Which Formula 1 driver made the most of the Austrian 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 three days.
Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Red Bull Ring.
Driver performance summary
| Driver | Q stage | Q pos. | Q gap to team mate | SR grid pos. | SR pos. | GP grid pos. | GP pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Verstappen | Q3 | 1 | -0.888s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Sergio Perez | Q3 | 8 | +0.888s | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Q3 | 5 | +0.063s | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| George Russell | Q3 | 3 | -0.063s | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Charles Leclerc | Q3 | 6 | +0.193s | 10 | 7 | 6 | 11 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Q3 | 4 | -0.193s | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| Lando Norris | Q3 | 2 | -0.330s | 2 | 3 | 2 | 20 |
| Oscar Piastri | Q3 | 7 | +0.330s | 3 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| Lance Stroll | Q1 | 17 | +0.163s | 12 | 10 | 17 | 13 |
| Fernando Alonso | Q2 | 15 | -0.163s | 13 | 15 | 15 | 18 |
| Esteban Ocon | Q3 | 10 | -0.085s | 8 | 11 | 10 | 12 |
| Pierre Gasly | Q2 | 13 | +0.085s | 9 | 12 | 13 | 10 |
| Alexander Albon | Q1 | 16 | -0.120s | 20 | 17 | 16 | 15 |
| Logan Sargeant | Q1 | 19 | +0.120s | 15 | 16 | 19 | 19 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | Q2 | 11 | -0.123s | 16 | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| Yuki Tsunoda | Q2 | 14 | +0.123s | 14 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| Valtteri Bottas | Q1 | 18 | -0.214s | 18 | 18 | 18 | 16 |
| Zhou Guanyu | Q1 | 20 | +0.214s | 19 | 20 | 20 | 17 |
| Kevin Magnussen | Q2 | 12 | +0.085s | 11 | 9 | 12 | 8 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Q3 | 9 | -0.085s | 17 | 19 | 9 | 6 |
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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 2024 Austrian Grand Prix weekend?
- No opinion (1%)
- Kevin Magnussen (1%)
- Nico Hulkenberg (27%)
- Zhou Guanyu (0%)
- Valtteri Bottas (0%)
- Yuki Tsunoda (0%)
- Daniel Ricciardo (3%)
- Logan Sargeant (0%)
- Alexander Albon (0%)
- Pierre Gasly (2%)
- Esteban Ocon (0%)
- Fernando Alonso (0%)
- Lance Stroll (0%)
- Oscar Piastri (4%)
- Lando Norris (38%)
- Carlos Sainz Jnr (0%)
- Charles Leclerc (0%)
- George Russell (15%)
- Lewis Hamilton (1%)
- Sergio Perez (0%)
- Max Verstappen (8%)
Total Voters: 121
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2024 Austrian Grand Prix
- Austrian GP clash will have taught Norris how to race Verstappen – Ricciardo
- Verstappen was “lucky” tyre damage didn’t force him to retire like Norris
- Pirelli introducing new C6 tyre to improve racing on street tracks next year
- Norris admits ‘overreacting’ but queries why Verstappen avoided track limits penalty
- Norris and Verstappen’s Austrian GP collision “blown out of proportion” – rivals
Debates and polls
- Is F1’s record reliability rate making the sport better?
- Should F1 ensure ‘sustainable’ fuels are no pipe dream before ditching hybrids?
- Who should Mercedes replace Hamilton with… and should Verstappen switch from Red Bull?
- Have F1’s Aerodynamic Testing Restrictions had a positive impact on the sport?
- Was Norris right to hand victory in Hungary over to Piastri?
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
30th June 2024, 18:11
IDGAF about sprint races, so Nico Hulkenberg for me.
DaveW (@dmw)
30th June 2024, 19:30
100 percent. Incredible race by him.
Edvaldo
30th June 2024, 18:16
Nico Hulkenberg beat a Red Bull fair and square, on a dry track, with a HAAS.
This got to be one of the greatest achievements of this decade.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
30th June 2024, 21:17
“a haas” is basically a term we used several years ago when they were clearly one of if not the weakest team out there. This weekend, Haas were very clearly in the top 5 teams. Hulkenberg was also assisted by Leclerc’s race being impacted and Norris too.
Hulkenberg was still very good, but the red bull is arguably not “far” better than the Haas this weekend. Both Hulkenberg and Magnussen were keeping up with Verstapen at one stage.
All this said, perez still should have beaten both of them.
However, Magnussen was pretty much matched for pace with hulkenberg in the race and was far better in the sprint, so for DOTW considering hulkenberg’s penalty, I think it is a bit much voting for him personally. his sprint performance was terrible while magnussen was 9th and 8th in the two races. Hulknberg was 19th and 6th.
Gary
1st July 2024, 14:30
Great race by Hulkenberg, but didn’t Perez have sidepod damage?
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
30th June 2024, 18:17
Norris – easily Norris.
Almost everyone else just started work as normal and would have been happy to hold position for 74 laps.
Norris dared to try to take the lead and was punished for it.
If not Norris then Leclerc. That was one heck of a fightback after a disastrous beginning
Mooa42
1st July 2024, 5:57
I thought Piastri made some great overtakes, Perez and Sainz around the outside of turn 6? and always attacking at the start.
w0o0dy (@w0o0dy)
1st July 2024, 6:08
I feel Norris made too many (Smaal and big) mistakes in the fastest car, so it cannot be him. I think the Hulk overperformed again. He deserves more.
AlexS
1st July 2024, 13:45
Norris drove like a clown risking in places and time he should not. Too many dive bombs and mistakes. Nico Hulkenberg obviously.
Hauke (@hauke)
30th June 2024, 18:31
Can I leave a negative vote for Perez? Hulk defended against him on the hard tyres in a Haas
CarWars (@maxv)
30th June 2024, 18:37
Easily Max
elchinero (@elchinero)
30th June 2024, 18:40
I agree … be aggressive …
Mayrton
2nd July 2024, 19:55
I agree. He was the top performer all weekend and still managed 5th after that shunt for which he wrongfully received a penalty. In hindsight we now know Herbert was involved so it all makes a bit more sense but still again very unprofessional of FIA to not go by the rulebook but have an own interpretation of them. The bias continues apparently. There are plenty of people who do -unlike me- have some authority (like Peter Windsor) who address this topic and also feel this needs to stop.
Sergey Martyn
30th June 2024, 19:40
Hulk is da monsta!
Leo B
30th June 2024, 20:19
Piastri. He beat his team mate in Sprint and in race.
kuvemar
30th June 2024, 23:35
Same. Piastri is the real deal. He’s going to drive circles around Lando soon.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
1st July 2024, 6:45
This is the way I leant, though it was a very much ‘on balance’ thing, as he was not without several faults of his own.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th June 2024, 20:27
Hulkenberg definitely deserves the DOTD honor, although DOTW is a bit harder, but I ultimately also went for him.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
30th June 2024, 20:47
Lando got my vote. He should have won too, but it wasn’t to be. Congratulations to George for winning.
Tys (@bwoken14)
30th June 2024, 23:00
Nico for me. Rolled back the years
CarWars (@maxv)
30th June 2024, 23:49
Driver of the weekend seems to be driver of Sunday again
Nick T.
1st July 2024, 5:26
1. Hulkenberg (Mag didn’t do badly either)
2. Followed closely by Ricciardo who finished P9 vs P15 for Tsunoda and would have likely finished P8 since he was within 2 tenths of K-Mag in the DRS, but he clearly wanted to solidify the result rather than risk Magnussen running him off the track.
3. Piastri. Mostly for his passes.
Ironically, Alonso was on target for at least P10 in likely the third worst slowest car on the grid until the lock up and contact with Zhou as he was glued to Ricciardo and on the same exact strategy. He was also 20+ seconds ahead of Stroll. So, it ended up looking like an awful race instead.
Aaditya (@neutronstar)
1st July 2024, 6:01
Went for Hulkenberg. I’ve been a fan for years and this weekend was his best performance since his comeback.
The poor sprint qualifying and race should count against him but I loved the way he bounced back in the events that mattered more and offered more points. He did the same earlier in the year in China.
Not to mention, his defending against Perez was awesome. Perez had damage but he had overtaken Hulkenberg before in the second stint and had pulled a gap of around 15 seconds if I remember correctly, so he definitely had a much quicker car. I was reminded of Korea 2013…
Nick T.
1st July 2024, 6:07
Important to note that Perez caused his side damage and we’ve seen Max win with much worse damage. So, IMO the hole was more an excuse than a real problem and Hulk deserves even more credit.
Nick T.
1st July 2024, 6:16
Even more damning for Perez, he was only 6.5 seconds ahead of Ricciardo at the end in a car Yuki finished P-15 in. They need to give lightning trials to Yuki and Daniel in the RBR. No one, even Zhou, could be as bad as Perez.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
1st July 2024, 12:46
Yep, its the Hulk this week. Strong performance in the race.
Loser of the weekend is Sergio Perez. The days when Max is not there at the top, neither is Perez to pick up the pieces for Red Bull. Following the crash between the Max and Lando, Piastri was there in Mclaren, Russel was there in Mercedes, where was Sergio in a front running car?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st July 2024, 17:42
Even sainz was there in a mediocre ferrari! These performances by perez are reminiscent of albon’s and gasly’s time at red bull, whenever verstappen was out, sometimes through no fault of his own (example bahrain outer track 2020), his team mate, albon in that case, would come 6th and say “that was the best we could do today”, and I’d answer “yes, with you as a driver”.
MadMax (@madmax)
1st July 2024, 21:11
Verstappen for ruining another easy win on his teams secondary home soil. Classic example of entitled ego beating his own brain.