P1 with Matt and Tommy - Abu Dhabi GP Driver Ratings

Episode Date: December 8, 2025

Here we are, the real climax to the 2025 F1 season: one final round of not at all controversial grades from the only totally unbiased people in F1...Please vote for us in the Autosport Awards 2026! https://www.autosport.com/awards-voting/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/mattp1tommyFollow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Final driver ratings of the year. The final time we grade your favourite drivers from zero to 10 on their performance throughout the entire Formula One weekend this time in Abu Dhabi. Tommy, the season is over. That was a race. It was a race. A Grand Prix. You look at the pit stop strategies and you go, oh, you know, there was strategy.

And look, maybe just maybe it wasn't like absolutely horrendous. And we were obviously more focused on the jeopardy of the title fight. And there were some overtakes out there. A lot of the things, I think as well, it goes down to TV direction where we didn't see a lot because they were fully focused on the championship sort of protagonists. So, yeah, looking back, shock at replays and things like that. I'm like, oh, wow, that happened. So that's fun.

Yeah, particularly at the end where I was, I watched back the highlights about six times to find out what on earth happened to certain drivers in the midfield, particularly over that last points, points positions which we'll get into, which was basically swapping all through the celebrations of Lando crossing the line to be world champion. and it all changed as that was going on but understandably the TV of course was focused on the champ Imagine Do you remember that time when Oscar won the race and it was in a mini box

Imagine if it was Oscar PSB becoming world champion and they put him in the mini box again or something To be fair they did almost like Miss Lando crossing the line it wasn't like this fanfare of him going across the line it kind of they showed all the cars and then it kind of cut to him and it was like

it didn't really prepare for the big I'm surprised they didn't go Max then straight to Lando but they went Max focused on Oscar it's like okay I know Oscar's not going to win the World Championship and Lando's only four seconds back Even as a Max of Stepman fan I wouldn't have been against using Max in the mini box and you follow Lando on his final lap

becoming world champion commentating on it having that name of tell live watch along Tommy that one because I feel like you would have had a few choice words about Max Rastappen not being seen to go over the line to win another race. But anyway, let's get into our driver ratings and begin with Gabrielle Bortoletto. Started the race in 7th, finished 11th.

My grade for Gabriel Bortoletto is going to be a 7 out of 10. Okay, good, not what I think a lot of people dreamed of for Bortoletto after a sensational qualifying. He complained about the fact that the car was bouncing around a lot, that he didn't really have the pace. Of course, he went for the one-stop as well, which you might think the two stops were better when you look around, but then of course, Vastappen and Piastri both also pulled off a one-stop strategy and finished first and second. So yeah, Bortoletto, just sadly for him, didn't quite have the race pace and surprisingly, he didn't even score a point. Yeah, I've gone for a seven out of ten for Bortoletto. An absolutely brilliant.

qualifying. His race result looks a lot worse than it actually was. As Lando Norris crossed the line, he was ahead of his teammate Niko Holkenberg who finished 9th and Ford Saleto ended up 11th. So he's incredibly unlucky

not to get a point. He couldn't hold on on the medium tire at the end. He was in that pack going for the final point but unfortunately for him couldn't hold on. They also mentioned that potentially a car issue or or they went happy with how the car was performing

that probably hindered him a bit. But I think 11th, it was incredibly close to points and it could have gone to any of those drivers in the mix. It was absolute chaos between 9th and 12th on the final lap that we did not see any of. Well, chaos between Bearman and Stroll who both picked up penalties and that's the reason why Holcomberg was thrust

all the way up to 9th. Yeah, and Holcomburg got Bortletto on the final lap. Yeah, Bortoleto let him through for sure because they're on completely different strategies and good job he did because Holcomberg could then chase down that five second gap which was very marginal come the end of the race

but Holkenberg of course on the two-stop strategy and making that work beautifully the fans gave Gabby a 7 out of 10 Nico Holcomberg started the race in 18th finished 9th I have gone for a 7 out of 10 for Nico Holcomberg people may think that's harsh

that he's finished 9th but he obviously had a much poorer qualifying compared to his teammate. As he mentioned previously, you know, it looks like Bortoletto let him through to chase after those points. And as we mentioned, it was, he kind of pipped him on the last lap. He had that better strategy, which worked so well for him and Lewis Hamilton to basically make their way through and get a higher position. And then, of course, benefited from the penalties of Berman and Stroll at the end.

Still a great drive in the race from Holkenberg, but I can't give him higher than his teammate Bortoletto because he was a poor qualifying and they were almost, you know, identical. It came down to the final. It's a very fair point. I am going to give Nico. I'm going to give him Anne.

The fact that I said Anne means I want to give him an eight, but I'm not sure. Is it that being baited by the result? You made a fair point, but like he has had a poor. qualifying but we do usually wait race finishes higher of course the race finishes but is it like one higher like every other teammate finishing like a second behind their yeah i know i know very in mind he's come in mind he's come through the field around a track that no one was really everything okay seven out of ten because of the qualifying i think you know had he qualified

13th and then maybe made his way up to where he got to perhaps it was deserving of an eight but yeah I think seven is a fair a fair shout because Bortoletto and Hulkemberg have had good parts of the weekend at different points. So, yeah, seven for me. The fans gave him an eight. Alex Albon started the race in 17th, finished 16th. What a disappointing weekend for Alex. I am going to give him a four out of ten. Just, I say disappointing weekend.

Disappointing end to the season. Of course, he did end up beating his teammate Carlos, who had a disappointing start to the season due to many reasons. Yeah, the Williams drivers very much had a tale of two halves, but the different parts of the season. So Alex, once again, you know, I could surprise him. I thought maybe he'd bounce back in the final race after Williams looked pretty good in Qatar, but they didn't have the speed in Abu Dhabi, which you would think might have translated between the two, but clearly not. So four out of ten, just the strategy wasn't great, and he was just stuck in traffic.

I have gone for four out of ten for Alex Albin a poor end to an absolutely brilliant season you know that's kind of how he reflected on it as well picked up a penalty I mean going to qualifying for firstly actually you know off his teammate disappointing again to be knocked out and then he picked up a penalty for speeding in the pit lane

which obviously wouldn't have helped his charge by 0.1 kilometre an hour by the way indeed yeah crazy but Of course, if it's over, it's over. Just like a McLaren Plank in Vegas, like, has to be, like, they are the rules. I know, it's insane, isn't it? It is insane. And, yeah, such a shame because he's had a fantastic season.

Of course, all in all, a lot to celebrate. In terms of strategy, I don't know if I'd agree a poor strategy. He went on that similar kind of thing with Hulk and Hamilton, but I think the five-second penalty is probably what doomed him. Because he was just in the pack. it didn't work out for him. Yeah, indeed. Well, he just got stuck, didn't he? He just got stuck, yeah.

The strategy in terms of like the actual strategy he had was good, but it didn't work for him because he was just always in traffic. Indeed. Yeah, Albon, you look at his results. It is not great reading after Monza. He's not scored a single point bar the US sprint since Monza. But then you look at the first part of the season. He scored in the first seven out of eight races.

and really secured himself in eighth in the championship. It's going to be an interesting one in the driver ratings of the season. Absolutely. The fans gave Alex a four out of ten. Carlos Seines started the race in 12th, finished 13th.

I've gone for a six out of ten for Carlos Seints. Three seconds from a point. I don't think the Williams is all that great, but comfortably quicker than his teammate in qualifying. Didn't have the pace. I don't think they were, you know, I don't think Williams that suited them this weekend. Of course, they had an amazing run of form, so maybe looks bad because of how well he's been doing recently. But certainly not a bad race from Carlos by any stretch.

Yep, I agree. I've gone for a six out of ten as well for Carlos. I think that's a very fair grade considering the Williams wasn't that great, as we saw. and sadly didn't manage to scare the points but that's kind of where he was just there for pace really in terms of the strategy that Carlos had he was on the one stop compared to Alex's album who was on the two and yeah

it's just a very mediocre race but I don't think I can give him straight down the middle so I'm going to give him a six. The fans, they did go straight down the middle. Five out of ten. Isaac Hachar started the race in ninth, finished 17th. Wow. I mean, V-Carb, what is going on?

Terrible, yeah. I am going to go for a five out of ten for Isaac Hadjar. And the only reason it's five rather than anything lower is because of his qualifying, which I think was brilliant. But my goodness, gracious me, he fell like a stone, had his teammate only three seconds behind at the end of the race. They were lapped as well. Just zero pace.

absolutely zero pace, so surprising that considering what Isaac was able to do over one lap did not translate in the slightest today. He said that they were one of the slowest in the pack said the pace was just outrageous in free practice. I assume

outrageous, usually when I say outrageous it means really good. I don't think that that means really good from the reflection of Hadjar. So they still solidified sixth in the constructors, I believe. So they're still happy about that one, but As for the last performance, it's a five out of ten.

I've gone for a five out of ten as well for Hadjar. His qualifying was brilliant, but no race base. You know, I think they were, you look at what him and his teammate could do. The fact that they were evenly matched is almost like an Alpine situation where they were just, obviously, because Alpine are so bad, they were the ninth fastest. yeah comfortably ninth fastest um i think and just real real real struggle with with the race pace shame for for hadjar because a poor end to the season has dropped him actually quite quite away in the in the standings he's dropped down to 12th got beaten by alonzo which he never thought would happen based on how the season had started and i think hadjad was was up in ninth

uh in the championship for quite a long time and looking very good looking to, yeah, to beat Albin and actually ended up finishing 12th, so. Wow. Painful for Hadjar, but I'm sure I'd get over it. He's driving a red ball next year. Well, maybe. Exactly. Let's see how that one goes. The fans gave Azica a 4 out of 10. Liam Lawson started the race in 13th, finished 18th.

I have gone for a 5 out of 10 for Liam Lawson. I know he had a worse qualifying than his teammate, but not by a huge amount of positions. And again, just kind of followed his teammate home. He got a penalty for erratic driving, but I don't think there was much he could have done anyway. The only real time we saw him was him sort of going for it on Lander at one point, which was kind of quite a crazy moment in our watch along where we're like, oh my God, he looks like he's kind of going for it here, trying to go around the outside of him.

But no, I've gone for a five, it's close to a four, but I can't separate it. them talking yourself into it i have gone for a four out of ten for leam lawson because yes he has a penalty he qualified worse than his teammate and eventually finished behind him so i can't give them the same grade um yeah fair i'll go for a four i'm going to a four i knew i knew the second i knew the penalty no it's the penalty and i was like yeah okay and it was for erratic driving in an incident with them and so yeah fair okay so a pair of fours for for both of us um but overall you know Lawson can be happy of the fact that he has a seat next year. It's confirmed and fingers crossed for him. He can just have a very sort of settled, consistent one next year and no

moving around anymore because he's had some good performances this year and I fully expect him to grow from from this year. The fans gave him a four out of ten. Ollie Berman started the race in 11th, finished 12th. I've gone for a six out of 10 for Olly Berman would have been higher, but sadly he ruined it on quite literally the final lap, I think it was, with Lance Stroll. He was given a penalty. He said afterwards he didn't know why. I've watched it back. I do know why.

He's weaving around. It's erratic. And you can't be doing that. And we'll get onto Lance Stroll a little bit later because he did exactly the same thing as well. Yeah, I think the drivers just forgot that they can't weave around when they're an inch away from another car. And they can't penalise Yuki Sanoda for changes of direction. and then not penalise Olly Behrman for doing pretty much the same thing. He moves once, then he moves again to the inside.

So it's annoying for Olly Beerman, of course, because he had a chance of finishing P9, finishes outside of the points, but a reasonably, six out of ten, I think, reflects a good drive, but no points for him due to a mistake at the end. I've gone for a six out of ten for Olly Bearman as well. I think the penalty is one of those things that he probably gets away with in other scenarios,

that Yuki Sonoda decision, they had to kind of clamp it down for the rest of the pack. And I guess fair play to the stewards for showing some consistency because a lot of the time, you know, we've argued that they don't show that consistency and they almost like they're not watching the midfield and they don't give them the same penalty. It feels like the entire year we've not seen it, but then in this race we saw. That is exactly where I was about to go with that next thing of I think they get away with that in every other scenario. apart from the fact that Yuki got his penalty.

And Yuki had to get one because it was affecting the championship contender. And it was like, it was very like in front of all our eyes that it was one of those decisions where the stewards had to do something because, you know, we were there going, this is the championship leader and the guy about to win the championship. Something needs to be done about this whole situation. They made their decision and then they basically went, oh, I know this has been fine for years now, but now we're going to implement this. part of me thinks that maybe should it be so harsh or going forward, I don't know, but they run that risk. Olly Behrman, just going back to him, what might have been kind of the form that he had at the start of the year where we know he's got the pace but just didn't deliver the performance

because he's been the better of Ocon in the final end to the season. O'Conn finished a fantastic seventh, and he's, got a thing like bareman's pace particularly in qualifying was unbelievable he got knocked out who knows you know where he could have been had he got that lap together well in practice you mean he was unbelievable in quality wasn't practice and and practice in the initial parts of quality and then as we went into the of course then as the session that mattered happened he got knocked out um so yeah uh a shame for for ollie because it could have been uh something a really good result based on what his teammate did, but it's got to be a six.

Okay, the fans gave Ollie a six as well. Esteban Okon started the race in eighth, finished seventh. I've gone for a nine out of ten for Esteban Okon. I think it's an absolutely fantastic result. Welcome back, Esty Bestie, why you had to do it when I said you were going to be a flop and robbed me of the predictions championship. How dare you? Well, it would have drawn it.

Yeah, yeah. and then who knows what we'd have done. And then, yeah. Yeah, exactly. But a fantastic result for Ocon, really strong qualifying, which has been the thing that's really let him down a lot this year. And a great, great result for him

that he actually managed to put it all together in that final race. So good job, Esty Besti. I've gone for a nine. I've also gone for a nine, a very easy nine to give to Esteban. So happy to see him back. where we've seen him at the beginning of the year, and we've seen him so many other times.

Qualifying has been his Achilles heel for the majority of the season. So the fact he made it to Q3 unleashed some of the pace that we saw in Berman, as we mentioned in practice and on the run up to qualifying. And then from there on, he looked like he deserved to be there.

He wasn't falling back. He wasn't the Ocon train, if anything, it was the Alonzo train. So, yeah, really, really good stuff for Mestaband. and I'm very happy that he managed to, firstly, race around Abu Dhabi, because he wasn't allowed to last year, but secondly put in such a great performance.

The fans gave him an eight. Franco Colopinto started the race in 20th, finished 20th. Funny we now speak about after Ocon not being allowed to race about the team that finished plum last. So I'm sure Esteban doesn't take any sort of happiness or solace out of the fact that they were the slowest car. For Franco, it's going to be a three out of ten. I can't

give them any higher than that for literally qualifying last and finishing last. I know the Alpine is rubbish, but look, didn't have any pace. The team didn't have any pace. Franco, it's a disappointing end to the year for sure.

Finished seven odd seconds behind Gassley. I think Gassley had a penalty. He had a penalty for track limits so that actually closed up the gap at the end but yeah it's just a disappointing weekend overall for helping i've gone for a four out of ten for colapinto um i think when you see that gazley's 19th qualifying 19th and finishing 19th i don't think it's anywhere near as bad as like a really bad performance i think it's just the the fact that the the car is incredibly bad um of course

you know he's still got the opportunity to deliver which we saw a lot more kind of a handful of races ago. But unfortunately, he slipped into that kind of 20th place. But I think a lot of that is due to how poor the car is. And we'll see what he can do next year when hopefully the car is better because they are talking a lot about how they're, it doesn't matter about 25. You know, we're putting it all into 26.

So if they're last in 26, it'd be incredibly embarrassing. Yeah, I mean, they've put their entire resource of 2025 into 2026. They basically just brought a car from 24 and said, that we'll run another season. And obviously they're going to finish last. The fans gave Franco a three out of 10. Pierre Gazley started the race in 19th, finish 19th. Gone for a five as well.

Sorry, 5 for Gassley. Yeah, he had a moment with Holkenberg at the start, which was almost a massive incident. They banged wheels on the straight, and thankfully nothing came of it. got a penalty for track limits look the car is terrible it's quite clear

but can't give him anything higher for a 19th place finish at all I've gone for a four out of 10 for Gazley yes he's beating his team mate in both qualifying and the race and that's why there's a nod to that and he's a point above but then of course I don't think he can go any higher than that

due to the fact that he did get a penalty for track limits so clearly push but pushing too hard not that it lost in many positions but overall a weekend and a season

to forget for Alpine the fans gave Pierre a 5 Lance Stroll started the race in 15th finished 10th oh dear Lance Stroll

not the worst not the worst by any stretch of the imagination I am going to go for you want to do the Lance Stroll

thing and give him an eight because he did. No, I'm not giving him an eight because he got a penalty as well for changing of direction. I am going to go for a seven out of ten for Lance Stroll. Could have maybe been higher had he not picked up a penalty for also weaving and changing of direction, both of which due to the fact of Yuki Sanoda's incident were absolutely penalties by being consistent. Yeah, Lance was, Lance had got through on a Williams and then when he was about an inch ahead of the Williams, started then weaving all over the place to try and get slipstream the car ahead, which, you know, you can argue he's trying to race, he's trying to get the slipstream, but I don't know, consistency-wise, as we said, from Abu Dhabi, that makes

sense, but for the entire season, it's not really, usually it's black and white flags. That's what you would usually get for dangerous, erratic driving of that kind, or at least that's what I believe, so. I saw that Aston Martin, we're trying to basically, like, appeal it, but unless they bring any new information, which they can't. then I don't think that's going to happen. But one thing I will say for Lance in his favour was the move that he put on Olly Berman

was absolutely incredible. Round the outside of the fast left hand or I can't remember what turn number that is, maybe like seven, but round the outside there was a great move and I had to double check what we're on board that was and it wasn't Fernando Alonzo. It was in fact Lance Stroll

pulling a great move on Olly Berman. And of course, Lance was going on the attack, wasn't he, at the end of the race? He pitted, actually, no, to be fair, he went very long on the hards and then just went, it was a one-stop, but he pitted at lap 42, whereas Bearman was basically on quite old hard. So that allowed Lance to get a great run and pull off a fantastic move. So seven out of ten. Yeah, I've gone for a seven out of ten for Lance stroll as well. It would have been an eight without the penalty. you know his qualifying we know is is poor and has been but made the strategy work

race through the field at the end his move on bearman as you say was absolutely brilliant now I saw a whole on board of him basically like doing that move then crossing the line and cheering and having that buzz of like oh my god like what what a result and yeah that's the kind of stuff we want to see more from from lance who you know the we've questioned his motivation and stuff a lot and it's good to see stuff like that when you really feel that that you know like he wants to be here and wants to be um racing and having those moments because yeah he his move was sensational the buzz must have been amazing to to pull off a move like that right at the end reminiscent of i think it was hamilton wasn't it last year that on george russell in the same thing also on like the last lap i think

it was or something. So amazing overtake and got points for Aston Martin just not quite enough for Aston Martin. They were so close to actually pipping R.B. But it was going to be a massive long shot anyway. They were close to doing it. They were close but not close enough. It was three points in the end between Racing Bulls and Aston Martin. Tommy's prediction of 50 or less Fasten Martin really didn't cook come the end of the season. The fans gave Lance Stroll a 7 out of 10.

Fernando Alonzo started the race in 6th, finish 6th. I have gone for a 10 out of 10 for Fernando Alonzo. I think he's absolutely maximised everything from that car. Of course, you know, the McLaren's,

the Mercedes, Ferraris and whatever have gone off. We'll talk about Charle later. I don't think the Ferrari's particularly great. but he's maximized everything with a brilliant P6 and then to get P6 in the race as well. We're just seeing like Alonzo doing Alonzo things of maximizing what he's got with that package.

And it's insane to think that he's now that the way he like had that end to the season and grabbed the points because he was incredibly unlucky. And I was sweating that he was going to finish behind Lance Stroll in the championship, but instead comfortably, head and actually got into the top 10 in the end. But a fantastic result and just a really great weekend to maximize both qualifying and

the race. So I've gone for a 10. Okay. Is Tommy being a fan boy or is it correct? I think I will also go for a 10 out of 10 for Fernando. I have to question what more could he really have done? He managed the pack very well. He knew exactly what he was doing at the start of the race.

it was the Fernando train and the one-stop strategy worked very well he was very much in that sort of tire management phase didn't really matter how far behind he finished behind George Russell because he was never going to put

an impression on him so yeah there isn't really a blemish on Fernando's weekend at all that I can downgrade him to a nine or anything like that so yeah 10 out of 10 for Fernando great way to end the year and still showing that he's got it

the fans gave him a nine they need more from him Kimmy Antonelli started the race in 14th finished 15th speaking of someone we do need to see a little bit more from was Kimmy Antonelli this weekend it's a four out of 10 for Kimmy yes the Mercedes wasn't great wasn't great but George showed that he you could easily drive that car to fifth and sixth with a massive chasm between as I mentioned George and Fernando but it all came undone because of Kimmy's qualifying and from there on we've seen. how difficult it is to overtake, how difficult it is to make an impression, even on midfield cars that you would expect to beat on pure pace. Antonelli went reasonably long on the hards to lap 32, actually, to be fair, longer on the mediums in his one-stop strategy. But yeah, it was kind of not, I don't think it was even the best strategy either to try

and sort of unleash any pace either from Merck, but I just, Kimmy said after that he was just really struggled with the car, with the balance, had no pace. pace. So I think it's a four because had George finish 13th, we'd be speaking about this differently, but George finished fifth. I've gone for a four out of ten for Kimmy Antonelli. It's close between a three and a four. I think it's disappointing and qualifying again from him, which seemed to have let him down quite a few times. This year, I do think the Mercedes struggled with pace. You saw that with how far George was off, off. the victory and yeah a really poor end to the season for antonelli who's just kind of like

completely anonymous nowhere i mean you look at look at where he finished um the alpines are obviously terrible the two rb's had no race base uh and then it's alban who's got a penalty so yeah it's really really poor from from kimmy when you see the result that george got uh so yeah it's got to be a four out of 10 for Antonelli. The fans also gave Kimmy a four. George Russell started the race in fourth, finish fifth. I've gone for an eight out of 10 for George Russell. I think it would be easy to look at Mercedes as a way of like how they've been this year

and think, oh, George was nowhere. It's 50 seconds off the win. I think you look at what Antonelli's done. I know George has, you know, been the better driver for a lot of the year. But I genuinely do think Mercedes just had a poor, poor car this race. And for George to qualify fourth and then finish the race in fifth, yes, there was a massive chasm, as you say, between Leclair and Alonzo for him to slot into. But I think it's just another case of George maximizing the results,

the results game and grabbing, you know, 10 points when the car was absolutely nowhere, and his teammates finished 15th. So I think, you know, to give him lower, would be too harsh, so I've gone for an eight. I've also gone for an eight out of ten. I echo your thoughts. I think George has done what George does, very consistent. Yes, didn't have the pace, but overall, it could have been a much worse weekend, as we've seen on the other side of the Mercedes garage.

So to give him any lower, I think, would be, yeah, not really sort of appreciating the fact that he'd done a pretty good job in a poor car. So went on to George, the fans gave him a seven. Yuki Sonoda started the race in 10th, finished 14th. I've gone for a 4 out of 10 for Yuki Sonoda. Looked like it could have been a lot better with the fact he made Q3. Sadly, track limits on his last lap. Yes, he helped Max on his first, but he tracked limits on his second, which put him down in 10th at the end of Q3.

He then picked up a penalty defending against Norris, which was a poor defence, as we've mentioned before in the main race podcast. And overall, just, yeah, I mean, his teammates won the race. this is the last time we're going to say this about Yuki so I'm sure he'll be very happy to not be compared to Max Rastap and ever again probably not so happy of the fact he's not going to be

on the grid next year but I'm sorry Yuki I'm sorry Yuki fans but it was a 4 out of 10 performance I have gone for see for me it's between a two and a three I'll go for a three out of 10 and I can already see the comments going

oh you're just bitter that he didn't defend What I was thinking as well to be fair And what you're thinking as well I mean look Four I think four four Four is incredibly generous to finish One minutes and 23 seconds Oh no but he was being used at the same time

You can't say that It's fully down to that Then he's in the pack Like I don't think the gap is fully representative Yeah but I think Look he's not had I think the qualifying situation as well Like we spoke about it yesterday

Saying he got sacrificed he did on the first lab he had an opportunity on the second lap and missed the opportunity. Of course, you know, we've discussed what we think about the movie played it completely wrong. If he was indeed trying, of course, maybe part of him was like, I don't care. I'm leaving. I don't think that was the case because he wouldn't have picked up a penalty trying so hard to do it. But he just did it in completely the wrong place if he was trying to help his teammate. But I'm not downgrading him from that.

Yeah, I'll go for a three because he just, he's. just a sad way to end what's probably going to be his his formula one career and it's a shame because I really wanted him to succeed. I was excited for him to get in that car and you wind all the way back to Suzuki and we were going, oh yeah, it's kind of got unlucky in qualifying a little bit, but it's shown that it's the right decision to put him in the car, but it's got no better from there rather than a catar sprint really so yeah disappointing and to Yuki's

F1 career potentially The fans gave Yuki a 4 out of 10 Max Verstappen started the race and first finish first I've gone for a 10 out of 10 for Max Verstappen shock you know at the end of the day

he just did what he could there was no gamesmanship this could have easily you know it would have been a very interesting grade had he won the race but deployed some questionable tactics and stuff to win and try and win the championship but instead drove his own race won brilliantly looked comfortable even on a you know a strategy that maybe didn't work for the people it looked like in the end that the two-stop was was quite good based on what we saw from like

Hamilton and Holcombberg no one tried it of course at the in terms of like with max and Oscar in 1-2, but yeah, I've gone for a 10, of course. He was brilliant to get pole position and just led away, and that was it. Exactly. Easy 10 out of 10 for Max for Stappen. Phenomenal weekend, once again, drove away into the distance around a track. We expected the McLaren's to be the fastest. We expected Lando, who is phenomenal around here, to maybe do something special and win the World Championship in, you know, in glorious style and winning the race. It was Max. Max, an unbelievable poll app, two poll apps that were good enough, and untouchable, absolutely untouchable in the race. So just looking at Max Verstappen's season, I love how we looked at so many scenarios, even after Brazil, of going, well, where would they need to finish in order for Max to win the world championship?

And he's won the last three races. And Lando, of course, wins the world championship by two points, was disqualified, of course, what happened in last Vegas, finished fourth in Qatar, third in the sprint, and then third in Abu Dhabi to win by two points. I mean, how close this came, considering how far he was back, is absolutely ridiculous. The fact that as well, he hadn't finished off the podium, ignoring sprints, since Hungary, the run of podiums he's had since basically Lando retired in the Netherlands has been championship winning form, but sadly, you look at his first half of the season, and he's finishing off the podium regularly, and that's what really cost him the World Championship.

But what an ending for Red Bull, what an ending for Max for Stappen in this 2025 season, but just narrowly missing out. The fans gave Max a 10. Lewis Hamilton, started the race in 16th, finished 8th. This one's hard. This one's really hard. But it always is hard with Hamilton because it's qualifying, has been rubbish. And then in this race, he's done pretty well to come back through.

What is a deserving grade for a 16th to 8th where he finishes 45 seconds, 50 seconds behind Charles LeClaire? It's going to be a six out of 10 for Lewis Hamilton. It's just, it is still a poor weekend for Hamilton. He crashes in practice. He gets knocked out in Q1. Yes, it's very close in qualifying. But Charlotte-Cler qualified at fifth. Yeah, it's two, three-tenths the difference between the two teammates.

But that is massive in Formula One. And then he's on the back foot massively. I think he did a very good job to come through the pack around a track that's quite difficult to overtake. I think the strategy was also aggressive and good from Ferrari. Got rid of the hard tyres very quickly. He only did about 23 laps on the hard tires, had eight laps at the beginning on the softs, and then finished with the 27-lap stint on the mediums.

And he pulled off some great moves, but he is fighting, as we've seen with Charlerc and how fast he was, he's fighting cars that are slower, quite a lot slower than him around him. So I don't think I can give him any higher than a six. Had he qualified a bit better, we'd be talking about a slightly better grade. But he got knocked out in Q1. I have to downgrade him for that. I was going to go for a seven and it's just clocked

just how far he was behind his teammate and I basically just you and Yuki Snowda a three to how far he was off it's a six out of ten for Lewis Hamilton definitely now I look at it

yes it looks great that he's made his way through the field to eighth and you go oh eighth place the Ferrari's not not very good you can only compare to your teammate he's finished 50 seconds behind his teammate we're going to get onto yes of course he's going to get a good grade

but his teammate was racing a mcclaren at the start and uh you know looking like he could potentially grab a podium meanwhile lewis hamilton is yes he's he's made it through after a really poor poor qualifying but he's finished behind espan ocon in a house um of course o'con did very well um and eighth looks good on on paper but it's not it's not a great work where we are nowadays. How I'm pushing eighth on paper is great. Geez. I guess in terms of like, yeah, the teammate,

but yeah, it's got to be a six, I think. I know, I know, actually, I know it's a six for Hamilton. You can get baited by the drives. And had it been like a mechanical failure or something that meant he qualified 16th, then you give him more leniency, but it was his own kind of bad quality lap that cost him. Okay, the fans gave Lewis a seven.

Charlecler started the race and fifth, finished fourth. I've gone for an eight out of ten for Charlerclair. It was a decent drive from him. I'm just waiting to see how long I can keep this up before I actually give my actual grade just to bait Matt. It is an easy 10 out of 10. I was about to drive to your house and slap you silly. I was sat there like,

did he just get like five secret penalties that I didn't see? Yeah. An eight! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, can I just see, before I give my real grade, how many people actually gave Charlotte Claire an eight from the fan vote? Well, if you are one of those people, you can jog swiftly on. 17% of people gave Charlotte Claire an eight.

Ridiculous. I love how you said before I give my actual grade. I heard your grade. Okay, my actual grade is a 10. It is an easy 10. Thank you. it's like Fernando Alonzo he's got absolutely everything and more out of his machinery he's beaten his teammate who is a seven-time world champion by 50 seconds he's raced a McLaren in a Ferrari

that is so poor this year and so difficult to drive that we've seen that in the hands of his teammate he qualified well he managed to you know battle Lando at the start even challenge at the end, going for a risk of the medium tire to maybe try something, see if he could grab a podium. But it didn't work out. But no way should he have been anywhere near the McLaren's in the first place. And it is just another sign of Charlerc just doing things that give him the car. And he's one of the best drives on the grid, hands down. And he just needs a better car to be able to deliver because we want to see all the best drivers at the front and give, you know, as much as it's hilarious to watch you on the watchalongs, like, throwing your chair

and stuff, we want to see more people at the front because that's good for Formula One. And Charlotte Claire would be absolutely up there if you had a better car. Okay, you had to bait me one more time, didn't you? One more time for the season. Of course, I have also gone for a 10 out of 10. I was about to put my armour sword and shield on and start fighting Tommy on this driver ratings episode. But I'm glad that Tommy was in fact joking, although I would have definitely just gone fully ham had that not been the case. But yeah, 10 out of 10 for Shaal,

so proud of him actually to have put that performance down after what has been such a disappointing season. The expectation on Ferrari on Shao LeClaire was big. You know, we genuinely thought Ferrari could well be somewhere in the hunt to get at least a lot of victories whether the World Championship was up for grabs well I obviously believed and I think a lot of people did Ferrari fans you know and what we had instead was a car that went backwards a car that they completely turned into a new philosophy we'll see how much pain they will have over the next few years if they've invested too much in it but this this this performance you know Charles worked really hard between Friday and Saturday, because on Friday they were struggling

really quite slow. He managed to find something in the car, qualifying, you know, fifth. You qualified fifth. And I'm like, that's literally, that's my Charlotte-Cleur right there. How am I so happy and proud that he got fifth? And then finish fourth with his race pace as well, just shows where we are at the moment. I've obviously gone off on one, but that's because Charlotte-Clau's my boy. And I will absolutely fight anybody that thinks that was not a 10 out of 10 drive. So there you go. Well done, Charles. And God, please next year, Ferrari, give him a car to fight at the front because we've seen time and time again. You know, you can have your best, this, best that. But in terms of will to wheel racing and qualifying, Charles LeCler is right up there as one of the best that we have. So I want more of it and I want more of it for the win, not for P7 or P8. Thank you very much. The fans. The fans. The fans. have gone for a nine out of ten. No comment.

No comment in the slightest. Let's move to Oscar Piastri. Started the race in third, finished second. My grade for Oscar Piastri is a nine out of ten. I think it was a very strong performance from Oscar in the championship finale. There's a lot of chatter

about whether Lando let Oscar through on lap 1? He did. Is that absolutely confirmed now? It's confirmed. It looked convincing. I won't lie to you.

Lando stuck to the inside. We were just watching like, whoa! Makes sense, I guess, from a McLaren point of view in some ways, but then also put Lando under pressure from Charlerc behind.

You know, we'll get into that one. But Oscar was quick. Oscar's really quick. You know, on the hard tyres, he put pressure on Vastappen, stopped Max from doing anything too crazy, I think. And overall, a really good weekend to finish for Oscar.

Yes, he didn't get the win. Yes, he didn't get pole position. But when you look at what his run of form was up until Qatar, I'm sure he will take this as a much stronger end. So it's a nine out of ten. I've gone four and nine out of ten. You were thinking eight, weren't you? It's like an eight and a half.

No, no. We do that. We always say that, right? We don't give halves. Then we say to everybody. what it would have been. So just so that we don't get shouted. Okay.

Yeah, yeah. Well, look, it's close. I think it would have been a nine if I hadn't heard the fact that it was a planned move because I think he deserves a nine for going around the outside of his teammate on hard ties. It was the basically a way to basically fool max. So let me find the quote from Stella. So it says, I think everyone entered the race not clear whether it was a one or a two stop, but I think everyone was clear that the hard would have been a good tire.

If there's someone on a hard chasing somebody on a medium, the one on the medium needs to push at some stage and might have to pit. We were, if anything, a bit surprised that Max could go so long and so fast on the medium. So Oscar basically would push Max in the hope that it won to stop the backing up and also because it meant Max would have to push his tyres more. So it was a clever, clever play from McLaren. Yeah, Oscar, I'll go for a nine, of course, just pipped by Lando in qualifying and beat him in the race, tried something different and a good drive from him.

The fans gave Oscar a nine as well. Lando Norris started the race in second, finished third. I've gone for a nine out of ten, Philando Norris. I was going to give them exactly the same. And again, it's like an eight and a half for both of them. I think I can't downgrade him doing the job that he needed to secure the title. You know, maybe he could have fought Piastri at the end and overtaken him, but he didn't need to. So, of course, he was never going to do that.

I think he kept his head in the situation. that he had when he had Lecler behind him, the pressure of potentially dropping down into the dreaded fourth place. Of course, I know he always had Oscar that could have let him through, but it still would have made it very nerve-wracking.

And then I think even when he got pushed into the pack, it could have been very easy for him to second-guess himself in every single move. I know he was racing midfielders and things and stuff, and people would just say, oh, of course it's really easy, but he's going

for the world championship. Every move had to, you know, be spot on. He couldn't lose time. He couldn't, he had to make those moves and make sure they were clean. You saw the fact of like Liam Lawson, maybe pushing him even harder than Sonoda did. And yeah, he did what he needed to do to secure the championship. So I've gone for a nine. I've also gone for a nine out of ten. You consider everything, all the pressure, everything on his shoulders. You know, this is factored in as well to this grade because yeah obviously Oscar beat him

but that was a McLaren that was a McLaren attack from both drivers on Max Verstappen to ensure that one McLaren driver came out as world champion most likely Lando Norris

so it's interesting yeah Lando that that he accepted that strategy I think that they probably believed that they would have the pace to not be put

under pressure by the likes of Charles Leclair and George Russell but Charles decided you know what I fancy a podium So I think that was a slight spanner in the works for McLaren and Lando, but he dealt with it really well. It's what I've said before and I'll say again.

I think he's dealt with the pressure so much better than we've ever seen. And his pace was decent. He did everything he needed to do come the end of that race. Yeah, it was a champion's drive because it was podium. That's all he needed and that's what he delivered. So yeah, a nine out of ten for Lando. Congratulations once again for becoming the 2025 Formula One world champion. The fans also gave Lando a nine.

So finally, who is our P1, Charles LeCler? Charles LeCleur is my P1. I will not hear anything. They got a nine from the fans, though. I don't care. It's my P1, not who's the fans P1. Also, they gave Fernando Alonzo a nine, did they not? Yes, they did.

So I can't believe you didn't shout with them for that one. Hey, no, let's end it on a positive. note, shall we? Driver ratings can sometimes get very heated. And I appreciate your opinion, just like you should appreciate mine. Charlotte Clare is my P1, though. Brilliant drive. So happy to see him put a performance like that down, as I said. 2026 is our year. As a Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonzo fanboy, you'll not be surprised to hear that my P1 is Charler and it's

comfortably Charlecler and I can't believe Charles and Alonso got a line from the fans like for me

those were the two stars of the race that got everything out of their machinery of course Max won the race

brilliantly he had the car he delivered and again like those three fully deserve tens

but I think what Shal managed to do against you know the strong teammate that he's got

how much he's managed to push a McLaren in his little red tractor. It was just a reminder of just what a great driver he is. And yes, here's to next year him having better car to be more in that mix. Please, please, please. Right, that is it. We are done.

Driver ratings for the entire season, locked away, pop it in the chest, never to be looked at again. apart from when we go through all of them true so in terms of our actual submissions yes we will be doing a full recap of the year to look at our average grades apologies for that one decided to not go for the mute button

instead sneezed away from the microphone but yeah what an ending to the season hey just a little sneeze on the end but we will be doing that wasn't you yelling into the abyss maybe that was deep down I'm like I can't believe it but I think it'll be fun to go through all the average grades to see recency bias aside

where our top 20 or 21, whatever, will be come the end of the season. So look forward to that. It'll be coming out very soon as well as some other recap content. Tommy, final thoughts? Yep. Final thoughts are one last

one of grading all the drivers before we go through our averages. Thanks to everyone in the comments and the P1 live shares and things that say, about driver ratings and how they love it and they want us to keep doing it and just remind us now as well

if you're in the comments exactly because at the end of the day like it's it's good fun we banter about it and stuff but at the end of the day a lot of these drives are subjective we never know exactly something Alex Albin said exactly how good a car is we never know how good a car actually is it's all

it's all subjective at the end of the day some people need to be minded of that in the comments. I will, I will admit. There's some people out there that need to remember that your number is not the same as mine, and that's the beauty of it. Exactly. And it's fine. Like, we can all disagree, and it makes, that's what makes the series fun. So thanks to everyone that enjoys the series, leaves a nice comment and a like, and yeah, we'll see how we do with the averages, because I think that's going to be really fascinating. When we look back on those races, maybe we forgot, and there's always a bit of recency biases, isn't it, at the end, and you

forget, oh, actually, this guy had a really good start to the season, and then he's a lot higher than we think and stuff. So, yeah, looking forward to that one. Yeah, me too. There we go. Thank you, everybody. We'll see you very soon. All to love. Take care. Drive the ratings. Out! Until the adventures. Goodbye. Bye. And remember what Matt said, subjective unless you gave Charlotte Clara and I. Yeah, that in which case you can... and part of the ACAST created network.