Mexico City GP Driver Ratings

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Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 Podcast with Matt and Tommy.

It's F1 Driver Ratings, your favourite series back once again.

Where we will be grading every single driver's performances at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Not a lot of controversial incidents, Tommy, that could sway a grade one way or another, eh?

Yes, and a few that I've spotted watching the race back as we do, of course.

Watching every single driver's race from start to finish.

The POV, 20 drivers, the full race.

Genuinely though, sometimes to get the incidents, the amount of times,

I've had to watch the start replay and be like looking at people at the back and like going frame by frame.

That's how much effort we put in, so be nice and like the video.

Oh yeah, Tommy is feeling sassy today, but if you do enjoy this Driver Ratings series,

please give it a thumbs up and let us know.

That would be wonderful to see some positive comments.

Right, let's dive into it and start where we always begin with Gabrielle Bortoletto.

Started the race in 16th, finished 10th.

So for Gabrielle Bortoletto, I'm going to give him an 8 out of 10.

I think it was a very solid weekend.

His move on Isaac Hadjar.

Tasty AF is what I'll say for that.

Of course, had a poor qualifying, but made some good progress.

It has to be said he was on the decent strategy, where he was on the softs at the end.

His exact strategy for those wondering, he pitted on lap 37 from the mediums

and then went all the way to the end on a fresh set of softs.

But Bortoletto scored a point, made a huge amount of progress.

The Hadjar move was probably the tastiest move of the whole Grand Prix.

You had the sort of more experienced drivers.

They were wheel banging, they were cutting the grass.

Not Bortoletto, 8 out of 10.

I have gone for an 8 out of 10.

Was it a higher or lower?

Lower. It's close. It's between a 7 and 8.

Did I sell it to you? Was it going to be a 7?

You did. I was very much choosing between the two.

Now I look at it.

At the end of the day, the races is where the big points are won.

I know he's only got one, but he's come through the field.

He's done a good job. I think he's done some lovely overtakes.

I've gone for an 8 out of 10.

I think he's done a solid job.

Obviously, he got beaten by his teammate in qualifying,

which is a surprise really.

He's gone through this stage where maybe his form in qualifying

in particular has dropped off a bit compared to Hülkenberg.

We saw the Bortoletto of what we saw in the middle of the season

where he was really hyped up again

and did a great job with some lovely overtakes.

The fans gave Gabriel a 7 out of 10.

Nico Hülkenberg started the race in 13th, did not finish.

I have gone for a 6 out of 10 for Nico Hülkenberg.

He's a very difficult driver to grade

because he had basically a power unit issue on the Formation lap

and it's hard because he did a decent qualifying,

tumbled down the order of course at the start due to his issue.

Retired the car, took him to lap 26 to retire,

but I'm not going to go straight down the middle

just because I thought he put his car higher up

than it should have been in qualifying,

which I have to give him a little bit of credit for,

hard to judge if it's any more than that

because of course we didn't really get to see

what he could do with a working car.

Okey-dokey, I am going to go for...

This is very hard because he DNF'd on lap 26

and didn't really even make it through to Q3.

I'm going to go for a 5 out of 10 for Nico Hülkenberg.

Look, the power unit issue was not ideal

and of course that's what was the cause of the retirement.

It's not like he took some headlines with qualifying.

Of course he did beat Gabriel Bortoletto

but I think it's maybe more on Bortoletto

slipping up slightly there and not making

a higher placement on the grid.

So I'm going to go for a 5,

but yeah, I can see where you're coming from, Tommy,

with that one.

The fans gave him a 5 as well.

Alex Albon started the race in 17th, finished 12th.

Alex Albon is going to receive a 5 out of 10.

Poor qualifying once again from Alex,

which put him on the back foot

and from there it's just damaged limitation

or trying desperately to score a point

from a difficult position.

Started on the hards which was not the right strategy call

but still wasn't too close to scoring points in the end.

So for me, again, quite an anonymous weekend for Alex Albon.

Yes, he made some good progress, finished 12th

but it feels like there's more to be gained,

especially when you see Carlos up there in,

well, he literally was in Q3, wasn't he, Carlos?

So there was a lot more pace than that, Williams,

but Alex didn't show it this weekend, 5 out of 10

and sorry, Alex, because I know that sometimes you see it

really sorry, 5 out of 10.

I've gone for a 5 out of 10 as well for Alex Albon,

a very meh weekend I think summarises it

as why I've gone straight down the middle with a 5.

Carlos in qualifying showed that the pace was there

for Williams to deliver

but yeah, he was just a bit unspectacular really.

I know he got a bit sassy on the radio again

and saying that it's the worst strategy he's ever had,

made it through to 12th

but nothing to shout about, so I've gone for a 5.

The fans gave Alex a 5 out of 10 as well.

Carlos Sines started the race in 12th

but actually got up to 7th, had a 5 place grid penalty

and did not finish but was classified P17

because he completed over 90% of the race.

I have gone for a 4 out of 10 for Carlos Sines

and this is the driver that I mentioned in the intro

that I scrutinised and watched the intro

because there were no on-boards from him

so I basically had to freeze frame

lap 1 from the helicopter cam

and really watch his car.

Carlos, it's very much of what could have been.

He had a brilliant qualifying to be up there in P7 of course

not going to downgrade him for the penalty

that he got in the previous race

because that's last week's mistake

but I actually think his turn 1 move

was a big error on his part.

I watched it back, he collides with Lawson

he actually makes the corner absolutely fine

and the Haas in front of him

has lost control a little bit

I believe of course it would have been Arkon

and he basically has a bit of a moment that the Haas

and rather than Carlos slowing down

and still continuing the corner

he just immediately bales and does the classic

Mexico I'm going to just go for the grass

and in doing so just whack straight into Lawson

and doesn't see and that of course damages

his tyre and the sensor

which basically gave him so much trouble

for the rest of the race with the fact that he couldn't

which causes pit lane issues

and speeding and things like that

so it was all done, undone with I think

in my opinion a big error of judgement at the start.

That's interesting because Carlos has had some positives

and some negatives from this weekend

and after also watching that turn 1 back

one more time to really focus in on Carlos

I'm also going to give a 4 out of 10

because I firmly believe that is Carlos' fault

the contact that he had with Lawson

which ruined Lawson's race

with the front wing damage that he had

and yeah he jolts to the left

he absolutely jolts to the left

he wants to bail, he probably doesn't see Lawson

very much just a case of not really checking

not expecting probably and fair enough

not expecting another driver to be left also bailing

across the grass

but it's his responsibility to not do that

yes it's a racing incident and this, that and the other

but it's affected both of their races

and of course the sensor problems

and the speeding in the pit lane

and everything else came from that

and also of course spinning out of the race

so can you really give him any higher than a 4

when you take that all into account

it's a little bit too generous but

I'm going to go for a 4 out of 10 as well

the fans gave Carlos a 5

Isaac Hadjar

started the race in 8th, finished 13th

for Hadjar I'm going to give him

a 6 out of 10

phenomenal qualifying

really good job for Isaac

I just really, I genuinely believe that

the racing balls has fallen off a cliff

now in terms of race pace

towards the end of this season

perhaps again the sort of tools down

not bothering with kind of pushing the car forward

at this stage of the season

didn't have any fresh softs

to start the race on

because he qualified 8th

and he said himself

it was enough to make the difference

he was making progress

but they're always

a bit slower in the race

than qualifying

so I have to give a

nod of approval with the 6 out of 10

for what he managed in qualifying

but a very mediocre race it has to be said

yep I've gone for a 6 out of 10 as well

for Hadjar

his qualifying was brilliant

one of the stars of qualifying for sure

because I do think

the racing balls isn't the car

that we've maybe seen

for much of the season

but he made a mistake on lap 1

where he ran wide

out the

not the stadium section

the one in the middle

turns 4-5

and yeah

ran wide there

lost a place to Sonoda, Piastri, Ocon

and that basically

kind of doomed any chance of points

but I do have to give him a 6 because of

a great qualifying

much head of his teammate

he will talk about next but yeah 6 out of 10 for Hadjar

the fans gave Hadjar

a 5 out of 10

Liam Lawson started the race in 15th

did not finish

I've gone for a 5 for Liam Lawson

as I mentioned earlier

his race was kind of ruined with

Carlos Sainz

who I'm putting more blame on here

at the start Lawson was just doing

you know

he'd already made the call to Bale

and obviously wouldn't have expected Sainz

to make a very last minute

Jolt which damaged his front wing

of course that led to the

quite crazy scenes

going on because he was on his own

at the back

but unfortunately

too much damage to continue

so straight down the middle for a 5

a 5 out of 10 is what I

will give Lawson as well

9 laps can you really do much more than that

it wasn't his fault that the contact

as you say Tommy he was just bailing as well

and Carlos just didn't check his left hand mirror

and then

out of the race very quickly

so a 5 out of 10 for me

as well

Oliver Bearman

started the race in 9th

finished 4th

difficult grade this one

didn't get a podium after running in P3 for so long

I love the way we always make this check

for people who did really well

10 out of 10

for Ollie Bearman

what a phenomenal race

from the rookie

didn't look like a rookie

if I'm being completely honest with you on Sunday

he mixed it with the big boys

and he looked like he belonged there

the fact that he was almost going side by side

with Verstappen after that double right hander

into the next left where notoriously

last year of course Norris and Verstappen had that little

incident, Ollie was not scared

he braked late and he stayed ahead

he really

could not have done much more

the strategy I think was the correct way

Verhas

and he utilised every single

corner of the entire race

genuinely I don't think he put a foot wrong

so it has to be a 10 out of 10 for Ollie

yeah gone for a 10 out of 10 for Ollie Bearman

of course

if we had a P1

driver ratings bingo sheet

one of the things on there would be

oh well

maybe we used our 11 for Nico Holkenberg

too early and we said it

about many drivers that got midfield podium

since

and this is one of them

an equally brilliant performance

sorry but really good drives

because Ollie Bearman

it is superb

it's a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant drive

the fact that he fought

from

a lower position

still obviously qualified well in ninth

but it was all that moment of madness

that he

took amazing advantage of

with Verstappen

and the Hamilton incident

because of course he passed

Russell and Verstappen in that moment

and then of course

benefited from Hamilton's penalty

so yeah really good

it would have been amazing to see him on the podium

it's always a shame when

someone that's not been on the podium for

or even a team that's not been on the podium for

before finish in P4

but still amazing points for Haas

and Ollie Bearman

rockets up the standings

in the championship now

because he was

I don't think

his championship position reflected on the season

he's had so far

but now

he's of course

ahead, yeah he is ahead of Espanolcon

so very good indeed

that's absolutely huge

so 13th for Oliver Bearman with 32 points

and Ocon is 16th with 30

I mean if I remember the season

that Ocon was up in the top 10

wasn't he for quite a while because he scored some big early points

Bearman wasn't really getting off the board

so yeah it's a very impressive

job to be now ahead

I mean I know that Formula One

ever since Drivers Survive loved these

these fights for

random positions so

I can't wait for the

fight for 9th graphic

that appears because

Nika Holkenberg all the way down

to you've got to say Yuki Senoda in 17th

any of those people

could finish either 9th or 17th

13 points separating

all of those Drivers

which is pretty wild

so anyway back to Oli, well done

10 out of 10, the fans unsurprisingly

gave him a 10 as well

Espanolcon started the race in 11th

finished 9th

I have gone for an 8 out of 10

for Espanolcon

a

solid drive

that obviously of course is overshadowed

by what Oli Bearman did

but still a good performance

Espanolcon to grab

some more points, he's had a difficult time

of late but of course

so it's a good grade

putting a car that

I don't think Haas were like

unbelievable this weekend or anything like that

I think they've both

done a very solid job obviously Oli Bearman

doing an exceptional job

but Oli still deserves

a good amount of credit

Espanolcon for an 8

I was deciding whether a 7 or 8

was applicable for Ocon

but I think he was on the worst strategy

so I'm going to give him an 8 out of 10

Ocon

scoring a couple of points

being forced onto the mediums

and he didn't actually end up stopping

again, one of the only drivers

well I guess you had that whole

flurry of cars ahead of him

that stopped to put on another set of softs

but Ocon carried on

after stopping on lap 27

I believe that is, yes it is

so yeah Ocon did a pretty good job

considering those mediums were terrible

and still miles off

his teammate when you look at the actual times

but he was of course there was traffic

and things like that but Ocon still did a good job

would like for Esty

to step it up a little bit now

because Oli Bearman is certainly

taking their headlines now

in that team and has been for

a few races now it has to be said

so it was a better qualifying though for Ocon

starting in 11th

let's see a little bit more of that I think

because I don't think we would have expected

if we look back

to the start of the season where Ocon was getting

some incredible positions

now going into round

20, going into round 20 next time

you wouldn't be

thinking that Oli Bearman would have more points

than Estaban Ocon but here we are

the fans gave Ocon

an 8 out of 10 as well

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Franco Collapinto

started the race in 20th

finished 16th

it's a 5 out of 10

it's the

it's the formula 2

Grand Prix in Alpine

you know they finished

merely 10ths away from each other

the two Alpines but they were an absolute

mile

away from anyone else

now you have to put that down to the car

but I didn't see them the entire race

they were not shown

they didn't do anything

Franco was of course 20th

in qualifying

I saw him getting lapped a couple of times

sorry, big up to Alpine

slowest qualifier

finished 16th, no disrespect to Collapinto

he's doing well in comparison to his fight with Gasly

but I'm not going to give Gasly a 10 out of 10

just because he beat him by half a second or something

it's a 5 out of 10 for Franco

yeah, gone for a 5 out of 10 for Franco

Collapinto as well

certainly not his best race but continues to match Gasly

which I think

is still an impressive feat

I think he definitely deserves to be in that car

next year

the way he's matched Gasly in these last races

and you know

he was out qualifying Gasly

but maybe making a few silly errors here and there

but now he just seems a lot more consistent

if he can just kind of go these last four races

without any kind of headline crashes

and just be there on the back of Gasly

or occasionally beating him

I don't think you can ask much more of him

really from

the kind of pressure that he's had on him

jumping in the middle of the season

I guess earlier than the middle of the season

but still kind of going

mid-season so yeah

I've gone for a 5

it's almost a good thing for Franco

the fact that Alpine is terrible

not competitive in the slightest

but it's giving Franco mileage

I can't see it as a bad thing

in some ways I think Alpine as you say

should give him the opportunity next year

and hopefully he just feels a little bit more

like he belongs

in Formula 1

I think it would be incredibly harsh for them

to get rid of him

you're matching Gasly, Gasly is an experienced

and he's a race-winning driver

Exactly

The fans gave Franco a 5 as well

Pierre Gasly started the race in 18th

finished 15th

the other F2 car is getting

a 5 out of 10

completely on their own

what can you say

about them

the cars look

very bright, that's about as much as

you can say about the Alpines at the moment

they show up on TV when they're getting

lapped but Gasly

can't give him more

than Colopinto because you kind of expect him

to be Colopinto anyway

but he's not completely

not Colopinto so it's a 5

It's a 5 from me as well

for Pierre

it's sad to see him so far at the back of the

the field, a literal race winner

in Formula 1

we know how talented he is

and how he's put cars that don't belong

in Q3

and in the first few rows

so I can only imagine Gasly's motivation

is quite low at the moment

with the car he's being given

and for his sake

he's hoping that Alpine next year

actually create a car that isn't a dustbin

the fans

gave Gasly a 5

Lance Stroll

started the race in 19th, finished 14th

I'm going for a 4 out of 10

for Lance Stroll

he was the

slow, he finished last of

Formula 1 cars

had a spin at the start

it got beat by a Formula 2 car actually

in Quali

he did, yes, which is even worse

but then in terms of the race

he beat Gasly comprehensively

but still finished last of the Formula 1 cars

is what we're calling it

a very rubbish weekend

it has to be said for Lance Stroll

unsurprisingly

and it's just one of those weekends

once again, for Lance, 4 out of 10

I have gone for a 4 out of 10

for Lance Stroll

spun at the start

just completely on his own while fighting

Gasly in his F2 car

and then, yeah

useless and qualifying as

seemingly always

the streak that he's had against

Alonso, you know what I think

about Alonso but like

I think that's about knock on showed that

Fernando Alonso is beatable, particularly at the age Fernando Alonso is now

it shouldn't be a case that he's getting completely

whitewashed this much

by him, it's absolutely insane

and yeah

it's just so poor for me

he's probably just

can't be bothered until

daddy gives a major in Newy

Tommy not holding back

the fans gave Lance a 4 out of 10

Fernando Alonso started the race in 14th

did not finish

I have gone

for a 5 out of 10 of Fernando Alonso

I almost said

7 just to bait people

and pretend that I was going to give him a 7

I know I was tempted

but it is a 5 it's just straight

down the middle an average weekend

he got damaged at the start obviously ended up

retiring

but nothing to write home about

quali wasn't particularly great

obviously he beat stroll but that's

not an achievement anymore

and yeah

was it ever? I don't know

maybe well he got pole position Matt once

remember that wasn't when they were teammates

no I know

and yeah just completely

forgettable race of Fernando Alonso

even if he hadn't

of DNF'd I think he'd just been

a bit meh

I've gone for a 5 out as well

5 out 10 as well for Fernando Alonso

ashamed to see him so far down

Aston just not good at all around this circuit

in comparison to some of the others hungry

thinking wow maybe Aston might

have figured something out

turns out not particularly

so he wasn't happy either

was Fernando after the race very vocal

with certain teams

and drivers just cutting corners

and things like that I cannot wait to see him

if he is going to be racing

next year which we obviously

expect him to just literally

straight line turn one in the new car

and take the lead

for Aston Martin the fans

gave Fernando a 5 as well

Kimi Antonelli started the race and 6th

finished 6th I have gone

for a 7 out of 10

for Kimi Antonelli

a good weekend

it has to be said

nothing particularly

special of course

when you factor in that Olly Berman

is finishing P4

but that being said of course

took advantage of the whole

carnage that was going on with Russell

Verstappen Hamilton

to get ahead of his teammate and then

his teammate of course gave that position back once

he couldn't make any progress

really good in comparison to Russell

but not the greatest weekend in general

for Mercedes it has to be said

but yeah Kimi doing a good job in comparison to

George

I am going to go for an 8 out of 10

for Kimi Antonelli

I think it was a good performance

from Kimi obviously

beating George

in the race

you know they swapped of course

I thought that was a very

very interesting dynamic that we saw

I think there's a lot more to it

than we maybe even saw in the broadcast as well

because it sounds like

Mercedes kind of annoyed both their drivers

and that whole swap situation

and it was very interesting

that Kimi got straight on the radio

and asked to swap back pretty much as soon as George couldn't

overtake

Olly

yes there's a bit of rookie

tax on here

and maybe because his form kind of

dropped off in the middle

so I think beating George Russell

and kind of

matching him on pace and then beating him in the race due to

getting ahead

is no mean feat because George is having a

fantastic year and obviously a top driver

so I'll go for an 8

The fans gave Kimi Antonelli a 7 out of 10

George Russell

started the race in 4th

finished 7th

I've gone for a 7 out of 10

for George Russell

not a huge amount to shout about

but I don't think it's like

a really bad performance which is why I've gone for

a 7 out of 10 of course

we saw

a side to George that we've not seen

in terms of

we've seen radio anger

but not at his kind of

at his own team

which was very interesting

to say the least

I understand why he

feels aggrieved

at the kind of start

even though I stand by the fact that

it's just those guys

knowing the rules and what you can get away with

do I think it's fair

not really, they are the rules

but I understand why you'd kind of be annoyed

because it does pose the question

like why would you even try to just stay on the track

now and just bail over the runoff

and give the position back

so I've gone for a 7

for George

I've also gone for a 7 out of 10 for George Russell

certain parts of the weekend

were better than his teammate Kimmy

but of course Kimmy ended up beating him

better qualifying

up in P4 and I think he was quite unlucky

in the whole kerfuffle with Hamilton and Verstappen pushed

wide

which caused him to lose a couple of

spots

he was quicker in the race I think as well than

Antonelli but couldn't get past

because it wasn't a massive gap

so he could actually make the move

which is what Mercedes wanted him to do

which was pretty wild listening

leader but clearly not when they're telling him to

dive down the inside of Kimmy rather than

team orders eventually the team orders happen

but he isn't able to make

any inroads on Ollie Bearman

which is something I did not expect to be saying

in this driver ratings but I don't think you can

really separate the two when you factor

in all of that

the fans gave George a 6

Yuki Sonoda

started the race in 10th

finished 11th

I've gone for a 7 out of 10 for Yuki Sonoda

I feel as though

his weekend was a lot better than

what is on paper

and what we have seen

in terms of the finish

first and foremost we have to say

he had a 12 second pit stop

which completely screwed him

and I was keeping an eye on his gaps to Verstappen

when

about 12-13 seconds apart when he was in clean

air both of them on medium tyres

and his pace was good

his pace was really good in comparison to Max

was managing a bit of a flat spot

on that medium tyre

but overall

I think he went quietly about his business

and was on for a pretty decent result

and then Red Bull I can't remember how to change tyres

so that screwed him

massively to not even score one point

after the race pace being

pretty solid so yeah

I've gone for a 7 out of 10 because

I think he deserves it

I love that

because he deserves it because that is my grade

Yuki Snowda

I've gone for a 6 out of 10

I think it's a better

I think he did better than the result suggests

for sure

the bad pit stop probably would have allowed him

to get maybe a P9

P10 get some points

which wouldn't have looked so bad

P7's maybe a bit much for me

personally but I do think

that

P7 or 7 out of 10

P7 is what actually

P7 is what he said he would have

would have got without the

you know the mistake

and stuff which the pit stop mistake

which I don't agree with personally either

but still I think he's

showing better signs

which is insane to say

when he's so far off his teammate but we just

know that that's the second Red Bull

we certainly do

second Red Bull is

really fun to grade

the fans gave Yuki a 5

out of 10 goodness gracious

give that guy a break guys

Max Verstappens

started the race in fifth

finished third

this one's another difficult one

for me personally

I'm going to go for

a 9 out of 10

I was

I

I find it tough between 8 and 9 personally

but the reason I've gone

for a 9 is because

you know he was so close

to finishing second

I don't think the Red Bull

should have really been finishing

second you know it's very Max Verstappen

that he still manages

to deliver a good performance

when it feels like he's on the back foot

the reason I was deliberating

and 8 is because I do think he pushed

his luck at moments

watching it back

I know I said this on the

podcast about things like he gave

the position back

watching it back I don't think he gave the position back

I think it just happened that Hamilton overtook him

on the start

because the way he was battling Hamilton

did not look like someone that was actually

giving him the position back

so that was I think more

good fortune that he gave that position back

to Hamilton whether he would have later

in the race of course we don't know

and

I think he was kind of

maybe pushing his luck

with the dive bomb on Hamilton

and banging wheels and things like that

could have easily cost him because of course

if he'd got a penalty

he's tumbling down the order

and the championship is very much over

but it's a 9 because he

fought back

made the strategy work fought all the way back

to probably P2 if we hadn't

had that VSC

so very close indeed

so gone for a 9 for Max

I found it also quite difficult

to grade Max

both of us being of course huge Max Verstappen

fans really hard to separate

the bias I've gone for an 8 out of 10

for Max and there's a couple of reasons

why qualifying P5

not the best of qualifying

days I would say for Max

with the move on Hamilton

yes there was no penalty

given but it was a scruffy move

it was an out of shape move

banging wheels with Hamilton pushing him off the track

I can understand

the frustration

from Hamilton fans from potentially

neutrals as well how Max can

get away with that and there

be no penalty especially when he then cuts the corner

straight after that

we've seen penalties

given for

for less I'd say

when you look at the rules Max is again

utilising it to the absolute

T

he breaks late Hamilton breaks

pretty late for turn 1 anyway he senses a Max Verstappen

little move coming

Max then bleeds off the brakes

lets off the brakes slightly to then be able to get to the apex

first he wins the corner

by the stewards book he wins the corner it is

his corner now and the next corner

coming up he is the defending

car and Hamilton is the attacking so then

the fact that he's then cut the grass

doesn't matter because you can do that

kind of he knows how to drive

he adapts his driving style

and I understand why it annoys people because

if you didn't know

the rule book and it is hard

to understand because you look at it as

a Formula 1 fan and a racing fan

and you watch it and go

that's not really fair is it but yeah

like you say like the way he controls

the car he knows exactly

what he's doing to make sure that

certain bits of the regulations

kind of fit what

the stewards want so it makes it almost

like they can't give him a penalty

which is weird

yeah the racing rules benefit

drivers like Max Verstappen who are

incredibly aggressive and will just

dive to the apex first he made it work

for him I don't like these racing rules

when I look at that sequence of corners

I think Hamilton is well within his rights

to have racing room to not be

hit off of the track and then

in my head and this doesn't matter

because this isn't in the racing rules

they're still racing I don't think Max has won

the position because he's dived to the

apex first hit Hamilton

and then cut the corner

happens on the inside line for the next corner

so like I know this isn't the racing rules

but then yeah like Hamilton understandably

is like well I'm gonna make the corner

it's so bizarre isn't it

yeah so that was a move that could have

easily been a penalty if Max had hit him a little bit harder

or you know they've been a little bit damaged whatever

so I didn't particularly think

it was a clean move as much as he

he got away with

no penalty and of course going off at

turn one as well Max again utilising

the rules to him to his benefit

and breaking as late as

he possibly could although it was on the curve

and so immediately locked up and then

a great car control to not end up

in the wall but once again you know

I honestly cannot tell sometimes

of Max if that was like

like met

luck or judgement of him not going into that wall

because it's complete judgement you see that he's

literally

180 degrees across at one

point with his steering wheel to try and

counter the slide like that I think

a lot of drivers are ending up in the wall at that point

but Max yeah I'm not going to glaze him

but it was a great

car control to not go in the wall

but I'm talking about the things I'm downgrading him for

because I've given him an 8 out of 10 still a great weekend

an 8 out of 10 is not a bad grade

but there are things that I've downgraded him for

hence why I've given him that number

the fans gave him a 9

Lewis Hamilton started racing

3rd finished 8th

oh dear this grade

oh this is a tricky one

this grade is tough I've gone for a 7 out of 10

for Lewis Hamilton

and it's a great way

of sort of carrying on from what we've been speaking about with Max

I do feel for Hamilton

in some ways

I can't give him any higher than a 7 because he definitely

had his part to play

by getting his penalty

what he did was a penalty I know some people are going

what about Max what about Char

yes they are separate incidents

they've served the penalty

for what happened with going straight over the grass

hit the move

although I guess again if you then think

but then we would sort of judging that by our own opinion

not the racing rules

the racing rules is that Max Verstappen had those corners

before that

and Max had the position Hamilton locks up at turn 4

carries on gets the position illegally

so I can see why he gets the penalty

it felt incredibly harsh of course

and a lot of people rooting for him to get a podium

but

the emotion aside it was a penalty

great qualifying though

and I genuinely

was convinced he was going to get a podium

after even the first couple of corners I was like

well he's second on the road at the moment

and then three cars just entered the scene

from a completely different continent

because they were going over the grass

so yeah it's a 7 out of 10

what could have been it's eighth

it's a disaster to be honest with you

purely because of the podium potential

but I hope my

grade still reflects the fact that

there was so much more that could have

happened and some of it

I don't blame Hamilton 4

in terms of the Max

Lewis wheel to wheel stuff

I am really struggling with this one

I

it's how you judge it based on like

what are the rules

we've got to judge it by the rules

it doesn't matter if we don't like the racing rules

we've got to judge it on what the sport is right now

yeah true

I will go for a 7 out of 10 for Lewis Hamilton

I was wondering about

an eight because I do think he's been

shafted by lap one

I do think he's been really really shafted there

I think Leclerc should have given him the position

back as well

and yeah that

obviously puts him into the clutches of Max

and then they have that

that moment

he obviously

yeah he goes

over the track

because it doesn't give any time

or the place back and I do think

it's a deserved penalty

I do wonder

how much of Lewis Hamilton

and it's maybe

you could argue it's too late now but

you can tell Lewis Hamilton is like

an old school

fair driver

and unfortunately

these new racing rules do not benefit

someone like Lewis Hamilton who is like

I'm gonna stay on the track

actually I'm gonna

do this and do that

but in this situation

he obviously

stayed on the track

and kind of got penalised for it

and then he's made

made a mistake and it is

disappointing because it really did feel like

that was the podium up for grabs

and what might have been

but hey he's going to Brazil now

which we all know he does well at

so maybe that's the time

to get the podium

Fingers crossed for him, the fans

gave Hamilton a 7 out of 10

Charlotte Clair

started the race in second, finished second

I have

gone for a 9 out of 10

for Charlotte Clair

despite his despicable

driving at turn 1

not giving Hamilton the place back

no I'm joking

but yeah he should have given that place back

we said it in the race review

he is very fortunate

not to get a penalty there

but I do think they either didn't see it

or it's because it's his teammate

and Hamilton is of course not going to get on the radio

and complain about it

and Ferrari

aren't going to obviously complain about it either

but I've still got to give him a huge amount of credit

qualifying second

and finishing second in a Ferrari

that's not

the top

two cars I don't think

this season they did look

obviously quicker here and more suited

but I think he did a great job

which is why I've gone for a 9

but it's not a perfect 10

I've also gone for a 9 out of 10

for Charlotte Clair, I just wanted to add one more thing

on the Hamilton point as well

is that

with the whole Kefuffly had with the Stappen

and the Term 4 and him locking up and going over the grass

and things like that

that is absolutely a role that Ferrari

had to play in that as well

of communicating to Hamilton

who's just been very heated moment with the Stappen

there's been wheel to wheel

banging and things like that

Hamilton can't see exactly where his car is

who's won the corner etc etc

Ferrari need to analyse that

and go we think you're going to get a penalty

but I don't really understand why Ferrari haven't

and then it's in Hamilton's hands

if he says no this is BS he ignores it

and then you can kind of say

but yeah like the team will hold the offboards

and give us that information

anyway that's another point I just wanted to get off my chest

to Charlotte Clair

how on earth has he managed to cut the corner

and keep Hamilton behind him

I do not know

that's down to the FIA

to have found that and noted it

and probably penalised him

but he got away with it

that's the only sort of like

bit of a downgrade for Charlotte

I wasn't a massive fan

of the way he bailed out of that corner

to go over the grass

when I know he said he hated every metre

of that first corner

and felt like there was going to be a collision

when you actually look at the replay

there was more than enough space for Charlotte to tuck in

and continue through those first few corners

he didn't lose the car

he decided to bail

it was two different things in my opinion

so that's the only thing that I'm really

downgrading Charlotte for

apart from that finishing second is a phenomenal job

qualifying second as well

brilliant to see

Ferrari nowhere near McLaren

but were we expecting that in the race?

absolutely not

9 out of 10 from me to Charlotte Clair

the fans gave him a 9 as well

Oscar Piastri

started the race in 7th

finished 5th

I've gone for a 6 out of 10

for Oscar Piastri

still a very

awkward weekend

for Oscar

quite telling I think as well in the post-race interviews

about how he's saying

that he has to drive a different way

to what he has done all season

I don't really understand

why that's the case

I'm not suggesting anything

no sinister

but it's a very bizarre situation

for Oscar to be in

where he's wondering

where the feeling of the car has gone

I can't give him any higher than a 6

he finished 5th, he finished behind Berman

yes the VSC screwed him a little bit

to maybe get ahead

but that being said he was miles off Lando

he did show moments of pace

in the race and it was quite promising

but couldn't make enough progress

to finish

second it was easily on the cards

I think for Oscar had he shown great pace

and he qualified a little bit better

his teammate won by 30 seconds

so Oscar has to slot in MP2

even if he is finding this

McLaren quite difficult

so 5th isn't an absolute

disaster still one point off the championship

it is a P5

so that's why I've gone for a 6

which I think reflects that

I've gone for a 6 as well

for Oscar Piastri

I still think it's a disastrous weekend

for him

I think 5th place in the end

is maybe

a slight positive

in a really

poor weekend because it looked like it could have been

even worse

you mentioned about him

surely he's got to slot into P2

I'd argue the same in qualifying

because Lando stuck it on pole

by a massive margin as well

the McLaren in Lando's

hands looked so dominant

it feels like

an EZP2 and of course the championship

lead that he's had

he could have kind of afford

to do that

here and there

but he's obviously lost a huge chunk of points

in the last few races

and ended up

now losing the championship lead

I am

so we had a controversial

opinion when I'm looking through

the controversial opinions for

best reactions

I'm going to throw this one into the mix

because one of them

was Oscar Piastri's got his mojo

back

and I was chatting to my mum after the race

and

she said the exact same words

like I think Oscar Piastri's got his mojo back

and I'm sorry to throw my own mum

under the bus there

but I could not disagree

anymore

I do not know how anyone can come

to the conclusion

of the mojo back when he's finished

42 seconds behind his teammate in a race

like don't get me wrong

what are they basing that on

the fact that he's lost the championship lead

the overtakes like he was making

his moves at the end of the stuff

but I'm like he's making

overtakes and things on much

slower cars

and you know he finished buying a Haas

in Ollie Bearman

I don't personally buy

that narrative at all

whether he can turn this form around in

Brazil he absolutely has to otherwise

if he has another weekend

I don't know how he's going to recover from it

because

Austin was

a nightmare anyway

this

the fact that Lando was so comfortable and so dominant

yes Oscars made some

overtakes to fight back

but I didn't think that

drive was anything to shout about at all

No

I completely agree

I thought it was going to be

he's going to have his mojo back for the next race

because the pressure is kind of off and he's now

the hunter with that one point deficit

but either or I disagree

I think Oscar has a huge amount of work to do

to try and fight for this championship

all together

the fans gave Oscar a 6 out of 10

Lando Norris

started the race and first finished first

it's

a 10 out of 10 for Lando Norris

it is

so easily a 10

so

clearly a 10

it was an absolutely phenomenal drive

from Lando

I don't think there's been a better drive in his entire

career

to take the championship lead

he's had moments where he's dominated

races

last year still made the mistake

here and there and stuff and people were

I think giving him maybe unfair

grief but people saying like oh he's never had this

like completely amazingly perfect

weekend well

there you go because it was absolutely

phenomenal

qualifying so dominant

and I do think

as well he deserves a big huge

amount of credit for the way he

did turn 1 as well you know

covered the inside it's not an easy place

to stay in the lead

when you're getting slipstreamed by loads of other

cars he played it perfectly

and then of course

you know I think even if he'd lost the lead

he'd have had the pace to win the race

but he didn't lose the lead

and he just made it look so

so easy

and it's a massive massive

confidence boost now going into

the championship lead

after delivering

a weekend like that he was absolutely

superb

best weekend of his career Lando Norris

it's a 10 out of 10 of course

as well missed fp1

because the rookie went in

and so you would think

maybe he's missed an hour

compared to Oscar

didn't matter whatsoever

you know qualifying

yes Charlotte Clair pipped him in the first

round of runs in Q3

but the second one he was

light years ahead

so phenomenal Saturday Sunday

I completely echo your thoughts and that was going to be

one of my major points is not only just the pace

that he showed but

that was probably the best start of his

career as well he absolutely

flew off the line he was miles ahead

in that first 100-200 meters

of course everyone slipped streamed it was four wide

going into turn one but Lando did exactly

the right thing held the inside line

noticed that there was nobody going to try something

daring down the inside then slowly

moves more towards the middle to try and help

his racing line into turn one

Hamilton gets very close to just nipping

his right rear tyre for a puncture but thankfully

he didn't and then just drove off

and that was the level

of confidence that Lando had this weekend

and how can you

bet against him for the championship with a drive like

that with only a few races to go

Brazil a dry Brazil

I think Lando McLaren

can walk that in a very similar

fashion to what we've seen this weekend

or this weekend just gone for the

Mexico City Grand Prix if it's wet

games on but

it has to be a 10

phenomenal drive from Lando and

you have to say and I hate to say

it's so cliche that was a champions drive

it was that is

a world championship worthy drive from

Lando the fans gave him a 10

as well so who is

our P1

very difficult actually because

as much as Ollie Berman did a

phenomenal job

I think I have to give it to Lando Norris

because

of everything I've just said it was

an utterly perfect weekend

from start to finish

and I think it would be doing him a disservice

if I didn't give him P1 so that's mine

yeah I completely agree

I thought it might be an unpopular opinion

to go for Lando when literally

Ollie Berman in a house has finished

P4 but

Lando's performance was so good

and I know he's in a very quick

car and the best car

so it was Oscar

finished fifth exactly

it was

brilliant it's the best

driver of his career he looked like

a champion out there and we'll wait to see

how he does now now he's got the championship

lead how we'll deal

with that pressure being in the

lead of the championship again

but what a way

to deliver the championship

lead with a drive like that

and there we go that is driver

ratings done and dusted

quite a difficult one I'm sure Brazil will be easy

and a sprint

yeah it's so true

Tommy what are your final thoughts

final thoughts

I don't want to wait

have to wait two weeks for Brazil because it's

just such a banger

and we will be leaving

very soon for the delusion tour

we will get your last tickets

while you can exactly we're flying in a

matter of days P1 live delusion tour

going to North America would love to see you there

tickets are available you just type

in P1 live delusion tour it will come up

go and see us please

sold out San Francisco and New York now

New York yeah some tickets available

for the other venues we'd love to see you there

and that is it see you very soon

thank you as always for being so lovely

to us about driver ratings

who knew numbers

could be so passionate

and we'll see you soon

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