Hamilton wins hearts, Piastri wins pole - Qualifying & F1 Sprint Reactions - 2025 Chinese GP Review

[00:00:00] So, we are live and this is turning out to be such a colourful weekend at the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix. But before we talk about everything that's adding colour to it, I think we should firstly take some time to pay tribute to one of Formula 1's most colourful personalities in Eddie Jordan. Kunal, the man with the brightest smile, the wackiest ideas, the funniest jokes and the one who also brought in so many incredible drivers into Formula 1

[00:00:28] and the legacy he leaves behind is of so many drivers, engineers, strategists, mechanics, all of them going forward and doing incredible things in Formula 1 like Michael Schumacher, like Rubens Barrichello, like Giancarlo Fisichella and these are just a few headline names. Eddie Jordan, what a man. I think we have to start this weekend by talking about him. Yes, what a fantastic personality. I've had the privilege of having met him a few times thanks to my time in the paddock

[00:00:56] and of course I think one of the reasons why Indian Formula 1 fans would definitely like to remember Eddie Jordan is because of the number of chances he gave India in Formula 1. Of course, Naren Karthikian's debut and only full season in Formula 1 was thanks to Eddie Jordan with the Jordan Grand Prix team in 2005

[00:01:19] and then when Jordan Grand Prix was sold a couple of Avatars later, it became the Force India Formula 1 team. So the very first Indian driver that we had in Formula 1 was courtesy Eddie Jordan. The only F1 team we've ever had in India, sorry, Indian F1 team we've had was again courtesy Eddie Jordan, Vijay Maliya himself tweeted out good and kind words towards Eddie.

[00:01:47] Very energetic personality, always sort of brought alive a conversation and I remember this very distinct conversation I had with him. So Eddie was very fond of playing the drums. So a lot of people who have shared videos about him or pictures about him after his passing have been with Eddie on the drums. And he was so eager to play the drums for the inaugural Indian Grand Prix at one of the many events that were happening.

[00:02:17] And he kept pushing me to get something to happen with Kingfisher. But of course, nothing came out of it. But yes, what a man, what a legend. One of the most successful recent privateer team owners of Formula 1, if we may call it that, Somal. And yeah, just so much determination to make it a Formula 1 and then stick it there through those thick and thins.

[00:02:43] And Andy Stevenson, one of the longest serving employees of the Aston Martin Formula 1 team, who literally completed like 600 races a few races ago, has been there with Eddie since pretty much race one-ish of Jordan Grand Prix. And to top it all off right, I feel that this is a turning-of-the-page moment in Formula 1. Because that generation of team principals, I think they're all slowly fading away one by one, right?

[00:03:13] Ken Terrell went away a long time ago. Ron Dennis is still here, but not very active publicly. We're seeing so many other team principals of that time. I mean, I remember the whole... Who else did we have at that time, Kural? The whole privateer gang, not many of them are here with us anymore. So it's a little sad that the essence of what made Formula 1 during that time is slowly fading away.

[00:03:36] As is the Jordan technical complex that Aston Martin are completely destroying and building a new one for their own legacy. But the legacy may get wiped off that way. But the one thing that we can do is never forget the people who made the sport what it is. And we should just keep on talking about them and keep on paying tribute to everything that they've done. It is for Eddie Jordan. And what a personality.

[00:03:59] But in his colourful style, we've seen this weekend throw up different things that are almost like a tribute to him. Like Lewis Hamilton's first win in red. I know Oscar Piastri has taken his first ever pole position and that is huge. But are we ever going to ignore Lewis taking a win with Ferrari? Ferrari. I mean, that has to be number one, Kunal. That has to be number one. And to me, this is the moment of the entire start of the season.

[00:04:28] Like if you have to break up the first quarter of it, I think this has to be it. Second race and he's winning. Unbelievable. I think the result, of course, is very encouraging. What was even more encouraging is how he and Ferrari won, especially because just six days ago. And I say six because we're in the sprint race, which is a Saturday. But six days ago was when pretty much every single person, including the two of us,

[00:04:58] pounced on to Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari for being underprepared for what seemed like the most obvious thing, which was in race communications. Lewis, of course, took major offence to it and said, guys, it's just one race. Just calm down, back it off, et cetera. But this turnaround that we saw today, him getting pole and then him claiming that win was classic vintage Ferrari, classic vintage Lewis Hamilton as well. And, you know, I loved how he made a start.

[00:05:28] He had his, you know, arch rival Max Verstappen right next to him. Both of them pointing, you know, their cars towards each other. Lewis knew that he had to stop Max's charge into turn one. He did that. And then I think it was the clean air that made him win more than anything else, more than the driver, more than the car characteristics, more than anything. The clean air allowed him to manage tires, which gave him those seven seconds over those 19 laps,

[00:05:58] which is why Frederik Wasuwer said, good race, Lewis, well managed. What do you mean clean air? Do you mean the clean air from leaving Mercedes and going to Ferrari? Clean air full of new people? Fresh air. What clean air are you talking about? Let's just clear the air with this one. I'm going to give you a very technical answer. So when you're driving on the track all alone by yourself and you're getting air as it falls onto your car, that's clean air. When you're following someone, you're actually in the wake of the car ahead.

[00:06:28] And that's what's called dirty air. I know that dirty air is where a lot of graining comes up, a lot of sliding comes because you're trying to maximize grip. You're trying to sort of catch up with the driver ahead. But when you're in clean air, you drive to what you want to do with that air and you control the pace the way you want to. And I think that's what Lewis was doing. There were instances in the race when Lewis was told and Ricardo Adami, another engineer we made a lot of fun of,

[00:06:55] they were actually saying, we do not need to pick up the pace. You're doing extremely well. And I remember the classic old motorsport adage, Samuel, which is winning the race at the slowest possible pace. And that's what Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari did in that sprint race. But that's what we thought because normally we see in a race where there's a lot of tire degradation or in this case, lots of graining, the leader tried to control the pace quite a fair bit.

[00:07:24] But towards the end, Kunal, I was surprised to see how quick the Ferraris actually were, which leads us to a question that Krishna has actually asked us in the YouTube chat, which is, do you think Ferrari's race pace and deck is better than McLaren? And that I find to be very interesting because towards the end of the race, both the Ferraris had so much clean air that they were the only two cars clocking in 1 minute 37s. The rest, including Oscar, including Lando, including Max and everyone around,

[00:07:52] were doing 1 minute 38s, if not 1 minute 39s. So that has a lot to tell you. So it clearly means that the Ferraris, till that late stage of their race, were managing their tire as well. But there's a caveat and that is clean air, which means that we don't really have an answer to that question as of yet, Krishna. But that's what Sunday is for, Kunal. And we'll find out if Lewis Hamilton can actually do the double and genuinely become the first person to win a Grand Prix over the age of 40.

[00:08:22] Since Nigel Mansell all these years ago, was it? 1993, Sundaram mentioned F1 Stats Guru did in all of his stats that he posted on Twitter. So Lewis has that opportunity. But again, track position seems to be vital here. And Oscar has taken that one up. But we should still stay on Lewis for now. Should we? Should we stay on Lewis? Because you found out a lot more about his qualifying, right? And why it was actually that much better than everyone else. Yes.

[00:08:50] In fact, since we are on Lewis, I must say that Bono, Pete Bonington, his race engineer is still on Lewis. Just as Toto Wolff said in Australia that, you know, I had three drivers I was tracking, Kimi Antonelli, George Russell, and one part of me was still looking at where Lewis is, even though he's racing for Ferrari. But I said Bono is also on Lewis because in Q3 of qualifying, Bono actually said, who's now race engineer in Kimi Antonelli, said, yes, copy that, Lewis.

[00:09:19] And then he immediately, of course, corrected himself saying, copy that, Kimi. But I think Lewis Hamilton is, you know, definitely that enigma when he sort of delivers. And he was so philosophical. He said, I woke up feeling great. I knew I felt like one with the car. And I loved, you know, hearing his press conference after the sprint race, he was, of course, you know, getting his critiques to go off saying, you know, you just give us one race.

[00:09:49] Now there's another race and you're suddenly jumping. Please calm down, as he told Riccardo Arami and the Ferrari team as well. But one thing that Lewis said, and, you know, this is where Lewis Hamilton is box office. He said, to start from first in the Ferrari and winning for Ferrari is really the next level. These are Lewis Hamilton's words. I really hope that he was quicker and qualifying in the grottery qualifying that we had.

[00:10:18] But both the drivers said that they've made changes, which sort of took away some qualifying pace from them. They weren't really comfortable with the car. And they're hoping that these changes help them in the race tomorrow. So would they have a better race car? Who knows? That's probably where they're going as well. But to have Lewis in very much his second race and comprehensively, Samuel, out-qualifying, out-racing Charles Leclerc, the blue-eyed boy, the blue-eyed boy of Ferrari.

[00:10:48] Consistently. That's what, that's the key word. I think in only the practice session, Leclerc was the head of Hamilton. But after that, sprint qualifying, sprint, normal qualifying. It's unbelievable what Lewis is doing. And I think he's redefining the age barrier also. Because with Fernando Alonso, we know that a driver can drive at the age of 40 and do incredible things there. But to win at the age of 40 and to prove that you haven't lost a single, single bit of your winning mentality is unbelievable.

[00:11:17] And you know, it really proves that you can take a driver out of a winning car, but I don't think you can take the winning mentality out of a driver. Because in that sprint race at the start, the way he cut across max, the way he was able to maintain the gap, that just showed me that, wow, this guy still knows how to win. Like he's not lost any single piece of it. So that was phenomenal to see. And when the chips dropped, it was not Leclerc who was ahead. It was Lewis Hamilton consistently.

[00:11:46] That to me is unbelievable. There's one more thing about his sprint race. So while Clean Air helped him, and we should move on to the next topic. I know it's very passionate to keep talking about Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari, but there was one more thing. And I think Oscar Piastri took a long time to clear Max Verstappen. Had Piastri cleared Max Verstappen earlier in the sprint race, maybe he could have gone for the win. So Max Verstappen, who's pretty much been out qualifying

[00:12:15] that Red Bull every session, has been a thorn for McLaren, but sort of helped and aided Lewis Hamilton in his first race win with Ferrari this weekend. And you know the interesting part? You know what Max said after that sprint race on what his intention or strategy was? Have you heard of that Kunal? No. What did he say? No. Take a guess. Take a guess. After a race like that, what would Max Verstappen say? Knowing him and knowing all of his...

[00:12:46] You know, surprisingly, Max is seemingly very... What's the word? He's seemingly very comfortable with where he's finishing. He's not disappointed. He's saying, I'm just putting the car in places it shouldn't be in qualifying and then I'm losing those places or losing a few of those paces in the race. And he's like, I just don't have the pace to run up at the front with these drivers. I have too much degradation. But I'm sure Max... That's not what Max said. He made it even clearer

[00:13:16] and even more direct. He said, I was not trying to pass Lewis or trying to defend from Oscar. So what were you doing? Like, it feels sad to hear that from Max Verstappen because let's understand the gravity of the situation. The four-time world champion and possibly the best driver on the entire grid has accepted his fate and just like a vegetable, if you have to put it that way, he's not attacking or defending because he knows the car can't do much.

[00:13:45] And that is sad because, you know, seeing Max Verstappen and his potential capped off Kunal has to be one of the saddest things in Formula 1 because we know that this guy can do so much more and can be so much more. Seeing him comfortable with it is good because it means he's not doing stupid mistakes and he's bringing home the points and the results which is what Red Bull badly needs when Liam Lawson is all the way back down and doing a Raju Rastog in P20. But this... A part of me doesn't feel happy

[00:14:14] seeing Max say things like that. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, he actually said, honestly, it's not disappointing the sprint result. And, you know, but this is maybe the new Max Verstappen. You know, when he had the dominant car, he wanted to win everything there was to win. Now that he's got a car with limitations, he just wants to score as many points as he possibly can. And maybe finishing third in the sprint

[00:14:43] was the most he could do or, in fact, more than the most he could do. He constantly kept saying we finished better than where we should have finished with our pace. So, Max Verstappen has been fairly good where he is, I guess, some will be on the point, isn't he? Because even in Q3, where did he finally land up? He landed up P4, which is much higher and better than what anyone else sort of imagined he would be at. So, I think this is a Max Verstappen

[00:15:13] masterclass of a different kind. I mean, he was just one hundredth of a second, one tenth of a second away from Oscar Piastri and almost matching lap times with Lando Norris. And almost matching lap times consistently with Lewis Hamilton. I think eight hundredths was the gap in sprint qualifying. In qualifying three finally for the main race, let me just open the gap and check, barely one hundredth of a second. This is brilliant. Lewis and Max are literally

[00:15:42] matching lap times. That's the battle we need to be excited for. Oh my word. Like, even though the McLarens might just run away with this, Lewis and Max and the way they fight that to me, Kunal, is, that's going to be a good race. I don't believe McLarens are going to run away with this and maybe that's down to, yeah, the thing is McLaren had a very strong result here last year. They've been struggling. Both drivers are complaining of drivability

[00:16:11] and could it be down to the new technical directive that's come in where, you know, where the rear wing slot gap that we spoke of is now more rigid. Could it be down to that? Because, you know, the kind of performance advantage they had in Melbourne, it suddenly seems to have gone away in China. And remember, we spoke in the preview, McLaren needs to know how to dominate Formula One if they have a fast car. But I think

[00:16:41] both Saturday and Friday showed that having a fast car is not enough to dominate in Formula One because I think in, you know, in sprint qualifying, they got a little overconfident with doing, you know, a longer run on their set of softs, which they corrected in qualifying itself. But Lando Norris seems all over the place, the person who they, the driver they think is going to get them the driver's championship this year. You know, Zac Brown said we've had the Schumacher era, Senna era, and now it's time

[00:17:10] for the Norris era. I hope the Norris era is better than that. I mean, what do we say about that? Can anyone go and check where Lando Norris really is? Is he also stuck in the shipments that actually got delayed while coming from Australia to China? Because I think the real Lando Norris is still stuck over there. I don't think I've seen the same guy that we saw in Australia last weekend. Like, where is that fearless guy? Where is

[00:17:40] that same Lando Norris who put in phenomenal qualifying lap times under pressure? And today itself, Kunal, we saw him make two major, in fact, three major mistakes, which is, firstly, unacceptable for a championship contender. And you might be saying, why are we being so harsh at so early in the season? Remember last year we looked at that quarter-wise division of where Ferrari lost the championship and it was one quarter where Ferrari missed out on McLaren and that's where they lost it? This could be it for Lando this year.

[00:18:09] One or two bad races and that could mean a bad quarter which could then mean a lost championship. And mistake number one, that mistake at the hairpin during sprint qualifying. Lost it over there, went back down to P6, had no chance to fight for the win. That's gone. Okay. Inconsequential. Number two, sprint start. Put it in weird places. I think he got scared if that's too extreme of a word. There were times where I felt he got caught out in that first lap and he was surprised to see cars on his inside or on his outside and then he had to make

[00:18:38] reactionary moves which ultimately dropped him down positions. And the third one, yet again, the same hairpin and that same mistake while being potentially fighting for pole in that last qualifying lap. So I think three mistakes from a championship contender over a quarter is acceptable. Over one race, it feels a bit odd. He needs to make some amends tomorrow if he's the same Lando Norris that I, among other people, have hyped him up to be. You're right. The variation

[00:19:08] in the Lando we saw in Australia and the variation of what we saw in China. Imagine in the fastest part of qualifying when the track is fully evolved, you're not even completing your lap. Exactly. It's the same turn 14 that's catching you out. And this variation in performance is what's worrying, of course. But, you know, and you talk of Piastri, Krishna saying Piastri is making even more mistakes. I don't think so. At least Piastri with the same gusto

[00:19:36] has been coming in with what we saw in Australia, with what we saw in China as well. He was there in sprint qualifying, in the sprint, and in qualifying as well. And we have to clarify that comment, you know, that Oscar Piastri made, which is very interesting for you, Krishna, because he said, that was the hairpin of my life. Okay? And he actually clarified this post-qualifying in the press conference when he was asked what did he mean by that.

[00:20:06] He said, coming up to that hairpin, he was actually two tenths down. And he had almost decided to bail out on the lap, which means he would have done what Lando Norris did in SQ3 and Q3, which is take the turn but just drive off straight into the pit lane. But Lando Norris said, sorry, Oscar Piastri said, I gave it everything. It was full send and it clicked and he actually got back all that time. And he made up more time in the final few corners, which is why Oscar Piastri said,

[00:20:36] that was the hairpin of my life. Beautiful thing I love about the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit. Samuel, when somebody aborts a lap, you actually see it in the back with the driver just going in straight into the pit lane at the corner of the circuit. And you're like, oh, that driver's bailed. But yeah, Oscar Piastri, first ever pole position in Formula One. And again, in the preview, we said this has to be Oscar's most important race weekend of his career

[00:21:06] if he wants to be considered as a title contender, not amongst all of us, but even inside McLaren. So not only is he up against Lando Norris, which he is, but he's also up against Lando Norris, which is, you know, which has his big variations in performance. And that maybe just helps Piastri, you know, prove his point that I am a worthy title contender as well. Absolutely.

[00:21:35] And full props to Oscar Piastri for this. We've been waiting for this moment for so long. And for McLaren, it's a good omen because Sundaram has mentioned a great stat on his Twitter, which is the 13th time both drivers of a team have claimed pole in the first two races of a season. And this is the 13th time it's happened. And every time it's happened in the 21st century, that team went on to win both championships. And I remember this with Red Bull back in 23 also. Verstappen in one race, Perez taking pole

[00:22:04] in the other one. That also then became a streak that they went on to carry. And for McLaren, it's a good omen. But it's also slightly scary. And I know I'm still sticking on Lando Norris. But when was the last time we saw both the McLarens actually deliver? Like, both of them. Like, one and two. Long time ago because you could, yeah, one could argue... Qatar. It must have been Qatar, yeah. Yeah.

[00:22:34] Possibly, right? Because one could argue that Sainz-Norris was the strongest pairing in recent times. But at that time Norris was the rookie. And before that we had all the world champions racing but the car wasn't there. So it's been, I think it was 2014. Then if you go back to when actually two strong drivers, especially when Magnussen and Jenson Button took podiums on the opening race of the season in Australia. But anyway, are we still on McLaren

[00:23:04] or are we moving on? I think we'll know more if McLaren have really been taken aback by this technical directive tomorrow as well, seeing how they fare in the race. And it's, again, one of those, you know, something we didn't highlight upon as much, but all the drivers have been saying how this is one of the best track layouts to go racing on on the calendar. And Alexander Albin said this,

[00:23:34] Fernando Alonso said this, Oscar Piastri after his pole position said, this is one of the most complicated corner sequences that you can find at a circuit. And I think that complication is also one of those things that's caught out Liam Lawson because I know we haven't really spoken about him. We speak about everyone else, but Lawson being P20 in SQ3, P20 in Q1, or not SQC, but sorry, P20 in sprint qualifying and P20 in

[00:24:03] qualifying as well. Incredible stuff. Who would have imagined?

[00:24:49] Oh, okay. I think Kunal's dropped, guys. So we're just waiting for him to come back. And in the meantime, we should still talk a lot more about what happened with McLaren before we get to Liam Lawson because that's a point I really want to talk about when Kunal gets back. And by the way, keep sending in your questions on YouTube. That's the best way for us to keep on engaging with you. But yeah, I see firstly a question about Max from Arun saying,

[00:25:19] where do you think Max is going to finish in this race? It's a little bit tough, right? Where does Max Verstappen start yet again? Let me just take a quick look at my starting grid once more. Verstappen is fourth. It's Piastri, Russell, Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton. The Red Bulls' long run pace is a bit of an unknown. Verstappen said that he's not as quick as the McLarens or the Ferraris and he's sandwiched in between them. But the interesting thing is we don't even know what George Russell's pace is like because in the entire race,

[00:25:49] last I remember he was pretty involved in lots of scraps around and there wasn't really a lot of clean air. And I'm not sure how good that Mercedes is in terms of managing its tires. So even that's a big unknown. So it ultimately comes down to race craft, which means the start and how you manage overtaking around it. And it also then gets down to making the right calls in terms of strategies where Red Bull normally have been the benchmark in terms of decision making on the spot, coming up

[00:26:19] with lots of feedback from the driver that then the engineering team can then use to come up with a recommendation that the driver then approves of. That structure is perfect with Red Bull because GP and Max have been with each other for the longest time and it really works out well. So that's a place I'd favor Max. But then in a race that's so long, I would favor the cars that are better in terms of long run pace, especially when Verstappen has been so open to accept the fact that, yeah, I just don't have enough pace and

[00:26:48] that'll be hard for me to keep up with the others. So I'm saying Verstappen finishes fifth. I get a feeling Ferrari might have a bit of an upper hand in terms of long run pace. Maybe that's the bias I have from the sprint race today. But Krishna is right with that. He said that nobody tried hards and we don't know anybody's pace. Exactly. Maybe I am being biased in my decision in saying that Ferrari had better pace, but we really have to wait and see how the hard compound tyres actually work out. And interestingly

[00:27:18] enough, this weekend nobody has actually tried them. Where will you try them? You need to try them in a practice session. And we haven't even had two practice sessions, just one of them where the teams were just dialing in their setups, trying to figure out their qualifying pace and everything around it because that's going to be so crucial. The sprint was literally a learning for the teams on how to manage their medium tyres. So the hard tyres are basically unknown and that could be a big factor in changing things. The Ferrari this year has actually worked a lot in terms of getting more temperature into

[00:27:47] their tyres. That's what the technical director like Sarah said at the start of the year. And that's what they've constantly been working towards the last couple of years as well. How do we make sure that we use less of the tyres, make sure it's a little bit more kind the car, and how can they also fire it up quicker? So that's what Ferrari has worked on. And that's going to be the big unknown as you come back, Kunal, that the hard compound tyres, nobody's actually given them a shot. And just like you came back from the dead,

[00:28:17] I think the hard compounds are also going to come back from all of their packing and all of their shelters to be used for the first time in the race. And we know what you can deliver on the live stream, but the teams don't know what they can deliver with the hard tyres, which is such a big unknown. For all you know, the Mercedes, which is already known to be a bit of a tyre whisperer, could be the best team on the hearts. We just can't tell, we just have no data to compare. Which is actually a great point because George Russell has just put himself in a fantastic position to challenge for the race win.

[00:28:47] And why do I say that? Based on Friday's running, Mercedes had the least amount of degradation amongst all the top four teams. And yes, what happened to me is I had to do what Carlos Sainz did in the sprint race, which is go and take a pit stop, even though it wasn't needed. So my apologies, I got kicked out of the stream. You know, technology is dependable, but not when we're doing a live stream. It's the second time in succession when we've been kicked out of a live stream. But somebody asked, what do you

[00:29:17] think Max is going to finish in the race? Wow. I said fifth. Yeah, I don't think it's top three. I would have said fourth or fifth as well. And nobody knows the hearts. Yes, Krishna, that's true. But we'll be interesting to see how the Grand Prix goes. The resurfacing has made a big difference. George Russell actually called it as smooth as a bowling alley when he was asked what difference the resurfacing

[00:29:46] has actually made to the race circuit. It's crazy. And you know what that's doing? It's actually creating a reverse problem because with Formula One teams in cars, they're normally hunting for more grip. They're like, can we find more grip? Is there more in the track? Is there more in the surface? Can we put more downforce to find that grip? The surface is just so good in China that the tyres are getting ripped up by just

[00:30:16] how grippy it is. You've also faced that same scenario, haven't you, Kunal, where you go and walk on a go-kart circuit and it's so grippy that the soles of your shoes actually tend to get unstuck. You've faced that before, haven't you? Yeah. In fact, Liam Lawson in SQ3 couldn't cool down his tyres enough. Okay, which is the opposite problem. We usually have had a problem where tyres would just not pick up enough heat. You don't start a lap with the tyres in the right temperature, window, etc.

[00:30:45] And Lawson just said I couldn't cool them down enough. And poor chap, you know, he said there was traffic, the window of operation of this car is so narrow that he just cannot get it to work for himself. But in fact, even in qualifying today, we saw drivers doing double cool down laps, which sort of confused a lot of commentators saying, is there a circuit message from the race director as to why we should be going down slow around the circuit? But it was actually

[00:31:15] drivers doing double cool laps. So it's been wonderful. I mean, even qualifying, if you were to just look at the gaps in the first two races in Australia, the gap for pole position, between pole position and P2 was 0.084. That's eight hundredths of a second. What's the gap in China? 0.082, which is still eight hundredths of a second. I don't know what the third race on the calendar is. My brain is all over the place. I think it is Bahrain, isn't it?

[00:31:46] I think it's going to be 0.080. We'll only keep getting two number of the calendar. I mean, there are other things we're working on that are awfully close now and that makes me flicker a little bit because that weekend is going to be busy for all of us. Kunal and I and Sundaram are working on something really big in the meantime, which we can't share yet, maybe on the day. Sundaram's even traveling to the Bahrain

[00:32:16] Grand Prix. Yeah, that's correct. It's phenomenal. That'll be a big weekend for us. But I think we should be on the stream for the last five odd minutes because we then need to prep for other stuff as well, which means we have enough time, our producer says, for three big points. I think one of them has to be Carlos Sainz and Williams. And I'm saying Carlos Sainz and not Alex Albon for a reason because the gap between Sainz and Albon Kunal was two tenths. The difference in their qualifying places however, that's a

[00:32:46] different story altogether. Sainz ultimately qualified in P15 and then he was two tenths away of Alex Albon who then ended up qualifying in P10. It's mind boggling. Two tenths between all the cars in Q2. We've died for these days, Kunal. Do you remember how boring it used to be back in the day? Oh yeah, two tenths would, I mean eight tenths could be the gap between P1 and P3 with you know the

[00:33:16] second driver of the team that's taken pole would probably be second. Max, thank you for reminding me that it's Suzuka next, which means yet another very early morning for me. I was up at four in the morning for the sprint qualifying and you know my daughter was like can I also wake up and watch the race with you. But you know Alexander Albon actually said it's one tenth that's separating all

[00:33:45] the midfield teams and I would count Sauber and Haas as having made a step as well because guys for only the second race has passed in 2025 but all ten teams have made it out of Q1 at least once this season. Isn't that amazing? Only two qualifying sessions have happened Samuel and all ten teams have made it out at least once.

[00:34:17] This is Formula One. This is Formula One. Didn't Gabriel Botleto also qualify Hulkenberg today? No he didn't right? Hulkenberg the other way around this time. I think in sprint it was different. I think Botleto was ahead but Hulkenberg pulled up his socks so there's competition everywhere. Who is your favourite rookie? Who is your most impressive rookie? We of course have the Grand Prix yet left. I just remind myself the early morning means I thought yeah it's Sunday today but who is your favourite rookie?

[00:34:48] I'm slowly and if slowly means within two weeks I'm slowly becoming an Isaac Haja fan. It's amazing what he's able to pull out from that car. Last weekend we were all heaping praise on Yuki Tsunoda. Today Kunal Isaac Haja has beaten Yuki Tsunoda. Did you expect that honestly? I did not know I don't think I expected that but we've got to offer context. Yuki just ran out of the road literally

[00:35:17] at turn 13 on his fast lap in Q3 which is why there's a half a second gap between them. Sounds like a driver thing to me. He actually took the blame on himself saying I ran out of road but truth be told it was the third sector. It was after the fastest corners. I wouldn't be surprised if it also down to tyres just not sticking it in. But hey Isaac Hartjar got it to stick. I'm not saying that Yuki did well or didn't do well. I'm just reporting on

[00:35:47] what actually happened to Yuki and the very fact that the two racing bull cars were in the top 10 was fantastic because you had how many teams in the top 10? Williams made it there. Racing Bulls made it there. Mercedes there was one Red Bull there was one Williams and then there were four other teams. So six teams made it to Q3 which I think is

[00:36:17] pretty fantastic. But sticking to Isaac Hartjar I've always been a fan of him even through Formula 2. The minute he finished his lap time which was again half a second quicker than Yuki Sunoda he said I think there was more lap time in it. And his race engineer said you at least give us a smile now. I thought that was pretty cool and I would say Somal that the racing bulls driver pairing seems faster to me than the Red Bull racing one. What do you mean driver

[00:36:47] pairing? Hartjar and Sunoda are stronger as a driver pairing. Pairing? You mean there's a pairing at Red Bull? Which could get unpaired anytime. That's also true. Yeah. If we call that a pairing my god they're as paired together as wow let me think about it sorry it's IPL season

[00:37:17] so I'm thinking a lot of cricket these days do you know when KKR actually won 2017 first time they opened up with Sunil Narayan and we were all thinking what the hell is a spinner doing up there at the top of the field that's how dysfunctional it all seems like they have a proper fit for purpose opening batsman who's trained for this circumstance to play 140 KPH balls and he can attack and can defend he can hit on the off and can hit on the leg can hit in the back at the front as well and then there's Sunil Narayan it feels like that it feels very disjointed it's like

[00:37:47] is there even a team is there even a pairing what's it like it's like the Brazilian football is Hulk's leg one of them is gigantic the other one is so skinny like what the hell is going on here I can't even call it

[00:38:23] top teams it's a racing bulls driver that's been the quickest it was Yuki Sunoda two times and then Isaac Harjar today that's how quick that V-carb car is which is also what Max is saying it's a fast car it's a balanced car and I think it's also got a larger operating window which is what drivers would love to have any time in a racing car yeah

[00:38:52] and I just feel for once it might just be easier for Liam if he was in a V-carb instead of a Red Bull feels daunting but okay we need to talk about other points too Jack Doon had a bit of a tough weekend and has been having a tough weekend so far 10 second time penalty to be added on to his race and two penalty points for the incident on Bortoletto I think they were all losing their head and you know the only thought I was having in that period

[00:39:22] was why is Carlos Sainz in the middle of a battle with all these thugs he doesn't belong here did you see that battle during the sprint that was crazy yeah I mean I think Bortoletto has been fairly impressive again he was one of the rookies you know that's another thing about the rookies yesterday's qualifying session it was Bortoletto who impressed again out qualified Hulkenberg put it there this time is Isaac Hartjar so again even the rookies are going

[00:39:52] round robin Kimmy Antonelli has been fairly stable as well so at the end of the day I'm guessing Carlos Sainz will only get quicker he's saying he needs more time in that car especially in qualifying trim and we haven't seen him in race trim literally speaking because in Melbourne he had a crash in the sprint race he wasn't in the point so they pitted to make some changes and test something

[00:40:24] got a very strong race car so I'm excited to see how the two Williams go tomorrow as well yeah lots to look forward to it's going to be a really fun Sunday with a lot of stories and it might not be the most dramatic race but we can expect Tyra to play a major difference so Kunal if you have to give people a short preview of what to expect tomorrow what would it be and why will Oscar Piazdi win this race I've already said it

[00:40:54] he's going to tell us why work backwards I

[00:41:29] watch watch out for the starts over there watch out for the inside there because that's what we saw in 2016 and also in the F1 Academy race today where Chloe Chambers just sent it

[00:42:19] to also on social media as well where Uttara will be very gladly having a look at all of them and creating some sort of sense of who the people think is going to win I'm saying Oscar I would say Oscar yes absolutely I think I'd love to see papaya rules where Lando Norris is told to not attack Oscar Piastri a reverse of what we saw especially with George Russell there even more

[00:42:49] reasons for papaya rules to come in but I think we will see a Ferrari on the podium Max is asked or Arun is asked for a full prediction Oscar Piastri for the win maybe George Russell will stick it into second or maybe they'll have Norris in second and the third spot is between Russell and

[00:43:21] Sema Adwait Sanjay all of you who have sticked on Krishna as well who are sending in some lovely questions we'll be back post the race tomorrow as well I think an hour later or three hours we're just sort of deciding on that but the best way