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Chapter 1: What were the highlights of the Barcelona-Catalunya GP qualifying?
Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. I don't want to do this one. I don't fancy it. I'm not in the mood. I'm really not in the mood, Tommy. Why is that? Shut up. See, this is why. You're P5 and you're strutting around the place like you're happy as Larry. But I'll take a P5 right now, that's for sure. Welcome, everybody.
We're going to talk about qualifying for the Barcelona-Catalonia Grand Prix and a great qualifying session. To some degree, it was. Depending on who you support, of course. And yeah, it was surprisingly entertaining. I think qualifying has obviously been under quite a lot of scrutiny this year, but good battle for pole and very close battle for pole indeed. Yeah.
Indeed, but we begin at the very beginning with Q1, where the bottom six were Ocon, Albon, Perez, Bottas, Stroll and Alonso. So by the emphasis on Stroll, this is the first time in 43 Grand Prix that Lance Stroll has outqualified Fernando Alonso twice. For the main weekend, right? That's my understanding. For Grand Prix qualifying, yeah. Yeah, for the proper one, the big boy one.
So that is a record that is now shattered in pieces. It was a small margin between Stroll and Alonso, literally in their own league, but in a bad league. I'm talking about the bottom league. The dustbin league. They were a second off Cadillac, those two, fighting around in quite literally the dustbin league. But Lance Stroll, mate, Fernando Alonso's home track...
To be outqualified is simply, to be fair, as much as we're kind of like jesting, I reckon Fernando is actually devastated. Yeah, Alonso will be hurt by it because he loves to share the fact that he absolutely whitewashes people in qualifying and things. Have you seen what Lance Stroll said afterwards? He was absolutely buzzing about it.
He was asked in the media pen, this is from Nate Saunders, he asked Lance Stroll how he felt about Fernando Alonso's 42 race qualifying streak being over and Lance Stroll's reaction was, I don't care. And then he asked what it would mean if it would mean more if the team were up in Q2 or Q3. And he said, I don't know. I don't give an S.
Ah, so that is someone that does give an S because it's quite an embarrassing record to have finally broken. And obviously just how bad Aston Martin are. They're just all sick of it, aren't they? Yeah, they really are. And if the rumours are anything to go by, Alonso might be off to Alpine, which again, back to Alpine to be reunited with Flavio Briatore.
That's the last thing that we've heard is that they're pushing very hard to get Fernando back.
at that team but that is a question in itself isn't it of you know to be fair there is a question around the fernando lonza retirement which we'll go into now from p1 patreon member rosie rangetsu what are the chances we see a fernando retirement announcement in the near future aston is still at the back of the pack and i have no doubt he's gutted qualifying last at his home race
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Chapter 2: How did Lance Stroll's performance impact Fernando Alonso's qualifying record?
Because you go to Alpine, if that is a genuine possibility, which seems to be the case, you are solidifying like maybe a chance of some scraps of points. Or do you stick with Aston Martin and Adrian Newey, who Lawrence Stroll has brought in specially to try and keep Fernando there, to then bin them off after a season because they're terrible? I don't know.
I feel as though Fernando would probably still lean more towards staying at Aston Martin because he wants to win a world championship. He wants to win races. He wants to be on the podium. And are Alpine going to be able to do that in the next year? I don't think so. No. No, they're certainly not going to be able to. And let's not forget Fernando Alonso left in the first place.
His first retirement was because, and doing Le Mans and IndyCar and things like that was because he wanted to just win again. And he wanted to know what that feeling was like because he himself said, well, if you're not driving a Mercedes or a McLaren or a Red Bull, you can't win or whatever. So like any of those top cars.
and he's not going to have an option to go to any of those top cars again and alpine is basically yeah him fighting for maybe he can still show what he can do and get the odd p7 or maybe like a crazy podium like gasly uh has done in those moments but is that enough for him i personally think it is i could see him leaving aston martin he loves to hop around teams it would be his fourth time alpine he's got the connection there with flavio briatore and he doesn't want to end his career
I think Aston Martin is an absolute dumpster fire at the moment. I think it's just getting worse and worse. They're not going anywhere. They are so far behind Cadillac. I don't see any progress. The mood of both drivers and just everyone in the team makes it feel like
that they're not going anywhere so i don't think even the joy of thinking about like oh adrian knew he's going to find this magic thing uh like a double diffuser and suddenly we're going to be amazing i just i really don't see that happening even with fernando alonso's luck i mean watch alonso's luck that they're amazing next year if he does leave But I just don't see it happening.
And Aston Martin are getting worse, if not better. You know, they've not made any improvement. And Cadillac are there fighting, almost getting into that kind of Williams territory and Haas. Aston Martin are doing absolutely nothing. So...
It's a shame for him to end his career this way and even more embarrassing for it to happen at Barcelona because he'd have been dreaming about this moment, probably thinking that I could win this race in January, for example, when everyone was actually hyping them up. Adrian Newey, what can they do? And now he's last, literally last.
For the first time in his career, qualified last, obviously without any technical issues and so on and so forth. which is not a stat I think he ever would have wanted to have.
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Chapter 3: What were the main surprises in Q1 of the qualifying session?
And you mentioned the rear diffuser. or like you know coming up with something crazy it's an engine reg like there's there's only so much you can do with the aero these days to to make up the time it's all about the power really the chassis is not great either for aston martin as we know um but yeah they've just got so many limitations at the moment that
I think that they can make big improvements. They're a second behind Cadillac around the track where no car can hide. So they are clearly miles off. And I feel like they can make big steps towards the midfield. But then to take that extra step towards the top four teams seems nigh on impossible. So it's a very difficult decision for Fernando to make. That is for sure.
Let's now go to Q2, where the bottom six was Lindblad, Bortoletto, Colopinto, Gasly, Behrmann and Sainz. Big talking point, of course, Nico Hülkenberg not mentioned because he made it to Q3 for the first time this season. Very, very well deserved after all of those 11th places. He finally made it. Arvid Lindblad, I think, will be a little bit disappointed, albeit, you know,
P11, P10, that's kind of all he was going to be. Maybe fighting Lawson for P9. That's all that was on the table for the midfield today because the top four teams, again, miles clear.
So I don't think I would be too disappointed, but I think he made a mistake on his final lap because he was sitting very pretty ahead of Lawson after the first runs, but then wasn't able to improve because of that last lap. No, V-Carb have looked very strong this year. Lawson has been brilliant, it has to be said.
And yeah, I think Lindblad would have definitely got through had it worked out for him and had the pace to. But yeah, Hülkenberg snuck through and yeah, it's a missed opportunity. Of course, he is 11th, so still not outrageously bad because had he got through, he's probably finishing 11th.
well someone finished 10th uh we'll talk about him later but uh obviously like at the back end of of oh yeah god i love how i was talking about the top four teams and yeah it was a fight for p9 p10 it was actually a fight for p8 sorry exactly yeah yeah yeah cool cool cool thanks for reminding me yeah really i genuinely had blocked out my head for for a second
But yeah, it was interesting to see that. Of course, Bortoletto, P12 for him, not too disappointing. Then the two Alpines, Colopinto, of course, out-qualifying Gasly, which in the head-to-head, Colopinto's looking pretty good this season, especially when we thought of the pressure that he might be feeling coming into 2026.
Then you have Behrman, who out-qualified Ocon, who we didn't mention in Q1, actually. Ocon, of course, out-qualifying.
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