Azerbaijan Grand Prix driver ratings

Valtteri Bottas

It was another impressive weekend from Bottas, who retakes the lead in the championship after grabbing pole position and the race win. He was kept on his toes by teammate Lewis Hamilton but held him off when it counted to take home his fifth career win.

Rating: 9.5
 

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton didn't do much wrong over the course of the weekend, but couldn't better his teammate, despite coming close in qualifying and the race. Despite keeping the pressure on, he had no answer for the Finn. 

Rating: 8.0

Sebastian Vettel

After looking so good in during practice, Ferrari slipped behind Mercedes when push came to shove. Considering he had no tow in qualifying, Vettel did a pretty decent job, but couldn't get close to the Silver Arrows during the race. 

Rating: 7.0

Max Verstappen

One must wonder what Verstappen will be able to achieve once he gets a car capable of winning and competing for championships. Another faultless weekend from the Dutchman, who felt he had the pace for a podium before the disruption of the virtual safety car - ironically caused by teammate Pierre Gasly.

Rating: 8.5
 

Charles Leclerc

Leclerc got a full 10 out of 10 after his stellar performance in Bahrain but this time we're cutting the score in half. After making a mistake and crashing out in qualifying, it wrecked his race strategy as he had to start on the medium compound. A weekend to forget for the Monegasque driver.

Rating: 5.0
 

Sergio Perez

Another sublime weekend from Perez, who qualified fifth and finished in sixth, losing a spot as Leclerc recovered to fifth. It couldn't have gone much better for the Mexican, who is continuing to shine out as a star in the midfield fight. 

Rating: 9.0

Carlos Sainz

Sainz missed out on a strong result in qualifying but raced well to finish ahead of his teammate Lando Norris, who did manage to make it into Q3. It was a race of little drama for Sainz, who picked up his first points of the year.

Rating: 8.0

Lando Norris

Norris did very well in qualifying and opened up his first stint nicely in the race. He made a second pit stop towards the end of the Grand Prix for used super softs, but looked to be on the pace compared to his more experienced partner Sainz.

Rating: 8.5

Lance Stroll

Stroll once again dropped out in Q1, continuing his ongoing streak that stretches back to USA, 2018. However, he once again showed that he can do well in the race, and did so on Sunday, ensuring that both Racing Point drivers brought home points. 

Rating: 7.0

Kimi Raikkonen

Raikkonen couldn't produce a final fast lap as he got too close to the Mercedes of Hamilton while searching for a tow in qualifying. Starting from the pit lane due to an illegal front wing, he recovered well despite struggling with the car, to take home the final point on offer.

Rating: 7.5

Alexander Albon

Albon did not have a spectacular weekend, at the circuit where he won his first Formula 2 race one year ago. However, the Anglo-Thai driver made no mistakes, and did manage to pull off some opportunistic passes in the race to only just miss out on the points.

Rating: 6.5
 

Antonio Giovinazzi

Giovinazzi had a much better weekend than what he has come accustomed to in what has not been a good start to the season, despite starting from the pitlane. Although insignificant in terms of the starting grid, the Italian did manage to out-qualify Raikkonen for the first time this season. Giovinazzi also made up a few places during the race, but couldn't quite get into the points.

Rating: 7.5

Kevin Magnussen

Magnussen seemed to do all that he could with a car that couldn't, as his Haas was off the pace all weekend. He had a quiet race, hampered by the lack of chaos that is usually seen in the streets of Baku. 

Rating: 6.0

Nico Hulkenberg

Hulkenberg had quite a poor weekend in Azerbaijan, as Renault struggled to find any pace in their RS19. Hulkenberg has not got a good history in Baku, as he has crashed out of the previous two races. This may have lead to a lack of confidence, as for the second time in two races, teammate Daniel Ricciardo seemed to have the edge over him.

Rating: 5.0

George Russell

For the first time this season we feel that we are able to give the ratings to the Williams drivers, albeit still hard to judge. However, what is clear is that Russell yet again had much stronger pace than teammate Robert Kubica, but still couldn't mount a challenge to anybody else due to the lack of pace in the FW42.

Rating: 6.5
 

Robert Kubica 

Kubica has not had the comeback that he dreamed of, as the Pole made a costly mistake in qualifying where he put his Williams in the wall. In the race, he also lacked the pace of Russell and finished last of the classified runners.

Rating: 4.5
 

Pierre Gasly

Just as it appeared he was getting on top of the problems he has faced with his RB15, Gasly was hit by setback after setback at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Frenchman was forced to start from the pitlane, disqualified from qualifying and then had to to retire the car due to a driveshaft failure. However, it was otherwise the best performance we have seen from Gasly since he left Toro Rosso, as he recovered up to P6 whilst setting good lap times on very old tyres. 

Rating: 7.0

Romain Grosjean

Much like his teammate Magnussen, Grosjean was not able to produce anything special in Baku as he struggled for pace in his Haas car. However, he was out-qualified by the Dane and then made a mistake in the race before he reitred, where a lock-up caused him to continue straight on into the run-off area.

Rating: 5.0
 

Daniil Kvyat

Kvyat had very strong qualifying session, where he managed to put his Toro Rosso up in P6 on the grid, ahead of both the Mclarens and only just behind the Racing Point of Perez. However, he seemed to overdrive his tyres at the start of the race and dropped down the order. However, the Russian was involved in a collision that was not his fault, as Ricciardo reversed into him in what was a bizarre incident.

Rating: 7.0
 

Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo had yet another race in Baku to forget, as he collided with the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat. Before the incident however, the Australian had a fairly good qualifying and made good progress in the race. For the first time this season, he did seem to have the edge over teammate Nico Hulkenberg even if both of the drivers were lacking pace in their RS19's.

The incident was an amateur mistake, where he reversed into the Russian after locking his brakes and driving into the run-off area.

Rating: 5.0

Fergal Walsh

Posts: 46

Hi iw1,

We took into account the crash that Kubica had on Saturday. The performance rating is across the weekend as a whole.

• 1
• Apr 29 2019 - 16:47

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