Canadian GP Driver Ratings

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy Driver. Ratings

I know how much you have all missed. Hearing our numbers out of ten for all of the drivers

and you know sprint weekends always make it. Again.

That's that little bit harder, right? Yeah, it feels like every weekend at the moment

is a sprint. Do you feel like F1 are trying to do this? Like hey guys, maybe you can get

used to this. Maybe maybe next year and the year after we can have all of them because

I know for a fact they would love to do that because I'm sure the viewing figures are up

compared to practice. But anyway, driver ratings Tommy, you you confident with this one? Always

mine always absolutely correct. Correct. Yes. Yeah, that's that's the right word.

Yeah, for your opinion, they are correct indeed. Let's get straight into it then shall we

and begin with Sergio Perez Sprint qualified 17th finished the sprint in 14th started the

main race in 20th and did not finish the main race. I am giving Sergio Perez a whopping seven

out of 10 thought it was a very strong performance from Perez one that you have to

sit up and take note for the for the drivers at the back and Perez is making Bottas look

like a rookie at the moment. And you look, I'm not going to apologize just yet because

obviously I backed Bottas mainly because it's just fun to go for something that you're not

going for Tommy. But everyone went for it, didn't they? Yeah, not everyone. Some people

it was a little bit closer than maybe you think but Perez another great weekend it has

to be said in a Cadillac that is making improvements and I think the team themselves are doing

a phenomenal job to be anywhere near any team. You know, the fact that they are

fighting with Aston Martin, if they if you'd have told them that coming into the season,

they would think they're fighting for points and for podiums but but no, no, no, that's not the

case. But Perez very, very strong indeed, you know, finishing the sprint on the road in 11th.

Of course, he was a little bit cheeky with Lawson. I might have even given him an eight

had it not been for the squeeze on Lawson, which tumbled him down the order in the sprint. But

overall until his suspension when it was a great weekend. I've also gone for a seven out of ten

for Sergio Perez. I think once again, Perez is showing an amazing job in a car that if there

were two Bottas's in that car, we'd just be saying the car's rubbish. This is what Cadillac can do.

They're at the back and Perez somehow is mixing it with not just the Aston Martin's but sometimes

the midfielders. I think the sprint was of course the standout where he was up in 11th on the

road. Of course, he got a bit over excited as he does with when Liam Lawson's behind him,

particularly always Liam Lawson. And that history there continues. But it was still a

fantastic race. He was well clear of Bottas in the main race, both qualifying sessions. And Perez

is doing a fantastic job. It has to be said he is racing, you know, like his life depends on it.

And he's doing really, really well in a car that shouldn't be there

until the car inevitably disintegrates or the mirror falls off or the wheel falls off or whatever

it does. Good old Cadillac. The fans, not impressed at all. Five out of ten for Sergio Perez.

Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Lazy five as we call it. That's a lazy five. Come on guys,

lock into Perez's race at the back. Valtteri Bottas. Sprint qualified 20th, finished the sprint

in 17th, started the main race in 22nd and finished the main race in 16th.

I have gone for a three out of ten for Valtteri Bottas. It was a long stroll-esque performance,

I think. You know, you look at his deficit in qualifying. He messed up his qualifying lap as

well. He was nowhere near Perez, you know, almost like a second lap slow, I think even more actually.

If you look at it, it was a minute behind Perez when Perez retired. Got a speeding penalty in the

pit lane again. And yeah, Valtteri really needs to kind of lock in and I know he's there for the

vibes. But look, we know he's a great driver and we know what he can deliver in the past.

And it's really poor form at the moment for Bottas. So he needs to find something compared

to his teammate Perez. He really does. I have also gone for a three out of ten for Bottas,

shocking weekend in comparison to his teammate. This is where, you know, when a driver at the

back does something special, you then look to the driver that isn't doing it and going,

or what on earth are you doing? And this is the case with Bottas. He finished four laps down,

I think it was, in the end. So just, yeah, really shocking pace and Valtteri needs to,

as you say, lock back in. And yes, he might be fighting at the back, but I don't think he's

that far off Perez. Like you can't, I don't think he's a second off in his natural, pure pace. So

I'm not sure what it is, but he needs to find it. The fans gave him a five. If I speak. Oh dear,

oh dear, oh dear. Hopefully it gets better for you guys in the fan ratings. And I do love as well

when we have fan rate, fan ratings that are slightly questionable, let's put it that way.

And then the fans in the comments are like, yeah, the fans don't know anything. What the hell are

they doing? Maybe vote in the ratings polls we put up on social media. Have your say to make sure

that Perez doesn't get fives for great drives. That sounds like an election when it doesn't

go your way and it's like, make sure you vote, vote. Exactly, which you should.

Anyway, moving on to Franco Colopinto. Sprint qualified 13th, finished the sprint in ninth,

started the main race in 10th and finished sixth. Franco Colopinto is receiving a nine out of 10.

Very close to a 10. I think it was another brilliant weekend for him. The only slight

downgrade was the fact that he could have easily DNF'd with the mistake he made out the pit lane.

But that's not to take away from an amazing weekend. The nine out of 10 demonstrates that.

And what a couple of race weekends he's had. He's made Gasly start to question what's going on,

because it's not as if Gasly had and we'll get onto him, of course. It's not like he had a

massively problem-ridden weekend here in Canada. It was just the fact he wasn't working with the

car. He was struggling for confidence and saying that he had lack of grip, breaking problems. Of

where are there not deployment problems in Formula One these days? But for Franco,

really impressive. I hope that he keeps this up so that it's not like just a flash in the

pound when we look at the season review at the end of the year. But he's scoring some big old

points at the moment. He certainly is. I've gone for a nine out of 10 for Franco Colopinto as well.

A brilliant performance. Shame about the slight brush of the wall. Thankfully for him,

it didn't cost him anything in the race or his result. But it's cost him in drive

ratings, which I'm sure he's absolutely gutted about because it might have been a 10. Had that

not happened. But the fact that he delivered in both qualifying sessions compared to his teammate

and in the main race, he was very, very close to getting a point in the sprint as well.

Maybe another reason why it's not a full-on 10 for Colopinto. But I still think probably the best

driver of his career. It's obviously his best result of his career. I think, yeah, I hope this

gives him a big confidence boost and he continued that form and it's not just to kind of flash in

the pan and he can consistently do it against Gasly because we've seen it before where he's

gone on a run-up race against Gasly and then Gasly kind of wakes up a bit. So let's see.

I know we have similar opinions, Tommy. That's absolutely fine. We can't both say flash in

the pan. You can't do that to me. Come on. It's too unique of a phrase. Franco Colopinto,

the fans, gave him a 9 out of 10 as well. Moving to Pierre Gasly,

sprint qualified 19th, finished the sprint in 20th, started the main race in 14th, finished 8th.

I've gone for a 7 out of 10 for Pierre Gasly. The slower of the Alpenes, a good recovery race to

get 8th place in the end, even with the fact they hit a groundtog in qualifying. And obviously,

he carried that damage into Q2. He still struggled and of course in sprint qualifying,

he didn't even make it out of SQ1, still looked like the slower Alpenes this weekend.

So yeah, I think Gasly still a good performance and I think it's impressive that even despite

his qualifying woes and how bad he did in the sprint, that he still managed to bag some points

for Alpine, which I think is now in every weekend. He's scored at least a point for Alpine,

which is very impressive, considered where they were last year. So yeah, good job from Gasly,

but not on his teammate's level. No, indeed not. I do want to say that we don't share our

driver ratings beforehand. This is all completely new and once again, it's a 7 out of 10 for Pierre

Gasly. I'm noticing that we've gone for the same in every single one currently. Let's see when it

changes. Hopefully it's a flash in the pan. Oh, I'll get a pan in a minute. But yes,

a 7 out of 10 from me as well for Pierre Gasly. Mainly, a lot of problems in the first three

quarters of the weekend, but did a great race to almost snatch 7th from Lawson and maybe slightly

more confidence building after a tricky weekend. So yeah, Gasly, I've gone for a 7 out of 10.

The fans, they agree. Finally, they've locked in 7 out of 10 for them as well.

Gabrielle Bortoletto, sprint qualified 12th, finished the sprint in 12th,

started the main race in 13th and finished 13th. It's going to be a 5 out of 10 for

Gabby Bortoletto, I'll be honest. As much as that looks reasonably okay on paper,

there were of course a lot of DNFs in the race. We had 16 finishes. If you can count

Stroll and Bottas as actually participating. So I don't know, just Audi so questionable, right?

Bortoletto was slightly slower in qualifying, was struggling a lot with the car and overall,

and also as well, I think he got a penalty for an infringement with the VSC. It was a

scruffy weekend, I think, for Bortoletto. Again, Audi decent over one lap, but 12th and 13th look

right on paper, but they were over half a minute away from scoring any points as well. So 5 from me.

I've also gone for a 5 for Gabrielle Bortoletto, I'm so sorry. It's another race where Audi just

look, they're qualifying decent and well in the midfield. Obviously, the running joke is they're

always 11th and 12th, and that happened again. But in a race with so many retirements, the fact

that McLaren just pooped the bed a top team that would just not out the points, that should give

an opportunity for them to score points and for them to lose a position, I'm sorry, stay exactly

where they are, is shocking for Audi really. And it's very similar with kind of Nika Holkenberg,

didn't maximize it. Of course, they went for that, that inters gamble as well, that didn't work.

And yeah, not good. Not good indeed. The fans gave Bortoletto a 5 out of 10 as well. Imagine,

because we just do the same grades all the time, we do the same as predictions where whoever goes

first, the other person can't give that grade. I've actually given Bottas a 10 because I can't

give him a 3. Okay, we now go to Nika Holkenberg. Spinn qualified 11th, finished the sprint in 15th,

started the main race in 11th and finished 12th. I've gone for a 5 for Nika Holkenberg.

It was close to a 4. He's made quite a few mistakes here and there, sped in the pit lane,

had a spin. And as an experienced driver, you think that he'd be able to, this is kind of like

Nika Holkenberg, crazy race, surely he can bag a point, he's not scored a point this year

at the top of my head. Yeah, that is insane. Qualifying 11th all the time with all the

retirements and everything, you think this is the opportunity. So yeah, a disappointing one for

Holkenberg. You look at a 12th place and you think, it was about where I already should finish,

but I think it's because of the fact that they made a few silly errors. Of course,

the intermediates didn't work, but still had an opportunity.

He did have an opportunity, you know, had that spin going into turn one, dipped a wheel in the

grass, he also sped in the pit lane as well. So yeah, I've gone for a 5 for Holkenberg,

unsurprisingly. I thought that was what you were going to say before then.

No, no, I can't, he beat Bortoletto. I don't really think I can really separate the two.

They've both had scruffy weekends in their own way, so I've gone for a pair of fives.

The fans, they've gone for a 5 as well. Esteban Ocon, sprint qualified 14th, finished the sprint

in 13th, started the main race in 17th, finished 14th.

I've gone for a 3 out of 10 for Esteban Ocon. I think it was a really poor race. We'll get

on to that shortly. Of course, he did have the old spec for the first part of the weekend,

because Haas could only bring, for some reason, only for the first part and put it on Ollie

Bearman's car. Ocon had it from main qualifying, but the struggles that Ocon was having was pretty

crazy. He got eliminated in Q1 for the main race, and the actual Sunday, he's finishing

a lap behind his teammate pretty much. I don't know exactly the gaps, but I'm looking at the lap

68 as everyone's coming over the line. Ocon's 52 seconds behind Bortoletto,

Piastri in 11th is half a minute behind Bearman. He's finished a lap behind his teammate. That's

how I'm seeing it anyway. It's a devastating blow for Ocon in not the weekend. It's not like a

George Russell. We have to win weekend, but we had these whole rumors of Ocon and midseason,

this and he's, of course, squashed that. I don't believe they will get rid of a midseason,

but these kind of performances don't help. I really think this was a poor weekend for Ocon.

Yes, I've gone for a four, so he finally disagreed. I do see where you're coming from,

though Ocon's had a really poor weekend. This is his opportunity to silence the critics,

and what he did was take his front wing off immediately in first practice, which, of course,

doesn't help the narrative. Again, not able to deliver in the main race, struggling a lot.

It's disappointing for Ocon because we know he is a great driver, I think, in years gone by.

He's been quite underrated by the fans, but this year and last year, his half stint has gone

nowhere near as well as expected. It's a shame because if he doesn't pick up the pace,

we could see him potentially not continuing in F1, I think.

Indeed. The fans gave him a five, which is another lazy grade. Sorry. That's crazy. Fair

enough. You guys have opinions. That's all good. Let's now go to Olly Bearman,

sprint qualified 15th, finished the sprint in 18th, started the main race in 16th, finished 10th.

Gone for a six for Olly Bearman. Haas have fallen off compared to where they were before,

but I think Olly deserves credit for, despite not a great qualifying, bagging points.

The Haas didn't look particularly great, and the fact that he managed to bag a point

is impressive given Haas' struggle. A good job from Bearman. It's a shame we're not seeing him

fighting at the front of that midfield like we used to, but it's still a good performance.

I've gone for a seven out of 10, so the run of disagreements continue. Olly Bearman, I think,

did a great job in the main part of the weekend. The sprint was a bit of a write-off, it has to be

said, due to his elimination in SQ1, I think it was. In the main race, he had a 25-second pit

stop. He was going to be fighting for higher points positions than 10th without that. I think

he's actually, on paper, it looks like, okay, p10 just behind signs, but I think he was fully

involved with that, perhaps Lawson and Gasly fight. It's a shame considering as well.

I'm looking back, he's a second behind them before it stops.

Yeah, you're about to come and agree with me, are you?

No, no, no. I'll stick to a six.

You stick to the Olly Bearman slander, fair enough.

But no, seven out of ten for me because the Haas is quite possibly one of the worst cars on the

grid at the moment. I think he's done a great job. Well done to Olly. The fans gave him a six.

Lance Stroll, sprint-quantified 18th, finished his sprint in 16th, started the main race in 21st,

finished 15th. It's a four out of ten for Lance Stroll.

He looked just kind of depressed for most of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, which I found,

maybe it was because of the fact that the car's nowhere and it's his home race and,

as much as we question whether he wants to be there, I'm sure he wants to do something at

his home race, but really not much to write home about. He started from the pit lane in the sprint

and then in the main race. The reason I've gone for a four, rather than kind of like a bog

standard down the middle five, is Alonso and what he managed to do at points in the Aston Martin.

You know, got up to 10th at the start of the main race and Lance wasn't doing the same thing.

I think Lance eight laps in was about 14 seconds behind Alonso, so very anonymous.

That's why I've downgraded to a four. I've gone for a four for Lance Stroll as well.

It's close to a five. I think he's been unfortunate that he's had kind of two problems

just before the sprint race. He had the suspension problem as he went to the grid and then a battery

problem in the Grand Prix, which meant another pit lane start, but it still doesn't excuse the fact

that Alonso is kind of in the same way as Perez and Bottas, like Alonso showing he can

dabble in the midfield and even if the car is nowhere near there, it's just those glimpses

that like top drivers can show that they can do something even when, you know, it looks like it

would be impossible. So yeah, Lance Stroll, disappointing home race, the home hero, sadly

for Stroll, not want to remember. And you do wonder if, yeah, he went into was probably dreaming

about this weekend in an Adrian Newey car thinking, wow, what a weekend this is going to be. And

instead, quite the opposite. Quite the opposite indeed. Indeed. The fans gave Lance Stroll a five

out of 10. Fernando Alonso, sprint qualified 16th, didn't finish the sprint, started the main race

in 19th, didn't finish the race. I've gone

four. No, no. Oh, this is tough. Oh, he's not confident with his grade. It doesn't think it's

hard. No, no. I've gone for a six. I've gone for a six for Alonso. And yeah, I think he's shown in

in the Aston Martin what he can do with a little sq2, even though, of course, he went off, which

maybe helped him continue into into q2 in the sprint weekend, sq2. And then yeah, as we as we

got into the main race as well, had a great start, did what he kind of did at the start of the year

where he was able to fight at the front before probably the most Adrian Newey thing in the world

where they've tried a new seating position and it hurt him so much that he wasn't able to try,

which that is just peak Adrian Newey. I remember when he was designing the red ball,

and you can see that there's like cutaways so they can actually turn their hands for the steering

wheel. And it's just like Adrian Newey just goes was that when Vettel was there? Yeah, yeah.

Adrian Newey goes, here's the best car possible. And then we'll see if it doesn't hurt the drivers,

probably forgetting that there's a 44 year old Fernando Alonso driving it. So yeah, Alonso

still again showed what he could do and it's such a shame because I watched a video, I don't know

if you saw it doing the rounds on Twitter where it was a Spanish reporter asked him saying,

how do you think you're going to do? And this was at Monaco last year and Alonso went

challenging for the win at Melbourne 2026. And it's like...

Tommy said Melbourne. I'm sorry, everybody. It's Melbourne. Sorry. Sorry. I know Australians

it's like me saying Tim Tam is... It's fine. I'm home now. They can't hurt me here.

They can't hurt me. Yes. Okay. So that is very, very sad. Very sad indeed.

As for my grade for Fernando, I've also gone for a six out of 10. I was going to question anything

above that. Had you gone for it, I thought maybe sevens or eights were going to be put on there

just purely because of the p10 at the start of the race. But there were mistakes in there,

as we know, and crashed in in sprint quali to get himself through the sq2 and of course didn't

finish the race. So it's hard to say where he would have finished, but he was falling back

at that point anyway. But you know, a little nod with the six out of 10 for the amazing start

from Fernando. The fans gave him a five. After Arvid Lindblad, we go. Sprint qualified in ninth,

finished the sprint in eighth, started the main race in ninth and then did not start.

All right. This might be the wildest grade I'm ever going to put down in the history of drive

ratings, but I don't care. 10 out of 10. Lindblad's getting a 10. He was utterly perfect the entire

weekend. And my heart goes out to him that he didn't start the race. I have no notes for him. I

have literally no notes. Like he's come to this race for the first time ever and been miles ahead

of the midfield at every single point. And yes, the main race, people will be going,

Arvid, you can't give him a 10 if he didn't start the race. But like, I don't want to give him any

lower. I can't. It's my grade. Yeah, I know. Exactly. And I don't want to give him any lower.

So that is, that's what I'm doing because I was so thoroughly impressed with him at every single

stage. You know, you think about in qualifying at times in sprint quality 12 he was just

putting himself in fourth and fifth and it was just ridiculous. So, yeah, there's my grade.

10 out of 10. Arvid Lindblad. Thank you. Oh, wow. Okay. I've gone for an 8 out of 10 for Arvid

Lindblad. It was almost a nine great weekend. I'm absolutely go for him that he couldn't do

the main race, of course, qualified brilliantly in both the sessions, got a point in the sprint.

The reason I can't go higher is I think Lawson showed how good the racing balls actually was

when he got to participate in the main race as well. And I do think the racing balls was

absolutely rapid this weekend. So it still doesn't take anything away from Arvid. And it's nice to

see him deliver even though he couldn't obviously do the race, but in terms of like the rest of his

weekend, what he was able to do because not really seen it since his amazing debut.

Cool. All right. There you go. I don't care. I can already hear the comments, but I love it.

I love it. Arvid Lindblad deserves all the praise. He'd be very boring if we went all the same.

Exactly. The fans gave Arvid Lindblad an 8 out of 10. Boring. Liam Lawson!

He didn't participate in sprint qualifying. He finished the sprint in 11th,

started the main race in 12th and finished 7th.

Oh, I have gone for a 7 out of 10 for Liam Lawson. It's close to an 8.

Oh, is it an 8? Is No, I can't give him higher than Lindblad. Now I'm wanting to

give Lindblad a 9. Oh, no. Here we go. Oh, this is tough. I'm going to go for an 8 for Lawson

because I think it was a strong performance given the fact that he didn't participate

in sprint quali. He raced through the field in the sprint. Of course, hard to score points in that.

And then in the main race, his qualifying was what let him down, but produced a good

performance to make his way back up and fight up to 7th place. So I'll go for an 8 for Lawson.

Yeah, I was about to shout at you if you're going to give him a 7 because I think that would have

been very unfair. I've gone for an 8 out of 10 for Liam Lawson as well. I think he did a really good

job in a weekend where not only did he not participate in sprint qualifying, he also

had like two laps in practice as well. So he was really on the back foot heading into the main part

of the weekend and qualifying was pretty good. In the main race, yeah, his pace was really solid,

was able to keep Gasly behind at the end. Of course, didn't get close to Colopinto despite

Colopinto having a little off as we know. So that's where the small downgrades come. And I think that

Limblad was absolutely on one, hence why I've gone for an insane grade for him. But I think we also

need to really mention here that Lawson did a great job this weekend with the limited running

that he had. So well done, Liam. The fans gave him a 7. Carlos Sainz, sprint qualified 10th,

finished the sprint in 10th, started the main race in 15th, finished 9th. I am going to go for...

It's really tough because Albon was just like, there was really no comparison to be made this

weekend. I'm going to go for a... 8 out of 10. I'm going to go for an 8. I was going to go for a 7,

but I think he was pretty good in the sprint as well and just qualified very well. Indeed,

of course, the main qualifying was not so great because his tyres weren't in the right window.

To score a couple of points, I think you can't be understated in a car that, yeah,

Williams is slightly on the right trajectory, but I really don't believe they're a car that

should be mixing it with the... I mean, Hass is pretty slow at the moment.

I just think that maybe they should be scoring points at this moment and Carlos has done a great

job this weekend. So yeah, I want to go for an 8. I've gone for an 8 for Carlos Sainz.

I think he got the absolute best out of Williams that's still not quite there, of course,

as you alluded to and correctly that Alex Alban is no comparison when he was having an absolute

shocker for bad luck reasons of a weekend. But Carlos, I think most impressively, was getting into

SQ3, which I don't think Williams had any business belonging in with how they've been this year.

And so that's very strong. Of course, hard score points in the sprint when the top eight just

I love, I love the two points. I love the two points. That's good. That's really good sprint

points we can call spoints. Like squalifying, so much easier than the same sprint quality.

So in squalifying, he did really well but failed to score any spoints in the sprint.

No, I can tell it's blowing your brain up now, so I'm going to stop this.

I'm going to stop this.

For a great job from Carlos to grab some more points.

And also we haven't mentioned, he started on Intas as well, which was not ideal either.

He did, which is, yeah, which is impressive to even after everyone else that did that

just completely failed.

Carlos managed to fight his way back through and score more points for Williams when they

are really, really struggling, you know, that's quite a few points I believe he's got on

the board now and to say that where is he six points?

I mean, it's more than zero.

It's more than zero when I think probably that car should be on about zero.

Yes, it's up in 13th in the championship and that Williams is one of the worst cars on

the grid.

So certainly the fans gave Carlos a seven out of 10.

Alex Albon did not participate in Sprint quality, finished the sprint in 19th, started

the main race in 18th and did not finish.

I've gone for a five.

How long in a race can it be an NA?

Because my God, Alex Albon has had the worst luck you could possibly imagine.

Like he's so hard to grade.

Of course, he did start the race and was kind of up there running 12th.

So a decent job.

I'm going to give him a six actually, no, because he was up there at the start of the

race, but so unlucky in Sprint qualifying to hit the groundhog, not even participate.

That was actually practice, wasn't it?

And then he didn't participate in Sprint qualifying.

And it just was, you know, it's cost him big time when you lose such practice time.

So yeah, I'm going to go for a six for Albon because in the very little running where he

wasn't having extremely poor luck and hitting groundhogs or being hit by Piastri, he did

a decent job.

Incomplete agreement.

I went for a six out of 10 as well for Alex with exactly that reasoning that he was right

there with Berman and Gasly when he got yeeted by Piastri.

So that's not to say that he would have been able to do another 55 laps or however many

it was on that same pace, but he was in the mix.

So I think he definitely does deserve some kind of credit for that.

So yeah, I've gone for a six out of 10.

If he wants to contact us and tell us if it was the best race of his life and it should

be a 10, feel free.

To be fair, it's not really a race, it was 13 laps until he got smashed out.

Yeah, the best 13 laps of his career.

Yeah, maybe, maybe.

I don't know if he will be tuning in to drive ratings this time because I'm sure there's

not much to talk about.

But yeah, six from me.

The fans gave him a five.

Lewis Hamilton, sprint qualified P5, finished the sprint in sixth, started the main race

in fifth and finished second.

It is a nine out of 10 for Lewis Hamilton this weekend.

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

There were mistakes in there.

There were moments of kind of like, I think the straight mode thing.

I'm still not absolutely confirmed whether that was him not turning it on or it being

an automatic issue, but that cost him a little bit in qualifying.

But then he did make a mistake trying to push those two tenths back after running wide.

But I mean, very small errors when you actually look at his pace and look at what he put down

this weekend.

It was phenomenal.

To finish P2, first time he's finished second at Ferrari and he made Charles Leclerc look

reasonably amateur this weekend.

You have to say, finished 30 odd seconds clear of Leclerc who was making a lot of mistakes.

Hamilton on the other hand.

Yes, I brought up a couple of things that he did wrong, but overall, just the speed

he had, the confidence he had in qualifying.

There's always that running joke of when Ferrari put on soft tyres, they're not able to get

that same speed.

But you think of sprint quality.

He was right there on the mediums and just really, really impressive from Hamilton this

weekend.

Of course, Canada is insanely successful around and Formula One is much better when Hamilton's

at the front.

So I've gone for a nine.

I've gone for a nine out of 10 as well for this Hamilton.

It's such a shame that his sprint overall was kind of the weakest part of his weekend,

because I think it would have been a 10 otherwise, because his pace was fantastic.

Like you say, he was way clear of his teammate Leclerc, which we've kind of not seen much

in recent years, but he was completely dominant in that kind of teammate battle, but somehow

managed to not beat Leclerc in the sprint.

And I think that's why it's not a 10 for me.

But his main race was absolutely superb, brilliant racing.

And yeah, it was it was awesome to see Hamilton back fighting at the front full of confidence

again, because I really hope this continues because it'd be great to see Hamilton fighting

at the front, you know, for him to have those moments where, you know, got back past the

Stappen, showed you've got the fight in him to kind of get back into second place as well.

Really, really strong result.

And yeah, fingers crossed, we see him getting that win for Ferrari, because it'd be nice

for him to go one better.

Absolutely.

What a story that would be at the fans gave Lewis a nine out of 10 as well.

Charlotte Clair sprint qualified sixth, finished the sprint in fifth, started the main race

in eighth and finished fourth.

I've gone for a six out of 10 for Charlotte Clair, which seems very harsh when you see

finish the race, the sprint race in fifth, main race in fourth looks pretty good, but

it was so far off his teammate, Hamilton, of course, not going to go harsher than that

because of the fact that he finished ahead in that sprint race, managed to get Hamilton

right near the end of the race.

But in the main race, he had all sorts of problems.

He looked all out of sorts in qualifying, which is normally at strongest point.

So many moments where he was just locking up and not able to complete a lap.

And then, yeah, in the main race, no way near Hamilton, spun as well behind a VSC, I believe

it was as well.

Lucky not to kind of go into the wall there.

And, yeah, it's one to forget for Charlotte Clair, but you could argue damage limitation

because it's still actually decent points on the board.

If you're having your one of your worst weekends in a very, very long time, I think, and you're

still getting fourth and fifth.

So, yeah, I mean, you'd take it.

A lot of drivers would take it at fourth place, wouldn't they?

Yeah, you know what?

Actually, 10.

Yeah, no, I think that was a no.

I have similar thoughts.

I've gone for a six out of 10 as well for Charlotte Clair, which the amount of mistakes I

saw him make across the weekend, some that weren't even televised, like in qualifying.

I, of course, you know, I have my little timing screen up and I monitor

LaClaire very closely.

The amount of mistakes he made trying to set a lap in qualifying, I think both days was

quite frankly terrifying to see.

And, you know, the lack of pace as well, the mistakes that were made in the main races,

you say, under the VSC were just low tyre attempts.

It was mistake-ridden, but that being said, somehow he finished ahead of Hamilton in

the sprint, which I still don't think it was even televised, which was quite something.

And then in the main race, there were glimmers of hope and there was some speed.

I remember saying in the watch long, I look like a little PB lap and then he'd lose seven

seconds to make a mistake.

So, yeah, it's a six out of 10 because the results don't, I don't think they do any kind

of explanation as to what actually happened in his weekend whatsoever.

But I'm still going for a six.

The fans, they agree, they've gone for a six as well.

Isaac Hajar, sprint qualified eighth, finished the sprint in 21st, started the main race

in seventh and finished fifth.

I have gone for a six out of 10 for Hajar because he got a double penalty.

The move on Leclerc was quite frankly ridiculous.

He said, I think afterwards that he got confused where Leclerc was heading, which

probably trying to head past him.

So that was a strange kind of reasoning.

And then he's sped under double waved yellows as well.

Hajar had some great pace this weekend and this was a very much a what if.

I genuinely believe, well, fourth was absolutely on the cards for Hajar to beat Leclerc.

And then perhaps you don't even know how close he would have been to Verstappen

because there were moments where he was challenging him in qualifying.

And so, yeah, to finish a lap down in the end, six out of 10 maybe feels slightly

generous, but there were moments of decent pace for Hajar.

So kind of things to extract from it, but also a few mistakes.

This one is really, really difficult.

I'm between a five and a six, to be honest.

I'm going to go for a five and I'm going to have my 20-25 brain on and say

that Hajar had the race that he had last year.

He'd have finished 18th and not fifth because at the end of the day,

you're finishing that far behind your teammate with the mistakes that he had.

His pace was not awful compared to Max, but the Leclerc move was a bad one.

And then the penalty, you know, speeding under double waved yellows is kind of like

you learn that in karting, not to do.

It's a big error.

Is it five though?

It's so tough because it's his best result, but he's 70 seconds behind his

teammates, he's made two massive mistakes.

And I can't help but feel that he's kind of fortunate that if that was last year,

we're giving Sonoda and Perez a two out of 10.

I know, well, we are, though, because he would have finished 18th and we'd

gone, oh, he's made a mistake, he's cost himself massive.

But I don't think we can bring this in now because there are, I think,

other teammate comparisons where that might well also feature.

But it's your grade.

Is it the biggest margin between teammates in terms of on the road?

Probably is.

Ah, no, Ocon was further behind Bearman.

OK, we'll go for a six.

We'll go for a six for Hajar, but it's very close to a five.

Yeah, you've made that very clear.

Yeah.

I think, I think he's, I think the impressive part of Hajar is the fact

that he's looking much more on the pace of Max.

I think he's unlucky not to have beaten Max in qualifying for the main race

as well, because he looked much more comfortable in that qualifying session.

He was brilliant, actually.

And I think it was Q2 where we're thinking is Hajar going to get

Paul here is doing amazingly well.

But shame about the errors that cost him at the end.

But luckily for him, the gap is so massive between any of the midfielders

that it doesn't matter picking up like, you know, 40 seconds worth of penalties.

You still basically stay in the same position.

So it's a six.

The fans gave Hajar a seven.

Seven out of 10.

Interesting.

Max Verstappen, spring qualified seventh, finished the main race

as main sprint, sorry, in seventh and then started the main race in sixth

and finished the main race in third.

I've gone for an eight out of 10 for Max.

He had his quality struggles, of course.

The positives were, you know, the main race, he drove brilliantly well.

His move at Hamilton on the start was great near the start of the race.

To get up into second, of course, lost that position in the end.

But Red Bull seemed to be struggling.

He particularly had a lot of struggles in qualifying and looks like

they weren't quite there with the leaders.

So to pick up a podium, obviously, a lot of it is the fact that

McLaren just weren't there, but still a great job from Max

to deliver a good performance in essentially a tricky car

that I don't think he was particularly happy with.

Yeah, I've gone for an eight out of 10 as well.

Would have been a nine had he beaten Hamilton.

I think it was a really strong Sunday for Verstappen to finish 11 seconds off.

Antonelli, of course, Antonelli was fighting Russell very hard, but not

far off at all for Red Bull and Max in a slippery, cold track.

Are we surprised to see Max do well?

So, yeah, it's an eight out of 10 for me and his first podium of the year.

So, Tommy, he's getting closer.

He's coming, just a little Antonelli rustle ding dong.

And all of a sudden, there is an opportunity for Max to win.

Oh, I was thinking when Max was third and the two Mercs were fighting.

I was like, this could be it.

This could be it.

Imagine, though, if those two had come together, you know,

the Antonelli lock up and it would have been a Hamilton versus Verstappen.

For the win.

For Hamilton's first win at Ferrari, for Max's, maybe only win of the season.

Oh, my God, it would have been generational.

But sadly, that did not happen.

Of course, we're glad that Antonelli Russell didn't crash.

But it's an eight out of 10 from me for Max Verstappen.

The fans gave him an eight as well.

Kimmy Antonelli, sprint qualified second, finished the sprint in third,

started the main race in second and finished first.

It is a nine out of 10 for Kimmy Antonelli.

I genuinely considered both drivers having even lower grades.

But I was like, no, come on, Antonelli won the race.

And but there were so many mistakes in there as well that inches away

from Antonelli, taking the pair of them out with that lock up.

Very similar to the two Red Bulls in in Azerbaijan.

Ricardo and Verstappen, if you remember, when they came together and crashed

because of that same sort of breaking performance loss

when you go underneath the other car that's ahead.

But Antonelli looked like he was the slightly quicker driver.

How much of that was due to him staying within the battery one second?

Is it difficult to know?

But I would say that Antonelli looked like he had a small edge over over George,

especially when he had that massive lock up, you're thinking, oh, my God,

his tires are going to be gone.

He's one point 31 point four seconds behind George now.

But he managed to catch back up, you know, without the battery help as well.

So that that's my kind of thinking there, as Antonelli maybe had a slight

edge over Georgian in race trim course, got outqualified by the same margin

in both the sprint and for main quality as well.

So yeah, a lot of mistakes in there, both in the sprint race.

I'm not counting the mistake of around the outside of George Russell into turn one.

I think that was just, you know, that's racing.

You can have your own opinion on that.

But the, you know, the subsequent one afterwards, where he goes bouncing

over the grass and things like that.

You know, I'm talking about all these mistakes.

I'm like, is it a nine out of ten?

It has to be one.

He won the race and he had phenomenal pace.

But yeah, also very lucky to have finished both of those races this weekend.

I've gone for a nine out of ten for Kimmy Antonelli as well.

It's another imperfect winning weekend.

I think that may well be if I can remember correctly four nines.

Certainly from me in a row for his four wins.

I'm sure he'll be devastated.

I'm sure.

Yeah, he's going to be.

When he wins the championship, you've got guys really, you know, it was tough

to have those four nines at the start of the season from Tom Bellingham.

But I bounce back.

Exactly.

I know, I know they take it very seriously.

Drive ratings.

I think they all watch it together.

You know, let the cool down room.

I think they all get together.

They have a drive of the next race.

They watch it the previous race.

Yeah.

So Antonelli, look, I think his pace was amazing.

I think he was the quicker Mercedes driver all weekend.

But well, could have easily finished second behind Russell in the main race.

A lot of errors.

I think the reason I'm not giving him an eight and I too considered it like you.

I think this is my personal opinion that you need to give a little bit of

leeway that the errors came from an absolutely intense battle for the win.

And really tricky conditions.

In really tricky conditions.

Whereas, you know, had he been just running second and locking up into the

hairpin all the time, but they were him and George were making a lot of errors.

Locking up, going off all the time because they were flat out in crazy

conditions and battling each other for the win.

So I do give a little bit of leeway for that.

You know, the down kind of difficult moment was the sprint to finish third

behind the McLaren, but won the main race again, looked very quick.

I still think he showed again that he was the quicker and had more pace.

It's just whether he'd have beaten George in the main race because George

seemed to maybe be a little bit more consistent.

So it's a nine for for Kimmy.

The fans gave Kimmy a nine out of ten as well.

George Russell, sprint qualified first, finished the sprint in first,

started the main race in first and did not finish.

I've gone for a nine out of ten for George Russell as well.

Of course, he was leading the sprint.

And you look on that and go that he's finished first in every session apart

from a DNF and he was leading when he retired.

But again, made a few errors here and there.

He did look like he wasn't, he wasn't, you know, well clear of Antony.

Certainly not.

He didn't look like the quicker driver, but he was delivering

with maybe a bit more maturity, I guess, even though, yeah,

he still was making a lot of errors going off at the hairpin.

You know, they went wheel to wheel.

It was awesome to watch, but I can't give him a ten

because I don't think it was a perfect weekend.

They, of course, have a car that is very, very, very quick

and you almost have to, like, think about it as saving a ten

for the Mercedes a lot of the time where they, where they exactly,

like, not even starting the race.

So, so, yeah, I've gone for a nine for George.

I thought about this, this grade a lot as well, because on paper

he's topped everything and then DNF'd from the lead as well.

But there were mistakes in there.

So I'm going to give George a nine as well.

Very close to a ten.

You know, had he won the race, you can't say that.

I don't think you could have really put a blemish on his card

to bring him down to a nine had he topped every single session.

But look, that's that's the nature of me predicting George

to top three of those sessions and then not the one that I didn't.

And then I got blocked by you, didn't I?

And then George was like, cars out, cars gone, see you later.

So it's actually your fault, Tommy, for for not allowing me to put

rust as my win. So yeah, George, I'm sure he'll be tuning in as well.

Absolutely devastated with a nine.

But it was a great bounce back weekend for George.

It looked like Kimmy may have had at least one poll out of the two,

but George managed to snatch that right at the death in main qualifying.

And then, yeah, he definitely drove with more maturity,

less mistakes than Kimmy Antonelli, but there were still some there.

You know, George, every time it seemed like he was maybe getting

into that one second window and just through that to escape from the

the overtake mode, he'd make a mistake and lock up into the hairpin.

Yeah, he locked up into the hairpin a few quite a few times.

Three times a thing. Yeah.

Yeah. So so those that's that's where I feel more comfortable with a nine

because without those, I think maybe he could have escaped Antonelli potentially,

but we'll never know. So yeah, nine out of ten.

And thank you, George and and Kimmy for phenomenal entertainment.

The fans gave him a nine as well.

Oscar Piaz tri sprint qualified fourth, finished the sprint in fourth,

started the main race in fourth and finished the main race in eleventh.

It's going to be a four out of ten for Oscar Piaz tri.

He scored some reasonable points in the sprint, but let's not forget.

Lando did a better job and finished P2.

And then in the main race, the McLaren,

Oh, McLaren, you know, the intermediate shout,

which other drivers and teams did do.

Is not the same because they're they're on the second row and it's dry, guys.

It's dry with no weather coming, of course, with the benefit of hindsight.

This is very easy thing to say.

So that's one thing I'm not really downgrading necessarily Oscar with that.

But then he Oscar didn't really make the most of those first couple of laps either.

If you compare to Lando, Lando took the lead.

Lando was extending the gap in that first lap.

Oscar wasn't able to get that same advantage.

So the big downgrade, of course, is the the massive error

where he tried to make a move on Berman.

I think it was and ended up taking out Albon at the hairpin.

So God, it could even be a three, you know, with that because he finished,

I think two laps down. Oh, goodness gracious me.

Am I changing my mind on the fly or am I going to keep it a four

because he had a reasonable sprint?

I'm going to keep it with a 44 out of ten.

Oscar, I've gone for a four out of ten disappointing weekend,

to say the least, of course, smashing into Albon was the lowest moment.

Yes, he didn't have the kind of performance with the fact

that they started on intermediates through it immediately.

It was a bad call from them.

But then making his way through the pack had that contact.

You think that had he not had that contact,

still should have kind of got through to score points,

maybe even with the with the penalty, just because the fact that

the midfielders so far off and we saw them getting lapped by everyone,

you think you'd at least score a point.

But then even in the sprint, you know, he didn't have the pace of Lando

who managed to beat a Mercedes, even if it was because they were battling.

So very off weekend for Oscar Piacere and one to forget.

So gone for a four.

Indeed, the fans gave Oscar a five out of ten.

Lando Norris, sprint qualified third, finished the sprint in second,

started the main race in third and did not finish.

I have gone for an eight out of ten for Lando Norris.

I think it's really disappointing that we didn't get to see what he could have done

in the main race.

And I have been really, really, really impressed by by Lando this year.

I think his driving, it feels like he's got the weight of the world

off his shoulders from winning that world championship.

And I think in particularly the last race on this one,

you know, in the sprint, he looks so much more confident.

His sprint was brilliant to, you know, be third and beat a Mercedes,

take advantage of their battling.

And then in the main race, the fact that he managed to be second,

he said, be third, sorry, be second, beat the Mercedes.

So I'm fighting for my life with this cold head.

And then, yeah, the the main race, of course,

we thought it was done, the fact he was on inters, he was going to drop back

and he actually somehow got into the lead and had quite impressive pace.

But it was over, over from there.

But Lando's driving very, very well, was the stronger McLaren driver this weekend.

And it's what might have been, I think, had they not made that intermediate gamble

because there was an opportunity there with the fact that the Mercedes

were fighting again in the main race.

Yeah, tough for Lando and McLaren fans for sure.

I've gone for an eight out of ten as well for Lando.

Brilliant all the way up until, yeah, the inters were put on.

Then, of course, had a reliability issue as well,

which meant that we couldn't see him come back through the field

where he would have easily been in the sort of fourth, fifth sort of region,

I think, had obviously after the inter problem,

had he been able to actually run without issues.

But this is Lando's season.

He either has amazing sessions or his car isn't working.

There's no in between.

So true.

So, yeah, so Lando, I think he's going under the radar with a lot of people

about how well he actually is doing in a car that is so unreliable at the moment.

So yeah, eight out of ten for me.

The fans gave him an eight.

So who is our P1?

Well, Tommy's not given a 10.

So he now has to give a P1 to a nine.

Mine is Limblad.

What a great Sunday race he had.

I don't even care. I'm owning it.

I'm owning it fully.

I was so impressed, as I said, when we were speaking about him

in every single session consistently.

And I am convinced that he would have been on his own

wherever that would have been, P6 maybe,

had had he been able to start the race, but he wasn't able to.

So Limblad is still my P1.

Well done.

Oh, so yeah, I've got a few nine to choose from.

I'm going to go for yours is P2, basically, like, because it's a nine.

My P2 is my P1.

Well, P2, actually, it's quite fitting is Lewis Hamilton

because he finished second.

I'm going to go for Lewis, I think, despite the slight blemish

in the fact that that shall beat him in the in the sprint.

I think his main race was absolutely brilliant.

And to be that far ahead of Charlotte Clare, who, you know,

despite our banter that I do right as one of the best drivers in Formula One,

a very strong teammate and one of the quickest drivers on the grid

for him to be able to be that much more comfortable.

We saw the Lewis of Old.

We saw the overtakes, you know, very quick as well.

So I'm going to go for Lewis Hamilton.

It was great to see him at the front again.

Lovely stuff.

Yeah, Hamilton, very much honourable mention on my side as well.

There we go.

Thank you, everybody, for tuning in to Driver Ratings.

I know you love these ones, especially sprint weekends

that make it very, very difficult, but we've had a lot of fun doing it.

Wait till we have to do Monaco this.

Oh, my goodness.

I mean, at least it's not a sprint.

Our qualifying review for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Oh, mate, don't know.

It's going to be great.

It's going to be loads of overtaking.

You watch this and we're going to be there.

We're going to be in Monaco.

God knows what our backdrop is going to be like,

but I hopefully hopefully it's going to look good.

That's all I'll say.

So very excited for that, Tommy.

What are your final thoughts?

Final thoughts.

Well done, Montreal.

What a weekend like watching F1.

That good, like an amazing sprint, an amazing race.

Glad to have Formula One back

and glad we've got a good run of races now to enjoy.

And the best on the calendar, Monaco.

Yes, I will say well done.

Mercedes, well done to Kimmy and to George,

because without those two being so closely matched,

it would have been a very different race.

So there you go. Thank you, everybody.

We'll see you soon.

I'll see you soon. Take care. Bye.

Goodbye.

Canadian GP Driver Ratings

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