Abu Dhabi GP Race Review

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Hello everybody and welcome back to the V1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. We're done.

Formula 1 is officially over. We have a new world champion. What a disaster of a Grand Prix it was.

Felt like I was watching Qatar all over again. But look, whenever we have relatively poor races

from an overtaking entertainment side of things, it usually unleashes the Bellingham. That's what

a lot of people are saying on the streets. They're looking forward to a Tommy rant. I've

heard there's one on the horizon. It was a rubbish finale, Tommy. Still tense because of

the championship connotations and anything could happen with the title on the line, but

it was a bit of a struggle. It was. I can't believe we had the finale we did after we hyped

it up so much. We know Abu Dhabi is basically an awful track to have a finale on anyway.

There's a little teaser of the rant coming. But the fact that we didn't even see any

gamesmanship or swapping, things like that, all the kind of scenarios just didn't happen at all.

It was crazy, really. Absolutely crazy. I love how we got so excited and Max let us down

from a scenario perspective. We thought, we thought Red Bull would try something,

and the only thing they did was Yuki Sonega to get onto. Too nice. What simulation are we

living in? I couldn't believe it. But there are some things that could have happened,

in which case, then other things might have happened, which of course we'll get into in this

podcast because we love to talk about everything that went on. Before we do, a quick shout out to

our wonderful patrons who will be getting extra chat at the end of this race review,

and of course, lots of other benefits as well, ad-free listening, you get access to a discord,

early access to P1 live show tickets, and so on and so forth. We'll have a bit more to

reflect on after the main podcast is done. My most memorable moment, as much as I want it

to be about Charles Leclerc, it's not going to be it. It's going to be Lando Norris World Champion.

He did absolutely everything he needed to do in the last sort of quarter of the season.

At the end of Zandvoort, everyone's writing him off. DNF, Oscar has over a race win in the

pocket. But what Lando did was he got more confident with the car quite clearly, started

putting in great performances. But the thing that impressed me the most was dealing time and time

again with high pressure moments. He has come on leaps and bounds in that area, in my opinion.

Even in this race, we're talking about it being quite a dull one, to say the least.

He still had Charles Leclerc all over the back of him, which would have essentially,

at that moment, taken him out of championship winning position. Yes, we can get into the fact

that Oscar would have moved out of the way and yada, yada, yada. But he still needed to

hold position. He needed to not fly off the track, make mistakes, and he didn't do that.

That's one example. The others are from the previous races. Vegas, he did everything he

needed to do. Got disqualified through no fault of his own. Brazil, again, such a key moment

in the championship where he could have easily made a mistake in those conditions. What did

he do? He clean swept the sprint weekend. Salando Norris, world champion. He is absolutely

deserving of this. Nobody has had a perfect season. All three of the title contenders have had

moments that we can say, they lost points here, or they made a mistake there. But what Lando did

is he scored more points than everybody else, and he is a deserving world champion in 2025.

He did. He got it over the line, and that's really what all he needed to do.

Looking back at the season, his brilliant races in Mexico and Brazil almost wrapped it up for him,

and it was just an inevitability. It shouldn't have really been this close without the disqualification,

and you can say all you like about looking at the end. At the end of the day, it's always

going to divide opinion, isn't it? There's fans of other drivers. There'll be people that

loving it, people that are disappointed and stuff like that. But at the end of the day,

Lando put himself in that position because of the points he scored in the championship

to be able to cruise home to P3. And yes, he drove and resisted the pressure,

particularly at the start of the race. We mentioned it was boring. My heart rate

wasn't very low at the start because we had Leclerc all over the back of him.

And yeah, he resisted that pressure. He didn't need to do anything crazy, as we said at the

start of the weekend, and he did what he needed to win the world champion. At the end of the day,

he is a world champion. He's a worthy world champion, and that consistency has won him the

world championship. It certainly has. Question from L. Dude Echo. Are people finally going to

give Lando his flowers now? He has won the World Drivers Championship, or is all this

unnecessary hatred going to continue? I hate to break it to you, but social media is a vile place

at times. And Lando, as a person, should not go anywhere near it. He should celebrate exactly what

he has achieved this year, which is a Formula One World Championship, and he has got a really nice

tight-knit family, friends, and things like that. And it looks like he's dealing with it

absolutely fine, anything else. People are going to hate no matter what. People are going to

think that Lando is an undeserving world champion no matter what. People have their own

biases and things like that. It's funny how we get thrown, you're biased about this,

you're biased about that, usually from a biased fan base. People have their favourites, right?

The hatred to Lando has come, obviously, because of moments that people don't enjoy,

or didn't like Lando saying this, and this, that, and the other, or whatever.

But if you actually purely looked at his driving this year, it is the best season

he's put together. And also, if you think he's an undeserving world champion, you're

comparing him to Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, two of the greatest we've ever

seen in Formula One. If you genuinely think he's undeserving, shouldn't be a world champion,

it's quite clear you've not watched Formula One for very long if you think that you have to be

at this insanely high standard in order to win a world championship. I hate to break it to you,

but Formula One world championships are usually won with a driver who has a fast car.

That is as simple as that. It usually is the fastest car. You can probably count on one hand

how many times a driver with a ridiculously terrible, or even just mediocre car has been

able to haul it to the world championship. It's not usually the case. Lando deserves credit.

He certainly does. He's not been flawless, as I said, but he has been better than his teammate

Oscar, who fell off, of course, in that last few races. People will say, of course,

that he was giving away points and things like that. And you're entitled to your own opinion.

But to say that Lando doesn't deserve it is unfair and discredits

some amazing performances that he's put in at the highest of pressures this year.

Exactly. And I will say that at the end of the day, fan bases are always going to be

disappointed when their driver doesn't win whoever won that championship deserved it.

You can, we'll look back on this season and look at, I don't know, driver ratings. And Lando,

we don't know this, but probably isn't going to be the driver of the season.

But he's done enough what he can. He's given an opportunity in a car to take the world

championship. And he's absolutely done that. You can't, I think you put it completely rightly

that I think maybe people have been spoiled or don't understand what we've seen in years gone by

because we've had Max Verstappen doing unbelievable things and dominating, Lewis Hamilton doing

unbelievable things and dominating and just looking like these unbelievable drivers that

are completely untouchable. He's made mistakes. He's had bad moments, but he's got it over the

line and won the world championship. And it's deserved with what he's done. He's got

enough points to win the world championship. He's been given the car this year to challenge that

world championship and he's taken it. So, you know, my advice would be, and I don't need me to tell

you this, but if you're a Lando Norris fan or whatever, don't let people on the internet

enjoy, like ruin your enjoyment of this world championship. There'll always be people

whoever won. If Max had won, people would say this, that or the other. Oscar had won,

people would say this, that or the other. Same with Lando. He's a worthy world champion

and he's got it over the line and done it.

Arguing with people on social media who are blinded by negativity and hatred is a waste of time.

I can promise you that. Just enjoy the fact if you do or are a supporter of McLaren and Lando.

I just want to add one more thing actually. A lot of Lando Norris

sort of like haters or people that dismiss him as well.

A forgetting, and this goes again to like the curse of the best car in Formula One curse.

But you know what I mean, like Lando Norris was so highly rated. You'd like remember him driving

in that McLaren when it was a midfield in like 2021. He had an unbelievable season that year

and he was being spoken about. I remember Lewis Hamilton saying on the radio one point,

such a great driver Lando. He was being lauded as like give Lando Norris the machinery to win the

world championship. Like to have a chance to the championship, he'll win it. Hello, he's done it. Well

done. Like it's amazing how like as soon as people get, you know, you can, we can argue all day

long about what would a Maxon in the McLaren? Oh, the red bull's not there blah blah blah.

At the end of the day, Lando Norris has won the world championship and he's deserving of it.

Exactly. Let's go to a question from P1Patreon member PiperMZMimicX. Did Lando Norris deserve a penalty?

I'm unsure. I'm unsure. I'm going to sit on the fence.

No, get off the fence and decide.

Right. I think maybe he deserved a penalty. It's difficult because I think you look,

I think people will bring up previous incidents. I mean, at the end of the day,

I didn't make any difference. I know it would have added something into the mix where Max could have

then backed up the field. Five second penalty would have been crucial. There's two sides to this,

in my opinion, that you shouldn't really be allowed to overtake off the track in any circumstance.

I do want to, I do like say that I think that McLaren did play a big risk not letting

telling him immediately let that position go. Just overtake him again. It would have gotten

passed easily and there was a risk there of him getting a penalty. I think it would have been

harsh and I do wonder how much of it is the controversy. It would have been weirdly more

controversial to give it than it wouldn't have been to not give it, in my opinion.

I'm not going to sit here and act and I know some people will like,

oh, Max was robbed of the championship because Lando didn't get that five second penalty.

I don't think it would have made a huge amount of difference. We would have maybe seen more

games from Max at the end if he could have even done that, but it was the right decision that

Yuki Sonoda, and we'll talk about him later because I don't think he did a very good job

of what he was trying, if he was trying to help Max, pushing, he pushed Lando off,

basically. That is why Yuki deserved the penalty and not Lando.

Okay, so you've come off the fence and you've said that Lando didn't deserve a penalty there.

Yeah, I could have seen them giving it based on what was done in the past, but I see why they

didn't. Yeah, for me, now the dust has settled, I don't think Lando deserved the penalty.

Of course, we liken it to other incidents. Oh, what about Austin, maybe, where Max,

Lando went off the track there, passed him and took the position. This was, and to give

the stewards some kind of credit, they've looked at this situation where Yuki has made one move,

starts kind of straightening up for a split second, Lando commits to the inside,

Yuki then goes again. Yuki makes two moves, absolutely penalty worthy because

that's not allowed. You're not allowed to do that.

But Lando has committed to this move, which is halfway down the straight.

It's not like Lando wasn't getting this move done. It was nowhere near the braking zone.

Lando had the run and Yuki has forced him off the track. You look at the on-boards,

the last-minute movement from Yuki is what causes Lando to go off the track.

It's very marginal, I think. I can see why some people would be arguing,

oh, he's off the track. But for me, I sit on the fact that, no, considering the circumstances,

considering how Yuki drove in that situation, considering that he got a penalty for the way

he was driving, you then think in the future, oh, right, so I could try and force someone off the

track, do something illegal myself and get them a penalty because I've done something

not in the rulebook. Yeah, it would open a can of worms to forcing someone off because

then you basically, you could give your opponent a five-second penalty by just basically forcing

one. Yuki was not allowed to just shove Lando off the track because he has not earned the right

to be able to shove him off the track. It's not like we're at the apex and Yuki's ahead of Lando

and he's won the corner. There's none of that. It's a straight and he's moved very late

and pushed Lando off the track. Do you agree it was slightly crazy for McLaren not to just

say, don't take any risk in position back? Yeah, I mean, we were in the watch long, weren't we,

and we were screaming. We were saying, obviously, at first glance, we're thinking, oh, well,

Lando's off the track. If the stewards deemed Lando to have done anything wrong, he's getting

a penalty. It was a risk that McLaren have played there, which I genuinely believe some

people might not believe this, but I wholeheartedly believe that had Lando picked up a five-second

penalty there, the entire complexion of that race changes. Max Verstappen will come into the

pits and risk just coming out ahead of Oscar for fresh mediums and back the entire pack-up,

because if he does, there is a genuine chance that Lando can drop two positions back. Exactly. Of

course, then you open the can of worms of, well, then maybe McLaren would deploy Oscar to go behind

Lando and then go even slower than Max. It could have been an insane farce. Thankfully,

it didn't, because I don't think that's what Formula One should be, is who can go the slowest

to block the other one. But I genuinely believe we didn't see any games from Max, but we'll

get into that. I think there was a reason for that with the strategy of McLaren and the way they

split it. But had Lando got that five-second penalty, which I think in another universe,

he may well have got it, depending on the stewards, but I think the stewards got it right this time.

It's as simple as that. Of course, a lot of people were screaming for it, whether they are

blinded by Lando nor his hatred, or they wanted to see Max win, or they wanted to see a close

title decider. There were a lot of people up in Arsenal watch along that were saying,

that should be a penalty, FIA, that's fixed. I stand by, it's far more controversial to give it

than it is to not give it. Way more controversial, because he has been pushed off,

and you know, you're giving Yuki the penalty. So it's like, you've admitted that it's Yuki's

fault. So then to give Lando a penalty would be incredibly harsh. Do you have the document

right there, Tommy, or shall I load it up just to read it out first? I do have the

document, because I think I have it somewhere close as well. So it was for car number four.

Here it is. Right, so the stewards, because this is what we're discussing right now,

the driver of car four overtook car 22 off track. However, this occurred because the driver of car

22 made multiple moves defending his position against car four. Had car 22 not made those

moves, car four would have overtaken it without going off track, but moved off track to avoid

contact with car 22, which I think is absolutely fair. Further, the driving standards

guidelines provide that if a car is forced off, which is effectively what occurred here,

it is not considered to have exceeded track limits whilst technically the overtake took

place off track. We determine in view of the above to take no further action.

So there you go. That is what the stewards have said on the matter. I know some people

who are very much of the opinion that he wasn't forced off track and that they are two

separate things of Yuki weaving and Lando driving off the track, but I would say that

they're kind of linked. Again, who would want to be a steward when the championship's on the

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All right, Tommy, might well be the time that it all becomes a little bit more depressing.

So what is your most memorable moment? My most memorable moment is, of course,

Max Verstappen. Missing out on the title by two points. I feel like we need like

sad violin music playing as I'm about to do a little monologue here. Missing out on the tattoo

by two points. Missing out on the tattoo by two points. That's the saddest part.

Yeah, we were so close to the greatest comeback we've ever seen in the history of Formula One.

So, so close. What I would say, and I don't know how much, maybe it's going to sink in

more later. Maybe it's because part of me was so like flat after the race because no jeopardy,

nothing crazy happened that I felt like I just watched a practice session rather than

a championship finale. But of course, I'm absolutely gutted that Max didn't get it over

the line and win the world title. It would have been absolutely incredible. However, like,

if I look back on the season, my sort of like, my thoughts here is just like

proud Max Verstappen fan of how he did it. And it's an insane thing that I'm about to say here,

because it's the first time in five years he's not won the world championship. But this has

easily been my favorite year supporting Max Verstappen, like hands down, even though he's not

won the title, which is a mad thing to think about. You know, I've watched him win like,

get pole positions and win like in an underdog scenario a lot of the time. He's made amazing

moves. He's been doing side quests. He's also like, I've seen people that like, hate him or

his haters like now basically like supporting him. And I think this has been a year for Max,

where people have not just kind of said, Oh, he's, you know, one of the greatest of all time.

You've heard people saying, you know, he might even be the great stroke we've ever seen.

And for him to be two points away is absolutely gutting. But this season, I have enjoyed

so, so much. And I'm almost like with Max in terms of like, it almost means more the stuff he's done

this year than if he just won. Oh, it's another world title. I know it's an insane thing to think

and of course I'd love, I would have loved him to win the world title. But like, this was the

year where Max elevated himself even more and put himself like, in that absolute goat debate, no

doubt. And I think I've enjoyed it even more than I would have if he'd just won the season

in a dominant current guys fifth title. It makes sense. I don't think that's a crazy sort of left

field opinion because you want to see your driver in the mix. You want to see your driver fighting

other opponents. And you said this when he was dominating 2023. I wish there were other drivers

battling him because that's what you want to see. You want to see your driver battle other

teams, perhaps even be a slight underdog come out on top. Those are the victories that

mean the most. And for the majority of the season, Max was phenomenal. He was hauling a car that

we don't know just how fast or slow it is. Because his teammate has scored like 20 points or something.

In any other team, you go, wow, Max is doing an insane job. But in Red Bull, you're like, we

don't actually know, which is insane because obviously that is Max doing a phenomenal job.

And for him to miss out on two by two points, I think you would have taken that

after Zanvor. I think you would have said, wow. I just said, what are you smoking?

Yeah, you're in the title decider. What are you talking about?

So we've discussed this before. McLaren kept Max in that title. He should not have been in

the fight in Abu Dhabi. But just great to watch. I was a newly recruited Max Verstappen fan since

Zanvor, just purely because I wanted to see something amazing happen in the championship.

We got that title decider and he just narrowly missed out. Let's go to a question from P1

Patriot member, Thimmer. Should Verstappen have done more than just winning the race today for his

title chances? I am surprised and not surprised. I'm surprised if you said to Matt before the

race even begun and I hadn't seen the tyres that everyone was on, that Max was going to do

nothing and just drive off into the distance and win, I would have been fully shocked.

After I saw Oscar Piastri put hard tyres on, I was like, hmm, I think this changes the game

ever so slightly because he couldn't do the backing of the pack. He needed the advantage over

Oscar because Oscar and Lander were doing two separate strategies. So one of them would have

probably ended up beating him had he started to do some very cheeky gamesmanship. However,

that being said, there was still an opportunity for him to play the games at the end.

But I feel as though these drivers, they watch the race on the screens. They know what's going on.

They know how far behind George Russell and Charles Leclerc are. I genuinely believe that

Max Verstappen read the race and went, George is slow AF. 100%. He probably just saw it as

there is no chance. Even if I back the pack up, all I'm doing is jeopardizing a potential

victory when nothing is probably going to change behind. Perhaps there's a part of him that

wants to just have a normal Abu Dhabi for a change rather than a controversial one.

Yeah, I just think he had nothing to play with there with the fact that

one Oscar Piastri, as soon as he went on a different strategy, I think we said it in the

watch along that Oscar, as soon as Oscar went on that different strategy and the race played

out as it was, and you saw the pace of George Russell, I mean, George Russell finished 50

seconds behind Max and 32 behind Lando. So he was nowhere. As soon as you saw that pan out,

Oscar Piastri in a weird way was way more likely to win the world title than Max ever was,

if he'd have got that, because basically it would have been a Sebastian Vettel moment where

what happened in 2010 was Alonzo and Weber followed each other. Vettel did something

different and won the title, and that's what Oscar was trying to do here. And equally,

Max being on that situation where he couldn't back up the whole field because Oscar was on

the hard tyres and would have just stayed out on the race or whatever, it was always incredibly

difficult. And yeah, I think he couldn't really do anything because Charle Clair, maybe in this

scenario he had, of course, they would have just switched anyway, even if Lando, I can't believe

we didn't get the situation, though, where we didn't even need to see that happening. Of all

the scenarios, we didn't even need it and Oscar finished ahead of Lando and there wasn't even

a situation where McLaren even needed to play team orders, which they must be in

dream land over as well. Because even just the switch, which was a sensible one to do

and always would have been, McLaren wouldn't have enjoyed the backlash from it and stuff.

And Lando's title would have been tainted as well because of what we say, not from like an

actual people with a brain cell, but people would have jumped on it and stuff. So yeah,

it just never was on and it was weirdly down to the pace of George Russell and not

Charle Clair. After all that talk, Russell was just not there. It basically did play out how

we said pessimistic me was right, that unfortunately, the others are too slow. They were the class of

the field, the two McLarens and Max, they just were off in the distance. Charle Clair did

unbelievable, I don't know how he managed to finish fourth and be that close. I do because

he's a fantastic driver. I'll give him his credit. Don't start now at the end of the

session. It's a bit late mate. There was nothing Max could do, unfortunately. He needed safety cars

and things, but it's Abu Dhabi and you don't get them because Latifi's might in the race.

No, we had all 20 drivers finish as well, I think, didn't we?

It was the most literally vanilla ending to a championship fight. Hype versus race was...

Yeah, the expectation was far too high and we should have known deep down.

Let's go to a question from Elion underscore Smith. Why didn't Max pit right after Lando and

Oscar to back them up into the pack? Because it was a weird situation. The whole race panned

out where Max couldn't do this backup strategy and even to the point where he couldn't have

backed them up at the end because it would have jeopardized Oscar and Charlie even more because

their pace was falling off at the end. They didn't have the tires Lando did at the end. Lando was

catching Oscar at the end. Obviously, he didn't need to do anything, so he wouldn't have even...

He didn't need to push to try and catch him. But in a normal race, who knows because

the mediums weren't the way to go at the end by the look of it. They were

groaning and falling off. It was also incredibly borderline with the gap that he had because

Max wasn't ever going to risk pitting straight after Lando because he'd have basically a slow

stop allows Oscar into the lead. Equally, he had to do it immediately, but they missed the

opportunity and it was borderline of the slowest stop by a couple of seconds would have lost him

the win. He had to just win the race easily and just cruise out front and hope for chaos,

which is exactly what he said in his interview. I hope it's not nothing to do with me and I

hope there's chaos. There was no chaos in that race at all. Max kept to his word as well.

Absolutely kept to his word. Yeah, it goes back to what we said about the fact that there weren't

really any drivers, Bar-Charles Leclerc, that were able to fight the McLarens in the slightest.

I am a little bit surprised that they didn't try something, anything to try and slow them down,

but the problem is as well, and Max said this before the race, the track is different to what

we saw back in 2016 with Hamilton and Rosberg. There aren't as many slow corners. It is

fast, it is furious and there's a likelihood that Oscar could have passed and beaten Max

to the last victory of the season. I'm glad in some ways from an integrity of the sport

and so on and so forth. I'm glad that Max and Red Bull didn't do anything too crazy.

I'm surprised they didn't do something a little bit because I thought there was going to be

something, but they didn't. They won the race fair and square and nothing happened behind

because 2025 Formula One, that's what happens. Whenever you say something,

Tommy usually would like it for you to be unmuted when you say it.

I say the ultimate combo, I know. Okay, the ultimate combo indeed.

All right, next question from P1Patreon member DK161444.

Why did Red Bull not let Yuki go out with dignity, used him as a tow on Max's slower

quali lap, then used him as a sacrifice that ultimately ended in a penalty for him?

This one I don't particularly agree with. I can understand why Red Bull have tried to use Yuki

with the hard tyre strategy. Fair enough. It's literally the strategy that Piastri was on.

It's not like it was an insane thing, Piastri finished second.

So there's that. Used him as a tow in quali, fine. Used it for the first lap,

not the second lap. Yuki extended, got track limits and had his lap time deleted. That's on Yuki.

And then for the penalty, again, that's on him for not driving and defending

as well as me nor Tommy expected him to. I genuinely believe that Yuki would have slowed

a lot more in sector three, Ala Sergio Perez in 2021, and then attempted to try and obviously

defend. But what he did was, as we mentioned earlier, moved very late on that second part

of the defensive move, which he's not allowed to do. And just generally, I just don't think

it was a very good defense considering that. But then again, I'm sat there going,

what does Yuki really owe Red Bull? Not a lot. He's not going to be in that seat next year,

and he's not even going to be in the team full stop, either racing balls nor Red Bull. So

as part of me that goes, it was a pretty poor defense. And I don't think Red Bull threw

him out on the streets and went, boo, Yuki could have done more. But also, why should he?

Exactly. There's many sides to this. There's one, of course, Red Bull. We're going to use this.

Is there just like Lando had the kind of trump card that Oscar could just dive out of the way if

needed to help if that situation arose? Red Bull are in the same situation where, of course,

they were going to get like, that's the only way that he's going to bring Yuki into play

because he's not at the pace this year to fight. It was only going to be, we said it,

we said it in the qualifying, like hard tires, he was always going to stay out.

He played it incredibly poorly. Now that there is a side to it that I just want to cover off,

which is like, yeah, like Yuki doesn't need to do this. Like he's abiding by what the team

says. They wanted him to hold up and realistically like Max, like Yuki basically couldn't do everything

to like win Max the championship. But my God did he did a particularly good job when you compare

it to Sergio Perez. You know, I think I think it makes what Perez did look even more impressive

of what he managed to do in 2021, because he didn't get a penalty. He held him up and

exactly the right area. Like, and again, people say I was really harsh on Yuki because he doesn't

owe him anything. And that's fine. But I'm just talking about the factual information. If he was

trying to help Max, he didn't do a very good job because he let Lando catch him at completely

the wrong part of the track, because he was catching him at the middle sector,

who should have just backed off and then held him up in that final sector. You can't

overtake in that final sector. That is why Perez could do what he could do when he was so slow.

There is just no opportunity. It's basically Monaco, that final sector. So Yuki had to allow

Norris to catch him then. And then instead he let him pass on the straight. Then sort of

panicked and did was way too aggressive and not the right way where he needed to do it

and just kind of messed it up. And then weirdly spent more time holding up Charlotte Clair than he

did Lando Norris. So Yuki doesn't owe them anything. Some may argue that had he had a

contract next year, he might have tried a bit harder or done anything. It looked like he was

trying to do what he could, but he didn't do a very good job. He didn't do a great job. Of

course, he's on old hard tyres versus Lando on fresh. It would have been very unlikely he

would hold him up for any longer than a lap. But yeah, I agree that the last sector should have

been the place for Yuki to do the Sergio Perez move. Didn't do it. Should we talk about his tweet?

Perez's tweet. Let's do it. Let's do it. So the F1 troll account had a meme that said maybe

we treated you too harshly. And it was then a picture of Sergio Perez within that.

And then Perez quote tweeted it with perhaps...

He was watching going, well, actually, you see how well I did that.

Perez did struggle at Red Bull, but he did a phenomenal job in 2021 to help Max Verstappen

the way he did because that literally won Max the World Championship with the

gaps that Max had to Hamilton with when the safety car came out and so on and so forth.

So yeah, Yuki not the best defence, but then again, he struggled with the car all year

as well. They didn't really have the pace to hold him back much anyway.

Next question, Just Rijalst. For his third year in F1, Oscar Piastri should be damn proud of himself.

Do you think he will clinch a World Drivers Championship at some point?

I think he will. I think Oscar deserves a huge amount of credit for what he's done.

We've praised Lando, we've praised Max, and we absolutely should praise Oscar as well.

Yes, unfortunately, he's the one that's come out of this championship with a great opportunity to win

and he hasn't won it. He led the title. I'm pretty sure this is true from what I heard,

that he's led the title for the longest of anyone in the history of Formula One without

winning it. Obviously, that goes because of the amount of races that we have of course now as

well. But he was leading that championship for so long. Of course, he was so incredibly

close to Lando Norris. Let's not forget. You take the Monza switch, obviously,

into occasion and he's gaining a few more points on him. It's so close in that situation

between the two of them. There's almost like with everything as it's played out,

they're so evenly matched and I think Oscar deserves a huge amount of credit for being

that close to a driver who, as we mentioned earlier, is highly rated despite what people say on the

internet. In his seventh season of Formula One, and Oscar's only his third season in Formula One

and come that close to the World Championship, he's driven brilliantly for so much of the season.

Yes, there will be that moment of the kind of bad run of races he had.

But you can't deny that Oscar hasn't done an absolutely fantastic job and what a career

he's going to have ahead of him because he's shown this year what a great driver he is.

He certainly has. He can be so, so proud of himself. He took us all by surprise with just

how consistent and fast he was at the start of the year. And for most of the year,

do I think he's going to be a world champion at some point when he's shown all the hallmarks

of one this year? Absolutely. It's just a case of right place, right time now for Oscar

because there are some great drivers in Formula One and it is, this is what Formula One, sadly,

for a lot of talented drivers, that's what it's all about is being in the right team that create

the fastest car. He was in it this year, perhaps a little bit early in his Formula One career to

be challenging for a World Championship. I'm sure he'll look back on it and go,

I wish I did this a little bit better. I wish I did that a little bit better.

But third season in Formula One, if McLaren roll out next year with the fastest car,

you'd be silly to bet against him at least having another title finale with Lando Norris,

because he's been on the pace for the majority of the season, barring obviously what we know

what happened after Baku. But Oscar should be insanely proud and he's a very exciting prospect

for the future of Formula One. Right, next question and we're going to talk about Ferrari

and I'm happy to do so. P1P, do you remember Dan Bonehill? Where did Ferrari's pace come from?

I have absolutely no idea.

Charles turned the car around from FP2 to FP3, turned it upside down, changed everything.

And the race pace, though, wowee. When he pit, two-stop, by the way, amazing. How he's saying

it's the worst race I've ever watched and it was a two-stop. That's impressive from

Yasmurina. Charles Leclerc, you know, we're saying Ferrari's, Hamilton did a decent job

as well from where he qualified to score some points in P8, a very good recovery drive from

where he qualified. Of course, had he qualified better, he probably could have at least beaten Alonso

to P6. But for Charles Leclerc, he's fighting Lando Norris for the majority of the race.

How many seconds did he finish behind? Seven, six and a half seconds behind Lando at the end,

fully clear of George Russell, who's 25 seconds further back. I think Charles Leclerc did an

absolutely phenomenal job this weekend. You know, I was celebrating P5 in Qualley,

didn't think it could get better. I joked that I would wear Ferrari on Saturday, but not Sunday,

because we've got no hope in the race. And I had to eat my words. So what Ferrari love to do?

Just tease you. Just tease you with a little bit of performance at the end of the season.

They did that last year. Charles was challenging for the victory against Lando.

They've done it again this year with Charles Leclerc. Just a little, by the way,

as Fred Vassour has called on social media. Yeah, exactly. And Fred Vassour has called on

social media, Mr. Potential Man. We've actually seen some potential from Ferrari. Of course,

it's a completely new car next year. But the delusion was gone. The delusion was

gone by the end of the year. I just didn't want to even talk about Ferrari. Now we're

so back. See you next year. Can't wait to see what Ferrari put together. So impressed.

So impressed with Charles Leclerc in particular.

Yeah, I can't believe that Charles Leclerc was the closest guy to potentially helping Max out

and closest to Lando to try and pass him. George Russell's pace was nowhere. Obviously,

we saw Lewis Hamilton end up eighth. You know, that's a case of what might have been had

he qualified better as well, because definitely the pace was there. And Charles Leclerc,

yeah, an amazing performance in P4. Penny for his thoughts of, you know, we mentioned,

you mentioned about you kind of need to be in the right place at the right time.

Must be hard for him to see, you know, Lando Norris win the world title, Oscar

Piastri have an opportunity to win the world title and must be thinking like, when is my

time? We'll find out next year, whether that's the case. Because he's got it in him to

do it, but hasn't had the machinery. And I think he drove a brilliant race, you know,

one of the drivers of the race has to be has to be said with what he's got underneath him to be that

close to the McLarens is actually quite insane. So yeah, decent from Ferrari, but

is it really a, is it really something to be smiling about? Yeah, ending a year. Yeah.

Have you seen? Have you seen what Ferrari have been putting down lately? We will absolutely

take it. Let's just recap on this podcast. So I've been like,

look, I'm proud of Max. He missed out on the title by two points. He didn't have the car.

And you're like, yeah, we didn't win a race all season, but P4 in Abu Dhabi.

I'd say that's good surprise for a Ferrari, isn't it? It's good surprise.

Yeah, of course, look, Charlotte Clair, this season, is he seven podiums? One, two, three,

four, five, let me move over there, six, seven, seven podiums when his teammate didn't manage one,

of course, apart from the sprint win, but we don't took the sprints. We know that they don't

actually go down as proper podiums. It's not obviously the best season for Charlotte Clair,

another winless season, which I don't want to talk about. But he's shown this season that

he still has the talent. And it's been sad at times when he's been saying, look, I've

got absolutely no, no more pace in the car. So fingers crossed, we have more pace in the car

for next year. Let's end it on a positive Charlotte Clair World Champion 2016. Right,

next question for Bill Petra. Remember, MCT, can we all pitch in to pay for Brazil to be the

finale again? Yes, please. Yeah, I made a joke on my Twitter saying, can we,

surely we can get enough fans to crowdfund it? Look, yes, the cars are absolutely

woeful this year. They are very poor. We even heard Oscar Piastri in the cool down room say,

at least we don't have to drive these anymore. They're talking about something like they were

behind Colopinto and, you know, they couldn't, they could barely pass them and stuff,

how bad it was. But Abu Dhabi makes things even worse. You go into that title finale,

and you know it's mostly going to be a stinker. And Brazil would just add that extra level of

jeopardy or any other circuit really, apart from Qatar, that, you know, I'd happily have Vegas,

I'd happily have something else. But Brazil, yeah, like Brazil would be amazing, but

Abu Dhabi doesn't deliver with the finale, no matter what we get. You know, you look at

the seasons where the finale has gone down to Abu Dhabi. 2016, sorry, yeah, 2016, absolutely awful

race. It basically meant that Hamilton could back the entire field up because it's so hard to overtake,

which tells you everything you need to know about the circuit. 2021 relied on a safety car and

them going crazy and Michael Massey doing crazy things to allow any kind of incident because

it was basically just going to end with the most anticlimactic race and basically be like this one

before that incident. This one, awful, nothing, nothing happened at all. 2010, again, was won

because you couldn't overtake and Alonso couldn't pass Petrop. It was basically a race where everyone

pitted behind a safety car and that was the race over. It's an awful, awful, awful, awful

track for a finale. You go to Brazil and I know we go, oh, it's dirty air and you look at the

difference like 2012, 2008, because there are things, there are moments like people make mistakes

because there's grass and gravel to go off. It's harder to pass. There's more chance of

incidents and mistakes and crashes and things rain as well. It just sucks that this is the

finale. It really does. It's been the finale for a very long time and will continue to be.

We'll continue to be because money talks, as we know, and of course that's what the question has

also sort of hinted at, the fact that we have to pitch in to pay for Brazil. I would love Brazil

to be the finale. It's what it was when I was obviously growing up and the championship finale

there with Hamilton and Isaac Block and things like that. We know that Brazil delivers every

single year, but they don't have the money for it. They don't have whatever arrangement that

Formula One have with Abu Dhabi to big money moves. From a Formula One fan perspective,

Yasmarina on paper doesn't look that bad. The new version of Abu Dhabi looks like it should

in theory work to a degree. Our main frustration should be with these cars. We see Formula

2 races here that are interesting and it's not like we've never seen a good race around Abu Dhabi

in any category, i.e. the other formulas. I still think that there are certain parts of the track

where they want to show the downforce of the car, but by doing these fast sweeping left handers,

you don't give any opportunity to late break and make a move, a la what we see in Qatar,

for example. That's what essentially that long left hander is, unless you're literally side

by side with a car, you can't make the move. Then the final sector is the worst thing ever.

It's built around a landmark and that's the only reason it's like that. It's literally built

around a hotel. Separate the cars. You're always going to struggle. You're always going

to struggle to keep the cars close. My main bug bear is always going to be with the cars,

because if they could follow, we would get racing. Yes, I also think that it lacks

it lacks character. It lacks Brazil. It's shown in enough seasons now that even,

you know, I shared those examples. I've just been like this year, but the fact that like 2016

had good racing. The cars were much smaller. They could follow. There was passing. They couldn't

pass. I know that I know the circuits changed since, but there's just never been a good

finale there, other than obviously people say 2021, but obviously we know what happened and why

that was the way it was at the end. That's how you get an overtake apparently around Dabby Dabby.

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insurance plan. Okay, next question from mt underscore Louis. Is this one of the worst

seasons in terms of racing? The championship battle was interesting in the end, but

didn't hide the poor quality of racing. Aren't we glad to see a new set of regulations?

I was saying this to Tommy in the watch along. It genuinely is one of the worst seasons we've

had in terms of bangers. We asked the chat, what were your submissions for bangers?

And they were saying, Australia, that's the first round of the season.

First race of the season.

And that was only good because it was chaotic because of the rain. I don't think it was actually,

in my opinion, classified as a banger in the context of 2025, for sure. Silverstone was,

of course, a good race. Also rain.

Also rain. But apart from that, we have been really starved of great racing. So fair play

to all of us and to all of you, if you've been sticking with this season the entire

way through the championship, of course, has made it interesting to some degree.

But even then, McLaren tried to suck a little bit of fun out of that by being

surgical with it all. But overall, it's not been the best of seasons. But it will be remembered

because of the fact we had a three-way title fight at the end, which ended with a stinker as

well. So it almost feels poetic that the 2025 season ended this way.

Yeah, it depends how you see Formula One. It reminds you very much,

throw it back all the way to 2010. But that was a season where you had,

and also the last time that we saw more than three drivers going for the championship finale,

as I mentioned, a terrible finale in Abu Dhabi because you couldn't overtake and

nothing happened as always. But the actual races were really quite poor and you couldn't

overtake and it was really difficult. The Bridgestone tyres made the fact that you could

just, they didn't have tyre wear back then and things like that. So it was a really poor,

yeah, like a poor races. But then people look back on that and go, oh, wow, you had all these

different drivers going for the world championship. And yeah, you look at seasons

gone by and last year, you know, Max won the title by a long way in the end, over 60 points.

And yet we had absolutely bangers seemingly all the time. The races were absolutely superb. But

then we were saying, oh, we should have a close title fight. It seems like only,

feels like only 2012 off the top of my head is one of those years where we managed to get

both. So yeah, it very much feels like one or the other with how last season, dream scenario,

the races that we had in 2024 and how exciting they were with this title fight.

We can't have it all though, can we? We can't have it all. But my god, yeah, the racing was

utterly awful this year. Like, I'm not going to be around the bush. Like,

you get into the first corner first, you're basically winning the race unless you're

paroligal or hungry. Yeah, great. I thought I'd try and cover that off before you said it,

but you still said it all the same. Good. Okay. Tough, tough. But look, next year, we're saying

about we're glad to see the new set of regulations for sure. I'm excited, you know, a fresh look at

Formula One cars and how they're going to be with no DRS but mom instead. Going to be interesting

to see how you commentate that. But also on the flip side of that, the things I'm more

hesitant and concerned about are the fact that new regulations usually mean a period of dominance

for a certain team. So fingers crossed that doesn't happen and they're all within two-tenths.

When we get an amazing scrap for over sixth place and everyone's moaning going, oh, George Russell's

40 seconds clear. Like, why can't we have a closed title fight like we did last year?

Remember what we said about this race. Remember the racing. Remember the racing.

Okay, let's go to biggest winner, driver or team. I wonder. I think Lando might be a shout for

winning the World Championship and being able to fend off the pressure from the entire event.

Who else would be a, I mean, for Stappen, the fact that he won around Abu Dhabi is

shocking to most of us by 12 and a half seconds in the end as well.

Hmm. Ocon is an honourable mention in P7 in the house. That was a great performance from him,

but I think I'm going to lock in Lando Norris because he had to deal with it all.

He won his first World Championship. So congratulations.

Indeed. Yeah, it has to be, it has to be Lando by looking up and down the order as well.

We didn't even get like a crazy point swing in, you know, the fight that everyone was on

tent hooks over the fight for seventh in the Constructors title, which, you know, we all

tuned in for, but it didn't change anything because they all kind of scored a few points

here and there and it kept exactly the same like no one team really dominated. So it's hard to

say someone really changed anything apart from Lando winning the World Championship. So there we go.

One on Lando. Biggest loser. Alpine have had one of the worst endings to a season ever with the two

19th and 20th, I think in the last couple of Grand Prix, although I don't think they finished

19th and 20th in Qatar, but it was pretty close. Who else is, Williams is a very meh, very meh.

Antonelli's got to be a great show. He had a really poor weekend in general 15th.

Sonoda kind of as well with the one job he had of the defending.

Yeah. I mean, it must be a shame for you. You got to think like you've ended the season.

Yeah, it's obviously like you couldn't help your teammate. You've not got any points.

You've probably been, it felt like you've kind of been had that race where you've been

sacrificed trying to help your teammate and ended up with nothing. And then it's just

like a sad way for you to end what is probably going to be his F1 career as well.

Yuki's a great show. Okay, let's go with Yuki Sonoda then.

Right. The moment we've all been waiting for, which is the Predictions Championship.

So it is currently 58-55 to Tommy. Three points. The advantage to Tommy going into this one.

It's really going to be a lot more exciting than the race.

How is it going to end? Because I've got a slight smile on my face because I know

that I've got some things right. So let's get into this then. A good surprise. I went for Alex

Albon, who didn't get lapped. Good surprise locked in. That's zero points for Alex Albon.

And I went for Nico Hülkenberg. Got a lovely little P9.

Hülkenberg ended ninth. How on earth did Hülkenberg end ninth?

I don't know.

That is a point because he literally qualified 18th, isn't it?

Yeah, he did. He looked like he was completely out there at one point. He did the strategy of

pitting very, very early, like Lewis Hamilton. Did Okon do it as well? And Stroll? I can't remember.

Now I was obviously focused on the leaders. No, it was the two-stop.

They did a two-stop, didn't they?

A two-stop crew.

Yeah, so it worked for him.

Yeah, it did. Well done to Nico Hülkenberg. All right, Tommy's now four ahead.

Let's go to a big flop. I went for Sonoda.

How do you feel about that one, Tommy?

Let me look at his most recent run. Did he flop?

Is it like one of those where you get an easy point because he's...

Okay, hold on. Right, so it's his second worst result since Hungary.

Yeah, I guess he's done worse, hasn't he, than... Have you finished...

It's one of those things where, like, because he's been poor anyway,

it feels like a cheap point. But then if I actually take my...

...competitive hat off, I was doing exactly the same thing with us,

but Okon, and it didn't work, so five has the point.

You can't, you can't.

Well, let's just read out his results.

9, 13, 6, 12, 7, 11, 17th, which was worse, 12th, 10th, and then 14th.

And of course, I've got the penalty as well.

I think immediately, like, yeah, he got a penalty.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry, yeah, of course, yeah.

He was slow. He didn't manage to do anything for Max, in fact.

Yeah, it didn't look great what he did for Max and got a penalty.

So, yeah, I'll get you. It's got to be.

OK, thanks, Tommy. I appreciate it.

All right, three points to get once again.

We go to pole position, where I went for Oscar Piazza.

Oh, you didn't actually say Okon.

Sorry, sorry.

Yeah, Okon. So you went for Okon.

Okon, I went for the easy point of us when Okon,

he became the greatest that he's ever been all season.

Absolutely ridiculous. Thanks, Estee Bestie.

Amazing result for Esteban, though.

I'm pleased for you, but how dare you?

I also screwed him.

Why now? Why now?

Tommy went for cheat points and it backfired.

I did.

Pole position, I went for Oscar Piazstri, which was incorrect.

I went for Lando Norris, incorrect.

OK, third position in the main race, I went for Lando Norris, correct.

I went for George Russell, incorrect.

Where was your pace there?

Two points, the gap.

We go to second place.

I went for Oscar Piazstri, correct.

I went for Lando Norris, incorrect.

The sadness, is it Tommy's voice?

OK, one point, the gap.

And in first place, I went for Max Verstappen.

Oh, you're stupid clay.

Clay. Sweating.

You're stupid clay.

I can't believe the play worked.

Oh my God.

Also, so yeah, I went for Oscar Piazstri.

People said you should have gone for Max Verstappen

because basically that would have forced you into basically

picking like a Russell or something or a Leclerc win.

And I managed to not do it because I was scared of jinxing it

and Max didn't win the title.

Biggest loser, Tom Bellingham actually, let's just change it to that.

What an absolute disaster.

OK, so we're level now.

It is level on points as we head to the one crazy prediction.

My one was at least two drivers will be in the championship winning position during the race.

Why did I allow that one?

You allowed and thankfully it was only Yuki Sonoda on hard tyres that allowed that to happen.

Yeah, true.

So it could have easily been that they all just ran away.

To be fair, you look at it in hindsight, but I remember at the time going,

yeah, that's fair because I thought we thought McLaren were going to just dominate the race

and Max wouldn't be able to do it.

So I'd say it was a reasonable prediction.

So that's a point and Tommy.

God's sake.

Hamilton makes Q3.

Oh no.

It's a disaster.

How like...

Oh, why is...

Like, come on, Lyrus, what are you doing?

Gallagher out of nowhere opens mom to take the lead.

It's like Gallagher.

Sorry, that was crazy.

And then finally, well, not finally,

because you went for world champion as well, our Patreon prediction.

If you're part of the P1 Patreon, then you can get involved and submit a prediction

every single race weekend on the Discord.

Mine was Marty.

The season will be over and there will be zero controversy.

Peace will reign and there will be goodwill to all men.

No points.

No, I don't...

Like, I think that would be one of the...

You can't give it because the penalty...

I mean, look at social media telling me that there was no controversy, the penalty.

The penalty, I don't think people would give you that one because of the penalty.

It's almost right.

So nearly right.

Yeah, because...

Have I been robbed?

We'll find out.

Find out.

Tommy, I went for that bloke.

Carlos Sainz finishes ahead of Albin in the World Drivers Championship,

which he did not.

He did not get a point.

He did not.

He finished 13th.

He finished way off.

Goodness.

What are you doing, Carlos?

How dare you?

And finally, Tommy, who did you go for for world champion?

I went for Lando Norris.

So you're level on points, but I also went for Lando Norris.

He's if you've won by a point.

He's done it.

Oh my God, in the last...

In the last second,

the Klaxon is going and Gallagher has thrown a three-pointer.

How have you done that?

You've obviously welled the other predictions

on the last one.

There is no way.

By the way, if that Patreon prediction had come down to whether I won or not,

this was going big.

That would be more controversial than the five-second penalty in the first place.

I am...

No way.

Oh my God, that's so annoying.

Tommy, look, it has been an honor to share the stage with you.

What a great predictions championship we have shared.

Oh, for God's sake.

So I just want to thank everyone.

I want to thank my mom, my dad, my sister, my girlfriend.

Why? They lost the family prediction.

Hey, shut up.

I want to thank everybody for their support.

I want to thank everybody that said that I tried to get cheap points.

I want to thank Dean Bellingham for calling me out on the podcast.

All those cheap points came into rest at the end.

I'm glad you're gracious in defeat, Tommy.

The funniest thing is as well, I was like,

I almost got gross to do all my predictions for me because I'm like,

we've been so washed this year, like barely got any points.

And then of course, I genuinely think that is the biggest

point tall of anyone.

And as if it's happened from a tactical play.

I can't believe it as well.

I genuinely I put Max Verstappen down as P1 with zero confidence.

Yeah, exactly.

Because I just didn't win the world title.

I lost the predictions and the world title.

I take it back.

I'm not proud.

This is the worst Formula One season of all time.

Are you taking note, everybody, that Tommy has said I'm the

competitive one this entire year?

It is what it is.

There we go.

All right.

So I've somehow clinched the title.

The family top three has been wrapped up

because Tommy didn't allow for a double pointer in the last one

and it didn't matter anyway.

14-9 to the Bellingham's.

My sister put a very strong line up together.

In third place went for Piastri, which was incorrect.

Grace went for Max Verstappen.

Incorrect.

Second place.

Regina went for Verstappen.

And Grace went for Pierre Gathley.

Oh, close.

So close.

First position.

My sister went for Lando Norris, which was incorrect.

She got the podium correct, but in the wrong order.

And Grace went for Franco Colopinte.

Incorrect.

If you turned it round, she would have won.

Turn the entire grid upside down.

She'd got two points.

Yeah, well done.

Well done, Grace.

We look forward to some more predictions.

Her top drivers finished 20th, 19th and first.

We love it.

I'm looking forward to a lot more of that as she gains

more wheel knowledge into 2026.

And I will say as well, of course, if you love the predictions,

of course, we're going to reflect on our yearly ones as well,

which could be interesting.

Yeah, we'll find out.

Once we made it to the start of the year, also the championship table.

So there's a couple more predictions championships to be had here as well.

To be decided.

Tom is clinging on to any hope, but we know this one's the real one.

We know that this one's the real one.

Apart from last year when I won it and you were like,

are we decided on all that?

Last year was for fun.

This year was for real.

Right, that is it.

We are done and dusted for the race of you.

We will be carrying on for all of our wonderful patrons

for a few questions afterwards.

If you want to join our Patreon to reflect on the season,

you're more than welcome,

but we will have lots more content coming out as well.

I just want to say for me,

thank you so much for your support over the course of this entire season

for this podcast.

It has grown from strength to strength to a place

that I never even believed was possible with P1

when we launched this at the start of 2023.

To see all of your comments,

the way that you speak to us at the P1 live shows

and say that you have your own predictions championship

and things like that that we do for a little bit of fun,

we forget that anybody listens and watches our content.

And here we are with a Formula One podcast

that I think both myself and Tommy can be very proud of.

And thank you once again for all of your support

in the watch alongs.

They were crazy.

We'll of course be doing watch alongs next year as well.

And yeah, overall it's been absolutely awesome.

And I am utterly indebted to each and every one of you

that listens and watches along.

So Tommy, final thoughts?

Final thoughts.

Of course, I'm going to echo what you said.

We've got an amazing community.

Like your support has been unbelievable this year.

It's been an incredible year for us,

like so proud of what P1's achieved.

And you guys are still being here

and enjoying this.

Obviously, you know, like we've been doing it a few years

since we made the crazy journey to start this.

And it still never feels any less surreal

that I get to just and both of us get to just chat

about Formula One all the time and you guys enjoy it.

So yeah, thank you for all the support.

And also, you know, we're reflecting on this,

but don't go anywhere because plenty more to come,

particularly as there is barely an off season

because car launches are early January as well.

Think you said five weeks didn't you on the watch along?

Yeah, mid-January I think are the first car launches,

which is five weeks away.

But we'll have our wrap up content as well

and drive ratings and drive ratings for the season

and predictions and all that good stuff.

We're not disappearing.

Don't you worry about that.

So make sure you're subscribed everywhere you need to be.

And that is it.

Thank you everybody once again

and enjoy a bit of downtime

before we get cracking again for next year.

Goodbye.

Bye.

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