Previewing the Austrian Grand Prix Race

Five live, Formula onene Welcome to a checkered flag review of qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix and sppoiler alert coming your way. It's George Russell on poll. Yeah, qualifying ending in curious conditions at the Red Ball ring, joining me to discuss What on earth happened is multiple formula E race winner, Sam Byd and the BBC's FN correspondent Andrew Benson Sam it really was a bizarre end to qualifying with George Russell setting poll but confusion over yellow flags for Max Verstappen's high speed crash in turn nine. It was, wasn't it? Harry, hugely confusing to the point where when we were watching live We were all but convinced that it was going to be Charles le Clerc, Lewis Hamilton front row. And it was actually our producer Paddty going, No, no, no. you need to be watching George Russell Because we all thought that it was done and dusted when we saw Max Verstappen going off on the exit at turn nine. but George Russell knows the rule book very, very well He does. There are light panels, there are marshallals with manual flags being waved at the track. and for George Russell, he received a single waved flag on the on the panel flashing for Max Verstappen's crash, which means he lifted off, which we heard and we saw Unlike with a double yellow, Andrew, where you have to slow down abort the lap, be prepared to stop. He didn't need to do that. He knows the rule book well and ultimately quick enough in the first part of the lap to get Pull. So what's the question here? Is it the fact that a crash for Max erstappen in a high speed part only ended with a single yellow w flag? C'll comees to that question in a minute, but just to clarify the situation with the flags, it is absolutely true that both Antonlli and Russell got the same flag indication, which was a single yellow. Single yellow means you do have to slow down. you can't set a faster time basically, but it's not as strict as the double waved yellow, which as you say, means you have to slow down and be prepared to stop. So if you all racing drivers know how to be clever under a single yellow and Russell has been exceptionally clever in this situation by the fact that he'd done a stonking lap up to that point, he was talking about just he didn't know where it had come from. it was so good And he was a bit of a shame that he couldn't finish it because he reckon could have been three or four tenes quicker. Be that as it may done the right thing and the stewards have agreed with him that hes slowed down sufficiently But the second question is, Turn nine is a very fast corner. one hundred and forty miles an hour, something like that. Max Verstappen had a big crash there He's got's a fast enough corner that he skiddered across what is a very large gravel trap and hit the wall And they've only shown a single yellow flag for twenty seconds. It does go double yellow but only after Russell and Antonlli have passed. And given Russell was the last driver to set a time pointless to put a double wed yellow out after that because no one's on the limit. So while there are no questions over Russell's behaviour, in fact, plaudits for Russell for being so sharp, and Antonlli's kind of already ruing not knowing the rules as well as his teammate does There are serious questions as to why it wasn't a double yellow quicker. I would say. I don't know what Sam thinks about that I agree with you Benny, I don't understand how that's not a double yellow immediately or even a red flag to be honest. you know, I know different tracks need different officiating, but that happens in Monaco. it's in the media red due to the proximity of the cars and the barriers I think it should be the same Ewhere, to be honest, if a car goes off like that I think that's got to be a double yellow or a red. I don't see how that's a single yellow. Yeah, because it wasuck in the gravel. Verappen was still in the car. They they wasiously wasn't in the gravel. He was in the wall., exactly. through the gravel. Exactly. Hit the wall quite hard. The driver is still in the car which another straight away. If another car had had a similar accident, that could have been extremely dangerous There's no taking away from what George Russell did He he did everything correct We're questioning, I think is the FIA's decision to just put a single yellow. Well I don't get it. Is this then a failure on the part of race control Um, I'd say so and I think Do you know what? I just don't like this rule. I don't like the rule where, you know you can go one thousandths of a second slower in that sector and go, look, I went slower. it's all fine when there's a car in a dangerous situation. If that was a race situation, it would have been in an immediate virtual safety car, which slows the cars down quite considerably So that nullifies any danger for the marshals and for the driver that is having an issue or has gone off. And in qualifying, you don't necessarily have that Um you know, how can you but in the rule book it says you've got to be prepared to stop and stop safely When you're going through a corner at one hundred and fourty, one hundred and fifty miles an hour, how are you prepared to stop safely? So I feel like they they need to tweak the rules there slightly because they doesn't really add up I would agree. And I also think and we'll hear from George in a moment, but we've watched some of the footage back on replay and in slow motion to try to get an understanding. But as Andrew is saying, it's a fast corner anyway You know what it's like sitting in the driving seat of these cars? It's a quick glance and you've got to be able to glean exactly the information that is being displayed to you. That's ultately what scuppered Kimy Alli. He thought he saw double yellows, which is why he aborted his lab. George saw a single yellow and used the system well enough All it takes is for a one wrong glance in a high speed moment like that You think you'd be, if you're race control, you would r on the side of caution on that front And you would either immediately called a double yellow or as we were all I was anticipating pretty much a straight red. When that came out, I thought no one's going quicker. That's it Charlotlelu' got it in the. that's why we were speaking about Charlotacleler and Ferrari, what a great day it was for Ferrari. then. tenen, fifteen seconds later it was all about George Russell. We just didn't see it coming because We didn't expect anybody to go quicker. after that crash. just we didn't foresee it. And we weren't be honest, we weren't paying attention to the to the timing monitor enough. Yeah. I mean Give them whatever you think about the rules You have to say that given the rules are what they are, Russell has played the game in an absolutely exceptional and admirable manner. This is the level at which top four lawn drivers work at. you know he okay, had a little bit more time to see the yellow than Antonlli did because it started plashing. justust as Antoneelli was approaching, whereas Russell who was running behind Antonelli sort of had a slightly longer run up to the yellow board. although having said that it is slightly unsightited, approaching that board over a crest in the road. Nevertheless, just shows the level at which Form one drivers operate at because he's computed at that time Right I'm a po I'm on a potential poll lap. I've got to slow down just enough satisfied the stewards, but not enough that it's going to scer my chances of being on pole position and he's judged it. absolutely expertly Very, very impressive But there are wider questions as to whether that should be acceptable as Sam says. I actually had a similar thing a couple of years ago in Form Merie in Rome and I put it on the front row of the grid. with a yellow flag at one of the corners there Again, I knew the rule about the yellow flag and I've lifted before breaking by seven or eight meters and gone slower in that mini sector by a couple of hundreds which meant that I could keep my laps. so Was I was I slowing down? Really? did enough to showcase to the Stewards that I had made an effort to go slower in that sector and that's what you need to do. He's effect what he's done effectively is liftting coasted into turn nine instead of breaking at the optimum point. and you don't actually lose a lot of lap time by doing that necessarily. It's hard to know exactly in this situation how much he's lost. But I mean he's already on poll by nearly two and a half tents. He reckons it could have been another bit more than that. to I mean, it's one of those classic fworn situations, isn't it? where there's a big controversy and it's really exciting and it's all a bit debatable and questionable. but It just gives us lots to talk about and that's the intrigue of the sport. Well, the other thing to take into account here is that the various light panels that are around circuits also have marshals there waving flags manually. but to get the color of flag on a panel, that's still activated by the marshal pressing a button. So there's always going to be a bit of a discrepancy because It's got to account for humanerr Yeah, it has. And you know we've been speaking to some sources and it seems like potentially the marshal on that corner in that marshal's post has immediately gone to the yellow flag. It's then been flagged by the FIA and they've then overrauled and said it should be a double waved yellow flag, but that's twenty seconds or so later. so Yeah, very interesting there Well, as Andrew is saying, I suppose it's one of those forula One things that we can talk about until the cows come home. But ultimately, George Russell very much like you did in Formula Ease and playing the system and using it to his advantage and shouldn't take away from what was actually a stonking lap from George Russell in the first two sectors at least. Let's hear from the Pllse sitter Well, George you judge that to perfection. Just when you're going through that moment, you have to make those best section decisions on what you're going to do. Can you just talk me through that process? As in like with the flag in that final stage? Yeah, I mean, I saw it was a single yellow And you know, I've raced here my whole career. I knew how much runoff there is So I did a big lift one hundred meters and as I turned in, I saw no cars, I didn't see max And I just saw the green flag again Th then I then I continued after after the corner. So Um Yeah, it was It was a shame because I honestly think there was a good three or four more tenths in the pocket. The carl was just so sweet, so hooked up I don't know where the thatap came from, but it felt Yeah, very, very good. How important was that poll for you because obviously, yesterday is a bit a tricky day. This morning and you built really well through that three three. I think it's just confirmation that As a driver, you don't forget or remember How to drive, You know, I was struggling this morning I didn't get to Q three and simply remember how to drive It's you know, Ive got tyres in the right window, I' got setup in the right place. I approach the corners in the right way. and I suppose we've L clerk about this before last year we We both felt like we could just deliver the lapse everyvery session throughout a whole weekend, especially in qualifying And this year, one minute with fast, one minute, with three, four tempts off. and These tyres are very difficult and these cars and these power units just to get everything aligned Lawrence Peretto asking the questions there to George Russell who is your poll sitter for the Austrian Grand Prix. So I mean, Sam this is then a good mental position for him to be having been on the back for the majority. of this weekend, but is it Is it a bit more worrying if you can't understand where that lap came from No, I don't think he's going to be worried about where the qualifying pace came from because I don't think he's going to be thinking about that for now. I think his mindset's going to be on how can I get off the line well, and how can I win the Austrian Grand Prix tomorrow I think he's going to worry about qualifying pace and performance and how he managed to do that lap after the weekend and But certainly that would be a huge confence boost for him. For toomorrow's race and going forwards because now he'll know, right, I can do it. What did I do within that lap that made it so good How can I replicate that time in Time out for the remainder of the season It was late drama for George Russell but kept it together to get that poll position. The late drama was caused by Max Verstappen who was actually looking incredibly quick in those final stages. So we'll talk about Verstappen, but shouldall we hear from him first How much firstly, how are you feeling because that's a bit for hit? Yeah, it was all good. It's just always awkward to crush sideways, is never the nicest way of crushing in a formul one car Because at that point, you look really quick and in the fight for pole. so King was on The first two sectors were quite okay, but I knew that in the last sector, M say this was very fast and probably hard to replicate what they were doing there. I knew for myself there was margin still U but I think even if it would have been P three, that would have been a very nice result for us But on that final up, I can't really explain why it felt like that because already in turn six was the same thing on this like long combined entry I had a big snap, It's a big moment It was a bit odd because that corner normally always on the stairs and then Yeah, I went into turns turn nine and the same happened. as soon as I turned the wheel it just completely like snapped. It was not even like controllable anymore You're rightt in the thick of it though tomorr. It feels youve made some progress as well. from from MP one through to quali. G got a car to go and take the fight to the Mercedes and Fares U'm I think We are a little bit behind Mercedes at least And I think in Barcelon as well it was like quite lose a in qualifying, but then we were lacking in the race because that's still I think our weak point and that's What we want to see tomorrow if we have any kind of improvements in race space Well, he ended up in the wall at the end. D didnn't quite see what he had, but it certainly was a bit of a turnaround from where he started the weekend, but driving the rails off that red buull. Yeah, abolutely driving it to the absolute limit of what it's able to do. and obviously over the limit, but that's what you expect from Max Verstappen just absolutely extracting the maximum out of his reed bull car at one stage. It looked like he was set for the front row And then obviously the track progressed and everybody got a little bit quicker at the end of the session, but again, just showcasing J just how good he is. And yeah, I actually had a question for Andrew about this, I thought it'd be good for the pod So let me get my notes out. I I'll speak up now because we're in the part. Exactly. So during today's qualifying, Andrew said that Kimmy Antinelli was a generational talent So Given the fact that he is a generational talent, put Kimmy Antinelli, the likes of Lando Norris, Oscara Piastri, Lewis, Charlles le Cclc and Max Verstappen Equal car, they've all got the same car Who who comes out on top Andrew I the fact that he's a generational talent. I think what I said was that he was being billed as a generational talent before he came to Formula one, and he was delivering in that vein this year. I think that's what I said. So I would just caveat it and qualify it with that It's a little bit early in his career, I think to be ranking Antonelli up with the likes of Verstappen and Hamilton and Alonzso U This current generation of drivers, of course, ass all the others from before, as you mentioned But I think So I can't answer the question. I'm not going to answer the question now because it's too too early in his career Um just like But we have to say that For a second season driver to be doing what he's doing, operating at the level that he is this year against a driver of George Russell's exceptional quality. Let's not forget that George Russell over three seasons a teammate to Louis Hamilton beat him two out of three quite comprehensively in the final season together tos through You know, you can talk about that all day about why that happened and so on and the factors that are involved I would say that as of now, he's heading in the right direction. And then the the wider question is to who would come out on top? Well, you know that's just a subjective point that I don't really want to get into but other than to say that I think people would agree that of the current generation of drivers The ones who are regarded as all time greats are Verstappen Hamilton and Alonso We'll have to see if anyone else can earn their place in that category. Have you gotten an answer for that question, Sam to my own question roably go with I'd go with Max, justust watching the way that he extracts the maximum amount of any car. I mean, you watch him at the Norordch Life. in that Mercedes a few weeks ago, that was stunning The fact that he can extract the maximum amount of the red bullet every single opportunity He'ss he's another level that point I think that Right now at the absolute current level of performance d be hard pressed to find somebody in the paddock who didn't say that Max Verstappen was the best driver right now Is Lewis Hamilton aged forty one driving at the level that Lewis Hamilton aged thirty two was driving at I don't know Was Lewis Hamilton the age thirty two ever delivering us consistently as Max V happenen is now in the red bull debatable point erando Alonso forty four coming up for forty five is he doing what he did in those Ferraris in his early thirties We don't know, do we? He would say he's the just as good as he was then go up and down the paddock and say is Alonzso as good as he used to be. Everybody doesn't know either, but they say, well, he can't be Canies in his mid forties he would say that he is. And then if you take Pque Verppen against Pete Hamilton and Pe Alonso, who comes out on top You're never going to know. All you know. is that we're talking unbelievably exceptional drivers. We've all done unbelievably exceptional things as an incredibly consistent level throughout their entire careers. and not very many drivers can you say that about It's a three way tie I also enjoy the fact that Sam had written that question out on his phone to ask Ben. I thought it was a really I heard that. Yeah, I thought it was a really cool question, actually. So you write stuff down all the time Yeah, I do. go me. No no, I just I'm impressed. Thank I' commit to the cause. But this is a post qualifying podcast. so maybe we'll go back to ali and rather have wandered off the point Rather rather yeah, rather gone on a tangent. However, I'll bring I'll try and bring it back. Kimmy Antonlli ultimately fourth in the end, but has he lost out on poll today I don't think say that No. he lost out, but He lost out because his lap wasn't good en U the first the first attempt wasn't good enough. I think that he's showcased enough speed that he could have got it done early on And ultimately he got he got pipped by by three cars. That's what it was. We thought that he was a dead cirert for pole position and unfortunately just didn't quite nail the lap at the first part of Q three To be fair to him, he was magnanimous enough after the session to admit that it would have been very close with George. He would have been a little bit ahead, but I would have been front row and I think Before qualifying started, we were talking about Russell and how he'd been struggling on a weekend, and we were saying it looked like Antonelli, we were discussing it as if Antonelli poll was a foregone conclusion. How stupid are we now. What I said at the time was Russell has the pace in him And we've seen him do it before where he's pulled laps out of nowhere. He did it twice in Canada for sprint qualifying and gnd pre qualifying and he's done it again today. That lap came from nowhere. And Russell himself is happy to admit that and it's actually great to see the respect between them and Antonlli's prepared to go. No, I couldn't have beaten that time Totally. But in the end, fourth place for Antonlli, Verstappen behind him with the two Ferraris. Let's talk about them. Leclerc second At one point, I was screaming pole position for Charl Le Clerire in a front row lockout, takeake it all back, but it's second and third, which I think they would have taken if you' told them that before quali. Absolutely, I think so. If you'd said this morning to Fred Vasser and the two Ferrari drivers right. You're going to be lined up, second and third on the grid for the Grand Prix on Sunday. They would have gone, yep, that's fine That's good for us it's nice to see grades working on a Ferrari I still don't know whether it's too early to say that mayaybe it is because this lap is It's so short. I don't know how they're going to fare, let's say a spa For example where it's really really, really power dominant Right now, Ferrari are going in the right direction and ticking along very nicely. Second and third Leclerhead Hamilton. Th then came Antonlli Verstappen outside of the top five two McLarens, Norris and Piastri sixth and seventh Hjard down and eighth with racing bulls putting in a good effort best in the midfield, ninth and temh Lawson ahead of Limblad. Okay, seventy one laps for the Austrian Grand Prix tomorrow, Sam Andrew It's going to happen, predictions, lots of pit stops, bit of weather, Wh's winning the Grand Priis,am Why does you have to go with me first? You've got, you know, the expert next to me? Well, could j me to answer first Yeah and I want you to get go first. So I think it's going to be a really intriguing race. and I think it's quuite open actually You know, let's not forget that the driver who's qualified sixth, Lando Norris was the fastest on the race simulation runs yesterday in Friday practice U Mercedes the Ferrari Verstappens's Redull qualified fifth. that could have been on the front row potentially They've got some question marks about their race pace compared to qualifying pace In theory, it looks like an unusually open race. You normally expect for Mercedes on Pool ends up winning the race. that didn't happen in Spain two weeks ago I think it's so close you can't call it You're going to give me a winner? Am I? o I If you're forcing me to give you a winner, I'm going to go with Antonlli. Okay. He look so strong all weekend. Could easily be Russell. fine We had love something He's gone for my answer as well. I can just see a ding donong battle again between Russell and Antonlli in the final stages of the Grand Prix like what we saw between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton all those years ago. Will they come to blows? I'm not sure, but I think it's going to be an absolute firecracker of a race tomorrow. I think so. All right, we've got to wrap things up. justust before we go though, quick one from both of you. topop five Formula One drivers of all time Hang on, we haven't enough time. Exactly. I'm just giving you a taste of your own medicine. We'll save that for another podcast, shall we? Right. I wasn really thinking. No you were. You were immediately getting a document out of all the stats that Fanjo had against Farina. Right Rina's not in the f right, Well there you go. Fanjo is, absolutely.. Right. We'll leave it there, don't you worry? It's not Kimy Handedy. It's George Russell on po position Just ahead of Charles Leclerc, they will be your front row for the Austrian Grand Prix. Sam Andrew and I will be here to guide you through every single lap. lightights out two o'clock in the afternoon and you can hear it on five Lve. Thank you for your company. This has been an ING production for BBC Radio fiveive Live Bye, my f. I'm Steve Bratnell, host of Games Gone, the Steve Bratnell podcast. What's my favourite Wor Cup moment as a fan? I have to say, Michael Lwing skinning the whole of the Argentina defence and crackenking the top corner for a very short space of time, I believe favorite Wld Cup player in history. It won't be popular, but I'm gonna say Diego Madadonna. O, he unboldd it. But the guy was a complete genius. The People World Cup twenty twenty six. Listen on BBC sounds