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Qatar GP Driver Ratings
Qatar GP Driver Ratings
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About this episode
Matt and Tommy dive into detailed driver ratings for the Qatar Grand Prix, evaluating performances from rookies to champions. Highlights include Oscar Piastri's near-perfect weekend despite team strategy errors, Carlos Sainz's impressive podium for Williams, and Max Verstappen's strong but not flawless race. They discuss struggles for drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll, and the challenges Alpine faced. The hosts also touch on fan reactions, controversial moments, and set the stage for an exciting Abu Dhabi finale with three drivers still in championship contention.
Topics:
qatar grand prix
driver ratings
oscar piastri
carlos sainz
max verstappen
lewis hamilton struggles
alpine performance
mcclaren strategy errors
abu dhabi championship
fan reactions
It's time for the penultimate episode of the most controversial podcast series in motorsport - and we've got some arguments to have...
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Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy.
Katar Grand Prix F1 driver ratings.
The penultimate time we will be grading every single driver from 0 to 10.
Your favorite series to probably disagree with us, but that's fine.
Healthy debate is gorgeous and lovely.
Leave a like if you enjoy this series, if you enjoy being a part of this community.
Tommy, how are you, sir?
I'm good.
I think this is going to be another enjoyable one because there are some grades I really,
really struggled with actually between a couple of grades here and there.
And I do enjoy those ones even though of course that's the most contentious ones.
It is.
It certainly is.
But that is the fun of driver ratings.
Oh yeah.
So yeah, we will get into your controversial ones as we go.
So why don't we begin, shall we?
No, let's not begin.
Let's say Manchester and Dublin.
There's a few more tickets left for our P1 live show.
If you want to go come to the show, there'll be a link in the description.
Only a few left and this season God knows what we're going to be talking about
come the end of Abu Dhabi.
Who are we going to talk about?
We'd love to have you there.
Lots of people are coming already.
If you've never been to a P1 live show before,
you're thinking about coming on your own.
A lot of people do and they make friends when they're there.
So it's all good fun.
Right, let's begin with Gabrielle Bortoletto.
Started the sprint in 13th, finished 11th.
Started the main race in 19th and finished 13th.
I am going for a whopping old grade of a 5 out of 10 for Gabrielle Bortoletto.
Quite an underwhelming weekend for Gabby.
Hülkenberg's teammate was showing what was potentially possible
until he was yeeted into...
We'll get into the race.
But he was out of the race and Bortoletto just not able to make much impression.
I think you will notice a trend of some drivers
not being able to make an impression because they didn't qualify very well
and therefore couldn't score any points.
Indeed, I've gone for a 5 for Bortoletto as well.
I think this is a what could have been with the fact that he had his Vegas penalty
because of course dropped him down 5 places, finished 13th,
had even higher up the order, made a good start and stuff.
He could have been fighting for those points but sadly for him,
it's not but better than kind of the form he's been on
with the last couple of races where he's had some big crashes and things.
Exactly, a non-headline worthy weekend is just fine for Bortoletto
and he can build from there.
The fans gave him a 5 as well.
Nika Hülkenberg started the sprint in 14th, finished 16th,
started the main race in 11th, did not finish.
I've gone for a 5 out of 10 for Nika Hülkenberg.
He obviously started the race quite well and was running in the points,
made a move around the outside.
It was on, I can understand why he went for it.
I still believe racing incident, certainly not Hülkenberg's fault at all
and yeah, but you risk that kind of,
it's always that risk versus reward, isn't it, in Formula 1
and how you make the move
and it's incredibly difficult to pass around Qatar.
I think I did, but yeah, I'm going for a 5 for Hülkenberg.
I'm going to go for a 6 out of 10 for Nika Hülkenberg.
Of course, didn't make it far into the race
but I really don't blame him at all.
Of course, I say it's a racing incident,
but Hülkenberg is well within his rights to swing it around the outside.
That's one of the only ways to overtake around Qatar.
And then Gasly sadly understeers into him ever so slightly
and wipes him out the race.
If that hadn't have happened, he'd be running in P9
and I firmly believe he would have come home
with some good points considering it's the most uneventful race ever
after the, well, to be fair, yeah, the safety car
that they caused made the race very uneventful.
Had their incident not happened,
well, we might have a new world champion already.
We do not know, although probably unlikely.
The fans gave Niko a 5 out of 10.
Alex Albon started sprinting 10th, finished 10th,
started the main race in 14th, finished 11th.
I'm going to go for a 6 out of 10 for Alex Albon.
Did not bring any points home this weekend.
A scruffy weekend in compare,
when you compare it to Carlos signs,
but I think anyone's weekend looks scruffy
in comparison to Carlos signs.
It's not an absolute disaster of a weekend,
like 10th and 11th are decent finishes.
He's just missed out on the points in both of them.
So, yeah, I think 6 reflects, like,
the grade we're about to give Carlos,
I think it's very obvious what he's going to get,
but I don't think that Alex should be downgraded
to a 4 or 3 because Carlos has put in a podium performance
because Alex, yeah, it's not gone well,
but it's not an absolute disaster.
You took the words right out of my mouth there.
I've gone for a 6 out of 10 for Alex Albon as well.
It's one of those weird situations where,
yeah, it could be quite easy to go,
oh, well, his teammate did this
and so therefore it's a 3 out of 10 or something.
But actually, on paper,
Williams went expected to do well around here.
He's not done absolutely awfully.
You know, it's not a great race,
which is why he's getting a 6,
but for me, and we'll get on to him very soon,
it's more that his teammate has excelled
rather than Alex Albon been absolutely awful.
OK, the fans gave Alex a 6 as well.
Carlos Sainz started the sprint
in 8th, finished 8th,
started the main race in 7th, finished 3rd.
I've gone for a 10 out of 10 for Carlos Sainz.
Shakara.
Brilliant sprint to get the points.
He's had good pace all weekend.
It wasn't a flash in the pan, obviously.
Helped by McLaren and the fact that
he got a great start as well.
Then passed Antonelli in the pit stops
due to the whole kerfuffle of Antonelli
having a bit of a slow pit stop and things.
The fact that he's got a podium again,
my word, I'm very excited
to see the final driver ratings
at the end of the season,
because I'm pretty sure at the mid-season
Carlos was about 16th.
He's on a roll of 10s and things
seemingly all the time at the moment.
I think he's going to be one of the
biggest movers in our
Drive Ratings Championship,
and of course the main championship
of Formula 1 as well, which is less important
as we know in our Drive Ratings.
But brilliant from Carlos again,
what a drive, his pace.
I think the most impressive thing is
it was his pace when he got there.
He obviously, you know,
he was very quick, then got into
that position and it wasn't like he was
hanging on for dear life. I think the only
reason he was hanging on for dear life was
his car was falling apart.
Exactly, yeah. I've gone for a 10 out of 10
unsurprisingly as well for Carlos.
It was not lucky.
This podium was not lucky.
The start was all his doing,
getting past Hadjan, of course Russell
making that mistake and Carlos
in advantage. He made these positions
up by driving really well
and then kept the podium
because his pace was unbelievable.
This was not a roll the dice,
go on drives, go on wet situation.
So one of the
strongest performances
from anybody this season.
It has to be. Carlos
so good to see him
thriving now at Williams
and this is,
there's not many drivers that can
probably do what Carlos just did
this weekend and he's proving
to everybody that he
and we've been saying this from the start
he didn't deserve to lose his Ferrari seat
and anyone that didn't,
anyone that did think he deserved to go
are probably now eating their words.
So well done Carlos. The fans
gave him a 10 as well.
Isaac Hadjar started the sprint in 11th,
finished 9th, started
the main race in 6th, did not
finish.
I'm going to go for an 8 out of 10
for Hadjar. I think it was a very
strong weekend especially in the main race.
Obviously what could have been from
sprint qualifying if he hadn't had his lap time
deleted but a phenomenal
qualifying for the main race and was
running in such a strong P6
until
his car decided to disintegrate
on itself and cause him a puncture.
I mean how unlucky does he need to be
whether there's you know curb riding and things like that
but you wouldn't expect one of the wheel winglet things
to just fall off if you've been riding the curbs
a little bit too hard. It's no higher than that
because of course you know the likes of Carlos
Sainz has showed that there was a lot
on the table for someone that really
did maximise everything
but I think an 8 out of 10 reflects
despite him DNF-ing that he was on
for a very strong result.
I am going to go for
an 8 out of 10
and this one, no I'm not
going to because it's very close to a 9
for me very very close to a 9
I think the reason
yeah like he was going to finish 6
basically is the reason
that you know the result
doesn't reflect it. I think the reason I'm going for an
8 or a few factors
he lost places at the start
from you know his initial position
and then
equally the sprint
I think he had amazing pace
all weekend and didn't quite maximise it
but I still think
from Hadja we are just seeing
what a special talent he is
and I can't believe that
surely the most underrated
driver going into the season
didn't really know a whole lot about him
how he'd do
obviously finished 2nd in Formula 2 last year
but the expectation was incredibly low
and I think he's consistently
putting in absolutely fantastic drives
and this was another one I'm very unlucky
not to get points
very unlucky indeed
the fans gave him a 7
very harsh
Liam Lawson started the sprint
in 16th finished 14th
started the main race in 12th finished 9th
I've gone for
a 6 out of 10
for Liam Lawson
may seem a bit harsh the fact that he's
P9 you know
6 out of 10 but it has to be lower than his
teammate I don't think he was
near his teammates pace at all in the sprint
equally in qualifying he couldn't get near him
yeah both sessions
and there was of course
a good slice of fortune for him
that he inherited
P9 one due to
a house mistake from Oli Bearman and two
his own teammate
of course with his car
falling apart at the end
but still a decent drive from Lawson
so I've gone for a 6
I've gone for a 6 out of 10 for Lawson as well
plenty left to be desired
I think from this weekend for Lawson
of course the sprint was just
qualifying in general just wasn't great for him
when you compare it to Hajar
just hasn't been feeling
one with the car and
yes he improved and yes he scored points
but I echo your sentiments Tommy
that he was fortunate that other cars
went off in front of him
to gain some positions
but not a disaster still some points on the board
and that's why it's a 6 out of 10
the fans gave him a 6 as well
Oli Bearman started the sprint in 12th
finished 12th started the main race in 13th
did not finish
I am going to go for a 6 out of 10
for Oli Bearman I believe
I don't believe I know
he was running in 10th place until
Hass decided they don't know how
to do pit stops and
kind of ruined any chance
of him scoring a point
because he was very much in the mix there
that's kind of
my main basis as to why it's not a bog standard
5 considering it was 12th 12th
and then a DNF in the main race
but yeah I think
he at least deserves a little nod
for what he was achieving
he gained a position off the line
and by lap 10 he was running in 10th
so it's a shame
that his next pit stop went so
badly and we saw his
emotional reaction
to that with the onboard
of him coming out the pits and smashing his steering wheel
so he knew that there was a point on the
cards
I've gone for a 7 for Oli Bearman
I think a points finish was absolutely on
definitely on you know it was
line of stern and until that pit
stop mess up of course he was getting
p10 and I've got to think
had he finished p10 on the road
I would be giving him a 7 and it's certainly not
his fault at all so
yeah I'll go for a 7 for Bearman
here the fans give him a 5
I've gone for a 4 out of 10
for a spin knock on another weekend
to forget
he just seems
at the start of the season he scored so
many points and was doing
yeah kind of
was getting some big scores and things
but it doesn't seem to be happening as much
at all really now Oli Bearman
looks comfortably quicker than him
really at this stage of the season
and he's really struggling
and yeah
of course got a penalty at the start as well
for rolling
forward and yeah
it's just not going well for Ocon right now
I've also gone for a 4 out of 10
for Estaban
it's sad to see of course he bounced back
in Vegas and beat Oli Bearman there
didn't score points but at least beat his
teammate and this is again
kind of I don't know how you can say
it's anything other than underwhelming
for Ocon I don't really
understand why
he's lacking pace
in comparison to Oli is it the fact that
Oli's just improving race by race
maybe that's more to the point but either
or it's a slightly concerning
season so far for Ocon I say so far
there's more than one race left but
I'd love to see him
get back to the form that we know he can do
and he's shown some amazing performances this year
but just it's only been a handful
if that that we've seen massive
point scores at the beginning of the
year so hoping
he has a good race in Abu Dhabi the fans
gave him a 4 as well
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Franco Colopinto started
the sprint in the pit lane
finished the sprint in 20th
started the main race from the pit
lane and finished 14th
I am going to go for
four out of ten Franco
Colopinto deliberate whether it was a
three or a four as I say we're
so better yeah definitely not better
not not a good weekend at all
from Franco
he said he didn't feel comfortable this weekend
of course did did okay
in the race but like realistically he's beaten
Ocon who is getting penalty
on top of penalty has was like
I'm going to touch the car oh wait you were
serving a penalty and then he had to get another
penalty and then he beat his teammate who of
course was running in the points until
everything went wrong with him and
Nico Holkenberg so
I know I still expect the Alpine to be
one of the worst cars and Gasly was doing
but still four out of ten
yeah I've gone for a four out of
ten for Colopinto as well
sadly for him
he's had quite a good
run where we were sort of
basically saying that
I think it's overstated
that you know people saying that he's
awful and which is completely not true
and and kind of looking
really slow and and no better
than doing and things I think unfortunately
for Franco this is one of those races that
like adds to that narrative that's going to get
people like back on that that kind of
you know opinion
because yeah he was just
slow this weekend we know he can do
better and
and he just did not look
anywhere near the pace of his teammate
obviously there's a lot of
we've joked a few times on the watch along
that it seems like the second they sign Colopinto
Gasly put his foot down and just
started doing really good things
in that Alpine but Colopinto
yeah he's had a rough few races and this is
another one
certainly is the fans gave him a four
out of ten Pierre Gasly
started the sprint from the pit lane finished
eighteenth started the main race ninth
and finished sixteenth
I've gone for a five out of
ten for Pierre Gasly
a brilliant qualifying
and really should have been
some rare points for Alpine
I say it's a racing incident
I do lay more blame on
Pierre Gasly I don't think it's a penalty
there's that moment
where kind of with Gasly you're kind of like
look you're still running in the points here
you don't need to do anything
crazy or stupid
and yeah it's not
penalty worthy
but of course like washes wide really
races hard to try and stay ahead which of course
it's got every right to do but they collide
and there goes
any points possible for Gasly
which is a shame after an absolutely
fantastic qualifying
to be up there in P9
absolutely I've gone for a six out of
ten for Pierre Gasly
racing incident by the rulebook
yes but I also agree that
he had more of a part to play
in order to make sure that that didn't happen
Gasly try to
defend his position of course he's going to try and do that
in an Alpine that doesn't have many opportunities
to score points
but I think the six out of ten reflects that
he was doing a phenomenal job
to be up there anyway
and yeah it's not like
I think he deserves a penalty or anything like that
so yeah I think six out of ten
reflects my thoughts quite well
the fans gave him a five
Lance Stroll started the sprint from the pit lane
finished the sprint in 19th
started the main race in 18th
did not finish
hmm
how savage
am I going to go
for a two out of ten for Lance Stroll
I don't have any words
and neither does he to be fair so why should I give words
about his performance when he doesn't give words about
his performance and says two words and then
just goes to the next weekend so there you go
two out of ten over to you Tommy
I've gone for a two out of ten for Lance Stroll as well
basically yeah I don't
think Aston Martin are a particularly
good package
it seems like quite a
confusing car it's very up and down
and it has been this season
and
yeah
that's when you're like one of
if not the worst qualifier in terms of
like a long term driver of all time in my
opinion like it's the part of
this game that is so so poor like the qualifying
it always puts you in like
a terrible position and then
basically like the sprint was a throw away
because he was never going to score points so he basically
tried to pit and do
different to learn for the main race
and then equally tried something different again
in the main race because he knew
that he'd qualified to
far down so I'm not going to give him
like a one or a zero
which is easy to jump on when it's Lance Stroll
he's got it in him but it wasn't this weekend
no exactly
as funny as well before we get on to Fernando
you mentioned about the car being confusing did you see
what he said about the car
and the fact it's basically like a spirit
it's like a possessed car
absolutely hilarious
what Alonso was saying about the car
I mean you say it's not a great package
but we're about to talk about Fernando's results
and that included a spin as well
Lance Stroll the fans gave him a
one out of ten
Fernando Alonso started the sprint
in fourth finished seventh
started the main race in eighth finished seventh
I've gone
for an eight out of ten for Fernando Alonso
the fan boy in me
really wanted to give him a nine
I can tell
two p sevens you got to say
you know it is getting everything out of that Aston Martin
but I think it would have been a nine
had he not spun and it cost him that position
to Hadjah of course he inherited it back anyway
because of Hadjah's errors
but of course this is driver ratings not results
ratings
as we all need to be aware
and yeah the sprint
qualifying in particular
was a real highlight to put that car up in fourth
incredible
from him
one of his best tracks
and yeah a really really good weekend
I wish it could have been a nine
but yeah that
what a spin though what a spin the way he spun round
and carried on
for sure
I've also gone for an eight out of ten for Fernando
and I was so ready to shoot you down when you were said a nine
I just felt like there was a Tom Bellingham
nine out of ten for Fernando coming every day of the week
let's not forget as well
that spin let George Russell through as well
who was stuck in that train
so it was a technical two position loss
of course as you say Hadjah getting that
problem means Alonzo got one of those positions back
but apart from that
a great weekend
actually take it all back
he deserves a two for his pace at the start
that DRS train helping the McLarens
there you not hurt Max when the champion
you should be fusing
by the fact that yeah he basically
opened up this massive gap
that the McLarens could pit into
on lap 25
so yeah apart from that
a pretty strong weekend
just a shame about that mistake
that lost him a couple of positions
the fans gave him an eight
out of ten as well
Kimi Antonelli started the sprint in seventh
finished sixth started the main race in fifth
finished fifth
I am going to
lock in a seven
out of ten for Kimi Antonelli
a good weekend
nothing too special of course he beat
George in the main race I think
I would say George was
absolutely not on his best form
either on the Sunday
after making that mistake and losing a few positions
on lap one
but yeah Antonelli had a very strong race
couldn't make any
impression on Carlos but I think that is just the nature
of this track you have to be
an insane amount quicker
to get a chance to overtake
but yeah I think seven
is pretty
alright Mercedes weren't
at least apart from George in the sprint
weren't really looking
like they could challenge McLaren
and Max over the course
of a full race distance so
yeah a seven
I have gone for an eight out of ten
for Kimi Antonelli I think it was a great race
from him such a shame about the error
not just from
the fact that he has made an error
and lost a position but also the
shameful abuse
that he is getting and I am glad to see
Red Bull release a statement
I just want to cover that off that
basically saying that
what we said was wrong
because it was I think formula one
has a part to play for playing that
radio message out there as well to a point
and yeah
Antonelli
very impressive that
he has managed to beat Russell again
I think had Mercedes
I am unsure
about the pit stop
because from
watching it back it almost looks like
they are over cautious with
an unsafe release and they are kind of letting everyone
go and rather than it being a slow pit
stop and had that not been the case
he wouldn't have lost a position to
Carlos and who knows
it might have been an even better result
of course he fell away at the end but
a good result from Kimi nonetheless
despite the error
and very impressive that
he has managed to beat George Russell
again
Absolutely yeah I think the reason
I went for a 7 rather than an 8 that I didn't mention
was the sprint as well where he picked up a penalty
which would have put him ahead of Yuki
Sonoda had he not got that 5 second
penalty for track
limits and I completely
echo your thoughts on the abuse
I mentioned it in best reactions if you have watched that
it is completely
utterly unacceptable
we try and lay blame on F1
or Red Bull whatever the main blame
is on the people that feel actually confident
to go and do this abuse
to send this stuff to him like
are you actually insane
it's just so horrible
to see that he's racing
his heart out he's a rookie
19 years old
being given all of this because of something
that was
if anybody has even a brain cell
he made a mistake
had a slightly
he had a poor line into that left hander
because he got a bit of a wobble on
that's literally all it was
ridiculous to think that Mercedes actually want
McLaren to win the Drivers World Championship as well
as we've said previously on the main race
podcast so our final
thoughts on that and on Kimmy
is leave him alone
okay the fans gave Kimmy Antonelli
a 7 out of 10
George Russell started the sprint in second
started the main race in fourth finish sixth
I've gone for a
7 out of 10 for George Russell
it's close between a 7 and 8
I think his sprint was absolutely fantastic
in his result there
I do think there was more on the table
from what he had as a package
you know showing what he could do in the sprint
for him to qualify
higher in the
the main quali
obviously fourth is still a good result
but then he dropped back behind Antonelli
two seconds behind his rookie teammate
I know a lot of that is of course
well most of that is because he's stuck in a train
and it's a double stack
but then you know he lost out to him at the start
so yeah I've gone
for a 7 for George Russell
I've gone for a 7 as well
I couldn't really decide
between grades between Kimmy and George
because I think they both had two very differing weekends
George having a phenomenal sprint
and then a sort of poor lap
one in the main Sunday which cost him
massively
so yeah I've gone for a 7 as well
for George
good but nothing to write home about
sadly for him
and yeah had he not made that mistake
on lap 1
we could well be seeing Lando finishing
another place further back
because I fully expect George to have been right there
with Antonelli
should he have
and I know his spots and maybes
but yeah it cost George a lot
on this one the fans gave George
a 7 out of 10
Yuki Sonoda
started the sprint in 5th, finished 5th
started the main race in 15th
finished 10th
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This one's difficult, isn't it?
Yeah, really difficult.
This one is difficult.
Look, I'm gonna give him a seven.
I'm gonna give you a key of seven.
I had six written down,
but I just feel so horrible to say a six after the sprint
was literally his best drive of his entire reddible career
in terms of actually being in the main team.
Yep, the Saturday qualifying didn't go to plan,
but he still managed to score a point
with all the chaos around him.
It's by no means an insane, amazing weekend.
It looked like it might have been after the sprint.
It tailed off.
I'm just gonna give him a seven,
even though I feel like deep down with my brain,
it would be a six, but you can have my seven.
I have gone for my head and gone
for a six out of 10 for Yuki Sonoda.
An absolutely brilliant sprint.
It's not even gonna be an F1 next year, mate.
Just give him a seven, be nice.
Well, like we need to do the ratings.
So the average grade is correct at the end of the year.
Yeah, no, I'll go for a six.
It was a fantastic sprint.
Really, really good from him.
The qualifying and the race result, of course,
got kind of fortunate that Antonelli got a penalty as well,
which meant that it didn't kind of sour the fact
that he got that track limits penalty.
And then the problem is the big points
are handed out on race day
and he had an awful, awful qualifying.
And yeah, couldn't,
only basically inherited one point
when his teammates won the race.
It was a really, really good sprint from him,
but yeah, just so disappointing
what he managed to achieve in the main race
because that is where the big points are handed out.
And you know, there was opportunities there
with the McLaren's strategy fumbling,
Hadja having a problem, Alonzo spinning off,
Ferrari being useless, all that kind of stuff.
All right, don't need to,
could have left the Ferrari coming out there.
They're coming very shortly, mate.
The fans gave Yuki a seven out of 10.
Max Verstappen started the sprint in sixth, finished fourth,
started the main race in third, finished first.
I have gone for a nine out of 10 for Max Verstappen.
I believe this one is a nine.
You know, we had the,
is it a nine, is it a 10 in Brazil?
I think for me, this one's even more
easily a nine out of 10.
He qualified poorly in the sprint.
And while it's only the sprint, as we say, you know,
not every point is as extreme.
Everything matters for Max in this world championship
and he had to deliver every single opportunity.
He made a mistake.
Of course, fortunately for him,
he was able to get those two positions back.
One of them, of course, being his teammate
who didn't make it too difficult for him.
So he finished fourth.
And then the main race,
I know he's in a car that couldn't have challenged
for the win, but it's a gift by McLaren.
Like that was Oscar Piazzari's race all day long,
had it been the case.
And yeah, he, I do think he,
maybe this is delusional that he would have been a Norris
with just the fact that he was ahead
and it was so hard to pass.
And he had good pace,
but I can't give him a like perfect 10 weekend
because I don't think he was perfect all weekend.
Yeah, I've also gone for a nine out of 10.
I thought we're gonna go for the opposite of Brazil.
I'm the one.
Yeah, I mean, I can't give him a 10 for here.
I didn't give him a nine elsewhere
when there were more arguably 10 performances for some people.
But yeah, it wasn't a perfect weekend for Max.
As you say, you know, the sprint was pretty,
like when he qualified sixth,
you were saying it's over
for the 500th time this season.
You were saying it was over.
Do you remember that?
Do you remember that, Tommy?
Well, it is over now.
I've come back around to it now.
It is over, he's not winning it, but.
Oh my God.
Live a little, Tom Bellinger, my beg.
Oh well, don't worry.
Just dreaming is free, as Carlos Sainz loves to say.
You know, but anyway, back to his performance
and not the championship.
We'll get onto that, I'm sure, in a few days' time.
Yeah, like he was finishing second,
I agree, most likely in that race.
We saw further down the field.
It was just a train.
No one could really make moves.
So if you finish a second
where McLaren don't give him the race,
I think he drove very well
when he was out in clean air, for sure.
His pace was great.
He did what he needed to do,
but McLaren did absolutely
wrap a lovely Christmas present with his name on it.
So yeah, I think a nine is absolutely fair.
It's close to a 10,
but it's not a 10 in my eyes, either.
The fans, they disagree.
Gave him a 10 out of 10.
Some very questionable grades
from the fans, this is what people are saying.
It was comfortable 10 as well.
It was 60% of people gave him a 10.
60%, all right, look forward to the comments.
Right, let's go to Lewis Hamilton.
Started the sprint from the pit lane,
finished the sprint in 17th.
Started the main race in 17th.
Finished 12th.
I have gone for a three out of 10 for Lewis Hamilton.
Ah, yes, the Ferrari car is bad.
We all know that.
The Ferrari car is bad, but,
and it's a comprehensive but,
Charles Leclerc is beating him
in every competitive session with the same car.
There's no, oh, Charles getting this
and Lewis isn't getting that.
It's, this is the only comparison that we can judge it on.
This is the only way we get any idea
of where the benchmark, where the baseline is
for Ferrari and, yep,
Charles had a pretty scruffy weekend as well at times,
but Hamilton was just nowhere in qualifying.
How are you getting knocked out in Q1,
both sprint and main quality sessions?
Madness.
Of course, the reason it's the three and no lower
is because he did make some good progress
at the start of the race
and then was unlucky with the double stack,
which lost him a couple of positions in the main race,
but there was never points up for grabs.
Like he was never in the points,
was never looking like he'd be in the points
and part of that is due to the track,
but the main crux and the main point of our grades
are qualifying a lot of the time
and his qualifying was dreadful.
So three out of 10.
I have gone for,
oh, this is very difficult.
Between a two and a three,
I think I've got to go for a two.
I think two Q1 exits for a seven-time world champion
in a Ferrari, yes, it's not a very good Ferrari,
is inexcusable, particularly as his teammate
got into Q3 both times.
And as we know this year, it is a qualifying championship
and if you're qualifying right at the back,
you've got absolutely no hope.
And it was, yes, of course,
he made some progress and then had to double stack,
but of course, as mentioned with Russell,
that's kind of the price you pay
when you are slower than your teammate in qualifying.
And qualifying, I just can't believe we're in a situation
where Hamilton is getting knocked out in Q1
and I listened to the pod you did with Alex
and he hit the nail on the head of like,
how will we in a situation where it's not a surprise
that he's out in Q1?
Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari and it's like,
oh, okay, it's barely even a story anymore,
like what the hell?
Yeah, crazy.
Utterly crazy, and I hope for his sake,
it turns around very swiftly indeed.
The fans gave Lewis a two out of 10.
Charles Leclerc started the sprint in ninth,
finished 13th, started the main race in 10th,
finished eighth.
I've gone for a six out of 10 for Charles.
Again, a very difficult grade
because how much do you put on the fact
that he's delivered in a car
that his world champion and statistical goate teammate
has been able to do nothing in,
but equally, maybe it's the expectation of Ferrari,
even though clearly it was a terrible car this weekend,
but he did have it, he had highs in terms of getting through
to Q3, which I can't believe that's a high now,
but it is based on how bad that car
did seem this weekend.
But also, there were moments where
went off from wide, had spins and things like that.
Of course, a very tricky car underneath him.
That's why I've gone for a six out of 10.
My God, like Ferrari, please.
You know, I want my-
You're saying Ferrari, please.
Well, I want my flop point,
but I also, I need you for Abu Dhabi, please.
Like, can't have you finishing eighth and 18th
or whatever, like 18th and 12th.
I somehow don't think that they will be there
in Abu Dhabi if that's the performance they put down in Qatar.
You know, Abu Dhabi has become a more,
a more sort of fast and ferocious circuit
with medium to high speed corners now.
So no chance for Ariane helping you in the slightest.
My guy really apologised for that one in advance.
I've also gone for a six out of 10 for Charle-Claire.
It might feel like quite a high grade
considering the expectation of what we,
you know, think that Charle-Claire should be able
to do, but yeah, double Q3 appearance.
We'll take that.
Massive spin, really glad he didn't hit the wall.
Scruffy sprint, but overall,
I genuinely think the Ferrari was,
well, I mean, as we said,
Hamilton's getting knocked out in Q1 both sessions.
Seventh or eighth fastest team.
I can't believe I'm saying this, it's ridiculous.
So I think Charle has actually, you know,
done a pretty good job considering.
And yeah, six out of 10 is what I'm giving him.
The fans gave him a six as well.
Oscar Piatri started sprinting first, finished first,
started the main race in first, finished second.
So this one is the most comprehensive 10 out of 10
in the world.
I thought you were gonna say this was difficult then, my God.
This is one of the easiest 10s I've ever given.
And I am about to pop the F off at the fan rating.
Say it now, say it now.
The fans gave Oscar a nine.
Rageous.
How are you blaming him?
Maybe there are some people that blame him
for not coming into the pits,
but God forbid Oscar trusts his team
to tell him to come into the pits.
He doesn't know that maybe the lap cat, I don't know.
Anyway, I'm not putting any blame on Oscar for not pitting
and he drove a perfect weekend.
Minus the strategy, I put one tiny foot wrong,
which could have ended terribly
when he hit the gravel strip.
Same place as where Lando did.
So far that phenomenal weekend from Oscar.
He deserved to have the entire clean sweep
of quali and races and he didn't get it
and it was all down to McLaren, 10 out of 10.
I really thought you were gonna say,
oh, this is close, because it's definitely not.
It's the easiest 10 of the whole lot, faultless weekend.
You can't blame him for the McLaren error
of him just following the orders
of basically telling him to stay out
and abide by the strategy that his team wanted.
He was faultless all weekend, brilliant.
He's been on such a poor run of form as well
that you kind of questioned,
will he ever even beat Lando again?
Well, he didn't just beat him.
He absolutely was comprehensively faster than him
all weekend, he was absolutely brilliant.
Even with the error, he finished,
what, was it like seven seconds off?
Yeah, eight seconds off the lead.
When he basically lost an entire pit stop,
he was unbelievable.
He was driving like he'd just gone off in Australia.
That was the level of demon that Oscar Piatri
was putting down on the track.
And he flew away from Lando when they were
in that situation of we both need to now push.
Brilliant, qualified first.
Yes, McLaren had the best car this weekend
and it should have been an easy one too for them both.
Because it's just their track.
And Oscar Piatri loves this track.
But my God, it was an absolutely exceptional drive
from him and gutting for him.
Yeah, really, really getting for him obviously
with the situation that he found himself in
because it's obviously cost him big points
and a good shot of going for the championship.
Yep, it's cost him dearly.
And I would love to have been a fly on the wall
in that debrief because I feel like
there would have been some very strong words
out of the Oscar Piatri camp.
I've now got a theory which I'm gonna
shamelessly tease another podcast
because we're gonna record like a bonus episode
that go on YouTube and some bonus episodes
about basically the three title contenders.
And there's something I didn't say in the podcast
about Oscar Piatri and like a theory
or like an interesting thing
I wanna throw into the mix for Oscar Piatri.
So look forward to that one when we record this.
You've teased me.
I don't even know what you're gonna say.
No, you don't, I know.
That's ridiculous.
I'm absolutely, I'm flipping a coffee table right now
if I'm listening along.
Well, you just have to listen.
Oh my God, an absolute cliffhanger
from Tom Bellingham there.
Disgraceful scenes.
Look forward to the theory.
It better be good now, mate.
You can't hype it up, it might be good.
So anyway, the fans, as I said earlier,
and I'll say it again just to repeat,
gave Oscar a nine out of 10.
What are you doing?
Tell me, tell me, relax.
They're allowed to shoot us,
but not the other way around.
This is not how it works.
Lando Norris, started sprinting third, finished third,
started the main race in second, finished fourth.
Oh, it's another difficult grade.
I'm gonna go for a seven.
It's between a seven and an eight.
I don't, maybe I'll change my mind
when I convince myself
because I'm like seven,
maybe it's too harsh,
but I do think it wasn't the greatest weekend from Lando.
And of course, there'll be people shouting now going,
it wasn't his fault.
It wasn't his fault.
Of course it wasn't his fault
that they did the situation.
But what I'm seeing here
is McLaren were comfortably the fastest package
all weekend.
We saw that in the hands of Oscar Piastri.
The very least Lando should be finishing second
on the road in everything.
In the sprint, he made some errors
and got pipped by George Russell,
which when he finished third in the sprint.
Of course, now you can argue
he's in championship conservation mode
and all he of course had to do was finish third
in all the remaining like competitive sessions
of the sprint on the two races to do that.
Then in the main race, of course,
I understand why he didn't do anything too crazy
at the start.
Doesn't really matter too much
if he loses a position to Max.
But I think his pace was nowhere near Oscars
when it mattered.
And I think it was one McLaren amazing pit stop
away from him basically appearing.
If he didn't have the same pit stop as Oscar had before
he's in that McLaren train with Alonzo.
And who knows if he'd come out behind Russell
who knows where he would have finished
would have been easy to pass.
I don't know.
It's all if, but some maybes.
But Norris for me, he's been on this amazing run
and I think it's credit to him
because he's been absolutely brilliant since then.
But for me, this was his worst race since Baku.
And that's no discredit because his ceiling
has been really high
because he's been driving so well.
But we kind of maybe saw a little bit
of the lander that we saw at the start
of the season with a few mistakes here and there
and not being able to keep the pace with Piastri.
He's finished how far behind Piastri.
Like 15 odd seconds.
So yeah, not as fine as we get.
Not the most comparable thing though
when you think of where he came out.
But that's on him as well.
He was stuck behind Piastri.
So like if he'd stuck to his gearbox
he would have been fine.
Did you watch Qatar?
How easy was it to run behind someone's gearbox?
No, but he dropped quite a way behind him.
He did, he dropped I think four or five seconds in the end.
I've gone for an eight out of 10 for Lando Norris.
I can't give a three point swing
between Oscar and Lando personally.
I don't think it was a disaster of a weekend for Lando.
The places where I've downgraded him
was sprint qualifying,
where of course a qualifying third
and made that mistake, didn't he,
on this final flying lap,
which he bailed out of,
which I think was the right decision
but he still made a mistake
and therefore didn't even start on the front row,
then had to settle into a very boring
sprint race and finish third.
And then in the main race, again,
this is a McLaren fumble.
Without that, Lando finishes third.
Yes, Max beat him off the line
off the cleaner side of the grid
and that was that, right?
You know, I do downgrade him for the fact
that Lando wasn't able to keep P2.
And then the pace was, yeah,
slightly slower than Oscar.
Wasn't catastrophically slower than Oscar.
It was just, it was slow enough
that he couldn't get the buffer that Oscar could.
But again, I still blame McLaren for that.
That's not Lando's fault that he's having
to build this ridiculous buffer
because of McLaren deciding not to pit him.
Is there more, and this is more of a question,
I don't know where I sit on this,
is there more blame put on Lando to be like,
screw it, I'm coming in, what the hell,
why would I stay out when the safety car came out?
I don't know.
Perhaps, and probably more likely, is that they,
and I think Zach Brown kind of alluded to it,
that they decided before the race
what they were gonna do.
And they don't think on the fly,
they just decide, pre-race,
and then just let it pan out,
which to me screams fairness again.
But I'm gonna go for an eight out of 10 for Lando.
I think, yeah, the two-point difference
is kind of where I sit between the two drivers.
The fans gave Lando a seven.
Finally, who is our P-1?
For me, my P-1 is undoubtedly Oscar Piatri.
Yes, Carlos had a phenomenal race
and is a very strong, honorable mention.
But Oscar Piatri, it should have been 33 points to him.
He should have been 12 points behind Lando
going into Abu Dhabi.
Instead, McLaren, we know what McLaren did.
We're not gonna say it anymore.
Don't need to go into any more detail.
But I think Oscar put down
probably his strongest weekend of his entire career
and he doesn't get the rewards for it much.
Of course, he has gained some,
but he hasn't gained what he should have gained.
Indeed, yeah, it's easily Oscar Piatri.
He was just faultless this weekend
and yeah, an amazing weekend from him
and didn't get the result he deserved,
which is a real shame.
But of course, still has an opportunity
going into that final round, of course.
An opportunity, but he needs some craziness to help him
and we are a matter of days away
from the start of this Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend.
Of course, Oscar will start a few hours later
because he won't be even participating in FP-1.
So let's hope that doesn't affect him all too much.
That is it.
Thank you everybody for watching and listening as always.
Our Qatar review, all of our content is done and dusted.
One race weekend to go.
Tommy, final thoughts.
Final thoughts, as I mentioned,
we're gonna do some like a special episode.
We're gonna do our usual streaming and things as well.
Like it's gonna be such an exciting weekend.
I also wanna just like,
you know, it's all pointless as you say
because kind of trying to tell people what not to do,
it's not my position to say it.
But what I will say is,
regardless of who you support as a Formula One fan,
just soak up and enjoy the fact
that we're getting three drivers going into the final race
because this is once in a blue moon stuff rarely ever
happens.
Blue moons happen every four years or?
Well, 10 years, 15 years.
Yeah, it's nearly impossible that we see three drivers
going into final race.
So like, enjoy it as much as you can
because we literally could be like 20, 30 years before
we're here again.
Yeah, because Charlotte Claire's gonna be a sort of
10 time champion of the world by that point.
What I will say, it's quite funny
that of all the people,
Tommy is the one who will not enjoy a single lap
of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
You literally sent me a reel
about two hours ago of a guy watching a football match
with a duvet or whatever it was,
a sheet over the screen and then peering through
to see what was happening ever so often.
That is you.
That will be you throughout the entirety
of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend.
And if that's the way you enjoy Formula One
when your driver is fighting for the world championship,
then fair enough, I'll watch it all
and don't worry, I'll be able to review what happens.
Tommy won't be able to talk
and that's just the beauty of it.
So enjoy it if you can, if you can.
Don't worry about it.
Don't enjoy it.
It's up to you.
It's your life.
All right.
Thanks everybody.
Lots of love.
See you soon.
Goodbye.
For the final weekend of the year.
Goodbye.
Go get your Manchester and Dublin tickets
for the P1 live show Delusion Tour.
Bye.
Goodbye.
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