SCB 2024 F1 Italian GP LIVE Post-Qualifying Show

[Music] good morning Gearheads welcome to Speed City F1 on SiriusXM we just watched the Italian Grand Prix qualifying this John Mill joined by Bob varia and Chris medin will be joining us momentarily from Manza and Bob we got a front Loro lock out for McLaren what do you think oh man McLaren just goes from strength to strength it's just incredible second straight pole for at Doris uh a lockout um Red Bull is back in seventh and eth and man what an opportunity for McLaren to close if not eliminate the Gap in the constructor's championship and that's a major headline this is going to be a big big weekend absolutely well Chris medland's microphone lighting up up there in Manza Chris how is it buddy it's not too bad I'm wondering up and down to padic trying to work out where you're going to be able to hear me from as usual because it is packed here but I'm with you guys that was not the way I saw it going I'll admit I spoke to someone from McLaren just before that qualifying session started and said make me look smart uh what's uh your prediction for your starting positions tomorrow they said third and fifth so I'm not all to name them because they said said if they were wrong in that sense uh they would uh they would be done for a lack of ambition but they say they're happy to be wrong yeah it's uh you know this is such a strange track in so many ways obviously this is the home of Noah Arc as the announcers keep calling it two by two by two by two because the gaps are so tiny the speeds are so high the toe is so critical it's um it's just great fun and McLaren just played the script perfectly and meanwhile you know Red Bull just frankly looks disorganized you know fully in Retreat um Ferrari better but not great or to use the words of James BS good not special um and uh you know the the the Mercedes could be real spoilers in this race yeah they're not front running speed which you know we're talking tense of a second but um you know that's a pretty canny group and they could pull something off and either ruin somebody's week again and I'm thinking possibly Red Bull so yeah this is not going to want to miss this race well McLaren you said they're they're following the script perfectly Red Bull is also following mcclaren's script perfectly to set up the championship I mean like you said this could easily be in the constructors it could switch this weekend we could have McLaren take over the Constructors Championship I mean that's stunning yeah yeah this track is is so special in so many ways it's changed so much in recent years but gosh uh we've lost a whole bunch of trees which is sad because it is a park-like environment and there's ongoing work going on but this track has been there it's one of the oldest tracks in the world right up there with believe it or not the Milwaukee Mile in uh Milwaukee Wisconsin which uh interestingly is where the Indie Car Series is running a double header this weekend and I'm sure both series are going to be watching the other um home of more than two dozen the fastest races in Formula 1 history um top speed average speed for a for a Grand Prix uh just one factor after another that had the very highest trap speed ever recorded in Formula 1 until um Bor Bas in Mercedes went 231 miles an hour at Mexico a few years ago so that's the best top speed seen in a Formula 1 race but uh it it's just such a a terrific place um it's always been on the schedule every Italian Grand Prix in the Formula 1 era of Grand Prix racing has been held at this track except 1980 when uh it went to Ima for a year after the accident a year or two earlier that killed Ronnie Peterson unfortunately and there's just so much about this track that I love talking about both American world champions Phil Hill Mario and Dre clinched their championships respectively at this track on a weekend tragically when they their teammate was killed in an accident H you know you you just don't I often say that Italy is the home of Opera and nothing is more aaric than uh Formula 1 at Monza it's just a magical place wow that is very true Bob there's a ton of history there you talk you talk about that top speed run that that botas did in Mexico that doesn't count because there's no air in the air down in Mexico yeah yeah so true I tell you what though and it it's the Air's thick here this weekend it's been a really hot weekend for all the fans uh and it's just a little kind of touch as Bob was alluding to it used to be packed with trees and they had these storms a couple years ago that meant a load had to be cut down because they were dangerous and that means there's far less um shade for fans as well this weekend but they are absolutely loving it because it was so competitive and I know that there'll be a bit of disappointment that we don't have a Ferrari on the front row from the home fans but they're still right in the mix there sixth place for Louis Hamilton was one 0.186 seconds off poll like I mean it was the margins are tiny and then the huge back to Red Bull it's I'll admit right now I parked myself outside the McLaren motor home partly because it is in the shade although that's next to Alpine's engineering trucks that are blocking the Sun for me but also because I'm told Zack Brown's gonna be here in a bit we're gonna get away with him and I'm focusing on just these two title Rivals right now because this is probably the the biggest Polar Opposites between the two teams we've had for a while uh yeah even when red B had been dominant in the past McLaren had been there there about the second or third quickest team but we have I don't can't remember a race weekend when we've had a front row lockout for one team and the other one back on the fourth row with both cars probably a t decis certainly not since the first couple of rounds yeah that's stunning isn't it Chris I mean this this could just be I mean it's I'm really surprised at the lack of pace from B staffen I mean you know we've been see his Trend but all the way down in seventh I guess you could say Perez is having a good weekend because he's right be for stepping but uh but still stunning what about the the hos cars though hulkenberg in 10th and magazin in 13th they're looking quick certainly are I think the cars that they've got at the moment that they don't have an overall strength that makes sense you don't go to any venue and go H are definitely going to be quick here they just seem to sometimes get it kind of right sometimes they a little bit off but they're always in that Midfield fight I think again we've actually seen um you know the drivers making a difference I think magnuson's kind of put it roughly where that car should be uh and hulkenberg has slightly outperformed it in qualifying to take it through to Q3 so uh that's one of the reasons they were so Keen to keep hulkenberg and and sadly are going to lose him for next season but yeah it's another really really strong performance and in that sense it's really good to see from H's point of view that they've been able to develop this car and make sure that it is somewhat competitive at every venue uh and it's not just you know one week is good and one week is terrible um or that they're only highlighting one or two venues that they can maybe be strong it's it's nice that they're fully in that mix uh to be fighting for Q3 everywhere they go well I'm G to stir things a little bit if you see AO kamasu the team principal or Kevin Magnuson right at the end of Q2 when both hotcars were in a position to advance we had that bizarre circumstance where km mag went off down at the uh in the big final corner and went off very slowly and crept across the gravel then crept back on the first thing I thought of was he's trying to slow everybody down to preserve having both cars in the you know that's Michael Schumacher like at Monaco so long ago um so anyway I just thought that just didn't look that doesn't that fit with mag Magnus I mean I I wouldn't completely put that past him for sure yeah yeah well that's the perfect thing with conspiracy theories isn't it is that they fit they make sense and that that one does plausibility yeah um I actually said well said tweeted because that's all I ever seem to do during sessions uh that I wondered if he would run again because it looked like a car issue he went off in such a strange Manner and so slowly and then rejoined so slowly that I thought that wasn't just a went in a bit too hot uh that was someone who had something else wrong well that's how it looked so the fact that he then was able to go straight back into the pits and the team said all okay with the car uh you we checked with them in the gap between Q2 and Q3 sorry q1 and Q2 wasn't it and they said yeah it'll be fine and he was out at the start of Q2 that's when I was suddenly wondering that you know what was that about so I will try and ask that question actually once I've uh once I've got uh Brown and her I will I will go down there yeah and it's the parabolica I keep wanting to call that final turn at Monza the perlata which is the former Majestic final corner at Mexico but parabolica both of them are great final Corners aren't they and kind of similar in profile long sweeping right handers as the original Peril T was as well yeah I'll never forget years ago at the track watching uh Derek War driving the uh Lotus and going into the parata there I did it again into the parabolica at you know full throw down Boogie and then coming out of the Peril to Bob now I'll never stop doing it anyway he goes into the corner on the TV screen full speed comes out of the corner in a shower of car Parks he somehow managed to get the thing tore the car to pieces in that corner uh and then climbed out and tried to his backup car which you could have in those days and U off he went again but uh you know there's just so many great memories of Manza well just to follow up very that's a great segue same backup car you can't have car here anymore but you can have a spare chassis available and uh I've just been sent a photo by a colleague ESPN's Lawrence Evanson of Max ven's spare chassis being moved by Red Bull uh I believe into the garage and I just I just wonder if there thinking let's prepare that to a certain point in case we decide that we need to change something because what was odd is that is the lack of performance in that Q3 run Max's best lap after two attempts and a help of a toe on his final run in the end uh was 410 slower than what he managed in Q2 so something suddenly seemed to not be quite right now whether you know I imagine it's precautionary if they have indeed rolled that spare chassis in to get something ready I imagine it's just because they're thinking well you know let's let's ahead of the curve there's only so much work you can do to it as well you can't have it fully built um to jump in so that might just be what they're doing but um I will hopefully get to ask Christian herner that very question at some stage uh to find out if there's any truth in that or it's just bad timing that they' wed it through when everyone's paying attention to them yeah yeah well it certainly lends plausibility to the story that Max suddenly doesn't seem to have all that speed in his pocket that he typically does so is there something wrong with the race car something cracked something loose something out of spec I tell you what if Max doesn't perform any better in the race if Red Bull somehow manages to lose the lead in The Constructor Championship to McLaren uh that's going to breathe a lot of new life into the stories that maybe Max Rabin might be looking for someplace else to go in the future depending on what his contract will allow well interesting you should bring that up as well Bob because um as well and I'm cutting John off every time he wants to say something but uh I don't know if we've spoken about it well I do know we haven't spoken about it because I've been on the show from the start for a while uh and Andrea Kimmy Antonelli was confirmed today as the Mercedes driver for 2025 alongside George Russell so the young Italian is replacing Lewis Hamilton next year it been on the cards for a while uh it had been very clearly hinted it was going to be this weekend and then I did wonder if the fp1 crash might mean they delayed it by a day or two just to put some distance between that incident and the news but no they went with it they stuck with it and he's been announced today but in the press conference where Toto wolf sat with both anelli and George Russell uh he would not rule out still trying to sign Max for stappen and he kind of talked about how these two drivers right now are meant to be the future and that they're you know fully trusting them but also said that they always go for short contracts and if he flirts with anyone else the drivers will be the first to know and he said maybe I got caught out by the leis situation a bit but I don't like to be in contact with lot of drivers all the time and have plates spinning in that sense but he seemed to always say if there's an opportunity to get Max you know he certainly did not rule out going for him even though he's just signed Le's replacement uh and also that he would just make sure the drivers were aware of the situation but uh yeah that door definitely did not close with that signing today I could see the headline now three-time world champion signs as Reserve driver at Mercedes oh amazing all right guys hey let's get a quick break in you're listening to Speed City F1 back after these messages say Hi Johnny we're on YouTube you can say hi now H oh there's that famous Trans Am announcer hey hey Mike BS you're right I am remote I'm at Kota for wack yeah Andy P said that yep we're doing the lone St M and Jonathan's in the in the other booth what microphone are you on John it's I'm on my earbuds oh yeah well it sounds like it well yeah I I had a technical difficulty I'm working on it for tomorrow so bear with me everybody that's okay I just wondered hey let's welcome Troy Lewis from the UK from London UK welcome Troy he said max is done he said and we're dancing in the streets ding dong the witch is dead I don't think maybe slightly premature but I tell you what it doesn't have set up for tomorrow does it with the narrative we had absolutely yeah it's true H let's see Joe oyer Bay says I think JG should have to tell us where he'll be next week it make things easier for me yeah following Jonathan is tough these days I don't know if y'all can hear him of on my crazy earbuds but but yeah hey man we got to talk more about antelli we gotta talk about kapino I I want to talk about definitely I want to talk about the radio message from Total wool to anelli that that was really really interesting I I thought it was great actually but I want to talk about that for our pre-show tomorrow as well I've can get the um broadcast audio from the press conference they did today so that we can play out a clip maybe from Toto or from Kimmy to use as a bouncing off yeah yeah that's good Chris your connection sounds great by the way so it is only on and I noticed as I head towards the Ferrari area where it's busiest I do start to blip so that's why I'm staying staying put McLaren but also I said this by the way I can't chat with you guys I can only talk so here we go hello I'm Jenny G from BBC F1 you are listening to Speed City welcome back to the fastest hour in radio speed City all right welcome back let me run down the qualifying order today for everybody if you just joined if you missed it we got Lando Norris and Oscar pastry onew McLaren Front Road lockout Follow by George Russell in the Mercedes then the two Ferraris lir in fourth car signs in fifth followed by the other Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and then down in seventh and eighth the two red bulls Max verafin then Sergio perz wow that's the story today and then Alexander Alban in ninth ahead of Nico hulkenberg I was curious which one of those two might finish up ninth and 10th as I was probably expecting great job by hulkenberg and albon then Fernando Alonzo again outside the top 10 in 11th Ricardo in 12th Magnus in 13th gazley okon sonoda stroll and then in 18th colapinto the rookie for Williams and at the back as seems a lot lately the two kick saber cars Bas and Z guu down in 20th and guys I we've got to talk about an we talked about anelli a little bit but I want to talk about the radio message and between he and Toto wolf after the big crash and and by the way let's preface this radio message with that was a huge crash I mean yeah Chris you're in Monza Chris I want to get your take on that I mean was the was the buzz like was it quiet when he crashed there because it you know the car went up on the tire wall a little bit I think it was a tire wall but it was still pretty pretty crazy crash yeah was a big hit it was one of those that we knew had happened because the crowd reacted to it and loudly before the pictures show it because of the delay you get on the broadcast pictures going from track side camera to the broadcast Center here and then round to the world so um yeah we'd heard the noise and we were watching him heading towards parabolica at that point and you're thinking uh oh uh but yeah that was that was a big one I think what's kind of good is how quickly drivers respond these days so he had the hit and I think you don't actually get overly worried you think oh big hit but you don't get overly worried until there's no response or until the driver might be slow getting out of the car uh but they're very good at playing out team radio quickly where he said I'm okay and I they write it down so everyone can see it if they're in the grand stands and can't hear so yeah I wouldn't say it was overly concerned in that sense but it was a big hit you know that's a very high speed corner and I think they measured it at it was definitely an excess of 50g I want to say yeah uh Kim said it was 62g which will surely surely be the biggest of his career uh probably not the best way to start life in fp1 10 minutes in with the biggest crash of your career but uh the way that I found it interesting I know you say team radio messages John but Toto wolf saying um afterwards that what they saw in a lap and a half was astonishing in terms of his speed I mean I've not heard team bosses be so effusive and positive about a driver that's just destroyed a car pretty much yeah right I I too find that really curious uh that Toto wolf went out of his way to be so supportive and and it almost rubbed me the wrong way I mean well first of all the kid is out there he's already voiced questions about his own Fitness for Formula 1 he said I'm not sure I'm ready for this so where does he make his debut free practice one first lapse on a brand new Surface at the fastest track in Formula One I mean what are you what are you thinking um but presumably they found out what they needed to know about Kimmy Antonelli he is as Brave as Dick Tracy as my old colleague David Hobs used to say he um and yeah he was going quickly now granted these were the first Laps on track he went right to the top of the time sheets on his first lap in free practice one you know what does that say about his you know ultimate speed since we had no laps from anybody else uh and then goes out and you know as we saw uh crash the car the old truism in Motorsports is it's a lot easier to slow a driver down than it is to speed him up but it I I did find it curious that Mercedes or that totto wolf specifically you know said all good all good kimy don't worry I don't are they worried about his his fragile temperament or something like that I thought it was very odd and like you Chris I've never heard a uh a team principal you know coddle a driver like that after smashing up a race car no I haven't but I tell you someone who doesn't need to do any coddling right now and that is Zack Brown uh because his drivers have done the job exactly that he'd need them to do Zack you're marching down the padic is warm here um one two today I spoke to a team member of yours who predicted third and fifth before qualifying because it's so tight I won't name who it was because they said they'll look like they La ambiti if they didn't get it right but I would say I said about the same I thought that would be pretty solid could you have envisaged one two and could you have envisaged the BS on the fourth throw uh not really uh but I'm I'm happy I uh truth be known predicted two and four uh I won't say in what order but I'm very happy I got that wrong because I think anytime you predict we're gonna get Bowl so I was uh maybe intentionally sandbagging in my own mind but it was so close uh but Lando Mega job Oscar Mega job everyone at McLaren just continue to give him a fast racing C it's great to go from Holland which is a polar opposite uh Netherlands I should say uh as I've been reminded and and to be at two polar opposite tracks like this I think that bodess well for the balance of the Year well you did say actually when we spoke to you on Sunday in zanol that yeah you thought the package would be strong here but I guess it's the fact that you seem to methodically work through this weekend and at no stage did anyone look outright fastest but it's you guys at the top again tomorrow though how much significance did it now take on because we've we've been hyping up a championship fight but there's a real opportunity here not just for Lando to make big gains but for McLaren to even take the lead in the constructors yeah I think all we can do is try and keep Cars one two and uh have a discussion uh tomorrow about you know the drivers Championship uh because you know we are G to kind of make a move uh we'll have to do that sooner rather than later it's great to have two awesome racing drivers that drive for the team first and foremost so uh we we'll work through that we um you know in Holland we didn't have a great start that was on us not the drivers that was in the second phase we got too much wheel spins so hopefully we have that resolved so they can come out of turn one in first and second with what you've seen over the weekend so far who do you think your biggest Rivals gonna be is it two is it Ferrari and Mercedes and are you surprised if I'm not saying red bell in that list um I think Max is on that list from what we've we've seen uh I think those top seven cars are are all on the list uh Mercedes has looked very strong so it's Ferrari uh so I think it's hard to put them in any particular pecking order other than I think they're all going to be dangerous come race time now we're in the business end of the season in the sense of we're talking about Championship battles you're fighting for wins and polls every weekend right now do you still feel excited that there's a race to go win tomorrow or does it start to become a little bit I don't know tense because of what's on the line well it's always tense no matter where you are but uh yeah I'm obviously very excited but also pretty nerve-wracking because when you're first and second you don't finish in those positions then uh you've gone backwards no one wants to go backwards in this sport so goals first and second um but you know Andrea does a great job of keeping us all very focused on one one day at a time one session at a Time One race at a times we'll just be laser focused on tomorrow's race and just finally this is big news just to next your chief of com Steve here who won Tennis this morning well it's uh it was rained out um I was killing them at the start and then I started to feel bad so I let them win the first set 6'4 but then I I was angry so at 3-1 I thought they need a break they looked like they were really out of shape and uh so we're going to finish the match tomorrow so you lost uh the game's not over yet is it clay we'll find out tomorrow how that plays out but I thought I'd give Steve the chance he never gets to go on the mic but Zach well done today see you later that's great Chris I can promise you the reason I asked that because Steve was stood there uh answering or yeah listening to that uh I actually played football soccer with Steve yesterday and a few others and he said he was playing tennis with Zack and he said he really wanted to win he was actually playing with Zach's Chief of Staff alongside him uh and he said he really wanted to win because Zach is such a bad winner and he won't let anyone forget it when he wins now I admit in in the Formula One Paddock I don't think that's the case I think Zack Brown's a fairly good winner as team bosses go in general agree it turns out he's not when it's him actually involved himself in in the sport he's playing they playing on are they on are they on clay or hard surface it's hard surface I believe if it's the if the court that we saw today uh oh sorry yesterday it would be hard surface wow okay I'm gonna swing it back to formula one because I want to get y take I want to get your take on George Russell's lap man that you know look he's he's in third in qualifying and and his teammate Hamilton down in six man that was a fantastic lap from Russell wasn't it yeah I'd say so uh you know definitely that George was not in pre-practice one he gave the car over to Antonelli who bunched it up um so then he had to go into free practice to with some questions a about the new track surface and I think we need to talk a little bit more about that and B whether he had a complete car under him after a quick rebuild by his crew he was still I think 22 minutes late starting the session so you know it was all kind of working against Geor Russell uh this weekend thus far but you're right I mean he just put in a a blazing lap in qualifying and um he he'll be a factor tomorrow yeah Chris did you hear anything about his car about that rebuild that was was going on uh so actually in the press conference announcing Antonelli today there was a bit of a throwaway line from Toto wolf about how Antonelli had compromised George's weekend uh and not just you know crash the car that session but compromis his weekend so I actually when I walked out I was walking out with George and ason and he said there's nothing wrong with the car now the car's in a good spot and you know I'm not lacking any parts so I don't have to run anything that's damaged or red but it's more that we lost all that data from that session so in terms of setup chasing the perfect balance that we don't have a whole session of data from one of the cars so yeah that in that sense it put him on the back foot slightly but uh I think he proved that that wasn't really a concern uh with the way that s panned out and I think again probably a sign of the progress Mercedes making overall in that they had a tough weekend race Pace wise at least in zambot uh but in the past we got used to them looking good on a Friday fading on a Saturday maybe being okay on a Sunday and then they started with those wins well this was one of those days where at One Stage I did think they faded Friday looked good Hamilton was quick as yesterday in fb2 fb3 didn't look quite so encouraging and I just start to think yeah that they're maybe struggling a bit and q1 I want to say they're talking about the sliding around but they got it into the window they needed to be fighting for essentially for pole I mean when both cars are within two10 of pole you're in the fight aren't you wherever you end up qualifying so yeah I'd say they uh that was another encouraging session for Mercedes actually given where they've come from all right well coming up after a quick break here we're going to talk about that we're going to go further down the qualifying grid because I want to talk about Ferrari and some other teams a little further down you're listen to Speed City F1 back after a quick break on YouTube go ahead Bob well I had a question for Chris was that press conference you quoted George Russell that was that where he made his comments in support of the idea of running a standalone Sprint race for young drivers after the postseason Tire test at Abu Dhabi so I'm not sure because if he did he would have done it in the broadcast part of that press conference which I didn't hear most of because I was hosting the Formula 3 press conference he didn't talk about it in the print section that followed and I managed to get there for that but this is a an idea that is uh for this year being pushed by F1 but it seems like there's a lot of unanswered questions I'm not convinced it's going to happen yeah well I'm not but I thought it was an idea so good questions on YouTube let me get these here uh Andy P says comments he says kimy destroy the car but the way he destroyed the car reminded Toto of senna apparently kind of goes along with what was saying about astonishing he's saying that Toto saying that the the way that um that anelli just reminded him of senna whether he whe it was the way he destroyed the car or way he reacted I don't know I think it might have been the way he went out is his first couple of laps it was pushing and being so quick instantly uh and and just having that kind of mindset and attitude that you're in full control and yeah and you're going to go and put it at 100% % from turn one of lap one whereas we see plenty of drivers and I still think it's a sensible way of doing it but building up that confidence over a much longer period of time hey tww wants to know what's going on with the Mercedes seats burning the drivers what have you heard Chris I haven't actually to be honest I know that leis Hamilton thought it was maybe some leakage in terms of hot air from his radiators yesterday but the fact they haven't resolved it today um is interesting but I am right now between Mercedes Moto and Mercedes trucks so if I see anyone I can ask will Christian hor seems to be dodging us all right we're coming back hello to everyone this is GTO steo this is Speed City welcome back to the fastest hour in radio Speed City hey Bob Vara we had Zack Brown on a minute ago Chris caught up with him and he was saying that he believes that all the way down in the top seven cars all the way down to Max verstappen have a chance to to win this or at least be in the hunt I mean do you agree with that because I wanted to talk about Ferrari behind the you know Mercedes that we just talked about George Russell but yeah what do you think about that well um I agree with it you know it's uh certainly theoretically possible practically um well why not I mean this this track is so different everything is so fast you know we always talk about at Monaco every year how they bring in Parts specific to the Monaco configuration of the track they've got to be able to turn quicker and you know special noses and all that sort of thing well it's very much the same here at Monza they'll use bits and pieces particularly on the Arrow side that they won't use anywhere else during the year because this track is just so fast the margins are so close so it's going to come down to uh pit work certainly uh the tires which are a huge question at this point I think Peril you could kind of sense was taken aback a little bit at what they were seeing from the tires after Friday um and the toe you know the aerodynamic toe uh drivers working together as a team you know it's uh it's the most important track aerodynamically this side of NASCAR yeah Chris what about your take on that yeah I think it's the right one in the sense that you know we've seen the way Max can race but we have also seen uh Red Bull's race Pace at certain times being stronger than the qualifying Pace now it wasn't the case last time out but previous to that it generally has been uh and it's always tough to count match just up and out but the way that The Season's been going slowly it doesn't feel quite so alien to do so uh so I think down to seventh might be maybe a push but at the same time as Bob says as well the way that like the race start here is so crucial because it's such a concertina into that firstan so much can go wrong uh lockups and you know just little Taps and Spins and there's no guarantee that the car starting seventh emerges from that first chane in seventh it could be that he's caught up in some incident in fact more likely to happen that far back but similarly if a couple of cars have a bit of uh coming together ahead of him he could easily come out of there in third or fourth and you definitely would say he's in the race then so uh another thing here is as we're talking about the aerodynamics is your qualifying car if you're a bit too draggy you're going to be slow and qualy uh but you know potentially uh you might look after your tires a bit better in the race and you might be able to you know if you can stick with everyone else and using DRS then that might help you use that sort of stretch setup or flip side you could go to low down force with your qual uh setup find the cars too loose so you can't get the time through the corners but then in a race you're really hard to overtake or really hard to really easy for you to overtake someone else so it can be a big discrepancy between the quality pace and the race Pace but it was unexpected today and I think Red Bull will be scratching their heads with where they're at so yeah I I still I'm not as confident it's all the way down to seventh I think that's almost just you know history making it hard for Zach to say no they won't be in the mix yeah we learned today that McLaren actually put down Force back on their cars for the reasons Chris just explained you know they wanted a more solid footing through some of the corners carry more speed through there because you weren't sliding around as much man you know when you're putting downforce back on the car at Monza you know you got you you know you got your car set up properly don't you I mean that that's that's something to say generally yes I mean it can be that you are you are kind of I don't know your drivers aren't confident and they're looking for something that gives them more confidence but it's not going to be that quick uh but yeah I I think with the way that the weekend's panned out as we said in that Zack interview we've seen that the kind of steady progress uh from C from fp1 through to the end of Q3 with McLaren to end up one two now for I think had a solid weekend but I actually expected them to be more competitive not to have a car in the top three surprises me but for Mercedes speed right there in the mix as well again shows that they've they've held on to what is needed there's only one team really that seems to have stumbled uh as the weekend's got to the sharp end and that's red ball so yeah it doesn't the signs are not good for them right now let's put it that way and this easily could change this weekend as we headed into it and John and I talked about this on Wheel tohe if Max Sapp had won this weekend and he still might who knows but if he put in a strong performance and won the race then it really would burst a bubble of the kind of momentum that McLaren were building and the focus people had on oh could we get a proper driver championship fight flip side is I think everyone talking about could we have a proper fight we're just expecting it to kind of bubble away slowly maybe Lando Norris Edge closer Edge closer yeah with if they finish as they start Norris is GNA take 19 points out of the Sapp's lead he's going to cut it to 51 he's going to take a third in one go basically um that would be a huge turnaround uh so yeah I I think this is all set up for tomorrow to be pivotal in the hopes of there being a drivers championship fight I I I kind of feel like the constructors is already pretty much gone for red B I think that the r McLaren are going every sign is with nine races left McLaren are gonna win that strong words wooo hey uh one thing we haven't been talking about really almost all year is negative Ferrari strategy they've had good strategy so let's see how that plays into like you were saying Chris we expect them to be fast I mean look let's say let's face it home field advantage is a thing and I think that fory can glean some of that but I wanted to talk about something you said Chris I mean look you never know what's going to happen at the beginning of this race the turn one and the very beginning we got Alonzo sitting down at 11 Wy old Alonzo could easily take advantage I mean if I know him he's going to be sitting there eyeballs on what's H what's happening ahead of him looking for a opportunity to pounce and move up and get into the points absolutely could be um you expect him to be one of the watch at the start I do feel like there could be an incident at the start here just because we've got such a close field that gaining a position early on could be really crucial it's it's not the case of where you know you in the past maybe when there's a bigger field spread that you would just be that little bit more careful because as long as you got through comfortably you're going to kind of finish where you or like you you going to settle into your pace order by the end of the race because of the gaps here you you make up a few spots and then Alonzo is perfect for that if he want if he gets past hulkenberg and albon you can see him finishing ahead of hulkenberg and albon but if he doesn't you can see him not so it's it's all on well it's not all on but there's a big part of it on that start uh I've also done a little bit of journalistic work you won't believe uh and know a shock to everyone on the show I know um but I have managed to get an answer out Mercedes for uh what they believe is the cause of those hot seats for their drivers so uh I'm told that it's a mixture of the car touching the ground which maybe is even something to do with the flatter curbs so they're able to run the car a bit lower and they are grounding out a little bit more and just the overall heat here this weekend which is true uh it is it very hot it was u 33 degrees in Celsius today during qualifying and I'm doing my quick there we go as as I speak and then it's also been quite humid it really is like you start kind of mov around a bit too quickly and you're sweating very quickly so I think there's a bit of that like I said it's the airs felt heavy I think in a car obviously it feels even heavier uh but they also do wonder if it could be um something to do with the overall air flow that they're not quite getting enough air flow through to the driver so that heat is just rising and rising and Rising but they said they'll analyze that post weekend goes back to the aoll once again yeah they they you button up the car so much it's like NASCAR at Daytona or tallad you just pin your ears back or Indie Cars at at the 500 you just there's no cracks no air getting in anywhere because that produces drag hey do we want to talk a little bit about the other new face out there in uh in the Williams Franco kapino what do we think reading my mind we've been working together for a long enough time Bob that's I was literally looking at I wanted to talk about I want to talk about his times versus albon versus Logan sergeants you know you guys you guys know I'm in Coda this we can do in the the wet Lone Start mall so I hadn't followed as closely I wanted to get your take on on the times versus what Logan had been doing compared to albon what do y all think I think generally top line from what we saw in qualifying until kapino went wide and admittedly that was very uh sentes wasn't it pushing to find that bit more time on the final run and not quite keeping it clean I think he was kind of in the similar ballpark I'd imagine with the comfort that you have expected Sergeant to maybe be a tiny bit closer to album but it was not a huge difference I don't think and given the lack of preparation and this is his first race weekend uh as someone who's a rookie in F2 this year I think that's that's a pretty damn solid start I agree and it's probably not not not noteworthy uh that I read that Williams signed two new sponsorships with Argentinian compan IES in the wake of them naming kapino into that seat even though it's only for nine races correct yeah uh one of those sponsors actually as well is uh a big enough sponsor of F1 that they've had their sponsorship on Trackside advertising they had it at silverston because colapinto was racing there I believe and they have it here on the parabolica as well so when Antonelli crashed the sponsor boarding he hit was globant who have become a Williams partner because of the cinto moov so yeah it has had a big impact commercially as well which you could argue if you're really weighing up drivers that you think are going to be roughly in the same ballpark certainly in terms of I don't know if you thought if you put mck schumacker in or Liam Lawson in and thought yes they'll do a good job but there's only so much they can do with this car when your own driver can bring that Financial boost to as much as Formula 1 is no longer about pay drivers a driver that's good and brings money is the Perfect combo sureh yeah and Williams will tell you that they don't need the money but it's nice to have yeah I wouldn't turn it down put it that way yeah does a form one team ever actually say that Mom hang on I get abuse from niik hulkenberg say I'm talking rubbish talk less listen more well I listen to you then how was your day just talk less but uh it's been good I think Q3 since since a while I think Silverstone was the last one so no uh I think a good day happy about it um obviously it would have been nice to beat that Williams to it top9 uh but we'll try and get him tomorrow yeah is that is p on the target tomorrow um yeah I mean the top eight they're definitely Out Of Reach they're in a world of their own uh but I expect the tough fight with Williams and with the ason as well to be honest and how hot is it out there uh you know when you're driving you're working you focus you actually forget about the heat you don't feel it um and Monza has a lot of straight lines so it's actually not too bad okay well good luck to my well done today I'll stop talking now you didn't ask him did his teammate slam the door yesterday in to qualifying today h that one wouldn't have been on him though would it so uh I'm going to try and find I think that might be something I'll have to get off the record between now and our pre- show and I'll if I get an answer then I will give you guys a nod when we uh do tomorrow's pre- show Chris I love it I love it that the drivers are everybody's figuring out that you're actually live on there that you're not just walking around listening to music on your phone so I love that we realize that there's a lot of people that don't all right right guys we're uh we're out of time here I just want to make sure everybody knows the schedule for tomorrow of course we're going to bring you a pre and postra show with the race in between from the BBC feed on channel 81 on serus XM everything gets started at 8 A.M eastern time for our pre-ra show and we have a full one hour post race show so thanks for tuning in today thanks Bob Bara thanks Chris medin and we will talk to everybody tomorrow morning