2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix driver ratings

2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

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The second race of the 2022 season provided a similar story to the first, with Red Bull and Ferrari fighting tooth-and-nail over the race win.

However, it was not just another straight fight between winner Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc as Sergio Perez played a far more prominent role in the race weekend than he had in Bahrain, losing the lead of the race through an unfortunately timed pitstop negated by the Safety Car.

Here are the RaceFans driver ratings for all 20 drivers across Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Saudi Arabia.

Each driver will be awarded a score on a scale of zero to ten, taking into account the performance expectations of their machinery, how they overcame adversity over the weekend, how many mistakes they made as well as their conduct out on the track.

As ever, drivers will be judged not only against each other, but against over 70 years of Formula 1 history. Only the most outstanding, exceptional feats of driving excellence will earn the highest scores.

Lewis Hamilton – 4

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Jeddah Corniche Circuit, 2022
Hamilton endured his worst qualifying performance in years
Qualified: 16th (-10 below team mate)
Finished: 10th (-5 below team mate)

  • Faster than team mate in every practice session
  • Setup gamble in qualifying backfired, leading to Q1 elimination on merit
  • Made progress through the field with hard tyres in opening stint, rising to sixth behind team mate Russell
  • Missed opportunity to pit before Virtual Safety Car despite being called to box before final corner
  • Passed Albon and Stroll after pitting to take final point in tenth

George Russell – 6

Qualified: 6th (+10 above team mate)
Finished: 5th (+5 above team mate)

  • Inconsistent practice pace after experimenting with setup
  • Squeaked into Q3 before taking sixth on the grid behind Ocon’s Alpine
  • Overtook Ocon for fifth on lap three
  • Remained in fifth until the chequered flag, unable to keep pace with the cars ahead

Max Verstappen – 7

Qualified: 4th (-3 below team mate)
Finished: Winner (+3 above team mate)

  • Second in all three practice sessions behind Leclerc
  • Struggled with lack of tyre grip on first Q3 run, went fourth on second attempt
  • Picked off Sainz around the outside of turn two at the start
  • Pitted under Safety Car to take second place
  • Caught and eventually passed Leclerc for victory after intense, but clean, multi-lap duel

Sergio Perez – 8

Sergio Perez, Red Bull, Jeddah Corniche Circuit, 2022
Pole-winner Perez lost the lead through an ill-timed Safety Car
Qualified: Pole (+3 above team mate)
Finished: 4th (-3 below team mate)

  • Gradually built confidence in the car over the three practice sessions
  • Took maiden pole position to deny Ferrari after “best lap of my life”
  • Held off Ferraris at start and looked comfortable out front in early laps
  • Pitted early by the team to cover Leclerc’s potential undercut attempt but lost out heavily when Safety Car was deployed, dropping him to fourth
  • Spent remainder of race in futile pursuit of Sainz

Carlos Sainz Jnr – 6

Qualified: 3rd (-1 below team mate)
Finished: 3rd (-1 below team mate)

  • Slower than Leclerc and Verstappen in every practice session
  • Lost track time in second practice after brush with barrier
  • Took third on the grid, almost two tenths slower than Leclerc
  • Lost third to Verstappen at start and couldn’t quite match pace of cars ahead
  • Gained third under Safety Car and stayed there until chequered flag

Charles Leclerc – 7

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Jeddah Corniche Circuit, 2022
Leclerc fought hard but couldn’t keep Verstappen behind

Qualified: 2nd (+1 above team mate)
Finished: 2nd (+1 above team mate)

  • Fastest across all three practice sessions, but lost track time on Friday after hitting wall
  • Pipped to pole by Perez by just 0.025s
  • Kept in touch of Perez in early laps and pulled away from Sainz behind
  • Inherited the lead after perfectly timed Safety Car allowed him to pit and rejoin in first
  • Intense battle with Verstappen for win but could not hold the Red Bull off in the end

Lando Norris – 6

Qualified: 11th (+1 above team mate)
Finished: 7th

  • Quicker than Ricciardo only in second practice
  • Missed out on Q3 by 0.033s after “small mistake”
  • Battled Gasly in early laps but lost positions after pitting under Safety Car
  • Gained three positions after Ricciardo, Alonso and Bottas retired and Hamilton’s late stop
  • Fought Ocon hard for sixth, missing out by a tenth of a second

Daniel Ricciardo – 5

Qualified: 12th (-1 below team mate)
Finished: Retired (Power unit L35)

  • Generally quicker than Norris in practice
  • Handed three-place grid drop and team fined for impeding Ocon in Q2
  • First driver to switch from mediums to hards after just eight laps, moving ahead of his team mate after the Safety Car
  • Ran ahead of Norris in 11th until car suddenly shuddered to a stop on lap 35

Fernando Alonso – 7

Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso, Alpine, Jeddah Corniche Circuit, 2022
Alonso had been ahead of Ocon before his retirement
Qualified: 7th (-2 below team mate)
Finished: Retired (Overheating L35)

  • Consistently in the middle of the field through practice
  • Less than a tenth off team mate in qualifying to line up seventh
  • Eventually passed team mate after dicing in early laps
  • Fought Magnussen over seventh after pitting under Safety Car
  • Forced to back off after “cool the car” warning on dash, leading to his retirement

Esteban Ocon – 6

Qualified: 5th (+2 above team mate)
Finished: 6th

  • Consistently in the top eight through practice
  • Took ‘best of the rest’ honours in qualifying with strong fifth place
  • Rudely rebuffed team mate Alonso’s attempts to pass in the early laps, costing them both time to rivals around them
  • Gained two places from Alonso and Bottas’s retirements prior to Virtual Safety Car
  • Prevailed in late race battle with Norris to claim a sixth-place finish

Pierre Gasly – 7

Qualified: 9th
Finished: 8th

  • Suffered floor damage in second practice that compromised performance
  • Comfortably through to Q3 despite picking up further floor damage in Q1
  • Dropped two places at the start and battled with Norris
  • Lost out heavily by pitting moments before Latifi’s crash brought out Safety Car
  • Gradually clawed his way back into the points and held on to 8th despite abdominal pain over final four laps

Yuki Tsunoda – No rating

Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, Jeddah Corniche Circuit, 2022
Tsunoda did not complete a competitive lap all weekend
Qualified: No Time Set (Water system)
Finished: Did Not Start (Driveline)

  • Ran consistently in the top ten over three practice sessions, close to pace of team mate Gasly
  • Was unable to set a time in qualifying after suspected water system problem
  • Did not start the race after suffering driveline problem on reconnaissance lap to grid

Nico Hulkenberg – 5

Qualified: 18th (-3 below team mate)
Finished: 12th (+1 above team mate)

  • Ran similar pace to his team mate in practice despite having never driven the circuit before
  • Eliminated from Q1 in 17th after admitting mistakes on his best lap
  • Started on hards and gained places in early laps, but early Safety Car heavily compromised his race
  • Ran 14th and last before gaining two places after Albon and Stroll tangled

Lance Stroll – 5

Qualified: 15th (+3 above team mate)
Finished: 13th (-1 below team mate)

  • Hovered around middle of the bottom ten cars throughout practice
  • Eliminated Hamilton to reach Q2 during final effort of Q1, ultimately qualifying 15th
  • Passed by Hamilton, Zhou and team mate Hulkenberg on hard tyres over first stint
  • Running 11th before being hit and spun by Albon

Nicholas Latifi – 2

Nicholas Latifi, Williams, Jeddah Corniche Circuit, 2022
Two crashes in two days for Latifi
Qualified: 19th (-2 below team mate)
Finished: Retired (Crashed L14)

  • Consistently at the bottom of the times in practice
  • Crashed out of Q1 with error at turn 13
  • Ran at the back in early laps, only gaining places when Ricciardo and Albon pitted
  • Crashed out of the race with unforced error at final corner on lap 14

Alexander Albon – 4

Qualified: 17th (+2 above team mate)
Finished: Classified 14th

  • Reprimanded for impeding Schumacher in first practice
  • Disappointed to qualify 17th after struggling to bring tyres into operating window
  • One of the earliest medium tyre starters to switch to hards, lost out to those pitting under Safety Car
  • Ran towards the back of the field after team mate’s retirement
  • Pulled off track after poorly judged move on Stroll at turn one damaged his car and earned him a three-place grid drop for Melbourne

Valtteri Bottas – 7

Qualified: 8th (+5 above team mate)
Finished: Retired (Overheating L36)

  • Consistently quicker than team mate in practice
  • Improved every qualifying session to line up eighth on the grid
  • Passed Ocon to run as high as seventh before pitting
  • Running ninth when suddenly told to retire car to avoid damaging power unit after overheating problems

Zhou Guanyu – 4

Qualified: 13th (-5 below team mate)
Finished: 11th

  • Well off the pace of his team mate in all three practice sessions
  • Four tenths slower than Bottas in Q2 saw him eliminated in 13th
  • Fell into anti-stall at turn one for second consecutive race start
  • Made good progress through the field in early laps
  • Five second time penalty for running off track at turn one after passing Albon and failing to return the place
  • Forced to serve a drive-through penalty after team error when serving time penalty

Mick Schumacher – 3

Mick Schumacher, Haas, Jeddah Corniche Circuit, 2022
Schumacher’s weekend was ended by his ugly qualifying shunt
Qualified: 14th (-4 below team mate)
Finished: Withdrawn prior to race

  • Never reached top ten across three practice sessions
  • Reached Q2 but down in 14th, three tenths slower than Magnussen
  • Horrifying crash in Q2 saw him taken to hospital for precautionary checks
  • Said he felt ready to race but team withdrew his car to prioritise Australian GP

Kevin Magnussen – 7

Qualified: 10th (+4 above team mate)
Finished: 9th

  • Only two laps in first practice after hydraulic leak
  • Pulled off midway through second practice with more hydraulic problems
  • Comfortably reached Q3 for second successive weekend
  • Started on hards and ran long first stint, pitting for mediums from seventh place before final Virtual Safety Car
  • Rejoined in 12th and passed Albon and Stroll on way to finishing ninth

Over to you

Vote for the driver who impressed you most last weekend and find out whether other RaceFans share your view here:

2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

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Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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74 comments on “2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix driver ratings”

  1. No logic in any of this, but I understand the meaning doing of this.

    “Doing everything to boost up the commentary on your comment sections”

    So primitiv and decadence, but hey “BRAVE NEW WORLD”

    1. What on earth is this comment?

      1. Sanctions are already impacting the Russian bots’ speech patterns, can’t be helped.

        1. If you see anything normal in this ratings, then thank God we have you!

          How you can judge from 70 years data objectively with a racing that was first drove last year?

          How dudes like Sergio and Carlos can be equally or better rated than driver who destroyed them in any imagination possible?

          Don’t you see this is just a making a controversy on comment section to boost up talking, same goes for pages like The Race and Planet F1.

          1. Kyle (@hammerheadgb)
            29th March 2022, 18:48

            @denny
            You are asking the wrong question. What you need to ask is: how could Sergio, who this year in this car is clearly a much closer match for Max, have been so destroyed last year.

            In so doing you will find your answer – the 2021 Red Bull was 5th generation and over each of the previous 4 had been increasingly tailored to suit Max’s driving style. Is it any wonder Sergio couldn’t get close?

    2. It’s to boost the commentary on the comment section. (accidentally clicked on report comment, sorry)

      1. And I replied to the wrong comment lol

        1. Ahah, maybe we should start rating replies too then, in which case 2 mistakes in 1 here!

    3. Shsh! Sainz jr should over 9000.0

  2. Funny to see these ratings it confirms that everybody has a different view on the quali and race. I dissagree on almost all of the above

  3. I can’t agree with 8 points for Checo. Somehow I feel that being dominated by Max for over a season came into the rating here, you just don’t expect him to be close with even machinery. But this was not 8 out of 10 over 70 years of racing. And I’d even have trouble explaining how he got more than Verstappen and Leclerc. Yes he did get pole, yes he was unlucky in pitting, but it’s not like he brought the fight back to them when they were racing again and he couldn’t pass Carlos.

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      29th March 2022, 8:31

      Yea I don’t see how Perez should have a better rating than Verstappen this weekend. in 2 thirds of the race, Verstappen was significantly faster then Perez. Much more so than the margin Perez was faster than him in the first stage. Verstappen was fighting with Leclerc, and passed him for the win. OK, Perez was unlucky, but aside from that, he was literally falling back from Sainz who was nowhere near Leclerc’s pace.

      Any who think Perez could have won this have to be incredibly optimistic that Verstappen and Leclerc have no pace in the latter part of the race. I think Perez will have managed 3rd but no better even without the safety car based on his pace.

      Based on all that happened, there isn’t enough reasoning for Perez to have a higher rating than Verstappen. If qualifying is such a huge factor, then in quite a few things should be changed in our judgement for the weekends rankings. The race is what counts.

    2. Absolutely agree: yes, Perez got pole, but apart from that he was not on either Verstappen’s or Leclerc’s level this weekend.
      Also, can’t agree with Magnussen getting a 7. 6, maybe, but no higher than that.

      1. @nvherman Oh yeah, he definitely wasn’t on their level… apart from beating them both in qualifying and leading comfortably in the race and set for a win until being robbed by the safety car. Yeah, apart from those two tiny things.

        1. @tflb Perez was not exactly a long way in front of Leclerc when he pitted, certainly he was close enough that Ferrari were considering the undercut. Yes, he ended up in P4 after the unfortunately timed (for him) Safety Car period, but he had no pace to even catch up with Sainz after he’d given the place back. His lap times were slower than the three drivers who finished ahead of him as well.

          1. @nvherman Leclerc was unlikely to undercut him though (it would have been an overcut anyway)… as I recall Perez was about 2 seconds in front, about 5 ahead of Verstappen, and had a decent pitstop. Perez would have had a mighty final sector and main straight with slipstream and then DRS from Russell, and even if Leclerc had got in front, Perez would have had warmer tyres and a very good chance to overtake him on the next lap.

        2. @TFLB And don’t leave out that during the pit stop the crew changed his set up slightly which upset the balance of the car which was why he was unable to stay With Sainz.
          And your sensible logic is wasted on this forum.

      2. Actually think Kmag’s rating is too low.
        He’s never driven the track.
        He gets maybe 15 laps max in training.
        Out qualifies his teammate easily.
        He’s out of shape to drive F1, so his neck is busted after qualifying. Gets treatment the entire night, and goes to finish the race the day after.
        Finishes in the points despite a stupid starting tyre choice.

        1. @Rygiel Whilst all of those points are correct, his teammate is Mick Schumacher, so not exactly a great benchmark. Okay, if we accept that Magnussen deserved a 7 or 8, then Leclerc and Verstappen deserve to be 9

        2. Some very fair points there. Its very difficult to judge, but I think Magnussen should be very, very happy with his return to F1 so far.

    3. Absolutely agree, he can at best get the same rating as verstappen and leclerc, not more; furthermore, ratings seem very harsh in general, it’s nice to see a 2 to people like latifi, while for example formula passion, an italian website, tends to give 4 minimum and only to people and teams who had a complete disaster, but also it feels like 8 is too little for great drives, like leclerc in bahrain or again even in this race 7 seems a bit too little for him, although there wasn’t a clear standout driver.

  4. We have drivers points and drivers rating…we all understand drivers in slower cars simply don;t have similar potential than the top teams however this weekend we could compare Verstappen, Perez, Leclerc and Sainz on their merits.

    – Sainz performed worst out of the four, off the pace en struggling to keep up
    – Perez did have a great Saturday, rather unepxected, but he really put it on pole, yes he suffered from an unlucky SC, however unlike Leclerc and Verstappen he wasn’t able to apply any pressure on Sainz ahead of him. Racecraft is more important than just that outstanding one lap in the end.
    – Leclerc I would not say he cracked under pressure, but he sure had a few moments…quali and race pace was suberb, however Verstappen just got the better of him in the end.
    – Verstappen, Sunday made up for Saturday….it’s as simple as that, he was the best performing driver

    Than the actual ratings
    Sainz 6, Perez 8, Leclerc 7, Verstappen 7…. with about all the race fans agreeing racing has hardly been better than we’ve seen last weekend the ratings are simply absurdly low. Leclerc and Verstappen sure are 9 and 9.5, while the 8 for Perez, below the two best performers looks far more rational, Sainz was solid..6, 7 who cares…behind the rest.

  5. Surprised that only one 8 and no 9s. So many people on 7. May be it is due to the use of 70 years data and going by that strict mathematical way.

    But honestly, they don’t seem intuitive at all. Verstappen should be equal to Perez at least. Sainz should be more than just 1 point below Leclerc.

    Keith, I strongly recommend you should go back to the stars and strugglers type of rating. Think of this as racefans’s knockout qualifying moment. You tried it for 2 races. Now revert to what works best.

    1. Agreed

    2. Was the “70 years of data” ever explained? Do we know source? Does it exist? I only recall seeing a simple statement from Will with no explanation and no debate here the algorithms weightings and assumptions or on the merits of the exercise.

    3. Don’t agree strugglers and stars works better, sometimes there were absurd things such as hamilton not being a struggler in monaco last year, imagine if he wasn’t considered struggler again in this case, because it could’ve happened! A 4 is pretty straightforward.

    4. But I think a number ranking where you can reasonably get 9 and 10 would be better.

  6. Sorry Will, but doing these rankings based on the “entire history of F1 drives” is just pointless and untenable – You can’t honestly tell me you remember every mid-field and backmarker drive in history to get a fair comparison?

    Just do it based on each individual weekend, it’ll be far less controversial and easy to understand… unless you are gunning for controversy?

    1. @joeypropane It’s honestly not that complicated in truth.

      To put it simply, we’ve had more than 70 years worth of drives to look back on and assess. In my mind, only the best, most outstanding performances in F1 history should deserve the accolade of a 10/10.

      A driver that takes pole and wins a race has certainly driven very well, but if they have a significant car advantage and their team mate breaks down or has a bad weekend, let’s say, does that merit a 9 or a 10? I don’t think it does.

      A driver who appears to vastly outperform their machinery and achieve a truly stunning result or who wins by such a margin that it seems like they are competing in a different formula, that’s the kind of thing that deserves the highest possible scores.

      I want to reward only the best performances this season with the highest scores. And there’s a lot of racing still to come for them to be earned.

      Similarly, a ‘1’ would be only for a performance so awful, so incredibly poor that it will likely live on in infamy.

      I also reserve a 0 for the worst possible exhibition of driving. I sincerely expect and hope I will never have to use it.

      1. @willwood I think the scoring system is great because it is different to all the other sites, although it would be interesting for you to give some examples of 10s and 9s from history. I gave a list of my 10/10 drives recently and my most recent was Hamilton in Brazil, but would you rate that as a 10 or a 9? And an example of a 1 and a 0 would be interesting too. Would Yuji Ide in San Marino 2006 count? And what about Senna in Suzuka 1990 and Schumacher in Jerez 1997?

        1. @f1frog I can promise you, I do intend to provide a selection of what I consider to be the ’10s’ of F1 history at some point.

          Maybe now this back-to-back start of the season is over, I’ll have the time to put something together.

          As for what counts as a 0/10, it would almost certainly be due to unacceptable driving standards, reckless behaviour and almost certainly resulting in disqualification and their place in Formula 1 being brought into immediate question.

          1. That sounds like it will be a great article. I look forward to it.

      2. Yes but a few of us haven’t watched 70 years of F1 so it’s a bit hard to relate to. Also apples and oranges in many cases.
        Stick to the current season.

  7. That Pole lap was legendary. Even Ayrton Senna himself would have been proud of that lap. These cars are a handful with the porpoising.

  8. Mr Scallywag
    29th March 2022, 9:48

    I don’t envy you making these rankings, most people moan, everybody knows better, but despite all that it’s still kinda fun.
    I can’t see anyone putting a fair argument against a point either way on any of these, there’s no howlers. Not like, was it Autosport gave HAM a 9? Better call Saul to argue that one.

  9. Electroball76
    29th March 2022, 10:04

    How does Alonso score higher than Ocon when he qualified and finished behind him? Because he dared to battle his team mate? I just don’t understand motor racing.

    1. Because Alonso was better until he had a technical DNf?

    2. Because he was quicker than his teammate on Sunday and was on for a P6 finish before his engine failed on him. Ocon fought his teammate .. lost out.. then lost a position to Bottas as well. I think Ocon being only a point below his teammate is flattering him slightly.

    3. Alonso is slow nowadays, but in race trim he is cleverer.
      For one, he didn’t even try to keep up with Ocon in the early stages of the race. Ocon, contrarily, burnt his tyres in the first 5 laps trying to keep Russell behind, then let Russell pass and even lost another two positions.
      Alonso kept it cool, didn’t push too much until it mattered.
      Another difference is race craft. It took Alonso 3 attempts to overtake Ocon, and he succeeded with a clean pass that Ocon couldn’t refute. Ocon took 2 (or 3, don’t remember) attempts to overtake Alonso, and failed both times.

  10. I can’t see the logic of these ratings. Perez messed up the safety car period and failed after that to make progress. Russell is downgraded because his car was an experimental test bed in practice ? Verstappen wins but is only 7? And so on and so on. The only one with pure logic is Latifi who is becoming something of a risk in too many races.

    1. Perez didnt mess up, Red Bull pulled him in prior to the safety car to cover an eventual undercut by Leclerc. They did so, because Verstappen is their primary, so they used Perez to put pressure on Leclerc. They completely ignored Perez strength in using the tires to a maximum for the benefit of Verstappen. Not much different from when Ricciardo was at the team being second fiddle. Though i agree that his rating here is too high, a seven would have been more appropriate.

  11. Totally agree with Witan. Bizarre ratings. Perez (4th) with 8? Verstappen (1st) one less at 7? Got to be joking. Hamilton 4? Passed more cars than almost anybody and should have finished 7th or 8th but for bad luck. Same as Zhao? Come on! Doesn’t do Racefans credibility any good…

    1. How many cars did he really pass?
      That he got to 6th was purely because he didn’t switch tyres at the moment everybody except Magnussen did. Not difficult to pass then.
      Then at the end of the race he got on mediums and passed several cars, just like Magnussen did.
      Again, not so difficult with DRS advantage.
      And I saw him struggling to pass Stroll, so…

      Let’s just be honest: Hamilton screwed up his qualification and was lucky several drivers in front of him, or that would have gotten in front of him when he switched tyres, retired. Otherwise he wouldn’t even be in the top 10.

      I’m not saying this means his titles are now worthless; he just had a bad weekend. It can happen.

      1. To be honest he hasn’t showed anything impressive yet with a now not so competitive car, in neither of the 2 races.

      2. If I counted right then he overtook 6 or 7 cars (without the ones pitting). Obviously not enough for the usual HAM bashers.

  12. I’m happy with everything you’ve scored there Will except the Red Bull drivers. They’re clearly the wrong way round.

    Personally I would have had the McLaren drivers even (very close in qual and Ric was ahead before his retirement) and I would have been harsher on Ham who had a shocking weekend, but we’ve all got our biases.

  13. No, just no. Makes no sense at all for the second time in a row. Not gonna bother with the third episode.

  14. Jelle van der Meer (@)
    29th March 2022, 10:45

    If you don’t look at the score but just read the text you would think Hamilton scored better than Russell.
    Hamilton was extremely poor and yet this website still find ways to avoid writing negative about Hamilton.

    He failed to reach Q2 because he drove poorly and couldn’t get his car setup right – that is very very poor of someone with over 200 races and being a 7 WDC. It is not that the Mercedes is a bad car, it is the 3rd fastest car which Russell clearly proved both in qualifying and the race.

    For the rest of scoring I join the other commenters in disbelieve and wondering what you guys were smoking or which race you were watching as it is complete rubbish.
    I am a long time reader of Racefans but where this used to be my very first F1 website I visit it now is my 3rd and if this continues there is no point to come back, maybe only the in-depth articles from Dieter.

    1. With your constant whining and negativity, you won’t be missed, so feel free to carry out your threat.

      1. Talking to a mirror are you..

        1. No surprise that I’d get a reply from someone else who brings the forum down at every possible opportunity. Maybe you can ask Barry to post here just to complete the trifecta.

          Other posters can read my previous comments and see that I bring something other than relentless hatred for Lewis Hamilton, which is more than can be said for the two of you.

          1. Just would like to point out that the one who gave you a +1 appears like a hardcore hamilton fan from the comments, so what I want to say is that if you defend hamilton like in this case and get a +1 you can already guess the one who did that is a hamilton fan, and if you get criticism you can already guess it’s an anti-hamilton, that’s how it is on this website (and probably on every other now I think of it).

            As for the topic at hand, hamilton didn’t impress me, he also didn’t do that badly in the race, had bad luck, so maybe a 4 is a bit harsh but I think 5 is max he could reasonably hope for; and I don’t think they’re trying to defend hamilton on the comments, if they give him 4 that’s a negative view, I could even skip reading the comments, the mark is what draws attention.

          2. [Reply to Esploratore as there’s no button]

            Pointing out that Jelle and Erikje spend their entire time on here denigrating Lewis Hamilton doesn’t make me a hardcore Hamilton fan. It’s just the truth and anyone who spends any time on here knows that. Also, your claim that defending Hamilton makes you a fan and getting criticism makes you anti-Hamilton is so laughably over-simplistic it’s hard to know where to begin.

            In any case, it doesn’t matter whether I’m a Hamilton fan or not. Arguments stand or fall on their own merit, not on the person making them.

          3. @esploratore Yes, I am a HAM fan, as I am fan of some other drivers. HAM together with his team messed up setup in Qualy, and he didnt make it to the pits when it was vital. So he got a 4, which is ok.

            My +1 just states that I agree with Nomad, cause the stupidity brought to this forum by some blinded VER fans is childish. One can understand the blind fanatism in the final races of a close season, but now its far from necessary (and smart).

    2. You have just copied and pasted the last para from previous posts.
      You are going nowhere so stop being a child.

    3. Over 200 races? Isn’t that well over 300 by now?

  15. The actual ratings are largely a matter of opinion and as these things go they serve as a point of discussion; it’s quite funny to me that people get up in arms about them. What I don’t get though is the order in which the drivers are presented here… am I missing something?

    1. The order is in constructors championship order from last year, no?
      Merc at the top, Haas at the bottom.
      @maciek

    2. Right, actually never mind, had scrolled a bit quickly earlier

  16. I think you should only reveal the scores out of 10 to supporters who have paid to subscribe… might encourage some of these keyboard warriors to read more than just the number, and make a more worthwhile (💰) contribution!

    1. I agree with the sentiment that paying members deserve something special over those just using ‘a browser that doesn’t show ads’.
      But don’t forget that some of these ‘keyboard warriors’ used to 💰, did have a registered account, and decided to ‘scale back’ due to other choices the site owner has taken.

      Not being able to see these scores however would not be enough of a change to entice me back to support this site financially.

    2. Yes, I would never pay to watch f1, like I don’t pay the subscription on site to play chess, if it’s something I like I do it for free, else I don’t.

  17. Well done Will.
    Also I would’ve rated some differently (e.g. Leclerc higher), but it’s your page, your explanation, and your rating.
    Do note that most people disagree with the #rating but never add/remove/change the (factual) bullet points below them.

    I hope you keep up with the rating and, most importantly, consistency in your reviews of the performances.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      29th March 2022, 12:04

      Yeah I agree. Doing numerical ratings always create complaints wherever you see it online. It’s hard. Note that most who have kicked off about it haven’t given their own ratings. If they did – they’d get slammed just as hard.

    2. Thanks for your comments JFF and @petebaldwin!

      It is not easy to try and assign a numerical value to a driver’s weekend when you factor in everything so I completely understand why some will disagree with me with some of my ratings, but that’s OK!

      I do welcome people sharing their own perspectives about how they might view a driver to be deserving of a different score one way or another. But it helps a lot if people can explain why they think that way.

      I can promise you that I don’t pick ratings just to stir up controversy or be contrarian. These 20 drivers deserve that respect at the very least…

  18. One of the best battles in F1 in the last decade; a 7 and a 7. And Perez, an 8, because.. he failed to fix his misfortune..? He should have been all over Sainz, as Max showed was very much possible, yet he didn’t even come close to an overtake.

    Don’t get me wrong, Checo had a good weekend, but his shortcomings showed when he wasn’t able to move up the field after that setback. Sainz wasn’t faster than Leclerc, yet the other Red Bull had been on the brink of Leclerc’s DRS almost half a race, Sainz should have been easier prey.

  19. I very much appreciate the view to have ratings based on 70 years of racing. This way, a 10 can be seen in its historical context. For example, while this race produced some good drives, I think Sutil’s Monaco drive in 2008 should score higher than any of those.

    In this context, I find Latifi’s 2 a bit low. Surely his race was not that great, but if we look at the drives some drivers in the 90s produced, I have a very hard time to judge this one as of similar quality. Or put differently, rate all these drives as 1, as there is still plenty of differentiation in that range. As a more recent example, despite being out of the running for some time, Badoer’s performance in Spa 2009 (being among the slowest in a race which was won by his team mate) was definitely a few categories worse than Latifi’s. Quite possibly, a 3 is about the worse we see in modern times, and 2s and have become 1s really exceptional.

    1. Yeah, I totally follow your argument here.

      I think it’s important to keep a perspective for how talented the current grid really is. You can have criticisms of Latifi, but compared to some drivers from my lifetime who have been granted the privilege of an F1 race seat…

    2. A modern low rating could be Robert Kubica at Hungary in 2019. 3 laps behind the leader as the only driver, 1,3 seconds behind his teammate in qualifying, dead last. Completely off the entire weekend. We have to look at each driver as a racer and against what other racers could have done with the same car. It was a horrid performance and I felt for him as a former fan of his.

      1. Can’t edit my comment, but Button in Brazil 2016 is another low performance highlight in the modern era. Qualified 17th, 0,57 behind his teammate in Q1. Was one of the first driver to pit for slicks in the rainy weather, but were running some 1,5-2 seconds slower on track per lap than Magnussen in a yellow painted Lotus, who had followed the same gambling strategy (can’t recall who were the first on slicks, think it was Button and then Magnussen on the same lap with Magnussen overtaking him shortly after).
        Alonso finished 10th and Button showed that he was done racing. Alonso who had spun out overtook Button on lap 56 and finished 37 seconds in front of him on just 15 laps…

  20. 8 Russell Performed much better in a difficult car than a 7-Time World Champion. Comfortably held off all challengers for best of the rest
    8 Verstappen Below par qualifying and won a tight battle with Leclerc
    8 Leclerc Good pace all weekend and tried every trick in the book to keep Verstappen behind
    8 Perez Great qualifying and early part of race, got unlucky with strategy but made no impression on Sainz
    7 Alonso Won battles with teammate and Magnussen. Starting the battle with Ocon ultimately lead to a lot of time loss to Russell
    7 Norris Solid qualifying and early race but great pace at the end of the race to challenge Ocon
    7 Sainz Mostly matched pace of the other front runners but lost quite a bit after the safety car and under VSC
    7 Bottas OK qualifying and overtook Ocon before his car broke down
    7 Magnussen Ok qualifying and made the most of sub-optimal strategy to finish 9th
    6 Ricciardo Got lucky with his early stop and as a result may have held up Norris
    6 Gasly Dropped quite a few places through the race but made no mistakes
    6 Ocon Lost places and time to Russell, Bottas and especially his teammate Alonso but did at least edge out Norris for 6th
    5 Stroll Unlucky with safety car, fought Hamilton well, but could have done something to avoid collision with Albon
    5 Hulkenberg Slow most of the weekend and had an out of sync strategy but stayed out of trouble
    4 Zhou Messy opening laps leading to penalty, blamess in second penalty and as a result was out of the fight for points
    4 Hamilton Terrible qualifying, made up places early on but unlucky strategy, poor communication and slow pace on fresh mediums lead to a below par 10th
    4 Albon Slow enough to hold up Latifi early on picked up pace later on but tried to pass Stroll for way to far back leading to retirment
    3 Latifi Crashed in qualifying and race although kept of with Albon early on which is progress
    3 Schumacher Crashed heavily in qualifying and couldn’t race
    N/A Tsunoda Technical problems stopped him running at all so unfair to judge

    1. This I can definitely agree with more.

    2. I agree! Except that I would put Nicholas Latifi last. Sure, the williams isn’t the fastest car but it seems more reliable then the torro rosso.

      He delivered the worst possible result: 0 points and a big repair bill for the team.

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