P1 with Matt and Tommy - Reacting to our 2024 Drivers' Championship predictions

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

Back in January, we predicted where each of the twenty drivers on the grid (at that time!) would finish in the Championship. So let's see how we fared! Probably pretty similar - not a lot happened this season, did it...Our End of Season live tour starts this week! There are still some tickets available for London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, so get them right here!Sign up to our Patreon here! You'll get access to bonus episodes, our classic race podcast series, every P1 episode ad-free, early access to live tickets and merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with other F1 fans!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. We are officially in review part of the season. And I'm really looking forward to this one because it just shows one that we've had an excellent season and two, we don't know anything. That's the beauty of essentially reacting to our championship table prediction, 20th all the way to first. And we'll know already that we're wrong because there's been 24 drivers this year, which is a stat in itself, Tommy. It sure is. This one's going to be even better than last year, just the fact that the championship basically flipped on its head halfway through unexpectedly. And we kind of expected, obviously, of course, the Red Bull walkover. And at the start of the year, we're probably going,

yeah, we're looking about right. And then, oh, no, apparently it's the best season of all time. There's loads of different winners. And oh, my God, this is crazy. So, yeah, looking forward to it. Me too. Now, before we dive into it, I'm going to share a five-star review. If you want yours to be read out, please leave us a surprise for our view. Let's know why you love this podcast. It helps us out massively. This is from James 0707C in the UK. Been listening to these guys all year and they have a great mix of insight and will knowledge,

maybe not after this podcast, and also crazy ideas about the sport. Never fails to make me laugh and will definitely be back for next year. Thank you, James. Appreciate the love. And yeah, let's get into reacting to our championship table prediction, which goodness gracious me. So how are we going to do this? is we're going to give out two points if we're bang on, one point for whoever's closest between us,

and one point each as well if it's a draw. And then essentially see who's done best, tally it up and crown the less washed person out of the two of us because I think it's going to be pretty bad, isn't that right, Tommy? I think it may be based on some of these, but I'm looking forward to seeing how close we were because, yeah, I've not looked back at it myself, so here we go. No, neither have I.

Let's get into it and start with 24th place Jack Dewan. I unsurprisingly predicted not applicable because I didn't predict him. Because had I actually secured in my 20th to first championship prediction table in 24th place Jack Dewan, I would have been seen as the Oracle of Formula One. Didn't expect him to be in Formula One to have any races this year, but he did. So there's a great start. Yeah, of course, it's non-applicable. So we didn't do driver changes, but we'll kind of base it based on the other.

But I am disappointed with Jack Dewin because he didn't get a point, which meant this next driver did not finish last in the championship, our good old friend. Of course. Of course. Let's go to that next person. In 23rd position, it was Logan Sargent. And as a Logan Sargent Stan, I pretty. predicted him P17, of course, the dizzying heights of P17. So once again, I have overestimated him the year before I called him a P20 merchant and he finished P21.

This year, I'm actually way off by six because he's managed to not score a point through the year. And I predicted him 17th because I thought, you know, Williams were going to have a good car, which they did to be fair. and I expected Logan to have a better year, which, let's be honest, he did not. I predicted 19th place because I didn't believe Logan Sargent was going to put many, if any, points on the table. And yeah, I mean, the fact that I was still four positions off is wild, four positions lower than what I initially thought was going to be 20th place as the bottom position. So I will gladly take those two points. Thank you, Tommy. One point.

Keep it in. It's funny. We definitely haven't just done an outtake where you also said two points. I am so tired. We've had a busy. I get one point for that. And then we both got one point for Jack Dewan because we did. No points for Jack Dewan.

No points for that. We'll disregard those drivers. Okay, we disregard. Oh, wow, that's savage on Jack DeW's behalf. Let's go to P-22 then. And it was Valtory Bottas. I predicted he was going to feel. finish in 16th position. I felt like there might have been a Botas masterclass. And perhaps that

was supposed to be Aber Dhabi. But it wasn't. And Salber had an even worse car than I thought they were going to have this year. So miles off, six positions. Botas, how have you finished 22nd? Crazy. I also predicted 16th. And it's crazy to think that yeah, Botas finished last of the full-time runners this season. Shocking year for Salbro and didn't expect them to be this bad where Botas didn't even get a point all year. So yeah. So we share that point, Tommy, as we move on to 21st, which was Liam Lawson. Liam Lawson, of course, we did not know he was going to join the grid, although maybe some of us may have expected it.

but of course it's an NA because we did not grade him because he wasn't an F1 yet. Yes, I also did not predict that Liam Lawson would do driving in Formula One because again, this season has been ridiculous. So we will negate him, take him out the books as we head to P20.

Joe Guan Yu. I predicted Joe to finish in 17th place. And he was on a charge after Qatar, and I thought, well, this could be on. And I can't believe he's had all of that points all and still finished in 20th position. That is savage. And I genuinely thought I had actually gone for P20 as well. But alas, I didn't believe in Hass.

Oh, wow, that rhymes. That's crazy. But yes, Joaquin new, I went for 17th. Jokan knew I went for 18th. So one lower. Didn't expect him to have a good season. but I also didn't expect them to be the worst car on the grid. So that is one point for me.

Let's now go to Franco Colapinto, who finished in 19th, but obviously not applicable because, again, had one of us said Franco Colopinto was going to be in Formula One for a few races? Wow. People weren't even expecting it where they went, when Logan got fired, never mind before it. So, yeah, none of us could have predicted Franco to be an F1, so it's zero points in NA.

And same for the next person. And same for the 18th as well. We'll go through these ones very quickly. Ollie Baerman, of course, in 18th, and neither of us again thought he was going to be in Formula One. Perhaps that is going to be something we could do that's quite fun, Tommy, for next season, is...

Throw some road drivers in there. in Formula 2 and Super Formula and perhaps even in carting and go, yeah, they're going to be in this team and they're going to finish in 14th. That could be a very little wild card to throw in or four if you look at that we've had 24 drivers this year. Yeah, what a weird season. So thank you, Ollie Berman for P18, but no points for either of us there. And now, 17th position, Daniel Ricardo. I went for P12 for Daniel Ricardo.

So a fair way off, to say the least, it's crazy to think that the start of the year, R.B, were hyped up at this team, that it was going to be incredibly controversial, they're just going to come out with another kind of red ball and going to be incredibly quick, and there was all this controversy around them. And of course, Daniel Ricardo as well was predicted by a lot of people

that would potentially even replace Sergio Perez in mid-season, but instead, all the way down in 17, and of course got replacement towards the end of the season as well. So a shocking year for Danny Rick. I believed in Daniel Ricardo. I went for 10th in the championship and he ended up losing his seat. I mean, that couldn't be much further away from what I believed was going to happen for Danny Rick. And as you say, Tommy, loads of people felt as though Danny Rick was on the come-up,

not losing his Formula One career. So yeah, Tommy, well done. You were closer. Don't care. but all of these visuals will be on screen as well if you're watching on YouTube so that you can keep up to date with exactly who is scoring what.

In 16th place, Alex Albon. I predicted P12 because I thought Albon was going to have a better year than he did. Williams, of course, occasionally came out the blocks firing, but not a lot. And Albon down in 16th

is a disappointing season from a points hall perspective for Alex. It sure is. went for 15th, so just won away. Well done, Tom. Well done. So another point for Moire. I thought Albin was actually quite a lot higher in the championship towards the start of the year and then just had a tough end to the year, Williams, and not scored many points.

It's kind of been a leap, leapfrog, doesn't he, by quite a few drivers who have scored big towards the end, of course, Hass doing well, and Alpine. So, yeah, kind of tumbled down the order after what was looking like. a very respectable championship position, but 16th, not so great in the end. Indeed, we now go to 15th place, Kevin Magnuson. I predicted in P20, we were very much,

I think a lot of people were on their hats are going to be awful and finished dead last and won't score a single point hype train. And boy, were they not an incredible... I mean, the hats themselves were on that hype train. They were like, we're going to finish last. Yeah, so true. And instead, KMAG, the dizzying heights of P-15, but had some great, great performances.

Yeah, really under-expected what K-Mag was going to do in Hasse. As did I, because I went for 20th as well. I believed what Iocomatsu himself said about Hasse being dreadful at the start of the year. And then they became best of the rest in quite a few races. So the fact that we both get a share a point for five places away for KMAG is wild, but here we are. We're as washed as each other. Let's get a 14th now, Esteban Ocon.

Now I predicted him P15. So I was not far away at all from where Ocon actually finished. And to be honest with you, it was going to be a lot worse for Ocon, had it not been for Brazil, of course. But yeah, 14th is, you kind of look at that on paper. go, gosh, Ocon had a really terrible season, but it doesn't really tell the story of just how bad Alpine were for most of it. I went for P-14. Of course. Of course. I just knew. I just knew. I just knew. I just know so much wheel that I just knew Ockon's exact position is going to finish in the championship. That's how much Formula One knowledge I have. And it wasn't just, of course,

a stab in the duck. But yeah, Estaband O'Con could have, it, The start of the year, I think our logic was very much predicting these a hell of a lot lower than we thought they'd be. Or we're going to be compared to last year because Alpine were doomed really and there's all this talk that they could genuinely be the slowest car, which they kind of were at the start the season. But Ocon bagged a lot of points, of course, didn't he, in that race in Brazil? And that's why he's shot all the way up to 14th, because it could have been a lot worse without

that. Absolutely. Let's go to 13th place now and it was Lance Stroll So I put Lance Stroll in P-10 because I thought even Lance Stroll

could at least finish last of the top five teams but he could not and he was in 13th not a good year for Lance Stroll Aston was a lot worse than it was compared to last year

but he still had quite a poor year so I went for 14th 18th place. I did not believe in the Lance Stroll delivery this year and I was almost bang on. So I'll gladly take a point away from you, Tommy, by not believing in Lance Stroll. I believe that will be a crowd pleaser

as well, the fact that I went for so low and it actually came true. So there's Lance Stroll, P-13. Yuki Sanoda finished in 12th and I predicted him 11th. God, I mean, some of these drivers horrendous wheel knowledge from us.

Others were We're absolutely, you know, within one place is phenomenal work from us. So, you know, I'm going to blow our own trumpets right here, Tommy. And I think that we need to. I'm going to, well, this is wild sentence. Yeah, I won't do it. No, I'm going to. I'm going to blow my trumpet even more.

Because I. And then you're going to. Because I predicted Yuki Snowda, P-11, but I remember getting quite a lot of, I think it was a controversial opinion at the time because I of course put him ahead of Daniel Ricardo in the championship which I remember at the time being like oh that's quite a bold prediction

and of course he did so well that he basically made Daniel Ricardo lose his seat but not enough to get the Red Bull Drive of course but yeah Yuki Snoda P11 we were both very close with that and that's pretty good that's pretty

I'm pretty surprised how close we are when I think our expectations of R.B. were a hell of a lot more than where their car actually was during the season. Absolutely. Speaking of being close to where drivers finished in the championship and where we predicted, Nico Holcombberg in 11th. I went for 19th for Nicke Holcombberg. Yes, we were very much, like I say, about Magnuson on the whole not. I, I'm not. I'm a, I, The reason for 19th was I was very much of the opinion that he would not score a point all season and would maybe just beat Magnuson based on the fact that he got a better result. I thought there was going to be an atrocious year.

Annot Hasse would become probably by the end of the year, other than Gassley's Alpine, probably the best of the rest from the top four teams in terms of the pace of the car. Holkenberg continued to be brilliant. So 11th place. I think this, if you told me that Holkenberg at the start of the year would be 11th in the championship, I'd be like, what on earth are you on about? Well, not me, Tommy, because I believed in Nika Holkenberg with my prediction. I've really cooked with this one. I went for 18th.

I was such a Holcombberg hated compared to you. And I love it as well, like me putting him ahead of anybody else was seen as kind of like, all right, Matt, what are you cooking up here then? because Hass has only have like one wheel and a front wing to take to the first race of the season. So yeah, 18th,

I will gladly take the point considering I was horrendously wrong and well done to Hass. You proved a lot of people wrong including yourselves as well, kind of. So yeah, well done, Hass. We now go to the top 10 where Pierre Gasley

finished in 10th position and I predicted him P13. Now there wasn't a lot of belief for Alpine going into this. I did predict Ghazli to finish ahead of Ocon, which he did.

But yeah, Gazley, once again, charging through the championship standings in the last few races because how he's finished in the top 10, considering they were last for so long. I'm sure he was about 16th

in the championship of five races ago. And then scored a massive amount of points. So fair play to Gassley, he was definitely one of the drivers of the last five, six races, one of the top drivers. sorry. So what on Gassley?

I was three off. I went for 13th. I was also three off. I went for P13 for P.A. Gazley as well. A strange one for Alpine to be, you know, put them kind of mid-pack.

And Gassley has finished basically right in the middle of the pack with essentially a tail of two halves of scoring absolutely nothing for almost the whole season and then just going on this absolute amazing run.

So that is a point each. It's a tale of like three quarters and one quarter really, isn't it? Because Alpine literally were running from most of it. But anyway, let's go to ninth place now, Fernando Alonzo. I predicted Fernando Alonzo in P7. So no surprise to anyone that I over-expected from Fernando Alonzo. No surprise. I thought the Astor-Mirondon would be a lot better than it was.

But of course, despite the first race, maybe two or three from memory. They were sort of mixing it up with the Merck's kind of in that top teams where there was that gap. So Fernando could score big points, but towards kind of midpoint and end of the season, absolutely nowhere.

So it's kind of quite surprising that Alonso's even managed to get ninth based on there, but it's more the points that he scored at the start of the year, of course. we might be surprising to you Tommy but it wasn't surprising to me because I predicted him in ninth place thank you very much I knew exactly where your goat was going to end up you probably slanded me for putting in p9 and astermarton were pretty well they were just mid-pack weren't they they were nowhere near the the lengths that they went last year sadly for a long stadiums yeah it was sad to see but

hopefully this will be the last of that and Adrian Urie can make his his his spark turn into a flame at Aston Martin. Don't know where I'm going with this. I'm so tired. I like the pereticness of it. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

And I also like the fact I scored two points for that one. Let's go to eighth place. Sergio Perez. Now I, I predicted in P2. I predicted in P2 because I thought Red Bull were going to win every single race of 2024. And instead we had one of the great. seasons we've had for a very long time.

So I will happily be wrong about this and have experienced the 2024 season. Miles off, just, you see, it almost feels worse than the Holcombode prediction. It's up there. As much as it's not as many positions, Perez was in the championship winning car. Indeed.

I also predicted in P2. It's, well, I remember saying, I think we both said it with our chest that Peres had an awful season. Well, not awful season. He had a good start to the season last year. And we kind of had the same conclusion of, well, if Red Bull are going to have the fastest car, even if he's terrible, he will still get enough points to finish second.

So the fact that we get to the end of the year is the biggest gap between teammates ever, no surprise. you know he's not won a race when all the other top top seven in the championship have his teammates won the world championship and he was all the way down in eighth I just couldn't see it at the start of the year with how dominant Red Bull were for him to be anything other than second or third because Max ran away with it fourth or something yeah I think one of us would have turned around to the other going are you all right do you really think he's but eighth is is wild okay Let's go to seventh place now.

Lewis Hamilton. Lewis Hamilton, I predicted him P4. I expected Hamilton to have much more of a season like last year, Wade over-deliver in the car. And he's had a very, very tough season indeed, despite, of course, getting two wins and still having some good performances, but the Mercedes was not there for a lot of the year,

still very unpredictable. And I thought we'd see a, a great performance from, from Hamilton, but definitely one of his, his worst seasons for a long time. Yeah, really hard to predict, but not for me,

because I got seventh place back on. Oh my God, you're catching up, I think. This one in particular, I do remember a lot of people going, Matt, what are you smoking? Hamilton finishing seventh in the championship.

Are you good? And I just didn't feel like, Mercedes were going to be any good. And they weren't. They had, well, Hamilton himself personally had a pretty poor season, despite obviously these amazing moments, Silverstone, of course, being the one that everybody remembers.

And Hamilton did have these glimpses, Vegas, of course. But overall, Mercedes just didn't give them a good enough car that was consistent across tracks. And yeah, bang on there with Hamilton. And I feel like I just have a good feeling with the greatest drivers on the track, you know, Alonzo, Hamilton. It's where I can really sort of get into my prediction game. I'm waffling so hard.

Let's go to sixth place. George Russell. I predicted him in P8. I felt as though he was not going to outscore Hamilton over the course of a season of this season, but he did. And fair play to him. Of course, Russell and Hamilton work literally level on points,

I think, going into Abu Dhabi in terms of points scored and Hamilton does it round the outside. round the final lap but it wasn't enough for for this season and I was two off I went for ninth place for George Russell oh we're cooking yeah yeah yeah give me all those points right now which I can't believe yeah you're on a role now oh no you are very much on a role um yeah my uh I really thought George Russell was going to have a poor season again which she did last year finished much down the order. And arguably, the Mercedes was even worse at some points of the season,

but George managed to deliver a few victories and a good season to obviously finish head of Hamilton in the points, despite having a disqualification as well from what would have been a victory. But yeah, George had a much better season than last year. So yeah, more points for you, another point. Thank you very much indeed. Let's go to fifth place, Carlos Sines. Carlos Sites, I predicted P5. Oh.

Oh. Okay, Tommy, I see you. Yeah, I thought the Ferrari was going to be a very quick car again. My logic, at the time I remember it well, that he wouldn't be. Charlotte Cloan the Championship, but would be there or thereabouts. And that's weren't for P5, so bang on. Well on Tommy, you know Will. But unfortunately, so do I.

P5, that's what I predicted. So we share the points there. So well done to both of us. And I wish you hadn't got it right, because that really would have kept the momentum on my side. But let's go to P4 then. Oscar Pistri. I predicted him sixth.

And Oscar outperformed a lot of expectations. Second season did a really good job. And I think he can be very proud of what he's achieved so far in Formula One. He's a driver that's talked about a lot, a future world champion, especially mentality-wise and racecraft-wise, Piastri's making some headlines. So yeah, well done to Oscar. And I should have believed in you more because I went for sixth. I should have believed Donoska even more because I predicted him eighth in the championship.

I was not on the McLaren hype train at the start of the year. And to be fair, the first few races until they got that Miami upgrade, it looked like this was kind of potentially coming true. But of course, after Miami, that car just, well, McLaren cooked, didn't they, with that upgrade. And since then, you know, being spoken about. about as the best car on the grid and went on, of course, to win the constructors as well. But yeah, my logic here wasn't really that I thought Oscar was going to have a bad season. I just not on the McLaren hype train, so it produced him all the way down in P8.

Well, another point for me. Thank you very much indeed, Tommy. As we now go to third place, Charles Leclair. Well, as the real Charlercernel fan of this podcast and someone that knows is driving, better than anyone. I predicted him bang on third. It was actually quite funny that you've got Alonzo bang on and I've got Shalda Club bang on with our prediction. But yes, I, this of course, I kind of, I'll admit, I've looked into this one because it was very much a shall come third behind the two Red Bulls. And instead, of course, he's finished third in the championship,

close to Norris in the end. I think an underrated season from Charlotte Clair, but we'll of course get into that in our driver ratings. We certainly will. I went for, sadly, P4. It was close, but not close enough. Well done, Tommy. I hope you're happy with the money.

Such a shal hater. That one I know for a fact you feel good about. So we're going to swiftly move on now to P2, Lando Norris. I predicted him third. So I felt like Lando was going to have a great season And he put down a season that he can be proud of Like his first time fighting for a championship

It didn't work out There are things for him to improve But he still finished runner up And he's got a season next year That I feel as though You know, when we go into the predictions for next year In a few months Like you'd be silly not to back him

To at least put in a number set of wins in 2025. So yeah, I went for third. He outperformed my prediction. So well done, Lando. Perra. I'm just looking at this. Actually, just thought that Perez has actually screwed you a bit there.

Because if Perez hadn't have finished second, like a lot of people have predicted, you'd have got, of course, Norris and LeClaude bang on as essentially being best of the rest after Red Bull, but he did not do that. I've actually cooked there. I don't get anything for it, but I've done. You do not.

And I don't get anything for this. because I predicted Landin Aris to be P6. Hater. I know, hater. No, again, no ill will towards his driving. I just thought that McLaren weren't going to be the dominant force that they were this year. So I just thought they'd be basically slower than Red Bull and Ferrari, but they certainly weren't. And finally, first position was Max Vestappen.

And yes, I predicted Max, of course, not the boldest of predictions or the most difficult of this one, but I think if you'd said at the end of the year that it would be this close, we'd have said, what on earth are you talking about? Because there were times throughout the year where, of course, this looked like not a dead search like it has done for the last few years. Indeed, I also predicted Max Verstappen first place, so we share the points there. as well. Right, the scores on the doors are in. We have done our calculations which took far too long to literally do one plus one plus two plus one, etc. But we are here and the results are. In second place, with the silver medal is Tom Bellingham with 16 points. Which means the winner! With 19 and gets

revenge for the predictions championship is Mac Gallagher. P19. P19? No, P1 with 19 points. 1916. What do I want to say? Well, I want to thank everyone that supported me. I want to thank everyone that slandered me as well for these predictions because I still won. So that's all that matters. The trophy is coming home with me. Tommy, what do you have to say? I have to say that I'm ashamed at myself for not knowing Fernando Alonso's exact finishing position in the challenge. That's going to hold you, I think.

It will. But hey, we're won all. We will do our predictions that we made at the start of the season. So I guess that's the decider. Yes, indeed, because that was one championship each at the moment. Crazy prediction stuff and things like that, wasn't it? So looking forward to that one. Tommy, what are your final thoughts, please, sir?

Final thoughts are if you feel like this podcast did not dive in enough into drive the seasons, of course, we are. saving that for everyone's favourite driver ratings where we will review every driver's year. So we will analyse deeply Jack Dewan's one Grand Prix rather than just saying NA. Exactly. So look forward to that, everybody. And we will see you very soon. Lots of love. Take care.

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