A lack of grip at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez made for a frustrating race for most of the field. Here’s F1 Fanatic’s verdict on how they did.
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton – Quick on Friday, though fractionally out-paced by Vettel. He was consistently ahead of Rosberg in qualifying on both types of tyre and duly took pole position. A glazed front brake caused him to lock up at turn one, an error which would have been more costly if the run-off area wasn’t so generous. From then on it was fairly straightforward for Hamilton although he had to change his engine settings when Mercedes detected high exhaust temperatures.
Nico Rosberg – Said Mercedes had a lot of work to do having been some way off Hamilton’s pace on Friday. He didn’t have his team mate’s pace during much of qualifying, but pulled out a decent final lap in Q3 to reach the front row. The gap in performance between the pair of them was apparent in the race, too: Rosberg never looked likely to catch Hamilton and instead came under attack from Verstappen, but kept second place.
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel – Surprisingly topped the times on Friday but was deeply unimpressed after qualifying during which he found no pace on the super-soft tyres. That was nothing compared to what followed after the race, however. Having run a long first stint and pressed on in the second half of the race he caught Verstappen but exploded in anger when the Red Bull driver went off at turn one without ceding position. Vettel then barged into the side of Ricciardo when the other Red Bull tried to take advantage. In his defence, his race engineer gave him the incorrect impression that Verstappen had been told to let him through. But that doesn’t excuse his complete loss of temper – had he kept control and not lashed out at Ricciardo he would have kept his podium finish.
Kimi Raikkonen – Complained of understeer on Friday and was the best part of half a second off Vettel but he qualified ahead despite an engine problem. In the race he was caught out by a lack of grip on the medium tyres, which he hadn’t run in practice having brought fewer sets than almost every other driver. He managed one of the race’s few passes against Hulkenberg, however.
Williams
Felipe Massa – Was well off his team mate’s pace on Friday, complaining about variation in grip levels from the tyres, and the situation changed little on Saturday. He got ahead of Bottas at the start put his team mate passed him early in the second stint as Massa struggled with his tyres. His straight-line speed kept him safe from Perez, however.
Valtteri Bottas – Encouragingly inside the top ten during both Friday sessions and well ahead of Massa in qualifying. Despite slipping behind his team mate at the start he got ahead again but didn’t have the pace to catch Hulkenberg.
Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull had a low-key Friday but Ricciardo was the quicker of the pair. Verstappen beat him in qualifying, however, as Ricciardo was perplexed by his car’s handling. He took advantage of the Safety Car to pit on the first lap and get rid of his super-softs, and although he worked his way speedily through traffic he wasn’t able to use the time gained to jump either of the Mercedes. He let Verstappen through when asked which proved prudent, as he caught his team mate and Vettel at the end of the race and their penalties eventually allowed him to take third.
Max Verstappen – Missed some of the first practice session after his brakes caught fire. Couldn’t replicate his Q2 pace in Q3 – a session where everyone seemed to struggle – but nonetheless took third. He took the fight to Rosberg when a chance appeared in traffic and came close to snatching second, but after that fell into the clutches of Vettel. He was judged to have overstepped the mark cutting the first corner with Vettel but it was a borderline call – Rosberg had gone unpunished for a similar move on the first lap.
Force India
Nico Hulkenberg – Had good pace on the soft tyres on Friday and produced a gem of a Q3 lap to beat both Ferrari drivers to fifth. Though well aware that Force India’s fight was not with the Ferrari drivers he kept Raikkonen behind for several laps. He jeopardised his hard work with a spin when Raikkonen came through, but this was otherwise an excellent weekend’s work.
Sergio Perez – Not as quick in the Friday afternoon session as the track cleaned up and the situation was much the same on Saturday: He was half a second off Hulkenberg as he missed the cut for Q3. In the race he got snookered behind the Williams drivers while his team mate beat both of them.
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Renault
Kevin Magnussen – Unlike Palmer, Magnussen had never driven on this track before, yet he was the quicker of the two in both Friday sessions and claimed a place in Q2. In the race he tried to use a set of super-softs for a late push but it didn’t pay off and he finished 17th.
Jolyon Palmer – Not satisfied with his balance on Friday evening, matters took a turn for the worse on Saturday when he clattered a kerb in final practice which surprisingly left him with a crack chassis, preventing him from participating in qualifying. He ran almost the entire race distance on the same set of medium tyres and held 12th until the McLarens found their way through.
Toro Rosso
Daniil Kvyat – An electrical problem left Kvyat without power in Q1 and he couldn’t make it beyond there. In the race he made life unnecessarily difficult for himself by refusing to yield a position when he was told to, leading to a penalty.
Carlos Sainz Jnr – Made it into the top ten on Friday and – remarkably – did so again on Saturday, repeating his Q3 heroics from Austin. He was careless on lap one, forcing Alonso off and collecting a penalty, and also delayed by a gearbox problem. On top of that he lost a place to Button while getting out of Verstappen’s way, leaving him 16th.
Sauber
Marcus Ericsson – Clearly much happier with the car than Nasr in qualifying, producing a fine lap to reach Q2. After first-lap contact with Wehrlein he pitted and ran the same strategy as Palmer, but impressively finished one place outside of the points in 11th.
Felipe Nasr – A front wing failure in first practice put him on the back foot and despite using the same set-up as Ericsson in qualifying he couldn’t make it out of Q1. He was the only driver to start on the medium tyres which he stuck with for most of the race before switching to super-softs. He reluctantly obeyed Sauber’s instruction to let Ericsson through but finished half a minute behind his team mate.
McLaren
Fernando Alonso – Alonso’s run in second practice came to an early end due to a problem with his braking system. He took 11th on the grid but celebrated as if he’d taken pole having gained the highest new-tyre starting position. After his delay with Sainz a slow second pit stop wrecked his chance of points.
Jenson Button – Made a breakthrough with the car’s set-up on Friday but was still struggling to get the tyres working in qualifying. The result was clear to see in his sector times: much of the gap to Alonso was at the beginning of the lap where his tyres were still coming in. Sunday was better, his opportunistic pass on Sainz one of the race’s best, but he spent most of the time stuck behind other cars.
Manor
Pascal Wehrlein – Said his Friday preparation was the best he’d had “since quite a long time” and he made good on that on Saturday, grabbing a spot in Q2. Unfortunately he went out in a first-lap racing incident.
Esteban Ocon – A difficult Friday left him with a lot to do in the Saturday morning session. A problem was identified with his car’s handling and Wehrlein beat him by half a second in qualifying. He was unable to overcome those problems in the race and finished a distant 21st.
Haas
Romain Grosjean – His qualifying run was disrupted by Gutierrez spinning in front of him but his car’s performance was a greater concern, describing his starting position as “unacceptable”. The misery continued in the race where his car was pulling to the left in the braking zones and he finished a poor 20th.
Esteban Gutierrez – An error in qualifying meant he dropped out in Q1 at home. He spent the race nursing his brakes but brought the car home ahead of Grosjean.
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 Mexican Grand Prix
- Vettel pips Hulkenberg to Mexico Driver of the Weekend
- Off-track drama enlivens Mexican procession
- Top ten pictures from the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix
- 2016 Mexican Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- 2016 Mexican Grand Prix team radio transcript
Oletros
31st October 2016, 13:33
VES 4 and VET 2?
Sometims those ratings are very strange
Phylyp (@phylyp)
31st October 2016, 13:42
Presumably for VES good quali, and for harassing ROS through a large part of the race.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
31st October 2016, 21:24
Vet had a huge ‘out of control’ childish tantrum and brought disrepect to the Formula and more importantly to Charlie Whiting, “Keith” was generous with a 2 ..Vet deserves race bans or time penalties for future races ect…some of these Drivers need to keep their ego’s in check…especially some of these WC’s who think they are Gods and bigger than the Formula…FIA need to get control of these ‘Ugly’ outburts and stop the foul language over the air with a time penalty for every _ _ _ _ this will stop the language in a blink , this is a Family spectator sport…
gweilo8888 (@gweilo8888)
31st October 2016, 21:44
Of course you’d have been a perfect angel were your rivals colluding to cheat you out of a position. Verstappen’s driving was shameful; both he and his team clearly knew he was in the wrong, yet both tried to ensure Ricciardo got past rather than rightfully surrendering a place which was retained only by cheating.
Frankly, Charlie deserved what he got and then some. Both his work and that of the stewards he oversees have been going downhill for years, and we’ve reached the point where some rules are literally only applied when it will tweak the race result in the desired direction.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
1st November 2016, 3:16
8888 you dont the first thing about me, so dont assume you would know how l would behave ..Charlie doesn’t deserve a dummy spat at him with foul language from any driver..Seb has indirectly been told to lift his game by his team and is feeling the pressure.. his abuse of others is out of control.. Vettel is a whining sook….l think it was great he lost a position to a driver who exposed his talent and spanked him in 2014….l wont even bring up the “cheating” Multi 21….Frankly Seb needs to put on notice with his outbursts by the FIA.
Oletros
1st November 2016, 16:32
“l wont even bring up the “cheating” Multi 21…”
Yes, won’t bring it, because the first to do that was Webber, not Vetel.
All the rest of your posts are more less the same bias
Markp
1st November 2016, 18:24
Agreed. Red Bull and their drivers will get it at somepoint. Charlie deserved more than he got, the words towards him were restrained. Hopefully the Red Bull drivers tangke with eachother soon then…….
gweilo8888 (@gweilo8888)
31st October 2016, 21:42
It’s Keith’s bias showing. Did you expect any different?
Mike (@mike)
1st November 2016, 7:06
Don’t be daft. The 2 comes from the fact that Vettel could and should have been on the podium. The penalty was entirely his own fault. 5th from a race where you held 3rd in your hands is not a good result.
Canderous (@yoshif8tures)
31st October 2016, 13:34
A mediocre race that produced little racing or action until the final few laps and even then we didn’t get the result until hours later.
Fitting that there was no stand out drivers and no one gets a full 5 stars.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
31st October 2016, 21:44
Agree Yosi one of the lowest driver ratings l have seen here…rightly so, rosberg happy to settle for 2nd in the equal fastest car is pathetic..real WCs would fight to the last race for wins he deserves a 0 hope Lewis beats him now.
Kie
31st October 2016, 13:35
All good Keith, although I’d say Ericsson is worthy of a 4…
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
31st October 2016, 13:37
He should have had a four, I put the wrong graphic in, glad you pointed it out!
Jimbo
31st October 2016, 13:37
As a sauber fan I am surprised by Marcus Ericssons rating of 3. Worth at least 4 to bring a sauber from last to 11. This with all cars but one finishing the race.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
31st October 2016, 13:46
Sorry, but Ericsson should have been a 5. Nothing else is fair here. He ran the entire race with a damaged car on mediums and outpaced many cars that even a healthy Sauber should struggle to beat. What could he have done to be awarded a 5? The cars in front of him are Williams, Force India, Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes. The Sauber car shouldn’t be anywhere near them, yet he finished no more than 25ish seconds behind Perez and Massa.
Jonas
31st October 2016, 17:50
+1
Ericssons best performance in F1.
WheelToWheel (@lolzerbob)
31st October 2016, 13:54
I’m sorry Keith but I can’t see how Vettel deserves a 2 and Verstappen a 4. Vettel drove a brilliant race to even fight the Red Bull’s in a slower car despite losing 15 seconds stuck behind Massa. Vettel should get a 4
Sainz and Magnussen should get 2’s and Ericsson a 5.
WheelToWheel (@lolzerbob)
31st October 2016, 18:03
For the future I think it would do better to have the ratings out of ten so there is more difference to the guys who got 2’s and 3’s @keithcollantine
For example for this race this how I would rate it
Mercedes
Hamilton – 8/10
Rosberg – 6/10
Ferrari
Vettel – 8/10
Raikkonen – 7/10
Red Bull
Ricciardo – 7/10
Verstappen – 7/10
Williams
Bottas – 8/10
Massa – 7/10
Force India
Hulkenberg – 9/10
Perez – 6/10
Renault
Magnussen – 5/10
Palmer – 8/10
Toro Rosso
Sainz – 5/10
Kvyat – 4/10
Sauber
Ericsson – 9/10
Nasr – 6/10
McLaren
Button – 7/10
Alonso – 7/10
Manor
Wehrlein – 6/10
Ocon – 3/10
Haas
Gutierrez – 5/10
Grosjean – 3/10
frood19 (@frood19)
1st November 2016, 9:28
@lolzerbob yeah, these make a bit more sense to me. vettel definitely soured a lot of people, but overall he had a really good weekend. i think verstappen was good too, very strong in the mid-part and did what he was told at the end. i blame the run-off for being too easy. i disagree with keith that rosberg did the same as verstappen – rosberg was hit on the inside and he only barely cut turn 2. verstappen and hamilton both totally cut turns 2 and 3 and gained hugely.
i really dislike the prevailing view (channel 4 commentators in particular) that if you don’t gain a position then you haven’t gained an advantage. if hamilton had made every effort to rejoin the track as soon as possible (not charging over the grass and missing the chicane) he would have been a sitting duck into the following straight; ergo he gained a massive advantage (same for verstappen).
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
31st October 2016, 14:11
I can’t agree with several of these. Vettel was better than Verstappen. No doubt about that. Maybe not over the weekend but Verstappen race performance was a 3/5 at most. 2/5 for the race alone. A poor move on Rosberg at the start pretty much forcing Rosberg off track. Then Going wide towards the end gaining a massive advantage over Vettel and then ignoring his teams advice. He didn’t have to go across the track like he did. and he could have listened to his team and avoided his penalty. I could maybe see them both having the same overall score but I would probably give Vetel a 3/5 and Verstappen a 3/5 too. Sorry, but Giving Verstappen a 4 in far, far to generous for the 2 mistakes he made during the race.
Not that I strongly disagree with Erricsson’s score but I see no reason why he can’t be a 5/5. He got thought to Q2, that is already a great point. Qualified 15th. Then got caught out in an accident first lap though no fault of his own. He pretty much fell right to the back suffering a broken front wing. He then pitted, and did 70 laps on the set of tyres and finished 11th! And there were no retirements of faster cars ahead of him that helped him finish as high as that. It was simply pure pace. I couldn’t not give him a 5/5 for that. He is also quite easily my driver of the weekend. IMO, he had a better race weekend here than Wherlein did in Austria. Wherlein sort of was helped into the points by Vettel retiring from the race. Wherlein also made an error at the start of parking in the wrong grid slot seconds before the race.
sethje (@seth-space)
31st October 2016, 15:38
If you wrote this piece a day earlier i could understand but by now you should know better.
VES did as his team asked. ( and btw there was no massive advantage, he came out the same position he went into the corner and VET never overtook! )
His move on ROS was forcefull but it’s racing, not kindergarten.
VES drove excellent for 69 laps and defended the last two laps. Great work.
VET did great also for the most part of the race. It was a mostly tactical drive but he did good. His swearing on the end should cost him some points.
Oletros
31st October 2016, 15:52
Yes, he was 3rd and taking adbvantage he continued to be 3rd. What are you really saying?
Ruben (@)
31st October 2016, 15:52
+1
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
31st October 2016, 18:11
Sorry, but I strongly disagree. Verstappen got a penalty for what he did. So how can you argue? He got a penalty because he gained an advantage and didn’t let Vettel through. It was clear he had an advantage because Vettel was really close and Verstappen braked really late and went wide then took a short cut and was further ahead of Vettel than he was. Not much further ahead but you usually are closer when you are going round bends but Verstappen had still gained. If he didn’t brake as late as he did, Vettel no doubt would have had him that corner. But he used the grass as a short cut. Vettel did manage to catch up but Verstappen just kept defending him.
I said that Verstappen ignored his teams advice which was to give the place back. (which is clearly true) “OK, give the position, I think you’re going to have to give the position back Max” (quoted from the race that I recorded)
No it wasn’t an order, but it was advice and he did ignore it and it gave him a penalty as a result. That is a much better reason to knock a driver rating lower than bad language. Bad language, although I agree it is very disrespectful indeed, it doesn’t change anything to do with the driving. Verstappen made several rather messy lunges over the race that were not very successful and I think that would be enough to knock his driver rating to 3/5 or lower as he refused his teams advice as I said. Vettels only mistake was the one with Ricciardo and that hardly was much of a move in the braking zone at all compared to what other drivers have done in the past. IMO, Vettel does deserve to have a higher rating this weekend than Verstappen. He had an incredible first stint on his tyres and caught up really well in a car that just doesn’t seem to be as quick as the Red Bulls anymore.
Mike
31st October 2016, 18:22
Red Bull told VES to keep his position.
“The radio messages broadcast by FOM during the race indicate Verstappen was told he may have to relinquish the position but after the Red Bull driver said “let me know” he was advised “OK, stay there”. Ferrari then told Vettel twice that Verstappen had been told to let him through.”
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
31st October 2016, 18:37
OK, sorry, but I have been looking all over the place and I hadn’t heard about that. Even so, It doesn’t really change my mind much about what rating to give him. I couldn’t give him a 4/5 and Vettel would have to be tied or better. Verstappen had a good qualifying and a race that had several poor moves in it. I think Vettel’s race was really impressive other than that 1 move on Ricciardo. But even that didn’t look anything like as bad a defensive move as other drivers have made this season. Vettel may not have been that good in qualifying but the race matters more and I think he did better than Verstappen during it.
gweilo8888 (@gweilo8888)
31st October 2016, 21:48
This is utterly revisionist. At no point was he told that he “may” have to relinquish the position. He was directly told by the team to do so. Whether they then changed their minds and told him not to is neither here nor there. The fact remains he was directly told to give the place back and did not. What we have here is an indication that both team *and* driver knowingly and separately decided to ignore the rules in the hope of getting past the Ferrari.
MG421982 (@)
1st November 2016, 16:47
R U for real?! The race happens ON-TRACK!!! If one leaves the track, he should rejoin (if we’re going to be 100% correct) on the same spot he left the track! Ok, that doesn’t happen, but VES skipped an entire corner and 2 halves of corners 1 and 3. So, overall, he skipped 2 corners! If that’s not a huge advantage… something’s wrong with you. Thing is, had he tried to rejoin the track as fast as possible and as close as possible to the point where he left the track, VET would have passed him without doubt. So, yeah, that was some cheating move to prevent being overtaken… given that the track config helped too, of course. In the future they have to do something about that area of the track to prevent such cases and taking the pressure of decisions and consequences from drivers and stewards altogether.
AntoineDeParis (@antoine-de-paris)
31st October 2016, 14:40
Ves rating:
“He was judged to have overstepped the mark cutting the first corner with Vettel but it was a borderline call – Rosberg had gone unpunished for a similar move on the first lap.”
That’s pure nonsense. Vettel danced with Max, making him act brainless, whereas Verstappen just forced Rosenburg off the track. Just watch the aerial view of Seb’s manoeuvre. Totally different situations
vlersch (@vlersch)
31st October 2016, 17:28
+1
gweilo8888 (@gweilo8888)
31st October 2016, 21:50
Exactly. It’s complete cobblers — the Rosberg turn one incident isn’t remotely comparable because he was nerfed off the track and clearly gained no advantage. And there was nothing borderline in Max’s cheating. He gained a clear and obvious advantage, then refused to surrender the position, plain and simple. Yes, Hamilton should have been punished for doing the same thing, but that doesn’t somehow excuse Max, who followed up his cheating with intentionally blocking and slowing down to force Vettel back into Ricciardo’s clutches.
Red Bull and their drivers behaved shamefully in this race, and I say that as someone who usually supports Red Bull / Ricciardo (and for whom Red Bull was my favorite team until just a few short years ago.)
Matn
1st November 2016, 19:20
Vettel was along side Verstappen at all, Verstappen however came even with Rosberg.
Rosberg got bumped of track, but chose a very remarkable line to get back on that track, he gained quite a lot there.
Consider Verstappen had the right to the racing line and Rosberg took on the battle. the FIA’s verdict seemed in pace by leaving it as a racing incident as both where over some limits… just good racing though.
Verstappen versus Vettel was quite similar however Vettel was still quite far off and Verstappen didn’t gain an advantage.
Was it wrong… yes I think so, but then again the FIA did not penalize both Rosberg and Hamilton.
Verstappen initially wasn’t under investigation…and the team told him to stay in position, understandable considering the first lap.
ILuvSoundtracks (@)
31st October 2016, 15:34
No one’s got a 5 at Mexico.
magon4 (@magon4)
31st October 2016, 15:55
Wow Keith you trully are a Max V fan. Up to today I wasn’t convinced by people getting on your case, but Max certainly wasn’t a 4 yesterday – and the two situations from the first lap and the Vettel incident can’t really be compared; in my opinion Max V was in the fault in both events!
Well anyway, to give Vettel a 2 for being a bad loser is a little too much, no? He drove a great race, I would even include his defending move against Dan.
That might be me being biased, but I guess the truth must lie somewhere in the middle.
juanga
31st October 2016, 16:06
+1
F1ed (@rinodina)
31st October 2016, 21:15
Thanks for your expert opinion.
hyoko
31st October 2016, 21:45
Absolutely
“He [Max] was judged to have overstepped the mark cutting the first corner with Vettel but it was a borderline call – Rosberg had gone unpunished for a similar move on the first lap”.
Now that’s rich. Max went wiiiiiiiide at T1 on his own, Vettel didn’t touch him and in all logic he shoud have lost P3. He didn’t because the grass space between T1 and T3 is a shortcut, there needs to be a gravel trap or a bollard in the exit or something that punishes trespassers ipso facto.
On the contrary Nico took L1T1 alright, it was Max’s divebomb and lock that pushed him out. The impact was powerful and he was lucky that it was wheel to wheel and there was no damage. But if anybody deserved a penalty there it was Max, not Nico.
So ok, L1T1 is messy, cars run 3 or 4 abreast, tyres and brakes are cold, drivers go every which way to avoid collisions and track limits are seldom enforced. I can accept the Nico/Max wheelbanging as a racing incident not worthy of punishment even if it was entirely Max’s fault. But there is no excuse whatsoever for Max’s endrace shortcut.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
31st October 2016, 16:45
I think Kimi deserves a 4. Out-qualifying Sebastian Vettel while having engine issues was astonishing. Kimi’s pace was good compared to Vettel at the start too, but in the end Kimi’s race was pretty much ruined by continuing with mediums for his 2nd stint; a decision I can’t understand. Kimi clearly had better grip with the softs, Kimi pitted when ~25 laps were left and Vettel drove 30+ stint with the same tires. S-M-S would’ve made so much more sense than S-M-M and I think with softs Kimi would’ve been on the podium.
Adhyra
1st November 2016, 23:45
Yes, Kimi did everything right but a poor race strategy kept him out of the spotlight. He outqualified Vettel by a very short margin and with only one run in Q3. Seb had two runs and improved in his second one but not enough to beat him. With a second run Kimi might have had a chance to get a better starting position, too bad his PU was losing power.
For the race he had to use a different engine to the one from qualy, maybe not the best one for a demanding track like Mexico. In his second stint he was unhappy with his pace with the mediums and let his team know but Ferrari instead of pitting him again and making him lose track position should have told him that his lap times were similar to those around him running with mediums.
He was running in fifth place when Vettel was catching up to him with fresh mediums and after that final pitstop he ended up in P7 not only behind his team mate but also behind Hulkenberg and by many seconds. In a track where overtaking proved very difficult Kimi managed to catch up to Hulk and get past him in a gutsy move in the last laps to get back to P6 where he had started.
Ferrari used strategy to help Seb go from P8 (he lost one position to Massa at the start and got stuck behind him until the Williams pitted) to get him to fight with Ves for P3 with a one stop strategy. With Kimi and a two stop strategy they kept him out from Seb’s way and the fight with the Red Bulls and forced him to deal with Hulk on his own to get back to his original P6. So strategy worked for one driver but gave no benefit to the other.
And unfortunately Kimi didn’t have a set of softs for that third stint, so pitting him to replace his set of new mediums for a set of used mediums made no sense when it meant losing track position and the degradation of that tyre was so low.
Like in Austin Kimi again seemed to get a subpar strategy compared to that of Vettel despite qualifying ahead of him and being the lead Ferrari on track on both cases.
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
31st October 2016, 17:31
Mercedes:
Hamilton – 4/5
Rosberg – 3/5
Ferrari:
Vettel – 3/5
Raikkonen – 3/5
Williams:
Bottas – 4/5
Massa – 4/5
Red Bull:
Ricciardo – 3/5
Verstappen – 3/5
Force India:
Hulkenberg – 5/5
Pérez – 2/5
Renault:
Magnussen – 3/5
Palmer – 4/5
Toro Rosso:
Sainz – 3/5
Kvyat – 2/5
Sauber:
Ericsson – 5/5
Nasr – 2/5
McLaren:
Alonso – 3/5
Button – 3/5
Manor:
Wehrlein – 3/5
Ocon – 2/5
Haas:
Grosjean – 2/5
Gutiérrez – 2/5
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
31st October 2016, 17:33
Keith, I do respect your opinion but I will admit that I am slightly bemused by the two-point gap between Vettel and Verstappen. I think that Vettel was bad in qualifying and Verstappen was bad in the race.
pmr
31st October 2016, 18:57
How was Verstappen bad in the race? he had a good fight into turn one, and then put pressure on rosberg throughout the race. He got one oppertunity at an overtake on Rosberg and took it. Altough it didn’t stick at least he tried. After he overshot the corner the team instructed him to keep position, but that wasn’t broad casted. he had just as good a race as Vettel did.
Vettel had a good race, but his radio antics alone award him a 2 score. That rant was totally uncalled for. if you take a step back and look at it objectively no matter what driver or in whatever situation mouthing of like that at the race director is totally unacceptable. And it warrents a penalty (or race ban) in itself. It baffles me that FIA just lets it fly, maybe he’s just lucky he’s got a red overall.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
1st November 2016, 8:52
Azair it was his radio tantrum and antics why Keith rated so low..rightly so
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
31st October 2016, 18:29
@ultimateuzair
Your driver ratings almost always are closer to what I would list that what Keith does. I don’t like complaining to either of you as I respect it must take some time deciding for yourselves and especially hard for Keith who write a load about them too.
But this time, I agree with all of your ratings other than maybe Sainz. Although I think he only made one mistake, that was one HUGE mistake that could have gone a whole lot worse. I think I would give him 2/5. What he did on Alonso nearly made Alonso totally lose control of his car. I couldn’t believe he escaped with just a 5 second penalty. I also appreciate that you gave Massa a 4/5 too. I think he was pretty much as good as Bottas in the race and he did actually make a much better start. I think it will have been a team order that allowed Bottas to get past him and pull away though. But that made sense as Bottas was on much newer tyres. Another reason I think Massa is worth a 4/5 is how long he kept Perez behind him! Really good defending and Perez was under a second behind him with DRS for over half the race I think.
I’m also glad you’ve rated Ericsson as a 5/5. He is IMO the driver of the weekend. Brilliant effort to 15th in qualifying. Then after having heavy contact on the 1st lap of the race, running dead last to the pits, getting a front wing change and then doing 70 laps on one set of tyres and finishing 11th! And that was with only one Manor retiring so he was hardly helped to that position. No doubt that he deserves that 5/5.
I was close for going for Hulkenberg too for driver of the weekend but that spin was at least partly his own fault. But Ericsson did better overall than Hulkenberg this weekend IMO considering the Sauber is pretty much the worst car out there.
Charles L.
31st October 2016, 20:09
Sorry but the Vettel score is way off base. Who the heck cares what drivers say on the radio? This reflection on whining or cursing is just silly. Drivers today are absolute choirboys compared to their predecessors from decades past. Imagine what Prost or Senna were saying over the radio when they deliberately drove into each other.
Vettel drove a heck of a race — drive of the day, actually.
Slightly off topic, but the “Ricciardo lunge” is the next driver move that needs to be scrutinized. Vettel seems a bit slow to learn sometimes. Alonso, on the other hand, has mastered the lunge as Massa can attest.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
31st October 2016, 20:13
I know everyone is up in arms about Vettel, but what about Magnussen?
He’d never driven at this track before, dragged that yellow golf cart into Q2 and looked consistently better than Palmer. The only reason Palmer was ahead at the end was pitting at the start and gambling on track position. All things considered I thought he did really well, deserved more than a 3.
Javier
1st November 2016, 9:35
MAG looked better than PAL in FP1 and FP2 but was way behind him in FP3, in fact although MAG improved in qualifying compared to FP3, Palmer’s best FP3 lap was quicker than every lap MAG posted in qualifying, I wonder where could have PAL ended up had he taken part in qualifying.
In the race PAL was a little lucky with the timing of the safety car but he was able to conserve his medium tyres for a race long stint and still post competitive times, MAG could never really match Palmer’s pace on the mediums falling always further behind him and still needed an extra stop
WheelToWheel (@lolzerbob)
1st November 2016, 18:07
@rocketpanda
The Renault cars is pretty decent now and the least expect would be 14th from him, considering the cars behind him were a Sauber and a Manor. Magnussen was rubbish in the race and was very slow and finished 17th. I would have given him a 2
Alex De (@alexde)
31st October 2016, 20:20
Vettel had a brilliant race.
I don’t get it.
shooker88
1st November 2016, 1:24
how did palmer get 4 and vettel 2? no kidding someone has a grudge against vettel and or biased. now im a big ferrari fan and even i think his tantrum was embarrassing and uncalled for yes but when youre in the heat of the moment things happen. again the tantrum was, has been, embarrassing but i feel like you dinged his score because of it. for the first time in forever ferrari brought their car up for a potential podium finish. would he ever have passed max we’ll never know but he drove a fine race in a car that (pains me to say so) was slow and inadequate. at LEAST a 3. some other scores i dont agree with but..whatever heres my 2 cents.
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
1st November 2016, 3:52
I read stupid rankings here before, but this one is fantastic!
x303 (@x303)
1st November 2016, 17:59
Instead of insulting the writer, care to explain why you disagree @jorge-lardone?
Maurice36
1st November 2016, 6:49
So when someone backs a competitor in to another driver thats okay, and when that’s the other drivers team mate that too is okay, and even after effecting a number of late direction changes at the head of the other two drivers that is still okay, but when the driver in the middle of the sandwhich has been deliberately backed in to the driver behind him and he doesn’t leave enough room for the driver trying to cut down the inside from deep gets hit. The guy who’s been squeezed is found guilty of dangerous driving. Sorry Charlie and anyone else who thinks thats right but it makes no sense to me. Quite frankly the FIA, have this very wrong but they could fix it very easily. Firstly no fan wants to see teams using strategies that see one slower driver backing a faster driver in to his team mate so that team mate can get the benefit of making up ground and then taking advantage of the confusion caused by the lead driver to over take another to ensure a team advantage. Max Verstappen is an extremely dangerous driver, who is inexperienced, arrogant, and insolent, and if the FIA allow him to continue driving as he has this year someone will get killed. If Charlie Whiting, the FIA and Bernie don’t have the courage to reign this idiot in they will lose fans faster than Williams can complete a pitstop
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
1st November 2016, 8:56
He didnt back hom yp his tires where shot..just Seb ranting even acused Ves of brake testing him FFS..Seb is out of control
Mike (@mike)
1st November 2016, 7:09
I think the reading here is unfair. It’s again, is it ok to run someone out of road? I think the answer is no, right? So, why should Rosberg be looked at? If nothing else, Vestappen was in the wrong for going to the edge of the track.
OR, we can say you can push them off, but only at corners. Which I think is a bad precedent. Mainly because it’s never going to be anything but controversial.
pcxmac (@xsavior)
1st November 2016, 11:39
the only reason to watch this race was because of Seb Vettel, the rest of the race was a complete borefest. Turn 1 and the show is over, Vettel made the race interesting, and actually had something real to say, unlike much of the fake people who revolve around F1.
Crash
1st November 2016, 17:04
Never understand these driver ratings – PAL gets a 4 ! Why? For hitting a curb under practice and having benefit of a free pit stop after the yellow flag..he didn’t do a real overtake and was simply just driving the car 70 rounds on same tires …come on! HUL should have earned a 8 then..
x303 (@x303)
1st November 2016, 18:01
Great race by Hulkenberg. He out qualified faster cars (hello Ferrari) and bring the car at the first realistically available place: 7th.
Felt more comfortable than Pérez all week-end, which was already the case in Austin.