P1 with Matt and Tommy - United States GP Driver Ratings: F1-to-10

Episode Date: October 23, 2023

Now the dust has settled after a couple of cheeky disqualifications, we can run the rule over those who made it to the finish line at COTA - and those who didn't. You can grab our new merch right here!We're now on Patreon! Sign up HERE for ad-free episodes, bonus content, exclusive early access and loads more!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 today. We are getting into the nitty gritty of each driver and how they performed over two races over a sprint weekend with 5,000 competitive sessions. It's going to be a fun one, isn't it, Tommy? There is so much to unpack in drive ratings and then when it's a sprint, it's like another 20 drivers again and try to. and scramble my brain and remember everything that went on. So apologize if I missed the greatest battle of all time

with Joe Guan Yu and Kevin Magnuson. Although, to be fair, the cameras missed everything decent as well, apparently. They did miss everything. You can't blame us. So we saw it in replay or maybe someone on Twitter popped a little. Have you seen this, the Battle of the Ages for P-16 or something? And you're like, that was unbelievable. But we'll get into that.

And this is actually the first time, Tommy, that we are chatting together, recording, since the disqualifications for Lewis Hamilton and Charles LeCler. Yes, it is. We wrapped up the pod and it was what, maybe like an hour, hour and a half afterwards. But we did say throughout that that, you know, it was going to be a DSQ at the end of the day.

I've seen a lot of people going, oh, well, you know, if it was FIA Bull, that have only got a one-place grid penalty. but like from the start it's always been that. And what I found actually quite interesting about it, I sent you the picture on WhatsApp is one of our photographer buddies, Jamie Price,

who was there taking some pictures of those amazing kind of S's that resemble maggots and beckets. You can actually see the Ferraris and Mercedes scraping and sparking and the Red Bull looks quite high. And apparently, you know, they've sacrificed a bit of speed because they were worried about the bumps, doing exactly that.

And I guess the beauty is they have the pace to still be able to be competitive and do it, but Ferrari and Mercedes pushed it too hard. Well, with one of their cars. Just too, well, definitely not there. I mean, that's another contentious thing, isn't it? Certainly as we'll get into all of that as we get into driver ratings. But let's begin with the man of the moment. Logan Sargent started the sprint in 20th, finished 19th, started the race in 16th, finished 10th.

Logie Bear, it's interesting, isn't it? Because the sprint was one of the worst races I think we've seen from him. As I said in the podcast previously, Alex Albon finished closer to Vestappen than Sargent did to Albon. And you're thinking, it's time to tear up that contract, James Fowles. Let's make a decision here. hopefully he didn't for Logan's sake because in the race it was actually relatively good I've gone for a seven out of ten for Logan's sergeant I think it's we're not we're not going to get too crazy here but what I will appreciate and this is something I put on Twitter as well

was for Logan to bounce back after Qatar where he had to make probably one of the most difficult decisions of his entire life of retiring from that race due to illness this and to then come and score a point, I know, disqualifications, few retirements, whatever, but he still scored a point. That is what goes down in the history books. I don't think it's any better than a seven, because I don't think Alex Albon is Max Verstappen in the sense of comparing to your teammates, but it was still a good drive. And Logan is now a points scorer. He sure is. I've gone for an eight out of ten for Logan Sargent. It's a high seven that I've pushed to an eight

because well done Logie, getting some points. And I think as well, not just the Qatar thing, but to pick himself up after that awful sprint where me and you, and I think fairly were being like, right, that's it, surely he's done now. And maybe this drive has saved him again because this is exactly what we've been saying. You know, he just needs to be there or thereabouts with Albin.

not making mistakes. And he didn't. And yes, Albin had a penalty, but only five seconds, even if he'd finished six seconds by an Albon. It's a very good drive.

And of course, you know, he gets points because of the penalty, but disqualifications up there. Sorry, of the, yeah, disqualifications, but at the end of the day, he's up there to maximise that.

So well done, Logan. Alex Albon now, his teammate started the sprint in eighth, finished ninth, started the race in 15th, finished ninth. I've gone for exactly the same grade,

an eight out of ten, mainly because Albon did about the same as Logan, bit better, had the track limit penalty, of course, had a great sprint as well. He was only two tenths off a point in that as well,

which would have been a great result for Williams to bag points in both. And Alex Albon nearly did that. And yeah, for him to get two ninth, places when the Williams is certainly not a car on paper that you'd say is like the fifth best car. So good job from Alex again. I've gone for an eight out of ten for Alex Albon. I think that what differentiates the two teammates is the sprint. Logan had an absolutely woeful time in the sprint and I can't give them the same grade because of it. But Alex gets

an eight out of ten because of course very, very good in both races. And I'm, I'm, obviously pushing quite hard, loves a little track limits penalty, does Alex, you know, pushing the limits and all that good stuff. He did it in Qatar as well, didn't he? But still scores a couple of points. And Williams, again, like, yeah, pretty solid weekend for a track that I don't think any of us expected them to be that high up,

especially when they were starting, where was it? 15th and 16th, well, it wasn't even 50th. It would have been further back than that had it not been for the pit lane starts. The four pit lane starters. Yes. So well done. to the Williams team. Daniel Ricardo now.

Started the sprint in 10th, finished 12th, started the race in 14th, finished 15th. I have gone for a six out of 10 for Daniel Ricardo. He had a reasonably solid sprint. And then the race, I feel like he's been fully screwed over, one by the strategy and two, what wasn't really made clear during the race is that he actually picked up a lot of damage to his floor

and front brake duct, which was found when he pitted, which of course would have affected his pace quite substantially. But I think, you know, all things being considered, he's coming back for the first time after breaking his hand, kept it on the black stuff, got stuck in in the sprint, I'm going to give him a six.

I've also gone for a six out of tet for Danny Rick. It's like, I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as some people think, that drive and especially with damage it looks a lot worse on paper than it actually is you know if he carries on doing these drives it's less than ideal and I think that there'll be questions asked but yeah it's a it's a decent result and of course you know having the damage as well we we know what happens with these cars when you pick up floor damage you know think to max vastappen in silverstone uh that time when he you

you know, he's got a car battling for the win, and then as soon as he picked up floor damage, he was racing wheel to move with Mick Schumacher and a Hass. It just shows how much these modern cars rely on that. So it does make a big difference, so you've got to factor that into it as well. Absolutely. What do you mean, Tommy?

Then you were in Max Verstappen could win in a hash, no? Like, come on. No, he could. See that enough on Twitter. Geez. Yuki Sanoda now started the sprint in 19th, finished 14th, started the race in 11th, finished 8th. Gone for an 8 out of 10 for Yuki Sonoda.

Of course, when you actually look at it overall, the P5 is an absolute, sorry, P5. Five points. Five points. Yeah, sorry, five points. I'm very tired. The weekend has definitely caught with me today. But yeah, the fact that he's managed to get

a big chunk of points at Alphatari when they desperately need it and they're caught up has quite, quite a lot after this. Bagged the extra point, of course, as well, which was great. The only thing that let him down really this weekend was a sprint where he was kind of poor and qualifying, but made up to 14th. But then you can argue that someone like Alphitari,

it's very rare they're going to score in a very short race where you only get, there's only eight positions with points. So he made the most of the race and got points. And finally, he bagged those. points because there was one moment where I was like oh my god he's finishing 11th again please no and it was you've won but at what cost because it was Fernando Alonzo that was retiring from P9 I think at the time I've gone for it eight out of ten as well for Yuki Sonoda it's nice to see that Alfa Tauri didn't completely and utterly screw him over with a zero stop race or a five stop race or something to

really make it difficult for him I think we were watching along weren't we and we thought oh Yuki's actually in there. Can't wait from to finish 17th. And he actually didn't. And he was right there and utilised that package, which I don't think there's much of a package for that Alpha Tauri. But Yuki once again showing that he has got that raw speed. And yeah, then capitalised on those two disqualifications.

And five points is massive for Alpha Tauri. So we'll see if we get another crazy race between now and the end of the season, which could change the bottom of that constructor's table. Niko Holkenberg now started the sprint in 16th, finished 15th, started the race in the pit lane, finished 11th. I've gone for a six out of ten for Niko Holkenberg. I was not expecting with all of this hype around this new, massive, has upgrade to be saying, God, well, weren't they anonymous this weekend? But they were.

They were as anonymous as they usually are in a lot of times. obviously Nico sometimes pulls out the bag in qualifying, but didn't really see that this weekend from either of the hash drivers, apart from at the start of Q1, and we're like, oh, is this the moment? Gunter Steiner, champion of the world. But that didn't happen. And yeah, he was close to the points in the end after the disqualifications,

but and outclassed Kevin Magnuson once again, I would say. But yeah, it's still nothing to write home about. Sure hasn't gone for a six out of ten. as well. We say it every single weekend, but Hasse are just so rubbish. They're just so anonymous and you know, Holkenberg may well have just had the greatest race of his life, but we'll never know because they're just absolutely nowhere. I don't think he did for the record, which is why I gave him a six out of ten. But yeah, he's just shy of the points. But the only reason for that is because there's not many people that actually finish the race if you include the DSQs as well. So, yeah,

Upgrades doing nothing, and HASS are just such an anonymous team that only really you notice their existence after one episode of Drive to Survive each season when Gunther's in it. And then it's back to kind of write who are Hasse again. They're just nowhere. Wow, hello. Come on, Tommy. Kevin Magnuson now started the sprint in 17th, finished 18th, started it from the pit lane for the main race and finished 14th. gone for a four out of ten for Kevin Magnuson, another classic KMAG of just being a bit washed.

And weirdly, well, I think we saw Kevin Magnuson 2023 spec in a nutshell, which was loads of battles, but not very quick and a pretty rubbish result. There was something we mentioned at the start of the show about all these battles we missed. and Yuki Sonoda had the most unbelievable battle where they went side by side through that triple right-hander after doing the switchback in that amazing slow corner that people do.

And then battling side by side even into the final two corners as well. It was unbelievable. But it was all for nothing really because Magnuson just didn't really have much, much pace, which has kind of been the case a lot this year. No. And I think when you look at Kevin Magnuson's race, 10 laps on fresh, mediums at the start and you're like, wow. I think that was when we saw that gaggle of three cars come in of Albon, Bottas and Magnuson so early into the race and you're like, so you're slow and you're going through your fresh mediums,

which are like the most rare and special resource, which are those medium tires, but they couldn't make it work. Yeah, that whole race, I don't know if you feel the same, but you know, you've had quite a few retirements, some of the top guys have retired as well and it really does feel like you look at Hasse at the moment you're like how on earth are they ever going to score a point again like they didn't even score a point in Qatar

when everyone could do their multiple pit stop so they're just so bad at the moment they certainly are I've gone for a four out of ten as well for Kevin Magnuson he was fighting like his life depended on it with everyone that would fight him Logan's sergeant we saw him pulling a little move on KMAG as well wow you know that was I mean to be fair that's the action we wanted to see and some of the time it was in replay form,

but we won't get into F1 TV. Otherwise, we'd probably, I imagine we have like F1 TV at the end and we grade them out of 10 as well. I don't feel like this week it would be a particularly high score. But yeah, KMAG, I mean, finishing 18th in the sprint and 14th in the main race when literally almost everybody, you know, behind him either retired or got disqualified.

I think Hass might want to have ripped up this new contract and gone for someone else because he's not delivering on the promise in which I'm sure he gave, which was experience and pushing the team forward. And neither him or Holkenberg have been pushing the team forward. If anything, they've gone backwards. So it's sad to see. I like to see Hass do well, but I don't see it happening for the rest of the year. Lance Stroll now started the sprint in 14th, did not finish,

and started the main race from the pit lane and finished seventh. I've gone for an eight out of ten for Lance Stroll. I feel like he had one of the quietest. pit lane to seventh places you've ever seen. I'm pretty sure I said this at the start of our Twitch stream or whatever it was

where it was like, oh, I'm sure Lance Stroll will get knocked out in Q1 and then obviously come back through and be in the points or, I think I said 11th actually and he's managed to finish seventh. Yeah, incredibly impressive.

He was running the new spec car. Was he the old or the new spec? One of the, basically, Fernando and, Alonzo went back to the old spec. Fernando was on the old spec. Lance was on the new spec. And Lance was only a few seconds behind Fernando when he retired.

I think three, four seconds maybe when Fernando had his problems. So Lance was on the pace with Fernando. And I'm sure when Aston Martin go back to the drawing board and look at the analysis, they go, so Lance was within four seconds of Fernando with the new spec car. I think that one works slightly better. But either or, Lance did a very good job. And yeah, some big points,

but could not stop McLaren from going past them. could not uh i've gone for a eight out of ten um it's so board line seven and eight because yeah he's obviously you know i think it is a good a good drive um he's had a bit of a mayor elsewhere um his qualifying wasn't wasn't great at all either um obviously started from the pits and then did the the the lantstrol drive was going to finish behind along who had an older spec car, but then, you know, this is more what we're kind of expecting from Lance. It's not him finishing 20 places behind Fernando, although that's going to be a lot trickier when Ashton Martin are so bad that now Fernando is only able to qualify about 13th and 14th as well.

Absolutely. So well done, Lance. You get a good result. That will help your averages, that's for sure. Fernando Alonzo started the sprint in 12th, finished 13th, started the race from the pit lane and didn't finish. Gone for an 8 out of 10 for Fernando, which people may say that I'm a fan boy,

but I think it is a good drive. He was potentially going to beat Gassley, who had an absolutely sensational result. And when you think that Fernando started in the pit lane driving an old spec car, it would have been a great result. And, you know, if Alonso finishes that race in P6, we'd be sat here going,

oh my God, he is trying to cling on to that position in the championship when he really shouldn't be there. I know you would. I know you'd be claiming goat status. Absolutely. But alas, floor damage pain. And I can't shy away from that his sprint wasn't great either. He was kind of getting into some clumsy battles in the midfield

and was maybe overdriving the car a bit. I've also gone from. for an eight out of ten for Fernando. It was an incredibly impressive race from both of the Aston Martins, considering they got knocked out in Q1, both of them, you kind of thought that maybe this was going to be a very, very difficult weekend,

but their race pace was very strong. The strategy was well executed, and yeah, Fernando, if he'd have beaten Gassley, that would have been, yeah, sensational. But alas, it didn't happen. So a pair of eights for the Aston Martin boys. Valtry Bottas started the sprint, in 18th, finished 16th, started the race in 13th, finished 12th.

Well, Valtry, Valtry, Valtry, Valtry, Valtry, Valtry, hmm, you've had one of those races again, haven't you, Valtry? Where nothing happens. Five out of ten for Valtry, Bottas, Alpha Romeo, back to being incredibly washed. As I said, they pitted really early. Bottas on lap 10, Joe on lap 9. from fresh mediums

and then they kind of went for this this two sort of well one kind of small hardston and then a very long hardston at the end and I don't think the strategy was probably the best in terms of what we saw from the other runners but yeah alpha very washed didn't see much of them

five out of ten yeah I've gone for a five out of ten for Bottas as well after the heroics of Qatar and Alpha Romero bagging on those points they were back to anonymous Alpha Romeo forgetting they even exist and just kind of being in the midfield and you just don't see them the whole race and they don't really do anything.

So it's straight down the middle, five out of ten. Joe Gwangu started the sprint in 15th, finished 17th, started the main race in 12th, finished 13th. Now this may surprise you, but I've gone for a five out of 10 for Joe Guan Yu, for like Botta, just existing and driving and not crashing and finishing in a mediocre position where that Alpha Romeo is kind of there

and not doing anything special. So five out of ten, I don't really know what there is more to say about his race, just anonymous. Five out of ten for me as well, just nothing to say. They did nothing. I don't think I saw anything of them.

It's straight down the middle for both of the Alpha Romeo drivers. Oscar Piastri started the sprint in fifth, finished 10th, started the main race in 10th, did not finish. I have gone for a five out of 10 for Oscar Piastri this week. Probably, in terms of pace, the worst weekend he's had in a very long time, especially in comparison to what Lando Norris was achieving in the other side of the garage. Obviously, a massive shame in the race. It looked like he, I think he could have been fighting for the sort of top six.

but unfortunately Esteban Okon decided that he was going to keep his foot in and understeer into the side of Oscar's car, which I mean, we at the time went, how on earth is he still going? Ten laps later, he wasn't going anymore and the biggest flop was well and truly executed. So I apologize again, Oscar. But yeah, it just was one of those weekends. It just didn't click for him at all in qualifying in the sprint race. He was falling like a stone. but yeah

I think that he may have salvaged something in the main race but we won't know yeah for Oscar I have gone for a six out of ten just because in the main race he looked a little bit more a little bit better

before he was obviously having the problems and retired his sprint was absolutely awful and yeah didn't qualify off I great compared to Lando and you were kind of going, oh my God, you know, this biggest flop curse has hit him, hit him hard. But after all the hype, the weird thing about Oscar Piastri in that race, I don't know if

you felt the same, that if you'd have told me, and this has happened a lot in the season, that he had an older spec car for that weekend, I'd have believed you, because he just wasn't there with Lando. You know, we've had those races, haven't we, where Oscar, in recent times where Oscar hasn't been close to Lando it's been because he's not got the upgrades yet or something. But as far as I know, they were driving exactly the same car and Oscar was just really struggling all weekend. So I've gone for a six out of ten. What I will say is Oscar Piastri had an absolutely worldly start, didn't he? He did. He was fighting for Staepin. Oh no, he was, yeah, he was

actually. He was, and considering he started 10th, he'd made four positions up coming out of term one. I'm just like watching the highlights again and seeing that he kind of went for the up and under and took quite a tight line into term one, which paid massive dividends for him. But unfortunately, after that, we can't really judge it. We don't know if he would have fallen back or if he would have stayed with it.

But unfortunate for Oscar, definitely. Lando Norris now started the sprinting fourth, finished fourth, started the main race in second, finished second. Gone for a nine out of ten for Lando Norris. It's another very impressive weekend. not quite perfect, which is why it's a nine out of ten, but yeah, another P2, he is just flying at the moment. His form has been so impressive, the fact that he's managed to, you know, claw his way up the driver's championship after essentially might as well have not been there for the first six or seven races.

and yeah, it's another impressive drive. But one that does make you think, like, could there have been something there more? Because he had that lead, we were like, oh, Lando's got a chance if he gets the lead into turn one and Vestappen takes a while to get through the pack, and that's exactly what happened. But it still sadly didn't quite work out for him.

I've also gone for a nine out of ten for Lando. I think it was incredibly impressive. I probably would have given him a 10 had he beat Hamilton on the road, obviously. But that didn't happen. It was clear to see that the McLaren was struggling quite a lot, actually, with tire wear, it seemed. Because we were thinking, oh, maybe one stop, maybe one stop. But he was struggling on his tires after his second stop onto the hard tires again. So it was a shame, obviously, for us that we thought maybe, just maybe he was going to do the one-stop.

But after we saw how Charlotte-Clair was, I think it's a good job that McLaren did not do a one-stop strategy. although obviously not the same car. So yeah, a great result for Lando. Unbelievable momentum that this guy has got at the moment. He's going on the podium every week. And he's going to be a force to be reckoned with as soon as that McLaren can really challenge the Red Bulls. Sorry, Red Bull.

Pierre Gasley started the sprint in 9th, finished 7th, and started the main race in 7th and finished 6th. I have gone for a 9 out of 10. for Pierre Gazley, because I think it was an incredibly impressive weekend for Outwear. It should have been for Alpine overall. But for Gasly, I think he went quietly. He has these races occasionally where he just goes quietly about his way and just picks up loads of points.

And we don't really see much of him, but he finishes best of the rest or whatever that might be. Alpine, I don't think, should have been as quick as maybe they were this weekend. And I think Gasly outperform the car especially by picking up that amount of points. So very impressed. Pierre Gasley, well done. Indeed, I've gone for a nine out of ten as well. I almost wanted to give Gasley a ten because it was so good. Steady on, big boy. I watched the race back and Ockon was ahead of him when he had his problem.

But you can't deny that Gasley has absolutely maximised what he's got, you know, the car he's got under him there. And it's quite rare in these sprints and we've mentioned this with Logan Sarjan and other drivers like Daniel Ricardo a lot or Piastri or whatever where they either have

a lot of the time with sprints sometimes drivers can have an absolute terrible one and a really good one but Gazley was really good in both you know to get seventh and six from those two results is very impressive so yeah a really

strong weekend from from Gazley fair play Estabanoch on now started the sprint in 13th, finished 11th, started the main race in 8th and did not finish. Gone for a six out of 10 for Esther Banercon. Obviously, the sprint has not been great. And in the race, he had good pace, but then it's more on him, isn't it, the Piastri incident. And it's another kind of incident that he doesn't need to be getting involved in, particularly when we've seen that Gassley, just keeping his kind of car out of trouble,

he can pick up some great points. And very surprising that Alpine did have this pace and were able to be right up there. And maybe Ockon should have just been a bit less happy with, you know, excitable and trying to go side by side into corners with people and just settled for the position and got a solid result. But alas, he didn't and plummeted down the order and didn't finish. I've gone a lot harsher. I've gone for a four out of ten for Esteban.

Not only because that incident was absolutely his fault, if we're going to say between himself and Oscar, just simply understood. I'm not saying that it's like a, oh, he's completely yeated him off. But, and it is slightly, you know, lap one, it's a bit unlucky. But it is Esteban's fault. And it, in turn, caused himself and Oscar to DNF. So I can't give him any higher than a four.

I think if anything, I'm being maybe a little bit generous because it ruined any chance of Esteban getting any points. And yeah, he was very, it was too eager. He was too eager to try and stay ahead of Oscar going into those S's. And unfortunately, he paid the price for that. So, yeah, four out of ten from me. Lewis Hamilton started the sprint in third, finished second, started the main race in third and was disqualified.

I've gone for a nine out of ten for Lewis Hamilton. I'm not going to give him any less just because he was disqualified. We're talking about the actual racing here, and it's not his, it wasn't his prerogative to have the floor the way it was or whatever. So, yeah, it was an unbelievable drive from Lewis. Had he won, obviously, it would have been a 10. It was close, disappointed with the Mercedes strategy,

as we mentioned in the main race podcast. Genuinely, it's almost a saving grace that Mercedes fumbled the bag because if he'd won and then got disqualified, that would have been the worst thing, I think, for all Formula One to have Hamilton back on the top step after 2021 Saudi Arabia to then be disqualified from it. I don't think the sport would have ever recovered. And Vastappen and inheriting it.

Or on Twitter for that matter. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, I think it was still a very good drive from Lewis. And I would be interested to see how much slower Mercedes would have been had they actually been within the technical regulations. I've gone for a nine out of ten as well for Hamilton. It's a brilliant drive. it's hard to downgrade him for his car that's been disqualified

because it's happened to other teams as well, of course, and other drivers. And, you know, Hamilton's not decided to run that car that low to end up picking up that DSQ. And I've seen a lot of people, a lot of the drivers actually complaining about co-tor and the bumps and stuff. and it kind of, they need to change a circuit because they were comparing it to like a rally track

with the amount of bumps in a Formula One car, particularly with these cars and how stiff they are nowadays and how they run low to the ground. So yeah, pretty much maximised everything he could. Again, mentioned in the race podcast, it's a shame that he was doing the chasing when I think he should have been the one that was ahead and Max chasing him.

But it didn't happen, but in a way, maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Maybe they knew. Maybe Mercedes were like, we think we're going to get disqualified. Let's fumble the bag. Let's just very minorly fumble the bags and no one gets too upset.

Maybe it was big brain straps for Mercedes. We'll never know. George Russell, started the sprint in 11th, finished 8th, and then started the main race in 5th. Finished 5th. This may seem harsh, but I've gone for a 5 out of 10

for George Russell, which, yeah, some people may think is harsh when he's finished the sprint in 8th. and finish the race in fifth. But at the end of the day, I think he's a very lucky boy that his car wasn't checked because surely if his car was checked,

it would be exactly the same as Hamilton and he'd have ended up disqualified. So he's actually inherited two places and would have finished seventh on the road. And with George Wright, he was really good in Qatar. after I was kind of maybe being a bit worried about how he was performing. And he was really good in Qatar and I thought,

Ari, he turned his season around a bit and he'll get back to, you know, the driver that we know he is. But he was absolutely nowhere near Hamilton this weekend. And I actually think that he's extremely lucky that Hamilton got disqualified because the championship table before Hamilton got disqualified, qualified is very grim reading for for George Russell because Hamilton's there almost you know battling well he's closing in on Checo for P2 and Russell's down in eighth and I think it's completely gone on gone under the radar of quite how bad George's had a season and compared to to Lewis this

season which is a surprise because last season he was very good you know couldn't take that away from him we've got a win did really well but I do think that George needs to up his game because, yeah, he's really not performing how I thought he would this season at the moment. Yeah, I've also gone for a five out of ten. I don't think it's harsh at all, if anything. He's lucky to escape a four because I've just changed it. But it was a very poor weekend from George. It was no way.

He got a penalty for blocking in sprint qualifying, which Charlotte Clow obviously came over the radio with a very funny penalty for Mr. Russell. Thank you. But he was nowhere in comparison to Lewis Hamilton almost the entirety of the weekend. And yeah, I think it's going under the radar as well how George. I mean, he has like these odd moments where he's with Hamilton and he'll finish quite, you know, level or on par with him. But then there are these moments where he's dipping quite substantially. And yeah, it was a weekend to forget, I think, for George. Because you say, finishing seventh on the road when Hamilton was two seconds off the win,

it's not good enough. We would be slandering other drivers in other teams for doing the same thing compared their team mate. So yeah, so George gets a five out of ten from me. Carlos Seine started the sprint in sixth, finished sixth, started the main race in fourth, finish third. We've gone for a seven out of ten for Carlos, some decent driving,

utilising a good strategy from Ferrari, but Ferrari only decided to do that with one car. We'll get onto that. But yeah, he was, he made the most of the opportunities in front of him when there was cars going slower, like George Russell, whatever, you know, making the move stick. And obviously then pass Charles Leclair at the end to, to, yeah, wave goodbye to his teammate. But obviously, it inherits another podium after not being on the podium. It's just Carlos signs, isn't it? It's what an iconic duo for Carlos and not being on the podium when it's a podium.

But yeah, I think it was a good race from Carlos. I don't think he was actually, he wasn't on the level of Charlotte Clare this weekend, but the strategy obviously helped him out quite nicely. So, yeah, seven. I've gone for a seven out of ten, and I think you've covered it all, really, that he's got a good, good result and points in the bank, but he was fortunate that he got the good strategy, and his car wasn't being checked,

because Charlotte Clers did. And like with Russell, Surely the teammate has the same problem, but that's not how the rules work. Certainly isn't. Charlotte Claire, started the sprint in second, finish third, started the main race in first, finished, disqualified. Ouch.

I've gone for an 8 out of 10 for Charlotte Claire because I think he has been shafted this weekend. And I think he had great pace. The sprint, you know, if you look at his results, in the qualifying sessions, second in the sprint, first in the main race. And people use this as some kind of like negative for some reason. I think it's totally unfair because the guy is just able in one lap pace to do incredible things of the Formula One car.

And I'm sounding like the Charlotte Clive fanboy right now, but it's not a bad thing that he can do that. And it is clear to everyone, you know, anyone with a slight bit of wheel knowledge, that he doesn't have the tyres and the car in the race because we've seen that. And yeah, he's dropped back and he had an absolutely awful strategy. Maybe, you know, he's on the podium.

You've got to think he would be if he'd just had a normal strategy, particularly with that. But it doesn't matter because he got disqualified. And one interesting thing that I will mention is he liked a couple of our tweets after the race and one of them was

one from me where I basically said it's a bit weird isn't it that essentially half the people that have been checked have been disqualified which makes you wonder

how many other drivers have been disqualified and got away with it just because they're not checked and Charles clearly agreed and he loves a little Twitter-like to give his opinion

without doing a tweet basically and that's what it was. It was basically like, I agree with this and want people to know that this is my opinion for the people on Twitter

that check his likes, but he obviously can't come out and slander the way Formula One is run. And he also liked my tweet, which was crying session at my house at Tonight at 8 pull-up. It was very different tweet tonight. Which was quite funny.

So our thoughts go out to you, Shell. Well, yeah, because I'm feeling it just as you are. I've gone for and eight out of ten as well for Charles LeClaire. I think he thrust that Ferrari into a place. It didn't belong in qualifying, as we have got to know with him.

Did a good job in the sprint to finish third. And then, yeah, the one stop. There was a, I can't remember who said it was a post-race chat. And then apparently, Charle was speaking to Pierre Gazley and going, oh, are you going to be doing a one-stop? And Pierre was like, F, no. And then, Charles, obviously, after the race. I think it was actually a Ghazley interview where he said that on F1.

the post-race live thing. So yeah, Charle was clearly like a little bit apprehensive about the decision because he's obviously going around and going, oh, so, Pierre, what are you going to be doing, you know, this race at one-stop? Yeah?

And Pierre's gone absolutely not. So interested to see why Charle went along with that. Because at the end of the day, he is a driver and he can call for a two-stop if necessary. But he sort of committed to it. No one else. I don't think anybody else did a one-stop, No, literally no other car.

No, because he stayed out the longest and then they just kind of, by the end, we're just like, well, we've made our bed now, let's line it. Yeah, not one other car did a one stop. And that kind of just speaks volumes, really, as to what Charlene Ferrari decided to do. But I still think he had a great weekend and he got disqualified. Yeah, good.

But I genuinely think Logan Sargent's on the podium if everybody gets checked. heard it here first Logie Bear Imagine Sergio Perez started the sprint in seventh

finished fifth started the main race in ninth finished fourth on paper that looks all right I'm giving him a six out of ten for Sergio Perez it's okay

but your teammates winning both the sprint and the race I feel like we're just regurgitating the same thing over and over and over it's qualifying is just not good enough. And this is where we see, like, Max isn't getting pole by a massive margin or whatever.

Obviously, he made that mistake on Friday. But it's very close in qualifying. And when Sergio has that deficit to his teammate in qualifying, he's going to fall back quite significantly. And that's what we're seeing. You know, starting the sprint in seventh, starting the main race in ninth, it just gives him too much work to do.

And then he's stuck in the traffic for quite a long time. And I see some people going, Oh, Matt, you know, what is with all this Czechoslander and oh, you just want him out the red bull seat? And I'm like, do you see what his teammate is doing this year? He's in one of the most dominant cars of all time. Of course I'm going to give him average grades because he's not even on the podium.

When two cars have been disqualified. Exactly. So I think even six out of ten is generous, but I'm going to stick with it. I've gone for a seven out of ten, which I think is generous, but it's only because I have basically been saying for the last five races

that all it needs to do is just have a normal race and finish fifth or fourth or whatever and, you know, just not have incidents and not crash. I know. No, fifth. Yeah, it was a head of, I think of a club of a clubbed,

yeah. but still it is painful because at the end of the day Max starts six because of mistake and you think Cheka this is your time to actually capitalise and he's qualified down with the Alpians and battling them and I'm going to stop talking before I give him a six Okay Max for seven start the sprinting first finished first

started the main race in sixth, finished first. It's a 10 out of 10. Despite the small error of all the times that you want to make an error, it's in qualifying and he rectified it in the race. I don't think, again, it's the sign of Vestappen's brilliance this year, that that race threw a lot against him. Look where Perez was, but he had, brake problems. He had the instant where there were fast cars up ahead. He had to do different

things. He didn't look like, for the first time, really, it didn't look like he was miles clear other than the anomaly of Singapore. And there's talk. I read that essentially Singapore was something a bit similar where they were worried in Singapore about this exact situation where the bumps would destroy the floor, sorry, the little wooden plank and they'd get qualified. So they're on the edge of caution and raised the car quite a lot. You can see it from the pictures. And the guy still ends up winning in the sprint and the main race. And what is, I'm more to say, just superb again.

Absolutely. I've gone for a 10 out of 10 as well for Max. Of course, he made that small mistake on Friday, which was millimeters obviously off the track. But he drove around those brake problems. He beat technically an illegal car. Like all of this things that, as you say, were thrown against him. And it seemed a little bit like he was getting a bit hot under the collar at times, especially, I mean, his own team were throwing things at him,

i.e. talking to him during the breaking zones on more than one occasion. But no, I think what's most impressive about Max? and I did say it's in a Twitch watch long as well where I was like, I'll be interested to see if Max has the same level of patience when he knows that the car isn't good enough to get straight to first and doesn't really matter how long it takes

because sometimes I guess champions are made where you can settle for a second or third when you know that the win isn't on. So I am going to be interested to see as the years goes on if Max genuinely has instilled this patient approach. But as of right now, and this is the only thing we can judge, he was patient.

He managed his moves brilliantly and then ended up winning the race. I think that Mercedes handed him the race as well. I don't think, I think it would have been a lot closer, as we've mentioned before, with Hamilton, had we seen a mimicking of strategies. But look, they did what they had to do. Big shout out to the strategy team at Red Bull. I think they did a great job with Max, went on the aggressive and did the undercut with the mediums,

which forced the hand of obviously Lando Norris, but also pushed Mercedes into making the wrong. decision in my opinion. So yeah, 10 out of 10 for Max for Stappen. Finally, who is our P1? Well, the only P1 10 out of 10 is Max for Stappen. So congratulations to Max for Stappen. There's no other 10 out of 10 performances for either of us, is there?

Indeed, yeah. There were some good drives, Gassley and Norris and Hamilton, but they all got nine out of tens and Max got a 10. So it's got to be Max. Again. Well, I'm Max. It's Max again.

That's what we've heard a lot this season. But that is it. Thank you, everybody, for watching and listening to this F1 driver rating video for the United States Grand Prix. We'll be back very soon. We are back. It's race week now that we're recording this because we're going to Mexico, of course, this weekend. Well, we're not, but Formula One is. And we'll be live on Twitch, as you know.

I'm going to Mexico. Sorry, Tommy. We haven't told you about that. Sorry, mate. We're actually going to Valencia to go and drive a Formula Recar, which is very, very exciting. and video coming soon. Look forward to that. But yes, of course, we will be live as normal for Mexico City Grand Prix for the whole weekend.

So look forward to that. And tell me what are your final thoughts? My final thoughts are goodbye. Really? Yeah. You could have plugged the P1 live show. You could have done anything. You could have done anything that was like remotely useful, but instead.

I know. I'm so sorry. Yeah, P1 live show is going to be announced this week very soon. By the time it goes out, it will be tomorrow. Wednesday. Wednesday is the announcement, a full announcement. So this is the pre-announcement. Third of December, Manchester, 5th of December, Glasgow, 10th of December, London.

Put that in your calendars. We want to see you there and have the best end-of-season live show. So, yeah, look forward to that. Thank you, Tommy, for your great final thoughts. Really appreciate them. And we'll see you very soon. Bye. Bye.

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