The first sprint round of the season only added more pressure onto drivers as they returned to a circuit they had not raced at for five years.
With rain interrupting Friday’s sprint qualifying session, a low-grip track surface and multiple Safety Car interruptions during the grand prix itself, there was no simple day across the three during the race weekend.
That might have reflected in how none of the 20 drivers had a completely clean weekend where everything went perfectly. But that does not mean there were no eye-catching performances throughout the field.
Here are the RaceFans driver ratings for the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.
A guide to RaceFans’ driver ratings system
RaceFans’ driver ratings system assesses driver performance across all three days of a grand prix weekend. Naturally, performances during competitive sessions – qualifying, sprint races and grands prix – will carry the most weight to their rating.
However, practice performance can affect a driver’s weekend rating in the event of a major mistake, such as a crash, consistent errors throughout practice sessions or if a driver shows a notably impressive speed throughout all free practice sessions relative to their team mate.
The system attempts to take into account the relative performance of each driver’s car and the expected results from that, meaning that a driver who wins a race in a car clearly superior to the rest of the field may not necessarily score as highly as a driver who claims a low points finish in a midfield car.
Ratings also attempt to take into account mitigating factors outside of a driver’s control. If a driver is forced to miss considerable track time due to car problems, is the victim of being blocked in qualifying, finishes far lower than expected because of a heavily botched pit stop or suffers any other misfortune they cannot be reasonably expected to control, their rating should not be penalised.
RaceFans rates each driver’s weekend performance on a scale of 0 to 10, where ‘5’ is considered to be a typically average weekend performance from a typically average Formula 1 driver.
Here is a rough guide to each possible score:
N/A – Not applicable – No rating is given as the driver did not sufficiently participate in the competitive sessions
0 – Disqualified – Only in the most extreme instance where a driver’s conduct disqualifies them from participation
1 – Appalling – An appalling display that brings a driver’s competency under immediate question
2 – Awful – A very, very poor performance of repeated errors with almost no redeeming qualities
3 – Very bad – Far more negatives than positives across the weekend which a driver should be very disappointed with
4 – Underperformance – Driver failed to achieve the base level expected for a Formula 1 driver
5 – Acceptable – The standard level of performance that should be expected from an F1 driver
6 – Good – A decent overall performance across the weekend, but not one of the best
7 – Very good – A strong performance across the weekend that any driver should be very pleased with
8 – Brilliant – A truly great weekend where the driver stood out as one of the very best of the field
9 – Exceptional – An outstanding performance that ranks as one of the best, if not the very best, of the entire season
10 – Legendary – One of the few all-time greatest performances by a driver in the history of Formula 1
Max Verstappen – 7/10
Sprint race finish: Winner
Qualified: Pole (+1 place ahead of team mate, -0.322s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-H)
Finished: Winner (+2 places ahead of team mate)
▶ Qualified only fourth for sprint grid after rain fell in SQ3
▲ Bided his time before methodically passing Alonso and Hamilton to win sprint race easily
▲ Secured pole position by three tenths in qualifying
▲ Led from pole and retained lead through two Safety Car restarts
▲ Took fourth win of season by 13 seconds from Norris
Another sprint weekend, another double victory for Verstappen. Once again in 2024, he was in a class of his own in race conditions and never looked close to being threatened for the top spot on Saturday or Sunday. However, it is clear that the Red Bull remains the best car in the field and the fact he was beaten to sprint race pole on Friday suggests he did not quite manage to fully maximise everything in every session compared to man
Sergio Perez – 6/10
Sprint race start: 6th
Sprint race finish: 3rd
Qualified: 2nd (-1 place behind team mate, +0.322s)
Start: -1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-H)
Finished: 3rd (-2 places behind team mate)
▶ Only able to secure sixth in sprint qualifying, two places behind team mate
▲ Pulled off great double-pass on Alonso and Sainz to finish sprint in third
▶ Secured front row start for grand prix in qualifying, but three tenths behind team mate
▶ Lost a place to Alonso at the start but claimed it back soon after
▶ Dropped to fourth pitting under Safety Car but passed Leclerc to finish third
Perez appears to have fallen into a pattern in 2024 so far. He does not make any major mistakes or poor decisions like he did so often in 2023, but he also is simply unable to match the performance of his world champion team mate. Much was the same in China, where Red Bull could again be satisfied with his weekend. It was not his fault he lost out to Norris and Leclerc in the pits behind the Safety Car, but he once he had passed the Ferrari he had no tyre performance left to challenge Norris. But at least he knows that he had misfortune to blame for missing out on second place.
Lewis Hamilton – 5/10
Sprint race finish: 2nd
Qualified: 18th (-10 places behind team mate, +0.489s)
Start: -1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (S-M-H)
Finished: 9th (-3 places behind team mate)
▲ Secured front-row start for sprint race in second
▲ Led early laps of sprint passing Norris but lost lead to Verstappen to finish second
▼ Eliminated from Q1 after making major set-up changes
▶ Struggled for pace on soft tyres in opening stint but restarted 11th after Safety Car
▶ Passed Hulkenberg but overtaken by Alonso to finish ninth
Whatever Hamilton changed on his car between the sprint race and the grand prix, you can be sure he regrets it. The multiple world champion looked stronger than he has been for a long while over Friday and the first part of Saturday, but then it all seemed to disappear into the two grand prix sessions. But it was obvious that it was because the major change in set-up direction – which he admitted to requesting of his team – robbed his car of much of the performance it had previously had. While he clearly should be held responsible for it, at least he was able to salvage a couple of points from the grand prix.
George Russell – 6/10
Sprint race start: 11th
Sprint race finish: 8th
Qualified: 8th (+10 places ahead of team mate, -0.489s)
Start: +2 places
Strategy: Two-stop (M-M-H)
Finished: 6th (+3 places ahead of team mate)
▼ Failed to follow team mate into SQ3 after losing tyre temperature to start sprint 11th
▶ Used softs and gained three places in sprint to score final point in eighth
▶ Secured eighth on grand prix grid in qualifying
▲ Passed both Ferraris on the opening lap to run sixth
▶ Restarted seventh after Safety Car and picked up sixth when Alonso pitted
▲ Kept out of reach of Alonso in closing laps to finish seventh
With plenty happening at the front of the field as well as towards the rear, it was very easy to overlook Russell across the weekend – perhaps the one driver who featured least on the world feed broadcast. That does not mean that he had a bad weekend by any means – it was perhaps a reflection of Mercedes’ true performance in racing conditions that he was out of the top five. But he beat his team mate over the most important two sessions of the weekend and beat a McLaren and an Aston Martin, which was probably to his credit.
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Charles Leclerc – 6/10
Sprint race start: 7th
Sprint race finish: 4th
Qualified: 6th (+1 place ahead of team mate, -0.008s)
Start: -1 place
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 4th (+1 place ahead of team mate)
▼ Spun into barrier on out-lap in SQ3 before qualifying seventh
▲ Rose three places in sprint race to finish ahead of team mate despite contact with him
▶ Secured sixth on the grid in grand prix qualifying ahead of team mate
▶ Passed by Russell and Hulkenberg on opening lap but overtook both and Piastri in early laps
▶ Pitted under Safety Car for hard tyres and restarted third, passed by Perez to finish fourth
Leclerc may have had better weekend performances in 2024 than he had in China, but he could be pleased with his work in Shanghai even if the Ferrari was not as potent a car as it has been in other rounds in 2024. The weakest point was clearly Friday, where he did not seem most comfortable when the rain came, but it felt like his form picked up as the weekend progressed. Although he was the first to admit that he was “not completely satisfied with our result as a team”, he could at least take heart that he out-raced his team mate.
Carlos Sainz Jnr – 5/10
Sprint race finish: 5th
Qualified: 7th (-1 place behind team mate, +0.008s)
Start: -2 places
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 5th (-1 place behind team mate)
▶ Out-qualified team mate in wet to line up fifth on sprint grid
▶ Finished fifth in sprint despite touching team mate and damage from Alonso clash
▼ Crashed in Q2 but recovered thanks to red flag to qualify seventh for grand prix
▼ Dropped two places at the start but re-passed Hulkenberg on lap two
▶ Restarted in sixth after Safety Car and couldn’t quite match team mate ahead, finishing fifth
Over a weekend where Sainz was fifth in three of the four competitive sessions of the Chinese Grand Prix, he gets another five here. Other than the wet sprint qualifying on Friday, Sainz’s team mate seemed to have a slight edge on him over the rest of the weekend. He was probably lucky not to be investigated for forcing Leclerc off track at the hairpin. His race performance was perfectly alright, but not the best he’s had in this early season so far and was somewhat flattered by Aston Martin’s strategy to have finished ahead of Alonso.
Lando Norris – 7/10
Sprint race finish: 6th
Qualified: 4th (+1 place ahead of team mate, -0.108s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 2nd (+6 places ahead of team mate)
▲ Secured pole for second straight sprint qualifying session in rain
▶ Lost sprint race lead to Hamilton and fell several places running wide at turn one to finish sixth
▶ Secured second-row start for grand prix ahead of team mate and Ferraris
▲ Passed Alonso in early laps and pitted under Safety Car to restart second
▲ Showed strong pace on hards to elude Perez and secure best finish of 2024 in second
Another formidable three-day showing from Norris, another podium finish, still no win. When the rain came in sprint qualifying, Norris adapted to the conditions better than anyone. He probably should have out-qualified Alonso in the grand prix qualifying session and he was fortunate to get ahead of Perez under the Safety Car, but his pace in the later part of the race was solid. Norris cannot score higher than a ‘7’ due to his misjudgement at the start of the sprint when he perhaps should have played it safer and because McLaren were probably quicker than Ferrari around Shanghai, but holding off a Red Bull is a pretty good effort.
Oscar Piastri – 5/10
Sprint race start: 8th
Sprint race finish: 7th
Qualified: 5th (-1 place behind team mate, +0.108s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: Two-stop (M-M-H)
Finished: 8th (-6 places behind team mate)
▶ Qualified eighth for sprint but lost a second on final lap after suddenly falling into neutral
▶ Gained one place in sprint to finish eighth after Alonso’s retirement
▶ Secured a top five grid position for the grand prix in Saturday’s qualifying
▶ Passed by Leclerc early on before pitting late under Safety Car and dropping to eighth
▶ Suffered damage when hit by Ricciardo under Safety Car
▶ Overtaken by Alonso late to finish in eighth
Piastri has certainly had worse weekends than he had in China, but he’s also had much better ones too. He was demonstrably not on the level of his team mate across the weekend. While he should have started higher on the sprint race grid, he still would’ve been two seconds off Norris without his odd gearbox glitch in SQ3. He suffered minor damage under Safety Car and brought the car home solidly in the points, but he shouldn’t be satisfied with six points from his weekend when Norris scored 21.
Fernando Alonso – 7/10
Sprint race finish: Retired (Damage)
Qualified: 3rd (+8 places ahead of team mate, -0.186s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: Three-stop (M-H-S-M)
Finished: 7th (+8 places ahead of team mate)
▲ Secured top three grid position in sprint qualifying
▼ Retired from sprint race after clash with Sainz, hit with 10s penalty
▲ Fastest qualifier behind Red Bulls to start grand prix in third
▲ Overtook Perez for second at start before falling behind Perez and Norris
▶ Restarted fifth on softs before pitting for mediums late
▲ Passed Albon, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Hamilton and Piastri to finish 7th despite almost crashing
The two Aston Martins could hardly have had more contrasting fortunes in China, and Alonso was the one who enjoyed by far the better weekend once again. He made third on the grid his for the two races and had good starts in both of them. Although he slipped down to seventh by the finish of the grand prix, that was more a reflection on his car than his own driving – even if he almost threw it all away at turn 16. The only real negative was his unwise lunge on Sainz into turn nine in the sprint race, which he probably deserved a penalty for – though perhaps not three superlicence penalty points.
Lance Stroll – 3/10
Sprint race start: 15th
Sprint race finish: 14th
Qualified: 11th (-8 places behind team mate, +0.186s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: Four-stop (S-M-H-M-H)
Finished: 15th (-8 places behind team mate)
▲ Fastest of all in practice
▼ Failed to follow team mate into SQ3 after rain fell
▼ Gained only one place in sprint race after team mate retired
▼ Unable to secure top ten start, eliminated from Q2 in 11th
▲ Passed Hulkenberg on second lap and inside top ten until SC
▼ Hit Ricciardo under SC, damaging car and earning 10s penalty
▶ Ran at the back before passing Sargeant late to finish 16th but promoted to 15th
Another weekend where Stroll’s abilities and awareness were brought into question. Yet again it looked like Stroll was not driving the same car as his team mate Alonso, who ran within range of the lead in the early laps of both the weekends’ races while Stroll languished outside the points. Not only that, Stroll picked up a penalty for running into a rival behind the Safety Car. While it is true the accordion effect at the hairpin could have caught anyone out, the fact remains only Stroll managed to whack that hard into the car ahead. Another poor performance all around.
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Pierre Gasly – 6/10
Sprint race start: 16th
Sprint race finish: 15th
Qualified: 15th (-2 places behind team mate, +0.24s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: Three-stop (M-H-H-M)
Finished: 13th (-2 places behind team mate)
▶ Ran without floor upgrade provided to team mate
▲ Out-qualified team mate in sprint qualifying
▶ Finished 15th in sprint race, less than second behind team mate
▶ Fell to the rear of grand prix after botched pit stop cost him around 16 seconds
▲ Pitted late for mediums and passed Sargeant and Magnussen to finish 13th
This was perhaps Gasly’s strongest showing of the season so far as he backed up his team mate across the weekend even without the benefit of the upgraded floor on his car. He was unlucky that his first pit stop went so horribly wrong, but when he was given an opportunity to rejoin the pack under the Safety Car, he did so. He overtook four rivals after the restart across two stints to finish six seconds behind his team mate – a performance he should be happy with.
Esteban Ocon – 6/10
Sprint race finish: 13th
Qualified: 13th (+2 places ahead of team mate, -0.24s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-H)
Finished: 11th (+2 places ahead of team mate)
▶ Received team’s only floor upgrade for weekend
▶ Eliminated from SQ1 in 17th, just behind team mate
▲ Gained four places in sprint race to finish just ahead of team mate in 13th
▲ Reached Q2 to secure 13th on grand prix grid
▶ Ran ahead of team mate all race to finish under two seconds from a point in 11th
Ocon has been putting in strong performances across the season so far despite the lack of speed of his car and he produced another solid weekend in China to just miss his first point of the season. He was naturally helped by having an upgraded floor for the weekend as well as some of their rivals struggling more than them, but being out-qualified by his team mate in SQ1 was perhaps the only point of criticism of his three days in the car.
Alexander Albon – 6/10
Sprint race start: 18th
Sprint race finish: 17th
Qualified: 14th (+6 places ahead of team mate, -0.974s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-H)
Finished: 12th (+5 places ahead of team mate)
▶ Knocked out of SQ1 in 18th but ahead of team mate
▶ Picked up one place in sprint, passing ailing Hulkenberg
▲ Reached Q2 to line up 14th on grand prix grid
▶ Ran 13th in early laps but undercut by Tsunoda in first pit cycle
▶ Gained a place when Ricciardo retired after restart, unable to catch Ocon to finish 12th
Williams were not strong around Shanghai but Albon still put in a solid performance across the weekend to finish two places and five seconds from a potential first point of the season. Alpine were likely quicker than Williams over the weekend and splitting them was a decent enough result. But he’s also had more outstanding drives with underwhelming cars in his history.
Logan Sargeant – 4/10
Sprint race finish: 18th
Qualified: 20th (-6 places behind team mate, +0.974s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: Two-stop (S-M-H)
Finished: 17th (-5 places behind team mate)
▶ Qualified slowest for sprint race but just a tenth behind team mate
▶ Finished three seconds behind team mate in sprint
▼ Eliminated slowest in Q1 after spinning at tarmac change into turn eight
▶ Started from pit lane after changing wing spec under parc ferme
▶ Ran pace similar to team mate until final stint on hards
▼ Hit with 10s penalty for Safety Car infringement passing Hulkenberg
▼ Finished last, classified 30s behind team mate
On the face of it, Sargeant was the weakest driver in the field in Shanghai. However, this weekend his performance was tainted by Williams potentially having the slowest car of the 10. That said, he made another mistake in a qualifying session which will further harm his case to stay on the grid in the future and was not on the level of his team mate on the hard tyres. Although he was penalised by the stewards for passing Hulkenberg under the Safety Car, his team deserve the majority of the blame for failing to inform him of the correct running order, and this his not been factored into his rating.
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Yuki Tsunoda – 4/10
Sprint race start: 19th
Sprint race finish: 16th
Qualified: 19th (-7 places behind team mate, +0.303s)
Start: +3 places
Strategy: Two-stop (S-M-H)
Finished: Retired (-1 place behind team mate)
▼ Knocked out of SQ1 in 19th after struggling with balance on Friday
▶ Picked up three places in sprint race to finish 16th
▼ Failed to follow team mate into Q2, baffled by being eliminated 19th again
▲ Gained several places at the start
▶ Retired after being hit by Magnussen at turn six at the Safety Car restart
For most of the 2024 season so far, Tsunoda has been the outstanding driver at Red Bull’s second team. But in China, he was anything but. He never looked comfortably and was unable to match the pace of his team mate, especially in qualifying. He at least looked stronger on Sunday than the rest of the weekend, but his race ended through little fault of his own. Still, he was unusually underwhelming across the weekend.
Daniel Ricciardo – 6/10
Sprint race finish: 11th
Qualified: 12th (+7 places ahead of team mate, -0.303s)
Start: -3 places
Strategy: One-stop (M-M)
Finished: Retired (Damage – L33)
▶ Given new chassis by team for weekend
▶ Reached SQ2, unlike team mate, to start sprint 14th
▲ Gained three places in sprint to finish 11th
▶ Secured 12th on the grand prix grid in qualifying
▼ Dropped three places on opening lap of grand prix
▶ Retired after being hit by Stroll under Safety Car
▼ Hit with 3-place grid drop for Miami for passing Hulkenberg under SC
Ricciardo was not his typical effervescent self following the Chinese Grand Prix, and with good reason. With a new chassis, he was as quick and confident over the weekend as he has been at any point throughout 2024 so far and was comfortably the stronger of the two RB drivers. Being eliminated from the race by Stroll was bad enough, but his penalty for Miami just leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Valtteri Bottas – 7/10
Sprint race start: 9th
Sprint race finish: 12th
Qualified: 10th (+6 places ahead of team mate, -0.336s)
Start: -1 place
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: Retired (Power unit – L20)
▲ Reached SQ3 and out-qualified team mate to start ninth for sprint
▶ Finished 12th in sprint after front wing damage from clash with team mate at start
▲ Took tenth on the grand prix grid after running top ten in every phase
▶ Lost a place to Stroll at the start but passed Hulkenberg for tenth
▶ Ran behind Hulkenberg in 11th after stop before power unit failure ended race
Bottas deserved to have had the opportunity to fight for that final point in tenth place in the Chinese Grand Prix. He was consistently strong across the weekend and was Hulkenberg’s biggest threat for that tenth position until his car let him down suddenly just before half distance. Even though he dropped back in the sprint, he could blame front wing damage from contact with his team mate. A performance that was deserving of more.
Zhou Guanyu – 5/10
Sprint race finish: 9th
Qualified: 16th (-6 places behind team mate, +0.336s)
Start: -1 place
Strategy: Three-stop (M-H-H-S)
Finished: 14th (+6 places ahead of team mate)
▲ Reached SQ3 to secure tenth on sprint grid
▲ Scored a top ten finish in sprint race despite L1 contact with team mate
▼ Eliminated from Q1 after lock up at hairpin on final push lap
▼ Dropped down the order early in grand prix before pitting late for softs
▶ Used fresh tyres to pass Sargeant and Magnussen, finishing 14th, 3s behind Gasly
Whatever direction Zhou’s grand prix future will take, he will never forget this race weekend for as long as he lives. It’s a shame for him that his Saturday and Sunday results could not have been reversed as a solid ninth place in the grand prix would have been the first points for his team. However, he did not seem as strong after the sprint race and while he gained two places from his starting position, that was largely down to his team mate and the two RBs being forced out of the running.
Nico Hulkenberg – 7/10
Sprint race finish: 19th
Qualified: 9th (+8 places ahead of team mate, -0.448s)
Start: +1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (M-H-H)
Finished: 10th (+6 places ahead of team mate)
▶ Near-identical time to team mate in sprint qualifying to line up 13th for sprint race
▼ Dropped six places in sprint race with severe tyre degradation
▲ Reached Q3 to secure ninth on grand prix grid
▼ Reprimanded for passing cars in fast lane of pit lane
▲ Passed both Ferraris at start but overtaken by Sainz
▲ Showed strong race pace throughout race to hold onto final point in tenth
Hulkenberg was one of the more outstanding performers from the weekend, taking the final point available as Stroll’s mishaps left tenth place open for someone to capitalise. Not for the first time, Hulkenberg was the one who did just that. He drove what he described as one of the cleanest races of his career to finish tenth and take his third points finish in four rounds. But as he couldn’t explain his plummet down the order in the sprint race, he cannot receive a higher grade for it.
Kevin Magnussen – 4/10
Sprint race start: 12th
Sprint race finish: 10th
Qualified: 17th (-8 places behind team mate, +0.448s)
Start: -1 place
Strategy: Two-stop (H-H-M)
Finished: 16th (-6 places behind team mate)
▶ Reached SQ2 to qualify 12th for sprint race
▲ Gained two places in sprint race to finish inside top ten
▶ Knocked out of Q1, but compromised slightly on final lap by Sargeant spin
▼ Handed 10s penalty and 2 penalty points for hitting Tsunoda, suffering puncture
▼ Finished 15th on road but demoted to 16th after penalty
Magnussen has been quietly putting in performances that have probably been stronger than they seemed on paper over the opening phase of 2024. China was not one of them, however. Up to the grand prix, he had done a perfectly respectable job, all considered, even if he did not seem to match the maximum pace that his team mate was able to show. But he made himself look silly with his hapless move that took out Tsunoda and deserved his penalty.
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Over to you
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2024 Chinese Grand Prix
- Aston Martin petitions FIA to review Alonso’s penalty for Sainz collision
- “You need to be more on it”: 12 unheard radio exchanges from the Chinese GP
- Ricciardo needs to show “head-turning form” for 2025 chance – Horner
- With fourth format change in as many years, F1 relegated sprint races to a sideshow
- Williams accept ‘harsh but correct’ penalty for Sargeant
MacLeod (@macleod)
23rd April 2024, 7:37
Max get a 7 because he drove the fastest car and didn’t got pole in the rain…. Which we all knew that wasn’t going to happen as the car was setup for the dry…..
Lando get a 7 even he made a mistake and throw away a pole position and became 7th ….. That should be atleast 3th.
Sorry your points distribution still doesn’t make sense at all.
Retired (@jeff1s)
23rd April 2024, 7:46
Logan Sargeant 4, Max Verstappen 7. No further comment.
Osnola
23rd April 2024, 8:47
But according to this score Bottas was on the same level as Max, so it must be true
ROTFL
CarWars (@maxv)
23rd April 2024, 8:56
Rather simple to take the reference of the car performance, dont see how this still is a negative -1 on every rating for Max. Lets see how Perez did. Where did Perez finish in the race again, in the fastest car? The championship would be full open if Max didnt exist and Redbull had 2x Perez.
David (@nvherman)
23rd April 2024, 9:07
@macleod I’m not sure you actually watch the races
MacLeod (@macleod)
24th April 2024, 8:03
@nvherman I always watch the race often replays after that… Setup for the dry was a wrong at my part as the setup was based of the surface and they thought it would be very bad for the tyres. So he had problems to get temperature in his tyres as the Red Bull is to setup to keep the tyres alive as long as possible to bad in the wet that isn’t going to be very good for Max.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
23rd April 2024, 7:43
A 7 for Max is fairly contentious to me. 7 is ‘very good’ but not ‘brilliant’ and is therefore not ‘A truly great weekend where the driver stood out as one of the very best of the field’. I don’t think that’s objectively correct. His worst result in 4 competitive sessions was 4th, in the wet. I don’t see that as an underperformance.
The sprint was total domination, he had a third of a second in Q3 – 2 other teams with 2 drivers there were split by a tenth and a hundredth. In the race every lap he did was the fastest lap on track that lap, as noted in the round up. He managed the 2 SC restarts well and his pace is frightening.
This was another unbelievable Verstappen drive and if he wasn’t this dominant it would be a 9 for any other driver. An 8, given the car would be fairer.
S
23rd April 2024, 8:18
There is nothing objective about this. It’s all an opinion.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
23rd April 2024, 12:36
The numerical value is subjective certainly. But I don’t think it’s correct to say the driver who was top of 3 of the 4 competitive sessions and was one point off the maximum score didn’t “stand out as one of the very best of the field”.
MacLeod (@macleod)
23rd April 2024, 8:32
Yes but compaired it with Lando who got also a 7 and he made a huge mistake losing 3th postion ending up 7th (sprint) So or Max should get a 8 or Lando a 6 not both a 7.
David (@nvherman)
23rd April 2024, 9:13
@macleod why do you have such a problem with Norris? Yes, Norris made a mistake in the Sprint, but then Verstappen was two seconds slower in the Sprint Qualifying. Norris did finish in front of a Red Bull in the actual Grand Prix, and was doing better lap times than Perez as well. When everyone knows that the RB20 is the fastest car.
For a true reflection of the MCL36s performance, look at where Piastri finished.
ludewig
23rd April 2024, 10:18
@nvherman
You are judging the car, not the driver. We know that the Red Bull is good in particular because it is kind on the tires, but that is typically bad in the wet, when it is harder to put temperature in the tires.
Max commented after the sprint quali that he couldn’t fully switch on the tires and it was obvious that he struggled greatly with grip. He himself thought that P4 was roughly on par with the performance of the car and not due to a mistake.
There is no solid evidence to be able to judge whether Max actually did all that poorly during the sprint quali, while Norris obviously made an error during the sprint race, as there was no way that it was close to optimal to run off the track, while Max might have been fairly close to the maximum for the car in those wet circumstances.
When mistakes are obvious, I think they deserve way more of a point deduction than when we don’t even know whether a mistake was made.
MacLeod (@macleod)
24th April 2024, 7:57
@nvherman I have no problem with Lando ( I even support him) but i have a problem with the points system. As ludewig said I always look at the performance (even keep the car in mind as a ex racer myself) but I knew the suddenly wet would be a problem for the Red Bulls that why Perez is much lower and Max didn’t blitzz the qualiflier as the tyres never had the grip of the temperature in the tyres.
Which Max also told us.
So if i compair both Scores why they had both a 7 as 1 driver didn’t made a mistake the other did and that the driver didn’t made a mistake and wins both races so you can’t give both drivers a 7 in my eyes.
RH
24th April 2024, 19:03
Perez was on course for P2 in the sprint until the final corner, he made a driver error there. Verstappen just didn’t know how to switch his tires on. It is really that simple.
Let us not blame the car. The RB of this generation has been excellent in wet conditions and in fact I would argue RB20 has better tire prep than 18 and 19 given its relative one lap superiority.
Verstappen had a bit of a weak weekend till qualifying.
ludewig
23rd April 2024, 8:58
It’s one of the weaknesses of Will that he doesn’t seem to get the difference between a driver who coasts home and one who drives 56 qualifying laps.
James Bond (@jamesbond)
23rd April 2024, 13:47
This!
Mayrton
23rd April 2024, 16:47
That is indeed a pity. It is quite special what is being displayed and imho it deserves a setting aside of prejudices or likeability elements.
Ainu (@ainu)
23rd April 2024, 12:05
I support Max and would not object to an 8, but there was not much to remember about his driving last weekend, even had it been perfect (which wasn’t) there was very little challenge for him. A truly great, memorable drive, is one in which a driver faces a huge challenge and overcomes it against the odds. Not that it was Max’s fault but there was nothing like that last weekend. And I’m afraid there wasn’t either anything like that since AD 2021 and there will not be until 2026. Hard times for hard-boiled F1 fans.
MichaelN
23rd April 2024, 12:23
It’s not Verstappen’s fault that he can win with ease with a 7/10 performance, but it still seems a fair rating here. There was nothing spectacular – or ‘brilliant’ as the rating scale puts it – about his drive. As clean and effective as it was, it’ll be forgotten soon enough.
Norris’ on the other hand might have made a bit of a mess of his sprint start, but he still went on to finish the real race in 2nd. He benefited from the circumstances that hindered Ferrari and Pérez to an extent, but be that as it may, Pérez still had half the race to get back in front and didn’t. A second place in a McLaren is a great result on any day, especially with both Red Bull and both Ferrari finishing.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
23rd April 2024, 15:42
I think that’s belittling. How can we have a scale fair to all if the driver with the best car can never achieve a 10? They must lose 10% of their points before a wheel is turned. If any other driver, Perez included had been that successful over the weekend they’d have scored a 9.
I’m not suggesting an agenda here but I fear we’re normalising greatness. Are we really saying that he had to get fastest lap, set by a driver running a ridiculous strategy, or get pole in the wet simply to justify an 80% score?
Max was strong in the wet, completed overtakes in the sprint, beat his teammate in quali and won a race with 2 SC restarts. What more does he need to do?
Norris made a huge error in the sprint costing him a chance at a win and only beat Perez because of the SC. Perez not getting by is a reflection on Perez not Norris. I think Norris drove well this weekend, and a 7 is appropriate, but he didn’t drive better than Max and then the error brought them level.
MichaelN
23rd April 2024, 17:16
Without the sprint qualifying I’m guessing Verstappen would have gotten an 8. We have to take his word for it that there wasn’t any more pace in the car in those circumstances. But nothing about that stood out. We have to acknowledge that we can’t know everything about a performance from the outside. Maybe it really was spectacular to put the car there. We don’t know, so these ratings will always be subjective.
And the description for the 8 score also is not that great; Verstappen is going to ‘stand out as one of the very best’ all the time. He has done that since Monaco 2018. But the first part, ‘truly great weekend’? I can see why that wasn’t given this time. This will probably be an ‘oh yeah, China… that was nice, with the rain and all, yeah’ soon enough. There’s no narrative angle to Verstappen’s weekend that makes it memorable. He easily breezed past Hamilton on DRS in the sprint, and then basically time trialled the GP to win both races.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
23rd April 2024, 20:09
That’s sort of my point. 4th place in the rain, setting the fastest lap as he had crossed the line is not underperformance. Are you suggesting a driver needs to win every session of the weekend to qualify for an 8 out of 10? That seems harsh to me.
Of course Max would usually stand out – but if I look back to Spain 2022 where Max won he received a 7. He was in the gravel and needed assistance from his teammate to let him through that day. A faultless performance including overtakes, fastest lap of that lap pace for every lap is incredible. It was a brilliant performance. I’d argue the gap he pulled in the sprint was memorable too.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
23rd April 2024, 20:42
This is a good point: if by any chance perez’s and verstappen’s performance had been swapped around this weekend, I think the surprise would’ve given perez an 8.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
23rd April 2024, 20:43
You can’t however say he was strong in the wet in that particular session: he went off track many times and ended up 4th, that’s not good for his standards.
MacLeod (@macleod)
23rd April 2024, 13:22
@nvherman Always and live ! but i am not like 90% people who watched i look deeper and have knowledge of racing personal. Also i listen to others who have knowlegde Like Palmer, Sam even Will Buxton and more ex f1 drivers and other race drivers.
I was not joking with that Max didn’t had his setup for the wet but for the dry which makes it hard to keep his car on track…. but you don’t have to believe what i wrote but just ask around.
So my comments should make sense or my English isn’t good enough which isn’t strange as i never learned it on school but only vocal so writing is kind of hard for me.
David (@nvherman)
23rd April 2024, 15:14
@macleod You talk like you are the only one who has knowledge. I wouldn’t trust any opinion that came out of Buxton, either in print or on air.
Norris getting a McLaren to finish second ahead of a Red Bull and both Ferraris is at least as noteworthy as Verstappen winning a Grand Prix. Especially when he started 4th. Plus Perez was not able to catch him, even though he had over fifteen laps to do so.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
23rd April 2024, 20:47
Indeed, beating perez when he has a decent performance, considering the level of the current red bull is an achievement; beating other cars with this red bull is not. The only thing we can prove given the red bull’s strength is he beat perez, which is normal for a top driver and he got 1 extra point for that.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
23rd April 2024, 20:47
I meant beating perez with a mclaren or any other non-red bull car*
RH
23rd April 2024, 20:24
Given Verstappen’s level is probably the highest in all of F1 in terms of consistency and delivering results, a 7 is a fair score.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
23rd April 2024, 20:38
4th in the wet in the best car (which even in the rain matters) is by definition an underperformance, I was thinking he could lose the 8 for that and indeed that’s what happened, I think it’s fair.
Lots of 7s however this race, I think all those who got it had a pretty special weekend.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
24th April 2024, 8:26
Have we got enough evidence to say it’s the best car in the wet?
You can only beat your teammate Max was half a second faster than Checo and was also top after the first runs. I don’t think it’s an underperformance when conditions are so variable. Had he messed up his final lap, therefore remaining behind Perez with 2 laps off the road of course he shouldn’t get an 8 but should be get a 6?
Sainz received a 9 for being 0.25s ahead of Charles and winning a contestless race. The caveat is that he came back from surgery. But Max is a 7 here for beating his teammate by 3 tenths and 4 tenths and winning the races.
Effectively you’re saying if Max was perfect he’d deserve an 8. That’s lunacy to me. A perfect drive is a 10. I don’t see why Max is 30% lower than perfect and 2 points worse than Sainz a few weeks ago. I’d be rating this performance and 8.5 so would round down to 8 but a 7 is clearly a Max Tax.
Stephen Taylor
23rd April 2024, 9:16
@MacLeod Give Lando a six after that weekend you must be joking? The Sprint in the grand scheme of things shouldn’t carry much weight in terms of ratings . It is a glorfied race run practice. This Racefans system has always been incredibly flawed . It makes it practically impossible to get a 9 or 10 . Max and Lando should both get 8s. but for different reasons. Maybe they need to introduce Alo as small sidenote I think Piastris problem in Sqint Qualy cost him a lot more thank will thinks it did. According to Maccas data it cost him a front row start for the Sprint Race.
Dex
23rd April 2024, 10:02
7? He didn’t maximize… it’s all his car… And his teammate gets a 6. Was it a single rating difference? Or did the teammate have a different car?
I know it’s getting some people bored, but that shouldn’t affect their objectivity.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd April 2024, 11:06
Most impressed: NOR & ALO
Most disappointing: PER & STR
Janith
23rd April 2024, 11:31
What’s disappointing about Perez? He is rubbish. How can this man not win a single race in over a year in one of the best F1 cars ever made? Unbelievable
Ainu (@ainu)
23rd April 2024, 12:10
A bit harsh. Checo is not that bad and has proved it many times. But Max is not only clearly better, Max is relentless. I do not think any F1 driver has been so consistently near-perfect since the times of Fangio and Clark (or Prost-in-the-dry). Checo has had very few opportunities to win with Max as a teammate
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
23rd April 2024, 20:50
I also think it’s harsh to put perez in the most disappointing here, I thought he was decent and when you know he’s not going to be as fast as verstappen it was more or less as expected, evidenced by his 6\10 rating.
GmP (@gmp)
24th April 2024, 4:58
Also most impressed? Who dropped from 3rd to last in the sprint, because of a driver error, something a veteran like him should never make. And dropped from 3rd to 7th in the race, keeping only one McLaren behind him, Piastri in a damaged car? Yes, he did nice passes at the end because of his much fresher tires, not because of some spectacular race craft. For a driver with his experience he did bad this weekend. Would be five, but for the optics of late race progress a six.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
23rd April 2024, 12:40
These ratings show how horrible this season actually is. It isn’t just because Red Bull built a rocket, it is because each team’s car is destined to a slot with little to no overlap with other teams. The drivers are primarily being rated as to how well they do against their teammate because of this slotting of the cars. And if there is a bad setup or bad strategy a team can jump ahead of the next team up but no more. And it is that way all the way down the line. If ALO or RUS or HAM finishes higher than 7th, that is a win. On some tracks the Ferraris can finish 3 or 4 or even 2 if PER screws up and the same with the McLarens. If there were true mid field battling going on, it would be interesting but that is not what is happening and people are realizing it. ALO pitted late, drove the wheels off, but in the end, finished where he should have.
Philip (@philipgb)
23rd April 2024, 12:48
When you look at the average ratings here the top 4 all seem fair enough. Put them all in the same car with the same reliability and quality of strategy and I could imagine them being in that order in the championship
But from there on it’s a little wild in places. Are Alonso vs Tsunoda and Russell vs Perez actually that close? Does anyone think that even with Hamilton being off the boil this season that Bottas given their time together would actually be beating him?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
23rd April 2024, 20:54
Well, I think it’s been proven in f1 that just because a driver usually beats another driver, it doesn’t mean they can’t have a bad season: hakkinen outperformed coulthard, then had a horrible 2001 season and coulthard was way more of a “rival” for schumacher than hakkinen.
Bottas occasionally beat hamilton in select qualis and races, so it’s not unthinkable to me that if he’s driving consistently he could beat an off-form hamilton.
Think about vettel too, 2020 vettel, or 2014 surely wasn’t the one who won all those races and titles with red bull, and the mclaren ricciardo surely isn’t the red bull one.
ben
23rd April 2024, 14:46
Hamilton Vs Russell seems a tad unfair.
I’m way more impressed by a p2 & p9 finish from Hamilton than a p8 and p6 from Russell. They both showed how poor that car was this weekend by both failing to make a Q3 session. Russell also had the sprint race to get used to the soft tyres whereas Hamilton only got them on for the first time in qualifying. Sure Hamiltons exit was worse, but id argue his P2 qualifying was much more impressive and even more so holding that position in the race.
Asd
23rd April 2024, 15:37
Alonso was overachieving left and right the entire weekend. 8/10
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
23rd April 2024, 20:56
He threw it all away in the sprint with that divebomb on sainz which cost him a penalty and even before that allowed perez to pass 2 cars.
If a driver suddenly overtakes 2 cars in a corner, probably it’s because someone forced another driver off, which is what happened, and it also ruined alonso’s sprint.
sam
23rd April 2024, 16:51
The ratings are so low it must have been a cracking race….
Asd
23rd April 2024, 17:47
Low ratings indicate the race was great. What produces great racing is oppourtunities to make mistakes.
chrisbaz
24th April 2024, 10:26
Hamilton 5, Perez 6 (one less than Verstappen, one less than Norris!) Says it all, really. Not sure the ratings ‘exert’ even watched the race.
(seems like my comments are not appreciated – this is my second attempt)
Honda
24th April 2024, 21:19
Albon made 3 places in the race because of Stroll and RB drivers. In the sprint too he was P17. But people keep rating him high because of his team mate.