P1 with Matt and Tommy - Reaction to the F1 23 Driver Ratings

Episode Date: June 13, 2023

We're here to look over the driver ratings on the new F1 23 game. And there are... PLENTY of surprises.For more info about the Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix, click here! [US residents only]Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok.***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the B1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Feels like a little while since I've last said that. I've missed it. We've not been doing episodes every single day. I apologise. Tommy doesn't get out of bed unless it's Formula One these days. Do you, Tommy? Hey, I did a Le Mans train the other day actually.

You didn't, too, fair. Yeah, and whilst I was having a roast dinner. And Ferrari 1! Let's just say that before we get into the topic of the podcast. Ferrari 1. Le Mans. You didn't come to a watch-along and Ferrari brought it home. And I'm also not here for Canada because I'm on a stag do.

So if Charlotte-Clair wins, that's it. It's P1 with Tommy from now on. I will take the hit. And you'll take it. In order for Ferrari domination. Anyway, let's get into our five-star review before we get into our F-123 driver rating thoughts. This one comes in from Aryan Yonka from the Netherlands.

This podcast is the perfect antidotes. to F1's toxic side of fandom. Matt and Tommy show that you can have a favourite driver and be critical of them when merited and praise a rival driver when they do a better job and be respectful of fellow fans with a different opinion. I've been listening to these guys since 2018 and can't picture F1 without them anymore.

Oh, and the best is yet to come. Matt's release when LeCleur finally wins his first world driver's championship will be something to behold and I will be there for it. Thank you so much, Iyan. Although I'm not sure how much you'll be there for it, because it seems like everybody has Shaden fraud, or whatever it's called, where they just love my pain. So when Ferrari actually start winning, I think everyone's going to turn off and be like, oh, Matt's happy. We don't want that content. True. I think this is a good review for this podcast, because we're going

to start giving our opinions about how good drivers are, which always goes down well. Oh, yeah. The F-on driver ratings that we do for every Grand Prix weekend doesn't create any debate whatsoever in the comment section. As long as it's healthy and not toxic, we're fine. It's happy. It's an opinion.

We all have one. Now, today, we're going through the F-123 driver ratings. Always a talk of debate and say whether we agree or disagree. We'll say if the grade we think should be higher, lower, or just about right. And if you are as old as I am

and potentially you as well, Tommy, sounding a bit Bruce Forsyth. You know what I mean? Higher, lower, play your cards, right? That's going to hit about 1% of the audience. But either or, let's explain now the four categories that F1EA have put for these driver ratings. The first one is experience. This is based on the number of race starts a driver has over the course of their career.

Very simple. You can't really debate that one too much. Then you have racecraft. The driver's ability to work their way through the pack and finish in a higher position than where they started. That one's maybe up for debate because you could just be terrible at quality. Qualifying. Awareness, the less time spent in the Stewards Room will help drivers here. Real world punishments will impact the score in this category. Then you have pace, which benefits

those who get closest to the fastest qualifying and race lap times. A driver beating their teammate is also taken into consideration. And then overall, you have a rating. And that is the combination of the previous four ratings. This overall rating will go up and down throughout the season based on performance. And of course, this is to do with the F-123 game. So, are you ready, Tommy? Yes, I think it's worth mentioning that the overall rating, I imagine, was probably done quite early. So there'll probably be a refresh.

I think they normally do a refresh after a few rounds. So we'll give them the benefit of the doubt on a few of these. I'm sure we won't agree with all of them, but that's the beauty of debate and opinion. Everyone loves us when we disagree. So let's see if we do. Okay, let's begin with the first driver on this list. Logan Sargent.

48 experience, 84 racecraft, 75 awareness, 67 pace, with an overall rating of 71. Now, do we think it was higher, or should be higher, should be lower, or is it just about right? For me, just about right for Logan Sargent. I think 71, it just sits quite well with me. He's a rookie. He hasn't particularly proved himself yet.

However, 84 racecraft is an absolute. disgrace to humanity. What even is that as a good, like that's, that in itself, I think is measured very much on terrible qualifying, gains a few positions. Go, you've got some racecraft. But hey, if that's the way they're measuring it, that's fine. But 84 racecraft really sticks out to me as something that's a little bit of an anomaly. Yeah, I can only assume that it's because he's starting around, you know, 20th. And then there's a few worse than that, can you? few retirements and then you make your way through the field by people crashing or having problems.

So maybe that's boosted his rating. But yeah, I think this is about right. I mean, he's bottom of this list with 71 overall. And I think it's hard to argue that he shouldn't be bottom because he's a new driver. It's obviously not driving a very good car. But not really wowed us so far this year. Had a good first race in Bahrain. but yeah, I think Logisage, P20, just seems right, doesn't it?

Wow, we now move to Nick DeVries. 50 experience, 84 racecraft, 75 awareness, 67 pace, with an overall rating again of 71. Yeah, so this one is very similar. Again, I'd say it's maybe just about right. Maybe I'd give him an extra point on Logan Sargent just because he's had that, you know, extra race. scored a point, even though, you know, we can debate all day whether it was an easy point to score. But he has scored points. Obviously, had a difficult year. So I'd maybe just give him like a 72 just to put him one higher than than Logan. But there's not too much to argue about

here other than, I guess, Racecraft being really high again. Yeah, I agree. I think it was just about right. Just because he scored points, I think I agree with you as well. 72 would maybe make a little bit more sense. But it doesn't seem as though that kind of past results in terms of scoring points has really put into any of these categories as such. And it very much just kind of seems to have been missed out of the data when, when adding this all up. Because of course, each of these categories get put together and then an overall rating

is produced. But it's nothing crazy. The racecraft, again, I don't think Logan or Nick have 84 racecraft. but they do in this. But overall, I think we're just about right. We now go to Oscar Piastri. 74 experience, 73 racecraft, 79 awareness, 77 pace, with an overall rating of 74.

I don't know about my maths here, but I feel as though adding those all up together and dividing them doesn't come up to 74. No, it doesn't. That's completely... Perhaps it's completely... Yeah. They don't do that because I guess you could argue

that if someone was new, absolute best driver in the world, then it wouldn't be fair to give them a low rating just because they were inexperienced. So I don't think it's exactly an average. True. Okay. Well, there you go. We've clarified that now. I think he should be a few points higher.

He's had a great rookie season so far, I think. And to be not too far off Lando really deserves some credit. And I think 74, it just doesn't particularly sit right with me. I think Oscar has a lot of pace in that car. He's getting there. He doesn't deserve to be anywhere near the 80s, but I think a 76, a 77 is about right. It's not like that McLaren has been anywhere near as good as it has been in previous years when they were on that lovely ascendancy and then they just fell through the floor again.

But I think he's done a good job and 74 is a little bit harsh. Yeah, it's Racecraft 73 when the others are 84 screams to me that it is a case of how well you qualify or badly you qualify and then make your way through the field. whereas Oscar Piastri has had races where he has qualified very well, want to say Saudi, for example, really good, and then dropped down the field. So I wonder if that's hurt him based on the algorithm. But I would say, yeah, a little bit higher here,

jumping ahead slightly, but there's a big gap for the next person. And I personally don't think it should be that much of a jump. I know these three are all rookies, but yeah, I think a 75, or a 76, so maybe just a little smidge higher. A smidge? I've not heard that word in a very long time. Ever since I live with my mum, I think it was the last time I heard that word. We're now going to show Guan Yu.

63 experience, 78 racecraft, 74 awareness, 81 pace with an overall rating of 78. Yeah, seems about right to me. I think he's had a good season so far. He's showed that he can be on pace with Bottas. he had a lot of bad luck last year. So, yeah, I think this is a fair rating to put him kind of ahead of the rookies. And I think he's still got more to prove as the season goes along. But then Alfa Romeo don't seem particularly good.

Yeah, how much of that will he be able to prove with Alfa Romeo being rather washed? I've also gone with about right. I think this one actually is probably the most accurate rating we've had yet. I don't really have any qualms with these particular numbers. and I think, I don't know what's going on with these vocamular. These words, yeah. We've been reading a thesaurus last week. But I think 78 is bang on for Joe.

I think he's had a great season so far, perhaps slightly leaning more towards Bottas being washed. But 78, I think he's doing well. And if he continues this, so I fully well see him being in the low 80s when we get to the next game. Okay, Nico Holcomberg is up next. 86 experience, 79 racecraft, 81 awareness, 80 pace,

with an overall rating of 80. I've gone for about right. I think before the start of the season, I would have maybe hyped him up for a few more points, but he's not really performed to the level that I was expecting him to perform. I think that is obviously on Hasse as well for being not great at the start of the year. This is probably one of the only years barring, obviously, the terrible year they had with Schumacher and Mazepin,

where they haven't come out the blocks particularly firing, and then they seem to trend off towards, you know, as the development kicks in throughout the year. But I think, Nico, 80, it's about right. Yeah, it's annoying because I know people hate it when we agree, but I think you've said everything that I was going to say in terms of just the fact that I probably, if we'd have gone into the start of the season

and what I'd have expected Holcombberg to do, I'd be like, it should be about 83, 84, something like that, because, you know, I was saying it would be the biggest surprise. People think he's a bit washed. And actually, he's a very solid driver. But maybe it's just something about being in a house makes you the most inconsistent kind of flopping all over the place driver ever. Because a safe pair of hands like Niko Holcombberg has just, yeah, he's not done particularly

great. He's just been kind of putting in the odd really good performance way, like, oh, there's a Niko Hulkevig we know. And then suddenly he's 17th. even though he's overtaken 60 cars during Spain. Spain got through to Q3, didn't he? And then ended up passing everyone that looked like for the lead. And it was for 15th place.

Yeah. So, yeah, I'd say it's about right. Kevin Magnuson now, 81 experience, 79 racecraft, 85 awareness, 82 pace, with an overall rating of 81. I will go for almost about right. but I think I wouldn't separate anything between Holkenberg and Magnuson. So maybe just a tiny bit lower.

I'd probably both put them either 81 or 80, just because I think this season is a great reflection of it. We've seen, it always seems like only one of them can perform really well in qualifying. Then the other one's absolutely abysmal. And then it's like reverse. You know, Holkenberg in Spain, for example, qualified brilliant, Magnuson really bad.

And then I want to say Miami, Magnuson put it in P4, didn't he, or something? And Holkenberg was nowhere. So, yeah, I think there's not really much to separate these two. So maybe just a tiny bit lower. I've also gone for lower. I don't really feel like he's been as good as Nico. So I think a point below Nico, whatever that would be.

So I think Nico maybe deserves, yeah, I think 80's about right, maybe 81. And then Kevin, a point below that. I think would probably reflect how those two have been whilst they've been stacking up against each other. Now we go to Alexander Albon. 75 experience, 81 racecraft, 78 awareness, 86 pace, with an overall rating of 83. I've gone for about right with this one as well. I think that he's a decent driver doing a good job at Williams, very much hamstrung by the equipment that he has. We have seen obviously previously him going to the Red Bull and it not go too well.

but he's kind of brought himself back to a comfortable place and I think he's performing well in a car, in a team that don't have the expectations of Red Bull. And I think 83 is an overall rating for him sort of sums that up quite nicely. So F-123 are doing quite well at the moment. There's not been anything too outrageous yet. Not yet. I think the disagreements have come later on when it's the more higher-profile drivers.

But Alex Albin, I think, is about right. even though he's a really, really difficult driver to judge because he's coming to that Williams when maybe the car's improved, maybe it hasn't, we don't know, because he sometimes can pop it in even Q3 sometimes and do unbelievable things. But then his teammates has been Latifie and a rookie in Logan Sargent that maybe hasn't got up to speed yet.

So it's difficult to say, but I think if I was doing it, I'd probably rate him about the same based on the other drivers around him as well. So yeah. Lovely stuff. We now go to Yuki Sanoda. 69 experience, 79 racecraft, 75 awareness, 87 pace, with another overall rating of 83. This one's way off, I think, probably 99 overall rating for Yuki Sanoda based on, no.

Actually thought you were going serious for a second. No, I would, to be fair, I would probably maybe based on his performance, if he keeps carrying on when they do their mid-season change, I can imagine there may be an extra higher grade, maybe 84, 85, maybe 84. I think I would have put him maybe just one higher than Albin, because I think he's having a really good year, if quite unlucky.

So yeah, I think maybe I'd just give him one extra grade, but it's about right. Yeah, I think it's bang on the nose. I think 83 is right for you. I don't think he deserves much higher than Alex, if at all. So I think having both of them on 83 is a good shout. I mean, coming into this year, I would have maybe said, well, that's a bit high. But after his performance in this year, as much as it hasn't really delivered many points,

his consistency, his change of attitude, perhaps still swearing in the car. But in the terms of just looking like he's stepping up and becoming a team leader in that outfit is a big step forward for him, I would say. So, yeah, just about right. We're now going to Lance Stroll. 79 experience, 91 racecraft, 78 awareness, 81 pace, and 84 as an overall rating. Lower. Get, no, absolutely not.

He's been washed in a fantastic car. I don't think he deserves 84. I would give him maybe 81, 82. to he hasn't had those performances from a few years ago where he was on pole or sticking it randomly on the podium in a midfield car. He's now been given a great car and as much as Spain was a bit better

and I gave him a decent grade for that, it doesn't really forgive him for not really performing. So I think 84's too high. I would put Albon and Sonoda ahead of him. If they were all in equal cars, I think that Stroll would be third in that particular fight. So 81, 82, I think, for Lanz. Yeah, it's very difficult when you're trying to grade a driver that's in a car that's a lot better.

But I think particularly, Racecraft 91 perhaps hasn't taken into account his Monaco performance yet, because that seems very high. Yeah, I'd say a bit lower. I'd put him maybe the same as, I was going to say, maybe the same. as Sonoda and Alburn. But when you put that to me, you put them all in the same car, I agree.

I think he would be third. So maybe it is an ATT. Wow. Look at us. We are. I'm scared that we're going to agree the entire way through, but let's see.

Let's go to Pierre Gazley next. 78 experience, 89 racecraft, 76 awareness, 85 pace with an overall rating of 85. Yeah, I think this is about right. I'd rate him. He's behind him.

dock on, which I agree with. And yeah, he's ahead of, I think this is pretty much spot on. I don't know what more there is to say about it. I've looked at this and gone, yeah, if you look at the drivers around him, we don't, we don't agree with stroll. So if you took him out, he's a bit higher than Yuki and Alban, but not quite there yet in terms of the elite drivers that are coming up, the big league. So, yeah, I think 85 is about spot on.

Yeah, I've gone for about right as well. I think that his miracle performances, as I put down, have slowed down somewhat. You know, a few years ago in the Alphitari, he was absolutely beasting it. And I would have said he deserves maybe an 87 or an 88 for what he was actually performing in that kind of midfield car, although it was a very good car when he was sticking it very far towards the front of the grid, especially in qualifying. But yeah, I think 85 is about right. and a fair rating, I would say, for Pierre.

So next up, his teammate, Esteban Ocon, 77 experience, 92 racetrackraft, 76 awareness, 86 pace, with an overall rating of 86. I think it's about right. He's just ahead of Pierre Gasly. I think his consistency has been brilliant. I think he's improving every single year he goes through Formula One. And, yeah, podium in Monaco. He already has a race win under his belt from Hungary.

I think 86 is lovely. I'd maybe say just a grade higher, but it's almost about right. It's a difficult one because when we start to disagree with certain grades, it's hard to say, am I basing it off like what I said earlier? Because seeing Estebanok on only two grades more than stroll, I'd be like, no, because look how much better Rockon did against Alonzo than Stroll, but then I'm not, I think the Stroll should be way lower. So yeah, if I was rating it, I'd probably give him like about an 87.

But that's mainly because I very much disagree with the next one. Oh, I'm glad we're on the same boat. Valtari Botas, 88 experience, 86 racecraft, 97 aware. fairness, 86 pace with an overall rating of 87. I'm just going to sit back and let Tommy cook. Okay. I think this is absolutely abysmal this one. Sorry, Bottas.

I think he's being absolutely carried by what he did in a very dominant Mercedes where he picked up a handful of wins when Hamilton decided not to show up for the start of the season. And they've gone, yep, that's good. because if you look at how much higher he is than Joe Guan Yu, and you do have to take a bit of history into, you know, into performance because you have to do that because you can't take it away from Bottas. He has proved that when given a race winning car, he could occasionally win a race,

and we don't know that about a Joe Guan Yu, for example. But for him to be nearly, what is he, 10 grades higher than Joe Guan Yu when he's not obliterating him as a performance, I think is very, very generous indeed. And I think a lot of this is just based on the fact that his Mercedes days kind of carried him a bit here and maybe a good start to the season last year, Alpha.

But Awareness 97, I assume that's just because awareness is the thing, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. So he doesn't spend time in the stewards room, mainly because he never overtakes anyone. so he doesn't have any accidents. Wow, we. I did say I let Tommy cook, but my God, sorry in advance Alfa Romeo.

But I also have said lower, much, much lower. I think he deserves to be right down in the low 80s, perhaps an 81 or an 82. Of course, Mercedes, he was great, but he's not the driver he once was now. And for whatever reason that might be, maybe he's just chilling out, maybe whatever. He's just having more sort of social time compared to trying to grind it out in an alpha-a-mao, whatever it is. And we're not saying that it's a bad thing, but he's not as good as he once was. The show Guan Yu is now destroying him. It's just apart from obviously at the start of the season, Bottas had that good first race.

But it's not the bottom. We expect that every single week from Bottas, especially if he giving him an 87 rating compared to his rookie team. He should be a dominant team leader, right? should be, yeah, he should be carrying that team. But instead, he was slowing down in Spain to help his teammate drive away from a few. If you have a floor issue, though, as many people. Yes, a floor issue. Has he had a floor issue since far away?

Four of the races, yeah. Yeah, exactly. I mean, no slander to Valtry, lovely man, but I don't think he deserves an 87. It's as simple as that. So, yeah, I'd give him about an 82, I think, is the maximum there. Carlos Sines Jr., 84 experience, 92 race. craft, 81 awareness, 87 pace, with an overall rating of 88. I'm going to go with a lower on this one.

Maybe my fanboy is showing slightly, but I don't think, spoiler alert, Charlotte-Clau's given 89. I don't think there's one rating between Signs and LeCleur. So maybe two or three. I'm not saying that Carlos deserves to have a 70 rating here. I think an 86, I think, would be fair for Carlos so far in his career. it. He's got a decent car underneath him in that Ferrari, didn't really produce at the times in which he was able to with the car winning with Charles Leclair and getting loads of pole positions and so on.

Yeah, I think 86 is probably about right for Carlos for me. Yeah, he's a very difficult one to rate because you've just been waiting for like two or three years now of him to really get on top of that Ferrari and take it to Charlott on the regular. Of course, last race, he did do extremely. well when Shaal was struggling. But if you look at the overall season, I think, yeah, to give such a small gap, well, just one rating between Carlos and Shaal, I think is very generous indeed. I'd probably just downgrade him a little bit.

But then I think he is better than like a knock on. Oh, I don't know. So you'd have to like push everything down. And then, you know, again, I'm getting. I would say all con and signs would be about right. I think if you put them

both in the same team. Yeah, it's a difficult one. Yeah, probably, it's probably a fair assumption, actually. I think the thing for Carlos

here is that, and again, spoiler that, I look at the next few ratings and I don't think he should be in this, this same as these drivers. So I think that's where

I think he's a bit too high for me. Okay, dokey. We now go to George Russell, 76 experience, 87 racecraft, 83 away. fairness, 91 pace with an overall rating of 88. So I think this one is absolutely criminal, to be honest.

I think George being lower than some of the drivers that are ahead of him is quite harsh, considering that if you look at how well he did against Lewis Hamilton, of course he had the better luck that season. And again, this year, I think Hamilton is proving that he is better. but it can't be taken away from how well he's done against Hamilton. And let's not forget as well, the only driver, I'm going to just take a punt here and say, I think, 17 races. He's the only driver in about 17, 18 races that's won other than a Red Bull,

which is pretty impressive when you look at it like that. So I think it's mainly from the fact that there's a couple here that I think should be lower than him that are ahead of him. and yeah, I think we've underrated for who he is as a person. What's the number you put on him? I would give him a 90. Okay, good.

And he's on 80s. I see you're going down the rabbit hole of, yes, but all of these numbers they are. You're literally the guy with all the formulas around him trying to absorb every single rating on the grid. Yeah, okay. If I just had to grade him, I think, yeah, 90. It should be 90.

Okay, cool. Right, we're going to disagree then. I'm going to go with about right for George. I think the 88 pretty much sums up where he is in his career right now. Of course, he's doing really well against Lewis Hamilton, but we've already said previously that you have to take some things into account when it comes to previous seasons and championships and titles and so on and so forth. Yeah, I think 88 slots him in quite nicely, to be honest.

He's doing a great job at Mercedes. He hasn't had the most amount of experience as 76 would suggest that. And yeah, he's on the right path. I probably wouldn't give him any higher right now, but that's no disrespect to him. 88 is still a very good score. So, yeah, I think 88 is right for George. Now, Charles Lecler.

77 experience, 92 racecraft, 85 awareness, 90 pace, with an overall rating of 89, higher. Absolute disgrace, this one. No, I'm joking. I probably give him one more. I think I feel around 90 for Charles would be gorgeous, beautiful, in fact. Now, we're off the back of him making a few mistakes. not having the greatest of session.

So I'm sure some people would be like, I think he should be 80. Well, screw you. I think 90 is a lovely grade for Charlotte Claire. I can't give me any higher than that, even as a fan boy. I can't. So yeah, I would also agree that I think he should be about 90.

He's made mistakes, but, you know, it's difficult because the thing that stands out for me, that I thought is actually a little bit harsh, is his pace is a 90, which is lower than Lando Norris, Fernando Alonzo, same as Hamilton, lower than Vastappen,

and I think it's only, yeah, three ahead of colour science. Now, even as the Max Vostappan resident fanboy of this podcast, in terms of pace, if you read the definition, they get closest to the first, fastest in qualifying and race lap times a driver able to beat their teammate. Is that not

Shal in a nutshell? Like you can you can downgrade him for everything like awareness, racecraft. He's had his moments. But Pace, I would argue that he is up there with the staff and maybe even the highest. So I think that's where he's been shafted a little bit. Thank you for highlighting that. I'm now going to get really angry. Should have a 97 record. But no, I think I think Pace, you could argue that he should be like, 93, 94. I mean, he put, he put a Ferrari that shouldn't be there. You could argue two pole positions if you count the, the sprint, super sprint, whatever you want to call it. So yeah, sure I should be higher on pace, definitely. And I think that would bump his grade up to about a 90, which is fair. Yeah, maybe even a 91. I wouldn't, I wouldn't say no to it now, now that you've said that,

lovely stuff. We now get to Lando Norris, 76 experience, 91 racecraft, 79 awareness, 91 pace with an overall rating of 89. Yes. I think this is too high. Don't get me wrong. I think Lando is incredibly good driver. Shored last year in particular, I think he was one of the drivers of the season,

very consistent. But I don't think you can have a driver this high up when they've not won a race. And you can say that he, look, he's never had a car that could win a race, like flat out. Russia, of course, he had the opportunity. but I still think he's very unfortunate there

and you can't blame him for not winning that race. It was amazing that he was even in that position in the first place. But until we see him in a top car, which might be just when he finally lose McLaren and go somewhere else, we're not going to know if he can deliver. I think he would, but we'll never know that. So to have him ahead of Charlotte, Clair, George Russell,

people that have won races, I think is a bit generous. So I'd probably knock him down a couple of grades. I definitely don't think he should be higher than George Russell, for example. So I'd go 87. Yeah, I've gone for lower as well. I disagree on the fact that we don't know if he can deliver or not, because as you say, Russia was very much a lottery. A win, yeah.

I think he can't. I think he would. I think he would, but you can't like categorically say that if he got into a Ferrari, look what color science at the end of the day, absolutely not owned Lando, but it was really good. And he's got into that Ferrari. And now he seems a bit like, oh, he's not all that. and you'd never know that could happen to Lando.

I don't think it would, but... Okay, the way you delivered it, it made it sound like when he's in a race-winning position, he can't deliver a victory. So I was like, I think he can and Russia proved that as much as it was a 50-50 gamble. But yes, I'm going to go with Lowe. I think 87 is about right for Lando. I think I'd put him one point lower than George. I definitely wouldn't have put him on the same rating as Charles LeCler.

They're in two very different stages of their careers, in my opinion. And Charles has proved that he can win race. and sort of bear that pressure. And that's, I guess, what you were more on about, Tommy, is carrying that race-winning car to victories across a season. So, yeah, I think 87 for Lando, again, unbelievable driver. I think once he gets into that position of proving, he will. But, yeah, 89's a little bit high.

Speaking of a little bit high, Sergio Perez, 91 experience, 93 racecraft, 86 awareness, 87 pace with an overall rating of 89. No, I think lower. I think Sergio deserves around an 87, perhaps an 86. I'm not sure how you can put Perez and LeCler on the same rating. I don't know how you can do that. And yeah, I don't know how all three of those are on the same rating of 89 personally. I think Perez is below both of them to not by much, but I actually think, yeah, an 86 for Perez is, is about. And some of that might be, recency bias, but, of course, if you look back to his midfield performances and Force Indians and the racing points, you go, God, you know, 89, yeah, that's amazing.

You know, he's doing incredible things. But as we've said about bearing the weight of a race-winning car, Perez has performed at times and got victories, and it's been amazing. And he's been deemed the street circuit king until Monaco. But, yeah, I think 87. Yeah, I think Lera as well. I think they're very generous with this. I think he's being, I think racecraft again, 93, seeing that is probably because he has been poor and qualifying.

And then, you know, he makes, makes it up in the race. But I would argue that's mainly because he's got a car that his teammate is winning races by about 30 seconds in. So it's a difficult one because you do have to take into account a bit of the car, how they perform in a good, car. I wouldn't be surprised, actually, if EA themselves do, if Perez carries on this thing that he's doing where not quite getting the best out of the car and Max is just winning every race by like 20, 30 seconds, I think they probably will dock him a grade because particularly the last couple of races have been really poor.

And I imagine this rating had come from when we were still in the era of, can Perez still win the title? and now we've kind of seen that's going to be a big ask if he carries on the way he is. So yeah, I'd probably say about an 87. I don't think he should be higher than a George Russell, for example, because he's consistently getting trans by his teammate. And you have to take that into account, even if you've got a very good car that you can finish second, third, fourth in every race,

you've got to take into account that in terms of a driver rating, it's based on how well you do against your teammate, really, because that's the only comparison you can make. Absolutely. We now go to Fernando Alonzo, 99 experience, 91 racecraft, 78 awareness, 93 pace, with an overall rating of 92. I've gone for about right with this. They've obviously upgraded him a lot,

but I think that is fair because he's finally got a car that he's shown that, you know, even just a sniff of a podium is that, bam, podium pretty much almost every race, really, until recently. So you look at what Stroll is doing in that car. And it's hard to know if the Aston is the second, third, fourth, best car. It kind of changes here and there. But Alonzo has just shown that give him a race winning championship winning car and he would still deliver even at his age. So, you know, huge experience, amazing racecraft. amazing pace. I think his awareness is quite low,

but then that's probably from just the days in the Alpine where he got bored and would just corner cut and get a few penalties just to troll the stewards because he had nothing to play for. But yeah, 92, it's a big grade, but I think it's fair. Of course you would think that, but I think the same as well. Definitely about right for Fernando.

An absolute beast at his age, performing unbelievably well, still has all the capabilities within him of winning a world title. Yeah, I'd love to see that. And 92 is very, very fair. He's showing that he is one of the greatest drivers to ever grace this sport by performing even now

at 41 years old. Lewis Hamilton now, 97 experience, 94 racecraft, 94 awareness, 90 pace, the novel rating of 92. I am going to say he deserves, one more rating than 92. I would put him at 93. I think, you know,

when you actually compare himself and George, then you kind of go, is that fair, but then Lewis Hamilton is literally statistically the greatest of all time. So I don't think you can really give him any lower than these kind of grades. It's kudos to George, of course,

that he's managing to do this currently. But as you said, Tommy, he is still proving Lewis that he's got the edge. And you would imagine if they did have a championship, at winning car, Lewis would be the one to deliver it. So I think 93 for Lewis would be, would be fair.

I think this one is about right. I'm going to say, yeah, 92 is about spot on. Him and Fernando at the moment, I think they're both performing extremely well. Obviously, Hamilton's had the better, you know, been better historically with his dominance at Mercedes. But if we're taking right now, I think, yeah, Hamilton's. and Alonzo about the same. I'd definitely put

those two as kind of the joint second best drives in Formula ones. I think that's fair. Interesting. We now go to Max Verstappen. 84 experience, 97 racecraft, 85 awareness, 95 pace, with an overall rating of 94.

Yes. This is a difficult one and I can hear people shouting at me that I'm a fan boy, but he's obviously the highest grade by some way. Two points. Two points. Like, he's untouchable at the moment.

Like, he's actually untouchable. So should, could you argue that it should be even higher? Because like, what more can he do? He's absolutely obliterating like every single race it seems. You know, he's just come off the back of like a, what was it, a grand slam? You know, even topping all the practice sessions as well, I think. something like that. So, yeah, he's just driving, apart from one.

No, no, actually no, it was practice, but Q1, he didn't top. Oh, that was it. So he's washed. So he's washed. No, no. I think, yeah, having played the games of like FIFA and stuff that I imagine these are based off, I think you're like, Ronaldo's and Messi when they're in their prime were kind of like, you're 94, 95, 96. So surely Vestappen.

is creeping up towards that 95, 96th grade. So yeah, I'd probably say about 95, just to put him even higher, because if he carries on doing this the way he is, it's just untouchable at the moment. And it's a scary thought for everyone else. Absolutely. You know, an EA have said that they're going to update these grades every once in a while. So this is more based on form,

although, as we say, there is a nod to the merit of previous years as well. But I've gone for a hire as well. The guy is unbeatable. Man and Machine completely won. So I would have given him a 96 rating because you just expect him. It's like if they did this a few years ago, you'd probably give Lewis Hamilton the same grade when Mercedes were dominating. I think, oh, I thought you're going to say same as Max.

They did that in 2021. They didn't want to separate them. No, not 2021. Yeah, sorry. In the same grade. a Mercedes domination. Yeah, definitely. How can you give them any,

when they are literally performing to perfection levels, I would say, how can you give them much lower? So yeah, I think 96 is where I'd put Vestappen currently. Finally, let's pick the most overrated driver and underrated driver by these F-123 ratings. Let's start with overrated. I don't think there's any doubt

in anyone's minds over who we are going, or at least I'm going for, Valtry Bottas. Wow-we. Look, Botas, I still believe in you, if you, of course, are listening intently to this podcast. I put you as like, when did I put him in the championship, like eighth or something ridiculous? Because I fully believed he was going to deliver.

It's definitely top ten. I was smug after the first race in Bahrain. I was like, look at him. Bottas has arrived. And then he left. So Botas, please come back. Yeah. I will say Botas as well.

If I had to pick someone different, I'd say maybe Sergio Perez, which I do think they might downgrade him a little bit if it carries on. Because I imagine they've not rated him. I imagine this was done before. Well, it would have been because if you've seen the F1 video, they're doing it in Monaco before Perez has had those two horrendous ratings. And judging by Bottas's grade, perhaps it was done after Barrow. rain. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I think those two, Peres and Bottas for me. I'll go Bottas, if I have to

pick, if I'm allowed to pick any, if I have to pick different, I go Peres. Thank you for clarifying, Tommy. That was really long. Thank you so much. Underrated now. I'm going to go George Russell. I think, yeah, I think he should be higher based on how he's done alongside Hamilton and particularly the drivers that he's behind as well, think he deserves to be. higher. I will go for Oscar Piastri. 74, not enough for Oscar. Give him a 76, 77. Give him what he deserves. He's doing a good job in that McLaren. And that is it. Thank you so much for watching or listening to this F1-23 opinions on their driver ratings. Tommy, what are your final thoughts?

My final thoughts are, remember, it's just an opinion. It's an opinion. We'd love to hear yours as well in the comments or on social media. Give us your lists. Be nice. to each other. It doesn't matter if someone else disagrees with you. And on that note, see you very soon for another piece of content. Bye. Bye. P1 is a Stack production and part of the ACAST creator network.