The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya GP Qualifying Review

Episode Date: June 13, 2026

A close qualifying session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya brings disruption to Antonelli's dominant streak! Ben and Sam dig into the latest twist in the Mercedes teammate battle, the shock trip into the wall for one Ferrari, Audi’s impressive performance, and and plenty more. 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 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!Get 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 F-1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. A very warm welcome to the late-breaking F-1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, back with a qualifying review, the Barcelona, Catalonia, formerly Spanish Grand Prix, qualifying review. Interesting session, Sam, about four tenths separating seven drivers at the top, and ultimately a Mercedes-on pole, but not the one we've been used to seeing recently. George Russell on poll. Yeah, a lot of things didn't carry through the sessions in ways that we were

expecting them to. You know, there was a lot of people had Maclaur on his favourites to take the top spot here. It's unusual that we've seen Russell so comfortably in Frank of Antingelli. That's a real kind of departure from previous results in the season so far. Lecler making a mistake again, we'll get into that as we go. There are some real ups and downs in this session that should be fun to dig into. sets us up for a very interesting race tomorrow. I'm excited for it, not only because the fort of seeing all 22 cars going down to turn one at the same time. That's just a beautiful fort. Heavenly for you.

Also, just tire wear's back. The return of tireware. We're getting talks of two, maybe even three-stop races tomorrow. And I think this grid sets us up quite nicely. Let's start out front with George Russell getting that pole position and maybe the comparison between himself and Antonelli. Because Antelelli, for the first time this season, not going to be joining Russell on that front row.

retemps back only good enough for P3. We know Antonelli sat out FP1, as did many other drivers owing to the rules of if you're not a rookie, you need to give up your FP1 spot twice this season. But even with that, George Russell kind of felt the more comfortable throughout the practice sessions, which carried on into qualifying here. Yeah, usually missing that FP1 as for the rookie replacement, which every driver has to do it. It's very normal now. It doesn't really impact. And if you are, a driver going to give up your seat, you would argue that Catalonia is probably the one race track

that you think, yeah, I've done this track. I've done thousands of laps around this race track. If you're new, it's the regular test you track for Formula One as well. So the driver's pretty much all very comfortable here. So even the likes of Antingelli, who is obviously still only in his second season in Formula One, will have felt more comfortable coming into this race

rather than another being replaced. But it does look as though, or it did look as though, a lot of the drivers that gave up their FP1 seat to the rookie were on the back foot. And of course, we're still learning these cars. Upgrades have been brought in. Ferrari had brought in a massive upgrade package,

especially to their side bog structure. So it was fascinating to see how that was going to transcend into the Grand Prix and qualifying. And yet it is George Russell, who from the get-go is the more comfortable and sits at the top of the tower. The thing that shocked me between the two of them, three tents between George Russell and Anting Ellie.

Big margin. The gap between Russell and Antingelli is bigger than the gap between Antingelli in third and Piastri in seven. You know, there is a real step up between the top two, Hamilton and Russell, and then the rest of that kind of natural top seven or eight that we're used to seeing. And I'm really surprised that Russell's been able to take such a big step forward. I thought, yeah, poll is possible.

I think I even said it in my predictions from the start of the weekend that I think Russell will grab poll here. I was very much expecting it to be by the margin that Hamilton is behind, rather than the three tents with a car in between them. So a shock in that regard. I've been really impressed with George Russell, which I appreciate outlandish statement, person on poll impresses podcaster. But I have been really impressed by what Russell has done throughout today

because the margins are pretty tight around here. Whilst you might argue Mercedes still have that advantage, which very impressive given that engine is just not capable of anything at all. But I have been really impressed with the consistency more than anything of what Russell's been able to do. And you look at the margin to Antonelli, as you mentioned, three tenths, that's pretty evenly split throughout all three sectors. It's not like Russell is nailing sector one and then holding on through the second two.

He has seemingly got that advantage everywhere. And we've got, you know, Vestappan, I think did the fastest sector one time in Q3. Hamilton did the fastest sector two-time Ferrari looking very good in that sector. But where Russell has really been able to e-cat an advantage so far this weekend, is just he has been first, second or third, really, in all three sectors. And ultimately, I think that goes a long way to explain the gap between him and Antonelli. And given the position that he's in in the championship, quite a long way behind, very impressed with the way he's responded so far.

We'll have to see if that translates to race. His commitment in that last corner is immense. He's absolutely paced with that final corner. And this gap is carried through as well throughout qualifying. In Q1, as well, the gap between Russell and Antingelli is. is three tenths again. Ancinga does close up in Q2, but across the three sessions,

Russell finds over 1.1 seconds in pace. He's doing a 15-7, I think, in the first part of qualifying, and then obviously we finish the session on a 14-6. So Russell doing a really good job at finding the progress, Antingani not able to match that intensity session after session. I think with Antonelli as well, in terms of projected race pace,

if we're looking at sort of FP2, very good session to look at when it comes to race-pace, simulations because, firstly, that's where the teams are really targeting those runs, but also, in theory, you're getting very similar conditions time of day than you'll get in the race as well. Ancinelli's race pace looked pretty close compared to George Russell. And even if Russell goes on to win this race tomorrow, the hard work that Antonelli's put in over the last two months or so picking up these consecutive wins, it has allowed him, plus some bad luck for Russell as well, has allowed him such a buffer that whilst I'm sure he

would absolutely love to get back into the lead and win yet another Grand Prix. If he finishes second behind George Russell, it's a long way from a disaster. He's really in an OK spot to have these sorts of weekends because of what he's done up until this point in the year. Yeah, if they finish one, two with Russell in front, I still think the gap is over 60 points between them, which is mighty impressive. So Anthony Allen can become, there's no problems with having the old Grand Prix where you're a couple of tents behind your team, mate, as long as he doesn't make a habit of it.

Yes. What about Ferrari because contrasting fortunes for them in Q3? Lewis Hamilton getting on the front row of the grid, about half a tenth behind George Russell, and crucially, about two and a half times clear, of that chasing pack behind, which includes five drivers. Charles LeClair, on the other hand, may be a contender for poll, given what Lewis Hamilton's end lap time was, going off on his first run in Q3. Should we just start with the, since it happened first, the LeCler incident? Yeah.

I think, at least in terms of the commentary we hear from Sky Sports, they did a very good job of explaining this exactly what happened. Not a lot of grip, suddenly too much grip, and then all of a sudden you're off into the barriers. I think based on where that car ends up, that in itself is a clue of the force, the Gs that he hit going into the wall. Yeah, I think the way that the car goes through that corner,

it's amazing to see the analysis between the line difference, between one lap to another, the way that you can almost hug further to the right on the inside of that corner, and you do pick up that little extra grip. But if you're just out on the dirty stuff, you're a little bit on the marble, some of the dust that's on the outside of the track, the trajectory that it can change for a Formula One car, we don't often see side-by-side analysis like that so clearly. And I found it fascinating the way that the car suddenly snapped, and the clothes got to juggle the way the car snapped. And a lot of people immediately jump to criticism on the brakes, of course, after the complaints that came out at Monaco, nothing to do with it. Purely and

oversteer moment that's snapped the wrong way straight into the barrier. He will be so frustrated that this has happened. And he's now had, we're discussing this, three sessions in a row where he's had some kind of incident with the wall, of course, qualifying in Monaco, the race in Monaco, now qualifying here in Barcelona. That is three serious knockbacks. And seemingly, it is Hamilton, who looks slower earlier in the weekend, who is able to make more of the session again here. So the clerk just needs to find that little bit of confidence again and become more comfortable, I think, with the car. gutting for him because he would have backed himself to be in the fight for pole position. Maybe not at the time of the crash, but certainly at the point where Lewis Hamilton gets on the

front row and within a tenth of that poll time, Charles LeClaire will probably be in the garage at that point going, I could maybe have got this one, which it would have been a long time coming because that Ferrari has struggled in qualifying really over the course of last season, going into this season as well. and as you sort of detailed there what went wrong, just going slightly offline into the sort of dirty stuff, into the marbles can have such a catastrophic impact on your lap. And I'm not saying this in terms of, I love the incident.

I love the struggle. It's great. I really enjoyed this session and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's race because whilst I don't think all of the issues are fixed in terms of these regulations, these guys are hustling to get. get these cars round the lap. Even, I know we're talking here about LeCleur's crash,

but you look particularly through the final sector. All of these drivers are two or three attempts to get through a corner. I think it's brilliant to see. And it can go wrong in the case of Charles LeClau. And you want that little bit of jeopardy, I think, in qualifying. So it sucks for LeClau. He's going to have a lot more work to do if he starts P10. But I enjoy seeing the struggle.

Yeah, I agree. I love to see them absolutely driving the car. They're not sitting on a car that's on rails. They've got to manhandle the car through the corners here and make sure they're wrestlingly it through the corners. I want to give Lewis Hamilton some props here. I'll give him a couple of compliments because the guy steps out of FP1 and we saw Anthony Ellie and Hamilton very similarly here

that you drop off the overall pace when you lose that much time so that your closest rivals. Hamilton goes into practice two. He's a second back from his teammate. Practice three. He's half a second back from his teammate. and yet he steps into Q1, his fastest. And he's three-tenths faster than Charles LeCler.

Q2 rolls around. And whilst the Clure has picked up the pace, Hamilton only a tenth down. So whilst I do agree with you, Ben, that LeCler probably could mount a challenge to attempt pole position, I don't think it's a sure thing. Oh, no, no, I'm not saying. Hamilton is now out-qualify Charlotte-Cleur four-two across the season. Now the better qualify for 2026 and the new regulations.

I think the Mercedes has done what the Mercedes should do and it's triumphed here. But I think Lewis Hamilton has done a fantastic job to be so clear of Anting Ellie and the chasing field. Oh, yeah. And when I say LeCleur's disappointment isn't that he would have been nailed on for poll. It's just given his record versus Hamilton, like if he saw Hamilton in the mix, he would have felt he could have got in the mix as well. With Hamilton's weekend so far, and this might sound drastic. And maybe I'm maybe I should have actually taken a moment to think about this opinion,

but I'm going to run with it. go. Obviously, he was second place in Monaco last time out. He was second place in Canada. I think this is better. I think this is better than both of those results. And I know it's difficult to compare qualifying to a race. But because of the reasons that you detail where he is missing FP1, he is really struggling for pace throughout FP2 and even into the early parts of FP3. And to be able to recover that as much as he did all the way throughout qualifying, it's a really impressive turnaround and not something that we've actually seen a lot of from Lewis Hamilton in his Ferrari era up until this point. And this isn't to put down the couple of podiums that he's had to

this point in the year. Like, Monaco was very impressive. Canada was very impressive too. He is right in the mix here. And this is where the positions don't tell the full story because whilst he is second and you say, okay, he's in a sandwich between the two Mercedes. He's far closer to one Mercedes than the other, and it's the right one for him. Like, he is half a tenth away from George Russell. He is very comfortably clear of the group that includes Antonelli, that includes both Red Bulls and includes both McLarence. This is very impressive, I think, from Lewis Hamilton.

And again, it's a question of whether the race pace will hold or not. But in terms of one lap pace, very good, I thought. Yeah, the rundown to turn one will be fascinating. We'll see if the Mercedes is able to mitigate the fast-starting Ferrari. But it looks better for them. But hey, if Ableton gets a great start, he could be leading. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he's leading into, and I think it wouldn't surprise me a great deal if he was on the second row either,

based on how good those Ferraris are at starting. But as we've seen this, so far this year, plenty of times where the Ferrari has been able to get into the lead early in a race and not be able to hold it. So will those upgrades work or not remains to be seen? You mentioned at the very top of this episode, that maybe there was some out there thinking, McLaren might be in the mix for pole position.

Maybe they were Mercedes best challengers going into this session, in which case may be a slight disappointment that just fourth and seventh in this session. Yeah, and I think the gap between the two drivers in terms of positions that's far worse than it is in time, right? There's what, nine hundredths of a second between the two McLaren drivers and yet they've got two red balls sat between them. This has happened a couple of times,

and the same thing could have been said for Monaco as well. we're expecting McLaren to be far closer challenges. We're expecting them to be right up there with the Stappan, fighting Mercedes for pole position, the chassising theory, really a positive part of the McLaren, and they're relying on the Mercedes to be competent and actually deliver on all levels.

And so often for them, it's a big reliability struggle, and they've been let down by the power unit. And yet here they seeming me have neither. They're not able to maximise the straight line speed of the McLaren, which is unusual because you've seen the Mercedes can. Yeah, exactly. and in the middle sector,

they're seemingly not able to maximize the chassis element of the car, which will allow them to stand above the likes of the Red Ball and the Ferrari. And in practice, it would appear they look very comfortable. I think they were fast-using, at least one of the three practice sessions throughout the early part of the weekend. And now they've been beaten by, well, well, Piachastri's been beaten by Bastapen and Hager. Norris is barely a couple of hundreds in front of Vastappan.

I am surprised to see them fully on this second run and not actually, one of them at least, where Hamilton is today? Firstly, with Lando Norris, I think I'm very unlucky in that FP3 session. And he's got fourth here, but I think he'll be a bit annoyed that he couldn't get third. Large part of that reason is that he didn't get that first run in where Piaastri and Vestappen both did because of the red flag caused by Charlotte Clare's crash. And whilst the Mercedes were early enough in their laps that they were at least able to try again

with the same compound, Lando Norris had done. 90% of his lap when that red flag came out, meaning the tires that are wearing very... They're wearing so quickly here that there was no point in even trying that. So he had one run to get this right, and he put together a pretty good effort. I think he'd have wanted to get third, though,

based on some of the pace shown by McLaren earlier in the weekend. And as you mentioned, Piastri, it looks far worse than it actually was because he is only four attempts away from pole. And yet that's only good enough for P7 here. A bit disappointing, I think. based on, again, what pace they showed in FP2,

they were right there, both of them, with George Russell in that regard. And it just seems that Mercedes and maybe Ferrari and Red Bull as well have just been able to find a little bit more going from Friday to Saturday versus what McLaren have been able to do. The only theory that I kind of have on this, McLaren's race pace looked a lot worse than their qualifying pace yesterday. And I do wonder whether they've changed anything on the car

to maybe help with that that has maybe taken away. from the one-lap speed. I don't know. That wouldn't surprise me. But yeah, based on the race runs yesterday, I don't know whether they'll be able to improve on this. Yeah, I wonder if it's temperature-dependent as well. I wonder if tomorrow might be a little cooler.

It might suit the car. On that, it's going to be very interesting to see if we do get a two-stop race or a three-stop race. We're almost going to be, we're almost going to see something that we haven't seen so far this year, which of the teams have maybe got an advantage in that regard. because to this point, it has been so focused on battery management, maybe in terms of the ICE,

and that will still be, of course, be very important tomorrow. But tireware, this could open up something for one of these teams. Yeah, in theory, if you're one of those drivers that are able to maintain your tyres properly and push them a few laps longer, which means that maybe you can transition from a three-stop down to a two-stop whilst ensuring that the pace is solid, you could get a real advantage here.

And we've seen, well, it feels like a long time ago now, but Pirelli tires used to be able to essentially hit a cliff. They wouldn't explode, for example, or they wouldn't punch it. They would occasionally, but most of the time, yes. But on what that means is typically, the pace that you got from those tires would suddenly go from me, you know, you're a tenth slower, you're a tenth slower. And suddenly you're a second slower. You're a second and a half slower.

And you've either got to commit to getting in that pit lane as soon as possible, or try and ride it out, and that is tough. But the likes of you can see Hamilton, the staffing here, people who have got a lot of experience on these longer runs, who have done tyreware for a long time in their career, in theory, should have a serious advantage over maybe a Hajar, for example, who's still really adapting to being in Formula One after only a season and a half. Yeah, and keep an eye as well on the tire compounds and which seem to be working and which aren't,

because it's not going to be the same in terms of what everyone's got left available for this race. Vestappen has already used up a set of hard compounds in practice, meaning he's only going to have one available to him in the race, whereas most other teams will have two hard compounds to use up. So interesting, see if that plays into this at all. Let's take a quick break. On the other side, we're going to be chatting a bit more about Red Bull and their qualifying pace, as well as then going into Q2 and Q1.

Welcome back, everyone. Very close between the two Red Bulls in the end. Max Vastappan out qualifying his teammate, but only by about half a tenth of a second. Three and a half tenths away is Vastappen, four tenths away, is Hadjar from the poll time. In the mix. Yeah, in the mix. If you're making a cake, they're the flour.

They're in the mix. You know how it is. Max has done what Max does. I think he looks strong throughout parts of this qualifying and the car clearly isn't 100% around this racetrack. I'm just really impressed with Hadjar. You know, to stay as close as you can to Max Verstappan. Max Verstappan we're talking about here.

You know, one of the greatest drivers in Formula All of all time. to be only half a tenth away from him, I think it shows that Hager is probably the best number two driver that Red Bull have had this decade. I think he feels the most confident in that car. He's producing results

when the car is working that are respectable and good for Red Bull. And if something does happen to, for Stappen tomorrow, then Hager is immediately there to pick up the pieces, which is what Red Bull has been asking for a long time. I think this will be really confidence boosting for Hager. Frustrating for Red Bull,

that they're not closer to the top with both drivers. But at least you can see that both drivers are maximising what you can get out of a car here. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't quite go as far to say, because I think maybe earlier Sergio Perez, I would still take over what Hajar is at the moment. But certainly since the last year or two of Perez, I think this is the most encouraging situation that Red Bull have had in regards to the second seat.

He was fairly close to Vastappen throughout the first couple of parts of qualifying. It was maybe, it was about a 10th in Q1. It was a couple of attempts in Q2 and then obviously less than a tenth in Q3 so it was fairly close throughout. Pretty impressive stuff. I think maybe Vestappen will be a bit annoyed

that he couldn't make more of his final run and maybe get up to P3. I don't think he nailed the final sector and to be fair, the Red Bull is struggling in the final sector compared to its rivals. It looks lazy through the long right hanger at the end of the lap. Yes, it does.

And they seem to be pretty good in the first sector and good enough in the middle sector that it doesn't matter too much. And I guess it would make sense if their ICE is that powerful, that it can be as good as it is in the first sector. The problem with that failure, essentially, to maximize the third sector is if you want to be able to overtake, you've got to run as close as you can to the cars in front of you in those last two or three calls. If they're struggling already to get the car turning without traffic, being on the back of a car in front is can be really difficult. Yeah. So I think maybe a bit of annoyance from Vastappen's side that he couldn't get a little bit more than P5. But I think based on where they've been this weekend, they'll be pretty content with P5, P6. Race simulations looked a little bit better, I think, for Red Bull here. Again, Vestappen utilizing the hard tire, but also doing a race run on the soft tire as well. Some pretty good data that they've got there. And I think they look pretty good in that regard. So yeah, locking out the third row of the grid, not a bad result. The only other thing I wanted to mention about Red Bull during this qualifying session, I think they got a little bit fortunate with the decision not to get Hadjar out there for a second run in Q2.

Came close, isn't it? Yeah, he ended up P9. I think both Limbludad, well, Limbluda, Bortoletto and Holcomberg all would have had enough with great laps to have gone past Hajar, which would have knocked him out. So whilst it is a gamble that paid off, I don't actually think it was the right decision. No, I agree. Limbaard finished. She's nine hundredths behind Hadjar, who was 11th place, was Limblad. Hadja was ninth place at that point. It only would have taken the likes of Bortoletto to do what his teammate was able to do, and he's out of the session. It's pretty marginal.

So I was surprised that I know that they were really desperate to save tyres as much they possibly could throughout this session. I felt that was maybe a risk too far, but they got away with it. The rest of the top 10, so Lawson and Holkenberg were the lucky raffle winners of who outside of the top teams could make it through to Q3. Holkenberg finally getting out of that dreaded P11 spot. But Lawson, another Q3 appearance for him. You impressed by both of them? Yeah, just consistently good from Lawson at the moment.

He's found a real big mojo when it comes to this season. The car seems to suit his style. And the racing ball is better here than I thought it was going to be going into the weekend. We discussed this in our preview about whether Alpine would almost take the resurgence back off of racing balls and reclaim the top midfield spot. And I think we both disagreed. we both agree that Alping actually would be the prominent force and they would slump back down. But not to be the case, of course, Liberals are beating both Alpins in Q2 and Lawson,

the fastest essentially to get through to Q3 outside of the top runners. It does well here to finish about a 10th in front of Nico Holkenberg, both of them doing a really good job. What I am quite demoralized by where it comes to Formula 1 right now is Lawson, who I thought has done really well, is 1.4 away from Piastri. that's not the poll time that's the guy in front of him he's going to two seconds back

from the pole lap of Russell it's really difficult to see them being competitive anytime soon yeah and that's going to be driven a lot by the fact that both Lawson and Holkenberg were on used tires at the end of Q3 again the push to get through to Q3 today so much of the focus was on

saving tires and trying to get two runs in Q3 everyone outside of Lawson and Holkenberg were able to do that but I think it was clear whoever made it through out of those midfield teams, it was just going to be a case of almost making it was the objective. And then you were just going to have to try and put something together on old tires. And ultimately, Lawson wins that battle. I mean, just to illustrate the point, like, Lawson in Q2 did a 1-155, and then in Q3 he did a 1-16-5. He was a second slower in Q3,

where nearly all of the top teams were several tenths of a second faster because they still had new tires to use up. So I'm not disappointed by either, though, those lap times at all. They were very hampered by the tire situation they were in. Really good effort from Lawson to put it all together in Q2. I felt he was a little bit on the back foot versus Limbludd for much of today. Yeah, I agree. And I do think actually he's really excelled in that Q2 performance. He was 0.3 off of the provisional poll time of Q2 set by Russell. But he's two tense faster than Hager in that session. I just thought that was a really great performance from him. Yeah, and given he didn't have a lot of time in FP2, he had an issue to start FP2.

So whilst he did do a bit of running there, he didn't get the full session like everyone else did. And I felt Limbler might have had the upper hand because of that until Q2 comes around and Lawson really pulls it out of the bag. Ironic, given last season versus Hadjar, it was basically the same story, but Lawson was playing the other role, where it felt like they were very close Lawson and Hadjar until you got to Q2, and that's where Hadjar had the advantage. So it feels like he's turning it around a bit. Think of a late bloomer is Lawson, isn't he? Like it feels like he's really starting to feel a bit more comfortable in the sport.

So let's see what he could do for the rest of the season. Yes. Not sure what to expect from the racing balls in terms of race pace. Lindblah did a really long run in FP2, and he clearly went maybe intentionally very quickly for the first five laps or so, and the tyres just died. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was a bit of a tire stress test from racing balls to see how fast they can reason what their target lap time should be for the race. But yeah, I don't know what to expect from them.

Audi, P9, P12, with Holkenberg getting through to Q3. I think this is the kind of result that's been on the precipice for a while and they finally delivered something when there are no points available. The honest sneaky suspicion that Audi were going to be quite good here actually so good that I put them into my fantasy team and the team itself Cheap asset right now They're a bargain if I'm totally honest with you

No drivers, just team I've got both drivers but not the good Oh okay feeling good I've still got I've kept the RB drivers in So I'm playing both sides But Hulk is great to see him take that step forward and get into Q3 properly He's been so consistent in that and level of place

We've made jokes about it how good he's been making it his own. I think what's really the most impressive part here is much like racing balls, they have been able to diminish the attempt of Alpine to get themselves into Q3 and be that lead midfield team here. It looks like they've taken a really strong step forward, especially at a track like Catalonia, which is it's hot, it's difficult, their power unit is under some severe stress here, their side pockets, of course, very unique. It's nice to see it paying off. And we even saw Peter Salber in the garage. Yeah, exactly. What a great day. had in terms of the numbers that I think they are the fifth fastest team here this weekend.

And that's in terms of race pace. I think the racing ball's very good qualifying car. In terms of race pace, I think double points is in the offing. And I'm sure they will find a way in which not to do that tomorrow. They'll be 18th and 20th at time one. So if you want to just timestamp this clip and you can come back to that tomorrow when they somehow pull out that sort of result. Very impressed is from Holkenberg. The P11 stuff has become a bit of a joke, but the fact that he has got as close as he has on numerous occasions

just shows that this was always going to happen at some point that he was going to sort of break through into Q3. I think Bortoletto might be a little bit annoyed that he couldn't join Holkenberg in Q3. It was only two temps between them in Q2. But Bortoletto arguably had a bit of an advantage here in that Holkenberg didn't nail his first run in Q1, which meant Bortoletto only needed one

set of tires to get through to Q2. Holkenberg needed both, which meant the reverse was essentially going to happen in Q2, where Bortoletto could have potentially two attempts on new tires to get through to Q3, and he just doesn't pull out the lap. It's still a pretty good effort. Like, 12th is still something to far. That's not going to be too disappointed. And realistically, if LeCleur doesn't make the mistake, Holgerberg is arguably starting 10th as well.

So, you know, something's have gone his way. I do think Bortoletto will actually be more annoyed that Lindblad is beating him, rather than a whole car getting into to queue through. There's now a car before they even get to the Ferrari separating them. So he might be looking more at the racing balls than he is at his teammate. Yeah, but they look pretty good, particularly in the final sector, actually. I already looked like they've got that car hooked up. Alpine 13 for 14, if you're absolutely right in saying that we had this team as the clear favorite in the midfield going into this race.

Doesn't look like it. No, and I think they've maximised it. You see how close the two drivers are. are only half a tenth between them there. In the session that they were going through in that Q2 session, they are half a second away from getting through into Q3. So it was not close for them either. Not sure what's going on at Alpine.

Yeah, just maybe not their track. We've seen it before with Alping. Well, I find it, and this might not actually mean anything, but I think it's at least interesting to point out is that Williams have kind of got the same thing this weekend, where they seem to have taken a bit of a step back as well. of course Alpine and Williams sharing the same power unit. As are McLaren who struggled as well in the qualifying.

And we know that Mercedes, whilst they have got the pole position here, they're not as clear as they've been at some other tracks as well. So I don't know whether the Mercedes power unit as a whole, maybe just doesn't have the same advantage here as it has other tracks. You don't remember, this is the first competitive power track that we've seen with the compression ratio change. I do wonder if it is just enough of an impact that the extra 10th or two has been removed.

Yeah, I think you're right in saying 13-14 is probably all they could have got from this session. And credits Colopinto for bouncing back from a tough Monaco GP to out-qualified Pierre Gasly. Tyware looked dreadful, by the way, on both of them. So we'll see. Yeah, yeah. The Alping doesn't feel like one of those cars that can run long comfortably. So it'd be fascinating to see what strategy they employ for the race tomorrow. Not a great weekend so far for Hasse or Williams, both having a car knocked out in Q1.

I think Behrman will be really disappointed to not being 13th place here. He's so close to the Alps in front of him. The car just feels like it's pretty panks around this Cattanoia track. Yeah, I... O'Conn might be cooked, man. I think O'Cong is cooked, mate. I think it's long gone. I mean, he was, what, two tenths away from safety in Q1?

Yeah, he was half a second away from Beerman, though. Yeah, that's not even, yeah. It's not good. You want to defend him, but it's not looking good at the moment. It's just like, if you imagine the hob, it's on like a two or a three. It's a bit warm. You're not boiling the pasta, but you are sort of simmering away. If you could just not turn it up anymore, I'd appreciate that.

Behrman is doing the job at the moment. And when the car is scoring points, you feel like you're almost a little bit protected because it doesn't really mean anything come Sunday. But the data is important and it is showing that Bearman is again comfortably in front of this team, mate. Similar story, I guess, with signs and Albin in that signs, seems to have got more out of the car so far this weekend. Half a second. Between the knockout time.

I mean, James Vowles comes over the radio in the broadcast that we're watching. He explains that the car is at fault and they got very lucky with getting the tires in the right window for Sites. I don't know, man. I appreciate that Vowers is trying to protect his drivers and make, you know, stop the attack. But surely if Sites can do it, Albon can do it. There's been a lot of commentary from James Vowse throughout the weekend, actually. He gave quite a lengthy interview with, at least on SkySports with Natalie Pinkham and Jack Villeneuve, Harry's favourite,

after this was after FB3. And he is just owning up and saying that this is a tough track for us. And that Sines was doing a slightly better job. I'm paraphrasing, I don't think he said it exactly like this. Signs is doing a slightly better job in terms of the balance of the car than what Albin has been able to do. And that was even before qualifying. And I think that just carried then through into the first competitive session.

even so I was 16th and 18th, they're going to start almost next to each other anyway, but it doesn't seem like a good one for Williams. No, they seem to really be bouncing around the order as well. When it suits them, they do well, you know, a couple of double points finishes, and when it doesn't see them, they seem to be right back towards the Cadillac.

Speaking of Cadillac, brought some upgrades this weekend, and I'm going to, at this point, call them a tentative success. I know in terms of position, sure, 19th and 20th is about where they usually are anyway. They're not that far off. They're two tenths away from the Williams of album,

but they are a second clear of the leading Askin Martin in Lance Stroll. Sorry, say that again? Yeah, the leading Aston Martin of Lance Stroll are the first time since Silverstone 2024, that that's been the case. Silverstone 2024. I saw a shout out to the race here. I saw a good little meme of the crabby patties from Spongrobbed,

towered up, 42 of them for Van de Alonso, and then Spongebob sat there with his one. and that was Stroll at Barcelona at 2026. Yes. Have you seen Stroll's reaction, by the way, to... No. I think he was speaking to...

I think it was Nate Saunders at ESPN, but I think he asked him about, you know, how does it feel to have broken this streak? And his words were, I don't care. I mean, kind of fair enough. The follow-up question was, would it matter more

if you were actually fighting for Q-2s Q3s, would it matter more at that point? And he responded with two things. I can't say one of them. I don't care. My man does not care about this job, does he? It does not care about what he's doing. It's kind of fair that he's being asked like, how does it feel to be slightly worse than, slightly better than terrible? It's like, I don't know. What do you want me to say? Yeah, I get why he doesn't care. You're motivated. I think this might be the first time that alongside has been on the last place spot in pure pace for a very, very long, if ever, but very very long time.

I've got no way. I mean, you maybe have to search through the Menardi qualifying archives, but outside of that, the Astamine are just doomed until... It's woeful. They apparently got a massive upgrade package coming in the summer break. So we'll be very intriguing to see if they can make up, I don't know, at this point, two in a bit, seconds. That upgrade has got to work because they have been, again, just holding off on any upgrades

until this one big upgrade comes through, which has caused everyone, it's not like they were thriving beforehand, but it's caused everyone else to go even further out ahead of them. They need that to work substantially. The worst part is, even if they do get over two seconds in time, they're still not even fighting for Q3 in qualifying. They're barely in Q2 at that point. There was, I think this was maybe during practice, there was a graphic of Fernando Alonzo, and it was his championship position, which is like 18th or something like that, and then next to it just one point.

and I was just like, imagine just almost like, screenshot that graphic and then just send it to someone in January of this year and be like, Spanish GP graphic for you? And you'd be like, wow, what happened, man? What on earth of Aston Martin done? Especially, actually, if you said that to us, this time last year. Yeah. We were, I mean, you go look at our predictions for the season.

We all had at least Austin Martin higher than this. This is bad. Is it sad that he's got one point rather than none? Kind of. It's kind of like a pity point, isn't it? I don't know if it looks worse. Anyway, yeah, Aston Martin wouldn't bank on them doing much tomorrow over three seconds off the pace.

Driver of the session from you, please. I'm going George Russell. I'm going George Russell. I think three tenths between him and Antingale after the previous events of the last few Grand Prix is a really impressive bounce back. I think Hamilton deserves a great shout as well. Yeah, I think those two are in contention.

I also think Berman's in contention. I think he has absolutely maximised that. If he beat the Alpins, I'll be with you. Yeah, I actually think the Alpins are bit quicker than Hasse based on what I've seen. And I thought his Q1 lap time in particular was very good. I'm going to go with Lewis Hamilton for the turnaround that he was able to produce from sort of FP2 and FP3. I think he's done very well here. Agreed.

But we'll see what happens in the race tomorrow. tire wear pit stops, things that I thought were Alien and F1 might be back tomorrow. We'll be back to Sam with a review around this time tomorrow. We will. Make sure you watch that Grand Prix and then you come straight here, listen to the review. Or you can watch it if you do want to see how gorgeous smiling faces on your screens. We'll bring them tomorrow, we promise. I promise you. They'll be glowing and happy and definitely handsome. But make sure you subscribe, you follow Late Breaking F1 everywhere.

Join us for the rest of the weekend. little bit more, sprinkle more of F1, when you can get involved. Patron's available. Links in the description. You can get involved in power rankings, which come out Monday night where we go through every single driver and we give them a grading between zero up to 10. And there have both been zeros and tens at some point across the entirety of late breakings power ranking. So nothing off the cards. We'll see you then. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late.