French Grand Prix driver ratings

Lewis Hamilton

It was another strong weekend from Hamilton, who picked up another pole and another win, and he is now clearly the strong favourite to take this year's title. No one at the front had an answer for him this weekend

Rating: 9.0

Valtteri Bottas

While Bottas did the job for Mercedes, it was not the weekend the Finn would have been hoping for, as he has now watched Hamilton win the last four Grands Prix. Now 36 points behind in the championship, the former Williams driver needs results to go his way soon.

Rating: 7.5

Charles Leclerc

After bringing the challenge to Mercedes, Ferrari couldn't repeat that form in France. Leclerc was the stronger Ferrari this time around, picking up a second consecutive podium finish after qualifying in third. 

Rating: 8.5

Max Verstappen

Red Bull seemed to be as far away from the leaders as ever this weekend, although Verstappen managed to show some good pace in the race after almost getting pipped by McLaren on Saturday. Another consistent result from Verstappen, who is making a habit of crossing the line in fourth.

Rating: 8.0

Sebastian Vettel

Vettel would have been hoping for so much more following the disappointment of Canada, but what followed was a lacklustre performance. After getting just one timed lap in qualifying, it was a recovery mission on Saturday, as he drove a lonely race to fifth.

Rating: 6.5

Carlos Sainz

Sainz was beaten by teammate Lando Norris on Saturday but quickly corrected that on Sunday, beating the rookie to Turn 1. After that, Sainz managed his pace well and eased to a P6 finish - his second in three races.

Rating: 9.0

Kimi Raikkonen

Qualifying didn't go too well for Raikkonen, however he had strong pace in the race, keeping Nico Hulkenberg at bay for much of the 53 laps and obtaining a P7 finish following Daniel Ricciardo's penalty.

Rating: 8

Nico Hulkenberg

Hulkenberg's race was much like Raikkonen's, as the pair were glued together for much of the Grand Prix. He too managed to climb into the points, and moved up a spot due to his teammate's penalty.

Rating: 8.0

Lando Norris

Norris raised eyebrows after qualifying with his fantastic display in Q3 to secure fifth on the grid. The race was going well for him before hydraulic issues slowed him down, which saw three cars get past him.

Rating: 9.5

Pierre Gasly

It's not yet clear what's going on behind the scenes at Red Bull, but it must be assumed that the team is doing everything it can to help Gasly with his pace. Nevertheless, to be eight races in and beaten by midfield teams is simply not good enough. It's fast approaching five minutes to midnight for the Frenchman.

Rating: 3.5

Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo had a more exciting race than most drivers in the field, but ultimately ended up losing his points finish. However, in a dull race it was nice to see a driver taking chances in order to move up the field and his moves added excitement to an otherwise uneventful race. He had strong pace towards the end of the race, and seemed to have the edge on teammate Hulkenberg throughout the weekend.

Rating: 8.0

Sergio Perez

It was a tough weekend for Racing Point, as both drivers could not find any pace in the car. Perez did get close to the points in the race, but it was not to be as the late appearance of the virtual safety car hindered his chances of attacking Gasly.

Rating: 7.5

Lance Stroll

Stroll could not end his unwanted streak of what is now twelve Grand Prix of being eliminated in the first part of qualifying, so yet again had a lot to recover in the race. But he did very well to extend his first stint so long in the race, and also came close to a points finish but lost a lot of time when being lapped by Hamilton.

Rating: 7.0

Daniil Kvyat

Kvyat put in another strong performance over the weekend, despite having to start from the back of the grid. During the race, he showed that he was not afraid to get his elbows out. It was another display of maturity and strength from the Russian.

Rating: 8.0
 

Alexander Albon

Albon did a very respectable job in qualifying for Toro Rosso, but he finished behind his teammate in the race. However, he showed some good defending moves against Kvyat but ultimately lost out to the Russian. Not a bad weekend at all for the Anglo-Thai rookie, who continues to build his confidence in a Formula 1 car.

Rating: 7.5

Antonio Giovinazzi

Giovinazzi had a good qualifying for his Alfa Romeo team, but having to start the race on the soft tyres meant that his race was compromised before it began. After an early pitstop, the Italian struggled to move up the field in a race where the car had the pace for points with the right strategy.

Rating: 7.0

Kevin Magnussen

Haas will wish to forget this weekend, as the team had no pace in the car. Magnussen had a better qualifying than Grosjean, but seemed to be off the pace of his teammate in the race. Unfortunately he only really had the pace to fight with the Williams drivers.

Rating: 6.5

Robert Kubica 

Kubica had a relatively quiet weekend in his Williams, with nothing appearing to go wrong from the outside. The Pole had a good fight with his teammate Russell in the race, where he defended strongly before eventually losing out. The was the theme across the weekend, as although closer to the Brit, he was consistently the slower driver.

Rating: 6.5

George Russell

Russell had another weekend where his pace went under the radar, and after a strong qualifying for Williams, he had an unfortunate race. The Brit was forced to make an extra pitstop after breaking his front wing on a bollard, and he will hope that Williams has a bit more pace next week in Austria.

Rating: 6.5

Romain Grosjean

It was a tough qualifying for Grosjean, with the Frenchman dropping out in Q1. Haas were massively off the pace all weekend, but Grosjean did manage to fight with the bottom end of the midfield in the race which is more than can be said for teammate Magnussen. He was unlucky to retire, but that just topped off a terrible weekend for Haas.

Rating: 6.5

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527

Well, this is a Dutch site with a crowd that generally fancy Max, there is bound to be some extra forgiveness for him here. I feel another difference is that we often get to see Max battling and duelling and racing hard to catch up. This race it was clear that Max was limited by the Honda engine ... [Read more]

• 1
• Jun 25 2019 - 08:21

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