P1 with Matt and Tommy - Dutch GP Driver Ratings: F1-to-10

Episode Date: August 27, 2024

It’s time for another episode of The Most Controversial Series in Motorsport™, as we rank the runners and riders from a mixed weekend in Zandvoort. And no prisoners are taken this week…P1 Live is heading to North America this Fall! New York is sold out, Toronto is nearly sold out and all other shows have very limited tickets. Click here to get your tickets before it's too late!Sign up to our Patreon here! You'll get access to bonus episodes, our classic race series, every P1 episode ad-free and access to our Discord server where you can chat with other F1 fans!Follow 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. We are here. The first driver ratings after the summer break. We have locked in our numbers, our opinions, our analysis, and we are ready for everybody to agree with every single one of our ratings. Isn't that right, Tom Bellingham? It sure is. We have locked in our 100% correct.

You can't disagree. Opinions, of course. Facts, Tommy. They're facts. Their factual information are grades from 1 to 10 of every driver. It certainly is. So let's just wait no further than right now and get straight into it with Kevin Magnerson.

Started from the pit lane, technically 20th, and finished the race in 18th. It is a 4 out of 10 for Kevin Magnuson from me. Could have even been lower. And the reason I'm giving him a 4, not a 5, because of course he started from the pit lane, so he was on the back foot from the get-go, is because he was the danger man once again.

and I think that he got away with it. He was driving erratically, trying to help Nika Holkenberg once again. I don't know how he's just become this mule where he just helps his teammate now. I feel like he's just kind of relaxed into that role within the team. I mean, Nika Halkenberg, don't get me wrong, has been cooking, so I can understand why KMAG would do that.

But very, very fortunate to not have an almighty little crash, I say little, an almighty big crash around that final corner when he was lifting to try and slow down the pack behind him even more and got overtaken by four cars into the term one, which is insane. I've gone for a three out of ten for Kevin Magnuson, similar to Miami, not as extreme, but it is kind of embarrassing for him to basically just become this meme driver that will sacrifice his own race for the good of the team.

I know it's playing the team game, but I think it takes it too far. when you're backing up the pack that much. And he's a far too good of a racing driver to be doing that in my opinion. It shouldn't just be used as almost like a weapon or like a cheat code. Is he that good of a driver?

No, I'm not saying he's the next air and centre. I'm just saying that he's a good driver. He's a KMAC. Well, he's far too good to be basically a joke of a driver, is what I'm saying, which is what he's now is. And it's the twilight of his career, and he's basically just being used as a porn. And, yeah, went off as well for good measure.

He did, actually. And even though I believe technically, statistically, there were no yellow flags for the Zamport race. And yet, my man was going across the gravel. Where was the yellow flag? Where was the yellow flag back? I was good. No one was coming up behind him because he was so rubbish.

I guess. So there we go. True, actually. Yeah, that was it. Okay. The fans came. K-Mack of 5. Wow. My goodness gracious me.

Let's get a Nika Holcomberg. Started 12th and finished 11th. I've gone for an 8 out of 10 for Nika Holkberg. It could have been points. You shouldn't have really been up there in the first place. I think the house is nowhere near as good as it was at the start of the season. Holkberg. Difficult weekend, actually, for all his incidents that he had in practice.

I thought it was going to have a bit of a stinker, but he was so close to points and to deliver that with all the kind of politics going on in the team as well. I think it is an impressive performance and maybe unlucky that everyone finished otherwise he'd been maybe rewarded with a point. Yes, I've gone for an 8 out of 10 for Nico as well.

I think it was a very good race for him, just missing out on the points. Went for an incredibly aggressive strategy, pitting, I think, on lap 14 from the mediums and then went all the way to the end. of the race on the hard tires. And he said after the race that he didn't feel as though the strategy was right. But I'm sure Hasse were trying to do the KMAG deploying and the Nika Holkenberg just

driving away strategy, which you do wonder had they gone for a different strategy, maybe he wouldn't have had that track position. And it would have been even more difficult for them. But still, I think a great drive from Nico. And you thought maybe 10, 15 laps from the end, he might be able to hold on for a point. But no, Gassley and Alonzo got through. the fans gave Nico a seven Shoguan Yew.

Started 17th, finished 20th. Gonna go for a two out of ten for show Guanyu and I will not have anybody say that he had a slow pit stop. It was 2.4. I know we had two stops and we were literally live streaming and we were like, what is Joe Guan Yu doing?

And I saw a Zhou Guan Yu defender in the chat. So did you, Tommy, that said that was a slow pit stop and we went, no, that was 2.4. seconds. Probably that fastest stop of the year. It really was. I mean, they are pitting more often than not, I think, steak, just in general. But yes, 33 seconds behind his teammate, just slow in qualifying, 1.1 seconds off of his

teammate there as well. And you do want, you know, he said after the race, this weekend has been tough for us. We were quite far off compared to our main rivals. But Bottas was getting stuck in at the. the start. He was on the tail end of the points, I think, at one point, like maybe at 12th or 13th, fighting away. And Joe, just another really poor performance. I am giving him a two because the car is rubbish, and am I going to give a gargantuan difference of a grade? Because there are some other teammates that were nearly 30-odd seconds behind each other. So yeah, that's why I've given

him a two, because he is driving a tractor, but it's still not good enough. I've also given Joe Gwyn, you a two. thinking about a wand but he does he keeps it clean at least and hasn't had accidents and is destroying the car yeah exactly and he's not he's never going sort of well the sab upgrades it's not exactly costing them because they don't seem to be improving if not they're getting worse so yeah just a very typical geoguan new weekend of being mars off in qualifying and then just didn't deliver in the race as well this time and way off, way off his teammate, so not good.

The fans gave him a one, straight up savage. Getting fed up. Certainly are. Let's go to Valtry Bottas, started 16th, finished 19th. I have gone for a 5 out of 10 for Bottas. It is the classic, very difficult to grade. Did amazingly well to even be fighting the midfield, during that race he was up there

one of the only teams to do a two-stop which is odd I'm not sure why they decided to go with that they do like to do a pit stop don't they when they're with the rest of the pack it's almost like they're banking on that winter and on time for Audi they're like no we need to make sure we're last maybe that's the theory utterly bizarre I've gone for a six out of ten for Valtry Bottas

because I liked the fact he was getting that wheelie bin up around the, yeah, fighting some of the cars at the start of the race. He was fighting, I believe, or he got ahead of Ricardo, he was chasing down Sonoda, got up to, I think it was P-14 actually in the end. But yeah, I don't really know. Of all the races, you would think that they would go long to try and just grab some track position, but they just lock in very early, it seems like, to a two-stop strategy, and they don't have to pace at all. So it almost feels like they're just doing test session. at this point, but I think Bottas, you know, he did okay. I know he finished 19th, but I feel quite harsh giving him straight down the middle

when he put nearly 35 seconds on his teammate. The fans gave Bottas a five. Yuki Sanoda started 11th, finished 17th. I've gone for a five out of ten for Yuki because it's the classic V-carb strategy of just screwing over Yuki Sanoda by the looks of things. Pitted it on lap 14, then pitted again. on lap 32, it's just bizarre. It's just losing all the track positions they could possibly get

and then being like, up to you, Yuki, you go and do your thing now, but you can't. It's difficult. These cars are quite closely matched in the midfield. And as we saw with a few other drivers, Ocon, these drivers are just stuck when they're there. And for Snow does the start 11th and finish 17th, the strategy was just, yeah, not good enough. So that's why I'm not being too harsh on him, because I just feel as though it was, once again, another V-carb blunder.

Yeah, I've gone for a five out of ten for Yuki as well. Saw a lot of people roasting him saying he was rubbish, but if you look at his race, like you say, he had a really poor strategy. It makes no sense. I know it's the SMH strategy with the tyres of soft, medium hard, and it was very SMH,

because for you to put the softs on and then go for mediums, And when you're pitting off your mediums, you're not going any longer than the people that are just doing a one-stop on the mediums. Like, where's the advantage of that at all? Why would you not go longer and try something? Really odd from V-Carb again.

And, of course, a track like Zandvort, very hard to overtake. And even though he qualified very well, you know, starting up in 11th, the Knoxville points in ages. And then because of that poor strategy, he was racing the likes of, of Magnus and Legan Sergeant the whole race, so not good.

Not good at all. The fans gave UK a five as well. Daniel Ricardo started 13th, finished 12th. I've gone for a 7 out of 10 for Daniel Riccardo. I think it was a respectable drive-to-finished P-12, finished ahead of Stroll in the Aston Martin, which you think would be a point scorer, so impressive there. Didn't have the best of qualifying compared to his teammate, but made up for it in the race and drove a good race. I still think the V-carb isn't really anywhere, so I think P-12 is a good position.

Certainly. I've gone for Ace 7 for Daniel Ricardo. I think that it was a decent drive being given the much better strategy at the team, I will say. I did see some graphics going around of Ricardo on average being 8 tenths a lap quicker. than Sonoda, but you also have to take into account that there were plenty of traffic for Yuki Sonoda to deal with, plus mobile chicanes like Kevin Magnuson and everything else. But that's not to take away from Daniel Riccardo. I think he had a strong race. He wasn't too far away from Stroll at the end and Holcomberg as well.

Not too close to the points, but still, I think a solid result after a reasonably subpar qualifying, wasn't it? Because I think he got knocked out. Did you get knocked out in Q1 from what I remember? but there's a lot of pit lane starts and all that sort of stuff. So yeah, good comeback for Danny Rick. So a seven from me and the fans gave him a five, which I think is very harsh from the fans.

So you are wrong, all of you. Logan Sargent started 18th, crashed, of course, in free practice three and did not start quali. And then finished the race in 16th. It is a three out of 10 for Logan Sargent. I know he did a race. He did a one stop.

He went round for 71 laps and then got out the car. However, that free practice three crash, which is not something you would usually take away from a driver, but it stopped him from literally taking part in qualifying. It was a silly error. And it put him on the back foot in a car that, in Alex Albon's hands, I know it was three millimeters too wide on the floor, but it got P8 in qualifying.

So there was some pace there in the Williams. So it's a massive opportunity lost for Logan. I'm not saying he would have qualified eighth. but just to be in Q2, just put yourself in a position to maybe impress. But alas, he did not, and that's why I'm giving him a three. Also gone for a three for Logan Sargent.

His race wasn't actually that bad. So three may seem a bit harsh, but essentially now, Logan, because of Carlos Sites signing for next year, it would be, before this incident, you'd go, well, there's absolutely no point replacing him. He can see out the rest of the year because why get someone else in who's not going to be driving there next year?

So the only way he could potentially come under more threat for losing his seat and not finishing the season is with another massive crash and that's exactly what he did. So just when you thought he'd gone on a few run-up races without the chat of him being replaced now piles all that pressure on himself again and now it looks like it could well be. It might, maybe is his last race, so I don't know,

or maybe after, after Monter. Potentially, because, yeah, of course, there were the rumours going around that James Vals went to find out the availability of Liam Lawson, I think it was, and perhaps even Kimmy Antonelli, and do they want to come in just for half a season? We'll see. Mick Schumacher.

Yeah, Mick Schumacher as well. So there are some drivers waiting in the wings that if Logan keeps obliterating the car and costing the team millions, then they're going to make, then they go. time Mick Schumacher. Yeah, maybe not.

Maybe Liam Lawson or Kimi Antonelli. The fans gave Logan a four out of ten. Alex Albon started 19th. Of course, he did qualify eighth, but got disqualified, and finished the race in 14th. I have gone for seven. Are you sure? No, I'm not.

I don't know. He's such a difficult one to grade because I think he's looking in seven. Yeah, I'm locking in seven. Because, yeah, we can say if he'd started where he did. Yeah, but he didn't. Some maybes, but we deal with absolutes, Tommy. And unfortunately, that did ruin his whole race. You know, he might have, I personally think he would have got points if he'd started where he did.

But we can't. We can't know that. because he was obviously stuck in the pack. He started way down the order, still finished out of his teammate, but that's no surprise. And yeah, it was actually quite unlucky to be the kind of person

that was the first to catch Magnuson kind of driving at three miles an hour through the middle sector, which cost him because then he got swamped by everyone and lost a few more places. And if that and have happened, maybe a chance of points. yeah unfortunately the DSQ after a brilliant qualifying

really robbed him of a possible points finish he certainly did I've gone for a seven out of ten for Alex Albon as well I'm not sure whether points were on the cards with the KMAG incident or not to be honest with you because he finished over half a minute I think it was behind Alonzo intent so I think that was pretty much all scuppered after the disqualification which was such a shame because it was such a great performance in qualifying and you don't see the same people's saying about George Russell wouldn't have been able to win the spa race if he'd had an extra kilogram

and a half saying that Alex Albon wouldn't have been able to get eighth in qualifying if it had three millimeters less wide of a floor. You know, you don't take away these drives from drivers. And I think Alex Albon did an amazing job, but sadly, it had to start 19th and made, you know, positions up, beat his teammate, no surprise. So that's why it's warranting a seven. And the fans gave him a seven as well. Esteban Okon started 15th, finished 15th.

And I'm giving him a five out of ten. Because it was a very anonymous race for Ocon. I don't feel like we really ever saw him. I think he was part of the K-Maggaggle of cars. And that was about it, really. It was his qualifying that, similarly to Albon and those kind of drivers around him, you just get stuck in your own little battle. And there's no chance of getting up near your teammate who was having a

sensational drive so there was some pace in that alpine but it was all scuppered on saturday for o'con so i've gone straight down the middle with a five out of ten i've also gone for a five out of ten for o'con very very in wondermous yeah uh when we saw what his teammate did which we get on to later uh he was nowhere and um yeah struggling you know if if gazley had maybe been further down the pack we'd have gone, well, it is just the Alpine. But Gassley showed that there was pace in that car this weekend. And for whatever reason, Ocon couldn't deliver it not only in qualifying, but also in the race he didn't make huge progress either.

So not so good weekend for O'Con. Certainly not. And the fans gave him a five as well. Pierre Gassley started ninth, finished ninth. I've gone for a 10 out of 10 for Piazzi. Gazley, which may seem extreme for a P9, but you can only do with your car what you can. And when everyone's finishing the Grand Prix these days, Formula A are gone. And another day when four, five, six of those drivers, which has happened in the past,

even last year with Gasly where he got the podium at this track. So it can happen, but unfortunately for him, he has happened. had one of the best drives of the year for him and all he is rewarded with two points, but at least he gets a 10 from Tom Bellingham in F1 drive ratings, which is basically a victory. So amazing drive from Gassley. His overtakes were really good as well. He was muscling it around the outside a lot at term 1 and did a great job. He certainly did.

He's also getting a 10 out of 10 from Matt Gallagher on P1 podcast as well, because what more could he have done? He got into Q3, he put himself in that position, and then drove fantastically well. He could have easily been passed by Alonso, but defended incredibly well against the Aston Martin. And of course he got overtaken by LeCler and Russell, but there's no way that he really could have fought those off,

but he did a fantastic job to win Formula B and by, what was it, five odd seconds from Alonzo behind. So it's not expected from the Alpine and Gassley to finish at the top of that pack and that's why I think he does deserve a 10 out of 10 because it was a sensational drive. The fans, however, gave him a 9. So that's, I mean, what more, what do you want him to do?

Win the race? Crazy. Lance Stroll started 8th, finished 13th. It's a 5 out of 10 for Lance Stroll from me and I genuinely thought I was going to give him maybe a 7, maybe an 8. He was looking reasonably good this weekend. And he comes into the pit lane about 150 miles an hour locks up, doesn't really slow that down.

And that kind of obviously ruined his race a little bit with the five second penalty. But yeah, it was a bit of an odd one, really, because he was right up there with Alonzo, especially in qualifying, obviously he's doing really well there, messed up his final Q3 lap, but I think finishing 13th is quite the poor result for Stroll,

and that's why I've gone for a five. I've also gone for a five for Lance Stroll I don't think the Aston is a great car as it was they look like they've slipped back into that pack again

but yeah when you're finishing behind an Alpine a house of E-Carb it's not it's not a great a great result

from from Stroll so despite a very promising qualifying you'd think points would be possible and he didn't score that six of five and the fans gave him a five as well.

Fernando Alonzo started seventh, finished 10th. I've gone for a seven out of ten for Fernando. He drove a solid race, if not spectacular. I don't think he could have done any more in qualifying. In the race, you think maybe he could have beaten Ghazley or something, so he's not delivered the absolute maximum there. You say he drove a solid race if not spectacularly, do you mean, but not spectacular.

I say that every time. Why do I say that every time? If not spectacular. So why not giving him a 10 then, bro? But to not spectacular. Yeah, it was a very... You can kind of look at it that it's maybe not one of his better drives,

but still getting a point with an Aster Martin that's not very competitive is just what Alonso does, really. So that's why I've gone for a 7. I have also gone for a 7 out of 10. Wow, we are in agreement today. I think that it was a good drive. It was a point.

Didn't even look like potentially that was on the cards at some points during the Grand Prix, but he managed to secure that. And what more is there really to say? Aston, sadly, can't even fit into that 34-second gap between the Mercedes and then Gassley and 9th. They are literally back in Formula B. Just as we were like, oh, maybe they're in Formula A now.

No, they're not. back in Formula B. They don't have the race pace sadly and it's literally got Alonzo in his hands and knees under the McLaren trying to figure out what the hell is going on in Park Fermi. So seven out of ten from me and the fans gave him a seven as well. Oscar Piastri started third, finished fourth. This is a difficult one. I'm going to go for a seven out of ten for Oscar Piaastri because he did still finish fourth. However, I think it was one of his poorer weekends of the year. In my opinion, second was absolutely the minimum that he should have been delivering around Zanvort.

But sadly, his qualifying, he was half a second off Lando. Of course, got a poor start as well, but I think with more analysis, we can see that a lot of drivers on that side of the grid did have poor starts. But that being said, Norris showed that you can drive up to a car and pass. It's not in a McLaren.

So it wasn't impossible. And for him to have had that tire advantage on LeCleur, and not get through, I think that's where it has to be a seven. I can't give him a six because he still finished fourth, but it's not far off. See, I think Oscar will be kicking himself a little bit

because I think a McLaren one, two, was absolutely on the cards there with how they were performing. I've gone for a seven out of ten for Oscar Piastri as well. I think you summed it up very nicely that you can't give him much worse, even though it was frustrating to watch because you saw the pace

the McLaren in the hands of Lando and it was not just a race winning car it was a very dominant race winning car so you think that the standard needs to be him finishing P2 and while his strategy was maybe a bit odd that they left him out longer when he had that tire advantage he didn't make the moves that he needed to so a frustrating race for Oscar Piastri but certainly not a terrible one I can understand maybe a few people being like, oh, he was awful, but he's still got solid championship points, but he does definitely need to do better. Now, he wasn't awful, and I think sometimes you just have to appreciate when a teammate just absolutely cooks as well. And I think that, yeah, it wasn't the

weirdest strategy either for Oscar, because I think he had decent pace and clean air on the medium tires, which is what McLaren were trying to give him, right? They'd give him that tire advantage, because if it just pit, he'd be in that same stuck pack. So they tried something different. He didn't lose too much time to the likes of Russell and Lecler and then just couldn't get through. And the fans gave Oscar a seven as well. So perhaps they're in agreement. Wow. A rarity.

Lando Norris started first, finished first. I've gone for a 1 out of 10 for Lando because of his awful start. No, I've of course gone for a 10 out of 10. Despite the start, you can't take it away from him because I don't think it was even a bad start. You saw what Oscar did. Strangely, I think first, third and fifth, all lost places that were on the clean side,

which was quite an odd one. It was more that Max got the perfect start. And even with that poor start, you know, he's put half a second on his teammate in qualifying to get a brilliant pole. He's been one of the only drivers that's really put in an overtake on a car that's a similar past. him as well, to fight through, and then to extend the gap and have the kind of audacity to set

fastest lap on the final lap to make sure he bagged the maximum points from the weekend. It was an unbelievable drive, and you can't take anything away from whatever you think of that car, you cannot take anything away from a driver that wins a race by 22 seconds and sets the fastest lap and puts a race-winning overtake on Maxa Stappen in the process. So it has to be a 10. I have gone for a 10 out of 10 as well for Lando. And I know that there will be comments that go, how could you possibly give him a 10 when it wasn't a perfect race?

Because he lost his lead at the start. Tommy said it. I said it earlier in the podcast as well. That side of the grid, which is supposed to be the preferential side, because it's the racing line, just didn't work for first third or fifth. and I think that people will go Because if this was an isolated incident Which is what we are rating it on

Zandvort not how good is Lando at starts I think people then think Oh well but he's done it before And therefore you should grade him down No this is one thing He lost the lead at the start But then kept his head down Didn't lose mental

He just drove brilliantly Passed max I think on up 17 And then to win by We actually won by 13.8 seconds from Valtry Botas I should have actually given him a seven. But he should have beaten that kick sailor and that rocket ship McLaren to be fair. He should have. He should have, yeah.

But only by 13 seconds is wild. But I think Lando is still a 10 out of 10 performance. It really is. Had it been a lot more close and maybe Max gets him back and things like that, you might take the start into account more. But he just eradicated that and dominated. So I am fully saying it with my chest that he deserves a 10 out of 10. and the fans agree 10 as well from them

and obviously the fastest lap which was just showcasing that oh my god that McLaren is absolutely rapid with their new upgrades and I also actually before we get on to the next one I was reading and I haven't had this fully confirmed but McLaren were this is again what I read they were hoping to have had this upgrade at the start of the season but they had it now which wow could be a very different champion chip. Well, we said that. Absolutely. Yeah, they've had a very good car all season, but my God, if they had this car at the start, that would have been tasty.

Let's move on now to Carlos Sines, started 10th and finished 5th. I've given Carlos Sines an 8 out of 10. I think it was a very strong performance after a disappointing qualifying. Of course, he did lose a bit of time, didn't he in practice through some issues and bounced back beautifully, I would say. say Carlos drove almost emphatically from that point. I think he finished, what, seven odd seconds behind Charlotte. I think also drove an incredible race in that Ferrari. And I think I was quite happy as a Ferrari fan to see both of the drivers delivering at a level that we saw at the start of the year as well. They were the ones getting, being the most efficient and picking up as many points as possible. And this was definitely a display of that as well. Because that Ferrari was not as quick, in my opinion, as the Red Bull and the McLaren's, but they really did.

make the most of every opportunity. So I've gone for an eight for Carlos. I've gone for a nine out of ten for Carlos Science. I think it was an incredible drive to fight his way through after a poor qualifying, which he was, you know, he only just missed out on making it through to the cutoff and had you know as you mentioned

the difficulty with the gearbox problem in practice so the fact that he recovered so well and it was not a huge margin behind his teammate in the end

is very very impressive to finish P5 you know only five seconds off the back of McLaren made overtakes made them stick It was a really good drive.

Could have been with Shal or who knows whether Ferraris, both of the Ferraris could have been if they'd qualified higher because they looked very, very strong in the race. The fans gave Carlos an eight as well. Charles LeCler started sixth, finished third. I've gone for a 10 out of 10 for Charleclair. I think it was a amazing drive to get on the podium from P6 to finish three seconds under three seconds.

Behind Max de Stappen, I know that Red Bull is not there. But yeah, a really good drive for it. I don't think the Ferrari is a dominant car. So for him to get on the podium ahead of a McLaren is really, really impressive. You don't think the Ferrari's dominant car. I agree, Tommy, I totally agree. We can all agree on that. Yeah, I think he over-delivered.

I can't actually believe he made it onto the podium, to be honest, after qualifying 6th. Normally with Shaal, we know that he can often qualify superbly well, and the car can't deliver a better performance, so he drops back a bit. But this time it was the opposite. I am also going to fanboy and say 10 out of 10 for Charles LeClau. not just because he qualified, obviously, quite a bit better than his teammate,

but then to, I mean, both Charlotte-Claire, I'd say, and Ferrari did a great strategy. They pitted a little bit earlier. They got track position, and I think Charles then managed those tires brilliantly well, and to keep Oscar Piaastri at bay for 20, 25 laps, and to deal with that pressure is quite something to behold, I would say. So very happy, as a LeClair fan, to see him back on the podium, well, I say back on the podium. It was back-to-back podium, technically,

but the first one we actually saw, because he, of course, got promoted in Spa. So, yeah, 10 out of 10. There's literally nothing. I mean, if he'd beaten Max Verstappen, I would have said an 11, but alas, he did not. The fans gave him a 9. George Russell, started 4th, finished 7th.

It's going to be a 7 out of 10th for George Russell. The Mercedes was not there. I don't think Mercedes really had a clue what they were doing this weekend. They split the setups between the two drivers by the looks of things. Hamilton said he was very slow on the straits, and George had a great qualifying, so it put him in the mix to be able to score some decent points,

but just didn't really have the speed in the pace. He was sliding around a lot, he said, after the race. He had high degradation. He chewed through his tires and obviously had to, well, both of the drivers had to go onto a two-stop strategy, which was surprising. But yeah, Mercedes were just off the pace. But I'm still going to give a seven because they score points,

and I'm not sure there was much more. really they could have done with the pace they had in the car I've gone for a seven out of ten for George Russell as well he qualified very well to be fourth it is concerning how in another race whereas teammates qualified so much lower down than him that they've ended up together again which has maybe become a bit of a trend

with George Russell and but still a solid race he chewed through his tyres and that is you know less than ideal has to be said particularly as Mercedes have been on such great form but yeah it was a very bizarre strategy to give up track position at a place like Zandvo even when your tyres are you're struggling on tyres it must have been a big struggle for him to sacrifice those two positions because the We saw Piastri with a huge advantage on Lecler and Russell himself and couldn't get past. So it would have been hard to overtake.

So very surprised Mercedes decided to do that. Yes, they clearly saw the drop off coming and he pitted a lap later than Charles Lecler. So it really does demonstrate how good Lecler is. The fans gave George a seven as well. Lewis Hamilton started 14th due to that penalty. as well for blocking Perez and then finished the race, finished the race, sorry, in eighth.

I've gone for a six out of ten for Lewis Hamilton. I think he, if he'd done better in qualifying, could have got a much better result. I know he finished on the back of his teammate at the end, which you can say, oh, that's quite harsh to give him a six, but his qualifying was poor, and he has obviously finished last of what is,

Formula A, who were just in a completely different league, basically. So yeah, disappointing for Hamilton when he's just been so, so good in the previous three races, this was one to forget. I've gone for a seven out of ten for Lewis Hamilton. I think it was a solid drive. Qualifying was poor. Don't get me wrong. But he demonstrated a lot of overtakes around Zambor, which we know is very difficult.

they were on slightly slower cars. But still, to finish only a few seconds behind George Russell, I don't think I can really separate the two. I know George did qualify better, but he had worse race pace. So the fact that they both came together at the end, I think Hamilton still deserves a seven, and it was just a poor-ish weekend for Mercedes in general. The fans gave Lewis a seven as well.

Sergio Perez started fifth, finished sixth. I am going for a seven-hour. Out of 10 for Sergio Perez this weekend. It was a good performance. The Red Bull was not there. We saw that in the hands of Max for Stappen. I've seen some onboards of Max driving that car in the middle sector, and it literally looks like he's on ice.

So Perez, of course, is driving the same car. And it was all right. He qualified better, and he didn't fall away in the race as much. I know he still finished 17 or so seconds behind his teammate, but I think that's a much more respectable performance from Perez considering his form previously. So that's why I've gone for a seven. I've gone for a seven as well for Sergio Perez. It was a much better drive from him.

Not the most amazing drive, but I guess with how his form has been recently. And in previous races it'll absolutely take that drive every day of the week. you did that drive. Every single race, we wouldn't be having to have this debate of is Sergio Perez? Don't say it. Don't say it. I didn't. Well, I said we wouldn't have to have that.

You said washed. It's fine. We got away with it. I thought you're going to say the yes word. No, no, no. So, yeah, it's good. A good drive from Perez, all things considered, because, yeah, the Red Bull has fallen off big time. and the fans gave Perez a seven as well we did it Tommy we didn't say the word seat oh wait I ruined it

right next up Max Verstappen and finally he started the race in second and finished in second I've gone for a nine out of ten for Max Verstappen 22 seconds off the lead he obviously I think he delivered what he could do

that McLaren was unbeats this weekend. But we have seen, and maybe this is Max being a victim of his own success. We have seen Max overcome that adversity and somehow still win when he shouldn't have done, which is why for me it can't be a 10. So yeah, it's a 9 for Max. It's a 9 out of 10 for me as well for Max.

I think it was, again, still a very, very good performance. and for him to drag a car that he was incredibly unhappy with still to second, it's still worthy of a very solid score. I know some people will go, yeah, but he's dominated races. But the Red Bull is not as good as that anymore. It's nowhere near as good as that. You can see just by watching them drive around the circuit, and you can see in qualifying.

They've lost the advantage that they had. And if anything, they're now quite far behind McLaren potentially. We'll see what Monza has to say. but Max still gets second. He still gets a hand for a load of points. And yeah, it was good damage limitation for Max because a slightly worse race and perhaps he falls into the clutches of LeCleran Piastri,

which is not something I thought I would ever say. So there you go, and the fans gave Max a nine as well. Okay, then who is our P1? There's a few tens out there. There are. There's a few tens indeed. I am going to give my P1 to Pierre Gazley. I believe Pierre Gasley drove

fantastically well and was a driver of the weekend to haul the Alpine into ninth place so Pierre gets my vote I will give it to Lande Norris because I think even with the start he has basically delivered the exact race that people

thought he should do and despite him doing that people are still slandering him for some reason but to win by 22 seconds from Maxis Stappen. Whatever car you have is no mean feat. And it was, I think, the best drive of Landau's career.

It was a great drive. He could win by 30 seconds, and his haters would say, it wasn't 31, there, was it? Like, that's how petty a lot of these faces are. It's just Twitter, though, isn't it? Yeah, it really is. It's with every driver.

Lovely social media. But let's leave it on a great note. Well done to all of our drivers, all of our drivers. I don't know why they're ours, but to the Formula One drivers. Especially Joe Gwringy. Yeah.

Tommy. That's what everyone's here for, let's be honest. Yeah, I look forward to seeing the comments of why he deserves more than a two out of ten. They actually do make me chuckle quite a lot with some of the top comments that all of you give. So please give and be creative with your feedback. And that is it. Tommy, what are your final thoughts? Final thoughts are that.

Oh, you've switched off. I was already ready to switch off. Bring on another crazy monitor. That's what I want to see. Back to bed races. We've waited long enough for a race, and now we're getting another. My final thoughts are Charlotte Club

will be getting a 10 out of 10. So let's lock that in now for driver ratings. Thank you very much. All right, see you soon, everybody. What did you say? Clip it now. Clip it now. Okay.

All right, well, see you soon, everybody. It's Italian GP Race Week. Woo! Bye! is a Stack production and part of the ACAST created network.