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Hello and a very warm welcome to the late breaking F1 podcast presented by Sam Sage and me, Ben Hocking, reviewing the first sprint qualifying session of 2026 at the Chinese Grand Prix,

another session dominated by Mercedes.

Three out of three competitive sessions so far, Sam, that we're looking at a one-two in the same

order. It's not been a bad start to the year for them.

Oh, yeah, first spring session of these new regulations, and if we were going to see anything

go a little wild when it comes to the results, it was likely going to be here. Of course, one practice session is all you get on a sprint weekend. And a lot of drivers missed out quite a long of time. They something didn't even get a go in that practice session. But Mercedes were unperturbed by such issues. They were straight through as they have been pretty much every single session, and they've replicated it here again when it matters. They were at the top of every single SQ1, SQ2, SQ3. And Ben, there was a moment where they went about a second fast in the Ferraris of Hamilton, who was the faster of the two at the time. And I just thought, uh-oh, it is going to be one of those years. I'm vomited. I'm a immediate reaction. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Hey, we're making progress in terms of a competitive field, though, because in Australia, the qualifying gap from Russell to the nearest non-Messades was just over three quarters of a second. Here, it's just over six tenths. So by the time we get to

Abu Dhabi, it's going to be like a tenth that Russell's getting pulled by.

My guy is like robotic in the way that he's just, there's no mistakes coming from him at all.

Every time Antingelli seems to get within, you know a 10th or two, he kicks it up a notch.

And I know Russell's good. We've always given credit for how good George Russell is. And we were slightly baffled when the idea of Max Verstappen coming and kicking George Russell out the seat was a possibility. It might still be if they're saying he's this good and red ball, we'll get on to them, aren't able to match that level of performance soon. but he's so good, so efficient,

the ability to put out this lap time so quick. them aren't able to match that level of performance soon. But he's so good, so efficient,

the ability to pull out this lifetime so quickly. I know Antingale is still essentially a rookie.

He's only two races into his second season, but the difference there is vast. And I think

Kim is holding his own well for such a youngster, but George is showing what he's made of right

now. And I think it's splitting opinions out there with our listeners on whether this is going to be a good thing for Formula One or not.

It'll be interesting to see how the season unravels.

It's incredibly early days.

You feel like there are still tweaks and changes to be made regarding the regulation.

So I think it's maybe too early to say that just because of how it is right now,

that it's therefore going to be that way for the rest of the year and the rest of the

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