The Late Braking F1 Podcast - 2026 Miami GP Sprint Race & Qualifying Review

Episode Date: May 3, 2026

It was a Saturday full of surprises in Miami, with the Sprint Race and Qualifying sessions seeing different teams rise to the top. Ben and Sam break down the action and explore what caused the shake-up in the order ahead of tomorrow's race... 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 F1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. A very one welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, on Miami Saturday, which means we have two sessions to review today, the sprint race that happened earlier on, and the qualifying session that has just happened as we're recording. Now, before we get to both of those sessions, though, we do want to pay our respects to Alex Sanardi. XF1 driver, multiple time cart champion, who sadly passed away at the age of 59. I'd like to think, sad, there are billions of people on this planet.

And I don't think there is a story that is comparable to Zanadi. He's so unique in what he's achieved and what he's overcome. Yeah, it's tough to be a champion in one event, one sport, right? But the way he was able to conquer both car and then, of course, forgot to be a Paralympic champion in the sense that he used those, the bikes that he managed to program and change to fit his disability after he had that double adaptation. He's a real hero. He's a real someone that we looked up to. He's a real icon of Formula One and sport generally.

You also always came across as a really genuinely lovely guy who represented everything that he did so well. And it's such a difficult loss to lose someone like him in our community. So yeah, I thought with his family. we're going to miss Sengardi because he was an absolutely fantastic person to having our sport. And yeah, we're just sad to see him go. 100%. And great to see F1 pay their respects earlier in the day before the sprint race that we'll have a look at, first of all. We'll have a look at the sprint, take a break, and then we'll look at the qualifying session a bit later on.

The sprint race, a one-two for McLaren with Lando Norris taking his first win, sort of, of, of the season ahead of Piastri and Charles LeClaire just behind. An interesting one, Sam, we were asking ahead of the weekend, would these new regulation changes with these upgrades, would they change the pecking order at all? And at least in this sprint race, McLaren were able to answer that with a yes. The amount of times that we have predicted something bold to happen in a Formula One event and this has come along. And you're like, you know, if I, you said to me in the preview, you, McLaren won two, I've laughed at you, actually laughed at you. It would have been hilarious. And yet we have just seen it happen. So I'm not entirely sure what the reason is. Maybe it's a

combination of reasons, but it definitely was a shock to see such a comfortable one-two victory for McLaren in this spring. Landon Ours sends up a couple of seconds ahead of his teammate, Oscar Piascri, who in turn has a small but comfortable gap to Charlotte Clare. The attack was never fully on there. but the car looked very solid, very comfortable, good deployment, on its tires, it felt good as well. It looks really well rounded in the sprint, at least, because we haven't got to qualify and made to wrong, but in the condition for the sprint, McClaren looked really, really good. And yet Mercedes, who of course we thought would come along and dominate this weekend, really seems to be taking a step back in comparison.

Yeah, I was really impressed by the way Lando Norris was able to manage that race because, sure he got the start he needed and Antonelli alongside him on the front row definitely didn't. But we kind of saw from there on out with his teammate behind. They were quite, at least Norris was quite easily able to

manage that gap. It never felt like he was in a lot of danger. He had the fastest lap in that sprint as well, implying he might have even had a little bit more left in the locker if he needed it, but he just didn't. And I think with Piastri, Piastri's pace has been a bit up and down this weekend,

whereas Norris, and you could say that about Norris to an extent as well, but it felt like Norris's consistency lap over lap, just gave him the advantage. And, whilst there was some action behind Norris and Piastri, there wasn't much in the battle for the win at all. There wasn't much of a battle for the win. So congratulations to Lando Norris. And it remains to be seen. We've obviously got a qualifying session to review as well.

And remains to be seen going into future races how much this holds and whether they can even build on this, but it's encouraging for McLaren that they were able to lock this out first and second. Yeah, it's also really difficult to know how much the drivers have played a part in this with the way that we've come in with, you know, the developments of the regulations, the upgrades that all the cars have received. Lando and Oscar clearly did a very good job to make sure they picked up this one too, but are we looking at an incredible drive from Lando Norris here that's cemented a P1 for the first time this season, or are we looking at Landon Norris just doing a good job for

Mando Norris. And actually, he's coming down in P1 because McLaren suddenly have brought upgrace to a car that is now phenomenal. Now it's a title challenge. We don't know yet because we've barely seen more than two competitive sessions in order to equate what is good and isn't good. So it'd be really interesting to see when the main race occurs, will that race pace happen again? Or was it a condition-related thing? It's very hard to tell. Well, I think qualifying played a huge part in this, as well as the start as well, again, with Piastri getting ahead of Antonelli. But of course, Norris took a a really impressive bowl position on the Friday and then was able to lead from the front there on out.

I could be wrong in saying this. I think that if Antonelli, if Vestappen, if Lecler, if any of those three guys from three different teams had got pole position and had led after the first lap, they might have had the pace to win it themselves. I didn't think there was a huge amount to choose between those top teams, but because Norris had got that advantage in qualifying and via the first lap, that's what he was able to effectively use.

I didn't think there was, that they weren't that far back, the likes of Lecler and Vestappen was looking really good at the end of the Grand Prix as well. I think this might have come down to qualify more than anything. I think that's a fair analysis.

I have to say I am still disappointed that Miami hasn't shifted in its enjoyment for me so far this weekend. The qualifying element, which we'll get onto, was more exciting today. But the race itself, we discussed it before recording,

I didn't find particularly threat. We got about seven or eight laps in, and I felt it very quickly settled. There was not particularly much action going on. It didn't look like anything was unfolding. And because the teams are so close together, you would almost expect someone to make the difference with the driver element here. Someone who can really out drive the car should be able to pull back the second gap difference in front of them. And yet they couldn't. And it felt quite processional quite quickly.

So unlike Spain in the previous era of the regulations, where suddenly that track came alive. We went from calling it the worst track on the calendar to saying it's one of the most underrated tracks on the calendar. I hope something similar would happen to Miami is it is here for so long, and I haven't seen that yet. So hopefully the race in the wet might be more exciting, but I didn't love the sprint to go. Yeah, I was slightly more positive about it, at least relatively speaking, because we are talking on a scale that includes a Miami sprint weekend. And Miami is definitely in the bottom quarter of tracks that we have on the calendar. But I was quite happy with, or at least reasonably happy with what we had in the sprint,

in that even though it maybe wasn't the most exciting race that we've had so far this year, the style of racing, I much preferred what we had in that sprint versus what we had before this break. And it wasn't perfect. That middle stretch, there wasn't a lot going on. But I was happy to see Antonelli and Russell exchanging positions. I was happy to see Lecler, even though he didn't get by Piastri, he was putting the pressure on. And I've always said, you don't necessarily need an overtake for something to be exciting. I was happy for that to be a battle, you know, even going to the last couple of laps.

If Piastri would have made a mistake in the same way that LeCler did on the final lap, that could have opened the door for LeCler to get that overtake done. And I just felt, even though there weren't many overtakes, those that we did see meant something a bit more. They felt a little less artificial than maybe some of the ones we had pre-break. So I'm not going to say it was great. I'm not even going to say it was good, but I thought it was, at least gave me enough to think at a better track, I can kind of see this working better than it has. It's a glass-half-fellatechid, Ben. That's what we love about you. Yeah, it's a rarity for me. I thought to try it up. What about Charles LeClaire, who was on the podium? It gave it a good go against Piastri,

but ultimately came up just a bit short. They feel like they're in the mix, Ferrari, even if they're not quite there in terms of winning. Yeah, which we keep acting is like a positive, but they've always just been in the mix and they aren't just there to win, you know, and that's been the case count. It was like for not just this season, but for years.

And it's becoming stale for Ferrari at this point. You think you've had that many upgrades brought in after a month out. The regulations have shifted. They might have helped. They might have not. they might have not helped you. And yet we turn up again and you think,

oh, your biggest competitor has fallen to the wayside. You're suddenly finishing in front of Mercedes now. And yet you're still not able to take advantage of the gaping hole that is there in first and second. Because McLaurin have decided to slot in. The team that could barely start a Grand Prix only two ago are there in front of them. So it's great that they've managed to maintain

the positions that they were before the break. Don't get me wrong. It could be far worse. It could be, you know, suddenly backing seventh and eighth, that we saw them at the end of last year. But equally, if they ever want to go on wing anything, they've got to start taking advantage of when other teams are struggling. Mercedes have struggled.

And yet it's McLaren, the ones that have seized the advantage here. So I think Lecler is, again, doing a fantastic job, elevating a car that is maybe slightly worse off than what he's able to show. I think he's doing a really good job at keeping that car very competitive. I think a lesser driver would have let Piastri pull away further in that spring race. we saw Lewis Hamilton was struggling from time to time got repassed by Max Verstappen of course

ending up over eight seconds behind Yeah, it was a bad second half of that I think he lost the will Lost the Pust the energy to carry on with it I'm totally honest Yeah, I know he made some comments about tyres as well That's the second time the season he's done that Where tyres have just got off for him

And that was usually a big of a gift for his Was that tyre whispering so The Ferrari still isn't there But LeClaire is again As always doing all he can in what feels like a plucky upstart that's trying its best to overcome its rivals but actually that plucky upstart is

the old man of the sport that should know every trick in the book and still can't seem to working out. Yeah, I was impressed again with what Ferrari had in terms of pace and I would have been really interested to see if he was by Piastri into the first corner

and to be honest again, this comes down to qualifying. I think LeCler, Ultimate Lap, actually had the best ultimate lap if you put all their best sectors together yesterday in sprint qualifying, but ultimately couldn't put it together for that one lap in Q3 to the point where he's fourth on the grid. If he had managed to get on the front row and he was battling with Norris, I don't know whether he would have been able to challenge,

but I think it would have been maybe a bit closer than what Piastri was able to do. I know this is stupid and I'm going to regret saying this. I'm not saying it will happen. I can see him winning tomorrow, LeClair. I don't think it's impossible. I saw, and it depends on what happens with the weather, it depends what happens with the star, and so many other things.

From what I've seen from him and Ferrari this weekend, they are right in the mix, and you are correct in what you're saying. They've been close quite a few times. They need to put it all together. I do think the ingredients are there for LeClaire this weekend. It's arguably the closest that he's, being a full feature race.

We'll talk about the qualifying again as we get onto it, but this is the closest I think in outright pace he has been to being number one in an event so far this season. It's going to be horrific tomorrow. Let's see if the Ferrari can actually go in the race. That's a big if, big if. But the two drivers he lost to in the sprint will be starting behind him in the main race. So who knows?

What about Mercedes? Because Antonelli picked up a five-second penalty for exceedingly. leading track limits, but it wasn't even set to be on the podium anyway. George Russell, who was behind Antonelli, ended up ahead of him because of that penalty, as did Vastappen. But this is by far in a competitive session, the most vulnerable we've seen Mercedes so far. This was kind of woeful from Kimmy Antingley. Start again is poor, loses multiple positions off the start, and it seems to be affecting him still more than pretty much anyone else. I don't know if it's a Mercedes setting. I don't know if he ended up being

saved by the new regulation, of course, it gives you that legal helping hand. If you drop too low on the revs, it'd be interesting to hear some further feedback about that. But he still can't get these cars started competitively. What's the point in starting pole position? If you can't get off the line quickly. He was lucky not to lose the spots of Russell at the start as well. It's not a long run down to turn one. 130 meters. Yeah, that's all you get. It's a very short run going to turn one. And yet he still finds himself outside of the pogging positions by the time he gets to turn one. It's really, really difficult to see for him. because he's doing the job in qualifying,

but he can't seem to do it off the line in the race. So they need to work on something there, because even Russell had that better start. So it's not just car-related if Russell could get something out of it. Then, of course, he picks up the time penalty, later on in the Grand Prix. I'll get to the battle and we'll discuss that, I think. But in only 19 laps to pick up four warnings

and pick up an actual time penalty, that shows some real carelessness. I don't think he was ever at serious risk of losing a position that he needed to put himself at risk. of gaining the penalty, it just feels like a real misjudgment. And I'm surprised with only four or five calls on the track where you can cut enough to be detected going over the lines to get an actual time penalty,

I was really surprised out of all the racetracks. It's happened here. So I think it was a thing of a tough day for Kimmy. Lucky he kind of picks it up again, like a wrong in the end of day. Yeah, I feel like I can get away with saying this because we're going to be complimentary to him after the break and have also been quite complimentary about him so far this year.

this was the most 20-25 Antonelli we've seen so far this year, in that it wasn't slow, not that it was particularly great either, in that even though he put pressure on Charles LeClaire for the first couple of laps, after that, really assert much pressure on top three at all. But it's more about the scrappiness of it. You know, Russell did get by, he did get back by,

and then picks up all of those infringements for track limits to the point of picking up a penalty. Now, we've seen before where drivers have gone off on a track like, you remember a few years ago, it was the Austrian GP, where seemingly everyone and their mothers had a tie penalty. This wasn't that. No one else, as far as I'm aware, picked up a penalty for this. So we can pretty much pinpoint this as an Antonelli issue.

And again, there's been a lot more good than bad for Antenelli so far this year. but it felt like he was a bit, I don't know, out of sync. If it's the worst that Kimi Antianna gets, that's, I'll take it. I'm sure he'll take it. You know, he barely loses out. And I think actually that's the worst sign for George Russell at this point, that he needed a terrible start. He needed a scrappy race.

He needs a time penalty. And only then does he beat him by what? Two places? He gained two points on him in total. That's not a good sign for George Russell so far this weekend. There have been points throughout this weekend. and we're going to get onto one of those points in the qualifying review, where it's felt like Red Bull are starting to get back into the mix a little bit.

And one of those moments, cue the Jaws theme was late in this sprint, where suddenly Vastappen is clear of Lewis Hamilton, and he's looking at the Mercedes up the road, and he is catching them fairly quickly. At the end, he is just behind George Russell on track. A few more laps. There I say, only a couple more laps. The gap was coming down quickly.

Exactly. again, when Max Verstappen gets a car that he's comforting, he said that the balance was better, despite some issues with the rear axle underbreaking, he can just extract lap time that others cannot. And someone like George Russell, who is struggling on a weekend, does be very aware that it's not just any driver behind you,

it's four-time world champion Max Verstappen gaining very quickly. He cannot afford to lose faces a lot in the race tomorrow because he needs to make up as much as he can, especially if other teams are about to pick up pace and this transfers race to racing isn't just a Miami thing. Anything from the midfield that particularly caught your eye in this Grand Prix. We had the hash drivers sort of scrapping away towards the end of this race. The Williams drivers as well somewhat in contention, even if it's not for points,

they're at least fighting midfield rivals. And I guess Alpine as well, rising above all of that. Yeah, this feels like the first time that Alping are properly taking a step away. Yeah. Clearly, a step away. We've seen moments where, you know, like Gassley, for example, we'll put in a great qualifying lap, and it will elevate him away from maybe the harsh duo

who might be around 8th through to 12th. But here it felt like both drivers, Colopinto and Gassley, have really moved away comfortably from this Haas, Audi, racing balls, in theory, reg ball battle, because Hajar is still back there as well. It feels like they're comfy.

Colopinto might be one of the drivers of the weekend at the moment in terms of what you'd expect of him and what he's actually delivering, because it's been fantastic in all three sessions. Got seriously unlucky in the sprint as well, in that he has a pretty reasonable start where he is on the, well, I say, it's the insider turn one, becomes the outside of turn two, and there's so much attention on Vestappan and Hamilton battling away where they touch wheels. Colapinto is right there with them, three wide, and Colapinto is the one that is unluckiest in that, that he then loses the position to Gassley, which makes him more vulnerable to Isaac Hadjohn,

who's coming back through the field. Hadjar does get Colopinto, doesn't get Ghazley. That turn one, turn two sequence might have changed the whole complexion of that. Sure, it would have only maybe got Colopinto a point for P8. It's not, it doesn't change the world. But it does prove that this weekend, he has been far more on it versus his teammate than what we've seen so far. Yeah, you look at the drivers that he was going wheel to wheel with last year.

And yes, I understand that the car was far worse. But then you look at the drivers he's going wheel to wheel with in this race and you look to your left or you go, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, seven, there's 11 world titles on my outside of a corner. That's quite intimidating. And I actually think he handled a three wide

or a tight corner really quite well. So yes, unlucky, but Colopinto last season, I think might have crashed. So it's a real step forward for him. A driver of the session for just the sprint, I'm going to, I'll go first and just be boring and say Lando Norris, based on how well he managed the Grand Prix.

Anyone else for you? Would you also go, Orlando Norris? Norris is where I was going. I will shout out Max Verstappen, though, because I do think that the way he fought with Lewis Hamilton was harsh but fair. I think their will-to-will battle in that opening moment was on the line. And I expected it to be a little bit rough and ready, and it was. And then, of course, he makes the dive, goes off the track.

I don't think that's a mistake from Max Verstappen. I think it's truly intentional. I think he's tried to see what he could get away with. They have this weird altercation where they don't know where they're giving the place back or not. And then he strikes back almost immediately and he's off the road. I will say, like, I don't think it was either of their best moments, by the way. Like the going off track from Max Verstappen, he went off track trying to overtake. He has to give the position back.

That's going to slow you down versus the couple of cars ahead. So that's that's on Vastappen. And then Hamilton, like, man, he's letting you. by, like it's cost them both multiple seconds. I don't know what Lewis is doing at that point. Come on, man. He's clearly going, oh, I don't want to be let by on the exit of this corner because he'll overtake me instantly going into the breaking zone.

But that's the game. You just got to get on with it, haven't you? By that point, they are multiple seconds behind a couple of cars that a few corners before, they were like temp's behind. Yeah, yeah, I think they dropped three seconds to the Masekes guys. It probably didn't impact Lewis Hamilton much of how much he was struggling later in the race. But again, Max was happening. He might have had a chance to overtake Russell or Antonelli. And so, yeah, interesting one. But yeah, nor do I see what I've got for.

Alrighty. Well, that's the first of two sessions reviewed. On the other side, we'll be looking at qualifying. Welcome back, everyone, to the second part of today's review. And we'll now look at qualifying where, goodness me, I mean, it's a shake-up versus what we've seen earlier on in the weekend. We asked Sam, in the preview, with China, the last sprint we had, there was such similarity between what the sprint portion of the weekend looked like and then the main race portion. Here, quite a few differences. Kimmy Antonelli gets pole position about a 10th and a half ahead of Max Verstappen, and it's actually four different teams in the top four with Charlotte Clare and Lando Norris on the second row. It's interesting. Yeah, it's very interesting. And this is what we've always wanted from

sprint races. If we're going to have sprint races, you want the two sessions to be almost unidentifiable from each other if you were to look them up and down on kind of a results page. And it is. This is really good. This is interesting that we might see a completely different race unfold in the main Grand Prix, even with the fact it's wet, sure, take that for granted for a minute, that actually the full battles that we could see going from sprint race to full race might be different. The cars are in different places. We've got different setups going into things. I wasn't expecting this much of a shift. Kimmy had Segal on Polaro. position feels like a return to normality.

You think, okay, yeah, great lap, really good lap. But you think, hang on a minute, where's his teammate? He's outside the top four. So there's problems there. And it tells you that Kimmy Antigelli's done a stellar job. And alongside him, isn't Norris, isn't McClure? It's the struggling Red Bull that we have all been absolutely dissing the last few Grand Prix, because Westappan is only what, less than two tenths away from pole position?

It's a phenomenal lap from Max Verstappen. Red Bull had managed to pull something back. I don't really know what's going on, but it's all changing. Yeah, Antonelli I was really impressed with the pole lap And he completely messed up the first sector on his second run in Q3 Meaning that first run needed to be good enough and it was We said this about sprint qualifying where he was a little bit down in the first sector And then was able to make it back throughout the rest of the lap

I don't know how much Mercedes have done in terms of setup change But that's reversed a little bit because Antonelli was absolutely nails through the first sector He was brilliant through there to the point where he wasn't, instead of spring qualifying where he's trying to make up the time, he's already got the time based on how good he is in that first sector and is able to take advantage of that.

He was fastest in the first part of qualifying. And then fastest, crucially, in Q3, and was just about quicker than what Lando Norris's pole position time was in sprint qualifying just to show how good that lap was. With all of the changes in positions, any thoughts as to why we've seen such a big discrepancy between one qualifying session and the other? Well, as you all know very well today, Sam, the answer is wind.

Yes, a lot of gas in the air, you know, moves very quickly. It was a really windy session, wasn't it? And I think the session that immediately sprung to mind was qualifying Hungary last year when Piastri and Norris and McLaren at that point looked very, very good. and they looked really good through Q1, really good through Q2. And then the wind changed direction in Q3. And that's what got Charles LeClaure, a pole position and that the order seemed completely out of whack.

I think here those windy conditions have really changed things up. Because we saw Oscar Piastri, for example, he's seventh, and he is seven tenths away from pole. I can't remember if he held it. But his fastest lap in that second run of Q3, he went, no improvement in first sector. Powerful middle sector, no improvement in final sector, we saw a lot of drivers really struggle to put together that ideal lap. There were great sectors going on here and there, but there

wasn't a lot of green, green, green, green, two-tenths faster, green, green, green, three-tems faster. And that's what you do come to expect with qualifying. That final run is the pinnacle. And someone actually in our Discord, which you can join the links in the description, it said, you know, oh, I waited the whole way through qualified to see no one improve on their final run. And there's a fair bit of analysis that I think eight of the top 10 drivers didn't improve on their final run. Yeah, yeah, a lot of them didn't. And I mean, one of them that did,

of course, Max Verstappen, to be just the 10th and a half away from Antonelli at the top there, he seemed to be one of the, there's just two drivers who was able to get something out of that final run. When he went to the top of the timing board, well, actually, just before he was about to go to the top, sorry, because of course, Kimi Antigli fluffed his final run. Yeah. was on the edge of my seat. And I felt like qualifying and come back a little bit. Which we haven't had for a while in qualifying. The whole season, to be honest, I've not been like that. And I was watching those sectors. And he went right out of the death. And I was thinking Kimmy Antigalaj mucked it up. He can't do the final run. And Max Verstappen

Banging a purple sector. And then the second sector is only 0.0.08 slower than Kimmy Antigonez, you think he's going to do this. He's got the capabilities could do it. And the fact that he's actually ending up 0.1.17 behind Kimmy. He shows you just how. well, Kimi Antigelli did on his first map to really pull out the bag. But this felt like qualifying. It felt better. I don't care that the laps are slower. Okay, that the cars were bit slower.

You've got cars all over the place. You've got braking is harder. You've got flat out for more of the actual straits, which is what we want. It felt like risk versus reward is back. Drivers are pushing. And it feels like mistakes actually cost you. So I was here for it. Yeah.

And to be clear, folks, I'm not just going to say here. everything's solved because it's not. But if we saw, I don't know if you picked up on this as well, and this applies to the sprint as well as qualifying, perhaps more so to the sprint. The first half of the sprint, F1 were doing their usual tricks of no onboards, a lot of camera shots from far away into corners.

And then the further the sprint went on, the more confident they got to show onboard footage. We had particularly Ocon and the Hass, We had a real onboard there throughout. And a lot more of the battles were covered that way. And I think that then carried on into qualifying. And that might be somewhat track specific as well, because Miami isn't one of the more difficult ones to recuperate energy.

But it did feel like F1 were getting more comfortable in saying, we can actually show some of this. Yeah, I actually said it out loud in my lounge. I said they're understanding that the confidence is coming back, that they can show some of this and this kind of not get the stick that they were going to get. even on Max for Staffing's last slap when we just watched him, we went on board with him, over the shoulder, proper T-cam, and it wasn't horrific.

It's not good, but it was not horrific. So it's a step in the right direction. Who knew that reducing the reliance of battery might actually create some better racing. Yeah. And it does feel like at least with some of these driver pairings that may be, one thing I've found quite tough in the first few rounds is actually determining who's having a really good session or who's having a really good race. because it feels, and it still is, don't get me wrong,

it feels less driver-specific at the moment and more what the computer is telling you to do, if I want to quote Nigel Mansell. But Max Verstappen in particular, like he is eight tenths ahead of his teammate, Hajar here in Q3, and he's really shown, maybe as a result of these regulation changes,

that a driver can seemingly make a bit of a difference. And, hey, again, it could be a one race thing, but the preseason prediction that Vestappen will be world champion, we might be back. We might be back. Simmered down, boy, simmered down. Just that harp, just put it on the simmer rather on boil. Yeah, yeah, but before it was off, now it's just on one.

You just started to light the gas, have you? Speaking of, the Stappen, though, he managed to find huge gains session to session. Q1 time is 1.2 slower than it's Q3 times. So it really shows you the way he was. able to pick up. I think Hajar here is a very lucky boy that the field spread is so wide because if he does that

gap to the Stappan last season, he is P-16. He's wet and nodules. There you go. There you go. And that's a worrying thing. Let's hope that this is a one-off and that the regulations are a bit tricky and something needs to be altered in the calm of the setup because I don't want to see him

suddenly struggling outside the points on a regular basis again. If he drops back in a bad start, it'll be no point score for Hagger again. A really odd session for McLaren. I'm not going to say they were outright slow because they were still pacing there at times, but it felt a lot more inconsistent versus what they had the day before. Lando Norris, sorry, Oscar Piaastri, struggling to get out of Q1. If Arvid Lindblad or Gabriel Borteletto's car wasn't on fire, if either of those two things happened, like, he's getting knocked out in Q1. Landon Norris is then in trouble towards the end of Q2,

and then ultimately neither of them able to get in the top three in Q3. I'm struggling to work out why, but they just didn't have it all together. Yeah, I wish I was a mega brain that had all the data that can analyze every point for you listeners and actually understand entirely what happened. The wind was a bit different. The temperatures were slightly different. We spent more time on the soft tire, of course, but you think, well, Norris managed to get pole on the soft tire in sprint qualifying.

To have such a big deficit, in comparison to the qualifying times from yesterday is truly bizarre. And I think Piastri especially can count himself lucky that the difficulty to guess out of Q1 is very low right now. You know, realistically, you're writing off 22nd, 21st, 20th and 19th. And at that point, you think, all right, do I get a little bit unlucky? And I'm the person that gets knocked out. Borsoletta had the problem.

And it's Lindblah that's one that falls short today, which, you know, in the racing balls, they tend to be one of the cars that will get picked up in that Q1. The fact that we were all a little bit, oh, this is a bit touch and go, it ends up two tenths away from elimination. It's not good for McLaren. This up and down is what we've seen almost throughout the whole season for them. One day they go from about to start a Grand Prix,

the next they can put themselves on the podium, then they can't start another Grand Prix, or they're almost getting knocked out, and then they're winging a sprint race. It's very much top and tails for them. The consistency doesn't seem to be emerging so far, I think that will worry a few of the senior hags at McLaren. Yeah, and whilst their issues kind of presented itself

in slightly different ways throughout qualifying, the end result is kind of the same, in that they're both about four-tenths slower than what they were able to do in SQ3. And of course, that is exactly the same tire. That was the one sprint qualifying session run on the softs. So that at least seems to be consistent across both of them, and it's really hurt them in the pecking order all the way, you know,

down in four and seven. The race pace was good enough that they might not be out of it. And of course, the weather conditions mean they might not be out of it either. But a really curious loss of speed throughout. Further down, Q3, we do need to mention Franco Colopinto has got you two thirds of your way to a bold prediction point. I'm trying to remain very calm right now because all he's got to do is finishing the top ten tomorrow. And I've actually got a real point, not a fake bar. rain Saudi Arabia point that we made up.

All right. Colopento in the rain. What could possibly go wrong? Come on, primetime singer, please. Oh, come on. Just one day. Just have one day where you're really great. That's all I'm asking. Beat his teammate, beat Hadger.

Two qualifying sessions in a row where he's beating Pierre Gasly. That doesn't happen very often at all. And he's beating a Red Bull, which, you know, that's good stuff. That's good signs here. he seems to have really started to master the car. And the impressive thing I think actually is it's clearly very close between him and his teammates. So to find those fine margins over Pierre Gassely, who is such a strong qualifier, it shows that he's actually able to understand the car after this long break.

And I was expecting him to be one of the ones that will fall foul. Hence why I put him under pressure on going into this weekend. There was a real risk that he would struggle here. It's a tough track to get right. Currently, he's had three compressive sessions, all three. he's bringing the top 10. That's very impressive for Franco. And a clean sweep over GASley as well in terms of qualifying today, quicker in Q1, Q2 and Q3, which is no mean feat against the guy that we rate very highly based on what he's done

over the last few years. And good work from Alpine as well, as we mentioned earlier, they do seem to at least this weekend, of distance themselves from the likes of Hasse and racing balls who they've been battling within that midfield, at least at this point, they feel like even though they are still probably fifth, which is back to their rightful place from about four years ago, it's better than what 10th was last year. As we go out of Q3 into maybe some of those teams and drivers knocked out in Q2 and Q1,

obviously, Audi was a bit tough to judge because, again, one of their cars was on fire. But they just kind of have a normal session, can't they? They just kind of have a normal day. It feels like, again, same story with Audi. Their pace isn't too bad. Like, they are reasonable enough, but the reliability is a bit all over the place. Yeah, it's when the car is going, it seems like it's okay.

When the car is going very slowly, when it's starting, or when it's hot, it just cannot exist on a race track. Or when it's disqualified. It's disqualified for not working properly either. Yeah, this isn't what you want, but hey, this is teething. You know, this is going through early signs of development. they are still technically a new team and they're trying to do something radical and they've got their own engine in there of course

they haven't bought a Mercedes engine or a Ferrari engine they're being a bit radical their side pods as well which might be difficult for airflow to cool the engine in the back as well so the fact that Holgerberg has still managed to be the classic P11 for Gheko Holgerberg tells you that when the car does work it's still pretty effective

yeah and Boratelato I know it ended in a disqualification but a very comfortable 10th place in the sprint He wasn't really under pressure from the hash drivers behind or the Williams drivers behind. Sure, he also didn't have the pace to get up to the Alpines and Isaac Adja, who overtook him relatively easily. But again, it feels like that's where they're living at the moment, is sort of 10th and 11th when they can actually put a car in a race and have it not be disqualified. Liam Lawson, a good effort from him in qualifying, I've thought, because yesterday he can feel slightly aggrieved by not making it through to Q2 with Alex Albin's disqualification or his lap time being deleted, not coming until after the session. But here, he's put half a second on Limbludd in Q1 and then taken advantage of that with a P12.

It doesn't feel like racing balls are brilliantly quick this weekend. So I think 12 is a pretty good result. I genuinely think the only car he'll be disappointed to be behind right now is Holgerberg. Yeah. And I think that's the only thing he's, and I'm being harsh there on him because I do think it's like a brilliant session. to be 0.6 away, sorry, 0.6 away from the Audi of Holkenberg,

it tells you that when the racing balls can cooperate, when it is working up to speed, it has got some good qualities about it. I think Lawson was really able to maximize those qualities. Limbaug does seem to be struggling this weekend. This is probably his most difficult weekend that we've seen from him so far.

He's a rookie. It's going to happen. Those weekends will come about. As long as we get more of the good and less of the bad overall, that's fine. but yeah, Lawson comfortably basking his rookie teammate today. Yeah, and Limblin, of course, hurt at least.

I know it's not qualifying, but hurt by the fact that he wasn't involved at all in the sprint race. So we'll see how they get on tomorrow, 12th and 17th. They should be starting. I do want to mention before we wrap up Fernando Alonzo, because improving on his final run in Q3, that turn 17 doesn't go very well for him. And he just decides, I'm off, I'm into the pits.

I'm not having it. But then he has the most mega lockup of all time going into the pit lane. I really think it might be intentional. Like that just be quite funny. Yeah. Yeah, like I'm going to destroy this car from inside, so I'm just going to lock up. It was better, and that's not much of a compliment, but it was better. Yeah, they were what, about three-tenths away from getting through to Q2, three, four-tenths away?

No, I misread the times. No, a bit more than that. Oh, no, yes, I have. Well, they 1.3 seconds. That sounds more like it, yeah. Yeah, okay. Also, we haven't been on board with Yaskin Martin a lot

so far this season. Probably doesn't have a camera. It doesn't have any else that works. Arguably, it'd be shaking off a long time ago. It'd be ugly on board. They don't look... They've got nothing going for them.

Sorry, it's not even like it's a really pretty car. It doesn't look guys either. So, you know, you got that going for you, I'm afraid. That's all right. I don't think this car needs any upgrade. Yeah, thank God they decided to get wasted time.

I don't know if you saw F1 Fantasy, quick chat about that, because whilst everything's provisional at this point in the weekend, I don't know if you saw just all about the sprint, not talking here. In the sprint, the driver with the most points was Lando Norris. Tied for second was Fernando Alonzo and Lanchstrol because of how often they just overtook each other. That is a hack.

Yeah, right. I've got you in my fantasy team. can you own lungs just keep going back and forth against each time they do that they pick up a point I love that that's so good they scored more than piastri did a man's the second place doing nothing yeah um I just thought that was funny um driver at the session for qualifying uh I've gone Kimi Anthony Ellie I hate giving it to the pole guy but again it was a phenomenal lap and the difference between himself and Russell shows what he was able to extract from that car that George wasn't able to uh also a shout for Matt

Max. Yeah, I mean, I gave it to Vestappen yesterday when he was nine temps faster than his teammate. And today, he's eight temps faster than his teammate. So he's washed. Colopinto's in with a shout. I'll be boring as well, Antonelli. Very good. And I know we spoke a lot about Norris's two-tenths gap yesterday.

This is still a tenth and a half. He really put together a good lap. There's not been too many drivers where they've had their first three poles in a row. as a fact it was only two before Kimmy Antingelli, of course, with Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senner doing that, and it's pretty illustrious company to be involved with. So fair play to you, Kimmy. Quite good as a teenager.

Yes. And one other thing before we go, we should say, this is episode 666. What does that make us? Oh, I don't make us the devil. I guess that makes me the devil. I feel very good for some. saying this, Sam. I do not know what's going to happen tomorrow, and that is a good place to be

at. That is the perfect recipe for Formula One to have, the unknown. What is that? It's the unknown. Who thought that get a reference? Not me. Excellent. Folks, it could be a downpour. It could be under a lightning. They might move the time of the session. We don't know what's going on just yet, but we will be back after it to do a full review of the race. So, come back, sit down with us, have a little cup of coffee or a tea, and then just kind of mull over, hopefully what will be an excellent Grand Prix.

I think if you fancy a little more, join us on Patreon for Power Rankings, which we release on our Monday evening in UK time. That would go out, of course, the likes of the US in the afternoon, and we break down every single performance of every driver and give it a rating, and Patreon members can get involved in rate themselves as well,

not themselves, the drivers of themselves. You get the point. Ten out. I'm a great Patreon member. Thanks for Leskin. Thanks for joining us. We will see you. Tomorrow for more F-1 action.

In the meantime, I've been Sam Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late.