P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our mid-season F1 Driver Ratings: P10 to P1

Episode Date: August 14, 2023

We're back with the rest of our mid-season driver ratings. No prizes for guessing who's finished top, but there are some interesting differences further down the grid!You can grab our new merch here!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. Today we are continuing with our mid-season driver ratings where we go from 10th to first. Who will finish P1? Who knows? We move to P10 where my P10, one point scored, is Oscar Piastri, with a 6.2 overall rating as well, the same as Ocon and Gassi, but has a better result or better grades from us in terms of his top grades. And if we need to talk about it, let's look at his rating. positions, DNF, 15th, 8th, 11th, 19th, 10th, 13th, 11th, 16th.

Then we get into the fourth and fifth of Britain and Hungary. So of course, he's not going to have a top five, top six slot at the moment. But as you say, if he keeps this up, if he keeps getting nine and ten grades like we gave him for Silverstone and for Hungary, I think it was, or maybe an eight, then of course he's going to thrust his way up the leaderboard. But I think 10th is genuinely a good spot for him to be in. and I wouldn't move him there anyway when you look at the season as a whole.

My P-10 is Yuki Sanoda with a 6.4. He's made a point, which is good because it hasn't happened a lot because sadly... He's got three, isn't he? He's got three, but it could be a whole lot more because I think his average finishing position has been about P-13 or something,

but he's P-7. in the championship because he's not scored those points and he's always been on the fringes. Yeah, Yuki Snowda's had a good season. I think he's had some really good performances that have made people sit up and go, oh right, yeah, Yuki Snowda is a really good driver and maturing, but then also, you know,

he's had those moments as well where we see a little bit of the old Yuki popping once in a while and he has a bit of a disaster and picks up loads of penalties and things like that. you know, looking at the grades that we've given him throughout the year. You know, he's got sevens and eights, and then we'll just pop in like a two,

which brings his average way down. But I think it's been a good year for Sonoda when, you know, I mean, he's comfortably beaten DeFries, hasn't he? Certainly did. P9 now, and mine is Yuki Sanoda with a 6.3 overall rating. And, you know, you look at the first first. five races of the season, 11th, 11th, 10th, 11th, 10th, 11th. You'd think that perhaps he deserved more than two points over the course of those first five races.

It has to be said that the car's not been as good in recent times, which hasn't even allowed him to be able to stretch his legs. And also, as well as you say, a few mistakes here and there from Sonoda as well. But overall, I think he can be very happy. He's still in the conversations of, you know, where does he go next? is it going to be Aston Martin or, you know, what is he going to go with the Honda ties? He's not out of the conversations, I would say,

and it's been impressive. And in some ways, been a bit of a team leader at Alfa Tauri, not that it's really thrust them very far forward at the moment, but he's getting that experience under his belt. Maybe he's calmed down slightly on the radio. I don't know. Like, I don't feel like we hear as many segments from Yuki during races,

but yeah, he's just learning and I think 6.3 kind of, I mean, it's 0.1 of a difference between me and you for Sonoda grades and I know how much of a Sonoda fanboy you are. So I think it shows that even me has kind of commended him for that. So P9, and this is where the averages maybe play havoc a little bit, is Daniel Ricardo with 6.5. Now there'll be people, I'm sure, screenshoting the list and going, how on earth have you put Daniel Riccardo P9? And the reality is he's done two races. One of them was pretty good.

Well, one of them, I think, was actually very impressive that, you know, he came back. I think we gave him like an eight or something. And then he had a bit of a washed race, an okay sprint, and I think I gave him like a four or five. And so it averages out that he's actually done better. But I think it's skewed massively because obviously he's not had so many races like Yuki Sanoda,

Piastri, Ocon, and these drivers that when they can pick up a lot of good grades and then have an absolute mare and it brings their whole average down. So it's P9 for Daniel Ricardo, but I think it's impossible. We've done it for the sake of every driver and keeping it an average and we can see what DeVries has done. But I think realistically, like Daniel Ricardo is impossible to really grade at this moment when he's only done two races. Nope, start screenshoting and saying,

oh my God, Tom Bellingham thinks Daniel Ricardo has done better than Sonoda so far this year. Unbelievable. P8 now, and I have Charles LeCleur, 6.6 overall grade. Now, I think this pretty much stifles any rumors, any thoughts of people thinking that I give LeCleur better grades

than others purely because he called me babe. Now that's not the case, clearly, because I have him in eighth this year. And I'm like, wow, is he the eighth best driver this year? Really? He's a few behind P7, 0.3 of a grade bird behind P7. He's fifth in the championship. I would say this year, there has been, of course, standout moments.

The double pole in Baku was amazing. he's had three podiums this year. But has it been an amazing season for Shal? I would say no. He hasn't had that massive gap to signs like we've seen perhaps in the years gone by. Maybe that is just Carlos closing the gap and Shal can't do much about that.

But I don't know. It's not been a season that I've been shouting from the hills that Shal LaClau's really outperforming the car. He has at times, but it hasn't been a consistent run a form for Shal that would propel him higher

than some of the other drivers around him. So in P8 for me is Sergio Perez with 6.5. So yeah, Sergio Perez up in P8, he's at a very mixed season. I love how you've got 8th, 9th, 10th, Perez, Ricardo, Sonoda. That's pretty close.

Yeah, and obviously Perez is only 0.2. of a grade from being about 12th. So it just shows how close it is in that pack. And, you know, Sergio Perez is one of those people that is, is one of those drivers that's had a very mixed season. I think a lot of people, if we were going on recency bias, would have probably put him way down the order. But, you know, let's not forget he had a very good start to the season.

And I think that's where, in my opinion, doing these average grades actually means that you lose a bit of that recency bias because it would be very easy to forget that Sergio Perez won two races at the start of the season. You know, Saudi. Yes, Max had that problem where he had to come through the field, but Max got up to P2 and couldn't catch Checo for the win. So, and same with, you know, winning the sprint and the race in Azerbaijan.

But then where his graders plummeted down is particularly like Monaco, where me and you, I believe, gave him a zero because it was just absolutely the worst performance you could have possibly imagined when you're driving a car that's so clear of the field, and then you're crashing in qualifying and then having an absolute mare in the race as well. So, yeah, Sergio Perez is just one of those drivers that has had some very high highs and very low lows this year.

He certainly has. P7, I have Sergio Perez with a 6.9 overall grade, and he is very much saved by the first sort of, I'd say four of the first five races. He finished second, first, then he had a fifth, then it's a first and a second. That was decent. That was the run of form.

That's when we're all talking about, can he be a championship contender? And then since then it's been 16th, fourth, sixth, third, sixth, third, and then eventually a second at Belgium, obviously. But it has been not even a tailor, two halves because I'd say that there's been there's been there's been well it's slightly more weighted towards the bad races because after monaco he's not really been the same since um would I move him i think it's difficult to say he probably maybe deserves to be slightly lower but um overall

a 6.9 he has had good races they feel like a long time ago um but but yeah peres p7 for me uh so my p7 is george russell with 6.8. And I want to say it was the last race in Belgium where I kind of mentioned in the drive ratings that I feel like George maybe hasn't been doing as good as I thought you would this year and maybe kind of a bit, like not average,

but good as opposed to great like we saw last season. And spoiler alert, the next two drivers on my list have exactly the same grade as George but he is the lower of the three because he's not had higher highs and I think that sums up his season where I feel like he's got kind of

good sixes and sevens and eights where he's just been consistent he's had sometimes quite poor qualifyings but then made it back up in the race and got a solid result and his kind of season has been that season that we say a lot of Mercedes way even when things are bad

they just bring in some points. And yeah, George has gone a bit unspectacular this year. And I think, yeah, P7 is about where I'd probably put him anyway. Fair enough. We now go to P6. And I have Alex Albon with a 7.0 overall average grade. Alex, again, has been really good this year. Williams have taken a slightly,

I say a reasonably big step forward, compared to where we expected them to be this year. And he delivers. I don't know. I still haven't figured out whether he flourishes in a team where there's no expectation of you or whether he just went to Red Bull too early. But either or we cannot commend enough how decent he's been. Because Alex, I mean, I don't know if the Williams rocket ship as well

really does help him in a straight line to defend as beautifully as he does. but Albin, it hasn't got as many points as maybe as he'd like. How many has he got in total? 11. Obviously, Great Britain was a great result for him. So it was Canada and he scored a point in the first race of the season in Bahrain as well. But Alex, he deserves a better car now. As I kind of said in my previous point, is he ready for a place like Red Bull?

I'm scared. I'm scared for him to go back to a place like that. But maybe a small step to a midfield to higher midfield. team is where he deserves to go next. I don't want to see him at Williams all the time unless Williams take a big step forward like McLaren have. Yeah, P6 is Alex Albin for me as well, with a 6.8.

He's a very difficult driver to judge. I do think he's having a very good season. It's a really difficult thing to judge, just the whole running trend of driving ratings in general. But I do think Williams is one of the most difficult because, yeah, I do think Albin is actually having a really good season and proving some kind of doubters wrong. And yeah, he's been, he's had like those really impressive results

where he's put a Williams where it shouldn't be. And I think that's why he's right up there in P6. And, yes, very impressive of the year. It's not bad, is it? It's not bad at all. I mean, if you just said, go, back to my predictions when I thought Williams would be easily the worst team.

Frank, honestly, Frank does not like the fact that you think what you thought Williams was going to be the worst team. Frank, Frank cannot stand William Slander. He really can't. Logan Sargent is his hero and he will not hear anything else. P5 now.

I have Lando Norris. 7.1 overall rating. Again, McLaren were 10. terrible at the start of the year, which didn't help his grades. He made that very uncharacteristic mistake in Saudi, where, of course, we graded him quite low. But obviously, of recent times, he's thrust himself up into the top five. And I absolutely categorically believe that if McLaren have a good car for this second

half of the year, he will perform almost every single race weekend. And he might well even thrust himself another position or two up if he can keep delivering podiums and top five finishes. So Lando's had a good season. It's been difficult for him as well with McLaren. But now rosier times seem likely. And I hope, especially for McLaren fans, that that happens. P5, I have Char LeCler,

who was the highest 6.8 of the three because he's had higher highs, I guess. And I think LeCleur's grade may be yours as well. like he has been yeah he's been good like there's I think weirdly with Lecler this year he's had not he's not been like unbelievable all the way through and like you say he's been like owning science and I think he's had like those big grade performances where you know Azerbaijan where somehow he's put it on pole in both sessions and done all he can in a race against the Red Bull. Same with Belgium. You know, really, really good in that race as well, where he's got some really good grades.

But then we've graded him a lot lower in things like Australia, where we put part of his fault and also in Spain where very bizarrely, you know, he didn't even make it into Q2, which kind of put his average grade down. Yeah, 6.8 for Charles. Well, very difficult to, I personally think that fourth to eighth, you can kind of chop and change all of them really. I think, I imagine people will agree. Fourth to eighth, my top is 7.2, my P8 is 6.6.

I think my fourth to seventh is 0.3 of a difference. Your fourth, let's say actually your fifth, obviously, as you say, all the way to the seventh is exactly the same grade. And yeah, would you move Charlotte Claire, though? Would you say he's the fifth best driver of the year? I'd say it's maybe about right. If not, maybe I'd pop him a bit lower. But yeah, I mean, half a grade separates my P10 to P4.

So if we did this, if we literally did this video, one race later after Zandvort, it would be completely different. So I'm fascinated to see how it unfolds for the second half of the year. P4 now, I have George Russell with a 7.2 overall grade, which I'm surprised about, to be honest. Although I say that Mercedes always seem very inevitable in the way they score points. And I think I commend them quite a lot for that. I don't think George has been that great this year in comparison to Hamilton. I think Hamilton has definitely shown that he's the better driver this year and the better driver overall at the moment.

It's not a massive chasm, but I think it's got a little. a little bit bigger this year. For George to be P4, I'm maybe slightly surprised by that. He is 0.2 of a grade, 0.3 of a grade ahead of P7, 0.2 of a grade ahead of P6. But George has been able to still score

very consistent points. If we look at the driver's standings, he is P6. He is a whopping 49 points behind Hamilton in the standings. And there has been moments where you've questioned performances. he's been downgraded for things like in spa

where he just blocked Hamilton on his qualifying lap and generally yeah not been as impressed by George this year but still he's P4 so he's scoring points he's not doing too badly but yeah 7.2 overall

my P4 is Lando Norris with a 7.1 so the same actually average grade as you put Lando but he's one place higher in mine Yeah, Lando started off, obviously, in that tractor of a McLaren and now it's really good,

but I think he has got grades at the start of the year where we were giving him good grades because he was putting that McLaren where it shouldn't be in some good solid points finishes and things like that where we've given him a really good grade. So I think Lando's is not just from the fact that McLaren have got good, I think he has been, you know, good throughout the season as well. And, yeah, even though it's averages and if we were picking, I would, yeah, 100% pick Lando in P4

because I think he's stood out in the kind of very close, this kind of midfield that we've found of our driver ratings where there's a lot of close grades there. P3 now on the podium. On the third step for me is Lewis Hamilton with a 7.6 overall grade, which is a very good overall grade to have. Any driver in the sevens has been consistently performing to a good level,

especially for us to give them good grades because we sometimes are quite harsh. But Lewis has been, I think, very good this year. It's a shame that his car isn't at the level to challenge for wins, but he's still proving he's got the fire in his belly. He's still motivated. You can tell when he has a great performance,

when he got pole and Hungary, that the dream is still there. It's such a shame that he lost the lead in Budapest so quickly. He's had how many podiums in total? One, two, three, four podiums this year. And he's only scored double digits, or sorry, less than double digits in points twice this year, which is a high consistency.

But Lewis has been very good and I just long for him to have a car that will compete at the front consistently because I feel like he's ready to take the fight to Red Ball and anyone else who fancies joining for 2024 when we have a five-way fight for the championship. Thank you. Yes, please.

P3 for me is also Lewis Hamilton with a 7.8. This is quite the jump up from that midfield pack that I was talking about. For me, Hamilton has quite clearly been the third and top three driver this season. You know, we know who the next two are. And in my opinion, they are the three best drivers in Formula One

and the three best drivers this season comfortably. And that's been reflected by the grades. And Hamilton's had a season that I think is maybe even a little underrated. I know some other I've seen other creators do things similar to this where they've done their drive ratings and I think Hamilton in Tomo's video, for example, was down in six in the fan vote,

which is quite crazy to me because Hamilton's comfortably been, you know, very consistent, great performances and yeah, really, maybe it's gone a bit under the radar that Hamilton's having a very good season. Maybe it's the fact that a good season of Hamilton is normally him winning a thousand races,

but this season he can't get a sniff of the win because of that Red Bull. P2 now, and no surprises, Fernando Alonzo, with an 8.3 overall rating. Fernando Alonzo, 42 years old now, proving that if he has a car that's good enough, he can deliver to a almighty level. Himself at the start of the year was something to behold,

he was picking up nines and tens left, right and centre, he was picking up podiums at left, right and centre, and it's such a shame that they've gone off the boil slightly because it was great to see him fighting at the front, and it was great to see him leading in Saudi, for example, for a brief moment, although he couldn't park in his gridbox correctly, which was obviously a shame there.

But Fernando, I can't say anything more apart from he has been unbelievable this year. And I really hope Aston Martin can pick up the pace although it just does not seem that they can keep up with the developments of the teams around them. They've clearly found something miraculous in that car and that's how they came out firing. But I wait to see the budget cap report.

Let's see. Peter, yeah, Fernando Alonsoe for me as well. and exactly the same grade in 8.3. Amazing consistency to average more than an 8 throughout the whole season so far. Fernando's just been brilliant. He's one of those drivers that you... Maybe he's one that's easy to grade after kind of spending this whole going... This whole podcast going, it's difficult to grade.

But Fernando, maybe this is just my blind fanboyism showing. But for me... Probably. Probably, yeah. But you always feel like Fernando will get the best out of a car. And if that car is sixth, it's because that car is sixth, not because he's had a bad race. He does feel like one of those drivers that can pull an unbelievable result

when a car's not there. But when it has been there and the Asa Martin has been there, boy, has he been, you know, I mean, the fact that he just went on that crazy run of podiums, At the start of the season just shows that he's still got it. And yeah, what a season so far for Fernando. He's still got it. I think Spar's a great example of that Aster Martin was not even probably deserving

of beating George Russell, but he did. He finished fifth. He was on his own for most of the race. And that sometimes can go under the radar. As you say, you don't notice that. Oh, Alonzo gets 10 points. But I think that was a really impressive performance. And yeah, Alonzo is still firing.

He just needs a car that can deliver. so we can see him right back at the front. And we want to see more Alonzo Hamilton battles because that is tasty. And finally, P1, drumroll please. Let's see if we can guess who is going to be. It's Max Verstappen. I have given him a 9.6 overall grade.

I mean, you just look at the results. And yes, wins everywhere, two second place. is, I'm speechless. I didn't think we'd see this. I hoped we didn't see this for the competition's sake. But Max Verstappen has been sensational. You cannot use any other word to describe Max Verstappen. His consistency is scary. It's relentless. We spoke about this before Red Bull had a car that could dominate. We both knew that this would be the case. If Max Verstappen was given a car that can deliver week after week, he will do that.

He is a robot. He is emotionless. He will destroy Formula One. And he's doing it. He's on another level at the moment. I'm sick of people saying that it's just the car. It's not. He's showing this by how Perez is performing.

It is not a guarantee that that Red Bull is a car that can dominate. But he is showing in his hands he can. And he is very deserving of being P1. by a whopping 1.3 in terms of average grade ahead of Alonzo. And he is, he's clear. He sure is P1, Max must happen for me as well. 9.7 out of 10 average is absolutely ridiculous during a season. And nothing summarises the thing we've said before

about Max never having a day off that is a 9.7 and a 9.6 average score. He just wants a 10. all the time. Exactly. And this goes back to you saying, oh, it's just the car or just this. You know, Max could well, if he carries it on and you wouldn't bet against it,

could well put in the greatest season of Formula One we've ever seen because, and it's very easy to go, oh, it's the car, it's the car, but we've seen dominance in the past. We've seen cars that are maybe even more clear of the field than that Red Bull is now, or at least the same. And a driver hasn't won this many races in a row.

They've had moments where maybe have a bit of an off day in qualifying and then they only finish fifth in the race, like Sergio Perez has done on quite a number of occasions this year. And Maxostappen doesn't do that. You know, it's almost a miracle when he doesn't get a pole position because we're like, oh my God. But even with penalties dropping him to sixth, he wins. start the season when maybe the car is not up to his liking yet.

I saw actually a fascinating thing that had not been mentioned in the podcast yet, but a Dutch journalist asked him, what was your standout race of the season? And bizarrely, he said Baku, which was where he finished second, one of the only times he's finished second. And he said because he learned more about the car than any other race. and that just sums up his mentality of a finish second, but I know why, and since that race...

And it won't happen again. Exactly. And since that race, he has been untouchable and no one has got anywhere near to winning. So, yeah, you've got to commend him. Unbelievable season. And a worthy, yeah, a worthy result. And just an insane result to get a 9.7, 9.6 average,

like not one grade that, it's gone, oh, you know, he's getting a six or a seven this week because he's done all right but not amazing. Nope. Are you done? Are you done gloating? Well done. Forstappan fan. God, you know, I wish I could say the same about Charlotte-Clair, but here we are. I hope you're happy, Tommy, with the money. I hope you're really happy. Well done. Well done. You're winning. Now we're going to just very quickly show you as well the F1 power ranking. So this is where a five-judge panel assess each driver after every Grand Prix and score them out of 10, according to their performance across the weekend, taking machinery out of the equation.

And the top 10 by this Formula 1 judging panel, there's five of them, is as follows. So we have, in 10th place, Esteban Ocon. So where did we have them, Tommy? So Ocon for me was 11th. For you was 13th. In 9th was Gassley. For Gassley, I had him 12th. And you had him 14th.

Oh, goodness me, we are washed. Oscar Piastri joint seventh with Charles Lecler. So that's mad. I can't believe they've got Piastri in seventh. That's crazy. After 12 races, this is average. Because, of course, we had Piastri. I had him in 10th.

You had him 11th. Charles Leclair, I had him 8th. You had him all the way up in 5th. So then you've got joint 5th is Lando Norris and George Russell in the power rankings, which kind of matches up to where we sort of put them. And then Alex Albin was fourth, Hamilton third, Alonso second, Vestappan first. That very much matches up, doesn't it?

The top three, that jump in theirs as well. That, you know, take your fan boy or fan girl aside, and I think you're delusional if you're going to argue the fact. There's plenty of debate for others, but I don't see how you can put anyone other than Max first Alonzo second and Hamilton third for this season. I think those three are very clearly locked in in those positions and have been brilliant.

It's cute as well that, you know, obviously you're a Max fan. You call Max, Max, and then you call Fernando Alonzo and then Lewis Hamilton. You know, you're like, I'm on first name terms with Max, but Alonzo and Hamilton can get a surname.

I've not named yet. That's very true. Okay, well, that is it. That has been a long old mid-season driver ratings catch-up, I suppose. Will Nick DeVries thrusts himself off 21st? Probably not, unless there is another miraculous twist in this silly season. And I look forward to seeing how this changes.

Tommy, what are your final thoughts going into the second half of the season? My final thoughts are, I don't know. And my brain is shut down. I know it's completely... Come on, Tommy. You can do it. I know my brain is in the summer shutdown now, I'm sorry.

No, come on, stop it. I'm going on hard a bit soon and I've switched off. No, no, no, no, no. We don't relax. Just go into the summer break. You don't give a final thought. Tommy, switch it on for ten more seconds. I just do the usual and say,

there are ratings, so there. Good God. Do we need to take you to hospital? Are you having some kind of aneurism right now? What's going on? Okay, my final thoughts are, thank you for sticking with us for the first half of the year and for allowing us.

to give you our driver ratings. I know there's a lot of debates. But it's a fun series, hey. It's fun. We have fun during this podcast and any other podcast. So we wish you a wonderful summer break. Tommy likes triggering people as well, don't you, mate. No, I don't.

I just, yeah, I don't. No, ignore that. My brain is... My brain... New your microphone, you're done. I'm so tired. Get off. Stop talking.

Right, I'm going to do an outro. Tommy literally needs to go to sleep. Thank you, everybody. Lots of love. We'll see you soon for another piece of content. Bye! For audio listeners, Tommy is literally not saying even goodbye. He's snoring.

God, what an absolute mess you are. Take care. Bye. So tired. You are washed. P1 is a Stack production and part of the ACAST creator network.