Lando Norris, McLaren, Red Bull Ring, 2021

Giovinazzi and Norris are most-improved drivers in F1 2021 ratings

Gaming

Posted on

| Written by

Antonio Giovinazzi and Lando Norris are deemed the most improved drivers in the new performance ratings created for the official Formula 1 game.

Codemasters, producers of the official Formula 1 game, have revealed the performance ratings for all 20 drivers in F1 2021, the forthcoming new edition of the game.

Each driver is scored out of 100. But while Giovinazzi’s overall rating has risen by eight points to 79, he only ranks 17th, behind newcomer Yuki Tsunoda and others.

Lando Norris, whose score has gone up behind seven points, is rated as the fourth-best driver in the game. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen share the top spot, followed by Valtteri Bottas.

The ratings of all 16 drivers who competed last year have risen. Among the newcomers, two-times world champion Fernando Alonso has a score of 89, putting him level with fellow champion Sebastian Vettel. Rookies Tsunoda, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin have scores of 82, 76 and 67 respectively.

F1 2021 will be available to download from Tuesday.

F1 2021 and F1 2020 driver ratings compared

DriverFinal F1 2020 scoreFinal F1 2020 rankF1 2021 scoreF1 2021 rank
Lewis Hamilton93195 (+2)1
Max Verstappen92295 (+3)1
Valtteri Bottas90392 (+2)3
Lando Norris84991 (+7)4
Daniel Ricciardo88490 (+2)5
Pierre Gasly85790 (+5)5
Sebastian Vettel88489 (+1)7
Fernando Alonso897
Charles Leclerc87688 (+1)9
Sergio Perez85787 (+2)10
Kimi Raikkonen84987 (+3)10
Carlos Sainz84987 (+3)10
Esteban Ocon811286 (+5)13
George Russell791484 (+5)14
Lance Stroll781683 (+5)15
Yuki Tsunoda8216
Antonio Giovinazzi711979 (+8)17
Mick Schumacher7618
Nicholas Latifi702071 (+1)19
Nikita Mazepin6720

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

F1 2021 driver ratings in full

DriverF1 2021 scoreExperienceRacecraftAwarenessPace
Lewis Hamilton95 (+2)92948998
Max Verstappen95 (+3)69969697
Valtteri Bottas92 (+2)75899992
Lando Norris91 (+7)60969989
Daniel Ricciardo90 (+2)80949188
Pierre Gasly90 (+5)59929989
Sebastian Vettel89 (+1)91938788
Fernando Alonso8999899486
Charles Leclerc88 (+1)62888792
Sergio Perez87 (+2)81928487
Kimi Raikkonen87 (+3)99918486
Carlos Sainz87 (+3)69889485
Esteban Ocon86 (+5)60939879
George Russell84 (+5)60769983
Lance Stroll83 (+5)62938282
Yuki Tsunoda8246887886
Antonio Giovinazzi79 (+8)54828280
Mick Schumacher7647658183
Nicholas Latifi71 (+1)55697970
Nikita Mazepin6747657866

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Gaming

    Browse all Gaming articles

    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...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    42 comments on “Giovinazzi and Norris are most-improved drivers in F1 2021 ratings”

    1. Oooh, Hamilton and Verstappen both 95. Time for another round of Lewis and Max bashing in 5…4…3…2…1

      1. Oh maybe they are the two most exceptional drivers of their generation who for the last year or so have been impossible to separate given the different machinery they drive. And whilst each have had their blips, we maybe witnessing the obvious and inevitable passing of the baton from the old to the new?

        1. Of course. But try and tell that to the Lewis and Max hardliners over here…

          1. No problem with that score …. but i am fan of both :)

      2. Some just can’t appreciate good things in life

    2. The only thing Bottas is 99 aware of is how close he is to losing his seat…

      1. Also, Fernando should be 99 experience, 95 racecraft, 99 awareness… with a hidden “right time right place” handicap of 4/100 to bring his overall down to 86

      2. CotD :)

    3. Jelle van der Meer (@)
      8th July 2021, 14:47

      Sorry Tielemst, just Bottas bashing if I may?

      In what universe do these people live to rate Bottas that highly?
      He even went up 2 points so got the same rating than Max had last year while Max nearly beat him in championship despite not driving the dominant championship car and some mechanical failures.

      How is Bottas ranked 3 points higher than Alonso & Vettel and 5 higher than Kimi Raikonnen. All 3 drivers would easily beat Bottas if they drove for Mercedes instead of Hamilton.

      Regarding Max & Lewis ratings, odd to see such a huge difference on the experience rating. Max is in his 7th season, how much more experience does he need. Also odd to see Max still 1 point less on pace than Lewis will Max always was great at pure pace it was experience and being too eager that cost him points.

      The most shocking mistake I noticed between Russell and Ocon/Stroll in racecraft, Ocon/Stroll both have 93 points racecraft while Russell is only given 76.

      1. I did have a slight gasp at the experience rating for Max at first, too… but it actually does scale pretty well:

        Perez/2011 debut – 81
        Ricciardo/2011 debut – 80
        Bottas/2013 debut – 75
        Verstappen/2015 debut – 69
        Sainz/2015 debut – 69
        Stroll/2017 debut – 62
        Leclerc/2018 debut -62

        I mean, I would argue experience at a top team, fighting for podiums and wins counts for more than cruising around in a Sauber or Williams, but then you’d have to get subjective…

        1. I’m sure Max is happy with a 69.

          I mean, who wouldn’t be?

      2. Which version of Kim or Seb would easily beat Bottas? The 2020/2021 versions?

        1. 2007 and 2013 respectively.

      3. By your response re Bottas and Kimi I would guess they live in the same universe you do.

    4. Do these ratings actually mean or do anything in the game? When compared to something like Fifa where you actually control players of different ability, here it’s either you driving so ratings mean nothing or it’s the AI, and the AI is so scripted and set at some pre-determined outcome that I find it hard to see how ratings come into it, especially with ratings as close to each other. Maybe i’m missing the point…

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        8th July 2021, 17:00

        There’s a “My Team” mode where you run a team and have to pick a driver for the 2nd car. That’s pretty much the reason for it.

      2. In MyTeam drivers that are ranked more highly cost more and probably are better when the AI sims their races.

        1. What rating did the career mode rival get? What’s that? He doesn’t exist?

          SO WHY DO WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH HIM IN AN F1 GAME?

    5. Adam (@rocketpanda)
      8th July 2021, 15:30

      Norris sure but GIOVINAZZI?! Hahahahaha no.

    6. So Bottas ahead of either of the Ferrari pair, Ricciardo, Russel… yeah. :)

    7. Is Hamilton awareness a bit not so good because of the Albon incidents?

      1. Awareness is based on the number of incidents in a race and the amount of penalties. Even though 2020’s penalties on Hamilton seemed close calls, it seems alright for him. But Hamilton has had a lot of incidents and penalties in 2020.

    8. Danny Ricciardo going up?

      Hamilton awareness 89 is plain daft. In fact all the ‘Awareness’ grades seem nonsensical, intended solely to ensure drivers end up in the ‘proper order’.

    9. I would rate them:
      Hamilton – 95
      Bottas – 88
      Verstappen – 95
      Perez – 87
      Norris – 90
      Ricciardo – 86
      Stroll – 79
      Vettel – 84
      Ocon – 81
      Alonso – 85
      Leclerc – 91
      Sainz – 88
      Gasly – 87
      Tsunoda – 70
      Raikkonen – 76
      Giovinazzi – 77
      Schumacher – 70
      Mazepin – 62
      Russell – 87
      Latifi – 69

      1. @f1frog Largely agree, but Alonso 87, Leclerc 90, Norris 88, Sainz 88 and Russell 86 would probably be more accurate for me. It’s not that long ago that Norris was second best to Sainz.

      2. Extremely generous to bottas I’m afraid.

    10. RocketTankski
      8th July 2021, 18:26

      Flattery Bottas

      1. Easily COTD!

    11. Sainz lower then raik?
      At least his awareness is dropping, we noticed it last race.

    12. Bottas 92. U gotta be kidding me

    13. Alex Fewtrell
      8th July 2021, 22:55

      Why are we not talking about Gasly being rated 90?! That’s the most insane overrating I;ve ever seen in any EA sports game, period. Gasly isnt a world champtions, he’s young and has a few good results. No more than 86.

      Here are my ratings. I have based them on the number of years spent in F1, the amount of world champtionsjips, and the consistancy of their results.
      Hamilton 95
      Verstappen 92
      Vettel 90
      Alonso 90
      Ricciardo 89
      Bottas 88
      Perez 87
      Raikkonen 87
      Norris 86
      Gasly 86
      Leclerc 86
      Sainz 85
      Russell 85
      Ocon 84
      Stroll 82
      Giovinazzi 81
      Tsunoda 78
      Schumacher 76
      Latifi 68
      Mazepin 62

      1. Seems again too nice to bottas, I can’t believe he’s that far ahead given same car to all, I think he’d drop behind all of those up to russell.

    14. Bottas seems very overrated?

      My ratings would be:

      Hamilton 95
      Verstappen 95
      Leclerc 90
      Norris 89
      Sainz 88
      Alonso 88
      Russell 88
      Ricciardo 87
      Perez 86
      Gasly 85
      Bottas 84
      Vettel 84
      Ocon 83
      Raikkonen 82
      Giovinazzi 81
      Stroll 80
      Tsunoda 78
      Schumacher 75
      Latifi 70
      Mazepin 63

      1. FINALLY! Now this is a bottas rating I can accept, all others so far in this page were imo too generous.

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          9th July 2021, 18:18

          If this is based on experience and their performance overall – if you include Bottas’s williams years, it isn’t unrealistic for him to be in the top 6 if I’m honest. He has looked worse recently, but top drivers like Hamilton and Verstappen make him look worse than he is. He looked as good or better than Perez, Hulkenberg, Sainz and many others when he was at williams.

          Based over many years of having drivers in decent teams, I think the drivers I certainly would rate above Bottas are as follows (not exactly in order)

          Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Leclerc. (not including Alonso as his form recently has been questionable and he’s had a few years off)

          There are others that may just beat him, but don’t really have much evidence to show for that yet. Russell beat Bottas in one race that was unexpected, but we can’t take that result and confirm everything. At the moment, I think Russell would be a pretty close match for Bottas in qualifying, but will get better in time. It is hard to judge him when he is at williams when all his seasons in F1 have been against pretty much the weakest on the grid. Russell’s other weak point is his race starts which are terrible.

          Sainz, Perez, Norris, and Ocon, and Russell all have had moments of looking very good but I would say Norris is the best of them. I think he likely will be better than Bottas, but not in all areas, and it unlikely will be by a huge margin given that Bottas can still be close to hamilton even on race day soemtiems. It’s hard to say we’ve had enough evidence to instantly say any of these drivers would do far better than Bottas if they were in the same team if you look at their whole career.

          Kimi has simply had it now. It is very questionable that you believe even he would be better than Bottas overall. Giovinazzi has looked far better than Kimi this year. Bottas has looked better than Kimi since 2014 (whth the exception of 2018 where Bottas was very poor in the 2nd half of the season)

          Given Bottas’s experience and his past achievements, I don’t think being as high as some have him is too high. One strength Bottas does have (while it is a weakness at times) is that he’s a very safe driver. He has only once in his entire career been at fault for a retirement and never for anyone else’s. Don’t think any other drivers are like this. They at times have seasons with many clumsy crashes which Bottas doesn’t.

          1. First things first, didn’t pay much attention to raikkonen, it’s obvious that while I mean bottas should be behind those, raikkonen is as much an outlier in codemaster as bottas, and should be even further behind ofc, he should be towards the bottom of the grid at this point, so no, I don’t believe he is better than bottas, it was a misunderstanding.

            Yes, he’s a clean driver, and yes, he’s good in qualifying, but his race pace is too often weak, I think russel would destroy him pretty quickly cause points are given in races.

            Depending on circumstances, it’s acceptable to rank bottas, sainz, perez, gasly close to each other, but the above rankings basically had him above everyone except top drivers! And codemasters is even more insane, according to them bottas would be better than alonso, ricciardo, vettel, leclerc?

          2. And than norris too, basically everyone except verstappen and hamilton, that’s just wrong.

    15. Isn’t this just a video game? Who cares what rating they get in a video game?

      1. I know. It’s even referred to as just F1 2021. As if that is not the sport, but the game and everyone knows it. Slightly bizarre the whole thing.

      2. “Just a video game” is fine when talking about this, but iRacing…

    16. Alonso’s pace the same as Kimi’s? Have they seen the 2014 season?

      1. Indeed, that’s ridiculous, and also compared to last season they seem to have increased ratings for all of them, it’s wrong when you have declining drivers like raikkonen and hamilton, or drivers who can’t adapt like ricciardo.

    Comments are closed.