Australian Grand Prix Qualifying Review

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Five live Formula One.

First qualifying of the year is done.

We have our first look at a pecking order

in F1 2026.

Qualifying is just finished.

We've come out to the paddock,

and it's like we're not even in Australia.

It feels like it's about to rain.

The winds picked up.

It's graying overcast.

I've found my McLaren mechanic, Mark Priestley.

Our BBC F1 reports a Jenny Gowr.

My name's Harry Benjamin.

We're around this little table outside the F1 hospitality

just before we get to the McLaren hospitality

at the top end of the paddock.

But McLaren aren't there.

The reigning champions aren't up front.

It is George Russell, Mark and Mercedes.

By a country mile.

Yeah, by a real margin.

Seven and a half tenths of a second

to the nearest competitor.

So that's a huge gap in Formula One

and absolute lifetime.

Did we expect it?

I think there's a lot of talk about it

from preseason testing.

A lot of people thought Mercedes were

holding back a bit of performance.

They were always going to be a bit quicker

than the time sheet suggested from Bahrain.

Maybe we'll get our answers today

because when they put it all together,

when the session's really counted,

they absolutely delivered something

that no one else could have come even close to matching.

Yeah, incredibly impressive.

Mercedes, front row, lockout, Russell,

Antonelli, the top two.

It'll just do a rundown for you.

If you're joining us, I'd like Hajar

for prepped bull in third ahead of Charlotte Club.

He has three fifth ahead of Lando Norris.

Then Lewis Hamilton in seventh,

Lawson, Limblad and Gabrielle Borsaletto

make up the top ten.

If you're wondering, well where's Max for Staffan?

Well, they actually crashed out at the start of Q1

into turn one, skidded across the gravel

and into the wall with the rear of the car

locking up and seizing.

We'll come on to that.

But we've got our first look, Jenny now,

at how the cars operate.

You've been in the media panel here

from the drivers you spoke to.

What's the general vibe you've picked up on so far?

A confusion, I think, is mostly what I picked up from.

And a lot of people not saying much

when you asked them about how is this different from last year?

How is it to drive?

How are the complexities?

And they're very tight-lipped.

So whether they've been told you can't really slate F1

or what's going on, I don't know.

No one told that to Max for Staffan, did they?

Well, even he was a bit tight-lipped.

Was he?

And gone back on previous comments

and not like laying into it.

So I think everyone's people in open mind

at this point about these new regulations.

But it's obviously very tricky

if you're trying to drive these cars to get it right.

Yeah, but ultimately, George Russell got it right,

nailed it from the start.

I tell you what, should we hear from the pole sitter

that after qualifying on pole?

You know, obviously, they've been so much hard work

on these new engines, these new cars.

I don't believe a single team has put as much effort into this

as we have.

So there's a lot,

riding on this for us as Mercedes.

The team have smashed it in every department.

There's lots of chat about our engine.

People forget, my car and have the same engine as us.

They're, you know, seven times backwards.

So really pleased with the day.

I'm not surprised.

Going into tomorrow, then,

doesn't seem like the threat will come from the rest of the field.

No.

Where will the threat come from?

Well, I think the threat would only come from ourselves,

to be honest, in the sense of making sure

we don't make any mistakes.

The things such as the race start

that was reasonably straightforward last year.

It's now a real big challenge.

Things like the pit stop.

Get in all of the energy in the right window.

That's where we just need to be diligent.

I think he's absolutely bang on as he might.

The only fight they have is between themselves, really.

But is this going to be deja vu from 2014

when we had the last big engine change?

The hybrid engines came in,

and it was dominance from Mercedes.

Well, it's way too early to suggest that.

But I guess if you go back 12 months,

we were looking at McLaren thinking

the only thing that can stop McLaren here is themselves.

And yet, they got halfway through the season,

and things looked very, very difficult,

like there was a real fight on their hands.

Max Verstappen came out of nowhere,

and the championship was up for grabs from anybody.

I know they managed to get it across the line in the end,

but starting with a massive advantage.

I think particularly this year,

when the development race is going to be so fast,

so fast paced,

I don't think we can count at this point.

Mercedes so far ahead that no one can catch them.

What I was going to say is the only day tripped over

themselves last year.

They didn't leave them,

they left everything wide open,

and Max Verstappen charged up.

But it was their own fault that they left that door open.

Absolutely.

And I think the saying could be said this year,

it will be Mercedes fault if they don't capitalize on this

and get as many points at this early stage

as they can to make sure that when people start to catch up

and close that development race,

then they've got all those holes to point.

Do you know what, it's a really good point.

I think if you go back to say 2009,

and you look at the Jensen button era

when they had the double diffuser,

a massive advantage at the start of the year,

that loophole was closed.

Everybody began to develop their own version,

and actually for the second half of that particular season,

I don't think they won a race.

So it was about banking the early points,

and that's what sealed in the World title,

so you're right.

I think that's exactly the opportunity

Mercedes have right now.

They need to capitalize on it.

Well, one Mercedes had a pretty smooth ride all weekend.

The other one far from it.

I think Andrew Benson, the BBC's F1 correspondent,

said in qualifying commentary,

but they're all lap, all session long,

when he did get out,

it looked like Kimmy Antonelli was only a few centimeters

from finding the wall, big crash at the end

of the final practice session for Antonelli.

Amazing work wasn't a gen from the team

to get him out in the first place,

but I suppose he did what he needed to do.

The car was ultimately going to be on pole,

and Antonelli had to be the second fastest,

and he did do that.

I mean, by the skin of his teeth,

it was like watching someone riding a rodeo ball.

It was just, it wasn't easy to watch,

and I think he absolutely nailed it when he had to,

but my word, he cut it so close,

and the team were all there going,

they knew what that car could do.

They've known all along.

That's a thing.

They've known all along through testing,

and we thought it might happen,

but when it pushed him to shove,

they knew they had the best car by far.

They want to capitalize on it,

and Antonelli almost threw it all away,

and when I spoke to him in the pen,

I did say, your own max was sapping a bit up,

because the staff and crash was what led to the red flag,

which gave them the time to actually fix the car and send him out.

Yeah, absolutely did, but for Antonelli,

I'd say what?

We'll have him in as well.

Now, let's hear from the Italian.

Kid me out to Nelly, P2,

but my word, that wasn't an easy and simple session,

was it so close to not actually qualifying at all

in the first session,

because that accident that happened in P3,

and then the fans being left in the car

and falling out on track,

I mean, it wasn't easy.

No, it was a very stressful day,

but I'm very grateful towards all my mechanics,

and the mechanics, of course, of George's crew,

because it was an incredible teamwork,

and they did an incredible job,

and we couldn't even set up the car.

We were so tight on time,

I didn't even think I would have made it,

but I feel very lucky,

and yeah, they did an incredible job,

and this result is thanks to them.

Can I have to buy Max for sapping a bit for that, I think?

Yeah, I think we would have been very, very tight,

probably, with just two minutes on the clock.

But obviously, with the red flag was a bit easier,

you know, it helped to relax a little bit,

but yeah, it was not easy.

Well, it sounds like, then, Kimmy does indeed,

oh, Max, it was happened a beer at the pub later on,

but I suppose maybe this is what it's going to come down to,

because I know it's round one.

I know, Mark, don't give me that look,

but they have this bait in advantage now.

They have a race-winning car,

or one that's capable of winning races.

Certainly capable of qualifying, Paul,

fastest car out there in Australia.

Antonelli's only in his second year at Formula One.

He's still rough around the edges,

clearly, from that crashing practice,

from what we saw last year.

Is this the differentiating fact to hear that

it's going to allow maybe Russell with all that experience

to pull ahead is the time now for Russell,

because Antonelli still has so much an experience.

Yeah, I think that's absolutely right,

and I think also you can take from that.

If you go back again to the McLaren version

of this story last year when they had that big advantage,

they had two drivers that were a little bit more

experienced in their career,

and both of those two, as we well know,

as well documented, ended up fighting each other

all the way throughout that season,

taking points off each other.

There was no clear number one or number two.

I think at Mercedes right now,

even whether it's written in a contract or not,

it's pretty clear there is a number one

or number two jobber just based on experience,

so George Russell has to make use of that.

And the team, I think, will be able to

capitalise on the fact they won't be dealing

with some of the same problems

that McLaren did last year.

That's a good point, actually.

But what I'm fascinating is that when Kimi

shows those flashes of really high quality driving,

I think he has the potential to be amazing,

and it's obviously what Toto will saw in him.

So I just wonder if he can harness that.

It's a bit rough around the edges at the moment,

but is he the diamond writing to shine through?

Well, that's what they heard, isn't it?

A couple of races experience keeping on going.

Could he actually outperform George Russell?

I think you're going to see occasions

when he really pushed George, and George needs that.

The team need that to happen.

But over a long season, and particularly

when he gets into a championship fight,

experience just counts for so much,

and that maybe will be the thing that is really

so much on George's side.

I think it's a real opportunity for him.

It's very early days, as we said,

but it's a real opportunity.

George will be able to see it.

The team will be able to see it.

I think all of the teams around them can see it right now.

There's a long way to go,

but they're off to a very good start.

If you're wondering what's running around on track right now,

and the screening every now and then,

it's the Aussie Supercars, V.A. Engines,

making their way around the Salva part.

It's always good for when you come to Melbourne,

because they're one of the support categories,

so I'm sure they'll make their way back around

in the next minute or so.

You'll hear him.

Yeah, you'll hear him.

Paddock's still fairly busy here.

Music's blasting, come the end of qualifying,

but certainly then it is advantage Mercedes, right?

Third place went to Isaac Hadjar,

but you know what, before I come to Hadjar,

I want to talk about, well, his teammate, Max Verstappen,

because we would expect Max Verstappen to be up there.

He isn't.

He did crash out in the first part of QA.

And actually, Mark, I want to just talk us through

that crash. What happened?

Yeah, I mean, you said, you said,

you said, Kimmy Ozone a beer.

I think he needs a beer after today.

It's been a pretty dismal performance.

Even when the car was running,

it just didn't quite look on the same level as the Mercedes,

or even the Ferrari earlier in the day.

But when it came to qualifying,

we know what Max can do,

but it was in the very first part on his very first lap in Q1.

He went barreling down into turn one, maximum speed,

jumped on the brakes.

Now with these brand new cars,

it's a huge amount of the car's performance

and power delivery comes through the electric motors

and the battery, the electric side of the hybrid system,

which means when you get into braking,

a lot of the harvesting of that energy

happens on the rear axle.

One of the challenges that the teams and drivers have

over the course of this season now in 2026

is managing that harvesting process.

And understanding how it's going to come in,

how it's going to feel,

how it's going to change the balance of the car

on different corners at different times in the lap.

It's unpredictable to some extent.

It's certainly caught max out.

And what happened was,

it started to retardation kicked in.

It started to slow the car down,

breaking on the rear axle,

but more than expected.

And as the car pitched forward,

the weight transferred,

it lightened the load on the rear wheels.

They locked up completely,

caught him by surprise,

and he was a passenger from then on in.

Spinning through into gravel and into the wall.

And actually, it looked,

I don't know if you've heard any more from him, Jen,

but it looked like he hurt his hand

when he got out of the car and hit the wall

as a steering wheel slammed round violently.

I didn't even set a lap time in qualifying.

Did Max Verstappen in the end,

but that's the reason why he's not up there.

And his teammate has how qualified him on debut.

So well done, Hadjar.

I will talk Hadjar in a moment.

Let's hear what Max Verstappen said in the pen.

Hi, Max, did the expected to see you here

at this point in time,

but how are you feeling and how did it happen?

Oh, good for me, feeling good,

nothing broken in my hands, so that's all good.

And then, yeah, I mean,

I have no idea, I just arrived at turn one

and the rear axle just completely locked up

out of the blue while hitting the pedal.

So this is something very weird,

but I've never experienced anything before.

So yeah, just need to understand what went wrong.

How much are you struggling with the car?

What was the potential?

I have no idea.

I mean, I'm not struggling with the car,

it's just not very fun.

But, yeah, hopefully from tomorrow to race,

we can just learn a bit about everything, I guess.

Sorry, yeah, I don't know what to say to Ernest.

So Verstappen then, with a bit of work to do on Sunday,

hands, sounds like it's all fine, so that's good.

But he also told Eric Van Horan,

who is the de Delegraph journalist from the Netherlands.

He said this about the Formula 1 were at the moment.

We know he's had some choice words about Formula 1 already,

the Formula 1 on steroids thing.

But he said to Eric, I'm not enjoying it at all.

Emotionally and feeling wise, I'm completely drained.

This has very little to do with racing.

Energy management has taken a front row seat

in this year's Formula 1 championship.

We've been riding on board, listening to the cars

throughout, qualifying throughout the practice,

and when they are going down straights, they're lifting.

Spote to Lando on Thursday, I said,

what's the hardest thing you've had to get your head around?

And it's well, to go faster, we have to lift.

This is everything that goes against

what's being a racing driver, supposedly,

has not a great start.

It's certainly something new for these drivers

to kind of get their heads around,

because it's very strategic now about how you go racing

from a driving perspective and also from the team's perspective,

more so than ever in the past.

I mean, those words from Verstappan,

I guess we can caveat it by saying,

they have just come from a man who's crashed out in Q1

on the first day of the season,

so he's clearly going to be upset.

But it's not the first time we've heard him talk

like this about this new set of regulations.

So most drivers you'll always find will want to go flat out.

They want to go fast.

They want to be on the limit as much as possible.

That's how they've grown up in racing.

That's not what these cars require from the drivers.

So it's going to take some time for them all to get their heads around it

to get used to it.

But I'm pretty sure if you ask George Russell,

if he's enjoyed today, he'd have a very different story.

Yeah, I think it is very much a result-based, isn't it?

How much you're enjoying it.

But the fact that a lot of the drivers do pick up on the fact that

it's not natural to them.

And someone like Lewis Hamilton has spent

pretty much his whole life driving

and now he's got to unlearn it

and learn it in a different style.

So when we were talking about who is this new regulation set going to favour,

actually, I think it is going to go the way at the moment of the younger guns

who have spent loads of time in simulators,

who know their energy management a bit more

because they've spent time using batteries.

Whereas the old guard, it's going to take a long time for them to...

Well, no, we've not a long time,

but it's going to take time for them to unlearn and relearn how to drive these cars.

Certainly so, I've just spied Esteban Ocon in conversation with Jack Duan,

Ocon, the race driver for house,

and Jack Duan reserved this year in deep talks,

walking down the paddock, not in the top 10 for the house driver.

But talk of Frenchman, what a segue.

Isaac Hadjar, the French teammate to Max Verstappen,

the new teammate to Max Verstappen this year,

he must have lost count of how many teammates he's had over the last five, six years.

Hadjar's probably, well, maybe with the exception of Perez at the start,

but has had the best start to life at Red Bull.

I think he's the first man to out-qualify Max Verstappen on debut in third,

which I think he was a bit surprised about Hadjar.

Yeah, but you know what, Red Bull,

they'll be very disappointed with what happened to Max Verstappen.

They'll be very happy on the other side of the garage

because it's the thing they've been missing.

They've been searching for years, cycling through drivers,

and the thing they've been looking for

is someone who can step up on the days that Max Verstappen goes missing.

Or when Max has a problem, they haven't been able to find that.

So they've been lacking points from one side of the garage consistently.

Well, today, at least today, they found someone who, when Max wasn't there,

was able to step up and deliver a lap.

They're actually, I think, even caught him by surprise.

He was able to beat two Ferraris.

No one really expected that at the start of the weekend, so well done to him.

Still not happy, though.

Well, well, when he spoke to him,

well, OK, go, let's hear it.

His eyes are talking to Jane earlier.

Well, that was all right, wasn't it? Are you happy?

Oh, yes or no?

Oh, come on.

This is real time.

8.10 from D1, so that's not fun.

It's clear that Mercedes have quite a large advantage.

That's for sure.

But coming through and performing as well as you did,

the potential of the car and proving that

because Max wasn't there to be able to do it,

you've got to take something from that.

I mean, I wish Max was driving as well.

Also for tomorrow, to have someone to race with me,

to help me as well, vice versa.

So it's a shame for us.

And also, you know, I will compare myself against Max.

You know, you learn from him, so it's a shame.

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Well, hi, Jonathan.

I suppose all these Formula One drivers

just want the best of the best of the best of the not first.

They're last as far as they're concerned.

I think there is some disappointment there.

Obviously he was saying he'd like to be

with Max alongside him.

So you'd be able to challenge in the race.

He'd like his partner and crime there.

And he wanted to be able to compare himself to Max

with staff, and I suppose,

because you're comparing yourself to the best in the business.

That's a good point.

And also, if he's 0.7, 0.8 behind the Mercedes-Liquar,

then where could Max finish?

Let's say he's three-tenths faster than Hadjar

in an ideal world?

I mean, it is a big, I know, you're right.

We haven't got a direct comparison yet,

but I don't think that Red Bull is capable of getting

that much closer to that Mercedes lap today.

Then we saw Hadjar maybe a tenth or two, I don't know.

Even with the staff and driving.

I mean, we haven't seen it all weekend.

I think that gap from Mercedes, particularly

George Russell, to everyone else,

has been consistently at least half a second,

six tenths of a second, a time seven tenths of a second.

So I think the gap is that's kind of what we've got at the moment.

We've got that big chunk from Mercedes

then backs to everyone else.

I don't know whether Max could have delivered

something extraordinary.

He's done it before, of course, but we didn't get to see it.

But you think Hadjar's on the pace, like, right off the bat.

And that's amazing.

He's also been on the pace most of the weekend.

I think much, much closer than we've seen other drivers

get to Max for staff.

And so, yeah, he's been within a tenth or so.

And I think that's a really good place to start.

So they are off to a great start with a second driver

that they've been searching for for a long, long time.

Well, Hadjar then, the only Red Bull inside the top 10,

third off the line for Hadjar.

Although at the time recording,

Antonelli is technically under investigation

for a couple of pit lane infringements.

So we'll keep an eye on that.

The could change.

We'll have Antio-Benson on the BB Sport website

to keep you out to speed on that, as Oliver Berman

is the next driver to leave the paddock after a hard days.

Work out qualified on the outside, the top 10.

So unfortunately, Oli, you don't get a mention on the pod,

but you can have that one.

Right, Charlotte Claire, fourth.

The other Ferrari Lewis Hamilton down in seventh.

They'll let they add some deployment issues

throughout the course of qualifying.

They were trying to find their rhythm.

And I'm actually surprised, because from practice at the start,

I thought Hamilton might actually

be in the quicker of the Ferrari's in the end,

but not such the case.

Yeah, he's had up until that point,

he's had a relatively decent opening weekend in that.

He has been at least on par with LeClaire.

And as you say, at times, been in front of him.

And that's something he hadn't managed to do

for most of last year.

Coming into the weekend, I think we saw a brighter Hamilton.

Someone was a little bit more upbeat.

Generally, he feels a little bit more comfortable

with his style of car.

But ultimately, it was disappointing for them today, wasn't it?

I mean, we saw flashes of brilliance,

but certainly nowhere near the level of consistency

that we've been seeing from the likes of Mercedes.

So they've still got a lot of work to do

to extract the maximum performance out of that car.

Over a lap, I think we may well see some decent lap times

from that Ferrari.

Over the race distances and longer runs,

I'm not sure they've got anything to match

to Mercedes at this point.

I think there's quite a lot of excitement, Harry, about the start.

And whether Ferrari can match the stars

that went on socials and viral in preseason testing,

which saw Lewis Hamilton rock it up from 10th on the grid.

I was supposed to share the claim.

He wasn't convinced that they could repeat that exactly the same.

But there is a glimmer of hope for them

if they can just take it off the line,

take it to Mercedes at that point,

because their stars are strong and maybe stronger than Mercedes.

So there is still a fight to be had.

It just might disappear after the first turn.

Well, let's hear it from the 7th time, champ.

Lewis, P7, first qualifying of the year, 2020 is such a change.

How does that feel?

It's exciting.

It's exciting.

It's definitely been fun so far, and not an ideal qualifying,

but things happen.

It's obviously very gusty today as well.

But we had some problems within Q2,

so then that kind of set us off for the rest of this qualifying session.

What do you think the potential of the car is at the moment?

Because, obviously, Mercedes seems a country mile ahead of people.

But do you think you can catch them?

I think the big question, I want to understand

why there's such a huge power difference,

whether it's the compression ratio issue

that's not been rectified.

That's what we need to find out.

But I mean, the two tens up every sector

from power to just power alone, so that's not

a straight fight at the moment.

But I think we could have been third.

I think with a clean session, I think it'd

been so smooth throughout the weekend.

I think we could have been third, but it wasn't meant to be,

and I've got to try and improve the next round.

Lewis Hamilton speaking there, yeah, kind of conflicted mixed emotions.

Peace has been there, clearly had some struggles at certain times

beyond his control.

Sounds like he's getting on with his new engineer,

which is not going to be his permanent engineer.

But still, good start to his second year at Ferrari,

where he should feel more embedded.

Yeah, exactly, and like I just mentioned,

I think he came into the weekend,

brighter, happier, definitely loads more, sort of, upbeat,

which is where you need Lewis Hamilton to be.

I've been in the fortunate position of Elena

and worked with him quite closely in the past.

And his performance is very intrinsically linked

to his emotional state at times.

And so we all saw what was really difficult to watch last year

after a very difficult season.

He was so down, his performance has just got worse and worse and worse.

So we needed him to have a full reset over the winter

to come back, feeding fresh.

That's what he's done.

When he references those problems that he's not experienced before,

I think you're seeing that all up and down this paddock at times.

We saw, likes a car or science break down in practice today,

bought a leto, had an unpredictable issue as well.

We're seeing it quite a bit, and that's going to be a feature

of the early part of the season,

because there's so much brand new technology on these cars.

It certainly is.

Louis Hamilton N7th, Charlecliffe 4th.

Let's talk McLaren's Oscar Piaestry,

powered by the home fans,

but only 5th in the end for the Australian

ahead of Lando Norris, Jen, in sick, the reigning champion,

not the start to this new season that he would have liked.

No, but I think they're realistic in the fact

that they can't compete with Mercedes right now.

They got their power unit, I think, just after testing.

Whereas Mercedes themselves, the works team,

have been working on that for four years,

and they have all the knowledge, all the information.

And McLaren are going to have to play catch-up

when it comes to learning this new power unit and the engine

and the battery and everything that goes with it.

So it's very much not the start and the kind of year

that they had last year.

And I just wonder, I couldn't get it from either of them,

but they were competing for a world title last year,

and they're going to have to adapt and redefine

and their expectations this year.

And that could be really hard coming off

with championship winner to then scrubbing around

in the kind of top of the midfield,

and Mercedes is just going away from them.

So, yeah, I think that's going to be hard for them.

Just to slide into it, Adrian Neuys just walking out

with a smile on his face.

I think for Fernando Alonso, getting in there

and doing some laps.

Could be wind.

All right, Mark, no comment.

Yeah, but yeah, Fernando Alonso managed to put a small smile

on Adrian Neuys face, and 17 for him in that Aston Martin Dyer.

Just to go back to the Norris and the kind of situation

and I wonder, is there maybe any pain

that they have to take for developing so late into last year

before fully switching focus to this season?

Yeah, potentially, but I also just think,

I think we've got to give massive credit to Mercedes,

first of all, because the undertaking of 2026

was massive for everybody.

It's the biggest technical shift in this sport

we've ever had in one go.

And that's huge, and the power unit side,

the chassis side, aerodynamics, and everything.

So, first of all, credit to Mercedes.

I think everybody else is on a sort of similar level

around that second group behind Mercedes.

So, it's not that McLaren have done a really bad job

or that they're really struggling here.

I think they're actually more or less on par

with those others around them.

And it's actually Mercedes that are a giant leap ahead

rather than anyone else being struggling far behind.

So, let's not be too critical of anybody here.

I think let's maybe be a bit more celebratory

of how Mercedes managed to nail it all together.

But also, don't lose sight of the fact

there's gonna be a really intense development race

because it's such brand new technology.

So, the order we have right now

is not necessarily audit, it will stay

for the rest of the season.

Well, let's hear it from the reigning champ,

Lando Norris, speak to Jen, a little earlier.

Lando Norris, qualified in P6.

Was that roughly where you expected or did he hope for more?

No, it's probably what we expected, I would say.

To be honest, I expected worse just because

I've hardly done any laps this weekend

and just always been a little bit on the back foot

and always getting comfortable at the end of the session

but then everything stops and you go again

and we've just been on the back foot since FP1, honestly.

So, I'm actually kind of happy-ish with P6.

But when you're only a tenth and a half of P3,

then just hurts that a little bit more,

but I've been a lot further off all weekend

just because of the issues that we've had

and the problems with the chassis, the power unit,

and especially when the power unit doesn't work

as it should, some laps are just pointless.

So, with every lap you do, the more it learns,

the better I get.

So, as soon as you just miss out on laps,

it's just a double punch in the face

and it's frustrating, but therefore,

I'm kind of happy with P6.

Come on, punch it in the face, Lando, and then what?

What are you more surprised by?

Your reliability issues or Mercedes speed and pace

being almost a second above everyone?

No, I think it's an expectation.

I think when you're a manufacturer and you do your own engines,

you know what you're gonna have in the back of your car,

every single thing perfectly.

They could just optimize things better than we can

and we have to figure it out now,

rather than knowing it, you know,

five months ago, six months ago or more.

So, I think we're slowly getting there.

It's just, it's impossible to start the season off

kind of quite as good as a team like that.

A very strong team who run their own engine,

but at the same time, you know,

I think they just have a good car as well.

They probably put more focus on this year than we did

because we had a championship to fight for.

So, we kind of know we're not gonna be fighting

for poles and stuff this early on,

but we're confident we can get it back later in the season.

So, they done a good job and credit cylinder.

So, Lando Norris, they're picking up on the fact

that maybe they are behind the development curve

compared to where Mercedes have been,

where they kind of almost were in a position

where they could afford to write off the season early

and work harder for this year considering as well,

they are a power unit manufacturer as well.

And we also have to bear in mind,

Lando Norris has not had a good weekend so far.

He's lacked running, they had some issues,

they had to change things to the car.

So, he's many laps down.

So, actually, to go out there and finish in six,

it's not too shabby and I think that will improve each week.

I think things will change every week,

especially in this early part of the season.

That's not nail things down right now.

Well, I've just had a text message from Lando Norris

saying, well, that's the season done.

It's round one qualifying.

I don't want people to go away from this,

feeling disappointed and feeling like,

oh, it's going to be another Mercedes whitewash.

Yes, it could be, but don't lose faith in the fact

that the rated development this year

is going to be like nothing we've ever seen before.

It's going to be so dramatic.

Yeah, a crease.

Right, let's wrap things up then, shall we?

And do a shout out for best of the rest.

And that midfield fight,

we've got Liam Lawson up there in eighth.

Ah, I've been limb-blad in the other racing bulls.

We've been shouting his praises all weekend long.

And Gabby Borsanetto squeezed into the top 10

and the Audi didn't get to see ultimately what he had.

Maybe he didn't have much more than 10th in him anyway.

But a technical problem saw him.

At the end of Q2 saw him not take the start of Q3.

Mark, who are you shouting about?

I think all of those guys deserve a positive shout out.

I think Borsanetto and Audi in the bigger picture,

Audi are one of the teams that have come in

with not just a new chassis, but their own power unit.

That's a huge project, a huge undertaking.

And so far, it's delivering with mostly reliability.

They did have that issue on his car,

but also with some performance.

So at the front end of the midfield,

you're probably going to say it is Audi right now.

So yeah, well done to them.

Yeah, Borsanetto thought he could have qualified P8

if they hadn't had that issue,

which saw him not having to take part in the last part

of qualifying.

For me, it's limb-blad.

First ever qualifying left from car.

He's the only rookie out there this year.

I thought he held it together well.

P9, I'm really impressed by him.

I completely agree about limb-blad,

but Fair Play to Liam Lawson, who's just left the paddock

as well for beating him at the very end

and keeping himself in the fight.

But racing rules are clearly produced a very good car.

The two houses, 12th and 13th, expected more from Alpine,

down in 14th and 16th.

The two Cadillacs in their first ever qualifying,

the last of those to set a lap time,

but no mean feat in taking part in that first qualifying.

Perez, ahead of Bottas, 18th and 19th,

behind, as we mentioned briefly earlier,

Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin.

Lance Troll didn't get out in time.

It's a really hard task now for Aston Martin, isn't it?

But Alonso, that's actually, we heard from him speak to Jenny,

actually, didn't mean during qualifying.

Sounded actually fairly chipper,

considering the plate that they currently have

in terms of getting their engine to work.

Yeah, I think they've had to lower their expectations

as to an extraordinary low point.

So anything, you know, even doing laps now

is some sort of success.

I think the bigger picture with Aston Martin is that,

yes, they've qualified for the race,

at least on the Alonso side.

Are they going to get to the checkered flag?

And I think most people in this paddock,

even them think that's highly unlikely.

Colour Science for me is the other person

who failed to have a good qualifying.

He didn't actually get out there at all.

They're reliability at Williams.

They always knew they were going to be up against it,

much like Aston Martin.

And it showed today, and neither driver

were particularly happy.

And they're really behind the curveball.

So they've got a lot on their minds.

Well, last couple of drivers leaving the paddock,

Gabrielle Bautiletto, striding out,

Valtteri Bottas looking fairly cool,

calm and relaxed in his Cadillac gear,

which looks an awful like Mercedes gear

from five years ago.

He's actually gone through the Formula One

management personnel only, no through route Valtteri.

You're not going to make it through.

Maybe there is a route through there.

In fact, maybe we should go find it

because that just about wraps us up

for our qualifying debrief, still many unknowns.

But certainly George Russell and Mercedes

with a big advantage at the top of the field.

But the first race gets underway on Sunday,

lights out from 4am, join us on Five Life.

Thank you, Jenny.

Thank you, Mark.

This has been an IMG production, the BBC Radio Five Life.

A new era of Formula One is about to dawn.

I think the biggest step the sport has ever seen.

There are new rules, new cars, and a brand new team.

In Formula One, it's absolute brutal pure competition.

And the next generation of star drivers

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I'm going to go like a madman.

If you want to make it, first of all,

you have to believe that you have what it takes.

The biggest shake-up of F1's rule book

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I'm Rosemond Pike, and this is F1 Back at Base, a new era.

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