P1 with Matt and Tommy - Qatar GP Driver Ratings

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

It's time for the penultimate episode of the most controversial podcast series in motorsport - and we've got some arguments to have...Please vote for us in the Autosport Awards 2026! https://www.autosport.com/awards-voting/You can listen to an extended version of every Race Review episode 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, Qatar Grand Prix F1 driver ratings, the penultimate time we will be grading every single driver from naught to 10. Your favourite series to probably disagree with us, but that's fine. Healthy debate is gorgeous and lovely. Leave a like if you enjoy. this series if you enjoy being a part of this community. Tommy, how are you, sir? I'm good. I think this is going to be another enjoyable one because there are some grades I really, really struggled with actually between a couple of grades here and there. And I do enjoy those ones, even though,

of course, that's the most contentious ones. It is. It certainly is. But that is the fun of driver ratings. So yeah, we will get into your controversial ones. as we go. So why don't we begin, shall we? No, let's not begin. Let's say Manchester and Dublin. There's a few more tickets left for our P1 live show. If you want to come to the show, there'll be a link in the description. Only a few left. And this season, God knows what we're going to be talking about come the end of Abu Dhabi. Who are we going to have you there? Lots of people are coming already. If you've never been to a P1 live show before, if you're thinking about coming on your own, a lot of people do. And they make friends

when they're there. So it's all good fun. Right. Let's begin. with Gabrielle Bortoletto started the sprint in 13th, finished 11th, started the main race in 19th and finished 13th. I am going for a whopping old grade of a 5 out of 10 for Gabrielle Bortoletto. Quite an underwhelming weekend for Gabby. Holcomburgis teammate was showing what was potentially possible until he was yeated in. to, well, we'll get into the, it was a racing incident, but he was out of the race and, and Bortoletto, yeah, just not able to make much impression. I think you will, you will notice a trend of some drivers not being able to make an impression because it didn't qualify very

well and therefore couldn't score any points. Indeed, I've gone for a five for Bortletto as well. I think this is a what could have been with the fact that he had his Vegas penalty, because of course, dropped him down five places, finished 13th, had he been higher up, and he had he been higher the order made a good start and stuff he could have been fighting for those points but sadly for him it's not better than kind of the form he's been on

with the last couple of races where he's had some big big crashes and things exactly a non-headline worthy weekend is just fine for Bortoletto and he can build from there the fans gave him a five as well Nika Holcomberg started the sprint in 14th

finished 16th started the main race in 11th did not finish I've gone for a five out of ten for Nika Holkenberg. He obviously started the race quite well and was running in the points, made a move around the outside. It was on, I can understand why he went for it, still believe, you know, racing incident, certainly not Holkenberg's fault at all.

And yeah, but you risk that kind of, it's always that risk versus reward, isn't it, in Formula One and how you make the move, and it's incredibly difficult to pass around Qatar. I collided, but yeah, I'm going for a five for Holkenberg. I'm going to go for a six out of 10 for Nika Holkenberg. Of course, didn't make it far into the race, but I really don't blame him at all. Of course, I say it's a racing incident, but Holkenberg is well within his rights to swing it around the outside. That's one of the only ways to overtake around Qatar. And then

Ghazly, sadly, understeers into him ever so slightly and wipes him out the race. If that hadn't have happened. He'd be running in P9 and I firmly believe he would have come home with some good points considering it's the most uneventful race ever after the, well, to be fair, yeah, the safety car that they caused made the race very uneventful. Had their incident not happened, well, we might have a new world champion already. We do not know, although probably unlikely. The fans gave Nico a five out of ten. Alex Albon started the sprint in 10th, finished 10th, started the main race in 14th, finished 11th. I'm going to go for a 6 out of 10 for Alex Albon.

Did not bring any points home this weekend. A scruffy weekend in compare, when you compare it to Carlos Sines, but I think anyone's weekend looks scruffy in comparison to Carlos Sines. It's not an absolute disaster of a weekend. Like 10th and 11th are decent finishes. He's just missed out on the points in both of them. So, yeah, I think six reflects, like, the grade we're about to give Carlos, I think it's very obvious what he's going to get, but I don't think that Alex should be downgraded to a four or three because Carlos has put in a podium performance because Alex, yeah, it's not gone well, but it's not an absolute disaster. You took the words right out of my mouth there. I've gone for a six out of ten for Alex Albin as well. It's one of those weird situations where, yeah, it could be quite easy to go. Oh, well, there's teammates.

did this and so therefore it's a three out of ten or something but actually on paper Williams when expected to do well around here it's not done absolutely awfully you know it's not a great race which is why he's getting a six but it for me and we'll get on to him very soon it's more that his teammate has excelled rather than Alex Alvin been absolutely awful okay the fans gave Alex a six as well Carlos Sond Started the sprint in 8th, finished 8th, started the main rist in 7th, finished third. I've gone for a 10 out of 10 for Carlos Sites.

Shock horror. Brilliant sprint to get the points. He's had good pace all weekend. It wasn't a flash in the pan, obviously. Helped by McLaren and the fact that he got a great star as well. Then passed Antonelli in the pit stops due to the whole kerfuffle of Antonelli having a bit of a slave pit stop and things. The fact that he's got a podium again,

my word. I'm very excited to see the final driver ratings at the end of the season because I'm pretty sure at the mid-season Carlos was about 16th. And he's on a role of like tens and things like seemingly all the time at the moment. So I think he's going to be one of the biggest movers in our drive ratings championship and of course the main championship of Formula One as well, which is less important as we know. Yeah, everything's about P1. But brilliant from Carlos again. Like what what a drive his pace I think the most impressive thing is it was his pace when he got there

he obviously you know he was very quick then got into that position and it wasn't like he was hanging on for dear life I think the only reason he was hanging on for dear life was his car was falling apart exactly yeah I've gone for a 10 out of 10 unsurprisingly as well for Carlos

it was not lucky this podium was not lucky the start was all his doing getting past Hadjan of course Russell making that that mistake and Carlos taken advantage. He made these positions up by driving really well and then kept the podium because his pace was unbelievable. This was not a roll the dice, go on dries, go on wet situation.

So one of the strongest performances from anybody this season. It has to be. Carlos, so good to see him thriving now at Williams. And this is, there's not many drivers. that can probably do what Carlos just did this weekend. And he's proving to everybody that he, and we've been saying this from the start, he didn't deserve to lose his Ferrari seat,

and anyone that didn't, anyone that did think he deserved to go, are probably now eating their words. So, well-down to Carlos. The fans gave him a 10 as well. Isaac Hachar started the sprint in 11th, finished 9th, started the main race in 6th, did not finish. I'm going to go for an eight-hour.

of 10 for Hadjar. I think it was a very strong weekend, especially in the main race. Obviously, what could have been from sprint qualifying if he hadn't had his lap time deleted, but a phenomenal qualifying for the main race and was running in such a strong P6 until his car decided to disintegrate on itself and cause him a puncture. I mean, how unlucky does he need to be, whether there's, you know, curb riding and things like that. But you wouldn't expect one of the wheel winglet things to just fall off if you.

you've been riding the curbs a little bit too hard. It's no higher than that because, of course, the likes of Carlos Science has showed that there was a lot on the table for someone that really did maximise everything. But I think an 8 out of 10 reflects, despite him DNFing, that he was on for a very strong result. I am going to go for an 8 out of 10. No, I'm not going to because it's very close to a 9 for me,

very, very close to a 9. I think the reason yeah he was going to finish six basically is the reason that you know the result doesn't reflect it I think the reason I'm going for an eight or a few factors he lost places at the start

from you know his initial position and then equally the sprint I think he had amazing pace all weekend and didn't quite maximise it but I still think

from agile we are just seeing you know what special talent years and I can't believe that I mean surely the most like underrated driver going into the season didn't really know a whole lot about him how he'd do obviously finished second in Formula 2 last year but the expectation was incredibly lower and I think he's consistently putting in like absolutely fantastic drives and this was another one and very unlucky not not to get points very unlucky indeed the fans gave him a seven very hard Liam Lawson started the sprint in 16th, finished 14th, started the main race in 12th, finished 9th.

I've gone for a 6 out of 10 for Liam Lawson. It may seem a bit harsh the fact that he's P9, you know, six out of 10, but it has to be lower than his teammate. I don't think he was near his teammates' pace at all in the sprint. Equally in qualifying, he couldn't get near him. Yeah, both sessions. And there was, of course, a good slice of fortune for him that he inherited. P9, one, due to a haste mistake from Olly Bearman and two, his own teammate, of course, with his

car falling apart at the end, but still a decent drive from Lawson, so I've gone for a six. Yeah, I've gone for a six out of ten for Lawson as well. Yeah, plenty left to be desired, I think, from this weekend for Lawson. Of course, the sprint was, just qualifying in general just wasn't great for him when you compare it to Hajar. It just hasn't been feeling at one with the car. and yes he improved and yes he scored points but I echo your sentiments Tommy that he was fortunate that the other cars went off

in front of him to gain some positions but you know not a disaster still some points on the board and that's why it's a six out of ten the fans gave him a six as well Olly Berman started the sprint in 12th finished 12th started the main race in 13th did not finish

I am going to go for a six out of 10 for Olly Berman I believe I don't believe I know he was running in 10th place until Hasse decided they don't know how to do pit stops and kind of ruined any chance of him scoring a point because he was very much in the mix there that's kind of my main basis as to why it's not a bog standard five considering it was 12th and then a DNF in the main race. But yeah, I think he at least deserves a little nod for what he was achieving.

He gained a position off the line and by lap 10 he was running in. 10th. So it's a shame that his next pit stop went so badly and we saw his emotional reaction to that with the on board of him coming out the pits and smashing his steering way. So he knew that there was a point

on the cards. I've gone for a 7 for Ali Bearman. I think a points finish was absolutely on, definitely on. You know, it was liner stern and until that pit stop mess up, of course he was getting P10 and I've got to think had he finished P10 on the road.

I would be giving him a seven, and it's certainly not his fault at all. So, yeah, I'll go for a seven for betterman. Okay, the fans, give him a five. Estabana Ockon, started the sprint in 15th, finished 15th, started the main race in 16th, finished 15th. I've gone for a four out of 10 for Esper knock on, another weekend. To forget, it just seems, at the start of the season, he'd scored so many points and was doing, yeah, kind of was getting some big scores and things. but it doesn't seem to be happening as much at all really now. Olly Behrman looks comfortably quicker than him really at this stage of the season

and he's really struggling. And yeah, he of course got a penalty at the start as well for rolling forward and yeah, it's just not going well for Ockon right now. I've also gone for a four out of ten for Esteban. It's sad to see, of course he bounced back in Vegas and beat Olly Berman there, didn't score points, but at least beat his teammate. And this is, again, kind of, I don't know how you can say it's anything other than underwhelming.

For Ocon, I don't really understand why he's lacking pace in comparison to Olly. Is it the fact that Olly's just improving race by race? Maybe that's more to the point. But either or, it's a slightly concerning season so far, for Ocon, I say so far, there's more than one race left. But I'd love to see him get back to the form that we know he can. And he's shown some amazing performances this year, but just it's only been a handful, if that, that we've seen massive points scores at the beginning of the year. So, hoping Ocon has a good race in Abu Dhabi.

The fans gave him a four as well. Franco Colapinto started the sprint in the pit lane, finished the sprint in 20th, started the main race from the pit lane, and finished 14th. I am going to go for a four out of ten for Franco Colopinto. Deliberating whether it was a three or a four. I was going to say, worse or better. Yeah, definitely not better. Not a good weekend at all from Franco. He said he didn't feel comfortable this weekend.

Of course, did okay in the race. But realistically, he's beaten Ocon who was getting penalty on top of penalty. Hass was like I'm going to touch the car oh wait you were serving a penalty and then he had to get another penalty and then he beat his teammate who of course was running in the points

until everything went wrong with him and Nico Holcomberg so I still expect the Alpine to be one of the worst cars and Ghazley was doing something very special but still four out of ten yeah I've gone for a four out of ten

for Colopinto as well sadly for him he's had quite a good run where we were sort of basically saying that I think it's overstated that, you know, people saying that he's awful and which is completely not true and kind of looking really slow and, and no better than doing and things. I think unfortunately for Franco, this is one of those races that like adds to that

narrative that's going to get people like back on that, that kind of, you know, opinion. Because yeah, he was just slow this weekend. We know he can do better. And he just did not look anywhere near the pace of his teammate. Obviously, there's a lot of, we've joked a few times on the watch along that it seems like the second they signed Colopinto Gassley's put his foot down and just started doing really good things in that Alpine. But Colapinto, yeah, it's had a rough few races and this is another one. Certainly is the fans gave him a four out of ten.

Pierre Gassley started the sprint from the pit lane, finished 18th, started the main race ninth and finished 16th. I've gone for a five out of ten for Pierre Gasly. A brilliant qualifying and really should have been some rare points for Alpine. I say it's a racing incident. I do lay more blame on Pierre Gasly. I don't think it's a penalty. There's that moment where kind of with Gasly you're kind of like,

look, you're still running in the points here. You don't need to do anything crazy or stupid. And yeah, it's not penalty worthy. But of course, like washes wide, really races hard to try and stay ahead, which of course has got every right to do. But they collide and there goes any points possible for Gassley, which is a shame after an absolutely fantastic qualifying to be up there in P9. Absolutely.

I've gone for a six out of ten for Pierre Gassley. Racing incident by the rulebook, yes. But I also agree that he had more of a part to play in order to make sure that that didn't happen. Ghazley tried to defend his position. Of course, he's going to try and do that in an Alpine that doesn't have many opportunities to score points. But I think the six out of ten reflects that he was doing a phenomenal job to be up there anyway.

And yeah, it's not like I think he deserves a penalty or anything like that. So, yeah, I think six out of ten reflects my thoughts quite well. The fans gave him a five. Lance Stroll started the sprint from the pit lane, finished the sprint in 19th. started the main race and 18th did not finish

Hmm how savage am I going to go I'm going to go for a 2 out of 10 for Lance stroll I don't have any words and neither does he to be fair so why should I give words

about his performance when he doesn't give words about his performance and says two words and then just goes to the next weekend so there you go 2 out of 10 over to you Tommy I've gone for a 2 out of 10

for Lance stroll as well well basically yeah i don't think assy martin are particularly good package there's it's a seems like quite a confusing car it's very up and down and it has been this season um and yeah i mean that's when you when you're like one of one of if not the worst qualifier in terms of like a long-term driver of all time in my opinion like it's the part of his game that is so so poor like the qualifying it always puts you in like a terrible position and then basically like the sprint was a throwaway because he was never going to score points so he basically tried to pit and do different to learn for the main race and then equally tried something

different again in the main in the main race because he knew that he qualified too far down so I'm not going to give him like a one or a zero which is easy to jump on when it's Lance stroll he's got it in him but it wasn't this weekend no exactly it's funny as well you before we get on to Fernando you mentioned about the car being confusing did you see what he said about the car and the fact is basically like a spirit. It's like a possessed car. Absolutely hilarious what Alonzo

was saying by the car. I mean you say it's not a great package but we're about to talk about Fernando's results and that included a spin as well. Lance Stroll, the fans, gave him a one out of ten. Fernando Alonzo started the sprint in fourth, finished seventh, started the main race in eighth, finished

seventh. I've gone for an eight out of ten for Fernando Alonzo. The fanboy in me really wanted to give him a nine. I can tell. Yeah. I literally went, Nate.

Two P7s, you've got to say, you know, it is getting everything out of that, Aston Martin, but I think it would have been a nine had he not spun and it cost him that position to Hadjar. Of course, he inherited it back anyway because of Hadjar's errors, but of course this is driver ratings,

not results ratings, as we all need to be aware. And, yeah, the sprint qualifying in particular, you know, was a real highlight. to put that car up in fourth incredible from him at one of his best tracks

and yeah a really, very good weekend. I wish it could have been a nine but he had that spin. What a spin though,

what a spin. The way he spun round and carried on. Only go things. For sure. I've also gone for an eight out of ten for Fernando and I was so ready

to shoot you down when you were said a nine. I just felt like there was a Tom Bellingham nine out of ten for Fernando coming every day of the week. Let's not forget as well. That spin let your

Drussel through as well, who was stuck in that train. So it was a technical two position loss. Of course, as you say, Hajar getting that problem means Alonzo got one of those positions back. But apart from that, yeah, a great weekend. Actually, I take it all back. He deserves a two for his pace at the start, that DRS train helping the McLaren's. How dare you not help Max when the championship.

By the fact that, yeah, he basically opened up this massive gap that the McLaren's could pit into on lap 25 so yeah apart from that a pretty strong weekend just a shame shame about that that mistake that lost him a couple of positions at the fans gave him an eight out of 10 as well Kimmy Antonelli started the sprint in seventh finished sixth started the main race in fifth finished fifth I am going to lock in a seven out of 10 for Kimmy Antonelli a good weekend nothing too special. Of course he beat George in the main race. I think I would say George was absolutely not on his best form either on the Sunday

after making that mistake and losing a few positions on lap one. But yeah, Anthony had a very strong race. Couldn't make any impression on Carlos, but I think that is just the nature of this track. You have to be an insane amount quicker to get a chance to overtake. But yeah, I think seven is pretty... All right, Mercedes weren't, well, at least, apart from George in the sprint, weren't really looking like they could challenge McLaren and Max over the course of a full race distance.

So, yeah, a seven. I've gone for an eight out of ten for Kimmy Antonelli. I think it was a great race from him. Such a shame about the error, not just from the fact that he's made an error and lost a position, but also the shameful abuse that he's getting and I'm glad to see Red Bull release a statement. I just want to cover that off that basically saying that, you know,

what we said was wrong because it was, I think Formula One has a part to play for playing that radio message out there as well to a point. And yeah, Antonelli, very impressive that, you know, he's managed to beat Russell again. I think had Mercedes,

I'm unsure about the pit stop because from watching it back it almost looks like they're overcautious with an unsafe release and they're kind of letting everyone go and rather than it being a slow pit stop and had that not been the case he wouldn't have lost a position to Carlos and who knows it might have been an even better result of course he fell away at the end but a good result from Kimmy nonetheless despite despite the error and very impressive that he's managed to beat George Russell again. Absolutely, yeah. I think the reason I went for a seven rather than an eight

that I didn't mention was the sprint as well where he picked up a penalty, which would have put him ahead of Yuki Sonoda had he not got that five second penalty for track limits. And I completely echo your thoughts on the abuse. I mentioned it in best reactions if you've watched that. It's completely and utterly unacceptable. You know, we try and lay blame on F1 or Red Bull, whatever.

The main blame is. on the people that feel actually confident to go and do this abuse like to send this stuff to him like are you actually insane like it's just so horrible to see that he's racing his heart out he's a rookie

and then he's 19 years old yeah giving being given all of this because of something that was if anybody has even a brain cell can see he made a mistake had a slightly sort of he had a poor line into that left hand because he got a bit of a wobble on

That's literally all it was. Ridiculous to think that Mercedes actually want McLaren to win the Drivers World Championship as well, as we've said previously on the main race podcast. So our final thoughts on that and on Kimmy is leave him alone. Okay, the fans gave Kimmy Antonelli a 7 out of 10. George Russell started the sprint in second, finish second, started the main race in 4th, finish 6th.

I've gone for a 7 out of 10 for George Russell. It's close between a 7 and 8. I think his sprint was absolutely fantastic. in his result there. I do think there was more on the table from what he had as a package, you know, showing what he could do in the sprint for him to qualify higher in the main quality. Obviously fourth is still a good result, but then he dropped back behind Antonelli and he finished 20 seconds behind his rookie teammate.

I know a lot of that is of course, well, most of that is because he's stuck in a train and it's a double stack, but then, you know, he lost out to him at the start. So, yeah, I've gone for a seven for George Russell. I've gone for a seven as well. I couldn't really decide between grades between Kimmy and George because I think they both had two very differing weekends. George having a phenomenal sprint and then a sort of poor lap one in the main Sunday,

which cost him massively. So, yeah, I've gone for a seven as well for George. Good, but, yeah, nothing to write home about, sadly for him. And, yeah, had he not made that mistake on lap, one, we could well be seeing Lando finishing another place further back, because I fully expect George to have been right there with Antonelli, should he have, you know, and I know if spots and maybe is, but yeah, it cost George a lot, is essentially my point. On this one, the fans gave George a seven out of ten.

Yuki Sonoda started the sprint in fifth, finished fifth, started the main race in 15th, finished 10th. This one's difficult, isn't it? Yeah, really difficult. Look, I'm going to give him a seven. I'm going to give you Kia 7. I had six written down, but I just feel so horrible to say a 6 after the sprint

was literally his best drive of his entire Red Bull career in terms of actually being in the main team. Yep, the Sunday qualifying didn't go to plan, but he still managed to score a point with all the chaos around him. It's by no means an insane, amazing weekend. It looked like it might have been after the sprint. It tailed off.

I'm just going to give him a seven, even though I feel like deep down with my brain, it would be a six. But Yuki can have my seven. I have gone for my head and gone for a six out of ten for Eukki Sonoda. An absolutely brilliant sprint. It's not even going to be an F1 next year, mate. Just give him a seven.

Be nice. Well, like, we need to do the ratings. The average grade is correct at the end of the year. yeah now i'll go i'll go you know four four or six it was a fantastic sprint um really really good from him uh the qualifying and you know the the race result of course got kind of fortunate that antonelli got a penalty as well which meant that it didn't kind of sour the fact that he got that track limits penalty and then the problem is the big points are handed out on race day and he had an awful qualifying um and yeah couldn't uh only basically inherited one point when his teammates won

the race it was a really really good sprint from him but um yeah just so disappointing what what he managed to achieve in the in the main race because that is where the big points are handed out and you know there was opportunities there with the the McLaren's uh McLaren's strategy fumbling had you are having a problem Alonzo spinning off, Ferrari being useless, all that kind of stuff. All right, I don't need to. Because I left the Ferrari comment out. They're coming very shortly, mate.

The fans gave Yuki a 7 out of 10. Max Verstappen, started the sprint in 6th, finished 4th, started the main race in 3rd, finish 1st. I have gone. For a 9 out of 10, for Max for Stappen. I believe this one is a 9. You know, we had the

that is it a nine is it a ten in Brazil I think for me this one's even more easily a nine out of ten he qualified poorly in the in the sprint and while it's only the sprint as we say you know not every point is as extreme everything matters for max in this world championship and he had to deliver every single opportunity

he made a mistake of course fortunately for him he was able to get those two positions back one of them of course being his teammate who didn't make it too difficult for him so he finished fourth and then the main race i know he's in a car that couldn't have challenged for the win but it's a gift by mcclaren like that was oscar piastri's race all day long had it been the case and yeah he he i do think he and maybe this is delusional that he would have beat a norris um with just the fact that he was ahead and it was so hard to pass and he had good pace

but I can't give him a like perfect 10 weekend because I don't think he was perfect or weekend yeah I've also gone for a 9 out of 10 I thought we're going to go for the opposite of Brazil and I'm the one yeah I mean I can't give him a 10 for here no I didn't give him a 9 elsewhere when there were more arguably 10 performances

for some people but yeah it wasn't a perfect weekend for Max as you say you know the sprint was pretty like when he qualified 6th you were saying it's over for the 500th time this season, you were saying it was over. Do you remember that,

remember that Tommy that said, you know, well, it's over. I've come back around to it now. It is, it is over. He's not winning it.

But, oh my God. Live a little Tom Bellinger, my beg. I will, don't worry. Just dreaming is for free, as Carlos Sines loves to say.

You know, but anyway, back to his performance and not the championship. We'll get on to that, I'm sure, in a few days' time. Yeah,

like, finishing second, I agree, most likely in that race we saw further down the field. It was just a train. No one could really make moves. So if you finish a second where McLaren don't give him the race. I think he drove very well when he was out in clean air, for sure. His pace was great. He did what he needed to do. But McLaren did absolutely wrap a lovely Christmas present with his name on it. So yeah, I think a nine is absolutely fair. It's close to a 10, but it's not it's not a 10 in my eyes. either. The fans, they disagree. Gave him a 10 out of 10. Some very questionable grades from the fans this week. It was comfortable 10 as well. It was 60% of people gave them a 10. 60%.

All right. Look forward to the comments. Right, let's go to Lewis Hamilton. Started the sprint from the pit lane. Finished the sprint in 17th. Started the main race in 17th. Finish 12th. I have gone four. A three out of ten for Lewis Hamilton.

Yes, the Ferrari car is bad. We all know that. The Ferrari car is bad. But, and it's a comprehensive but, Charles Leclair is beating him in every competitive session. With the same car. There's no, oh, Charles's getting this and Lewis isn't getting that. This is the only comparison that we can judge it on.

This is the only way we get any idea of where the benchmark, baseline is for Ferrari and yeah shal had a pretty scruffy weekend as well at times but Hamilton was just nowhere in qualifying how are you getting knocked out in Q1 both sprint and main quality sessions madness of course he the reason it's the three and no lower is because he did make some good progress at the start of the race and then was unlucky with the double stack which lost him a couple of positions in the main race but there was never points up for grabs he was never in the points

was never looking like he'd be in the points and part of that is due to the track but the main crux and the main point of our grades are qualifying a lot of the time and his qualifying was dreadful so three out of ten I have gone for

oh this is very difficult between a two and a three I think I've got to go for a two I think two Q1 exits for a seven-time world champion in a Ferrari, yes, it's not a very good Ferrari, is inexcusable, you know, particularly as his teammate got into Q3 both times. And as we know this year, it is a qualifying championship, and if you're qualifying right at the back, you've got absolutely no hope. and you know it was yes of course like he made some progress and then had to double stack but of course as mentioned with russell that's kind of the price you pay when you are slower than your teammate um in qualifying and qualifying i just i just can't believe we're in a

situation where where hamilton is getting knocked out in q1 and uh i listen you know to the pod you did with alex and he hit the nail on the head of like how will be in a situation where It's not a surprise that he's at in Q1. Lewis Hamilton and a Ferrari. And it's like, oh, okay, it's barely even a story anymore. Like, what the hell? Yeah, crazy. Utterly crazy.

And I hope for his sake it turns around very swiftly indeed. The fans gave Lewis a two out of ten. Charle LeCleur started the sprint in ninth, finished 13th, started the main race in 10th, finished eighth. I've gone for a six out of ten for Shell. again, a very difficult grade because how much do you put on the fact that he's delivered in a car that this world champion and statistical goat teammate has been able to do nothing in, but equally, you kind of, maybe it's the expectation of Ferrari, even though clearly it was a terrible car this weekend. But he did have it, you know, he had highs in terms of getting

through to Q3, which I can't believe that's a high now, but it is based on how bad that car did seem this weekend but also you know there were moments where went off from wide had had spins and things like that of course a very tricky car underneath him that's why i've gone for a six out of ten my god like Ferrari please you know i want my you're saying Ferrari please well i want my i want my i want my flop point but i also you know i need you for abidabie please like we can't have you finishing eighth and eighteenth or whatever like eight and twelve I somehow don't think that they will be there in Abu Dhabi if that's the performance they put down in Qatar. You know, Abu Dhabi has become a more sort of fast and ferocious circuit with medium to high speed corners now.

So no chance. Ferrari aren't helping you in the slightest, my guy. I really apologise for that one in advance. I've also gone for a six out of ten for Charlotte Clare. It might feel like quite a high grade considering the expectation of what we think that Charlotte Clare should be able to do. but yeah, double Q3 appearance, we'll take that. Massive spin, really glad he didn't hit the wall. Scruffy sprint, but overall, I genuinely think the Ferrari was, I mean, as we said, Hamilton's getting knocked out in Q1, both sessions.

Seventh or eighth fastest team. I can't believe I'm saying this. It's ridiculous. So I think Shal has actually, you know, done a pretty good job considering. And, yeah, six out of ten is what I'm giving him. The fans gave him a six as well. Oscar Piastri started sprinting first, finished first, started the main race in first, finished second. So, this one is the most comprehensive 10 out of 10 in the world.

God, I thought you were going to say this was difficult. My God. This is one of the easiest tens I've ever given. And I am about to pop the F off at the fan rating. Say it now. Say it now. The fans gave Oscar a nine. Not a chance.

How are you blaming him? Maybe there are some people that blame him for not coming into the pits. But God forbid, Oscar trusts his team to tell him to come into the pits. He doesn't know maybe the lap count. I don't know. Anyway, I'm not putting any blame on Oscar for not pitting. And he drove a perfect weekend. Like, minus the strategy.

He put one tiny foot wrong, which could have ended terribly when he hit the gravel. strip at the same place as where Lando did. Bar that, phenomenal weekend from Oscar, he deserved to have the entire clean sweep of quali and races, and he didn't get it, and it was all down to McLaren. 10 out of 10. Yeah, I really thought you were going to say, oh, this is, this is close,

because it's definitely not. It's the easiest 10 of the whole lot, faultless weekend. You can't blame him for the McLaren error of him just following the orders of basically telling him to stay out and abide by the strategy that his team wanted. He was faultless all weekend, brilliant. You know, he's been on such a poor run of form as well

that you kind of questioned, will he ever even beat Lando again? Well, he didn't just beat him. He absolutely was, you know, comprehensively faster than him all weekend. He was absolutely brilliant. Even with the error, he finished, what, was it, like seven seconds? eight seconds off the lead when he basically lost an entire pit stop he was unbelievable

he was driving like he'd just gone off in Australia that that was the kind of level of demon that Oscar Piatry was putting down on the track and he and you know he flew away from Lando when they were in that situation of we both need to now push brilliant you know qualified first yes McLaren had the best car this weekend

and it should have been an easy one to them both because it's just their track and oscar piastri you know loves this track but my god it was an absolutely exceptional drive from from him and gutting for him um yeah yeah really really gutting for him obviously with the situation that that he found himself in because it's obviously cost him big points and a good shot of going for the championship yep it's cost him dearly and i would love to have been a fly on the wall in that debrief because I feel like there would have been some very strong words out of the Oscar Piastri camp.

I've now got a theory which I'm going to shamelessly tease another podcast because we're going to record like a bonus episode that go on YouTube and some bonus episodes about basically the three title contenders. And there's something I didn't say in the podcast about Oscar Piastri and like a theory or like an interesting thing I want to throw into the mix for Oscar Piastri. Look forward to that one when we record days.

You've teased me. I don't even know what you're going to say. I know. That's ridiculous. I'm flipping a coffee table right now if I'm listening along. You just have to listen. Oh my God. Absolute cliffhanger from Tom Bellingham there.

Disgraceful seats. Look forward to the theory. It better be good now, mate. You can't hype it up. I don't be good. So anyway, the fans, as I said earlier, and I'll say it again, just to repeat, gave Oscar a nine out of ten. What do you do? Tommy, relax.

No, it won't. But not the other way around. This is not how it works. Lando Norris, started sprinting third, finished third, started the main race in second, finish fourth. Oh, it's another difficult grade. I'm going to go for a seven. It's between a seven and an eight.

I don't... Maybe I'll change my mind when I convince myself because I'm like... seven maybe it's too harsh but I do think it wasn't the greatest weekend from Lando and of course there'll be people shouting now going it wasn't his fault it wasn't his fault of course it wasn't his fault that they did the situation but what I'm seeing here is McLaren were comfortably the fastest package all weekend we saw that in the hands of Oscar Piastri the very least Lando should be finishing second on the road in everything in the sprint he made some some errors and got

pipped by George Russell, which when he finished third in the sprint. Of course, you can argue he's in championship conservation mode and all he, of course, had to do is finish third in all the remaining, like, competitive sessions of the sprint and the two races to do that. Then in the main race, of course, I understand why he didn't do anything too crazy at the start. It doesn't really matter too much that he loses a position to max. but I think his pace was nowhere near Oscars when it mattered

and I think it was one McLaren amazing pit stop away from him basically appearing if he had the same pit stop as Oscar had before he's in that McLaren train with Alonzo and who knows if he'd come out behind Russell who knows where he would have finished would he have been easy to pass I don't know like it's all if butts and maybes

but Norris for me he just didn't he he's been on this amazing run and I think you know it's credit to him because he's been absolutely brilliant since then but for me this was his worst race since Baku and that's

that's no discredit because his ceiling has been really high because he's been driving so well but we kind of maybe saw a little bit of the lander that we saw at the start of the season with a few mistakes here and there and not being able to keep the pace with piastri um you know he's finished how far behind piastri like 15

odd seconds so yeah not his finest weekend not the most comparable thing though when you think of where he came out but that's on him as well he was stuck behind piastri so like if he'd stuck to his gearbox he would have been fine did you watch catar how easy was it to run behind someone's gearbox no but into but he dropped quite a way behind he did he did he dropped i think four or five seconds in the end. I've gone for an eight out of ten for Lando Norris. I can't give a three-point swing between Oscar and Lando personally. I don't think it was a disaster of a weekend for Lando. The places where I've downgraded him was sprint qualifying, where of course a qualifying third and made that mistake, didn't he on his final flying lap, which he bailed out of, which I think was the right

decision, but he still made a mistake and therefore didn't even start on the front row, then had to settle into a very boring sprint race and finish third. And then in the main race, again, this is a McLaren fumble. Without that, Lando finishes third. Yes, Max beat him off the line, off the cleaner side of the grid. And that was that, right? You know, I don't, I do downgrade him for the fact that Lando wasn't able to keep P2. And then the pace was, yeah, slightly slower than Oscar. It wasn't catastrophically slower than Oscar. It was just, it was slow enough that he couldn't get the buffer that Oscar could, but again, I still blame McLaren for that. That's not Lando's fault that he's having to build this ridiculous buffer because of McLaren deciding not

to pit him. Is there more, and this is more of a question, I don't know where I sit on this, is there more blame put on Lando to be like, screw it, I'm coming in, what the hell, why would I stay out when the safety car came out? I don't know. Perhaps, and probably more likely, is that they, and I think Zach Brown kind of alluded to it, that they'd decided before the race what they were going to do. And they don't think on the fly. They just decide pre-race and then just let it pan out, which to me screams fairness again. But I'm going to go for an eight out of 10 for Lando. I think, yeah, the two-point difference is kind of where I sit between the two drivers. The fans gave Lando a seven. Finally, who is our P-1? For me,

me, my P1 is undoubtedly Oscar Piastri. Yes, Carlos had a phenomenal race and is a very strong honourable mention. But Oscar Piastri, it should have been 33 points to him. He should have been 12 points behind Lando going into Abu Dhabi. Instead, McLaren, we know what McLaren did. We're not going to say it anymore. Don't need to go into any more detail. But I think Oscar put down probably his strongest weekend of his entire career and he doesn't get the rewards for it much. Of course he has gained some, but he hasn't gained what he should have gained.

Indeed. Yeah, it's easily Oscar Piastri. He was just faultless this weekend and yeah, an amazing weekend from him and didn't get the result he deserved, which is a real shame. But of course, still has an opportunity. opportunity going into that final round, of course.

An opportunity, but he needs some craziness to happen. And we are a matter of days away from the start of this Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend. Of course, Oscar will start a few hours later because he won't be even participating in FP1. So let's hope that doesn't affect him all too much. That is it. Thank you, everybody, for watching and listening. As always, our Qatar review, all of our content is done and dusted. one race weekend to go Tommy final thoughts final thoughts final thoughts as I mentioned we're going to do

some like like a special episode we're going to you know do our usual streaming and things as well like it's going to be such an exciting weekend I also want to just like you know it's all pointless as you say because it kind of trying to tell people what not to do it's not my position to say it but what I will say is regardless of who you support as a Formula One fan just soak up and enjoy the fact that we're getting three drivers going into the final race

because this is once in a blue moon stuff rarely ever happens Every four four years or well ten years 15 years yeah it's nearly impossible that we see three drivers going into final race

so like enjoy it as much you can because we literally could be like 20, 30 years before we're here again. Yeah, because Charlotte Claire is going to be a sort of 10 time champion of the world by that point. What I will say, it's quite funny that of all the people, Tommy is the one who will not enjoy a single lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. You literally sent me a reel about two hours ago of a guy watching a football match with a duvet or whatever it was, a sheet over the screen and then peering through to see what was happening ever so often.

That is you. That will be you throughout the entirety of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend. And if that's the way you enjoy Formula One when your driver is fighting for the World Championship, then fair enough. I'll watch it all, and don't worry, I'll be able to review what happens. Tommy won't be able to talk. And that's just the beauty of it.

So enjoy it if you can. If you can, don't worry about it. Don't enjoy it. It's up to you. It's your life. All right. Thanks, everybody. Lots of love.

See you soon. Goodbye. For the final weekend of the Yeah. Goodbye. Go get your Manchester and Dublin tickets for the P1 live show, Delusion Talk. Bye. Goodbye.

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