Ferrari cook up a great disaster at home | #F1 2025 Imola GP Qualifying

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[00:00:32] 15 Minuten. You're a part of the plan too. But if you make us go longer than 15 minutes, we'd love that. Because that means that you're chatting with us and we're discussing qualifying and we're having a lot of fun. Which is the whole point of this post-qualifying review and preview of sorts for the Imola GP. Because this is a mix of both. There's so many stories to unpack from whatever's gone on in the weekend so far. And also so many stories to watch for from tomorrow's race. And we haven't really planned this episode as much. So we're going to go free.

[00:01:01] And I'm going to use that leverage, Kunal, to focus on our title. Because I want to bring our mind to two great sporting disasters that have happened with teams. 1950 World Cup. The Brazilian team comes to Maracana in the World Cup final hoping for the very best. With over 100,000 people showing up at the stadium supporting the team. And Brazil lose. It's disappointment to the scale of a natural calamity that happens there. And they've never forgiven their team for that. Uruguay beat them.

[00:01:31] Then, 2023, not the same scale. But Tottenham go away to Newcastle United. They get smashed 6-1. And their performance was so bad that they actually said, hey, all of our traveling fans, you deserve an apology and a refund. So they refunded them all of the money that they paid to get their tickets to travel all the way to the north of the country. I think Ferrari should do that. Even though the refund amount shouldn't be that much because most of the fans are just coming from less than 100 kilometers away.

[00:01:57] But 11th and 12th at home? At home? At the circuit that they built to test their cars? Enzo would be looking at this and going, oh man, this is what it's come to. It's never happened before. Ferrari have never been knocked out of Q2 at their home race ever. Here we are. Wow. First time, Imola. You know, you made all those football references. My goodness. I love them. But I have no idea what you spoke of. I understood Brazil, but I lost you at everything else.

[00:02:27] But anyway, yeah, it's one of those disasters. And you know, the strange thing is they've come home, of course, first home race of the season. Maybe the last time they have two home races in a calendar. But anyway, I'm digressing. They've come home and they've found a new way to mess things up. Okay. First is, of course, qualifying disaster. And both drivers actually said it's not good. Of course, it's not good. But they did not do enough tire prep. That's where their challenges were.

[00:02:56] Okay. Conditions are cooler than the circuits we've been to before. You know, the soft is, in fact, even softer. The tires are softer. They just struggled with tire prep. And then you just wonder, why is it that only Ferrari got caught out with tire prep? And despite having, you know, seven times world champion, despite having Charles Leclerc, who's been there now 70 seasons, or that's how long it feels. Because they also messed up with Leclerc in the tires in free practice, for which he got, you know, paid by it.

[00:03:24] They admitted, we got the procedures wrong. You know, he came into the pits wanting to reuse the tire, but with different tire pressures. And then guess what? They messed up the tire pressure changing sequence. There is, in the regulations, there is a way you need to do that. Ferrari admitted it was a mistake. Like, can you imagine? They're finding new ways to cook up a disaster. That's the title. It is. And I find it to be hilarious.

[00:03:53] I mean, the only thing I was waiting for was Leclerc to go to the radio and say, mamma mia. But he said something similar. He said, oh my God, oh my God. And I think it sums it up. And the whole weekend has been such a terrible one for them. The break issues on Friday, all of them struggling with any sort of confidence with the soft tires on Saturday morning. And then this one, I'm looking at the results, Kunal. And I know I'm sensationalizing things, but it is just what it is.

[00:04:20] They've been outqualified by one Alpine, one Racing Bull, two Aston Martins and two Williamses, apart from the other teams that are ahead of them. This is 2025. And this is a clear sign that the budget cap is working. That's unbelievable what we're seeing here. Absolutely. The budget cap is working. The sliding scale, error, regulations, etc. Everything is working. And let's look at Q3. Seven teams in there.

[00:04:49] Ferrari is not one of them, which technically means Ferrari were beaten by seven teams in qualifying. It's unbelievable. Isaac Harjar is there. There was a Williams on pole in Q2. Yes, he got a toe, etc. But he, you know, it's one thing to get a toe. It's another thing to actually make that toe work. You know, that's another way we need to look at things as well. But, you know, my goodness, what a session. You know, it was Oscar Piastri again up there, slamming it when he had to.

[00:05:17] It's scary with that last couple of corners. He had four cars to, you know, make amends with. George Russell squeezed in yet again ahead of Lando Norris, who, you know, said, I'm just not quick enough. He was just admitting now. And I think it's, what, seven races. Oscar Zou, you know, outqualified him four times in seven races. When all of last season, he outqualified Norris just four times. Okay. And then Max Verstappen, another magic. I'm waiting to see what happens in turn one.

[00:05:47] And if Oscar takes the inside line and then he believes he has a corner, what's Max going to do there? Will he back out? Will he go off? You know where I'm going with this. And who else was there? I mean, yeah. And we spoke of Russell. Russell, Alonso, and Stroll in Q3. But they made the medium tire work, Salman. Can you imagine? They've got a qualifying specialist, C6, et cetera. And then it's the medium tire that went to work. Yeah.

[00:06:16] And I found that to be phenomenal. And I was laughing. I was bawling when Lance Stroll actually came out and put that medium tire compound, Aston Martin, up into the top 10 in Q2. I was saying, this guy is going to mess it up for everyone. And everyone's going to have such a dilemma. And that's exactly what happened. And they actually made it work. Stroll on the medium tire could afford to go for that gamble. Everyone realized, oh, it actually works. And then even Alonso followed suit. And to be fair, to be fair, right?

[00:06:46] We often mock Lance Stroll. The gap wasn't that much this time out. Fernando Alonso was only barely faster than him in the first round of Q3. And then later on, of course, a bit of a difference between the two. A couple of tenths. I mean, to be more accurate, tenth and a half. But that's honestly not bad, given where both of them have been. So kudos to Lance Stroll. He's put that car in the top 10. And for Aston Martin, the upgrades and the low drag setup, which it looks like a low drag setup because they're clocking in some mighty fast top speeds.

[00:07:15] It clearly is working out for them, at least in qualifying. And I think this is a great position for them to be in because Emola as a circuit, Kunal, has one of the toughest, toughest, has one of the worst records for overtaking. I mean, Emola, on an average, last three seasons, only 32 overtakes compared to 52 in Miami. So it's going to be very tricky for drivers to pass. And we have seen this in the last four races that we've had at Emola. It's so hard for anyone not starting on pole to win.

[00:07:43] The only way it has actually happened in this circuit has been when, firstly, Valtteri Bottas got outfoxed by Lewis Hamilton with a lucky VSC in 2020. And then the rain messed everything up in 2021. And that's why Max Verstappen won there. But 22, 23, 24, Emola won by pole sitter. So it's clear passing is tough here. And for Aston Martin, they have done their part. And last year, the top three finished in the positions they started the race in.

[00:08:13] Yeah. Could that be the top three? And could it be Lando Norris out of position, etc.? But why don't we take a few minutes explaining what you've just explained about how difficult qualifying is and why some teams actually used the medium tire and not the soft, right? Because the C6, which is the hyper soft, ultra soft, whatever they called it back in time, Samuel, gave more grip, but was not as consistent through the entire hot lap or qualifying lap, as we call it.

[00:08:43] So what did Aston Martin do? They put Lance Stroll out first and they realized that the medium is actually holding very well. And Lance Stroll was, I think, fourth in Q2. And then they put it on Alonso, but he couldn't finish a lap because of the Franco club into a crash. And then it was Mercedes that also learned from Aston Martin. And they put it on to George Russell, who then put it into P3. So the medium tire was more consistent, more predictable through that lap.

[00:09:12] And remember, let's remember the medium was actually, the medium this year was the soft last year. Last year. Softer as well. But yeah, you know, I'm eager to see what happens. In fact, since we are, you know, it's a Ferrari homeland. Both the drivers, Lewis and Charles said, we've actually made some good setup changes to the car. Everything's working as intended, expected. And we have great race pace. But how are we going to unlock that race pace from that low?

[00:09:39] At a track you can't overtake unless there is mayhem, which could also happen. Because we saw the first 60 minutes of qualifying Samuel, we actually just saw 20 minutes of action because Sunoda put it in the wall. And then, you know, the race control was confused whether it was Oliver Behrman or Portoletto who should go into Q2. So that was a 15 minute stoppage as well. So we've gone over time. Let's see what happens when it comes to the races.

[00:10:05] Yeah, I mean, I doubt it's going to be that crazy because both the crashes we saw were a case of the drivers pushing extremely hard. And Yuki Sunoda said that he was ashamed of trying to be a hero. And that was clear, right? He pushed so hard on the curbs. The car bottomed out, just was violently shaken away. And that crash reminded me a lot of Rubens Barrichello in 1994, the way the car just launched off like an airplane into the barriers. And I just had eerie memories, even though I was not there back then.

[00:10:34] But it's like watching the replay. That was scary. So great to see that. But you're right, Kunal, because in the race, it's going to be tough for all these people to pass. And you know what you mentioned about Ferrari having great race pace. They also had great race pace back in 2005 when Michael Schumacher lost out to Fernando Alonso in one of the most epic duels that we've ever seen in Formula One. Schumacher qualified 13th that day and had great race pace. But then again, just the same thing that you said.

[00:11:01] You might have great race pace, but how can you pass so many people at Imola? Those were different days. Cars were narrower. The circuit was even more beautiful back then. But he got stuck over behind Fernando Alonso. Now we have so many more drivers of the same capability and so many cars that have the same level of race pace. And the Ferrari is not that dominant as it was 20 years ago. So I'm genuinely scared and I'm genuinely worried about them because seven cars ahead of them, seven different manufacturers.

[00:11:29] It's wow, man. Did you see Leclerc's eyes after he qualified that low? He was about to cry. It was, I think it was a bit of a surprise. And when we think of it, Samuel, actually, there is no Ferrari-powered car in the top 10 at their home race.

[00:11:52] So there is, you know, anyway, you mentioned Schumacher 2005, 2006 with, and of course there's great memories of him and Alonso going at it year after the other. And maybe that's what we're in for, PS3 versus Verstappen. That's what could happen. Maybe the faster driver will be stuck behind the slower one. And we'll, you know, we'll actually see lots of defensive driving at a track where you can't just flick open.

[00:12:19] I mean, you can flick open the DRS, but you can't just, you know, make an easy move. So we saw what happened in Miami. Okay. So turn one, opening lap one, all for it. And I think with these tires, if they are able to keep in that battle for longer, I think that's what we're going to tune in for. But what else should we talk of? Because tires. Tires. I think tires, genuinely.

[00:12:47] If you're asking me that question, I would love to talk about tires. Because C6, nobody has had a good thing to say about it. And fair play, Pirelli Motorsport, they're doing their part. They have to experiment, right? They've got to give it a shot. They've got to test out different tires. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. But the effort has to be commended. But I still think we should dive a little bit more into how drivers were actually feeling more confident on the mediums, Kunal. And you mentioned it briefly, but I want to go more in depth into it.

[00:13:16] The compromise between absolute pace and just having consistency and comfort on a tire is something that we haven't seen in ages in Formula 1. But I was so, so excited to see that whole choice come about for all the drivers in FP3 and qualifying. Because rarely do we ever see the mediums being used that much. I think last time we saw it was Hungary 24 when we had that step qualifying session. 23 maybe. It was a long time ago. And now we have it again.

[00:13:46] And it genuinely must have been such a chaotic qualifying session for all the teams, just looking at all the data. And now I'm left wondering, what's the allocation like for tomorrow? I can't seem to find it. Who's got how many tires left? That's going to be so important. Yeah, I think Pirelli is yet to release that. But, you know, largely, I believe both. I think it was. It was one set of mediums that both the Aston Martins used because they used it and then they used it again.

[00:14:14] So they were on a used set of mediums in Q3 because they can't compromise race strategy as well. But I clearly don't think C6 is going to be used in the race unless it's a four lap shootout in the end. Safety car, Abu Dhabi 2021 kind of thing. And same thing with George Russell as well, where I think it's going to be one set of mediums that he's used as well. So it's pretty much everyone's kept the two hearts, which is, you know, which was the medium last year. So they know how that tire sort of goes. They're going to try and make this a one stopper sommel.

[00:14:43] They will try and manage pace because the penalty for pitting twice in regular race conditions is very high. It's a 25 second long pit lane ride along with, you know, including stop. No, sorry, excluding stop it. So when you stop, you know, you calculate all that. Even though a stop is just two seconds, you slow down, you, you know, accelerate. That is time loss. So it's about 29 seconds, half a kilometer long pit lane. These teams love to not stop. They will rather manage their tires on track rather than keep pushing.

[00:15:11] But they may not be at such a luxury because if there's a slower car ahead and a faster car is trapped behind and the faster cars attacking, maybe the tires will end up not be, you know, the teams may not be able to manage their tires with their drivers as much as, you know, they would otherwise like to. But what else did we have in qualifying? We had a Sonoda crash. We spoke about that scary one. Franco Cola Pinto had a crash. Yeah. Both drivers. I love these old school circuits.

[00:15:39] You push a little, you hit the edge of the track and then you're in the barriers. In the case of Sonoda, he was trying to carry more speed. He hit some curvy, unsettled it. In the case of Franco Cola Pinto, he had grass, which he, you know, put his left front on. And then he was into the barriers as well. But, you know, they live and they learn, which is great. But I'm surprised you haven't really yet spoken about compass science and how brilliant he was.

[00:16:08] Yes. In qualifying. He's outqualified Lewis Hamilton for four consecutive races. Yes. The driver whose seat he took. And of course, if it matters, he's outqualified Alexander Alban also for four consecutive races. There's a reason why I support him. There's a reason why I support him. It's phenomenal. Well, to be fair to Alex Albon, though, barely anything in it.

[00:16:38] Like, barely anything. Less than a 10. Which is crazy. So just whoever can make the most of it. Yeah. Yeah. That's why they signed him. They elevate each other. They lift the bar up for both of them. And that is so, so important. And we're now seeing both the Williams drivers starting in P6 and P7, which is phenomenal. Even though there's an Aston Martin ahead of him. Think of it. If they have better race pace, they could realistically be walking home with fifth and sixth?

[00:17:09] Potentially fifth and seventh? I don't know. Let's assume the best case scenario, fifth and sixth. That would be 18 points from this race. They didn't even score 18 points last year. I think that's what their total was in all of last year. Absolutely. But just to round this up, Oscar Piastri still has the best average qualifying, which is number two. Or 2.0. That's his average qualifying across seven races, which I think is fantastic and consistent.

[00:17:35] He's been top three qualifying in all races except for Miami, where he was fourth. Then comes Max Verstappen with a 2.7. Then comes George Russell with a 3.4. And then comes Lando Norris with a 4.0. So Lando's there. One quick word for Antonelli. Kimi Antonelli, you know, he was 13th. A bit of a disappointment.

[00:18:00] He had his school friends doing a school trip. I think that was fantastic. That's like stuff from dreams, Kunal. It's the kind of stuff you dream about as a kid when you're in school. Like one day I'll be a Formula One driver and I'll take all my school friends to a field trip and they'll watch me drive an F1 car. And this guy's done it. And they managed it with so many passes because usually you'd never get so many passes.

[00:18:25] And just for everyone, every team gets a certain number of passes to use for guests and sponsors. So I can reuse a pass. Say once I bring you in. Second time I bring Sundar Ramin. Third time I bring Mithila in and I manage one pass. But to bring in 20 people in at the same time, I think Liberty Media has been fantastic to allow such opportunities and drivers. And Sadhana is here saying Carlos fans assemble, which is true. I think one of them is here.

[00:18:55] You are also here. I'm a fan of all 19 drivers, if I may say it that way. But okay. What do you mean? What do you mean? Are you not a fan of the driver that has outqualified both Ferradis at their home race? Oh, I am. I mean, okay. I'm putting you on the spot now. Today, fine. I like the credit where it's due. I think even Lance Stroll, different strategy, made it work.

[00:19:23] I always say it's one thing to get the opportunity. It's another thing to actually convert it. And he converted it. He was outqualified by Alonso again. But that's fine. Again, very fine margins in it. In fact, Fernando Alonso said at the end, oh, I'm proud of Lance. And if I just read out their times, the gap between them was about four tenths, which is roughly the gap that I think they go there as well. One final word.

[00:19:46] What happened in Miami was Albin was knocked out in Q2 when he should have actually gone into Q1, I believe. Right? Was it Miami or was it Saudi Arabia? I think it was Saudi Arabia. I think it was Saudi Arabia. Yeah, yeah. So he was knocked out in Q2 while Nico Hulkenberg was supposed to go into Q something. There was a... No, no, no, no. Why can't I seem to remember? Anyway, there was this one race in the last couple of races, okay, where Hulkenberg was put in

[00:20:15] and then taken out of qualifying one hour after qualifying. And that had impacted Albin's position because Albin should have made it through. It was Saudi Arabia. Yeah. It was Saudi Arabia. There we go. And then what happened this time was Alexander... Sorry, it was Oliver Beeman who crossed the line and registered a time to go into Q2. But the question was whether the line was... Whether the red flag fell before he crossed it or after.

[00:20:43] Was there a lag in the timing and when the graphics show up? Let's remember what you see on TV is actually got a lag because what happens at the circuit is more local and not fired through all the airwaves to us in the world. So that's what, you know, the FIA wanted or race directors wanted to be very, very sure. Race control said either ease in or ease out. We can't make a decision one hour later again. And that's why Portoleto was actually...

[00:21:09] And I love this, that they sent Portoleto out on the fast lane anyway, saying, yeah, we know ease in. We are not the ones, you know, fighting it or we are not the ones debating it. So we are just going to send him out. I think that was damn cheeky. I think that was a little credit to Jonathan Wheatley saying, I know the rules. Just send that guy out. We are in till we are told we are not in. Exactly. But what went down here?

[00:21:32] I think Haas would be hard done by because you need to follow the panel or the flags that you can see in your local sector. The one that Behrman was approaching next, that is his local sector, did not really have the red flag flashing. So technically for him, there was no red flag and he crossed the line and his lap time should have registered, but it didn't. And I haven't really gotten a chance to go through FIA's official wording for that.

[00:22:01] But I'm with Ayao Komatsu on this. It's like if he is not being technically shown a red flag, his lap should not be deleted. That's what my reading of the situation is. Maybe they had it differently. Maybe they would go by just the timing of when they executed red flag all over the circuit. Maybe that one particular timing beam or that one particular panel wasn't showcasing it on time. I'm not sure because we don't have live footage of all of it together.

[00:22:30] But I feel Behrman was hard done by with this one, honestly. Because qualifying is everything here, Kunal. And Behrman's rivals, Anhajar, Astrol and Albon and Alonso are signs. They're all up in Q2. He's not. Q3, he's not. Gasly's up into P10 also. And if I remember correctly, in Q2, Behrman was actually competing with him. He was up around the top 10 as well. So I feel he genuinely would feel hard done by about this. Yeah, I'm waiting to see.

[00:22:58] Actually, I don't know if an official documentation has been put out. I have asked F1 for that as well. But let's see how it all turns out. Okay, one last question before we end. What do you think is happening? Opening lap, turn one, turn one, two. Samuel? I think Franz Hermann is going to fight very hard against Oscar Piastri. And Oscar Piastri will now beat another opponent.

[00:23:27] Because he's already beaten Max Verstappen before at the opening corner. Maybe this time he defeats Franz Hermann, the holder of the lap record at the Nürburgring for GT3 cars. I don't know. But listen, you're taking the middle ground. Yes, he's going to fight. Yes, he's going to attack or defend. But tell me what's happening. Is it a clean lap? Is Max going to do something? No, it's not. No, it's not. I mean, honestly... What's your top three at the end of the first lap?

[00:23:53] I think I'm going Piastri, Russell and Verstappen. Purely because I feel Piastri might hold the upper hand. And again, knowing the situation you'd want to be on the inside at Tamburello. Which is what Piastri is going to most likely do. And then it becomes so hard for anyone like Max to pass. But if Max realizes that this is my only opportunity and that I have to go for it, I get a feeling he will. And if that happens, it becomes easier for the driver in third to get past. Which is why I'm...

[00:24:22] Again, I'm overthinking it. It's like layer upon layer upon layer. But since you've asked me what I feel, this is what I feel is going to happen. But what do you think is going to happen? Of course, it's going to be a... I think both drivers will get a good start. You know, last time, Max actually did not get a good start from pole. And then Piastri jumped in. Let's remember. Wasn't it? Oh yeah. Too many races in my head. I think it's going to be Lando Norris who will not have a good start. And Oscar... No.

[00:24:52] So anyway, that doesn't matter. He's in fourth. You know, he's actually in the... He's in the chaos zone. Below P3, it's the chaos zone. He's got no Ferraris to shield him from that mess. And there's Fernando Alonso. Always very cheeky. So I think there's something that's going to happen there. And the top three is going to just go as is. Max will not go aggressive this time. It just... I mean, do I know this? No, I don't know this. I don't know Max. But I just think he'll realize that he doesn't need to blow it by taking another time penalty.

[00:25:21] And, you know, because that's what happened, right? A couple of races ago, he was quick enough. But he just got a time penalty. And he sort of went away. Red Bulls brought upgrades. They would love to know what can the upgrades actually deliver. These are cooler conditions. It's not as good for McLaren to sort of save their, you know, rear tires, go as long, dominate as well as they did in the last race in Miami and so on. So I think Max will probably play the long game.

[00:25:45] He'll try and see if he can have the battle race long rather than one lap, turn one, turn five, turn 17 long. That's my reading. My top three at the end is going to be Oscar, Max, Russell. That's where I'm going to go. But do you think Max has... Okay, last question. I know we're going long. But do you think Max genuinely has a chance to win? Because I think he does. His pace on the mediums in FP3 today, very good.

[00:26:11] I know track conditions are probably going to be cooler because we're then going somewhat later in the day. But still, like, I liked seeing the way the Red Bull was behaving. And then also I was able to pull out lap times from those mediums. It'll be fun to see if he can replicate that over a longer stint. But they seem to be dialed in on Saturday, Kunal. And that's a good sign. Yes. And, you know, again, what we saw is Max and Red Bull were not finding the sweet spot.

[00:26:38] They turned everything around on the Friday, which is what they're so good at doing. And then they put themselves in the game. I think he's definitely in for a shot. And just depends if he thinks he should be in a shot for all the laps or just the opening lap. That's where we should end, I guess. Yeah, exactly. That's where we should. But let us know your predictions by interacting with us at InsideLineF1Pod. This has been our qualifying review and our race preview. And look, we've been talking about qualifying for 26 minutes.

[00:27:06] We could go on for 30 more minutes because there's so many fun stories. But we leave something for tomorrow. So hope you've enjoyed that. And we will catch you after the race tomorrow to dissect everything that went down in this one. And if you're watching in India, make sure you tune in for the Hindi broadcast and fan code. It'll be a ton of fun. But we'll catch you. Bye-bye.