastri and Norris, you would have had the second fastest driver out there today, no doubt about it,

because whereas Norris was very good in the middle sector, and it was only really George Russell that was faster than Norris in the middle part of the lap, he couldn't do it in the final part. And I've got no idea why, whether it's car-related, whether it's down to the way he was deploying battery. But Lando Norris, he did not have the pace of his teammate or indeed any of the other front runners in that final part of the lap.

you know, we did see the various lockups and mistakes earlier on in the session, but even without those, he was giving up a few temps to Piastri. There was a very tight group between, until Russell kind of did his last lap, there was a very tight group between Russell, then the Ferraris, then maybe Piastri, then the Red Bulls in terms of that final sector. And then just a big chunk of time back to Norris. So again, if you were to put together a combined, perfect lap between the two of them, you'd probably have something pretty competitive.

But yeah, that error from Norris obviously costs him the opportunity to qualify alongside his teammate, but two positions, not the end of the world. Good see Piastri back in a bit of form. And what about Red Bull? So, Isaac Adjah on his return to racing, first time seen at a track since Budapest, one of only three drivers to qualify within a second of the poll time. He'll start fourth. Max Verstappen potentially disrupted on.

his final run all the way down in 8th. And given after Free Practice 3, Sam, it looked like Vastappen might well present the best challenge to Mercedes, it's got to be a disappointing result. Yeah. Firstly, let's talk Hager. Returns back from that risk injury. It hasn't driven a race car since the summer break before that right. So what? Hungary was the last time he actually spent time in a race car now, which is a while ago. He has come back and been excellent. He has been right there with Max Vastappen through every single lap, every single session. is really built well into the weekend. I was really impressed with what he was able to deliver.

And it shows you what a driver on absolute top form would have been able to deliver had they not have been disrupted by yellow flags on that final part of qualifying. Because we know Max Verstappen is capable of more than this. I don't put this down to his driving ability at all. Both times he goes out for a quick run. There's a problem. And it's not his fault that there's a problem.

And he has to back off, lose time. And you saw it by the fact that his final run was actually a personal best. on that personal best final run, he's still disrupted by a yellow flag, which shows you that he has not had a clean lap the entire time in Q3. Now, whilst I think Hager was very, very impressive, he was matching Mastappen, pretty much like for like for the whole way through qualifying. So I do wonder if the competitors around Red Bull were able to give a little more in Q3.

And actually, Am Max Wastepen put that lap in. He may have just been a place in front of Hatcher. He may have been right next to him. I don't know if he's able to get himself on the absolute front row in front of the lights of the Claire, or if he'd be sitting in that gap quite nicely around Hajar and Piaastri. It'll be very, very close. It's always hard to tell where you have got the exact numbers in front of you because, of course, he doesn't get the lapping.

But a shame we don't see Max further up, but also fair play, Isaac. I think that was a really, really solid qualifying. Yeah, massively impressed by what Hajad did, not only because of the absence from racing, but he's had quite a disrupted weekend up until this point. He missed time earlier on in the weekend due to a car issue, which if you're going to pick a weekend for a driver to have that sort of an issue. You don't want it on your return to racing where you're still not sure if you're 100% physically fit and ready to go. And yet, when we got to qualifying, he really pulled it out of the back. It looked for the world, like after Free Practice 3,

that he was going to be pretty comfortably off the pace of Verstappen. Like, he was in the midfield group in, maybe the lead of the midfield group, but he was a distant way away from Max Verstappen at that point. And then we see him really cleverly work his way into this qualifying session, getting faster all the time. And he's rewarded with that fourth place finish. And what I will say about the gap between himself and Max Verstappen, because you're right, Vestappen definitely disrupted and could have easily been higher up the grid. If you put together the ideal lap for Hadjar, you put together the ideal lap for Vastappen, Hadjar's half a tenth quicker. There really wasn't much in it at all. And if you want to argue the point, and I would certainly listen to this, if you want to argue the point that

if Vastappen gets one clean run, three great sectors, he qualifies ahead of Hadjar, maybe he gets second place overall, I still don't think there's more than a 10th or two in it. Like, Hajar was legitimately there on pace versus his teammate, which is not only wonderful for him, it's wonderful for me and my third place podium prediction for Hadjar. It's a great way to celebrate a new contract though, right? Yes. He's come back this weekend and he's been re-signed by Red Bull. That's their line up now knocked in. Shows a lot of faith, a lot of confidence in Hageau,

because they did this before any competitive running. So they didn't need to... The Red Bull of Old would have made him sit for another three or four Grand Prix to make sure he was back to his competitive self for some ridiculous PR rubbish that they rolled out. They just threw it out there. He paid it straight away. Immediately.

And that's what you like to see. Faith from the driver, give some confidence. He puts the lapping. And maybe just by the most impossible of all, he might get being a bold prediction point. Yeah, he's got to finish fourth intentionally. Let's get a breakdown on the last lap. It's almost inevitable at this point.

Let's take a quick break. On the other side, we've got the rest of Q3 to talk through, as well as Q2 and Q1. Welcome back, everyone. Shall we chat Alpine? Because that was another team that found two drivers into Q3. Pierre Gassley will start seventh. Colopinto will start 10th.

Where do you want to go with this one? I guess similar to Monza, that circuit that kind of suits them. Yeah, they are maximising these power tracks now. The Mercedes power unit is doing them very well, which is, I guess, great for them to see and justifying their decision to move away as much as I despise the fact that they've moved away from making their own engines.

They're getting results out of it, and it was always one of their weaknesses was power. Gassi is just doing gasty things, man. It's just there again. He's the next driver there again. He out qualifies for Stappen because of the yellow flags. I imagine that if a clean run was put in there he's clear of Gasly. But P7 is his once again. He's ahead of the likes of Carlos Sites,

who will get on soon in a minute, but again, a threatening Williams with these upgrades, and he's clear of Colopinto. And Colopinto himself had a slightly scruffy, but very rewarding qualifying session. It wasn't perfect. He went off the track. He, the act of the moments, but who cares when you get yourself into Q3 and you're there repping for Alpine with your teammates? So very respectable, but Gassi doing what Gassi does and leading the midfield quite comfortably. Yeah, as for his, become known for for the last few years, right? And this battle between Alpine and racing balls in the Constructors' Championship might well come down to the wire. And it's important for Alpine to take

advantage of these tracks that very clearly suit their car and maybe don't necessarily suit the racing ball car as much. And Gazley's absolutely done that with our P7. You're right. He's probably eight if Fassappen puts a good lap in. But that's the job of the midfield is to put together the best that possible and see where that it takes you. And on this occasion, it took him all the way to seventh place. Excellent job from him. Colopinto, yeah, a little bit off his team, mate, particularly in the final part of qualifying. He actually went quicker in Q2 than he did in Q3. And I think he will probably be disappointed not to have qualified Carlos signs for P9. Other than that, though, I think he's done about as much as he could do. I love Alpin strategy on this, because they've

just done the same thing as Monza, where, again, up until Russell put together that great final lap, Alpine were the fastest car in the final sector. They're just like, we are going to be fast in a straight line and we'll work everything else out. That'll be all right. Nightmare to pass if you're one of those cars around. But stuff, unless it gets a really good start, he's going to have to work that car to get past Gasly. Yeah. So we'll see how that pans out, but certainly they've put themselves in a good position to claim a points advantage over their rivals. Carlos Sines, of course, for Williams also making it through to Q3. Heavily anticipated weekend, even though James Vowler's done a job of tempering expectations about this upgrade,

but it has arrived this weekend and it's got one of their drivers into Q3. Progress. Yeah, it looks like it's worked in some areas, right? Carlos Sites as talent has gone walkabouts recently. We haven't seen the top level we expected of Carlos over the last couple of Grand Prix. You know, we had a couple of things against. We saw recently at the Spanish Grand Prix, especially with the longso, didn't go well,

hit his teammate, of course, in Zanfurt. It's not perfect. Yet, we come here, and it's like he's back on the groove. And Carlos Sykes has once again shown why he is considering a top talent and why Williams wanted to pick him up because that was a fantastic qualifying session from Carlos Seitz. I really don't think there's any more in it for Williams at all.

He's done well to get clear of Alex Alibon, who looked initially to be right there with Carlos Seitz. It looked like either one of them could have started to get through, but right at the death in Q2, Carlos find something, Albon can't, you hear his frustration at the end of the radio message from Albaugh, you know, no, so, no, so, that is awful, disastrous, whatever he called it. No, he got another terrible in there. Yes, he loves that, because I get terrible.

Yeah, nonetheless, great, great work from Carlos Sikes. If he could just hold on to those points, then Albon could just pick up a couple of places. It's got the bold prediction right for me. So, good stuff. Yeah, I'm sure you're delighted about this one. After FB3, I had this down as a 12th and 13th for Williams, in which case Alex Albin has pretty much matched where I thought they would be,

and Carlos Seins has exceeded it, and I thought his Q2 lap time was very impressive. Q3 was fine as well. He ended up improving a little bit on the Q2 time, but really it was Q2 where he made the difference. And getting ahead of Colopinto is a bonus. It is progress. It's difficult to tell at this point because we have only had one qualifying session with this upgrade. Does it mean anything more for Williams? I don't know. This is a track that a Mercedes powered car should go well at. So. Yeah, yeah. I am nervous for their middle sector in Sampang next time out. Yeah. It's not like they were particularly quick the rest of the lap. They were pretty good in the final part of the lap similar to Alpine. But the first of middle sectors were.

and they probably wouldn't have got through based on those two. So we'll see when it comes to the business. They are fortunate that it's difficult to overtake in the middle sector of Baku. When we do go to Sapang, they cannot play the same strategy. You can't just go fasting a straight line at the end of the start of that lap and hope they go on passes you in the middle sector because there is overtaking in the middle sector of Sapang. So they'll need to come up with another solution. Indeed.

Frustrating as well for Alex Album because this seems to happen a lot where early on, it looks very close. Albin had the advantage over Carlos signs in Q1, and then we get to Q2 and it's signs that's just able to extract, not much more, just that little bit more to make it through. I think that's what all the really good drivers are able to do

is right place, right time. They can deliver that extra little bit of pace. Now that's going to cite on Alex Albin, but we have seen that he's a little bit down in comparison to Carlos at the moment. As the car improves, and we hope it does, next year I do think will be quite important

for Alex Album in terms of where he's going to sit in terms of his reputation around the team and the wider scope of Formula One. It'll be the first time that in theory the Williams has gotten properly decent and they will go toe to toe with each other. So fascinating to see what happens at that Williams partnership.

Racing Bulls ended up 12th and 15th Lawson ahead of Limbludd. Limblud in particular, a pretty tough weekend for him hit the wall in practice. what's incredibly ironic here. I actually thought one of their cars might get knocked out in Q1 because again in that final sector, Red Bull with the best power unit,

the best ICE, slower than everyone else apart from like the very back marker teams, make that make sense, please. But yeah, just not their track, like not quite there. It's going to happen, isn't it? They've been so consistent this season. And that radio message it came out, of Limbludd after he hit the wall in the castle section.

It was absolutely hilarious, by the way. Oh, I just skimmed it by a millimeter. Mate, you made it well of hitting it with a slaghammer. You absolutely plowed into the sign of that wall. Skim? Yeah, sure. If skimming is throwing a brick against a wall, sure. That's how that works. It was absolute red milk. No skim.

Full fat. Yeah, I've gone the wrong way. Apologies. It doesn't matter. Anyway, that's a very British reference. Yeah, it is, yeah. Anyway, not a good weekend for Limblud. Beated by his team at handingly, I thought that actually with Lawson coming back into racing balls, it might have taken him more than one race to adjust to get back into the car.

You know, you do kind of get used to a certain way of working. And it's being a summer break and three Grand Prix since he last race that car. Limblercourt, of course, doing a really good job in the racing balls over the last few Grand Prix. And yet, not really. I think Lawson doing a really good job. It's only a couple of tents away from getting into Q3, which like you mentioned, I don't think the team actually deserved. I don't think the car is there for a Q3.

a free appearance. So the fact that he's in P-12, really solid. And I think maybe P-11 was in the offering. I think he probably should have beaten him, he was at the same.

Olly Beerman, is that in front of him? Yeah, I think he probably should have got in front of a bearman, maybe on a perfect lap. Can't see him doing too much more. I think Nimbled should have been closer,

but quite a clumsy, quite a messy performance. I think he could probably count himself a little bit lucky that he's not further off. Permission to be annoyed at Hasse. Yeah, go for it. I mean,

that's kind of a constant state of affairs, but here we are. a better weekend, I think. They look a little bit quicker than they have done at some other recent races. And it's enough to get Bayerman 11 very nearly into the final part qualifying until Colopinto crosses the line very late on.

Esteban Ockon, he had the pace to get top 10 and he just couldn't hook a lap together. I mean, you keep telling yourself that. No, he did, genuinely. He had ever so slightly. He looks better at the moment. His pace was stronger than signs and Colopinto in Q2, but he just couldn't put the sectors together,

which is just so Esteban O'Connor and Hasse in 2026, free agent, Esteban O'Conn, I should say. Well, that's what we're hearing. We'll get onto that properly. Which one of them, has either one of them got the new Ferrari power unit? Because I know that obviously Perez is bringing it for Kagalak. Bearman had it at, yeah, Bearman had it last rate. So I don't know if they've both got it now.

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering if Ockon has actually got it. because if he has, then, okay, that's a bit disappointing. If he hasn't, he's not really good job but running it on an older power unit. Yeah, I just, he was in the top 10, or maybe just on the fringes of the top 10 in Q1. I think he had the pace to get through and he messed up for himself as far as on the way.

Oh, Esteban. Oh, Esteban. How far is Kimmy Antonelli going to get tomorrow? I think if he doesn't achieve a top five at minimum, that is a letdown of a performance. That car is clearly an absolute rocket ship. He should be passing cars their front and centre down that start, finger straight, conserve the battery, deploy it, use the slipstream, get the move down at the breaking zone, move on.

He's got enough laps, it's enough time. And chances are we will see a safety car. So play about strategy cleverly, I think that he will quite comfortably work his way up into the top five. A podium is probably pretty realistic. Terrible mistake from him today. Oh, yeah. Really terrible. It felt like a rookie error.

Yeah. And they've been few and far between France and Ellie this year. So this isn't an ongoing issue, but it just was such an inconsequential lap. Like, we knew he needed to improve on where he was, because whilst he would have made it through in like 15th place, he certainly needed a bit more time to be comfortable. But it's Q1 in a Mercedes in a rocket ship. It should be 85% and it should be enough. And he's driven.

He don't just hit the wall. He's hit the wall, right? He's gone straight into the cycle. The ambition to try and get that home from turn one, clearly a broken. and push rod in the front left. That's ambitious. It's a one minute 40 at full speed. Yeah.

I just thought timing-wise, pretty poor error from him. But I agree with you. I think a top five definitely in the offing. If that Mercedes pace is as good in race trim as it was in quality trim, he should be there fairly quickly. Yeah, agreed. Three teams, six drivers knocked out in Q1. Dealer's choices to which you'd like to focus on first.

Let's go, Audi. Go on, let's kick off at the start. Falling foul of the Lance stroll issues, where the man just can't seem to slow the car down properly and has to run off the track all the time. But equally, this isn't going to be their track. Their engine is poor, and we know how much of a straight line circuit this can be,

how much time is lost or found in that final sector, and they really were struggling to get the speed in that final sector, it was costing them. So when you're caught out a little bit as well with a driver ringing off the track in front of you, plus you're running an engine that is far slower than many of your competitors. I'm not surprised that they've both been knocked out out of anywhere here. Although, again, very specific, Sky Commentary seems oddly surprised

that they hadn't made it out of Q1. And, you know, oh, so disappointing from Nika Holkenberg. I don't think it was that terrible. Both of them being there tells you that something has gone wrong. Yeah. In my sim pre-qualifying, I had one of them being knocked out, if not both of them. but certainly one of them. Which I think it's perfectly reasonable at a track like this

when power is so important and they are so down on it. Yeah. I kind of figured they might be slightly closer to the racing balls, but I mean, there wasn't that much in it. Yeah, just that final sector, they were losing so much. And whilst they have brought a heavily upgraded car, like to the point where I don't think any of us saw it coming that they were going to bring something like 14 upgrades all at once,

whether that's going to work at tracks that suit them more. We'll see. but I think the engine was just costing them too much here. I wouldn't expect them to make a great deal of progress from 17th and 18th. But they've got a better chance than some of the others behind them. You know what? I genuinely thought Perez had a chance at Q2 here. Is you really?

Yeah. I mean, he was, again, free practice three. Like he was on the pace of Hass. He was on the pace of Williams. He was ahead of the racing bulls. And even if you think maybe they've got a little bit more to give. I thought he'd, even if he didn't make it, I thought he'd be flirting with it. He disappointed me, but equally, I never thought he was making out of Q1.

And I thought they gave it a bit too much song and dance on commentary about what this Kagalak can achieve, even with the updated Ferrari power unit, which we know isn't the strongest anyway. So it's not much of an upgrade for these cars. The car is clearly not good enough to make it against those competitors. And that's okay, but I didn't expect it to be closer. And I was surprised just how far off the end of Q1 they were. Yeah, I thought it was a typo in FP3 when I was going through sector one data specifically.

And it's like the McLaren's, the Red Bulls, the Ferraris and the Mercedes were the top eight. And Perez was ninth. Yeah, he was the fastest midfield driver in that first sector. And he didn't lose that much for the rest of the lap. But he just couldn't replicate that at all in qualifying, which was a surprise. It's still better than Aston Martin. though. I know Alonzo has finished ahead of Perez, but I don't know if that car's making it to the end. Sitting on board down the start, finish rate, with that Honda engine is horrific.

I mean, it's painful. You've seen and heard as I'm sure I have. I don't need to bring up the stats with F2 comparisons, right? Whatever, whatever. Yes, embarrassing. It is a GP2 engine at this point. But listening to it, you can hear how much it's struggling to even get to its top. top speed and it's so far away from the outright top kilometers an hour on that straight. It's, it's woeful. It's, as Alex Alvin might say, terrible.

It really is that bad. It'd be a valid terrible. They're just giving up like 20 kilometers an hour plus to the ride. It's like 15 seconds long. Yeah. You're writing like another two or three seconds onto your time at that point. I mean, no wonder Alonzo's thinking about what to do because this isn't close. Like this is bad, this is real bad.

Yeah, this is. And we thought it was going to get better, right? They brought that engine upgrade and we thought we might see a big of a step forward, not monumental, not anything that was going to change in the actual game. But they might be 19th by a couple of tents, not last by what felt like seconds behind their next closest competitor. I mean, we at least know from Zambort that, and potentially we're the lucky charms at this point, we know from Zambort that the car underneath, like, has something about it.

It might not be good, but it's not outright terrible, which means it's that engine that's just slowing it down. It's embarrassing. And it is embarrassing. And equally, F1 hasn't helped itself with this poorer duo process. Because if they've gotten that right in the first place, there should be more help going to an engine this far behind to make sure that it is competitive.

Now, I know that that's what they're saying, that then Silliam is trying to change to make sure that Honda are back on track. But like it now just feels like you're doing it because Fernando Alonso's asked, rather than just understanding your rule base and putting the correct plans in place should this have happened in the first place. And that has a very different effect on the situation. But this is embarrassing for a company as big as Honda, as respecting as Honda, to once again be under fire by the Formula One community for making an engine that is this far off the pace.

Oh, yeah. It's not a medium-term fix. That's a long-term fix. Like, this is going to take years. This is three or four years of hard work. And if you're Fernando Alonso, what is the point? What is the point? Driver at the session, who have you got?

It's hard not to give it to George Russell. He was quite good, wouldn't he? It is hard not to say George Russell. I'm going to give it to George Russell, and then maybe we just shout out some other ones that were quite good as well. Sure. I'll shout out, Charlotte Claire, and Isaac Hadjar.

Great. And you know what? I'll shout out Piastri as well. Second, third and fourth, all deserve respect. I thought Gasly also deserves a god as well. Really good job. I cannot go anywhere else to George Russell. afraid. When you put it on pole by over eight

temps, you probably deserve driver at the session. Yeah, probably doesn't happen a lot. But will he get driver of the day for a race win tomorrow? That's for us to find out. And for you to listen to on our race review in about 24 hours time. On Saturday, remember?

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