McLaren Performance and Closing Thoughts

Hello everybody and welcome back to the Beautyne podcast with Matt and Tommy . Driver ratings , your favorite series in the world that involves numbers is back and not a sprint weekend to deal with. We've dealt with quite a few sprint weekends already this year , but this one had enough pit stops to claim it had many different parts to the race and it was a very intriguing one at that, wasn't it? Tom Bellingham? Certainly was a lot of strategy involved and yeah should be a good one this. Indeed, when you look at the strategy graphic which I've got in front of me there's a lot of different colours, a lot of softs, mediums and hards used by a lot of drivers, so that's a race that I love to see . So let's get into our driver ratings and begin with Sergio Pere . Started the race in P nineteen and finished fourteenth . My grade for Sergio Perez is a six out of ten . It was a rather lonely race for Sergio Perez, I will say that . He was faster than Valtteri Botas once again, albeit a bit closer in qualifying . And also , you know, my goat was also say my goat like I'm the one that's been hubbing back in Botass, but he had he saved a fresh set of sauce for the race as well. He's thinking ahead. He's like, how do I beat the Aston Martins and lo and behold he did because I don't think either of them finished , but he also the botass Perez qualifying head to head . He actually had some problems with his car as well which which meant that he was a little bit slower than than he would because the key word, the key term deployment issues didn't d because that's just the standard thing in twenty twenty six . So yeah, I would say once again the faster cadillac driver . So I'm giving him more than a five that most back markers always get on drive rings . I am going to give Sojio Perez a five out of ten . I think it was a good result due to obviously the DNFs that happened, but I don't think he was as impressive as maybe we've seen. Maybe that's the fact that he has been so impressive that maybe just a more normal weekend he's being downgraded a little more than normal . But yeah, Perez certainly didn't match the heights of what he's kind of done in recent times, I don't think. So I'm going to go for a five preparis. Okay . The fans disagree . You have not you've come into the bottass corner by the sounds of it, Tommy, because they've gone for a six out of ten as well . Valdr Bota started P twenty did not finish . I've gone for a five out of ten for Valtteri Botsass, much more comparable to his teammate this weekend . Obviously the big standout for him was a very scary moment where his bra fkesailed in practice , which thanfully happened at a corner that he could realize and go into the gravel and kind of turn in because had it happened somewhere else, we could have had a very scary incident indeed . But yeah, he's much closer and signs of improvement, so I'm going to give him a five. Interesting. The fans gave Valfrie Bottas a five out of ten. I'm not going to grade him, apparently. I just said I just said it. Well, who's a hat and now? I went for a five out of ten, sorry for Valdry Botass Perez did beat him this weekend. Of course Botass had the DNF and also some problems in practice, but I can't give them the same grade because Paris did look like the faster driver and as I mentioned with Checkos qualifying as well, he would have had a bigger margin had it not been for an issue with the car. So that's why there's a point difference. So Valtteri Botass gets a five from me and the fans which technically I am a fan of Formula One also went for a five. So there you go . Franco Colopinto started thirteenth , finished tenth. My grade for Franco Colop into is a seven out of ten would have been probably one point higher, but he picked up a penalty after the Alonso incident , which dropped him down behind both V cabs come the end of the race. So that's a shame for him. Of course he out qualified Gazley which is a really sort of notable thing and it's not something that's only happened once. He's been pretty good in qualifying when you compare him to Pierre Gasly and overall, it was a reasonably strong weekend, but sadly for him loses a chunk of points from a mistake of him not slowing down under the yellow flags . I've also gone for a seven out of ten for Franco Colopinto . I think had it been without the penalty, I think you would have got an eight out of ten as well . You know, very impressive to out qualify Gasly. He's done it quite a few times this year. I think they're equal actually if you compare all the Sprints and the Grand Prix qualifying . And yeah, not as good in the race . Obviously there was a few moments where he had to play the team game because they were on different strategies. But it's a shame for the penalty at the end because it would have been even more points for him and finishing behind his teammate on the road. But what a runner form he is on scoring points and silencing any Oh is Franco going to lose his seat chat because I think he's solidified himself now at the team with these kind of performances The fans gave Franco an eight out of ten . Pierre Gasly started fourteenth , finished seventh . I've gone for an eight out of ten for Pierre Gasly, a very strong drive, I think, disappointing and qualifying Alpine just did not seem to have the pace thinking that they've dropped off quite a lot, but a really strong race in a car that particularly in qualifying I don't think was anywhere near maybe the VCAB, so to beat them both you know, he beat them both on the road as well and yeah very very strong from Gazley again to bag some big points and yeah he's he's doing very well in the championship now he really is. I've also gone for an eight out of ten for Pierre Gasly . I think overall in the race he was he was very strong . He was a little bit fortunate with the timing of the virtual safety car, which meant that he gained a little bit of time on his teammate. So I think those two were reasonably closely matched across the Sunday as well . But yeah, of course, when you look at the end timings with Colopinto's penalty as well as the, as I say, the VSC timed pretty well for Gasly . It looks worse than it is between two of them. I think they were very close but of course Gasly did not pick up a penalty so I have gone for an eight out of ten for Pierre Great stuff . The fans gave him an eight as well . Gabrielle Botaleto started P twelve and finished eleventh . My grade, for Gabby Botaletto a six out of ten . Pier eleven on the road sounds pretty good . I don't think it really reflects his struggles this weekend. Hulkenberg showed that there was a lot more on the table for Audi had it not been for a kill switch. We'll talk about him shortly and how that turned off his car . Yeah, for Bortile just seemed to lack pace in comparison to Nico . Almost scraped a point with the late DNFs, but without that, you know, he's over thirty seconds behind P ten in eleventh and didn't really trouble the sort of bottom end of the points. So for Bortileto , it's okay. It's all right, qualified reasonably well in P twelve , but yeah, still left I think a bit on the table. I have gone for a five out of ten for Gabi Borteleto. I think it's a disappointing weekend when so many people have retired, top runners, of course , retiring at the end to give an opportunity for points and to still finish eleventh, particularly when we saw Nico Holmberg what he could do in that car. So I think unfortunately for Gabby he was not one of his better races. He was down kind of struggling towards the back of the field, you know , fighting, fighting with the likes of half and things during during the race, which I think we' muchre worse cars than the Audi. So want to forget for Bortileto, I think. And I will say as well because I know some people will be jumping in and going, Oh, but Matt, Tommy, blah blah blah had a late pit stop and went on the softs , ye,ah and did we see how quick they were in comparison to hard tyres. They were two, three seconds a lap quicker. So I'm not really considering these late pit stops as like a massive time loss because I think that there was a lot of time to be made up with an extra pitch stop as we saw, with a certain Lewis Hamilton and how he made that work . The fans gave Bortileto a six out of ten . Nico Holkenberg started ninth, did not finish. I've gone for an eight out of ten for Nika Holkenberg. So unlucky again not to score points. Of course we mentioned it in the race review and did a social clip about it as well. The fact that a piece of Liam Lawson's, well, not even his car some gravel pulled the kill switch on his roll hoop, cut the power and Hogenberg was definitely on for some points challenging Lawson and it was a good battle and qualified very well as well to get into Q three and just yeah very very disappointing for Nico but got to reward his drive nonetheless I've gone for an eight. I've also gone for an eight out of ten for Holkenberg . Very unlucky as we've mentioned. I mean, how many times is that going to ever happen? Probably only once for anyone on this grid, let alone for many years to come, probably. Although I wonder if Audi will explore a protective dev ice around that roll hoop now because that was ridiculous. I doubt it because of course it will cost some time aerodynamically. But for Holkenberg , Q three for the first time this season, great performance on Saturday S.und Onay, he's fighting Lawson as we mentioned. That's how he picked up that random rogue bit of gravel . So he was definitely on for some points, one maybe two . But yeah, I think an eight out of ten reflects a very solid dec,ent weekend from Holkenberg and hopefully the first of many, but my God is he pummeling my F one fantasy team. Like how has he still not scored any points? He's going to be worth fifty p in like five races time. The fans gave Holkenberg an eight out of ten . Estaban Okon started seventeenth , finished thirteenth I am going to go for a five out of ten for Esteban Okon . It's you know, I'm having to shift where I place Has now. It's only seven rounds in, but you look at the start of the season they were picking up points es,pecially in the hands of Ollie Berman and you could argue that Has were the fifth fastest team, maybe sixth fastest team at worst now . I think they're only just ahead or only just ahead but I think they're ahead of Cadillac and Aston Martin and that's probably it . So for Has fallen were about Williams ? I mean, Williams, I think I would even place probably as fast as Has if not, you know, marginally quicker in the hands of Signs we saw maybe . I mean, Ocon finished half a minute behind signs. So obviously had an extra pit stop at the end, but also had time and to fair not a huge amount of time I think he had like six laps to make the most of the soft. So perhaps there was a bit of a margin that he lost there, but still Hassar looking shocking. So I've gone for a five out of ten because it's nothing special from Akon, but also nothing special from the team . I've gone for a five out of ten pressed ban Occon as well. Yeah, I think you do have to disregard Ocon's pit stop in this one because he pitted right towards the end and obviously there was a safety car and things so he didn't get any time to make up that. But that being said , I've looked at the time he was behind Bermann before Beerman retired and he's twenty seconds off. You know, Behermann's put half a second on him and qualifying again . Okon's just having a shocker and still looks like he's going to be potentially a disappointing end to his career if his pace doesn't kind of pick up . The fans gave Esther Bannock on a five out of ten . Ollie Behmann started sevent eenth, finished technically fifteenth because he was classified but obviously he stopped. He did indeed. I've gone for a seven out of ten for Ollie Behmman, which may seem incredibly generous, but I think the hass, as you kind of mentioned when I'm talking about Oc is absolutely awful. He was going to finish eleventh on the road without his car breaking down . As we mentioned, half a second on Ocon and qualifying twenty seconds clear of Okon. He was he was fighting , you know, you mention about the fact that and I think rightly that half have just fallen off Occan was in that pack at the back whereas Berman wasn't. He was he was fighting some midfielders in that race didn't have anywhere near the struggles Ocon did with Tyre Deg . And just a bit of a segue here . Formula One is all about being in the right place at the right time . And I hope it's I hope I'm wrong here, but I really hope Ollie Berman, his career still continues to thrive and he manages to kind of get that opportunity because I think he's a really, really, really good talent and it would be such a shame if Has don't deliver the car for him to be able to deliver the hype he had at the start of the season because of course we were talking about the fact that he's going to go to Ferrari but now Hamilton's on amazing form. Charlotte Clause signed a new contract. I hope for Ollie's sake , Haskin pick up the pace because Ollie was one of the stars of the season at the start . And I think again , even though you look at it on paper and go that there's nothing special. I think he is overdriving that that house compared to in a good way , like outperforming the house compared to his teammate massively. So I've gone for a seven for Ollie. My grade for Ollieerm Behan is a six out of ten . I think that the margin he had on Occon is slightly increased, what would the word be ? It looks slightly better than maybe it actually was on track because Ollie had a reasonably well timed VSC to capitalise on that. That being said, I think he was doing very well on the softs to be taking them as long as he was because he went on to soft thes at lap thirty nine when the V SC came out and then was extending until his car broke down. So for Ollie he definitely is the fastest has driver. That's been consistent throughout this entire weekend, but it is such a shame as you say, Tommy to not be able to actually demonstrate his talents any further than sort of twenty odd seconds behind the VCABs, which is not something we thought would be happening so quickly. I know we were concerned about HAS and their development, but my God 's been a poor run of races for HAS in terms of what they can actually offer for their drivers . The fans gave Ollie a five out of ten . Wow, not happy at all with Olive's performance . Lance Droll started twenty first ? Did not finish ? Mm , I'm going to give Lance Droll a six out of ten because he outqualified Fernando Alonzo then broke down. So I can't give him a five. I know he was like three point one second slower than the fastest time in Q one , but he was half a tenth quicker than Fernando Alonso and then he broke down. So there you go. six out of ten . I've gone for a five out of ten for last . He out qualified salty Alonso. He's salty this man. This Fernando Alonso lover is salty. Alonso's great yeah, obviously I've qualified Alonzo which deserves some credit even though it was naught zero five qualified in how is five out of ten credit ? It is credit because he 's still qualified. I'm sorry qu heal'ifsied twenty first and being his teammate by the tiniest in a dustbin and beat a two time world champion qualifying for the first time forty three races exactly to give him some credit. I have five. No because he gives when he doesn't know qualify . how is So that credit? The phenomenal . I know crazy, but no, I've gone for a five. I think it is a five out of ten performance. He didn't do a huge amount in the race. He was ahead of alonzer, of course. But he was in the race for like eight laps. Oh yeah. We're not going to give him the six leading army. We're going to give him the same grade as like Olive Beermann. Absolutely, yeah, he's a tractor. Yeah, fair enough. All right, well, I'm looking forward to a two out of ten for Fernando Alonso then. The fans gave Lance Stroll a five out of ten . Fernando Alonso started well, he qualified twenty seconds, he started from the pits and he did not finish . It's a ten out of ten for Fernando Alonso. No, I gone for a four for Fernando Alonzo driving obviously an absolute horrendous car , but I do have to take into account that he was qual out ified by his teammate Stroll, who is one of the worst qualifiers in Formula One . And of course, Stroll was ahead of him during the race. We didn't see anything from Alonza, even though he is driving an absolute tractor , you know, couldn't do anything heroic at the start like we've seen before and yeah just a disappointing weekend overall even though yes he's driving the worst car on the grid but you can only compare to your teammate and I can't give him the same grade as his teammate and maybe there's a bit of stroll tax on there because we're so used to him not beating him , but that's why I've given Alonzo a four . Fair enough, I've gone for a five out of ten for Fernando Alonso so still that point difference, but I thought, you know what, this is probably the only time Lancehold was going to get a six out of ten this entire year. So I'm going to give it to him right now . Fernando was beating Checo , which is obviously, you know, the big the big fight in this in this champ ionship , although I think that Perez did pick quite a few times . So maybe that's just slightly out of sync from where I looked. But actually know to be fair, he was fight he was fighting him. I think actually he was probably a little bit behind either or does it really matter those two were fighting right at the back . It's just a horrible car. How on earth do you actually grade these drivers in this in this Aster Martin that was a second off cadillac in qualifying just utterly embarrassing . So yeah, I've gone for a five for alonzo as shame that he DNF but also not a shame if you're a Liz Hamilton fan because Alonzo essentially secured that W even if I do think Hamilton had a great chance anyway, the fans gave Alonso a fine as well . Arvid Limblad started the eleventh , finished ninth . I am going to go for a seven out of ten for Avid Lindblad . I think he did pretty well in qualifying. I think he had some issues with his car as well, especially on that final lap because we were surprised to not see him improve after that first run in Q three looked really, really strong . Demployment issues you'll be shocked today. Yeah, I didn't want to say it again. It's just not just not fun, is it? But yeah, I think it was a decent enough decent enough run sorry, he didn't not Q three, Q two, he had a good run in the first in the first lap but then wasn't able to improve due to problems . And then in the race , I think he was , you know, slightly slower than Lawson. I think both of them are reasonably comparable , but another strong weekend for inblad and I think he can be happy with his current. I know he's had a few dips but he's also had some really standout performances this year and it's a very good rookie campaign I would say he's putting together so far in a very sort of predictable car as the VCAB's known. It's a really good car to for rookies to learn in. I still don't really know or understand or even believe that if that's true or it's such a strange thing to go around oh the VCAB's just really easy to drive . It such' ans eas justy car to do really well in. Although to be fair, the evidence of the last few years has shown that you know whoever has gone in there as a rookie or a junior has done has done pretty well. So Arvid gets a seven from me . I've gone for a seven out of ten for Avid Limblad. It's a shame what happened in qualifying with deployment issues because he was looking very quick and could have got a great result I think to get into the top ten and yeah, looked comparable to his teammate did well despite maybe a difficult start where he was one of those that cut over that first corner was had to give the place back to Holkenberg , but still managed to come through to finish not too far behind his teammate . And even though yeah, he's obviously inherited some positions , but it's still strong to finish behind his teammate who's performing very well , so I've gone for a seven for Limblood . The fans gave Arvid a seven as well . Liam Lawson started P eight, finished P eight . I've gone for a seven out of ten for Lilliam Lawson and I can already see all the Oh my god seven for lawson you're a hater but I looked into his race and actually his comments about his race . And he was less than happy with his result. He was very honest about the fact that a lot of his result came from the fact that two cars basically retired in front of him and Colopinto got a penalty . He himself said he pushed far too hard at the start which put him on the back foot and I can't be giving him a higher grade or the same grade as Pier Gasly who I think has obviously done very well and probably maybe not a stronger car than that V carb. So I'm going to go for a seven for Liam . Ooh , very interesting. I'm not going to go for a seven. I'm going for an eight out of ten fullium, Lawson. Yes, Lawson can be critical. There's's still room. It not a nine, it's not a ten. I think it was a very solid weekend from Lawson. Yes, out qualified Limblad and we mentioned about the problems that Limblad had in qualifying, but that's not to take anything away from what Lilliam did in terms of qualifying eighth and yeah I think he missed some times in the in free practice two as well and qualifying as I mentioned very impressive . I don't know where Alpine sit in comparison to VCAB personally I think that Gazie's executed really, really well , but perhaps pretty similarly paced between the two teams. It's so hard. Like how do you actually measure it? It's just all literally opinion. Yeah, of course the retirement's helped him, but that being said, I'm not going to take anything away from what is I would more happy, Lawson, I would say, you know, with your performance because that's another point score and adds to the tally of what has been a phenomenal season for him so far. The fans gave Lawson an eight out of ten as well . Color Signs started six teenth, finish twelfth . I am going to give Carlos Signs a seven out of ten . Williams are absolute poop at the moment. That's what I'm going to go with PG Brand Safe phrase there award winning podcasters. Yeah, yeah, yeah exactly. Clip that up and put that in the award winning evidence . But yeah, I think Carlos has done a pretty damn good weekend considering where that Williams is, you know, he was fighting Bortle Eto at the end in a car that did not deserve to be anywhere near that car. Yes, Gabby had a difficult weekend as we've graded, but I think Carlos deserves some note here for being quick for putting the car into Q two, which I don't think it belonged to be there. And when you look at how he performed compared to Albon, I think Carlos did a very, very good job, so I'm going for a seven. I have gone for a seven out of ten for Carlos Science. I thought that was going to be a hot take, but no very much of the same opinion. I think the Williams is an absolutely horrendous car at the moment . They're really struggling. They're not anywhere near where it should be. And I do feel like Color Science, maybe no surprise because he's one of the top drivers in F one is getting everything out of it . I don't think he should have been in Q two, but got his car there, put half a second on Albert in qualifying . And yeah, a very, very strong showing with no reward , but as is driver ratings, we're here to grade drivers on their performance based on their car rather than just where they finished. We're trying that. And it's an opinion exactly as you say, like it,'s where you see the difference between a Williams and an Alpine and a racing bulls and a hass. Like that's what makes these grades different between everyone. Exactly. The fans gave Carlos a six. Alex Albon He started in P eighteen and well he technically went over the line but still got beaten by three cars that had retired because he was five laps behind Perez, I think and eight laps down in total. That's the longest finishing position I've ever said. An MC, technically. Not classified. Not classified spike, but did it circulating. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, very strange and a very strange race for Alex Albert. I've given him five out of ten, couldn't match science in qualifying , didn't look to have the pace of Carlos, but very unlucky in the race , his FOM camera basically the T cam on top that we get the onboard view from became loose and was wobbling all around. I've seen a few people sharing the onboard footage from his car and how it was like wobbling and going crazy . And basically the rule is in Formula One, you have to fix that. And he had to come into the pits. They had to try and att ach it, which very interested to know like whether that's something that Williams actually would probably not do themselves. So probably was quite a difficult thing to fix because I imagine that 's FOM side or F one side to maybe put those on the car. I don't know, but no surely not. I would assume you reckon the team would just put together everything, right? And it's just like a they just get given a half to camera and they yeah, yeah, may be. But yeah, either way the second bizarre retirement not a retirement from the Grand Prix for Alex Alban, but I've gone for a five . Yeah, I deliber whether it was a five or lower, but I think I'm going to stick with a five out of ten for Alex. It was a course I'm not downgrading him because he was eight laps down as mentioned Tommy, you know, the camera thing's not his fa . That being said, you know, the half a second behind Carlos in qualifying is a big old gap , especially around a place like Barcelona . So yeah, that's my sort of main consideration here compared to Carlos. Maybe that's why I've given Carlos more . But yeah, for Alex, just a weekend that can just be put in the incinerator to be honest, because he was really didn't show any pace even up until the point of the problem , so come for a five. The fans Five out of ten as well . Lewis Hamilton started second , finished first. Difficult one this I've gone for a ten out of ten for Lewis Hamilton . What more can be said? I think you know , if anybody's out there giving him a blemish on his card because he didn't qualify on poll. I think that's ridiculous. I think that the fact he even put it second and so close to poll position was phenomenal and then in the race have to mention it because the other drivers that also got it. I have mentioned, there was a decently timed VSC for him, which allowed him to get tracked position for his final stint . But that being said I do I strongly believe that he would have had a very, very good chance of winning the race anyway because of the pace he was putting down. The question mark, the unknown is that you don't know how he would have been following other cars and what the tyre temps would have been like in such a hot day, but that's a that's a hypothetical. That's something that didn't happen. What did happen is Hamilton got track position and then one by twenty seconds . I was wondering what year it was seeing Hamilton so far out in front with no body else having an answer for him . So yeah, it's it's revitalized the championship . The fact Hamilton has entered the fray, I think millions of people around the world are going to start tuning in because Canni get his eighth . I do understand how some people have turned off this season because of many, many reasons of engines and yadi yardiada. But we've had less talk about that, which is really nice. We have more talk about the narratives and things like that. And Hamilton joining the Frey is excellent for the sport and what a performance, the best we've seen from Hamilton at Ferrari, hands down, but it's not like it's a one off either because he has been very quick the last few weekends as well. The easiest ten you could possibly give . I've also gone for a ten out of ten, a very easy ten. As you say, qualified on the front row. I think you obviously you were only bantering about the blemish in the fact that he's qualified second. I think that is him overperforming the car anyway to be that close to a pole position where Mercedes have just absolutely trounced, you know, qualifying all the time this season and looked very, very good. So I think yeah, amazing in qualifying, which has been something that's maybe let him down in the latter part of his career . And then even when you know he didn't get into the lead at the start, his pace was very good. He went for the aggressive strategy and it was absolutely amazing to watch him just absolutely go for it. I think he would have won the race. I wish we could have seen it in an alternate universe to see him come through from fourth to win , but it doesn't take anything away from his drive either way because for any doubt of the kind of oh he got lucky because of the VSC, the fact that he pulled twenty seconds on George Russell is just a kind of well watch this and it was absolutely amazing from Hamilton, so an easy ten . The fans have given him a ten out of ten . Charlac er started tenth , finished technically class ified fifteenth . I've gone for a three out of ten for Charlot crashed in qualifying, of course, the only driver to crash this weekend . His race pace wasn't particularly great a long way off Lewis Hamilton when he did actually retire of course the retirement wasn't his fault again unusual strategies and things but I, think I counted fifty fifty odd seconds off of Hamilton before he retired . And I think just the whole weekend has piled a huge amount of pressure on him going forward , which I think is going to be very interesting to see how he picks himself up from it because we thought Monaco was bad, kind of got worse the fact his teammates won the race and yeah he needs to turn his form around very quickly and put this one behind him and get back to the driver that we kind of know can perform . So yeah, reason I've gone for a three is kind of looking at everyone else and the fact that he is the one that 's made the mistake to crash out and underperform . So disappointing weekend again for Charlie. Cool . Nice guy. How many seconds did you say he was behind? fifty For threety, forty three, do some maths. But anyway, yeah, it was forty three ish when I've done I've done the mental maths. I've had a look, I've checked the stats. I've gone for a four out of ten for Charlot Clerc. There's no way on earth you're giving him a three out of ten if you finish his P six and doesn't retire. There's no there's no there's no chance you you've done that because he's retired as well but that's not obviously his fault. I think that I mean we're, arguing with a three and a four . It's really it doesn't really matter. It's more for me that he has to be behind the drivers that I've given a four . That's fine, that's fine . And I hope you're happy with your three. Because I'm going to go with a four because the positives, not many of them, but the positives were, you know, his start was able to basically turn around a lot of that deficit on lap one going from tenth to seventh and then he was ahead of Piastry. We giving him a two out of ten we'll find out but for Charlot it was it was a weekend to forget again you know the crash was him trying to make up time in a corner that he was losing time and this is the pressure that I think Hamilton's putting on him. There's no doubt because Hamilton is showing that he is able to do things that perhaps Charlotte Claire is like, oh hold on, wait what? You can do that in the same car as I can. Well, I'm going to try and do it as well. Oh, God, I'll got in him the wall. So it's a really tough pill to swallow watching Charlotte Claire here because there are points where I'm like he's rapid but he's being really inconsistent and causing you know, and, having crash es . So the one small saving grace for me is that yes, there is the potential is there . I can see it. I've seen it in the sector times, but he's not able to actually deliver it and that's the really sad thing. So yeah, it's it's tough. He is still eighty one points behind Kimi Antonio to the championships to long because of course Antonelle DNF as well . Obviously I'm half joking, but you never know Ferrari were fast around Barcelona, so maybe this is the turning point, but it's a four out of ten from me and it's a four out of ten from the fans as well . Isaac Kadjar started sixth , finish sixth and I'm going to go for six out of ten for Hadjar . Decent qualifying only I would say decent very good qualifying for from Hadjar, half a tenth behind Verstappen . The reason why I'm going for a six and maybe not a seven is because as much as he dropped so he dropped down and some people might go, Oh that's, just the red bull, but his own comments were saying that basically it's too narrow of a window. The procedure is too difficult, the window is too small . So for me, I'm like So there is still a possibility of making it work and that's what Max did in the race as well . So he's fallen back massively. He's of course come through back through the field. So a decent recovery drive, obviously miles off by the time he's got through . Overall, yeah, could have been a much better weekend potentially. I think Piatri was there for the taking this weekend for Hajar . But yeah, like it's not a bad grade, but there was definitely more to be had. I've gone for a six out of ten for Hajjar as well. His kind of top moment was qualifying to be very, very close to Max Verstappen , which we've not seen a lot in kind of Formula One in recent times , but dropped back at the start , which really cost him , you know, fell all the way down the order and had to spend much of that kind of first start fighting midfielders which put him on the back foot and finished kind of yeah, well behind his teammate on the road. So not the best weekend for him, but as far as second red bull drivers go, you know, it's more points on the board and yeah dec,ent decent showing but not the best for Hajar . The fans gave Hajar a seven out of ten . Max Verstabin started fifth finished fourth . I have gone for an eight out of ten for Max Verstappen . I think he got what he could out of that car. He was going to be a McLaren and a Ferrari of course before that Ferrari broke down . And yet, yeah, they were obviously much quicker cars, I think, this weekend compared to the Red Bull . And yeah, it's one of those weekends where Max couldn't really do an awful lot with what I had. The red bull is still just too far off to fight which is a big shame . Certainly as I've gone for an eight as well for Max, I think he did a really good job this weekend. Hardly saw him the entire Saturday and Sunday to be honest with you. It was just such a quiet weekend, but one that was solid. He ended up fourth decent amount of points , but just nowhere near the pace of the front. Well, Hamilton and the Tomersades and of course Land o as well. So Red Bull still has work to do with their best engine and that's kind of the story really. Like how on earth do they really improve? They need to shave off more kilograms by the sounds of it . The fans gave Max an eight as well. Kimmy Antonelli started third and finished technically classified P sixteen . I've gone for an eight out of ten for Antonelli. I think it was a relatively poor display in qualifying in comparison to his teammate. Of course, he literally started third, so his blemishes were saved there , but I think that there was obviously it was three tenths behind Russell. There was a lot more time to be to be made up, but in the race, I think he was really impressive , literally passing George Russell on track with that additional race pace he's shown almost all year so of course then retired so it's a shame for him and lost a lot of points. You know there are things definitely to have been improved in qualifying for Kimmy and then also it's hard to say, but obviously without the virtual safety car and also his retirement , he might have been able to put up some kind of fight against Hamilton. We don't know, but what was clear is that the Antonelli was was quick and a lot quicker than George come that come the end of the race. So a big shame for him but I've gone for an eight . I've gone for an eight out of ten for Kimmy Antonelli. Qualifying was a big let down miles off George Russell kind of what we maybe saw more towards last year with his qualifying pace, but in the race much quicker showing again that he's got stronger pace in the Grand Prix than George Russell and able to kind of put George Russell under a lot of pressure and then eventually pass him . So yeah, I can't can't go for any higher because we do expect obviously a lot from Mercedes still very much feel like they are the best car on the grid . So yeah, had he been on pole position, his race place maybe he'd have just gone away with it and won easily again , but qualifying really let him down. So I've gone for an eight. The fans gave Kimmy an eight out of ten as well. George Russell started first, finish second . I've gone for an eight out of ten for George, fantastic qualifying , but of course you've got to say that should have won should have won the race with the post that he had and he was going to finish third on the road. Now I have seen the Mercedes Instagram post where they were talking about George's race and they put him in on a weird wing setting for the final stint , which meant he was struggling a lot more than normal. That being said I still, am adamant that you know, Antonelli was on him in the middle of the race as well. So I do think Kimmy showed that he was quicker overall in the race . But yeah, I still think George had a great opportunity to win that Grand Prix and it's weird mixed feelings that he's gained so much on his teammate but it's also a race win that's got away from him. So I returned to the podium but still not huge amount of shouts about when he's driving, you know , the best car out there so I've gone for an eight Well Tommy's still back in the Mercedes as being the fastest car after Hamilton dominate by twenty seconds. Interesting. Of course, slightly different fresher tyres. I've gone for an eight out of ten for George Russell as well, literally the opposite weekend for Antonelli in the sense of Saturday was phenomenal, Sunday , lectures left a little bit on the table. You know, that wing setting stuff, I'm sat there like how many times Mercedes want to mess up something to do with George Russell's setup this year. Like we had the whole debacle of Japan, I think it was where he was on the wrong setup, the entirety of the race and now this one as well . It's not something you tend to hear all that often of like, Ah, they changed the setup so drastically that I'm then struggling . It would make sense as to why George was on the back foot in that final stint , but that being said , I think an eight reflects it pretty well and I can't really separate the two the two Mercedes drivers because they both had different parts of the weekend where they were very good. So eight out of ten for me, the fans gave George an eight as well . Oscar Piestri started seventh , finished fifth . I am going to go for a six out of ten for Oscar Piestri . A very, very quiet one indeed . He was actually pretty close to Lando in qualifying , but he was in that part of the qualifying order that was bad because there was I think three or four drivers separated by like a tenth. He was on the wrong end of that . However the race he left a lot of time on the table He just really struggled with keeping the tyres in in good nick and I think he ended like thirty five seconds behind Norris come the end of the race I. think partly is due to Lando being really good this weekend again when he's had a car that doesn't break down. For Oscar, I think he'd be slightly concerned . That being said , the hot conditions I think is something that doesn't really suit Oscar and just that tire conservation . I'm not going to grade him any lower than a six because it was a P five , just a quiet one , but a little bit concerned maybe for Oscar in the coming races if this is the kind of performance he can put down . I've gone for a six out of ten, Proscarpiestry. It's close between six and a seven, but I'll go for a six because it is disappointing how far off his teammate was in the race . Very anonymous , you know , the only kind of saving grace is he didn't do anything wrong. He just didn't have any pace. But he needs to find an answer to what's going on at the moment because since that amazing almost win in Japan that he could have so easily won had he got some better luck, he's not really looked on the pace of his teammate and has struggled and been quite far behind him in a lot of the races we've seen. So yeah, a step behind what we've seen from Lando this weekend is obviously Shawn a lot and Oscar just seemed to yeah just sort of kind of had we not seen what Lando would done, you'd we'd maybe be saying that's just where the McLaren is but because of what Lando's done not the not the best from Oscar . Not the best indeed . The fans gave Oscar a six as well . Lando Norris started fourth, finished third . I have gone for a nine out of ten for Lando Norris. I think it's a brilliant drive yet again . In my opinion , no way should the McLaren be on the back of a Mercedes and fighting them. And that's what Lando did. He gave them, of course, a headache with the fact that he was right on there. They kind of gearboxed most of the race, which meant that they couldn't do the strategy they always wanted to, and they had to think about him. And yeah, he was hanging on to the Mercedes deserves a big amount of credit and yeah, his car worked the whole weekend and he showed exactly what he can do even though I think ultimately he is disappointed that McLaren don't have the pace compared to the others and still a little way off but I think he's over delivering with that McLaren for another really strong result couldn't agree more I.'ve gone for a nine out of ten as well for Lando . Not much he could have done more . You know, perhaps if he had actually got through on Russell, this would be a very easy ten out of ten. But for Lando , just Just the fastest McLaren driver course was quite close on Saturday, but on Sunday he was brilliant. You know, the fact that he was right there was quite a surprise, I think, to a lot of us just okay, Lando's actually in the fight for this. This is this is something to keep an eye on be didn't quite have the pace to be able to actually make the moves on the Mercedes drivers. Of course Antonelli DNFing gave gave Lando an extra position, but I don't think that should take away from a really brilliant weekend and I'm glad to see that he actually had some reliability, especially when I predicted him to have reliability and it actually came true because everyone was very concerned that that would be the complete opposite . Solando gets a nine from me and the fans gave him an eight . Okay then, who is our P one? Oh, I wonder, Lewis Hamilton . Lewis Hamilton, I think was the only ten I gave this weekend , whereas I gave many ten s last time out. So a very different weekend . A lot of mistakes out there. Hamilton was not one of them . ten out of ten . Indeed , the only turn I've given is also Lewis Hamilton . Easily the best driver of the weekend , amazing performance and looking for ward to seeing what he can do now with those Ferrari upgrades and maybe just maybe we do get a challenge. The dreams are alive . Yeah, Charlotte eighty one points behind me may remind once again . You know , didn't lose any points coming out of Barcelona. So that's what I'll say. You know, that is a safe embrace for me. I mean, that is the most glassy 's crashed four weekends , but no. Did lose so to gaze though, as we mentioned, so right, mate. Yes, such ah God, I hate you so much. Right, that is it. Thank you everybody for tuning in. We will see you not this weekend, but next weekend for the Austrian Grand Prix. Looking forward to that one. Tommy final thoughts. Final thoughts are yeah, excited to see another race a very different circuit. I'm very intrigued to see Austria's such a unique track on the calendar. It's going to be very power focused, you think . So yeah, very interested to see how that kind of stacks up because it would be kind of the third race in a row that we've had very different circuits in a row to see if the pecking order switches up, which will be very interesting for our predictions, which I'm not sure will get all wrong. We'll keep Ferrari fastest, please. That would be great.. Thanks everybody We'll see you soon. Lots love. Bye. Goodbye. P one is a stack production and part of the ACAS Creator Network