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P1 with Matt and Tommy

Reaction to Miami GP sprint race

02 May 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What were the initial reactions to the Miami GP sprint race?

5.566 - 21.754 Matt

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 Podcast with Matt and Tommy. It is currently 2.53 in the morning, hence why the intro has a slight less bit of energy than usual because I really don't want to get kicked out of this place in Adelaide.

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21.774 - 43.222 Matt

And this one is obviously the worst session of the bunch, so there's not much I can really say if someone knocks on my door at 2.53 in the morning to tell me to shut up, so... Here we are. The sprint race is done. Miami, just F1 racing back on our screens. And it's a delightful sight. You know, I miss Formula One cars so much. I miss the racing, the excitement of qualifying.

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43.243 - 56.937 Matt

Of course, we have another qualifying coming up later today. There'll be a podcast for that as well. So keep an eye out for that. But Tommy, we've watched 19 laps of Miami. How would you summarize your feelings in four words?

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58.925 - 61.509 Tommy

Is this 2025 again?

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61.529 - 63.191 Matt

Okay, perfect.

63.211 - 86.265 Tommy

That's really good from you, actually. Yeah, nice. My brain trying to work something out at this time. Is that four words as I was saying it? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, very much, you know, the takeaway from that was it was different to the other sprint. There'll be a lot of discussions of whether it was better or worse. I'm sure probably a lot of the latter and...

86.245 - 106.144 Tommy

Yeah, seeing not just the pecking order, but a few different kind of themes up and down the grid felt very similar to last year, actually, with the changes that have been made, whether it is the changes or, of course, a track that has never really provided scintillating action anyway, has it? Let's be honest.

106.124 - 131.045 Matt

No, and to be honest with you, as Miami goes, it probably, well, it definitely wasn't the worst Miami race we've seen around there. We saw some action. The buzz low. Exactly. But you know what's not low? The amount of energy they have available to them this weekend, because it is rich. Energy rich. Oh, baby. Right, let's get into some questions to dive through a lot of the big talking points.

131.346 - 158.372 Matt

First one from P1 Patreon member Longo1996. Could this be the resurgence of McLaren again, or will any other team respond? Well, a 1-2 is a pretty good way of going about mounting some kind of comeback. It is crazy to me that the team that did not roll out the pits for Sunday and could not make either of their cars work...

Chapter 2: How did McLaren's performance signal a potential resurgence?

711.76 - 731.481 Matt

It's almost like he forgot he was racing for like P5, P6. And he wasn't out in front 30 seconds clear with Verstappen back in 2021 because they lost two and a half, three seconds to the Mercedes. And then it was game over. It was done. So I found it very bizarre that he was just trying to slow down, trying to sort of think about what Verstappen's trying to do.

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731.461 - 748.39 Matt

Because that cost them a potential to, well, I say them, I think more so Lewis, who fell off at the end as well. I don't know. I think it was just very strange race craft from Hamilton and something that I firmly back he would only do with Verstappen.

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748.555 - 771.981 Tommy

Oh, 100%, because, yeah, he overthought it massively. Max was clearly trying to let him through, and there was also the kind of detection point, whatever you want to call it now, obviously not DRS. Overtake mode. Overtake mode point, yeah. So this is the thing with that, that they kind of...

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771.961 - 788.738 Tommy

saw that moment happening and then thought oh am I going to get the boost am I not and I completely agree in the fact that any other driver had probably just gone through and just put his foot down but immediately probably thinks okay what games is Verstappen playing here and

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788.718 - 814.978 Tommy

overthought it and they lost a heap of time I mean Hamilton didn't have the pace anyway that I think Max would have got got him anyway and obviously did get get him and I don't think it would have helped Hamilton stay with the Mercedes because he was really struggling but this is the the thing I'm really surprised that Hamilton did that because it just seemed a bit a bit unnecessary but

814.958 - 834.452 Tommy

I think it is all down to the fact there's history. There's history there. And actually, I've just read that because we don't get any radio anymore, which is a massive shame in modern Formula One. But Max's radio was, why isn't he overtaking? Come on, man. Oh, my God.

834.432 - 856.453 Matt

effing effing yeah yeah so yeah he was very fair reaction because obviously max he went for a move that was uh very late on the brakes wasn't able to to do his standard like squeezing and also staying on the track at the same time so he absolutely did need to give that position back uh, but I can understand the frustration of like, what are you doing? Just, just go. Yeah. Okay.

856.513 - 862.1 Matt

I've chosen to take, uh, let you through at a point where I will get overtake mode, but just go through. Yeah.

862.441 - 875.256 Tommy

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Very, very weird. Like it is on, it is on max that made that kind of obviously move in the first place. Of course that, that set that situation up there. Yeah. The frustration then of, of basically, uh,

Chapter 3: What factors contributed to Mercedes' struggles in the race?

1334.76 - 1356.75 Tommy

22 seconds, okay, in the sprint. And the fact that, you know, Mac is up there racing the Mercedes and you've got Hadjar who's struggling to get past and racing the Alpines in the midfield. It felt, in that sense, very, very similar. And as the season progresses...

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1356.73 - 1386.433 Tommy

of course there's been a lot of changes in that team in terms of maybe they're not going to be so savage now home and Marco is not there and it's a very different Red Bull to what it was but they equally can't be maybe the fact that Verstappen isn't going for the championship this year at this stage and obviously seems unlikely but you never know Hadjar being off the pace isn't maybe too much of a headline at the moment but it is certainly one to watch

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1387.46 - 1409.957 Matt

For sure, yeah. There are a lot of comparisons to 2025. And for Hadjar, the entire weekend he's been off the pace of Max by quite a mile. You know, there was a quote coming out around him questioning how he's that far behind. He doesn't know, you know, he's good. He basically said, you know, I'm a great driver or something to that, similar to that. So...

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1409.937 - 1433.68 Matt

Yeah, it's a blip in what has been a reasonably good start to the year for Hadjar in terms of his comparisons to Max, but it is hard to know, as we've said many, many times in those first few races, to really match up with car issues and how the drivers are extracting the most out of it. And I think Max did a brilliant job and has done a great job so far.

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1434.061 - 1459.603 Matt

This weekend, for Hadjar not to beat Gasly in the sprint is... That's the problem, right? That's where eventually questions will start to come up. If he can't score points ahead of other midfield teams, then that's when the problems start to come in. But for now, it's a sprint race. He can have an off weekend. It's not that bad. He's very early into his Red Bull main seat career.

1459.583 - 1484.102 Matt

And then as for Hamilton, yeah, he was 15 seconds off Charles Leclerc come the end of that race. Very bizarre to see the drop-off. Must have been tyre-related, you'd have to imagine, or perhaps managing some issues. But whatever it was, if it wasn't issue-related, then it's a poor sprint from Hamilton. You know, the race craft we mentioned, but also pace-wise, he's looked off against Charles.

1484.142 - 1509.085 Matt

So... Yeah, it's an interesting setup for the rest of the weekend. I'm really excited to see how qualifying goes down because I don't think it is just a foregone conclusion that McLaren will lock it out and drive away on Sunday or Monday morning for us. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it, right? It's slightly more F1 than I've seen so far this year.

1510.026 - 1514.65 Matt

And that has not changed my mind entirely about what I'm watching.

1514.63 - 1544.569 Tommy

a glimmer of positivity and hope especially if we get a case where particularly in qualifying that we saw recently where it isn't just two by two all the time and you've got Leclerc at the front Max is now coming to play a bit more Mercedes aren't miles ahead McLaren are now in it this is what we were kind of hoping after testing that you have those top four teams a lot closer

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