P1 with Matt and Tommy - Saudi Arabian GP Driver Ratings

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

After some penalty drama in Saudi, we're back for our driver ratings! Who's getting a ten? Who's definitely not?Join us to find out!You can listen to an extended version of every Race Review podcast over on our Patreon! Sign up to also get every P1 episode ad-free, early access to live tickets and merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. Driver rating. Sign. Sign. I was going to say siren. Play the siren. Play the siren. Play the claxon. It's time to agree to disagree because we have got our grades locked in from zero all the way to 10 on every single driver's performance over the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend. Tommy, how you feeling going into this one, sir? Looking forward to it. Always a bit of spice and yeah, it's another race, even though it wasn't the greatest race in the world. Plenty of talking points. And yeah, I'm sure there'll be some disagreements of opinion as well,

which is always good. It's healthy. It's healthy. It's how the world rotates. Right, let's get into the first driver, which is Gabriel Bortoletto, started the race in 20th, finished 18th. I'm going to lock in a 4 out of 10 for Gabriel Bortoletto.

slightly worse than perhaps the solid fives that we tend to give Salba. One, because he qualified last and finished the race last of the finishers, but also nearly sent his manager Fernando Alonzo into the shadow realm, and he got very, very lucky that he didn't do that by only a few centimetres. I can't really downgrade him too much about a near incident, but I still think he's deserving of a four out of ten. just, I think he himself said after the race that kind of just needs a break to sort of reset and go again. So four out of ten for me.

I've also gone for a four out of ten for Bortilete. Yeah, qualified last, of course, it's a terrible car. And of course, had that weird problem didn't here in practice where I just kind of did no running. So probably put him on the back foot a bit. But the reason it's a four, like you say, is because of that very near-me. that I think him drifting over a few more centimetres and him wiping out essentially his manager would have been quite a massive story.

Thankfully he avoided it. And yeah, kind of a disappointing weekend really for Bortolete. The fans gave him a four as well. Nika Holcomberg started the race in 18th, finished 15th. I've gone for a five out of 10 for Nika Holcombberg. Yeah, after that, bizarre start to the season when Nico Hockenberg had that points finish and then that really strong points finish of course in Australia and then a difficult

race in China kind of back to straight down the middle where he's kind of just performing where that car about is I don't think the Salbert is as bad as last year it can at least fight it in the mix of the midfield but nothing particularly special from Hokenbeg so I've gone for a five I've gone for a six out of ten because I I am this year trying to give the worst car on the grid anything more than a five when I see even an inkling of performance. And Holkenberg, sheft his teammate by 15 seconds. So can I really give him only one grade higher?

He also didn't qualify last. I'd 18. Finishing 15th ahead of stroll and doing. You get a six, Nico, because that's about all you're going to get, sadly, at the moment, because he was nowhere near the two Hasses ahead of him. But yeah, he was just hoping. wasn't he for some kind of chaos around this track after pitting right at the beginning

but it just didn't work, did not work at all. Let's move on now to Alex Albon. Start of the race in 11th, finish 9th. It's going to be an 8 out of 10 for Alex Albon this weekend. Having to constantly remind myself that the Williams scoring points is not a 10 out of 10 stone cold perfect performance this year. No, not in 2021 anymore.

No, not in 2025, that's for sure. Still a very good weekend for Albon, just narrowly missing out on Q3 and then scoring a couple of points. I feel like he was helped by Sines at the end of that race. As much as Sines believed that he could drive away, I think he could from Hajar.

I'm not sure about Albon, as demonstrated by the final lap. See you later by Carlos Sines where he left Alex for Dust to just showcase how much more pace Carlos had in the car. But still, Alex finishing ninth is a great result. Yeah, gone for an eight out of ten as well.

Good performance from Alex Albin. Continued his great season. You know, it's only one race that he's not scored points in. And yeah, he disappointed in qualifying, I think, compared to his teammate, but made back for it in the race and was on the back of him at the end, mainly thanks to that brilliant bit of teamwork from Williams for him to hold on So, ninth place. So yeah, a good performance from Albin again.

The fans gave Alex Albon an eight. And if I forgot to say, Holcomberg got a five from all of you lot, which I think I might have forgotten to say. Carlos Seins, start the race and sixth, finished eighth. I've gone for a nine out of ten for Carlos Sines. Absolutely brilliant qualifying to be P6. And of course, finishing best of the rest behind the top teams. the reason it's not a 10 is I feel like you need to save a 10 for those performances where

you know they they do get in the mix there and but that's not to take anything away from him it's still a brilliant drive from Carlos and this is the car loss we were expecting right from the start of the season so fingers crossed this continues and we see this at more often now at regular races because this is what we expected from him suddenly my grade for Carlos Sines is also a nine out of ten. It's quite sad to see that, you know, when all of the drivers, obviously, Barras Sonoda finish, they are 25 seconds clear, like the back, i.e. Hamilton in seventh to then Carlos Sines in eighth,

there is still a rather large chasm between the top four teams and the rest. But, yeah, it's one of those nine out of ten performances from Carlos, which was just brilliant. Perhaps may well have been a ten if it'd been let off the leash in that final stint. to see just how much further he would have got ahead of Albon, but I'm not sure there was a huge amount more in the car. But still, a really solid performance from Carlos, and he's starting to get a grip of that Williams,

which I'm very excited to see unfold across the rest of this season. The fans gave Carlos a nine as well. Isaac Hadjar, start the race in 14th, finish 10th. I've gone for an eight out of 10 for Hadjar, a kind of what could have been really, I think. I think he drove at a brilliant race, but just put himself on the back foot after qualifying. Had he finished eighth, which was very possible,

then we'd be talking potentially in the nines, perhaps even a 10 for being a rookie and performing as well as he did. But it's still a really promising performance from Hadjar to start behind his teammate loss so than to finish ahead of him on the road. It's, yeah, Hadjar, I genuinely thought I was confident that potentially if we were going to have a flop from Hadjar,

it would be around a track like this. But he showed no sort of what would be the word. I was going to say being scared. But like, you know, he did he had the confidence around here. He wasn't intimidated by Saudi Arabia. Oh, you're sorry. Tommy calling for a sorospelling him more like. But yeah, he wasn't intimidated by a track like this.

And that that bodes really well for him, I think for the rest of the season. I have gone for a nine for Isaac Hadjar. I think it's a great performance from a rookie to grab points. The V-carb isn't as good as it was at the start of the season. Yes, he left some on the table in qualifying. I think it's not his fault that the Williams played an absolute blinding strategy. That's on Williams being very impressive. Because, yeah, without it, who knows he could have maybe even challenged some.

science because he looked very quick, but DRS trains are DRS trains. But it's still a great result from Hadjard's get points as a rookie around very difficult track. So very impressive them this year. The fans gave Hadjar an eight. Liam Lawson, start the race in 12th, finish 12th. I have gone for a 7 out of 10 for Liam Lawson. I think it was a much more respectable performance from him to qualify head of his team which you would

I know he's not been in that car all year but more experienced driver even though he's not had many races but obviously more than Hadjar and of course if you've seen the social media clip that we shared we had that disagreement over the penalty

10 seconds of course is harsh for what it is it should have been a penalty and I still go back to I'm still adamant that they could just tell people to swap positions. I'm still, I still think that you have to complete, I'm not going to change my mind on that, you have to complete an overtake into a corner.

And if you go off and you kind of fly into a corner with your DRS open and miss the breaks and go off, you've not completed the overtake. So from that side, yeah, it does seem incredibly harsh that it's 10 seconds, which is quite a lot, but he wouldn't have scored points anyway. But better from Lawson after what's been such a, poor season. This is more kind of what we expected and maybe this is the part where he gets his confidence back. I have gone for a seven out of ten for Lawson as well. I can't give a difference of two grades between the two drivers, never seen a lack of will knowledge displayed like this

ever since we've worked together, Tommy. But of course, yeah, we disagree on the on the delivering of the penalty. A rookie that got points. Are we forgetting that Lawson has not completed a full season as a Formula One driver? This guy is not Fernando. Rookie. Larson, you could argue, has less experience in this current car than Hajar. So that's why I'm not really saying as much as he has more experience as a driver, the actual relative experience. It's because you don't think he made a mistake. That's why I would do it.

There's plenty of reasons. But Lawson, yeah, I don't think he deserved the penalty for that. I think it was a track limits violation. The move was done. Yes, he outbraked himself. But it was literally done halfway down the straight. The DRS was closed. he braked and whatever.

But anyway, he would have finished just over one second behind his teammate on the road, which I think was a great job, considering I think Hajar maybe had the better strategy in the long run, if you look at how quick Lando as well was at the end of the race. But still, it was a decent showing from both the racing balls and for Lawson. I think it was a settler for him because it was looking slightly concerning when he first came back. So it's a seven for me. The fans gave him a six.

No, that's harsh. That is harsh. They definitely looked at the race result and forgot about the really unfair 10 second penalty. Okay, Ollie Berman started the race in 15th, finished 13th. I've gone for a six out of 10 for Ollie Berman. Not a weekend I was hoping for him, considering I good surprised him. And he'd had a great performance last year in the Ferrari.

And it just did not work out, really. The Hasse were underwhelming in qualifying, but also underwhelming in the race as well, which was sad to see and just really shows how much knowledge I have when it comes to good surprising this year. But yeah, it was still a better than middle of the road,

I think, for Berman. He still finished 15 odd seconds ahead of Ocon. I know they're on different strategies, but O'Conn was forced into that strategy purely by the fact that he qualified really badly. So, yeah, Bermann six. I've gone for a six out of ten for Raleigh Berman as well. the Hasse, their pace is very unusual this year, didn't work for them this time.

But Berman to finish ahead of his teammate by quite a long way. I know Ockon had an unusual strategy, tried something a bit different and gambled, but for Olly Berman as the rookie to finish 20 seconds ahead is still impressive, but maybe not the race we thought he might have, based on his heroics last year of his super sub-pourmet. performance. Super sub indeed. The fans gave them a five, not happy at all. Esteban Ockon started the race in 19th, finished 14th.

I have gone for a five out of ten for Esteban O'Con. Disappointing weekend. I, on the watch along, shows why I should not be a strategist because I was saying that they should have done exactly what they did. And it was maybe worth a gamble that, of course, they kind of pitted early for the hard tires and thought, can we go to the end? But it didn't work out. And even though he was running quite high up, he was just kind of dropping, wasn't he? Like a stone through the field as everyone came through on better tires. But yeah, still 20 seconds behind your teammate, disappointing for Ocon.

Five out of ten from me for Ocon, he needs to figure out his qualifying in that car. He really does. because we know how good he's been in the race. We know how good strategy has been at Hasse as well. They just make it so much harder for themselves this season. But I don't really understand why Ocon is so far down in qualifying compared to his teammate. I think he started on the back row twice or three times this year, which is pretty mad. So I'm hoping for his sake he can bounce back.

But yeah, no such heroics this time and was very much praying for us. safety car that did not come. The fans gave him a five as well. 20 seconds behind his rookie team mate with the same grade. That's, that's, that's an interesting one. Oh, Tommy's feeling a little bit ferocious today, guys. I'm really sorry about that one. But yes, giving the same grade is wild. So maybe it was like a 5.9 average. An average, yeah, it's like averaged out, maybe. But either or, no will knowledge detected. Jack Duhin, start the race in 17th.

finished, 17th. Oh gosh, Jack Duhin. I really want to see you do well, but it is going to be a three out of ten. I'm sorry, I've done it, I'm sorry. That feels harsh, maybe it should be a four, but it's, that Alpine ain't no bad car now. We saw it with Gazley for half a lap in the race,

but also in qualifying and last time out. to be starting 17th, finishing 17th, fighting the salbers at the end. I think he pips, Bortoletto at the line. I'm like, this ain't where the car deserves to be and I have to give him a representative grade for that.

He said it was one of his most difficult combination of things just weren't clicking. The first stint wasn't looking terrible, but then of course, you know, he was forced onto that strategy, which was worth the gamble. none of the teams, I'm sure, were hoping to go 49 laps on a set of tyres

and were thinking maybe there'd be a VSE or something like that, but still nowhere near, even Stroll, he finished like 14 seconds behind Stroll. It's a poor weekend for Jack, sadly. It sure is. I've gone for a three as well. It's definitely a three. You know, his teammate qualified ninth.

The Alpine is a good car. Now it certainly can mix, up in the midfield, so to qualify 17th is very poor. Of course, risked it with an unusual strategy that didn't work out, but yeah, to finish 17th, you know, you're only beating a rookie in a salber, a very disappointing weekend for Jack Dewan. Yes, the fans gave Jack a four. Pierre Gazley, started the race in ninth, did not finish. I have gone for, oh my word, this one's difficult. Yeah, that half a lap, how do you grade it? How do you grade someone that's done very well in qualifying and then had a racing incident that I do kind of feel like he put

himself under risk? I'm going to give him a six just because of that qualifying. But you kind of his, no, I'm not. No, I'm going to give a five. I'm going to give a five. It is one of those ones there, isn't it, where it's difficult because you're judging like the pace he had in the car and obviously you didn't get to show it. He showed it in qualifying. But yeah, I watch it back. He puts his car in a risky position on lap 1. It's not his fault. It's not enough to get a penalty or penalty points or anything like that, but it's still a risk. And I'm still kind of, it still annoys me that he's essentially been punished there for trying to stay on the track rather than just bailing onto the runoff. and that's kind of his downfall that he's shamefully decided

I'm going to keep two wheels on the racetrack and continue round. And yeah, but unfortunately for him, he's got a part to play in that crash, so I've gone for a five. I've also gone for a five out of ten for Pierre Gasly. It's hard to grade him much higher for that because we have to obviously take into account that he hasn't done the race,

but also similarly to you, Tommy, he's gone for an audacious move. I think if he was maybe three, four car lengths, you know, if they were side by side, three, four car lengths back, and then he's sort of nudged ahead, Sonoda backs out of the corner. But sadly, Ghazly sort of gets his nose ahead

a little bit too late into then the breaking zone and the turn in for that left-hander. And that's where the risk is. And sadly for Gassley, There's nowhere to go. If he goes off the track, he has to give the position back to Yuki. He knows the rules. He knows what's going on there.

But yeah, it is not a track, not a corner, sorry, that you see overtakes that. You just don't. And sadly, for Gassley and for Sonoda, it ended pretty badly. The fans gave Gassley a five as well. Lance Stroll. Start the race on 16th. Finished. 16th.

Give me a four out of 10 for Lance Stroll. How do you even? do you, I don't have many words. I mean, it was, it was not as bad as maybe some we've seen this year, but also he is Aston Martin's sole point score, which I will keep reminding you every single podcast episode, Tommy, until it changes. But, you know, Holkenberg versus Stroll, Battle of the Ages for P-15, they finished nine-tenths apart.

It's, it's not an absolutely horrific weekend, because then you look, he's finished, I don't 25 seconds behind Alonzo. That's why it's going to be a four because I think Alonzo did a pretty decent job. So yeah. I've gone for... Oh, you were going to give him a three, but now you're changing four.

No, I wasn't. It's actually a five in my sheet. And I'm wondering whether it is a four. Well, unless Alonzo's a 10, that is really not representative. Spoiler alert. No, I will go for a four because he's qualified poorly again. The Aston Martin for me is a woeful car.

Where do you place it? in my opinion, there's probably only the salba that's worse, but then it kind of is very close in that midfield battle. Qualified poorly again, which is kind of no surprise. But yeah, now I'm kind of convincing myself that it is a four because essentially two of the front runners have gone out the race and he still finished in the same position and a poor position that he qualified in compared to his teammate.

And actually, I've got something that I just want to say about his qualifying. because I know a lot of people were... Tommy fights back. I've bought some receipts because I know a lot of people were basically latching onto my comment saying I think Lance Roll is one of the worst qualifiers

in the history of Formula One and saying, but he's got a pole position. So I actually found the head-to-head with his teammates throughout his entire career and I will read them to you now. Oh, please. This will be good listening. 2025 so far, Fernando Alonzo is 5-1-up, even though Alonzo is finished

has no points this season of course and isn't too old for Formula One if you listened to Twitter. It was the sprint in China. It doesn't count. 2024, again, against Fernando Alonso in the twilight of his career. 195 to Fernando Alonzo.

2023, the year the Aston Martin was actually good. 193 to Fernando Alonzo. Alonzo had 20 appearances in Q3. Lance had eight. Alonzo was knocked out in Q1 once. Lance was knocked out seven times. 2022,

Sebastian Vettel, arguably not at his best. You know, as he was near retirement, Vettel still beat him 13-7. Nico Hulkenberg fancied go in the Ust & Martin when Vettel got COVID and Stroll still didn't beat him in the head to head. It was one-all. Head-to-head in 2021, it was 14-8 to Vettel.

2020, Perez, 10, Stroll, 4. Nico Holkenberg also had a couple of races, and it was one-all. You know, people quick to jump on that Stroll got a pole position and had a pretty good season then. Nico Hulkemberg jumped in the car with no experience and got a P3 at Silverstone. So make of that one, you will. Is that the slander? Are we going all the way back to like 19-19.

Seredo Perez, 17-3 on Stroll. And you're probably thinking at this point, well, he's had very difficult teammates. Sergei Soropkin as a rookie 12, Lance Roll 8. So he didn't even be a rookie Sergei Surropkin. And 2017, 172 to Massa. I rest my case. Oh my goodness gracious me. We should rename this podcast to the slander of Lance Roll.

Or just factual information. You've brought receipts. And I think it tells, it works in your favour, but also works against you. because you did claim that he's the worst qualifier ever, which I don't think is true, even by the fact that... I said probably the worst qualifier ever. Don't we be throwing in semantics,

but that's what people have heard. Obviously, he's not a great qualifier by any stretch of the imagination. He's not. He's one of the worst of all, too. So, so there you go. One of the worst of all. Okay, Tommy's still back in it. But anyway, that's great.

Well, I'm glad that that was something we dived into. Lance Stroll, where were even were we? Did you say your grade? Yeah, is a four. Okay, brilliant. Right, the fans gave Lance Stroller four as well. Fernando Alonzo, started the race in 13th, finished 11th. And before you get into that, Tommy,

have you got an entire qualifying record of Fernando Alonzo as well that dates back to 19, 98 or wherever you enjoyed it? Yeah, yeah, what was it, 20-0 against Van Dorn. I need driver to whitewater teammate twice. But we could go on. I've gone for an 8 out of 10, Fernando Alonzo. He has finished P-11 in a trek. I think it's the ninth best car on the grid.

Would have been P12 without that stupid penalty. The dessert penalty for Lawson. You know, even if you give it a five second penalty, you're still finished behind him. And eight may seem high because he's not got points, but I'm looking at all the cars that's ahead of him and he shouldn't be ahead of them, and I'm looking at all the cars behind him.

And even then, you know, I think the RB is quicker. I think the HAST is probably quicker. He's smashed his teammate, qualified incredibly well. So there we go. Okay. Wow. Tommy is really popping off here.

I'm split between the seven and an eight because I feel like the Fernando Alonso glazing there is crazy. Oh, Duran Stroll is pretty poor. Are we really giving him four grades higher for 25 seconds down the road? That is, yeah, go on then. Eight out of ten. Well done, Fernando. It's a very slim eight out of ten for Fernando Alonzo.

he's just crept over the line. But he has done a pretty decent job this weekend. It's more the Fernando Alonzo that we want to see. Sadly, no points to bank, but I think it's coming. If Aston do actually give him a car that isn't the ninth fastest, he will score a point or two. So yeah, eight out of ten for me for Fernando. The fans gave him a seven.

Kimmy Antonelli, start the race and fifth, finish sixth. I am going to give Kimmy Antonelli a 7 out of 10. It's a reasonable weekend for Kimmy. Still lacking pace compared to George Russell. I know he caught him hand over fist towards the end. Russell was of course managing trying to fight for the win or a podium and cooked his tires. And I think that's more down to his grade that we'll get into as well. But I think seven perfectly represents what Kimmy is performing at right now.

He's doing a decent job in a Mercedes. He's not getting knocked out in Q1 or anything like that. He's qualifying well. He's doing everything, I think, is expected of him. It's no headline-worthy stuff, especially this weekend. But it is more than good enough for Mercedes to get excited. So, yeah, I'm going for a seven. I have gone for an 8 out of 10 for Kimmy Antonelli.

Shock. Shock, because it's correct. Yeah, 7.7. Seconds off his very experienced teammate, we've said so many times this weekend that Saudi is an incredibly difficult circuit to go to as a rookie. And, you know, he's there on the back of his teammate. He wasn't quicker than him, of course, but he's the inexperienced one. And bagged more points for Mercedes, qualified well up in P5. He's delivering this season, I think.

The fans gave Kimmy a 7. George Russell, start the race in third, finish fifth. I've gone for an 8 out of 10 for George Russell as well. I don't think the Mercedes was there this weekend, but still got a decent result with a P5. Qualified brilliantly again, but just couldn't look after his tyres in the race. But yeah, it's a decent performance from George again,

and it kind of continues that record of always being in the top five and yeah, I think definitely one of the drives of the season this year. I've gone for a seven out of ten for George. Of course, he did finish ahead of his teammate, qualified ahead of his teammate, but factoring in that Kimmy is, of course, a rookie there. So I've gone for the same grade for both of them. He himself said after the race that the performance was pretty underwhelming. So it's definitely a seven out of ten for me.

He finished over, I think, 18 seconds behind Norris in the end, nowhere near the front four. but it's still solid points. He's still a very small shout for a dark horse for the championship. So, yeah, George, 7 out of 10 for me, and the fans gave him a 7 as well. Yuki Sonoda started the race in 8th, did not finish. It's a 5 out of 10. I'm going to go for exactly the same as Pierre Gazley.

It's an unfortunate thing to have happened. Maybe Yuki didn't expect Pierre to try and swing it around the outside, but I can't give him any higher than that. it wasn't like he qualified on the front row and the most of our grade is based on the race and he didn't finish so it's going to end not through any massive fault of his own

so yeah five out of ten I've also gone for a five out of ten disappointing for Yuki because it would have been nice to see where he could have what he could have done in the race because although he was a long way behind his teammate in terms of lap time P8 is you know

A grid. When you get the second Red Bull seat into single digits, it feels like quite a win these days. Yeah, there's a lovely gap for him to just finish an eighth. Exactly. Hamilton signs, just chill out, get four points, lovely stuff. Exactly. But alas, it all came undone at the first corner and, yeah, a racing incident. The fans gave him a five. Max Verstappen started the race in first, finish second. I have gone for a nine out of ten for Maxisthapen.

I think maybe he is the victim of his own success here because he's not driving the best car, I think is the best car this weekend, for sure, much better than it was in Bahrain. But, you know, he's still got a brilliant pole position, finished 2.8 seconds off the lead, and, you know, beating his teammate by nearly a second. and in qualifying. And this is where that I think, yeah, maybe he is a victim of his own success,

but you're so used to Max delivering that any time the car can deliver a win, he gets that win. And I've got to think that had he made the start legally, whatever you think based on that kind of turn one incident, or just made a better start and led the race, I think he would have won because the dirty air was so poor. he could have pitted and stayed ahead of Piastri and we could have looked at something similar to Suzuki but alas he didn't so gone for a nine well are we about to disagree no we're not nine

out of ten for Max for Stappen I still think it was a brilliant weekend from Max yes there was the turn one incident which we've gone into it's funny that there's a lot more discussion online than perhaps I or you probably thought there would be considering who was at fault. Should Max have got a penalty? There's been telemetry flying around and saying that Oscar took more speed into turn one than Max did and all of this sort of stuff that I still, to this very moment, believe Max deserved that penalty.

And I don't think any sort of levels of telemetry or think, you know, just use your eyes. You can see exactly what happened. You can see that he wasn't going to stay on the track. No, no. You only need to look at screenshots that tell nothing. Sorry, yeah, the non-moving screenshots. I don't know how anybody, even with telemetry, are trying to suggest that he was going to stay on the track.

I genuinely don't get it. But it's still a nine out of ten for Max, because apart from that, and we're not talking about the spirit of the sport, because maybe he wouldn't get a nine out of ten for that move, but in terms of his actual performance, the strategy of the fact he still led the race, had wonderful clean air, enjoyed that first in brilliantly,

and then still finished, what, 2.8 seconds off the win. It's a very lovely performance. And yeah, Max Verstappen, 9 out of 10. And the fans gave him a 9 as well. Lewis Hamilton, started the race in 7th, finished 7th. Goodness, goodness, goodness. Trying to think of what a fair grade is for Hamilton. it is going to be, it has to be a five out of ten.

It does. I think that was one of the most mediocre Hamilton performances that I've seen in a while. Nowhere in qualifying compared to his teammate. Nowhere in the race at any point it felt like. I saw some people looking again into telemetry of Hamilton and into sort of the first stages of his stints. And it seems as though he's overmanaging the tyres compared to Shal when you look at places where he's lifting.

off slightly compared to his teammate. And this was, yeah, just one of those performances that will want to be forgotten about immediately. Because, yeah, being beaten by not just his teammate, but Norris, of course, but then both the Mercedes as well. Yeah, it was a completely and utterly baffling weekend for Hamilton because you expect, okay, poor quality, but he comes back in the race, might finish five seconds behind Lecler and where he started. but no, just nowhere. He was nowhere. Yeah, I've gone for a five as well.

Really poor weekend for Hamilton. Has to be the worst that we've seen of him in a long time. And it's a shame to see because there was so much hype and expectation, him going to Ferrari, had that brilliant sprint win. And you thought, okay, this is, you know, Lewis Hamilton is going to bounce back after maybe the troubles that he had last year. But, you know, I said this many times that I don't think Saudi is his best circuit. arguably maybe even one of his worst.

Qualifying to qualify behind Carlos Sites was a headline that didn't need to, didn't want to happen, that, you know, he would have not wanted to happen as, as the kind of driver that, that he kind of, um,

kicked out to get, uh, the Ferrari seat. And then, yeah, to have no pace, no, you can look at it and go,

oh, he's seventh, but, you know, I, I kind of take it back to a certain, Sergio Perez and how many times we gave him back grades for finishing 30 seconds behind his teammate

and you have to do the same thing here so it's a five. The fans gave Hamilton a six. Charles McClure started the race and fourth, finish third. I've gone for a nine out of ten just to see Matt's reaction because it's a ten. The way you just baited me. I was about to lose.

it. Oh, that went to you and bet that I thought. I think I've done that once and you didn't even fall for it. But no, it's a 10. It's got to be a 10. You cannot say that Charlotte Clare did not deliver everything from that Ferrari. It shouldn't be on the podium. It is slower than the Mercedes this year.

Max is an anomaly, so it's hard to grade where he is. But, you know, slower than the McLaren's. It was brilliant from LeCler, more of what we expect from him to put 30 seconds on your seven time world champion and statistical goat teammate as well, just a sensational drive. And as I said about Hamilton, this being one of his worst seconds, I feel like this is one of Charlotte Clare's best. He always performs well here. Oh, we love to, we love to hear it from Tom Bellingham and it come in directly out of his vocal box. I've gone for a 10 out of 10 as well for Charles.

just perfection. An absolutely perfect weekend for Shal. Fourth, he says, is only the best he could have done. And I firmly believe that when you're clear of your teammate by quite some margin. And then in the race, I thought we were in big trouble with Lando on mediums, coming out only four or five seconds, I think, behind Shal when Lando pitted. But he managed to hold on, finished eight seconds off. the win. You're then wondering, come on Ferrari. Unlock a little bit more quality performance for

my boy, Charle, and then we could be cooking. But it's still, it's still a 10. And it was a nice, it's a nice one. Nice to see that. But I, I want to raise our expectation slightly as a Charlotte Clair fan that third place. We need that to become second, to become first, please. Thank you very much. The fans gave him a 10 as well. Oscar Piastri, start the race and second finish first. It is going to be 7 out of 10 Oscar Piastri he bled the brakes off into term 1

horrible movement I'm kidding I'm kidding it's of course a 10 out of 10 for Oscar Piastri wow wow wow wow Oscar Piastri this year

you are cooking sir he's delivering consistently at a level that is good enough to win a world championship hands down his teammate is faltering ever so slightly

in moments in qualifying and putting himself on the back foot and of course he his teammate did do a a decent recovery drive, but Oscar hasn't had to do a recovery drive yet because he's putting the car where it belongs. And this is why he's picked up three wins already this year and is now the championship leader. How can you fault him for that? Oscar is still learning and he's still getting quicker, but he's also delivering whilst he's learning. And that's the important thing here.

How will Oscar now deliver knowing he's the championship leader? And the thing is, right, we all go, oh, he's unflappable, he is so cool, so calm, so collected. We don't know. We don't know how Oscar Piastri feels because he doesn't give anything away. He might well be the most nervous man ever on the front row of the grid, challenging Max Verstappen into term one. But he doesn't show it. And that is such an important thing, I think,

when you're against other fantastic drivers is that you don't know how they feel. and Oscar just seems to be bulletproof at the moment and that is exactly how he should be for the rest of the year if he wants to win his first world title Yeah I've gone for a 10 as well for Oscar Piastri You know it's not it's not the kind of dominant drive that he had last time But made the move into turn one forceful You know did to Maxis Stappen

What Maxis Stappen would do to any other driver of course And yeah it in the race as well, didn't get flustered. I think other drivers, you know, you maybe could have seen on the radio going, this is a joke of a penalty, you need to give the position back, I'm losing time in the dirty air,

how many times would we maybe have seen that? But Oscar just kind of did what he needed to do. And then even when he kind of came out the pits, that movie put on Hamilton was ballsy to say the least. And crucial because, you know, you don't want to get stuck behind someone throughout the, the middle sector where it's difficult to overtake, and then just won the race,

takes the lead of the championship, and doesn't elaborate because he's lost a KS3 and he's very chill. Just a chill guy. He is a chill guy. He's a very chill guy. And yeah, he's just driving so, so well. It's insane.

He really is. The fans, unsurprisingly, gave him a 10 out of 10 as well. Lando Norris started the race in 10th, finish 4th. It's another difficult lander grade. And I'm going for a six out of ten. The qualifying, you know, he's crashed, finished 10th. He's driving the best car. He had the pace to win the Grand Prix and he's not even on the podium,

which is why it's a six for me. He spent far too long passing Lewis Hamilton, which would have got in the podium, to kind of get done by a DRS tactic twice, kind of expected better racecraft from him. He had the pace to do incredibly well this weekend and you may go, oh, you know, he's got fastest lap and he had great pace

and he's only finished nine seconds by his teammate, but he's driving the car that should have won the race and he had the pace to win the race and he's not on the podium. So, you know, we've given people for, you know, five for being average, but he's underperformed by three places. So gone for six.

Okay, I'm not going to be as harsh. I've gone for a 7 out of 10 for Lando. I think it was, you know, I'm grading it as a, he should have won. He had the pace to win. We see it in practice, but practice is not where you score points. Yeah, he still finished fourth, nine seconds off the lead. That's why I've gone for a seven. It's just another one of those weekends, sadly for Lando that, you know, a small error has cost him dearly.

I think it was a very solid recovery drive from Lando. I think it was the correct decision to start on the hards, go long, and try and make the best of a bad situation. It's not an absolute disaster. He's 10 points behind going into Miami. I just can't grade him any harsher than a seven because, yeah, it was one small error. But either or, it's not a good enough weekend for Lando

if he wants to win the World Championship. he shows his potential and something is interesting that he said after after the race I think it was that McLaren show more in practice than anyone else and that's something that to be fair does link up because we see them after FB3 and we're like wow there's seven-tenths clear game over then you go to qualifying and it's close it has been close every single qualifying session really I think I think I saw I think four of the five qualifying sessions we've seen have been like 0.0 something for ridiculous for polls so so I do believe that McLaren are quickest I don't believe that they are as far ahead as some people like to put them they are the quickest car there is a beautiful

opportunity to score one-toos every weekend at the moment so finishing fourth sadly has to be put down as a disappointment, but still a good recovery drive, I will say, as a positive side of things for Lando. So that's why it's a seven. The fans gave him a seven as well. And that is it. Who is our P1? Charlerclair, not even a moment's hesitation. What a driver, what a man, what a human. Just brilliant all round. Delivered every single moment of the weekend and scored a sensational P3, thank you for coming. Mine is Fernando Alon. No, it's not, of course.

It's Charlotte Claire. Yeah, brilliant from Charles. This is, I'd say it's more what I want to see for him, but, you know, despite our kind of banter and everything, he deserves a better car to be fighting at the front because that's better, better for Formula One. How, you know, he's one of those drivers that can race incredibly well as well. So you kind of want to see it. And the more people at the front, the better. So that was a race where he kind of showed, look, I can win, I can win races and championships if you just give me the machinery.

Unfortunately, at the moment, he does not have that. He does not, but he will one day and he'll win everything. That is the plan. 2047 is your year. 2026, shout it, Tommy. That is our year. Thank you, everybody, for listening and watching to this driver ratings. I hope you've enjoyed it.

It's always fun. to drop some grades and see what you all think as well. Tommy, what are your final thoughts? Final thoughts are that it's going to be weird to have a week break now between another race. 4-1-1 know what they're doing, I feel, having the kind of three races in a row that now you're kind of so used to it. Week breaks feel like forever.

But, of course, when we get back, we will have a sprint weekend again, which of course makes driver ratings really easy to grade. Thumbs up for audio listeners. Thumbs up for audio listeners. There you go. Thank you everybody. We'll see you very soon. Lots of love to take care.

Bye. Bye. My chore. What is my chore today? My chore is remember to stretch because I'm running the London marathon on Sunday and you need to donate if you haven't already. Please thank you. We're trying to raise as much money as possible for the Great Ormond Street Hospital

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