Qualifying Highlights _ Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix 2024_20042024_083350.mp4
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Yeah, we have no weather radar.
00:02Force ruling here because Kevin's clearly about to go and we came up the pits before he did.
00:09We were there first, then we're ahead of the queue.
00:12So it should be your position, but just caution, make sure he doesn't force his way out.
00:18Seems like this, Alex. British team, British queuing rules. We got there first,
00:23everyone else could wait.
00:24Yeah, let's see if he can ask Kevin Magnussen to let him by again.
00:29I doubt Kevin is going to do that.
00:31Well, let's just have a look.
00:32He's trying to go and see Kevin instead of letting him by, he's overtaking the next one.
00:36Yeah, well, that's Hülkenberg. Kevin Magnussen has waited his turn,
00:39but Nico Hülkenberg has rather boisterously just charged out onto the track.
00:45We've seen that all weekend. There's been a race in the pit lane.
00:49Currently, Hülkenberg's sixth fastest is going to be investigated after the session
00:54for a bit of pit lane barging.
00:56Now, Logan Sargent showing those understeer issues that you were talking about.
01:01Yes, he was everywhere apart from on the ideal line.
01:03Stop, just hang on a minute.
01:04And George had already gone and Lewis was still sat there.
01:06And the reason they wanted to hold the drivers was because there was a queue at the end of the pit lane.
01:10George sat in that queue, that's Sergio Perez going wide.
01:13Yeah, what was he doing there?
01:15Goodness knows.
01:19Okay, not ideal, but he was some way off the track, to be honest.
01:23I mean, but yes, it's not great because if you go just a little bit deep,
01:26you just understeer straight towards that driver.
01:30I mean, he was literally off the track, but still he was in a bad place.
01:33So I understand a little bit of frustration there from Perez,
01:36because it's dangerous, because if Perez gets it wrong, he will go straight flying into Albon.
01:40So did Albon need to be, that's Lance Stroll struggling under braking with that tailwind.
01:45Did Alex Albon need to be on the far right-hand side, on the inside there?
01:50Would that have been better for Sergio?
01:52That could have been a better place to do it, yeah.
01:54But now we have some exciting laps coming up here.
01:56Carlos Sainz, as you said, is on course for a very quick one.
02:01And Lando is coming up as well then for his first really big one.
02:04So that's going to be really interesting to watch now.
02:07And Sergio Perez still to get a time on the board too as Carlos Sainz makes his way round.
02:12Turn 16, once again that final corner, track dips down underneath the bridge.
02:16And it's a 1.34.9.
02:17We're into the 1.34s with Carlos Sainz.
02:21Our fastest time in Q1 in 2019 was a 1.32.6 from Valtteri Porta.
02:25Albon goes 7th fastest.
02:27So ahead of Joe Guainui, it was Logan Sargent, not Yuki Tsunoda, who had a spin at Turn 9.
02:34And that is going to cost Logan Sargent big time.
02:38He is going to stay in that bottom five because he's lost a heap of time,
02:41as you would understand, in that middle sector.
02:44So Sargent's going to be out once again in Q1 in 2024.
02:48Magnussen goes 10th fastest.
02:50And here's the pressure moment now for Lewis trying to get out of the drop zone.
02:52Let's hope he doesn't brake too late with the wind from the back.
02:55And he did!
02:55He did exactly like Joe.
02:57He went off the road even there.
02:59That's going to cost definitely some time,
03:01but I think he was up far enough to still make it through comfortably.
03:04Hülkenberg just went 4th fastest in the Haas.
03:07Hamilton crosses the line, only 12th fastest.
03:10For Lewis Hamilton, there's a lot of green sectors being set below him at the moment,
03:14including Daniel Ricciardo.
03:16Pushes Hamilton down to 13th.
03:18Ricciardo, 9th fastest.
03:20Really good lap from him at the end.
03:21Charles Leclerc is on a decent lap,
03:23but he's one of the drivers at risk currently.
03:25Pierre Gasly, who out-qualified Esteban Ocon for the sprint qualifying,
03:29is running neck and neck with his teammate at the moment.
03:31As Lance Stroll goes 8th fastest.
03:33Hamilton's now down in 15th as his teammate George Russell goes 5th.
03:37And is that lock-up from Lewis Hamilton going to cost him dear?
03:41He's going to be out.
03:42And see him out in Q1 here?
03:44Max Verstappen goes quickest once again.
03:46Hamilton stays 15th, but look at Leclerc's time.
03:49Purple in the middle sector.
03:51That's going to be a big threat.
03:52Gasly and Ocon might be a big threat too.
03:55Round the final turn we go with Pierre Gasly.
03:58Crosses the line.
03:59Hamilton is out of qualifying
04:01because Gasly has got himself in a Q2 for the first time this season.
04:06Here's his teammate Esteban Ocon.
04:08He goes 11th, both Alpines out of Q1.
04:11Charles Leclerc is the next one to try and get himself out of the bottom five
04:15and does so at the expense of Joe Guan Yu.
04:19The local hero who also locked up like Lewis Hamilton into that hairpin
04:23is out of qualifying.
04:25Yuki Tsunoda too pays the price for a poor middle sector.
04:30And he's out as well.
04:31Kevin Magnussen is on the track,
04:34but he will find himself in that bottom five.
04:41Wow, that is painful.
04:43So much for Lewis.
04:44As a seven-time world champion,
04:45that's a mistake probably that should be avoidable.
04:49And that's Logan Sargent with his spin,
04:51which he would have wanted to have avoided as well.
04:55Did Hamilton just need to pick a slightly safer braking zone
04:5910, 20 metres before he applied the brakes that time?
05:06It's going to be 20th and last for Logan Sargent for the Grand Prix.
05:09And he picks up a brake marker board for his pain too.
05:13So it's Sargent and Tsunoda and this man Hamilton.
05:17It's not 10 metres, it's 3 metres always, yeah.
05:20But, yeah, wow, this is...
05:22And he also had the brake balance too far forward.
05:25Just lost so much time there.
05:27I mean, lost at least four tenths in that moment,
05:30which easily would have put him through, you know, easily.
05:33He lost.
05:33That is a disaster.
05:35He lost six tenths of a second to his teammate George Russell
05:38in that final sector.
05:40Let's see what Perez can do compared to Max Verstappen.
05:44Fifth fastest.
05:44Oh, and in the background there is Carlos Sainz
05:47sliding towards the barrier, which he hits,
05:51but not at huge speed.
05:52Is there damage on that Ferrari?
05:55And has he kept the engine going or not?
06:00Out of that final turn, Carlos Sainz has dropped it.
06:04And there's a red flag as well,
06:06because he obviously hasn't kept the engine going.
06:10And they're going to need to recover that Ferrari.
06:12And that is Carlos Sainz out of qualifying.
06:17He's okay, which is the first news we want to hear.
06:21But he just got onto the gravel,
06:23and at that stage, he's then a passenger.
06:28Dear, dear, Carlos.
06:29I mean, it's a pretty big impact,
06:30but at the same time, it looks like the car is still in one piece.
06:33So I think he is trying to get going again.
06:34You can just see him run too wide,
06:36outside tires, on the gravel,
06:38but he kept it lit and...
06:39And that spun him around into the tire barrier.
06:45And I think even though the car looks okay,
06:47it seems to be broken.
06:51It's the crowd all craning forward
06:55to try and get the best view.
06:58You see how he kept the power on?
06:59Yeah.
06:59You know, he went into the...
07:01He put the outside tires into the gravel,
07:03but he kept the throttle in there, like fully committed.
07:07And that was a little bit too much.
07:08Which he has been all weekend.
07:11And incidents with his teammates in the sprint race
07:15had quite the debrief at Ferrari afterwards.
07:18Whatever was said there would have been forgotten
07:21going into this session,
07:22but I'm sure plenty will be said after that mistake
07:25from Carlos Sainz Jr. and his dad.
07:27One minute to go here.
07:29This is about getting out of the bottom five
07:31and putting a bit of distance between yourself
07:33and that bottom five.
07:34Carlos is cringing going into Turn 1
07:36for the first time flat out.
07:38You know, I hope this car holds.
07:39Looks to be holding all right so far.
07:43And he takes that slightly wider line,
07:47swings it back in,
07:49seems to be holding fine for Carlos Sainz.
07:51In midway through this session,
07:53had a big accident,
07:54caused a red flag,
07:56lost his front wing,
07:57managed to get the car back to the pit lane.
08:00They've given it the once-over,
08:01said it's fine,
08:02and he's only three hundredths off
08:04through that first sector
08:05from the best time so far.
08:07That belongs to Fernando Alonso.
08:09He's just done a 24.9.
08:10Isn't that incredible?
08:11The driver mentality here.
08:12A couple of minutes ago,
08:14he was in the wall.
08:14The whole weekend was game over.
08:16He had a big clunk in the wall,
08:17and now he goes out
08:18and he's straight back on it mentally
08:20and absolutely nailing it out there.
08:22So who's improving at the moment?
08:23A 24.9 in the first sector
08:26for Sergio Perez as well.
08:2725 for Bottas and Hülkenberg.
08:3025 once for Leclerc and Ricciardo
08:32and Ferroc on 25.2 in the first sector
08:35for Pierre Gasly.
08:37As Carlos Sainz carries on on his way.
08:39Not the best middle sector we've seen.
08:41Probably dropped a couple of tenths,
08:42and it's a 1.34.6.
08:44That's the projected knockout time.
08:46If that's right,
08:47anyone from, well,
08:49Lando Norris and Max Verstappen
08:51should be okay.
08:52George Russell's in the pits.
08:54Might be okay.
08:55He is that 1.34.6,
08:57and the first of those drivers.
08:58There's about four of them,
08:59all on a 1.34.6 at the moment.
09:01It's Ricciardo,
09:02ninth fastest,
09:03goes into the top ten,
09:04but is that going to be good enough?
09:06Carlos Sainz crosses the line,
09:07goes second fastest.
09:09That should be good enough for him.
09:11Alex Albon has been out in Q2
09:12in every race so far this season,
09:14adds the Chinese Grand Prix to that as well.
09:17Only 14th for him.
09:18Ricciardo's now at risk
09:19as Charles Leclerc
09:20puts Ricciardo into the bottom five
09:22and goes third fastest.
09:24Sergio Perez on a decent lap here
09:27for Red Bull needs to be,
09:28because he's currently tenth,
09:29goes second fastest behind his teammate.
09:31Valtteri Bottas still out on the track,
09:34trying to get out of the bottom five
09:35and does so!
09:36Goes tenth fastest,
09:37pushes Lance Stroll
09:39down into the bottom five
09:41in this Q2 session,
09:43and Lance Stroll is going to be out of qualifying
09:45as a result of that.
09:46What is his first Q3 appearance
09:48of the season?
09:52And so Carlos Sainz,
09:54the first of two drivers
09:56to go into that gravel trap
09:57and rather more spectacularly
09:59than Oscar Piastri,
10:00starts then his final flying lap
10:03of a session that could have ended
10:05in absolute disaster
10:07in a sporting context for him,
10:08but could yet still get him a top four start
10:11if he can find just that little bit more pace.
10:14How is he through the first four corners?
10:16Yeah, it was not perfect,
10:17but it was definitely very decent.
10:20Let's see how he does on the first sector.
10:21Should be a bit slower than Verstappen.
10:23That's not a great first sector.
10:24He still seems to be struggling.
10:27And not just struggling against Verstappen,
10:29but two tenths down on Nico Hülkenberg.
10:32And while we see Sainz struggling,
10:33his teammate Charles Leclerc
10:35struggling even more.
10:36And I wonder if the track temperature
10:37has changed just a little bit as well,
10:40which often affects some of the times.
10:42And the wind's direction
10:43swirling around here a little bit,
10:45maybe catching the drivers out.
10:47Yeah, I mean,
10:48I'm looking at Sainz on board here
10:49and he's having quite a difficult time there.
10:51Although second sector,
10:52he's hanging in there,
10:53so he's not lost too much more there.
10:56Looking at the wind radar,
10:57the windsock,
10:58it's turned about 90 degrees
11:00as Charles Leclerc absolutely aces
11:02the middle sector.
11:03So reducing some of that deficit,
11:05but he's still got a long way to make up here.
11:08Piastri's setting personal best times,
11:10and he's only a fraction outside
11:11the times he needs.
11:12Verstappen, 24.9 for the first sector.
11:15George Russell, 25.1 for the first sector.
11:19George Russell up in third place
11:21as he crosses the line.
11:23Fantastic lap from George there.
11:25Seriously fantastic.
11:26Decent lap from him.
11:27Carlos Sainz to finish his lap then.
11:29Where's he going to put that Ferrari?
11:31Crosses the line,
11:32goes on to the front row with a 1.34.2.
11:35Now that has just set the bar a little bit
11:37for his teammate Charles Leclerc to follow.
11:39And Leclerc does go faster than Carlos Sainz,
11:42albeit by only two one thousandths of a second.
11:46Here's Oscar Piastri.
11:48He goes on to the front row now.
11:50Was going brilliantly for the first and second sectors.
11:52Kept it together too.
11:53Bottas, only tenth of the Sauber.
11:55One place lower than he was for the sprint qualifying,
11:57but he will be very happy with that.
11:59Here comes Lando Norris,
12:01and he goes on to the front row now.
12:03Was pole for the sprint race,
12:05and now he's on the front row alongside this man,
12:08Max Verstappen,
12:09who is going to take Red Bull's 100th pole position
12:13in Formula 1.
12:15And he goes faster than his first lap.
12:18Verstappen on pole for the sixth race in succession.
12:22And for the first time since Mika Häkkinen in 1999,
12:26the first five poles of the season
12:27all go to the same driver.
12:28Here's Fernando Alonso.
12:30He's on the front row alongside Max Verstappen.
12:32Brilliant effort from him.
12:35Sergio Perez next to cross the line,
12:37and he just knocks Fernando Alonso off that top row
12:41and makes it a Red Bull one and two in qualifying.
12:45It's Verstappen from Perez,
12:47the 100th pole for the Red Bull team.
13:00♪♪
13:10♪♪
13:20♪♪
13:30♪♪
13:40♪♪