Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Paul Ricard, 2018

Vote for your 2018 French Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend

2018 French Grand Prix

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Which Formula One driver made the most of the French Grand Prix weekend?

It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last five days.

Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Paul Ricard.

Driver performance summary

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 below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.

Who was the best driver of the 2018 French Grand Prix weekend?

  • No opinion (0%)
  • Charles Leclerc (28%)
  • Marcus Ericsson (0%)
  • Stoffel Vandoorne (0%)
  • Fernando Alonso (0%)
  • Kevin Magnussen (8%)
  • Romain Grosjean (0%)
  • Brendon Hartley (0%)
  • Pierre Gasly (0%)
  • Carlos Sainz Jnr (9%)
  • Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
  • Sergey Sirotkin (0%)
  • Lance Stroll (0%)
  • Esteban Ocon (0%)
  • Sergio Perez (0%)
  • Max Verstappen (7%)
  • Daniel Ricciardo (0%)
  • Kimi Raikkonen (4%)
  • Sebastian Vettel (7%)
  • Valtteri Bottas (0%)
  • Lewis Hamilton (36%)

Total Voters: 282

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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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42 comments on “Vote for your 2018 French Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend”

  1. I think Sainz was very strong here, as was Leclerc.

  2. Many good ones: HAM, VER, MAG, SAI, LEC
    I picked Leclerc because quali is part of the weekend.

    1. Agreed with all of those and picked Leclerc as well. Tbf, he did make a mistake at the end of the race but overall outperformed the car and his teammate all weekend long

  3. Ham because he didn’t do anything wrong… Leclerc magnificent but for the off, Vettel great come back but bad start. Sainz probably comes closest and Mag did good.

    1. Ericsson will have to feel a bit overwhelmed by now. Grosjean is making me sigh so much… But ok race still… And our Williams friends, the least said better…

  4. Leclerc. He is a very good driver. Also good weekend by Hamilton, Sainz, Magnussen. And Vettel because his race from last to 5 but with a mistake in the satart.

  5. MAG deserves credit for yet another good weekend. Nice to see him best of the rest again.

  6. RAI for finally overtaking a top driver on track. (Even if they were damaged)

  7. Magnussen is back in the top of the midfield, where he belongs. Exceptional strong performance in the on last 10 laps, when Botta’s pushed from behind, he found even higher speed holding the distance to a much faster car and was also closing i on Saintz (before his engine failure) a few seconds ahead. He is ready for a top team and a top car. And every team boss knows he is a special driver now.

  8. Leclerc or maybe Leclerc or maybe Leclerc. Would of picked Hamilton if he won by a bigger margin as was using the Merc special tyres this weekend. Alonso was great as he has not punched Boullier or Brown yet and has not quit McLaren. How has anyone voted Vettel?

    1. The special tyres that even Vettel conceded suite the Ferrari better than the original gauge tyres would have done after back to back testing them?

      1. Just because they work better than the original tyre doesn’t mean that as a performance differentiator it hasn’t swung in Mercedes favour.

  9. I agree w @coldfly. May solid but went for LeClerc. I would put him in a Haas or Ferrari in Spa. Why wait?

    Vettel really struggled. Not only did he give up unneeded points to Hamilton, but he also handicapped Bottas. The last thing Vettel needs is a Bottas who is clearly out of the championship and reduced to supporting Hamilton.

  10. I vote for Mag. He manage to beat a Mercedes!

  11. I voted for Hamilton because he dominated the weekend and didn’t put a foot wrong. Leclerc was my 2nd choice for continuing his superb rookie season. I would not have given Vettel this vote because of his errors today, though he did make the best of his drive from the rear. If Kimi would only have a decent first lap, he might be further up in the standings, but he may just have become too cautious to challenge for the positions his car should be taking. The pre-hiatus Raikkonen would have been challenging Vettel more consistently, if not been ahead of Seb.

  12. Well done Leclerc, he gets my vote! Commanding drive by Hamilton, looked like he didnt get out of 2nd gear! Also Magnussen flying under the radar

  13. Wouldn’t have voted hamilton cause he did nothing but manage the best car with tyres made specifically for them (2 tracks where they bring the different tyre thread, 2 times mercedes has the best car, wait for silverstone!), hadn’t it been for the tyres matter I could have; verstappen drove a decent race but wasn’t really under any threat or with any chance to catch hamilton, I’ve seen some voting vettel on other sites but he obviously caused his situation due to the mistake at start, so I went with sainz, overall a very good race and best of the rest, lost a couple of places due to a loss of power in the end; leclerc got us used to picking up a point here and there by now.

  14. For me Hamilton, he just nailed the whole weekend. But Leclerc was very impressive. If he can keep that type of performance up he will end up in a flight team. Verstappen clean and fast all weekend no apparent mistakes, job well done. Oh… Alonso very cool and calm despite a very ordinary weekend, I hope his and Mclarens fortunes improve from now on.

    1. @johnrkh How do you think Alonso was “cool and calm”? That radio outburst during the race, ridiculing his own team in public, didn’t sound very cool nor calm.

      1. @patrickl

        Cool and calm is asking a bit much. It sounded exactly like a Mediterranean temperament to me.

        1. @bigjoe Well he later tried to soften his outburst saying that he got annoyed by the team edging him on when he had nothing to fight with and was well out of the points.

          Still, cool and calm it did not sound like :)

  15. I can perhaps see why people have voted for HAM but I went for Leclerc taking into account his car and his overall weekend including a great quali performance.

    Honourable mentions for Magnusson and Sainz as well.

  16. Lol 6% voting for Vettel.

  17. It’s was a hard decision actually there was no real driver of the weekend. There were some drivers like Hamilton, Verstappen and Lecleric. Everyone else made a error of some kind. lewis had his upgraded engine so he was in front of everyone anyway (still no errors) Max did the maximum what he could do without errors. Lecleric did a good job no errors also but had the weakest car of those three so i went for him.

    1. Lecleric did a good job no errors

      Leclerc doesn’t seem to agree with you, @macleod:

      “I’m really only a bit disappointed with myself because I think overall we did a great race, in the team but I did a mistake following Kevin, I tried to get back into the DRS zone and put pressure on him and I lost the car in turn two being too close to him and then Nico Hulkenberg overtook us.
      So we lost quite a bit of time there and we lost one place. So it’s a bit of a shame.”

      1. You are right offcourse, I was more looking in Qualiflier and while watching the race i saw him there but lost him in the end. The race was boring so i did other things while keeping 1 eye on the race.
        Now how can i change my vote…. not so i am afraid.

  18. I feel like Sainz is the underrated underdog who doesn’t get enough attention…

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      25th June 2018, 9:03

      I’ve critizized Sainz quite a lot this season. I thought overall, he hasn’t been very good. Poor in some races. This weekend was really strong. For the ability of his car, probably one of the best of this weekends drivers.

  19. Easy choice: Hamilton.

  20. I voted Leclerc over Hamilton just based on difference in experience and machinery driven. Yes he did make an error but based on his 8th race that’s not too shabby.

  21. For me, only Leclerc and Sainz outperformed their cars. Leclerc more so, but he also made a costly mistake, so it is Sainz for me. Hamilton did everything right, but also nothing special, the Mercedes was fastest.

    1. @palindnilap (and others) How did Sainz outperform the car? He’s in the fourth fastest car and was driving in the position you’d expect him to be according to that. On the other hand, he finally finished (just) ahead of Hulkenberg for the first time this season.

      Still on the “outperforming the car” front I can only imagine Leclerc. Although he also ended in P10 in Canada. So how much was he outperforming the car really.

      Or perhaps Magnussen, but I also think he ended up where the car should have been (considering Bottas being out of contention mostly)

      1. Haas was 4th fastest car, Hulk didn’t even got to Q3.

  22. Or put it this way : In division 1, Hamilton nailed pole and won in the fastest car. In division 2, Sainz nailed pole and would have won without his late engine failure, although the Haas was a bit faster.

  23. Hamilton and Verstappen both flawless, beat their team mates in both quali (Q1, 2 and 3) and race.
    Sainz honerable mentioned, sorry to see his car giving up, Leclerc good, but not flawless.

    Fans stick to what they are used to…best man in the best car, Hamilton or they go for the next best hero in F1.. Leclerc.

  24. Would have voted for Hamilton, but he had it easy after his only two rivals collided in turn 1. He was probably driving at 80%.

  25. Great race by Sainz. I hope Renault improves next season, because I don’t see Riccardo’s seat will be available for him. He will most likely stay.

  26. geoffgroom44 (@)
    25th June 2018, 20:12

    There is an inherent problem when we become accustomed to excellence from this driver or that driver: they make it look sooooo easy, don’t they? To go round and round with such consistency is mesmerising. How many of us can even reverse into our garages exactly the same way every time, time after time after time! Because he made it look sooooo easy, I bow to the excellence of Hamilton.As Christian Horner said, he was just controlling it all.That gets my vote.

  27. Neil (@neilosjames)
    25th June 2018, 21:04

    I thought Sainz was impressive all weekend, shame about the engine problem. Voted for him… not sure when that last happened.

    Honourable mentions to Leclerc, Hamilton and Magnussen.

  28. Get in there Lewis, flawless all the week end, no mistakes, controlled the pace and pushed Vettel into a rookie mistake, good result for both the constructors and the drivers championships.

  29. Hamilton for what was a perfect weekend and for excellent race management. He controlled the gaps perfectly, not racing off needlessly, but maintaining a solid buffer to the next car back. Pumping out fastest laps when Vettel got back within a potential undercut margin was impressive too.

    Verstappen too had a good solid race. No errors, though was lucky that the Stewards decided to overlook his major corner cutting at the start. Obviouslyjudged to have had no choice if he wanted to avoid being the third car in an accident.

    We actually saw very little of the pair of them really. Both had quiet races fater the restart.

    Mentions for:
    Leclerc for not only a decent race, though like him I’d hoped for a better result for him too, but also for his running commentary after getting in Q3.
    Raikkonen for a good solid race for once. But he needs to either find his grove again or step away from the sport.
    Magnusson for a decent error free weekend. He’s been a lot cleaner with his driving this year actually, and is getting good results through solid driving rather than ‘lucking’ into it as Grosjean seems to be doing.

  30. I missed the deadline to place my vote, but I had already wrote my comment so I thought I may as well post it.

    There were a few drivers who I considered for driver of the weekend.

    Hamilton was back on form and dominated the weekend taking a deserved victory.

    Verstappen managed to have another trouble free GP after his error strewn start to the season and was rewarded with second.

    Magnussen had another good race finishing in sixth, it looked like he might be outperformed this weekend by his teammate before Grosjean binned it in qualifying.

    Sainz was another who had a good weekend, qualifying best of the rest and would have finished higher than eighth but for car problems late in the race.

    The star of qualifying was undoubtedly Leclerc not only did he manage to get into Q3 but he qualified eighth, predictably he couldn’t maintain this position in the race and only finished tenth.

    Although it wasn’t a straightforward clear cut choice I would have voted for Leclerc.

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