Belgian Grand Prix driver ratings
- Published on 02 Sep 2019 11:00
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- By: Harry Mattocks & Fergal Walsh
It was both a weekend of heartbreak and celebration for Leclerc, as he paid tribute to the late Anthoine Hubert with his maiden Formula 1 victory. The Monégasque driver was dominant in qualifying, and then kept his head when it mattered in the closing stages of the race to hold off Lewis Hamilton.
Rating: 10.0
Going into the race, not many people thought that Hamilton had much of a chance of the victory given Mercedes' pace deficit to Ferrari. However, after another sterling drive by the Brit victory was in his sights. He ran out of laps, but it must be encouraging for Mercedes as Formula 1 moves into the home of Ferrari.
Rating: 9.5
Bottas was in no man's land for the majority of the weekend in Spa-Francorchamps, on the weekend where it was confirmed that he'd partner Lewis Hamilton for at least one more year. The Finn showed glimpses of pace in the race, but never mounted a challenge to his teammate.
Rating: 8.0
Saturday wasn't all to impressive for Vettel, as although on the front row, his best effort was 0.7s behind that of pole-sitter Leclerc. He made a poor start but made the position back to Hamilton, and had strong pace on the soft tyres. However, this pace evaporated on the mediums, leaving the German to settle for fourth place.
Rating: 6.5
In his first race with Red Bull, there was a lot of pressure on Albon to impress. This is exactly what he did. After a shaky start to the race, the Anglo-Thai rookie came alive in the second half of the race and pulled off some brilliant overtakes. If he continues this form, he could be at the start of a very long and successful stint at the team.
Rating: 9.5
Perez is another driver that announced that he'd signed a new contract, with the Mexican committing himself to Racing Point for the next three years. He had a very strong race and scored some good points for the team. He was unlucky to be passed by Albon on the final lap but didn't really lose out due to Norris' retirement on the same lap. A well-deserved sixth place.
Rating: 8.5
Another race, another impressive performance by Kvyat. After starting from the back, he drove an impressive race to not only finish in the points but more importantly for his career, ahead of Pierre Gasly.
Rating: 8.5
Hulkenberg did well to pull off a two-stop strategy in the race to bring home points for Renault. The German also managed to stay ahead of Albon in the first stint, and he is going to need more performances like this if he wants to find a seat for next season.
Rating: 8.0
The pressure is on Gasly to perform in the second half of the season, after a disappointing stint at Red Bull. If his performance in Belgium is anything to go by, the Frenchman is determined to prove himself. His race craft was much better than anything we saw when he was at Red Bull, and he seemed to overtake more in one race than he's done all year.
Rating: 7.5
It was overall a respectable weekend for Stroll, with the Canadian picking up the final point for Racing Point. He didn't quite have the performance of his teammate Perez, but it was a good race nonetheless.
Rating: 7.0
On an already difficult Sunday for Norris following the passing of Hubert, Norris suffered further heartbreak with an engine problem, which denied him a career-best fifth place on the final lap of. Nevertheless, his strong drive did not go unnoticed, as the rookie continues to shine.
Rating: 10.0
The Haas car's problems were more evident than ever on Sunday at Spa. As Magnussen's first stint grew longer, he found himself dropping like a stone down a well, as the team is still struggling with its tyres. Nevertheless, 25 laps on the soft compound is an impressive stint.
Rating: 6.5
Grosjean reverted back to the updated Haas car for the weekend, and was running nicely inside the points before being passed by the cars behind on a two-stop strategy.
Rating: 7.0
Ricciardo had a blistering qualifying, but unfortunately, his race was ruined on lap one, when he made contact with Stroll. Sustaining heavy damage, Ricciardo nobly fought to the end after stopping on lap one, scoring his third consecutive non-points finish.
Rating: 7.5
The performance of the Williams was once again nothing to be excited about at Spa, however Russell was consistently quicker than Kubica during the race, and wasn't a million miles away from the pack when the chequered flag fell
Rating: 7.0
Raikkonen also could have had better fortunes on Sunday, as contact with Verstappen put a major dent in his race and evaporated all hope of a strong result.
Rating: N/A
Kubica failed to set a time in qualifying due to an unfortunate engine failure and in the race worked with the tools he had to get the car to the end of the race.
Rating: 6.5
Giovinazzi was having arguably his best race of the season on Sunday, storming through the field on fresh tyres. He was on course for a ninth-place finish before a last-lap crash undid all of his impressive work throughout the 44 laps.
Rating: 5.0
Sainz took a grid penalty after exceeding the quota for engine components - but in the race, power problems that surfaced n the formation lap eliminated him from contention and put an early end to a disappointing weekend for the McLaren driver.
Rating: N/A
In what has been a superb season so far for Verstappen, the Dutchman found himself in the wall on the opening lap after making contact with Raikkonen. While it was arguably rightly deemed as a racing incident, a lunge on an unsighted Raikkonen was never going to end well.
Rating: 6.0
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Replies (11)
Login to replyJuJuHound
Posts: 352
Finally a proper rating for Max. He is a decent driver but giving him 9.5-10 every race was annoying. Thank you !!
Fugilli
Posts: 1
I would give Max a 3 or 4. He was clearly impatient and try to recover all in the 1st corner. I thought I had already learned that a race have more than one lap... disappointing.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Welcome to GPToday, Fugilli. And I agree, while Max had a decent weekend for the most part, the incident and early exit didn't merit a 6 in my book..
JuJuHound
Posts: 352
I'm bit suprised he didn't get 10 but happy enough for 6.
Manto02
Posts: 93
Max deserves a 4 or 5, not only he had a bad start and tried to recover in an impossible point to overtake, but also he went full throttle after the car damaged and destroyed the car into the barrier.
Also Giovinazzi, it is true that he wasted a great opportunity but he had a really solid race, considering his bad luck during qualifies
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Funny to see so many reactions about the Max score. That kid is going to get so, much hate when he actually starts fighting for championships.
About thr scores...
Albon is way too high. He was lucky that Gio and Norris went out. His race was solid but underwhelming. People seem to forget he's in a Red Bull. He is expected to cut through the field. That being said, I expect him to get better. Very exciting.
Stroll, I think should be lower. He had the same equipment as Pérez. In fact he was really close to him, at the beginning. He faded. Which is strange sine usually he shines in the race
Seb... Yes, underwhelming to be sure. But 6.5 is the same rating Kubica got ha! Maybe that was deliberate though
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
That's the way things are for drivers similar to Schumi and that lot. Popular among some, controversial among others. Honestly, he is already getting a lot of spite and a lot of love, so he already kinda fit the bill in that regard.
I agree on Vettel, he deserved more than 6.5 with that performance. And I also don't think Kubica deserved a 6.5: that's a positive score, and the text doesn't gel with what the score imply. He was just there, and that merits a 5 at most.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Can't see how someone who crashed out gets a 6. 5 when he didn't bring the car home while the guy whose car he ruined brought a compromised car home got a zero. That makes no sense at all. But VER got a 10 the weekend he caused a crash in the pitlane. Funny how he gets points for crashing. His performance this weekend shows once again how he's not ready for a seat at Ferrari or Mercedes. He's a win or die driver not in the same class as LeClerc or Albon.
xoya
Posts: 583
Three words.
Juan Pablo Montoya.
Mansell
Posts: 104
Vercrashen gets a 6 ????
That's a joke. Right.
Wait this is a Dutch run site isnt it
Has to be a 6 for ruining people's races in turn one......
Sparky1
Posts: 15
Antonio crashes on the last lap and rates a 5.0
Carlos doesn’t start. DNF and rates N/A.
Kimi is hit by Max and finishes 1 lap down. Rates N/A.
Max has a collision and crashes out on the first lap. DNF. Rates a 6.0???
I think you made a bit of an error. Kimi and Max ratings must have been swapped. A first lap crash resulting in a DNF could not be anything other than N/A just like Carlos.