If you're a smoker or vapor ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason.
But with ZIN nicotine pouches, you'll discover many good reasons.
ZIN is America's number one nicotine pouch brand, plus ZIN offers a robust rewards program.
There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one ZIN.
Check out zin.com slash find to find ZIN at a store near you.
Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.
Hey, this is U.S. Olympic gold medalist, Tara Davis-Whithole.
And I'm U.S. Paralympic gold medalist, Hunter Whithole.
As athletes, our lives are about having a clear path.
And a team that you can absolutely trust.
So when it came to getting the best mortgage...
We chose Penny Mac.
Penny Mac is proud to be the official mortgage provider of Team USA and you.
Learn more at pennymac.com.
Penny Mac Loan Services, LLC, Equal Housing Lender, NMLS ID 35953,
licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation
under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act.
Conditions and restrictions may apply.
Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 Podcast with Matt and Tommy.
Driver ratings, but this time we're not actually saying any more driver ratings.
We are looking back at the entire season to see how our grades stacked up
and to grade and rate.
Well, we're not great. We're just kind of averaging, aren't we?
From 21st all the way to 1st, 21st, of course, being Jack Doane.
The entirety...
Spoiler.
I know, sorry. Sorry. Spoiler alert.
Jack Doane was in fact in this season.
If you haven't watched the 2025 season and you're watching this,
I recommend going and watching the races first.
Yes, we're going to be looking at how essentially moving and removing, in fact,
the recency bias that a lot of us Formula One fans can experience
and seeing where all the drivers stacked up.
Indeed, yeah. Like I say, it's average of the whole season.
So no recency bias.
Obviously, a lot of the drivers have had a tail of two halves.
And also what's exciting about this is I don't know as well,
what's going to arrive and neither do you.
The whole sheet has been prepared for us by a lovely assistant.
The point you said, what's going to arrive?
I was like, what is arriving?
Yeah, so I'm sort of excited and also going,
oh, God, what are we going to get here?
Is it going to age really badly?
And people are going to be like, oh, my God, why is this guy there?
We're about to find out.
Yeah, we don't usually have our sheets prepared for us, but this one...
No, this one I wanted to go in blind.
Yeah, go in completely blind and react to it as we go.
So very exciting.
A quick note, if a driver has the same grade, it goes on count backs,
just like the real F1 championship.
So the driver with the most 10s and the most 9s and the most 8s,
and that's how they position either one way or the other.
Right, let's begin.
21st position for our average driver ratings across the entire
2025 season for me was Jack Dewan with a 3.7 average grade.
He had a best grade of 6 in Bahrain and a 2 in Australia.
The 2 I think was, you know, he's a rookie, slippery conditions,
went on the line and crashed out.
But I'm not surprised it was an upsetting few races for Jack Dewan.
I hope Dewan can one day look back fondly that he got to Formula 1,
but I'm sure it will sting quite a lot because he had, honestly,
I can't think of any driver, any rookie that's come into a season
and been essentially just understood across the entire
Formula 1 community in Paddock that he's going to lose his seat
almost no matter what.
Indeed, yeah.
So P21 for me is also Jack Dewan with exactly the same average grade,
3.7, best, of course, the 6 in Bahrain, worst, a 3 in Australia,
Japan, Saudi and Miami.
He had a really difficult season, of course, not even a full season.
Only the few races that he did.
Bahrain was the only standout every other grade.
You know, I mentioned those 3s, he got 4 in China.
Not a good season for him.
Of course, he was kind of doomed from the start,
had some big crashes as well.
And yeah, I think the fact that he is kind of gutting that
he didn't manage to, you know, even achieve like a points
finish or something, because I don't think the Alpine was as
bad that stage.
It still wasn't an amazing car, but certainly wasn't the
absolute tractor that it was towards the end of the season.
The fans also gave it to Jack Dewan with a 4.2 average
grade, 6 in Bahrain and a worst of 3 in Miami.
Right, let's go to 20th position.
20th position, I have Franco Colopinto with a grade of 4.7.
His best was a 7 in Singapore, Canada and the Netherlands
and his worst was a 2 in Silverstone.
Yeah, Colopinto, obviously he didn't have a point
scoring finish.
I do believe that the Alpine was worse,
particularly towards the end of the season.
I can understand people saying that it's close between
doing and Colopinto.
I don't personally agree.
I think doing was worse and my grades obviously reflect
that maybe Colopinto is in a weird way fortunate that
the car was worse.
So maybe it didn't look as bad that, you know,
in some of the races where he was finishing 20th on
the road, it was only one position behind Gasly
in 19th.
So it didn't look so bad, but Colopinto had his
races where he was beating Gasly as well,
which is why it's reflected of him being, you know,
a whole grade higher than what doing achieved.
My 20th position was also Franco Colopinto with
exactly the same average of 4.7.
I gave two 7 out of 10s in Canada and
Netherlands and a worst of one in Silverstone.
I'm not really surprised that Franco's down here.
He had odd stacked against him as well,
because he came into the season without pre-season
testing.
He just was putting the car after doing was dropped.
Now did have a little bit of experience, of course,
in the previous season, but still very much treated
as a rookie.
And, you know, I echo your thoughts in the fact
that a lot of his performances may have gone unnoticed
towards the end of the season when he was
matching Gasly, but then Pierre Gasly just
randomly just got one with the car and
scored some points.
And that was slightly surprising at times, for sure,
for Gasly.
Yeah, it's not a bad season for Franco.
I'm sure he will need to do better next year.
You know, he can't be having a no points
hole for next year, especially with Alpine
putting lots of resource into 2026.
I think in some ways it's worked quite nicely
for him to just get used to Formula One,
himself and get used to the calendar and things
like that.
Next year, he needs to step it up and, well,
step it up in the sense of score points, but
also match Gasly and that will be something
that he can be happy with.
And I think the team as well.
The fans also gave it to Franco Colopinto
with a lower average score of a 4.2.
And he was tied with Dewin, who was, of course,
was in 21st, a best of six in Netherlands
and Canada and a zero in Silverstone.
The fans were not happy at all.
Colopinto was higher because he had more
sixes out of ten.
It was that close between the two of them.
There you go. Very close indeed.
Nineteenth position.
Mine goes to
Yuki Sonoda with a 5.1
average, a best of nine out of ten in
Australia and a worst of twos in
Austria and Silverstone.
Such a
painful thing to even have to talk about
Yuki.
He would have been so much higher had
he never gone to Red Bull, but
this is the beauty and curse of driver
ratings because one of the biggest
things we have to take into account
are where the teammate ended up.
It's the only glimpse we ever get as
to the potential of the car and
that second seat similar to how
Perez, you know, struggled and
everyone before him in this and
Lawson, of course, in the sense of
we have to compare
Max Verstappen and Yuki
Australia
was one of his highest and that
was when he wasn't even in the Red Bull.
So that tells you all you need
to know about where Yuki should have
stayed and just such
a disappointing season overall.
So yes, I
have the same driver in
Nineteenth, Yuki Sonoda,
a worse result overall
with a 4.8
out of ten. His best grade
was a nine in Australia for me and his worst
was a one in Austria.
The nine, of course,
being when he wasn't even in that Red Bull
and as we say
in every single driver ratings, you know,
you can take it off the bingo sheet,
yes, we don't know
it's a very hard driver to grade because
of how
weird that second Red Bull seat is
but as we mentioned so many times
we had to grade him in the same way we did
with Sergio Perez the previous year as we did
with Liam Lawson at the start of the season
and
he had a really poor
run of form finishing 17th
in the World Championship when his teammate almost won it
is not
great reading even with
the curse of the second seat.
So a really sad way for Yuki
to probably end his Formula One
career because I really wanted to see him in that Red Bull.
Really looking forward
to seeing him in the Red Bull when he jumped in
but it did not go well
to say the very least.
The fans
put Lance Stroll in 19th
with a 4.5
average grade, a best of
eight in Australia, Silverstone, Hungary
and the Netherlands
but a zero in Spain
and Japan and when you look
at his grades
especially from the fans
it's not great reading
as soon as Lance doesn't turn up
or has like a reasonable sort of
we would probably give him a 3 out of 10
4 out of 10, the fans were like
1 out of 10, 0 out of 10
and that's the reason why his grades are so low
from the fans. But equally
at any time he does anything good
everyone's like 8, 9, 10, whatever
But the fact he has a 4.5 average
suggests that there were more
horrendous grades from the fans
than there were great ones.
Let's head to 18th position
18th for me
is Lance Stroll with an average grade
5.0
his best grade was an 8
which he got in Australia, Silverstone
and Hungary and his worst was a 2
in Japan, Canada
and Qatar
Lance Stroll at the start
of the season of course
was in that fight with Fernando Alonso
he got a brilliant 6th place
in Australia
and then followed up with a points finish Alonso
could not get in the points
he was having a lot of poor luck
in a lot of 11th places
and it was like oh my god
Lance Stroll was actually going to
beat him in the championship
but his form
kind of dropped off
he still had his good races where
particularly those kind of like
weird races where you have an unusual
wet race or something crazy happens
Lance Stroll is really one of those drivers
that even when he qualifies poorly
which is a lot of the time
he manages to deliver a good result
and some people may look
at the championship table
and say oh he's got 33 points
it's not that bad
but as you say you can only go on what
we see in the head to head
and the head to head is not great reading
at all Alonso is beating him 16
8 in the race
and in qualifying Alonso
is beating him 24-0
which
is crazy so yeah not a great season
for Stroll despite some high moments
do you include the sprint quali as well
would it be 30-0?
No the sprint quali was
I think it was China
it was 5-1 in the sprint quali as well
so Alonso washed
OK
my 18th position
was Lance Stroll as well with a 5.1
average grade
was tied with Sonoda for me
but had more 9s
so Lance Stroll got a 9 from me in Australia
with that 6th place
with a 10 in Japan
for Lance Stroll
yeah he scored
18 less
sorry no more than that
23 less points than Fernando Alonso
but still
a decent haul of points for Lance
but the problem is for him
he goes on a run of just stinkers
he goes on a run of
he's such a strange driver
to sort of follow because he will have
these great performances and you go
wow what a great race from Lance
what a great strategy
like in Silverstone
things like that where you just go
oh Lance does care
but then he will have 3 or 4 races
where he will be knocked out in Q1
you look at his results
6th and 9th to start the season
then it's 20th, 17th, 16th, 16th
got a P5 in Miami in the sprint
then 15th, 15th withdrawn
17th, 14th
and then towards the end of the season
18th, 17th
and then the 13th, 12th, 14th, 16th
retired 17th so
what happened in Abu Dhabi as well
P10 so we got a point there
but this is the reason why
these are the averages this is where
the recency bias comes out or just
he had good points finishes
and here there if he doesn't put a consistent
season together he's going to be low
in our driver ratings and this is what
has shown so not surprised at all
to see Lance down in 18th
the fans
with a 5.2 average grade
a best of 8 in China
in Baku and a worst of 2 in Austria
and Silverstone
P17 in our driver
ratings average
for me goes to Liam Lawson
with a 5.5
average grade a best of 10
in Austria and Baku and a worst
of 1 in China
I think Liam Lawson may well
have had a chance
to sniff of being higher up
had he not started at Red Bull
with those two races at the beginning
of the season because I gave him a
what did I give him I'm looking at yours sorry
we go to Liam Lawson I gave him a 2 and a 1
at the start of the year
which of course does not help an average grade
in the slightest
Lawson season
again sort of pockets of
really good drives
but not enough I'm not going to
liken him to Lance Troll season
but there weren't
enough massive performances to maybe
thrust his way further up
the order for me
I look at the season for him
he had some great points finishes
Baku being one of them of course
in P5 a 6 in Austria
for Lawson though
he was on the back foot I will absolutely
say that as well with the fact that
he had this Red Bull disaster
he then goes into a car
he's not done pre-season testing in
he's not going to be insanely different
because he was in the car
at moments in the season
before but I think Lawson's
done a pretty good job you know 14th
in the championship Hajar
took all the headlines and finished 13
points further down the road so
for Lawson season it's 17th
and that's purely from the
consistency of it but not a
disaster of a season considering
his P17 in my averages
no I've got Liam Lawson as well
17th with a 5.6
best being of course Baku
and Austria worse being that one
out of 10
in China I'm surprised
Liam Lawson is this low
because I think he has had
a decent season
when you take away that Red Bull
stint and the start
of his V-Carb stint where
it took a while the kind of final few
races he was a match for Hajar
and I think you know the highlight
being Baku where he had
that absolutely sensational
qualifying and then
backed up with a great performance in the race as well
but when I look back on it
I think the reason he is so low you mention
his kind of inconsistency
with the Red Bull
of course I gave him a 2 and a 1 as well
because it was really poor but he's had
a lot of races this year where he's taken
a front wing off or had contact with
other drivers and
yes he's had his great races
where he's got 10s and 8s and 7s
and things from us
but you know when he gets
penalties and things like taking his wing off
obviously we're giving him like 4s and things
and that's bringing his whole average grade down
so yeah maybe
a surprise but when you look at it overall
it's been a very inconsistent season
for Lawson
In 17th for the fans is also Liam Lawson
so we're in agreement
0.2 separating Thomas 5.6
my 5.5 and the fans
4 out of 10 and
they also gave a 10 in Austria and a 1
in China
let's go to P16
P16 is Pierre Gasly
with an average grade
Pierre Gasly
Pierre
it's because Grace always says Pierre
5.8
Gasly got
his best was a 10 in Silverstone
of course an incredible drive to get points
in that tractor his worst was a 2
in Monaco
Gasly
has his rating
I would say so been affected
by the fact that he's driving a really
bad car so even if he's had the
race of his life and finished 19th
we're giving him a 5
out of 10 because we just don't know
I love that we constantly give a little nod
to Alex Albon who told us that
exactly yeah it's so true
man Tommy gave me a 4 and I had the drive
of my life it's given us context
it's open our eyes
no it hasn't changed the grade
because you can't you can't we can't say
I reckon Gasly would have won that race
it's funny to think about
and of course you know
if he smashes his teammate by 20 seconds
in the 19th place we give him
his props and give him like a 7 and a
8 or whatever so we've
done that throughout the season Gasly
just hasn't had the car to compete
18th in the championship
a shocking year I don't think
16th reflects
you know his drive
but then he did
you know fall off a little bit
and wasn't looking all too great
at the kind of midpoint of the season
and got outqualified by Colopinto
quite a few races and things so
yeah I'm sure it will change if the Alpine is
much better
my P16 was also Pierre Gasly
we're all pretty much in agreement
we've been in agreement the entire time
Tommy let's hope it doesn't go for the entirety
of the whole order
but my Pierre Gasly
my Pierre Gasly
P16 was Pierre Gasly
with a 5.8 average
as well I gave a 10
in Bahrain and Silverstone
and a worst of 3 in Monaco and Hungary
when I look at
Pierre Gasly's season in terms of
where he scored points
you know I'm sat there and I'm going
you know he probably shouldn't have been
16th in the average driver ratings
considering the Alpine car
you know but then I think we have
well I've reflected I gave him a 10 in Bahrain
Tommy didn't crazy scenes I think
looking back at it now
you gave him a 9 I think
clearly it wasn't on the podium so not good enough
but when we look at the season now as Alpine
you can clearly see that there was literally
no effort put into Alpine's
2025 campaign
but he is the
he is affected by the fact that
for a lot of the season at the back
fighting Colopinto but then
that is what we also factored into our grades
a lot of the time is that oh well
it kind of looks worse on Gasly
fighting Colopinto than it does Colopinto
fighting Gasly because Colopinto
is a newer driver and Gasly is
a race winner and a proven one
to be able to score podiums
and be at the front so
yeah I think the fact that he was
at the back a lot of the time we would then not really
give a nod to that
but that's purely down to his performance
unfortunately and it's
it's not on him but like
it's harsh to be 16th
when you've like beaten your teammate
through the whole year scored 22 points
when your teammates have scored none
but equally we can't be giving 8s every week
because he's finished 19th and they are
beating his teammates so it's a tough
the only way he would get those higher grades is if he
put 30 seconds on Colopinto
or whatever it might have been
okay the fans gave Pierre Gasly
a 5.5 and 16th as well
we're all in agreement
I'm crying right now you can think that by the comments
best grade from the fans
was a 9 in Silverstone and Barone
goodness gracious
10s for Gasly at all throughout the whole year from the fans
not even Silverstone
and a 3 for Hungary
and Singapore
we're now going to 15th position
mine is Gabrielle Bortoletto with a 5.8
average
was tied with Gasly but has more
than 9 out of 10s
Gabi had a best of 10 out of 10
in Austria and Hungary
from me and a worst of 1
in Brazil and Las Vegas
Bortoletto's season
again hindered by the Sauber
I'd say for maybe half of it
but then the Sauber came really good
and I think we will
I haven't seen where Hultgenberg is in my list
but I'm imagining he's going to be pretty high
especially considering he took an 11
from both of us at one point as well
but for Bortoletto
he can be proud of his season
as a rookie
as much as he's 15th
that's not a slander
everyone's so close
and if you have a string of 3, 4, 5 races
where it's sub par
it can catapult you down the order
so for Bortoletto
I think he can be very happy with his season overall
he's shown that he's got
some great performances in him
I'm looking at Canada
Silverstone, Spa
the Netherlands as well
Bortoletto had a great run of races
in the middle of the season
and so yeah I'm excited to see what he can do
20, 26 and beyond
I also have Gabriel Bortoletto
it will change I'm sure
at some point
hopefully
and if not we can have a hug at the end
we can hug anyway why not
with a 5.9
out of 10
Best was his 10 in Austria
and Hungary in his worst
was a 1 in Vegas and Brazil
his season at the end of the day
has been a mixed bag
he is a rookie
so that is part of it as well
and
of course his grade
will have absolutely plummeted
with the shocking races he had
in Las Vegas and Brazil
where he crashed out on lap 1
and then also had in Vegas
a double crash
out in Brazil
in the sprint and the main race
but he's had that
those kind of high moments where
in the middle of the season
he went on that run where the Salba
looked quite good and he got an 8th
a 9th a 6th and an 8th quite close together
and we're kind of thinking
okay he could rock it his way up the championship
but unfortunately
only one more point
to finish after that
and it didn't really go to plan
and I don't think
I think of all the drivers
and I'm not saying
he's been better than Nico Holkenberg
and Holkenberg deserves a huge amount of credit
and I'm sure that will be reflected from his grade
but I think of all the drivers
Holkenberg finishing 11th
in the championship with all the points
he scored versus Bortoletto
all the way down in 19th
if you look to that on paper you'd say Bortoletto is absolutely useless
and that is certainly not the case
you look at the head-to-head in qualifying
Bortoletto has outscored
Holkenberg 12-11
and in the race it's 12-11
in Holkenberg's favour so incredibly close
Holkenberg's just maximised
the big results
and that's why he's so far up and that is experience
so there we go
Yeah for sure, I think if I was to change
I would probably swap Gasly and Bortoletto
around considering the performance of the cars
like I feel like Bortoletto
for the majority of the season has had a better car
than Gasly of course he is a rookie
and that's where we factor in sometimes our grades
and are a little bit more forgiving
but that's just a swap of one position
in our average driver ratings
the fans also gave it to Gaby Bortoletto
with a 5.7 average grade
a 10 in Austria and Hungary
and a worst of one in Las Vegas
This episode is sponsored by Better Help
February can feel like a lot
everywhere you look it's flowers
chocolates, big romantic gestures
and it can start to feel like everyone else
has their love life together
but the truth is whether you're married, dating
single or just focusing on yourself
lots of us are still figuring it out
no matter where you are in your romantic journey
therapy can help you find your way
helping you understand what you want
what feels heavy and how to take
some of that pressure off yourself
it can help you identify
what's weighing your relationships down
and find new ways to brighten them up again
Better Help makes therapy easy
their therapists are fully licensed
in the US and work according
to a strict code of conduct
they also do the matching work for you
a short questionnaire helps identify
your needs and preferences
and with over 12 years of experience
they typically get it right the first time
and if it's not the right fit
you can switch therapists at any time
so if you're ready to take a little
pressure off yourself this February
sign up and get 10% off
at betterhelp.com
slash p1pod
that's b-e-t-t-e-r-h-e-l-p
dot com
slash p1pod
this episode is sponsored by ebay
the cars you'll find on ebay are just different
they come with a story that you can't
wait to share maybe it's the car history
or the story of how you
found it like this
it's a 1973 Dodge Charger on ebay
that's been tucked away in an Arizona
barn for over 40 years
only 55,000 miles
and somehow in great running
order even as a rare
sunroof
suddenly a car that was hidden for decades
is uncovered on ebay and ready to be
delivered straight to your driveway
thanks to ebay's secure purchase
the new seamless and secure way
to buy your next car
in just a few clicks the title
work is all handled for you
there are thousands of cars like this on ebay
from rare finds like the Pontiac
Grand Prix SJ to unique
builds and your next daily driver
and now a new seamless way
to buy them ebay
things people love
this episode is sponsored by Factor Meals
you want to eat better
but you've got zero time and honestly
zero energy I feel you
but with Factor it's not down to you
to meal prep or follow recipes
it just removes the entire problem
two minutes real food
done how often do you stare at your fridge
at 9pm exhausted knowing that
healthy cooking just isn't going to happen
standing there googling
is cereal a protein
healthy eating can be really difficult
if you don't want to give up three hours every night
Factor Meals are made by chefs
designed by dieticians
delivered to your door they're full of lean proteins
colourful veggies
healthy fats the stuff you'd make
if you had time
no refined sugars no artificial sweeteners
no refined seed oils
they've got 100 rotating meals
every week high protein
calorie smart Mediterranean GLP
1 support even a new muscle
pro line so you can pick
what fits your goals
head to factormeals.com
and use code
Factor Meals 50 off to get 50% off
your first factor box
plus free breakfast for one year
that's factormeals.com
slash Matt and Tommy 50 off
offer only valid
for new factor customers with code
and qualifying auto renewing subscription
purchase make healthier eating
easy with factor
there are a million reasons people
start therapy a breakup
burn out a new job whatever
your reason there is one place
to start grow therapy meets
you where you are with support
that actually sticks whether it's
your first time in therapy or
your 50th grow makes it easier
to find a therapist who fits you
not the other way around they connect you
with thousands of independent licensed
therapists across the US
offering both virtual and in-person
sessions nights and weekends
you can search by what matters
like insurance specialty
identity or availability
and get started in as little as two days
and if something comes up you can cancel
up to 24 hours in advance
at no cost there are no subscriptions
no long-term commitments
you just pay per session grow helps
you find therapy on your time
whatever challenges you're facing
grow therapy is here to help
sessions average about $21
with insurance and some pay as little as $0
depending on their plan grow except
over 100 insurance plans
including Medicaid in some states
visit grow therapy
dot com slash start now
today to get started that's
grow therapy dot com
slash start now
grow therapy dot com
slash start now availability
and coverage vary by state and
insurance plan it's
2026 and if you're still paying
rent without built it's time for a change
built is the loyalty program
for renters that rewards you for your biggest
monthly expense rent
I don't like paying rent and I bet you don't
either but built makes it feel a little better
built is the loyalty program
for renters that rewards you monthly with points
and exclusive benefits in your neighborhood
let me explain with built
every rent payment earns you points that can be used
towards flights hotels
lift rides
dot com purchases and so much
more and here's something I'm really excited
about now built members can earn
points on mortgage payments for the first time
soon you'll be able to get rewarded
wherever you live and unlock exclusive
benefits with more than 45,000
restaurants fitness studios
pharmacies and other neighborhood partners
personally I'd use my built points
for travel turning rent into flights
feels like a win it's simple
paying rent is better with built and
now owning a home will be better with
built to earn rewards and get
something back wherever you live
join the loyalty program for renters
at join built dot com slash
a cast that's j o i n
b i l t
dot com slash a cast
make sure to use our url
so they know we sent you
what are you reaching for if you're a smoker
or vapor you could be reaching for so much
more with syn nicotine pouches
when you reach for zen you're reaching
for 10 satisfying varieties and two
strengths for a smoke free experience
that lets you lean in for chances
to break free from your routine and
unique nationwide community whatever
you're reaching for reach for it with
america's number one nicotine pouch brand
find yours in wherever nicotine
products are sold near you
warning this product contains nicotine
nicotine is an addictive chemical
let's go to 14th position tommy
14th
it's oof time it's
Lewis Hamilton
6.0
his best was an 8
in china, imola, austria,
silverstone
and circuit of the americas
at his worst was a 2
in katar
my word Lewis Hamilton
some people you know 14th
sound incredibly harsh
dare I say some people would put him even lower than that
if you were picking he's had an awful
season I'm not going to beat around
the bush here we don't want to see it
we've said it so many times we don't want to see him
fail it was so exciting seeing him go
to ferrari but my word
has it been a stinker of a season
for Lewis Hamilton
you know absolutely trounced
by charle claire in the points tally
of course
the headline being that
he's not scored a podium
this season when the likes of hulkenberg
hadja science got two
podiums it's not
not gone well and you think a
driver of Lewis Hamilton's
caliber you know he's not
he's not received a 9 all season
never mind a 10
he's not had any particularly
stunning drives where you've
kind of gone oh let Hamilton still has
it in him and then of course
you know it's the other
grades have been
much lower than that and have some really
poor results particularly
towards the end of the season where he's qualifying
and not even making it into q2 so
what an awful
awful year for Lewis Hamilton
I could not have predicted
no one could have predicted it had been this bad
and we just wait to see
what he can do in 26 and see
if he can turn his form around
in a new regulation set
because he needs to he absolutely does
in 14th position for me
is Lewis Hamilton as well
with a 6.1
average grade a best of 8 in China
emula ostria silverstone and cota
and a worst of 2 in the
Netherlands
you would have
been absolute
the comments if either of us
had said you know Hamilton
would not get a podium
at Ferrari
people would have been like what
are you talking about
not a win at that stage
not a win not a podium
considering as well
sprint win of course
sprint win
and then follow it up with a disqualification
thank you Ferrari in the main race
yeah the fact that there's not been
one singular 9 as well
I'm surprised in the sense of
like if you were to tell me before the season
but not surprised now knowing the season
that there hasn't been a high grade
because he hasn't had a podium
so of course Silverstone was closed
where he was chasing down Holkenberg
but then you were factoring in these things
like he's chasing down Holkenberg for this
it was a decent drive in Silverstone
when you compare it to Charles Leclerc
who hasn't had the most disastrous Silverstone
ever I feel like
he's just destined to never really
and Ferrari in the wet are
but yeah just
such a tough season
for Lewis Hamilton
I just can't believe what I'm looking at
when I look at his results
it's just been really
really quite
you look at the qualifying in particular
Hamilton of course with every record
under the sun when it comes to
goals and victories
and yeah it's been tough to watch
Hamilton hasn't been great in this ground effect
era we know this but this has got worse
than what was happening in Mercedes
where he was close with George Russell
beating him sometimes getting beaten by George other times
this was you know comprehensive
beating by Charles Leclerc
when you look at the head to heads and things like that
so I hope for Hamilton
he's back in 2026, Formula One is
better when Lewis Hamilton is performing
it's as simple as that
to watch Hamilton at the front
so fingers crossed the new regs
work for him
the fans
Esteban Ocon is in P14
for them with the best of nine
in China, Bahrain and Monaco with the worst
of three in Japan and Singapore
we will reflect on Ocon when we
put him in our order
P13
Esteban Ocon
with a 6.2 average grade
I gave him a 10 in China and
Monaco is his best and worst of three
in Japan
Esteban Ocon's season
again you look at the ones that are
lower in our
in our order the Bortolettos
the Ghazlis, the Lawsons
they've had topsy-turvy seasons
and Ocon is exactly the same
Ocon's season
started so brilliantly
China as I said
a 10 in Monaco as well
but then you look towards
the sort of second half of the season
it was where Oli Bearman was going on
an insane run of form
and Ocon just couldn't sort it out on Saturdays
there would be the occasional race where
he'd pull off a miracle
strategy which
props to him for making that work
you know he'd go pit on lap one and do
something insane on the hards
or whatever it might be
Esteban was pretty good in the races
for the majority of the season but he just couldn't put
himself in the position that he had to roll
the dice with a lot of things
after some poor Saturdays
overall
he finished three points behind Oli Bearman
in the championship
he probably won't look back on this season
particularly fondly
but he can bounce back
he's had a good enough performances this season
that it's not like
wow Esteban was so bad this year
but it just wasn't consistent from him
and we shall see
what he brings next year
13th
Esteban Ocon
with a 6.4
his best of course
10 in China and Monaco
and his worst was a 3
in Japan
he was
a driver that I expected
a new lease of life
after the bad time he had
towards the end of his Alpine stint
and he kind of showed that at the start
a 5th in China
a 7th in Monaco
and yeah he was scoring
a lot of points for Haas
while his teammate Bearman
was
maybe a bit more inconsistent
and still scoring points but
obviously not as many as his teammate
but then yeah the form dropped off
qualifying seems to have been really
as Achilles heel so many times Ocon
was qualifying
low down the order
you look at the head to head
14-10 in Bearman's favour
the sprint actually 4-2 as well
so qualifying was where Bearman
had the upper hand
in the race it was actually 12 all
but Ocon
just didn't have enough performances
throughout the year and of course
you expect him as the elder statement
and a race winner of course
to be beating Bearman
and he did not
so not the best season for Esteban Ocon
13th
and
Carlos Sainz
with a 6.4
average grade
that does feel low doesn't it
it really does the best of 10 in Baku
and Qatar and a worst of 4
in Australia and Spain
for Carlos
we now go to 12th position
12th
is Kimmy Antonelli
for me with a 6.4
he's actually
a grade of course
overall as Ocon but he has more 10s
which he got in Australia
Canada, Brazil
and then his worst was a 2 in Monaco
Austria and Belgium
what a mixed bag for
Kimmy Antonelli
you know I don't think there's many drivers
on this list
that have 3 10s
and then 3 2s
he really did have some
really really strong races
his debut where he got all the way onto the podium
Canada
he was absolutely superb
had a really great end
to the season as well
Brazil of course being a standout
but too many races where
he qualified poorly
and then
finished poorly as well
it would either be, oh my god Kimmy is really showing something
he's got a podium
or he's got a really solid result
or finished just behind George on the road
and then it felt like
maybe in a couple of races time
he'd be qualifying 15th
and finishing 12th or something
so yeah a really mixed
bag for Antonelli
and um
overall like
I think overall
he didn't show
insane hype that it's like oh my god
he's unbelievable
but I do think he showed
why Mercedes picked him because
you can see he's got a very high ceiling
and if he just becomes
a consistent driver he's of course still very young
he was thrown in
to Mercedes as a rookie
it's huge pressure replacing Lewis Hamilton
and he showed that
he's got what it takes
he now just needs to like fine tune it
he certainly does
my P12
Kimmy Antonelli
we're on a run of agreement right now
6.3 out of 10
average a best of 10 in Australia, Canada
and Brazil a worst of 2
in the Netherlands and Belgium
Kimmy Antonelli's
driver ratings average position
which I know he will lose sleep on
was essentially
you know
to not finish in the top 10 was lost
from the run from Austria
to the Netherlands
essentially with obviously Monaco
as well being a disappointment
you know if I look at Monaco he got 3
2 in Austria, a 5 in Silverstone
a 2 in Belgium, a 5 in Hungary
and a 2 in the Netherlands
that's you know we're getting into
the point 1s, the point 2s
to literally put you 3, 4, 5 places
up the order
and this is what has affected Antonelli
again not having that full
consistency over a year
to be able to
essentially score very solidly
throughout those 24 races
but for Kimmy
when you look at how he
crashed
in the practice of Monza
to now putting a season together like that
he has silenced
I think a lot of critics in some ways
the critics can still say
does he have a whole season in him
where he doesn't make
a handful of mistakes
that's what we're yet to see
with Newreggs I'm excited to see
just how adaptable he is as a driver
and it may well work in his favour
with the fact he's young
and got a lot of talent
that he can learn with everybody else
be learning an entirely new different car
in 2026 but overall
12th
kind of makes sense
but it's not as disappointing a season as perhaps
that may suggest
the fans
with a 6.4
out of 10
which is a big oof
12th from the fans
in Qatar
potentially a lot of rookie of the season
nominees out there
and yeah P12
that is crazy a best of 10
in Monaco and Netherlands and a worst of 0
in Australia
P11
my 11th place is Carlos Sainz
with a 6.5 overall
grade
a best of 10 in Baku, Las Vegas, Qatar
and a worst of 3 in Australia
and Austria
absolute madness
I'll be honest with you
absolute craziness
because the colours
that you see are a lot of points finishes
for Carlos
and it's weird because
you look at the first half of the season
he did score points but the thing was
Alex was scoring quite a lot more
so therefore his grade was naturally
going down ever so slightly
he then had a difficult run from Silverstone
to Monza
and again
after as well in Austin, Mexico
not being able to score big points
of course Austin he had a great sprint
Carlos
again like two podiums though
so he had some massive results
but sadly there were moments
where it just wasn't working out for him
he was getting bad luck in that Williams car
and
doesn't necessarily mean he's getting really low grades
but he's not able to get
the big grades that Alex Albon was getting
at the start of the season but overall
Carlos can be very happy with his first season
at Williams to score two podiums
he was absolutely thriving
at the end of the season with those results
and 11th feels harsh
but I'm not surprised to see him there
considering you take into account the whole season
and how great Alex was
in the first half
In 11th I have Carlos Sainz
with a 6.5
We've agreed from
21st to 11th
I'm actually seeing a note in this document
right now that says we disagree a lot
in the top 10, don't worry
So fine, we are not the same person
the entire way through, thank God
Yeah, thankfully
A best for Carlos was 10
of course in Baku, Vegas, Qatar
his worst was 2 in Australia
so people may be surprised
to see Carlos that low down
of course he was lower
in the fan grade
because he had an amazing end to the season
you know, he got
two podiums, he got three 10s
towards the end of the season
having what we said
was Carlos was
arguably the most disappointing driver
of the first half of the season
I don't think you can deny that
the hype
between, and you know
I'm looking at our mid season
driver
grades
and this is probably why
Carlos is this low
his average was a 5.9
we both gave him from the fans
and we gave him a 6
he was lower than Gasly
at this stage
in our
driver ratings championship
so it's been a tell of two hearts
of course at the end of the season
he went on this amazing points run
two podiums
grabbed some really big results
and as you said, he scored good points
at the start of the season
the problem for him was that Albin was scoring
fifth places for fun at the start of the year
which is why Carlos
is this
low
if you'd just covered the end of the season
I'm sure it'd be very high up on this list
but alas, it's over the whole season
you can only score 10s apart from one random 11 out of 10
that we gave to Holkenberg in Silverstone
but you can't score more than a 10
just because you've had an incredible podium
you can't be making up
for lost ground in other parts of the season
in 11th place for the fans
Nico
Holkenberg
with a 6.4
out of 10
10 in Spain and Silverstone
and a worst of no greater Monza or 3
in Singapore
okay, interesting
that is very very interesting
we've not uttered Nico's name
and I think for good reason
and you'll have noticed that 6.4
Holkenberg, Hadjar
and Sainz have all got the same grade
from the fans
in 11th, 12th, 13th
wow, very close indeed
right, so that's it for part 1
join us tomorrow
for part 2, the 10th
to 1st
and that's going to be a big one
where we actually disagree
we'll disagree so much, join us then
AI is transforming customer service
it's real and it works
and with Finn we've built the number 1
AI agent for customer service
we're seeing lots of cases where it's
solving up to 90% of real queries
for real businesses
this includes the real world complex stuff
like issuing a refund
or cancelling an order
and we also see it when Finn goes up
against competitors
it's top of all
it's top of all
the performance benchmarks
top of the G2 leaderboard
and if you're not happy
we'll refund you up to a million dollars
which I think says it all
check it out for yourself at fin.ai
About this episode
Matt and Tommy dive into their 2025 Formula 1 driver ratings from 21st to 11th place, analyzing the entire season without recency bias. They discuss rookies like Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto struggling with Alpine, Yuki Tsunoda's tough year at Red Bull, and Lance Stroll's inconsistent performances. Mid-pack drivers such as Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly, Gabriel Bortoleto, Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon, Kimmy Antonelli, and Carlos Sainz receive detailed breakdowns highlighting highs, lows, and head-to-head battles. The hosts reflect on surprising placements and set the stage for the top 10 ratings in the next episode.
Just when you thought that Driver Ratings controversy was over for the season, we've averaged out all our grades to give a thorough, unbiased view of the whole season! Cue pandemonium in the comments...
Sign up to our Patreon! You'll get access to every P1 episode ad-free, extended versions of every 2026 race review, early access to tickets & merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now: http://patreon.com/mattp1tommy