P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our 2025 mid-season F1 Driver Ratings: P20 to P11

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

It's here! Now we're at the summer break, we've taken averages of all our (and your) driver ratings from the season so far and worked out the averages, to give us a full picture of how the first half of the season has gone. No room for recency bias here!Join us tomorrow for part two!Tickets to our Delusion Tour are running out! The P1 live show's coming to cities in the UK, Europe and North America later this year. Get your tickets here: tix.to/p1liveYou can listen to an extended version of every race review this season over on our Patreon! You'll also access to every P1 episode ad-free, 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. We're here. It's summer break. You know, we're having a great time. Everybody is just decompressing slightly from this very manic Formula One season, ready for another 10 races to conclude who will be champion, who will be Constructors champion. I wonder who will be.

It is. I know it's not mid-season and I know people will start crying about that. However, yes, Tommy, you have already highlighted in the YouTube Instagram. intro. It just makes sense, right? It makes sense to call it midseason even though. Yeah, it does. It does. I was actually laying in bed last night thinking middle. But then some people say, I'm in the middle of it. Does that mean you're technically in the middle of something? Like, are you in the absolute middle? Yeah, it just makes more sense to do it in the summer break, doesn't it? I mean, to your fair, it's drive rating. So that's the last thing people are going to get

angry about. So what we have done is we've totted up the averages of the season up until this point. including, of course, driver such as Jack Dewan, who of course is no longer a full-time Formula One driver. But we've taught them all up. We've got mine, we've got your ratings, Tommy, and we have the fans as well. You at home, who have been taking part so wonderfully in voting each week. So we've got three grades to share.

So how we have graded this, Tommy? So how are we going through it? Talk me through. How have we ordered it? Because mine and your grades can potentially slightly differ. Yeah, they will, will differ because obviously me and you have been doing our lovely drive ratings all season, as have the fans, like you say. And basically, there's been a complete average over these first 14 races, so every driver will get to score, you know, 5.2 or 3.9 or 9.1 or whatever they got. And then we've ordered them from 21st to first.

And in theory, that should be, you know, the definitive order with no recency bias and 100%. Correct. And we'll find out. That's the beauty of it. Yeah. It is 100% correct. And also, yeah, the recency bias. That's the, that's the interesting thing.

This is the topic of conversation, of course, always comes out when we do overall averages, because some people may think, wow, how is that person down in 16th? They finished third in Silverstone. I don't know. There's things like that that I think will make for interesting debate. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's very easy to forget that some people had a difficult start to the season or some people

a great start to the season because it feels such a long time ago now, doesn't it, that we started the season. It really does. Back in Australia. So, let's get into it

and start with 21st position. My 21st position is Jack Dewan with 3.7 out of 10. Am I surprised? Not really... I mean, to be fair, sometimes drivers who don't complete

an entire season just chill in fourth place. And they've had a couple great little showings, little substations. and this did not happen for Jack Duhin and it's probably one of the main reasons why he lost his seat sadly. Yeah, too many mistakes. We were trying so desperately to find the potential which was somewhere, but it just didn't show.

And then Alpine decided to get rid of him. Indeed. So my 21st position is also Jack Duhin and also 3.7. I promise it is different later on. Yeah, Jack Duhin obviously a very small. pool of results but still not very good results from our drive ratings obviously had a difficult start to the season many many believe and I don't think it's unfair to say that he was kind of doomed from from the start because it was very difficult there was always that pressure of

whatever he does he was going to get replaced but unfortunately for him you know had some very bad moments with with crashes you know he got most of his grades that I gave him throughout the year were threes, his best being a six in Bahrain. So yeah, not a great season for doing. And sadly for him, I'd be surprised if we saw him again in Formula One. It's just the nature of the sport, isn't it? Now, the first disagreement comes in because the fans' 21st position

is Franco Colopinto with a 3.6 grade. Now, I am slightly surprised to see that. I won't lie to you. I don't think Franco has had the best of seasons in the Alpine, jumping in, of course, midway in Imola. But was he, has he? It's close. Yeah, it's difficult to say. I think I imagine there's probably a lot of frustration in Colapinto's results from the fact that he,

Colopinto almost needed to go in and be really, really good to basically justify that. that switch and I guess maybe that that frustration has come across in fan votes maybe. Very true. He had a one out of ten in Silverstone. Oh, that's from me actually. What did the fans give? A zero. Okay. Yes. There we go. You can see, you can see why a two in spa, a three in Austria as well. So there's no surprise. A zero in silverstone when he didn't even get to do the race. So I think that was a bit of frustration from from people there maybe. Yeah. Pretty savage. But the colopent, as I say, 21st and last position with the 3.6 from the fans. In 20th position, Tommy.

My driver is Franco Colapinto with a 4.4 out of 10. Yeah, no surprise really. It is close between Colapinto and doing. It's how you judge it. I personally, and as my... The grades do not suggest that, Tommy. 3.7 versus 4.4? Yeah, I think Colapinto...

I think Colapinto has been better than people give him credit for. don't get me wrong, he's still been disappointing and I back up my theory that he's been unfairly memed this season of being like this absolutely awful driver when on his day he's out qualified Gasly which is something that

that Dewin didn't really do and yeah he's had his few crashes I think he did it once didn't he? Yeah, I could hear the hesitation in your voice, ever so slightly yeah, I think it was Japan where there was one race where Gazley had a problem and do

and outqualified him. Out qualification. It counts. It counts. Exactly. And yeah, Colapinto, still a very difficult situation. Maybe Colapinto got more of a benefit of the doubt when we got halfway through

the season and our brains reset going, yes, the Alpine is the worst car on the grid now and it's not, you know, because that's another thing. We started the season thinking that Alpine were going to be pretty good. And of course, they are lost. So my 20th position. Is Colapinto with a 4.4? Yes, I can see the fact that we've got exactly the same averages for the first two, but I promise you. Carnage is going to slightly unfold, I think, between me and Tommy, but at least between us and the fans. I mean, you say about like we had to readjust our brains for Colapinto's grades and the Alpin and things like that, that the grades have been worse as he's kind of gone along, both for me and for you. The last four have been a four, a one, a three.

and a five out of ten from me. And yeah, it's just, we've not really seen an entire weekend packaged up from Franco Colopinto. That's what we need to see. Like, you know, we talk about potential. But there is less, I think, from both us and also the fans, there's less sort of forgiveness here of Colopinto maybe struggling. As much as he is very new to Formula One and only had a handful of races for Williams, there's kind of, I guess, this sort of expectation that, as you said, he's replacing Duhin, so therefore he has to be a lot better, otherwise I'm going to grade him pretty poorly.

So I think he has been a bit of a victim of that, but still, he definitely deserves to be one of the worst graded drivers of the year so far, because we've not really seen the full potential of Franco at the moment. The fans, 20th position, was Jack Duhin with a 4.2, a whopping 0.5, more. more than both me and Tommy gave him, which is actually a huge amount of grade. So we were much harsher to do and clearly than the fans were. In 19th position, Yuki Sonoda with a 5.1 out of 10 average.

Now, we're getting into, and we will further on as well, where I will say that Yuki Sanoda is 19th, and there will be drivers that are within 0.1 of a grade of drivers that are further up. And I think that'll happen even more when we get into the midfield sort of rankings where it will be so close between drivers.

So just listen to the average grades before we say that, you know, I mean, Yuki's known of hater or something like that. However, has he really deserved any higher than that for the grade? We know the problems that he's had jumping into that Red Bull.

But at the same time, there was expectation of, well, Lawson's done pretty bad, surely Yuki can do better, much more experienced driver. And sadly, in that second Red Bull seat, it has been impossible for him to really shine. But we know he can. So this grade is pretty irrelevant. I really hope that Yuki finds the right spot for him because I don't know if that second Red Bull Seat is where he needs to be.

Because I'm looking at his grades that I've given him. And it's quite a sad reading, to be honest with you. Before the switch, he started with a nine out of ten in Australia. and eight out of ten in China. He had a seven out of ten from me in Bahrain. And then from then on, he's not achieved more than a six out of ten from me. He's had a couple of twos, two threes as well. So the fact that he's a 5.1, Andy had a great start of the season,

just reflects the struggles that he's had. Yeah, absolutely. My P19 is also Yuki Sonoda, slightly worse with a 4.9. and yeah much of the same reading in terms of Sonoda's performance looking at how he did in that racing balls and seeing the nines and eights that he scored in those first couple of races but then he actually moved over to Red Bull and you saw a bit of potential there

because of course Lawson qualified 20th in both those first races and Japan he didn't have the best of qualifying but it obviously wasn't last Barrein he was fighting a bit further at the front that we'd seen that kind of second Red Bull in quite a while but the problem is he went on that massive run where confidence dipped he was actually having quite a few collisions and things as well

and that's when he was getting you know threes ones and twos because not only was he qualifying and racing poorly we couldn't even give him the benefit of the doubt of it's only the second seat second Red Bull seat curse because he was colliding and getting penalties and things like that So yeah, hopefully, Yuki's kind of grade turns around in the second half of the season

with the new team principal and more confidence. I just don't see it, bro. I just don't see. It's not going to happen. The car's not going to change overnight, is it? I think it's going to be a sad, sad rest of the season for Yuki. I really hope I'm wrong. I really do.

The fans in 19th position have gone for Lance Stroll, very popular to give him a zero from the fans. They absolutely love giving Lance Stroll a zero. He's had two of them this year. from you lot. I've not given him a singular zero and neither of you, Tommy. In fact, you have not even given him a one out of 10 for any performance across the entire year. So yeah, Stroll in 19th, I think that's a little bit harsh with a 4.5 out of 10. In 18th position, Tommy. My driver is Lance Strull with a 5.1.

So, yeah, Lance, all the way down is very strange and I guess it shows you that points don't really tell the whole scene. where Lance Stroll obviously equal on points with Fernando Alonso, I believe in the championship now, obviously behind on countback. And up until the last few races ahead of Fernando Alonso, the season for Lance Stroll has very much been a couple, maybe I think like three races, he's done something unbelievable and got big points, particularly when Aston were really struggling at the start in those crazy races like Australia, for example, where he got that fantastic result. But the frustrating thing is there's still too much from Lance Stroll of these weekends where he's just nowhere and he qualifies really poorly and he doesn't have that same excuse as a colipinto or a doing where they're new.

Lance Stroll has been in Formula One for absolutely ages now and you need to see some improvement from him. so yeah it's been a strange season for stroll good good points but not enough good performances and that's why he's down in 18th absolutely madness isn't it lance stroul down in 18th been carrying esther martin on his back for most of the season and yeah doesn't get the grades in 18th position for me Liam Lawson with a 5.2 out of 10 crazy I'm actually quite surprised to see Lawson down in 18th obviously I think this will be one where people will go, what do you mean? He's been really great these last few races. And that has reflected in my grades as well. So Lawson, in the luck. Well, to be fair, Silverstone wasn't a great one.

I gave him a four out of ten. But I've given him a ten in Austria and two eights in Spar and Hungary. He's had an eight in in Monaco. He's had a seven in Spain. But the problem is he had a two, one, four, three, seven three in the first six races. Obviously, the seven's a bit of an outlier there, but he's had a lot of very low grades, which has brought his average down quite tremendously. I think this is a grade that if he continues on his run of form that he is, will thrust himself up the leaderboard when we reflect on this come the end of the season, because he is on a great run of form at the moment. But sadly, having three or four great races or decent races doesn't change your average. That's the whole thing of the math that's

going on right now. So yeah, slightly. to see him down in 18th, but then when you look at it across the whole season, you kind of understand why. The fans have given 18th position to Yuki Sonoda with a 5.1 out of 10, which I know is different, but I want to say right now, exactly the same grade as mine, but just how the ranking are working. So me and you, the fans, you know, we're so in sync about Yuki Sanoda, aren't we this year? So yeah, but no massive surprises there. We haven't seen a huge random driver as such from the fans. We now go to 17th position

where I've given Lance Stroll that wonderful place with a 5.3 out of 10 average. That's not agreeing with the fans. It's not agreeing with the fans, but the fans have been just giving Stroll horrendous grades for quite a long time. I don't think it fully reflects his season.

He has had great moments and that's the reason why he'd been the top Aston Martin scorer for quite some time. Again, with Aster Martin, Did we expect them to struggle as much as we did at the start of the year? No. I did. Apparently too much.

Yeah, well, you predicted something and it's wrong, mate. But I think Lance has had good performances, but he just has moments where he has weekends off, two weekends off, three weekends off, and just trundles around at the back, qualifying on the back row of the grid. So that's why he's down in 17th with a 5.3. So my 17th place is Liam Lawson with a 5.4. out of 10. As you say, Will Lawson, it's that it's that start to the season that really killed him, because I think he's been a much better driver these last few races and it found the confidence again. You know, three of the last four races, he's got higher than an eight and a 10, sorry, eights and two eights and a 10. So he's done a great job and he's kind of finding his feet more in that team.

Of course, he had those two horrible races with Red Bull races. that has to be said, like couldn't really have gone any worse. You know, to get replaced after two races is a shocker. But then even when he moved to V-carb, he didn't hit the ground running. It wasn't like an instant. Oh, I'm demoted.

Look how great I'm doing, which we've seen from other drivers where they just found their confidence immediately. But now he has, but of course too much at the start of the season where it wasn't going well for him. Indeed, the fans have gone for loss. and as well with a 5.1 out of 10.

He has more tens than Sonoda, hence why he has been placed ahead of Yuki for the fan vote. So I will not hear any recency bias in the comments because you've literally given Lawson a lower average grade than both myself and Tommy. But probably very similar reasons. In 16th, Tommy.

16th is Carlos Sainz with a 6.0. I think this one, maybe not surprising. I think it certainly would be surprising if you'd said this at the start of the year. yeah we were we were glazing we really were Carlos Sainz thought he was going to be absolutely fantastic at Williams

he has undoubtedly undoubtedly been quite unlucky in certain situations but but he's he has struggled a lot to get up to speed with with the new car and actually looking at this it's funny how all the

you know a lot of the drivers at the bottom are ones other than Lance Roll are ones that had to kind of deal with new machinery in, you know, Carlos Sainz, Sonoda, Lawson, Colopinto doing. But yeah, I really thought Carlos Sites would kind of take all the frustrations of getting dropped by Ferrari show what he could really do in the Williams. And there have been moments like that where he has put in some great performances and qualifying.

But too many times it seems like he's gone out in like a Q1 or something and just not got it together. And of course, when it's so hard to overtake, qualifying is so important. And yeah, Carlos Sainz was one of those drivers that I think many, many people would have predicted would have been top of the midfield. But he's had a very, very disappointing season. And I'm in agreement, Tommy, because my 16th position is also Carlos Sines with a 6.0, exactly the same. This one, I feel like Carlos has probably been one of the unluckier drivers of the season. I feel like a lot has gone wrong for him, which has of course affected his grade when he can't perform to what we would expect. And I guess he came into the season with a lot of expectation for both us and fans.

And yeah, it has been an underwhelming season, whether it is because he has struggled occasionally with the car also had bad luck. You know, it is a 6.0. It's not like we've given him a two. And there's a lot of very close drivers I'm seeing in this list ahead of him. But yeah, I would love to see that the next 10 races for Carlos is. where he gets some reasonable luck. Doesn't even need to have good luck.

Just have a car that just works for him, makes sense, and perhaps he just needed a little bit more time from Ferrari. But yeah, it's not been a disaster of a season, but it's definitely not been what any of us expected when we came into this one. And the fans, hey, we're all in alignment. Have also gone for Carlos Sons with a 5.9 out of 10. So let's see what he can do in the second half, or less than half of the season to get.

In 15th position, I have Pierre Gassley with a 6.1 out of 10. So let's look at Gassley's grades, shall we? He's got two tens from me, I can see right there in Bahrain and also in Silverstone. Gazley, look, I think if we had gone back to the start of the season, realised just how bad that Alpine is, perhaps he'd be slightly higher up than where he's placed at the moment. but it's so difficult to do driver ratings because you just don't know

how the car's performances change week in week out season to season. It's a very difficult ball game and that's what even Alex Albon said when we were chatting to him. It's a very personal experience each race. But I think Gassley has had a good season even though he's 15.

I think he has had a good season because he's had moments where we've gone, wow, he's really outperforming that car. Have we seen as many as we've seen as we? expect from Gasly? Maybe not. But I think it just, he's, he's been a bit of a victim of the car just being pretty woeful for most of the season. Yeah. So 15th, 6.1. I've also gone for Pierre Gazley in 15th with 6.1 as well. He, like Carlos Sainz, this is, this is pretty terrible reading actually for me, because I'm pretty sure I put Gasly and Since being the kind of two best of the rest

in our predictions for the season a lot of people were you know hyping these two up after testing thinking that the LP would be quite good to start the season but they have fallen kind of

downwards and downwards and downwards and now yeah looking like the worst car on the grid Gazley has had those good performances hasn't he where he's reminded us all why he is you know Silverstone is a great example

gave him a 10 out of 10 they got a nine in Bahrain and he's had these performances where it's just kind of reminded everyone oh he's a he is a great driver and highly rated but there's not enough of it and maybe that is just the fact that the Alpine

is so terrible this year that some of the races and this is the nature as well of that close midfield battle that for all we know he's had the race of his life and he's finished 15th and we just go oh 15th that's not that great is it but it's how you grade it. So, yeah, Gazley, disappointed to be all the way down in 15th,

but it is so close between all these drivers coming up now, isn't it? It really is. The fans, well, they agree. It's amazing to see the amount of agreement for the big votes that we do every single weekend because Gazley has a 5.9 out of 10 average and is placed ahead of signs because he has more nines than Carlos. Let's move to 14th position, Tommy. 14th is a painful one for me.

It's Kimmy Antonelli with a 6.1. So same as Gasly. However, he's had more tens than Pierre Gasly. One of them, of course, being his very first race in Australia, where difficult qualifying and then brilliantly kind of came through the field to finish fourth in wet conditions. And we thought, wow, okay, Kimmy Antonelli has arrived. This guy is going to be amazing.

you know, he didn't have the the kind of impressive performances as Russell and of course Russell's a veteran now and a multiple race winner so maybe it was no surprise and he started the season with a 10, a 7, an 8, a 7, 8,

9 and you're thinking, okay this guy's going to be one of the drivers and people speaking of him as, you know, the rookie of the year, oh, he's doing really well and then since Imola he's really spiraled with some some bad moments. Of course, he's had his car failures and things, but also crashes. And this is

another driver that's really had a tale of two halves, because other than Canada, where he got a 10 and had that brilliant podium, it's been a 5-26-2-5-25-5-5. And yeah, he's a driver that's very much going to be looking forward to the summer break and just needs to recharge and kind of find that form that he had at the start of the season. I have also got Kimmy, Antonelli with a 6.1 out of 10. Me and Tommy really in agreement in this part of the driver ratings. For me, Kimmy Antonelli is joint on tens, nines and eights with Pierre Gassley, but he has more sevens than Pierre.

So that is why Antonelli is in 14th for me. I genuinely think Antonelli would be probably even in my top 10, had he not had this run of stinking results the last few. He's had a couple of twos from me, a couple of very mid-fives. He's had a three from me as well. in Monaco. Yeah, it's the wrong way round, really, for Kimmy Antonelli in terms of what I think everybody expected from him of mistakes, maybe a little bit slow, keeping it, whatever it might be,

we thought that was going to be the start of the year and he would get better and better and better. This is the wrong way round for him and also for, you know, the personnel in F1, people keeping an eye on his performances because it doesn't make sense. but it just clearly is a case of losing confidence, which is bizarre because Canada was unbelievable. The fact is that is just such an outlier in the last few races where you go, well, that was, yeah, that was Antonelli.

He was on the pace of Russell doing a phenomenal job. It's, yeah, it's tough reading being 14th because he is a rookie and I think he has had great moments, but he's had too many poor ones and just the lack of speed in the last few have been, rather concerning, I think, for Kimmy Antoni. I've got something quite funny that I can do actually with this wonderful document that we have

that works out the average. So if I, because you mentioned about it's a season of two halves, if you take Imala and get rid of all those results from where it was and see what his average was, it would be 7.8 and he'd be fifth on our rankings, which that says a lot, doesn't it? Of how much is fallen? And if you get rid of the,

get rid of the first six. Tell me what the average is now. The average, if you get rid of those first six, would be 4.8. So he would be... That's with a 10 as well. With a 19... Yeah. So he'd be 19th. So that is the most season of two halves you could ever possibly have, really, isn't it? Love that, Tommy. Keep that up. Keep doing more of that. I love it when you jig with the numbers. Right. In 14th position for the fans is Esteban Oconn with a 6.1 out of 10.

Do I feel like that's a little bit harsh? Well, I clearly do because I've not said Oconn yet and neither of you, Tommy. But I think this where, again, there's confusion with Hasse. Because I feel like Hatt have been the most confusing team on the grid of are they fifth fastest or are they ninth fastest? And maybe the cases they have been both. And that's why we've not known where to place them. But the fans have gone for Ocon 6.1. In 13th, I have gone for, or not I've gone for, the numbers have,

have gone for. Bortoletto with a 6.2 out of 10. So Gabby Bortoletto Oh actually you know what? Season of two halves I think Yeah, should do it for him as well. I'm seeing very much

a slow start to the season and then Salba actually getting a good car and then Bortoletto being able to showcase what he's been able to do because in the first five races for me Bortoletto did not get a higher than a five out of ten with two fours and then since then he's only had

one grade below a five. Yeah. Boots it. Boots it. If I get rid of those first five until, I guess. Which is, I think actually, I know we're doing like if spots, maybe, if we get rid of these races, blah, blah, blah. I first you find this quite five. Actually, yeah, just for the purpose. So when did Salba get their upgrades?

I think it was Spain, wasn't it? So if we get rid of up until Spain and his last run of results, yeah, it'd be a 7.7. So he's another one that's really had that run of good races. But I also think that this is a very fair thing to talk. about for Bortoletto in particular. And, you know, obviously we speak about Antonelli. They, they're rookies. And Bortoletto had very little running coming into this season. So he genuinely was learning everything in the start of the season with a car that was worse as well.

We saw it with Hulkemberg. Neither of them could really, I know Hulk had a, obviously, a great performance straight up the blocks. But apart from that, he was struggling to get results out of it as well. So I think Bortoletto, that is the curve that you want to see. So well done to Bortoletto, even it is only 13th, but I think that this, if he continues the way he is, he could be getting well into the top 10 for me. 13th, I have Olly Behrman with a 6.4. So another rookie, I think Olly Bearman's, every single time on drive ratings, we say it, that it's a what might have been, and I think his whole season is a what might have been. Had a great run of China, Japan, and Bahrain. He got three

nines in a row. But, yeah, it was impressive. that he had these amazing runs at the start of the season. But then, yeah, a lot of sixes and sevens and he's just waiting for that big result where you feel like, you know, he's not got a 10 this year yet from us. And he's had those moments where you feel like if it all came together,

he would have that kind of 10 out of 10 performance. But still, it's still a very decent average. And like you said earlier, has very difficult to read because sometimes they do seem genuinely worst, and we were seeing kind of, I think it was the first race, wasn't it? Ockon and Behrman were just that getting lapped

and were last by an absolute mile, and we thought, wait, what's happened to Haas? And then other races, you just think if they qualify well, then, you know, they, I think it was spar at the sprint race, they were fifth and seventh, so very peculiar team. Absolutely. The fans in 13th position have gone for Kimmy Antonelli,

with a 6.1, even though Antonelli one grade higher than both me and Tommy in terms of position, exactly the same average score and is ahead of Ocon because he has more tens than him. 12th position, Tommy. 12th position for me is Bortoletto, 6.4. So same as Berman, but has more tens than Ollie Bearman, which I would believe is only one. No, it's two.

Austria and Hungary. So yeah, another driver, you've said it. kind of season of two halves, but this is more what you expect from a rookie where the first half he's learning the car and I said many times that I don't think his start. The season was as bad as he was kind of been made out to be, but now he is looking like one of the drives in form and I'm, I can't wait to see what he can do second half of the season because he's such a looking like such a promising rookie. He's out qualified Holcombberg now. so far this season, which is no mean feat at all, Holkenberg, a fantastic qualifier and of course

a veteran in Formula One. And yeah, his standout performance, of course, came in Hungary last time out. So, yeah, looking forward to seeing what he can do. And I would not be surprised if we saw him maybe even break into the top 10 when we do our final ratings if he carries on this form. Absolutely. My 12th position is Oliver Berman with a 6.3. out of 10. So I'm ahead of Tommy in terms of 12th rather than 13th for Berman, but I've actually graded in 0.1 lower because that's just the way these numbers are working. But yeah, Olly Berman, kind of disappointed that my grade for him doesn't put him in 11th

after everything that we've been speaking about with him. But close, but not close enough. Berman, I think close but close but not close enough has been kind of his season this year. It's been, as you kind of mentioned, very strong start to the year, three nines in a row for me as well. And then just so many race reviews, so many driver ratings where we've gone. What might have been?

Silverstone in particular, that bloke could have, he could have got a 14 out of 10 if everything had gone to, gone the way that it should have gone in Silverstone. Yeah, it's like it's a rookie season, right? I think Berman is showing that he's

a pretty decent match for Ocon. And yeah, I, I think that, well, to be fair, I've been a stand of Oliver Berman since before he even started. He was my good surprise for the season. I thought he's going to come out the blocks and be really, really quick. He's not been as quick as I think I expected, and maybe some others. Tommy, you agree with that as well? It's been slightly lower than what I would have anticipated.

Yeah, true. I mean, look at the kind of the rookies. We're seeing 14th, Antonelli in our, well, we've kind of varied, but Antonelli, Bortoletto and Bairman have all got very similar grades and they've all had kind of very mixed seasons but I guess that's what you expect from a rookie. Bairman's definitely been one of the most difficult to read I think in terms of just just how well he's doing because he's had moments of brilliance but it's just not quite

been there for him. But Ockon is a highly rated driver I think in the paddock and the fact that Bairman's near him in his rookie season I think is something that maybe people don't quite realize, you know, Ocon is a very good driver and he's no slouch. So it's a good start to Behrman's career for sure. The fans in 12th position, Gabby Bortoletto, 6.1 out of 10 and is ahead of both Ocon and Antonelli because he has more tens. All three, 12th, 13th and 14th, a 6.1 from the fan. This is the thing, isn't it? Yeah. As we get in, we said this, didn't we? as we get into the midfield, you've got the kind of drivers that have done really poorly that you kind of know are going to be at the bottom.

And as you get into the midfield, I'm sure there'll be plenty of people going, oh, how could you put this person 15th or whatever? And then you look and it's literally 0.3 of a grade would kind of put them all the way up in 11th or something. So that is just how close this midfield battle is. Certainly is in 11th position. I have gone for Ocon. with a 6.4 average grade. Very similar to Bearman.

Ocon, I'm looking at some highlights now. China, of course, where he just spawned in an amazing points position. Monaco as well. Yeah, it's been a good season for O'Con. You know, when you look at teams that you kind of position in similar, I guess, performance, let's say, Salber and Holkenberg,

has O'Conn had those moments? Not quite. He's been close in some moments, top fives, but yeah, it's been a good season for Ocon. Nothing to write home about. He's not made it into the top 10 just yet for me, but let's see if he's made it into the top 10 for Tommy. But I don't think it's anything to be disappointed with for O'Con.

It's very close, as we've said, with some averages of other drivers around him. And if Hasse have a more stable, good car, fully expect him to make it into the top 10 for me. P11 for me is Lewis Hamilton, 6.5. Yeah, the first kind of big hitter, I guess, to be... That's big. That's big, yeah.

Like I say, very... Barricade your door, Tommy. Indeed. I mean, this is... The big drivers always kind of have bigger opinion. Some people will probably think 11's too high and our Hamilton's had this absolutely terrible season. Some people think he'll have done a lot better.

And he is a hard driver to read because up until recently, he, uh, His form, I think, has dropped off even more. I think before Spa, people were talking about Hamilton as having this absolutely awful season. And he wasn't that far behind Lecler, but the problem is these last couple of races, you know, in Spar, he had the double kind of Q1 exits, didn't he? And then again, Hungary had the poor qualifying where LeClau was on pole, and he himself is saying, they need to change the driver, I'm useless and, you know, really dejected. and you look at it now and think, I mean, 11th, it's, he's 50, what is he, sorry, 40, two points behind Char Leclair. Leclair's got five podiums, Hamilton's got none. Obviously, Hamilton had that sprint win.

Lecler's beaten him in very nearly all of the races. And, yeah, it's just not gone well for Lewis Hamilton this season, has to be said. and it's not maybe been as bad as people saying that, oh, he should retire, he's absolutely washed, he's terrible, but you can't kind of sugarcoat it that it's been a good season for Hamilton because it just hasn't and we know he can do better. Yeah, so I just want to basically follow up with your, you know, LeClair beating Hamilton and things like that.

Let's get the stats. So LeCleur has beaten Hamilton in 11 races, Hamilton 2. Leclair's beaten him 10-4 in qualifying and 7-6 in terms of fastest laps between the two of them laps in the top 10, 784 for Leclair, 739 for Hamilton and best result obviously Hamilton's had three fourth places in comparison to LeClaire who's had a best result of second. I mean imagine this is the thing with Hamilton

I and I'm sure wouldn't be an opinion that had been shared by many is thought that Leclair might even say smash Hamilton in qualifying and Hamilton will get there in the races like he did with George Russell where he finishes right behind it. You said that. You felt it. I did. And it's not been the case that the fact is actually quite insane to think that Hamilton has been better in qualifying against Leclair than he has in the races when you look at that of who's the kind of head to head. So yeah, it's not been a great season for Hamilton for sure. Absolutely not. And the fans,

Berman. 11th position. We did it with someone. We did it with someone. Well done. To each and every one of you watching and listening, you have done it. You've put Oliver Berman in 11th position

with a 6.2 out of 10. And that is it for the first part of this mid-season driver ratings. I am very excited. What an absolute cliffhanger, Tommy, has left us on with that P-11 for Hamilton. I can't wait to see who has made it into the top 10. Tommy, what are your final thoughts?

My final thoughts. are looking forward to diving into the to the top ten because I think this has been one of the seasons actually where it has been very close between drivers and there's not maybe been a runaway kind of years gone by where the people in kind of first to fifth

are locked in by a mile and yeah it's open to quite a bit of debate which is always good, healthy, kind debate. Healthy, lovely debate. Can't wait for it. We'll see you very soon. Take care. Bye.

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