Midfield Battles and Race Expectations

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Grab creamy potato salad and savory flatbreads from the prepared foods department, and round it all out with three hundred sixty five brand condiments, chips and dips at everyday low prices Whole Foods Market, Make your summer sizzle Safe L, Formula O Theing for the British Gnd Prie has just finished And with me Rosana Tenant to look back on what we've just seen as our leadague commentator Harry Benjamin and the BBC's F one correspondent Andrew Benson. Guys, it was Kimmy Antonlli who took pole position backing up his sprint race win with another great performance. He is absolutely on fire. He came in this weekend saying exactly that. He had fire in his belly coming into his teammates home race weekend and he's gone to sport the party for George Russell Pul for Kimy. Yeah in Russell's own backyard as well already extended the gap at the top of the championship having won the sprint earlier on today bagging those eight full points. the gap now what forty three points between himself and Russell We're using More and more of the same words now aren't we with Kimmy. Cool, calm, collected, composed, confident assured all the whole all the hallmarks of of a champion in waiting And he just looks so comfortable out there and he's got raw pace. And it's just Hes guy from strength the strength Andrew I think Harry's used every single adjective in the English language. I was just thinking what adjectives are I going to use here in this model? I've got them all in.. It has been amazing to watch him this weekend just building over the course of the last couple of days. He beat his teammate convincingly. George Russell really struggling. Can we get to the bottom of what's the difference between those two drivers at moment? Well, first of all, I mean, I guess he had fire in his belly because he's not won for two races shock horror King Antoneelli. know his last one was in Monaco, Lewis Hamilton won in Spain, George Russell won in Austria just from Max Verstappen and Antonelli And so he wants to stamp his authority back on the championship, not that he really needs to. And what better place to do it than in your teammate's backyard where Russell has never stood on the podium and will be desperate to do so. Russell knows he's on the back foot. The answers coming from him at the end of qualifying Rosanna were that he was down on power. He says that he was down on speed trap. figures six kilometers an hour on one straight, three kilometers an hour on another straight. he's saying it's not in the corners. it's not me in other words. It's the car and they don't understand why that is as yet. If they can't get to the bottom of that, of course, that's a problem. for the race for Russell As it is, he starts fourth, that's already a problem, even if he's got an engine that's performing the same as his teammates It's hard, you know, we've seen lots of overtaking back and forth in the sprint race, but to get when if you start fourth with your teammate on Pole with two Feraris in between you puts you in a very difficult position before the race has even started Kimy was really happy with the work that he and the team have been doing, but he was also very pragmatic saying, you know tomorrow is a new day and I think he's learned from the inadverted commomerce mistakes he made in Austria, where he let the chance to win that race get away from him, managing his tyres and the brakes early on in the Austrian Grand Prix. So I think he's cautious not to let his guard down And it'll be interesting to see how the Grand Prix unfolds. But of course, he's got the best seat in the house. So let's hear from the nineteen year old leader of the championship at this point in the season. Kimmy Antinelli, on poll for the British Grand Prix. Yeah, very happy. Very good day And u Tomorrow is a brand new day. long race to go, but was a good way to end the day, happppy with qualifying. to be fairy was not straightforward, especially The first rs Q one, start of Q two was not ideal U But yeah, then I build my way with it Also the team did a great job on guiding me and really happy to have got in call fromom what you learned during the spprint rays, how confident are you that you can hold on to the win tomorrow? Yeah, I mean, I've got good confidence but not too high. I don't want to let my guard down because Still, we got to execute. And our paceiS was strong today But tomorrow we're gonna be on full tank of fewu and Let's see if it's going to be as windy as today because today the wind was very tricky It was very unpredictable. so yeah, just need to be ready for anything and ready to execute. That was Kimmy Antonlli, your poll sitter for the British Grand Prix tomorrow And we are standing in the paddock, which is still very, very busy. And as I look down the paddock, I can see Kimmy Antonei being trailed by fans running after him, desperate to grab a selfie or an autograph with the young Italian driver. I really feel like we're witnessing something special Kimmy Antonlli. Do you know what I mean? I feel like I'm getting a bit of goose bumps that he'll be one of those greats that we'll look back on in years to come. And we were there we saw this incredible incredible young star breakthrough in Formula onene. It's amazing how we change ourun, isn't it? This time last year, I think we were all waing Well where is this generational talent that Tota Wolf has promised us. Th's rushed through the ranks. He decided he didn't want to put him like George Russell in a Williams for a year to three to learn the ropes. He was ready skkipped formula three didn't have the best time in Formula two and then didn't have the best time in his first season of Formula one, but we spoken about it before the development rate from the end of last year this has been brilliant. He's jailed with this new generation of castars. It's his second year with his team around him. Let's not underestimate the sort of factors that Pete Bonington plays with Bono, you know Lewis Hamilton's long serving race engineer all that time Mercedes plays a factor here being sort of Kimmy's guide in his early stages of forormula one But look confidence bres confidence, I think in Formula onene He's got such a lovely way about him Kimmy. his race craft is excellent. He can get his elbows out when he needs to. He can be fiery on the track. And We are now all seeing what Tota Wolf Soul. years ago. I liked hearing what Bono said to Kim Aani at the end of the sprint race earlier on today, you know in control That is really kind of what sums up Kim Antoneelli at the moment. He's in contl of the championship. he's in control of that car and as we've already mentioned, totally at odds with his teammate George Russell at the moment. Well yeah, Tota Wolf came on the radio, didn't he Rana at the end of that sprint race to point out to Antoneelli. did you, you know, does getting the fastest lap on the last lap of the race is that make you feel good? And Antoneelli goes, well, yes, it does. He was just proving another point as if he needed to do that after dominating the sprint, passing Lewis Hamils and after nine laps of stalking him What we're seeing here is the Kimmy Antinelli that everybody in motorsport has heard about for quite a few years now. Every now and again you get a driver coming through cartting when they're in their sort of ten, eleven, twelve, teenage years. that has a buzz about them. And here in Formula onene, you hear about it. Hamilton was one of them. Verstappen was one of them Fernando Alonso was one of them, Charl Leclerc was one of them, now we're seeing it with Kimmy Antonelli. I think last year, the surprise really was more that he wasn't doing what people expected of that kind of generational talent and inverted commce. less than more than the fact that he is doing it now. This is the Antonelli we were always promised. He's really delivering. look calm as Harry says, it looks so easy for him said today, it's never easy. This weekend, it's just flowed. You can see it out on a track Every time he gets in the car, he's the fastest guy that there is. He delivered again today and Hamilton's already talking about it saying, you know, if we can't beat him off the line and get ahead on the first lap, then he's gone. Well tomorrow is another day as Kimmy said and he won't want to be complacent because alongside him on the front row is Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari, the fastest Ferrari in Grand Prix qualifying Beating his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who finished P three Charleacclerc came into this weekend guys very downbeat, saying that better days were to come, not this weekend necessarily. and he thought this track was not going to suit them. I don't want to get into the energy deployment side of things, but I think that was a big problem in their minds at Ferrari for this weekend. And yet here we are, P two and P three for the Italian team. Surely Charle leclc feels buoyied up by the results this afternoon. think so. I'm not sure he's going to quite see the full light at the end of the tunnel just yet, but I think there's a few factors going on here with Ferrari. Let's remember a couple of races ago Barcelona, big aerodynamic upgrade for them, then an engine upgrade in the following race in Austria. There's a bit of talk about did we really see the full benefits of that engine upgrade Austria at altitudes truck struggling to get addual air into the c and maybe we didn't see the full effects of it seeing it better here slightly not by much cooler temperatures as well helping Ferrari and their overall tire management And it seems that Charlotte Cl may well have found a bit of a way forward with his own problems on his side of the gage. We know how hard he's been suffering with these break issues ever since Monaco before that. So looks like he's maybe found a bit of a breakthrough there to last week and out fr row bit unexpected this weekend front row, not as unexpected and that will give him confidence going into the race and considering what we saw in the sprint though, he'll be hoping for a better run at it because I think he was one of the big losers in the first few laps of that sprint. Yeah, Ferari performance is one thing. Charlac Clc's personal performance is another. He's not beaten Hamilton until today in qualifying since Miami back in May. This is a big step forward for him. He was talking after the qualifying session as if he said he's found the feeling back in the car, the flow that you get in qualifying. He's always so good in qualifying, particularly dragging that extra bit of time out of the car on the last lap. He's not been able to find that time in the last few races because he hasn't had that confidence that the car is underneath him. Today he found it again. So he is pleased about that Of course, as a consequence, Hamilt's a bit more downbeat than normal. Second and third is where Ferrari started in Austria a week ago I suspect that George Russell will probably be ahead of them by the end of the race. Well I spoke to Charlacleler in the media pen just after qualifying and the French journalists next to me asked him about his experience and he said, it's only qualifying. So I picked him up on that and I said, it's only qualifying, but surely you're thrilled to be on the front row It is it is for sure. I mean Honestly, more than the results, more than the lap times or whatsoever, what really matters to me at the moment is the feeling I have in the car and it's been a long time, I didn't feel that way U L I did in qualifying, I I said before qualifying that I had a good idea on what to change and maybe that will go in the right direction and that's a bit of a philosophical change. So it's not a normal setu of change. I was yeah, confident it will go in the right direction and it did so I'm happy with that, but it's only a first step and I've got to performed consistently like that, but today was a lot more natural the way I called I called drive, so I'm happy with that. When you say phhilosophical, can you elaborate a little bit on that No that's exactly what Lauren asked me in French, but I said I won't elaborate too much because obviously it's giving away some things. but with I mean, even if you don't give away too much because every cs are different. but at the end of the day what's What's good is that I think I had two options when I was in in that difficult situation is either you adapt the driving style and you try I try and Copie Lewis, which was clearly working very well in the last few races or I stick to my driving which is a bit riskyer and I try to findind a work around just to feed the car a bit more to my driving and I went for the second option and today it seemed to work, but again I need to prove that over multiple race weekends. Its only the beginning, it' a good finish That that was Charlaclerc Pete two for Monagasque driver this afternoon. so he'll start on the front row alongside Kimmy Antonlli. A Fast starting Ferrari is what we've seen this season. But guys I'm really interested by the philosophical changes that Charlaclc mentioned there. Changing his approach could have gone two ways, chose to go and make a personal change for himself He wasn't going to elaborate on what these changes really mean, but he doesn't want to copyize his Hamilton and try and do what he's doing. He wants to forge his own path and it seems to be working for him. Yeah, that's what he was saying in the wrritten media press conference as well. He's been a bit lost over the last few races.' not understanding why the car wasn't really working for him. and he's tried both approaches, you know, following Hamilton, they've changed the brake material on the Ferrari to Hamilton's request. And it's taken Leclerire a bit of time to get used to that. But he as you say, he's followed his own instincts rather than following Hamilton' setup, he's gone his own way and he's found the sweet spot again, but he was very keen to emphasize it's just one qualifying session. He wants to see that he can do it again and again before he's completely confident he's back to where he believes he belongs. So let's focus our attention then on Sir Lewis Hamilton. The sprint race win got away from him earlier on today with Kimmy Antonlli taking the spoils there. and it seems that The qualifying session yesterday because he took poll for the sprint was a very different session for him today with the Grand Prix qualifying I suppose he's disappointed. I know he's disappointed because he's been out qualified by his teammate. and this place it's so special for him. and he usually uses the crowd's energy to find those extra tents, but he couldn't do it this afternoon, Harry. No I think it's more of a testament to how brilliant Kimmy Anonlli was to be honest. and I think it is due to deployment and energy issues Ferrari doesn't quite have the exact match for what Mercedes have. So I don't think Lewis should be too disappointed about what he's achieved. Yes he's behind his teammate. No no driver likes that. but From what we saw from the sprint That will be a really good learning point for them particularly because Hamilton got such a good st was out in front Ebbing and flowing But he was attacking hard and eventually left himself vulnerable with the use of overtake mode and boost for Kimmy Antonelli to breeze on passast down the hanger straight. He would have learned from that. And I wonder if he'll apply what Antonelli was applying in the first part of the race just byide his time a little bit behind him and his teammate Charlot Cler depending on how the starts go and use that kind of reverse strategy because I think that's what he'll be thinking about more Okay third, how do I move forward? We saw a lot of cars move forward in the sprint race. They'll be doing the same when it comes to the Grand Prix Hanny hold over the course of a full grand Prix distance That will be the clincher, but ultimately the Mercedes is the best car over one lap today Let's hear from Lewis Hamilton then. I started by asking him how different today's qualifying session was to yesterday's sprint qualifying session. Nine day different compared to yesterday. We didn't really change much, but just maybe it was with the wind Maybe with the wind Okay. And do you feel like Ferrari has actually taken a step forward? Is this a proper change do you feel for the team now? fact you're both up there. I have no idea. I really know we win in Barcelona, then were nowhere in the last race and now we're back, so I can't answer that question. You know how it's going to be at the next race? I really don't. I don't know. But know we are making improvements constantly. We don't fully understand currently why we are as strong as we are this weekend as opposed to the last. That was Lewis Hamilton speaking to me earlier on in the Pen. P three for him It's tricky, isn't it? when a team doesn't know why they're struggling and from one race weekend to another, the performance changes. and that's difficult to then build your confidence throughout a season. So what can Ferrari do to help Hamilton and Leclerc for the rest of the season? They just need more power in the engine. The cars' the quickest around the corners They've got extra development upgrade opportunities as they're called in Formula One They've already introduced one in Austria last weekend. It's made a small difference. Actually, the deployment and power was better here than they were expecting. As you said at the beginning of the show, Rosanna, they came here very downbeat about their performance. I think If they take a step back away from the immediate competitive reality of only being only being second and third Actually it's good for Ferrari to be where they are given what Lewis was saying earlier that he would be expecting to be losing eight tenths of a second on the straight actually in qualifying yesterday for the spprint race They were pretty much matching for Mercedes on the straits. That wasn't the case today We'll have to see in the race. I think the bottom line is though that as a package as a whole, largely because of the engine, the Mercedes is just quicker. So that's what they need to fix. I think France should actually be pretty damn happy with how today they went. They split the two Mercedes Miles ahead of Red Bull and McLaren I think you take that run. Kimmy Antonlli is doing Kimmy Antonlli things. Mercedes have pretty much I know the FIA says differently, but've got a pretty pretty good engine maybe the best. Take takeake second and third in Harvey. . This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. I'm going to be honest with you. I am online way more than I probably should be. And between me and everyone else at my house, we've got a zillion screens going on at any given moment. So when my internet slows down, it is a full crisis. That's why having fast, reliable internet that can keep up really matters and why you need optimum famously Fast fiber Internet Optimum fiber blows flaky five G out of the water and keeps it cool with the fastest and most reliable speeds that don't slow when things heat up. 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Make your summer sizzle Formula One is all about precision Tiny margins, massive ambition, flat out performance And that's exactly why it's exciting to see Cadillac entering Formula onene Bringing an American luxury brand with performance pedigree onto the biggest stage in motorsport. But this isn't just about the grid That same racing mindset, the obsession with engineering, the pursuit of perfection, lives in the Cadillac V series lineup Giving you the chance to experience the precision and performance of the grid on the open road Cadlac V series, Distinctive Luxury pererformance enngineered to Thrill Discover the V sereries lineup at cadillac. com. So Kimy Antonelli, Charlac Clerc, then Lewis Hamilton, that's your top three. And just outside of that is George Russell, who we've spoken about in terms of his deficiency when it comes to power, straight line speed. He says he's six kilometers down in sector three, three kilometers an hour down in sector two.elt veryery, very it seemed very dejected in the media pen and he actually asked the Netflix crew to go away. He said enough guys enough, thank you. So I've never really seen that. He's really not in good spirits at all. Well look, each trace that ticks by where he doesn't meet Antonlli just makes the championship that bit harder for him, doesn't he? And I think this is the struggle that Russell's got at the moment. He's got to what he has to do is just keep delivering results, keep his head together and hope that the season comes together for him at some point like it did forlando Norris, who is in a not dissimilar situation at this point last year and The thing is for Russell, he's not seeing the evidence of it just yet becausecause even the race is where he's been either winning like in Austria or leading, like in Canada before he retired, and to know he's been right with him He's not really he's not beaten Antonlli in any convincing fashion since the first race of the season in Melbourne. So you can see why it will be weighing on his mind, but he has to try and put that aside, just concentrate on himself and just do the best he can and hope that as the season goes by, he finds himself back in a more comfortable place and he can start taking the challge to Antonlli again I always think it's a worrying sign when a driver is fixated on a problem that's just affecting them. sometometimes it's when they say I think the chassis's broken. I think there must be a crack in the chassis and they fixate on it. Well, I think there's two things, aren't there? First of all, they they first of all, they want to answer the question truthfully generally They want to tell us what's going on, especially if they're behind U So it's I wouldn't see anything more in it than that, but I do know what you mean And that's the thing. he can't not say that he's down on straight line speed if he's actually down straight onine spe' seen it in the data. And we will see it in the data too, asam when we get a chance to look at it later on. It's just bit busy this week. It's not really the issue. The issue is that you know Andnt Tonelli, as we've been discussing through the weekend Harry, haven't we Antonelli just looks it just like it's coming more easily to him. you know, he gets in the car bang. He's quick straight away. Every race, whatever it is, he's always there. He doesn't have to look for these excuses because it's just happening naturally. That's the place that Russell was in last year against Antonelli in the year before against Lewis Hamilton And you can understand why psychologically it's a little bit difficult for him to compute why he's not quite in that place now Well behind George Russell is Isac Hajar, the fastest of the two reed buulllls. Harry you mentioned you, the red bulls the McLarens were not in a threatening position for the top three places, but Hajar happy with the feeling that he's got in the car and he must be happy that he's out qualified Max Versappen, know a small little win there for the French driver. It certainly is and Hajar's been feeling more comfortable. fact actually It was about a tenth and a half to close to two ths off Verstappen yesterday in sprint qualify Which is pretty good, which is where Red Bull want their second driver to be. However, it was more of just a showcase of how close it is in that kind of field that that was about four cars in between Verstappen and Red Bull. However, today, I think it's still tight between them, but I think it's more of a showcase of how unhappy Mass Verstappen is at the moment in that Red Bull car Like Russell, Verstappen was saying that he was lacking straight line speed compared to his teammate So there must be something in that. And the other thing is when balance isn't working for Verstappen, the gap between him and his teammates shrink. So You know, if you add those two things together, that's why he's a little bit behind. Yeah Pce seven for Max Verstappen and in between the two red bull drivers, it was Llando Norris who had a cracking start in the sprint race earlier on today. So he was telling us that he's hoping everyone has a terrible start in the Grand Prix because I think it was actually the fact that people had a bad start rather than perhaps he had an exceptional start. Well, yes, but he's a bit downbeat This weekend, Norris, McLaren have fallen backwards in the last few races and you know, they're not hiding the fact that they're struggling in every department basically. He said after qualifying that they were in a bit of a pickle U and you know they've got some developments coming on the car and they really need them There's also a bit of dissatisfaction bubbling away under the surface at McLaren about because of timing issues with the deployment of Mercedes engines and so on. The mileage that McLaren have got you can't there I don't mean it in in the energy deployment sense in this case. they haven't got the latest Mercedes power units yet but they'll be coming soon Yeah, and actually Oscar Piastri, who finished P eight, echoed Llando Norris' sentiments as well, saying that they've got some ideas He thinks theyve moved them forward, but it didn't really do that much. So struggles there for the McLaren team. And then it was Arvred Limblad who was P nine ahead of teamate Liam Nawson and Harry you said in commentary that actually that's a little victory for Limblad as well out qualifying his teammate. and it seems that the racing bulls have just got a really, really good car that can get them into Q three and hopefully score some big points come the Grand Prix Yeah Rocket ship. bothoth of them off the back of consecutive points finishes L Lawson looking for a fourth consecutive race finish. I think I'll be a bit disappointed that he's behind Limblad but credit to Limblad for out qualifying his teammate makes it for British drivers inside the top ten on home soil, which is pretty good stuff and Limblack continuing to show how strong he is. but Yeah racing Bs put together a really good package. They are pretty confidently at the top of the midfield right now. I thought maybe an Audi might squeeze into the top ten. I think that Gabriel Bolleto I think felt he had more to give. So just missed out. He apologized the team didn't hes saying it was on him and he felt that the car had more today. So P eleven for him and his deamatelyen by P thirteen. Yeah and a good performance for Marvred Limblad. He was I was talking to him at the beginning of the weekend and he you know he wanted to have a good good showing here because he's felt Like things haven't quite gone his way in recent races, but this is his best result since Canada in qualifying and he was but he's such a perfectionist that he was saying he was even a little bit disappointed, even though he's ahead of Loss and his teammate because he did the same lap three times and he felt there was maybe just a little bit more in the car in terms of time, although he accepted that he would not have got into the mix with the top four teams. When we look further down the order, Oliver Berman P fourteen out qualifying his teammate Estean Ocon who didn't make it through into Q two. Is it worrying times for Ocon do we think at this point