Abu Dhabi GP Driver Ratings

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Hello, everybody, and welcome back

to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy.

Final driver ratings of the year,

the final time we grade your favorite drivers

from zero to 10 on their performance

throughout the entire Formula One weekend this time.

In Abu Dhabi, Tommy, the season is over.

That was a race and...

It was a race.

Well, you'll actually look at the...

A grand prix.

You look at the pit stop strategies and you go,

oh, you know, there was strategy and look,

maybe just maybe it wasn't like absolutely horrendous

and we were obviously more focused

on the jeopardy of the title fight.

And there were some overtakes out there.

A lot of the things, I think as well,

it goes down to TV direction where we didn't see a lot

because they were fully focused

on the championship sort of protagonists.

So, yeah, looking back, shock at replays

and things like that, I'm like, oh, wow, that happened.

So it's fun.

Particularly at the end where I was...

I watched back the highlights about six times

to find out what on earth happened to certain drivers

in the midfield, particularly over that last points positions

which we'll get into, which was basically swapping

all through the celebrations of Lando crossing the line

to be world champion.

And it all changed as that was going on.

But understandably, the TV, of course,

was focused on the champ.

Do you remember that time when Oscar won the race

and it was in the mini box?

Imagine if it was Oscar Piastro becoming world champion

and they put him in the mini box again or something.

To be fair, they did almost miss Lando crossing the line.

It wasn't like this fanfare of him going across the line.

It kind of, they showed all the cars

and then it kind of cut to him

and it was like, it didn't really prepare for the big...

Yeah, I'm surprised they didn't go max then straight to Lando

but they went max focused on Oscar.

It's like, okay, I know Oscar's not gonna win

the world championship and Lando's only four seconds back.

So there was no time.

Even as a Max Verstappen fan, I wouldn't have been

against using max in the mini box

and you follow Lando on his final lap

becoming world champion.

Commentating on it, having that moment.

Tell Live, watch along Tommy, that one.

Cause I feel like you would have had a few choice words

about Max Verstappen not being seen

to go over the line to win another race.

But anyway, let's get into our driver ratings

and begin with Gabrielle Bortoletto.

Started the race in seventh, finished 11th.

My grade for Gabrielle Bortoletto is going to be

a seven out of 10.

Okay, good.

Not what I think a lot of people dreamed of

for Bortoletto after a sensational qualifying.

He complained about the fact

that the car was bouncing around a lot.

They didn't really have the pace.

Of course he went for the one stop as well

which you might think the two stops were better

when you look around.

But then of course Verstappen and Piastri

both also pulled off a one stop strategy

and finished first and second.

So yeah, Bortoletto just sadly for him

didn't quite have the race pace

and surprisingly didn't even score a point.

Yeah, I've gone for a seven out of 10 for Bortoletto.

An absolutely brilliant qualifying.

His race result looks a lot worse than it actually was.

As Lando Norris crossed the line,

he was ahead of his teammate Niko Holkenberg

who finished ninth and Bortoletto ended up 11th.

So he's incredibly unlucky not to get a point.

He couldn't hold on on the medium tire at the end.

He was in that pack going for the final point

but unfortunately for him couldn't hold on.

They also mentioned that potentially a car issue

or they went happy with how the car was performing

that probably hindered him a bit

but I think 11th it was incredibly close to points

and it could have gone to any of those drivers in the mix.

It was absolute chaos between ninth and 12th

on the final lap that we did not see any of.

Well chaos between Berman and Stroll

who both picked up penalties

and that's the reason why Holkenberg

was thrust all the way up to ninth.

Yeah, and Holkenberg got Bortoletto on the final lap.

Yeah, Bortoletto let him through for sure

because they're on completely different strategies

and good job he did

because Holkenberg could then chase down

that five second gap which was very marginal

come the end of the race

but Holkenberg of course on the two stop strategy

and making that work beautifully.

The fans gave Gabby a seven out of 10.

Nico Holkenberg started the race in 18th, finished ninth.

I have gone for a seven out of 10 for Nico Holkenberg.

People may think that's harsh that he's finished ninth

but he obviously had a much poorer qualifying

compared to his teammate.

As you mentioned previously,

you know it's like Bortoletto let him through

to chase after those points.

And as we mentioned, it was he kind of pipped him

on the last lap, he had that better strategy

which worked so well for him and Lewis Hamilton

to basically make their way through

and get a higher position.

And then of course benefited from the penalties

of Berman and Stroll at the end.

Still a great drive in the race from Holkenberg

but I can't give him higher than his teammate Bortoletto

because he was a poor qualifying

and they were almost identical.

It came down to the final lap.

It's a very fair point.

I am going to give Nico,

I'm gonna give him and,

the fact that I said and means I wanna give him an eight

but I'm not sure.

Is it that being baited by the result?

You made a fair point but like he has had a poor qualifying

but we do usually wait race finishes higher.

Of course the race finishes but is it like one higher?

Like every other teammate finishing like a second

behind their teammate.

I know, the varying amount he's come through the field

around a track that no one was really able to take.

Okay, seven out of 10 because of the qualifying.

I think had he qualified 13th

and then maybe made his way up to where he got to,

perhaps he was deserving of an eight

but yeah, I think seven is a fair shout

because Bortoletto and Holkenberg have had

good parts of the weekend at different points.

So yeah, seven for me.

The fans gave him an eight.

Alex Albon started the race in 17th, finished 16th.

What a disappointing weekend for Alex.

I am going to give him a four out of 10.

Just, I say disappointing weekend,

disappointing end to the season.

Of course he did end up beating his teammate Carlos

who had a disappointing start to the season

due to many reasons.

Yeah, the Williams drivers very much had a tail

of two halves but the different parts of the season.

So Alex once again, you know, I could surprise him.

I thought maybe he'd bounce back in the final race

after, you know, Williams looked pretty good in Qatar

but they didn't have the speed in Abu Dhabi

which you would think might have translated between the two

but clearly not.

So four out of 10, just the strategy wasn't great

and he was just stuck in traffic.

I have gone for a four out of 10 for Alex Albon,

a poor end to an absolutely brilliant season.

You know, that's kind of how he reflected on it as well.

Picked up a penalty, I mean going to qualifying

for it firstly actually, you know, off his teammate,

disappointing again to be knocked out

and then he picked up a penalty for speeding

in the pit lane which obviously wouldn't have had his charge.

By 0.1 kilometre an hour by the way.

Indeed, yeah, crazy but of course if it's over,

it's over just like a McLaren Plank in Vegas

like has to be like, they are the rules.

I know this is insane isn't it?

It is insane and yeah, such a shame

because he's had a fantastic season,

of course all in all, a lot to celebrate.

In terms of strategy, I don't know if I'd agree

a poor strategy had the, he went on that similar kind

of thing with Hulk and Hamilton

but I think the five second penalty

is probably what doomed him

because he was just in the pack, didn't work out for him.

Yeah, indeed, he just got stuck, didn't he?

I guess.

He just got stuck, yeah, the strategy in terms of like

the actual strategy had was good

but it didn't work for him

because he was just always in traffic.

Indeed, yeah, Albon, you look at his results.

It is not great reading after Monza.

He's not scored a single point

by the US sprint since Monza

but then you look at the first part of the season,

he scored in the first seven out of eight races

and really secured himself in eighth in the championships.

It's gonna be an interesting one

in the driver ratings of the season.

Absolutely, the fans gave Alex a four out of 10.

Carlos Sainz started the race in 12th, finished 13th.

I've gone for a six out of 10 for Carlos Sainz,

three seconds from a point.

Don't think the Williams is all that great

but comfortably quicker than his teammate in qualifying.

Didn't have the pace.

I don't think they were, you know,

I don't think Williams suited them this weekend

because they had an amazing run of form

so maybe looks bad

because of how well he's been doing recently

but certainly not a bad race from Carlos by any stretch.

Yep, I agree.

I've gone for a six out of 10 as well for Carlos.

I think that's a very fair grade considering

the Williams wasn't that great

as we saw and sadly didn't manage to scare the points

but that's kind of where he was just there for pace really

and in terms of the strategy that Carlos had,

he was on the one stop compared to Alex's album

who was on the two and yeah,

it's just a very mediocre race

but I don't think I can give him straight down the middle

so I'm gonna give him a six.

The fans, they did go straight down the middle,

five out of 10.

Isaac Hachar started the race in ninth,

finished 17th.

Wow, I mean, V-Carve, what is going on?

Terrible, yeah.

I am going to go for a five out of 10 for Isaac Hachar

and the only reason it's five rather than anything lower

is because of his qualifying

which I think was brilliant

but my goodness gracious me,

he fell like a stone,

had his teammate only three seconds

behind at the end of the race.

They were lapped as well.

Just zero pace, absolutely zero pace.

So surprising that considering what Isaac was able to do

over one lap did not translate in the slightest today.

He said that they were one of the slowest in the pack.

Said the pace was just outrageous in free practice.

I assume outrageous,

usually when I say outrageous, it means really good.

I don't think that that means really good

from the reflection of Hachar.

So they still solidified sixth in the constructors, I believe.

So they're still happy about that one

but as for the last performance, it's a five out of 10.

I've gone for a five out of 10 as well for Hachar.

His qualifying was brilliant but no race base.

You know, I think they were,

you look at what Hermann's teammate could do.

The fact that they were evenly matched

is almost like Alpine situation where they were just,

obviously because Alpine was so bad.

They were the ninth fastest

but yeah, comfortably ninth fastest I think

and just real, real, real struggle with the race pace.

Shame for Hachar because a poor end to the season

has dropped him actually quite away in the standings.

They dropped down to 12th, got beaten by Alonso

which he never thought would happen

based on how the season had started.

And I think Hachar was up in ninth in the championship

for quite a long time.

He'd been looking very good, looking to be Albin

and actually ended up finishing 12th, so.

Wow, painful for Hachar but I'm sure he'll get over it.

He's driving a red ball next year.

Well, maybe.

Exactly.

That one goes.

The fans gave us like a four out of 10.

Liam Lawson started the race in 13th, finished 18th.

I have gone for a five out of 10 for Liam Lawson.

I know he had a worse qualifying than his teammate

but not by a huge amount of positions.

And again, just kind of followed his teammate home.

He got a penalty for erratic driving

but I don't think there was much he could have done anyway.

The only real time we saw him was him sort of

going for it on land at one point

which was kind of quite a crazy moment.

And I'll watch along where we're like, oh my God,

he looks like he's kind of going for it here,

trying to go around the outside of him but no.

I've gone for a five, it's close to a four

but I can't separate them.

You're talking yourself into it.

I have gone for a four out of 10 for Liam Lawson

because yes, he has a penalty.

He qualified worse than his teammate

and eventually finished behind him

so I can't give them the same grade.

Yeah, fair.

I knew the second I committed to it.

No, it was the penalty and I was like, yeah, okay.

And it was for erratic driving

in an incident with Ben and T.F.F.

Okay, so a pair of fours for both of us

but overall Lawson can be happy with the fact

that he has a seat next year, it's confirmed

and fingers crossed for him,

he can just have a very sort of settled,

consistent one next year and no moving around anymore

because he's had some good performances this year

and I fully expect him to grow from this year.

The fans gave him a four out of 10.

Ollie Bearman started the race in the 11th, finished 12th.

I've gone for a six out of 10 for Ollie Bearman,

would have been higher but sadly he ruined it

on quite literally the final lap I think it was

with Lance Stroll.

He was given a penalty, he said afterwards

he doesn't know why I've watched it back.

I do know why he's weaving around, it's erratic

and you can't be doing that

and we'll get on to Lance Stroll a little bit later

because he did exactly the same thing as well.

Yeah, I think the drivers just forgot

that they can't weave around

when they're an inch away from another car

and they can't penalize Yuki Sonoda

for changes of direction

and then not penalize Ollie Bearman

for doing pretty much the same thing.

He moves once then he moves again to the inside.

So annoying for Ollie Bearman of course

because he had a chance of finishing P nine,

finishes outside of the points

but a reasonably six out of 10 I think

reflects a good drive

but no points for him due to a mistake at the end.

I've gone for a six out of 10 for Ollie Bearman as well.

I think the penalty is one of those things

that he probably gets away with in other scenarios

but as soon as they made that Yuki Sonoda decision

they had to kind of clamp it down

for the rest of the pack

and I guess fair play to the stewards

for showing some consistency

because a lot of the time we've argued

that they don't show that consistency

and they almost like they're not watching the midfield

and they don't give them the same penalty.

It feels like the entire year we've not seen it

but then in this race we saw it.

That is exactly where I was about to go with that next thing

of I think they get away with that in every other scenario

apart from the fact that Yuki got his penalty

and because it was affecting the championship contender

and it was very like in front of all our eyes

that it was one of those decisions

where the stewards had to do something

because we were there going,

this is the championship leader

and the guy about to win the championship.

Something needs to be done about this whole situation.

They made their decision and then they basically went,

oh, I know this has been fine for years now

but now we're gonna implement this.

Part of me thinks that maybe should it be so harsh

or it going forward, I don't know

but they run that risk.

Oli Bearman just going back to him,

what might have been kind of the form

that he had at the start of the year

where we know he's got the pace

but just didn't deliver the performance

because he's been the better of Okon in the final end

to the season.

Okon finished a fantastic seventh

and you gotta think like Bearman's pace

particularly in qualifying was unbelievable.

He got knocked out.

Who knows where he could have been

had he got that lap together.

In practice you mean he was unbelievable.

In quali it wasn't.

Practice in the initial parts of quali

and then as we went into the, of course then

as the session that mattered happened

he got knocked out.

So yeah, a shame for Oli

because it could have been something,

a really good result based on what his teammate did

but it's gonna be a six.

Okay, the fans gave Oli a six as well.

Esteban Ocon started the race

and eighth finished seventh.

I've gone for a nine out of 10 for Esteban Ocon.

I think it's absolutely fantastic result.

Welcome back, Estebesti.

Why you had to do it?

When I said you were gonna be a flop

and rob me of the Predictions Championship.

How dare you?

Well, it would have drawn it.

Yeah, yeah.

And then who knows what we would have done.

And then yeah, yeah, exactly.

But a fantastic result for Ocon,

really strong qualifying,

which has been the thing that's really let him down a lot

this year and a great, great result for him

that he actually managed to put it all together

in that final race.

So good job, Estebesti, I've gone for a nine.

I've also gone for a nine, a very easy nine

to give to Esteban.

So happy to see him back

where we've seen him at the beginning of the year

and we've seen him so many other times.

Qualifying has been his Achilles heel

for the majority of the season.

So the fact he made it to Q3,

unleashed some of the pace that we saw in Bearman,

as we mentioned in practice

and on the run up to qualifying.

And then from there on, yeah, he was,

it looked like he deserved to be there.

He wasn't falling back.

He wasn't, it wasn't the Ocon train

if anything, it was the Alonso train.

So yeah, really, really good stuff for Esteban.

And I'm very happy that he managed to firstly race

around Abu Dhabi, because he wasn't allowed to last year.

But secondly, put in such a great performance.

The fans gave him an eight.

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Franco Collapinto started the race in 20th,

finished 20th.

Funny we now speak about after Okon

not being allowed to race about the team

that finished plum last.

It doesn't take any sort of happiness or solace

out of the fact that they were the slowest car.

For Franco, it's going to be a 3 out of 10.

I can't give him any higher than that

for literally qualifying last and finishing last.

I know the Alpine is rubbish,

but look, didn't have any pace.

The team didn't have any pace.

Franco, it's a disappointing end to the year,

for sure.

Finished seven odd seconds behind Gasly.

I think Gasly had a penalty.

He had a penalty for track limits,

so that actually closed up the gap at the end.

It's just a disappointing weekend overall for Alpine.

I've gone for a 4 out of 10 for Collapinto.

I think when you see that Gasly is 19th,

qualifying 19th and finishing 19th,

I don't think it's anywhere near as bad

as a really bad performance.

I think it's just the fact that the car

is incredibly bad.

Of course, he's still got the opportunity

to deliver, which we saw a lot more

a handful of races ago.

Unfortunately, he slipped into that kind of

20th place, but I think a lot of that is due to

how poor the car is.

We'll see what he can do next year

when hopefully the car is better

because they are talking a lot about how

it doesn't matter about 25,

we're putting it all into 26.

The last 26 would be incredibly embarrassing.

They've put their entire resource of 2025

into 2026.

They basically just brought a car from 24 and said,

we'll run another season, and obviously

they're going to finish last.

The fans gave Franco a 3 out of 10.

Pierre Gasly started the race in 19th,

finished 19th.

Gone for a 5 as well.

Sorry, 5-4 Gasly.

He had a moment with Hülkenberg

at the start, which was almost a massive

incident.

They banged wheels on the straight,

and thankfully nothing came of it.

Got a penalty for track limits.

Look, the car is terrible.

It's quite clear,

but can't give him anything higher

for a 19th place finish at all.

I've gone for a 4 out of 10 for Gasly.

Yes, he's beaten his teammate in both qualifying

and the race, and that's why there's a nod to that,

and he's a point above.

Of course, I don't think he can go any higher than that

due to the fact that he did get a penalty

for track limits.

Clearly pushing, but pushing too hard,

not that he lost in many positions,

but overall a weekend and a season

to forget for Alpine.

The fans gave Pierre a 5.

Lance Stroll started the race in 15th,

finished 10th.

Dear Lance Stroll, not the worst,

not the worst by any stretch of the imagination.

I am going to go for...

You want to do the Lance Stroll thing

and give him an 8?

No, I'm not giving him an 8

because he got a penalty as well

for changing his direction.

I am going to go for a 7 out of 10

for Lance Stroll.

Could have maybe been higher

had he not picked up a penalty

for also weaving and changing of direction,

both of which due to the fact

of Yuki Sanoda's incident

were absolutely penalties

by being consistent.

Lance had got through on a Williams

and then when he was about

an inch ahead of the Williams

started then weaving all over the place

to try and get slipstream

at the car ahead,

which you can argue

he's trying to race,

he's trying to get the slipstream,

but I don't know.

Consistency-wise, as we said,

from Abu Dhabi, that makes sense,

but for the entire season,

it's not really...

Usually it's black and white flags,

that's what you would usually get

for dangerous erratic driving

of that kind,

or at least that's what I believe.

I saw that as to mine,

we're trying to basically appeal it,

but unless they bring any new information,

which they can't,

then I don't think that's going to happen.

But one thing I will say for Lance

in his favour was the move

that he put on Oli Berman

was absolutely incredible.

Round the outside of the fast left-hander,

I can't remember what turn number that is,

maybe like seven,

but round the outside there was a great move,

and I had to double-check

what on board that was,

and it wasn't Fernando Alonso,

it was in fact Lance Stroll.

Pulling a great move on Oli Berman,

of course Lance was going on the attack,

wasn't he, at the end of the race,

he pitted.

Actually, to be fair,

he went very long on the hards

and then just went,

it was a one-stop,

but he pitted at lap 42,

whereas Berman was basically

on quite old hards.

That allowed Lance to get a great run

and pull off a fantastic move.

So, 7 out of 10.

Yeah, I'd gone for a 7 out of 10

for Lance Stroll as well.

It would have been an 8 without the penalty.

You know, his qualifying,

we know, is poor and has been,

but made the strategy work,

race through the field at the end.

His move on Berman, as you say,

was absolutely brilliant.

Now, I saw a whole on board of him

basically like doing that move,

then crossing the line and cheering

and having that buzz of like,

oh my God, what a result.

Yeah, that's the kind of stuff

we want to see more from Lance.

We've questioned his motivation

and stuff a lot,

and it's good to see stuff like that

when you really feel that

he wants to be here

and wants to be racing

and having those moments.

His move was sensational.

The buzz must have been amazing

to pull off a move like that

right at the end.

Reminiscent of,

I think it was Hamilton, wasn't it,

last year on George Russell

in the same thing also on

like the last lap,

I think it was or something.

So amazing overtake

and got points for Aston Martin,

just not quite enough

for Aston Martin.

They were so close to actually

pipping RB,

but it was going to be

a massive long shot anyway.

They were close to doing it.

They were close,

but not close enough.

It was three points in the end

between racing balls

and Aston Martin.

Tommy's prediction of 50

or less Aston Martin really

really didn't cook

come the end of the season.

The fans gave Lance Stroll

a 7 out of 10.

Fernando Alonso

started the race

and 6th finished 6th.

I have gone for a 10 out of 10

for Fernando Alonso.

I think he's absolutely

maximised everything from that car.

Of course, you know,

the McLarens,

the Mercedes Ferraris

and whatever have gone off.

We'll talk about Charles later.

I don't think the Ferrari is particularly great,

but he's maximised everything

with a brilliant P6

and then to get P6

in the race as well.

We're just seeing Alonso

doing Alonso things of maximising

what he's got with that package

and it's insane to think

that he's now

the way he had that end to the season

and grabbed the points

because he was incredibly unlucky

and I was

sweating that he was going to finish

behind Lance Stroll in the championship

but instead

comfortably ahead

and actually got into the top 10

in the end.

But a fantastic result

and just a really great weekend

to maximise both qualifying

and the race.

So I've gone for a 10.

OK.

Is Tommy being a fanboy

or is it correct?

I think I will

also go for a 10 out of 10

for Fernando.

I have to question

what more could he really have done?

He managed the pack very well.

He knew exactly what he was doing

at the start of the race.

It was the Fernando train

and the one stop strategy

worked very well.

He was very much in that

tyre management phase.

Didn't really matter how far behind he

finished behind George Russell

because he was never going to put

an impression on him.

So yeah, there isn't really a blemish

on Fernando's weekend at all

that I can downgrade him

to a nine or anything like that.

So yeah, 10 out of 10 for Fernando.

Great way to end the year

and still showing that he's got it.

The fans gave him a nine.

They need more from him.

Kimmy Antonelli started the race

in 14th, finished 15th.

Speaking of someone we do need to see

a little bit more from

was Kimmy Antonelli this weekend.

It's a four out of 10 for Kimmy.

Yes, the Mercedes wasn't great

but George showed that

you could easily drive

that car to fifth and sixth

with a massive chasm between

as I mentioned, George and Fernando

but it all came undone because of Kimmy's

qualifying and from there on

we've seen how difficult it is to overtake

how difficult it is to make an impression

even on midfield cars that you would

expect to beat on pure pace.

Antonelli went reasonably

long on the harsh to lap 32

actually to be fair longer on the mediums

in his one stop strategy.

But yeah, it was kind of

I don't think it was even the best strategy

to try and unleash any pace

either from Merck

but I just, Kimmy said after

that he was just really

struggled with the car, with the balance

had no pace. So I think it's a four

because had George finished 13th

we'd be speaking about this differently

but George finished fifth.

I've gone for a four out of 10

for Kimmy Antonelli.

It's close between the three

and a four. I think

it's disappointing in qualifying

again from him

which seemed to have let him down quite a few times

this year. I do think the Mercedes

struggled with

pace. You saw that with how far George was

off the victory

and yeah

a really poor end to the season

for Antonelli, he was just kind of like

completely anonymous, nowhere

I mean you look at

where he finished

the Alpines are obviously terrible

the two RBs had no race

base and then

it's Albin who's got a penalty

so yeah it's really really poor

from Kimmy when you see the result that George got

so yeah it's got to be

a four out of 10 for Antonelli.

The fans also gave Kimmy a four

George Russell

started the race in fourth finish fifth

I've gone

for an eight out of ten for

George Russell. I think it would be

easy to look

at Mercedes

as a way of like how they've been

this year and think oh George was nowhere

it's 50 seconds off the win

I think you look at what Antonelli's done

I know George has

been the better driver for a lot of the year

but I genuinely do think Mercedes

just had a poor poor car this

this race and for George to qualify

fourth and then

finish the race in fifth

yes there was a massive chasm as you say

between Leclerc and Alonzo

for him to slot into

but I think it's just another case of George maximising

the results

the results game

and grabbing

you know 10 points when the car

was absolutely nowhere and his teammates finished 15th

so I think you know to give him

lower would be too harsh

so I've gone for an eight. I've also gone for

an eight out of ten I echo your thoughts

I think George has done what George does

very consistent yes didn't have the pace

but overall it could have been a much

worse weekend as we've seen

on the other side of the Mercedes garage

so to give him any lower I think

would be not really

appreciating the fact that he'd done a

pretty good job in a poor car

so well unto George the fans

gave him a seven

Yuki Sonoda

started the race in 10th finish 14th

I've gone for a four out of ten for Yuki

Sonoda

looked like it could have been a lot better

but in fact he made Q3

sadly track limits on his last lap

yes he helped max on his first but he

track limits on his second which

put him down in 10th at the end of Q3

he then picked up a penalty defending

against Norris which was a poor defence

as we've mentioned before in the main

race podcast and overall

just yeah I mean his teammates won

the race this is the last time

we're going to say this about Yuki so

I'm sure he'll be very happy to not

be compared to Max Verstappen ever again

next year but

I'm sorry Yuki, I'm sorry Yuki fans

but it was a four out of ten performance

I have gone for

see for me it's between a two and a three

I'll go for a three out of ten

okay and I can already see the

comments going oh you're just bitter

that you didn't defend

and what you're thinking as well

I mean look, four is

incredibly generous to finish

one minute and 23 seconds

oh no but he was being used

at the same time, he can't say that

it's fully down to the end

then he's in the back, I don't think

the gap is fully representative

yeah but I think

look he's not had

I think the qualifying situation as well

that we spoke about yesterday

saying he got sacrificed he did on the

first lap he had an opportunity on the

second lap and missed the opportunity

of course

you know we've discussed

what we think about the

movie played it completely wrong

if he was indeed trying of course

maybe part of him was like

I don't care I'm leaving

I don't think that was the case because he wouldn't

have picked up a penalty trying so hard to do it

but he just did it in completely the wrong place

if he was trying to help his teammate

but I'm not downgrading him from that

yeah I'll go for a three because

he's just a sad way to end

well it's probably going to be

his Formula 1 career and it's a shame

because I really wanted him to

succeed I was excited

for him to get in that car

and you wind

all the way back to Suzuka and we were

going oh yeah it's kind of got

unlucky in qualifying a little bit but

it's shown that it's the right decision to

put him in the car but it's got

no better from there rather than

a cat-ass sprint really so

yeah disappointing and

to Yuki's F1 career

potentially the fans gave

Yuki a 4 out of 10

Max Verstappen started the race

and first finished first

I've gone for a 10 out of

10 for Max Verstappen

shock

you know the end of the day

he just did what he could

there was no gamesmanship

this could have easily

you know it would have been a very

interesting grade

he won the race

deployed some questionable tactics

and stuff to win and try and win the championship

but instead

drove his own race one brilliantly

looked comfortable even on

a you know a strategy

that maybe didn't work for other people it looked like

in the end the two stop was quite good

based on what we saw from like Hamilton

and Holkenberg no one tried

it of course

in terms of like

with Max and Oscar in one too

but yeah I've gone

for a 10 of course he

was brilliant to get pole position

and just led away and that was it

exactly

easy 10 out of 10

for Max Verstappen

phenomenal weekend once again

drove away into the distance

around a track we expected

the McLarens to be the fastest

we expected Lando who is phenomenal

around here to maybe do something special

and win the world championship in you know

in glorious style and winning the race

Max an unbelievable

pole lap two pole laps

that were good enough

and untouchable

absolutely untouchable in the race

so just looking at Max Verstappen

season I love how he looked at so many scenarios

even after Brazil of going

well where would they need to finish

in order for Max to win

the world championship and he's won

the last three races

and Lando of course wins the world championship

by two points was disqualified

of course what happened in Las Vegas

finished fourth in Qatar third in the sprint

and then third in Abu Dhabi to win by two points

I mean it's how close this came

considering how far he was

back is absolutely ridiculous

the fact that as well he hadn't finished off

the podium ignoring sprints

since Hungary the run of

podiums he's had when

you know since basically

Lando retired in the

Netherlands has been championship

winning form but sadly look at his first

half of the season and he's finishing off

the podium regularly and that's

what really cost him the world championship

but but what an ending what an ending

for Red Bull what an ending for Max Verstappen

in this 2025 season but just

narrowly missing out

the fans gave Max a

10

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Lewis Hamilton

started the race on the 16th

finished 8th

this one's hard

this one's really hard but it always

is hard with Hamilton because it's

qualifying has been rubbish

and then

in this race he's done pretty well to come

back through what is a deserving

grade for a 16th to 8th

where

he finishes 45

seconds 50 seconds behind

Charlotte Clair it's going to be

a 6 out of 10 for Lewis Hamilton

it's just

it is still a poor weekend

for Hamilton he crashes

in practice he

gets knocked out in Q1 yes it's

very close in qualifying but Charlotte

Clair qualified at 5th

yet it's 2 3 tenths the difference between

the two teammates but that is massive

in Formula 1 and then he's

on the back foot massively I think he

did a very good job to

come through the pack around a track

that's quite difficult to overtake I think the strategy

was also aggressive

and good from Ferrari

got rid of the hard tyres very quickly

and he did about 23 laps on the hard tyres

had 8 laps at the beginning on the

softs and then finished with the 27 laps

on the mediums

and he pulled off some great moves but

he is fighting

as we've seen with Charlotte Clair and how fast he was

he's fighting cars that are slower

quite a lot slower than him

around him so I don't think

I can give him any higher than a 6th

had he qualified a bit better we'd be talking

about the grade but he got knocked out in Q1

I have to downgrade him for that

I was going to go for a 7

and it's just

clocked just how far he was behind his

teammate and I basically just

used a 3

to how far he was off

it's a 6 out of 10 for Lewis Hamilton

definitely

now I look at it yes it looks great

that he's made his way through the field

to 8th

and you go oh 8th place the Ferrari

not very good

you can only compare to your teammate he's finished 50 seconds

behind his teammate

we're going to get on to yes of course he's going to get a good grade

but his teammate

was racing a McLaren at the start

and

looking like he could potentially

grab a podium

meanwhile Lewis Hamilton

yes he's made

it through after a really poor

qualifying but he's finished behind us

Ben Ocon in a house

of course Ocon did very well

and 8th looks good on paper

but

is that where we are nowadays

how was finishing 8th on paper is great

geez

I guess in terms of like

the teammate but it's got to be

a 6 I think

I know

actually I know it's a 6 for Hamilton

you can get baited

by the drives

and had it been like a mechanical

failure or something that meant he qualified

16th then you give him more leniency

but it was his own

kind of bad quality lap

that cost him

OK the fans gave Lewis a 7

Charlotte Clair

started the race in 5th finished 4th

gone for an 8 out of 10

for Charlotte Clair

it was a decent drive

from him I'm just waiting to see

how long I can keep this up before I actually

give my actual grade just to bait Matt

it is an easy 10 out of 10

I was about to drive to your house

and slap you silly

I was sat there like

did you just get like

5 secret penalties that I

didn't see

and 8

actually can I just

see before I give

my real grade how many people actually

gave Charlotte Clair an 8 from the

fan though

if you are one of those people you can jog swiftly on

17%

of people gave Charlotte Clair an 8

I like how you said before I give my actual grade

I heard your grade you said

my actual grade is a 10 it is an easy 10

thank you

it's like Fernando Alonso he's got absolutely

everything and more out of his machinery

he's beaten

his teammate who is a 7 time world champion

by 50 seconds

he's raced a McLaren

in a Ferrari that is

so poor this year and so difficult

to drive

that we've seen that in the hands of his teammate

he qualified well

he managed to

battle Lando at the start

even challenge at the end going for a risk

of the medium tyre to

maybe try something see if he could grab a podium

but

it didn't work out but

no way should he have been

anywhere near the McLaren

in the first place

and it is just another sign

of Charlotte Clair just doing

things that give him

the car and

he's one of the best drivers on the grid

hands down

and he just needs a better car

to be able to deliver because we want to see

all the best drivers at the front

and give

as much as it's hilarious to watch you

on the watch alongs

like throwing your chair and stuff

we want to see more people at the front because that's good for Formula 1

and

it would be absolutely up there if you had a better car

OK, you had to bait me one more time

didn't you?

one more time for the season

of course I have also gone for a 10 out of 10

I was about to

put my armour, sword and shield on

and start fighting Tommy

on this driver ratings episode

but I'm glad that Tommy was in fact

joking although I would have definitely

just gone fully ham

had that not been the case

but yeah 10 out of 10 for Charles

I would have loved to have him actually

to have put that performance down

after what has been such a disappointing season

the expectation

on Ferrari, on Charles Leclerc

was big

we genuinely thought Ferrari could well be

somewhere in the hunt

to get at least a lot of victories

whether the world championship was up for grabs

well I obviously believed

and I think a lot of people did Ferrari fans

and

what we had instead was a car that went backwards

a car that they completely turned

into a new

philosophy

we'll see how much pain they will have

over the next few years if they've invested too much in it

but

this performance

Charles worked really hard between Friday and Saturday

because on Friday they were struggling really quite slow

he managed to find something in the car

qualifying

5th

and I'm like that's literally

that's my Charles Leclerc right there

I'm so happy and proud that he got 5th

and then finished 4th with his race pace as well

just shows where we are at the moment

I've obviously gone off on one

but that's because Charles Leclerc is my boy

and I will

absolutely fight anybody that thinks that was not

a 10 out of 10 drive

so there you go well done Charles

and God please next year Ferrari

give him a car

to fight at the front because we've seen time

and time again

you can have your best this best that

will-to-will racing and qualifying

Charles Leclerc is right up there

as one of the best

that we have so

I want more of it and I want more of it for the win

not for P7 or P8

thank you very much the fans

the fans

have gone

for a 9 out of 10

no comment

no comment in the slightest

let's move to Oscar Piastri

started the race in 3rd

finished 2nd

my grade for Oscar Piastri is a 9 out of 10

I think it was a

very strong performance

from Oscar in the championship finale

there's a lot of chatter

about whether Lando let Oscar through

on lap 1

he did

it's confirmed now

it looked convincing

I won't lie to you Lando

watching like

makes sense I guess from a McLaren

point of view in some ways

but then also put Lando under pressure

from Charles Leclerc behind

we'll get into that one

Oscar was quick

on the hard tyres

he put pressure on Verstappen

stopped Max from doing anything

too crazy I think

and overall

a really good weekend to finish for Oscar

yes he didn't get the win

when you look at what his run of form was

up until Qatar

I'm sure he will take this as a much stronger

end so it's a 9 out of 10

I've gone

4

and 9 out of 10

you're thinking 8 weren't you

it's like an 8 and a half

we always say that

we don't give halfs

but then we say to everybody

what it would have been

just so we don't get shouted at

it is close

I think it would have been a 9

if I hadn't heard

the fact that it was a planned move

because

it deserves a 9 for going around the outside of his teammate

on hard tyres it was

the basically

a way to basically fool

Max

so let me

find the quote from

Stella so it says

I think everyone entered the race

it's not clear whether it was a 1

or a 2 stop but I think everyone was clear

that the hard would have been a good tyre

if there's someone on a hard

chasing somebody on a medium

the one on the medium needs to push

at some stage and might have to pit

we were if anything a bit surprised

that Max could go so long and so fast

on the medium so

Oscar basically would push Max

in the hope that it

won to stop the backing up and also

because it meant Max would have to push his tyres

more so it was a clever

clever play from McLaren

yeah Oscar I'll go for

a 9

of course just

pipped by Lando and qualifying

and

beat him in the race

tried something different

and a good drive from him

The fans gave Oscar a 9 as well

Lando Norris

started the race in second finished third

I've gone

for a 9 out of 10 for Lando Norris

I was going to give them

exactly the same and again

it's like an 8 and a half

for both of them

I think I can't downgrade him

doing

the job that he needed to secure

the title

maybe he could have fought

Piastri at the end and overtaken him

but he didn't need to so of course he was never going to

do that I think he

kept his head in the situations

that he had

when he had Leclerc behind him

the pressure of

potentially dropping down into

the dreaded fourth place of course

I know he always had Oscar that could have let him through

but it still would have made it very nerve

wrecking and then I think even when

he got pushed into the pack

it

could have been very easy for him to

second guess himself in every single move

I know he was racing

fielders and things and stuff

and people would just say of course it's really easy

but like he's going for the world championship

every move had to

you know be spot on he couldn't lose time

he couldn't

he had to make those moves

and make sure they were clean

you saw the fact of like

Liam Lawson maybe pushing him

even harder than Sonoda did

and yeah

he did what he needed to do to secure

the championship so I've gone for a 9

I've also gone for a 9 out of 10

you consider everything all the pressure

everything on his shoulders you know this is

factored in as well to this grade

because yeah obviously Oscar beat him

but that was a McLaren

that was a McLaren attack

from both drivers on Max Verstappen

to ensure that one McLaren driver

came out as world champion most likely

Lando Norris so it's interesting yeah

Lando that he accepted that

strategy I think that

they probably believed that they would

have the pace to not be put under pressure

by the likes of Charles Leclerc and George Russell

but Charles decided

you know what I fancy a podium

so I think that was a slight spanner

in the works for McLaren and Lando

but he dealt with it really well

it's what I've said before and I'll say again

I think he's dealt with the pressure

so much better than we've ever seen

and

his pace was decent

he did everything he needed to do come

the end of that race

it was a champion's drive

because it was podium

that's all he needed

and that's what he delivered

a 9 out of 10 for Lando

and congratulations once again for becoming

the 2025 Formula 1

world champion

the fans also gave Lando

a 9

so finally who is our P1

Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc is my P1

I will not hear anything

I don't care it's my P1

not who's the fans P1

also they gave Fernando Alonso a 9

did they not yes they did

so I can't believe you didn't shout at them for that one

hey no let's end it on a positive note

shall we driver ratings can sometimes

get very heated

and I appreciate your opinion

just like you should appreciate mine

Charles Leclerc is my P1 though

brilliant drive

so happy to see him

put a performance like that down as I said

2026 is our year

as a Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso

fanboy you'll not be surprised to hear

that my P1

is Charles Leclerc

and it's comfortably Charles Leclerc

I can't believe

Charles and Alonso

got a 9 from the fans

for me those were the two stars of the race

that got everything out of their machinery

of course Max won the race brilliantly

he had the car

he delivered

and again like those three

fully deserved tens but I think

what Charles managed to do

against you know the strong teammate that he's got

how

much he managed to push

McLaren in his

little red tractor

it was just a reminder

of just what a great driver he is

and yes

his to next year him having

better car to be more

in that mix

please please please

right that is it we are done

driver ratings for the entire season

locked away

popping in the chest never to be looked at again

apart from when we go through

all of them

so in terms of our actual submissions

yes we will be doing a full

recap of the year to look at

our average

two grades

apologies for that one

to not go for the mute button

but what an ending to the season

hey just a little sneeze on the end

but we will be doing

maybe that was

I can't believe it

but I think

it'll be fun to go through all the average grades to see

recency bias aside

where our top 20

or 21 whatever

will be come the end of the season

so look forward to that it'll be coming out very soon

as well as some other recap content

Tommy final thoughts

yep I final thoughts

are

one last one of

grading all the drivers before we go through our averages

thanks to everyone

at in the comments

and the P1 live shares and things that say

about

driver ratings and how they love it and they want us to

keep doing it

remind us now as well if you're in the comments

exactly because at the end of the day like

it's good fun we banter

but at the end of the day

a lot of these drives are subjective we never know

exactly something Alex Albin said

exactly how good a car is

we never know how good

a car actually is

it's all subjective at the end of the day

some people need to be reminded of that

in the comments I will admit

there's some people out there that need to remember

that your number is not the same as mine

and that's the beauty of it

exactly and it's fine like we can all

be and that's what makes the series fun

so thanks to everyone that enjoys the series

leaves a nice comment and a like

and yeah we'll

see how we do with the averages

because I think that's going to be really fascinating

when we look back on those races maybe we forgot

and

there's always a bit of recency bias isn't there at the end

and you forget oh actually this guy had a really good start to the season

and then he's a lot higher than we think

and stuff so yeah looking forward to that one

yeah me too there we go thank you everybody

we'll see you very soon lots of love take care

drive the ratings

out until the averages

goodbye

bye

and remember what Matt said

subjective unless you gave Charlotte Clarion

yeah in which case you can

hahahaha

P1

is a stack production

and part of the ACAST Created Network

now for a limited time

only at a sleep number store or sleepnumber.com

Abu Dhabi GP Driver Ratings

Dodge Charger

About this episode

Original notes