The Late Braking F1 Podcast - Is Portugal’s return a win for F1?

Episode Date: December 21, 2025

Ben and Sam break down the news of Portugal’s return to the F1 calendar in 2027, discussing what it means for the sport and who stands to benefit most from its comeback. They then turn their attention to the 2025 season, grading every team on their performances... Want more Late Braking? Support the show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get: Ad-free listening Full-length bonus episodes Power Rankings after every race Historical race reviews & more exclusive extras! Give the 'gift' of Late Braking this holiday period with a Patreon gift subscription,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and your favourite F1 fan can enjoy anywhere from 1 month up to a full year of top-notch F1 content! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/latebrakingf1/gift⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Late Braking: You can find us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X (Twitter)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Come hang out with us and thousands of fellow F1 fans in our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ server and get involved in lively everyday & race weekend chats! Think you can beat us? Join our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠F1 Fantasy League⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and prove it! Get in touch any time at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Maybe it's just a phase you're going through. You'll get over it. I can't help you with that. The next appointment is in six months. You're not alone. Finding mental health support shouldn't leave you feeling more lost. At CAMH, we know how frustrating it can be trying to access care. We're working to build a future where the path to support is clear,

and every step forward feels like progress. Not another wrong turn. Visit camh.ca to help us forge a better path for mental health care. Thank you for listening to the late-breaking F-1 podcast. Make sure to check out new episodes every Wednesday and every Sunday. Hello and a very warm welcome to the late-breaking F-1 podcast presented by Sam's Age and me, Ben Hocking. seeing out 2025 in style. We've got one more non-best-of episode to bring you, Sam,

and I'm delighted to be here, you know. I love it. I love this time of year for F-1. We can just kick our shoes off, put the slippers of Formula One on. I'd love to go to my little bit of Formula One. I'm sure they're very fast and very comfortable. And we can relax into a little bit of news,

a little bit of grading, and we can just have some festive fun together with you, the listeners, and us to your... bizarrely, unfunny, weird hosts. Yeah. I don't know about unfunny. bizarre and weird is completely fair, but we are hilarious.

Okay. You make me laugh. That's what matters. You know what? That's all that matters. Yeah, we are going to be doing some grading today. We're going to go through all 10 teams and give them a grade for the season. So it will be a little bit based on how they've performed, obviously, but also expectations,

maybe what's happened off the track that could be important for them going forward as well. And we'll sum all that up with a grade for each of them, see where we agree and disagree. This is a nice time of year to wrap things up and to see, put a bit of a ribbon on 2025. But before we get to all of that, there has actually been some news

that is worth talking about here in mid-December, which is a bit of a rarity. We had it last year where Sergio Perez and Red Bull left it quite late to make their announcement that he would not be returning for the 2025 season. this year, maybe not quite the same gravity of situation, but we do have some F1 calendar news and it pertains to the Portuguese GP because Formula One will return to the Autodromo Doe Gals in Portugal as part of a new two-race deal beginning in 2027.

It will join the calendar for the first time since 2021. The flowing's purpose-built track held its first Grand Prix in October of 2020 as a result of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. and returned to the schedule the following May. Lewis Hamilton, very successful here, won both the previous races. And the Portuguese GP also took place at Estoril between 1984 and 1996 and on street courses in Porto and Monsanto Park between 1958 and 1960. So it's not been a regular fixture of the calendar, Sam,

but after that two-year appearance, we get another two-year appearance here in a couple of years' time. What was your instant reaction to this news? Shock. genuine surprise at the news coming out. And I think we discussed us a little bit off air yesterday. Even in the news articles, I was reading about it to try and just make sure I've got as much info as possible. They all seem to be a little bit surprised

that this had suddenly been announced in the way that it had. But it was a good surprise, a Christmas surprise, a festive surprise. Formula One lights to dip its toe into the world of Portuguese racing, where, as you mentioned, we've kind of being in and out, in and out, shaking it all about. Yeah, you can't finish it off. Yeah, you'll finish it.

For the last 70 years, we seem to kind of appear in there and then move away again. And it seems to be the case now as we go back to the Algarve to Portemau. Lewis Hamilton, as you mentioned, will be probably the most happy, I imagine. Out of everyone, he's got the only two wings in this decade, this century of Portuguese racing. And I think he's passed Michael Schumacher for all time wings at the race at Porta Mall as well, moving into 92, when he actually got the victory there at the point, to Schumacher on 91. So some history there as well. it's a really interesting racetrack is portemau it's got a lot of undulation there's some really high points on the racetrack

and they kind of cascade down into these really ferocious flowing call. There's a couple of good DRS zones, which of course will not be relevant moving into the new regulation. So we're interesting to see how the new cars deal with the difficulties, the trials or tribulations of Portemau. And it does offer something a little bit different. It's a little closer, I would say, to like a mini spa than it is to something closer to a street circuit in the way that if you've not seen a race at Portemau before. But two years here, Ben, only two at the moment. And it looks like it's coincided and maybe with Zhang bought.

disappearing off the calendar. I think so. Even with the news that Zanvort would be departing, though, I was also pretty surprised by this announcement because it does feel like for most of 2025, there's been a bit more of a push behind a couple of other potential Grand Prix that maybe have failed to materialize. And as a result of that, his portemount to sort of fill that void. It felt like it was possible. It has been mentioned a couple of times by the circuit. But we often have this structure to new races being entered onto the calendar where there'll be some sort of interest from the track. Then there will be rumors that maybe it will happen. And then maybe you'll get an indication from Stefano Domenicali or someone senior within F1 that there are

talks ongoing. Then maybe the rumors get a bit stronger and then the announcement is made. It feels like here we've kind of missed out like four of those steps and it's gone from there might be interest here from Port-a-Mau. There's a race happening. And there was just not really anything in between. Even with this announcement, and this is related to it being a two-year deal, I'm not convinced that Portugal and this track remain part of F1's long-term plan, or at least I don't think it will be integral to their long-term plans. Even though, even so I am delighted this track is back.

I think it's pretty underrated, and I've always been quite a supporter of it, someone who sticks up for it. The key thing about it is it is a track. It's not a street circuit, which is just great news. We've got obviously the introduction of madering next year that will be a street circuit. And it does feel like the calendar is heading far more in that direction.

So to have something that is a purpose-built track returning to the calendar, I think is great news. And I'm a big fan of most of this track. Turn one, I think, is a really good corner because you do have, it's a tough breakings up. You are going downhill quite significantly at this point. One of those where maybe the pictures on TV don't quite reflect how significant that downhill is. You don't realize how big a hill is when you get there.

Yeah, 100%. And it's a heavy breaking zone. I wish there was gravel there. But even with that not being included, you have the option to overtake on both the outside and the inside of that corner with how turned sort of two, three and four shape. up turn i think it's turn four which is the left hander going on to the next street um i'm just going based on the Formula one game experience here is one of the worst corners of all time you can't do any overtaken to that corner it's a pinch point and it's really slippery and basically it's all

on an arcade driving game no real experience but it is a challenge and therefore it could create opportunities down into turn five and then you've got quite a nice climb up sort of to the right as you go through, I think, turn eight, turn nine, and they're right back down again. Comparison to Spar is a really good one, because you do get a lot of elevation here, which I like from a racetrack. We've been to Asochi's the one that comes to mine where it's just flat and it feels flat. Yeah. And then you've got turns 14 and 15, which are the last couple of corners, which then

put you back on that straight. And even though they are usually flat out, it's a bit lairy through there. Like, you are still turning quite a lot. I think this is a great track. it's one of those tracks I think it's just easy for Formula One there's no FAF there's no having to muck around with what's going on

the track is the right grade it fits the right safety classifications the pit lane is big enough to accommodate all the teams that we're going to have there it's proven that the racing there was pretty good when we went previously and not saying it was the best race of all the time but it was really solid

and maybe with the new cars much like Catalonia developed over the last five or six years Portemau might deliver a couple of really great races but I think you're right I don't think this is a long-term fix for Formula One. I think this is a, put a porter-mouse-shaped plaster over the Zhang Vort wound. And we'll have to see what comes out after its heel because there's a lot of gaping holes in terms of big nations of racing, not having a Grand Prix still.

There's still the question of what happens with Belgium and the way it's alternating year on year on year. We don't know what's going to fill that gap yet. And Ben, I think you've got lined up some conversation about what's going on with maybe Catalonia as well. Well, it's funny because I had this noted down to talk about anyway, but there have been some rumors earlier today as we're recording this earlier in the week as you're hearing it, that it could be Catalonia that fills in those gaps left by SPAR. Spar is still going to be on the calendar, but not every year. So it could be that that's the rotation that takes place.

But that will be interesting because you will have at least in one year, depending on if Portugal continues after 2028, but you'll have at least in one year where you've got Portemau, Madrid and Catalonia, all on the calendar at the same time, which logistically makes a lot of sense. But that's three races in a very small part of the world. Yeah, very Iberian-focused league of the Grand Prix. Yeah, that's great, though. The close we can get these Grand Prix.

You know, we talk about the issues between the likes of Vegas to Qatar and how ridiculous thing is. And Safarimaniqa got a question about this recently. And he – oh, I can't believe he said this. He came out and said, people still had time to go to the beach in between the Grand Prix. And I thought, wow, people working take break. Like, is that a good thing? Are we talking about that? Like it's, oh, lucky then.

So the fact that they are going to be that close, if this does line up, I think it's a real positive. But there's a longer nations across Europe who I'm surprised still don't have a Grand Prix. You know, Istanbul is a favorite among many. Emila, of course, has just been removed. Germany still doesn't have a race France currently doesn't have a race so you know there's a lot of big nations in racing that we kind of expect to maybe go to

that we're currently not and I'm a broken record but this is the opportunity for far more alternating tracks on the calendar than what we currently have even if Catalonia and Spa becomes a bit of a shared deal there is the opportunity to do this with far more

and maybe Portemale will become part of that given this is only a two-year deal for now I did just want to say quickly about the standard of racing here because, as you say, like the first two races we had here, I don't think we're duds, but they aren't going to go down in the history books. It'll be interesting to see when we have a race here if Mercedes are not dominant because the first year we came here at 2020, Hamilton lapped everyone apart from the top four.

And then the year afterwards, 2021, he won by 29 seconds. So Mercedes were just absolutely crushing here. if we get a race where that's not the case and a lot has happened since 2021, then maybe we get something a bit more entertaining. Yeah, their Instagram page the other day had a post that said, we missed you, Portemau.

I thought, yeah, I bet you did. Last place, you had proper success over everyone else. Yeah, this is actually orchestrated by Mercedes. The two-year deal element is an interesting one. And I think Portemau has put itself in a really good spot here because even though it is just 2027 and 28, at least in the interim, it is far easier for a track

to keep being involved than to get involved. Like getting onto the calendar is the hardest bit you have to do as a circuit. And there are so many other racing obligations and contracts that Portemau has. So it has every incentive outside of F1 to keep up with its facilities

and safety rating and all the rest. So knowing that they were going to do that anyway, even if in theory it's like, oh, F1 might be thinking, It'll drop off in 2029 when this deal materialises, or, you know, Thailand that happens, or Kailami, we finally get back there. There's just no guarantee with any of these things. And Port-a-Mau can turn around and say, we're still here.

You don't need to do anything outside of the ordinary for us to keep racing here. So it's a good spot I think they've put themselves in. Yeah, Port-a-Mau actually translates to old-reliable. A whole reliable. Yeah, famously from Portuguese to English, that's what it means. And that's exactly what they are. They are reliable. They're dependable.

They made some changes in the late teens of the 20s, upgraded their circuit, made sure facilities were top grade. And since then, they've been continually improving to make sure they're keeping up with regulations. They have other racing series that go there as well to use the facilities. And it brings in a good crowd. It brings in a good audience. Of course, we're lacking a Portuguese Formula One driver. We don't have any affiliation with a Portuguese team at the moment of any kind.

But that doesn't mean that we can't have really good racing with a good crowd. Spain is right next door. Britain, of course, is a very easy flight. the rest of Europe won't struggle to get there. So in theory, should be good support at a track that genuinely for most people causes no inconvenience. Yeah, the crowd attendance is going to be a really interesting one to keep an eye on and could be the deciding factor in

whether this is just a two-year deal or could go further than that because, again, the last two races, the only two races we've had here were in 2020, which was October, which we were in the same place watching that one, unbelievably. I think it was the first time we'd seen each other in person for many, many a month due to COVID. But from memory, I don't think anyone was allowed in at that point.

And the next race would have been May 2021. And I can't remember if that was either zero attendance or limited attendance, possibly limited. But I don't think we've had the opportunity to have a full sellout crowd here if the interest is there. So those two races that we have coming up will be very, very interesting barometers on that. So, yeah, interested to see. It's one of those tracks I would like to go to if, you know, tickets and timing all lined up, I would

happily do a weekend over in Porta now. Well, there you go, F1. There's your incentive to send us over. We bring vibes. The booms. Oh, okay. And we, the two most cursed answers of all time. So late breaking in December, that is. We bring vibes and the boom.

All you want. It's all you want. Yeah. Anything else you want to say on this one before we move it on? No, I'm just very curious and what goes on with the rest of this European leg. We've got a few spots they are open.

There's a lot of tracks that I'd love to see us go back to. The revolving calendar is a very obvious and easy solution to this, should they do it? And actually, I wonder if maybe Spahn might end up being an experiment that works help really well

and hopefully they might learn something, doubted, but fingers crossed because I do miss the likes of Hockenheim and Erberg Ring. I'm sure there are some tracks like Magnycore in France that might be good with new cars to go back

to a visit and see how it might open up things. And that will be really interesting, but we kind of seem to be stuck going down this street circuit route. And I'm glad we've got a proper track on the calendar. I would hope for a few more. Yeah. The other thing is I'm not sure if we know when in the year this is going to take place yet. As mentioned, we had, it was a bit odd that we had it in October in the first year, but that was very much COVID-related. And then the following year, it was in May. Of course, that's when Catalonia traditionally has been of there or thereabouts, but Madrid is going to be later in the year. So I think that's going to be September.

So I don't know whether it will go to early or late sort of European season. It'll be one of the two. They might just copy and paste exactly where the Netherlands has been on the summer break. Maybe. Yeah, that wouldn't surprise me at all. But we will see on that one. I'm sure there will be plenty more news about this race over the next year or so. We're going to take our first break on this episode.

And on the other side, we're going to be grading all 10 teams. Get to know yourself and your roots better with Ancestry DNA. Want to know where your family comes from in northern France? Maybe you'd like to see how your genes influence certain traits like diet, fitness, and allergies. There's so much of you and your heritage to discover. Visit Ancestry.ca and get started with an AncestryDNA kit today. Welcome back, everyone. It's time to grade the 10 teams.

They've all put in their final report for the year. It's 24 races' worth of content that they've had to pile into this report to hand over to us the LB teachers, the LB professors. And we're going to get... I should not be a teacher ever. Yeah, fair point. But we're going to get our red paper. out, we're going to give them all a grade, we're going to tell them where they've gone right

this year, where they've gone wrong, what needs improving as we go into 2026. We'll do this in championship order, Sam. So we'll start at the top with McLaren, who won this Constructors Championship with relative ease. I think it was around 18 of 24 that it was all wrapped up, but in theory it looked incredibly likely much earlier than that. They have won both championships, which would lean you towards them getting a good grade, but maybe a few things to improve. What have you gone for? Yeah, I went for a B plus, which actually is quite a, maybe a harsh score for a title winning team of both variations. Both drivers picking up seven victories, 14 in total.

Of course, Max Verstappen picking up eight. And I can't remember the last time that a team won both championships, but one of their drivers didn't have the most wins in a season. It's a good question. It'd be an interesting stat to find that one out. But for me, that's already a markdown for McLaren. The fact that they let things get in the way to such a point. that someone like Max Verstappen, when he was in such an ailing car, was able to supersede both their drivers in the amount of wings.

And maybe you might come up with the argument of, well, they took it off each other. And that's why it was shared so many. And that's a fair point. It's a fair argument. But there was more than enough opportunity for one of those drivers to go and beat Max for Stappen handedly. And it was the fact that it went to the final race of the season with the drivers that tells me they didn't execute things in a way that I thought they should.

They could have been way more efficient. Their team orders were regularly, both cringe and caused them more problem than they needed. the mistakes in the likes of Monsa and Hungary with things like the pit stops, cause them regular issue as well. And I felt like strategy mistakes and the likes of Qatar meant that they were just putting themselves

into difficult positions that they really didn't need to be involved with when they had suction advantage. So a fantastic year. And if you were just grading the team performance up until Singapore, this would be actually far higher for me. But it was that final run in the season

that's dropped them down to a B-plus. When we look towards 2026 with McLaren, of course we don't know in terms of the cars, it's a completely different set of regulations. They might be as competitive. They might drop off. We don't know that yet.

But if they are in a similar spot, do you think that they will look at this year and look at a few of those things that you've mentioned and actively try and improve things going forward? Or is there a danger that they just look towards the two championships, see that they've won them both, and rest on their laurels a little bit, try and say, well, that help.

However we worked things in 2025, that worked for us. we should just repeat it. I'd love to say that they will learn from everything that they went through and they listened to the criticism that we gave on this podcast. But with the way that they speak over their team radios, I think that will remain. Unfortunately, I think that's the current culture of McLaren.

And they're going through almost the biggest problem that any team can go through, which is a great problem to have. And they've got two brilliant up-and-coming drivers. I mean, I say up-and-coming, one of them is now a world champion. But they are. But still might not have reached his peak here. They could have another six or seven years of pure dominance. if the car goes the right way between the two of them.

We could see a Hamilton-Rosburgh situation come out of the blocks in the new area. If they get it completely right, you just don't know. There are things that they do need to sort out. They did have too many pit stop mistakes. Their communication has been poor and it's being convoluted and far too long and not clear enough for those team members to absorb. And I think they need to sort that out. Well, I don't think they'll change at all is the dynamic between the drivers.

I think they'll keep it as a, hey, we fight fair, we fight even. That would be their motto. That would be the way they move forward. But I actually think that's the thing that's costing them most. But I can't blame them for wanting to give their drivers equal opportunities, but it is going to cost them at some point. I went with an A grade here. Couldn't quite go to A plus or A star for many of those reasons that you've already stated.

In terms of what was positive for them in 2025, outside of the obvious that they won both titles, second most points of all time for a constructor in a season, Now I appreciate having 24 races does help with that, but they're only behind Red Bull from 23 and 34 podiums at a season. That is a new record. They did wrap up the title with a number of races to spare, which just goes to show how well they developed that car, and it stayed consistent throughout the year.

It was strong to start the year and strong to end the year, which, as we know, even from 2024 with Red Bull, that's not the easiest thing to do. So credit to them for that. I think one of the main reasons I've given them such a kind grading here is I think one thing I like to do with these teams is what questions were there going into this season and have you effectively answered them? And I think McLaren had two leading questions for 2025. Number one, has Lando Norris now got the mindset to go and win a title? Whatever was lacking at the end of 2024, does he now have that in 2025? And the second question,

can Oscar Piastri continue to improve to get up to the level of Lando Norris? And both of those questions were answered in a positive way. So that's why I've gone with an A grade, but in terms of the downsides, needless drama. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, McLaren were handed quite a nice situation here because the only controversy I can think of, which is just purely driver-related, was Singapore lap one. you might be saying, what about Canada?

That wasn't a controversy. Norris held his hands up straight away. For a team, that is the perfect scenario if you're going to have a crash. Right. Most of the drama, most of the issues that they had were not issues between the two drivers. A lot of them were Monza and Hungary and Qatar, strategy-related, pit stop-related, team game-related, like all of these things that weren't really on the drivers. So I kind of hope they do look at that going into next year.

Yeah, agreed. Well, what about Mercedes, runners up in this championship? A close fight between themselves, Red Bull and Ferrari. They kind of pulled away towards the end of the season, largely related to Ferrari's lack of form and also Red Bull only really having one driver in this fight. But Mercedes still did enough to claim second place. What's your grading here?

I've given Mercedes a B grade. I thought they had a really solid season and I think they'll be happy with the way that they progressed in terms of their fight with their rivals from 2024 to 2025 of course it looked like Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull all felt a little bit more competitive than the Sages across the year

with those guys being much closer to the title fight come the end of the year of 2024 than Mosegis were. They were relatively out of it but here Mosegis kind of picks it up in the final leg and were able to kind of scamper away from Red Bull who, of course, are fighting with one hand behind their back with one driver not performing, and Ferrari, who, despite what John Elkin says,

they have a car that is a pile of poo. No. No. I know, that would be devastating for him to hear. He will be shocked, I'm sure. But saying he's were consistently all right, and that's why I've given them a B. You know, they picked up the two wings, and when they did win, they did it handedly.

Canada worked well for them. Kimi Anthony Nelly picking up his best result of the season to that point, George Russell, driving a really brilliant race. at that point. Singapore as well. He was fantastic. There was George Russell. And he does what George Russell does now. He puts the car, realistically, the highest it can be. And you can depend on him to do that. What let them down was that, that European leg, where the upgrades of the car just didn't make sense. It didn't work. They destroyed the confidence of Kimmy Antigelli. He was just starting to find his feet well in the sport. And it meant that they

made this fight for Pete 2 far harder than it probably should have been. When you look at their closest competitors in Rebel and Ferrari, it should have been easy. It should have been easy. for them to capitalize on this, but they didn't. They made their job hard for themselves. So overall, a solid year. And I think they'll be relatively happy knowing that they've bested the likes of Rebel and Ferrari. But I do think there's a lot to improve on. A really fascinating year for Mercedes, I would say, because I was looking at this. And you kind of referenced this a few episodes back, I think, Sam, at how 2022, the first year of this set of regulations was almost more competitive than where they're at now. And a lot of it just doesn't quite, like,

doesn't quite add up because you've got 2022, they scored the most points that they've ever had in a season, in this era. So they had more points in 2022 than they've had in the last three, but they finished third in the championship. Last year, they had their most wins in a season in this era with Russell and Hamilton, and they finished fourth. Yet here in 2025, they haven't got their most points of this era. They haven't got their most wins of this era. But it's enough for second place overall, which does speak to, I think, what you were saying about that consistency. They were a bit more consistent this year than they were last year. They had podiums at 10 different races this year, whereas 2024 it was just eight. So they have stepped that

up a little bit. It's not quite as temperamental as it was last year. Russell has come on really well this year, built on a very good 2024 as well. But he was, I think he has firmly established himself in the fight for second best driver on the grid now, even if you don't think he is that. I think he's in that conversation now. And Antonelli, I think maybe just about appears on the positive side of the ledger. It's pretty close. Came on well at towards the end of the year, probably just enough to make Mercedes think it was worth it to get him in this year. They were always going to make that decision with 2026 in mind, right? They weren't thinking about 2025 when they hired Antonelli. I think there's enough promise to go into next year.

But the reason I've gone with a B-minus rather than a B is they couldn't get in that fight for the championship, not even close. And I mean that in terms of a driver's championship and a Constructors' Championship. Antonelli was good, but not great. I still think there are a few questions about him going into 2026. And the other one I just wanted to pick up on is not on track, they didn't land Max Verstappen, which I know you might think, well, there's a bit more stability that they didn't land him. Russell's still there. Antonelli's still able to progress. It would have been a really tough situation if Verstappen could have been signed, but he is Max Vastappen. So I still think that's a negative when there's that opportunity there.

Close one, though. With B and B minus there. So we're pretty close. in terms of our grading. What about Red Bull? Very interesting year for them to judge. Yeah. And I think my grading reflects almost the tail of two halves that they had here. I've given them a C plus.

They're further away than what I expected them to be. But their handling of the second seat is exactly what I thought it would be. It's, again, it's off the mark. It's not providing a car that is able to be used by multiple drivers and they are too for staff and relying on what they expect for success. On the other hand, despite their troubles in the likes of Hungary

and where the car was struggling with pace at Silverstone and they had to do something risky, they did a brilliant job at giving Max Verstaff and a car that in the late season produced six wings out of the last nine races and it meant that he was only two points away from a championship wing, which is a phenomenal turnaround for the books. It's something that we didn't expect going out of the summer break. You think it looks like Red Bull are out of this.

So the fact that if you had told me in Abu Dhabi, oh, there'll be three drivers in title contention. Max Verstappen is the closest in terms of overtaking for the lead. I have been very surprised, you know. So it's a great turnaround for them. And that's why I really struggled with this, because the first half was Max Verstappen dragging up a car that wasn't good enough. And the second driver in both Lawson and Sonora were never good enough.

We spoke already about the goal for points between Sengo versus Vastepen. You know, really 10 times the points difference is audacious. It's absolutely crazy. between the two of them. And it helps that for Stappen is so good. And that's why I've also marked them up a little bit

because they have held on to Max Verstappen. You just spoke about how machines can get Max and their books. Well, they've made a lot of changes. They've been through some tumultuous times.

They've lost a lot of key personnel. The Horn of firing was a big one. And yet I actually think that Meckis has done well to steady the ship. And it feels like it's an overall positive outlook. So I've gone with a C plus because the team itself wasn't properly good enough. But the effort behind Max Verstappen,

and I feel the building blocks they're putting in place for the new era were positive and I think was quite buoyed by their overall performance. My grade matched my grade for Mercedes. I've gone with a B-minus here as well. Part of the logic is, I think if it were me, I would rather be in a driver's championship fight going into the last race of the season and finish third, then finish second but have no chance in the driver's championship. So that's why I've elevated. it to the same grade as Mercedes. I agree with what you say about this sort of fresh start

because I think before this year, they were trying to pick up the pieces of the previous era and almost hold on to it, whereas now it does feel like, for better or worse, they are going ahead with this new era of Red Bull. Like, it's almost Helmut Marco's gone, Christian Horn has gone, there were a few other departures that happened earlier,

such as Jonathan Wheatley. this is now Red Bull 2.0. And we don't know if it will be as successful as the first time around, but at least they've committed to this fresh start. And that fresh start does at least for now include Max Verstappen. So keeping him is definitely in the plus points for what they've done here this year. And I just wanted to pick up as well on what you said

about how they won six of the last nine races. They really came on strong to end this year. To put that into perspective, if you were to go from like the middle of 2024, to the middle of 2025. Before they won six out of nine, they had won four out of 29. Wow.

So they really needed to pick up the form. They were winning one in seven, essentially, before this stretch. And those upgrades were really effective when we got to Monza, and that helped them throughout the rest of the year. The reason it's not higher than a B-minus, the biggest problem that they had at the beginning of this year

is still a problem, and that is the second seat. I'm not even saying Yuki Sonoda by name here, even though he's been the one in that role this year. It's been an issue for far longer than just 12 months. We'll see how Isaac Hadjar gets on, but until they solve that issue of this team being too Max Verstapp and dependent, I can't give them too high of a grade. They need to solve that. The other question, I guess, and we won't know the answer to this until 2026, they poured a lot of effort into that car to try and win championship with Max Verstappen and I said it and I'll still say it now I think it was the right decision to do it but if we get to 2026 they have won as many championships as Alpine have this

year so we'll go into 2026 and if it has cost them a little bit that's going to keep Verstappen looking around especially with the additional Ford being their engine supplier moving forward it's a whole new partnership there's a whole new engine to fit into a brand new car there's a lot the difficulties for them to go through, be interesting to see if they've got enough time and wind tunnel results to get it right. Indeed. Well, let's take our second break on this episode. We've gone through the first of the three teams.

We'll next head to Ferrari. Good. Welcome back, everyone. McLaren's got A's, Mercedes got B's, Red Bull got B's, Ferrari get Sam. D's. Ooh. You're going to say something else there because it would have been funny. These what?

These grades are very accurate for what they've been doing. Ha, Gar-in. Yeah, I've given them a D. no win picked up at all. Charler Leclair ragging it about to put it on a third place if he's lucky. John Elkins called it the best car going. Absolute lino rubbish. Why are you blaming a seven-time world champion

and probably the best, if not the second best up-and-coming driver in Formula One right now, him and George Russell are probably playing second fiddle and Max for stabbing overall in my opinion. So really you think the drivers are the problem. And this is, again, Ferrari, full of promise, never delivering. And the way Fred Berser came into this, it felt so positive. They changed the whole braking setup.

They changed the way that the suspension was working on the car. And actually, after China, sprint race, you think, all right, we'll let Australia go by because it was a really tricky condition. First race of the season, hey, always a bit of chaos. You never know what might happen. They pick up a win. And Lecler looked good and Hamilton looked fantastic. And it just, we just never saw that again.

We never saw that level of pace from them again, aided by the fact they were disqualifying, of course, from the weekend. Yeah. Hilarious. Tell you all you need to know. The politics off the track are damning is causing a lot of friction in the team. The communication is so poor. You just have to hear the way that Hamilton and Adami are talking to each other.

But even the way that the clerk talks to his race engineer, and they've had a long-lasting relationship. It tells you don't know all as well. It's not improving either. It's not improving. The amount of times that we've heard, I'm not going to talk about this right now. We're going to have to talk about when you get in

because they were basically told, don't say it over the radio, don't be negative about Ferrari, which is a tale as old as time, of course, in the public sphere. And it just didn't get better throughout the season. The only thing they did do very well, better than everyone else,

was their pit stops. When they had a pit stop to make, they did a really good job of making that pit stop happen. Fair play to them. That's a good fundamental part of a race day. Well done. You've got one in the building blocks right. There's about 50 others, though,

that you need to get right before you've actually got a successful team. Long way to go for Ferrari. This was a very disappointing year. Yeah, I feel like even strategically as well, they are in a far better position than they were a couple of years ago. Pit stops and strategy, I think, have improved under Fredfusser. The problem is the car isn't good enough to take advantage of these things a lot of the time. I feel like if you put together this sort of strategy plus pit stops,

plus the start of the 2022 car, and you were to sort of merge together some seasons, you might actually have something worthwhile here, but it's just not quite there. I've been far more generous than you, Sam. I've gone with a D plus. Wow. Good Lord. Still a failing grade, I'm afraid, Ferrari.

It's never good when my first positive point, because for all of these teams, I've got a few notes on what's positive, what's negative. The first positive one for Ferrari is it wasn't as bad as 2014, 2020, or 2021, which were all horrible years. God, yeah, it's really low standards when you're comparing it to those years. They were shocking for Ferrari.

They were. And it was better than that, but not much better than anything else. LeClau's still great and he's still there. Two pretty important things for Ferrari moving forward. And again, this isn't one we'll know until 2026. They have been very open, Fred Fusser in particular, that development on this car stopped in April. They stopped very early when they realized we're not going to get anything out of this year,

at least in terms of a championship. So we're just going to pump the brakes on that. We're going to head into 2026 and attack that era. We don't know whether that will work out yet, but that is at least part of a reason why they've struggled. Ah, the negatives. Again, keeping this to like three or four was tough. You know what I think the most critical point of this season was?

because you can try and point to a particular Grand Prix or a typical performance and say that's why this season was over when whoever it was signed off the pool the pool rod suspension. Yeah, that dammed that car. Yeah. And that was probably done before we even got to 2025.

I think that was the one that, because I don't think they were ever going to recover. It's not a bad idea in principle, but in execution, it just didn't work. and you can't change that easily. It's not easy to amend that in the middle of a season. It's not worth it when you're in the final year of a regulation. Right.

And I would be more positive about Ferrari if things were a little bit rosier off track. If John Elkin had said, this car's rubbish, we stopped development in April. We are very confident with Fred Vassur. We are very confident with our two drivers. We are going to have a far better 2026 new regulations. You can count on that. If the messaging was like that, I would feel more positive about Ferrari. It's not like that, not even close.

Hamilton is not settled. The comms have been awful all year. And again, I don't think they've improved as the year has gone on. I know there was a big talking point about whether he would try and bring Bono across with him. It's looking more and more like he maybe should have done if that was a possibility. And they've had a double disqualification this year. They've had a double DNF this year. And I don't think either of them are the worst weekends they've had.

I think Qatar is still worse than both of those. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Hamilton had some real stinkers. The fact that he's the first Ferrari driver to go out in Q1, three times in a row tells you everything you need to go about. The car, he's mental state, the way they're working as a team. It's just, it felt so full of promise at the start of this year, and it's falling apart so quickly.

Yeah, I don't think Ferrari will be too disappointed to see the back of 2025. Williams will start our trip into the midfield here, Sam, as they secured a top half finish in the championship with that P5. What's your grade here? I've given Williams an A grade, 17 points only last year with Alex Almond doing very much the heavy lifting. I think they've got 137 points.

It must have had 17 after like three races, right? I think it was something like that. Yeah, so early on. Of course, Logan Sargent, which is another key point that I want to make here, Logan's sergeant was the driver next to Alex Albin last year and the fact they brought in Carla Sikes got him so well settled. Oh, just a smidge, mate. Just a smidge.

It's like going from eating a week old slice of bread to having dinner at the ritz. It really is, sorry, that's actually really unfair on this, I'm sure it's... We wish Logan Sargent the best, of course. Yeah, I'm glad you're okay, mate. Don't take that personally. But Carla Sikes has done wonders in the second half of this season to really bring up a brilliant driver pairing. We said that if they could operate on all cylinders, they could fire all cylinders.

This driver line up is one to stand at the top. You know, really could fight with the big boys of F1. And it's a really important part of building a team that's trying to go places, is getting two guys behind the wheel of your car that can operate, that can feedback and that when you give them the machinery, will deliver. And there's a few teams up and down this grid that only have that on one side of the garage or not even a top at some points, you know? And we can get on to those later on because they are coming up.

But Williams have got a great foundation here. And they've proven the difference in the fact that they picked up two. podiums, sorry, two wodiums in Carlos Synes. And even when they weren't picking up podiums, you know, Albuhr had a great start to the season, multiple top fives. It looked like he was on fire for the first eight or nine races. And as we mentioned in our power rankings review, he was sitting inside our top three or four drivers for the season up until the midpoint of the year.

I think Carlos Sykes almost picked up the baton. When Alexander Alvin had a struggling second half, Sykes came to life and he delivered a really brilliant performance. And I think the way change vows is operating that team. It looks like commercially they're moving in the right direction. It looks like technically their understanding regulations and they're stepping forward calmly, but with decisive movement, which is important. And it looks like that relationship with Mercedes that they've got is stronger than ever

despite what having a lone driver. And I think with the new regulations coming in and the rumours that Mercedes engine might be pretty fantastic, that is a big moment off their checklist that they can go put that to bed nice and easy. We'll work on the arrow side of things. So it's all looking Rosie for Williams. This is a really big step forward, and I did not expect them to be in P5

come the end of this year. On the experience factor as well, I am doing a bit of quick mental maths on this, but with the 10 teams, as far as I'm aware, only two of them have drivers that raced in the 2010s, have both drivers who have raced in the 2010s,

them and Ferrari. Of course, Alex Albin debuted in 2019, Carlos Sines back in 2015. A long-so and strong? Yeah, to strike. old count? No, he doesn't. Okay, three teams.

But it's still, most of the teams that are behind them in the championship, either have a Blanche Stroll, who is holding the team back, or they have a rookie. And this is a team that has two experienced drivers at this point, and it's served them really well. I went with an A-minus, so I'm very much complimentary of them as well. P-6 in this championship that we'll get on to very shortly was Racing Bulls. But racing bulls were closer to Salba in 9th than they were to Williams in 5th. And that margin is important.

It was a tough and tight midfield that Williams have managed to come out on top of relatively comfortably based on what was such a great start. And it has come from both drivers. They are P8 and P9 in the championship. Nine points separated them at the end of the year. Albon had four top five finishes this year. That's the most for a Williams driver since 2016. Carlos Sines had two wodiums, the most for a Williams driver since 2015.

And that Carlos Sines move, even though it was a little sketchy early on, has really come on leaps and bounds throughout the rest of this year and should give them a lot of encouragement for 2026. And they worked quite effectively as a team, Alban and Sines, Monaco and Saudi Arabia, maybe the two shiny moments that they've had in that regard. The reason I didn't go any higher than an A-minus, can someone please help me find Alex Albin's form that's going to linger for a few months

they're going to need to manage that carefully I think Williams I just wonder if it's on Williams or if it's on Alex Albin I know it's more on Alex Album but like it's still Williams's problem I mean but where the form went you know is there something that changed in the car that he's not happening with that they will need to address and understand and if that is the case then Alex Albin can at least walk away and go it's not me there's something happening in that car and there's a new car coming so I can wreck

to identify that. But if it was on him, if he just fell off, he will have to work on that over the winter break. And those Carlos signs big results towards the end of the year. Maybe mask a bigger problem, which is that in the first eight races of 2025, they had 12 point scoring finishes. In the last 16 races, they had nine point scoring finishes. And two of them, of course, were podiums. But that could all again be related to shifting emphasis to 2026, in which case they don't need to worry too much. But their form was definitely better at the beginning of the year. Racing Bulls is our third team to look at in this little segment.

What have you gone for here? I've gone right down the middle for racing balls. I've given them a C. It's always hard to judge racing balls. Because of them being almost, you know, the junior team to Red Bull, they're very much under the management of Red Bull, even though you don't see it day to day. It is tough to see them as an independent unit that can make games

or make losses based on their own choices. They regularly have to do things for the senior team that we aren't always privy to, testing with certain runs of types of car. Of course, the tumultuous changing of both the lead of that team with Warren Mecky's moving straight up to Red Bull, and then the driver swaps that were going on with the fact that they had to go and take Liam Lorsing on board and Hajjar's in for his first year. It's a lot. It's a lot to process.

So I've marked them down for the way that they've kind of had to handle that. It wasn't great, I don't think. and I think Liam Lawson's performances as well dropped them off slightly with the way that he racing his wheelcraft. And we didn't see that get particularly better throughout the year. He was still making the same kind of mistakes in the last three or four races as he was in the first four or five

races. So that didn't improve. But I think I've had that on the flip side with Isaac Hajar, who I think there's been a revelation in Formula One. I think it's qualifying as being incredible. And when the car has performed, which is about 50% of the time, he has made it perform. He is taking it by the ratings and he's delivered

on that. The podium being an obvious highlight for them. I think it's really solid. And I think they've done well to beat the likes of Askin Martin Haas and a kind of a reinvigorated salver. So some positives in there, it's always tough with racing balls because they're not independent and it makes it really difficult to know what they might be able to do next year or in the future. Indeed. And that's a bigger problem that we've touched on a number of times on this podcast. And spoiler alert, we will continue to talk about it until it becomes not an issue. I've gone with a B grade here. I've feel like, again, their two aims for the year were get Hadjar ready or at least like see him

through his first year of F1. And then the second objective was to rescue or help Liam Lawson rescue his career. And out of two, I'd give them 1.5. Like I feel like with the Hadjar side of things, they have done everything they need to do to get him ready for Red Bull. Whether it works out or not, that remains to be seen. But they gave him a car that was capable of if he in the lap, getting through to Q3, mixing it in with these sorts of situations that he'll need to get adjusted to if he's to succeed at Red Bull. That he was in pretty much every race a factor in that midfield. They didn't have many Alpine races where they were just languishing down in 19th and

outside of time on the track, you're not learning a great deal. Agile wasn't the thick of things for a lot of this season. And with the Liam Lawson, I'd give them like half a point because I think, particularly, particularly with that middle stretch of the season, Lawson did come along quite a long way, and it's enough to give him another year in this sport. But to your point about his race in conduct, there's still work to be done there,

and I'd like to see that improved in 2026. In terms of just outright performance as well, the race pace did fall away a little bit in the last third. So that's why I've gone with a B grade. I think they're in a solid spot heading into next year. Of course, Arvid Lindblad will take the seat of Isaac Kajar and will be alongside Liam Lawson. Lawson at this point is a good measuring stick for where Limblud is.

Now that they'll have, obviously, they've got Lawson versus Hadjar and they'll see how Hajar does in Red Bull. Will Limblud do better or worse than Hadjar? We don't know, but it will be useful information for them. Also, worrying time for Lawson. If he gets beaten by another Reykivik comes up, he might end up being in trouble. I think that would be it for him if he was beaten by Limblud, to be honest. Right, let's take our next break on this episode, our final break on this episode. On the other side, we've still got four more teams to give our last grades to you.

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If you don't smoke, don't start. If you smoke, quit. If you don't quit, change. Visit unsmoke.ca. Welcome back, everyone. Aston Martin, are up next. P7 in the end in the Constructors Championship, Sam, felt at times like they might have a push for P6 or P5.

Other points felt like they were vulnerable to 8th and 9th, and they've kind of ended up somewhere in the middle. Yeah, confused is kind of the word I would describe their season with. And I do feel like it was confused. They had some races where they were suddenly really on the pace. Hungary, for example, Fernando Alonkso was rightfully fighting alongside the big dogs right up front. But they are the first team on this list that hasn't achieved a podium. And what's worse for them is there's another team that's coming up,

that did get a podium this season. So it shows you that even on dodgy races that are a bit chaotic, they were unable to capitalize. Lance Stroll again, having multiple Q1 eliminations beaten by Fernando Alonso 24 to nil is pretty damning stuff

and shows that despite the familial bond that he has with team owner, he is struggling to pull the weight needed that Fernando Alonso is carrying on his shoulders. And one day, might be in 365 days, Fernando Alonso won't be there. and you might end up need to be a little bit more reliant on two drivers rather than one to do the business for you.

Also, I thought was very good for the most of the season. And I said that in our driver rankings that we did on Patreon recently. I do think he's starting to show the age a little bit. I think he's invigorated by what could come in 2026, but there were some mistakes that crepting you don't normally see from Fernando Alonso, a few spings, a few duff races. Equally, a few 11 places that maybe a few years ago here turned into tents. Who knows?

It was tricky. they've had some changes off track as well that are in theory positive but I felt like they're far too close to the start of 2026 that maybe might end up causing a bit more difficulty to manage it's going to be tough to say

we'll see how it impacts the new year so I've given them a D I've given them a D grade I just think the fact they're too close to the likes of Hars and Kick and not closer to the likes of Williams tells you that they've taken another step back

rather than solidifying in that strong midfield section they had a couple of years ago I've gone with because you said they it's confusing and I think you're right I just started to write out the word confusing so C minus to be more specific the biggest positive was something

that didn't happen on track and that was Adrian Newey and you could also say the biggest negative might be Adrian Newey because I am worried about his role heading into 2026 I'm not worried about Adrian Newey whatsoever because I am not more confident on anyone other than Adrian Newey in terms of nailing this set of regulations. He is a very, very clever man. But I am a bit worried about him being

team principal heading into 2026. We'll see how that goes. Also on the positive side of the ledger here, Alonzo, his P10 finishing the championship, despite no points after the first eight Grand Prix. He had seven top eight finishes to end the year. And they were really, I don't know said really good, but they were more competitive on these high downforce circuits, the likes of Hungary, they really showed what that car could still do. And if they had that car for all of the year, they probably would have been in that fight with Williams for fifth place. Unfortunately, that's not how F1 works and that they were just too inconsistent to get in that fight. It's C minus. It's worse than a couple of these other teams because the expectations

are there, like the investment is there and it's not quite showing on track yet. It'll be fine if we gets 2026 and that's all paid off. But we don't know that yet. Two land strolls don't beat Salba this year. So that's another reason why it's not all rosy. That late turmoil too with Andy Cowell and Newey that it does give me a little bit of concern. Hasse is up next. What have you got here? I've given Hasse a C-plus. This feels like a very harsh year. I thought they would have kicked on a little bit because it felt like Kamatsu really had the bit between his teeth. It felt like he'd unlock something last year. You remember when we suddenly had the revelation that they understood tyres and that they could do things properly? I thought that

then they would step forward and they haven't in the way that I expected. So that's why my grade isn't any higher than this. Also, the concept that only one driver can ever do well at any one time in a hars car. You can't seem to have both of them sitting around 9th and 10th for getting a double points finished. Ben, I don't know if you've got the stat there of how many two drivers they had. I don't know. It's very, very small if it happens at all. So anyone of you listening can tell me.

Ben was a relation. I thought he was fantastic, especially later on in the season. And he put a real stake in the ground for being rookie of the season. And rightfully so, if you have given him rookie of the season in your season review, I just think that O'Con, we didn't see enough from him, although they were very close in the points, tally. I would have liked him to have led the team a bit more. And the car was so inconsistent when its ability to perform that the fact that they're only just in front of Salba, who the year before was so, so far off the pace, I'm expecting more improvement from them.

So C plus, it's not a disaster. It's okay with where they were, the funding they have, the way the team is set up. But I can't really be more complimentary overall. I was between a B minus and a C plus. I ended up with a B minus here. Berman, a success. No doubt about that. and they would have, I don't think they were overly worried,

but of course, with his Formula 2 campaign last year, I know it was disrupted a bit by his F1 substitute appearances and Pramer not being very good. There might have been just a few concerns, but he wasn't coming into F1 as this F2 champion like Oscar Piastri or someone like that. But I think he pretty early on was able to put those worries to one side, and he has had a great year.

Haas themselves have had the most points, they've ever had in a season since 2018. So seven years, that's pretty good going. And they started the year quite well, ended the year quite well, and they had a few effective upgrades in there, which is always, this era of F1 has been a bit dodgy

in terms of whether upgrades actually work or not. They had an upgrade towards the end of this year. It worked really well, got Behrman that P4 in Mexico, that really good performance in Brazil too. And the reason it's not higher than a B-minus is similar to what you've already said. Ockon was fine, but not better than fine.

I think they were maybe looking at, if you look at what Holkenberg has done for Salber, they were probably thinking Ockon would be that. And he hasn't... They are of course lost. Yes. And he's probably not being that far off Holkenberg's level, but it's just not quite there.

And it might come together the next year. We'll see. Inconsistency as well, particularly in the middle part of this season. and otherwise they might well have beaten Aston Martin and raising balls. And qualifying. Used to be their strength. Really struggling in that department now.

Right. Two more teams to go. Salba were at the bottom of the pile last year, Sam, but not so this year. Yeah, you think a team still finishing ninth out of ten teams will probably still get quite a low score. But I've given them a B minus. And that's because of expectations versus reality. I was expecting them to be where Alpina are. I was expecting them to be well off the title fight.

when I say title fight, I mean for the midfield section, not for the actual title. But they were genuinely competitive. They are regularly in the mix. They picked up a podium after a brilliant drive from Rieker-Hulkeberg. Strategically, they got things, I think, a little bit more right than they did wrong,

which is solid from them. Because remember, last year, they had pit stops that last kid nigh on 30 seconds on a regular basis. That's a great proof. They've been good at pit stops this year. They have. I mean, the bar was low.

I'm not going to act like it wasn't. I think they were, they're in the top half of the championship if you're looking at pit stops, though. Ferrari might be clear number one, maybe Red Bull number two. McLaren are iffy, but they're up there as well. I think Salber probably P4 or so. So good step forward. And I also think they've done well off track. The way that they've solidified the upper echelons of their management,

I think Wheatley's done a really good job at making some solid decisions in that team. I think Audi looked like they've become more involved in a very confident in what the team is going to become. and the fact that are only a few points away from really being stuck in with the likes of Haast and Ashton Martin or racing balls after where they were only one year ago is a brilliant step forward. Holgerberg's a great pick.

Bortoletto was a sensible risk and I think it's paid off really well for them. I think that's a package that looks really, really good going into 2026 and Audi initially, I imagine we were a bit terrified that they were coming into an absolute mess end of last year. Now, I think they can come and go,

all right, we've still got some big steps to take. but the foundation is there and we've got a lot of good things sorted out and ready to go and that's where Audi would have wanted to be so I've given them a B-minus I think they can be happy

with how this is turned out I agree, I've got a B really good momentum going into 2026 and their re-emergence as Audi by the way, I love all of these goodbye Salba posts they'll be back in two years somehow

I don't know another team they'll just somehow be back that's how F1 works perjo Salber something like that Yeah, a good momentum going into next year. Most points they've had since 2012 in a season, which has kind of gone a little bit under the radar.

If you look at, just everything's kind of worked versus the expectation. And I know we are looking at expectation here a bit, but they were in such a dire state in 2024. But you look at both drivers. Holkenberg? Yeah, success. Bortoletto? Yes, success.

Both of them have done their jobs this year and both look good going into next year. Holkenberg has got his podium, which not only is good news for the team and for him, it's actually good just for him to not have to worry about that going into next year. It's like that part's done, that monkey's light off his bat. Like, don't need to worry about that anymore. Pitt stops have been good.

Jonathan Wheatley, excellent acquisition. There's just a lot to be positive about. As you say, Audi would have been quite worried. You said at the end of last year, which is true, they would probably been worried at like, I don't know, the race before the Spanish GP. Like, at that point, they were really struggling. The beginning of this year didn't look all that much different to the end of last year, which is why I haven't gone higher than a B grade, because I still need to include that.

And just maybe the inconsistency needs to be sorted. There was only one instance this year where they had a double points finish. So Bortoletto was a bit patchy, Holkenberg, very good for a few races, disappeared late summer. If they sort that out, they're in a fairly good spot. Speaking of fairly good spot, not Alpine.

P-10 in the championship, and that was fairly locked on quite early on in the season. Let's be honest. I'm going to assume this isn't a great grade, Sam. No. It's not fantastic for them. I've given them an F plus.

Oh, that's very kind of. The plus is for Pierre Gassely. He deserves the plus. He's a good boy and he worked hard. He had some really good drives, like a car that was blaming awful. The sixth place in Silverstone, of course, is a real highlight, a real standout for him. In cricket conditions, he made it work. He showed his experience.

That's what Hartford had been looking for for Rock on. More of that kind of performance. And I think that Gassley's done it again where he's elevated a car that's been poor. Had a few good results at the end of the season when the car seemingly had an upgrade that worked for them. And he kicked on well. And again, Bahrain was a real. positive. That is it for the positives. Jack doing out after six races. Colopinter took a wall to find his feet, found his feet, and they very quickly lost his feet again and was

nowhere near his teammate. And then the drama off track. With the fact the car isn't working, that's the least of their problems. Olli Oaks had to flee the nation, down where he is. I hope you're all right, mate. You know? It's just so ridiculous, man. It's so ridiculous. Flavio Briatore, who is banned from the sport, no longer, is running the team. but not as an official team principle. They don't have any key leadership or direction. This all happened this year. All this year is the last time they can power their own cars.

They no longer having gearboxes or engines made by Rengo, of course, their provider, their owner. It's now going to Mercedes. It is a disastrous year. Last year, they're in sixth place. They had, what, three or four times the points they picked up this year. This year, they are tent and a distant, distant tank. They are so far away from the teams in front of them. I think they're nigh on 50 points behind the likes of Salva,

which is disastrous, absolutely disastrous for a team as well-looked after, in theory, well-funded and well-managed as Renault, who of course are the overseers of Alpine. This is not a good look for their brand. It's an awful year for them. And they, out of everyone, will be very happy to see the back of these regulations and I hope it gets just a little bit better. Apparently, race-winning car, according to Briatore, in the new regulations coming soon. That's the objective.

Race-winning car in 2026. Championship winning car in 2027. We shall see. Sure, Jen. I went with a D-minus here. To be fair, we didn't fully agree on whether we were going to include E. So sometimes you just go ABCD-F and... So we're going to do it.

But it's the worst of the teams at D-minus. Positives. 22 points as a last-place team is very good. Like, it's very rare that we have. The last place scored 22 points in the championship. Gassley was great, and he is staying. Two good things. And that is where the positives end.

They were awful. In the second half of the year in particular, first half of the year, they were at least, even if they were the worst team, they were on the back of the midfield. But it increasingly felt like you had, I don't know, McLaren, then the next three teams, then the next five teams,

and then you had Al P. They became quite distant last at one point in the year. Still got questions over Colopinto as well. I feel like, again, Audi and Salba, they will be quite happy with the Bortoletto acquisition. I think Hasse will be happy with Bearman. I think even Mercedes would be happy with Antonelli.

I think most of these teams, in terms of their lineups, are feeling quite good about where they're going. I think Al P might be like, Yeah, it might turn out good, but they're not certain about it. Yeah, fair. So, yeah, we'll see how they get on when they have Mercedes engines in 2026. Let us know what you think about our grades.

I don't think we had one exact match in there, Sam. We're very close across the board, but... We were. Yeah, usually we have two or three that tend to be almost identical. Not a single one. Were you matching us all the way down? Let us know, will we harsh, will be too kind? probably one of you will think we're too harsh on someone

and someone else will think we're too kind on the same one as well. So, you know, fire out in the comics. Engagement is Queen, King, whatever you want to say. It's both. A few housekeeping notes before we depart this episode. We do have some best-of episodes coming up over the Christmas and New Year periods.

So we'll have three special episodes. So it will be best-of segments throughout the year and one of those three episodes will be focused on some of the games that we've played throughout 2025. So you'll be able to relive some of those moments. And then we will be back for the first proper episode in January, Wednesday 7th. But before we wrap up on this episode, Sam, before we get into the definitely not pre-recorded messages

before the start of the best of series, we have some... Oh, oh, oh, look who it is coming over the hill. Oh, no, it's father. Christmas. Oh, and he's doing buffeter. Oh, birthday. Oh, birthday, shout-dots. It's really hard to be the Father Christmas of birthdays during December, because I guess feel like I'm like an imposter. New Hall of Famer, we should say. Oh, yeah, actually, I thought you could spoil it. No, no, I haven't spoiled anything. Yes, Hall of Famer, Father Christmas

and birthdays, and we, as a long of you, born in December, many of you born in December, a gift was giveth many years ago. T-Rex, T-Rex, the dinosaur, I imagine. Happy birthday, December 15th. Mike Bridgeford, the sausage man. Happy birthday for December 30th. Jessica B., December 15th, happy birthday. Scott Hickox, December 11th, happy birthday.

Badger Brock, just December. Is that your legal game? Let me know. Oh, ho. Northern George. 20th and December, we love you, Northern George. Happy birthday. Eric, Canterger?

No, not Canterler. Okay. Eric, happy birthday, December 16th. I hope you score a worldly. Christ. Happy birthday, Jordan, Will Bering. I'm sure it's been will be Wilburying, but you let me know. December 3rd, happy birthday.

Joe, all the way from Pennsylvania. Happy birthday, December 19th. Tom from Philip Island. Philip Island? Is he the furthest away? I don't know. You're the father of Christmas of birthdays. You've got this whole map planned out.

I have a sled made of birthday presents. I'll see you soon. Made off the prisons. December 22nd, happy birthday. Oh, very young, hall of famer, beef. December 3rd, happy birthday to you, beef. Scotty, December 25th. All on Christmas Day?

Oh, God. That is the word. happy birthday to you happy birthday to you scotty but you deserve your own day I hope you celebrate it on a different day so you get day to yourself Ricardo, help a boss day for December 10th

Mikey Spikey Happy birthday December 2nd Claire Anderson Happy birthday to you for December 30th And finally It is Sebastian Which I think it's just 7th On December the 7th

Happy Happy birthday to you all Thank you to everyone that subscribers to the top tier of Patreon and gets a birthday shoutout from the Father Christmas of birthdays. It might be the worst thing I've ever done. It might be. There are some contenders, but it might be. Yeah, very much. Appreciate all of you on Patreon. Thank you so much. And I hope all of you throughout 2025 have enjoyed your birthday shoutouts. If you haven't let us know, by the way, and you are on our top tier, just send us a message on Patreon to say, firstly, what you'd like to be shouted out as I appreciate some people just want their first name or a nickname.

shouted out, maybe full name, just let us know. And then also, of course, what month you're celebrating in or what day of the month as well. We don't mind if we have to shout out all of January, all of February, or if you want your specific date in there. But just send us a message on Patreon and we'll add you to the list. Sam, if you wouldn't mind getting us out of here. Oh, for the last time, King's does. This is the last time. Very good. He knew already immediately on cue. What a song like that. Yeah. Well, we'll sing that off there. Thank you so much again.

We've said it a few times already, but your support has been immense. Our biggest ever singular year for downloads for the show. We surpass 10 million lifetime downloads. It's been a really incredible year. Patreon is a real city. There's so many of you in there now. It's incredible.

And if you want to consider enjoying it, then you can give it as a gift. You know, you can pick up a year subscription. It really helps the show. And thank you to everyone that does it already. We'll see you in 2026. Enjoy the special three episodes that we've got over the Christmas period. have a laugh, have a giggle, and come back in the new year for new regulations, new teams,

new drivers, and a whole heap of new fun. In the meantime, I've been Samuel Sage. And I've been Ben Hocking. And remember, keep breaking late. at the Sports Social Podcast Network.