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Our 2025 F1 Driver Ratings: P10 to P1
Our 2025 F1 Driver Ratings: P10 to P1
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About this episode
Matt and Tommy dive into their 2025 F1 driver ratings, analyzing performances from 10th to 1st place. They discuss surprising season trajectories like Alex Albon's strong start fading late, Isaac Hadjar's impressive rookie year, and the consistency of George Russell. The hosts debate close calls between teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, highlighting Piastri's early dominance and Norris's consistency that clinched the title. Max Verstappen tops their list despite a few low points, praised for his resilience in a challenging car. The episode blends detailed stats, personal insights, and fan opinions, capturing the drama and depth of the F1 season.
Topics:
driver ratings
alex albon season
isaac hadjar rookie
nico hülkenberg performances
fernando alonso comeback
george russell consistency
oscar piastri vs lando norris
max verstappen season
f1 2025 season analysis
driver comparisons
Cars:
Dodge Charger
Don't worry, we spent the first half of our 2025 Driver Ratings agreeing on every single position, but our top tens look completely different from one another - so who's finished where?!
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Dodge Charger
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Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the P1 Podcast with Matt and Tommy. We're back.
Part two, Tommy Waved. That intro is only going in audio, so that wave was thrown into the
abyss. They know. They know. They can hear the small airwaves of your... Anyway, we're back. It's part
two. Deliriousness is definitely setting in. But this is the big one. We've done 21st to 11th,
where, yes, we did agree. We did agree. We didn't get exactly the same averages, right?
No. Our averages were different. It's just the positions were the same. However,
I have been fully confirmed and sort of just... What's the word? What am I trying to say, Tommy,
right now? Like... I don't know. Not comforted? Like reassured. Reassured. There we go. Words.
Reassured that we're going to argue. We're going to... Okay, wow. Let's have it out. You know?
Why not? One of the last podcasts in the year. Let's rough and tumble.
Okay, fair enough. Tommy, any thoughts to that? Well, look, driver ratings are the
beel and end all of everything. So, yeah, let's get a boxing match sorted for it all.
Let's do it. Why not? And maybe we can get some words out as well.
Right, let's head into 10th position.
My 10th position is Alex Alban with a 6.7. Now, very interesting that Alex Alban is 10th,
because he is obviously just ahead of Carlos Sainz on my list. They're 10th and 11th.
Mid-season, Alban was 6th and Carlos Sainz was about 15th. What a crazy rollercoaster or season
that Alex has had. Like, the start was unbelievable. I mean, go through his top grades.
His best was a 10 in Australia and Miami. His worst was a 2 in Vegas. No surprise,
his best grades are at the start. His worst grades were at the end. Yeah, looking at
his grades, it really does tell the story of his season. At the start of the season,
he got a 10, an 8, an 8, a 7, an 8, a 10, a 9 from me. And then towards the end of the season,
3, 6, 5, 5, 2, 6, 4. Shocking. Sounds like your phone number, mate.
Exactly. Spoilers. Someone's ringing that number right now, aren't they?
And it's crazy to think that it's been that much of a such an amazing start. Surprised
everyone with how he did against Carlos Sainz. A lot of people didn't, including me, I'll admit it,
and I'm sure you're the same. I didn't really give him a prayer against Carlos Sainz.
And yeah, for him to finish the championship in 8th, an incredible season really overall,
even if it ended really badly. My 10th position is Isaac Hajjar, with a 6.7 overall grade. And I will
say we are literally into the 0.1s separating many drivers. So just keep an ear out for the
numbers that we save for these drivers before you go, how could you possibly put them 10th
rather than 7th when it might well be 0.1 that the difference is. But for me, it is Hajjar,
his best came in Japan with a 10, Monaco was 10, and Netherlands as well. And his worst was of course
Australia. Had it not been for Australia, I reckon Hajjar will be right up there in my top 7.
But alas, this is where the cookie has crumbled. For Hajjar, a great season, a really great
season for the rookie came into it with not a lot of expectation from people. Of course, he did very
well in Formula 2, but I just don't feel like he was getting the same hype as we've seen from other
drivers that have had strong junior careers. But for Hajjar, just a phenomenal qualifying
specialist I feel like is in the midst here. He will definitely grow into someone that,
on a Saturday, will perform. And on Sundays as well, he's done very well indeed. But no,
we're not going to coin it that, but he might well be on his way. Yes, that's the way we can
change it up. But for Hajjar, I think a really good season. He can be very proud of himself,
and he's got the Red Bull seat now. So mixed emotions, I'm sure, as we head into Christmas.
The fans, 10th place was Kimmy Antonelli with 6.4 out of 10, a best of 10 in Canada,
Brazil and Las Vegas, and a worst of two in Australia. Tied with Hajjar,
Sainz and Hülkenberg all the same grade, crazy. Wow. So 10th, 11th and 12th for the fans on the
same grade. Let's go to 9th position. My P9 is my go, Oli Berman. What a season, what a man,
champion in the waiting. You've heard it here first, a 6.8 average score out of
10. His best grades from me came in the Netherlands and Mexico over 10 out of 10,
and worst was a 4 in Australia, Miami and Spain. Now, Oli Berman nearly got banned several times
during this season, which we'll go because it's kind of forgotten due to these crazy,
massive penalty points holes that he was getting for red flags and safety car infringements
and so on and so forth. But that aside, quite a consistent season. Even when he wasn't doing
particularly well, i.e. scoring points, he was finishing just outside the points. We
mentioned about Ocon and his great runner form at the start. Oli Berman, he was picking
up a point here, picking up a point there, and then he went on a run of 4-11ths,
which were decent drives, just missing out on the points. And then towards the end,
he really came into his own. Mexico in particular was utterly sensational to watch from him, and he
really sort of entered the spotlight from there. So I am so excited to see what Oli Berman can do
in the future, backed him from the start, and I will continue to back him as I believe.
The arc of progression is the right way round. The recency bias is strong with Oli Berman,
if you look at the last few. But even as an overall season, he's my ninth highest average driver.
My P9 is Nico Hülkenberg with a 6.7. So tied with Alex Alban, but of course Nico Hülkenberg
got an 11 out of 10 in Silverstone. I will just mention, because obviously that was novel,
his 10s, he also got one in Australia, in Spain, in Canada as well. And yeah, Nico Hülkenberg
his worst grade from me was, as I've lost it in the sheet, A3 in Baku and Singapore. Yeah, Nico
Hülkenberg, what a strange season really, because you look at the head-to-head stats,
and he's against a rookie teammate, and they've basically been almost identical in terms of the
head-to-head. But when Nico Hülkenberg excelled is he's the big moments, and that is what's made
it such a special season for Nico Hülkenberg, the big, big moments. We thought they wouldn't
score a point all year, and then he rocks up to Australia and finishes in 7th. Then he
follows it up with a 5th in Spain, and you're thinking there's no way he's going to get a better
result than that. Okay, he's finally got his podium in maybe what we thought would be the
worst car he's ever driven throughout his whole career, obviously it didn't end up being that way.
But still not a great car by any means, not a podium contending card, no chance, but just
an unbelievable performance in Silverstone to get the only 11 out of 10 that we gave,
of course, and then kind of went, oh, there's been a lot of crazy performances now, kind of want to
give another one, but yeah, a well-deserved 11 for Hülkenberg in that. Would you still
give Nico Hülkenberg the 11 considering the entire season? No, it would go to Hajar in Zampo.
Okay, interesting. I'm going to go to Charlotte Clair and Abidabi.
Okay, the fans for their P9 was Lewis Hamilton with a 6.5 out of 10, definitely the biggest
shift between the Matt and Tommy grades, where we put Hamilton in 14th,
and the fans put Hamilton in 9th. Let us know, as I'm sure you have already,
how you feel about where Hamilton has been placed by you, the fans, the best
a 9 out of 10 in Imola and worst 2 out of 10 in Qatar. P8, Tommy. P8, I have Oli Bearman
with a 6.8, his best was a 10 in Mexico, his worst was a 4 in Australia, Spain,
and Hungary. This could be even higher because my word, like, sometimes we mentioned on drive
ratings, feeling like every single episode at the start, what might have been Oli Bearman,
he just needs that consistency and boy, did he do that at the end of the season.
It was quite insane the run of form that he went on and really, you know,
showed himself what a great driver he is, picking up obviously that massive
point streak, the P4 in Mexico, where I gave him a 10, definitely the standout drive from him,
and yeah, what an impressive talent to be up there as the 8th best driver, because
mid-season, he was lower than his teammate, and actually, this shows the leap that Bearman has
gone up the radar, because in my mid-season ratings, Bearman was behind
Ocon Hamilton and Bortoletto, so there we go.
What a run of performances indeed. You actually, considering I have had Oli Bearman,
you know, I've been standing him the entire year, you're one higher, even though we have
exactly the same average grade for the 6.8 out of 10, I have gone for, well not gone for,
the maths for P8, Alex Albon. Now he had a 10 out of 10 in Australia, Miami, and Imola,
and a worst of a 2 out of 10 in Las Vegas, so yes, the same grade as Oli Bearman behind him,
the same grade as whoever's coming in front of him as well, apparently.
So it's very close indeed, 0.3 ahead of Carlos Sainz come the end of it, so next time we
interview Alex Albon, I will be mentioning that I put in P8 in the average driver rating,
so that he can not think that I'm constantly giving him 3 out of 10s, because I absolutely do not.
But Alex, I am actually a little bit surprised that he's P8. I thought, considering the run of form
towards the end, that he may well have slipped behind the likes of Oli Bearman,
and perhaps even Carlos Sainz and Hajar, but he didn't. The scores don't lie,
he drew with them. Your mid-season rating was a 7.6, so it has dropped down quite
considerably, but he's still enough to hang on. Just about, so well done, Alex.
I want to share something with Albon, because we mentioned about his start to the season,
well, he apparently listens, so maybe… This is my message to Alex Albon and Alex Albon only.
Because we've got this lovely spreadsheet where we've got all our grades,
we can actually show just how different his start and ending were. So if I get rid of his first
eight performances, his grade drops all the way down to a 5.8, which is right near the bottom.
And if I get rid of the last four, sorry, the last eight, it goes all the way up to a 7.8,
which puts him as one of the best drivers of the year. So crazy how that really does
showcase just how mixed it was. So that was my grade as you deleted it.
Yeah, yeah, and I imagine it's much of the same.
Pretty similar, isn't it, between the two of us?
Okay, wow. Well, there you go. That shows with these averages. No recency bias here,
everybody. The fans, they agree with me. Alex Albon, 6.7 average out of 10. The best
10 out of 10 in Australia, Miami, and Imola, worst 3 out of 10 in Las Vegas.
Let's head to seventh position. Mine is Nico Hülkenberg with a 6.8 out of 10,
exactly the same as Alex Albon, exactly the same as Oli Berman. But Nico Hülkenberg wins out
because of the 11 out of 10 in Silverstone. His worst was a no rating in Monza or a three
in Baku and Singapore. I feel like when we no rated them, it didn't actually affect the
averages. No, it doesn't. No. So the worst is the Baku and Singapore 3 out of 10s.
Overall for Hülkenberg, obviously a really good season. He's up there in seventh in the averages.
So strange. I also am like, wow, the massive difference between Hülkenberg and Bortoletto
in terms of the points and also our grades. And yet the head to heads were so close.
Nico Hülkenberg just clutched up. And I think that's the difference between
someone with a lot of potential, perhaps a rookie, but someone that's not necessarily
consistent. And Hülkenberg that just knows how to get the good result. Like Hülkenberg's always
been known as a driver that can get the most points out of a midfield car. When this car
became midfield, Hülkenberg was there. He had a bit of a struggle in qualifying, hence why I
think the head to heads are quite flattering, I guess, for Bortoletto, because Bortoletto was able
to put in some great quality performances. Meanwhile, Nico, who was known as being a
quality specialist, had a bit of a wobble this year. But when he stopped wobbling of the analysis,
he was able to put in some phenomenal performances and Silverstone will go down in history,
of course, for Nico Hülkenberg and for fans around the world, because that was absolutely
awesome to see and still deserves the 11 out of 10. You can keep it, Nico, no problem. That's the
world on Nico. My P7 is Isaac Hadjar with a seven overall, exactly seven, 7.0. His best was a 10 in
Japan, Monaco and the Netherlands, as I said, would have been an 11 if I could change it.
And a worst was a two in Australia shock. I mean, how Hadjar turned his season around
after what could have been the worst way to start your career ever by spinning off on the
formation lap and crashing out. Imagine you'd have said when he was there being comforted
by Hamilton's dad in the paddock in Australia, that this guy would be the rookie of the year,
get the Red Bull seat, be spoken about as one of the best drivers of the year.
You'd never have believed it. And here we are. And got a podium. A podium in a V-cup.
Crazy. An absolutely brilliant season from Hadjar. Completely underestimated him going into the
season. Didn't know an awful lot too much about his talent. And boy, did he show it.
Amazing, amazing season. Zandvoort being the absolute high that he put in an amazing
qualifying performance and managed to grab the podium. Okay. So the craziest thing about that is
that you gave him a two out of 10 for spinning out on the formation lap. Let's go to the fans
in seventh for them is Fernando Alonso. 6.8 out of 10. They don't have the Tommy tinted
glasses on for Fernando Alonso. We've not mentioned him yet for either of us. He is,
of course, tied with a driver we're about to speak about. His best is a 10 out of 10 in
Hungary. His worst are four in Australia and Belgium. Sixth position. It's getting heated now.
It's getting hot, Tommy. Talk to me. I will. It's P6 Fernando Alonso with a grade of 7.3.
His best was a 10 in Canada, Hungary, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. And his worst was a 3 in Australia
where he went off. Of course, Fernando Alonso has had a really, really good season.
Of course, you take the mick out of my allegiances towards Fernando and me overgrading him.
You've not mentioned him yet. So interesting. So Fernando Alonso had the unluckiest start
to a season. The points tally at the halfway point didn't reflect what he was doing. He had
some really poor luck. Barely got any points on the board. As soon as he was able to
kind of have a car that wasn't breaking down in races and things like that,
or having these problems, he bagged a load of points and put in some really impressive drives,
which just shows that we mentioned Nico Hülkenberg. Alonso goes in that list as well of like,
and I'd say more like anyone better to drag a midfield car into really, really good position.
So, yeah, Fernando all the way up in P6. My P6 is Fernando Alonso as well with a 7.1
out of 10. None of this 7.3 rubbish. Wow. Wow. You also said you wish you could have put in P9,
don't you? Just to annoy you, if anything. But it's been a big jump. It's a big jump.
Like, literally, Nico Hülkenberg was 6.8. We now go to 7.1 for Fernando Alonso for me.
His best results were a 10 out of 10 in Canada, Hungary, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
His worst was a 4 in Australia and Belgium. My overarching feelings around Fernando Alonso
are a lot of positive. He's still got it. Amazing to see him up there. There's part of me
that longs for him to have a teammate that actually is someone reputable and exciting
and we know is fast. Lance Stroll is an unknown quantity. We don't know how motivated he is.
We don't really know how talented he is. A lot of people sort of ear on the fact that it's not
as talented as some drivers on the grid, which I think is a very fair judgment.
So, I would love to see just how good Alonso is currently. And when Charlotte
Clair goes there in 2027 because Ferrari haven't been able to build a car in 2026
and Fernando keeps going until 2040, that's when we fully understand just how good
80-year-old Fernando Alonso is. A really good season. A lot of standout drives.
He's got his head switched on. He knows exactly, or knew because I guess the season is over now,
how to essentially manipulate the cars to his advantage. The amount of Fernando Alonso trains
I saw this year, he knew exactly what he was doing with that to save his tires, to be able to hold
up everybody behind him. He's still got the racecraft, absolutely. So yeah, hopefully,
Adrian Newey cooking up a storm and we see some special things from Fernando Alonso next year
because he's still got it currently. How many more years will he have it for? The fans in
P6 gave it to Oli Bearman with a 6.8 out of 10, tied with Alonso, but Oli Bearman has more 10s,
a 10 out of 10 in the Netherlands and Mexico and a worst of four in Spain and Miami.
We now head to the top five in P5. I have George Russell with a 7.8 out of 10. We have
gone again, massive big league jump here, 0.7 between Fernando Alonso and George Russell in my
average grade. 7.8 out of 10, a best of 10 in Bahrain, Canada and Singapore and a worst of
five in Monaco and Silverstone. That tells you all you need to know. The fact George Russell did
not score anything worse than a five the entire season, that is Mr Consistent. Forget Mr Saturday,
that's in the bin for George Russell. He's now Mr Consistent. He turns up,
yes, he might have a couple of off-colour weekends where Antonelli was better, but overall there
were no insane stinkers for George Russell throughout the entirety of a 24-raised campaign
and that's why I'm convinced that he will be a world champion one day. Thank you.
My P5 is Charle Leclerc with a grade of 7.7. His best was a 10 in Saudi Arabia
and Abu Dhabi, and his worst was a 2 in Silverstone. I feel like, don't quote me on this,
but I feel like every year you could put Charle Leclerc's worst result at Silverstone. He always
just seems to have an absolute shocker there. But Charle Leclerc, I think at the start of the
season, I think Charle's always been that consistent driver. He's shown that this year
more than ever he's able to deliver in a car that's not quite there, to say the least. Not quite there,
doesn't even cover it. A drive like Abu Dhabi, for example, Saudi Arabia, the amount of times he
put it on the podium when his teammate Hamilton didn't manage it once, is so, so impressive.
Yeah, there were times that there were some moments in the season where I thought, oh,
maybe Charle could give it even more, but not many. And I think looking at this result,
in my opinion, and same as you, the top five are a step ahead of everyone else in this list.
The jump from Alonso to Leclerc, and I can imagine a lot of the top fives if you picked
them would be these five drivers and many orders if you like. So yeah, Charle Leclerc.
Well, you say jump, and he jumped to 0.4 because Fernando Alonso is the greatest full time in your
eyes. So it's kind of like a mini step. It's like a little stepping stone, whereas mine was a leap,
mine was a triple jump. The fans for P5 went for Charle Leclerc, also with a 7.8 out of 10.
The best was a 10 in Saudi Arabia, and the worst, a 4 in Silverstone.
4. Wow. Crazy. That's very generative.
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Let's go to fourth position.
Fourth position, I have George Russell with a score of 8.0. His best was a 10 in Bahrain,
Canada, Singapore, and his worst was a five in Silverstone. It goes with what you said,
that was the only real bad grade I think I gave George, and bad grade was a five.
All season, George's consistency was really good. We talked about races where George,
even when the Mercedes weren't there, he scored good points all the time.
It's the consistency that was the most impressive thing about George Russell.
Yeah, 8.0, if I was picking, I definitely would consider putting him maybe even higher.
It's close between them, but yeah, George has had a really, really, really strong season.
I think very impressive. He showed despite all the rumors about Max Verstappen and how
much Toto loves Kimi Antonelli that he is ready to be a team leader at Mercedes.
My fourth position is Charle Clare with a 7.9 out of 10 average rating, a best of 10 in Saudi
Arabia, Monaco, and Abu Dhabi, and a worst of three in Silverstone. Would I, if I was just
picking drivers and swapping them around, would I put Charle Clare? Number one, yes,
but the actual realistic thing I was going to say is would I swap Charle Clare and George Russell?
Yes, I would. I would put George ahead of Charle in terms of overall performances this season. It's
close, for sure, but I think George has been really impressive this year.
So you say you've graded Charle too high like I have found her a long time.
Yeah, by 0.1, like, relax yourself. But look, I think Charle still had a great season. It's
just in a terrible car and we've had to sort of mind shift to what Ferrari is and it's been quite
hard to grade them at times because there have been really poor weekends where Charle hasn't been able
to do nothing about it, saying he's got all he can out of the car and it's just been full
blown depressing. But P4 for me, for Charle and P1 next year because I'll give him 10 every
single time. Well, imagine saying at the start of the season that you'd give Charle Clare a 10
for a fourth place. That pretty much sums it up, doesn't it, Ferrari this year? Yeah. All right,
let's move on. The fans gave it to George Russell, P4 7.8 out of 10, best of 10 in Bahrain,
Canada and Singapore and the worst of five in Monaco and Silverstone. The fans also in
agreement that George Russell is the consistency goat. Third position, the final step on the
podium for me, goes to Oscar Piatri with an 8.0 out of 10, a best of 10 in China, Bahrain,
Saudi Arabia, Miami, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands and Qatar and the worst of zero in Baku. Now,
I think that zero has screwed him ever so slightly. I'm not going to lie. Oscar Piatri's season,
he was absolutely nailed on to be the number one driver of this year, had he not had the
fall off at the end. I really do think so because when I look at his grades, I mean the first,
like third of the season is 8, 10, 8, 10, 10, 8, 8, 10. He's got a few more 10s after that.
But then we look to the period of time that we know about from Baku, it's 0, 7, 5, 6, 5,
6 and that costs you in the average driver ratings at the top, at the absolute top.
That being said, was Oscar Piatri the third best driver in my opinion, if I was to choose?
Marginally, yeah. I would say so over the course of the whole season because of what I've just
mentioned and that period of races where he just lost confidence in the car and sadly lost
the championship because of it. But it's very close. They've all had great moments in
this season and Oscar was so consistent in the first 15 races of the year but sadly, yeah,
season is not 15 races long. So Oscar can still be very, very proud of his third season in Formula
1 and he is a, I genuinely do, I do believe he is going to win multiple world championships
should he be in the right car and that is the big question mark.
Yeah, definitely. Just to add to that, I've got the mid-season ratings here which were obviously
done in the summer break before Zandvoort and it's easy to forget now based on the form that
Oscar Piatri had at the end of the season, of course, but he, your ratings in particular,
but all of us as the fans, everyone, he was comfortably the best driver at that stage.
He was actually a whole grade ahead of Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc Russell, everyone. He was clear
at the top with an average grade of almost nine which just shows how amazingly consistent he was
at the start. So P3, mine is Landon Norris with a score of 8.0. His best was a 10 in Australia,
Monaco, Austria, Mexico, Brazil and his worst was a 1 in Canada. Yeah, very surprised actually that
despite the mid-season and how, of course, Lando did struggle at the start, we've seen that
he's obviously lower than Oscar on my list. We're about to find out how much by
and, yeah, it's a surprise because they were exceptionally close. It almost feels a lifetime
ago that Landon Norris, you know, was having struggles and things like Bahrain and Saudi
and Canada and stuff and looked like he didn't have an answer for Oscar Piatri, but of course,
his consistency at the end is what won him that world championship. He was a really
consistent driver. He had, I think he actually led the least laps of all three of the title contenders
and yet he had so many more like second places and more podiums than anyone else. So it was that
consistency for him that obviously won him that title, that first world title.
The fans in P3 have gone for Oscar Piatri with an 8.0 out of 10, the best being a 10 in
China, Bahrain, Saudi, Miami, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands and the worst of one in Baku.
Second position. Second position in P2. I have Oscar Piatri with exactly the same grade, an 8.0.
His best was a 10 in China, Bahrain, Saudi, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands and Qatar. His worst,
of course, was a zero in Baku. That's an insane list of 10s, by the way, for someone like that.
It is an insane list of 10s and, of course, the reason he is second on my list is only because he
got more 10s than Lando Norris and George Russell. They are identical, second, third and fourth,
all with an average grade through the whole season of 8.0, which is quite crazy. Oscar Piatri,
of course, recency bias was a, oh, he lost it at the end. He was not very good.
But his consistency at the start of that season is why his grade is so high.
I dread to think and I'm going to do it now, so cover your ears, Oscar Piatri fans. If I
delete that awful run that he had between Azerbaijan and Las Vegas in the list, his
average grade goes up to a 9 and he's driver of the season. So, yeah, it was that run that
he had. The reason he's got more 10s than Lando on my list, I believe, is from all his race wins,
whereas I think some of Lando's race wins. I want to say Silverstone, looking at Silverstone was a 9.
He also gave him a 9 for that and Hungary was a 9, where Piatri, of course, in Silverstone,
he, Piatri, threw it away and that's why he obviously got the 8 and couldn't give Lando
a 10 for that drive. But, yeah, incredibly close between them. The points gap reflects that. There'll
be a lot of people probably outraged that Oscar is higher. I mean, he's not higher.
How high? Driver rating? Surely not.
Yeah. Higher in inverted commas is exactly the same. But, of course, it's the count back
that does it for him, but they were incredibly evenly matched. 13 points in it in the end
between them. Of course, six of those was that Monza switch, which puts them even closer.
Yeah, very, very, very close. 14 of those was Oscar Piatri losing the win in Silverstone
with that silly error behind the safety car. Exactly, yeah. Which is weird, yeah. That is
crazy, like a big moment. You look at moments like Hungary as well, where Oscar was driving better
than Lando where it went wrong. Sorry, I didn't go wrong, but Lando took that risk of a
different strategy and won the race. Yeah, but it's all down to, unfortunately, for Oscar,
that Azerbaijan moment scoring zero and then retiring from the race and then the run of
form that he had. Lando's form, and this is the consistency where I think the title was won
between those two drivers. When Lando didn't have the car that he wanted, he was finishing
second and third for most of the time. When Oscar was struggling with the car, unfortunately for him,
it was fourths and fifths, and that was too much of a deficit between the two drivers,
which is what allowed Lando to catch up so much. So, yeah, still a great season for
Oscar and something to be very proud of. My P2 for the season is Lando Norris with an 8.2
out of 10 average score, a best of 10 in Australia, Monaco, Austria, Mexico, and Brazil,
and a worst of two in Canada. Bruno's joined the podcast if you're watching on video for some
reason. I think he hasn't been given his DINNER, and I'm not going to say that otherwise he
will leap off me. So, Lando Norris had a phenomenal season. He's the world champion.
We've said it many times that he was incredibly consistent over the course of most of the year.
Yes, he had moments that we spoke about, and he got six and seven in Bahrain and Saudi,
but the run that he went on at the end of the year, which we spoke about,
of course, in terms of winning him the championship, also massively high grades.
Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri is getting seven, five, six, five, six in the last couple,
of course, he did really well. But before that, it's a run of four, and then the zero, of course,
in Baku. You compare that to Lando. He went on from Singapore, basically, 8, 8, 10, 10,
9, 8, 9. And I think that's what's pipped him over Oscar for me, despite the fact Oscar
had so many 10s at the start of the year. It's close between the two teammates, and it
depends how you measure it. Of course, you throw in papyrals, and it causes chaos
altogether, as both dogs are on the podcast. You can tell it's their food time.
Yeah, you really can. But for Lando, anyone that thinks he's an undeserving champion,
has never watched Formula One before in their lives, and they just think that Max Verstappen
and Lewis Hamilton are the only ways to be an F1 World Champion. He picked up enough points,
and this is the reason why he's 0.2 out of a grade ahead of Oscar. He picked up points
at almost every single Grand Prix, Canada being one way. Of course, he made a mistake,
but without the Zanvo DnF and the disqualification in Vegas, he would have been world champion
sooner than Abu Dhabi. So I'm not surprised to see Lando ahead of Oscar over the course of the
entire season, but it's still very close. And both teammates deserved the title and would
have deserved the title had we got to the end of the season with Oscar World Champion.
But he missed out narrowly. The fans went for Lando Norris as well with an 8.2 out of 10,
exactly the same as what I went for, a best of 10 in Australia, Monaco, Austria, Silverstone,
Mexico and Brazil, and a worst of three in Baku. Now the winner, P1, in the driver ratings.
You probably have figured it out for all of us. But for me, it's Max Verstappen with an
8.6 out of 10, a best grade of 10 in Australia, Japan, Imola, Monza, Baku, Cota, Las Vegas and
Abu Dhabi, and a worst of zero in Spain. The guy gets a zero and still tops the driver ratings.
This is hand in hand, an example of not having the best car for maybe half the season. He did
have the best package occasionally. He made it work. I'm not saying that Red Bull were the underdogs
the entire season. They figured it out, especially after Spain. There was a great amount of races
that they just hooked it up. But you can also see that any time he was pulling in,
really good performances in Australia didn't win. But that was a 10 out of 10 performance
because we deemed the Red Bull to be quite far off, but the wet weather closed it all up.
Yeah, I mean, he would have won by, I don't know how it would have been, maybe end of the point or
point two, perhaps without that zero. Had he just finished and got the points and won the
World Championship? Sorry, I'm sorry, I just had to say it. I'm sorry, 0 out of 10.
You literally take the mickey out of me all the time about Charlotte Clone Ferrari.
Let me have this one. But Max Verstappen was the driver of the season. I wouldn't change it
despite Lando being world champion. Max, you said it so beautifully in our podcast about
how proud you were of just being a Max fan and watching him perhaps have one of, if not his
best seasons in terms of hauling a car that didn't deserve to be there half the time,
into positions to potentially win. And look, Max is in his prime. We should all,
whether you're a fan of him or not, we should enjoy what he's able to do with a car,
especially when he's not potentially in the fastest package, because that's when I think Max Verstappen
is, I was going to say fully unleashed, but then I remember 2023 when he broke almost every record
for win streaks and things like that. He's pretty good most seasons. I think that's a fact.
So my number one, no surprises Max Verstappen with an 8.7 out of 10. His best was a 10 in Australia,
Japan, Imola Monza, Baku, Cota, Brazil, Vegas, Abu Dhabi, and his worst was, of course,
the one in Spain. Can't remember what happened there.
Crazy.
Yeah, I know. And yeah, like what a season Max has had, as mentioned,
you know, it's been unbelievable what he's managed to achieve. He shouldn't really have
been in the title anyway, which is why despite maybe, you know, on paper it's
absolutely gutting that he finished two points off and so nearly won the world
championship, but in a weird way because I never thought he was in the championship
and it's not like he's lost it when he was leading or something like that, or he ever
looked like he was really going to be in that championship, but particularly as it all happened
at the end, that is what kind of made it maybe less gutting. So yeah, he's had an
unbelievable season. He's shown this year, I think doubted a lot of his haters and people
that maybe thinks it was all just a car. You know, for me, where the title was lost was that run
after Austria, when the form just fell off too much, McLaren were getting one too, so fun,
and he could only really finish races in fifth, fourth, or Hungary,
all the way down in ninth. They just had nothing there. So yeah, an amazing season for Max
and the top driver of the year.
And the fans have also gone for Max Verstappen with an 8.4 out of 10 average grade,
not as glazing as me and you, Tommy, with an 8.6 and 8.7, but a best of 10 in Japan,
Imola Monsabaku, Kota, Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, and a worst of zero in Spain.
There you go. Can I just talk about something actually about Max?
The mid-season rating from the fans, Max was the fifth on the list. He was behind
Charles Leclerc, behind Russell, behind Norris, behind Piastri.
Yeah, I guess the mid-season, there was a zero just prior to that, wasn't there,
which didn't help there. We just had him as second and that would have been on,
as he got onto that run of his fifth, his fourth, his ninth, before, of course,
the end of the season where he was never off the podium, even when he started from the pit lane.
Crazy, actually, one more crazy prediction that's not been mentioned
is there's something really badly aged that I just remembered, and this kind of shows
how insane Max Verstappen's comeback was, that we did our bold predictions for the
rest of the season where we got you to say what your bold prediction was.
And one of those in that situation was that Max Verstappen finishes behind
George Russell and the championship, and he'd just gone on a run of fifth, fourth, and ninth,
and we were like, yeah, I don't think that's actually that crazy.
And he finished two points, winning the world title.
Yeah, that's mad. Absolutely crazy, and ended up, how many points
out of George? A hundred and two. So yeah, madness.
Yeah, the run that Max went on was simply stunning, but just short, I'm afraid, Tommy.
Indeed.
There you go. Right, our average driver ratings are done. Bruno says hi and goodbye.
Just Frank as well. There he is, the goat, the OG. Sorry, Bruno, I didn't mean the goat.
I'm sorry, you're the goat. And that is it. Thank you, everybody, for tuning, and I hope
you enjoyed looking back on all of this. I really love it. I love just looking back at the averages
and what we predict, and this one in particular, because it really does give a full picture of
where we see each driver and how they've performed in the year. Tommy, final thoughts, please.
Final thoughts. Thank you for all enjoying driver ratings this year. It's been amazing.
One thing I'd really like to get some information on, and maybe we do a poll on our social media
and YouTube community, is we have discussed about potentially maybe mixing up driver ratings to
do an order from 20th to 1st of the drivers. I do wonder if that would maybe help with the situation
of us having a bit more mixed grades and things and looking a little bit different.
I don't know. In some ways, I think that would actually be harder. I don't know.
That's my first thought is, well, how do you compare a stroll versus someone
else if they've both had stinking? I don't know. I feel like the numbers, because then,
yeah, I don't know. Let us know. Let us know what you think. We're open to feedback.
We are. For everyone that says, why are grades the same? It's like, because when someone crashes,
we're not going to be like, I think it's a 10, actually. But there we go. It's been
really fun. Thank you for all enjoying this. If you're very confused on audio, it's because
we both have our dogs. Have dogs. If we sound slightly different, come and watch us on YouTube,
because you won't want to miss it. There's dogs galore right now. Right. Thank you, everybody.
We'll see you very soon. Driver ratings will, of course, be back next year. I don't know if we've
got any more recap content. This is pretty much it now. I think we've got some live reaction
stuff coming out. That is it. This is the last audio podcast. I'll say Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year to everyone. Wow. Unless some breaking news happens, in which case we will be there.
Christmas Day. Yeah. Yeah. Just get the turkey and, well, to be fair, not for you. You're a vegan,
but whatever it might well be, some butternut squash. Hang it in your mouth and get the pod going.
But that is it. Thank you, everybody. We'll see you very soon. Lots of love.
Take care. Adios. Goodbye. Bye. Bruno, would you like some dinner?
Frank, do you want dinner? Dinner?
Yeah, he doesn't love me. He loves food. Bye.
P1 is a stack production and part of the ACAST Created Network.
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