The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2026 British GP Sprint Qualifying Review

Episode Date: July 3, 2026

The British GP weekend is well underway, with the home crowd given reason to smile. Ben and Sam run through the day's action at Silverstone, where a tight top three leaves it all to play for tomorrow... 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. A sprint qualifying review for you today. British Grand Prix, of course, this weekend. Very good start to the weekend if you're a fan of a certain British driver, Sam. Yeah, we spoke about in our preview that the home heroes have not been going too well. And look, we don't want to put a little jinks on something, but as weekends...

We're still early, but as weekends go, if you're a kickstart one the right way, Sir Louis Hamilton is looking pretty tasty at the moment. Great FP1. The questions were there. Can he convert it into qualifying? And so far, it looks like he can. Yeah, a very close one in the end between himself and the Mercedes of Kimmy Antonelli and very close, actually, throughout the rest of the top 10. plenty to discuss, of course, on this sprint quality review. Let's start out front with Lewis Hamilton. Correct me if I'm wrong. A clean sweep of the weekend so far. He was fastest in the one and only practice session.

Fastest in SQ1, fastest in SQ2. And then as soon as the soft tires went on for SQ3, of course, the first two parts of qualifying on the mediums, same result. Lewis Hamilton fastest of anyone with a 128-376, 0.0.011 ahead of Kimmy Antonelli. Lewis Hamilton has nine wins here. He tends to go quite well at Silverstone.

But as we know, this Ferrari has been a bit up and down so far this year. Feels like they've got something going here, though. Yeah, 22 years separate the front row of the grid off the track. But only 11, 100ths of a second separate them on the track. And they are in a bit of a class of their own, with three tents being the next closest gap back to Max Verstappen and then Charlotte, fourth place. It looks like the juggling of the battery is where it is most efficient on getting

the car to be quick. And you're mostly going to spread it perfectly like some chocolate spread over your toast in the morning. It needs to be equally laid, equally covered. And you can't just deploy it all down a straight. You can't have it all down the hangar straight or the start thing is straight. You've got a really judge trying to deploy that. And that's something we've seen Lewis Hamilton do really well over the last few Grand Prix. So now in hindsight, it's no surprise that Lewis Hamilton has been able to find the extra couple of tents over the likes of the Stapin, his teammate. I am so impressed so that Kimi Antigelli,

who we've seen being a little rash, even though he has got that incredible raw pace, is the guy so, so very close to him and so far away from Russell. Hamilton just looks calm. He looks in control, even in the second lap of SQ2, where he's going through Vale and Club at the end of the lap, and it did look a little bit wayward. It looked a little bit oversteery.

He still manages to claim the fastest lap time, of the overall session. It's just full Hamilton control. He is in such a rich vanger form, really impressive to watch. He's really delivered three very competent sessions today and a brilliant FP1 as well. He's a confidence driver. We keep saying it and he wins at Barcelona. That increases his confidence. He wins here plenty of times before at Silverstone. That increases his confidence. And we heard it in the interview that he did with Naomi Schiff afterwards that he loves this place and why wouldn't he? The track record very much speaks for itself. Very impressive. And I think from Lewis Hamilton's side, one thing that I've been quite consistent on over the

years is that whilst a lot of people focus understandably on his outright pace, he has been an unbelievably quick driver for two decades in this sport. There isn't enough attention or focus paid to how great he is in terms of managing a lap. This was one of those, where we saw a lot of track evolution. We saw a lot of, it was almost a thinking driver's lap. We had not only the battery to be aware of throughout the entirety of the lap, and like you say, you needed to be careful about how you deployed that because you didn't want to run out for that final sector,

who was consistently very quick in the final sector, Lewis Hamilton, and exactly the same for the tyres as well. It's not necessarily one of the highest egg tracks out there, and we do bring the hardest compound tires that we have available in the range. But we saw with relatively high temperatures, not as high as Austria, obviously, but relatively high temperatures, that even on the medium tires and definitely on the soft tires, there was a struggle to keep them alive for those last few corners. How Hamilton managed sector three, I think, is how he has won this qualifying battle today.

Because in the first couple of sectors, Antonelli, he was very impressive in his own right, don't get me wrong. that's where he had the advantage. Hamilton left enough in the back pocket to get it done in the final sector. I was thoroughly impressed. I'm really curious to see how this will translate into the race pace tomorrow.

If the management will become even more important or if the outright speed that the Mercedes seems to have in that first and second sector is going to end up overpowering Hamilton and that means the gap will end up being too large for him to be a contend in that final sector. It's going to be really interesting,

the difference. It's going to be fascinating and you're right. Like it's a bit of a, it's going to be evolving because as we saw, we only had one practice session. Something that very much caught my eye was the speed difference that Ferrari had versus Mercedes coming out of Chapel and then onto the hangar straight. Ferrari had a massive advantage there. And whilst we know that Ferrari have upgraded their engine, so in theory could be a bit closer to Mercedes in that regard, the difference between the two didn't make sense. The reason why is because Ferrari were doing everything they can to ensure that that straight, they are. almost 100% at full throttle, Mercedes possibly looking to use their battery elsewhere.

And that's going to keep going. Like throughout the sprint, throughout, you know, the first, for our actual qualifying tomorrow as well, teams are going to keep learning and learning. And whoever manages to grasp these things quicker than the others, they are going to be rewarded, I think. I think so. There's also something you need to bear in mind, of course, is when you're leading the Grand Prix and you haven't got a driver one second in front of you, you don't get

overtake mode. So you don't get that slight increased recharge. you don't get that slight increased deployment, which means actually as a leader, if you can't break the one second window behind you, you're a disadvantage. The car in second place has actually got a bigger time of it. And if Anthony can maximize that

and stay within that one second window for a couple of laps, it does feel like the tide might turn. But I'm fascinated you to see if that Ferrari race pace does translate from the one lap pace. They clearly have round here. Yeah, and of course, with that one practice session, we have a little bit of sort of race sim data, but not a lot of it.

the likes of Ferrari did go on sort of five or six lap runs, but that's not a lot. That will make up about one-tenth of the British GP on Sunday. So Ferrari looked pretty good, by the way, in those limited runs, but whether that works out across a full sprint or a full race, that remains to be seen. I do want to heap praise as well on Kimmy Antonelli for that front row start, because main reason being, if Hamilton's not in that session, and it applies for both of them, to be fair, if the other one wasn't in the session. Antonelli has got pole positioned by over three temps

and we're here saying, what a lap. Like, he has obliterated the competition. It was very much a class of two, it felt. It was. They were in a league of their own in comparison to everyone else. And it was interesting to see the form of certain drivers pick up and drop throughout the three sessions. Landon Norris, of course, picks up damage early on.

They have to repair the car. And suddenly, he thinks she's in front of piastri. Russell can't ever seem to get the car underneath him and actually get the lap timing. Hadjar faster than Bostappan in the early part of the session, and then Bostappan comes good. And the Clare is almost just kind of there and thereabouts the whole way through, but it is Hamilton and Antingelli.

As I mentioned, 22 years between them, and yet they are the two drivers that are sat, one and two, three-tenths clear of four-time world champion, Max Verstappan and multi-time race winner, Charlotte Clare, who seemingly can't get within a breath of the pair. And I'm sure Antonelli at the moment isn't loving the resurgence of Ferrari again after a difficult Austrian race and probably doesn't love

how close Max Verstappen was to a potential race win in Austria as well. But again, we keep talking about the buffer that he's been able to build up thanks to those, was it five consecutive victories earlier in the season. The reason why you put so much effort into doing that is that as soon as you get into a period

like this where it's still very good from Antonelli, it's still front row, where other teams maybe start to catch up, you have a little bit to play with. and Antonelli will be very happy about that right now. Great lap I fought from him as well, and it did feel like he had the legs on George Russell throughout the entire session.

You want to say anything else on sort of LeClaire and Russell? So they'll start fourth and fifth, both of them about three to three and a half times back of Lewis Hamilton. The gap is almost identical between those teammates and the teammates at the front as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's pretty much identical. George Russell seemed to be struggling.

There was one point that he needed to pull a lap out in Q2 to absolutely cement his place in the top 10. Yeah, again, I put this on on Discord, which you can join the links in the description. It's disappointing that the state of Formula One right now is at a point where actually when a top driver is struggling, you know that realistically the risk is still very, very low. He was always really going to get through to that SQ3,

which took away the sting of having a poor lap. But it is also evidence that he was not on top of things. He was not able to bring the same base as his very young teammate. And the fact that he's ending up in P5, in fact, of both the McLarence and, of course, in front of Hajar, I actually think he's a bit of a letoff for George Russell. I think he very easily could have been P7, P8. If Lawson did as well as he did in SQ2, there's every chance that Lawson is further up. I mean, bearing in mind that Lawson is only two tents behind George Russell right now.

So the gap between Lawson and Russell is smaller than the gap between Russell and his teammate. So it is pivotal, and we've seen how important qualifying is, you get that lap in. Russell seemingly not comfortable, but on the flip side, I think. So the Claire just can't seem to get that last 10th out that we're so used to him delivering. And I think it's the cars. I'm starting to believe that it is the style of this current car design that we're in that just doesn't suit him. And right now, he is struggling.

This could be six in a row that he loses to a teammate for the first time ever in Formula One. And that's not something new in F1 in terms of a driver adjusting to a certain era better than someone else. Obviously, Hamilton didn't suit the ground effect era we've just come out of. Sebastian Vettel did far better in 2010 through 2013 when he won four straight world titles to 2014, when he lost to Daniel Ricardo, who was in his very first season with the team. It happens. And you're right, we might just be in that area again with both LeCler and Russell. I know this is a bit of a repeated story when it comes to George Russell at this point.

And I don't know it got better than this, but there was one run earlier in the session where there was eight tenths separating Antonelli and Russell. And it was two temp's first sector, four temp's middle sector, two temps final sector. And that must be the most infuriating thing as a driver because you cannot point to a corner. You can't point to a sector and say, that's where I need to improve. if I solve that, I'm on the pace of my teammate. That is everywhere. That is the entire lap that he's losing out to Antonelli.

And that is far more difficult to crack. Yeah, eight-tenths of a Formula One car is like a lifetime. That is horrific between two teammates. And he's done well actually to pull the gap back to three and a half tenths. But that's still a golf in place between the two of them. He will be scratching his head and working out where he can go into qualifying tomorrow after the sprint race to try and work at how he builds in another three-tenth into his lap time. And unfortunately, it does look a lot worse than it probably does on paper, where he's only

three hundredths of a second away from being third on the grid. And actually, whether it's three-tenths, eight-tenths, one-tenth. If he's only a position behind his team, mate, come to the race, it doesn't really matter. But the issue is he's got the Clare and the stabbing in between him. And they are two of the fiercest competitors you can have on the grid right now. So I wouldn't want to have those two separating me. What about Lecler? Because, again, this is another instance where Hamilton's had a considerable advantage over him,

at least by Charles LeClerer qualifying standards. I firmly believe that with Hamilton and the Claire all time, you have two of the top, let's say, 10 qualifiers of all time in that. Like, Charles LeClaire has been absolutely dominant over teammates when it comes to qualifying. It's not going his way, right? This is his forte. It's not going his way. Yeah, I think Charlerler, you could make a case to say that he's the best

non-world championship-winning qualifier of all time. In terms of someone who is never, one title, he is the best qualifier I've ever seen. Yeah, I agree. And we know that car hasn't been good. We know the Ferrari has been so poor. And actually, this might be the first time, it's maybe 2018, 2019,

where the Ferrari is consistently fighting for a front row spot. Maybe that little glimmer in 2022, where we end up with the Clare and the wall in France. But it's been a while, and the Clare's had to endure that. And the moment it's come out the other side, and seemingly the Ferrari does have the pace to challenge a Mercedes, a red ball consistently. It's Lewis Hamilton that's doing it,

not Charles LeClair. And we've already heard comments that they've had to change. Inside the brakes set up, the way that the car is being set up for the car in terms of each track. They're relying on Hamilton for feedback. We heard on the commentary,

if you're watching the Sky commentary, it was announced that the engineers started the weekend by asking Hamilton, tell us how to set up the car. The Claire is lacking this, and it's clear that Hamilton has unlocked something, not sure what it is, but something that Charlotte Claire just can't seem to grasp.

And that's the difference. between a couple of tents around a race track. It is. And it's not like it was this way coming into the year either. Like LeCler had the advantage over Hamilton in Australia. It was close. Don't get to be wrong across the first, maybe four races. But LeCleur was, I think, a match for Hamilton.

There wasn't much in it. Now it very much seems like Hamilton has found that extra gear that LeCler, let's say, is yet to find. What about Red Bull? So P3, P8, Max Verstapp and third, Hajar 8th. probably sounds worse than it is for Hadjar. I know there's five spots between them, but equally that amounts to just over a tenth of a second.

And as you referenced earlier, for a lot of this session, Hajar was actually the leading Red Bull. Yeah, if he gains one 10 per second, he's sitting P4. It's really, really close between those top eight drivers right now. But I think Hadjar,

and knowing Hadjar, he will be livid at how that final session has turned out. He lives livid. He lives a livid lifestyle. Yeah. I think you saw it when he came over the line, actually. We only were on board with him very briefly, but you saw him shaking his head in the cockpit,

how frustrating he was. And rightly so, you were beating a four-time world champ in his team, a lot of this session. And so to get to that final session, and so, yes, only be one-tenth slower, but that one-tent is five positions. That's devastating for a driver like Hajjar, who just needs it to go his way,

a little bit here, a little bit there, especially when you've got Liam Lawson only a tent behind you in the junior, your car inside that session. So whilst it is tiny margins, those tiny margins have massive knock-on effects in Formula One. But Red Bull, I think, could be happy. This is still again, they're beating McLaren with one of their cars comfortably, and they're right behind with the other one.

They've also beating a Ferrari. They've also beating a Mercedes. They are the best of the rest. And I think Hage was capable of being there with the Stappen, just couldn't put it together on that final session. Yeah, it looked pretty good in the middle sector, did both of the Red Bulls. And, yeah, this isn't the same level of competitors. I don't think at least at this point in the weekend is what we had in Austria,

but equally it's still far better than a lot of the other races we had earlier in the year. Quick money-making tip folks, play poker against Isaac Adja. You would make millions. There is no hiding what he's feeling at any moment. My man pulled a two and a three, and he's literally throwing chairs across the floor. And you're just like, what have you got, Isaac? Aces? Like, no, no, you know.

No, you got nothing. Yeah, I, yeah. I think he was pretty good and close to Vestappen throughout and as reference, like, if you go back a year to when Yuki Sonoda was pairing Vestappan, or even like in the later period of Perez and Vastappen, Red Bull, what would they have done for a driver to be one and a half times behind Vastappen? That's what we were saying for so long was that's what they need. They don't need someone to beat Vastappan.

They just need someone who's there to pick up the pieces. they need someone who is a tenth away, two tenths away. That's what Hadjar's done here. So it's not the end of the weekend. Obviously, we'll still have another qualifying attempt tomorrow and it'll have two races as well. But I don't think it can be overly disappointed of how that's gone. There are loads of race tracks that we will go to

and have been to this season. We're actually a tenth of a second. He'd be right behind Max Verstappen. He's just got unlucky that they've all managed to squeeze into that one-tenth gap. Indeed. Let's take a quick break. On the other side, we'll get into some more qualifying chat. Welcome back, everyone.

We mentioned before the break how it looked like Hajjar was the faster Red Bull driver for much of the session, and then right at the end, it's for Stappen who leads the way. Similar-ish story at McLaren, really, because Oscar Piastri seemed to be the far better McLaren driver through Q1 and Q2, and in fairness, it's still very close between them. But right at the end, it's Norris who gets sixth ahead of his teammate in seventh. Again, it didn't look good for Lando Norris for much of the hour. No, he looked shaky on the car. It looked like it was really twitchy

through a lot of these high-speed corners. He runs wide, I think, on Copps' corner and gives himself a little bit of damage, which we saw the Marshall running off with, scampering off with. We'll see if it ever makes its way back to the McLaren garage. I'm not sure it will.

But I think Norris will be delighted that whilst he's not particularly far up that top 10 grid, he is in front of his teammate. And fair play to you, McLaren mechanics. You have managed to get that front wing off, change whatever was going on with the braking system,

and the damage under that car, get rectified, and Landon Norris has rewarded you for your troubles by beating his teammate. Not only is he beating his teammate, he's about a hundredth of a second behind George Russell, and with that, he's only about two hundredths of a second behind Charlotte Clare. So whilst it didn't look good for a lot of these sessions, McLaren aren't out of this just yet.

It really is that close. If their race pace is one or two percent better than what their qualifying pace is, then they, in theory, could go on to beat the likes of Russell, the clerk, for stopping even, you know. it's really that close right now. So Piastri will be gutted. Norris, I think, comes away very happy. Yeah, again, that's how close it is.

If you take out the top two here, Max Verstappen gets pole position, and fifth place is under a 10th away from pole. Like, that's how close this middle of the top 10 is. Yeah, Norris will obviously be happy to put it all together in Q3, despite that damage. Piastri, probably quite annoyed. We heard the stat that he hasn't beaten Norris in a sprint qualifying session so far this year.

And whilst I appreciate that, that's probably not top of Piastri's mindset. It would devastate. Oh, not another spring qualifying loss. Any opportunity to get one over on your teammate is... It's how you measure it, is how you measured. Exactly. I don't know how McClara feel about this.

They have brought some upgrades this weekend. They've only had one, obviously, practice session to get them embedded. So maybe that sets your expectations accordingly. but overall, at least in terms of one small sample size, it kind of looks the same. It does. It does.

I think we also heard Zach Brown begrudgingly talking about engine upgrades coming from Mercedes, and he believes they're coming in spa, but there's a risk they could come in Hungary, which is another race that they'll be missing out on that. And if this Ferrari engine upgrade, which got brought into Austria, does come good.

If it really does deliver around Silverstone, they can start to find themselves really behind the curve when it comes to upgrade. So they've got to hope that these, start to work for them and work for them thick and fast. Because they've had a couple already that haven't gone the way they expected them to. MacLyron, I've had a lot of success with Mercedes, and I know today isn't the best forum for a full chat on this, but 2026 is starting to become a case study of why they need to consider

their options. Like, we're hearing a lot, we've already heard a lot earlier in the year about battery issues and not really being able to get under the hood of exactly what was going wrong because Mercedes are only going to give them a certain amount of data and information. We're now getting to a point where McLaren aren't getting things as quickly as they'd like to from Mercedes. I don't know whether they will or won't stick with Mercedes long term. They've at least got to be having conversations, though, at this point. Here's a little tidbit in what McLaren can do.

McClain have just released the W-1, which is the successor of the McLaren F-1 and the McLaren P one. It's a road car, of course, a supercar. And when testing it around Magello, Louis Hamilton, in his Mercedes, in qualifying trim, topped out 194 miles an hour down that string. And while testing the McLaren engine purpose built by McLaren for the W1, it tops out at 194 miles an hour down the same straight. And that is purpose built for a road car by McLaren. So they can build an engine,

just whether they want to do it for a Formula One car. Yeah, yeah. But sixth and seventh is where they will start for the sprint race tomorrow. as is kind of becoming a bit more normalized now. We're getting five teams through to the top 10. It's McLaren, it's Mercedes, it's Ferrari, it's Red Bull. No surprise is there. Increasingly, it's becoming racing balls as that fifth team.

Now, they do start 9th and 10th, Lawson 9th, Limbludd 10th. But as kind of already mentioned, Lawson wasn't that far away. He's not that far away, but the difference that I want to point out is the canyon between him and Lindblard at the back of that top 10. Lawson is, I think, 0.55 behind the poll time of Lewis Hamilton. Limbler is 0.99 behind the poll time of Lewis Hamilton. So that is over 4 tenths of a second. Again, that's the gap between Lewis Hamilton and Isaac Hajar.

That's first to eighth. But Lawson's done that gap between 9th and 10th. Now, fair play to Limbler for getting into that top 10. It shows that the car's there, and both drivers are doing a stellar job at maximising it. But Lawson right now, he's on a supreme vein of form. He's able to really, really extract something excellent. And the fact he's lining up right behind, he's, I guess, potential successor or dethrone.

I don't know, you're afraid it. But Hajjah sat in that car, and I'm sure Lawson's got his eyes on it, and look, he's right behind him, and he's been brilliant again. And when he pops up against you two straight into fourth place, I was immensely impressed with what he's able to do. Someone like Gasse, must be absolutely kicking himself, because I think he's only about a tenth way from Limblaw's time on the soft tire

and gassed here on the medium. And yet, there they are in ninth, tenth, and 11th. So they're both of them, but Lawson is really setting the pace right now. Yeah, I think the racing balls found quite a bit less time versus their rivals, if you can call them their rivals,

the top four teams, from going the mediums to the softs. Limbler basically sets the exact same time. He actually went marginally slower on the softs than he did the mediums. But even Lawson only went about a tenth, and a little bit quicker, whereas other drivers were finding, you know, half a second maybe between the mediums and the soft. So that seems to be a more racing balls issue. But Lawson absolutely did

have the measure of his teammate. And I was having a look back at all three sessions. So you mentioned the Q3 split between them was 0.0. Let's call it 0.45. In Q2, it was a quarter of a second. In Q1, it was about 6 tenth. So it's not like it was really close throughout the first two sessions and then Q3 is where Lawson's pulled it out, it was pretty consistent across all three. And it does speak to what Lawson is able to do with that car at the moment. And that half a second off the poll time is a really impressive achievement. I don't have understandably my notes of the Australian GP qualified to start the year. I'm pretty sure that is quicker than what, like, relative to what Ferrari would have been to Mercedes at the beginning of the year.

I think they're going to be in the top five. Yeah. So it's looking pretty good for them at the moment. again, though, we'll see how race pace translates. Just outside the top 10, we've got the Alpines and the Adi's covering 11th through 14th. So it's essentially an Audi sandwich here. You've got Gazley, 11th, Colopinto 14th, with then Bortoletto and Holkenberg, 12th and 13th in the middle. It felt like maybe not quite the pace of the racing balls, but easily enough to get clear of the other midfield back markers.

Well, yeah, for Gassley, sure, but for Colopinto, he's absolutely nowhere to be seeing. he's five tenths behind his teammate. And the gaps between twin teammates are actually quite stark between a logobies. And I think Audi could be quite happy that the gap between their two teammates is less like a tenth. That shows you that they're both really maximising the car. But Colopinto, again, after having a few really strong Grand Prix, really far off the pace of Gassi here.

And I think he's fortunate that Gassi hasn't been able to get into the top ten because the damage will have really been cemented there and then. It'd be fascinating to see how Gassley kicks on later on in the weekend. see if you can find more pace, or if Colopinto does the opposite and closes the gap, and maybe it's just a bit of an early start to the weekend,

and gas is more comfortable with the car early on. But them, the Williams teammates, the ha' team mates, the gaps between these teams are like four, five, six tenths of a second. It's really quite odd

to see two drivers so far apart in the same machinery. Yeah, it is. I think Audi may be not quite as quick here. It's still pretty all right, but they're not quite as quick here as they have been. at other tracks leading up to this point?

This isn't the weekend they're getting a double points finish, mate. That's all right. I haven't predicted it. They're allowed to not get one this weekend. It'll happen now. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, I mean, 12th and 13th puts them in the mix, at least, if there are a few things that happen.

It's where they belong, isn't it? It's just where they belong. Like, to P12 just feels like Audi's spot at this point. I might have said this stat midweek. Audi have finished 11th, 12th or 13th, 11 times this year. Yes, yeah, you did say this. It's insane. I mean, the consist of great, but do that on the other side of the 10th.

Yeah, you might actually get some points of that, right? Yeah, fairly close, as we usually see from Bortolette and Hulkemberg, not much to choose between them. Hulkenberg a bit quicker. Actually, Bortoletto a bit quicker in the first run of Q1, Hulkenberg quicker on the second run of Q1, Bortoletto quicker in Q2. It's just very close, as always. That's what you want. That's what you want, it is.

I'm starting to think maybe, based on what's happened since Barcelona, where Alton, did, I believe, introduced something of an upgrade. I'm not sure it's been a brilliant one. In that they've kind of, they haven't fallen back, but equally, they haven't really kicked on from it either. Alpine, again, they kind of don't seem quite as competitive as they were in the first, maybe five or six races of the year, but equally, the race pace still seems fairly okay.

So they might be able to make something of that. Maybe not in the sprint, because again, eight positions. That's all you get in terms of points. Williams are quicker than Huss. Should we give for the celebration? Well done, Williams. Good job. That's as exciting as I can get.

Yeah, double Q2 appearance. The lowest of the Q2 appearances too, by a good couple of tents to Colapinto, but you're there. If that's what you want to see, I actually think the more damning stat is the gap between sighting album. As I brought it up really lightly a minute ago,

I think it's a good four and a half tenths between the two. That's ridiculous. Between two very seasoned drivers who are very comfortable in their team now, four and a half tense, Sikes Over Album, something's going wrong, the album's side of the garage. He just cannot seem to outperform Carlos Sikes at the moment. Well, he was the quicker of the two in Q1. Like he had a few temps on signs in Q1,

but then obviously in Q2, whereas a track evolution, by the way, felt quite large today. Intents. It was a lot. But Albon basically did. didn't really improve from Q1 to Q2. I think it was maybe a tenth of a second or so. And signs improves by a full one second.

That's crazy. Yeah. It's a, again, wrong way around that. You want to be quicker in Q2 versus it didn't even, not Q1? I guess, sure, if we're looking at minor improvements, good to see them making Q2 with both cars, but this isn't what Williams won. No, I think they're begging for that,

to say his engine upgrade, if I'm honest, because that feels like it might give them a little more, to get past the likes of the Audi's if things are staggering elsewhere. Union Jack looks good on the car, though, don't it? Could you see it? Yeah, I'm just assuming. I don't know, I didn't see it. Yeah, it must be great.

If you're at the track, listen to this. I'm sure you love seeing it. It isn't in the room with us. No. And then we get to, as has been the case quite a few times this year, we get a bit of a pattern of Cadillac, Astor Martin, getting knocked out in Q1 session. And that leaves two spots

today occupied by both hash drivers. I feel bad for Ollie Bearman. Yeah, dude's dunked six tenths on his teammate and it's not enough. And he's got him one spot. He's still four tenths away from the Williams. That's the worst bit, I think. The gap is not big between the two.

Yeah, six tenths over Ocon. They don't have a budget, as I call him. Slowcon. They don't have the budget. They don't have the budget. You're right. And they are struggling to match the upgrade of the team.

teams around them. And this has always been a complaint with Haas. They are the plucky underdogs that can't match the cost cap. They can't spend to the cost cap. They're the only ones who struggle. Even the likes of Cadillac, brand new ink, will spend to the cost cap, I'm sure. It's just, it's a real shame when you've got one team that isn't able to match the competitiveness of everyone else. And the cost cap gets braw in to make sure we are competitive across the board and they can't reach it. But six and a bit tense between teammates, I think that might be. be it for Astorban. Yeah.

Sorry, mate. No, it's not very good at the moment, is it? Perez was less than a tenth away from him. It was real close. And Bottas was right there as well. There wasn't a great deal of difference between Perez and Bottas today. I guess with Astor Martin as well, we are basically just waiting until Hungary now, aren't we? When they are supposedly bringing this massive upgrade.

But this whole weekend and Spar as well, pay it. attention to them if you want to, but it's not going to be worth your time, I don't think. I know there were tie differences because of the soft ties for the top ten and the medium ties, but between them, there is 4.7, 4.6 seconds between their farthest times, between Hamilton's fastest time and a long-so's farthest time. That is ridiculous. Yeah, so Stroll just about got into the 132s, and Hamilton's poll app was a 128-3. again, track evolution would have helped them out a bit, probably wouldn't have got them that many seconds. No. I mean, if you trust Lance Stroll, though, he thinks that they could be fighting for points come hungry.

You lost me if you trust Lance Stroll. That's understandable. One sort of quick question here. I think this is something we are going to cover maybe later on in the weekend, maybe after the weekend as well. There were maybe some concerns going into this one about the battery and how it would look throughout what is. a very high full-frottle sort of track like Silverstone on an average day. What were your first impressions of that? If it was bad, I couldn't tell. I thought that the camera direction was solid.

I thought we weren't seemingly struggling too much when we're on board with the cars. You can't really hear this awful super clipping that we did get used to hearing in Suzuki, in Shanghai. It felt better than I expected it to be. I'm sure it could be better overall, but it's hard to know what better looks. like where you can't see better, but not as bad as I thought. What about you? Yeah, I think it's a bit early to tell, but the middle sector is not great, but, but yeah, it's not quite what we had at the beginning of the year, definitely. At the lap times as well,

pretty good. Like, we're on, we're in the 128th in a new era of F1. Remember, regardless of what we're doing with the battery, anytime we enter a new era of F1, it is, you are going to slow down the cars. So I think the lap times overall are looking fairly all right. Driver of the session before we go. Two in mind. One was Lewis Hamilton. One was Liam Lawson. I think if Lawson beats Hajjarry takes it, but I'm going to Lewis Hamilton. So I keep doing this recently. I'm going Lawson. I get it. Yeah. Again, I know if he beats Hajar it, it becomes even more convincing,

but he is right there with all of those teams. And to be, you know, to be just over two, two temps away from Vastappen in third place. Very good going. But they were, I think, the two contenders here. Shout out to Gassley as well for what he was able to do in an alpine. I don't think it was good enough to make the top 10, but I think he's maximized that in 11th. Agreed.

So we're going to have a review tomorrow, of course, Sam. We've got two sessions to review, both the sprint that will happen around midday UK time. And then, of course, qualifying for the main Grand Prix a few hours after that. Yeah, folks, we put that into one episode. So we kind of split it down in the middle. So if you think, well, where's that review gone? It's at the end of the day. So don't you worry, it'll come out there for you.

Hopefully everyone at the track has a lovely time. We'll be there on Sunday, remember, and we'll be doing a little meetup just outside the Vale Grandstand where we're sitting on that Sunday. What do we say, well, half past one then? Half past one through to half past two. If you see us around at any other point that isn't within that hour, please say hello to us anyway.

But we're trying to do something a bit more organized. So, yeah, outside of the veil ground stand in that hour. Just shout at us. I promise you, one of us were here and we'll say hello. It would be lovely to see. as many of you as possible. Can't wait to join and see it live on that Sunday. And apologies if you're hearing back when I'm always on the Saturday recording.

We are part of another event and that's why we can't be there on the Saturday as well. But can't wait. Join the Discord, get involved with the chat. I feel like the submission heard as well on Sunday. And Patreon as well for power rankings where maybe Liam Lawson makes another surprise appearance near the top end, which he has done making a little habit of that. In the meantime, we'll see you in the next one. I've been Samuel Sage.

And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late.