P1 with Matt and Tommy - Predicting the 2025 F1 Championship from 20th to 1st

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

Alright, it’s time to get serious. We’ve had testing and it’s time to revise all our previous predictions and predict the ENTIRE F1 championship from last place to first. And BOY IS IT CLOSE. You can listen to an extended version of every 2025 Race Review podcast over on our Patreon! You'll also get every P1 episode ad-free, early access to live tickets and merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now!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. It is serious energy edition today because I'm very excited about this one. It is predicting the entire championship table from 20th to 1st. Now, we will preface this first and foremost right now. We're not going to predict that random, we're not going to say Tom Bellingham's going to finish 27th with three points because we think there's going to be 30 drivers on the grid. None of that rubbish. We're going to stick with the drivers that we've got today, Tommy, because otherwise it's going to get.

it's going to become a minefield. It is. Yeah, we had a lot of different drivers coming in last year, but it could get quite messy, if you like. I think this person's going to get replaced and be replaced by this person and I'm going to put in the championship table here. It could get a complete mess.

So if we think someone's going to get replaced kind of during the season, they might be a little bit lower in the table than maybe their car suggests. Spoiler alert. Oh, spoiler alert. Oh, no. Goodness gracious me.

Don't give away anything yet, Tommy. So, of course, we've seen F1 testing and have maybe a crumb of knowledge now going into 2025, but even that doesn't feel particularly realistic. So yeah, let's dive straight into it. No, no, we've seen testing and you now have to stick with your predictions from before. You absolutely cannot change. Now you've seen, now you've got knowledge. You're not allowed.

You've got to, you know, stick with it. So if your sarcasm detector is not currently functioning, yes, we might well change. some of our predictions that perhaps have happened or we've said in our 2025 predictions because that was pre-testing. Whereas this one, this one's where points are up for grabs. So the points are up for grabs on the other one, but this one feels more important.

Okay, let's get into it. 20th position. My 20th position is Gabriel Bortoletto. Look, that salber, visually, both from the livery, was a downgrade from the launch, which was impressive. to be fair, that they managed to downgrade that.

But more importantly, the performance, it looked like an absolute donkey, to be honest with you. Now, this is no disrespect to Gabriel Bortoletto. It's his first season. He's a Formula 2 champion. He's got the accolades. But I think he is literally going to be driving a car that's going to want to go a different direction to where he wants to point it. Even Nika Holcomberg, who is, of course, a very experienced, veteran of the sport, looked like he was struggling with it as well. So for me, Gabriel Bortoletto is going to sound.

finished 20th, which might actually be halfway up the standings with the amount of drivers we might have this year, so let's see. So in 20th place, I have Nico Hockenberg. I am sticking with my prediction. You are doubling down. I am doubling down. I'm doubling down. Is it even hype?

I mean, let's not forget, Valtrey Bottas finished 23rd in the championship last year, and he was a veteran and a race winner as well. It is clearly more, this prediction is more on the fact that it's the Selba than Nico Halkenberg's ability. Yeah, the car is painted like a dustbin and drives like a dustbin from testing. So I think they're going to have an awful year again. And this could even be no points. Okay.

19th position, Tommy. I have gone for Gabriel Bortoletto. I've not put him third in the championship, despite me being on the hype train. I think while I joked at the start of the show about changing predictions and things now we've seen testing, I'm still very much on the fact that Bortoletto could surprise and it may only take one great Grand Prix from him

in a crazy Brazilian Grand Prix in wet conditions where he just has an absolute blinder and gets a ninth place and that's enough to seal him a whopping P-19 in the championship. But also, I think it's important not to forget that he is a Formula 2 champion as a rookie as well, did brilliant last year. And excited to see what he can do, even if he is driving quite comfortably the worst car on the grid. Okay, so at least we're in agreement that the salbers are going to finish 19th and 20th. my 19th, of course, is Nico Holkenberg.

So, Nico's just going to have a better performance at some point. I know that you're saying that Gabrielle is going to be the one to pick up a crazy ninth place or whatever it might be. Nika Holkenberg is definitely one of those drivers that can do that as well. Yes, when we get to third places, second places, first places, we start to get a little bit shaky. But fourth down, Nika Holkenberg is the coolest customer on the grid. So, look, he could finish a nice little tenth, nice little. 9th, and I would put Nico over Gabriel for that kind of performance to come out of the Salber garage. So for me, 19th, Nico Holcomberg. In 18th position, I've gone for

Jack Dewan. I think this, we're not going to go into it again. Of course, if you are completely new to the stories around Jack Dewan, essentially, in a nutshell, a lot of the paddock believe that Jack Dewan will be replaced at some point by Franco Colopinto this year. which is of course really unfair because Jack deserves at least one season under his belt or at least half a season to prove himself. It just, all the murmurs don't give me much confidence that Alpine are going to give him enough time in order to evolve and really get settled into that seat. I think in testing he looked fine.

You know, it's hard to deduce what exactly is the performance there. but the thing is I think the 18th probably fits well if Jack doesn't get an entire season under his belt because is he going to score points in those first five, six races when Alpine might well be looking for an excuse to swap them over? I don't know. I just don't really trust Flavio Briatore and his quite cutthroat antics. We've already seen it in a Netflix trailer, haven't we, so. Yeah, so that's why I've gone for 18th for Jack, but again, it's not on him necessarily. It's more just the same. situation that he finds himself in. So P18, I've gone for Isaac Hedger.

I think he's going to struggle this year. No fault of his talent again, similar to kind of Bortoletto and Holcomberg, but I don't think the R.B, sorry, racing bulls is going to be very strong, got their name wrong already, the very first prediction of the season. Good job. But yes, the V-carb certainly don't have anywhere near as much hype as last. year when it was kind of talk of, oh, they're just going to copy last year's Red Bull and be really quick. I think they're going to struggle be maybe eighth or ninth fastest throughout the season. And when you've got a top eight almost going for the championship itself, there's not going to be a lot of points on offer.

And that's why I've gone for Hadjar all the way down in 18th. Okay. Let's go to 17th position. So in 17th, I've gone for Jack Dewan. I think, well, my logic here is five or six races in an Alpine will outscore a rookie in the V-Carb. Sadly, for Jack, I think it's quite clear that it's going to happen. It'd be amazing now if it didn't. Not any disrespect to Franco Colapinto, but just it would be such a surprise because it seems so locked in that it's going to be happening. It's a narrative that has been formed even before.

you know, as soon as Colopinto got announced in that seat and we know how cutthroat tributary is. But I do think Alpine, they looked very good in testing, like quite a strong midfield runner, like they were going to continue how good they did at the end of last season. And maybe that's enough for him to get a few points on the board. But the reason he's so far down is like you, I don't think he's lasting the entire season in that car.

In 17th position for me, not strong. is on for an absolute stinker this year. I just feel it. I feel it in my bones. The Aster Martin, I believe, is getting worse, kind of going along with your prediction, Tommy, preseason where you think Aston aren't going to do particularly well.

I feel as though Aster Martin are going to be full focus on 2026 and beyond. That's going to affect their car performance even more so. However, I believe, as of recording, today is Adrian Newey's first day. So perhaps everything changes from here. He goes, get rid of that. What the hell are you doing? Delete that. Put that in.

But no, I just, it's just not the environment for Lance Stroll to flourish in. Not that we've seen him flourish for quite a few years. But he'd need to have a really good car in order to get some good performances. If he's got a rubbish car, I don't see him doing particularly well. So that's why I've gone for 17th for Lance Stroll. In 16th position, I have gone for Isaac Hadger. I think he might get a point or two. three, four.

I don't know how many 16th is going to be, but I think Hadjar's got some good potential. A lot of people, I think, believe that he may, should have won that Formula 2 title and showed some really good performances as well. So for Hadjar, it's a decent sort of team to be in in the sense of

there's not, well, I was going to say, it's not a huge amount of pressure. You're literally in the second red ball team. But I just, yeah, it feels right. Okay, I feel as though, I'm getting all 20 right this year. And 16th position for Isaac Hadjar

just, yeah, it just sits well. Nice. So 16th, I have got Lance Stroll. Okay. Yeah. So, yeah, I'm still sticking very much with the prediction I made about Aston Martin. I'm even more confident of my crazy prediction

that I made before testing that they're going to score less than 50 points all season. And I think Lance Stroll is probably going to score about four of those points. and that's why he's all the way down in 16th. I think he's going to have a really tough year. Even when Nui comes in and goes, what on earth is this car?

I'd change this, this and this. It's all about 2026, Raston Martin, so don't see them having a good year at all. And with a driver-light stroll, it's also not going to get many points. Okay, let's move to 15th position. 15th, I've gone for Yuki Sanoda. So quite far down,

the order, but I don't think the V-Carb is going to be there. So I think you'll have another strong year where he impresses, but maybe not to the heights of last year, because mainly just due to the V-cab's car performance, points will be very difficult for them to score, but I think Yuki's experience will mean that he scores a fair few of them, and that's why I've gone for Yuki Snowder in P-15. Okay, 15th position for me, is Esteban Ockon? in the HASS. I feel as though it'll be quite close between the Hasse. I think the Hasse will have a bit of an advantage.

It's been hard to tell where Hasse have been so far. Obviously, it's hard to tell most things in testing. But they were just plodding around doing high fuel runs for what felt like an eternity. And it's so hard, right? Because when I'm doing these predictions from 20th to 1st, I'm going, is Ocon really going to finish 15th? And then I just look at everyone else and the teams they're in. They're all so close, aren't they as well?

And this is the thing as well, right? Both with our driver ratings, but also in the championship, things can be so crazily close that me putting O'Conn in 15th and then someone else in 11th, it might be the difference of two or three points or something like that. So I feel harsh saying it, but I have to back the fact that I feel as though his teammate is going to do brilliantly well this year in obviously the fact him being a rookie.

So, yeah, I've gone for Ocon 15th. He's getting used to a new team. And not to say it will be a disappointing season, he's just in a has. And there's a resurgent Alpine around by the looks of things. And Williams look amazing as well. I'm sorry, O'Con, I do really like you, but I've put you in 15th. Yeah. In 14th position, I have gone for Olly Berman.

So Ollie Beerman will do better, the Nestaband Ockon, but only marginally, in my opinion. They might well finish on level points, but Olly Beamer's had another 11th place. I just, I feel it. Yeah, Olly Beerman, this is the start of something. And I feel bad that I might well be jinxing him right now. But look, you've got a back talent when you see it,

and I feel as though Olly is absolutely that. To beat O'Con in his first season would be brilliant for him. and then what a confidence builder into the future and also let other teams know the Ferraris, etc. of this world that you wonder in a few years is that seat paved out for him that that would be the perfect start.

So yeah, Olly Beerman 14th. 14th, I've gone for Ollie Bearman. Oh, our first. I'm proud of us. I'm proud of us that we've got all the way to P14 before a grade. Because usually it was like 20th, Logan, Sergeant,

19th. It shows how unpredictable Formula One is becoming now, which is good times. Good times indeed. But yeah, Olly Behrman has looking solid midfield, not, it's crazy to think this time last year. We were predicting them last in the championship and thinking they're going to be dreadful. Are they going to hit the heights of last year? Maybe not. Still do a decent job.

But I've gone for Olly Beerman 14th. Let's go to 13th position. 13th I've gone You're smiling No I'm not smiling I'm smiling through the pain I've gone for Fernando Alonso

And I'm And the crazy thing is I think this is even being generous because I think Aston Martin are going to be that bad And even with My goat In that Aston Martin

I just think it's going to be So hard school points They were so bad at the end of the year They're going to struggle even more All the focus is going to be for 26 they're going to struggle to score points. This is more Alonzo just picking up miracle points here and there,

even though I firmly believe that Aston Martin could be maybe even the ninth fastest this year, only quicker than Asalba. And yeah, that's why I've gone for Alonzo all the way down in 13th, and it really hurts me to have to predict them there. I mean, if they genuinely are ninth fastest, although you did say that was V-Cab, now you're saying it's Astin Martin, you need to decide which one you think is ninth fastest. that's still an unbelievable season from Fernando Longasson's 16.

Well, this is what I mean, so I'm basically over-hyping. You really are. Okay, in 13th position for me, I've gone for Yuki Sunoda. It feels as though, yeah, the V-carb is not as good as you say. There's not as much hype. But Yuki's off the back of a brilliant season. He was showing some great performances. We were speaking about him deserving the Red Bull seat.

He didn't get it. but he knows that, okay, that Red Bull Seat is not for me. It's never going to come. But he can build that confidence, show that other teams that he is worthy of being a number one driver somewhere else. And he'll have a decent season. And that's why I've gone for 13th for Yuki Sonoda. 12th position.

I am locking in Alex Albon in the Williams. It's going to be a bit of a wake-up call, I think, for Alex, just in the sense of having Carlos Sines next to him. I think 12th position isn't a bad season for Alex. It's just that I think he'll lose out slightly to his teammate, Carlos Sines, who already looks comfortable in the car in that Williams. So for me, 12th, it's like 12th feels bad, but it's not because he's in a midfield car. And I'm like, that's, I feel like I'm slandering, but I'm not.

It's not, because 12th is a decent position in the driver's championship for a Williams team that was in the mud only a few years ago. So 12th, good. Yes, Alex Alba, well done, 12th. You've also got to think that now the way Formula One is with those top teams,

ninth is best of the rest. It's not third anymore, as best of the rest, it's ninth. So, yeah. P12, I've gone for Estebanokon. I think he's going to have a good season with Hasse. New motivation going into a new team,

I think is what he needs. He had some great performances at Alpine even when they were rubbish, he delivered a decent job. And then, of course, had that brilliant race in Brazil where he could have ended up winning the race. And I think Ocon will do what kind of Holcomberg was doing last year in that Hasse, if not even better. So, yeah, I've gone for Ocon 12th.

Very fair prediction. Let's go to 11th. I've gone for Alex Albin in P11. again with how good Williams have done and them having this great testing you go 11th that's quite quite low down but of course there's a lot of good teams ahead of them still

and I think Williams would absolutely take both their drivers being in the top 11 in the in the championship with how kind of seasons gone by and of predicting them in 19th and 20th and things like that but I do I would be amazed if Alex Albin,

I think he's going to have a good season, but I'd be amazed if he beats Carlos Sites. In 11th place for me, I have gone for Fernando Alonzo. So I'm not disrespecting the goat. Not that I think he is the goat, but he's a solid goat. He's a well-spoken about goat. But I don't think it's going to be as horrendous

of a season for Fernando Alonzo, just purely because he knows how to drive a terrible car. he is known for hauling a horrendous car to good results. And that's why I think that Fernando will do another one of those. He will be motivated because Adrian Nui is there. Yes, it might not be the season that he has dreamt of alongside Adrian Nui because Adrian hasn't had a chance to even change anything. But 11th place, I still feel it.

I still feel as though Fernando will deliver. So that's why I've gone for that. and I can't wait to mock you at the end of the year, Tommy, and say, how dare you? How could you not? Alonso's finished seventh in the championship. And I will be loving life and I'll be here for it. Let's go to the top 10. In 10th position, I have gone for Carlos Sines.

It's going to be, well, comparatively to last few seasons, it's not going to be a great one when you look at it on paper. But for where he is, I just feel as though Carlos is going to be. that driver, similar to the likes of Pierre Gazley towards the end of the year, where he just puts that car in positions that it doesn't belong. In qualifying, Carlos, yeah, he's, he is great, but the racecraft is where he really does, we saw it in the likes of Singapore, for example,

he comes into his own in Silverstone when he said no to Ferrari. He knows what to do in races to maximise points. So yeah, that's why I've gone for Carlos 10th place, and I really hope that he enjoy, the challenge of Williams because I think there is some opportunities there with James Vowls at the helm. So P-10, I've gone for Pierre Gasley. There's no prizes for guessing who's going to be next on my list and next on yours. It was incredibly difficult to pick, I think, best of the rest of the midfield between

certain Carlos Sites and Pierre Gasly for me. but I went for Gasly mainly just you know I think he is going to have a similar start to the season in particular of the way he ended it last year with the Alpine looking pretty quick and maybe being him being

the kind of driver that can pick up those kind of eighth, ninth, tenth places behind those top teams and yeah can see a good hall of points for Pierre Gazley this season let's go to P9

So P9 I have gone for Carlos Sites in the Williams to be best of the rest as it were and yeah Carlos I think he's going to show just what

kind of why it is a massive crying shame that he didn't get picked in one of those top teams but maybe it could be one of those moments where you know it's a learning curve and he's still fairly young all things considered

even though I think he's the fourth oldest driver on the grid now which doesn't make sense in my head and yeah I think he's going to have a great season and just show just what he can do at Williams P9 for me I've gone for Pierre Gassley yes nothing crazy I haven't put one of the top four team drivers into a P9 just to be exciting I still feel as though over the course of the year

the drivers will just have the performance under the car to be ahead of the likes of Gassley and the signs So, yeah, Gazley, P9, I just feel as though, yeah, he will deliver, just like we've seen in the past, with an Alpine that now doesn't look horrendous. It took a while, and it was quite tough, I imagine, for Gassley and for Ocon. But Pierre very much out and out the number one driver there as well. He's going to have a good time, I think, this year. So P9 for Pierre Gassley.

We now enter the top four teams, eighth position. I am locking in Liam Lawson Liam Lawson's going to finish P8 Red Bull will go oh that's where I think that's where Perez finished

so it's going to be a year of learning for Lawson it might well be a year of pushing too hard for Lawson it's hard to tell where he is going to sit currently but with the Red Bull seeming a reasonable handful

I just, it's just going to be a tough season. Not to say that, again, he won't be close to seventh, sixth, fifth, but I just feel as though he will lose out with the lack of experience and perhaps slightly nervous as well for the season ahead because he knows the sort of team that he's in and what they can do to drivers that don't perform. So for me, P8, Liam Lawson. P8, I've also gone for Liam Lawson,

only our second agreement of the whole podcast, 25 minutes in, and we've only agreed twice. This is the new Matt and Tommy. The new Formula One where it's actually unpredictable. Yes, I think Lawson is going to do a solid job, but I think we're going to see, it is going to be a very interesting how the narrative of Liam Lawson's season goes,

because we know what happened with Alex Alburn and Pierre Gasley, when Red Bull were in the pack, being half a second off your teammate, was the difference between third and eighth, ninth. And yet, you know, when Sergio Perez was half a second off, he was still finishing second and third at the, you know, when the Red Ball was at its best. So I think Lawson is going to struggle to get the, results just because it seems a lot of people believe that Red Bull are the fourth quickest team.

Of course, they are kind of an anomaly because they are very much a one-driver team and have been for quite a lot of seasons now and there's always a big gap between those two. But I do think Lawson being eighth is not necessarily like because he's had an absolutely awful season. I think it's just because he will be the worst of the best teams. Hmm. Seventh position, Tommy. Now, before I predict this one, it's not who you think it is. But I just want to throw something into the atmosphere that I was going to say at the start of the show.

But just this season is so hard to predict because genuinely, we've done, we've been doing these predictions now for a couple of years. And when you had one team at the top, it was so much easier to kind of predict where things were going. But because now it seems like you could have three, maybe four teams going for the championship, you could predict someone's seventh. We could genuinely predict someone seventh or eighth this year that could win the championship. So this is not slant. P7, gone for George Russell. And it seems insane. because there's part of me that's like, oh, he could have a really good season.

But then I look at the teams above and the drivers above, and I think they may have better cars, better performances. And it is crazy just having that top, the top being so competitive that we've dreamed of for so long, means that Russell, in my opinion, I'm predicting him seventh, that that could be, you know, a race win, having, like, a fairly decent season.

The reason I've put Russell in seventh, it's not just because I'm a Kimmy Antonelli fanboy but part of that is am I buying that Mercedes are second quickest now like some other people are saying I'm still a little bit kind of is it just Bahrain we know how weird

Mercedes were with their car performance window last year could it just be that the track is suiting them I think there will be better but not not kind of enough to be second or third in the championship. Spoilerlella, Antonelli is not my P1. But there we go, Russell, P7. I'll be checking what you've been drinking.

P7 for me is Kimmy Antonelli, because I have a logical brain. Tommy is just, he's in dreamland. But fair enough, usually I'm the delusional one. Kimmy Antonelli for me, P7, I am also of agreement that I don't think Mercedes are as quick as perhaps some people are suggesting. It was quite cold at Bahrain. These are conditions that I think Mercedes enjoyed last year.

And it makes no sense for Mercedes to put any kind of resource into this year, personally. You've got a rookie who's learning. You've got George Russell, who's obviously extracting a lot out of the car. But is it really that bad? If they finish fourth in the constructors, they get more testing for next year in terms of using the wind tunnel and things like that into a new regulation set. Like for me, just have a great time. Enjoy the car that you've currently got.

2026 is when we take things really seriously. So for me, Mercedes are absolutely one of the favorites in the new regs to be the fastest. And they might be clear by a mile like we saw in the past because it's a big engine formula. So for this year, 2025, not much change. It's Kimmy Antoninly in 7th because he's going to be learning. And he's not going to beat George Russell. There's no chance. There's absolutely no chance in my brain that that's going to happen.

But that's what we love to see. Disagreements. In P6, I've gone for. George Russell. Yeah, okay. So he's not going to be it by that far. But then he might. I don't know.

It's so difficult to tell. But it's going to be George and 6th. Similarly to what I just said about Kimmy, I don't think it's going to be the car that he's going to be consistently at the front with. But when he does have that car, he shows that he can, especially in qualifying, deliver some extraordinary results. So P6 for me, George Russell. And yes, let's just hope that the Ferrari guys aren't actually there when it comes to the season.

P6, I have gone for Kimmy Antonelli. So don't worry, he's not any higher than... I thought you're going to say someone on Ferrari. I was about to get to your house. No, I think Antonelli, obviously, I'm doubling down and going for him ahead of George Russell. I think it'd be incredibly close and he might just kind of pip him right at the end. But we have similar logic when it comes to Mercedes in terms of. of they should be very, very, very strong in 2026. And I could be wrong. This could age in terribly,

badly and George Russell wins the championship and we've all written them off. But when people were saying that they're, you know, the second quickest car and they've made so much improvements and the car looks really steady, the car looked very steady in a lot of races, but then an absolute kind of tractor in some of the others. So I can't see when there's not been a huge change of regulations that Mercedes are going to take this massive step up and suddenly be challenging for the championship when they were so comfortably fourth last year. Okay, it's getting serious now. Fifth position. P5, I've gone for Lewis Hamilton. I have not doubled down this time on my...

my teammate. You changed your mind on the internet. How dare you, Tom Bellingham? You did that before to hurt my feelings, didn't you? And now you're taking it back because you know there's points on the board. No, I didn't. I thought actually that Ferrari would be a lot stronger. And if Ferrari are having a bit more of a, not, I don't think they're going to struggle by any stretch. I'd love to pretend that they are to, you know, for banter. But I don't think. And I'm more leaning into the fact that You said that Lewis was going to beat Shal. Yeah, yeah, I know. What's changed is that if...

God damn, Shal is good. Yeah, the way Hamilton was sat in the garage for the last part of the thing is clearly his driving ability. No, it is the fact that if Ferrari don't have a championship contending car, in my... This is just my opinion, of course, based on what I believe is going to happen this year. that Leclair may be the stronger driver and Hamilton will maybe sort of, yeah, spend time getting to get to grips with the car and go for that big push in 2026. Okay, that's really reasonable thinking. Thank you, Tommy. I really appreciate that.

In fifth position for me, I have gone for Lewis Hamilton. Okay. Oh, dear. So, yeah, I was hoping to maybe after, the testing be feeling slightly more excited about the Ferrari prospects going to be into this year. And I know that testing means absolutely nothing, but it means something when Ferrari top it, even though it doesn't. Whenever Ferrari topped it, I think Mercedes is usually one. But anyway, fifth place for Lewis Hamilton. I still believe Shal is going to come out on top over the course of a year, especially with it being Lewis's first year in red. And again, fifth place is not a bad position to finish. I just don't think that, I think that Lewis could get a win, which would be

awesome to see, by the way, to see Lewis win in Ferrari, like goodness gracious me. But I just feel as though McLaren and a certain Red Bull driver are a bit too strong at the moment. So P5, Lewis Hamilton. In fourth position, Charlotte, Clair. Charlotte, I've gone for P4. Yes, when I did my 20-25 season predictions prior to testing. I was in Dulululand. I was dreaming once again. However, it just, I just, yeah, it doesn't feel like a, I can't believe it. I've lost all hope, it's not even round one.

Bearing mind, when my alarm goes off at 3.30 in the morning of the Australian Grand Prix and Charlotte Clare's landing up on the front row, you best believe I'm back. And we can just delete all of this, okay? But right now, using, this is full logic, right? Charlotte, Clair world champion, please. But full logic, trying to beat Tommy in a table,

I've gone for P4. And it hurts me. Honestly, it's gut-wrenching. Tommy over to you. What hurts me is us agreeing because we're back to the olders because I'm going, Charlotte-Claher P-4. The top three for me is reserved for,

I believe is the best driver in the sport and the car that's going to be the best car this season What other than to say about Oscar Piastri? Well, or Norris, you could argue. Yeah, so the top three is reserved for those drivers which I will say right now I still may change my mind right at the last second and still not locked in so we'll see.

But Leclair P4 I think he, you know, joked about the Lewis Hamilton thing. I think they'll be close. But the reason I've put, you know, your Ferraris and your Mercedes fourth to fourth to seventh in the driver's championship, yes, they've kind of, people have been putting them kind of second and third best this season. But I'm still not changing my opinion from, you know, the preseason prediction. of the fact that if they're not there,

and we do see McLaren miles ahead and looking incredibly quick, they're not going to waste so much of the year pushing an uncatchable gap on your likes of McLaren or something. So I can't see that happening when they've got such a huge opportunity going into next year. What you're saying is, after round one,

the season's done, where you can pack up a bag. where we thought that this season was going to be incredibly close with 14 fighting for the title. No, no, not quite that. I do think it'd be similar to last year in the fact that I do think we'll see potentially even seven different race winners again,

six, seven. Don't disrespect. Kimmy Antonelli and Liam Lerlinson are not winning a race. That's so harsh on LeClaire. And yeah, I do think that Ferrari and Mercedes is going to be mighty next year and if we get halfway through the season summer break, they're not going to

go absolutely ham on development if they're a couple of wins behind. Okay, all right Tommy, I'm fed up of your Ferrari not being, not developing and not challenging for the championship, even though I completely agree with you. Let's go to third position. P3. I have gone for Oscar Piastri.

So I think McLaren are going to be very, very fast this year. Are they going to be dominantly quick? I think they'll be even quicker than last year. But Piastri, he's very unknown.

He did have a bit of a disappointing end to last season. I'd love to see him challenging for, you know, the wins again and having that form that he had in that middle part of the season where, you know, you can't can't kind of question his resilience and his overtaking skill. And he would have, if he could improve his speed,

and if he does that again, he's going to be incredibly good because, you know, he's got the kind of potential to be a ruthless kind of championship winning driver. But I just think the pace might not be there. And will he have to play? second fiddle, what are McLaren going to do? Tommy's brought up second fiddle before we even had one qualifying session. That's absolutely unbelievable for you there, Tommy.

Mark Weber is currently shaking his fist again. In third position, I have gone for Oscar Piastri. The reason I've gone for Oscar Piastri is that I, yeah, he's got to take a step up, in my opinion, to beat Lando Norris over the course for a whole year. It's not a massive step, but it's a massive step. but it's a step in pace that I think that he showed sometimes. But when you actually reflect, it was kind of mixed in with Lando mistakes last year as well,

where Oscar then capitalised. Lando made a few mistakes in qualifying, if we don't forget. And Oscar capitalised brilliantly at times and also caught Lando napping at Monza and took the lead there. And Lando's learnt a lot, I think, for this year to not give Oscar any kind of room or sort of, of, oh yeah, that's my teammate. He's not going to be overtake. He's overtaking me. Oh, okay. All right. I thought

we weren't doing that. So I feel as though there's going to be a slightly different teammate dynamic this year. And Oscar, if he can come out the blocks firing at the beginning of the year, then that might well change that. But for me, I still think that Oscar will come out second best to Lando, but a few wins, great podiums, performances, still very much on the cards in my mind for Oscar as well. second position so who is not going to become world champion

or should we tell me to make it more exciting say who's going to be world champion here and then I feel like that would be more exciting right and then we say second come on surely that's better

like we can do the drum roll who's going to be world champion because otherwise it's oh because then you know who my world champion is yeah okay yeah because it's actually going to be

because it's actually a challenge this year and it could be close rather than just going oh you'll know who it's going to be exactly okay I've still not decided

My world champion of 2025 is Max Verstappen. It's Max Verstappen. Yeah. I, my logic is saying a lot of things now. And it's all heading towards Max Verstappen. The thing is, right, I am, I'm noticing everywhere that everybody's talking about everyone other than Max Verstappen. Yeah. And he can go to levels.

in every way that can get him a world championship. He is Michael Schumacher the new era. He will do anything it takes, whether sometimes it gets a penalty to make sure that he wins the world title. Mexico was a very good example of that. Whether you like it or don't like it, he came off of that and went,

well, actually, I think I gained points because he knew that Lando then couldn't win the race. It's things like that that he is so cutthroat with his decisions. He doesn't care what anyone thinks. And will it be his hardest fought battle yet? Potentially. Not in the sense of 2021

where we had the most insane Lewis Hampson versus Max Rastapa, but more the fact of him overcoming potentially the third fastest car, maybe fourth fastest car. We don't know just yet to win the world title. He can do it. And that's the thing. And I think the greatest example or the scenario to put out there, is there is no better driver than Max Verstappen

to turn a potential seventh place into a podium. There isn't. He can do things that I don't think a lot of drivers have the full package for. So that is why I have gone for Max Verstappen world champion and it would be his greatest yet, I think, just from a performance perspective. So there you go.

Tommy, have I... Do you want to speak about Norris now? Is that makes sense? Yeah, okay. I'll speak. about Norris. Second place, Lando Norris. This is no disrespect to Lando Norris.

I just feel as though it's more about Max Verstappen here and going up against the best driver on the grid. Lando, as I sort of mentioned with Oscar, will have learned a lot into this year. And Lando may well lead the championship for a lot of this year as well. That is very, very possible. I just don't think Red Bull

are going to give up on a championship this year full well knowing that next year might be more pain. It depends. Behind closed doors, do they believe in this whole Red Bull engine power train stuff? Of course, the PR statement will be, yeah, we're ticking everything off. Yeah, it looks great.

We don't actually know until they hit the track in 26. So I think it would be foolish of Red Bull to give up a potential championship this year. So they will fight very hard. And Lando will do very well. And I think it could go down to the final race even. I just have Max Verstapp and win. over the course of a season. Okay.

So my P1 of the year and world champion is still Maxxas to happen. So after all that, we've agreed on our entire top five after all those insane. Yeah, it is wild. So yeah, I'll talk about Max first. I mean, I kind of felt like I was going insane listening to every, see, seemingly everyone in Formula One say that the championship is between, you know, Lewis Hamilton, Charlotte Claire, Lando Norris, you know, all of the people at testing were saying it, the commentary teams.

Sky were doing their predictions last year going, yeah, Lando's going to be champion, who's the favourite, maybe it could be a Ferrari or Russell. And I'm thinking, Mice Stappen has won the last four world championships. He knows how to win a world championship in every possible scenario now. whether it be a dominant car, whether he's kind of chasing a points gap, whether he's miles ahead and has to hold on to that points gap. And for me, it is insane to me that I have to justify why I think Maxostappen is going to win the World Championship.

Because yes, I do believe that Red Bull right now have the third, maybe even fourth best car. but when I look at the championship and think over, you know, I don't think he's going to dominate, certainly not. But when I think about how you win world championships, it's races last year, like when the McLaren was far and away the best car and Singapore is a great example. Red Bull were nowhere. We thought they were going to maybe not even score a point.

And Vastappen, yeah, he finished 20 seconds off the lead, but he finished second. And it's those kind of races that win you the championship. where you are maximising the points. So that's why I've gone for Max. He, for, as you said, he's not scared to be unpopular and do everything it takes to win a world championship, pushing the limits, pushing the car where it shouldn't even go. And I think as well, to add to this, something, again, in favour of Max Rastab, and we've spoken about this a lot last year, when you look, at least with our predictions,

the teams that are going up against him for the World Championship, McLaren and Ferrari, let's say, they're going to take points off each other. We've said this. And especially at McLaren, I do not think for a second Oscar Piastri is going to roll over and let Lando Norris take results until at least

mathematically five races from the end. And it's too late at that point. And McLaren, I think we've seen, are hesitant to put these, rules down. And Mark Weber, I think, has done a fantastic job for Oscar Piastri to ensure that doesn't happen for Oscar's career, because Oscar is a fantastically talented driver, but that's the problem when you have two number one drivers. So that is going to play into Max's hands, especially if we have this changing pecking order where Ferrari's quick as first, then McLaren's quickest first,

Max will be there. Liam Lawson will be his rear gunner at any point he needs to be. So if he even, if he needs to be. Lawson might not even be there. Like, you know, Vestappen won the championship last year without any help from Peres. Yeah. You could even argue that sometimes

it helped Perez just being absolutely nowhere that he wasn't in his way. Whereas McLaren had this headache of, oh, Piazzi is actually rapid this weekend and he's going around the outside of him at Monza and overtaking him, how do we swap these positions, or even other moments in the season.

And to just kind of finish off mentioning about Lando, who I'm predicting obviously in second this year. I was so close to going first, but what it came down to is because I do think McLaren are going to have the best car for the entire season this year. I think they're going to be rapid. But what kind of swung it for me is the fact that

to win a world championship, you have to be on it every single weekend. And maybe Lando does prove me wrong. But at this point in his career, and he's still got time to grow and can improve, he still hasn't last year, even when that car was incredibly good, he didn't have two races in a row where he was absolutely exceptional. You kind of had the amazing drive-in Zandvo. He drops the simply lovely, and that should have been the like dagger into Max going,

way, the next race, he wasn't there and he was getting overtaken by Piastri, I think it wasn't the next race, or he had a difficult race. Singapore is another example. he needs that consistency throughout and I think he will do better and he's going to push Max a lot closer but it's going to be so hard to beat Max and again McLaren

I did mention about Piestri and is he going to have to play second fiddle but I don't think McLaren are going to want to do that till the very last possible moment again and they are the they to me are a team that couldn't be any more different to Max Stappen in Max de Staepen

doing everything he can to win the championship I feel like sometimes McLaren would even would even over kind of go for their own popularity in the sport than going for the driver's championship. We saw it last year with papaya rules when we're all going,

you do realize Lando is the one that can win this world championship. Why are you letting them race? We love to see it. We want to see them race. That's the beauty of Formula One and we love it. But that is the big advantage that Vastappen has that Lawson will be

either moving over, but I don't think you'll even be doing that because I don't think you'll be anywhere near him. So one scenario in my head that creates Lando Norris World Champion and by some margin, it very much hangs on the first five races for me. If Lando Norris can win four of the first five, I think he wins the title every day of the week. Because I feel as though Lando is very much a confidence momentum driver. If he can get out in front, he can win.

I think we've seen that. Singapore was close to not winning when he was out in front by a mile. Zanvore. Abu Dhabi is a brilliant example, Zanvort as well. He can win from the front. Miami, of course, he was slightly fortunate,

but when he was out in front, he won. So, yeah, this whole prediction might look rubbish, but this is the thing, right? This is the beauty of us doing it before the start of the season. If in those first five races, Lando has a 40, 50 point lead, I do genuinely think that he then

wraps the title up. but it's getting off the mark. It's those jitters at the start of the season that not just Lando, but all these drivers are going to have to overcome. And this is where I think Max mentally as well has the edge over other drivers. He just does not give an F.

He doesn't give up as well. Yeah. You know, we saw that I'd even argue that if Lando does have a 40 point lead, is it after the first few races, is it wrapped up? You know, we've seen Max overturned. that kind of thing before

and also who was that driver I can remember and again almost another advantage they have and I'm very concerned about Red Bull going into 2026

and how they will perform so I think like McLaren they will push a bit like Sebastian Vell in 2013 when they knew everyone was already focusing on 2014 and they thought let's just go absolutely ham win all these races because

you know that now kind of famous quote which ended up being so accurate of we need to remember these days we don't know how many more of them we're going to have and then he didn't win another race for Red Bulls so there we go so in a nutshell we have no idea and that's that is it is just guessing and that's what we love this is what we love there's so many scenarios and so many things could play out for Stappen could have a 50 point lead off the first five races and we're like oh no Okay, here we go again.

And I'm like, oh yes, here we go. No, even you. I'll be like shush. If you shush me, I swear to God, I'll be living this podcast. Right, that is it. Thank you, everybody, for watching and listening. I'm sure we were all in agreement, even though me and Tommy are not in agreements, therefore nobody can be in agreement because we always agree.

That was good fun. I really enjoyed that. I love looking back at this at the end of the season to see just how horrendous they are. Although, to be fair, I don't think we've ever done one in the last few years that we've gone oh, we were really, really off. But that's just purely because Formula One wasn't as unpredictable maybe as it is this year. Yeah. But boy, if we predict someone fifth and they end up seven, boy, do you let us know about it.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Screenshots. Oh, my God, they're so washed. Yeah, there's no need for Matt and Tommy on the P1 podcast anymore because they know no wheel. So thank you everybody for watching and listening as always. Let us know your thoughts, I'm sure. And I look forward to seeing you all in, well,

It's less than two weeks now until the Australian Grand Prix where you better be coming and joining us live because if you're not, you're not a true Formula One fan. Okay, lots of love. Tommy, what's your final thoughts? I don't know why I said that. Final thoughts are,

oh, just bring on the season because I'm so hyped. I can't believe we're kind of, we both went for Vestappan in the end, but it's not a, oh, Vestepen's going to win, it's going to be really easy. Maybe? It could be Vestappen because I still think

it is going to be exceptionally close. Yeah, it could be Max, it could be Lando, could be Oscar, could be Oscar, could be Charles, could be Lewis, could be George. That's basically... No, no, no, no. Relax, you are so delicious. It's crazy. Thank you, everybody. See soon. Bye.

Bye. Okay. So, uh... I've got someone shout out, actually, well, you do... Yeah, go on. Shout someone out. I'm going to shout out, uh, as I load my phone up. Mr. Idiot. On a... on X.

I know exactly what you're doing. Yeah, yeah. He's done the chores. He's actually done like a little table. A chore list. A chore list, exactly. January 13th, take the Christmas tree down. January 20th.

Just the places that don't see daylight. January 24th, wash your mouth. January 27th, tune the guitar. And move the bed upstairs, apparently. I love how wash your mouth. That's such a strange chore. February 3rd was take the bins out. Feb 10th, put the glass in the dishwasher.

February 18th, May the lawn. Feb 20th, paint over the marks and scuffs on your wall. Feb 26th, turn the lights off. That must have been mats. Feb 27th, ask your parents for their 2025 predictions. And Feb 28th, no chores, sad face. Wow, no chores. Well, you better get back to work because you need to water your indoor houseplants.

Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, straight up. Straight up. And don't overwater them, okay? They just need the right amount. Okay, so that's my chore for you. So go and do it. What's your chore, Tommy?

Unload the dishwasher. Unload it. Okay. Good. What if it's already unloaded? Load it. Yeah, yeah. Cool.

All right. Well, this has been great. Hopefully you don't think that this was completely washed, like the dishwasher. And we'll see you soon. Bye, chore, people. Goodbye. Bye. I don't know why you're waving.

This is just audio. I know it is. Well, I'm waving as well. You're double-handed wave. Wow, that's crazy. Take your close off. P1 is a stack production and part of the ACAST creator network.