BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts. Five Live, Formula One. Hello and welcome to the checkered flag. Looking ahead to round two of the championship. Formula One is in China this weekend, back at the Shanghai International Circuit, which also plays host to the first sprint event of the season. However...
The biggest news coming into the weekend was the sad news that legendary team boss and pundit Eddie Jordan has died at the age of 76. My name's Harry Benjamin. I'm joined by the BBC's F1 correspondent, Andrew Benson and racing driver, Alice Powell. Can you sum up just what a force of nature Eddie was? Well, force of nature is exactly right. He was full of life, Eddie Jordan. He was loquacious. He was wicked. He was funny.
but everybody in Formula One loved him even though they all saw all these sides of Eddie Jordan. He lit up every room he was in and I have many, many personal memories of him from knowing him for 30 years or something. frightening, isn't it? Where he, you know, would wind you up, shout at you, swear at you. But he was always supportive and friendly. And yeah, one of a kind. Alice, how big is this? as a loss for the sport.
I mean, he was a legend, wasn't he? Whether you just see him making jokes, walking down the paddock or like Andrew said, giving advice and just being Eddie, just being friendly. I was lucky enough to work with him at Channel 4 when he was involved with their coverage there. And as soon as you walked into the room, you knew, well, Eddie's in here. This is going to be a laugh. This is going to be a day full of laughter and giggles. And it was. And of course, he was very serious at times.
but was always there if he needed advice and a helping hand and would share his knowledge and his experience. So for Formula One, it's a big loss. And for us as fans... it's also a loss as well. Well, the tributes have already been pouring in and indeed the DNA that runs through the Aston Martin team, which has had several iterations, which began as Jordan through to Midland, then Spiker forcing.
India Racing Point and then Aston Martin, which all based themselves in Silverstone and were up until recently when Aston Martin developed a whole new campus, was still on the bones of the original Jordan F1 headquarters. They've been running a... tribute with Eddie Jordan's name on their livery in China this weekend you can listen to our full Eddie Jordan tribute checkered flag podcast with myself Andrew Mark Gallagher who was part of the management of Jordan F1 and Gary Anderson who designed
the very first Jordan F1 car. That's available on the Checkered Flag feed now. You are listening to our preview of the Chinese Grand Prix, where now the season is well underway. We'll bring you three episodes each race week.
previewing and reviewing the action so make sure you're subscribed on BBC Sounds and have push notifications on please in your phone settings so we can let you know when new episodes are available and Alice Coming into this weekend off the back of round one, I think it was looking a little bit ominous that McLaren had quite a lot of pace up their sleeve and quite the advantage over the rest of the field.
And they came into China being the team to beat. And even some of the drivers pointing out how far ahead they were. Yeah, George Russell in particular was quite vocal saying that they've got a bigger advantage than Red Bull ever had. I mean, I don't think I particularly agree with that statement from George. And of course, we've only just had...
one round. Yes, they were very strong in qualifying, but Max took it to them and he did a great job, certainly in the race with mixed conditions. A solid job by Max Verstappen, but certainly the favourites going into this weekend. They have a good package. The positive as well for McLaren is they've got both drivers up there, so they can sort of lend a hand to each other if needed. And they've got that vital data that's being shared between the two cars, whereas Verstappen, he...
He didn't have Lawson up there, Ferrari. They just lacked a little bit of performance in the race and the strategy wasn't... any good from from them to to be honest but mclaren looking at the moment we've only had one race but the ones to beat but andrew we've actually just witnessed sprint qualifying and it's a ferrari that's quickest, followed by a Red Bull with the first McLaren third.
Yeah, gobsmacked was the word Lewis Hamilton used after taking pole position for the sprint race. And he's not the only one, I think. He, you know, they've gone from seventh and eighth on the grid in Australia to first and fourth in China on Friday.
a whole other qualifying session to come on Saturday for the Grand Prix but it's quite the turnaround and I think there's a whole combination of factors involved there first of all Ferrari underperformed in Melbourne there's no question about that in qualifying they were quick all the way up to the final session, something went wrong.
In that session, whether it was tyre preparation, whether it was car setup, we're not quite sure. Meanwhile, I think McLaren have underperformed today. We can get into them in a bit more detail in a bit, but certainly they didn't maximise their potential.
Verstappen's about where you'd expect him to be. You know, that's Verstappen for you. He maximizes everything. That's why he's such a formidable competitor. That's why he can never be ruled out. And Mercedes, not far off where you'd expect them to. I think the swap around is Ferrari getting...
right and mclaren getting things wrong well let's hear from the man who got things right a rather gobsmacked lewis hamilton speaking after sprint qualifying i'm just a bit gobsmacked i want to say a bit taken back by it um I didn't know when we would get to this position. After last weekend, it was a difficult start to the week.
Come here with just aggression and wanting to go into the weekend and really get the car into a great place and I've started started out straight away with a better feeling in the car and just i can't believe that we're at the front um ahead of like a mclaren which which has been so fast through through throughout winter testing and obviously in the last race and even today um but yeah i'm really grateful just to be up there fighting with these great drivers
And to see be so close to these other teams. Yeah commentary said new colors same number Yeah, what did it feel like when you stood up and celebrated with the fans? Well, the crowd's always been amazing here for me i've had so much great support every year i've come to china since um since the really early days and i've been coming here for many many years so i'm really really grateful
I get to see them from the moment you land to the moment you leave. They're with you throughout the weekend. They ride the ups and downs with you through the year. They travel around to so many of the races through the year as well. So it's great to see them out on the pit straight. and wow holy crap my first even though it's not the main pole that gives me real inspiration to go into tomorrow to find more performance and see if we can compete again
Yeah, many other drivers were struggling with the tire pressure, particularly Turn 1. For example, what was the secret out there, Lewis, today? I don't know how this track is. I've always gone well at this track. I think it's the Chinese fans. But obviously the weather's been great today as well. It definitely wasn't easy with the tyres.
Yeah, we got through. I think there's definitely a little bit more performance to find for sure. Lewis Hamilton then secures his first pole position, Alice, as a Ferrari driver. It's for the sprint, but we're going to take it, right? I am. I mean, I'm sure the rest of us will as well. And we've got Max Verstappen up there. Vibes flowing back to 2021. But a great job from Lewis where we saw drivers making mistakes, in particular Lando Norris towards the end.
end of qualifying in that final sector, the heavy braking zone into term 14. The track was getting better and better and better. And he put all his sectors together. He maximized that track evolution and got a worthy pole position only just from Max Verstappen, who again... Doesn't seem to have the strongest car out there.
but did a really good job, put it all together. So McLarens, we were coming in expecting them to be dominant and up the front. OK, yes, it is only sprint qualifying, but I'm sure they're going to be very disappointed with that. So, Andrew, why have McLaren there? taken as this step back in this sprint qualifying session that we've seen? Is it purely just a case of not maximizing their one lap pace when they had the chance?
Combination of circumstances, I think. It sounds like the tyres have been very difficult to deal with on this track today. The wind's been blowing. People have been struggling to get the tyres in the right window, whether too hot or too cold. And also... Let's not forget that Lando Norris has been saying, look, the McLaren is not that easy a car to drive.
Put in the long corners at China with some wins, that's going to exacerbate those problems. On top of that, McLaren took a different strategy into qualifying. They ran two qualifying laps rather than one, but just on one set of tyres in the final session.
you never get the best time on the second set of tyres, especially when it's the soft compound. So they're not maximising the track conditions in that situation. And then the final point is that Norris made mistakes. In his two runs, he made one mistake in Turn 13.
on his first run that's the long looping right hander onto the back straight and then his second run on those now used tyres remember he put in an absolutely blistering first sector and he might yet have got pole anyway even on the one lap old tyres But he overshot his breaking point into the hairpin at the end of the straight, and that was that. So he's down where he shouldn't be. Oscar Piastri's in third. He also felt that that two-run plan was not the optimum one.
So they've... basically given an open goal to uh ferrari and red bull and they've scored um the thing is though it's only sprint qualifying and it's always the same you think oh everyone's like it's excited because it's a qualifying session but the drivers are generally not that bothered
because, you know, it's the sprint race. There's not a lot of jeopardy. Okay, if Norris finishes sixth, he loses a few points to Piastri or Verstappen or Hamilton or whoever, but it's only a few points. It's not like the big swings that you get in a grand.
Prix. So I don't think he'll be too worried about that aspect of things. He will be worried about the fact that the McLaren wasn't performing at his optimum and they'll be trying to fix that for qualifying tomorrow. But I guess towards the end of the season, if we're expecting a close... These points could play vital at the end. Obviously, we've got a long way to go. We've got more sprint races to come up throughout the year as well. But yeah, Lando needs to try maybe...
Mark out these mistakes. He mentioned pre-season as well that he's learned... a lesson from last year. He knows he needs to make less mistakes. Had some creep in today. He'll be looking forward to getting rid of those, putting that behind him. But it did seem that McLarens were sort of struggling with that strategy that they had. in qualifying. It was sort of paying off for them in Q2, but...
Didn't seem to work here with the track conditions going into Q3. Well, let's see what Lando Norris had to say after his sprint qualifying session. Talking to Lawrence Barreto. Lando, what happened out there? I thought you had a really good car. I didn't see your lap. What happened? You backed out of it? No, I made a mistake. I locked up in the last corner. But, yeah, we just struggled a bit more now. Just not quick enough, simply. Struggled a lot with the car, so...
Yeah, just our difficulties that we've been struggling with showed a lot more today. So nothing more than that, honestly, just... Too many mistakes, but just too difficult of a car to drive. Were you struggling throughout practice as well, or was it something that came into qualifying when the track ramped up? No, I think just throughout the day we've been struggling a bit with the front locking.
struggling a lot in the last corner with all the tailwinds so kind of a lot more aligned with Bahrain say just a lot windier when the wind's blowing then we struggle a lot more so I think you know both myself and Oscar struggled more Clearly me more than him. So yeah, just pushing a bit hard to try and make up for.
Not quite been quick enough. How are you feeling about the rest of the weekend? Obviously it gets difficult, I know, because it's session after session, but can you recover something of these things that you can tweak to improve the front locking, for example, as the weekend goes on? No, I mean, that's more me rather than the car.
I can't make the car perfect but no this was me just trying to again like I said just push a bit too much so more just need to back off a little bit and yeah not try not try push too much I think the car's still good and in a good window. Maybe not a good enough pole, but yeah, we can definitely go forward. So Norris then will start the sprint race from sixth.
This teases us up quite nicely, doesn't it, Alice? Because we've got a Ferrari on pole, an old sparring partner in Verstappen alongside in the Red Bull. The McLarens are in there. So is the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. The Mercedes are George Russell too. And that's...
Turn one in Shanghai is such a unique corner. We're going to get some pretty dicey moves, surely going into turn one, a lap one. What, with Hamilton and Mustapha starting on the front row? No, never. Of course we will. You know, remember it is the sprint. They have got the qualifying for the main Grand Prix after the sprint race. So you don't want to take too many risks.
and have an incident and damage the car that you put the mechanics and the team under pressure to get the car ready for the main qualifying. But we know that these two on the front row, even stick Piastri there as well. He seems to go for a gap. Remember Monza last year between him and Norris.
They'll be trying to fight their way forward. It is a short run up to to turn one. If you can brave it around the outside, you can give it a go. It will be difficult, but it's going to be making sure in these cooler temperatures that we're used to seeing.
getting those tyres up to temperature on that formation lap, and especially those rear tyres to get that launch. It's a totally new surface here, and they've only had one... opportunity to do practice start and that was after the the only practice session that we had so usually they get three shots at having practice starts and learn a little bit more about the tyre in those conditions and the tarmac they've only had one shot here
Even though it's only the sprint race, it's hard not to get excited about Hamilton and Verstappen on the front row together. Echoes of 2021, everyone can remember the intensity of that title fight. They're not in that situation yet.
this year but we don't know how this season is going to develop yet everyone's going on McLaren are going to dominate but McLaren have been saying no no no it's not like that at all you know Andrea Stella only a week ago I was sitting in Melbourne listening to him say oh this is not this is not the real picture and lo and behold it wasn't the real picture, at least not on Friday in China.
So the season could develop in a really interesting fashion between all four top teams. Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, is basically saying it's just like last year, the last few races, where there's four teams, any one of which could win a race by 30 seconds, depending on whether they get things. right with the car that weekend maybe he's right maybe he's wrong we don't know yet because it's just early days so far but
You know, this does bode well. It's exactly what we hoped 2025 will provide. Swings between the top four teams, different people on pole, different people competing for wins. It is exciting. So it's only a sprint race. There's less points up for grabs. Eight points for the win compared to the usual 25 for a Grand Prix. But Hamilton...
is going to want to take his first win for Ferrari, whether it be a sprint or not. Of course, of course he is. Verstappen is going to want to try and get past him and take the sprint win as well. They're racing drivers. They're all out there to score. maximum points and and get a win but the full focus as well will be learning as much as they possibly can they've not had a chance to do a race run in in free practice one the only free practice session that we've had so gaining
the mileage and learning as much as possible about the car. I'm assuming that pretty much everyone's going to start on the medium tyre. Some might go, do you know what, let's stick on a soft. I think it's a bit of a risk if you do do that. But this is going to be vital for gathering as much data and information for the Grand Prix on Sunday.
People are already saying that the tyres are going to be difficult to make last for one sprint race. It's just a little bit too long. We'll have to see whether that prediction turns out to be right. The other thing to bear in mind going into the sprint is that Verstappen's been talking, even since...
before the season started, about maximising every opportunity. He recognises that the Red Bull is not in a place where he wants it to be at the moment. He was so pleased to be on the front row. He didn't expect to be there after what he felt was a difficult practice session. So he, OK, he's not going to...
compromise his car but he is going to be going all out to maximize all those points that he can so i don't think he's going to give hamilton any quarter at all um Hamilton at the same time is going to want to prove a point. Got to recognize that, you know, the championship could well be between him and Norris. And so this is a good opportunity for him to score a couple of points, make up some of the deficit that he lost in Australia with Norris back in sixth place on the grid.
Also bearing in mind on the tires, if tires are difficult, that could bring McLaren into play for the win even because their tire wear was so good in Australia. Everyone was talking about it. So there's so many unknowns, so many possibilities that this, you know, a sprint race. might not be we typically get a sprint finishing in the order that it starts it might not be the case tomorrow
I'm sold. I'm in. That sets us up so nicely. Just if you are needing a reminder about how a sprint race works, there are no mandatory pit stops, which is why we talk about, well, some of the teams worried about the tyres not lasting and there's less laps. 19 laps of racing compared to the full 56 that we'll get for the Grand Prix on Sunday on Red Bull.
I mean, we always talk about Max Verstappen, never rule him out. And as Andrew was saying, so pleased to be on the front row. But it seems that Red Bull haven't been able to produce the car that he would want. He's not feeling as comfortable as he would. like and there's once again a huge disparity between one car and the other.
Yes, but you never rule out Max Verstappen, do you? He seems to just extract the pace, whatever car is given to him, whether it's firing on all cylinders and feeling the way it should be or not. But Liam Lawson, the other Red Bull driver... down in 20th place. I mean, he needs to sort it out pretty quickly. We know that there's not many opportunities that Red Bull give to you as...
the second driver. Let's call him the second driver because we all know that Max Verstappen is the number one in the Red Bull team. And they need him up there, really. You know, Leclerc is up there to support Hamilton, potentially. They've got the two McLarens up there.
But there's only one Red Bull. And we know how important the Constructors' Championship is. OK, it is early on in the season. We're only looking at the sprint race. But even across all sessions that we've seen so far, even in Bahrain, it's... Not looking great for Lawson at Red Bull, but Max, a sensational job. And yeah, as Andrew said, he's very happy with that lap.
The problem Lawson's got, of course, is now the pressure's going to ramp up. You know, it was looking quite good for him after the first session of qualifying. He was only three-tenths or so, or the first lap of qualifying, I'd say. He was only three-tenths off Verstappen on that run. but it all went to pot in the second lap. And now that's two consecutive, okay, it's only Friday, but so far it's two consecutive bad weekends for the start of his Red Bull career.
The pressure's on you always when you're Verstappen's teammate and you're in a Red Bull. But he cannot afford to keep performing like this because although at the moment the team is saying, you know, give him time, he'll be fine. We know what happened with Perez. We know what Red Bull are like. They've got history. This is a repeating cycle, isn't it? He's got to get on top of it and start performing. Can you hear that? I think it's Sergio Perez laughing. Can you guys hear that as well?
Big wad of cash that he's got. Perez then seeing his replacement languish at the back. Struggle session for Liam Lawson. But Max Verstappen once again maximising every single... inch of what he's been given. Here he is speaking after that sprint qualifying session. Hey Max, there was nothing in it out there for sprint pole today. Just talk me through how frustrated you are or is it still a good performance considering where you've been? I'm very happy.
Yeah, I do think that in the first practice we were quite a bit off. So I'm very happy to be on the front row, honestly. The lap was very good. It's always very tough when you go from a medium to a soft, you know, to nail the lap with no references.
Yeah. I mean, of course, when you look at it, you know, like it was 18,000 or something off pole, but I don't think we should have even been on the front row anyway. So I'm very happy to be second. How many changes did you make to the car? Was it quite dramatic between practice and rolling? Nothing dramatic because... I don't think the balance is massively off. It's too slow, I would say. But this is good for us. It's a little motivation boost, I think, as well for everyone.
You know, we keep nailing the laps. We keep trying to maximise everything that we got. And you need to do that as well, you know, at the same time when you're maybe struggling a little bit more for pace. How much did you overperform then today if you were so surprised to get the Broadway start?
Yeah, I mean, it's always very hard to say, but I was happy with what I was doing there in qualifying. And what about tomorrow in the sprint? Do you think you've got a car to try and keep something? Because the McLaren's didn't look as quick, did they, in that session as we thought they would have been? I think they look very fast up until that last run. So I think... be very hard to keep them behind but hopefully will be fun hopefully you know we we are all
I wouldn't say close, but at least we can race a bit around, you know. That would be nice for me. So Max Verstappen then will line up on the front row alongside Lewis Hamilton for the sprint race. Oscar Piastri third. Charles Leclerc didn't quite... Might maximize his Ferrari down in fourth. Ahead of Mercedes, George Russell. Norris to be said in sixth. And then Kimi Antonelli. A much better qualifying this time around for the rookie up in seventh. A few tenths adrift.
from his teammates. But Alice, we make a lot at the moment of this midfield pack. It's always tight, but this year it seems super close and we've got teams really in the mix and taking it to some of the big guns and the winner so far this weekend. sprint qualifying uh looks like it was yuki sunoda in the racing bulls he was quick last weekend in australia too but we also had the williams at one point showing good pace albums up there we even have an lance stroll in the top 10 too.
Yeah, a strong showing again from Yuki Tsunoda. He's certainly thriving at the moment in the racing balls. Albon, I think he might be slightly disappointed. They were looking certainly much stronger earlier on in the qualifying.
sessions but stroll yeah he's out qualified his teammate fernando alonso which doesn't certainly happen very often at all so he'll be pleased with that and behrman he's there in 12th in in the house and they had a torrid weekend in australia were lapped looked way off the pace so for him to jump up and be in 12th place and Ocon his teammate didn't even make it out of Q1 he was down in 18th place and I think
I think Behrman was nearly six-tenths quicker than Esteban. So a strong showing from Behrman. And he's not top rookie, but with the machinery he's got, he's done a decent job. It was a good day for the rookies, actually. Jack Dewan's beaten Pierre Gasly in the Alps.
Gabriel Bortoletto's out-qualified Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber for the second session in a row. And Hulk was quite surprised to find himself down in 19th, wasn't he? He won't be enjoying that at all, Nico Hulkenberg, that is for sure.
They've both got two-year contracts with the Audi team, as it's going to be known next year. It is Sauber already. And just a little note, our friend of the BBC Sport podcast and commentary, Alan McNish, was spotted on the... tv feed at one point with some kind of complicated uh whatever that job title that basically meant audi spy in the team because he's an advisor to the audi board i thought you're gonna say friend of five live gabriel bortoletto but uh yeah
I'm sure he is. He is absolutely a good result for Portoleto. Benny, what's going on with the Spaniards? So far, tough weekend for both of them in Australia. Alonso at the end of that sprint quality, outqualified by his teammate Stroll. And Carlos Sainz outqualified by quite a margin compared to his teammate Albon. Yeah, so I'll deal with Alonso first. He was all smiles after the session with his TV interview. I don't have any new information.
But I think he underperformed. He was super fast in Q1. He did one lap and was second for a long time. And then he tumbled down the order a bit as others did second laps. But that looked like he had some pretty good potential. The thing about Alonso is he, and everyone who's worked with him will say the same, he often looks like he's underperforming as qualifying goes on because he gets to the limit of the cast so quickly.
It's a talent he's had ever since the beginning of his career. He just can sense the limit. He's just so good at that. But then he will admit himself he doesn't then sometimes go with the track. Everyone else goes with the evolution of the track and he doesn't manage that because he's...
perhaps because he's already gone there so fast already. So you could argue that he's underperforming, but I think to be out-qualified by Lance Stroll, that's always an underperformance for Fernando Alonso. So I think there was more potential in that car, which he hasn't extracted. I think he should have been sort of middle of the top 10, really. But I can't say that for sure. But that's my feeling, knowing...
who he is, how he is, and the fact that he's not beaten his teammate, basically, because on average, he's four tenths quicker than Stroll. And if he's not four tenths quicker than Stroll, he's underperformed. It's pretty simple. Science, I don't know. I mean... Look, he had a good session, a good weekend in Australia, and then qualifying didn't work out. Then he dropped it in the race in the wet, which was...
They've made excuses for him by saying he had a bit more torque delivered to the engine and drive shaft than he was expecting, but it looked like just a mistake, basically. I won't know until... I've gone through the details. It's a bit early to say. And it's early in the season, of course. But you're absolutely right. For both of them, that's not what they will have wanted. And they'll be determined. As much as Alonso might be smiling publicly, he'll be determined.
to turn things around for the qualifying session that really matters, which is on Saturday. Sainz did say on the radio he was just struggling for overall grip. He said, I just don't know what's going on, guys. I'm just struggling. A lot of teams and drivers seem to be struggling with overall grip, but certainly Sainz isn't as happy as he'd like to be in his Williams. It seems like there's been a lot of problems with tyres today, people getting the tyres to be in the right window at the right...
time lawson was talking about he couldn't get the tires down to the right temperature which is an odd thing normally you're trying to get the tires up to the right temperature um other people talking about this set working that set not working uh fred vassar the ferrari team principal talking about, you know, the swing in performances, you know, Hamilton's fastest in Q1, and McLaren's the quickest fly in Q2, and then Hamilton's quickest again in Q3. You know, combine...
The wind with the tyres, the pressures are very high. Pirelli was supposed to make tyres for these new rules back in 2022 where they were able to run the pressures much lower. That hasn't worked out for whatever reason. So I think it sounds...
like today was one of those days where it was quite hard to be out of the window as they say in Formula One jargon and I suspect that's what's happened with science particularly if complaining about the tyres and Alonso I don't know because he tends to be a bit Alonso about these things
doesn't he doesn't like to admit fault unless you really press him i'm sure if i got him in a quiet corner i could get him to tell me what was going on but i haven't got a quiet corner to take until i'm afraid not yet that'll come later in the year uh we always look forward to your sit down
Alonso at some stage during the season. So, I mean, a really intriguing start to the weekend. I feel like we've only really just got going, but that's the nature with a sprint weekend, isn't it? You're sort of thrown straight into the action. But what does that tell us then for, let's be honest, the star of the show?
Grand Prix qualifying and then Sunday's race. Because a sprint, I suppose it often feels like we're just getting a little taster of what's to come later on. But do you think we could expect any big changes throughout the weekend? I expect Norris to be higher up if he can just eradicate those mistakes and string a lap. together i'm sure that they will change their tactics going into the main qualifying for for the weekend so you expect them to be higher up
Hamilton's going to be full of confidence and we know how quickly Hamilton can go when he is full of confidence. We really saw his confidence lacking when he was at Mercedes last year, but he seems to be... very happy at the moment in that Ferrari. So I don't expect it to change too much, but certainly I think the top three will have a bit of a jiggle about. And like I said, if Norris can sort himself out, he was looking.
to go to pole position. But that mistake stopped that from happening. So I think if McLaren can sort it out, they will be on pole position. But we said that coming into sprint qualifying and look what happened. Yeah. Andrew, do you think it will be just as tight and unknown going into Grand Prix qualifying? I don't know.
That's what's so great. I mean, if you want me to predict something, I would say if McLaren can maximize their potential and get the car a bit happier to drive for the drivers and the drivers not make mistakes. Obviously, these two things are related. then I think they'll be on the front row, one, two. But that's a big if. Big ifs. We like that. If is F1, spelled backwards.
Whoever said that was that Murray Walker? It was Murray Walker. Yeah, it was. He had all the good lines, didn't he? Right. OK, before we go, who's going to win the sprint? Alice. I'm going to go for Verstappen. I think he's going to get a better dried off the line and he's just going to throw one up the inside or around the outside of Lewis Hamilton.
Andrew? I was thinking exactly the same thing. Great minds think alike, Andrew. Exactly how she painted it was the picture that was already in my head about tomorrow. And I'm going to go for absolute carnage through the field. And so far, he's been outperforming his teammates. Lance Stroll's in for a top tier result, I think, come the end. So you're going to say, you think Lance Stroll's going to win the sprint race? Yeah.
Cool. That's what we're going for. You must be tired. Or Lewis Hamilton, one or the other. Right. OK, I think that's probably about time to wrap things up. Thank you, Andrew Benson. Thank you, Alice Powell. Welcome to the weekend, everybody. We'll get the sprints underway.
You can hear that in full on five sports extra early morning in the UK. We'll be on air from five to three ahead of the race at three o'clock. And then we go qualifying for the Grand Prix at a more palatable time for you in the UK. It's five to seven in the morning ahead of the session going green at seven o'clock. Let's wrap things up there, shall we? This has been an IMG production for BBC Radio 5 Live.
has been dominated by Manchester City. Eight Premier League titles, six League Cups, three FA Cups, one Champions League and More than a hundred charges. Somebody turned up at the Etihad Stadium and effectively served papers. I'm Clive Myrie and this is Football on Trial. The Manchester City charges. They believe they've got irrefutable evidence. Listen on BBC. CC Sounds.