2016 United States Grand Prix driver ratings

2016 United States Grand Prix

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With only one Red Bull and one Ferrari making it to the chequered flag big points were on offer for the midfield teams last weekend.

Which drivers took advantage of the opportunity and who else impressed in Austin? Here’s the F1 Fanatic verdict on the full field.

Mercedes

Hamilton took a badly needed win
Lewis Hamilton – Wasn’t happy with one of his set-up changes on Friday but produced the goods on Saturday, when a superb run through sector one secured his first pole position at the Circuit of the Americas. He said he’d done his homework on his starts and it showed: he led the field to turn one and from there on never looked like losing. He was clearly driving well within himself, but nor did he buckle under the championship pressure.

Nico Rosberg – Always seemed to have the three-tenths deficit to Hamilton which was apparent in first practice, and qualifying bore that out. Like his team mate he started on the soft tyres but he allowed Ricciardo to get the better of him in turn one, falling to second. He was going to have to pass Ricciardo on the road to get the place back until the Virtual Safety Car handed him the position.

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel – Said he was unable to balance his car on Friday after losing a small wing element. Come qualifying he still wasn’t completely happy with his car and was beaten by Raikkonen. Not for the first time this year he tried to take a normal racing line through turn one at the start irrespective of what his rivals were doing and was tapped, though fortunately without lasting damage. Running long in the first stint gave him the option of using a two-stopper which might have got him ahead of Raikkonen had his team mate not retired.

Kimi Raikkonen – The Ferrari didn’t look capable of better than fifth, which Raikkonen delivered. Starting on the super-softs he gained a place from the soft-tyred Verstappen but was mugged by the Red Bull driver at turn 12 later on. His three-stop strategy would have put him in a strong position to take on Ricciardo had his final pit stop not gone awry.

Williams

Felipe Massa – All-but matched Bottas in Q1 and Q2, and only a tenth away in the final part of qualifying. With both Force Indias and his team mate suffering a setback at the start it fell to Massa to capitalise for the team, but he ended up seventh behind a Toro Rosso and a McLaren. The Virtual Safety Car went against him, but dawdling behind Sainz gave Alonso the chance to pounce.

Valtteri Bottas – Beat Massa to eighth in qualifying but didn’t appear to have the pace to catch Hulkenberg. The pair collided at turn one in what was a racing incident, but it wrecked the day for both of them.

Red Bull

The Virtual Safety Car confined Ricciardo to third
Daniel Ricciardo – Split the Mercedes on Friday and lined up behind them on Saturday, the highest-placed driver to run the super-soft tyre at the start. That paid off as he got ahead of Rosberg and did everything he could to stay there until the Virtual Safety Car thwarted his efforts.

Max Verstappen – Led final practice but was shaded by Ricciardo in qualifying. Nonetheless he chose to start the race on the soft tyres having been pleased with his car’s long-run pace on Friday. However he lost a place at the start (to a car on softer tyres), and although he re-passed Raikkonen his pursuit of Rosberg appeared to cost him and then he spoiled his race by making the strange mistake of pitting when he wasn’t told to. He did follow the team’s instructions when it came to parking his car; the fact is was jammed in neutral hindered the marshal’s recovery efforts and prompted a Virtual Safety Car period.

Force India

Nico Hulkenberg – Looked on it throughout practice. He solidly out-qualified Perez and, importantly, both Williams drivers. But he was pinched between Vettel and Bottas at the start, ending his race on the first lap for the third time this year.

Sergio Perez – Sat out first practice while Alfonso Celis drove. He didn’t make the cut for Q3, partly due to a damaged brake disc, but enjoyed the benefit of ‘new-tyre pole’. He was hit from behind by Kvyat on lap one but recovered to eighth and could’ve been higher had he not pitted shortly before the VSC.

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Renault

Kevin Magnussen – Renault said Magnussen had been unable to get a clean lap in Q1, where he was eliminated. He quickly got ahead of Palmer at the start and late at the race his team advised him he could gain places by making a late stop for super-softs. This he did, and by passing Palmer, Ericsson and Kvyat he achieved the target the team had set him. But a post-race penalty for leaving the track while passing Kvyat demoted him back to 12th.

Jolyon Palmer – His engineer took the blame for Palmer impeding Button in qualifying, and Renault were fortune not to get a penalty. Palmer duly made it into Q2. However in the race he fell behind Magnussen and, shadowing his team mate’s strategy, was unable to get back ahead and unwilling to risk a move.

Toro Rosso

Sixth was a “top, top result” for Sainz
Daniil Kvyat – After getting a vote of confidence from the team who announced his 2017 contract ahead of qualifying, Kvyat didn’t make the cut for Q3 as Sainz found three-tenths more in the car. He hit Perez on lap one and picked up a ten-second penalty, but his gap to Sainz at the flag was more than a minute.

Carlos Sainz Jnr – Was justifiably proud of his qualifying effort, claiming a place inside the top ten despite his final practice being ruined by two punctures. He delivered a strong race too, avoiding the first-lap dramas and benefiting from the Safety Car to run fifth. It’s doubtful he could have found a way to keep Alonso behind, so sixth was a superb result.

Sauber

Marcus Ericsson – Said he wasn’t confident in the car but nonetheless made it through Q1. He ran as high as 11th late in the race after gambling on a one-stop strategy in the hope of but was passed by Kvyat and Ericsson.

Felipe Nasr – Having been happy with the car on Friday Nasr was displeased at his qualifying effort which left him on the back row of the grid. He tangled with Ocon early on, who was the only other driver to start on softs, but Nasr kept his going long enough to only make one further pit stop. That made his second half of the race on soft tyres more interesting and though he pitted too early to benefit from the VSC he ended up behind his team mate.

McLaren

Alonso forced Massa aside as he climbed to fifth
Fernando Alonso – Said the car wasn’t quick enough to reach Q3 and took consolation from starting 12th on new tyres. However a good start – taking the outside line at turn one as usual – moved him up into the points positions. He spent the race in pursuit of Sainz until the VSC period put Massa between them. But Alonso first barged Massa aside with an uncompromising move, then took Sainz in a more straightforward fashion, and equalled McLaren’s best result of the season.

Jenson Button – Was very unhappy at dropping out in Q1 after doing his first run on softs, meaning his final effort on super-softs would be decisive, only to be held up by Palmer. Starting on super-soft tyres looked like a bold move but he gained places on lap one and then passed Gutierrez for good measure. It was somewhat inevitable that Perez would come past him by the end of the race, but ninth was a fair reward.

Manor

Pascal Wehrlein – Took a scolding from the team after spinning off in final practice and hesitating to switch his engine off, hoping the marshals would recover him. He made amends in qualifying, besting Ocon by a quarter of a second. He raced well too and was putting the wounded Bottas under pressure at the end.

Esteban Ocon – His final run in Q3 was compromised by a sticking wheel nut which delayed his exit from the pits and forced him to run a hard out-lap, spoiling his tyre preparation. He started the race on the mediums and found it a struggle, eventually pitting after just 17 laps. He’d also picked up some damage and pitted twice more by the end of the race, finishing a distant 18th.

Haas

Romain Grosjean – Haas couldn’t replicate their Suzuka performance and were losing parts from their car – Grosjean said he only managed four clean laps on Friday. He then dropped out in Q1. However he made an aggressive start on super-softs, picking off Ericsson, Kvyat and finally his team mate for 11th. He and Button were in something of a stalemate in the final stint but retirements ahead promoted him to a point.

Esteban Gutierrez – Wasn’t running the new front wing which transformed the performance of the VF-16, but made it into Q2. He slipped behind Grosjean early on and retired shortly after his first pit stop with another brake fault.

Vote for your driver of the weekend

Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?

Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?

Cast your vote here:

2016 United States Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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67 comments on “2016 United States Grand Prix driver ratings”

  1. I disagree with the 4 for Button, I personally would have given him a 2 or a 3, because his race pace was abysmal, he was lapping six tenths a lap slower than Alonso, and the VSC didn’t really hurt him considering nobody around him made him any gains. Massa was a bit bad towards the end, but he deserves a 3. I would also give Perez a 4 and demoted Palmer and Nasr to 2’s.

    1. Well, he was passed by Perez, so the VSC definitely hurt him.

      1. Perez got past before the VSC, in a pit stop undercut. Perez also pitted before the VSC

    2. He said in an interview that when he was passing Gutierrez near the start that he ran over a bit of debris and that did impact his race a bit apparently. I did see him run over that but I didn’t realize it affected him.

    3. God l feel sorry for Keith trying to rate this every race, but l think Keith nailed it..dont agree with the Button 4 either.

    4. I also disagree with 5 for Fernando ….. exceeded tracks limits way to often and regardless of what the stewards say (who by the way were totally inept in Austin) his move on Felipe was way to opportunist …. a 4 yes but not a 5.

  2. Ricciardo a 5? please hahaha…for what? Dull driving?

    1. Indiana this isn’t monster trucks what entertainment were you expecting from Ric?

      1. Well, if Hamilton gets dinged for “driving well within himself” (a terrible phrase, since it brings to mind Fantastic Voyage, rather than a controlled race), then surely Ricciardo should be dinged for his most memorable moment being a swear word because of his own teammate.

        Hamilton drove the exact race he needed– Fastest in Q3, perfect start, drove off from his teammate on identical tires (and Ricciardo who had super soft tires and the RB12– Not that I think the RB12 is that much better than the W07), and drove exactly fast enough to never be challenged for the win.

    2. Mostly for his practice and qualifying effort i would say.

    3. For again beating his teammate in qualifying, which set up his race, he could have got 2nd not for vsc.his driving is so consistently fast that it had become dull for you maybe.

  3. It’d have been interesting t see how Ferrari’s strategy for Raikkonen would have played out. Vettel was catching him with 6 laps fresher tires when he pitted.

    1. Is just me or Seb still the real deal as a Superstar driver?…4 crowns and being a father and being flogged by Ric might of just dampened his passion and hunger a tad..wouldnt be suprised if he called it quits early on his career…who could blame him.

      1. Then why is he so flippin’ clumsy on race starts?

      2. After becoming a father, and after being beaten by ricciardo there is something you forgot, season 2015, 3 wins and great season.

  4. Mercedes:
    Hamilton – 4/5 – Did what he needed to do, taking pole position with a brilliant sector 1 and his 50th career win. He cannot afford anything less than wins at this point.
    Rosberg – 3/5 – Conservative weekend, qualifying second. However he lost a position to Ricciardo at the start, but managed to get it back with the help of the VSC. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing and he has the WDC in the bag.

    Ferrari (New award – worst team of the weekend):
    Vettel – 3/5 – Did not have the pace of Raikkonen, and finished outside the podium in what has been a dismal season for Ferrari.
    Raikkonen – 4/5 – He was doing a good job, once again out-qualifying Vettel and having a strong race. However, Ferrari screwed up…again. Poor old Kimi.

    Williams:
    Bottas – 3/5 – Good in qualifying but was involved in a turn 1 crash with Hulkenberg. Both their races didn’t get any better. Not good for Williams in the battle for 4th in the WCC.
    Massa – 3/5 – Poor in qualifying, although he was having a solid race and was on for 5th at one point. However, Alonso and Sainz got past towards the end.

    Red Bull:
    Ricciardo – 5/5 – Had the pace of Rosberg and was looking good for second until he got unlucky with the VSC, handing the position to Rosberg.
    Verstappen – 2/5 – Did not have the pace of Ricciardo all weekend, had a slightly poor start losing a position, and then making a bizarre mistake entering the pits at the wrong time, and then retired shortly afterwards. Poor race for Verstappen, and he still somehow wins driver of the day.

    Force India:
    Hulkenberg – 3/5 – He had the potential to get a 5/5 weekend, doing a superb job in qualifying, but was then unlucky with a crash at turn 1.
    Perez – 3/5 – Did not get to Q3, and did not have the best of starts, being taken out by Kvyat. He did make a solid recovery to 8th.

    Renault:
    Magnussen – 3/5 – Out-qualified by Palmer once again, although he finished one place ahead of him in the race due to a penalty for passing Kvyat off the track. More evidence to show that this track really does need some gravel and grass.
    Palmer – 3/5 – Was the better Renault driver on the Saturday although he held up Button in Q1. In the race he was defeated by Magnussen but at least he didn’t get a penalty!

    Toro Rosso:
    Sainz – 5/5 – My driver of the day and weekend. Great effort to get into Q3 with a 2015 Ferrari powered car. He held off Massa and Alonso for many laps but Alonso made a ballsy and borderline move on him although Alonso’s track limits were questionable. A superb driver from Carlos.
    Kvyat – 2/5 – Seems that the Toro Rosso contract extension didn’t really make a positive impact on his performance.

    Sauber:
    Ericsson – 4/5 – He has been the better of the two Sauber drivers this season, which is a contrast to last season. He was running 11th at one stage in this race!
    Nasr – 2/5 – Noting much to say about him really. Erm… he was driving a blue and yellow Sauber!

    McLaren:
    Alonso – 5/5 – Track limits were questionable for everyone but Alonso was pushing it. I will give him a 5 though for a superb race and a decent effort in qualifying. He wasn’t my driver of the weekend because of his track extending.
    Button – 4/5 – Started 19th after being held up by Palmer. His Sunday had a much better afternoon, finishing in 9th!

    Manor:
    Wehrlein – 4/5 – Much better than last race where he delivered a Haryanto-esque performance, finishing last. This time he outqualified and outraced his teammate, so a better weekend for him.
    Ocon – 3/5 – Still hasn’t overtaken Haryanto in the WDC standings yet. Very surprising, although the Manor has lost a lot of pace compared to other cars around.

    Haas:
    Grosjean – 4/5 – Scored a point in his team’s home race! That new front wing must be an improvement.
    Gutierrez – 3/5 – The conclusion that I can draw from his performance and the whole season, is that the brakes of the VF-16 are rubbish.

    1. The conclusion that I can draw from his performance and the whole season, is that the brakes of the VF-16 are rubbish

      @ultimateuzair Now that is what I call an understatement! :-)

    2. Ham should be 5 then indeed
      Ves should imo be 3, had same pace as ric but something with a pitstop…
      Not sure id brakes or gut are worst parts of the haas package…

      1. Same pace, but positions behind because of inferior qualifying and lost a place at the start, and lost heaps more time because of his error to go in pits, 2 is worthy

    3. @ultimateuzair, as is often the case, I agree more with your ratings than the ones above. Especially with the ratings of Massa and Verstappen. I mean just how can anyone rate Verstappen’s race better than Massa’s? I don’t know. He made a silly mistake that he said in an interview afterwards that it was definitely his own fault. As he retired, he didn’t even complete a very large chunk of the race so nobody knows what could have happened. I may get to like Verstappen a bit more if if starts to accept that he sometimes makes mistakes like he did this time. I previously have really disliked his attitude to these things.

      Massa at least completed the race and while I wouldn’t give him higher than a 3/5, no way would I give him a 2/5. 7th was a very reasonable place for a Willimas considering that this really isn’t a track that suits them. Yes there were many retirements ahead but in that case, Sainz was REALLY lucky. He was more lucky than Massa anyway as it was because of Verstappen’s problems that allowed him to find himself ahead of Massa. Not that I wouldn’t give Sainz a 5/5 though because he had a really solid race indeed.

      I don’t quite see how Bottas is a 3 if Massa isn’t either. At least you have rated them the same. I just can’t see how Massa is one of the 2 drivers that got 2/5 there were plenty of drivers that preformed worse than Massa overall.

      One thing I’m not quite sure what you mean is when you said Massa was poor in qualifying and Bottas was good. There was only around 0.15 seconds difference between them and Bottas was 8th and Massa was 9th. Does that mean if that if they swapped, Bottas’s qualifying would be poor? I’m just not quite sure what you mean.

    4. Arnoud van Houwelingen
      24th October 2016, 19:58

      Uzair Syed .. Verstappen was only 4,4 seconds behind Ricciardo when he made that disastrous pit stop. The second stint from lap 11 to lap 25 he was 2 seconds faster then Ricciardo with same tire (soft tire). Also he made 2 very good overtakes so to give him a 2 is too low. 3 stars is about right!

  5. Both Hulk and Perez deserve 4 based on their efforts whole weekend.

    1. So why doesn’t Bottas also deserve a 4? He qualified well and he at least did complete the race. You can’t really give Hulkenburg a 4 since he didn’t even do more than 1 lap in the race. Although he couldn’t help it that he had to retire. Bottas however fell over 60 seconds behind everyone and still managed to eventually managed to overtake 3. Although Nasr got him back. If you think Hulkenberg and Perez should be 4, then Bottas certainly should be too.

      1. I don’t think Bottas qualy is good enough to give him 4 !

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          25th October 2016, 0:44

          Well, since you say Bottas’s performance in qualifying wasn’t good enough then just how can you consider giving Hulkenburg 4/5 when he completed pretty much none of the race. Bottas completed all of the race as well as doing a reasonable job in qualifying. Perez didn’t do very well in qualifying but did a decent job in the race. I would give them all 3/5. I simply would have to give them all the same score.
          If Hulkenburg had had a really poor race, would you then rate him lower or keep his score exactly the same based on his other performance earlier in the weekend? I’m not saying he will have done badly in the race at all but you may have found out that he didn’t perform well. My main point is that if drivers hardly complete any of the race, I really would struggle to find a reason to give them more than 3/5 as you have no idea how they might have performed.

          Lets say if a very unusual thing happens like Erricsson in his Sauber tops all practice sessions as well as qualifying first for the race, then only to find that he has an engine problem on the 1st lap. Would you then give him 4/5 for the grand prix when he literally completed none of the race its self when that is the main goal? Since the main event by far is the race, to me, even if drivers do well in practice and qualifying, if they hardly do any of the race, giving them a score higher than 3/5 seems a bit unfair as you simply don’t know how they actually will have performed.

          1. I would definitely give Ericsson a minimum of 4/5 in case there is a scenario like you explained.

            Let me ask a question:
            Why does the stewards consider a drivers practice time to check against 107% rule when he cannot participate in qualy ?

            Its all down to a drivers performance right from P1 or P2 whenever he starts the weekend.

            Yes, anything can happen if Hulk continued to race, he might have won the race too (yeah I am kidding).
            So I don’t want to assume things and rate rather consider what’s on the table.

            If the accident was mistake of Hulk, I would have given him 3/5.

            Even though what matters is on race day, this is just a performance rating, not FIA driver’s championship points !

            Yes, Perez did had bad qualy but it was down to some technical issue with the car and considering he lost valuable 30+ laps in P1 is a disadvantage too.

          2. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
            25th October 2016, 9:24

            @bharathdreddy
            I can’t find the right reply button so this may be in the wrong place!

            Anyway, now you have answered what I asked about the unlikely situation, it just shows we have different opinions on how to rate drivers. As I said, If a driver has a technical issue and hardly does any of the race, I really would find it hard to give them more than 3/5 even if they had done well in practice as you don’t know what they will have done on the race day. I also certainly wouldn’t want to give them any less. I wouldn’t want to give them less because of their brilliant effort in practice and qualifying and I couldn’t give them more because they haven’t had a chance to show what they are capable of during the race. 3/5 because out of 5, it is the most fair you can give.

            If I base this on the reason that you have given for giving, then another example of a decent effort was when Haryanto was at Manor one or 2 weekends. There was 1 or 2 race weekends I think where he did a pretty decent job in practice considering that it was pretty much the worst car. He also beat his team mate and both Saubers in qualifying one time if I remember correctly. Anyway if this was true, would you give him 4/5 if he didn’t take part in the race through no fault of his own? If you would, then I will just have to understand that we rate drivers very differently. I know Haryanto wasn’t impressive during races but you can never know what exactly will be the case. If that is the case though, drivers rated by the way you rate them would sometimes do better to do well in practice and qualifying and not even take part in the race due to a technical issue.

  6. Not quite sure how Hamilton can get anything other than a 5/5. Especially given that Alonso and Sainz Jr got 5s when both were helped massively by the safety car, and had no hope of finishing that high without it. Ricciardo performed well, but I doubt he could have kept Rosberg behind. He wasn’t stripped of 2nd, he was stripped of a very slim chance of 2nd.

    Whilst I do not disagree with FA, DR and CSjr’s score, there is simply no way that all three of them deserve 5s if Hamilton is only rated a 4.

    1. Just because he won? Not enough in my book, if it took no fight.

      And it didn’t take much. Lewis fought Nico for pole and T1 and won both, end of story. Well, he also beat the rest, but that’s a given.

      After T1 Lewis only coasted along. This is not a criticism, he simply didn’t neeed to do anything else, he was unchallenged all the race. It is hard to justify a 5/5 for that, when other drivers fought tooth and nail all race long for their position.

      And btw I don’t believe Alonso and Sainz were helped “massively” from the VSC. They were certainly gifted 2P by Kimi’s and Max’s DNFs, but that’s another story.

      1. “And btw I don’t believe Alonso and Sainz were helped “massively” from the VSC.”

        Lap 28: Massa +46.486 – Sainz +54.289 – Alonso +59.339

        Lap 29: Massa pits, VSC is deployed
        Lap 30: Sainz and Alonso pit
        Lap 32: Sainz +59.567 – Massa +61.378 – Alonso +65,632

        =>
        Massa lost 9.6 seconds to Sainz and 8.6 to Alonso
        Sainz gained 9.6 seconds on Massa and 1 on Alonso
        Alonso gained 8.6 seconds on Massa and lost 1 to Sainz.

        You’re free to believe what you want, but in Sainz’s case I’d say gaining almost 10 seconds and a place *is* massive.
        For Alonso, it’s less obvious. But still: gaining almost 9 seconds on an opponent, who gets stuck behind a slower car on top of that, was rather handy as well.

        1. Id’s say it’s a bit overstated, but your mileage may vary

          Certainly Massa was unlucky to pit one lap before the VSC, it probably cost him 2P.

          Sainz won 1P with the VSC (but hard to fight hard to keep it). Alonso not even that, but got closer to Massa and -by fighting pretty hard- got 1P also.

          In every race we see plenty of times how positions are won or lost in well timed or badly timed pitstops, and the undercut is a well known and very frequently used trick. But you seldom hear “massive” applied to the win or loss of just 1P in the midfield.

          Kimi’s and Max’s DNF were worth double P than Massa’s VSC misfortune
          for Sainz and Alonso and didn’t cost them a fight, so there.

      2. But Hamilton driving any more aggressively than he did would have been foolish. He drove exactly as fast as needed in Q3, and the entire race– early on, he was pulling away from Ricciardo, even though Ricciardo had the “magic” RB12 and super-soft tires, and later in the race, he was able to maintain the gap to Rosberg easily.

        In short, taking a point away from a driver for not over-driving his car (ie, like Max) is just asinine.

        1. Nobody is saying that he should have been overdriving his car, mind you!

          The point is that coasting along does not automatically make you best driver, even if you win. Anybody in the F1 grid could have done what Lewis did yesterday after T1 without the slightest effort (the hard part was getting to T1 first, but it took only a few seconds). Except maybe some nutcase I won’t be naming who probably would have tried to lap everybody else twice, why settle for less?

          “Taking a point away” says it all. It seems to imply that if your name is Lewis Hamilton then you are entitled to five points to begin with, which eventually could be taken away if you make some major mistake. It’s not like that in my book, you have to EARN those points. Like the rest, Lewis begins with 0 points on Friday and has to work to get them from there. I’d give him 2 for a pretty good quali effort, 1 for not botching the start, and 0 for the rest of the race, total 3/5, thank you very much.

          1. No, not anyone could have driven away from the field while managing tires / fuel / etc.. If Hamilton was in “cruise” mode, than surely Rosberg or Ricciardo would have caught him, since they weren’t in cruise mode.

            My point is that Hamilton essentially drove a flawless weekend, but doesn’t get a 5, simply because he made it look easy.

            Meanwhile, Ricciardo, who drove an OK race, gets a 5/5, and Alonso, who should have gotten a penalty for drop-kicking Massa off the track, gets a 5/5.

        2. How is the redbull ‘magic’? It still has the Renault engine. redbull was .5 seconds behind in qualifying? And .8 behind with verstappen. Even with softer tyres the redbull can’t compete with the merc.

          1. I was being slightly facetious. Everyone keeps clamoring about what fantastic aero the Red Bull has, and while it’s not bad, I think the Mercedes has much better mechanical grip (see FP1).

            The Red Bull might be down a bit on HP (probably in the 30-50 range), but it does have really good aero, especially coming out of corners. To only be off 0.5 on a track like CotA which is 59% full throttle, and has a 1km straight, is pretty impressive, given the engine deficiencies (I don’t think Renault has an equivalent of “strat 3”).

  7. Hamilton: 4
    Alonso: 5
    This is a bad joke!!!!

    1. This is the first time I see you write “Alonso” in a very long period. You are improving!

      1. Should have said the “Button was better than you” littany. Look, Button climbed 10P (19th to 9th) but Alonso only 7P (12th to 5th). I’m kinda disappointed.

  8. Massa rated as badly as Kvyat. I have to let that sink in for a second.

    Quali:
    Kvyat: 3 tenths down and got stuck in Q2 unlike Sainz.
    Massa: 0.15 seconds and a place behind Bottas.

    Start:
    Kvyat: collision with Pérez, lost even more ground to Sainz.
    Massa: didn’t get off the line as quickly as Bottas but stayed out of trouble and took 7th as his team mate and Hülkenberg collided.

    Race:
    Kvyat: finished at least 65 seconds behind Sainz, 11th before penalties in a car that was good for 5th or 6th.
    Massa: drove an unthreatened race behind the Ferraris, aiming to finish 5th, which would’ve been the highest possible finishing position. His pit stop just one lap before the VSC cost him dearly, Sainz gained 10 seconds in the pits and jumped him.

    Incidents:
    Kvyat: Ran into Pérez’s rear and received a 10-second penalty for that.
    Massa: Was bumped off the track by Alonso, who carried way too much speed to make the corner, and had to pit to change his deflating tyre. Lost 5th due to circumstance, and nothing but circumstance.

    Whatever it is with Massa, it seems to be personal. It fits too well with that insulting tweet that was included in the round-up, although it contained just an insult, and nothing else of interest, by someone who isn’t even remotely relevant.
    I think that’s childish and disgusting. Definitely poor sportsmanship.

    1. At least it’s consistent

  9. Guybrush Threepwood
    24th October 2016, 21:11

    Verstappen ruined his tyres then pitted when he shouldn’t have and still gets a 3?

    1. I’m surprised he didn’t get a 4 (or higher).

    2. That is due to the MAX factor in the scoring algorithm ! ;o)

  10. Valtteri Bottas – Beat Massa to eighth in qualifying but didn’t appear to have the pace to catch Hulkenberg. The pair collided at turn one in what was a racing incident, but it wrecked the day for both of them.

    Perez collided with Hulkenberg at turn one, which is why Hulkenberg hit Bottas. I don’t think there was anything Bottas could’ve done to avoid that.

    1. It was Vettel’s fault, Vettel pinched them. Also Hulkenberg has to take part of the blame he sort of t-boner Vettel. Bottas was innocent @hotbottoms

      1. Hulk got sppoked by Bottas making a move and T-boned Vettel who was well on the outside. 100% Hulkenberg’s fault.

  11. Yep, I’d go along with those ratings. All who received a ”5” deserved it

  12. What sauber is doing to Nasr is so shameful. They copied his setup to Ericsson car (confirmed by himself) and screwed Nasr car for The qualifying. Massa had a good Race. He had 10s over Sainz if not for The safety car he would have an easy 5th.

    1. They did 2 different setups on friday to try to find the best possible setup. They then choose the best setup for saturday (the one Nasr ran friday). This is normal procedure in a racing TEAM that is trying to find more pace. Nasr hasn’t qualified well in quite a while and to blame the team for sabotaging his car is to say the least crazy..

  13. Nasr’s car was changed, so Ericsson would perform better.

    1. Huh? Sauber desperately needs one point, they are obviously doing all they can do make two cars able to score points. Nasr has been moaning all season, remember in the start when he said “my chassis is bad, Ericsson’s is good”. Nasr got a new chassis despite Sauber finding nothing wrong. What happened? Ericsson kept beating Nasr so the Brazilian started moaning about brakes :P

      It’s sad Nasr is linked to Force India, because any driver on the grid today would do it better. Ericsson included. I’d personally like to see Force India signing Ocon, but that’s perhaps a matter for another discussion.

  14. @keithcollantine
    I’ ve always had the feeling that you definately are not a fan of Sergio Perez, but this time I have to express my outburst. So, let me get this straight Keith. PER drops on 17th after that incident with KVY. BUT was on 11th the same time. PER recovers and finishes on 8th, with quite a few overtakes, while BUT finishes 9th. Yet BUT gets a 4 and PER gets a 3.
    Man, I know you are a hardcore Button fan, but you are losing your credibility. Get a grip.

    1. And who told you he is a Button fan?

  15. Hello Everyone,

    This is my first post here. I am regular follower of this page and I really like the way people engage in discussions with no personal attacks on each other which is almost the case in every other page. Nice meeting you all.

    This is off the topic, but I just thought I can share my view about the drivers pitting during the VSC period. I read few people suggesting to not allow cars to pit during the VSC period, but there could be some drivers who would have planned their pit stop during a specific lap time and if the pit window isn’t open then it might affect their strategy completely. Instead, once the driver enters the pit, there could be some stationary time after which the pit crew can start their activity, just like a driver serving his time penalty. Also, devise a table with the stationary times based on different ranges of tyre usage percentage or the number of laps run on a particular compound since their last stop. This way it might do some damage limitation for the runners who would have made pit stop just before the VSC.

    1. Or just get rid of the VSC.

      1. @christosts
        What’s the alternative? More laps behind the safety car – which increases the distortions caused by pit stops.

    2. @kart1131
      That’s not a bad idea. In fact, since refuelling is currently not allowed, they could return to the rule we had in 2008, but without the risk of another Crashgate. Just disallow pit stops except for safety reasons. If a car does need to enter the pits, a 15 seconds stop and go penalty has to be respected before anyone can touch the car.
      Problem: solved.

      1. Exactly ! but the duration of stoppage should be higher for someone who had the change of tires recently and trying to gain a strategic advantage, than someone who makes a genuine pit stop.

    3. Well, as long as you’re not making the rules hideously complicated….. :)

      1. Agreed :) I feel that the VSC is one of the better rules implemented if we consider all the silly rules enforced in the recent past. But we have seen that there were a few drivers who got the advantage by pitting during this time. Though, in a way it spices up the order and the race itself, it’s unfair to the drivers who would have made the stop just before a VSC period.Hence something can be done to minimize the damage. :)

  16. What on earth did Vettel do to deserve a 4? He wasn’t even as good as Kimi this weekend.

    I thought Aonso, Sainz and Hamilton were really strong this weekend, and Ricciardo was pretty solid too

  17. Seems ridiculous to give Verstappen the same score as Rosberg, unless I looked away at the point Rosberg pitted without telling anyone and destroyed his chance of a podium.

  18. So Massa finishes in front of Bottas but gets a lower rating.

  19. Romain got a higher score than Guti… This is so bad that’s actually good.

  20. Look at this clip dudes – the ghost archive from the producer…why didn’t we all se this clip watching online?..best duel of the gp..and why MAG deserves a seat in F1 – this is racing:
    https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/59dd3z/austin_2016_lap_2_kevin_magnussen_overtakes/?st=iuqodm41&sh=bb9c2c33

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